Deeper: S3, E5 - Loving

Around half-way through this season (moving backward thru the 10 commandments), we've got to MURDER!  You're hopefully not considering becoming a murderer, but what could a life even free from hate or grudges feel and look like?  What could it be like for whole nations as well as us as an individual?  

Transcript

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Hi there, welcome. We are somewhere around the middle of season three of our deeper podcasts using 10 episodes to explore the idea of having abundant life as we move backwards through the 10 commandments. In this episode called Loving, we're going to think about the command do not murder. We'll look at how Jesus talks about it and how most of us live these partly free lives where we walk around holding onto grudges or wanting to outwork God's justice on our own timescales and in our own ways. Then we'll look at the release that comes from forgiveness and how that links to the abundance that God has got for us all to live in. So brace for action, this is loving. Help us to lay them all at your feet and to re-examine our beliefs and practices in the light of what you might be saying. Help us to weigh up what's being said in this and to see what's coming from you and to leave behind anything that's not from you. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen, amen, amen. Not many of us have a life's goal to be a murderer. Not many at all. I mean, I know loads of people who are very at home with a lifestyle where they want other people's stuff and see that as normal. I know people who don't see lying as an issue. And as a culture, we seem to have normalized exploring physical relationships ahead of the stability of a long-term relationship being in place. But murder, I don't think I know anyone at all who would say that murder is a-okay. I mean, sometimes we might joke about it, or in anger, sometimes we might blurt out, oh my word, I'm gonna kill them. But that works as a joke because the people around us know that we don't mean it. And where there have been the horrors of a murder, as a society, we seek justice. That's why there are so, so many crime dramas, murder mysteries, or or what's now termed light-hearted murder stories or series. We want, as an audience or as a reader, to follow the clues and make sure the one done the deed doesn't get away with it. Justice is a good and a godly trait. God works for justice. He asks us to pray for it, he asks us to work hard for justice here on earth. I mean that there's tons and tons of scriptural references to working towards justice on behalf of other people. None perhaps more famous than Micah chapter six, verse eight, where the Old Testament prophet says, He has shown you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. So the problem isn't justice. The problem begins where my seeking after justice gets clouded by my own sense of anger or unforgiveness, and justice slowly, or sometimes for me quickly, transforms into revenge. There are so many Bible references about revenge and forgiveness, just as many as there are about justice. Famously, we hear in the Jewish scriptures which Christians have as the first two-thirds of our Bible: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, hand for a hand, a foot for a foot. And when it comes to dispensing the punishment for a violent crime, this can be seen as quite barbaric in today's culture, lacking the grace or the forgiveness that Christians talk about when we talk about Jesus. But what's actually happening in the creation of these laws is that God is laying out a way to fairly stop the escalation of violence amongst groups or tribes of people. We've all seen it in movies, we've all heard it in history, and sadly, sometimes in the news today, where gangs or families or even nations speak in ways that escalate violence. If you do this to our family or our people or our great nation, there is no telling the force that will be unleashed back your way. We will make you regret what you did and show you how powerful we really are. And then violence or aggression or fear are used as weapons. The strongest will get their way and stay safe by making the weakest stay in their place. Can you imagine a world, especially gang warfare or national warfare, where the only reasonable response to an attack is that the globe gathers, people give that nation the ability to attack in equal measure, and then the fighting must cease. I mean, how different would the world be? How much less death and threat would there be in the world? That's okay as a theory, isn't it? But I've now got to de-escalate that, downscale that into my life. To the memories of hurt and failure and even abuse that continue to play out in my head like a broken record. The injustices that were done to me, and how I'm planning, in my imagination, ways that I can get my own revenge to act out what I have come to believe is justice that I need to see. Maybe you have those conversations. Maybe you also wait for those downfalls, or secretly hope the people in your mind are going to get what's coming to them. Faith in God here is a key. The kind of faith where we put our trust in God to do the things he says he will do, and we walk away just trusting him. Romans 12, verse 19 says, never take revenge, leave room instead for God's wrath to work itself out. 1 Peter 3 9 says, Don't repay evil for evil, instead repay it with a blessing. And there are there are more loads in the New Testament where believers are trying to copy the way Jesus' way of life worked itself out. But even in the Old Testament, we read things like Leviticus chapter 19, verse 18. Leviticus is known for quite harsh laws, but this is one of the laws as well. Don't seek revenge or bear a grudge against anybody. Instead, love your neighbour as if it was you. So it seems like the key ingredient that will de-escalate my revenge into actually having the faith to wait for God's justice is forgiveness, love, and trust in God's ultimate justice. Forgiveness and love and trust. And it all stems from forgiveness, which is really where we leave the justice in God's hands and we move on, no longer holding this thing against somebody. And it that is an act of faith. But forgiveness doesn't mean a lack of learning. Forgiveness is not the same as saying what you did to me is okay. The very act of forgiveness is actually to acknowledge that something was not okay, far from okay, but that you are going to choose to lay it down and leave the teaching and the justice in God's hands. Sometimes that justice will work itself out through legal channels. Other times there will be difficulty in that. But God will work out his justice either in this world or in the next. And in the next world, there'll be no mistakes, there'll be no miscarriages of justice, no taking sides or taking bribes, but a God who has no favorites, judging all equally and fairly. She called the baby Grudge, and she complained to the congregation about how since Grudge had been born, she'd been nursing it and feeding it, carrying it around, it was getting more and more demanding and heavy, really quite loud at inappropriate moments. She said there had been moments where she felt like leaving Grudge in another room, but Grudge just cried louder and louder until was picked up and comforted and given the attention again. It was an absolutely brilliant illustration that has stayed with me for maybe 25 years. It's exactly what I do, and the abundant life that God has for us is one where we put these things down and we are able to walk off. They're not little babies to look after and allow to grow, they're poison to our souls. They're slowly creating in us vengeful conversations, self-righteousness, purposeful obstacles, retaliation, judgmentalism, and more and more. And the more free we are of this stuff, the more we can be transformed into the people that God wants us to be. Vengeance transforms into faith in God. Self-righteousness transforms into humility. Purposeful obstacles become opportunities for grace. Retaliation becomes mercy. Judgmentalism becomes forgiveness. Could we see a world where these things are the pattern of how we behave? This is why Jesus turned to the crowds and said to them, You've heard it said, do not murder. But I'm telling you, even look on people with hatred, you've already murdered them in your heart. And you've heard it said, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, but I'm telling you, love those you have seen as enemies, pray for them, do good even to them. I have to say, I have to say that a world living this way would certainly be a world of abundance, where grudges are dropped, forgiveness is given, and the grace and hope that we hope that God is going to give us when he judges us impartially is the same grace that we give to the others here and now. So, what is this new kingdom that Jesus wants us to form in our thoughts and attitudes and actions? What does it look like so far? His ways of living and being human. It looks like a world free of materialism and greed. It looks like a world where we speak in truth and address corruption. Looks like a generous, selfless world working for equality of resources. It looks like a place where we remember the dignity and the holiness of each other's bodies and minds and souls in relationships and we'd stop devaluing others into a commodity or a moment of pleasure. It looks like a space where individuals offer each other grace, kindness, and the freedom that comes from full forgiveness. You might notice that although these things flow out of the character of God and faith helps them, people don't have to be a believer to walk in this abundance. Faith in God will supercharge these transformations, but any good human can aspire to live this abundant way. That will also be true of the next podcast in this series, honouring our parents. But from then on, the focus is going to go upper gear in how we relate with God. In the meantime, let's pray. Father God, I don't want to live carrying around these grudges anymore, nursing them, feeding them, listening to them cry, feeling them grow more and more heavy. Help me today to trust you, and in faith, I put the justice of these situations back into your hands. I will not be a doormat, but I will choose to let these things go and give them to you. Holy Spirit, is there is there something that you've been bringing to mind all the way through listening to this? Maybe one situation that has been my test case or feels like a blockage. Holy Spirit, give me the faith and the strength to let go and allow you to be God. I ask this in the powerful name of Jesus, who the Bible says has all authority above, on, and below the earth. Amen.