Sermon from February 15, 1998

Sermon "You Can Be A Blessing"
Rev. Lonnie Richardson
Sunday, February 15, 1998

You Can Be A Blessing

Jesus has ascended a mountain to pray. While there, he has chosen twelve of his disciples to be apostles. Now he descends part-way, to a level place. There he finds followers and many others, from Israel and beyond. He tells them of the way to happiness. Let's listen to what he says.

And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came forth from him and healed them all. And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: "Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. "Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh. "Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the son of man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets. "But woe to you that are rich, for you have received your consolation. "Woe to you that are full now, for you shall hunger. Woe to you that laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. "Woe to you, when all men speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets."

Luke 6:17-26

Almighty God, we bow in your presence. May your word be our rule, your spirit our teacher and your greater glory our supreme concern. Through Jesus our Lord, Amen.

Luke's gospel of the Beatitudes gives us a further refinement on the words of Jeremiah. In the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord summarizes the difference between a life lived according to God's principles and a life lived according to the principles of a secular arena. If we were to sum up the focus of today's reading in one word, that word would be "values". Today's national debate is over our value of values. Fidelity, honesty, integrity and how they impact leadership.

The Beatitudes define the actions, attitudes, and values, which can be characteristic of every Christian. And of which you can help happen in another. You can be a blessing!

Where do you start? First, you realize you need help and get it. The first step to recovery in an Alcoholics Anonymous program is owning a descriptive truth statement. This is at the core of any twelve step recovery program. It is: We admit we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable.

It is only when a person finally admits that they are in trouble, it is only when he or she finally believes deep in his or her heart that it is true - that their lives are in a mess, and that they do not have the power in themselves to change the situation, that they are able to begin the process of returning to health.

The message of the Bible is the same as that of the AA movement - it is, after all, where the founders of AA got their ideas. It is only when we acknowledge that we need help, that we cannot do it on our own, that we can be begin to return to health.

The mark is missed when we believe that the woes of society today can be fixed by raising taxes or by lowering taxes. The mark is missed when we think we can cure teenage crime by educating our youth better and eliminate Aids by getting everyone to use condoms and avoid contaminated needles. The mark is missed when we think that marriages will improve and families be happier, if you simply spend more time with your spouses, and provide children with more recreational opportunities after school.

The fact is that the problems we have are not problems with time or taxes, nor are they problems of education or its lack, nor even are they problems of having too much money or too little money - the problems we have are spiritual problems, problems of attitude, problems of the heart.

God wants us to encounter happiness as we deal with those problems . "Blessed" literally means to be happy. God wants us all to be well fed, and to be able to laugh and enjoy the fruit of our endeavors and risks. The Bible does not condemn our quest for happiness, rather it points out to us where it may be found.

Jesus does not call us to delight in suffering and pain, when he says blessed are the hungry, and blessed are those who mourn, rather he is pointing out - that those who recognize their need, and the needs of others, are able to have those needs met- but those who deny it, will not. The "poor" are those who acknowledge their dependence on God.

We can make some decisive moral choices. The Beatitudes teach us that lasting happiness is not found in riches or well-being, in fame or power, or human achievement - however beneficial it may be - but in God alone, the source of every good.

The Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount and the teachings of the apostles describe for us the paths that lead to the kingdom of heaven. Sustained by the grace of the spirit, we travel those paths step by step by our everyday acts. Then, by the working of Christ, we bear fruit to the glory of God.

And what does all this mean for us? Our Lord has told us "By their fruits you will know them." (Matthew 7:20) We decide each and every day of our lives whether our lives will be measured by success in terms of the values of a secular arena or in terms of the values as enumerated in the Beatitudes, which measure how "self-less" we have been.

The Beatitudes teach us that we will be happy if we are: poor in spirit, that is, not attached to the things of this life but depend upon God. To be meek, patient and humble. If we live a virtuous life; if we are forgiving; and if we try to bring about reconciliation among all peoples. If we live in a constant state of anger, hatred, revenge, bitterness, self-pity, we will not be happy. We can be free when we are free from "self", and when we learn to give freely of ourselves to others and not count the cost.

There is an old Chinese tale about the woman whose only child dies. In her grief, she went to the holy man and said, "What prayers, what magical incantations do you have to bring my child back to life?" Instead of sending her away or reasoning with her, he said to her, "Fetch me a mustard seed from a home that has never known sorrow. We will use it to drive the sorrow out of your life." The woman set off at once in search of that magical mustard seed. She came first to a splendid mansion, knocked at the door, and said, "I am looking for a home that has never known sorrow. Is this such a place? It is very important to me." They told her, "You've certainly came to the wrong place, " and began to describe all the tragic things that had recently befallen them. The woman said to herself, "Who is better able to help these poor unfortunate people than I, who have had misfortune of my own?" She stayed to comfort them, then went on in her search for a home that had never known sorrow. But wherever she turned, in dumps, in palaces, she found one tale after another of sadness and misfortune. Ultimately, she became so involved in ministering to other people's grief that she forgot about her quest for the magical mustard seed, never realizing that it had in fact driven the sorrow out of her life.

Lord, make us an instrument of thy peace; where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love; for it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

You can be a blessing!

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