Christian Counter-Culture

 

Matthew 5:1-12

Epiphany 4 / Year A

I know it isn’t until tomorrow but doesn’t today feel a little bit like Groundhog’s Day... another Sunday, another cancelled service.  If you looked at Friday’s E-News and read my brief write-up about today’s sermon, you know I employed a common writing technique known as a ‘tease.’  It is supposed to be intriguing, but vague, leaving you pining for what it leaves hanging.  My tease was a promise some people will not like this sermon.  Oh yes, I can hear you now in your home saying, “and this is different from other Sundays how?”

This guaranteed to offend some sermon has a proven track record.  Other ministers have preached on the gospel reading we just heard (known as the Beatitudes), adhered strictly to Jesus’ actual words, and been accosted by some of their church members for being “too woke.”  For some, not just what we read this morning, but all Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5-7 in Matthew’s gospel) falls under this criticism.  And there is no arguing the point.  They are right.  Based on what we today label as woke, this is it.

Intervarsity Press published a book in 1978 by the Anglican priest and theologian John R.W. Stott titled The Message of the Sermon on the Mount: Christian Counter-Culture.  Back then, the word ‘woke’ meant only no longer sleeping, but the phrase ‘counter-culture’ was in its heyday.  A new generation had come of age and it was dissolutioned and dissatisfied with the society it was inheriting.  Young people rejected the world that was being given to them and set out in search of something new, something different, something “real, man”.  They turned to eastern religions and socialist theories, created their own expressions of art and music, changed fashion and grooming standards, and experimented with drugs and casual sex.  This, in part, was what it meant back then to be counter-cultural. 

Stott argued Jesus calls his followers to be different from both “the nominal church and the secular world”, citing Leviticus 18:3-4:

You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you.  You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees.  [Why?]  I am the Lord your God.

Stott summed up the core teaching of the Sermon on the Mount as being “You must not do as they do.”  He saw Jesus’ teaching as an invitation to be what he called “Christian counter-cultural.”  He saw this as what Jesus offers to people looking for something different than their world was offering to them in their time.

Stott devoted only three pages to the Beatitudes in his book.  In truth, he could have written three volumes and barely scratched the surface of the practical ways we might go about living into each specific teaching.  If for nothing other than shock-value, let me suggest just one of the many thousands of implications each beatitude holds for us who, in the name of Christ desire to follow his example, to live not as others do:

·      Blessed are the poor in spirit… not those with the newest iPhone because amassing possessions is not a sure-fire path to happiness.

·      Blessed are those who mourn… rather than those who live in gated communities seeking to live a sheltered life insulated from the troubles of the world.

·      Blessed are the meek… try telling this to an aggressive driver.

·      Blessed are those who deeply long for the world to be just and good for all… rather than wanting it to be a place you can bend to your own whim and will.

·      Blessed are the merciful… because vindictiveness never affords the peace it promises.

·      Blessed are the pure in heart… being devious, duplicitous, or downright dishonest does not bring one peace either.

·      Blessed are the peacemakers… it takes no talent to foster discord, no strength to perpetuate brokenness, no courage to sow the seeds of animosity.  Forgiving, understanding, healing, and uniting, require work, selflessness, and sacrifice.

·      Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness… because Lord knows those who have the advantage and upper hand will do everything in their power to resist and thwart change.

·      Blessed are you when people revile you… I suppose this even includes when you are called ‘snowflake’ or ‘woke’ when all you are doing is trying to take Jesus at his word and do your level best to follow what he teaches.

Do all of this, Jesus says, and your reward will be great in heaven.  But even more, you will begin to experience here and now what calls the Kingdom of Heaven – a counter-culture reality which is possible in our day and time.

One final word from Stott.  You may be tempted to think the lofty ideals Jesus sets forth are intended only for spiritual superstars, but far from what is possible for and expected of ordinary, everyday, run-of-the-mill C⁺ Christians like you and me.  Not so, Stott says.  These are qualities every follower of Jesus is supposed to embrace and characteristics each of us is supposed to embody.  We may not be perfect at it, but kind of like how saying the Lord’s Prayer every day with its phrase “as we have been forgiven”, the Beatitudes remind what the standard is.  While there are times we will fall short of it, we still acknowledge what is expected.  We still seek to live a life which truly is Christian counter-cultural.