Message 02-24-08

Series:            Following

Scripture:            Matthew 5:21-26

Title:                                        Red Letter Lives

There’s a new movie out called “Jumper”. The lead character, David Rice, is played by Hayden Christensen. Rice is a young man who has an amazing ability. He can transport himself to other places on the planet by the power of his mind. In some ways, David Rice is a superhero – like from a comic book. He has a superpower, but what makes him different is that he is not really a hero. He’s totally consumed with himself. He discovers his power when he’s 15 and he never really grows out of that.

This is made vividly clear toward the beginning of the movie. As we get our first look at the grown up David Rice we see postcards and pictures and stuff from all the places around the world to which he’s jumped. Just imagine being able to think of being on top of one of the pyramids, or next door, or never having to wait for an elevator. You just think of the place, push something in your mind and “bam!” you’re there.

As we look at the adult David Rice we are given a moment to focus on the news and it is about a flood in Asia. People are shown scrambling onto floating houses and floating vehicles. And we hear the announcer sharing how terrible this is and how no one can see how to reach these people. “It would take a miracle to save these people,” we hear the announcer say and then we look back at David and it’s clear, as he glances over at the news, that he could do it. He could just jump to where these people are trapped, grab them and jump them to safety. But he just gets ready for an evening out and jumps to London where he picks up a girl. This message of the disconnect in David is brought grindingly home as we see him just a little later looking out at the rain and you’re given a chance to wonder – is he now thinking about those people caught in the storms and the flood. But no, he’s thinking about the benefit of the storm for his own wants and he jumps to where he can pick up the best waves. He goes surfing.

He has all this power and he is using it to meet all his own wants and needs. He has all this power and cares about almost nothing but his own desires. At the end of the movie you’re left still wondering whether he’s learned anything about caring for others. He falls in love, but at the end he’s just using his power now to make the wishes of himself and his love come true.

I haven’t really spoiled the story for you. The story is fun to watch, but what are we being told in this story? Maybe it’s the question: If you’ve got all this power, do you have any responsibility? If you’re the salt of the earth, and you’ve got this amazing ability to change life – to cleanse, preserve and add flavor to life – and you lose your saltiness, you might as well be pavement. You might as well be thrown out so that people can just walk over you.

We’ve been studying the Sermon on the Mount and as Jesus begins he tells his followers and that they are the salt of the earth and the light of the world after telling them that all the blessings and resources and promise of God and God’s kingdom are with them. And then he lays down this amazing challenge saying that our righteousness has to be better than the people who made righteousness their job.

Pharisees made it their life’s ambition to be perfect in relation to God’s law. And Jesus says that his followers need to be better than perfect. And the good news is – Jesus doesn’t leave his followers there. He then goes on to tell them how to do it. He puts righteousness into practical terms. He makes it doable.

Jesus is telling us that true human beings know first that they are blessed and that they are in the kingdom of heaven. God is their ruler and God loves them. Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who ache for righteousness – the ones whose hearts are turned toward God and seek to hear and to serve God. They know that they have a place of service in the world. They live to as people in the kingdom of God who cleanse, preserve and add flavor to life – salt of the earth. And they live as people in the kingdom of God who help other people see and experience God’s truth and presence in the world – light of the world.

And when you see yourself this way – as people of the kingdom of God – then you no longer have a need to possess or to fight for a reputation or to have your own way or to be one up on others. You already have your identity. You have the presence of God, you have God to help you deal with life, but also to give you the grounding of who you are. You have your identity in God.

That leads us today into a departure from our society. I got into a discussion once with a young teacher. She was very upset with herself because she had scolded a student who had shoved another student out of line. Her students were all little people, so when she caught the arm of the little guy who shoved the other little guy out of line she was a big person coming into his face. And she said to him something along the lines of “That is not how we treat each other. I don’t want you ever to do that again. Do you understand me?”

The reason she was upset was because she had reacted so forcefully and because she had pressed her opinion on this little boy. Do you understand that? She had learned not to press her opinion on others and she felt like she had broken that rule in this case. And I agreed with her. She had broken the rule. And then I told her it was the right thing to do. She wasn’t accepting it. And I asked her if she felt like students should be treating each other that way. “Well, no.” she said, “not in my opinion.”

Regardless of whether you think she was right or wrong do you understand that some opinions are better than others in the world. This teacher seriously thought they were, but Christ followers start to shift away from the world in how they live their lives. People who follow Jesus don’t believe that every opinion is of equal value to everyone else’s. Most of you sitting in this room have been taught through school that everyone’s opinion is of equal value. It’s just an opinion but people who follow Jesus claim that there are some opinions that have more insight and some that are true. But essentially what Christ followers claim is that Jesus is the one who interprets the world for them.

What we’re saying is that the interpretation of God, God’s word and how to live life comes from Jesus. As we move into the rest of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus begins this series of statements that use the pattern, “You’ve heard it was said, but I say…” Who helps you understand life? Jesus says, quite plainly, he does. My Bible has this feature of putting the words that are quotes of Jesus in red ink. Lots of Bibles have that. But as we get into the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is giving us his design for life as one of his followers. I’m calling this “red letter lives.” People who follow Jesus are deciding to live according to his direction and interpretation. They are deciding to live life according to his word – a Red Letter Life. This is the life of a true human being.

Jesus tells us that true human beings know first that they are blessed and that they are in the kingdom of heaven. God is their ruler and God loves them. Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who ache for righteousness – the ones whose hearts are turned toward God and seek to hear and to serve God. They know that they have a place of service in the world. They live as people in the kingdom of God who cleanse, preserve and add flavor to life – salt of the earth. And they live as people in the kingdom of God who help other people see and experience God’s truth and presence in the world – light of the world.

And when you see yourself this way – as people of the kingdom of God – then you no longer have a need to possess or to fight for a reputation or to have your own way or to be one up on others. You already have your identity.

"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.

Now understand that this isn’t about rules. I heard the story of a little boy who was calling his sister all sorts of names all morning, but then he called her a “fool” and his grandmother told him to never say that. You could go to hell for that. It didn’t matter that he called her stupid or anything else, he just couldn’t use the word “fool”.

But that isn’t what Jesus was talking about. He wasn’t talking about one word. He was telling us that if we negate the worth of another person then in our hearts and minds it is as if we already killed them.

Jesus tells his followers that as people of the kingdom of God you no longer have a need to possess or to fight for a reputation or to have your own way or to be one up on others. You already have your identity. You can learn that things don’t always have to go your way and you’ll still be all right.

We learn that Jesus is all about reconciliation as he begins this Sermon. He is all about people getting things cleared up between them. He wants us to learn that we don’t need everything, we don’t need to get our own way, and we don’t need an identity that doesn’t include God in it truly. That is different from the way the world teaches us to act.

The world teaches us to first accomplish, to get, to have and to own. But Jesus says even if you’re ready to present your accomplishment and you realize that there is something wrong in one of your relationships, something that you caused, then go and get that straightened out. What Jesus tells us is that we are supposed to build the kingdom of God here and now.

"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.

"Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.”

If we’re not building relationships then we are building cells, dungeons of despair and separation, prisons of grudges that leave us in the dark until we pay back everything we owe. But we pay it back in days and weeks and years of separation because we have no other way of paying.

Payment only comes through forgiveness, forgiveness that leads to reconciliation.