Last week’s sermon in the Lenten sermon series was based on the chance Jesus offered to the disciples to opt out of the radical life-change that he was advocating. This challenge included the Apostles, and it includes us.
Based on the context, Jesus was pointing to the wide open approach to inviting people to the kingdom. Jesus knew that some folks wouldn’t be able to go along with what he was advocating. Then, as now, we most often obtain our sense of self-worth by comparing ourselves to others.
The Church has the task of offering salvation to everyone. That’s a lot of folks. We don’t get to refuse the invitation to anyone. There are quite a few folks we might imagine don’t deserve the offer. The list usually starts with Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein, or Osama Bin Ladin.
The point of last week’s sermon was simple. If you have a problem with offering grace and salvation to someone, Jesus left you an opening. You can opt out. If you intend to keep the doors closed to certain members of society, then you can opt out. If you see some cultures or races or lifestyles as unworthy of Christ’s love, then you can opt out. If you see the sins of a person’s past and somehow decide that they aren’t salvagable, then you can opt out.
Of course, some people opt out as soon as you offer them grace. For example, I highly doubt that Saddam Hussein would ever have been willing to accept God’s grace, but that would not allow me to withhold the offer of God’s grace from him.
Jesus says again and again that we are forgiven and we don’t deserve it. He also pointed out that we are unworthy of that forgiveness if we refuse to give that same grace to others (forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us).
If you are thinking, “When did Christianity become so difficult?” you aren’t alone. I’ve had several folks tell me that this isn’t what they signed up for. I’ve apologized for the omission in their teaching, and offered them my help to come to grips with this new level of challenge.
What I won’t do is tell them that they don’t have to come to grips with this open door policy.
Next Sunday, the bar is raised again. Technically, my friends, the bar has always been this high. We just don’t spend a lot of time talking about the real challenges of Christian living.
Christians are asked to open our lives to others. We’re also asked to lay down those same lives for others–and that includes those who fall into those categories of “less than” that I mentioned earlier.
I’ll give you a hint as to the core of the teaching in Sunday’s sermon: C.S. Lewis has much to say on this issue of self-sacrifice.
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