Matthew 5:38-48

Do you look like your parents? I look like my mother. I once found a picture of her when she was a child about the same age I was when I found the picture and the similarity of our faces was uncanny. Kaitlyn has that same collection of facial features. We have a picture of Melissa when she was a baby and another picture of Mary, and they look like two picture of the same baby.

But it goes beyond that. Often our children have similar behaviors. Sometimes our children do things that remind us so much of ourselves when we were that age we have to laugh in joy. Then at times they do things that we swear they got from our spouse's side of the family but we secretly know we acted the same way. Either way we can, as the old country saying goes, tell who their parents are.

Are you like your Father? I don't mean here your earthly father. Are you like your Heavenly Father? Can people look at your life and see the same features in you that they see in your Heavenly Father? Can people look at you and see glimpses of your Father in Heaven? And when they look at your life do they say "I know who their Father is."

Jesus told his disciples how to act to "be children of your Father in heaven." So how should we act to reflect who we are as children of God? First Jesus said, "if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you." (39-42) All of this is under the heading of "do not resist evildoers." Each of the examples tells the disciples to do more than simply not fight back. Rather it tells them to do more.

One might think that this would lead to being used as a doormat. I have known people who thought that Christians were supposed to do whatever they asked them to. They thought Christians were door mats that they could walk all over.

There is a deliberate contrast with the world's point of view. The world says "Do unto others before they can do it unto you." The world says "Look out for number one." The world says "Don't get mad, get even."

But is that how God acts toward us? Does God seek to get us back for all the things we have done to God and to God's children? No! Not only does God not try to get us back he actually gave himself. The human race slapped God on the cheek and sought to hijack the religion He gave His children, yet God sent his Son to die for that same human race. If God's Son can die for the very people doing violence to him perhaps we need to sacrifice for the people that do violence in our world. Then we will truly be children of our Father in Heaven.

The next thing Jesus says seems to get to the heart of the matter. Jesus said, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" A few years back during Lent we asked people to pledge their prayers. We actually had a pledge card and people could pledge to read their Bible's daily or pray for the church or something like that. One of the options on the card was "Pray for your enemies." I have one members of this church who came to me and said, "I pledged to pray for my enemies but I am not sure how to pray. Should I pray for a quick death or a slow death?" I said a slow death - so they have time to repent.

Somehow I don't think that is the spirit in which Jesus intended this teaching. Jesus said, "God makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous." Now in the Holy Land rain was a blessing. So God blesses both the good and the bad with sun and rain, both of which are necessary for life. If God blesses both, then we too should bless them by praying for them. Those prayers can include prayers that they straighten out their lives. But mainly they should be for their ultimate well being, physical and spiritual.

In contrast with the world which says you should love your friends and hate others, Jesus said, "For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?" (46-47) Are we children of the world like the tax collectors and sinners who love only those who are part of their inner circle? Or are we children of our Heavenly Father who loves all equally? Our love should reach beyond the boundaries of our family and friends and even those who are nice to us. Then we can be children of our heavenly father.

Now all that is hard to do. To turn the other cheek and go the extra mile. It is difficult to love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you. Sure Jesus did it all but he was God come in the flesh - the incarnation of God! It is a little harder for us mere mortals.

But what Jesus says next is harder still. He said, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Wait just a minute here! Nobody's perfect - well, except God and Jesus. How can we be perfect?

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, taught a doctrine of "Christian Perfection." He believed that if Jesus told us to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect, then he would make it possible, by Grace, for us to be perfect. We will always make mistakes so we may not be perfect in that sense. But by the grace of God and with his help we can resist the sin we know of in the here and now and do the good we are aware of at this time. Like a child we can resemble our Heavenly Father but only as a small child resembles their parent. A copy of the parent but an immature one. Hence we can reflect the perfection of our Heavenly Father but only as children - an immature reflection.

So I ask you again: Are you like your Father? Do you reflect his love and grace? Do you sacrifice for those who do wrong? Do you turn the other cheek like Jesus did?

Do you love your enemies? Will you pray for their salvation? Will you go out of your way to love them?

Do you want to be like your Father? God is perfect in love. Sure you are limited by your own humanness. But are you ready to love in the way that you are capable of as an immature child of your Heavenly Father.

But if you are not like your Father in Heaven, who are you like? Would you be mistaken for a child of the world? Could someone look at you and think you are the offspring of selfishness or greed or materialism. Love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you. Then you will be truly children of your Father in Heaven!

"Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect." The Christian life is a journey in which Christ is our leader. The three sermons I have already preached show us the progress of that journey. Before we accept Christ, our Heavenly Father prepares the way for us and opens our eyes to our need for salvation. Jesus even died for us beforehand to help us on that journey. When we accept Christ his blood cleanses us of old sins and justifies us in God's eyes. Then the Holy Spirit transforms us into new creatures that are recreated to do God's good will.

Today we will talk about the next stage of this journey of salvation. It is called "sanctification." This word comes from the Latin word "sanctus" which means holy. Sanctification is the process of making us holy. In this stage of the journey God continues to transform us from what we were into what we shall be. The Holy Spirit re-forms us into the likeness of Christ our Lord and guide.

Imagine that your life is a garden. Each action is a different kind of plant. Some plants are good. They produce fruit that can be eaten or flowers that can be enjoyed, or they enrich the soil some how. These are the acts of love and grace that are cultivated in our lives when we turn them over to Christ. But some plants are evil. They produce poison fruit, or they crowd out the plants Christ planted, or they rob the soil of vitality. These are the sins that the former owner, the devil, planted in this garden. Sanctification is the process by which Christ weeds us of those sinful destructive ways that poison our hearts and choke abundant life. As Christ weeds we come to be more and more the way God intends us to be.

Jesus tells us that the final goal of the Christian Life is perfection. Jesus told his disciples to be perfect as God is perfect. Our first reaction is to say that we cannot possibly become as perfect as God! But Jesus never gives us a command that he does not supply the means of fulfilling it. The question that we should ask ourselves is: "If we are to be perfect like God, how is God perfect?"

God is perfect in holiness. In the Bible "holy" means to be set aside; to be apart from or different. For the ancient Israelites this meant God is different from the gods of the nations. The gods of the nations demanded human sacrifices, but God made it clear with Abraham and Isaac that human sacrifice was not the Almighty's will. In reality the gods of the nation were just carved images that people owned, but God was an invisible God that was alive and real.

"Holy" also means pure. God is unstained by the sinfulness of humanity. God does not have the kind of conflicted devotions that people have. God is steadfast. The Almighty keeps the promises made to us.

We are called to be a holy people. In our Old Testament lesson God tells the people to be holy because their God is holy. 1 Peter tells us to be a holy priesthood. A priest is a representative of God. God calls us to be living representation of God's holiness in this world. Our actions should show others how different God is from the gods of the world and how pure God is.

We are called to be perfect in holiness as our Heavenly Father is perfect.

How is God perfect? God is perfect in love. Jesus put this love in the most extreme terms possible. He said, "Love our enemies and pray for those who persecute you." And Jesus practiced what he preached. Jesus died to win salvation for even the people who hollered "Crucify him!" He even asked God to forgive those who were crucifying him.

We should treat each other with the same depth of love that Jesus demonstrated as he spoke to Samaritans and healed lepers. Christians, don't demean other peoples. Don't tell Polish jokes. When you do you are demeaning a whole race of people. And they include your brother Pope John Paul. Don't stereotype or call your brothers and sisters in Christ names. When Christians use stereotypes and derogatory racial language it demeans a whole race of people including our brothers and sisters in Christ. The world uses that kind of language, but we are different. Love your brothers and sisters that way God loved us.

God's love is a love that breaks down old barriers and transforms lives. Christ transformed us through his love. When we love as Christ did that is God's love at work in us and through us. And that love can transform others and our world. There is an example of this in history of the early church. There was an ancient Greek custom called "exposing" children. "Exposing" was a euphemism for killing. If someone didn't want a child or couldn't care for it they would take it out to a deserted area and leave it there. It would usually die of exposure. Christians saw how evil this was and they took in these children. As the years passed Christians became famous for taking in unwanted children. Eventually that ancient practice died out because people knew that the local church or monastery would take the children they couldn't care for.

God's love transformed that society and the practice of exposing children was literally loved out of existence. God is perfect in that kind of transforming love and we are called to be too. Think of all the people in our community who feel abandoned; those who are alone in the battle with life's problems. Perhaps if Christians were to strive toward perfection in love we would become famous for taking in those who feel abandoned. Then we could become agents of transformation in Harbison, Columbia and the world!

God is also perfect in mercy and justice. We usually think of those as two separate things, but God is so perfect that they are one. Just look through the Bible. God is always on the side of the oppressed because God hates oppression. Throughout the prophets, God tells people to care for the widows and orphans. These were the powerless people.

God's mercy and care for the poor is demonstrated to us in the way God saves. God needed a nation to be his standard bearer in the world. God could have chosen Greece or Assyria or Egypt but the Almighty didn't. Instead God chose a nation of slaves. Out of mercy God saved them from slavery and out of justice God let them defeat and shame the Egyptians.

When God decided to send Jesus, he came as a poor homeless child. Jesus could have come as the son of Caesar or some other great leader. But God's heart ached for the poor and the down trodden so God became one of them. And Jesus promised to come again and right all the wrongs that have ever been committed against the poor and the powerless throughout the centuries.

That is the kind of mercy and justice we are called to live out. We are called to take on the suffering of the poor and the needy just as Jesus did. We are called to speak up for the powerless just as God's prophets did. God blesses the needy and the powerless out of mercy and love. In like fashion we are called to favor those in our society who are needy and powerless. Not because they deserve it, but because our Lord God does.

I might have stepped on a few toes this morning. That is fine; we all need our toes stepped on a little. We all need a little kick on our complacency to get us moving sometimes. We only get our toes stepped on when we are standing still, and God is calling us to be on the move. We are to be moving on toward perfection. But that is only possible with God's help.

Sanctification is a gift just like Justification and Regeneration. Every facet of God's salvation is a gift. We were lost in darkness so God preveniently gave us the light of Christ to lead us out of darkness. We needed forgiveness so God gave his only son to die for us. We needed to be transformed so God gave us the Spirit to transform our lives.

Sanctification is also a gift from God. But we must accept it. If we truly want to serve God we must look to God first. In a moment I will invite people to come forward to the altar to respond to God's word. But I want us all to respond Christ's call to be perfect by saying a little prayer together. Repeat after me: