What Jesus has taught in these chapters is not esoteric and out there. These are not the dis-connected musing and random thoughts of someone who knows nothing about life and relationships and the realities of our world. This stuff is intensely practical. this stuff is intense applicable. This stuff changes our lives and changes the world when we live it out! Which is why I started with the end in mind to say- this stuff has the change you. You need to do this stuff. We don’t just need to hear this stuff, we need to do this stuff. That’s the whole point. Just hearing what Jesus teaches, that so 2008; doing, that’s so 3000 and late!
So I put it this way- we need to be Outliers. That’s taken from Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book- Outliers are people who stand on the fringe, they are different, they are special. They are connected to the whole, but different enough, unique enough, that they lay outside the norm, or the average. That captures so much of what Jesus wants to do with us- connected, but set apart; unique and different, in a good way.
I put it this way- What’s just about the worst thing, the most stinging comment that could be said of someone who proclaims to be a fully-devoted follower of Jesus? “Why, you’re just like everyone else.” That remark would not only be preposterous, it really should be impossible. To call oneself a fully devoted follower of Jesus, and I realize fully that not everyone is willing to say that about yourself, is to be a different kind of person. To be fully devoted to Jesus, to do this stuff and put it into practice, fundamentally changes us and changes our lives. And if you haven’t been changed, you’ve kinda missed the boat.
So I want to ask you, how have you changed this summer? What looks different in your life because of this? If you’ve been with us, this is a recap of some things we’ve talked about. If you are new or visiting, you’re lucky, you get the hyper-speed recap of this section of scripture. But let me break it down into some categories of being changed- do you now think differently, live differently, or believe differently?
Jesus has been challenging and changing some of fundamental ideas about God and life. So do you think differently about something? Jesus challenged us to think differently about a blessed life. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted for righteousness sake. These are the people who are and will be blessed. How do you think about your life- are you salt and light in the world. Has this changed your behavior in any area? Salt and light change things. Salt penetrates and permeates and halts the decay that rots our food. Are you penetrating the rotting places of our world, or peoples lives, bringing life, preservation, even bringing flavor and zest and making it better than it was before? That’s what salt does. Are you light dispelling the darkness that clocks our world and so many lives? Jesus thinks that way about you. Jesus beleives you can make that kind of a difference. Jesus thinks you are that special, that wonderful, that amazing. Jesus thinks you can do that. What do you think about yourself? Your life, the difference you can make. if you haven’t changed in the way you think about yourself in some significant ways. If your thinking hasn’t come more into alignment with what Jesus thinks about you, you’ve kinda missed the point. If you behavior hasn’t be changed by new beliefs about the blessed life, abut being salt and light, well...
Are you living differently now than compared to 12 weeks ago, because Jesus wants to change the way you live for better, for good, for his glory and the blessing and benefit of the world. Are you living differently. Sure, you’re not a murderer, but have you gotten rid of the anger that has lived in your soul for so long? You live a relatively moral and upright life, but have you begun to purge from your heart the lust that drives you to objectify men or women, that dehumanizes other image bearers, that pulls you to porn, or adultery? Have you worked on your lying issues? Have you decided it’s always better to be open, honest, in the light, because being truthful always looks best to God. In fact, you now realize, that being truthful, even when the truth hurts, even makes you look better in the eyes of people because all of us hate hypocrisy. Have you decided to love one of your enemies- to embrace the fact that Christ died for your enemy so they might know the love of God, and that if Christ died for that person, the least you can do is try to make peace with them? Ann Lamont has a great quote, “You can be very sure of this- the person that you hate the most is the person that Jesus wants you to love the most.” That’s brutal.
How about money? Jesus really challenged us to change our relationship with money. Is your first priority with money giving to God and giving to the needy? If not, that’s what it’s supposed to be. Give back to God, give to the needy, help the poor, leverage your money for doing right in the world. Have you begun to break the hold that money has on your heart, to not let it be your master, but to maser your money, to make it your tool for God’s work in the world? Are you actually storing up treasures in heaven now by investing in the things of God. How about prayer and fasting. Have you tried fasting? Have you tried prayer the way Jesus taught us in the sermon? Have you let go of your worry and begun to build faith and trust in God.
There’s a good one- let’s be honest with ourselves right now- do we trust God more now than we did 12 weeks ago? Remember when we talked about prayer for two weeks. We talked about getting an answer to prayer story in our lives, and how that can be an absolute game changer for our lives, that will help is deal with worry, and grow in faith in incredible ways- so do you have an answer to prayer story in your life yet? That’s gonna change you.
The Manifesto messes with our beliefs. It tells us to believe the most important thing we can do in this world is to invest in the next. It teaches us to believe that heaven is at hand when we take hold of Jesus. It tell us to believe that there is a purpose to our success, and our suffering, and that we will in fact suffer for Jesus. We will. All of us will suffer for the cause of Christ when we are fully devoted to him. What do you believe now about heaven and hell, about your relationship with god, about your relationship to people?
The point is be be transformed, to be changed, to be different. Not for the simple sake of being different, but that the fully devoted follower of Jesus is so profoundly changed by Jesus that our lives, almost just by default, begin to look and feel and effect everything around us. If you have not been changed, you have missed the point. But great news- it’s not too late for you.
I have been immersed in the MANIFESTO this summer, reading and re-reading and studying these words, and you can’t do that and not be changed. You can’t do that and start to question, well, everything. The bad news is that I have to conclude that I still think being blessed means being happy, healthy and wealthy. I still have anger issues. I still have lust issues. I still hold grudges against some people, and they are hard to let go. I still hold on too tightly to my money even though I give more than 10% away. i still catch myself praying like a hypocrite and a pagan half the time. I still want to make a show of my religion sometimes, like that impressed God or man. I still store up treasures on earth and have not completely put my ambition and focus onto heaven, which, ironically, would allow me to be even more fully present to the here and now. I still worry about a lot of stuff. I still judge other people. i still do not do to others as i wish they would do to me, even though I know that is the best way to live. I still bear some bad fruit in my life. That’s the bad news.
But here’s the good news. No, the incredibly awesome earth shattering, this is the greatest news ever that everyone needs to know- I think I’m getting better. I’m getting better because I’m getting closer to Jesus. I’m getting better because more and more I’m not relying on my own strength, but I’m leaning on Jesus. I’m accepting his forgiveness. I’m embracing his call. I’m following him! And that’s the point! The MANIFESTO in one amazing sweep does two things in my life- it makes me so painfully aware that I am more sinful that I can even grasp. I fall so short of this ideal that Jesus lays out for my life that I will never attain. But at the same time, I begin to understand and accept that I am more loved by God than I have yet to imagine. I’m more sinful that I dare to admit, but more loved by God than I can imagine.
You see, everyone who reads the Manifesto, everyone who hears about or studies the life of Christ is impressed. His teaching is amazing. His compassion inspiring. His death on a cross compelling. It’s probably impossible to give an honest look at Jesus and not be impressed. Many people who do not call themselves followers of Jesus, are impressed, inspired and even effected with the teachings here. They see in this Manifesto a better way to life and do life together. They see a paradigm for community and relationships that if implemented, would serve for the greater good of all people. A world not just without murder, but without anger. A world not just without war, but with peace. Not just without greed, but with generosity. Not just without judgment, but with genuine love. They can see how deep Jesus wants us to go.
But the whole point of this manifesto is that we we can go there without Jesus. The whole point is that the change that Jesus wants to work in us is so deep, so deep it goes beyond jsut tweaking our thinking, tweaking our doing, tweaking our beliefs. The change that Jesus wants to work in us is so deep that it means we have to completely give our lives to Him. We have to come into a relationship with him. We have to become followers of his. Matthew records for us what the point was. He wrote this, and this is so important. I did not see, i did not get this, until this week. I could have easily missed this last part, but it may now be the most important thing for us to see.
7:28-8:1 When Jesus had finished saying these things the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. When he came down from the mountain, large crowds followed him...
The people were rightly amazed at his teaching. Well they should have been, and has been generations of people. But more than his words, they were amazed at the authority of the man. More than his words, they were amazed and awe-struck by the man self, but Jesus. And that folks, is the whole point. To be amazed by jesus, and to follow him. To become not just an advocate of his teaching, a fan of his words, but a follower of his.
As you read over the sermon, and if you’ve been doing that this summer, things about Jesus begin to emerge. Things that tell us, this isn’t just about ideas or beliefs or changing the way we do things. Jesus is saying things about himself that go far deeper. Things about himself that tell us he’s not just about teaching us new stuff. He was all together and entirely different. Let me walk you back through and show you what emerges, and what makes Jesus so different.
When the prophets of the old testament spoke for God they would preface their words by saying, “Thus says the LORD...” They spoke with the authority of God on behalf of God. When the scribes taught they quoted the law and the prophets, and other teachers to try and build their case. But when Jesus taught, he claimed sole authority. In chapter 5 we saw the pattern over and over again, “You have hear... But I say to you...” Jesus said a new thing. Jesus gave the authoritative interpretation. And it was like nothing they had heard before. It was AUTHORITY.
Jesus claimed the authority of the Christ. The people were waiting for the Messiah, the Christ, the one from God. When Jesus began the sermon he said, “I have not come to abolish the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them.” Of course others had said this before. Every generation would have a so-called Messiah. Jesus claimed this title, then he taught, then the people followed him. Essentially they were saying, OK Jesus, we’ll buy in. We’ll follow. We are willing to say, for now, that you might in fact be the Christ. Well, 2000 years later, without interruption, more and more have said I too will follow and believe that you are the Christ.
Jesus claimed the authority of the LORD. People through the title Lord around as a sign of respect, but it could mean so much more. In chapter 7 Jesus embraces it as so much more. People call out to Him Lord LORD. So as to not miss the point the title is repeated for emphasis- Jesus is LORD! He rules, he reigns, he is in charge.
Jesus claimed the authority to Judge. When people call upon him as LORD LORD, he portrays himself seated in Judgement. What what is basis for Judgement? Himself. The people say we did all sorts of things in your name, we knew your teaching, we admired your example. But Jesus says, I never knew YOU. The point wasn’t just to do what I told you, though that was a huge part of the point. The point was to enter into a relationship with me, then to do the things I told you.
As Jesus has the authority to Judge, he has the authority to save. And he offers us the gift of salvation. Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. This is how Jesus invites us to relate to him. I love how it increases intensity. Ask, and you’ll receive the gift of salvation. Seek it, and you’ll find it. Knock, and the doors of heaven will swing wide open to you through men, through Jesus.
Finally, Jesus the son of God. Jesus has authority as a teacher, as the Christ, as the LORD, as Judge, as savior because he has the authority of being the Son of God. We see this imbedded in the teaching here. Over and over again he tells us, and offers us this father relationship with God. When Jesus teaches the followers to pray he says to pray like this, “Our father.” And this runs all throughout the sermon: Your father knows what you need, you father watches over you, your father counts the hairs on your head, your father sees what done is secret and will reward you. But in his last statement in chapter 7 it’s almost like he slips, but its not a slip, it there for this reason- he claims a unique relationship with God, calling him MY father. We only relate to God as father through the invitation of Jesus the SON. And Jesus will always have that unique and foremost relationship as the son of God, because he is one with God.
All this to say- the final call of the manifesto is not to simply affirm or even apply these teachings of Jesus. That would mean that this is simply a lecture and this is simly an academic exercise. No, it goes much deeper than that, it always goes much deeper in this manifesto. The final words of the manifesto are not just a concept or idea or moral absolute. They are an invitation. An invitation to embrace Jesus, to build your life upon him because it’s the wisest thing to do, but even more, to follow him. That is why over and over and over again we have used the phrase- to be a fully devoted follower of jesus. Not just a believer in the teachings of Jesus, not even a doer of the teachings of jesus, but a follower. Jesus is looking for followers. Jesus is inviting you to follow him.
That’s what many did starting from that day. They followed Jesus as he traveled from town to town, preaching the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand- so repent, turn, follow me. Jesus healed the sick and the people loved him. he calmed a storm and the people were afraid of him. he cast our demons and whole towns asked him to leave them alone. He invited rich men to leave everythign and follow him, and he did. He invited another rich young man to sell everything and follow him, and he didn’t. he brought a dead girl back to life, and folks hardly knew what to make of him. He sent out his followers, and they performed miracles in his name. He feed thousands by performing miracles and the people loved him. He challenged the status quo of the religious systems, and the people turned against him.
And on the night before Jesus was to be betrayed and he would willingly lay down his life, and allow himself to be handed to his enemies, placed on trial, tortured, beaten, mocked and hung on a cross to die, on the night before the day that the world would see in one act the worst sin of humanity every displayed, and the greatest love of God ever demonstrated, before that day, Jesus gathered with his disciples.
He took a loaf of bread and he broke it and he gave it to his disciples and he said take and eat, this is my body, broken for you. And he took a cup and poured it out for them and said this cup is the new covenant, sealed in my blood which is shed for you, and for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in remembrance of me.
And the next day he was crucified, he died, and he was buried. And three days later, when the women who followed Jesus came to the tomb to see is body, they encountered the rise and living Jesus. And Jesus appeared to his followers, and when he was with them he broke bread, and he offered them the cup.
And for some 2000 years now this has been the practice of the church. this is how we remember Jesus. But more, this is how we can experience Jesus. Thsi is how we come to Jesus and we say we don;t just want good teaching Jesus, we want you. We want you Jesus.
And if you’ve never made that step of faith before, this is the perfect way to do it. This is the perfect way to say Jesus, today, I want to make that leap, and become a follower of yours. When yo come forward to take communion, to take just this little bit of bread, and a little bit of this cup, this is an express of something happening deep within you.
First, by coming forward, you are making a statement. You are professing your faith in Jesus, you are professing your need of Jesus. You are announcing to the world, I stand for Jesus. Jesus says this act of faith is rewarded. He says that anyone who does not deny him before teh world, he will not deny before teh father. When we stand before God, Jesus will say we’ve already been here before. You stood before teh table, you stood before God, and you embraced me.
You are saying Jesus, I embrace your body. I embrace that you, the son of God, took on human flesh, and that you allowed that flesh to be broken and torn for me. And as I embrace the bread, i am begin embraced by your body. You are becoming one with me, as I am being one with you.
You are saying jesus, i embrace this cup, the forgiveness of my sins. Because Jesus, I’m a sinner, and I need that. I need your forgiveness, I need the price of sin paid, the weight of sin lifted, the stain of sin washed away, the consequences of sin meet in your sacrificial death. I need You Jesus.
This the table of our Lord, and he invites you to meet him here at this table, and to be a follower of his. If you have done this before, i know, i know, you are ready to dig in, you are ready to say yes to Jesus once again. You are ready for this bread and this cup, you love this bread and this cup and what it means, and what it does in you.
But some of you maybe have never done this before. Because maybe you have never said Jesus, I’m all in. I going to be a follower of yours. Without pushing it or forcing it on you, today I simply invite you, I invite as Jesus invites you. Come to to table. Follow Jesus. Everyone, everyone who can simply say Jesus, I believe, is welcomed to come.
If you are not there yet, nobody is going to judge you, nobody is going to look down on you. For just as you are respecting what this means, we will respect that you are still on the journey, and we’re just so glad your sharing it with us.
The band is going to play. I invite you to come to the table closest to you, to take a piece of the bread, to dip it into the cup, to eat, then to return to your seat. You’ll bump into folks, it’s kinda crazy, that’s ok, that’s what the church is like sometimes, that’s how family goes sometimes.
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