Motivation
Motivation: Romans 13:8-14 & Matthew 18:15-20
What makes people do the things that they do? What is it that motivates people? What makes you get out of bed in the morning? As I was watching the Olympics a couple of weeks ago these questions were going through my mind a bit. What really struck me was the respect that interviewers and commentators had for the athletes who had devoted so much of their lives to the goal of competing at the Olympics, and perhaps to winning a medal. Now the Paralympics have started and we hear even more amazing stories of people overcoming huge obstacles to achieve their ambitions and dreams. These guys are seriously motivated.
In the reading we had from Romans, Paul is writing about what motivates people who follow Jesus. It seems to me that that there are two themes, or big ideas, that Paul wants to get across. He uses examples of the kinds of behaviour that Christians aspire to or should avoid, but he uses these examples not for their own sake, but in order to tell his readers something about our motivations, about the underlying reasons that we live the way that we live. There are two big ideas that Paul wants to get across. The first is to do with love and the second is to do with recognising the time that we are living in.
As we read the first three verses of this section Paul's first concern becomes pretty clear:
Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbour as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbour; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.”
The word, “love” is there five times in three verses. Paul obviously thinks that it is important. This is because actions and words that are fuelled by love meet all the requirements that God has of us in our relationships with other people. Whenever we do or say things that have their roots in the love we have for other people, we are doing and saying things that God wants.
It's all very well to say that we have to love those near us, but what does that actually mean in practice? How does it change the way that we speak and act towards those around us practically?
I think that the part of the reading we had from the book written by Matthew relates a situation where love is needed. In it, Jesus taught what love would look like in action.
Imagine someone had done something to hurt me. What am I going to do about it? Am I going to tell everybody else that they've hurt me. Am I going to ignore them and cold shoulder them? Would, “sneeped” be the a good word to use about the way I feel towards them?
No, the way that Jesus points us to is the costly way of doing everything in our power to repair the relationship. I go to the person who has hurt me and tell them that they have hurt me. It's risky isn't it – someone's hurt me, so I'm going to give them the opportunity to hurt me again by showing them the hurt. I'm going to be open hearted when I don't really want to have anything to do with them.
If they refuse to listen, or deny all responsibility, what am I going to do? Am I going to give up on them and my relationship with them? No, the way of love is to have another go. I take a couple of people with me to support us as we try and repair the relationship. Not only am I going to be vulnerable to the person who hurt me in the first place, I am going to admit that hurt to other people. I'm going to be open hearted when all I want to do is run and hide.
If they still refuse to listen, or deny all responsibility, what am I going to do? Am I going to give up on them and my relationship with them? No, the way of love is to have another go. This is another step of vulnerability. I have to show my hurt to the church, I have to open up the wounds when all I want to do is leave them be. But maintaining relationships within the church is worth this pain.
If, after all this, then the person who has hurt me continues to cut themselves off from me and the rest of the church then I can't do any more. That person has chosen not to respond to the love being shown them, and now it is time to move on. We allow them to make that choice, but only after we have done all that we can to repair the relationship.
This is a worked example of what Paul is talking about when he talks about love for those near us, those about us, our neighbours. The thing is, even though I talked about what I would do, all the way through that example, the honest truth is that I find this way of being really hard. I'd much rather let things slide, maybe hold a grudge. Loving those around us when it really counts and when people aren't being very lovable is hard, but it is what we are called to by Jesus. It is the way that he lived, and, more importantly, the way that he died.
After Jesus had died on the cross, and been raised to life again he spent some time with his disciples. During that time he said that he was going to go back to the Father, but that he would return again. In the meantime he would send the Holy Spirit to help his followers to live in his way.
We also live in this time, the time between Jesus going back to the Father, and the time when he will return. We also have the Holy Spirit to help us to live like Jesus lived, in costly love. It is knowing that we live in this in between time that is Paul's second big theme.
To help us think about this, let's go back to our Olympic athletes. They are living in the time between the Beijing games that have just finished and London 2012 which is four years away. Looking back, the success of the British team in Beijing may be spurring them on. They've seen, and might have experienced the joy and elation of success or the despair of failure. If they are aiming for a gold medal in London, they will have some idea about what has to happen between now and then. Their coaches will have a training schedule, targets to hit in the seasons between now and then so that they hit peak form in that event in 2012. If they want to succeed it is no good them just staying in bed for the next four years, they've got to live every moment of every day with that target in mind.
In a similar way, we live between two events. The event that has gone was Jesus time on earth. As we look back on that we see that he came to announce the coming of the Kingdom of God. That Kingdom is seen in the way he brought light that healed people, drove out evil and gave hope and a welcome to outsiders and those in despair. We are motivated by the joy of seeing the reality of the Kingdom changing people's lives. As we walk in Jesus' way, we also will bring light and healing, extending the reality of God's rule on earth. We are also motivated by the pain of those who live in darkness and despair. How can we who have light and hope stay in bed whilst those who live in shadow are dying?
The event that is to come is Jesus' return to earth. As we look forward to that time, it's no good us staying in bed until it comes. We've for to live every moment of every day with it in mind. This is a bit different for us, as we don't know when it's going to be. It could be today. It could be tomorrow. So, we can't have a schedule or a series of targets for a peak performance some time in the future. We do have to be growing in our faith and walk with God, but we are also called to do what we can today to bring the light of Jesus to the dark places around us.
As I come towards the end of what I want to say this morning, I have a few questions that I'd like to encourage us to think about.
It is it still full night for us? Are we completely lost and confused about all this talk of light and salvation?
Is it daybreak for us? We know the light of Christ in our lives, we can see the brightness through our closed eyelids and feel the warmth through the bedclothes, but we want to sleep a little longer.
Are we up and around, having got up and taken up the tools of light, ready to do the work that God has for us to bring more light into place for others?
Have we slipped out of the light, are we struggling against the temptation of the works of darkness, the things that drag us into the shadows and make us feel ashamed and guilty?
Where ever we are in this landscape, Jesus is here with us. We are not alone, because we walk together. We look out for those near us in the love that Paul talks about. We can talk to each other about the lives that we are living and encourage each other.
As we go out into the our lives, our families, our work, our community this week how are we going to live? How are we going to love those who are near to us? We can only does this as we recognise the season, as we ask the Holy Spirit to enable us to love others and so to live, following Jesus' example and looking forward to his return.