Interference

 A SERMON FROM FIRST CHURCH IPSWICH, MA, DEALING WITH MATTHEW 5: 21-37.

WOW TODAY'S PASSAGE WAS A LONG AND ARDUOUS ONE. SPECIAL KUDOS TO DONNA MARIE FOR DOING SUCH A GREAT JOB OF IT.

WHAT A DEEP BIBLE PASSAGE WE HAVE TO CONSIDER TODAY. DEEP AND TOUGH COVERING

 TOPICS FROM OATHS AND MURDER TO DIVORCE AND ADULTERY. NOT AN EASY PASSAGE TO CONSIDER, ONE THEOLOGIAN HAS STATED THAT THERE IS MATERIAL IN THIS PASSAGE FOR 4 THREE HOURS LONG SERMONS. I HOPE YOUR COMFORTABLE AND BROUGHT A SNACK.

AS AN ACTOR I AM OFTEN FACED WITH THE CHALLENGE OF MEMORIZING A LOT OF MATERIAL. IN A PLAY I HAVE ABOUT WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE CALLED SHAKESPEARE'S GHOST I DELIVER 18 DIFFERENT SHAKESPEARE SPEECHES FROM MEMORY. PEOPLE OFTEN WONDER HOW IT’S POSSIBLE TO TUCK SO MUCH INFORMATION INTO AN AGING BRAIN LIKE MINE. I ALWAYS TELL PEOPLE THE ADAGE I USE TO DO MEMORY WORK. HOW DO YOU EAT AN ELEPHANT? ONE BITE AT A TIME. SO HOW SHALL YOU AND I ATTACK THIS MASSIVE PASSAGE? ONE SMALL THOUGHT AT A TIME.

WITH THAT IN MIND I WOULD LIKE TO DISCUSS WITH YOU TODAY ONE THEME WE HEAR IN THIS VERSE. AND THAT THEME IS INTERFERENCE. HAVING JUST HAD A SUPERBOWL THOSE OF YOU THAT ARE SPORTS MINDED KNOW THAT INTERFERENCE IS WHEN A PLAYER INTERFERES WITH THE PROCESS OF THE GAME IN A WAY THAT THE RULES DON’T ALLOW. SO YOU CAN KNOCK A BALL OUT OF THE AIR BEFORE A RECEIVER CATCHES IT, BUT YOU CAN’T PULL DOWN HIS PANTS TO TRIP HIM.

AND IF YOU ARE OF MY VINTAGE YOU MAY RECALL MAKING A CRYSTAL RADIO AS A KID.  A CRYSTAL RADIO IS CALLED A PASSIVE RADIO, IT HAS NO BATTERY TO RUN IT, YOU JUST WRAP WIRE AND THE WIRE PICKS UP RADIO SIGNALS THAT ARE PASSING BY.IF YOU RECALL, YOU HAD TO HAVE AN EARPHONE TO LISTEN TO A CRYSTAL RADIO, BECAUSE THE UNITS WERE PRETTY WEAK.AND ONE OF THE CHALLENGES WAS FINDING A STRONG ENOUGH RADIO STATION TO LISTEN TO. YOU WOULD OFTEN GET STATIC, AND THAT STATIC WAS OFTEN ONE STATION COMING IN AND INTERFERING WITH THE SIGNAL OF ANOTHER STATION. THIS BY THE WAY IS CALLED THE PROBLEM OF SELECTIVITY, BECAUSE IT IS HARD  WHEN USING A CRYSTAL RADIO TO TUNE IT TO ONE PARTICULAR STATION, YOU OFTEN ARE LISTENING TO MANY STATIONS AT ONCE. AGAIN INTERFERENCE.

AND NOW I SUGGEST THERE IS ANOTHER SORT OF INTERFERENCE, ONE THAT JESUS HIMSELF WARNS US AGAINST IN THIS BIBLE PASSAGE. JESUS REMINDS US OF AN ANCIENT SIMPLE LAW, THOU SHALL NOT MURDER. BUT THEN HE EXPANDS IT, AND SAYS THAT WHEN YOU HOLD ANGER OR CONFLICT IN YOUR HEART AGAINST A BROTHER OR A SISTER, YOU MUST MEND IT RIGHT AWAY. IN FACT HE STATES THAT IF YOU ARE MAKING AN OFFERING TO GOD BUT HAVE AN ISSUE WITH SOMEONE, THAT YOU SHOULD GO FIX THAT ISSUE FIRST BEFORE YOU MAKE YOUR GIFT TO GOD. AND IN SAYING THAT JESUS IS HELPING US LEARN ABOUT INTERFERENCE. HE IS TELLING US, YET AGAIN, A GREAT TRUTH TO HELP US. HE IS LETTING US KNOW THAT WHEN WE HAVE ANGER OR CONFLICT IN OUR HEART AGAINST SOMEONE, THAT INTERFERES WITH THE ACT OF COMMUNICATING WITH GOD. AND THAT IF WE COULD RELEASE OR SOLVE THAT PROBLEM, OUR PRAYER, OUR COMMUNICATION WITH GOD, WOULD VASTLY IMPROVE.

THIS IS NOT AN EASY TASK. WE ALL CARRY SOME GRUDGES SOME ANGER, SOME SELF RIGHTEOUS FEELING THAT SOMEONE HAS DONE US WRONG. AND THE CURE OR RELEASE OF THAT IS A GIANT TASK. ESPECIALLY WHEN WE FEEL WE ARE A VICTIM OF SOMEONE ELSE’S ACTION. BUT HERE WE HAVE THE CHRIST CLEARLY TELLING US THAT THOSE FEELINGS STAND BETWEEN US AND GOD.SO WE ARE CALLED TO BE VIGILANT, AND TRY TO KEEP PEACE IN OUR SOUL TO KEEP OUR PATH OF COMMUNICATION FREE.

THERE IS ONE PARTICULAR TYPE OF INTERFERENCE I WANT TO MENTION TODAY. IT IS ONE THAT I HAVE BEEN AN EXPERT IN, AND STILL STRUGGLE WITH. IT IS A SNEAKY KIND OF SIN, ONE THAT IS OFTEN OFF OUR PERSONAL RADAR AS WE CONSIDER SIN. WE GENERALLY THINK OF CONFLICT WITH OTHER PEOPLE, FIGHTS, HARSH WORDS, SOMEONE TREATING US BADLY, OR US TREATING SOMEONE ELSE BADLY. WHILE THAT’S CERTAINLY A PART OF THE INTERFERENCE JESUS IS REFERRING TO, THERE IS ANOTHER KIND.

YOU SEE, I AM GREAT AT CONFESSION. REALLY, I HAVE IN THE PAST BEEN AN EXPERT. NOW DON'T MISUNDERSTAND ME, CONFESSION IS GOOD FOR YOU. YOU COME INTO THE PRESENCE OF GOD, CONFESS YOUR SINS, AND ASK FOR FORGIVENESS. THAT’S AWESOME, BUT NOT WHAT I AM AN EXPERT IN, SADLY. NO I AM AN EXPERT IN CONFESSING NOT MY OWN SINS, BUT OTHER PEOPLES SINS.OH YES, I AM VERY GOOD AT THIS, AND PERHAPS A FEW OF YOU ARE TOO. CONFESSING IN OUR MINDS WHEN WE SEE EVIL AROUND US. JUDGING A PERSONS CLOTHING, TASTE, STYLE, SEEING ALL THE WRONGDOINGS OF OTHERS AND BEING ABLE TO SMUGLY KNOW JUST HOW WRONG WHAT THEY ARE DOING IS.CLEARLY MANY OF US HAVE BEEN APPOINTED BY GOD TO LOOK UPON OTHERS AND FIND EACH AND EVERY FAULT THAT THEY HAVE.

BUT THIS EXPERTISE, OF CONFESSING THE SINS OF OTHERS, IS IN ITSELF JUST AS BAD AS ANY OF THE SINS WE SIT IN JUDGEMENT OF. AS WE CONSIDER THE IDEA OF INTERFERENCE, THAT WHICH IS BETWEEN US AND GOD, SURELY SOME OF THE HEAVIEST INTERFERENCE COMES TO US FROM NOT OUR OWN CLEAR FRICTION WITH OTHERS, BUT OUR SUBTLE JUDGEMENT OF THOSE AROUND US.

ALL THESE YEARS LATER, AS I FIND MYSELF STRUGGLING WITH  NOT BEING AS JUDGEMENTAL AS I HAVE BEEN, I RECALL THOSE WORDS OF MY DAD.THEY HELP REMIND ME THAT I AM WRONG IN JUDGING OTHERS, AND SURELY HELP ME TONE DOWN THE INTERFERENCE.

SO WHAT PRACTICAL LESSON CAN WE TAKE FROM TODAY'S PASSAGE AND THIS IDEA THE CHRIST SHARES WITH US OF INTERFERENCE? SIMPLY, I WOULD LIKE YOU TO CONSIDER ADDING A SMALL IDEA TO YOUR PRAYER TIME. NOW I AM ASSUMING YOU PRAY, AND I HOPE YOU DO, OR ELSE YOU HAVEN'T BEEN LISTENING TO OUR SERMONS VERY MUCH. BUT AS A NEW PART OF YOUR PRAYER, I WOULD LIKE YOU TO JUST TAKE A MOMENT, AS YOU ENTER THE PRESENCE OF GOD, AND THINK ABOUT WHAT IS IN YOUR HEART. IS THERE ANY ANGER, ANIMOSITY, CONFLICT, OR CONFESSIONS OF OTHER SINS? THEN TRY TO LET THOSE FEELING GO, OR LET THEM BECOME THE FOCUS OF YOUR PRAY, ASK THAT THESE THINGS BE REMOVED FROM YOU, PRAY FOR A WAY TO RESOLVE THIS STATIC THAT IS IN YOUR HEART.

BUT REMEMBER THE CRYSTAL RADIO? HOW I SAID THE BIGGEST ISSUE WAS SELECTIVITY? THAT IT WAS HARD TO LISTEN TO A CRYSTAL RADIO BECAUSE YOU WOULD BE BOMBARDED WITH SO MANY STATIONS AT ONCE? WELL THAT IS OUR CHALLENGE AS WELL, TO TUNE OUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS TO THE RIGHT MESSAGE. AND WE HELP OURSELVES IF WE TAKE THE TIME TO REMOVE THE INTERFERENCE, AND TUNE OURSELVES TO THE MESSAGE WE REALLY WANT TO HEAR.

JESUS TELLS US TO NOT GIVE OUR GIFTS TO GOD UNTIL THAT INTERFERENCE IS GONE. HE TELLS US THIS NOT FOR GODS SAKE BUT RATHER FOR OUR OWN. IT IS NOT BY ACCIDENT THAT JESUS REMINDS US OF THE EDICT AGAINST MURDER AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS PASSAGE.  PERHAPS THE CONNECTION IS THAT WE ARE COMMITTING SPIRITUAL MURDER, MURDER OF OUR OWN SOUL WHEN WE FOSTER HATE AND ANGER IN OUR HEART. THINK OF THE RELIEF AND PEACE YOU MIGHT OBTAIN BY TURNING DOWN THE STATIC THAT GETS IN YOUR WAY OF CONVERSING WITH GOD. WHAT AMAZING CONVERSATIONS WILL YOU HAVE?