Scripture/Sermon of the Day

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax-collection station, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.

10 And as he sat at dinner[a] in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting[b] with Jesus and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

A Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed

18 While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” 19 And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. 20 Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from a flow of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, 21 for she was saying to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.” 22 Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that moment. 23 When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, 24 he said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. 25 But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. 26 And the report of this spread through all of that district.

I. The chapters in the Gospel of Matthew — 5-7 — that we call “The Sermon on the Mount” have some of Jesus’ most radical teachings — so extreme that I’ve heard Christians say, “I don’t believe any of that. Sometimes Jesus was just wrong.”

II. One of these extreme teachings of Jesus is where he says we must not call other people names. He said even calling someone “fool” or “idiot” was as serious a crime as murder. If that’s true — are we all, morally, like murderers? I was raised in a house that had crosses and pictures of Jesus and the virgin Mary and it was also a place where we called other people names. I was never told that Jesus didn’t like that. My mother didn’t tell me I’d go to hell if I called anyone a name.

III. I discovered that when I was older — around nineteen — and read that about Jesus — I couldn’t believe it. Calling someone stupid, or a fool, or an idiot didn’t seem so bad? I called people worse things. I’d say, “That person is a blank.” To add emphasis, I’d use a profane adjective to modify my profane noun, like — “That person is a blank-ing blank!”

IV. So I was surprised and disappointed to learn that Jesus didn’t want me calling people names. I thought following Jesus would keep me out of hell. But there’s a catch — he will IF I don’t call people names.

I figured my mother — who was my Bible teacher — never told me about name-calling because she called people names. Especially when she drove, she always called people “sons of blank.”

V. Here’s Jesus’ actual words about that:

(Murder Begins in the Heart)

21 “You have heard that it was said to our ancestors, Do not murder, and whoever murders will be subject to judgment. 22 But I tell you, everyone who is angry with his brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Whoever insults his brother or sister will be subject to the court. Whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be subject to hellfire. 23 So if you are offering your gift on the altar, and there you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled with your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.

VI. Can you believe that?

Sometimes Bibles put a few words in front of a passage to describe the theme. The heading of this passage I just read is:

MURDER BEGINS IN THE HEART.

Calling someone a name poisons our heart, and if we don’t murder the person physically, we can murder their reputation, we can ruin their name.

VII. I read an article in a magazine I like called The Week — about a sheriff named Michael Chitwood from Daytona Beach, Florida. It’s about his fight with Neo-Nazis. The article is inspiring — Sheriff Chitwood has such courage going against a violent group like that who threatens him and his family every day. But the sheriff calls these Nazis “scumbags.” Which weakens his moral position. He loses his moral high ground.

VIII. In our reading today we see that Jesus was criticized for associating with the “scumbags” of his day. Maybe people like those neo-Nazis. Jesus said he came to heal people like that — he said he’s a doctor for sick souls.

It’s a mission that goes back to Abraham, where God said, “You will be a blessing to others.” Jesus fulfilled that promise — and now, since Jesus has been resurrected in our hearts — it is our mission.