Sermon Riff: Getting in Trouble

Even though this is Inauguration Day, I’m still learning about how to get caught up on blogging. So this is really my riff on the sermon from Sunday, two days later. Anyway, Inauguration Day is going to take a day to process, so you can check in tomorrow.

Of all the civil holidays on our calendar, it’s particularly appropriate that Christian churches celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. King is the only Christian minister who is honored with holiday by our government, and he’s honored for his ministry. King’s life and his social activism was formed by his faith in God. In 1954, before the Civil Rights movement, before the Montgomery bus boycott, when King was just an up-and-coming young preacher, he preached a sermon that included these words:

I'm here to say to you this morning that some things are right and some things are wrong. Eternally so, absolutely so. It's wrong to hate. It always has been wrong and it always will be wrong…no matter if everybody is doing the contrary. Some things in this universe are absolute. The God of the universe has made it so. And so long as adopt this relative attitude toward right and wrong, we're revolting against the very laws of God himself.

That conviction was the basis for King’s work. His belief in equality, in love, in justice, was rooted in his belief in God—God who had established laws of right and wrong that bound all humanity, whether they believed it or not. He confronted human lies with God’s truth through his words, but even more through his actions. King brought about change by forcing the violence, hatred, and lawlessness that had built segregation out of the shadows. He forced the sheriffs to use their clubs in the daylight, and the Klansmen to make their speeches on national television—and when the true nature of segregation was displayed in the open, millions of white Americans were shamed into changing it. All that truth caused trouble, but the truth always does. Jesus was very clear about that, and told his followers that commitment to the truth would always cause trouble:

Count yourself blessed every time someone cuts you down or throws you out, every time someone smears or blackens your name to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and that that person is uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—skip like a lamb, if you like!—for even though they don't like it, I do…and all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company; my preachers and witnesses have always been treated like this. (Luke 6:22-23, The Message)

So if you’re witnessing to Jesus, you’ll get in trouble. And if you’re not getting in trouble, then you’re not witnessing to Jesus. That’s a tough message to hear, because none of us like to get in trouble. But a life of trouble is exactly what we’re called to live, if we’re serious about being followers of Jesus. Of course, that applies to me as much as you...and I hope you'll have a chance to hear about some of the trouble I get into in the months ahead.