Matthew 5:43-38, 18:1-5 and Hosea 1:21-23: Lessons from Star Wars

Presented to Warehouse 614, 03 June 2018 and Alberni Valley Ministries, 05 May 2024, by Captain (Major) Michael Ramsay

This is the 2024 BC Version; to view the 2018 Toronto version, click here:

https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2018/06/matthew-543-38-181-5-and-hosea-121-23.html

 

Yesterday was May the fourth. You know what May the Fourth has become known as in recent years? Star Wars Day!... “May the Forth be with you” is, of course, a play on a famous phrase from those movies. I think my oldest two daughters and I have seen all the movies that were released in the theatres (at least the ones since they have been born) – so has my mom. We haven’t watched all the spin off series and everything. But yesterday as it was May the Fourth and Susan had gone to see Rebecca, Heather and I watch a Star Wars film or two. And today I will share with you some lessons that we can learn from the Star Wars franchise.

 

I did really like the original movies from the 70s and 80s and a couple of the others. One of the other much later ones that the older girls and I saw in the theatres was SOLO. It was the back story of one of the main characters of Star Wars, Han Solo.

 

SOLO, was a good movie. It can be seen as a stand-alone action-adventure show. You don’t need to be a Star Wars fan to enjoy the movie. There was one scene in the film that stuck in my mind. Han, the main character, was emigrating from his home planet and a customs official asked him for his name and he said, ‘Han’; then the official asked Han who his people were so he that could assign him a last name. Han replied that he didn't have any people; so, after the customs official thought for a while, the surname 'Solo' was awarded to him. Thus, we have the name ‘Han Solo’. And that brings us to the first of three lessons from Star Wars that we are going to look at today.

 

LESSON 1: WHO ARE MY PEOPLE?

 

Hosea 1: 21-23:

“In that day I will respond,”

declares the Lord—

“I will respond to the skies,

and they will respond to the earth;

22 and the earth will respond to the grain,

the new wine and the olive oil,

and they will respond to Jezreel.

23 I will plant her for myself in the land;

I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.’

I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’;

and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”

 

Who are your people? When I was studying restorative justice at Simon Fraser University a few years ago now, my instructor asked us the same question for one of our papers. I pondered this for a while and wrote a long essay claiming many people as my people: my family, the people I grew up with, those in The Salvation Army, those in the community in which I lived at the time and all the communities in which I had lived previously, people in the courts and people in the prisons where I was ministering at the time and previously; my colleagues, associates, friends, clients, neighbours; anyone I could think of I claimed as my people. And now, of course, if I were asked that same question, ‘who are my people?’ It would be many people in town here who are part of the groups I am a part of, the people we work with on the streets, our friends at the Bread of Life; the first thing to come to my mind, however, when asked ‘who are my people?’ would, of course, be all of you. You are my people. You are my friends.

 

I am your people. Furthermore, as we submit to the Lord, we are all His people. We are part of the family of God. Even if at one point in our lives we were not part of God's family, He wants us to be part of His people and when we accept Him as Father we join his family. When we accept Him as Lord we become one of His people. When this is the case, we are no longer solo but we always have the Lord to turn to and to lean on in times of crisis; therefore, if you haven't already, I invite you to accept the LORD's invitation to be one of His people today.

 

When we do become his people, He will transform us from darkness to light, from secrets to honestly and from hatred to love.

 

LESSON 2: LOVELY LIGHT SABERS

 

Matthew 5:43-48:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

 

These days we see a lot of hatred in the news and in social media. People hate this person. People hate that person. People hate this person for hating that person and people hate those people because they all hate these people. So much hatred!

 

There is a pivotal moment in the original movie franchise, where the main bad guy, the antagonist, Darth Vader is trying to turn our hero, Luke from good to bad, from truth to secrecy, from the Light to the Darkness; He wants to convert him from good to bad; how does he try to do this? He tries to do this by enticing him to hate. He tells Luke that only his hatred can destroy his enemy: this is a lie of Darth Vader and this is also a lie of our enemy, the Enemy, the devil. In the real world, hate cannot defeat evil; hate can only become evil. Hate is what turns a good person, bad; it is love, Jesus’ love, which redeems us. As soon as we give into the temptation to hate someone, we have given into the Enemy: we have become his prey.

 

Martin Luther King Jr said, “Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.” “Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.” “I have decided to stick to love...Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

 

‘Do you know what the stupidest expression in the world is?’ - a firefighter once asked me - ‘fight fire with fire;’ ‘you don’t fight fire with fire; that just causes a bigger fire!’ It is the same with hate. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that. If I get drawn into hating someone because they hate something or someone than I have just caused love to shrink and hate to grow. If on the other hand we love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, then even we may be called children of our Father in heaven. If we love more than just those who love us then indeed we may even be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. Therefore let us resolve to love one another and let us wish each other well - even those who may wish us ill.

 

LESSON 3: NEW REVISED EDITION

 

Matthew 18:1-5:

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

 

Our life can't be edited. It can be changed. I remember watching the original Star Wars in the theatre in 1977. In 1981 one of my friends had this neat new machine: a VCR. It was really quite something. We could actually pause shows and even rewind parts of them and watch them over and over again. I saw Star Wars and The Empire Strikes back more than once or twice.

 

Many years later, early on in this century, a friend lent me DVDs of the trilogy. I couldn't believe it. The movies had actually changed! They weren’t the same movies that I saw in 70s and 80s. I was sort of in shock: Why was Jabba the Hutt in Star Wars? Who was this new Darth Vader at the end of Return of the Jedi? I don't remember Storm Troopers on lizards, and I am pretty sure that Han shot first in that very famous bar scene. I asked my friend why the movies were different from when I first saw them; he replied that he hoped that the changes didn't ruin the movies for me.

 

A while later, when I was able to look on-line for movies, I looked for copies of the Star Wars movies as I would have seen them in the 1970s or 1980s. I couldn't find them anywhere. I tired every way I could think of to find them, but I could only find the revised versions of these movies. The originals are forever in my memory and have made an impression on me; the original versions of the movies have left significant impressions on many people. The movies, however, are no longer like that.

 

This is like our life. There are things that some of us may have done that we wish we had never done. Maybe our actions have caused someone physical injury that has not healed. Maybe our actions have caused someone emotional or psychological pain that has not healed. Maybe our actions have changed circumstances in such a way as nothing will ever be the same again. There is now a new normal. The repercussions of past actions may stick with us and others like the memory of an original version of a movie or an old song that we cannot find anymore. We cannot change what has happened or how it has affected us.

 

However, we can be changed so that these things from the past never happen again. God can take all the bad things in our life and make sure that they never replay again. God can change us even more than George Lucas can change his movies. God can forgive our sins, transform our stories, and make us brand new today. He can take out the parts that hurt and hinder us and rewrite our script so that we are a blessing to others. So, to that end today, if there is anything that we want rewritten in our story, if we haven't offered our life up to the Lord for changing yet, I invite us to do so this very day.

 

Let us pray.

John 13:21-14:31: Where are you going?

Presented to Warehouse Mission 614 Toronto on 10 June 2018 and Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army on 03 May 2015 by Captain Michael Ramsay  

This is the 2018 version, to view the original sermon click here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2015/05/john-1321-1431-where-are-you-going.html

Recently in The Salvation Army we had move announcement day. All the Officers who, like ourselves, are moving were told we are going to farewell and our farewell service will be in a couple of weeks, on June 24^th. Appropriately enough the scripture we are looking at today has been referred to as 'the farewell discourse’.

In our text today, Judas leaves the room and when he does the eternal moves are announced. Jesus lets his disciples know that very soon – as they knew would happen someday - Jesus is being transferred from his current appointment. He then gives them some instructions about what to do when he leaves and a number of his disciples ask him some questions. They enquire about where he is going and Jesus tells them also about who is coming when he goes. We don’t have time today to get into the details of the one who is coming: the Advocate, the Paraclete, the Helper, and the post-resurrection role of the Holy Spirit but we will address some of the other questions the apostles have about Jesus’ pending move.

Picture this with me. Jesus and his disciples are having their farewell dinner upstairs in a rented room – probably no bigger than this room here where we will be having dinner soon. Jesus has conversations with John and Judas and then Jesus knows, allows; even enables, prompts or provokes Judas to do what he is going to do. This will be Jesus’ last evening with his closest companions in ministry. After Judas leaves, Jesus turns to his friends and he breaks the news to them, among other important things that, v. 33-35: “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Jesus is moving and he tells his disciples what he wants from them when he is gone is that they love each other. And I think this is important. I know that as we are moving this is the same thing we want for all of you: that you love each other. I know that when I see pictures on Facebook, receive emails, or a visit from Toronto here, that will be one of the first things I will ask: how is everyone getting along? Are we still a good little group fighting together for the gospel of Christ? Who has visited someone we haven’t seen in a while here this past week? Have we called them not to lecture them saying, “haven’t seen you in church in a while” but rather to say that we have been praying for you and would like to offer you a word of encouragement. “By this everyone will know you are my disciples”, Jesus says, “if you love one another.” I love you guys and I will miss all of you and there is even more to this command that Jesus has for us to love one another. As part of this same farewell discourse Jesus says that greater love has no one than to lay down his life for his friends. That is what Jesus did for us. That is what the apostles did for him. That is what we must do for each other. Call or visit someone from our flock here this week and spend some time with them – especially someone you haven’t seen in a while. Jesus says, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Simon Peter cues not as much on the instruction to love his comrades and colleagues as the fact that Jesus is leaving. He asks Jesus, in essence, ‘Where are you going? What do you mean that we can’t come with you? Why not? I’d die for you!’ Jesus response to this is really quite interesting; he tells Peter in essence, ‘Really? You’ll die for me? I tell you the truth even before tonight is over you will deny me not once, not twice, but three times. You say you’ll die for me’? This is not the sort of response one expects to give to a grieving person who is coming to terms with the impeding move. It is certainly not the response that we are instructed to give in the ESC courses I have taught. Now, of course, we know that Peter is later repentant of these actions and Jesus, after he rises from the dead, forgives, reaffirms, and/or reinstates Peter and we know that according to tradition Peter is good to his word and God does award him his martyr’s crown. And this exchange isn’t as lacking in pastoral care as it appears. As you read on, verses, 14:1-4, Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many mansions; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”

As Peter and the others try to figure out Jesus’ somewhat confusing answer to this simple question, ‘where are you going?’ Thomas tries to help get a clear answer. He re-asks, re-phrases, re-articulates, adds to Peter’s question his own words, Verse 5, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

Jesus answers, Verse 6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him.”

Thomas was trying to help, by rephrasing Peter’s simple question ‘where are you going’? And now Thomas, like Peter, is left to ponder Jesus’ somewhat less straightforward responses. Jesus answer to, ‘how do we get to where you are going?’ is ‘I am the way to where I am going’. This probably isn’t all that helpful for Thomas and Peter.

Jesus does give them some very important information though. He says point plank that the ONLY way to get to God the Father is through Jesus Christ. There is no other way. There is no other truth. Jesus is the only way to life and the only way to the Father. This is important and while Thomas and Peter may not understand this in the moment they do later and we should now, right? Basically in layman’s terms: if your mother, brother, son or daughter do not enter into a relationship through Jesus Christ, they are not going to inherit eternal life with the Father. This is significant. Jesus is telling Thomas, Peter, and the others that there is no other way to be a part of the Kingdom of God than to come through Jesus Christ. So, for us here today, if there is someone you claim to love and you don’t tell them about Jesus, do you really love them? If there is someone you claim to like and you don’t tell them about Jesus, do you really like them? If the only way to not perish is to go through Jesus Christ, and there is someone that you do not loathe and despise, if you do not at least try to introduce someone you know to Jesus, is it not true that in reality you do loathe and despise them? This is what Jesus is saying – salvation is easy. There is only one way but that way is easily accessible. Jesus provided salvation for everyone and if you love Jesus and if you love your friends then you will point them to the way.

Peter’s simple question ‘where are you going?’ still seems unsatisfied though even as Thomas has re-stated it as ‘which way do we go?’ So now Philip takes a crack at getting an answer as he asks for further clarification, Verse 8, “Lord show us the Father and that will be enough.” Jesus’ answers here are hardly any more straightforward and concise but Jesus does give them more important information: Jesus offers them a free introductory course - Trinity 101 [5] - so to speak. Jesus says that he is in the Father and the Father is in him. Jesus speaks about the coming of the Advocate, the Paraclete, the Helper, as well as the post-resurrection role of the Holy Spirit and the importance of obeying Christ.[6] He says that they will know that Jesus is in the Father and that we will be in Him so long as we simply obey His commandments and then He will reveal himself to us as he is in us.

So we are starting to make some ground in the conversation here. Remember that this is after dinner and Judas Iscariot has already left. And this has led to a long conversation as the disciples are repeatedly asking Jesus, ‘where are you going?” So now we have Judas (not Judas Iscariot, the other Judas), as they are starting to understand the answer to ‘where are you going’? He ultimately asks, 14:22, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus then more fully explains to his disciples that He is going away but He will come back (15:28) and when He comes back those who love Him and keep His commands will be eligible to receive that mansion that He has prepared for us (14:2).

So the answer to the question, ‘where is Jesus going?’ After dinner, Jesus and his disciples will leave and then this very night in our text, Jesus will be arrested. He will be tried. Jesus will be executed. Three days later He will rise from the dead and come to his disciples, then later he will ascend to the Father.

That is where Jesus is going now in our text and then sometime very soon now in our world he is coming back and before that happens we will all need to answer a most important question and that question is, where are WE going? Jesus is going to the Father and the ONLY way to the Father is through the Son. Everyone who loves Jesus (as shown by obeying His commands) will go to be with Jesus in our eternal mansion. So the question for us today is not where is Jesus going – we know that - but rather the question for us today is where are WE going? 

Let us pray.

www.sheepspeak.com

daily blogs at

www.blogspot.salvogesis.com

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[1] The Salvation Army, Boundless: the International Bible Reading Challenge (2015). Available on-line: http://www.salvationarmy.org/biblechallenge

[2] Gail R. O’Day, The Gospel of John, The New Interpreter's Bible, Vol. 9, ed Leander E. Keck, et. al. (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995),740 also  N.T. Wright, John for Everyone Part 2 (Louisville, Kentucky, USA: WJK, 2004),58.and Colin G. Kruse,  John: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 2003 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 4), S. 292

[3] Cf. Lincoln, 390.

[4] Cf. Gerard Sloyan, John, Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, ed. James L. Mays, et. al. (Atlanta, Georgia: John Knox Press, 1988),179.

[5] Cf. Gerard Sloyan, John, Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, ed. James L. Mays, et. al. (Atlanta, Georgia: John Knox Press, 1988), 185ff.

[6] Merrill C. Tenney, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:John/Exposition of John/III. The Private Ministry of the Word (13:1-17:26)/B. The Last Discourse (13:31-16:33)/1. Questions and answers (13:31-14:31)/e. The promise of the Spirit (14:16-21), Book Version: 4.0.2

Matthew 5:43-38, 18:1-5 and Hosea 1:21-23: Lessons from Star Wars.

Presented to Warehouse 614, 03 June 2018 and Alberni Valley Ministries, 05 May 2024, by Captain (Major) Michael Ramsay

This is the 2018 Toronto version. To view the 2024 BC version click here:

https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2024/05/matthew-543-38-181-5-and-hosea-121-23.html

 

Last Sunday after church my daughters and I went to see SOLO. Has everyone who wants to see that movie seen it yet? If you haven’t I may need to remember to give you a couple of spoiler alerts in the sermon here.

My two eldest girls and I have seen most of the newest ones in the theatres. ROUGE 1 was definitely the best of the newest ones but all of them are surprisingly good. I say surprising because I remember watching the prequels. Before I was an Officer, one of the businesses that I ran was publishing the Journal of International Education. One of our sponsors was the IMAX; so we often were able to watch shows fro free on these great big screens. I remember watching the first prequel on the big screen and walking away wondering what just happened. Some things seemed not quite right. I was working in the field of international education at the time and I was even left wondering: was this racist? There have certainly been those who have suggested that Japanese and Jamaicans cultural stereotypes were exploited for the film.

Even given the fact that the original 3 films are classics and all of the latest films have been very good, I still head out to any new Star Wars movie with a little bit of hesitation.

SOLO, however, was a good movie. It can even be seen as a stand alone movie for people who like action-adventure movies, of course. There was one scene in the new movie that stuck in my mind. Han was emigrating from his home planet and a customs official asked him his name and he said, ‘Han’ and then he asked Han who his people were so he could assign him a last name. Hans replied that he didn't have any people; so, after the customs official though for a while, the surname 'Solo' was awarded to him. Thus we have Han Solo.

LESSON 1: WHO ARE MY PEOPLE?

Hosea 1: 21-23

“In that day I will respond,”

declares the Lord—

“I will respond to the skies,

and they will respond to the earth;

22 and the earth will respond to the grain,

the new wine and the olive oil,

and they will respond to Jezreel.

23 I will plant her for myself in the land;

I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.’

I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’;

and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”

Who are your people? When I was studying restorative justice at Simon Fraser University, my instructor asked us the same question for one of our papers. I pondered this for a while and wrote a long essay claiming many people as my people: my family, the people I grew up with, those in The Salvation Army, those in the community in which I lived at the time and all the communities in which I had lived previously, people in the courts and the prisons where I have and was ministering at the time, my colleagues, associates, friends, clients, neighbours; anyone I could think of I claimed as my people. And now of course, if I were asked that question today, ‘who are my people?’ the first thing to come to my mind would be all of you. You are my people. You are my friends.

I am your people. Furthermore, as we submit to the Lord, we are all His people. We are part of the family of God. Even if at one point in our lives we were not part of God's family, He wants us to be part of His people and when we accept Him as Father we join his family. When we accept Him as Lord we become one of His people. When this is the case, we are no longer solo but we always have the Lord to turn to and to lean on in times of crisis, Therefore, if you haven't already, I invite you to accept the LORD's invitation to be one of His people today.

When we do become his people, He will transform us from darkness to light, from secrets to honestly and from hatred to love.

LESSON 2: LOVELY LIGHT SABERS

Matthew 5:43-48:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

These days we see a lot of hatred in the news and in social media. People hate this person. People hate that person. People hate this person for hating that person and people hate those people because they all hate these people.

Harbour Light has been showing a number of the original Star Wars films this past moth. The Lieutenants there are big Star Wars fans. Rebecca, Sarah-Grace, Heather and I joined them to watch Star Wars. Heather even dressed up as Darth Vader and the day we joined them fo see a movie was on the ultimate Star Wars day. Do you know when Star Wars Day is every year? May the fourth – May the Fourth be with you.

There is a pivotal moment in the original movie franchise, where Darth Vader is trying to turn Luke from good to bad, from truth to secrecy, from the Light to the Darkness; how does he try to do this? He tries to do this by making him hate. He tells Luke that only his hatred can destroy his enemy: this is a lie of Darth Vader and this is also a lie of our enemy, the Enemy, the devil. In the real world, hate cannot defeat evil; hate can only become evil. Hate is what turns a good person, bad; it is love, Jesus’ love, which redeems us.

Martin Luther King Jr said, “Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.” “Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.” “I have decided to stick to love...Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

‘Do you know what the stupidest expression in the world is?’ - a firefighter once asked me - ‘fight fire with fire;’ ‘you don’t fight fire with fire; that just causes a bigger fire!’ It is the same with hate. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that. If I get drawn into hating someone because they hate something or someone than I have just caused love to shrink and hate to grow. If on the other hand we love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, then even we may be called children of our Father in heaven. If we love more than just those who love us than indeed we may even be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. Therefore let us resolve to love one another and let us wish each other well - even those who may wish us ill.

What does it look like to love our enemies?

LESSON 3: NEW REVISED EDITION

Matthew 18:1-5:

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

Our life can't be edited. It can be changed. I remember watching the original Star Wars in the theatre in 1977. In 1981 one of my friends had this neat new machine: a VCR. It was really quite something. We could actually pause shows and even rewind parts of them and watch them over and over again. I saw Star Wars and The Empire Strikes back more than once or twice.

Many years later, early this century, a friend lent me DVDs of the trilogy. I couldn't believe it. The movies had actually changed! They weren’t the same movies that I saw in 70s and 80s. I was sort of in shock: Why was Jabba the Hutt in Star Wars? Who was this new Darth Vader at the end of Return of the Jedi? I don't remember Storm Troopers on lizards and I am pretty sure that Hans shot first in that very famous bar scene. I asked my friend why the movies were different from when I first saw them; he replied that he hoped that the changes didn't ruin the movies for me.

A while later, when I was able to look on-line for movies, I looked for copies of the Star Wars movies as I would have seen them in the 1970s or 1980s. I couldn't find them anywhere. I tired every way I could think of to find them but I could only find the revised versions of these movies. The originals are forever in my memory and have made an impression on me; the original versions of the movies have left significant impressions on many people. The movies, however, are no longer like that.

This is like our life. There are things that some of us may have done that we wish that we had never done. Maybe our actions have caused someone physical injury that has not healed. Maybe our actions have caused someone emotional or psychological pain that has not healed. Maybe our actions have changed circumstances in such a way as nothing will ever be the same again. There is now a new normal. The repercussions of past actions may stick with us and others like the memory of an original version of a movie or an old song that we cannot find anymore. We cannot change what has happened or how it has affected us.

However, we can be changed so that these things from the past never happen again. God can take all the bad things in our life and make sure that they never replay again. God can change us even more than George Lucas can change his movies. God can forgive our sins, transform our stories, and make us brand new today. He can take out the parts that hurt and hinder us and rewrite our script so that we are a blessing to others. So, to that end today, If there is anything that we want rewritten in our story, if we haven't offered our life up to the Lord for changing yet, I invite us to do so this very day.

Let us pray.

www.sheepspeak.com  

daily blogs at

www.blogspot.salvogesis.com

Jude: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 22 April 2012 and Warehouse Mission 614 Toronto, 17 June 2018 by Captain Michael Ramsay

Name the movie (or series of movies) with these famous quotes [answers below]:[1]
.

1. “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a d…[darn].”
2. “May the force be with you.”
3. “Life is like a box of chocolates.”

4.      “Here’s looking at you, kid.”

5. “E.T. phone home”
6. “Elementary my dear Watson”
7. Person 1: “Can you fly this plane, and land it?” Person 2: “Surely you can't be serious.” Person 1: “I am serious...and don’t call me Shirley.”
8. “A martini. Shaken, not stirred.”
9. “Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.”
10. “Go ahead, make my day.”

Today’s sermon title is based on another Clint Eastwood film, “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.” Jude in this very short letter that we are looking at today is telling us how to be good in the face of the bad and the ugly.

The Book of Jude has been called the most neglected book in the New Testament.[2] Thus there are a couple of things we should probably know about Jude: Do we know who in all probability wrote the letter Jude? (Jude) Jude is a nickname. Do we know what Jude is short for? (Jude is short for ‘Judah’ in Hebrew and ‘Judas’ in Greek; they are the same name). The author of this letter is probably either the disciple named Judas (not Judas Iscariot because, among other reasons, he was dead when this letter was written: Matthew 27:3-8, Acts 1:18-19) or more likely this Jude is Jesus’ biological brother, Judas (cf. Jude 1:1; cf. also Matthew 13:55, John 7:3-10, Acts 1:14, 1 Corinthians 9:5, Galatians 1:19). In Verse 1 the author identifies himself as James’ brother. James was another one of Jesus’ brothers and a very prominent figure in the early Christian Church in Jerusalem.

This letter was written pretty early on in the history of the Church: probably not more than forty years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. The Church is still really quite small at this point. It is not worldwide like today. It is still really new when this letter is written. Judas, Jude is writing this letter to faithful and earnest Christians who are in the early Church.

What is going on in the background here? Why was this letter written? Judas, Jude tells us that there are a few things that need addressing – even when the Church is brand new. Jude tells us that he has to write this letter to encourage them (and us) “to contend for the faith that was once entrusted to the saints (Christians)” because godless, bad, ugly people –without the good people noticing- have appeared among them in the Church (vv. 3,4; cf. also Matthew 7:15-20, 24:11; Mark 13:22; Acts 20:29-30; 1 Timothy 4:3-4; 2 Timothy 3:1, 4:3-4; 2 Peter 3:3). These godless men:

q       Are immoral: they figure that since they are ‘once saved, they are always saved’ (but cf. TSA docs. 8&9); they figure that since they are saved, they can commit whatever sins they want and they do just that (Vs. 4);

q       They pollute their bodies (this phrase is probably a further reference to homosexuality, vv. 4,7; cf. Genesis 19, 1 Corinthians 6:9);[3]

q       They reject authority and slander celestial beings (v. 8);

q       They speak abusively about what they do not understand (v. 10; Have you ever heard anyone get really worked up about something they don’t really know anything about? It is sort of that idea.)

q       These people are selfish, ambitious (looking out for # 1), and greedy (vv. 11, 16) – and they are even leaders in the local churches: How many leaders in both the world and the churches today does this describe? …Selfish, ambitious, and greedy? Too many, I fear.

q       These people are faultfinders, scoffers, and grumblers about others and at the same time they are boastful about their own perceived accomplishments (vv. 16, 17). They might say “I would never do things that way; what’s wrong with that guy? I’m way better than that.” Has anyone ever met anyone like this?

These people, as bad and ugly as they are, have snuck in and are a part of the early churches; they eat at their feasts (v. 12); they come out to all their events; they are one of them. In today’s world they would be at Bible study, they would be at church service, they would be at food drives, they would be at Home League (they would be at women’s group), they would be at coffee time and they would be at lunch today right after the service. These selfish people are a rotten part of even the very earliest churches (vv. 3,4,12). And not only that, they even assume some leadership roles in these churches (v. 12 – they may be missionaries as well). These are not just sheep. They are shepherds. They are not good shepherds; they are the bad and the ugly shepherds.

Do you know who these bad and ugly, greedy, corrupt, puffed up leaders in the early churches remind me of? …Bad and ugly, greedy, corrupt, puffed up leaders in today’s church. Edwin A. Blum reminds us that, “the church today is plagued by false teachers claiming superior knowledge and experience; yet their lives are often worse than those of the average pagan.”[4] The press in recent years has been concentrating on the evil acts of people who had snuck into Christian residential schools in this country in the 20^th Century. I read an article this week about the growth of the prosperity heresy in the United States: what is that if not extolling the contemporary western virtues of greed, corruption, and puffed up leaders? I remember the 1980’s and the televangelists who seemed to get into as sorts of trouble. Jimmy Bakker went to prison. (He later repented and even renounced the prosperity heresy he had previously promoted, praise the Lord). There was also Oral Roberts. Do we remember Oral Roberts and how he entered a tower, then told people that God said to give him money or he would die – he got his money but it seems as if God later struck Oral Roberts’ precious tower with a lighting bolt regardless. Do you remember that? There are all kinds of people in the world today using God’s name to ask for money or to make themselves famous. Some U.S. Presidents have even invoked God’s name in an attempt to justify their own self-serving wars. There is even more than this here though.

These bad and ugly leaders, these complaining, these whining, these boastful, these proud, puffed up people that Jude is talking about; they aren’t the political or necessarily the mega-church leaders. These are people who have snuck into the local little churches, which were probably not any bigger than the 40 or 50 people we have gathered here today. It says that these leaders, Verses 12 & 13:

 These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm – shepherds [leaders] who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain blown along by the wind: [I love this analogy: picture drought ravaged land and the farmer eagerly looking at the clouds coming towards his land but they never drop a single drop of rain. These leaders, Jude says are] autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted – twice dead. They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom the blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

Sadly, I think that most of us good Christians who have grown up in the Church have probably come across many bad and ugly leaders in our churches like this. Hopefully not, but maybe some of us can even identify with this. Have you ever run across local leaders: pastors, Officers, or lay people in past times or previous places who are always whining and complaining about others or who are always seemingly boasting about how good or smart they are? Have any of us ever fallen into the trap of thinking that we are something more than we are? Have any of us ever fallen into the trap of thinking that we are holier than our neighbour? Have any of us ever fallen into the trap of thinking that we are smarter than our neighbour? Have any of us ever fallen into the trap of thinking that we are more skilled than our neighbour? Have any of us ever fallen into the trap of thinking that we work harder than our neighbour? Do we ever get puffed up like these people who Jude is warning the early church about? Do we ever get to complaining and grumbling about other people in the Church? The bad and the ugly teachers in Jude, Scholar Simon J. Kistemaker says, do even worse than this: they not only grumble about people in authority but they also complain about God.[5] Do we ever act like this? I hope not but if we do, I would encourage any and all of us who may be guilty of false teaching or of grumbling about our Christian brothers and sisters or even of grumbling about our Lord and Saviour Himself, to repent, just like Jimmy Bakker, to whom we referred earlier, of the prosperity heresy.

But this isn’t Jude’s main point: to warn us off acting like this. Jude’s main point is to tell us how to act when people - who may even be our bosses or our pastors or our Officers or our Sunday school teachers or the person sitting right next to us right now – Jude’s main point is to tell us how to act when people are acting bad and ugly like this. Jude says that when we run across stubborn and/or greedy people sitting in church with us, which we will in our lives, we should do the following.^[6]  The good should, when dealing with those under the spell of the bad and ugly (cf. 1 John 2:18-26, 5:13-20, 2 John 1:7-11; cf. Matthew 10:14, 12:31-32; Mark 3:29-30, 6:11; Luke 9:5, 12:10; Acts 13:50-52; 2 Peter 2:17-22),[7] we should, for a number of reasons:[8]

q       Build ourselves up in our faith (v. 20);

q       Pray in, with and to the Holy Spirit of God (v. 20; cf. Romans 8:26-27, Galatians 4:6, Colossians 2:7, 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Ephesians 6:18);

q       Keep ourselves in God’s love (v. 21; don’t in your hatred or fear be tempted to stray from His love)

q       And eagerly await God’s mercy for ourselves;

q       Be merciful to those in our midst who doubt because they do not know what is good or bad or ugly (v. 22);

q       Be snatching people from the fire (v. 23, cf. Zechariah 3:2-4);

q       And showing people mercy, even mercy mixed with fear so we don’t become accepting of their sin and become tempted into that or another sin ourselves (v. 23).

This is important. Easter is about new beginnings. Two weeks ago we spoke about the new beginnings with the resurrection; last week spoke about fulfilling the great commission and inviting everyone we know to join us in eternal Salvation. Today we are encouraging the faithful, as we are standing on the eternal parade float with our Lord and with our friends,[9] to be wary not so much of the world but of the worldly (Greek: Phychic: without Spirit, Pneuma, v. 19) who are even in our churches.[10]

When faced with the bad and the ugly; we, the good, especially those who are new to the faith, I encourage you to always persevere and never give up, no matter what others say and do. God, Jesus, will never leave you nor forsake you no matter what happens (Deuteronomy 31:6,8; Joshua 1:5; 1 Kings 8:57; Hebrews 13:5). But people, even people in the churches, and even people in authority in the churches will let you down. Some because of horrible sin like Jude mentions in his letter here, some because they are under their spell, and some just because they are people. When this happens, Jude in the first century and I today want to encourage you to persevere, to not give up on the Lord or on the Church but instead to: pray earnestly in and to the Holy Spirit, Verse 20; building yourself up in the faith and keeping yourself in God’s love, Verse 21; by being merciful towards others as you encourage them out of their sin and towards holiness, Verse 23; and at the same time I would encourage all of us to be careful not to use their sin as an excuse to fall into like or other sins ourselves, Verse 23.

When people let you down, and they will, please keep holding them up in prayer. Who knows maybe as we do continue to pray for, love and show mercy to others, we may even be used by God to snatch some from the very fires of hell itself and in the process we may even experience Salvation alongside them for eternity in Christ Jesus our Lord. Let us pray…

Lord, please help us to serve You and to not be distracted by false teaching, adiaphorons, our own pride, people trying to lead others astray or people who are presently being led astray. Lord, we know that others – even others in the churches - will do bad and ugly things either by accident or even by design. Please help us to reflect Your good in response. Please help us to continue to be loving and merciful in our dealings with others; so that You may use even us to draw people away from selfishness, away from sin, away from error and towards eternal life in Your Kingdom instead. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.

Let us finish our time here today the same way that Jude completes his letter, with a doxology (from the AV):

Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His Glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

 

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[1] Gone with the Wind (Rhett Butler), 2. Star Wars, 3. Forrest Gump, 4. Casablanca (Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine), 5. ET, 6. Sherlock Holmes, 7. Airplane (Leslie Neilsen as Dr. Rumnack), 8. James Bond, 9. Wizard of Oz (Dorothy), 10. Dirty Harry (Clint Eastwood)

[2] Douglas J. Rowston, “The Most Neglected Book in the New Testament,” NTS, 21 (July 1975), pp. 554-63; quoted by Edwin A. Blum in The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Jude/Introduction to Jude/Purpose of Jude, Book Version: 4.0.2.

[3] Donald W. Burdick and John H. Skilton, ‘Pollute their own bodies', Note on Jude 1:8 in NIV Study Bible (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002), 1960.

[4] Edwin A. Blum, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Jude/Exposition of Jude/IV. The Exhortations to the Believers (17-23), Book Version: 4.0.2:

[5] Simon J. Kistemaker, Exposition of the Epistle of Jude (NTC: Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2007), 399.

^[6] Michael Green, 2 Peter and Jude: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1987 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 18), S. 214: “Salvation is not merely to be defined in the terms already given: faith, prayer, love, and hope. It involves service, and to this Jude now turns (as does 2 Pet. 3:11–15). Men are indeed saved to serve, and one of the best ways of discovering the true value of any new theology is to test it in active Christian evangelism and pastoral care.”

[7] Pheme Perkins, First and Second Peter, James, and Jude, (Interpretation: Louisville, Kentucky, USA: John Knox Press, 1995), 156: “Jude’s sharp condemnations do not suggest that the opponents can be turned away from their behaviour. Those with whom they have been associating may be uncertain about whose account of faith to believe. Such persons can be treated with mercy, not the sharp rejection reserved for false teachers.” Simon Kistemaker, 404, “They have no part in the church for they lack the Spirit of God”; Cf. also Duane F. Watson, The Letter of Jude (NIB XII: Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1962), 497.

[8] Duane F. Watson, The Letter of Jude (NIB XII: Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1962), 497 breaks these 7 items into two groups: the first 4 are to keep the faithful strong, the last 3 are “to aid those who have fallen prey to the false teachers (vv. 22-23).”

[9] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, 'Join Us Aboard The Salvation Float! (Matthew 28:16-20)' Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 15 April 2012. Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2012/04/matthew-2816-20-join-us-aboard.html

[10] Cf. Pheme Perkins, First and Second Peter, James, and Jude, (Interpretation: Louisville, Kentucky, USA: John Knox Press, 1995),143.