I
appreciate that many wise members and friends of Trinity who have led worship and
preached over the past few months. I loved hearing the gospel proclaimed and
the word of God preached by many different voices and perspectives. Thank you
to everyone who volunteered to be brave and lead – they say public speaking is
one of the most stressful activities people can take on, and everyone did a wonderful
job of leading worship.
This
morning, we turn to the Gospel of Matthew. The passage we read comes from
teachings Jesus said to crowds gathered in Jerusalem – Matthew situates this
teaching after Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and before the events that
led to Good Friday. In today’s teaching, Jesus emphasizes that his followers
must strive be humble and to practice what they preach. Jesus’s words are just
as relevant today as they were in the first century.
Hear Jesus’s teaching as
we turn to Matthew chapter 23 verses one through twelve:
Scripture: Matthew
23:1-12
Then Jesus said to the crowds and
to his disciples:
“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees
sit in Moses’ seat.
So you must be careful to do
everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice
what they preach.
They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads
and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing
to lift a finger to move them.
“Everything they do is done for
people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their
garments long;
they love the place of honor at
banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues;
they love to be greeted with
respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.
“But you are not to be called
‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers.
And do not call anyone on earth
‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.
Nor are you to be called instructors,
for you have one Instructor, the Messiah.
The greatest among you will be your
servant.
For those who exalt themselves will
be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
Here ends this reading of the word
of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be
acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Sermon
“Partners
in Service”
Americans love stories
of people whose hypocrisy is revealed in ugly ways – we have tabloid magazines
and 2020 “ex-po-ses'' that delight in describing the path to destruction once
great people followed – powerful Harvey Weinstein, a renowned film
producer, who was revealed to be a sex offender who hurt countless victims–
Reverend Jim Bakker, a famous pastor and televangelist, who was outed as
someone who fraudulently gained personal riches by exploiting his followers –
pastor and weight-loss guru Gwen Shamblin who cruelly exploited her church
members to gain personal wealth. We read articles in People magazine and watch
documentaries about great people whose lives imploded and their hypocrisy was
exposed.
In today’s scripture
lesson, Jesus challenges his followers to not be hypocritical….don’t show off
how pious you are in public – don’t put on a show for others about how
wonderful you are when you may not be so wonderful in reality. We are not
supposed to be showy with our faith – instead we are called to follow God in
our words and actions without making a big deal out of what we are doing. Jesus
knew all people are a mixed bag – we have our moments of faithfulness and we
have our moments of selfishness. We don’t always do a great job of following
the scriptures, of following the teachings of Jesus. We make mistakes, we hurt
other people, and we hurt ourselves. So, we shouldn’t pretend to be
perfect in our faithfulness when we are constantly working on doing better
without ever completely achieving our goal.
Things get yucky for
people whose identity is tied to their perfection – no one can maintain
perfection forever. Our tv screens and Instagram feeds are full of people who
are trying to achieve the perfect body or trying to pretend like they have more
money than they actually have or trying to show they are the one parent who has
everything figured out. But, people who are reaching for perfection have
flaws and make mistakes. And, sometimes people’s public posts or presentations
are just fake – the posts are just masking the brokenness of the poster’s
life. They may be a tad hypocritical in that what they post on a screen
is out of sync with what is happening in reality.
As followers of Jesus,
we don’t have to be perfect. We are just supposed to be working on following
Jesus, working on following the teachings of the Bible and the teachings of
Christianity. We are all a work-in-progress. We are called to personally
make choices that don’t just serve us, our wants and our needs, but we are
called to be generous and do things that result in helping other people,
especially people who don’t have the advantages we have.
Part of practicing
what we preach is to work to be humble, and to be modest in our needs. This
teaching of Jesus goes against the grain of our mainstream American cultural
goals – The world tells us to stand out, to strive to be the most popular kid
in the class, to be the maverick employee who climbs his way to the top of the
pack – but, Jesus says: “For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and
those who humble themselves will be exalted.” So, instead of striving to
become a Kim Kardashian or a Serena Williams, we are called to be humble….it is
better to be known as the person other people can count on, other people can
trust, other people can turn to for help, than it is to be person with the
fanciest car or the poshest house. It is better to be the kindest kid in
the class than the trendiest kid in the class.
This morning, we sung
the hymn “Let Your Heart Be Broken.” Even though it is in our hymnal, this was
a new hymn for me. But, the words resonate with today’s teaching from Jesus –
we must practice what we preach – feed the mouths that hunger – soothe the
wounds that bleed – give the cup of water and the loaf of bread – be the hands
of Jesus, serving in his stead.
Jesus is present on
earth right now as he lives in each of us. We are called to patiently and
humbly care for each other. We are called to care for people in need. This is why the work of the church is so
important: together we can accomplish things that are very difficult for
individuals to do alone. We may not personally have the tools to help a young
mother in need develop the skills and find the resources to pull herself out of
poverty, but as the church we support the work of Every Good Gift and help many
young women every year. We may not have enough food in our cupboards to support
the hungry people who live around us, but as the church we support the work of the
Daily Bread Food Pantry and help feed over a thousand people every month. We
may not have the connections or resources to personally help refugees from Ukraine
or Afghanistan, but as the Church we support the many agencies that receive financial
support through our One Great Hour of Sharing and Neighbors in Need offerings
and do the work of helping refugees throughout the world.
Today, we are honoring
the Saints of the church, good Christian men and women of time immemorial. This
is the day we remember the people who have passed away who made a meaningful
impact on our lives – our parents and grandparents, our childhood Sunday School
teachers and Boy Scout leaders, the co-workers who rooted for us and the
neighbors who were there to help us shovel our driveway when it was too much
for us to do alone. This is a day when we remember and thank God for people who
humbly demonstrated faithful living for us. Most of the people we remember
today were not movie stars or record breaking athletes – they were regular
every-day people who were loving, kind and generous. They weren’t perfect, but
they were able to teach us despite their imperfections. We have many role-models
in the faith who humbled themselves and taught us attributes that are truly
important – sincerity, kindness, generosity and grace. Let us humble ourselves
to be like them. Amen
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