PRAY IT! Mountain5

Payback, retaliation, and revenge, oh my!  As we continue on in our Mountain5 sermon series, we look at this week's passage found in Matthew 5:38-42.  Here again, Jesus is calling his followers to be different... waaaaay different! 

Common sense dictates that if society operated on this eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth system, we would all eventually be running around eyeless and toothless.  (Not so good for the ophthalmologists and dentists of this world...!)  That's dumb, and a ridiculous sight to imagine, but frankly, per Jesus, so is retaliation.  It's a vicious cycle that just keeps on perpetuating more ick.  It is not how Jesus chose to respond when faced with mockery, physical abuse, and ultimately crucifixion.  As his followers, it is not how we are to respond, either.

How are we to respond, and pray, in light of this passage?  I'm going to skip ahead to next week.  The answer is made clear in Matthew 5:44 "But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you".

Our response is love.  Our response is prayer. 

That is what our response should be.

But... (insert your own but here!)

There's really not room for our objection in this passage.  With the help of Jesus, who modeled unbelievable grace and mercy for us, we are to respond with love and prayer, rather than with retaliation and revenge.  No buts.

In Acts 1:14, (after Jesus' crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension) we read about how the disciples were gathered together, praying.  "All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers." 

Mary had just lost her son (yes, bigger picture, we gained a Savior, but still, she lost her son) yet even Mary was there, with the disciples, praying. 

Wow.

If Mary can do it, so can we.

If Jesus can do it, while on the cross, so can we.

It's easiest to think of the people that hurt us and wrong us as our enemy.  As evil.  As deserving of whatever it is that is coming to them.  Yet what if we chose to first and foremost see everyone as a child of God, whether they knew that is who they were or not?  Do we really want to seek revenge on a hurting child of God?  On God's creation?  It is easier to pray for those who have hurt us rather than respond with retaliation when we view them with God's eyes rather than our own. 

We shouldn't be surprised that hurting people hurt people.  God can grow in us a compassion that can lead us to respond with a heart like Jesus - where we earnestly pray for them.  Revenge will just leave them with a few less teeth..and looking to take out a few more teeth from whomever along the way. But prayer and the power of God can bring them to a point of transformation that stops the cycle of ick and starts more love and more prayer. 

Dear Jesus,
Please help us respond like you when we get hurt and desire retaliation.  Please help our response be graceful - and to be one of love and prayer.  Please help grow our compassion so that we see everyone as a child of God (some lost, some found).  Please draw everyone closer to you and continue to transform us all.  We need you. 
Amen.

Remember to keep praying as together we Seek God for the City - 2015!  Today we are praying for university students, for Puerto Rico (ah, the land of Pastor Todd's birth!), Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and for God to renew our hearts to obey Him. 

Pastor Celia

PRAY IT! Mountain5

Matthew 5:33-37:  "And don’t say anything you don’t mean. This counsel is embedded deep in our traditions. You only make things worse when you lay down a smoke screen of pious talk, saying, ‘I’ll pray for you,’ and never doing it, or saying, ‘God be with you,’ and not meaning it. You don’t make your words true by embellishing them with religious lace. In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less true. Just say ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ When you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong."  (MSG)

Jesus wants utter honesty from his followers.  Can you imagine the impact it would have on our world today if the action's of the people of God were of such high integrity - that what we said and what we followed through with matched up with each other?  I'd venture to guess we would have a pretty awesome impact here on earth for Jesus.  Our actions would turn a few heads, and hopefully toward Jesus!

You see, it's very easy to look around and find "un-truth" - a few seconds of a reality TV show... a few minutes gathered around the water cooler at work... there's probably some of it to be found in the news or politics as well...

Throughout the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is calling his followers to be different.  Not just a little bit different, but strikingly so.  This is what is noticeable.  This is what is impactful.  And Jesus did come to make a noticeable impact, did he not?

Jesus' honesty is attractive.  So too, is the honesty and integrity of his followers.  Jesus' high call (it's not always easy to let our yes be a yes and no be a no...) requires his presence and power. 

PoC, as we pray today, let us ask for Jesus' help.  We cannot do it without him.  And why would we even want to try?

Dear Jesus,
Please help us be honest and truthful in word and deed.  We need you and we love you.  We want to make a noticeable impact that ultimately assists in helping draw others closer to you rather than turning them away. 
Amen.

Remember to join our all-church campaign as we Seek God for the City - 2015!  Today, we are praying for marriages, for Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, and Brazil, as well as for humility to replace our pride and complacency.

Blessings,
Pastor Celia