Zion Lutheran

Beatitude Behaviors

Wednesday, November 5th, 2008
Sermons, Pastor Chris Hagen (Interim 2008-2009) | No Comments »

AS-08, Nov. 2, 2008  All Saints                                               The Rev. Dr. C. E. Hagen

Mt. 5:1-12                                                                               Zion, Buffalo MN

Beatitudes are often thought to be the ultimate of Christian spirituality.

This morning I will explore how they describe common, ordinary Christian living.

All Saints Sunday has a different meaning for us Christians

who come out of the Protestant Reformation.

One time it was to remember and give thanks for all those very righteous people

who defended the Christian faith in extraordinary circumstances.

But now we recognize saints as all those who are made righteous by Jesus Christ.

Jesus on the Cross has freed us from our sinful past

and has made us right before God.

We are made saints by Jesus.

Our part, then, is to live as the righteous people we are.

Rather than any effort by ourselves,

it is through faith given by the Holy Spirit that we are right with God.

[Martin] Luther noted that by faith alone

all believers are created by the Holy Spirit to be kings and priests.

As kings, believers live in freedom

without domination by sin, death, or the devil.

As priests believers do what priest do; they live life on behalf of others.” [1]

Christians live by faith alone and love alone.

Often we Lutherans forget the “love alone” part,

yet that essential element completes our identity as people of God.

Saints are those made by faith, and who live out faith through loving.

However, there crept into our Lutheran theology

the medieval Catholic concept that faith is formed as we practice acts of love.

The Catholic idea is that we “grow” in faith

as we practice Christian virtues or carry out Christian actions.

In this view, as we love our faith grows.

Two problems arise from this.

First, love becomes a tool used by us for ourselves making a right relationship with God.

We become the actors, not Jesus on the Cross.

And those who receive our loving acts

are objects used for our own purposes.

We use people as a means for building up ourselves.

The second problem with loving deeds growing faith

is that some people seemed better at loving than others.

This evolved into a two-tier clergy/lay structure of the church.

Clergy are “super-Christians,”

and lay people are ordinary, common Christians. [2]

Clergy are set up to be better, more moral or spiritual Christians,

who can practice loving better and thus get stronger faith.

Lay people are then allowed more laxity

to the point that the 10 Commandments are reduced to very narrow standards,

and behavior expectations not much more than personal whim.

In the medieval Catholic view,

the standard for basic Christian behavior is only the 10 Commandments.

Do them well enough and anyone will have adequate faith.

All the other precepts and guides of the Bible

are for those who wish to be better Christians.

The Beatitudes, today’s Gospel reading,

are only lofty goals for those who choose to pursue them.

Peacemaking, giving mercy, purity of heart, meekness

are only noble pursuits that one can take or leave.

Martin Luther said NOT SO!

The whole system is backward.

Faith does not grow stronger as Christian acts are practiced.

Faith comes as a gift of the Holy Spirit,

won by Christ on the cross,

and faith lead to acts of love.

We do loving things because we have faith in a God who is loving and merciful.

We behave in righteous ways

because we have faith that God’s ways are righteous and good.

And so these Beatitudes, these verses from the Gospel of Matthew,

are not something we can take or leave.

They are not choices;

they are descriptions of what it means to be a follower of Christ.

The 10 Commandments are not simple basics of behavior.

They are the starting point of much more that God expects.

The 10 Commandments are incomplete standards for righteousness;

God is not impressed with only following these few commandments.

Martin Luther turned the ideas on their head.

Rather than deeds or actions that we perform so as to be good Christians,

the 10 Commandments, and the Beatitudes, and other teachings of scripture

are statements of what a Christian is.

“Blessed are the peacemakers.”

They are blessed not because of what they accomplish,

but because by the very way they live for the sake of others

they bring about peace.

Peace within a community, within a congregation,

does not come about by programs

or plans of actions or declarations of forgiveness.

Peace comes about as people live in the Holy Spirit who already is here,

as people resist the temptation to lash out or get back at,

and instead bear the anger of another so as to create a different reality.

My wife, Ann, puts in long days at work and arrives home tired.

I come home tired also, and hungry and needing a rest from the day’s routine.

Our girls come home from school,

exhausted from their hard work of learning and playing with friends.

We all come home grumpy because we are tired and hungry.

So about 5:00 o’clock everyday the whole family is grumpy and hungry and tired.

Since we are family,

it is supposedly safe for us to express what we are feeling at the moment.

Someone says something, but another takes it personally,

and soon the evening is off to a loud, angry start.

Christian adult leaders will take it upon themselves

to bear the outbursts of others

until food is on the table and everyone can rest a moment.

By controlling their own emotions and actions,

Christian parents can influence the moment

until circumstances are addressed.

Their withstanding in peace and acting to change situations resolves problems.

They are peacemakers.

Not a 100 percent of the time, but still peacemakers.

They are blessed.

They are God’s children.

God became human in Jesus so as to share with sufferers and sinners.

God bears with all of us the struggles of life.

Christians, those of us who follow Christ,

also, then, share in the struggles and sufferings and sins of others.[3]

“Place-sharing” is our calling as Christians.

We take our place alongside others, sharing their life’s struggles.

We bear the burdens of others.

We share their place, join them and journey with them for their sake.

Notice now how this has changed dramatically

from doing righteous acts so as to become faithful people,

to that of being faithful people who do righteous acts!

We bear the burdens of one another because Christ bears us,

and through our being-with and for others,

Christ bears us all.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

The meaning of pure in this sense

is the absence of anything that would tarnish or contaminate.

“Pure” olive oil is that product that contains no olive pieces or foreign matter,

and has no other kind of oil blended in.

A pure heart is one that is concerned only for the best of others.

It has no mixed motives of caring for others and for self.

It is content and therefore has no thought for itself.

It exists only for the sake of another.

A pure heart is not concerned with

how well it is measuring up against the 10 Commandments,

or how close to God it has come,

or its reputation among others,

or anything else about itself.

It lives only for others.

And because it is oriented toward others,

it sees the face of God in the other.

A couple of years ago through another Lutheran church,

my wife and I met a contractor who we hired to add a deck onto our house.

Dave Sather is a humble man and an excellent carpenter.

He is for me a fine example of a businessman

who needs to provide for his family,

and at the same time cares deeply for the project and people he serves.

Dave built a beautiful deck for us.

At the same time he worked diligently,

consulted with us on many decisions,

offered a fair price at all times,

was generous with his labor,

and desired above all to build something that was safe and met our needs.

Dave Sather has a pure heart

because he looked after the interests of my family

before considering his own comfort or schedule or reputation.

A pure heart is honest, dependable, fair,

seeking the best for others before one’s own interests.

They are blessed.

They see God in their work and in those they serve.

We recognize this day the saints among us

and those who have gone before us.

These people are not saintly because of some extraordinary deed they have done

or some super-spiritual life they live.

The saints we see, and the saints we are,

have been made by Christ on the cross,

and formed by the Holy Spirit who works through them.

They are people who commit their lives and energy and care for the sake of others,

who conduct themselves in ways that bless others,

who give of themselves for the betterment of others.

They are blessed,

for they know God.

Amen.

---

[1]

Gary Simpson, “God in Global Civil Society: Vocational Imagination, Spiritual Presence, and Ecclesial Discernment” (paper presented at the The Missional Church and Global Civil Society: Helping Congregations Engage as Public Church, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN, 2008), 19.

[2] Ibid., 20.

[3] Dietrich Bonnhoeffer