Community Church Sermons

The Fourth Sunday After Pentecost – June 16, 2002

"Who Owns Jesus?”

Matthew 10:24-39

 

 

Today, I want to begin by asking a question.

 

Who OWNS Jesus?

 

Who among us OWNS Jesus?

 

Do you, Bob? Do YOU own Jesus? Steve, how about YOU? Maybe Linda owns Him. Or perhaps one of you?

 

Do YOU own Jesus?

 

A question like that seems to radiate trouble. Like if I was to announce, “Will the owner of the blue 2002 Chrysler minivan with Tennessee plates backed into a parking space in our lot please report to the Sheriff’s Deputy in the Narthex?” You KNOW that can’t be good.

 

Or if you’re out playing golf on the 15^th hole of the Toqua course, and you hit a big push off the tee that heads in the direction of Jim Bush’s house. I do this all the time! And when you drive the cart up the fairway, there comes Jim with a great big goose egg on his head, and a Titleist in his hand asking, “Who owns this golf ball?”

 

Not me! I’m playing a – a – a – a TopFlite, I’d say (even though it wasn’t true).

 

There are some things you wouldn’t want to own. Like Enron stock. Like a dog that bites people. Like a gas station with leaking underground tanks.

 

So let’s get to the bottom of it today. Who among us OWNS Jesus?

 

That’s the question raised in today’s Gospel reading from St. Matthew.

 

Who OWNS Jesus?

 

This is an interesting passage. Matthew is writing to a Christian community that is beginning to run into opposition. In verses 24-25, Jesus tells them they can surely expect opposition because he, their leader, faced it. And the servant is not greater than his master. Jesus tells them they should expect to be called names, and to be misrepresented. After all, his enemies called Jesus Beelzebub which was just one of many nicknames of the devil. Imagine that? In the course of doing God’s work, some people will call it the work of the devil?

 

Oh, it’s so very true. That’s what they called Martin Luther King, you know. That’s what they call Christians who sit down in dialogue with Muslims. That’s what they say when followers of Jesus open their arms in love to people who live immoral lives, or who don’t believe, or who oppose all the values of God. They call it the work of the devil.

 

Or sometimes they call it something else without using satanic images. People will tell you that loving your enemy and praying for those who hate you is stupid. Forgiving those who sin against you is completely unreasonable. Helping the poor is just letting people take advantage, and feeding the hungry keeps people from fending for themselves. Praying for a miracle when science says it can’t happen is seen as irrational, and turning the other cheek only gets you beat up worse than you were before. People who stand up for peace when everyone else is crying out for war are called all sorts of demeaning names.

 

Oh, most of the things Jesus tells us to do – most of the ways Jesus tells us to live – are spurned by our culture, our society, our neighbors, our families, and even ourselves.

 

Everywhere you look, there is opposition to the way of Jesus. They call it the work of the devil, or just plain stupidity. Jesus knew this well. He warned us about it. It happened to Him. It will happen to us.

 

What will we do when it does?

 

So comes the question: “Who OWNS Jesus?”

 

You see OWNING Jesus in this sense is not a bad thing – like owning the golf cart with defective brakes that rolls into the lake. No, OWNING Jesus means taking personal ownership of the Christian Faith. It means taking up in our own lives the Jesus way of living, and not backing down for anyONE or anyTHING. Did you catch the words Jesus used in verse 33?

 

“Whoever DISOWNS me before men, I will disown before my Father in heaven.”

 

In other words, it’s not words, but personal OWNERSHIP of this Faith that really counts.

 

Who here today OWNS Jesus?

 

Who is it who is going to go out this week and love your neighbor as yourself no matter how difficult the task? Who among us will go out and treat people redemptively even while the whole world sees them as terrible sinners unworthy of the love of God? Who among us will believe in miracles for our friends and neighbors even in the face of impossibility? And even more importantly, who among us will go this week and try to become a miracle of God’s grace for some other person – despite our lack of time, or insufficiency of ability, or the fact we’ve got other things to do, or the criticism of other people? Who among us will stand up for Christ no matter how strong the opposition?

 

Oh, there are LOTS of opponents standing between us and the Jesus way of living. But the ultimate test of our faith is not what we BELIEVE.

 

No, the ultimate test of our faith is what we truly OWN!

 

Who will go out this week and OWN Jesus?

 

Will you?