Values Modification

what looks like failure is success/and what looks like poverty is riches/when what is true looks more like a knife/it looks like you're killing me but you're saving my life

chorus: but i give myself to what looks like love/and i sell myself for what feels like love/and i pay to get what is not love/and all just because i see things upside down

what looks like weakness can do anything/and what looks like foolishness is understanding/when what is powerful has not come to fight/it looks like you're going to war/but you lay down your life/chorus/

what looks like torture is a time to rejoice/what sounds like thunder is a comforting voice/when what is beautiful looks broken and crushed/and i say i don't know you but you say its finished/when what is beautiful looks broken and crushed/and i say i don't know you but you say its finished

(Derek Webb "what is not love" from the album: i see things upside down)

The words of this song have been echoing in my ears as of late. It is striking to me the difference between the values that Christ holds up for us in direct relation and opposition to the values that the world around us holds. For instance, in Matthew 5, Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” I suspect that most of us in the world would say, “blessed are the wealthy, for they are the ones that have power in this world.”

Jesus says, “blessed are those of you who mourn, for you will be comforted.” We tend to say, “find happiness at any cost-even if it means numbing your soul.”

Jesus says, “blessed are you when you are persecuted for my name sake, for the Kingdom of Heaven is yours.” I think most often, we do anything we can to protect our image, our reputation; we fight to prove that our opinion or point of view is right and worthy.

Jesus says, “blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” The world says, “pursue wealth, adventure and stuff, for this is what is important.”

Jesus says, “blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons and daughters of God.” By our very lives we condemn ourselves through our gossip and slander and angry talk toward one another, our plotting and conniving, our arguing and dissension.

Consistently throughout His life, Jesus has showed us that our values are to be directly opposite of the values the world holds up. Derek’s song above is correct: what looks like poverty is riches. What looks like foolishness is understanding.

If we, not as ‘congregational members,’ but “a chosen and royal priesthood, called by God,” are to have any impact on our community around us, we MUST lay aside all that the world holds dear, and embrace with all of our lives the values that Jesus lived out.

I struggle with this often, and it is not good, but when we see ministry as an investment, or we are ‘shareholders’ in the events and relationships happening around us, we reduce our love relationship with Christ-our unique chosen ness and priesthood, to nothing more than a contractual agreement. It grieves me that this is the kind of language we often use when discussing our ministries or our giving or our events. Jesus chose us for so much more… a royal priesthood. Shareholders and investments sound so ‘businessy.’ Community, children, the body of Christ? Now those are words and ideas that I can get behind with all of my heart. A passionate, romantic, loving relationship with Jesus….

What the world holds up as important cannot and will not attract the world. All we have at our disposal is love. Love often looks like failure, often takes on the shape of poverty and brokenness. To say otherwise is to slap Jesus and His death on the cross in the face. Jesus was wounded for our transgressions, broken and crushed for our sins. To live in a way that pursues power or wealth; to live life seeking arguments and control is oppressive, and directly in contradiction to God’s Word, Jesus. We have nothing this world needs or wants, save for the infinite mercy and love beyond all reason of Jesus our Lord, and of our Heavenly Father.

We are the Bride of Christ. And though not perfect, we are a lovely bride. Jesus, our groom, is coming for us, bursting with anticipation. And love will prepare our hearts for the incredible things He has in store for us. We must throw off the values we live by that copy the world around us, and we must take on a new set of values, a new mind and a new heart, the kind of values that Christ lives out even still in our lives.

My prayer and deepest hope for you Anacortes First Baptist Church, is that you would throw off everything and anything that so easily entangles you, and run with perseverance the race that God has set out for you. I pray that we will trade in the language and values of big business for the poverty and brokenness and mercy and meekness that Jesus longs for us to take on.

Pursue Him in Jesus’ name-Amen.