Under Pressure!

Author: Pastor Mike Gutzler (A special note related to the sermon on 2/12.)

Pressure!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHUl51qjmI0

You have heard the expression "It feels like I have the world on my shoulders." Imagine having the world and heaven on your shoulders.

That is what is going on for the Matthew community. Imagine you are a faithful Jew who lost the center of worship life - the temple in Jerusalem. You don't know where to go, don't know what to do, but you have found this supporting new community calling themselves the Church. In order to be a member you need to be Jewish first.

This church teaches about God, Moses, the prophets as well as a new person - the Messiah - Jesus. You learn Jesus talked about the Kingdom and Heaven, and as you have come to know it is a "new land" a new "place" that is part of all of us, but will come in its fulfillment when Jesus returns.

Until the Kingdom of Heaven is fully present inside and out, as a member of this new Church it is your responsibility to follow the Jewish Laws, live up to the highest ethical commandments, and weed out the other members of the community who were there for the wrong reason. If you did all of this correctly, the Kingdom of Heaven would come and your final destination was secure.

Wow, that is a heavy weight to carry. At that same time, this was probably what Church life was like in Matthew's community.

Overtime, as the Christian movement grew in popularity and membership, different expressions of Christianity (think Mark, Luke and John's churches) started to mingle, share ideas and ultimately come to a consensus on some common beliefs - the Apostles Creed.

Martin Luther knew the creeds, the scriptures and the feeling of faith-based pressure. Luther felt inadequate and unable to live up to God's expectations, a feeling probably very similar to Matthew's church members. But it was in the experience of pressure where Luther reread Paul's letters and came to the realization (later supported by many others) God is an agent of release from pressure not the agent of pressure. This new perspective opened Luther's eyes and gave him the clarity he needed to explain to his congregations that the Kingdom of Heaven is not something we bring into the world, but "God's kingdom comes on its own without our prayer, but we ask in this prayer that it may also come to us." (Luther's explanation of the second petition of the Lord's prayer from the Small Catechism).

The pressure is off. God is, and always will be, in control. We are free to live in response to that grace - pressure free!