Alive to God in Christ

3rd Sunday after Pentecost

Today's readings: Romans 6:1b-11; Matthew 10:24-39

Happy Father's Day!

Grace and peace to you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Last week our gospel lesson had some troubling words for the perils of discipleship and again today we hear some not so comforting or appealing words from Christ.

Jesus was a nice guy. Jesus’ life did stand for love, peace, harmony, and unity of all people, but that clearly did not come without opposition from those who would need to make sacrifices in order for ALL people to be included. Jesus was called terrible names, such as Beelzebul (v.25), which was a name attributed to a demon, or what we now call Satan. Jesus’ ideals tore families apart (v.35-36). Jesus’ ideals got him sentenced to death on a cross.

Jesus came to earth and declared that every single human was made in the image of God and had inherent dignity and worth. When Jesus spoke these words of love, peace, and unity it sounded to some like liberation, like jubilee and freedom, but it sounded to others like nails on a chalkboard. It felt to some like a sword (v.34) cutting through their flesh, like a death they were not ready to embrace. Yet Jesus says in order to gain life we must first lose it (v.39). We must die to self and rise in Christ.

We the baptized have made this commitment. In the water and the Word we HAVE died to self and been born anew in the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit! But it is one thing to say that, to hear that, to feel that with a splash of water.. and another thing to live it out. Water is so gentle that we often too easily forget the pain of the sword that slices through the false idols we build up for ourselves that serve the flesh and that only lead to death. Each day we must renew our spirit, remember our baptism, die to self, lose our life and rise anew in God, the only real source which produces life. I love this quote by a fellow pastor, Rev. Shawnthea Monroe of the UCC, she says, “It is not a demand, but a glorious possibility – to be alive to God.”

Our baptism, as we heard in Romans this morning, enables us to participate in LIFE rather than sin/death. Our baptismal identity empowers us to choose the life-giving, ever-flowing fountain of God’s grace and love over dehydration, over death, every single day. In this way, to remain in sin, to keep choosing death when we know life, is to betray who we have become – to betray our baptismal identity. Furthermore, to be a witness to this life-giving God who has baptized us in the waters of grace, we have to call out sin/death when we see it so that life may be resurrected.

Calling out sin/death where it was present is risky business, business that got Christ himself killed, business that many-a disciple has been killed over since then. It is business that cuts like a sword through injustice and oppression. It is business that splits societies, splits families and households. It is business that cannot stop until the whole world knows life; until God’s kingdom come, God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven (the Lord's Prayer).

Paul in his letter to the Romans we heard this morning addresses the questions, ‘if we are saved by grace and will continue to be saved by this gracious and merciful God, can we keep on sinning? If I know it is a sin, but it makes me feel good, can I keep doing it since God is going to forgive me anyways?’ Paul says, ‘By no means!’ (Romans 6:1-4) The great Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonheoffer says, ‘That is what we call cheap grace.’ To me this echoes the cries of the Israelites after being freed from slavery in Egypt, as they wonder aimlessly through the desert, ‘God, did you free us just so that we could die out here of hunger and thirst?! Can we go back to being slaves in Egypt, at least we had food and water!’ (Exodus 16:3)

Why would anyone who has been freed want to go back to their oppressor?

Comfort and predictability.

At least they knew the narrative.. they had fewer unknowns.

We too want to do what we know, want to live a narrative that’s already been written for us for centuries, even if it comes with shackles.

So much fear hangs in the balance when we even think of putting our lives to death in order to rise in Christ. There are just tooooo many unknowns for us to willingly take that leap. So God, through the cross of Christ, took that leap for us and we still find ourselves resisting the life God so desperately wants us to experience. We want to live in the darkness of our cave, because it is all we have ever known. To enter the light hurts our eyes, burns our skin, changes our perspective. Jesus says, “nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known (v.26).” God is revealing all things to us, whether we are ready or not. To uncover, to unveil as Jesus mentions here is the definition of the word apocalypse.. So yes we are living through an apocalypse, the world as we know it is ending, it always should be, we should always be moving forward.. and the life that is to come is beyond anything we could possibly dream or imagine. The glories of life with God are no longer shadows on the wall, but are told in the light and shouted out from the rooftops! (v. 27)

Christ did not go to the cross as a 'passive acceptance of the injustice and misery of this creation', but rather in defiance of it. Hidden in this instrument of death was the true power of our life-giving God. Victory has been won! Death, sin, and the devil have been defeated, why do we continue to live as if they reign when we know who sits on the throne? Is it because we are afraid? Is it because we know that if we choose the radical love and grace of God not only for ourselves, but for all people then we will lose some power and prestige in society and maybe even some of our loved ones?!? Is it because your loyalty to the God of justice and peace causes division between you and your father, mother, brother, sister, spouse, best friend, boss, etc.? Jesus said that would happen (v. 34-26). Seminary Professor Lance Pape says, “True discipleship is the act of seeking the kingdom with single-minded determination and letting the chips fall where they may. The church that always manages to glide through life without ever rubbing anyone the wrong way may have reason to question whether it is truly this Jesus it honors as master and lord.”

Do not fear (v. 26 & 28 & 31).

God cares deeply for the sparrow, how much more then does God care for you (v. 30-31) - child who bears God’s image, child whom God literally died for, child whom God has counted every hair on your head!?

Take heart.

Remember your baptism.

God has not called you to do anything God wouldn’t do Godself and God has not left you to face this world alone.

Don’t be afraid to lose your life, for actually in doing so, you will find it (v. 39).

Come, live in the light,

act with justice,

love tenderly,

walk humbly with God.

We are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:11).

*Quotes that inspired this sermon*

"Jesus requires a discerning obedience that has its eyes wide open as we accept responsibility for the order of the world and engage in transforming it." - Rev. Dr. Emilie M. Townes

"There will be times when allegiance to Jesus causes a crisis of loyalty and forces a decision. The gospel shakes up values, rearranges priorities, and reorients goals... Armed with such an assurance (our new life in Christ by the grace of God) believers are empowered to approach the cross in a new way. No more does the cross mean a passive acceptance of the injustice and misery of this creation. Instead, the cross is a sign of the realm of God that is to come, a strength that can be known by those who are obedient to the call of Jesus Christ in their lives. Those who live by the light of faith challenge the evil powers of this world with the certainty of believers, knowing that the way of God will prevail against every hurt and every challenge."

- Rev. Dr. William Goetter

"The demands of the prince of true peace may very well feel like a sword cutting through lesser loyalties and making quick work of our flabby, commonsense morality. If Jesus were really the enlightened and affirming nice guy we often insist on imagining, should he not have been able to stay out of trouble? What incited people to call him such appalling names? Why would following him wreck families? How did he end up on a cross? The answer is not that his opponents had strange and unsettling ideas, but that HE did!... Kingdom work, it turns out, is more controversial and subversive than conventional kindness. If the teacher gives offense, how much more the student?" - Rev. Dr. Lance Pape