Isaiah 51:1-6; Romans 11:33-12:8; Matthew 16:13-20

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

What if the world could be different? What if all the chaos and misery on tv doesn’t have to be all we see? Such is the plot of a popular movie called, Pay It Forward. A young boy comes up with this idea after being challenged by his teacher to change the world. His thought is simple. If I help three people, then they will go on and help three more, before long, many people’s lives are changed by this chain reaction. It’s a cute movie if you haven’t seen it. But the question remains, does it really work like that in real life?

Maybe it’s just hope that says yes. Maybe I should be more cynical about our world and thinking that it can ever change. But maybe the movie wasn’t too far off. For our world is hungry, starved even, of just a little kindness. I can’t say how many times I’ve heard people say that just a smile from a stranger has brightened their day. Imagine what might change if we all truly started caring for one another instead of drawing battle lines!

This is what the church is meant to be, a group of people who change the world by our kindness and caring. This is what St. Paul writes, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship,” Romans 12:1. As Christians, we can’t just talk the talk. We must walk the walk. We can’t just say we care about everyone without also doing it. Being a “living sacrifice” means being willing to give up our own wants and desires for someone else. 

Even as I say all this, we realize the reason why this doesn’t always happen as it ought. We’re sinners still. Even as Christians, we still struggle with being selfish, reacting more in anger than love, and only caring about those things that impact us directly. This is why Paul says, “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned,” Romans 12:3. We must retrain our minds not to think so highly of ourselves, but of others.

How do we do that? Only by the grace of God! That’s the entire point. The world won’t change only by sheer willpower. It must start with someone. In fact, it already started… with Jesus! Jesus is the one who started the whole chain. He’s the one who can redeem us from our sins and lead us to “pay it forward” to everyone we meet. It was all because Jesus died for you and me that we can share our love with one another. What Jesus paid for us, we now have the opportunity to give to the world. Lastly, as Paul says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect,” Romans 12:2. We are not called to live as those in this world, but being transformed by Jesus’ death and resurrection, we may share his love and mercy with all!

Pastor Sorenson

Prayer:

Almighty God, whom to know is everlasting life, grant us to know Your Son, Jesus, to be the way, the truth, and the life that we may boldly confess Him to be the Christ and steadfastly walk in the way that leads to life eternal; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen!