Luke 17:5-10The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" The Lord replied, "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea', and it would obey you.
"Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from ploughing or tending sheep in the field, 'Come here at once and take your place at the table'? Would you not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink'? Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, 'We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!'"
This section of Luke is part of a 4 part saying series of Jesus in the Gospel. This particular section is Jesus questioning the Disciples. Now as we’ve seen throughout several Gospel accounts the disciples are a group that aren’t always the quickest to pick up on what Jesus wants them to understand. Again we see Jesus telling the disciples what is expected of them and it is applied to all Christians; that we are to live by a Kingdom ethic.
So what is a kingdom ethic? Well it depends on who you’re talking to or about. There are a variety of kingdom ethics. Some people have a kingdom ethic of money; if you can look and act the part and be in the right circles based on your wealth. If you can’t well then you don’t deserve what’s at the top. This kingdom ethic is one that is not new to this society or culture. It’s one that’s been present since before Jesus’ time. It’s an ethic, a way of living and treating others, that has carried out through out the centuries; one that demands that those elite get it all while others may live with very little or nothing.
Other people have a kingdom ethic of racism, sexism or any other “ism” you’d like to use. One group of people believing that they are better then another based on race, creed, religion, sexuality, gender, physical ability and so on. We know the history books so I won’t elaborate further but this is a kingdom ethic that donates many cultures and often time when one group is no longer seen as appropriate to demonize or mock society simply replaces them with a new group.
So what is the kingdom ethic that we are to live by if we are to call ourselves faithful Christians? It is an ethic of servant-hood. Jesus lays it out pretty clear for the disciples today. If we’re not open to serve then we are not being fully open to the message and standards that God has set forth for us as Christians.
Too many Christians today like to walk around with smiles on their faces and the words “I’m a Christian” plastered on their faces, yet when it comes right down to it, people put up their hands, back away or even better they open their mouths and profess in the name of God the ways in which they believe that they are right about how to exclude, condemn and vilify people who aren’t living the right kind of Christianity. Christianity is a faith that is becoming less and less popular every day. The statistics are out there to support this statement. And the number 1 reason why so many young people, people my age the group that so many people want to target but yet can’t seem to get in the seats, is because they find Christianity so hard to follow because they see it as being hypocritical. Christians like to profess a lot of things but then their actions are the complete opposite. Instead of serving those who are the least of these like they profess in scriptures and sermons they’d rather blame and throw around hate. Instead of listening and learning about another person or group it’s easier to hold protests at funerals, have burnings of sacred texts and produce material that slanders others and invokes the name of Jesus and God in their pamphlets in order to do it. That’s what people see as being the Christian thing to do. That’s part of the reason why we are not growing but in fact dying as a religion.
Christians all over the world need to be turning their thoughts around to be a true Kingdom ethic; working with power, love and self-control as the apostle Paul writes in his second letter to Timothy. We need to be channeling all of our resources, power and our whole selves into changing the world into being a place where every last person can stand around the table that God has set and feel welcomed and that this is the place for them to be home in.
This morning is World Communion Sunday, a day that denominations across the world set aside each year as a day to hold communion services to be in solidarity with their brothers and sisters in Christ. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if next year Christians could be more united and have a renewed sense of what it means to be Christian happening in the world. In the words of Martin Luther if we Christians are going to be seen as sinning by other Christians then we’d better be sinning boldly. We’d better be stepping out in bold leaps and bounds into a world that is broken and hurting in order to bring everyone around this table.
This week Ellen DeGeneres made a public statement on her TV show about bullying and the effects it has as reports of children and youth committing suicide as a result of long-term, repeated bullying keep piling up. And while you don’t have to like her comedy, show or lifestyle, what us Christians should be doing is paying attention to the fact that bullying is a serious issue that needs to be faced with. I was a kid who was bullied in school for being the fat girl, the band geek, and so on. But today bullying doesn’t just happen in hallways, parking lots and on bus rides; it happens on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, messengers, texting and so many other places. Three years ago the B.U.I.L.D. organization here in Lexington, a group of faith communities that come together to address important social issues in Lexington, looked at the issue of bullying in our schools. And although recommendations were made to the school board, Christians need to do more then just talk about things and commit to the follow through that is required of being a servant. We need to be committed 100% to take on the injustices in the world and make sure we rely on God to give us the courage and wisdom to get through it all. The servant must follow through with the whole task at hand, and so to must we Christians. What would happen if Christians all addressed the issue of bullying and took a stand to be proactive on the issue. Who could be standing around the table with us next year? Jesus is clear in his message to the disciples to go out and serve with your whole heart and being. What will that look like for me and you and the people in worship down the street? What will that mean for the Church? Let us hope and pray that the words on the page of our sacred text become the words that guide our hearts, hands and feet. Amen and amen
"Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from ploughing or tending sheep in the field, 'Come here at once and take your place at the table'? Would you not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink'? Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, 'We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!'"
This section of Luke is part of a 4 part saying series of Jesus in the Gospel. This particular section is Jesus questioning the Disciples. Now as we’ve seen throughout several Gospel accounts the disciples are a group that aren’t always the quickest to pick up on what Jesus wants them to understand. Again we see Jesus telling the disciples what is expected of them and it is applied to all Christians; that we are to live by a Kingdom ethic.
So what is a kingdom ethic? Well it depends on who you’re talking to or about. There are a variety of kingdom ethics. Some people have a kingdom ethic of money; if you can look and act the part and be in the right circles based on your wealth. If you can’t well then you don’t deserve what’s at the top. This kingdom ethic is one that is not new to this society or culture. It’s one that’s been present since before Jesus’ time. It’s an ethic, a way of living and treating others, that has carried out through out the centuries; one that demands that those elite get it all while others may live with very little or nothing.
Other people have a kingdom ethic of racism, sexism or any other “ism” you’d like to use. One group of people believing that they are better then another based on race, creed, religion, sexuality, gender, physical ability and so on. We know the history books so I won’t elaborate further but this is a kingdom ethic that donates many cultures and often time when one group is no longer seen as appropriate to demonize or mock society simply replaces them with a new group.
So what is the kingdom ethic that we are to live by if we are to call ourselves faithful Christians? It is an ethic of servant-hood. Jesus lays it out pretty clear for the disciples today. If we’re not open to serve then we are not being fully open to the message and standards that God has set forth for us as Christians.
Too many Christians today like to walk around with smiles on their faces and the words “I’m a Christian” plastered on their faces, yet when it comes right down to it, people put up their hands, back away or even better they open their mouths and profess in the name of God the ways in which they believe that they are right about how to exclude, condemn and vilify people who aren’t living the right kind of Christianity. Christianity is a faith that is becoming less and less popular every day. The statistics are out there to support this statement. And the number 1 reason why so many young people, people my age the group that so many people want to target but yet can’t seem to get in the seats, is because they find Christianity so hard to follow because they see it as being hypocritical. Christians like to profess a lot of things but then their actions are the complete opposite. Instead of serving those who are the least of these like they profess in scriptures and sermons they’d rather blame and throw around hate. Instead of listening and learning about another person or group it’s easier to hold protests at funerals, have burnings of sacred texts and produce material that slanders others and invokes the name of Jesus and God in their pamphlets in order to do it. That’s what people see as being the Christian thing to do. That’s part of the reason why we are not growing but in fact dying as a religion.
Christians all over the world need to be turning their thoughts around to be a true Kingdom ethic; working with power, love and self-control as the apostle Paul writes in his second letter to Timothy. We need to be channeling all of our resources, power and our whole selves into changing the world into being a place where every last person can stand around the table that God has set and feel welcomed and that this is the place for them to be home in.
This morning is World Communion Sunday, a day that denominations across the world set aside each year as a day to hold communion services to be in solidarity with their brothers and sisters in Christ. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if next year Christians could be more united and have a renewed sense of what it means to be Christian happening in the world. In the words of Martin Luther if we Christians are going to be seen as sinning by other Christians then we’d better be sinning boldly. We’d better be stepping out in bold leaps and bounds into a world that is broken and hurting in order to bring everyone around this table.
This week Ellen DeGeneres made a public statement on her TV show about bullying and the effects it has as reports of children and youth committing suicide as a result of long-term, repeated bullying keep piling up. And while you don’t have to like her comedy, show or lifestyle, what us Christians should be doing is paying attention to the fact that bullying is a serious issue that needs to be faced with. I was a kid who was bullied in school for being the fat girl, the band geek, and so on. But today bullying doesn’t just happen in hallways, parking lots and on bus rides; it happens on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, messengers, texting and so many other places. Three years ago the B.U.I.L.D. organization here in Lexington, a group of faith communities that come together to address important social issues in Lexington, looked at the issue of bullying in our schools. And although recommendations were made to the school board, Christians need to do more then just talk about things and commit to the follow through that is required of being a servant. We need to be committed 100% to take on the injustices in the world and make sure we rely on God to give us the courage and wisdom to get through it all. The servant must follow through with the whole task at hand, and so to must we Christians. What would happen if Christians all addressed the issue of bullying and took a stand to be proactive on the issue. Who could be standing around the table with us next year? Jesus is clear in his message to the disciples to go out and serve with your whole heart and being. What will that look like for me and you and the people in worship down the street? What will that mean for the Church? Let us hope and pray that the words on the page of our sacred text become the words that guide our hearts, hands and feet. Amen and amen
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