{"id":4615,"date":"2017-09-17T15:43:35","date_gmt":"2017-09-17T15:43:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/?post_type=ctc_sermon&#038;p=4615"},"modified":"2018-01-09T16:46:24","modified_gmt":"2018-01-09T16:46:24","slug":"accountable-before-god","status":"publish","type":"ctc_sermon","link":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/es\/sermons\/accountable-before-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Accountable before God"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"qtranxs-available-languages-message qtranxs-available-languages-message-es\">Disculpa, pero esta entrada est\u00e1 disponible s\u00f3lo en <a href=\"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon\/4615\" class=\"qtranxs-available-language-link qtranxs-available-language-link-en\" title=\"English\">English<\/a>. For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language.<\/p><p>Readings:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Matthew+18:21-35&amp;version=ESV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Matthew 18: 21-35<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=romans+14%3A+1-12&amp;version=ESV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Romans 14:1-12<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This morning in Romans we read:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. \u2026\u00a0So then, each of us will be accountable to God.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And in Matthew we read:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The reading in Matthew started with:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Then Peter came and said to him, \u201cLord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?\u201d<br \/>\n18:22 Jesus said to him, \u201cNot seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Some say that means that we have to forgive 77 times and others say that\u2019s 490 times: seventy times seven. \u00a0So, imagine with me, for a moment, if God actually kept score of our forgiveness of each other, the same way that we keep score of how others have\u00a0<em>wronged<\/em>\u00a0us. How would that ledger look? Do you ever make it to forgiving someone 77 times for one offence? Ever?<\/p>\n<p>And then imagine if God was as quick to pass judgment on us as we pass judgment on others. Romans asks us today, why do we despise each other? Some versions say \u201ctreat them with contempt\u201d, others use the word \u201cbelittle\u201d or \u201clook down on\u201d, and still other versions say \u201cset at naught\u201d. To set at naught means to treat as of no account, to disdain, to hold in disregard, to treat with ignominy, to hold as insignificant.<\/p>\n<p>A loving Christian is meant to care, deeply, for others: family, friends, church members &amp; neighbors. But when we go into\u00a0<em>survival mode<\/em>, that vulnerability and authenticity get shut down. Poets have long claimed that hearts grow cold and become hardened: \u00a0we treat others with disdain and insignificance. In our attempt to protect ourselves from distress and dull the pain, we divest ourselves of caring and responsibility.<\/p>\n<p>When broken people live together in a broken world, pain is inevitable for anyone who loves. The only way to avoid the crushing pain of a broken heart is to make your heart unbreakable. So, we become the person that says \u201cI don\u2019t care\u201d or \u201cwhatever\u201d, when the luxury of giving ourselves the time and space to feel is threatened. And much of this despising or indifference towards others comes from looking inwards at our hurt and pain, and the defense mechanisms that we naturally have to block this out: just stop feeling. And so our hearts become hardened.\u00a0If you choose the becoming \u201cunbreakable\u201d, you will also choose to lose your compassion.<\/p>\n<p>What is critical to remember is when a heart becomes hardened, the brain has its own reasons for pressing down upon vulnerable feelings. To feel sets the person up to get hurt and the brain is geared towards survival at all costs. To bring emotional defenses down, the heart must be softened. The question is how can this be done? For me, personally, forgiveness has played an incredible role. I have repeatedly worked with Ho\u2019oponopono meditation, where you sit and repeat: \u201cI love you, I\u2019m sorry, Please forgive me, Thank you.\u201d I\u2019ve used this focusing on loving myself, loving others, loving God.<\/p>\n<p>Forgiving and letting go is so much more than just my relationship with other people: a hardening of heart inevitably means I have hardened my heart towards God. And when you forgive yourself and others, truly forgiving them, you begin once more to experience God\u2019s love and light in your life.<\/p>\n<p>Jesus knew this: which is why he said we need to forgive an offense 77 times (or 490 if you read the KJV). If we want to be compassionate in this world, we need to allow people into our hearts.\u00a0People will hurt you. People will take advantage of you. People will manipulate you. Not everyone and not all the time, but some will. And you have two choices: you can either choose to forgive or you can choose to become hard. You can\u2019t have it both ways. \u00a0And forgiving is a hard practice: for most of us, it is not something we just do once and then we\u2019re done. Hence the need to forgive again, and again.<\/p>\n<p>When we remember the offense that the other person has committed against us, we have to repeat: practicing forgiveness. And for a while we will forget and let it go. But the memory of the hurt and offense will come back again, and we will have to repeat once more. And repeat once again. Not because you are going to leave yourself in a situation where that person will continue to hurt or take advantage of you, but because you are choosing a relationship with God over and above all things.<\/p>\n<p>When you are consciously aware that such-and-such a person is \u201clike this\u201d: let\u2019s say that they always ask you to lend them money and they never pay it back. When you make a decision to forgive them and also to keep that person in your life, you know that you will be exposed to more requests for money that will not be paid back. And then you have two choices:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>You can give them the money, as a gift, freely, with love; or<\/li>\n<li>If you cannot find it in your heart to give them the money lovingly, you can learn the life lesson of saying \u201cno\u201d. Of learning how to say \u201cno\u201d with love, without attacking them; without putting them down. Just \u201cno\u201d.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>But if you give them that money with resentment, it\u2019s like you are putting a curse upon them, because in your heart: you are cursing them and resenting them. If you are going to give, then give with love and joyously. \u00a0Make it truly a blessing.<\/p>\n<p>1 John 4: 20 reminds us of this truth:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cWhoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>There\u2019s a lot of emotional intelligence involved in being a true Christian! You have to set loving boundaries in your life: where you love yourself enough to be true to yourself, and yet you love God enough to be willing to do the work to be open, vulnerable and authentic. We say we love God, but then we\u2019re not willing to let go of our pain and hurt. That\u2019s mine \u2013\u00a0<em>my precious<\/em>. I\u2019m holding onto that pain. I\u2019m not letting it go, I\u2019ve been carrying it around for so long now, it\u2019s part of who I am.<\/p>\n<p>We say we love God, but then we\u2019re not willing to let go of our judgments and prejudices against others. Paul says in Romans 14: don\u2019t judge those who are vegetarians, or those who eat pork, or those who honor the Sabbath differently from us. Are we supposed to respect the Sabbath on Saturday, or on Sunday? We live in a society where dressing in a nun\u2019s habit is okay, but it\u2019s not okay to dress in a hijab. A society where girls should be allowed to dress anyway they like \u2013 but it\u2019s their own fault when they get raped for dressing seductively. If we read Romans 4, verses 2 to 4 from the version\u00a0<em>The Message<\/em>, we read:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>For instance, a person who has been around for a while might well be convinced that he can eat anything on the table, while another, with a different background, might assume he should only be a vegetarian and eat accordingly. But since both are guests at Christ\u2019s table, wouldn\u2019t it be terribly rude if they fell to criticizing what the other ate or didn\u2019t eat? God, after all, invited them both to the table. Do you have any business crossing people off the guest list or interfering with God\u2019s welcome? If there are corrections to be made or manners to be learned, God can handle that without your help.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>So who are we to judge another by appearances? Everyone has been invited to God\u2019s table and is to be warmly welcomed. Even those who have hurt us. Even those who have somehow betrayed us. Our accountability before God is individual \u2013 I will be judged according to what I have thought, said, done or failed to do in honor of God. You will be judged and held accountable for what you have thought, said, done, or failed to do for God.<\/p>\n<p>I leave us with this parting thought about the way we live our lives, in forgiveness and compassion for all others who are invited to the table:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>None of us are permitted to insist on our own way in these matters. It is\u00a0<i>God<\/i>\u00a0we are answerable to\u2014all the way from life to death and everything in between\u2014not each other. \u00a0(The Message \u2013 Romans 14:7-8)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Disculpa, pero esta entrada est\u00e1 disponible s\u00f3lo en English. For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language.Readings: Matthew 18: 21-35 Romans 14:1-12 This morning in Romans we read: Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister?&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4857,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","ctc_sermon_topic":[139,272],"ctc_sermon_book":[41,47],"ctc_sermon_series":[],"ctc_sermon_speaker":[62],"ctc_sermon_tag":[570,581,371,578,577,576,574,461,26,572,571,248,579,569,575,40,347,573,580],"class_list":["post-4615","ctc_sermon","type-ctc_sermon","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","ctc_sermon_topic-forgiveness","ctc_sermon_topic-love-your-neighbor","ctc_sermon_book-matthew","ctc_sermon_book-romans","ctc_sermon_speaker-beth-anne-gray","ctc_sermon_tag-advantage","ctc_sermon_tag-authentic","ctc_sermon_tag-christian","ctc_sermon_tag-dress","ctc_sermon_tag-drinking","ctc_sermon_tag-eating","ctc_sermon_tag-emotional-intelligence","ctc_sermon_tag-forgive","ctc_sermon_tag-forgiveness","ctc_sermon_tag-freely","ctc_sermon_tag-gift","ctc_sermon_tag-god","ctc_sermon_tag-hardened-heart","ctc_sermon_tag-hurt","ctc_sermon_tag-judgement","ctc_sermon_tag-love","ctc_sermon_tag-prejudice","ctc_sermon_tag-resentment","ctc_sermon_tag-vulnerable","ctfw-has-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon\/4615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/ctc_sermon"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4615"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon\/4615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4616,"href":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon\/4615\/revisions\/4616"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_topic?post=4615"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_book","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_book?post=4615"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_series","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_series?post=4615"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_speaker","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_speaker?post=4615"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/balboaunionchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_tag?post=4615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}