A Ridiculous Command: Love Your Enemies

This week,  I'm preaching the second part of last week's message about Jesus' teaching to "turn the other cheek" and "love your enemies."  Luke's version of Jesus' teaching says this,

Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.  Luke 6:27-28

It's really a crazy idea that we're supposed to pray for and bless those we start out hating.  Seriously, how often do we do it?  It's so unnatural for us on one level, yet there is a rightness to it that stirs something in our souls.  "Yes," says that something inside, "the world won't be a different, lovelier place, without forgiveness and love replacing anger and retaliation."  

But how?  All it takes is a car to cut me off in traffic and poof, something dark springs to life in me.  I want justice (!) or, honestly, revenge.  If that's a somewhat typical reaction to being less-than-marginally wronged, much less truly hurt, what hope do I have of loving an actual enemy?  

Jesus' words there in Luke 6 are more than a simple restatement of "love your enemies;" he's telling us how to do it.  And here's what he says about those good for nothing, evil enemies we encounter in life: Do good to them; bless them; pray for them.  Just try doing these actions, even when you don't feel like it at all, and see what happens.  We'll dig into what these terribly hard actions might mean for us personally on Sunday in worship.  

For those of you who know little 7 yr old Daniel in our church, please keep praying for him.  His surgery went okay, but he's healing very slowly and he's had some setbacks.  He's quite miserable and in a lot of pain, but he needs to move more and breath deeply in order to heal.  Pray for Joyce and Dennis too, as their hearts ache for Daniel in this process. 

- Curtis

Forgive us Our Sins As We . . . What?!

Have you been faced with . . . 
   * wanting to forgive, but the person who wronged you denies or minimizes their offense, or
     *  knew you needed to forgive but you didn't feel capable of it?
        
And have you . . . 
     * wanted to receive forgiveness, but it wasn't offered, or
       * received forgiveness when you knew it was immensely difficult to the one who offers it? 


In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus teaches us one of the hardest prayers for us to say with complete sincerity,

Forgive us our sins 

as we 

forgive those who sin against us

It's the "as we" that hits us between the eyes.  If we were just asking for forgiveness for ourselves - and sure, we could ask God to forgive those who sin against us - that would be one thing.  But he ties the two aspects of forgiveness together, 

For if you forgive men when they sin against you, 

your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 

But if you do not forgive men their sins, 

your Father will not forgive your sins.

What is there about un-forgiveness that short-circuits God's forgiveness for us?   Is it that grace, after all, is somehow earned - or perhaps withdrawn depending on whether we forgive others or not?  Or is there something deeper going on?  I opt for the second option and that's what we'll discuss in this week's message. 

I'll also be sharing a clip from a film that impacted me profoundly when I saw it recently.  It's called As We Forgive (trailer here), and it shares the true, contemporary story of Rwandans who were called to forgive those who participated in the genocide of over one million of their brothers and sisters in 1994.  If you've ever struggled to forgive something terrible, you'll want to see it.  If you need to sense God's forgiveness in new ways, join worship at CHBC this Sunday. 

- Curtis 

Getting Out of Debt

2 Corinthians 5:20-6:10; Joel 2:1-2; 12-14

(To read the strange dream I had last night - these are getting very common - jump down to the next post)
We're talking about a more important kind of debt than you might first think of. Debt to God. Today's passage from Paul is a beautiful bit of writing by Paul about what it looks like live as "ambassadors for reconciliation." The theme, though, is getting people reconciled to God - a good start for Lent, with the focus on repentance & forgiveness for this communion Sunday. It's rather amazing to think about what Paul was willing, even eager, to suffer if he could reconcile people to God. We don't even like being taken lightly. This guy was tough as nails. He knew what God created him for. He had purpose and drive.
But this Sunday we'll really be focusing more on the Joel 2 passage as we start the Lenten seasion. God says,
"Yet even now, return to me with all your heart - with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Tear your hearts, not just your garments. Return to the Lord your God for he is merciful and compassionate..."
Someone needs to bend that into a song. It's so beautiful, this idea of God waiting for us to return to him humbly, completely. Picture the broken prodigal son who comes to his senses, Jesus says, and turns back to home. The Father is at the door of his home, searching for the lost son. How long had the son been gone? How long had the father waited; scanning the horizon for his rebellious son? And when he sees him, he runs to the boy, lavishing undeserved love and forgiveness upon him. So it is for me. And you.

As Lent begins, it is good to consider ways that we've been prodigals. Take a look at your heart. Tear it open, no matter how vile and ugly it might feel inside. For God is compassionate and merciful.
- Curtis

For Sunday, February 3 - The Ways of the Kingdom

Matthew 5; Isaiah 53
On the surface, these two passages don't have a lot to do with each other. But I consider it a spiritual gift to be able to bend and twist disparate passages and ideas into something that will preach as one - or maybye it's heresy, who knows?
Matthew 5, what we normally call "The Sermon on the Mount" is Jesus' inaugural speech about the Kingdom of God/Heaven that he brings. Most believers, even non-Christians, stand in awe of Jesus' words here. Though he re-states many of the ideas of the prophets and sages of Jewish Old Testament history, he does so with perfect clarity, simplicity and beauty. One can't help but read through the Sermon and simply think, "Yes, if only the world and people were like this..."
Which is exactly the problem. It isn't and we aren't. Instead we find that, at our best, we consider Jesus' words impossible ideals. But we don't really think there's any way things can be as he describes.
Here's a thought: What if he really meant what he said? On both the individual level (inner me stuff), and on the social level of how we treat each other - and (gasp) - how tribes and nations treat each other? What would it mean to turn the other cheek and bless those who persecute us? How do we possibly do that? If we get ticked off when someone cuts us off in traffic, who we don't even know, then how do we ever forgive someone who has injured our soul? And yet here we are with these words about a very different kingdom.
That's where I think Isaiah 53, the passage of the Suffering Servant comes in. I don't know how far I'll get towards tying all of this together in the sermon - maybe it will be more than one. We'll see...
Your thoughts?
- Curtis