SPECIAL DAYS: Second Sunday in Lent

February 24,  2002 - Lesson: Matthew 5.1, 11-12

Sermon Title: Is It Worth It?

(Back to Study Home Page)   (Back to sermons for 2001-2002)
(Back to sermons Home Page)     (Back to Shultz Home Page)

INTRODUCTION:

Helga and I were in Madison at Westgate Mall.

I was sitting outside of Hancock 's watching a small boy and his mother. He was pointing and saying, "Dah." He could not speak. He did not walk very steady either. He was 14 months old. I was really impressed with the way his mother was conducting the experience. She was letting her son touch things and telling him in simply language what it was that had caught his eye.

  1. The thought came to me: "I wonder what his adult life will be like?"
    1. We are older and wiser.
    2. We have had our experiences and are having more.
    3. We are still touching and exploring, though perhaps not with the uninhibited curiosity of a child, too bad.
    4. We do not have to wonder what life will be like.
    5. What is your life like?
  2. What do you do with what Hamlet in his famous speech said: (1)

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?

MAIN BODY:

  1. This is some tough stuff.
    1. Take the word REVILE it sounds harsh.
      1. Revile is more than sounding harsh.
      2. To revile is to insult on various levels.
      3. It is a contemptuous insult. (Said with contempt)

An illustration comes from an Ann Landers column "Atheist tired of fending off religious people." Published in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Feb 22, 2002 (2)

Dear Ann: I am not a religious man. In fact, I consider myself an atheist. I am also very ethical and have high moral standards. I donate to more than a dozen charities. I am kind to animals, children and the environment. I would never raise my hand to my wife or children, and I treat them as the precious people they are. I strive to make the world a better place and understand those different from myself. I am intelligent and kind, and stand up for what I believe. I never impose my beliefs on those around me.

So, why is it that as soon as people find out I don't believe in God, they tell me I am going to hell? One woman said, "You cannot possibly have good morals if you don't believe." This is nonsense. I know plenty of "God-fearing, church-going folk" who have rotten moral standards. They drink, smoke, do drugs, lie, steal and cheat on their spouses.

I am sick and tired of people making moral judgments about me based solely on the fact that I do not believe in religion. While I don't advertise my atheism, I don't wish to deny my ideology, as if it is something to be ashamed of. How can I get these well-meaning but ignorant people off my back?

Unbeliever in Maryland

Ann says: You can't, so stop trying. Deeply religious people feel they must "save" you, and nothing you do will convince them otherwise. You don't need to justify your beliefs to anyone. If an acquaintance says you are going to hell, reply, "Thank you," and walk away.

(Top)    (Back to Study Home Page)   (Back to sermons for 2001-2002)
(Back to sermons Home Page)     (Back to Shultz Home Page)

      1. Who or what is it that attacks your beliefs?
      2. Who or what is it that tells you that your established relationship with Christ is insufficient?
        1. A neighbor who belongs to another faith group.
        2. A denomination which seeks to uphold its particular views.
      3. "Blessed are you when people revile you
    1. Blessed are you when people persecute you.
      1. We covered this one last week.
      2. Persecution comes in many forms.

A father was trying to explain to his daughter the difference between anger and exasperation.

Going to the phone he dialed a number and said to the man who answered. 'Hello, is Melvin there?"

'There's no one here named Melvin," was the reply, "Why don't you look up numbers before you dial them?"

The father dialed the number again. "Hello, is Melvin there?" he asked.

"Now look!" the man yelled. "I just told you there's no Melvin here!" Then he slammed down the receiver.

"You see," the father said, "That was anger. Now I'll show you exasperation."

Again he dialed the same number, and when a voice roared "Hello!" he calmly said, "This is Melvin, Are there any messages for me?"

      1. this is a form of persecution
      2. Persecution wears many guises.
    1. Blessed are you when people utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

Sitting in the court room at the time of my divorce and listening to the lies that were being told about me.

In those days there were only a few grounds for divorce.

The only grounds that could be presented were "cruel or inhuman treatment."

Even my spouse's lawyer told me that I was a very good husband.

I had to sit and listen to his presentation because there was no other way my spouse could obtain a divorce.

      1. Have you ever been called a hypocrite?
      2. That is a favorite expression that people use as a put down.

Remember the old adage:

Sticks and stone can break my bones,
But names can never hurt me!

      1. They can, names can wound and deeply hurt.

(Top)    (Back to Study Home Page)   (Back to sermons for 2001-2002)
(Back to sermons Home Page)     (Back to Shultz Home Page)

  1. What kinds of skills and abilities are needed to meet the challenges of insults, persecutions, and false accusations?
    1. Faith
      1. Faith provides the context in which one hold onto the relationship with Christ, no matter what the odds that are stacked against you.
      2. Faith creates the structure that supports and encourages the maintenance of relationship with Christ, no matter what the odds are that are stacked against you.
    2. Courage
      1. Courage enables you to take and hold a position.
        1. It may be necessary to modify or change that position.
        2. Courage also enable you to do that
      2. Courage of convictions.
        1. Illustration of an old wind up watch.
        2. Spring is under tension.
        3. Tension is the courage of convictions.
        4. It is better than being a cow.

William Lyons Phelps, HAPPINESS

"Happiness is equated with physical ease and freedom from care. that basis, the happiest creature would not be a person at all, but a healthy cow.

"The cow is undisturbed by taxes, wars, wayward children, styles in dress, religious disputes. He concludes his essay with these words:

"I have observed many cows, and there is in their beautiful eyes no perplexity; their serene faces betray no apprehension or alarm; they are never even bored. . .Well, since the daily life of an American cow is exactly the existence held up to us as ideal-physical comfort with no pains and no worries, who wouldn't be a cow? Very few human beings would be willing to change into cows, which must mean only one thing. Life with all its sorrows, cares, perplexities, and heart-breaks, is more interesting than bovine placidity, hence more desirable. The more interesting it is, the happier it is. And the happiest person is he who thinks the most interesting thoughts."

      1. Courage to be brave in the face of opposition.

(Top)    (Back to Study Home Page)   (Back to sermons for 2001-2002)
(Back to sermons Home Page)     (Back to Shultz Home Page)

    1. A positive and constructive sense of self.
      1. Its okay to admit that you're wrong, that is when you are wrong.
      2. It is just as important to able to know that you are right and that you have the right to maintain your position in the face of the opposition.
      3. It is important to know how to do this.
      4. You do it in love.
    2. Humor

Here is some humor to give you a lift and put a smile on your face

In filling out an application for a factory job, a man puzzled for a long time over this question:

"Person to notify in case of accident."

Finally he wrote, "Anybody in sight."

###

Secretary to Psychiatrist: "There's a man in the waiting room who claims that he is invisible."

Psychiatrist: "Tell him that I can't see him now."

###

The little boy's maternal grandmother had just arrived for a visit, and said she might stay for a week. "Great," said the little boy, "Then daddy can do his trick."

"What trick is that?" the grandmother asked.

"Well," said the boy, "Daddy said if you were here for a week, he would be climbing the walls, and I've never seen anyone do that."

(Top)    (Back to Study Home Page)   (Back to sermons for 2001-2002)
(Back to sermons Home Page)     (Back to Shultz Home Page)

Chris: "I understand you have been seeing a psychiatrist. Has it helped you?"

Darrel: "It certainly has. For weeks when the phone rang I was afraid to answer it. Now I go right ahead and answer it whether it rings or not."

###

Bernie: "I keep seeing spots before my eyes."

Pat: "Have you seen a doctor?'

Bernie: "No, just spots"

  1. With these tools we can truly come to the place where we can rejoice.
    1. We can become GLAD Christians.
    2. GLAD means "God's Love Always Delights."
    1. Rejoice and be glad.
      1. Come on, you must be kidding.
      2. Jesus is serious here.

CONCLUSION:

  1. Is it possible to reach a state of existence where we can actually live this way?
    1. Yes.
    2. Its troublesome, its dangerous, its challenging, but it is the most rewarding.
  2. Great is your reward for so persecuted the prophets before you.

    1. John Bartlett (1820--1905), Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919, Number 1579, Author, William Shakespeare (1564--1616)

    2. ©Star Tribune, Minneapolis-St Paul, MN

(Top)    (Back to Study Home Page)   (Back to sermons for 2001-2002)
(Back to sermons Home Page)     (Back to Shultz Home Page)