Sermons

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Who Is the Sermon For?
January 26, 2003
Pastor Dan Baumgartner
6th in a sermon series on the Gospel of Matthew
Matthew 5:1-12

Before I read the sermon text, there’s something we need to talk about (those words always make our kids say, “What did we do now?!” It’s not one of those!).

You know me, and you know I don’t talk about the finances of Bethany very often. But I want to tell you about something I love about this church. Every year when the end of the year approaches, the elders that you elect come to you all and say “IF there is a surplus at year end, this is where it will go.” NEVER, if there is a surplus, does it go into an savings account or an investment to try to see how much additional money we can earn. We don’t keep a cushion. Always, if there is a surplus, it is spent. I love that, because it keeps us on our toes. God gives to us, we give back. We have to start every year, trusting that God will provide for the ministries that He calls us into. I love that philosophy. It makes me feel that we can be responsible with what we’ve been given, but hold it lightly at the same time. It calls us each year to give sacrificially, and to trust God…anew. And again.

Every year since I have been here, we have headed into November and December with a steep, steep deficit…like $30-40,000. And each year, miraculously, we end up not only making up the deficit, but having a surplus. The year 2002, that ended December 31, was amazing. We again went into the last month with a steep deficit. When all the pennies were counted, we ended the year with a surplus of $64,000! As you were informed previously, that money will go towards some repair of our dearly beloved 1929 building, and mission work in Christ’s name going on in Afghanistan. So I’m very, very grateful, as we start a new year…that our congregation takes the care of our finances so seriously.

This morning, we continue on in the gospel of Matthew. In our text last week, Jesus went to “training school” in the wilderness, a testing to see if He would stick to God’s plan rather than his own. Immediately after that testing, Jesus begins to call his disciples to follow him, and embarks on a remarkable public ministry. The end of chapter 4 tells us that Jesus began to travel, proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God, and healing disease and sickness among people. It was remarkable…so remarkable, that great crowds began to follow him around, to be near him as he cured people…or perhaps to be cured themselves.

Today we begin the first of three sermons on the Sermon on the Mount that lies in chapters 5-6-7.

The Sermon on the Mount. It’s a little daunting to preach on. (I confess that for much of my childhood, I thought this was the Sermon on the MOUND…and that it had something to do with baseball!) It’s been called: The Great Sermon. The Magna Carta of the Kingdom. The Manifesto of the King. The Great Instruction. The Compendium of Christ’s Doctrine. It’s also been called…a bunch of words.
Why would Jesus give up an incredible and spectacular healing ministry, with the crowds getting bigger and bigger…to sit down on a mountain and speak? He’s just started up a healing ministry that is at the top of the charts in pulling in the crowds, and he takes time out to talk. Why? Maybe it’s because words are actually important.

There are lots of words spoken these days. We ruin words. Talk is cheap. We twist words, we spin them. One of the marks of our culture, Eugene Peterson would say, is that our words are “sick.” In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul tells his understudy Timothy many times to practice SOUND teaching…and the word in Greek for “sound” is “hygien,” where we get our word hygiene…cleanliness. Use clean words, sound and true and healthy ones. Words matter. And so Jesus sits down, and began to teach…who? Both Matthew and Luke say that Jesus talks…to the disciples. There may have been other people there, listening…but the words of the sermon on the mount come squarely to the DISCIPLES OF JESUS. So you decide if they’re for you.

I’m going to just tell you right now. These are not easy words. The Sermon on the Mount is tough. I had a professor in seminary, Dr. Willis-Watkins…who was quite a character. He had some truly biting sarcasm. One of his favorite lines when he wanted to be sarcastic was “Snort, Cackle, Wheeze.” He would quote something he didn’t agree with, and then shout derisively, “SNORT, CACKLE, WHEEZE,” and then “No, no, a thousand times no,” and then give what he thought was a better position. Someone made the mistake of saying rather flippantly one day that “the Old Testament is tougher than the New Testament.” To which Dr. Willis-Watkins said “Snort, cackle, wheeze; no, no, a thousand times no.” Then he said “Great. Tell you what: I’ll live by the 10 commandments, you take the Sermon on the Mount.” No comparison.

It’s in this teaching, you see, that Jesus takes so many huge leaps. It’s not just that you don’t murder…but it’s that your anger murders. It’s not just that you don’t commit adultery, it’s that even a look with lust means you HAVE committed adultery. It’s not just that you love your neighbor…but your enemies and persecutors. Jesus goes up on this mountain, like Moses climbed the mountain. And where Moses came down the mountain with the 10 commandments in hand, Jesus is going to take the 10 commandments and drive so deeply to the heart of their meaning that it will leave us humans gasping for breath…and longing for God to be with us.

But not yet. Before he talks about the ten commandments, Jesus gives us this morning’s text: the Be-attitudes. Words. Clean words, healthy words, grace-filled words. And one of the words is the one that appears NINE times in these verses: “BLESSED.”

BLESSED: FORTUNATE, HAPPY, GOD-BLESSED, GOD BE WITH YOU. There’s actually no verb here. Jesus says BLESSED the way Psalm 1 or Psalm 32 uses BLESSED, “HOW BLESSED is the one who does not follow the wicked, HOW BLESSED is the one who is forgiven! BLESSED the way that David felt when God said he would build his family through David, and David sits down and says, “Who am I, Lord, that you treat me so well, that you would regard me as important, Who am I?! How blessed am I?!” The way that Jesus uses “blessed,” it’s like what he SAYS actually occurs, it IS a blessing that he gives. “The blessing of God, of the Kingdom, on you!”

It’s made me think this week. I use that word “blessings” quite a bit…to close off emails, or times together with someone, I’ll just say “blessings.” In fact, I’ve said it enough that it starts to become routine. Not any more. This week, after reading these beatitudes all week, it feels different even to say it. I feel like in the saying, it happens. “You are BLESSED by God,” or perhaps better: “May the blessing of God be on you.” Or in a more demanding way that I think God might actually rejoice in, “God, BLESS this person.” It’s become a prayer, where I’ve asked the blessings, the very presence of God to be on the person. BLESSED is a good word. A healthy, clean word.
“BLESSED ARE…” I wonder what the disciples thought Jesus was going to say?

“BLESSED ARE…YOU?”

“BLESSED IS THE ONE WHO BELIEVES IN ME?”

“BLESSED IS THE ONE WHO TITHES?”

But they were wrong. The first four beatitudes tell us something that is a little bit shocking. We think that the Winners in this world are the blessed ones. The ones with the money, the ones with the good job, the ones with the nice house…or the ones with the strong family, or with the strong faith…we think those are the ones God blesses. But these first four beatitudes say “No.” In fact, it’s the reverse. The ones who are blessed are the ones in need. The ones God goes to are the ones that need Him, the ones he turns to are those who are inadequate.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” How blessed are they! For the kingdom of heaven…the presence of God…is on them. The spiritually inadequate, the dispirited, the crushed and broken.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” How blessed they are! The one who are in deep sadness, for things and situations here…for the state of their relationship with God…for things on heaven and on earth, those whose hearts are breaking…that’s where God can be found.

“Blessed are the meek…the gentle, for they will inherit the earth.” That can’t be right, can it? Those kind of people, the unqualified, the inadequate, the downtrodden, the ones that CAN’T grab for things they need…oh, they may inherit something SPIRITUAL, but they never win on EARTH. But there it is “they will inherit the earth.”

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” God be with the one who cannot help themselves, who are hungry and thirsty and KNOW they are hungry and thirsty, who are hungry and thirsty and dependent on God, who know they literally cannot LIVE unless and until they are right with God, they crave God.

Who are these, that God would be with them?? Blessed are the crushed. Blessed are the brokenhearted. Blessed are those who are downtrodden, blessed are those on the outside looking in, blessed are those who can’t help themselves. BLESSED, FIRST OF ALL…are those who need. The presence of God…on the ones who need Him. The beatitudes start with weakness, with need, with imperfection, with people who need God. God bless those.

Soren Kierkegaard, the brilliant Danish philosopher once said “Man’s supreme perfection…is to be in need of God.” Do we believe that? Do you believe that? The beatitudes are for those who are turned towards God because they have nowhere to go.

The word of the gospel from Jesus on the mount, in these first beatitudes is: grace.

The beatitudes that follow these first four take a distinct shift…from need to action. From being to doing. When we have been blessed in our need, we receive enough to give. When we have received from God, we have something to give to others. The person God has brought back from alcoholism is the one who knows how to walk alongside an alcoholic. The one who has been caught up in chasing a title or a house or a job and forgetting about what is important, and God met him/her and pulled them back…THAT’s the person to talk to someone else in the same situation. They’ve received, and now have some to give.

Blessed are the merciful (mercy-full)…they’ll receive mercy (this is the only one where the promise corresponds with the present situation). You get filled up, you don’t hoard it, you pass it on. I read about the drive-through espresso line last Christmas (only in America do you have drive-through espresso!). One person paid for their own coffee, and then also the person’s behind them that they didn’t know. When that person got to the booth, they were so surprised that someone they didn’t know had paid for their coffee…that they paid for the person behind them. Nobody kept it. You are mercy-full…you’ve been filled with mercy, you pass it on, you receive it again.

“Blessed are the pure in heart.” Blessed are the ones that struggle, that strain to keep the junk out of their lives. Blessed are the ones who put good things into their lives, good, clean healthy things. Blessed are the ones who long to be pure. Sometimes in today’s church we want to talk so much about our vulnerability and our shortcomings that we really forget…it’s okay to try to live out of a pure heart! We need God’s help, but it’s okay to try! It’s not being holier-than-thou To NOT read the books, the magazines, see the movies…that pollute, that’s okay! It’s not being holier-than-thou to be a good and loyal friend or spouse or a worker with integrity…in fact it’s even GOOD. Keep your heart pure! When John Calvin commented on this beatitude, you know what he talked about? Honesty in business! Blessed are these, who work at it day in and day out…they’ll see God clearly…more and more clearly.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Because God IS a peacemaker. Be like your parent! Peace is a funny word in English. Either we talk about feeling peaceful on the INSIDE, a tranquility. Or we talk about peace on the outside, like the absence of war. But the Biblical word, that comes from shalom in the Old Testament, puts them together. It’s wholeness in all of life. A peacemaker is not just an absence of war person, but a reconciler. Not just someone who negotiates a ceasefire, but someone who works at the underlying causes to eliminate injustices. There’s lots of talk about peace right now. It’s important in the church that we look for the ways of Jesus in our peacemaking. And that’s not as easy as it sounds. Jesus spent his whole ministry in conflict and controversy. But at the same time…he was all about looking to bring about shalom, the wholeness on the inside AND the outside, the individual, the community, the country... I hope we’re looking at Jesus when we are trying to figure out how to be peacemakers.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Blessed, in fact Jesus says, are YOU when you are persecuted on account of your faith in me. We started out with the poor in spirit getting the kingdom of heaven, and we end with the kingdom going to the one who suffers…for Jesus. The blessing, how BLESSED is the one who suffers for righteousness…for Jesus.

I couldn’t help but think of a pastor that we met on our trip to China in October. I sat next to that 80-year-old Pastor Moses at the dinner table, who had lost everything for doing what I do every day as a pastor: job, freedom, wife, home. He was in jail for most of 25 years, he was beaten for two solid years. When I asked him what had sustained him in all of that, he quoted from Matthew, Matthew 10: “Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” Pastor Moses has found his life in Jesus.

There’s so much we could talk about in these beatitudes. Here’s what Dale Bruner says to sum up these beatitudes:

• “God helps those who cannot help themselves (first 4),
• God helps those who try to help others (next ones)…
• but nowhere does it say that God helps those who think they can help themselves.”

The first beatitudes engage us with God. The next ones engage us with people. Who is the Sermon for? Jesus spoke these words to the disciples. You’ll have to decide if they are for you. And it’s an important decision. Because the sermon is going to get a lot tougher.

“Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name, but what’s puzzling you is the nature of my game.”

Well, the “name” appears repeatedly in this story in Matthew: Tempter. Satan. Devil. Three times, in fact, the word “devil” appears in these few verses. And that word actually tells us quite a bit. The root word that we get “devil” from literally means “to split up.” Fundamentally, that IS the devil’s game: to split people apart from God, to drive a wedge between the two. And the way (or some of the ways) he does that is in this story of the three temptations.

ONE: Jesus’ wilderness training camp for ministry was tough. Really tough. Forty days and nights, God asked him to fast. He moved through hunger, through the stage where his body lived off its reserves, until the body actually begins to shut down.

After 40 days in the desert, those rocks probably began to really look like bread. Jesus was at his weakest moment. His mind was probably fuzzy, so we’re not surprised to hear that a voice speaks: “If you’re the Son of God, turn these into bread.” In this moment of weakness, the voice says, “You’re in this by yourself. There’s nobody meeting your needs, so take care of it yourself.” Maybe it even said, “Hey, you’re the Son of God, don’t you have a RIGHT to bread?” In other words, DO SOMETHING SPECTACULAR! Take care of yourself.

The devil wants Jesus to be independent and take care of himself. God wants him to be dependent and take care of others. The ministry of Jesus Christ was marked by his dependence on God. Jesus fasted, he prayed, he sought his Father, he asked for strength, he even asked for his task to be removed from him. The devil wanted Jesus to use his power to do something physically spectacular. God wanted him to prepare to do something physically weak…like die on behalf of others.

We get tempted towards the ministry of the physically impressive as well. Pick up any number of books and magazines. What makes a successful church? A new building? A bigger staff? More programs? More people. Is this successful? Yesterday I met someone with whom I had a two or three minute conversation. In those minutes, they told me exactly what their church’s percentage growth in people was, how the fiscal year had ended and what new program they had started. Spectacular. I couldn’t run away fast enough.

Jesus had a totally different way of ministering. It had to do with people. And with the kingdom of God beginning to show up in surprising little ways, like planting a tiny seed in the ground and watching what happened.

This week I attended a lunch down at SPU. SPU does these great “church leader forums” where they serve a nice lunch and bring in a well-known speaker once a quarter or so. This month it was Marva Dawn, an author and teacher many of you know. But about a minute and a half into her talk, I was having a hard time listening. You see, shortly after Marva started talking, after everyone was done eating, two people came in and sat near me. They were very poorly dressed, carrying all sorts of bags and briefcases, and huge heaping plates of food. The woman was blind. My first thought was that they had wandered in off the street, and stumbled on a good meal. I was actually dead wrong about that, I found out later. But they sat, and began to eat quite loudly, and it was clear that everyone for several tables around was distracted. I was fascinated. What should I do? Anything? What would Jesus do? I tried to think of something spectacular. I thought about what the people around me would think if I did do something.

After about fifteen minutes, a guy at the table behind me got up, and quietly sat down next to this woman, and asked her if he could get her something to drink. That’s all. Just something to drink. It seemed like something Jesus might do. “Man does not live by bread alone…” The devil wanted Jesus to do something physically spectacular, to proclaim his independence. The ministry of Jesus was marked by dependence. He learned that in the wilderness.

TWO: The devil failed to tempt Jesus into self-sufficiency, even when he was at his weakest. So he switches gears, and goes at Jesus’ strength: his faith. In particular, he challenges Jesus with the scriptures. No doubt you noticed as we read that at every turn in this conversation, Jesus goes to the scriptures to answer the devil: Deuteronomy 8:3, Deuteronomy 6:16, Deuteronomy 6:13. [It’s a good reminder that we need to have the scripture close at hand, to have it inside of us. That’s not spectacular work either, it’s hard work to memorize, to read, to study.]

The devil takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple there in Jerusalem, the very highest spot…some 450 feet above the valley floor. He doesn’t push him off, but instead hurls the scriptures at him. “Take the leap! Scripture says God will catch you! Have a little faith, Jesus! I dare you.” Do something spectacular…with your faith. The devil wants Jesus to take the lead, and make God follow. God wants to see if Jesus will follow.

In our ministries…yours and mine…and I’m reminded by this bulletin which has said every Sunday for the last three and a half years that I’ve been here: Ministers: You.

In our ministries, who is leading? Us? Or God? A number of months ago, I had the great idea that it would be good for our congregation to take an entire year and focus on prayer. At the time we were just starting Alpha, and working hard on newcomers events and things to try and create ways to enter into this community. My idea was that we would drop lots of things we were doing and just pray. It was a good idea; I hope we do it sometime. But as I bounced the idea off of people, one of our elders listened and said, “I don’t know, Dan. That sounds like where YOU are. I’m not sure it’s where God is with our congregation.”

She was exactly right. I was ready to move ahead. Of course God would want us to pray! So we could just move ahead, and ask God to bless what we were already doing.

Who’s going to lead? Us, or God? The ministry of Jesus is marked by God leading him. He learned that in the wilderness.

THREE: So the devil has failed at tempting Jesus into the spectacular physical feat or spiritual challenge. He tries once more, and puts in front of him spectacular power. He shows Jesus all the world, the wealth, the riches, the cities…but more than anything, the people. All of these people that Jesus had come to earth for! All the people he wanted to impact. And all it would take was a little bit of compromise.

Just one bad thing, and Jesus could have the power to do a great deal of good. Surely that was worth it? Just bow your knee to the devil ONE TIME, Jesus, that’s all. One step backward, then lots of steps forward. Think of all the good he could do!

You’ve been in a spot like that. At work, maybe. Just one time…don’t keep a promise you’ve made so that you can “get ahead.” Just one time, refuse to promote someone who deserves it so you can gain political clout. Just one time, don’t speak up in the face of injustice. Maybe you’ve been there, thinking that if you just look the other way once, you could get a position with real power, that you could use to do good.

It’s a slippery slope, isn’t it? I know many of you have seen or read the Lord of the Ring stories by now. In the first book, The Fellowship of the Ring, the hobbit Frodo is talking with the wizard Gandalf. Upon hearing about the terrible power of the one ring, and the danger of it, Frodo says to Gandalf, “You are wise and powerful. YOU take the ring!” And Gandalf, who IS wise and powerful, leaps back and shouts, “Do not tempt me! The way of the ring to my heart is by pity and the desire for strength TO DO GOOD. Do not tempt me!” Gandalf knew…that the slope is slippery. It doesn’t work to go backwards.

Tomorrow we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. I was thinking this week of the incredible things that he and so many others endured in starting the civil rights movement: injustice, beatings, firehoses, arrests, threats, even murder…without returning violence for violence. Now, we have a long, long way to go in this country and in this city…before there is anything like justice, like a country that Martin Luther King Jr. envisioned in his dream. But I’m thankful for people like him, people who said, “There just can’t be any compromise. Wrong is wrong.”

The devil wants Jesus to compromise. Just once. For a good cause. The ministry of Jesus is marked by NO compromise. He learned that in the wilderness.

And so Jesus receives his testing, his training. He must forego the spectacular to carry out his ministry of service and self-sacrifice. And so he gives us a model of ministry, a model that says “no” to the spectacular, the self-centered, the independent, the powerful. These are all roads to meaningless ministry. They may look good for a while, but ultimately they will blow up or blow away. Jesus’ example says “yes” to humility, to servanthood, even to suffering.

But there’s one thing I skipped over, something that underlies all of these temptations, for Jesus and for us. Two times in this passage, the devil speaks to Jesus and says, “IF you are the Son of God.” IF you are the Son of God, turn the stones, IF you are the Son of God, jump off. IF you are the Son of God.

In Jesus’ baptism, God assured Jesus that he was his Son. “This is my Son, with whom I am very pleased.” Yet even to the very cross itself, Satan continued to try that game: “IF you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!” That’s what people shouted. But Jesus stayed BECAUSE he was the Son of God.

It is the most fundamental trick of the devil. The “nature of his game,” as the song says, is to make us doubt…that we belong to God. That God could actually love us. And when we doubt, then we look for proof, spectacular proof…and we give in to temptation.

Listen to these words of Frederick Buechner’s:

“Repent and believe in the gospel, Jesus says.
Turn around and believe that the good news
THAT WE ARE LOVED
is better than we ever dared hope,
and that to believe in that good news,
to live out of it and toward it,
to be in love with that good news,
is of all glad things in this world
the gladdest of all.”

Let us pray.