September 6, 2020 ~ Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost Sermon & Sermon Video Link

Communion                                                                09/06/20—Highland—Meute

https://youtu.be/0FPKH3-UTBU

“Making Peace”

Romans 13: 8-14; Matthew 18: 15-20

Pearl: Our commitment to reconciliation.

Function: To amplify that a central theme of the gospel is the reconciling work of Jesus Christ and likewise the church is called to the mission of reconciliation.

When we drive out one end of our street we are greeted each time by a peace sign hanging on a tree. It is hand-woven out of vines and branches. The skilled hand-made design shows forth a labor of love. Peace is an important theme for this neighbor. During the winter months a large electric peace sign shines brightly every night in his front yard. Sadly, I don’t know this neighbor but I think I would like to!

1. Do you remember the peace sign? They were very popular during the 1960s and 1970s. I recall having a peace sign patch sown onto a denim jacket that I wore.
   1. Those were turbulent years for our country due to the war in Vietnam and civil rights struggles, among other things.
2. I have to wonder about my neighbor and whether he may be a follower of Jesus. His commitment to peace is a strong suggestion that he is a believer.
   1. A commitment to peace and reconciliation is at the heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ and so should be for all of his followers.

We followers of Jesus Christ are called to work for peace, for reconciliation, within the church and beyond.

In divisive and stressful times such as we are living in now, the church is not immune to these common ills which befall humanity.

1. But the church does have something very powerful on its behalf. The church and all of humanity was given the gift of God’s Son our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ himself is our peace and reconciliation!
2. This means that Jesus Christ is our means to harmony and relationship with God and he is just as much our means to harmony and relationship with each other.
   1. Jesus Christ revealed the nature of God through his life, through his ministry of teaching and healing, through his suffering and death, and then through his resurrection.
   1. When you by faith acknowledge this gift of God in Jesus Christ you are more fully and more openly able to relate to God himself.
   1. Jesus Christ brings you to God. So we say that he provides “reconciliation” with God.
      1. God loves everyone created with an unspeakable love forever and ever.
      1. God wishes to relate to everyone created.
      1. Sin separates us from God but God has broken down this sin barrier between the creatures and the Creator through the self-offering love of God in Jesus, the Son.
   1. And so this is the key to our life with God and to our relationship with God.
3. But that is not all! God has always related to a community, to a people not just a person individually. God relates to us through relating to us as a whole group and community.
   1. And that means that we are also to be at peace with each other. We are called to be reconciled to each other just as much as we are reconciled to God.
      1. Our lives in God have vertical and horizontal dimensions.
         1. The way that Roman Catholics perform the sign of the cross so often is a visible reminder of these vertical and horizontal dimensions of our spiritual lives.
   1. This is why Jesus gave instructions for making peace within the community of the church.
      1. He said if a brother or sister has sinned against you then go to him or her privately and seek to make amends.
      1. If that doesn’t work then you are to bring one or two other brothers or sisters to serve as helpers in trying again to work things out.
      1. Then, and this shows how important peace in the church is, if that still does not result in reconciliation it is to be brought to the whole church community as a final step in working toward reconciliation.
         1. These are fundamental steps to working through conflict between brothers and sisters in Christ.
         1. They are fundamental building blocks of church discipline. The whole purpose of church discipline and even beyond is restoration.
            1. Even the word penitentiary contains within it the word “penitence.”
            1. So discipline is meant to bring people back into right relationship, to restoration of relationship with God and community.

So friends, we in the church work to make peace within the church and beyond the church with everyone…by the power and through the Lord Jesus Christ who is our peace and reconciliation.

Make no mistake we cannot do this on our own power. And why would we try?! After all we have Jesus Christ. Christ is our peace!

1. Let’s go back again to the 1960s. One of the Statements of Faith for our church is the Confession of 1967 in our Book of Confessions.
   1. Now recall that just like today those were turbulent years for our nation.
   1. The whole Confession of 1967 was built around a single passage of scripture “In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself…” (II Corinthians 5:19).
   1. I commend your reading of the entire Confession of 1967 and it will speak volumes to our day, I believe you will see. You can download the whole Book of Confessions from PCUSA.org for free.
   1. Listen to one excerpt regarding the theme of reconciliation:
      1. “God’s reconciling work in Jesus Christ and the mission of reconciliation to which he has called his church are the heart of the gospel in any age. Our generation stands in peculiar need of reconciliation in Christ” (Book of Confessions [BOC]–9.06).
   1. Listen to what it says about Christ’s death and resurrection:
      1. “The reconciling work of Jesus was the supreme crisis in the life of [humankind]. His cross and resurrection become personal crisis and present hope for [all] when the gospel is proclaimed and believed” (BOC—9.21).
2. So God’s gift of the Son Jesus Christ was a focal point in all human history!
   1. And this action of God is the means to working out relationships and to working toward harmony and peace within the community.
   1. One of the writers of the Confession of 1967 was one of my seminary professors Dr. Edward Dowey. Listen to what Dr. Dowey said about “reconciliation.”
      1. “First, the reconciliation found in the Bible is one-sided. God alone reconciles the world to himself. The world has nothing to offer, no desire to be reconciled in this way or even the capacity to imagine it. Second, reconciliation proceeds by conflict. It is not a straight line to peace, quiet, and harmony. At the center is Jesus on his cross, which the Bible presents as the zenith of human and cosmic enmity against God. Third, the promise of reconciliation remains always a promise. It is an ‘end’ event, a ‘last’ thing, an ultimate truth that exerts its drawing power or pull upon the direction of human lives and history, but remains imperfect throughout our days” (A Commentary on the Confession of 1967, Edward A. Dowey, Jr., (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1968, p. 39).
      1. To simplify, working through conflict toward reconciliation is on-going, difficult, but necessary work.
   1. It is part of the territory of following Jesus Christ. His whole life and ministry was about bringing reconciliation with God and between people, and even with the whole creation.

A perfect day to talk about reconciliation is when we celebrate the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. What is the Table of the Lord?

1. The Table of the Lord is a “Table of Reconciliation.”
   1. Always before the gathered worshipping community is this reminder of peace and harmony—the Table of the Lord.
   1. All are invited to the Table by God who in Christ was “…reconciling the world to himself” (II Cor. 5:19).
   1. So we are all invited to be reconciled to God and in coming to the Table we commit ourselves to the on-going work of reconciliation through all of our days.

But thankfully, not on our own strength but through the strength of Christ, who is our reconciliation and our peace. Praise and thanks be to God!