Northwood United Church

It’s Dangerous to be a Christian

Matthew 10:32-39
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Rev. Dr. Doug Lobb

Did you hear the scripture lesson for this morning? I mean really hear it! I can’t think of a more difficult passage in the entire Bible. Listen to part of it again:

What does that mean? Is this really Jesus? Is this the same person who said, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you? Is this the gentle shepherd who taught us to turn the other cheek? What are we to make of such a harsh statement and where, where is the good news?

First, let’s look at the times in Biblical history when a sword has dropped that has had long term consequences. You heard Deborah read the story of Abram, that was his name before it was changed to Abraham, about how God promised Abram that he would be the father of a great nation yet he was very old and did not have any children. Quite aware of this Sarai, Abrams wife before she became Sarah said, go to my hand maid and have a child with her.

Abram went to Hagar, Sarai’s handmaid and Ishmael was born. A bit later, Sarah, though well beyond child bearing years has a son named Isaac. With the birth of Isaac, Sarah, lacking faith that her son would be the inheritor instead of Ishmael, asked Abraham to cast out this slave women and her son. With a heavy heart Abraham did just that……. I have not come to bring peace but a sword.

That’s a great and memorable story but I want you note what a huge impact this has had on all of Middle East history. Hagar and Ishmael went out to the desert country where Ishmael, whose name means, “God hears”, was loved by Abraham and God who made him also, the father of a great nation. Ishmael, it is said became the father of 12 princes who became leaders of twelve tribes. Isaac, in the Genesis story, became the father of Jacob, who had 12 sons. Jacob’s name was changed to Israel, thus the twelve tribes of Israel...

To this day, largely because of this story, the descendents of Ishmael who are the Arabic people and the descendants of Isaac, who are the Jewish people, have great difficulty getting along. In the Koran, the holy book of Islam, Ishmael the son of Abraham is the honoured father of the great race promised to him by God. In the Bible, Isaac is the honoured one in a great race of people promised to his father Abraham by God. Two sons-one father as the story goes but the sons go in different directions.

If you come to this Christian Church from the south along 152nd St, at 68th Ave on the north-west corner you pass an Ishmaili Mosque and the division of the descendants plays out in our news media very day. Stories are powerful and they can become destructively powerful if they are interpreted literally.…………….. I have not come to bring peace but a sword.

This story is not however, confined to the pages of history. It is a reality in our midst with great frequency. Often, when one decides to follow Jesus as Lord, a sword drops and relationships are severed.

The family is together for a reunion. The son, who is the heir apparent to the family factory business and who has been away at University is the honoured guest. Everyone is proud and happy, when suddenly the son announces, Mom and Dad, “I want to attend seminary and become a minister. I feel called to do this.” Faces fall and silence reigns. Little is said for many years only in time does the son learn that his name is not in the family will.

A family is sitting around a family table sharing a festive dinner when a son or a daughter fearfully says, Mom and Dad, this is not a good time, but I have wanted to tell you for some time that I am a gay man or I am a lesbian…..Silence: a sword falls right in the middle of a seemingly joyous occasion and the bond that existed is often broken. Genetic makeup is ignored by “what will our friends think?”

A daughter who has rejected the Church upbringing that was part of her youthful years learns that her aging parents have given a sizeable endowment to a small Church related College in the Middle West of the United States. Infuriated, she works feverishly to have her Mother and Father declared mentally unfit in order to save her share of the inheritance.

And there is the Mother who will not speak to her children because her son has joined a Church where they speak in tongues and her daughter has left the Church of her upbringing and does not attend any Church…………. I have not come to bring peace but to bring a sword.

What is surprising in these stories is not that Jesus says, that’s not the way it should be. He says instead, that is the way it is and because it is that way, those who find their life will lose it but those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

Friends, let’s be honest; the gospel is bad news, lousy news, offensive news for those who have cast their lot with the world. Very few people who have cast their lot in the carriage of getting more and more are pleased to hear the words of Jesus that the poor are the responsibility of the rich.

Hardly anyone who puts out several hundred thousand dollars to buy a very large house is happy to hear that there are thousands who have no lodging. They are not happy to hear that the “son of man has no place to lay his head.” The message of Jesus is offensive to many of this generation, like other generations, because it calls for people to change. Jesus calls us not live by the law of finding peace and joy by getting more and more but to live by the law of love and share that with which we have been blessed. There is no compromise. Either one is for Jesus or not……He does not offer peace but a sword.

Jesus is calling you and me to be inclusive, to accept all people regardless. He is calling is to dip our hands into the mess and filth of poverty, addiction and disease to grope in the cesspool of squalor and share the love of God.

To understand what Matthew is saying is to bear in mind that Matthew is the most strident and demanding to the gospel writers. Fred Craddock reminds us that Matthew presents Jesus as a Moses like figure in a book that reads like a catechism against lawlessness. There is a toughness to Matthew that is not found in the other gospels.

Matthew’s audience is the Jewish people of his era- those for whom the law was more important than the way of Jesus. To illustrate graphically, Matthew says, there is no compromise. If you seek to stay where you are, you will be alienated from all that God wishes. You must, Matthew insists, choose to follow Jesus as the true revelation of God even if it means enmity between you and your father or Mother or father-in-lay or Mother-in-law. If you cave in, Matthew states, you will lose your life but if you stand strong and follow this Jesus you will find your life. It’s a hard message.

Lastly, it seems to me that this message applies also to Churches because the early Christians believed this so strongly that they called their churches, families. In their mind, the Christian family or church was stronger than their natural families. If a choice had to be made, the choice was to follow Jesus and be part of the church family.

Throughout history churches have followed similar patterns. Typically, a church starts off with missionary zeal-like Northwood did just 10 years ago. A new congregation is so excited about the difference Christ has made in their lives and the new building they have to express and experience that reality that they want others to know. They commit themselves to creating a place where other are welcomed.

Everything from Sunday School to day care; from the fall fair to the thrift shop, from the youth group to the spring plant and garage sale is designed to bring people in, familiarize them with the place in the hopes that here they would find what the members and adherents had found. This produces energy and as the church grows, the people who make it up grow also.

Next churches move into a time of missionary growth and institutional stability. Human and financial resources are sufficient to creating an effective and engaging communal life. Congregations experience internal change. It is something that just happens: leaders move away, newcomers arrive with new passions and dreams that are different than those who were originally part of the new churches combined congregations. That sounds like every congregation I know and it sure sounds like Northwood.

At this juncture, members who stay, stay because of how the church serves their needs: gone is the zeal and participation of what attracted those who were part of the merging churches. Now, the challenge becomes how do we equip new people in the disciple making mission of the church? A majority of church member become consumers of the church’s service rather than “providers” of the reason for the Churches existence. Remember-“those who find their life will lose it but those who lose their life for my sake, will find it.”

Dear friends, have we lost the “why” in our reason for being a church? Have we become a protective society, protecting the culture and the means of operation that we have come to know?

Is the welfare of our buildings more important than the activities they house? Are potlucks, plant sales and fairs more important than letting the community know we are here and why we are here? Do we value people coming to our services because it is an opportunity to expose them to the good news of God in Jesus or are they welcomed because “we need them”.

Over time, churches in this mindset see that decline is becoming increasingly visible. There is slippage in youth, slippage in attendance, slippage in finances and most of all slippage in the mission of the church.

Some churches close feeling their work is done. Some do nothing and just die. Others seek out the way of renewal; sensing that there is more light to break forth from God’s Holy Word.

I have not come to bring peace but a sword. A choice is demanded because people and churches who find their life and insist that is the way it should be, will lose their life but people and churches who lose themselves for my sake, saith Jesus, will find it. May it become so right here!

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