Broadway Christian Church ·Columbia, Missouri
Morning Worship ·January 30, 2005
Prayer of the Day
Lord Jesus, help us in this hour of worship to receive your freely-given blessing and the courage to come forth and be a part of your kingdom, your blessed reign, the real world you offer to us. Amen.
Scripture
Matthew 5:1-12
Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them, and he said these words:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who know their need for the spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are those who mourn, who grieve, who are bereaved, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are those who are meek, those who humble themselves before God, for they will inherit this earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for what is right not just for themselves but for the oppressed, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, those who actually do compassion and forgiveness, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, those who totally devote themselves to God and God’s will, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, not those who live in peace but those who actually work hard to reconcile hostile individuals, families, groups, and nations, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, because of doing the right thing, doing God’s thing, for theirs will be the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who came before you.
Message
I Prepare You for the Real World
Rick Frost
The sign said, “We prepare you for the real world.” Isn’t that a great ad? It was a billboard out by the highway. Maybe you saw it one time. “We prepare you for the real world.” It was an ad that had been sponsored and put up by some college or university somewhere. What it was saying was, I think, “Choose to come be with us. Come live, study, pray, play, work, and you will receive the knowledge, the skills, and the understanding that you need to live in the real world, so that you can find your place in that world, and become a productive and responsible citizen that you should be. Then enjoy the fruits of your labors and the benefits of what’s called the ‘good life’.”
“We prepare you for the real world.” That is quite a claim for any institution. Of course, it implies that we have some working consensus on just what the real world actually is. “We prepare you for the real world.” Well, perhaps.
Mr. Bush, in his inaugural address, said, “We are prepared to go anywhere in the world to provide support for those seeking freedom.” I take that to mean that America now feels called to prepare the world for our reality, to prepare the human family for the real world of freedom and democracy. Well, we shall see. We shall see.
The big question today, not just here but everywhere: “Just what is the real world?” Do you have a working definition of what that real world is?
A Buddhist, for instance, might well say that the real world is a world of suffering – that life is filled with suffering. What we do is suffer, and we survive, and the best way to prepare ourselves for it is to learn how to escape it through enlightenment. And they can do that. They can teach you actually how to do that. They can teach you how to meditate and escape.
A friend of mine went on campus this past week to hear John Cabot Zen speak. Some of you may have been there. He sent me an email the next morning. He said it was fascinating. He said, “It occurred to me that the Buddhists really know how to live, and we Christians know how to die.”
Is that true? Can Buddhists prepare you for the real world? I suppose they can if you allow them to define what the real world is for you.
Or take Disney – the world of fantasy and fun – the real world of the Disney World. As you know, it is sort of a world you make up as you go along. It is like that guy at the end of the movie “Pretty Woman,” who says, “Welcome to Hollywood. What’s your dream? Everybody’s got a dream. Some of them come true. Some of them don’t, but keep on dreaming.”
What’s real, you see, is what we want it to be, what we choose it to be. Is that true?
Well… I guess, you see, I have all this heavy stuff on my mind today, because our text today is a pretty heavy text. The Scripture today, as you Christians who have been part of the faith for a long time know, is part one of what is called “The Sermon on the Mount.” The scholars like to call it “Jesus’ inaugural address,” in which Christ the King goes up on the mountain, sits down, just like Moses went up on the mountain to receive God’s Ten Commandments before him. King Jesus sits, and the loyal subjects gather round, and he delivers an inaugural address, in which he lays out in some detail what life is like, what life under the rule of God will be like. It’s a piece of work, as you know.
On the surface, it seems so unrealistic. In fact, it is probably one of the most unrealistic things you have ever heard. “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” “Blessed are those who grieve.” “Blessed are the peacemakers.” “Blessed are the meek.” I mean, how unrealistic can it get?
I’m sure you may have heard about a man who appeared recently at St. Peter’s pearly gates one day. St. Peter asked him, “Did you ever in your life do anything of particular merit?”
The man said, “Well, come to think of it, I did do one thing.”
St. Peter says, “Well, tell me about it.”
“Well, I was on a trip to the Black Hills in South Dakota. I came upon a gang of bikers who were threatening a young woman. I confronted them and directed them to leave her alone, but they just wouldn’t listen to me. So I approached the largest of the bunch and smacked him on the side of the head, kicked over his bike, and told him, “Leave her alone right now, or you are going to have to answer to me.”
St. Peter, evidently, was pretty impressed. “Well, when did that happen?” he asked.
“Oh, just a couple of minutes ago.”
But Jesus said, “If someone hits you on the right cheek…” Do what? “Turn and offer the left.” “If someone sues you for your coat, give them the shirt off your back.” “If someone hates you, love them in return.” “If someone asks you for something, don’t turn them away, but give it to them.” “If someone asks you to carry their burden one mile, you volunteer and take it two.”
My goodness. Doesn’t that sound like a recipe for disaster? This isn’t the real world, is it? Folks, I think that is one of the biggest issues that is facing, not just you and me, but our country and our whole creation. Who gets to say? Who gets to define what is real?
“Blessed are the peacemakers,” said Jesus.
Evangelical Christian Tony Campolo, preached a sermon right after 9-11 in which he wondered out loud before his congregation, just how different would things be today if after our first war with Iraq, we would have, instead of imposing a complete embargo that indirectly is credited for the death of over 100,000 of their people because of malnutrition and lack of medical care, what would have happened… what would it be like today if instead we had taken all of our military and political might and simply dumped tons and tons of food and medicine on Iraq? Do you think Saddam Hussein would have been able to maintain his unholy grip on that land? What if, rather than violating the holy places of Islam, we had violated the grip of Islamic dictators with our generosity? Did anybody ever seriously consider that? Would that actually work in the real world of the Middle East? Who gets to define what’s real?
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy,” said Jesus.
It was a nasty divorce. She and her husband fought like cats and dogs through the courts. When the settlement was finally hammered out, the only people who were pleased were the lawyers. Her former husband was bitter, mad, angry, hate filled, contentious. Every time he came to the house to get the kids, there was always this ugly scene.
“I have to do something,” she said. “It is tearing the children apart. I simply cannot go on like this.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to ask if he will meet with me and we can talk, face to face, just the two of us. In that meeting I am going to take as much responsibility as I can for the breakdown of this relationship. I’m not going to relieve him of his responsibility, but I am going to be as honest as I can about mine. Then I’m going to look him directly in his eyes, and I am going to ask him to forgive me. I’m going to tell him how sorry I am for my part in all of this, and I am going to ask him to forgive.”
Does that actually work in the real world? Who gets to define what is real?
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted,” Jesus said.
His beloved daughter was sitting at her desk. It was a new desk. She had just started the job on a beautiful September morning on the 80th floor of the World Trade Center. Months later he wrote this letter to a Christian friend in another state. He said:
“My grief is great. It is deeper than anyone can even imagine. I miss her so, so much. But, I have also learned that I am not alone in this. There are thousands and thousands like me all over the globe – parents grieving the loss of a child. It just so happens that I am among them right now. Our Christian faith teaches that even God knows what it is like to lose a child to violence and hatred. And speaking of the Christian faith, I want you to know that faith means a whole lot more to me now than it did the last time I saw you. I don’t know what I would have done without my community of faith. I am learning how to be a Christian the hard way.”
Can this really happen in the real world? Who gets to define what is real?
Well… Jesus says, “I’m going to offer you comfort and laughter if you are a person in mourning. I’m going to offer you blessing if you happen to be a victim of injustice. I’m going to offer the whole world to those of you who are meek, and I am going to promise you triumph for those who do not repay evil with evil.”
I don’t know how in the world Jesus does that, except through his own power and Spirit living in his people. Interestingly enough there are many people that you and I know who think the Christian faith is just about finding some way to get through this life as best you can and get your ticket to heaven, and yet, Jesus in his inaugural address, lays down a Magna Charta for a new world that is coming.
What I want you to really hear today, and I want you to affirm in yourself, and I want you to take great pride in the fact that every time you forgive, every time you do not return evil for evil, every time you go voluntarily that second mile, you are putting into place a little, tiny piece of a real world that God is making. Do you know that? Do you believe it? Do you experience it?
Who defines reality for us? The real world? God defines, the bottom line, for us. Nobody else. And who are you, and who am I? Well, I’m just a human being, and I’ve had the great fortune of being forgiven. I’m in the process of being redeemed. I know myself to be a beloved child of God, and little by little, I am becoming, thanks be to God, the creature, the creation God intended me to be. The real me, in the real world.
And Jesus said, “If you want it, I’ll prepare you for it.” But you have to ask, and you have to let him.
And we all say together… “Amen.”
Benediction
Kingdom Maker, let your will be known to us that we might always choose the just and loving action. Keep the eyes of our hearts focused on you that we will see when to extend and receive your grace. Amen.
