Breaking Out of the Performance Box

 

There is something dangerous that happens when the strange becomes the familiar. When the strange becomes familiar, it is easy to think that answers are so simple, that messages are commonsense and that we know what something means before we hear it; because, we just do.  Anyone that questions that logic, who can point out a contradiction in the original message and how we live now, is just not with the programme.

The Sermon on the Mount would be close to 2000 years old. It has been reflected on and spoken about for 2000 years. That’s a long time and it is long enough for the strangeness that would have been in the atmosphere of the first hearers, to become logical commonsense now.

After all, we know that the poor are blessed because the Kingdom of heaven is theirs, it is just commonsense that we are salt and if we lose our saltiness we are worthless, every Christian knows that Jesus fulfilled the law, we know that anger towards someone would be subject to the same judgement as the sin of murder and we know the dangers of sharing oaths.  

All of this is familiar isn’t it – it is not a strange message. And as a result, the learning for us is really an affirmation, isn’t it? Even if the affirmation is the ongoing challenge.

But, there is a danger in that, that danger is that we fail to see what the message was challenging the original hearers to do and what the message is challenging ourselves to do today. We become spiritually blind to the message of the scriptures even if sermons and commentaries are so on point. Our blindness is what Jesus is speaking into throughout the gospels – “He who has ears, let him hear”. “He who has ears, let him hear.” Are our ears open enough for us to see the truth in the challenge?

Because there is a real danger, a danger to our own salvation because the Sermon on the Mount was not just a message of wisdom bringing sense to the Torah, the Laws of Moses, it was a call to a whole new way of life. And, in order to see this, we need to make the familiar strange again so that the blinkers covering our own eyes are removed. Because if we acknowledge that the Sermon on the Mount is close to 2000 years old, we have to admit are not living this whole new life.  The challenge continues today.

So, I want to ask you? Do you find the Sermon on the Mount strange in that it is challenging you to see your whole walk with God differently? Do you find the Sermon on the Mount, strange in that it is telling you that what you see as normal is completely abnormal in the eyes of God?

Have you found the last few weeks challenging it that you have been encouraged to see the Father, the Law and the way we treat others differently?

if we all go on living like we live now – we risk something. We risk walking a hypocrite life – a life where our faith is a performance not a way that is focused on bringing the reality of God’s Kingdom to this earth.

Now before we jump into the scriptures, I just want to provide a little bit more context into why I am suggesting that we need to make the words of Jesus strange to us again in order to see our own blindness to his message.

I have a background in an academic field called sociology. In short, sociology is the study of community. It basically argues that issues that happen in society, in families and to individuals are caused by how that society forms itself – particularly in the way it sets up rules, structures and institutions and how a social group determines success.  Note it is a study in how society forms itself, in how we as humans establish what is normal and how a social group would function.

Back in the day when I was teaching sociology, I would ask students, a typical sociological question, a question that determines what a social group values. This question, in a New Zealand context, is what does it mean to be a successful New Zealander – the answers are pretty predictable

*  To own your own home

* To have a successful job

* To make reasonable money

* To have a family

* To have social status in your community

The list goes on

I would then point out that not everyone would achieve these goals, and that for some people these goals are simply not achievable from the onset. For others, these goals may be ripped out from under them with unexpected changes. I would use Wainuiomata in the 1980s as an example, before the 1980s there were enough factories to employ fathers from every home, when the factories left, new jobs were not created. This led to what sociology is most interested in – different sets of behaviours, actions and reactions.

I would then point out that people may respond to their situation in a number of different ways; I am just going to focus on two here. The first would be to innovate. To accept that the markers of success but find alternative ways to meet these. “I want these goals, I can’t get them in the usual way, I’ll start a drug business.” The second would be to rebel; to say – “stuff it, I am going to make my own goals and reject these”. And I would say to my students, Christians fall into both of these camps.  Because Christians are not called to live by the ways and values of the world, but many find ways to do this, just with a Christian spin.

Ideally, if Christians were doing what they were called to do, they would be in the rebellion camp – setting up new markers of social success, but in actual reality Christians often sit in the innovation box. They accept the markers of success in New Zealand society, and just work hard, finding innovative ways to support each other into achieving these goals while still seeing their accomplishments as a result of their hard work.

Now, I am not saying having a home and a job is a bad thing. But I am saying some of us in this room are comfortable with where we sit as New Zealanders. We have a home, job etc. And having someone tell us that these are not markers of Kingdom success will be quite a challenge. There are others in this room who struggle with the markers of New Zealand success because no matter how hard they work and try the markers are just out of their reach, they will never own a home, have a successful job; some may not even have a family. They will even, today, feel like outsiders because they are not like the one’s in this room who just seem to have made it in New Zealand today.

In the Sermon on the Mount, it is this group of outcasts that Jesus is talking to. Those who struggle to achieve success in the eyes of the Roman and Jewish world. Jesus was talking to the outsiders confirming a new way of living while telling Pharisees, get out of the ritual of getting these goals differently and get with the righteous living programme.

He is actually telling both groups, the answer is not to innovate and try to fit into the box of the worldin another way – the answer is to create another box altogether – the answer is to live in righteous rebellion to the markers of worldly success. This is what will unite the Kingdom of God with this world.

So, are you prepared to make the familiar strange to yourself, even if it challenges you to your innovative core? Are you prepared to move the markers of success in your life from those determined by Aotearoa New Zealand to those determined by God?

Because, if you are, then you will find yourself living your faith differently – it won’t be about status and how others see you, it will be about your heart, your attitude and how God sees you. Because if you have taken the last few weeks to heart, you will know, your faith is not a performance – it is a heart way of living.

Mathew 6:1-8 from The Message: Jesus says:

"Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don't make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won't be applauding.

"When you do something for someone else, don't call attention to yourself. You've seen them in action, I'm sure—'playactors' I call them—treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause, true, but that's all they get. When you help someone out, don't think about how it looks. Just do it—quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out.

"And when you come before God, don't turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat?

"Here's what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.

"The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They're full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don't fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need.

Moving to Verse 16, finishing at 18, Jesus goes on to say:

"When you practice some appetite-denying discipline to better concentrate on God, don't make a production out of it. It might turn you into a small-time celebrity but it won't make you a saint. If you 'go into training' inwardly, act normal outwardly. Shampoo and comb your hair, brush your teeth, wash your face. God doesn't require attention-getting devices. He won't overlook what you are doing; he'll reward you well.

In these verses, Jesus has moved on from the wisdom of righteous living found in the Torah, to the enacting out of religious practices. He is not moving away from one part of the message to the other, he is giving the consequences of the first part of his sermon. If you understand the principles of God’s Kingdom (what we call the Beatitudes). If you understand the place of the Law and how to enact the principles of the Law then you will know that your faith needs to be more than a performance.

Jesus is directly challenging and talking into a societal marker of success found in the  social groups of his time and one that continues into our own culture today – that is the marker of social status. The social status of being seen to be religious and holy, particularly within the community of faith.

You see being seen as religious and holy was not one of Roman success but of Jewish success in living under the oppression of Roman rule. Today, being seen as religious and holy is not one of New Zealand success, but one of Christian success and an innovative way to achieve the social status all New Zealanders strive for.

But being seen as religious and holy is just that. It is being seen. It is a performance, particularly when the praise of others is what feeds you (even when you do, in your own righteous way, relabel that praise as encouragement).

Jesus gives three explicit examples of religious performance – generosity, prayer and fasting. And I would have it a guess that if he was preaching to the Church of today, he might add to that list, worship, purchasing of Christian books, movies etc and attending Christian events. 

Now none of these things he is saying not to do, and even when he says do these things in private, is he saying that these things must be done in private, what he is saying is – what feeds you when you do this – is it your desire to be recognised by others? Is it your desire for praise by others? Or is it about your relationship with your Father? Because if this is not the first desire then you are living in the wrong box – get yourself into the righteous rebellion box, because that is where it all starts.

None of us in this room are immune from wanting to be in the box of comfort that comes with the recognition of others. And, don’t get me wrong, it is good to encourage. But, for those of us receiving the encouragement where is our heart at in our initial actions?

I want to give a really personal example here which came with the lesson to me that even though my intention was good, my heart was in the wrong place – my intention was Godly, but I was doing what I did to get a thank you from a human, not a holy hug from God.

Please, before I go any further, realise that this story is about me, the others in this story are no longer with us and it would be wrong to try and guess who was involved. The person that needed a heart change was me.

Quite some time ago, Eric and I gave substantially into an area in our church family. We are talking thousands of dollars. It was a very specific area and the recipients experienced the reward of our investment directly. They never knew how much money it cost Eric and I and we never have told them – after all, we were following the principle of giving without making a spectacle of it. Near the end of this time, we received a complaint that what we had given wasn’t up to expectation. We never received a thank you. It hurt deeply and put me in a position of anger and also promising myself to never give again.

I am sharing this story, not because the people in this story were in the wrong. Remember, no one knew how much we had given and we never asked for thanks or an acknowledgement. But the lesson in this story was for me and it was a very deep lesson. I had given in the hope of a ‘thanks’. I never got it. But it wasn’t up to the recipients to thank me. My heart was in the wrong place in terms of giving.

I had to learn a very powerful lesson and I remember talking with Pastor Paul at the time – it was a lesson of grace and mercy. I learnt that grace freely given, is given in expectation of nothing worldly in return and just as grace is freely given to me, I am to extend it to others. Mercy freely given, is given in expectation of nothing in return, and just as mercy is freely given to me, I am to extend it to others.

I learnt, that giving with even the hope of human acknowledgment was not giving under the call of God and the cross. I was challenged by God to accept that there will be ministries and families that Eric and I will be called to bless and that we should never expect a thank you in return, but savour the thank yous when they come. But never stop giving, never stop praying, never stop fasting, never stop worshipping or buying Christian teachings just because we haven’t had a thank you or two. Because, we are blessed to be a blessing.

I learnt a powerful Sermon on the Mount principle. Because of the initial expectation of the giving, that being a thank you, I became angry. The sermon tells me that holding anger towards others brings God’s judgement. I learned never to hold an oath towards others as a result of my feelings, as experiences would mean that at times, I simply might not be ready to be a person of my word. And I learnt, that I had to get the righteous living towards God and others right in my life first to ensure that all my practices of faith, even when in public, would be reflective of my relationship with my Father. If I could not get my feeling towards others right first – my faith was simply a performance.

And what about you? Is your Christian faith a performance or is it a heart transformation? What are the markers of success in your life? More importantly, what are the markers of success in your Christian walk? And then even more importantly, is how has God blessed you blessing others?

Finally, I personally think it is time that we as a Church begin to consider how we enact our vision for our Valley:  

We exist to provide a local place of worship, to help establish Wainuiomata as a Christ centred community by promoting Biblical values and positively impacting the lives of those around us.

Because enacting this vision would see how challenging our conceptions of social success. We would move from personal markers of homes, jobs, social status and even the expectation of a particular type of family to the principles behind Sermon on the Mount – one that demonstrates clearly to Wainuiomata in our actions that we put God above all others, and we treat our neighbours how we ourselves would like to be treated – forgiveness is our doorstop, mercy the keys to our whare and grace the doorway.