It's Hard, But It's Worth it

The message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday morning, August 22, 2021.  The Bible verses used are Luke 6:27-36.

            Being a Christian is hard.  I don’t know if we think enough or talk enough about just how hard it really is.  

            Maybe you’re thinking, well, what’s so hard about it?  All we have to do is accept Jesus Christ as the Savior, the divine Son of God.  That’s easy.

            Well, yes and no.  It’s easy to say.  It’s not so easy to do.  You see, if we truly accept that Jesus Christ is the divine Son of God, if we truly accept that He is the Savior, then that means we need to take the words he said seriously.  Accepting Jesus as the Savior means we need to do the things He told us to do.  Accepting Jesus as the Savior means we need to live the way He told us to live.  

            And that’s the hard part.  Because there are a lot of hard things Jesus told us to do.  There are a lot of things Jesus told us to do that we don’t want to do.  In fact, there are a lot of things Jesus told us to do that don’t even make sense to us.  And we read some of them today.

            Love your enemies.  Okay, we get that one.  That does not mean we always do it.  In fact, sometimes we don’t even want to.  But we understand, at least on some level, that it’s what Jesus would want us to do.

            Do good to those who hate you.  That’s a little tougher.  I mean, we get that we should not hate those who hate us.  We get that we’re supposed to forgive those who hate us.  But to actively do good to them?  To purposely seek out someone who hates us and deliberately try to find ways to do good to them?  Does Jesus really expect us to do that?

            Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.  Well, okay.  I mean, we don’t really want to, but yeah.  We can do that.  

            Or can we?  It kind of depends on what we pray, right?  We could pray, “God, strike down those mistreat us.”  We could pray, “God make sure those who mistreat us get what’s coming to them.”  But we know that’s not what Jesus meant.  

            But Jesus also did not mean for us to pray, “God, please make them stop mistreating me.”  When Jesus says to pray for those who mistreat us, he means we’re supposed to pray for God to forgive them.  We’re supposed to pray for God to save them.  And we’re supposed to pray for God to help us forgive them, too.  That’s not quite so easy to do, is it?

            And the rest of this stuff really does not make sense to us.  If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.  If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.  Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.  Are we supposed to just stand there and let someone beat on us?  If someone steals from us, are we supposed to not only let them get away with it, but give them more?  And give to everyone who asks?  Does God know how many solicitations we get every day on the phone, in the mail, online?  If we give to everyone who asks, pretty soon we’ll have nothing left.  That all sounds, well, ridiculous, really.

            But before we just decide to ignore these things as ridiculous, we need to remember two things.  One, Jesus said them.  I don’t think it works for us to, on the one hand, say we believe in Jesus as the Savior and the divine Son of God, and then on the other hand, say that some of the things he said were ridiculous and we can just ignore them.  The divine Son of God would not say ridiculous things.

            Two, Jesus lived them.  Jesus did all of these things.  Jesus loved his enemies.  Jesus did good for those who hated him--remember, even when he was dying, he asked God to forgive those who were killing him.  Of course, that would cover praying for those who mistreated him, too.

            Jesus did, literally, turn the other cheek.  When he was arrested, when he was beaten, he did not fight back.  He could have.  He had divine power.  But he did not.  We don’t know if anyone ever stole from Jesus, but really, when you think about it, they stole his earthly life.  If Jesus did not stop them from doing that, I don’t think he’d have stopped anyone from stealing what few possessions he had.  

            So I don’t think we can write these things off as being ridiculous.  We have to deal with them.  But how?  Are we supposed to take them literally and live our lives in accordance with them all, word for word, exactly as Jesus said them?

            Well, I don’t know.  I can tell you that I don’t actually do that.  I might, sometimes, pray for people I feel have mistreated me.  I might even be able to feel love for my enemies, under certain circumstances.  But I’m pretty sure I would not just stand there if someone was trying to beat me up.  If someone stole something from me, I don’t think I’d offer to give them more.  And while I do give to some things and some people, I certainly don’t give to everyone who asks me.  

            But where does that leave us?  If we cannot just write these things off, but we think it does not make sense to take them literally, what are we going to do with them?

            Well, let’s look at the rest of the passage.  Jesus tells us why he’s telling us to do these things.  He says, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?”  Everybody does that.  “If you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you?”  Everybody does that.  “If you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you?”  Everybody does that.  

            At least part of what Jesus is saying is that His followers are supposed to be different.  Jesus’ followers are not supposed to just do what everybody else does.  Jesus’ followers are not supposed to just live the way everyone else lives.  Jesus’ followers are supposed to be separate and distinct from the rest of society.  There’s supposed to be a contrast between the way Jesus’ followers live and the way everyone else lives.  And anyone who observes the way Jesus’ followers live should be able to observe that difference.

            And that means that, sometimes, Jesus’ followers are supposed to do things that don’t make sense to the rest of society.  It means that, sometimes, Jesus’ followers are supposed to do things that look ridiculous to the rest of society.  Jesus’ followers are supposed to love people society does not love, and love them more deeply than society expects.  Jesus’ followers are supposed to do good for people that society ignores or pushes aside.  Jesus’ followers are supposed to be more generous than society is.  Jesus’ followers are supposed to be more forgiving than society is.

            The bottom line is what Jesus said in verse thirty-one:  Do to others as you would have them do to you.  Not as others actually do to you, but as you would like for others to do to you.  The Golden Rule.

            If we take it seriously, what the Golden Rule requires is for us to put ourselves in other people’s place.  How would we want people to treat us if we were one of the people society does not love?  How would we want people to treat us if we were one of the people society ignores or pushes aside?  We need to answer those questions honestly.  Then, we need to treat people that way.

            And notice, Jesus makes this a personal responsibility for His followers.  Jesus does not say “Get the government to treat people this way.”  Jesus does not say, “Get some big organization to treat people this way.”  Jesus says for you to do it.  Jesus says for me to do it.  Personally.  On a one-to-one basis.  Actively.  Deliberately seeking people out so we can love them and do good to them and forgive them.

            That’s why being a Christian is hard--because truly following Jesus is hard.  Doing the things Jesus told His followers to do is hard.  Ask yourself, “How well am I actually living these things out.”  And I hope your answer is that you’re doing better than I am, because I admit I am not very good at doing a lot of these things.  Many of them I don’t even want to do.  And I’m really good at making excuses for why I should not have to do them.

            But someday, we’re all going to stand for judgment before the Lord.  And none of my excuses are going to work.  None of your excuses are going to work, either.  The Lord is going to know how well we did these things, and He’s not going to be very interested in our excuses for why we did not do them.

            So here’s what I suggest we do.  Pray.  Pray for forgiveness for all the times we’ve failed to live as Jesus’ followers are supposed to live.  Not make excuses for it.  Admit it, and ask for forgiveness.  Then, pray for God’s Holy Spirit to help us change, and truly live the way Jesus’ followers are supposed to live.

            In saying that, I don’t mean to sound like prayer is a magic formula.  We cannot just say a few words and expect God to magically change us.  We need to be serious about it.  We need to truly want to change.  Our prayer is not a way of evading our responsibility for changing.  Rather, it’s an acknowledgement that, no matter how hard we try, we cannot change by ourselves.  We can only change with God’s help.  We still need to do our part.  We still need to give our best effort.  But if we do our part, we can be confident that God will do God’s part.

            And we will change.  The change may come slowly, but it will come.  The change may come with some failures.  There may be times when we take one step forward and two steps back.  But if we keep trying, and we keep praying, the change will come.  Change will come through the power of God’s Holy Spirit.

            Being a Christian is hard.  Living as one of Jesus’ followers is supposed to live is hard.  But we can do it.  And it will be worth it.  So let’s stop making excuses.  Let’s show that our faith in Jesus truly does make a difference in our lives.  Let’s live lives that show we truly do accept that Jesus is the Savior, the divine Son of God.