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February 12, 2023

Being SJLC 2023: Living Faith

Preacher: Rev. Jack Meehan Series: Serving Jesus-Living in Community 2023 Category: Biblical Scripture: Matthew 5:21–37

The Sixth Sunday after Epiphany

February 12, 2023

Matthew 5:21-37

 “Serving Jesus-Living in Community 2023: Living Faith”

In the minds of most Americans, today is Super Bowl Sunday as the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Philadelphia Eagles. There are people who want the Chiefs to win, there are people who want the Eagles to win, and there are people who really don’t care one way or the other. Lots of folks just tune in to watch the commercials, or who are all about the food for the Super Bowl. As you may know, there are two brothers who are on opposing teams in today’s game: Jason Kelce who is the center for the Eagles and Travis Kelce who plays tight end for the Chiefs. Some are calling this the “Kelce Bowl.” In the 50+ years of Super Bowl history, it’s never happened that two brothers on opposite teams are playing against each other. To make things even more interesting is the brothers’ mom, Donna, who was the subject of an online petition signed by tens of thousands of people to get her to do the coin toss at the start of the game, but she will not be doing that. To make things even more interesting, Jason Kelce’s wife, Kylie, is 38 weeks pregnant and is planning to be there at today’s game, but she’s bringing her OB-GYN with her – just in case. It should be a very interesting game. So in light of all the hoopla surrounding the Super Bowl, is there a faith component here? More specifically, is there a living faith component? As we consider Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel lesson, that is our focus: Living Faith. May the Lord’s rich and abundant blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word for Jesus’ sake.

As this 4-week Epiphany series comes to a close, here’s a quick review of where we’ve been. When we revised our congregation’s Bylaws several years ago, we regrouped how our governing body, the Church Council, is structured. We now have five ministry areas: Gathering, Connecting, Discipling, Living Faith, and Messaging. Messaging permeates and runs through the other four, and this is how we are structured as a congregation to join Jesus on his mission. In our 4-week Epiphany series of Being SJLC 2023, we have looked at Gathering, Connecting, and Discipling, which leads us to the fourth ministry area: Living Faith. What does living faith look like? It looks like helping care for those who are homeless during the recent Hypothermia Shelter week of serving. It looks like bringing children and parents closer to the Word of God through things like Bible and Me. It looks like teaching English to people who are new to this country, as another session of English as a Second Language classes begins this week. It looks like providing a Christ-centered place of learning and growing for children in our community through the ministry of our Early Childhood Education Center. It looks like our Lay Eucharistic Ministers carrying the Sacrament to the homebound of our congregation, as they will be sent forth to do at the close of this service. It looks like a believer who is open and receptive to wherever Jesus is leading him or her in daily life. Living faith takes on as many different forms as there are individual members of the Body of Christ. And we do this only as a response to all that God in Christ has done for us. It’s not a “got to,” but a “get to.” It is rooted and grounded in the amazing grace of God made known to us in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, who loves us and laid down his life for us

Today’s Gospel lesson is another portion of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Matthew’s Gospel was originally written for a Jewish audience, and so is tailored accordingly. There are five main teaching blocks in Matthew (chapters 5-7, chapter 10; chapter 13; chapter 18, and chapters 23-25). These five discourses of Jesus, as they’re often called, mirror the five books of Moses, the Pentateuch. Like Moses who went up Mount Sinai to receive the Commandments (Exodus 19ff.), Jesus also went up on the mountain, not to receive new Commandments, but by his own authority as the Son of God to interpret them. As Jesus said in last Sunday’s Gospel, he did not come to abolish the Law and Prophets, but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17). That is why again and again in today’s Gospel lesson, we hear Jesus say: “you have heard that it was said… but I say to you” (Matthew 5:21-22; 27-28; 31-32; 33-34). Jesus’ authority and power exceeds that of Moses, and that will be abundantly clear next week on Transfiguration Sunday when we hear how both Moses and Elijah, representing the Law and the Prophets, are gathered around Jesus there on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-9). Everything, especially living our faith, points to and centers in Jesus.

When it comes to living our faith, there are lots of “you have heard that it was said.” Many people carry around with them a tremendous amount of guilt because they have been told and have heard that it was said they’re not good enough or aren’t doing enough to make God happy with them. Lots of people have “heard that it was said” they have to set things right with God and they have to try harder, resulting in folks who are beaten down under discouragement and despair. Lots of people have “heard that it was said” Jesus will only love you if… leading them away from God, rather than to him. As Paul describes in today’s Epistle lesson, people in the church can get hung up on personalities, leading to jealousy and strife (1 Corinthians 3:1-9). It comes down to this: “So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:7). Living faith is about that growth, which comes from God alone. That growth is rooted and grounded in the good news of Jesus, who died for us that we might live for him. Over against all the stuff we may heard that it was said, hear now what Jesus says to you: It’s not about what we can do to make God happy with us, or what we can do to set things right with God. That’s already been taken care of through Jesus, the Son of God, who did for us what we could not do for ourselves. His life of perfect obedience, his innocent suffering and death upon the cross, his victory over sin, death and the grave – it all becomes ours through faith in him. We have been set free from wondering if we’ve been good enough or done enough to make God love us. The good news is that God already loves us. In Jesus, God the Father already loves us in spite of our sins and shortcomings; in spite of our flaws and imperfections. And when we are loved, that opens new doors for living. When we are loved, we are willing to take risks and venture forth for love’s sake. This is where living faith begins.

When this worship service is over, it’s not really over. The sermon remains to be lived in each of our lives. Having been fed with Christ’s true Body and Blood in his holy Supper, we have been fed and nourished for a purpose; namely, to go forth to live our faith in all the places where God has called us to be in life: home, neighborhood, workplace, school. Christ, who lives in us, will make his life-giving presence known to others through us as we live our faith. Our words, our actions, our manner of life becomes a living witness to Christ. That is living faith. God help us to do this for Jesus’ sake. Amen.