The Apostle Paul calls us Jars of Clay (2 Corinthians 4:7). As followers of Jesus we must allow the Word of God to fill us with it's message of Truth and Grace. In this way, we become a "vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work" (2 Timothy 2:21).

Monday, February 2, 2015

Learn to Value Others - February 1st, 2015 sermon


By Pastor Greg





A quick tour through my garage will reveal tools that are hung neatly on hooks or placed according to size in a tool box.  Nails and screws are kept separate according to size and use in brightly colored part bins hung on the wall.  I keep my garage this organized because I hate wasting time looking for tools; something I had to do often when I still lived at home. 

My parents never threw anything away, and in my father’s garage finding a tool was an adventure.  Oh, you might have been able to find what you’re looking for eventually, if you looked past the old toasters, 1974 newspapers, power tools that no longer power, and a dehumidifier that no longer dehumidifies.  Upon a crowded work bench could be the tools you needed ‑ underneath a conglomeration of items who’s use most of us would have assumed had expired long ago.  There’s an old can opener, several jar lids, a broken wooden spoon, a bent cheese cutter that makes funny shaped cheese, several almost dead batteries, snarled string, a Ping‑Pong ball, a pile of washers for the garden hose, several feet of extension cord with no plug and no outlet, an old set of Christmas lights, and too many old razor blades strategically placed next to the tools you’re looking for.  Rummaging through the pile is like playing Russian roulette, which is why somewhere in the garage there is an old box of band aids . . . somewhere.  Nothing was ever useless in my parent’s house.  Mom and Dad kept everything.  I’ve tried to keep this from happening in my garage, but if you look real close you will find a box marked “Think”.  It’s a box full of odds and ends that I “think” I might use someday.

In a throwaway society, people who keep odds‑n‑ends are a dying breed.  If the old toaster doesn’t work, just throw it out.  You can get a new one for less than ten dollars.  I know, I know, it’s only a toaster.  Most people don’t feel remorse over a discarded appliance.  But what about our personal relationships?  It seems to me that many in our society treat people like an old broken appliance.  If you grow tired of someone, just end the relationship; you can always find someone else.  And that’s just what happens too.  Friends grow apart without remorse.  Brothers and sisters go their separate ways never to talk again.  Employers use their employees until they quit, and then hire new ones.  Even husbands and wives learn to live apart under one roof.  And in the end we wonder why people feel worthless, used, and despised.

This attitude about personal relationships is nothing new.  Even in Old Testament times this was an issue.  Why else would God have to command His people to see another person as valuable?   God needed to establish a standard of conduct that was different than what Israel saw in Egypt and what they would see once they reached the land of Canaan (Leviticus 18:24).  In Leviticus chapter 18, God established sexual laws.  He placed restriction on who a person could sleep with.  They were commanded to have a high regard for others.  They were not to steal or cheat one another, defraud or rob their neighbor, and to not spread slanderous gossip among the people (Leviticus 19:11-16).  These laws applied to everyone in Israel, even the servant or foreigner who lived among them (Exodus 20:10).
Unfortunately, Israel did not take these commands very seriously.  And the men had little regard for the women among them.  Men were discarding their wives like yesterday’s trash.  Deuteronomy 24:1-4 becomes a concession because the men (and perhaps the women) of Israel had little regard for others (see Jesus’ comments on this in Mark 10:5).  The people of Israel could not let go of their selfishness, and instead succumbed to their personal desires.

I share all of this background so that you might better understand just what Jesus was saying in Matthew 5:27-32.  27 You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 So if your eye—even your good eye—causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your hand—even your stronger hand—causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
31 “You have heard the law that says, ‘A man can divorce his wife by merely giving her a written notice of divorce.’ 32 But I say that a man who divorces his wife, unless she has been unfaithful, causes her to commit adultery. And anyone who marries a divorced woman also commits adultery”.

We have a tendency to focus only on the obvious here.  But it is directly related to the attitude a person needs to develop in order to walk closely with God.  We lust for others because our needs and desires have become greater than our concern and love for others.  In just about every circumstance, a couple becomes unfaithful because personal needs have overpowered a commitment.  In just about every act of infidelity, that other person who has aroused the lust in you is seen as an object that can fulfill your needs and your desires.  These people are desired only for what they can do to you and for you.  Apart from that, we see no value in them.
Jesus has reminded us of God’s earlier commands.  We dare not view others as worthless junk that can be discarded when they no longer make us happy.  To walk closely with God we must value others, and in this case that attitude must infiltrate our sexual desires AND our commitment to marriage.

I know this passage raises a lot of questions about divorce.  It is still an unfortunate reality in our world today.  And I meet many people who are looking for answers.  If you want to talk in length, we can schedule some time together.  But the short answer to this deals with the law and with grace, not one or the other.  The Lord says divorce is a sin and that it is a sin to remarry.  He has, however, given a few provisions in the Bible - if your spouse has not been faithful (as we read here), or if you are married to a non-Christian who doesn’t want to stay with you (1 Corinthians 7:12-16).  But beyond those exceptions, Jesus speaks quite plainly about divorce and remarriage (see Mark 10:1-12).  That’s the law part.  The grace part is what comes next. 

As with any sin a person might commit, there is forgiveness.  Paul addressed this in Romans chapter seven as he struggled with sin even after becoming a Christian.  And he also confessed to finding forgiveness for that sin in Christ Jesus our Lord.  You see, the Lord does not look at a person who has sinned as worthless trash to be thrown away but as something valuable.  In our Father’s Kingdom, everyone is valuable.  This may not make sense to us, but I think that’s because we have not learned to value others the way God does.

The main point here is that when it comes to personal relationships, we need to move beyond the whole idea that we don’t do things or think things because they are sins.  We need to learn to see others as God sees them.  To walk closely with God is to recognize the value of other people.  And on that day when we start seeing other people as God’s priceless treasure, they no longer become some “thing” to be used for our personal pleasure then discarded.  In the end you will find yourself walking closely with God when you learn to see the value in other people.

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