Westwood Presbyterian Church

January 13th, 2008

197 Browning  Boulevard, Winnipeg, Manitoba  R3K 0L1

REV. PETER BUSH's SERMONS

Matthew 18: 1-9

 

     The gospel of Matthew was written primarily for people inside the church – people who had already made a decision to follow Jesus. And so as Matthew is writing his gospel, he is asking the question what are the things that Jesus said and did that have particular importance to the life of the church. What of Jesus’ teaching and life matter especially to the life of the church.

     Now when we say church we end up with two ideas running in our heads, one is the picture of a building or an institution – we can throw that one away – because when Matthew thought about the church he was not thinking about a building – he was thinking about the community of believers who gathered together to worship God, to learn what Jesus said and did, and who shared the name “Christian.”

     The community of faith, the group of Christians, the church is also called the family of God. And that is a helpful name. It is helpful because like a family we don’t get to choose our brothers and sisters. In the family of the church – we are brothers and sisters with people who God calls into the community of faith. And we have little control over who God will call. So the people we sit beside – the people who surround us on Sunday morning are brothers and sisters.

     Keeping a bit longer with the idea that the church is a family – if you look through the Bible you will not find a functional family -- the Bible has no perfect families. Starting right at the beginning – a brother kills a brother – through Jacob’s wives having a baby making competition – through the charge that Jesus was conceived outside of wedlock. The Bible gives us families warts and all. And the Christian church is not perfect either – there is no perfect church – because every church is made up of human beings – brothers and sisters in Christ – and we know that brothers and sisters are strange people. Yes, we are called to love them – yes, we are called to care for them – but that does not change the fact that our brothers and sisters by blood and our brothers and sisters within the church are “interesting” people. Let us be under no illusions – as we rub shoulders with our sisters and brothers in the church there are going to be sparks – there is going to be things that rub us the wrong way – there is going to be disagreement and conflict. All of that is going to happen. So the question becomes how are we live as Christian sisters and brothers in a church where we are going to rub each other the wrong way?

     This morning we are going to think about a pattern of life that will reduce conflict. Next week we will think about dealing with conflict when it arises. And on the last Sunday of the month we will think about the aftermath of conflict.

    One more thing before we dive into the text. Much of what I will be saying in the next three weeks is a result of reading Frederick Dale Bruner’s brilliantly insightful and deeply spiritual commentary on Matthew.

 

     This morning we turn to a pattern of life that reduces conflict.

     The disciples had a question for Jesus, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” This is a competition – who matters the most? Who if they quit coming would have the biggest impact on the church? Who if they get upset has the best chance of getting their way? That is the question that is really being asked – if we think about this in church terms.

     And Jesus takes a little child and placing the child in their midst says – “You have the question completely wrong – it is not who has the most power that matters – you have to change your thinking entirely. It is the one who is as humble like this little child that is the greatest in the kingdom.” In the kingdom of God status is given to those who have no status. The most important person in the organization is the one who is the least.

     We all play the competition game in some way. I hear church leaders play the competition game at meetings – “How many people do you have on a Sunday morning?” is the question – and when the other person says a number that is smaller than the number in church in your congregation you get to say “We have X” and get to feel good about being bigger and better – and more important. But Jesus said the least was the most important.

     There is another way to play the competition game – and it is to make the case that my need is greater – that my issue is more important – that my pain is higher – and therefore I should get the attention, my issue should be addressed first. This is just the same game – being most important by being the worst off. It is still about being the biggest.

     Jesus took a little child – and said become like a little child. A little child is little, does little things, has a little world. A little child knows there are big people and big things – but is content to do the little things that a child does. Watch little children play, they are quite happy to play with their toys – they do not need someone else to play with them. They will glance around every once in a while to make sure that mom or dad is close – and I know that when they get hurt they demand attention – but they are usually prepared to function at their level without seeking to control the agenda.

     The first key to reducing conflict is living little. When I say “Live Little” I am not talking about how long we live – rather I am thinking about how important we think we are. How important we think our issues, our agenda, our goals are? Jesus invites us to be content with living little.

     This goes against everything in our culture – listen to the lines that come up when we talk about living life – if we go back to the Pioneer days – “Go west, young man” why to seek your fortune (to live big) – “It is time to hit the Big Time” (on Broadway) – or the latest in business “Go big or go home.” Jesus says, “The way into the kingdom of God is live little.”

     If I choose to live little, then there is less of my ego to rub up against someone elses ego. If I choose to live little, then the competition to be most important is reduced. If I choose to live little, then my pushing my agenda does not become a stumbling block.

 

     Not only are we to live little, we are to serve the little. When we welcome little children, little people, the least in the name of Jesus – we are in fact welcoming Jesus. When we serve little children, little people, the least in the name of Jesus – we are serving Jesus.

     One Sunday when I was a theology student I preached supply in a particular Toronto church. When I talked to the minister on the phone, he told me that there would be about 25 people in church all over the age of 60. When I got to the church on Sunday morning there were 25 whites over the age of 60, and 15 blacks under the age of 40. The blacks came from the two huge apartment buildings of social housing that stood on either side of the church. The congregation was completely blind, it did not see the least and the little.

     We are called not only to see the least and the little, but to welcome them, to serve them, to make them a central measure of the life of the community of faith. You will have noticed the hard language in this text. Jesus is saying this: “It is better to be drowned than to harm the faith of one the least, the little.” I agree that is tough language – but Jesus is saying that the least and the little are so important that their faith, their trusting God is more important than our lives.

     Now let us take that back to the issue of conflict in the church which is what Jesus is dealing with. It is not the little and the least who create conflict in the church – it is the big and the powerful – those who are trying to run their agendas. When the big are in conflict – when the ones with influence are seeking to run their agenda – two things happen:

The little and the least get forgotten. There is only so much energy in a church, there is only so much ability to serve – and if the energy is spent on winning the conflict then there is no energy for serving the least. And at that point the church has lost its center. Because – and this is the second thing that happens – the least and the little are not only ignored – their faith is damaged.

     Starting in the summer of 2005 for two years I served as the interim moderator of congregation in conflict. I won’t go into the details, but it is enough to know that in the previous 5 years the Sunday School had shrunk from 60 to 12. Why? Because in the conflict between the powerful and those trying to run their agenda the least and the little were forgotten, got hurt in the cross-fire and stopped coming. This particular congregation was in a community that had a large marina – and more than once in meeting with the leaders in the conflict I felt like saying – “Go take a walk down to the harbour and don’t stop until your hat floats.”

     The question we need to ask ourselves before we become party to a conflict in the church is this: “How does entering this conflict help the least and the little? How will it grow their faith? How will they get a better picture of Jesus?”

     Jesus calls us to care for the individual – in fact he calls for a radical commitment to individualism – the individual that matters is the one who is the least. This takes our society’s understanding of individualism and turns it completely upside down.

    

     At this point in hearing a sermon like this I am saying to myself – “Wow, I wish this person and this person and this person were here to hear this – they really need to be getting this.” But Jesus won’t let us do that – notice that the text moves from talking in the third person in vs. 6 to talking in the second person in vs. 8 and 9. Jesus wants us to not think about applying this text to someone else – he wants us to apply it to ourselves.

     So what is he saying with his tough words? He is calling us to shrink our lives – to consciously decide that there are things that we do not need to do, to be right about, to run our agenda on. That there are parts of our ego – parts of our plans – parts of what we want to happen that it is better to cut off – because our ego, our plans, our goals will get in the way of the least and the little hearing the good news of Jesus’ love.

     Jesus is calling us to down-size our ego, to radically prune our agendas, so that we are able to be those who serve the least and the little. The big and the powerful so often think that it is beneath them to serve the little and the least – they are filling their lives to the fullest possible – and they are too full, too big to see the needs of the little and the least.

     And so we are back to where we started – to get into the kingdom of heaven requires joining the little and the least. Down-sizing our lives, reducing our attempt to control what is going on, being willing to surrender out right to be right, all of that is painful. But as Jesus says, “It is better to have a littler life and be part of the kingdom of God than to have a large full life and be headed for hell.” And we want to say, “Isn’t Jesus overstating the case here, it doesn’t matter that much.” But it does. A down-sized life is far more open to the joy of serving the little and the least. A down-sized life is far more open to the truth that as we decrease in importance Jesus Christ increases in importance. And isn’t that what it is all about.

 

     The way to reduce conflict in the church is for us to choose the path of down-sizing so that we can serve the little and the least. The way to reduce conflict in the church is to build into the DNA of the church the commitment to doing nothing to hurt the faith of the little and the least.