Sermon: Jan 29, 2023
Readings: Micah 6:1-8 / 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 / Matthew 5:1-12
Even though in the beatitudes Jesus does not make any ethical or moral demands upon us, we are being invited to live into the future kingdom now by demonstrating godlike behavior to those in need by doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God.
Walking humbly with God is the foundation of doing justice and loving kindness. It describes our heart’s attitude toward God, recognizing our total dependence on God and realizing that God’s wisdom and love surpasses our own. Walking humbly with God allows us to be transformed more and more into the image of God and enables us to abide in him while sharing God’s love with others.
The nature of God is love, compassion, grace, and mercy. How, then, do we apply godlike behaviors and actions, conforming ourselves to God’s nature, all while doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God when dealing with the issues of the world? For example, the refugee and homelessness crises. Is there one group that should be helped before the other? God doesn’t rank them and does not prefer one over the other; both are in need; both are God’s children, who are the least of these. Only the world prioritizes one group over the other. Who do we listen to, God or the world? Or how do we apply godlike behavior and actions to gun rights and mass shootings which are devastating families and communities? Or how do we apply godlike behavior to the issue of a woman’s right to govern her body and abortion?
In our human wisdom, there are no cut-and-dried easy answers to these issues. But as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, God “is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God.” Only through the demonstration of God’s love, mercy, and compassion, along with the message of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, which the world considers foolishness, will we discover an answer.
May we embrace those aspects of what God is like, which is revealed to us in scripture, and the godlike behaviors and actions we are to embody as we conform to God’s nature abiding as one. And then, when faced with the choice between judgment and grace, we choose grace. Or, when conflicted between self-certainty and uncertain humility, we choose humility. Or, when torn between contempt and love, we choose love.
And by doing so, we will be more faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who embodied grace, humility, and love allowing us to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.
