John - Chapter 16 - Non-violence

Well hey everybody, my name is Gregg Hampton. I am one of the pastors here. If we've never

met it's probably because baseball season and vacation. So I am back. We were, I was

in Colorado last week on a trip with my boys and the week before I was in Michigan serving

at the camp that my oldest son is serving at and I have a certain number of vacation

Sundays I try to use and save for things like that and so I've been using those up. So I'm

really looking forward to the rest of the year with you guys. And we've been going through

the gospel according to John throughout the summer and we've heard from a lot of different

voices, a lot of different preachers are able to join us especially here from our congregation.

I'm so grateful for all the different people that we have that preach from Scott to Alex

to Jen to Chris. I'm just thankful for all of their voices. If we've never met I would

love to have coffee with you. Put it on your connection card that you'd like to have coffee.

I'll buy the coffee wherever you want. If you don't like coffee I'll buy the soda or

if you're cheap we'll go water. Whatever you want. I'll be happy to meet with you and get

to know you and especially if you want to talk about Jesus. I really like talking about

Jesus. Let's go ahead and grab our Bibles. We're going to jump into the scriptures. If

you don't have a Bible there's a Bible on the table. You can grab one of those or you

can take one from the lobby and take that home with you. It's free. Or you can download

a Bible from any of the digital app stores. We are going to be a course in John and we're

going to be John 16. It goes Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans. If you see any of

those you know that you're in the right neighborhood. John 16 starting verse 1 and we have a tradition

of standing as we read the scriptures. As you are able and give your scriptures your

full attention you can also do that as you sit if that is what you prefer. John 16 verse

John 16:1

1 says this. I have said these things to you. This is Jesus speaking. I have said these

things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed

an hour is coming when those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering

worship to God. And they will do this because they have not known the Father or me but I

have said these things to you so that when their hour comes you may remember that I have

told you about them. As we pray here I'm going to ask that you also pray for me and for this

sermon. Father God we thank you for your scripture. We thank you that they have persisted throughout

the millennia that we have them to read, to learn from, to consider. And God I pray that

whatever you have for us to learn today that it would stick. That it would become a part

of the framework of our faith. That our faith would become stronger as we become more like

your son Jesus. Amen. Amen. You all can have a seat. Thanks. Do you all know what a lectionary

is? Show of hands. Familiar with what a lectionary is? Typically a lectionary is a three year

path through the scriptures. Churches and denominations will edit together a lectionary

and use that throughout the course of three years. A congregation will use this so that

they get a broad experience across many parts of the Bible. Each Sunday in the course of

the service if you're using a lectionary you would read from the Psalms, from the first

testament, from the book of Acts, from one of the epistles or letters that's in the new

testament and then of course there would be a reading from one of the gospels. But in

some cases a lectionary is also designed to avoid certain passages that for one reason

or another might be problematic. In reference to today's passage the interpreters commentary

says this, fortunately no Sunday lectionary features these early verses of chapter 16.

They would almost certainly be heard in the modern period as Jewish violence directed

at pious Christians. See these verses they don't find their way into the lectionary because

the way that a lectionary is typically used in a lot of churches is those verses just

get read throughout the service. The sermon isn't always based off of the verses that

you heard. Does that make sense? And so a lot of times a verse would get read from a

lectionary or in a congregation setting with no explanation. And so what the interpreters

commentary is saying that it's generally beneficial for this not to be read as just a part of

a lectionary because no explanation would then come along with it and if you're reading

it at face value then all you would think was about Jewish violence towards early pious

Christians. Truth is that without a question, without a doubt these verses and verses like

them have been used to justify violence and prejudice towards the Jewish people. Through

the years people have read these words in John and basically said well what goes around

comes around. They did it so we can do it. Now if you keep reading chapter 16, this is

the same chapter where Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit how the Holy Spirit will be

our comforter, our counselor, will convict the world of sin, will remind us all the things

that he had taught us and that is what I originally wanted to focus on today. But some things

have happened recently in our world related to violence and so I think that we need to

focus on this subject instead because we need to understand something. Our beliefs and I

hope everyone's listening, our beliefs can hurt people. We have to understand that deeply

held beliefs will eventually drive our actions. We don't just think or speak we end up doing

and being. That is the very point of following Jesus so that we will think and be and do

as Jesus did. We learn about Jesus so that then we will be like Jesus and so it is really

really important and it really really matters what we believe about God and about other

people. Amen? I said amen? Yeah. In these verses Jesus is talking specifically about

how early on parts of, hear me, parts of Judaism would reject what was happening with this

new way of believing and that some of these new Christians almost exclusively Jews, we

have to remember this, that almost all the original Jews, all the original Christians

were Jewish people and so they would continue to go to their synagogues as part of their

worship. So Jesus is saying some of you will be pushed out of the synagogue and in some

cases some of you might lose your lives and for a very short period in history this did

happen but it was not on a large scale. The large scale persecution of Christians didn't

come from local Jewish leaders y'all. It came from the Roman government. The horrific reality

is that ever since then segments of Christianity have justified violence in the name of our

Christian beliefs including violence against the Jewish people specifically because of

verses like this. The man that began what is called the Lutheran Church is the same

man that began what was called the Reformation. Over 500 years ago in the 1500s his name was,

say it with me if anyone knows, Martin Luther. Yeah. The Lutheran Church is named for him

and he was right about a great deal of things. He had some great theology but he was also

a racist. He was staunchly anti-Semitic towards Jews. He literally wrote a book that is called

The Jews and Their Lies and I will not quote anything from the book that he wrote about

this because even as quotes they do not belong in the pulpit. But I will quote what experts

have to say about those beliefs. They say Luther's rage and increasing religious and

political power were accompanied by a program for protecting Christian society from Jewish

influence and contamination by burning or raising synagogues, destroying Jewish homes,

confiscating Jewish holy books, banning Jewish religious worship, expropriating Jewish money

and deporting Jews. In 1983 the Lutheran World Federation said the sins of Luther's anti-Jewish

remarks, the violence of his attacks on the Jews must be acknowledged with deep distress.

And in 1994 the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America stated in the spirit of truth telling

we who bear his name and heritage must with pain acknowledge Luther's anti-Judaic diatribe

and the violent recommendations of his later writings against the Jewish people. And they

added, we particularly deplore the appropriation of Luther's words by modern anti-Semites for

the teaching of hatred towards Judaism or toward the Jewish people in our day. It is

undeniable that Luther's beliefs and what he taught about the Jewish people led to violence

against the Jewish people. It's undeniable that Luther's beliefs were formed by how

he read the Bible. Meaning how he interpreted the Bible led to how other people acted. Does

that make sense? What happens in a pulpit matters. What gets said in a pulpit matters.

What and how we believe matters. Because what we believe can lead to hurting others and

then believing that it was our right to do so. Now think back to the first song that

we sang today. I know it was like 37 minutes ago. That song is called Praise. It's upbeat,

it's catchy, it is relatively easy to sing. And as a worship leader I'll tell you right

now one of the hardest kinds of songs to find for a congregation is a fast song that's easy

for a congregation to sing. And so the first time I heard this song I knew that I liked

it and I knew that I wanted us to sing it. But if you hear this song on K-Love or if

you were to go online or to Apple Music or your preferred streaming music choice you

will be confused by the words you hear. Because before we sang that song for the first time

I changed half the lyrics. The original song says, I'll praise when outnumbered, I'll praise

when surrounded, because praise is the water my enemies drown in. We sing, I'll praise

when outnumbered, praise when surrounded, because praise is the answer when my enemies

shouting. The original words say, my praise is a weapon, it's more than a sound, my praise

is the shout that brings Jericho down. We sing, my praise is a lesson, it's more than

a sound, and to the next generation my praise will resound. Why did I change the words?

Because we do not need words of violence in our songs of worship. Is it true that the

Bible says that the armies of Egypt drowned when they were chasing the Israelites? Yes.

Does Jesus tell us to hope that our enemies drown? No. Does the Bible say the walls of

Jericho fell and that everyone except Rahab's family died? Yes. Does Jesus teach us to hope

the homes of our enemies are demolished and that only the people that help us survive?

No. Jesus specifically tells me to love my enemies, to pray for those that persecute me.

When the disciples wanted to call fire down from heaven onto people that disagreed with

them, Jesus corrected them. When they wanted to be great rulers, Jesus said, do not lower

your authority over others, but the first shall be last and the last shall be first.

When Peter drew his sword, in the moment that the authorities were arresting his Lord, his

savior, his rabbi, and cut off the ear of someone nearby, Jesus picked up the ear, healed

the man, looked at Peter and said, if you live by the sword, you will die by the sword.

And then he allowed himself to be arrested and murdered by the powers of this world.

The example of Jesus is nonviolence. This past year, we have sung the song praise eight

times. And if we hadn't changed the words, that would have been eight times that we taught

you to put violence in your mouth, that we taught your children to put violence in their

mouths. And not just words in their mouth, but as a form of worship. Do you understand

why that is so important, that we not worship God with violence? It's deeply problematic

when violence is not the way of Jesus, but we make it a way of worshiping Jesus. Martin

Luther used his beliefs to advocate for violence. Martin Luther King Jr. used his beliefs to

advocate for peace. He said, nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral

questions of our time. The need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting

to oppression and violence. He said, we must evolve for all human conflict, a method which

rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. And the foundation of such a method is love.

Eight days ago, someone fired a gun at the former president because of beliefs. People

were injured, someone died. And while I have nothing to say to you about who you should

vote for specifically, as a Christian pastor, I have a very strong belief about who we are

allowed to murder or who we should hope gets hurt. And the answer is no one. If we celebrate

violence, we misunderstand the character and person of Jesus. Believing in Jesus, following

Jesus is meant to shape our actions into the likeness of Jesus. And that extends beyond

the subject of violence to the problem of racism, to sexism, to ableism, to bigotry,

to every form of discrimination. They have all been justified in the name of Jesus at

one point or another, and it has all been wrong. So what do we do about it? We've always

wanted, and you've heard me say it many times, that we want to foster a church community

here that makes room for people that believe different things. The pastor and author Rich

Velodas says about being a pastor, he says, in my role as a pastor, I'm not trying to

get everyone to agree on everything. As much as I'm attempting to create environments where

our disagreements don't automatically become cause for disunity. This is a space that is

not meant to get everyone to agree about everything. It is meant to be a space where disagreeing

about something does not automatically become cause for disunity or even division. Very

specifically I want to say this. In the last few months I have talked with multiple people

that are gay or lesbian, and they have all asked me if this is actually a church where

they could come to and be safe and be affirmed for who they are. And I've told them what

I believe. I've told them that I am an affirming person, that I will accept you exactly as

you are, and I believe that God will lead you in your life. But I also tell them what

I also think is true. I told them we have never told everyone at this church that they

have to believe the same thing. And while I believe and hope that it will be a safe place

for you, if you ever feel that someone was not kind to you, please come to me and I will

be a part of healing that. Because we are a place where we do not need to agree or believe

all of the same things but Jesus. Robert Jones Jr., also known as the son of Baldwin, said

that we can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression

and denial of my humanity and right to exist. So for me as a pastor of this house, I believe

that this is a place for everyone. We will vote for different people. We will, listen,

we will underline different parts of our Bibles. There is a spectrum of theological beliefs

that exist in this room, but I want to make it clear specifically that violence, whether

it be verbal, social, psychological, or physical, will not be condoned or celebrated from this

pulpit. And I have no interest in teaching the Bible in a way that leads to violence

against anyone else. Because Jesus took the violence of this world on the cross. And if

we are resurrected with Jesus into new life, then let us let violence die in the grave.

If our beliefs, if our beliefs can lead to hurting others, then our beliefs can also

lead to loving others. Let us be a church, congregation, let us be individuals that follow

and believe in Jesus Christ, the only Son of God in a way that leads to loving others.

Amen? Amen.