[Propertalk] Sermon tips for Matthew 5:38-48 - Part 1

[Joe Parrish]

...we see in this passage interpreted in a new light, Jesus is not calling on people to be non-resistant. He is calling on them to be non-violent. He is calling on them to resist, yes, but to resist in a way that is not injurious or harmful to the other person.
In just the last few year, non-violence has emerged in a way that no one ever dreamed it could emerge in this world. In 1989 alone, there were thirteen nations that underwent non-violent revolutions. All of them successful except one, China. That year 1.7 billion people were engaged in national non-violent revolutions. That is a third of humanity. If you throw in all of the other non-violent revolutions in all the other nations in this century, you get the astonishing figure of 3.34 billion people involved in non-violent revolutions. That is two-thirds of the human race. No one can ever again say that non-violence doesn't work.

http://www.csec.org/csec/sermon/wink_3707.htm

Walter Wink, 1993 
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In 1930 a movie was made about World War I called "All Quiet on the Western Front." In one scene some American "doughboys" were talking. A comic character asked, "Where do wars come from anyway?" Another replied, "Well, one country gets mad at another country, and they start fighting." The first soldier asked, "Do you mean that one piece of land gets mad at another piece of land?" "No," the other replied. "The people of one country get mad at the people of the other." The first soldier picked up his rifle and started walking away. When asked where he was going, he said, "I'm going home. I'm not mad at anybody." 
<>
On TV this past week, the news interviewed a young soldier that was helping to distribute clean water and supplies in Iraq.  Several children were coming up to the soldier, smiling and thanking him.  The news commentator asked him how he felt.  The soldier's eyes filled with tears of compassion for the children and he said, "Now I know why I'm here." 

http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_a_iraq_a_just_war.htm

Edward Markquart
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Several years ago it was my good fortune to attend a World Cup soccer game being played in our nation's capital, Washington, D.C. <> During the game, we would hear chants of "Mexico!" then "Italia!" while opposing players who had roughly tackled each other would then stoop down to help their opponent off the ground. After the game, the opposing players hugged one another and exchanged jerseys.
I could not help but think that this World Cup soccer game played minutes away from Capitol Hill represented a piece of America at our best. 

http://day1.org/674-independence_day

Samuel G. Candler 
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G.K. Chesterton once remarked, it is not that Christianity has been tried and found wanting, but found hard and not tried. 

http://www.agreeley.com/homilies96/feb1896.html

Andrew M. Greeley, 1996 
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Legalism is an attitude which equates righteousness with external compliance with a code of conduct. This code may be correct or incorrect. Our conduct may or may not measure up to the standard. The reasons why it is so devastating are:
-it ignores or underestimates the role of inner attitude and motivation; 
-it focuses upon self-effort rather than on divine enablement; 
-it encourages pride rather than humble dependence upon God; 
-it tends to 'use' the Scriptures to reinforce our own preconceived ideas and preferences; 
-it tends to conceive of our acceptance with God as performance oriented; 
-it arouses the flesh and incites us to sin, rather than the avoidance of sin; 
-it tends to impose one's personal convictions on others, and to condemn them if they fail to live up to our rules. 
Legalism cannot save you, my friend, and neither can it sanctify. Praise God!

http://bible.org/seriespage/fatal-failures-religion-2-legalism-matthew-517-48

Bob Deffinbaugh
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If God treats evil persons, his enemies -- and which of us are not his enemies? -- with mercy, so we too should treat our enemies in the same manner. If God spares nothing, not even his beloved son, for the sake of his enemies, ought we not sacrifice ourselves for the other, even the enemy? Turn the other cheek. Sell all you have and give to the poor. Take no heed for the morrow. (You have God's love; how can you ever be anxious about anything again?) The Sermon on the Mount is nothing more or less than the manifesto of the reckless love of God. It is a cloudburst of blessing. It washes away our sins and our need to judge ourselves or others. It opens up a new standard of living, a new way to calculate our profits and losses. It offers us a vision of a new landscape washed clean, made green and glorious by the rain of God.

http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=1732

Ronald Goetz, 1980
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