Harmony #68: The Feast Of The Kingdom (Luke 14:1, 7-24)

Imagine you are invited to a meal in 1st century Palestine. The fact that you are invited means several things:

1. You matter.

2. You are at least close to the same socio/economic class.

3. You are ‘okay’ in that the host doesn’t mind being seen with you.

But once you get there, it’s not just about the honor of being a guest. The game is afoot!

1. The closer you are seated to the host, the more important you are. You might get an almost entirely different meal consisting of much better food, or you might even be in a separate room with the host while everyone else is in a different room. If you are seated at the end – sure, it was good to be there, but stay in your last place lane if you know what’s good for you, and good luck with the Ramen noodles. A Roman poet named Martial who loved him some satire criticizes the different quality of food served to guests: “Since I am asked to dinner ... why is not the same dinner served to me as to you? You take oysters fattened in the Lucrine lake, I suck a mussel through a hole in the shell; you get mushrooms, I take hog funguses…Golden with fat, a turtle-dove gorges you… there is set before me a magpie that has died in its cage. Why do I dine without you, although Ponticus, I am dining with you?”

2. The closer you were, the later you arrived, just so everyone could see you get ushered to the front. If you assumed you would be last, you could get there early and try to claim a place close to the front, but you ran the risk that when the really important people got there later, they would move you to the bottom in front of everyone. Rabbi Akiba said, “Go two or three seats lower than the place that belongs to thee, and sit there till they say unto thee, ‘Go up higher’; but do not take the uppermost seat, lest they say unto thee, ‘Come down’: for it is better that they should say unto thee, ‘Go up, go up’; than that they should say, ‘Come down, come down.’” (Adam Clarke)

It turns out meals – especially feasts on special occasions – were a lesson in merit and distinction that revealed your social, economic and maybe even religious status in the eyes of others.[1] This brings us to today’s text.

One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee…and noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable.

“When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, because a person more distinguished than you may have been invited by your host. So the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this man your place.’ Then, ashamed, you will begin to move to the least important place.

“But when you are invited, go and take the least important place, so that when your host approaches he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up here to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who share the meal with you.For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” [2]

But when you host an elaborate meal, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Then you will be blessed/blissful, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous/just.”[3]

I don’t think Jesus was saying that we shouldn’t invite our friends over for meals.[4] Luke’s story is about more than social circles or proper etiquette with guests. 

 In Jesus’ time, there were serious economic, political and religious problems wrapped normal-looking moments. What should have been a time of fellowship became a time of pride and competition. What should have brought people together pushed people apart. What should have added value to people’s lives actually judged their value.[5] Paul talks about this in his advice to the church in Corinth (1 Cor. 11: 17-33).

In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval. 

So then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk. 

Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter...So then, my brothers and sisters, when you gather to eat, you should all eat together.

Paul goes on to say that people are sick and some have even died because of this problem. There are a number of ways that passage has been interpreted; I lean toward a very practical application. People were having sometimes fatal health issues because they lacked proper nourishment – or had too much. Paul called this “despising the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing.” It is vitally important that church communities have a keen eye for those in need, while avoiding the kind of self-indulgence we see in this passage.

This leads to what is called The Parable of the Great Banquet.

When one of those at the meal with Jesus heard this, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will feast in the kingdom of God!” But Jesus said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many guests.[6] 

At the time for the banquet he sent his slave to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, because everything is now ready.’ But one after another they all began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going out to examine them. Please excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I just got married, and I cannot come.’ 

Okay, these are all terrible excuses.

First, there would have been an RSVP sent out far ahead of time for a date to which these folks committed. (Say, Tuesday, the 25th of June.) The servant went out on the day of the event to tell them it was time. This wasn’t a surprise. It’s just that the food was hot and it was time to eat on the previously agreed upon date.

Second, the quality of the excuses are terrible.

• “No one buys a field in the Middle East without knowing every square foot of it like the palm of his hand.” (Kenneth Bailey). This dude had certainly seen that land already.

• Same with the oxen. Five yokes was…a lot. Bro was rich. He did not get rich by not knowing what he was buying.

• No way was the marriage happening at the same time, because no one would schedule a major banquet at the same time as a wedding. Meanwhile, men were exempt from military service for their first year of marriage (Deut. 20:7; 24:5), but this is not a war.

 Bottom line: they didn’t want to go. They were fascinated by the things right in front of them and didn’t want to be distracted, so they made excuses. Jesus had just lamented this in Luke 13:34-35, reminding them “how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate.” 

“So the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the master of the household was furious and said to his slave, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ Then the slave said, ‘Sir, what you instructed has been done, and there is still room.’  

So the master said to his slave, ‘Go out to the highways and country roads and urge[7] people to come in, so that my house will be filled.  For I tell you, not one of those individuals who were invited will taste my banquet!’ “[8]

I think we have to be careful with this parable and not make it bear more weight than is intended. It doesn’t fit cleanly with “Jesus is throwing the party” because that would imply that Jesus first invited his friends and important people, and then when they couldn’t come, he went with his back-up plan of the marginalized and outcast. He had JUST WARNED against this kind of favoritism, so I am confident we should not read the parable in a way that supports a favoritism reading.

Some dude at the meal  - so, someone who is part of the “in” crowd - had just said, ““Blessed is everyone who will feast in the kingdom of God!” Then the text says, “But Jesus said,” as if he is going to contradict him. He doesn’t contradict his statement; he contradicts his expectations by clarifying who will be at that feast.

The audience expected it to be the deserving –specifically, them. But Jesus’ responded, “Everybody is invited to the great banquet.” It is the Father’s good pleasure to give the Kingdom to all who respond to the invitation of Jesus.  

But you have to accept the invitation to enter in. Your title, your family background, your standing in the synagogue, your reputation, your past good works, the fact that you are at that meal with all the prestigious folks – none of those things mean you are or will be at the feast of the Kingdom.

The point isn’t that the “poor and crippled and blind and lame” (v. 21) and those who live in the “highways and country roads” (v. 23) were a back-up plan. What was scandalous to his proud audience was that are just as welcome. They probably didn’t expect these people to even respond to the message when they heard it (like the “tax collectors and sinners” Jesus had been eating with recently). Twice already, we have read where the people assumed it was sinners who were sick (John 9) or on whom calamity fell (Luke 13).

The Pharisees were those who assumed they were invited to the feast of the Kingdom. They were put together, healthy, religious, prosperous. They sat at the top of the table. Of course they would be invited. God was lucky to have such amazing followers. Jesus is about to tell the parable of the Prodigal Son (The Two Brothers). This is the older brother in that parable, the one who lived on the father’s land and missed the feast.

Then there are the Prodigal sons, those who assume they would not be invited: poor, crippled, blind, lame, living on the margins of society where unwanted people lived. This invitation was too good to be true.

When the parable says they were urged (‘compelled’ in many translations), they weren’t forced; a better translation is that they were lovingly persuaded to join the feast. There was a place already prepared for them. They were wanted. They mattered.[9]  It was the Father’s good pleasure to give them the Kingdom.

Side note: we might be shocked to know who is ready to respond to the invitation of the Kingdom. Our culture is a spiritual battlefield, no doubt, but it’s also a relational mission field that’s ripe for harvest. I love how Jesus embodied how to do both when he ate with tax collectors and sinners. Surely, the Kingdom of God was storming the gates of hell in that moment.

“The witness of the church should be characterized by the joy of inviting people to the banquet God has prepared…both present and future.”[10]

We see in this parable that the law-keepers who knew the most in their heads about the kingdom were the most calloused and non-committed to the invitation to actually “taste and see that the Lord is good.” (Psalm 34:8)  It was those they assumed who knew the least and lived the worst who turned out to be hungry for the goodness of the feast that is Christ and his kingdom.

I wonder how much the church would grow in the United States if we were characterized by going out of our way to befriend those who look to be the furthest from Christ, who appear to be the least likely to follow Jesus, and joyfully inviting them to the feast that Jesus is hosting?

• What if we worked with and cared for mothers considering abortion and offered them physical, emotional and spiritual hope rather than putting a sign in their face and yelling at them? Which approach matches the approach of Jesus?

• What if we brought a loving, engaged presence full of truth and grace to schools whose curriculum or philosophy concerns us – mentoring kids, helping in the library, being a teacher’s aide, helping with a campus ministry – rather than angrily disrupting school board meetings?

• I wonder how Jesus would be present with people wrestling with gender identity? I just can’t picture him as a keyboard warrior posting snarky memes. I can picture him inviting them to a meal, validating their worth as an image bearer of God, and introducing a righteous presence full of grace to walk with them through their confusion and into the freedom of truth.

Surely, in those moments, the servants of the king are going into the highways and country roads and offering a compelling reason for others to join the feast Jesus offers in the Kingdom.

Let’s talk about that feast and the Kingdom. In the Kingdom, God gives us a feast of salvation and sanctification, the guidance of His Word and His Spirit, the fruits of the Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, the beauty of living in communion with God and righteous community with others.

“Whatsoever things are true, honest (honorable), just, pure, lovely (acceptable and prized), and of good report (repute)…think on these things.” (Philippians 4:8)

“The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23)

“Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.” (2 Peter 1:5-7)

That’s the kind of thing that characterizes the Kingdom.  That’s a compelling list. It is the Father’s good pleasure to give us these things when we follow Jesus into the Kingdom of God in response to the Spirit and the Word of God.

It doesn't’ mean that life will be easy or perfect. It’s just that the more we experience the work and presence of Christ in our life, the more these things will begin to characterize our life in Christ and with others. And when entire communities begin to increasingly be characterized by these things, we start to see what it means that “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

We are going to share communion today. From 1 Corinthians 11:

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”  In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

The early church combined communion with fellowship meals. The wealthy brought more or all of the food in that setting; I suspect those struggling to eat well got to take the leftovers home. It’s a practical image of how God gives provision in His Kingdom. It’s a reminder that God’s plan for provision through Jesus’ sacrificial death was meant to be embodied by the generous, loving, sacrificial presence of His people: financially, emotionally, relationally, practically.

We are a body, together. As we take communion today, let’s remember that that the sacrifice of Jesus has made us onewithChristwhile drawing us into a Kingdom that makes us onewith each otherthroughChrist. And in righteous church community, we will see why God is so pleased to give us the Kingdom as we experience God’s provision.

_______________________________________________________________________________

[1] “The early church struggled against traditional and societal pressures to maintain such social distinctions (see 1 Cor. 11:17–34.)” (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Of The New Testament) Keep in mind that the Gospels were written after the letters of the New Testament. I suspect certain episodes from the life of Jesus were highlighted for a reason.

[2] His words echo the prophecy of Ezekiel, who predicted that there would be a day when, “the lowly will be exalted and the exalted will be brought low.” (Ezekiel 21:26) Similar guidance appears in a popular Jewish book at that time. “The greater you are, the more you must humble yourself; so you will find favor in the sight of the Lord.” (Sirach 3:18)

[3] The first clear reference to the resurrection of the righteous appears at Daniel 12:2

[4] “What he [inspires] here is charity to the poor and what he condemns is those entertainments which are given to the rich, either to flatter them or to procure a similar return; because the money that is thus criminally laid out properly belongs to the poor.” (Adam Clarke)

[5] “Experience has shown that seeking the chief seats leads to corruption, with exploitation of the poor and oppressed.” (Africa Bible Commentary)

[6] “On this mountain [Zion] the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples ...” (Isa. 25:6) Isaiah makes it clear that the messianic banquet is for “all peoples,” there was a tendency in Judaism to reject the notion that Gentiles would be included. The first-century b.c. Psalms of Solomon offers a prayer that the Messiah will “purge Jerusalem from gentiles” and “will destroy the unlawful nations with the word of his mouth. At his warning the nations will flee from his presence.” Jesus is about to radically alter this exclusive view of messianic salvation. (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds of the New Testament)

[7] “By prayers, counsels, entreaties. No other kind of constraint is ever recommended in the Gospel of Christ every other kind of compulsion is antichristian, can only be submitted to by cowards and knaves, and can produce nothing but hypocrites.” (Adam Clarke)

[8] An interesting parallel to this story appears in the Jerusalem Talmud. When a village tax collector named Bar Ma’jan dies, the whole town comes out to mourn. Why? He had invited the city officials to a banquet, and when they failed to come, he gave orders that the poor should be invited so that the food would not be wasted. (Adam Clarke)

[9] Believer’s Bible Commentary

[10] Stories With Intent: A Comprehensive Guide To The Parables of Jesus, by Klyne Snodgrass

Harmony of the Gospels #30: Jesus’ True Family (Matthew 12:46-50; Mark 3:20-21, 31-35; Luke 8:1-3, 19-21)

Some time afterward Jesus went on through towns and villages, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and disabilities: Mary (called Magdalene), from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna the wife of Cuza (Herod’s household manager), Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their own resources.

Now Jesus went home, and a crowd gathered so that they were not able to eat. When his family heard this they went out to restrain him, for the people were saying, “He is out of his mind.”[1] While Jesus was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and brothers came. Standing outside, they could not get near him because of the crowd, so they sent word to him, to summon him, asking to speak to him.

Someone told Jesus, “Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside wanting to see you and speak to you.” To the one who had said this, Jesus replied, “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?” And looking at his disciples who were sitting around him in a circle, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!

For whoever hears the word of God and does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”[2]

The Jewish people thought that they were spiritually "safe" because they had descended from Abraham. John records at one point they reminded Jesus, "Abraham is our father,” as if this blood lineage was all that mattered.  Jesus’ reply to them lines up with what he said in this passage:

“If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham." (John 8:39)

Their deeds would demonstrate that they were spiritual children of Abraham, just as Jesus is telling them now that his spiritual family will be known by their deeds.[3] As he noted elsewhere,

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father Who is in heaven will enter.” (Matthew 7:21)

“Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.” (Hebrews 2:11)

When we surrender our lives to Jesus as Lord, we become “joint heirs” with Jesus (Romans 8:17; 10:9–10), into whose image we will be continuously transformed (2 Corinthians 3:18). Our heavenly Father wants His children to bear a family resemblance.[4]

We often talk about this as “knowing people by their fruits.” When we are all on the same tree, bearing fruit from the same root, grafted into the same vine (John 15; Romans 11), we are in a new family that takes precedence over any other allegiance or relationship. John Phillips writes of this change of status in this way:

"The natural family was being replaced by the new family. Anybody could become related to Him in a family tie that was nearer and dearer than any forged by natural birth. Natural ties would be swallowed up in spiritual ties. Henceforth, He would regard anyone who had the same relationship with His Father as He had as being in the new family.”

It’s not that we ignore our household, of course. The stark contrast Jesus made in the passage we read was a typical Jewish way of making a point (just like “hating your parents” for the sake of God was about priorities.[5]) It means your obedience as a child of your heavenly Father takes priority over any other kind of allegiance.[6]

In an honor/shame culture that highly prized family loyalty and honor, Jesus makes a very unsettling point: those who follow him receive a new spiritual family, with intimacy and allegiance that transcends even ties to those in our household.[7] His family becomes our family, and our allegiance to him as Father and to his other children as siblings must come before all earthly allegiances.[8]

This isn’t to say those who are not followers of Jesus don’t matter. There is plenty of other Scripture that tells us how to interact with all of humanity, because everyone bears the image of God. All have value, worth and dignity; we are commanded to love all people well. I like how Adam Clarke says it:

“The revelation of God, and of all the ordinances and precepts contained in it - they are all calculated to do man good: to improve his understanding, to soften and change his nature, that he may love his neighbour as himself. That religion that does not [infuse] and produce humanity never came from heaven.”  (Adam Clarke)

So, yes, do good to all people. Jesus is simply making the point here that followers of Jesus are in a unique category, united by Jesus and filled with the Holy Spirit. This covenant with God and his family now forms us and orders our lives above all else.

I am reading at length now from Ephesians 2: 11-22. I need to make this point clearly, because we are going to land hard on this.

So never forget how you used to be. Those of you born as outsiders to Israel [Gentiles] were outcasts, branded “the uncircumcised” by those who bore the sign of the covenant in their flesh, a sign made with human hands. 

You had absolutely no connection to Jesus; you were strangers, separated from God’s people. You were aliens to the covenant they had with God; you were hopelessly stranded without God in a fractured world. But now, because of Jesus the Anointed and His sacrifice, all of that has changed. 

God gathered you who were so far away and brought you near to Him by the royal blood Jesus, our Liberating King. He is the embodiment of our peace, sent once and for all to take down the great barrier of hatred and hostility that has divided us so that we can be one. 

He offered His body on the sacrificial altar to bring an end to the law’s ordinances and dictations that separated Jews from the outside nations. His desire was to create in His body one new humanity from the two opposing groups, thus creating peace. 

Effectively the cross becomes God’s means to kill off the hostility once and for all so that He is able to reconcile them both to God in this one new body. The Great Preacher of peace and love came for you, and His voice found those of you who were near and those who were far away. By Him both have access to the Father in one Spirit. 

And so you are no longer called outcasts and wanderers but citizens with God’s people, members of God’s holy family, and residents of His household. You are being built on a solid foundation: the message of the prophets and the voices of God’s chosen emissaries with Jesus, the Anointed Himself, the precious cornerstone. 

The building is joined together stone by stone—all of us chosen and sealed in Him, rising up to become a holy temple in the Lord. In Him you are being built together, creating a sacred dwelling place among you where God can live in the Spirit.

* * * * *

Jesus teaches love for the neighbors within one’s own family (Matthew 15:4–9; 19:19); he also insists that commitment to him and his mission must exceed all others (Matthew 8:21–22; 10:34–39). [9] The reality of this new family has implications.

When we talk about fellow Christians in any variety of circumstances, we are talking about not just our brothers and sisters in the most important sense of the word, but we are talking about the brothers and sisters of Jesus. So we must speak with care. And love. And honor. We must practice hospitality of head, heart and hands.

I’m about to make you uncomfortable as I challenge us to live as family in 5 areas that tend to dominate the cultural headlines. There are surely more issues that could be addressed. I don’t have time; these are the current hot topics.  This same sermon 20 years ago or 20 years from now would be different.

I spent a lot of time this week praying and considering how to say this perfectly, and quickly realized that I won’t. I just need to say it. I pray it’s truth in love, and that the Holy Spirit translates the spirit of my heart and words for you wherever I fail.

We have brothers and sisters in Christ who are Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, etc. We have brothers and sisters in Christ who voted differently than us, who align themselves on the other side of the political aisle. In our building today, this is true. Jesus’ followers ranged from the passive, withdrawn Essenes (John the Baptist) to the militaristic Zealots (Simon the Zealot). Depending on how much his other disciples were influenced by the Rome-cozy Sadducees or the Law-loving Pharisees, they had huge differences. He called them all and loved them all. What or who will primarily disciple us in how we should think, feel and talk about those across the aisle from us; who will tell us how should we act toward them? God forbid Joe Biden or Donald Trump direct my steps any more than the voice of Herod would have held sway in the early church. The voice of Jesus should drown out the voices in the empire; the example of Jesus calling his closest group from the political opposites should tell us something. What does Jesus say and model about how to love each other well in the midst of differences?

We have brothers and sisters in Christ who still disagree about how we should have and are responding to COVID, from shutdowns to masks to vaccines. We have brothers and sisters in Christ who are anti-vax and pro-vax, who still wear masks and who never did. That’s true around the world, and it’s true in this room. This isn’t about policy; this is more foundational than that. What or who will primarily disciple us in how we think, feel, and act toward our brothers and sisters? Jesus gets to set the table about how to love each other well in the midst of our disagreements and differing decisions. Neither the CDC nor that naturopathic health website are my brother and sister in Christ. You are.  And if neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will separate us from the love of God,[10] than it should take more than disagreements about masks or shots to separate us from the love designed to be found within the community of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We have brothers and sisters in Christ who have immigrated to this country legally and illegally. I’m not here to make a political point or recommend policy; it’s just a fact. 61% of legal immigrants identify as Christian, which is about the same of the U.S. population. 83% of illegal immigrants identify as Christians.[11] Regardless of how we feel about it, we have brothers and sisters in Christ who are crossing the borders into our nation within the system and outside the system. In addition, we have brothers and sisters in Christ who live in border states that are at times overwhelmed with the needs of immigrants, and even they at time have sharply different views on how to respond. What or who will primarily disciple us in how brothers and sisters of Jesus should think, feel and talk about those in this situation? God forbid politicians and activists from the Right or the Left set the agenda for how we can best be ambassadors for Jesus. There is no way youtube personalities and talk show hosts from the Right or the Left should be taking the lead in shaping how we think about our brothers and sisters in Christ on either side of the border and in or outside of the government’s system. Jesus gets to tell us. Surely there is a rigorous and important discussion to have about policies. Law and order and mercy and grace are not enemies of each other. But I’m not talking here about policies. This is about grounding our hearts and minds before we ever start that discussion in the fact that the blood of Jesus has paid the price to draw all of our brothers and sisters in this discussion into his family.

We have brothers and sisters in Christ who have very different opinions about how to respond to our country’s legacy of slavery, Jim Crow and racism. I have heard Christian voices I respect talk about how unhelpful Black Lives Matter and Critical Race Theory have been to bringing truth and peace, and I have heard Christian voices I respect tell me how important Black Lives Matter has been and how crucial CRT is to addressing and righting injustice. (A lot of that has to do with how we are defining the terms, but that’s a discussion for another time). We have brothers and sisters in Christ on both sides of this issue.  Are these important discussions to have on the way to discerning what is true and just? Absolutely. But what or who will primarily disciple us in how we should think and feel about those with whom we disagree? Jesus gets the lead in this. Remember: we are part of what Paul called a “new humanity,” members in a family made possible by Jesus overwhelming the very real and daunting social and cultural barriers between His brothers and sisters. This family envelops every tribe, nation and tongue having this discussion, unifying us all without erasing our distinctiveness, which is all part of the beautiful kaleidoscope of humanity that God himself ordained. Jesus at the center is far more important than those with agendas and bullhorns on the fringes.

We have brothers and sisters in Christ who are struggling with gender identity. I’ve talked with them. They love Jesus. They aren’t trying to shake their fist at God or be rebellious. They are bearing a burden they did not ask to bear, yet there it is. What or who will primarily disciple us in how we should think, feel and act concerning our brothers and sisters in this situation? I don’t know everything about this topic, but I know one thing: any voice that pushes God’s people away from those wrestling with this kind of issue is not a voice inspired by the Holy Spirit. I’m watching the battle lines being drawn in our culture and wondering, “Dear God, where are the spiritual medics, the representatives of the Great Physician, the ones walking into tense and confusing situations with sacrificial, loving lives filled with truth, grace, and hope? Our brothers and sisters who need us to be faithfully present are watching us to see if we will be. Based on what they see, they will either hide at best or run at worst, or they will stay in fellowship with thus as we all walk together, following Jesus, to a place of healing and restoration. We represent the Jesus who saves, delivers and heals, not the activists who demand we get our knuckles bloody in the latest culture war front.

Does the mean we all shut up to get along? No. It means we use language in conversation that is like apples of gold on plates of silver. [12] Does this mean we have to act like everybody is right in their opinions on these issues? Of course not. Some things are true and some things are not. But in many cases, the journey to truth is complex and tricky, and it needs to be done in committed, care-filled community.

What is at stake here?

(John 17:20-23) “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.

And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

The loving unity of the church is meant to represent the loving unity of God, so that the world may know who Jesus is, and how much he loves us. This isn’t Anthony making this connection; it’s Jesus himself making this connection.

* * * * *

So how do we ‘practice righteousness’[13] for our good and God’s glory even as God continues to do the supernatural work of refining and maturing us? The phrase "one another" occurs 100 times in the New Testament, along with other passages clearly teaching us how to love one another well to the glory of God and the magnification of the love of Jesus.[14]

·      Do not lie to one another (Colossians 3:9)

·      Stop passing judgment on one another (Romans 14:13)

·      If you keep on biting and devouring each other...you'll be destroyed by each other (Galatians 5:15)

·      Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other (Galatians 5:26)

·      Do not slander one another (James 4:11)

·      Don't grumble against each other (James 5:9)

·      Love one another (John 13:34 + 16 more)

·      Be devoted to one another (Romans 12:10)

·      Honor one another above yourselves (Romans 12:10)

·      Live in harmony with one another (Romans 12:16)

·      Build up one another (Romans 14:19; 1 Thessalonians 5:11)

·      Be likeminded towards one another (Romans 15:5)

·      Accept one another (Romans 15:7)

·      Admonish one another (Romans 15:14; Colossians 3:16)

·      Greet one another (Romans 16:16)

·      Care for one another (1 Corinthians 12:25)

·      Serve one another (Galatians 5:13)

·      Bear one another's burdens (Galatians 6:2)

·      Forgive one another (Ephesians 4:2, 32; Colossians 3:13)

·      Be patient with one another (Ephesians 4:2; Colossians 3:13)

·      Speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15, 25)

·      Be kind and compassionate to one another (Ephesians 4:32)

·      Submit to one another (Ephesians 5:21, 1 Peter 5:5)

·      Consider others better than yourselves (Philippians 2:3)

·      Look to the interests of one another (Philippians 2:4)

·      Bear with one another (Colossians 3:13)

·      Teach one another (Colossians 3:16)

·      Comfort one another (1 Thessalonians 4:18)

·      Encourage one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11)

·      Exhort one another (Hebrews 3:13)

·      Stir up [provoke, stimulate] one another to love and good works (Hebrews 10:24)

·      Show hospitality to one another (1 Peter 4:9)

·      Employ the gifts that God has given us for the benefit of one another (1 Peter 4:10)

·       Clothe yourselves with humility towards one another (1 Peter 5:5)

·      Pray for one another (James 5:16)

·      Confess your faults to one another (James 5:16)

Are we committed to being the kind of family God intends for us to be? The kind of family that shows the world – and the families within our church – what it looks like to love each other relentlessly and well with the love God has shown us through Jesus?

__________________________________________________________________________________________

[1] “They deemed the zeal and daily devotion to His labor of love a sort of ecstasy or religious enthusiasm, which made Him no longer master of Himself. St Paul uses the word in this sense in 2 Corinthians 5:13: “If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God.” Compare the words of Festus to St Paul (Acts 26:24). (At this point Festus interrupted Paul’s defense. “You are out of your mind, Paul!” he shouted. “Your great learning is driving you insane.)”  - Cambridge Bible For Schools And Colleges

[2] Many commentators note the absence of “father.” Perhaps it is because only God is his father; perhaps Joseph has died. Perhaps both. We do know that Joseph was not at his crucifixion either, so odds are good Joseph had died. Surely, Jesus understands our loss and grief.

[3] HT to Precept Austin for connecting these verses for me!

[4] Again, good thoughts from Precept Austin.

[5] “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26)

[6] ESV Global Study Bible

[7] NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible

[8] IVP New Testament Commentary Series

[9]  As found in the Matthew-Mentor Commentary

[10] Romans 8:39

[11] https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2013/05/17/the-religious-affiliation-of-us-immigrants/

[12] Proverbs 25:11-12

[13] “And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.” (1 John 2.28-29)

[14] HT to this site for compiling all these verses! https://www.mmlearn.org/hubfs/docs/OneAnotherPassages.pdf

“Holding Spaces” In Holy Places (1 Peter 2; Ephesians 4)

Last year we talked about how church is an impossible community. It’s just a way of saying the assemblage of people who congregate together in a church is s counterintuitive, at least culturally, and we are no exception. This is as old as the first churches. 

In a world where male/female, slave/free, Jew/Gentile marked huge cultural divides, the church was full of all of them. Zealots (insurrectionists) and Pharisees (who worked with Rome) broke bread together with tax collectors and Roman soldiers and Jewish slaves. Paul no doubt did church with families of people his persecution impacted. Read the letters in the New Testament and look at what spiritual and relational issues were challenging churches. 

It should have been impossible. But it wasn’t. Part of the beauty of the gospel message was the Jesus came to tear down barriers between people (Ephesians 2:14), to remind us through his actions and teachings that in Christ there is a new kind of humanity that arises (Ephesians 2:11-13), one meant to baffle and compel a watching and skeptical world. “How does this happen? Jesus who? Tell me more…” It’s meant to baffle and compel those on the outside… and create a holy and compelling space for those inside.

That’s hard, y’all. The things we don’t want to do, we do; the things we know we should do, we don’t[1]. #paulsproblem  Add to that the principalities and powers aligned against us[2], and it’s hard. But Paul also added that Jesus can give us victory in the midst of that struggle. When God calls us to be a particular kind of people, He equips us to be that kind of people: His Word guides us; His Spirit indwells us; His people surround us. And it’s still hard, but not actually impossible.

As we start 2022, I want to focus on a really practical way in which we can live together as this new humanity in a way that I believe is compelling and beautiful and necessary if we are to experience life in the Kingdom of God within the local church as God intended. 

I recently ran across the phrase “holding space.” It’s not a new phrase, but it was to me. I was describing some counseling/mentoring I had received in which the other person simply spent time with me, and in that space I found a lot of help and healing and growth simply because someone “held space” with me and listened. 

To be sure, this person was a pastor, and my chaotic emotions and thoughts wrestled with life but from a biblical view of the world we both shared. Though he was usually silent, he was not always silent (I would ask him to reflect on what I said and advise me when I was stuck). And in that space the Holy Spirit did a work.

When I found out this was called “holding space” (or was at least a way to do it) I started reading up on the term. I realized two things.

First, I love the idea. It’s the kind of commitment almost anyone can make to another person because you don’t need to bring anything other than yourself. It’s what Job’s friends did right. When Jesus asked his disciples to go with him to the Garden, he said, “Sit here as I pray.” Basically, you just say, “I can be with you. I can sit with you. I can set aside space in my life just to be present with you to see and hear and know you.” The Bible talks about time when we will fully know God as we are fully known[3], and I think that phrases captures a longing of the human heart not just with God but with others: to be known and loved, the more fully the better. 

It’s a way in which we love. My wife and I both feel like we didn’t love each other like we thought we did when we got married because we didn't know each other like we thought we did. We knew in part and loved in part. Over the past 31 years, knowing has increased, and with that knowing has come the opportunity to love more deeply and fully. So I love the idea of holding space. It’s a love language. 

Second, I realized I was not completely satisfied with simply “holding space.” I love it as a page or chapter in the story of our relationship with other people – in fact, if we rip that page out, the story is incomplete.  But the whole story – and genuine relationship – is more complicated than that. 

“Holding space,’’ at least the way it is generally presented, is a neutral experience of presence and an affirmation of the other’s existence. Once again, a beautiful thing. I don't mean to be critical of that. 

But I have discovered that, as a Christian, I need spaces that are not neutral. Why? Because I need someone who speaks truth into my life (with grace), someone who loves me and is committed to my growth, who lovingly challenges me, who actively affirms me, who lovingly points out my weaknesses, lovingly doesn’t let my sin slide. 

I asked my pastor/mentor/friend to, at times, step out of his role of merely holding space and step into the role of filling the space with elements that may have been lacking. As much as the Holy Spirit used the space and my friend’s silent presence to do a work in me, the Holy Spirit was at work in my friend to, and he had things to offer that I was too thick to see. 

So I found myself with some tension: I loved the quiet, non-judgmental, life-affirming presence of my friend (it was safe, which was very important to me), but because I knew he had godly wisdom, and he cared about me, I wanted him to speak godly truth into my life, whether to affirm or to challenge where I was going. 

Instead of “holding space” with people, I wonder what it looks like for Christians to create “holy space” with people. It’s going to include “holding space,” but it’s going to be more.  Let’s call this “holding spaces in holy places.”

* * * * *

Let’s clarify terms. Biblically speaking, when something is holy it is simply ‘set apart for God’s purpose.’ It occurs over 400 times in the Old Testament alone. It includes terms translated as “consecrated, ”“dedicated,” “hallowed,” “sanctuary.” God and His name are holy; so are people, and places, and land, and food, and clothing, and just stuff. Let’s not make the term overly mystical as if there is a glow around it. It simply means that God has set apart something for a special purpose. It’s his territory. God has staked claim on it. It’s like a pearl that is not to be cast before pigs, or something sacred given to dogs (Matthew 7:6). It’s to be kept pure, untarnished or unmixed with vulgar things. 

So when I talk about being in “Holy Space” with people, I mean setting apart a space (time, place, presence, etc.) for a godly purpose. It will be hallowed time, a consecrated experience. 

Next, who we are. #identity

As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him -  you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ…  But you are a chosen people (select for special service), a royal priesthood, a holynation, acquired as God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:4-9)

We are always on sacred mission. Where we are, God’s presence is embodied. We like to say that we are the hands and feet of Jesus because the church is a type of incarnation modeled after the Incarnation. We aren't Jesus, but we are ambassadors whose presence is meant to represent Jesus.  Where we are, there is a spiritual house, because we as individuals build the church. Where we are, there is a temple of the Holy Spirit. We are now intrinsically and inescapably set apart for the work and purposes of God. We are set apart, holy people wherever we go and whatever we do.

In the Old Testament, though God’s presence was everywhere, there were places treated as “hot spots” of God’s glory, places that God specifically claimed as his own and insisted be respected. Two times in the Old Testament, people were told to take off their shoes because they were on Holy Ground. People speculate about what this means: 

1. a token of respect and submission 

2. symbolically putting off the earthly or profane. Don’t drag in common dust and trample around like you own the place. It’s God property.

3. forfeiting rights (Jewish people claimed land with shoes)

4. a sign we have come home[4]

5. a reminder to stay in God’s presence rather than wander 

I like them all.  And now, in the New Covenant, we are God’s property, set aside for God’s purposes. So, because God has set us aside for His purposes, 

• our body is set aside (holy) for His purposes

• our words are set aside (holy) for His purposes

• our attitudes, thoughts and presence are set aside (holy) for His purposes. 

• When we go into a space, that space becomes set aside (holy) for God’s purposes. 

I say all that just to establish the profound reality of who we are when Christ is in us. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a profound reality.   

Now, back to “holding space”. How do holy people “hold space” in this eve present Holy Space in which we live?

First, you just have to bring yourself. This is part of the beauty of this idea. You don’t need to have a special set of skills. Your presence is sufficient. If you can just sit with someone and say, “I’m here. I see you,” you’re good.  Watch a movie, sip coffee, fish, do a puzzle, play dominoes, sit by a bedside, hang out with another parent at the Germ Tree, take a walk, nap on a beach…so many ways. Sometimes it will be really purposeful – “I need to talk” – but sometimes it’s just, “Want to hang out?” David Augsburger wrote, “Being heard is so close to being loved that for the average person they are almost indistinguishable.” I think that’s true of being seen as well, which is part of being known…

Second, practice seeing, hearing, and knowing. Jesus was really good at that.[5] The language of Scripture when applied to Jesus almost always suggests something more profound than using his senses. There was something soul-searching about those actions when he did them. God may grant you Holy-Spirit inspired insight into people, but I think more often than not God grants us this kind of sight through patience, time and presence. It’s taking the time to listen and know. It’s learning about family of origin, traumatic and beautiful life experiences, triggering language, what was spiritually nurturing or spiritually wounding, personality types, love languages, quirks…. If that sounds like a lot, it is. It’s okay. It’s one of the most important investments you can make in the process of building true community.

Third, be okay with times of mere presence. “Holding space” in the way I just described has not been written on every page in our life stories, but I hope it’s on some pages. I hope you have written that page for others at times. It’s okay to hear and see the best and worst of someone and simply say, “I love you and God loves you.” That can be enough for a moment. It’s the opportunity to validate the fact that an image bearer of God sits with you, that their life has eternal worth, that you see and care about them simply because they exist. Many times, the only thing we need to “fix” for someone is the empty, lonely space around them.

Fourth, pray for wisdom as to when it’s time for input. There is something to be said about knowing when to hold ‘em and knowing when to fold ‘em. Not every moment is a time to speak; not every moment is a time to be silent. Sometimes we must be blunt so truth lands hard; sometimes we must be gentle so truth whispers. One thing I love about the model of Jesus is how he was so adept in the moment with the individual. 

• Pharisees? “Brood of vipers.” The teacher of the Law in Mark 12? “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” 

• To Peter: “Get behind me, Satan!” When Peter fell asleep in the Garden of Gethsemene: “I know you spirit is willing...”

• David caught in adultery: “Thou are the man!” Woman caught in adultery: “What, no accusers anymore? I’m not here to accuse you either. But don’t do that anymore.” 

There is not a one-size-fits-all approach to being a truthful presence with people. We can tend to think, “That blunt person is the right example!” or “That diplomatic person is the right way!” This is not an either/or approach. Both can be right at the right time, and in the right way. “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pitchers of silver.” (Proverbs 25:11) There will be a time to be a truthful presence. Pray that you can build that truth wisely on a foundation of love.

1.    Shake the dust off  your world-walking shoes.

We we can have the best intent in being present in other people’s lives, but – here me out - we take ourselves wherever we go. We will never be perfect – we’ve got to let that standard go – but the Bible gives us really good insight into how to be present with others in a way that sets us apart as holy people. That means differentiating between what a holy approach looks like vs. one soiled by the dust of the world.  I’m pulling all of this from Ephesians 4. 

“Live worthily of the calling with which you have been called, 2 #holy  with all humility (not full of yourself) and gentleness (constrained power), with patience (long-tempered[6]), persisting with one another in agape love, 3fully applying yourself to preserving the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (a shared identity that produces harmony)  (Ephesians 4:1-3). 

Speaking the truth in love[7] (v.15)… Each one of you speak the truth (reality) with his neighbor (v.25) let no unwholesome  (rotten; unfit for use) word come out of your mouth; say what is good[8] for building[9] others up according to their needs (v.29), kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you. (v.32)

Put away all bitterness (rooted and ‘fruited’ anger)[10], wrath (hostilely vented anger), anger (simmering disposition bent on revenge), clamor (screaming and shrieking), and slanderous talk (blasphemy; switching right and wrong) —indeed all malice (desire to injure) (v.31)

Be kind (eternally useful) and compassionate to one another (gut-level sympathy), forgiving each other (extend favor or grace that cancels debt), just as in Christ God forgave you.

If this is our goal?  That’s the kind of holy place in which we would all like to share space. “Thy Kingdom come; they will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.”

_____________________________________________________________________________

[1] Romans 7:15-20

[2] Ephesians 6:12

[3] 1 Corinthians 13:12

[4] https://www.christianity.com/wiki/bible/why-did-moses-remove-his-shoes-in-front-of-the-burning-bush.html

[5] Matthew 9:36, John 5:6, Mark 10:21, John 1:48. “He sees the faith of a paralyzed man and the friends who brought him to Jesus: “When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the man, ‘Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven’”. Next, Jesus saw Matthew, the tax collector-turned-disciple: “‘Follow me,’ He told him, and Matthew got up and followed Him”. Then, in the midst of a crowd, a bleeding woman touches just His cloak and finds herself healed: “Jesus turned and saw her. ‘Take heart, daughter,’ He said, ‘your faith has healed you’”. Finally, Jesus saw the crowd of people who had come to hear Him preach the Good News and receive healing. Verse 36 says, “When He saw the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dejected, like a sheep without a shepherd.” https://youngadults.lifeway.com/2020/01/do-you-see-like-jesus-sees/

[6] Slow to anger does not mean there is no placer for anger. See v. 26-27: “Be angry, but don’t sin.” Don’t give the devil an opportunity to use that anger for his purposes.

[7] Cognate: 226 alētheúō (literally, "truthing") – speaking reality (truth) into a person's life, making a record of what God deems is truth (reality, fact).  See 225(alētheia).

226 /alētheúō (literally, "to truth") includes Spirit-led confrontation where it is vital to tell the truth so others can live in God's reality rather than personal illusion. (HELPS Word Studies)

[8]  “Intrinsically good, good in nature, good whether it be seen to be so or not” (Strong’s Concordance)

[9] This can included constructive criticism “that builds a person up to be the suitable dwelling place of God.” (HELPS Word Studies)

[10]  A form of hatred; Hebrews 12:15 warns of a bitter root that produces bitter fruit.

Patterns of Gracious Love (1 John 3: 11-18)

John just finished writing about practicing righteousness rather than sin. He moves right into this.  

11 The central truth—the one you have heard since the beginning of your faith—is that we must love one another. 12 Please do not act like Cain, who was of the evil one. He brutally murdered his own brother. Why would he do something so despicable? Because his life was devoted to evil and selfishness, and his brother chose to do what is right. 

This is like saying to us, “Please don’t be like Charles Manson.” To John, murdering a biological family member is on par with not loving a spiritual family member. He’s building on Jesus’ teaching that one who kills and one who hates have the same heart in the eyes of God.[1] So whatever follows is going to be a big deal. The stakes are high.

13 Brothers and sisters, don’t be shocked if the corrupt world despises you.[2] 14 We know that we have crossed over from death to real life because we are devoted to true love for our brothers and sisters. Anyone who does not love abides in death (“lives among corpses”). 

John compares those who don’t love to someone who lives in a cemetery. This would have been unimaginably impure to John’s Jewish audience (and probably creepy to his Gentile readers). Living without love is like living among the dead. So unloving people are 0-2 here: they are like murderers of family who hang out with their dead victims. 

15 Everyone who hates other members of God’s family is a murderer. Does a murderer possess the eternal, beautiful life that never ends? No. 16 We know what true love looks like because of Jesus. He gave His life for us, and He calls us to give our lives for our brothers and sisters. 

Rather than taking life (like Cain), love gives its life. Rather than living in places of death, love lives in and points toward the beautiful life that never ends. Once again, note the language of murder. John does not want us to take this lightly.

17 If a person owns the kinds of things we need to make it in the world but refuses to share with those in need,[3] is it even possible that God’s love lives in him? 18 My little children, don’t just talk about love as an idea or a theory. Make it your true way of life, and live in the pattern of gracious love.

One could have read up to the last paragraph and thought, “I have not killed anyone and don’t hang out with dead people. I think I’m good.” John basically says, “Are you, though?” And he gives one example that hits close to home: our pocketbook. Lest this seem abruptly out of place, John is just highlighting a topic that Jesus highlighted.[4] Jesus talked about money more than he talked about heaven and hell. 1/3 of the parables are about money. The only topic he talked more about was the Kingdom of Heaven.  

Straight up: this is going to be an uncomfortable sermon about money. It’s going to make you uncomfortable like it has me, but that’s John’s fault. I encourage you to table all the excuses you are going to think of and just let the core teaching settle in. Then come to Message+ and we can unpack the nuance that ought to follow. 

John says if we don’t want to live like murderers – his analogy not mine – we must love of neighbor with “the kinds of things we need to make it in the world.” This is another way of saying “livelihood,” the material objects that sustain life: food, clothing, and shelter.[5]  Giving sacrificially for the needy around us is ‘righteous practice’ for laying down our lives in honor of what Jesus did for us. In fact, what we do with our money might reveal just to what extent we actually would be willing to sacrifice for them – or for God. 

“Here is a test of this love; if we do not divide our bread with the hungry, we certainly would not lay down our life for him. Whatever love we may pretend to mankind, if we are not charitable and benevolent, we give the lie to our profession. If we have not bowels of compassion, we have not the love of God in us; if we shut up our bowels against the poor, we shut Christ out of our hearts, and ourselves out of heaven.”  (Adam Clarke)

I want to (briefly) walk you through how this has played out in church history just so you can see how seriously followers of Jesus have taken this, and then talk about what it looks like for us today.  

• The early church practiced this kind of love right away was through agape feasts or "love feasts."[6] The meal provided an opportunity for congregations to give practical expression to their love through action (Acts 6:1 - 6; 1 Corinthians 11).[7] It was usually hosted by someone wealthy who provided food for all. Sharing material goods replaced possessing the goods as a value for Christians.[8] Possessions weren’t wrong; they just understood that God expected generous stewardship of what He gave. We are not our own;[9] neither is our stuff.  

• The Shepherd of Hermas (100 to 150 AD), a popular book in the early church, states that the wealthy should “assist widows, visit orphans and the poor, ransom God’s servants, show hospitality, help oppressed debtors in their need… the Master made you rich for this purpose that you might perform these ministries for him.”[10]

• Ignatius of Antioch (died in 108 AD) characterized heretics not in a theological sense but a practical one: they “have no regard for love; no care for the widow, or the orphan, or the oppressed; of the bond, or of the free; of the hungry, or of the thirsty.”

• By around 1100 or so, Canon Law (church law) had developed guidelines for giving alms: “the quality of the beggar[11], the capacity of the donor. . . the reason for the demand, . . .[and] the quantity being requested.”[12] This allows some ‘outs’ that aren’t necessarily spelled out in the Bible, but I there is an argument that stewardship includes not only sacrificial generosity but wise generosity.

• The Catholic Church became a societal hub of charity by the Middle Ages. While they encouraged helping people personally, over time charity became largely channeled through the church, who gave that money to the needy.

• With that much money, there was bound to be problems (giving counted as an indulgence; money intended for the poor made the clerics wealthy rather than helping the poor). Martin Luther, as part of his Reformation, wanted to reform the corruption that crept into that process.[13] He began the movement of shifting the care of the poor to the government,[14] which he thought was better suited to distribute it.

 So, followers of Jesus were taking this seriously. There were some problems because greed crept in, because the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.[15] But it was a central focus in the life of the church. 

This brings us to the first attempt to create an Acts-style community in the history of what we now call the United States. This is my last (and longest) example. 

John Winthrop was with the Massachusetts Bay Company, part of a group that established a Puritan community in New England. Winthrop was the governor for nearly twenty years. His 1630 speech, "A Model of Christian Charity"[16] provides a record of how Puritans (who wanted to “purify” the Church of England) sought to form bonds of Christian community in line with what the Bible has to say about doing life together such that they would fulfill the biblical mandate to be a light in a dark world. 

"A Model of Christian Charity" became one of the most well-known Puritan works ever printed. Over time it became thought of as sort of a prophecy because of its famous line about MBC being “a city on a hill,”[17] which has, for 350 years, been applied to the potential for America.

However, Winthrop’s ‘city on a hill’ was not a national vision. He wasn’t thinking of making a nation. He was thinking of a church-based community united by Christ’s love expressed in taking care of each other financially. It’s what the entire speech is about; it’s why the charter was drawn up. I can’t stress the enough: the entire premise is that when Christians take care of each other financially, they will be the city on the hill that shines the light of God’s Kingdom into a dark world. 

Now, John Winthrop was just a dude, so don’t hear what follows as sacred Scripture. He built on Scripture, which is good but not the same. I just want us to hear how, in our very specific history in the United States, people we admire as godly founders thought to build communities that made Christ and his Kingdom compelling. 

THE PRINCIPLES

• First, Winthrop assumed there would be rich and poor (as the book of Acts assumes), and Winthrop thought that was fine.[18] His emphasis was not on equality of living but on communal[19] living, with the wealthiest and most prosperous members of society freely giving to the poorest members. 

• Second, Winthrop points out that the interests of God must come before any person's interests, and God's instructions are clear: "If thy brother be in want and thou canst help him, thou needst not make doubt of what thou shouldst do; if thou lovest God thou must help him… We must love brotherly without dissimulation, we must love one another with a pure heart fervently. We must bear one another's burdens. We must not look only on our own things, but also on the things of our brethren.” 

• Third, individual households are intrinsically connected in Christian community: "It is a true rule that particular estates cannot [be maintained] in the ruin of the public." In other words, individual households might prosper more than others, but the community cannot prosper if there are individual households that fall into ruin. Think of the body analogy in 1 Corinthians 12. 

• Fourth, he describes the structure of the church in the book of Acts, where "44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2) As with a body, each individual part serves the whole.  The members of the community are united toward a common goal—serving God—and therefore should work to support and protect God’s family.

THE PRACTICAL

• First, a person is responsible to make provision for one's family and the future, but the overriding principle is: "if thou lovest God thou must help [thy brother]."

• Second, charity consists of providing money and material goods to others who need them. Material things "are subject to the moth, the rust, the thief," and therefore should not be held in excess of what one needs for one's own self and family. 

• Third, charity can be exhibited by forgiving a debt that is owed. When a person can repay, it’s just business, not charity. When approached by people who can’t or probably won’t repay a loan, Christians should simply give the person whatever he can afford instead of lending it. 

• Fourth, charity can be shown by offering love to others without expecting anything in return. Just as a truly loving mother gives love without any expectation of receiving something in return, so must a Christian freely dispense love and mercy to other Christians in need. 

• Fifth, the amount of help given should be regulated only by one's own most basic needs. Under normal circumstances, people should give away whatever they do not reasonably need.[20] Clearly, giving up all of one's wealth is not required,[21] but Winthrop encourages Christians, especially in times of emergency, to help "beyond our ability rather than tempt God in putting [others in need of] help by miraculous or extraordinary means." Winthrop refers to this as a "duty of mercy." 

Winthrop believed that if the MBC could do this, “we shall be as a City upon a Hill, the eyes of all people are upon us; so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be a by-word through the world." 

In his own diary, Winthrop reported the frustrations and failures. "As the people increased, so sin abounded." By the late 1600s, the material success of MBC had killed the dream. Too many people wanted the city upon a hill to be just another mercantile colony. What was left was just the shell of Winthrop's model.[22] In other words, though we love his vision of the United States as “the city on a hill,” Winthrop himself was convinced it collapsed long before there were states to unite because people loved money more that God.

And yet, his speech and his vision have remained, and I think rightly so. There is something compelling about this kind of community. Why? Because it’s a community model taken from the Bible. Winthrop quoted our text today in his speech: 

“ If a person owns the kinds of things we need to make it in the world but refuses to share with those in need, is it even possible that God’s love lives in him? Don’t just talk about love as an idea or a theory. Make it your true way of life, and live in the pattern of gracious love.”

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So, what’s the big takeaway here from John’s text and the way in which the church has tried to live out this reality? What’s the practical implication for our lives? 

•  Those who love God love others.

• Self-sacrificially loving people do self-sacrificially loving things. 

• We practice dying for others by dying to self and living for others. 

• Let’s start with our money, which Jesus and the writers of Scripture seem to emphasize as kind of a barometer for how much we are actually ready to sacrifice for others. If we get this one right, the rest of the sacrifices will probably fall into place.   

I’m not saying you have to give more here at CLG. This is not a sermon to guilty you into raising your tithe (though we will never complain if you do J). If you want to give to the Benevolence Fund here, we will distribute it within our church family as we see needs arise. However, you don’t need us as a mediator. Odds are good you know someone who needs financial help. Or that you know someone who would be encouraged by a gift card or an anonymous donation. I encourage you to think locally first, then think more broadly. Practice showing love by being generous. 

“Make it your true way of life, and live in the pattern of gracious love.”

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[1] Matthew 5:21-22

[2] “This was a lesson to the Church, preparatory to martyrdom. Expect neither justice nor mercy from the men who are enemies of God.”  (Adam Clarke)

[3] Let’s get this out of the way. Are there boundaries to this command? Yes. But don’t worry: there are plenty of opportunities that remain J “IF A MAN WILL NOT WORK, HE SHALL NOT EAT” (3:10)….The Greek text makes clear that Paul is not speaking about the inability to work but rather the refusal to work (the text literally reads: “If someone does not want to work...”). While the church must continue to care for those who genuinely need help (3:13, “never tire of doing what is right”), it must not tolerate those who are unwilling to work. The Didache, an early Christian manual of instruction, makes the same point in its teaching on how to deal with visitors “who come in the name of the Lord”: “If the [visitor] who comes… wishes to settle among you and is a craftsman, let him work for his living. But if he is not a craftsman, decide according to your own judgment how he shall live among you as a Christian, yet without being idle. But if he does not wish to cooperate in this way [i.e., to work], then he is trading on Christ. Beware of such people.” (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary Of The New Testament)

[4] “ Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?” (James 2:15) In some Jewish traditions, withholding goods from someone in need made you complicit in starving them.  Also, this from Jesus: 19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth…20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven...21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, (fixed on good treasure –the things of God) your whole body will be full of the light of God’s will. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy (greedy or envious for things they see), your whole body will be full of the darkness of greed and self-interest.[4] If then the ‘light’ within you is darkness, how great is that darkness![4]  (Matthew 6:19-23

[5] The Bible has plenty to say on how we should treat the poor among us:

 “Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the LORD. “I will protect them from those who malign them.” (Psalm 12:5) “I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy.” (Psalm 140:12) “Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.” (Proverbs 14:31) “If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs. ... Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.” (Deuteronomy 15:7–8, 10)

[6] 1 Corinthians 11 links it with a celebration of the Lord's Supper, but it eventually became something done separately.  Jude warns about protecting it: “ These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead.”  (Jude 12)

[7] New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology

[8] https://openbookreligion.org/read/early-christians-speak/section/22728118-08ad-470e-8705-276290e2f001

[9] 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

[10]https://place.asburyseminary.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1074&context=firstfruitspapers

[11] Probably based on biblical passages like this: 

·      Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!  It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. How long will you lie there, you sluggard?  When will you get up from your sleep?  A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man. (Proverbs 6:6-11)

·      For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you.  We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate. For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” 

·      “We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat. And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good.”  (2 Thessalonians 3:7-13)

[12] https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1040&context=dhp

[13] See the addendum at the end.

[14] Some see this as the beginning of what has turned into the ‘welfare state.’

[15] 1 Timothy 6:10

[16] Read the whole thing here, in all of its confusing1600s English language glory:https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Model_of_Christian_Charity

[17] JFK used that line in 1961, and Reagan quoted the "city upon a hill" passage as part of his Presidential inaugural speech in 1981 and is on record saying it at least 30 times as President.

[18] A Model of Christian Charity" begins with the following proclamation regarding inequality in human society: “God Almighty in His most holy and wise providence, hath so disposed of the condition of mankind, as in all times some must be rich, some poor, some high and eminent in power and dignity; others mean and in submission.”

[19] Not the same as communism, in which the government forces economic equality. In communalism (see the book of Acts) individuals voluntarily take care of each other from their abundance. 

[20] As for saving wealth to be prepared for disaster or tragedy. Winthrop argues that a man who gives will be taken care of by God, and that all those he helps will stand as witnesses of his generosity and mercy when his day of judgment arrives. In addition, Winthrop notes that physical objects of wealth "are subject to the moth, the rust, the thief," and that they can cause a person's heart to lose sight of the true treasure of serving God.

[21] "There is a time when a Christian must sell all and give to the poor, as they did in the Apostles' times." But, he is clear, not all the time.

[22] All my information on Winthrop is from https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/educational-magazines/model-christian-charity