lies? lies! lies.

Sermon. 16th Sunday After Pentecost. 2010.

Exodus 32:7-14; Psalm 51:1-10; 1 Timothy 1:12-17; Luke 15:1-10

Now the Tax Collectors and the Sinners were coming near to Listen to Jesus,
and the Pharisees and the Scribes were grumbling...

Perhaps the biggest lie that Christians have ever believed is that God loves Christians because they are Christians.

Or:

That God loves Christians because of how good or righteous or just they are.

Or that God loves Christians because they have the right beliefs.

Or worship the right way.

Or pray the right way.

Or vote, politically, in the "correct" direction.

Or because they got baptized.

Perhaps the biggest lie Christians have ever believed is that God loved them because of something that they did.

Because when Christians, like the Pharisees of Luke's Gospel,

believe that God's love is earned,

sometimes they think some other people haven't earned it.

And sometimes they start believing that some other people don't deserve it.

Sometimes they start believing that they are God's Holy Ones.

God's only ones.

And that other people aren't.

And, so, sometimes they label those other people.

(Those not holy ones).

They call them names that they think describe those other people (in contrast to how they perceive themselves).

In the words of Jesus they “point out the splinter in their neighbor's eye without seeing the logs in their own.”

They call those other people things like: “queer” or “heathen” or “Muslim.”

They call them tax-collectors.

They call them: “sinners.”

And sometimes they burn those other people's holy books.

Or homes. Or places of worship.

Or sometimes they even burn those other people.

After all, if God doesn't love those people, why should the people who believe God loves them:
because of who they are,
because of what they believe,
because of how good or righteous or just they are,
because they are Christians?

And so often times, among the Christians who believe this lie,
perhaps the biggest lie that Christians have ever believed:
that God loves Christians because they are Christians.

There is much hate.
There is much judgment.
There is much fear.
And there is much grumbling...

Now the Tax Collectors and the Sinners were coming near to Listen to Jesus,
and the Pharisees and the Scribes were grumbling...

(pause)

Perhaps the other biggest lie that Christians have ever believed
(or that any person has ever believed, for that matter)
is that God hates them because of who they are.

Or that God hates them for something that they did.

Or that they are outside the realm of God's love.

Or beyond forgiveness.

That something they did or said or felt was somehow unforgivable.

That God doesn't love them because of something they believe.

Or don't believe.

Or don't want to believe.

That they were meant to be separated.

That they weren't meant to be “they”

But to be only “he,”
only “she.”

Quarantined.


Separate.



Alone.




Outside the flock.




Perhaps one of the biggest lies Christians ever believed is that God loved only them.
Perhaps one of the biggest lies anyone has ever believed is that God does not love her.
Or that God does not love him.


Now the Tax Collectors and the Sinners were coming near to Listen to Jesus,
and the Pharisees and the Scribes were grumbling...


While walking through a bookstore this week, a book caught my eye.

So I picked it up.

And on the back cover, it said:

Justice is getting what you deserve.
Mercy is not getting what you deserve.
& Grace is getting what you don't deserve.

The message of today's parables,
and I believe the message that's at the heart of the Christian faith,
is Grace.

Of God's love not because of, but in spite of.

I believe that:
it is a lie that God loves you because you're a Christian.
It is a lie that God doesn't love you if you are not a Christian.

God doesn't love people because people are good or righteous or just.

Which is good because most of the time, we're not.

We do stupid things.

We threaten to burn Korans.

We call people names.

We grumble.

We exclude.

We force out sheep who belong to God's fold,

because of who they are, or what they believe. Or don't believe.

While God actively seeks to bring them back and have a party.

We don't realize that when we create outsiders, we all are lost.


“God loves people simply because that's what God does,” says Grace.

God loves.

God is love.

And God loves you
and God loves me
and God loves that idiot pastor down in Florida who happened to believe some lies and spread them among God's people.

Even if we don't love him.

That's Grace.

That's the love of God.

And that is the radical love that Christ calls us to.

Now the Tax Collectors and the Sinners were coming near to Listen to Jesus,
and the Pharisees and the Scribes were grumbling...

May we be quick to listen to Christ, and slow to grumble.


To the king of all ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory, forever and ever. Amen. (1 Timothy)