piano plays softly
Hello and welcome to Disciple Smith. I am Pastor Anita and I am so glad that you have
joined us today. Today we invite you to experience Jesus in a whole new light with our worship
service. That you would sing the songs and pray the prayers and hear the preach word
from Pastor Russ Smith today. We also invite you at the end of service to participate in
our service of communion. So glad you are here. Welcome and always feel free to come
anytime. Let us prepare for worship.
This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine this little light. I'm going to
I'm gonna let it shine,
Everywhere I go
I'm gonna let it shine,
Everywhere I go
I'm gonna let it shine,
Let it shine,
Let it shine,
Let it shine
Each and every day
I'm gonna let it shine
Each and every day
I'm gonna let it shine
Each and every day
I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine
All around the world
I'm gonna let it shine
All around the world
I'm gonna let it shine
All around the world
I'm gonna let it shine
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine
This little light of mine
I'm gonna let it shine
This little light of mine
I'm gonna let it shine
This little light of mine
I'm gonna let it shine
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine
Reading from Matthew chapter 5 verses 13 through 20
You are the salt of the earth
But if salt has lost its taste
How can its saltiness be restored?
It is no longer good for anything
But is thrown out and trampled underfoot
You are the light of the world
A city built on a hill cannot be hid
No one after lighting a lamp
Put it under the bushel basket
But on the lamp stand
And it gives light to all in the house
In the same way, let your light shine before others
So that they may see your good works
And give glory to your Father in heaven
Do not think that I have come to abolish the law
Or the prophets
I have not come to abolish, but to fulfill
For truly I tell you
Until heaven and earth pass away
Not one letter, not one stroke of a letter
Will pass from the law until all is accomplished
Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments
And teaches others to do the same
Will be called the least in the kingdom of heaven
But whoever dies them and teaches them
Will be called great in the kingdom of heaven
For I tell you
Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes
And Pharisees
You will never enter the kingdom of heaven
I'm Amy Grogan, the student pastor here at DisciplesNet
Will you please join me in prayer?
God
We come before you with gratitude for your presence
And your grace
Acknowledging your love
That is sometimes difficult for us to accept
We see our shortcomings and sins
Whereas you see our hearts
That strive to be true to you
And to your will
Guide us with your wisdom when we are unsure
And grant us forgiveness when we fail to do right
Present us with opportunities to serve others
And let us not be too proud to ask for help when we need it
Form us into a community with strong bonds of love
And tolerance and acceptance
That goes forth into the world to share the good news
Not only with words, but with actions
Especially for the poor, the oppressed
The voiceless and the ones confronted with social injustice
Help us to be deliverers and liberators
And creators of your kingdom on earth
As your coworkers who call upon the strength and power of your love
Help us to be faithful followers of your son
Who walked upon this earth and demonstrated his love for us
With the ultimate sacrifice
We pray all these things and the meditations of our hearts
As we join together in the Lord's prayer
Our Father who art in heaven
All the people are king
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done
On earth as it is now
Give us the day of our daily bread
And every good is in our debts
As we forgive our debts
And every good is not in temptation
But I will never ask for evil
For my life is the kingdom
And the power
Heaven and the glory are forever
Amen
Rezo, Rezo
Fill us with your love
Show us how to serve
The neighbors we have from you
Kneels at the feet of his friends
Silently quenches their meat
Master who acts as a slave to them
Rezo, Rezo
Fill us with your love
Show us how to serve
The neighbors we have from you
Neighbors are rich and poor
Buried in color and grace
Neighbors are near and far away
Rezo, Rezo
Fill us with your love
Show us how to serve
The neighbors we have from you
These are the ones we should serve
These are the ones we should love
All these are neighbors to us and you
Rezo, Rezo
Fill us with your love
Show us how to serve
The neighbors we have from you
While it puts us on our knees
Serving as though we are slaves
This is the way we should live with you
Rezo, Rezo
Fill us with your love
Show us how to serve
The neighbors we have from you
You and the feet of our friends
Silently washing their feet
This is the way we should live with you
Rezo, Rezo
Fill us with your love
Show us how to serve
The neighbors we have from you
I'm Pastor Russ Smith and I'll be bringing the message today.
A few of the young men in the youth group I led some years ago
went out on a road trip to visit some of their friends.
Rather than taking the highways, they decided to go on the back roads
because they were more interesting.
However, after a few hours of driving, they realized
they weren't quite sure where they needed to go.
They weren't exactly lost yet, but they were a bit confused.
Spotting a farmer out at work in the field, they decided to stop
and ask for directions.
When they explained where they wanted to go, the farmer frowned.
He thought about it for a while.
Then he thought about it for a while more.
Finally, he turned back to them and said,
Well, you can't get there from here.
I think those young men felt a lot like the folks who were
listening to Jesus in our passage for today.
The law givers and prophets spoke about how human beings
were called to live in justice and mercy,
loving both God and their fellow human beings.
They gave instruction after instruction and command after
command about doing what is right.
But every one of them confronted that awful truth of being human.
There is a terrible gap between what we are and what we need to be
in order to live the way that God calls us to live.
The people listening to Jesus and we today look at the law
and the prophets and we look at ourselves and we say,
I can't get there from here.
It's not that it's hard.
Most of us are willing to put in some hard work for something
we're doing, but honestly we look at ourselves and we know
we can't get there from here.
So maybe the problem is the law and the prophets.
Maybe the answer is to do away with them and set up something
that we could do.
Yet, Jesus says,
Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have not come to abolish, but to fulfill.
Scholars throughout Christian history have sought to interpret this
in a way that doesn't lead to a dead end.
Some have said that it's true.
The law is impossible.
We can't do it.
The only solution is to throw ourselves on God's mercy.
I think there's a lot to be said for that.
We need to realize that any righteousness we have
is a gift of grace from God.
But I also think there's more to it than this.
Some scholars have said that it's a lifetime's work,
that we never reach the goal,
but we need to keep striving toward it all of our lives.
Again, I think there's some truth there,
but I think there's still more.
Matthew takes a different approach
by defining what it means to fulfill.
Look at the number of times Matthew says,
This is to fulfill what was said by the prophet,
and at least once, all the law and the prophets hang on this.
For Matthew what fulfills all the law and the prophets
is none other than Jesus himself.
Jesus doesn't simply show us what the law and the prophets said.
Jesus is the ultimate expression,
the truest expression of what it all means.
So what is it?
Jesus himself said that it can be expressed in two things.
Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Okay, fine.
We've got all the law and the prophets down to two simple requirements.
But still, how do we do it?
Jesus tells us,
unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees,
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
The scribes and the Pharisees.
The people most concerned with understanding and obeying God's commands
and Jesus is telling us that we need to do better than them.
We know in our hearts that we won't even come close.
So is Jesus demanding the impossible?
I don't think so.
I think the reason that it seems impossible
is because we're going about it the wrong way.
If we try to be righteous on our own terms,
we won't succeed.
If we read this as a motivational speech
telling us that we just haven't tried hard enough,
if all we hear is that we need to make ourselves
into paragons of virtue by strength of will,
then not only will we fail,
but our relationship with God will be one of self-doubt, guilt, frustration,
and a constant sense of futility.
We cannot, by force of will, be good enough for God.
The key to understanding how we can exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees
comes from understanding that righteousness is only truly realized
in relationship with God and with others.
Remember that those two commandments both said to love.
That's what the scribes and the Pharisees were missing.
You can't do it by yourself and you can't keep it to yourself.
Real righteousness is all about what we do with others.
Righteousness is always and only in relationships.
Righteousness in relationship rejects double standards.
You can't love God and hate your neighbor.
More, you can't truly love your neighbor
when you harbor hatred for your enemy.
See, when we love those who are friendly to us
and hate those who are not,
our actions are entirely determined by that other person.
We become echo chambers, simply returning what we receive.
Jesus says that our actions are to be determined by understanding God,
who loves us all, not on the basis of behavior or attitude towards God.
Praise God for that.
But according to God's own nature, which is love,
God does not react.
God acts out of love toward the just and the unjust,
the good and the evil.
God's actions are love without partiality.
It is from God first loving us while we were yet sinners,
while we were yet God's enemies,
that we learn how to love those who persecute us
and be kind to those who hate us.
We are imperfect.
But God's love can shine through us.
And when it does, then we become that city set on a hill
that cannot and should not be hidden.
In our imperfection, we have this treasure in jars of clay
to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
So when Jesus calls on His followers to exceed the righteousness
of the scribes and the Pharisees,
it is by loving without partiality, as God does,
that we follow His command.
It is still a lot of work, but it is possible.
It is not only possible, we can actually see it happen
whenever and wherever our relationships come under the reign of God.
When we allow God's impartial love to shine out through us,
we show something far more excellent than just trying real hard to be good.
That's what the world needs to see.
When we seek the good of each and everyone we know,
without respect for how they treat us,
then the world sees God in us.
And that's good enough.
You can get there from here.
Praise be to God.
Though I may give all I possess,
and striving so, my love profess,
but not begin my love within,
the prophet soon turns strangely thin.
Come, spirit, come, our hearts control.
Our spirits long to be made whole.
Let inward love guide every deed.
By this we worship and are freed.
One of the most beautiful passages in Scripture is chapter 5 of Matthew.
There's so much in it.
And I am very privileged to be able to say a few words
and next week to extend that to preach a bit more about the chapter itself and the Beatitudes.
But Russ preached today that verses 17 and 21,
the righteousness following the law, not abolishing it.
And in 21, forgiveness and reconciliation.
You know, it didn't have to be that the law was abolished or changed.
It could have been that Judaism and Christianity were extensions of each other.
But that idea of reconciliation is very difficult
because people get hurt and they want things their own way.
And so the place where we can reconcile all of that is at the communion table.
And so we call each other to come,
letting go of the things that bother us,
letting go in the Christian tradition of the idiosyncrasies of various types of belief that hurt and harm.
And we pray for healing.
And so we invite each other to the table today.
And we try to do as Jesus wanted us to do.
And so on the night that he was betrayed, he took bread.
And he broke it.
And he blessed it.
And he gave it to his disciples and he said, take this, all of you, and eat it.
This is my body which will be given for you.
Do this in memory of me.
And after supper was finished, he poured the last cup of wine.
And he blessed it.
And he shared it with his disciples.
And he said to them, this is the cup of my blood of the new and the ever present covenant.
As often as you drink of this, remember me.
And so I invite all of you to come to the table where you are and share in this communion time the time to be one with each other.
Come to the table.
We give thanks for the opportunity to share this time, to share the elements.
We give thanks and praise to our God.
Amen.
Hunger never more so our souls were fed.
One piece of bread.
One cup of wine flowing from the vine.
Take and drink the portion shared for your sins.
Bored out like rain, never thirst again.
Share this life of mine.
One cup of wine.
One father sent his only son.
One spirit and the three are one.
One body and he bids us come.
Be my guest, be my guest.
Come and receive all who will believe.
Share this life of mine.
One cup of wine.
Let your souls be fed.
One piece of bread.
Now, go out into the world, daring to love everyone you meet with the impartiality of God,
glowing with God's love in a world that cries out in darkness, let your light shine before others
so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
And God will go with you, giving you grace to live by and strength to stand.
Amen.
Amen.
