There is a deep desire within each and every one of us to see authentic community–to see and live in a place where we have peace with one another without strife and conflict. You can see this longing throughout the history of humanity: in its songs; in its literature; in its artwork.
“Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me!” goes the great folk song.
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” says the golden rule which is a part of every major religion and philosophy.
When we see senseless violence and destruction, we ask, “What’s wrong with people?”
And we say the immortal words of Rodney King who spoke in the early 1990's concerning the riots which bear his name, “Why can’t we just all get along?”
Why can’t we, indeed?
And such peace and harmony ideally should be one of the greatest marks of the church. St. Paul lays it out for us this morning as the fourth mark found in Romans 15:1-6, “May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus.” Paul earnestly prays and admonishes the church at the same time with these words. He prays and admonishes that we live together in harmony.
Yet...Paul had just finished chapter 14 in the book of Romans–and chapter 14 was all about a church that was not living in harmony. In fact, if you read through Paul’s letters to the churches, you will find that most of them are dealing with churches who are experiencing some sort of conflict. 1 and 2 Corinthians deal with a church that is divided because of different pastors who have served it. Galatians deals with a church that is divided because of misunderstandings of the Gospel. Romans shows division over misunderstanding how the Gospel is lived out. The Thessalonians are dealing with people who refuse to work. And so on and so forth.
If you read the book of Acts, you will also see the church divided at times, culminating in the first great council of the Church in Acts chapter 15 where a division regarding whether Gentiles should be added to the church is addressed. And this is just what is in the Bible. If you read church history, you will find all sorts of divisions and arguments. The church is just like the rest of the world when it comes to its divisions and sects and groups and denominations. There are tens of thousands of different denominations within Christianity, and there seems to be very little harmony.
Just about every congregation knows this. Just about every single congregation has experienced conflict in its lifetime. Why can’t we get along? Why can’t we concentrate on simply being the church; worshiping; reaching out with the Gospel?
Oh, we could spend a lot of time on this–a lot of time. There are many, many possibilities. But let me read to you, this morning a particularly insightful word from Dietrich Bonhoeffer. For those of you unfamiliar with the name, Bonhoeffer was a German pastor and theologian who was extremely bright and who died because he dared stand against the Nazi party in Germany.
Bonhoeffer wrote several Christian classics including a little book titled, Life Together, and in that book he says this:
Innumerable times a whole Christian community has broken down because it had sprung from a wish dream. The serious Christian, set down for the first time in a Christian community, is likely to bring with him a very definite idea of what Christian life together should be and to try to realize it. But God’s grace speedily shatters such dreams. Just as surely as God desires to lead us to a knowledge of genuine Christian fellowship, so surely must we be overwhelmed by a great disillusionment with others, with Christians in general, and, if we are fortunate, with ourselves.
By sheer grace, God will not permit us to live even for a brief period in a dream world. He does not abandon us to those rapturous experiences and lofty moods that come over us like a dream. God is not a God of the emotions but the God of truth. Only that fellowship which faces such disillusionment, with all its unhappy and ugly aspects, begins to be what it should be in God’s sight, begins to grasp in faith the promise that is given to it. The sooner this shock of disillusionment comes to an individual and to a community the better for both. A community which cannot bear and cannot survive such a crisis, which insists upon keeping its illusion when it should be shattered, permanently loses in that moment the promise of Christian community. Sooner or later, it will collapse. Every human wish dream that is injected into the Christian community is a hindrance to genuine community and must be banished if genuine community is to survive. He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial.
I think Dietrich Bonhoeffer was writing those words about me. Honestly, because I know that I have and had a dream about what a Christian community should be; should look like; should operate like. I had a dream about how a church should function and how people should act within that community.
But what Bonhoeffer points out is this: this is MY dream. It’s not God’s dream. And if we are to truly experience Christian harmony, we must give up our dreams and submit them to God’s dream and God’s will. If we pursue our dream, the results will not be pretty, but if we submit to God’s dream. If we submit to Jesus and His dream for the church, beauty will take place, and this is exactly what Paul tells us. Hear that verse one more time and pay particular attention to the last part of the verse. “May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus.”
We must submit ourselves in accordance with Christ Jesus if we want to live in harmony. Let me show you how this works. Please remember, I am not a trained musician, and I don’t know music terminology. I just play my guitar and sing, but here is what I know. Each string needs to be in tune. And each string sounds pretty good by itself. Each makes a nice sound when it is picked. But if you strum all six strings together, the sound isn’t exactly good. It’s just some noise.
But, when different strings submit to the will of the musician, harmony appears. Chords appear. The sound comes together beautifully. And as the musician begins pressing down on different strings in different sequences, music begins to appear. The strings must submit to the will of the musician, or there is no music. There is no harmony. But when the Great Musician is working and His people are submitting, there is harmony; there is beautiful music that arises from His Church:
(Sing “Shout to the North)
Oh, my brothers and sisters, if we are going to make music that draws the world to Jesus, we are going to have to submit to Him. We are going to have to be in accordance with Him. We are going to have to be in harmony with Him!! I mean, I am no big fan of T.D. Jakes, the televangelist, but he was absolutely correct when he said, “You can’t learn to be in harmony with other people until you learn to be in harmony with God.”
But here is the good news, God has acted so that we can be in harmony with Him. God has acted through Jesus so that we may be brought into a right relationship with God. Jesus has taken our disharmony–our sin–upon himself and put it to death with Him on the cross. Jesus has taken our disharmony into Himself and tuned it to righteousness. Jesus has taken our disharmony and transformed it into His beauty, not by any work of our own–not because we deserved it–or anything about us. He did this through sheer grace; through sheer mercy; because of His great love for you and for me. You don’t have to worry about tuning yourself. You don’t have to worry about getting everything together. Simply put your trust in Jesus, and He will bring you to the place you need to be. Simply trust in Jesus and what He did on the cross and you will be led into a place of ultimate harmony; first with God, and then with your brothers and sisters in Christ.
As we submit to Jesus more and more in our lives; as we are captured by his grace and mercy; we begin to show this mark more and more as a church. We begin to live in harmony, and we make beautiful music that proclaims Jesus to the world. Amen.
Showing posts with label Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 6, 2018
Monday, November 2, 2015
D.I.V.O.R.C.E.
Today we arrive at one of those teachings that makes some of us squirm. Jesus teaches on divorce, and in reality on the topic of marriage. This is a pertinent topic for our society and culture as only a few short months ago, the Supreme Court declared that gay couples have the right to marry in our nation. This caused no shortage of angst amongst some folks, especially those of us who believe marriage is a relationship ordained by God between a man and a woman.
Critics of our position rightly pointed out that the Christian faith draws a sharp line about divorce, and they ask, “Well, if you Christians are so dead set against gay marriage, why aren’t you speaking out as loudly about divorce?” Furthermore, those critics also pointed out that just as many Christians get divorced as any other particular religious or philosophical group. So why, if this is the case–if we disregard or lessen this teaching on divorce–are we up in such arms about gay marriage? Now, I am not going to argue about gay marriage this morning. I want to deal with these legitimate questions that confronts us regarding divorce. It confronts our hypocrisy regarding our faith, and it also gives us an avenue to confront the true issue behind why marriages break up. Parts of the trip are not pleasant, but it is a trip that I think we are called to travel.
For you see, the temptation for any preacher when this text appears is to soften Jesus’ words. The temptation is to explain away what Jesus says to make everyone feel comfortable. Why? Well, you know why as do I. In this room this morning, not a single one of us has escaped the reality of divorce. Some of you have gone through a divorce and are remarried. Some of you have loved ones who are near and dear to you who have divorced. Some of you have good friends who have divorced as well. You hear Jesus’ words, “Whoever divorces and remarried commits adultery,” and you say, “Is that really the case? Am I...are my friends...are my parents really committing adultery?” If you ask me that question directly, and I am afraid you will leave the church because of my answer, I, as a clergy, am often tempted to do what Dietrich Bonhoeffer says in his book The Cost of Discipleship. Bonhoeffer criticizes the church and says that we are all to ready to justify the sin instead of proclaim the justification of the sinner. Now, what does that mean. Just this: there is bad news. If you divorce and remarry, you are committing adultery. But there is good news: you are forgiven. There is no softening Jesus’ words. He spoke them for a reason, and I hope that once you see what that reason is, you will understand. Let’s turn to the text.
We begin with the Pharisees coming to Jesus to trap him. The Pharisees don’t like Jesus. They want Him silenced. They actually want Jesus dead. This is obvious by the question they ask Him about divorce because of the location of the question. Jesus and His disciples are in the region of Perea. This was the region controlled by Herod Antipas. What is significant about this? Well, if you remember Mark chapter six, there was that “wonderful” story about John the Baptist being beheaded. Why was John beheaded? Because John dared to criticize Herod Antipas because he stole his brother’s wife Herodias and they were living in an adulterous and incestuous relationship. John angered Herod Antipas and especially Herodias, and she simply bided her time until she was able to have John killed. By raising this issue in this territory, the Pharisees were hoping word would get to Herod Antipas about Jesus, and Herod would silence Jesus once and for all.
But Jesus is the ultimate master of debate. He is the master at outwitting traps, and Jesus maneuvers perfectly as He answers the Pharisees’ question with a question. “What does Moses command you?”
Craig Evans in his commentary on this text says this, “For the Jewish people, at least for those who were Torah observant, appeal to the commandments of Moses was an appeal to the highest authority on any question.” This is a master stroke by Jesus because Jesus is calling the Pharisees–who were staunch defenders of the commands of Moses, to delve into Scripture. He is making them answer the question from their own source of authority.
They reply, “Moses allows us to write a certificate of divorce and dismiss our wife.” The Pharisees are absolutely accurate in this comment. In Deuteronomy 24, permission is given for a husband to divorce his wife. The text reads, “Suppose a man enters into marriage with a woman, but she does not please him because he finds something objectionable about her, and so he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house; she then leaves his house 2and goes off to become another man’s wife.” There is more in this text, but I will not read the entire portion here. It would get too long. What I hope you can see is that in the Scriptures, there are grounds for divorce to take place. The Pharisees knew this. Jesus knew this. So why did they ask the question?
Walter Wessel points this out in his commentary on this text, “The crucial words are “something indecent.” What did that include? The school of Shammai, the stricter of the schools, understood these words to mean something morally indecent, in particular, adultery. The school of Hillel interpreted these words much more freely. Just about anything in a wife that a husband did not find to his liking was suitable grounds for divorce. Even if she burned his food! So where did Jesus stand in this? That was their question.”
Jesus doesn’t get caught up in this debate, however. Jesus drives much deeper. Jesus takes the Pharisees back to the first principles–to the creation of humankind. As Craig Evans once again says, “Jesus sidesteps these options and instead challenges the hermeneutical assumption that because something is “permitted” it is therefore according to the will of God.” What is God’s will for marraige?
Jesus quotes Genesis chapter 2, “6But from the beginning of creation, “God made them male and female.” 7“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 8and the two shall become one flesh.” So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.’
Why is this text so significant? It is because of the Jewish understanding of God. God was seen as the ultimate being–a being who was whole, who was complete. If you remember the story of man and woman and how they became partners, God said that it was not good for man to be alone. Therefore, God began creating and bringing all the animals to man to find one who was suitable to be a partner. None were found suitable, so God caused the man to fall asleep, took out one of man’s ribs, and formed woman. Man was no longer whole. Part of him was gone. Woman was not whole because she was taken out of man. Neither could be whole and complete in and of themselves. It was only when they joined together–when they became one flesh, that they were once again whole and closer to God. So, if a divorce occurs, it is not simply two complete individuals going their separate ways. No. There is a literal tearing of flesh. There is a breaking of that which was once whole. This wholeness does not come about by the actions of people, but it is something that God does. Jesus points that out in His commentary. “What God has joined together, let no one separate!”
There is quite a bit of significance to this. Mark Edwards says this in his commentary, “The greatest difference between Jesus and the rabbis, however, is this: by giving a husband principal control over his wife, the Jewish divorce policy made the man the lord of the marital relationship. According to Jesus, however, it is neither man nor woman who controls marriage, but rather God, who is the Lord of marriage.: “what God has joined together, let man not separate.”
The disciples were apparently perplexed about this teaching, so as was their custom, they asked Jesus about it later in private. Jesus pulls no punches. Jesus wastes no time. Jesus teaches plainly and straightforwardly, “‘Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; 12and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.’
There is a lot to be said here, a lot. But first, let’s quote Walter Wessel again because there is something happening in Jesus’ teaching that makes perfect sense to us, but would have been shocking in His day. Wessel says, “Jesus did what the rabbis refused to do: he recognized that a man could commit adultery against his wife. In rabbinic Judaism a woman by infidelity could commit adultery against her husband; and a man, by having sexual relations with another man’s wife, could commit adultery against him. But a man could never commit adultery against his wife, no matter what he did. Jesus, by putting the husband under the same moral obligation as the wife, raised the status and dignity of women.” Jesus places a co-equal share on both men and women in marriage. Jesus gives rights to women that they didn’t have in the Jewish culture. It’s quite astounding.
But that doesn’t get to the heart of the question that perhaps many of you have. Is it really adultery? Yes, it is. Sorry, I’m not going to make you feel good about it. I’m not going to soften Jesus’ teaching. He isn’t beating around the bush, and neither will I. But, I will tell you this. Those of you who are divorced and remarried are the only adulterers in this room. You see, I am standing here this morning guilty of committing adultery as well. No. I am not, nor did I have an affair with someone, but none-the-less, I am guilty of adultery.
If you will permit me just a moment, I will read to you Matthew chapter 5 verses 27-28, “You have heard that it was said, “You shall not commit adultery.” 28But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Yep, I am guilty. I am also guilty of murder. Again from Matthew chapter 5, “‘You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, “You shall not murder”; and “whoever murders shall be liable to judgement.” 22But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgement; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, “You fool”, you will be liable to the hell of fire.” Yep, I am guilty of that one too.
And I’m not going to try to justify myself or soften these teachings either. Christianity is not about justifying the sin. Christianity is about justifying the sinner. What do I mean by that.
Let me quote to you what N.T. Wright said about this passage from Mark on divorce. Let me literally try to get at the heart of the matter in what Wright says:
The problem with divorce and adultery and murder and all sin is a hardness of heart. It’s our selfish nature coming back to haunt us. Divorce happens because one or both parties in marriage become self-serving and selfish. The relationship becomes all about that person and fulfilling that person’s needs often to the detriment of their partner. Selfishness consumes a person sometimes to the point where abuse takes place, and in such cases, I have even counseled people to get out of that marriage!! God does not intend for you to be consumed by a selfish, abusive partner!!
But God does intend for hearts to be changed. God does intend for marriages to last. God does not desire divorce. God wants marriages to last until death do us part, and in order for that to happen, something has to cure our hard-heartedness.
Christianity proclaims that this something is the Gospel. The Gospel softens our hearts because the Gospel says, “Jesus died for you when you didn’t deserve it. Jesus died for you and took your place on the cross when you were Jesus’ enemy. Jesus took punishment that you deserved and cried out that you may be forgiven.”
You know as well as I do that whenever someone does something for you that you know that you don’t deserve, it cuts you to the core. You know as well as I do that when someone gives you a gift or shows you compassion that you don’t deserve, it makes you feel both guilty and loved at the same time. You know you don’t deserve it, so you feel guilty, but you also feel deeply loved and appreciated because someone did such a thing for you. Take that instance in your life and multiply it on a cosmic scale. Multiply it with the significance of eternal life on the line. Add up all the times you were selfish and acted in your own self-interest and did all the things you wanted to do instead of acting for others, on behalf of others or simply doing the right thing. Know that all that burden has been erased by the God who took on human flesh and sacrificed Himself for you because He loves you.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him.
This is what Jesus has accomplished for you. This is the cure for the disease of hard heartedness. And when this sinks down into the depths of your soul, you know it’s power. You know its ability to keep you humble. You know it softens your own heart.
Yes, you and I are living in sin. We live in sin every day. We are failures. We are adulterers. We are murderers. We are broken, failures. But we are loved with a love which surpasses all of these things. Our sins are not justified, but we are justified sinners because of the cross of Christ. Amen.
Critics of our position rightly pointed out that the Christian faith draws a sharp line about divorce, and they ask, “Well, if you Christians are so dead set against gay marriage, why aren’t you speaking out as loudly about divorce?” Furthermore, those critics also pointed out that just as many Christians get divorced as any other particular religious or philosophical group. So why, if this is the case–if we disregard or lessen this teaching on divorce–are we up in such arms about gay marriage? Now, I am not going to argue about gay marriage this morning. I want to deal with these legitimate questions that confronts us regarding divorce. It confronts our hypocrisy regarding our faith, and it also gives us an avenue to confront the true issue behind why marriages break up. Parts of the trip are not pleasant, but it is a trip that I think we are called to travel.
For you see, the temptation for any preacher when this text appears is to soften Jesus’ words. The temptation is to explain away what Jesus says to make everyone feel comfortable. Why? Well, you know why as do I. In this room this morning, not a single one of us has escaped the reality of divorce. Some of you have gone through a divorce and are remarried. Some of you have loved ones who are near and dear to you who have divorced. Some of you have good friends who have divorced as well. You hear Jesus’ words, “Whoever divorces and remarried commits adultery,” and you say, “Is that really the case? Am I...are my friends...are my parents really committing adultery?” If you ask me that question directly, and I am afraid you will leave the church because of my answer, I, as a clergy, am often tempted to do what Dietrich Bonhoeffer says in his book The Cost of Discipleship. Bonhoeffer criticizes the church and says that we are all to ready to justify the sin instead of proclaim the justification of the sinner. Now, what does that mean. Just this: there is bad news. If you divorce and remarry, you are committing adultery. But there is good news: you are forgiven. There is no softening Jesus’ words. He spoke them for a reason, and I hope that once you see what that reason is, you will understand. Let’s turn to the text.
We begin with the Pharisees coming to Jesus to trap him. The Pharisees don’t like Jesus. They want Him silenced. They actually want Jesus dead. This is obvious by the question they ask Him about divorce because of the location of the question. Jesus and His disciples are in the region of Perea. This was the region controlled by Herod Antipas. What is significant about this? Well, if you remember Mark chapter six, there was that “wonderful” story about John the Baptist being beheaded. Why was John beheaded? Because John dared to criticize Herod Antipas because he stole his brother’s wife Herodias and they were living in an adulterous and incestuous relationship. John angered Herod Antipas and especially Herodias, and she simply bided her time until she was able to have John killed. By raising this issue in this territory, the Pharisees were hoping word would get to Herod Antipas about Jesus, and Herod would silence Jesus once and for all.
But Jesus is the ultimate master of debate. He is the master at outwitting traps, and Jesus maneuvers perfectly as He answers the Pharisees’ question with a question. “What does Moses command you?”
Craig Evans in his commentary on this text says this, “For the Jewish people, at least for those who were Torah observant, appeal to the commandments of Moses was an appeal to the highest authority on any question.” This is a master stroke by Jesus because Jesus is calling the Pharisees–who were staunch defenders of the commands of Moses, to delve into Scripture. He is making them answer the question from their own source of authority.
They reply, “Moses allows us to write a certificate of divorce and dismiss our wife.” The Pharisees are absolutely accurate in this comment. In Deuteronomy 24, permission is given for a husband to divorce his wife. The text reads, “Suppose a man enters into marriage with a woman, but she does not please him because he finds something objectionable about her, and so he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house; she then leaves his house 2and goes off to become another man’s wife.” There is more in this text, but I will not read the entire portion here. It would get too long. What I hope you can see is that in the Scriptures, there are grounds for divorce to take place. The Pharisees knew this. Jesus knew this. So why did they ask the question?
Walter Wessel points this out in his commentary on this text, “The crucial words are “something indecent.” What did that include? The school of Shammai, the stricter of the schools, understood these words to mean something morally indecent, in particular, adultery. The school of Hillel interpreted these words much more freely. Just about anything in a wife that a husband did not find to his liking was suitable grounds for divorce. Even if she burned his food! So where did Jesus stand in this? That was their question.”
Jesus doesn’t get caught up in this debate, however. Jesus drives much deeper. Jesus takes the Pharisees back to the first principles–to the creation of humankind. As Craig Evans once again says, “Jesus sidesteps these options and instead challenges the hermeneutical assumption that because something is “permitted” it is therefore according to the will of God.” What is God’s will for marraige?
Jesus quotes Genesis chapter 2, “6But from the beginning of creation, “God made them male and female.” 7“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 8and the two shall become one flesh.” So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.’
Why is this text so significant? It is because of the Jewish understanding of God. God was seen as the ultimate being–a being who was whole, who was complete. If you remember the story of man and woman and how they became partners, God said that it was not good for man to be alone. Therefore, God began creating and bringing all the animals to man to find one who was suitable to be a partner. None were found suitable, so God caused the man to fall asleep, took out one of man’s ribs, and formed woman. Man was no longer whole. Part of him was gone. Woman was not whole because she was taken out of man. Neither could be whole and complete in and of themselves. It was only when they joined together–when they became one flesh, that they were once again whole and closer to God. So, if a divorce occurs, it is not simply two complete individuals going their separate ways. No. There is a literal tearing of flesh. There is a breaking of that which was once whole. This wholeness does not come about by the actions of people, but it is something that God does. Jesus points that out in His commentary. “What God has joined together, let no one separate!”
There is quite a bit of significance to this. Mark Edwards says this in his commentary, “The greatest difference between Jesus and the rabbis, however, is this: by giving a husband principal control over his wife, the Jewish divorce policy made the man the lord of the marital relationship. According to Jesus, however, it is neither man nor woman who controls marriage, but rather God, who is the Lord of marriage.: “what God has joined together, let man not separate.”
The disciples were apparently perplexed about this teaching, so as was their custom, they asked Jesus about it later in private. Jesus pulls no punches. Jesus wastes no time. Jesus teaches plainly and straightforwardly, “‘Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; 12and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.’
There is a lot to be said here, a lot. But first, let’s quote Walter Wessel again because there is something happening in Jesus’ teaching that makes perfect sense to us, but would have been shocking in His day. Wessel says, “Jesus did what the rabbis refused to do: he recognized that a man could commit adultery against his wife. In rabbinic Judaism a woman by infidelity could commit adultery against her husband; and a man, by having sexual relations with another man’s wife, could commit adultery against him. But a man could never commit adultery against his wife, no matter what he did. Jesus, by putting the husband under the same moral obligation as the wife, raised the status and dignity of women.” Jesus places a co-equal share on both men and women in marriage. Jesus gives rights to women that they didn’t have in the Jewish culture. It’s quite astounding.
But that doesn’t get to the heart of the question that perhaps many of you have. Is it really adultery? Yes, it is. Sorry, I’m not going to make you feel good about it. I’m not going to soften Jesus’ teaching. He isn’t beating around the bush, and neither will I. But, I will tell you this. Those of you who are divorced and remarried are the only adulterers in this room. You see, I am standing here this morning guilty of committing adultery as well. No. I am not, nor did I have an affair with someone, but none-the-less, I am guilty of adultery.
If you will permit me just a moment, I will read to you Matthew chapter 5 verses 27-28, “You have heard that it was said, “You shall not commit adultery.” 28But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Yep, I am guilty. I am also guilty of murder. Again from Matthew chapter 5, “‘You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, “You shall not murder”; and “whoever murders shall be liable to judgement.” 22But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgement; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, “You fool”, you will be liable to the hell of fire.” Yep, I am guilty of that one too.
And I’m not going to try to justify myself or soften these teachings either. Christianity is not about justifying the sin. Christianity is about justifying the sinner. What do I mean by that.
Let me quote to you what N.T. Wright said about this passage from Mark on divorce. Let me literally try to get at the heart of the matter in what Wright says:
Jesus comment on the Mosaic permission is important as a clue to what he thought was going on in his own ministry. ‘Moses gave you this rule because of your hardheartedness’; in other words, Israel in Moses’ day was not able to fulfill the creator’s intention, and needed laws that would reflect that second-best reality. Hardheartedness, the inability (to use our version of the same metaphor) to have one’s heart in tune with to God’s best intention and plan, thwarted God’s longing that Israel should be the prototype of renewed humanity. The problem was not with the ideal, nor with the law, but with the people: Israel was, when it all came down to it, just like everybody else. Hardhearted. Eager to take the precious gift of genuine humanness and exploit or abuse it.
But this means that, for Jesus’ comment to make sense, he must be offering a cure for hardheartedness. If he is now articulating a rigorous return to the standard of Genesis, to God’s original intention, he is either being hopelessly idealistic or he believes that the coming of the kingdom will bring about a way for hearts to be softened.
The problem with divorce and adultery and murder and all sin is a hardness of heart. It’s our selfish nature coming back to haunt us. Divorce happens because one or both parties in marriage become self-serving and selfish. The relationship becomes all about that person and fulfilling that person’s needs often to the detriment of their partner. Selfishness consumes a person sometimes to the point where abuse takes place, and in such cases, I have even counseled people to get out of that marriage!! God does not intend for you to be consumed by a selfish, abusive partner!!
But God does intend for hearts to be changed. God does intend for marriages to last. God does not desire divorce. God wants marriages to last until death do us part, and in order for that to happen, something has to cure our hard-heartedness.
Christianity proclaims that this something is the Gospel. The Gospel softens our hearts because the Gospel says, “Jesus died for you when you didn’t deserve it. Jesus died for you and took your place on the cross when you were Jesus’ enemy. Jesus took punishment that you deserved and cried out that you may be forgiven.”
You know as well as I do that whenever someone does something for you that you know that you don’t deserve, it cuts you to the core. You know as well as I do that when someone gives you a gift or shows you compassion that you don’t deserve, it makes you feel both guilty and loved at the same time. You know you don’t deserve it, so you feel guilty, but you also feel deeply loved and appreciated because someone did such a thing for you. Take that instance in your life and multiply it on a cosmic scale. Multiply it with the significance of eternal life on the line. Add up all the times you were selfish and acted in your own self-interest and did all the things you wanted to do instead of acting for others, on behalf of others or simply doing the right thing. Know that all that burden has been erased by the God who took on human flesh and sacrificed Himself for you because He loves you.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him.
This is what Jesus has accomplished for you. This is the cure for the disease of hard heartedness. And when this sinks down into the depths of your soul, you know it’s power. You know its ability to keep you humble. You know it softens your own heart.
Yes, you and I are living in sin. We live in sin every day. We are failures. We are adulterers. We are murderers. We are broken, failures. But we are loved with a love which surpasses all of these things. Our sins are not justified, but we are justified sinners because of the cross of Christ. Amen.
Monday, September 21, 2015
Beginning to See
It seems like an eternity since I last stood before you and left you hanging in the middle of Mark Chapter 8. I began a sermon on the blindness that each and every one of us has, and I finished by describing a healing that Jesus performed on a blind man. This healing is unlike any other recorded healing in scripture. It is a healing performed in stages. First the blind man is touched, and he sees, but not clearly. The second time Jesus lays hands on the man and looks intently at him, the man is healed. This healing was not only historical, but it was metaphorical. It was meant to teach a lesson not only to the disciples, but to you and to me. As we finish Mark Chapter 8, I hope that we will see the significance of our blindness, our need for healing, and how we too are healed in stages.
In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus and His disciples are traveling toward Caesarea Philippi, and Jesus asks them, “Who do people say that I am?” It was very uncommon for rabbis to ask their followers things. Usually, it was the other way around. Usually, the rabbis students were constantly asking questions, but Jesus is no ordinary rabbi. Like a master teacher, Jesus has a point to draw the disciples toward.
The disciples begin spouting off all the things they have heard. “You are John the Baptist returned from the dead. You are Elijah who was taken bodily up into heaven who has returned to prepare the way for the Messiah. You are a prophet, perhaps the promised prophet Moses spoke about before he died.” It is an interesting list. One thing is for sure, all of these agree that Jesus is from God, and that He is in the prophetic line. Of this there is no dispute. Of course, these answers are not adequate. Jesus knows this. The disciples do too. How so?
Jesus continues, “Ah, but who do you say that I am?” Jesus is now putting the screws to His disciples. One of my commentaries said it best, “Who do you, my most intimate and trusted friends–in contrast to the other people who neither know me nor understand me–think I am?” There is no beating around the bush. There is no hemming and hawing. This is laying it all on the line right here. “Who do you say that I am?” Jesus asks. The answer to this question is the most important answer that the disciples–and that we could ever give.
Peter speaks for them all, “You are the Messiah.”
Now, you need to know that this statement is quite loaded. Today, we unhesitatingly say that Jesus is the Messiah, and we think about the cross and the salvation of the world. Not so with the ancient Jews. Not so with the disciples. Such matters would have been very far from their minds. Let me quote biblical scholar N.T. Wright in this matter:
By no means all Jews wanted or expected a Messiah. But those who did were clear (not least from their readings of scripture) that he had to do three things. He had to rebuild, or cleanse the Temple. He had to defeat the enemy that was threatening God’s people. And he had to bring God’s justice–that rich, restoring, purging, healing power–to bear both in Israel and out into the world...The Messiah would be God’s agent in bringing in the kingdom [of God] in sorting out the mess and muddle Israel was in, in putting the Gentiles in their place. (Mark for Everyone)
This is what the disciples would have thought about Jesus. They would have thought that He was going to cleanse the Temple; defeat the enemy that was threatening them–which at the present time was the Romans; and then bring God’s justice to bear on Israel and the world which meant cleaning up Israel and then putting the Gentiles into their place. This was the expectations of the Messiah. Every Jew that believed in the arrival of the Messiah believed these three things, and Jesus would accomplish all three–just not in the manner everyone thought. And as Jesus begins to tell the disciples about what Messiahship entails, we see that even though the disciples have begun to see, they cannot yet see clearly.
Jesus first tells everyone to keep silent about these matters. Some folks wonder why, I don’t any longer. Jesus doesn’t want them to give everyone the idea that He will be their Messiah. Jesus doesn’t want everyone in the surrounding countryside to think He is going to lead some sort of rebellion and religious/societal cleansing by force of arms. Jesus needs to open the disciples’ eyes. He needs to help them see clearly before they began to proclaim His rule. And Jesus begins to do that immediately.
Mark records, “Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly.” The Greek word for openly is “parrasia” which carries the connotations of someone who is completely free who speaks without restraint, who hides nothing. (Kittel–Theological Dict. of the N.T.) Jesus is being perfectly clear with His disciples about what will happen to Him–what will happen to the Messiah. But there are two fascinating things in what Jesus says. First, Jesus refers to Himself as the Son of Man. Jesus doesn’t use “Messiah” in reference to Himself. In fact, Jesus much prefers “Son of Man” instead of Messiah. Why? For two reasons: Messiah, as I said before was a loaded term which connotes military conquest. Jesus wasn’t about that. Secondly, there is a much broader scope with tying Messiah and Son of Man. Jews would have tied Jesus’ words with Daniel chapter 7 where the following is written:
13As I watched in the night visions, I saw one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. And he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 To him was given dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed.
The reign of the Son of Man extends much, much further than the much smaller scope of the Jewish understanding of the Messiah. Jesus is trying to expand the disciples’ vision so that they see Jesus’ purpose for the whole world. Let me repeat that: Jesus is here for the whole world, not simply the Jews, and the salvation of the world will not be brought about by military conquest and purification, but by Jesus’ death. “The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the scribes...”
There are two comments to be made here. First from N.T. Wright again who pricelessly says, “Messiahs don’t get killed by the authorities. A Messiah who did that would be shown up precisely as a false Messiah.” And secondly from James Edwards in the Pillar New Testament Commentary on the book of Mark:
The prediction of Jesus passion conceals a great irony, for the suffering and death of the Son of Man will not come, as we would expect, at the hands of godless and wicked people. The suffering of the Son of Man comes rather at the hands of “the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law.” It is not humanity at its worst that will crucify the Son of God but humanity at its absolute best. The death of Jesus will not be the result of a momentary lapse or aberration of human nature, but rather the result of careful deliberations from respected religious leaders who will justify their actions by the highest standards of the law and morality, even believing them to render service to God (John 16:2). Jesus will not be lynched by an enraged mob or beaten to death in a criminal act. He will be arrested with official warrants, and tried and executed by the world’s envy of jurisprudence–the Jewish Sanhedrin and the principia iuris Romanorum.
These things are just too much for the disciples. They contradict everything they had ever been taught. They contradict everything they had ever thought for themselves. They believed such things to be absolutely, totally wrong. Hence, Peter takes Jesus aside and rebukes Him. Now, mind you, the same word that Mark uses for Peter rebuking Jesus is the same word Mark uses when Jesus rebukes the demons. It’s that strong a reaction from Peter.
But Jesus is just as strong. Jesus is just as harsh, perhaps harsher. “Get behind me Satan,” Jesus retorts, “For you are setting your things on human things and not the things of God.”
And now, we come to the crux of this whole passage–indeed one might say this is the crux of the Christian message itself. Jesus calls the crowd together. Jesus wants to make sure that everyone understands this, not simply the disciples. This teaching is for everyone–not simply those closest to Him. “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Oh my. Oh my. Oh my. Jesus plainly, openly, clearly teaches that if we want to see clearly; if we want to know clearly; if we want to understand clearly–we must die. At this point, let me ask you, do you still want to be a Christian? Do you still want to even consider following Jesus? Do you still want to be a disciple if He says, in the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.” “For if you want to save your life, you will lose it, and if you lose it for Jesus sake and the sake of the Gospel, you will find it.” How can this be?
The Christian worldview starts with a very basic assumption about humanity. We were created to be good, but that goodness became warped. That goodness was over ridden by a deep selfishness which sought its own good; its own power; its own prestige; its own satisfaction; its own survival above its dependency upon God. To this day, our selfishness reigns. To this day, our ego tries to claim superiority. To this day, we do a lot to establish and preserve our identity and our self. I am who I am, and I will change for no one. And the world around us encourages this. And many churches do too.
I mean, I can tell you many, many churches who lead with the following sayings: Be yourself. Rejoice in your identity. Claim your heritage. God loves you just the way you are. All are welcome just as they are. I don’t know of a single church that leads and invites people with the following: deny who you are, come and die. It’s not a very popular advertising campaign. But it is Jesus. It is His call. And it is because He knows that if we spend our lives trying to maintain our identity and preserve ourselves, we will die a thousand deaths; never find fulfillment; and be searching for affirmation over and over and over again.
You know this as well as I do. Deep down you know this is the way the world works–that we are constantly taught to look out for ourselves, and we are constantly worried and burdened that we haven’t done enough. We tell our kids over and over, and you were probably told, “Work hard. Do well in school so that...what?” “You can get a good job and make enough money to live.” “Work hard, save your money, invest wisely so that...what?” You can retire and enjoy the years you have left. “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” we repeat to ourselves striving to put off the pain of rejection when someone insults us. We try to preserve ourselves because we find our value and worth in ourselves.
And Jesus says, deny it. Deny yourself and find your value in me. For the world around you will strive to cut you down. The world around you will take every advantage of you it can. The world around you will try to drain your wealth and leave you poverty stricken. The world around you will demean your skin color and your heritage. The world around you will bash your gender and your sexuality. The world around you will cut you down at the knees because it will find your faults. It will find your weakness, and it will exploit them.
Now, here’s a question for you: how can the world exploit your faults if you no longer try to hide them but openly profess them? How can the world bash your gender and sexuality if you have denied them? How can the world trash your skin color or heritage if you say they don’t matter? How can the world harm you if you don’t find your value in what the world thinks of you?
Deny yourself. Die to yourself. See yourself as a dead person walking–for that is what carrying the cross means. Ah, but it doesn’t just mean death. No for whoever loses their life for my sake and the sake of the Gospel will find it. Find it? Yes. You will find it. For in Christianity, death is followed by resurrection. The cross is followed by the empty tomb. Denying one’s self is followed by finding one’s true self; true identity; true value and worth in the Savior who willingly died for you when you least deserved it.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world may be saved through Him.
Find your self in Jesus. Understand what He did for you as He stretched out His arms and died for you. Grasp the power of the resurrection as it removes your fear of death. You will cease being caught up in the daily battle for self-preservation, you will find freedom, and you will truly see. Amen.
In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus and His disciples are traveling toward Caesarea Philippi, and Jesus asks them, “Who do people say that I am?” It was very uncommon for rabbis to ask their followers things. Usually, it was the other way around. Usually, the rabbis students were constantly asking questions, but Jesus is no ordinary rabbi. Like a master teacher, Jesus has a point to draw the disciples toward.
The disciples begin spouting off all the things they have heard. “You are John the Baptist returned from the dead. You are Elijah who was taken bodily up into heaven who has returned to prepare the way for the Messiah. You are a prophet, perhaps the promised prophet Moses spoke about before he died.” It is an interesting list. One thing is for sure, all of these agree that Jesus is from God, and that He is in the prophetic line. Of this there is no dispute. Of course, these answers are not adequate. Jesus knows this. The disciples do too. How so?
Jesus continues, “Ah, but who do you say that I am?” Jesus is now putting the screws to His disciples. One of my commentaries said it best, “Who do you, my most intimate and trusted friends–in contrast to the other people who neither know me nor understand me–think I am?” There is no beating around the bush. There is no hemming and hawing. This is laying it all on the line right here. “Who do you say that I am?” Jesus asks. The answer to this question is the most important answer that the disciples–and that we could ever give.
Peter speaks for them all, “You are the Messiah.”
Now, you need to know that this statement is quite loaded. Today, we unhesitatingly say that Jesus is the Messiah, and we think about the cross and the salvation of the world. Not so with the ancient Jews. Not so with the disciples. Such matters would have been very far from their minds. Let me quote biblical scholar N.T. Wright in this matter:
By no means all Jews wanted or expected a Messiah. But those who did were clear (not least from their readings of scripture) that he had to do three things. He had to rebuild, or cleanse the Temple. He had to defeat the enemy that was threatening God’s people. And he had to bring God’s justice–that rich, restoring, purging, healing power–to bear both in Israel and out into the world...The Messiah would be God’s agent in bringing in the kingdom [of God] in sorting out the mess and muddle Israel was in, in putting the Gentiles in their place. (Mark for Everyone)
This is what the disciples would have thought about Jesus. They would have thought that He was going to cleanse the Temple; defeat the enemy that was threatening them–which at the present time was the Romans; and then bring God’s justice to bear on Israel and the world which meant cleaning up Israel and then putting the Gentiles into their place. This was the expectations of the Messiah. Every Jew that believed in the arrival of the Messiah believed these three things, and Jesus would accomplish all three–just not in the manner everyone thought. And as Jesus begins to tell the disciples about what Messiahship entails, we see that even though the disciples have begun to see, they cannot yet see clearly.
Jesus first tells everyone to keep silent about these matters. Some folks wonder why, I don’t any longer. Jesus doesn’t want them to give everyone the idea that He will be their Messiah. Jesus doesn’t want everyone in the surrounding countryside to think He is going to lead some sort of rebellion and religious/societal cleansing by force of arms. Jesus needs to open the disciples’ eyes. He needs to help them see clearly before they began to proclaim His rule. And Jesus begins to do that immediately.
Mark records, “Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly.” The Greek word for openly is “parrasia” which carries the connotations of someone who is completely free who speaks without restraint, who hides nothing. (Kittel–Theological Dict. of the N.T.) Jesus is being perfectly clear with His disciples about what will happen to Him–what will happen to the Messiah. But there are two fascinating things in what Jesus says. First, Jesus refers to Himself as the Son of Man. Jesus doesn’t use “Messiah” in reference to Himself. In fact, Jesus much prefers “Son of Man” instead of Messiah. Why? For two reasons: Messiah, as I said before was a loaded term which connotes military conquest. Jesus wasn’t about that. Secondly, there is a much broader scope with tying Messiah and Son of Man. Jews would have tied Jesus’ words with Daniel chapter 7 where the following is written:
13As I watched in the night visions, I saw one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. And he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 To him was given dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed.
The reign of the Son of Man extends much, much further than the much smaller scope of the Jewish understanding of the Messiah. Jesus is trying to expand the disciples’ vision so that they see Jesus’ purpose for the whole world. Let me repeat that: Jesus is here for the whole world, not simply the Jews, and the salvation of the world will not be brought about by military conquest and purification, but by Jesus’ death. “The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the scribes...”
There are two comments to be made here. First from N.T. Wright again who pricelessly says, “Messiahs don’t get killed by the authorities. A Messiah who did that would be shown up precisely as a false Messiah.” And secondly from James Edwards in the Pillar New Testament Commentary on the book of Mark:
The prediction of Jesus passion conceals a great irony, for the suffering and death of the Son of Man will not come, as we would expect, at the hands of godless and wicked people. The suffering of the Son of Man comes rather at the hands of “the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law.” It is not humanity at its worst that will crucify the Son of God but humanity at its absolute best. The death of Jesus will not be the result of a momentary lapse or aberration of human nature, but rather the result of careful deliberations from respected religious leaders who will justify their actions by the highest standards of the law and morality, even believing them to render service to God (John 16:2). Jesus will not be lynched by an enraged mob or beaten to death in a criminal act. He will be arrested with official warrants, and tried and executed by the world’s envy of jurisprudence–the Jewish Sanhedrin and the principia iuris Romanorum.
These things are just too much for the disciples. They contradict everything they had ever been taught. They contradict everything they had ever thought for themselves. They believed such things to be absolutely, totally wrong. Hence, Peter takes Jesus aside and rebukes Him. Now, mind you, the same word that Mark uses for Peter rebuking Jesus is the same word Mark uses when Jesus rebukes the demons. It’s that strong a reaction from Peter.
But Jesus is just as strong. Jesus is just as harsh, perhaps harsher. “Get behind me Satan,” Jesus retorts, “For you are setting your things on human things and not the things of God.”
And now, we come to the crux of this whole passage–indeed one might say this is the crux of the Christian message itself. Jesus calls the crowd together. Jesus wants to make sure that everyone understands this, not simply the disciples. This teaching is for everyone–not simply those closest to Him. “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Oh my. Oh my. Oh my. Jesus plainly, openly, clearly teaches that if we want to see clearly; if we want to know clearly; if we want to understand clearly–we must die. At this point, let me ask you, do you still want to be a Christian? Do you still want to even consider following Jesus? Do you still want to be a disciple if He says, in the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.” “For if you want to save your life, you will lose it, and if you lose it for Jesus sake and the sake of the Gospel, you will find it.” How can this be?
The Christian worldview starts with a very basic assumption about humanity. We were created to be good, but that goodness became warped. That goodness was over ridden by a deep selfishness which sought its own good; its own power; its own prestige; its own satisfaction; its own survival above its dependency upon God. To this day, our selfishness reigns. To this day, our ego tries to claim superiority. To this day, we do a lot to establish and preserve our identity and our self. I am who I am, and I will change for no one. And the world around us encourages this. And many churches do too.
I mean, I can tell you many, many churches who lead with the following sayings: Be yourself. Rejoice in your identity. Claim your heritage. God loves you just the way you are. All are welcome just as they are. I don’t know of a single church that leads and invites people with the following: deny who you are, come and die. It’s not a very popular advertising campaign. But it is Jesus. It is His call. And it is because He knows that if we spend our lives trying to maintain our identity and preserve ourselves, we will die a thousand deaths; never find fulfillment; and be searching for affirmation over and over and over again.
You know this as well as I do. Deep down you know this is the way the world works–that we are constantly taught to look out for ourselves, and we are constantly worried and burdened that we haven’t done enough. We tell our kids over and over, and you were probably told, “Work hard. Do well in school so that...what?” “You can get a good job and make enough money to live.” “Work hard, save your money, invest wisely so that...what?” You can retire and enjoy the years you have left. “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” we repeat to ourselves striving to put off the pain of rejection when someone insults us. We try to preserve ourselves because we find our value and worth in ourselves.
And Jesus says, deny it. Deny yourself and find your value in me. For the world around you will strive to cut you down. The world around you will take every advantage of you it can. The world around you will try to drain your wealth and leave you poverty stricken. The world around you will demean your skin color and your heritage. The world around you will bash your gender and your sexuality. The world around you will cut you down at the knees because it will find your faults. It will find your weakness, and it will exploit them.
Now, here’s a question for you: how can the world exploit your faults if you no longer try to hide them but openly profess them? How can the world bash your gender and sexuality if you have denied them? How can the world trash your skin color or heritage if you say they don’t matter? How can the world harm you if you don’t find your value in what the world thinks of you?
Deny yourself. Die to yourself. See yourself as a dead person walking–for that is what carrying the cross means. Ah, but it doesn’t just mean death. No for whoever loses their life for my sake and the sake of the Gospel will find it. Find it? Yes. You will find it. For in Christianity, death is followed by resurrection. The cross is followed by the empty tomb. Denying one’s self is followed by finding one’s true self; true identity; true value and worth in the Savior who willingly died for you when you least deserved it.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world may be saved through Him.
Find your self in Jesus. Understand what He did for you as He stretched out His arms and died for you. Grasp the power of the resurrection as it removes your fear of death. You will cease being caught up in the daily battle for self-preservation, you will find freedom, and you will truly see. Amen.
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Christ's Exclusive Totality
"He that is not against us is for us." --Jesus, Mark 9:40
"He that is not with me is against me." --Jesus, Matthew 12:30
It is the same Jesus who speaks these words. For abstract analysis these two sayings of Jesus are in irreconcilable contradiction; but in reality they necessarily belong together. Here again we have living experience to prove our case; under the pressure of anti-Christian forces there came together groups of men who confessed the faith unequivocally and who were impelled to seek a clear decision for or against Christ in strict discipline of doctrine and of life. In their struggle these confessing congregations could not but perceive that the greatest of all the dangers which threatened the Church with inner disintegration and disruption lay in the neutrality of large numbers of Christians; they saw in this the true hostility to Christ. The exclusive demand for a clear profession of allegiance to Christ caused the band of confessing Christians to become ever smaller; they saying "he that is not with me is against me" became an actual concrete experience of the Christian Church; and then, precisely through this concentration on the essential, the Church acquired an inward freedom and breadth which preserved her against any timid impulse to draw narrow limits, and there gathered around her men who came from very far away, and men to whom she could not refuse her fellowship and her protection; injured justice, oppressed truth, vilified humanity and violated freedom all sought for her, or rather for her Master, Jesus Christ. So now she had the living experience of that other saying of Jesus: "He that is not against us is for us."
These two sayings necessarily belong together as the two claims of Jesus Christ, the claim to exclusiveness and the claim to totality. The greater the exclusiveness, the greater the freedom. But in isolation the claim to exclusiveness leads to fanaticism and to slavery; and in isolation the claim to totality leads to the secularization and self abandonment of the Church. The more exclusively we acknowledge and confess Christ as our Lord, the more fully the wide range of His dominion will be disclosed to us. --Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ethics (emphasis mine)
"He that is not with me is against me." --Jesus, Matthew 12:30
It is the same Jesus who speaks these words. For abstract analysis these two sayings of Jesus are in irreconcilable contradiction; but in reality they necessarily belong together. Here again we have living experience to prove our case; under the pressure of anti-Christian forces there came together groups of men who confessed the faith unequivocally and who were impelled to seek a clear decision for or against Christ in strict discipline of doctrine and of life. In their struggle these confessing congregations could not but perceive that the greatest of all the dangers which threatened the Church with inner disintegration and disruption lay in the neutrality of large numbers of Christians; they saw in this the true hostility to Christ. The exclusive demand for a clear profession of allegiance to Christ caused the band of confessing Christians to become ever smaller; they saying "he that is not with me is against me" became an actual concrete experience of the Christian Church; and then, precisely through this concentration on the essential, the Church acquired an inward freedom and breadth which preserved her against any timid impulse to draw narrow limits, and there gathered around her men who came from very far away, and men to whom she could not refuse her fellowship and her protection; injured justice, oppressed truth, vilified humanity and violated freedom all sought for her, or rather for her Master, Jesus Christ. So now she had the living experience of that other saying of Jesus: "He that is not against us is for us."
These two sayings necessarily belong together as the two claims of Jesus Christ, the claim to exclusiveness and the claim to totality. The greater the exclusiveness, the greater the freedom. But in isolation the claim to exclusiveness leads to fanaticism and to slavery; and in isolation the claim to totality leads to the secularization and self abandonment of the Church. The more exclusively we acknowledge and confess Christ as our Lord, the more fully the wide range of His dominion will be disclosed to us. --Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ethics (emphasis mine)
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