Change in Love

Intro:

We live in a society and time in which people often times work to exhonorate or excuse certain behavior. The challenge that we are facing is change. Change in what we do daily with things being shut down and or limited. Change in how we interact with each other due to limited travel in some cases, and limited number of people in one place. Change in where we go and who we go with due to restrictions. There is change going on everywhere. The challenge is we question the purpose and the validity of some change. With all of that being said the truth of the matter is things have changed and will continue to change. Ask school leaders as their plans are changing everyday and we are praying for you all. Ask company leaders as procedures, job titles, positions, and responsibilities are changing everyday. Ask Pastors and Lay leaders who are dealing with change every week and month trying to figure out the whats and hows in order to fulfill the Mission and vision of their respective ministries. Church we must embrace change not only in church but even in our daily lives. Often times we fight change, because change is uncomfortable. Change can be painful. Change will challenge your normal line of thought. Change will cause you anxiety sometimes, and change will challenge and/or tear down your tradition! Tell somebody near you or on FB to Change for the better.

Tradition:

In the text today Jesus is talking to his disciples about changing. If you read the 5th Chapter of Matthew you’ll notice that Jesus starts this chapter with the Beatitudes. The beatitudes are a culmination of societal shifts that Jesus’s Kingdom will usher in. So in order to be in HIS kingdom you have to get ready for change! Watch the text. One thing that Jesus does is acknowledge their traditional thought. You have heard it said. Sometimes we have to pause and get real about the traditions in which we are dealing with in order to usher in real change. Every company has a tradition and sometimes tradition will stifle growth and innovation. Every family has a tradition or traditional thought and in order to deal with change you have to first identify the traditions. Every church or faith organization has a tradition, and as soon as you even try to usher in change you will meet the fight of your life with the walls of tradition. Even in our communities we have to deal with our traditions, because change will disrupt what is normally accepted, and this will upset the apple cart of tradition. Jesus says You have heard it said. Here it is. In companies we have to deal with some traditions in which it has been ok to be racist, xenophobic, narcissistic, greedy, gender biased, and exclusive to others, but if you never call it out like Jesus it will never change! In families if you never deal with bad credit, bad financial decisions, bad educational foundations, fighting, racism, prejudices, baby mommas and baby daddies, wedlock, shacking, addictions, and incest change cannot come! In church if we don’t deal with gender biases, hate, tradition, selfishness, haters, small mindsets, brokeness, rape, embezzlement, and power hunger how can we change the world if the church don’t change. While we are on that then we deal with traditions of the communities which is a culmination of all that I have afore mentioned in that when the United States is a mess it’s because are companies are a mess, our families are a mess, our churches are a mess, and that leads to our communities being a complete mess! We have to do like Jesus sometimes and just say what needs to be said. You have heard it said, but watch God expose the evils that exists in this season so that the word can change us! Somebody say call it out to God can change it!

Categories:

There is a truth throughout history that is definite and derailing and that is the work to categorize. Often times in our society we see categories before we see human beings. We have been taught to treat people by the labels that other men have used to describe them than to love them as God’s creation. Watch the text I am still in verse 43, and Jesus says you have heard it said love your neighbor and hate your enemy. It is imperative that I remind you that in church history and even in the minds of many of you right now, that you are more concerned with the who is you neighbor and who is your brother and who is your enemy rather than what does God say! Often times we work hard to put people in a certain category rather than to treat them as God’s creation. We are more concerned about Gender, Race, Age, Sexual orientation, Faith tradition or church affiliation or not, socio-economic status, and etc., because we want to categorize people in an effort to demonize or cause them to be our enemy. Y’all won’t like this, but it bothers me when people work so hard to categorize me than to hear me. Well Ron is black that means he’s a democrat and if I am republican then he is my enemy so no matter how much truth he tells I won’t listen. This is a shame, because you don’t know me and I refuse to allow anyone to categorize me for the sake of dehumanizing me. We do this everywhere. We think it’s ok to arrest and imprison innocent people while we set free guilty people because they are prominent. See the category causes the line of justice to be blurred! If your prominent you are presumed innocent and should be given grace, but if you are from the hood, poor, or from a gang affiliated area without connections you are already considered guilty without even being given a chance all because of your category. If you are gay you are put into a category, if you are poor they put you in a category, if you are from Mexican lineage you are put into a category, if you are black you are put into a category, if you are white you are put into a category, if you are rich you are put into a category. Why because evil human beings want to draw lines of distinction in order to make their evil ok! If I am a Tennessee fan then I have to hate Alabama the devil is a lie. If I like Ford then I have to hate Chevy the devil is a lie. If I am Baptist then I have to hate Church of Christ and vice versa the Devil is a lie. Stop Categorizing people and start loving people because if you really read Leviticus 19 it says love you neighbor and the resident alien or stranger as yourself, and until we Change we can’t see change. Tell somebody you have to change in order for the world to change!

Close:

Love Changes everything! Watch Jesus as he says, “44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” Jesus is trying to teach us something. Let love kill it. Now let me say this. Love and being silent in the midst of evil are two different things. We as the church have to speak out against evil, hate, racism, injustice, and inequality. It is our job to speak truth to power, but we can do that and still love like the George Floyd family when during his funeral spoke about peace and reconciliation as their brother, father, and son laid at rest due to hate and inhumane treatment. The reason being is that God is good to all of us. When it says he rains on the just as well as the unjust it means he blesses us all, but sometimes when God corrects God corrects us all.

Then Jesus says, “ 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? In this Jesus says to the church folks you are no better than who you consider to be your enemy. Who can’t love those who speak well of you, who can’t love those who have your back, who can’t love those members who bless you pastors, who can’t love those who promote you. That’s easy and that does not take God, but when you follow Jesus you get that LOVE that will change! Don’t get all engrossed in patting yourself on the back for good deeds you should do. Check yourself and see if you can bless folks who hate you, see if you can love folks who oppress you, see if you can love people who don’t mean you anything good! Somebody say Change! Lord don’t let me look like my enemies, my haters, my oppressors, my agitators, my leaches, and my liars. Let us be the Love, the salt, the spirit, the people you are calling us to be, but we know we cannot do this without your powerful Holy Spirit! And when we finally surrender to your will then we will be perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect, not in deed but in Love! Change!!

The New King James Version. (1982). (Mt 5:46–47). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.The New King James Version. (1982). (Mt 5:44–45). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.