Us and Them

Welcome Statement

It is great to be back with you guys after a couple of weeks of weeks. It’s given me some time to reflect on how I want to continue this series, as I want to make sure I continue to do it faithfully with the nuance necessary and the conviction necessary that Christ demands any follower holds.

We start this week meeting Jesus at the Mount of Olives in the Gospel of Matthew, privately teaching his disciples about the Destruction of the Temple, and the signs of the end times. Our part of the story relevant for today’s lesson is where he is speaking on the separation of the Sheep from the Goats. He is using figurative language to explain how people will be separated and determined who is worthy of the inheritance of the Kingdom of God, and who will be excluded. We have these bold truths that Christ always makes clear in his Red Letters, such as in Luke 9:23 “Then he said to them all, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Making it boldly clear there is a form of self-denial, a humbling posture, that occurs when one becomes a Christ follower. But this self-denial, isn’t the way we think it is. It isn’t by telling people by screaming all the time how much of a big bad sinner we are, grabbing attention to ourselves through virtue signalling, it’s more like how C.S Lewis puts it:

Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call ‘humble’ nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody. Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him.

If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all. This type of humility is the type I Imagine christ portraying much of the time, yes, there are times he definitely had that solemness around him when appropriate, but there’s a reason many called him their friend.

This is the humility called out in Philippians:

Philippians 2:3

Philippians 2:3 NRSV

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.

This type of humility calls us to be better to those around us, to not siphon them off into groups, and treat them as some sort of cattle to just be considered as less than human, Christ makes this plainly clear in Matthew 25:31-46:

Matthew 25:31–46 NRSV

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

So, we find this clear, bold, call, by Christ, to give him something to drink, as he asked for sometthing to drink on the Cross as he suffered. We are called to give strangers something to drink too. This term, sojourner, or stranger, is seen very clearly throughout the old Testament, not just the new, in places like Leviticus, and Deuteronomy, which is something I will want to explore with you all in a subsequent series, how Christ really did fullfill the law, and didn’t abolish it. It’s truly profound. We find ourselves called, to help others, there isn’t some prerequisite to whether these people are worthy, or whether these people have paid some sacrificial price themselves to receive the gifts of the fruits of our labor, and of course, Christ isn’t ripping them out of our hands and handing them over to these people either, he’s telling us to love these people, these people who are unlike us, who may talk different, walk different, think different. He’s saying we will see him in these people. It’s a clear call back to Genesis that man was made in God’s image, this is a sneaky suggestion of his divinity as well in Matthew. People that may even wish and think lesser of us. He tells us to walk two miles with them. He tells us to take the clothes off our backs, not just as generosity but as a form of positive protest, refusing to step to their level. Refusing to step into the world of the depravity, declaring we are indeed a new creation in Christ. It’s declaring an invitation to everyone to join. This is the inclusiveness in the call we see in this passage. People might then ask me, “Jason, so many churches overemphasize this point anymore, we hyper-focus on service, and not salvation”, and I would to some degree, agree with you, some churches over-emphasize the love and care of God his mercy, and never get to where his justice and sovereignty reigns, and sometimes that’s because those relationships never start with people where they can even begin to understand the sin in their lives, sometimes we don’t know how to discipline in a loving manner anymore, if the world and news is evidence of this, we are incapable of talking to one another of different creeds and opinions anymore. We are not capable of listening, we parrot what other people say, and then we scream when we disagree. We have become apathetic, to where we simply say, “everyone is included, we don’t care”. Its the type of inclusion where everyone sits in a huge auditorium but no one ever gets to know eachother. Where’s the one one one faith building? where’s the studies? where’s the community engagement? For some places it feels like a factory, and then when issues do abound, there never feels like a process is in place to address issues. Those who ask this question are right that there is an exclusionary factor in this scripture. It’s made more clear in Luke 13:22-29 that even the people we feed may not necessarily accept the gifts we are ultimately feeding them, but that doesn’t mean it’s in vain. It’s all for the glory of God.

2nd Reading - Luke 13:22-29

Luke 13:22–29 NRSV

Jesus went through one town and village after another, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few be saved?” He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. When once the owner of the house has got up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then in reply he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I do not know where you come from; go away from me, all you evildoers!’ There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrown out. Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God.

There Will Be Gnashing of Teeth

So many people look to these passaged as sources to validate their understandings of Hell. And while yes, we use these passages to help us doctrinally understand Hell, we have to be careful if we start allowing ourselves to use these passages to justify who we think is going to be subjected to the “gnashing of teeth”. BUT, it is clear, Christ will tell them, “I do not know you”, because they rejected his message of humility. But, we run the risk of taking these verses, and inserting ourselves as jury, judge, and executioner, and that’s where we are wrong. We simply are messengers, although we do have authority in some sense to regulate within the church.

As Paul himself says in 1 Corinthians 5:11-13:

1 Corinthians 5:11–13 NRSV

But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother or sister who is sexually immoral or greedy, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or robber. Do not even eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging those outside? Is it not those who are inside that you are to judge? God will judge those outside. “Drive out the wicked person from among you.”

Complicated Nuance

So we run into this complicated nuance, that we let God do the judging, but we also try to find some balance of what we don’t associate with. We obviously don’t condone literal evil, but we also don’t want to just make arbitrary lines in the sand. These conversations get thrown out all the time and we find ourselves having to debate all the time what the standard is. That’s a conversation the church has to make, and rightfully so. But it doesn’t start throwing this stuff into the faces off prospective believers, it’s just bad evangelism. The conviction of sin generally happens after the word is first heard, and yes one must understand their sin, but it generally happens with great care and a healthy dialogue, not drive by passings of quotting scripture. This is why apathetic inclusion is not the way to go. one-on-one dialogue is necessary. Even after getting past the issue of salvation, We can disagree with other denominations, other churches, or even just other people, and look at all the people around us and think it’s very clear who’s causing all the problems, who the enemy is, like it was for the Israelites, we have an image in our head of who the current day Amalekites are, or that the warnings of who the Anti-Christ might be is coming to fruition. As a preacher, I cannot condone any of these claims as Scripture hasn’t at least to me shown any evidence of any of these claims that people keep making in some circles.

Galatians 3:28

Galatians 3:28 NRSV

There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

It would have to be beyond a shadow of a doubt, and with how debates are right now, I would think it’s not that clear due to the divide. The reality is, it’s muddy, and it’s just worldly politics, and people are telling us we need to pick a side. It’s Us vs. Them they say. Do you realize this rhetoric is putting the church at odds with itself? Your identity is only in Christ! Not with a football team, a political party, not even a country! I love America, I will sing the Battle Hymn of the Republic gladly till I die, but I know it and my time here is temporary. All of these narratives that have pitted ourselves against one another are just recreations of the age old Serpent story, of blame and shame, Eve Blaming Adam, Adam blaming the Serpent, and God clearly knowing everyone’s at fault. Now I will stop at the edge and say this doesn’t mean you don’t go serve, you don’t go say be a part of a football team, and things like that, or never go into politics, these topics I will address in further detail in part 6 when we get into Daniel, but there is a clear understanding of how the Kingdom of God finds itself as “otherworldly” and not worldly.

We find people called to be fisher of men, that’s both an exclusionary call as obviously not EVERYONE is going to go tell the story, but a call that Christ is calling all people to himself. Christ isn’t apathetic in this call. He desires all people, but not everyone will, that is just the facts we have to face.

Matthew 4:19 ESV

And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

We can all disagree on who started the mess, but it’s a mess. But this isn’t why I’m talking about this. There are clear points where you have to be exclusionary in a Church. You can’t just let people run amock and destroy it, accountability is important, but it has to be with GRACE. The accountability in the methods suggested through Paul are not the same as under the old law, they are super forgiving, and are not like striking someone with a sledgehammer.

But if that is the case. Why does Christ say he’s coming with a Sword in Matthew?

New Testament Reading -Matthew 10:34-39

Matthew 10:34–39 NRSV

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

But this isn’t a literal sword, he’s saying his message isn’t worldly, he’s demanding better from people, a message of love that will break and tear down political barriors, it rejects the either/or dichotomy, a third option if you will. In a world where we are told, pick a side, we reject this notion as Christians, and say we are on Christ’s side. We understand we live for the Kingdom of God, and are temporary residents and as such, we take care of God’s creation, but don’t see the stakes of everything so high, so every single person we come across, we are going to do what we are called to do by the lord’s commandments, love them, and tell them the Good News, that they are loved by their creator, through our actions and words. This tension, Adam calls it, Inclusive Exclusivism, and exclusive inclusivism. It’s the recognition that God is the one that will separate the Sheep from the Goats, but we don’t make that call as messengers, and are called to love everyone in the process while we are here. We proclaim a Good News, not a news of Terror. We have nothing to hate towards people, so there really is no “them” in the real sense of the word, but at the same time, we do have to set ourselves apart in some ways and guard our hearts from things that will hurt us. It’s about holding ourselves to a better way. But also being willing to get into the dirt and muck and pick people up. It’s being able to contextualize every single situation the same way Jesus, Paul, and the rest of the disciples seemed to be able to, through the Holy Spirit. That’s true Divine experience, Scripture is our Holy Authority and Guide, and the Spirit helps us fill in the gaps where things are murky due to the messiness of human experience, as long as we listen to God, we can make it through. We just have to stop reacting to every little silly thing the news and internet throws at us. It’s time we reject labels, we reject groups, these us/them identities that people are to be reduced to a single characteristic, and that they should actually be a whole human being. To be clear, these scriptures, do say a lot about exclusion, but they are clear about what they are including too. If it’s not clear how inclusive Christ is, let me throw one more verse at you:

1 Corinthians 1:10 NRSV

Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose.

Acts 4:32 NRSV

Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.

Philippians 2:2 NRSV

make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, adfs asdfa

Amen.

Doxology / Benediction / Closing

2 Corinthians 13:11 NIV

Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.

May you Have a Blessed Sunday, and rest of your Week! Amen!