A Partial Summary Chart of the Gospel of Matthew. Tools for teaching The Methods For a Happy/Holy Life

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1 Lesson # 20, pp TRINITY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH IHOP BIBLE STUDY COMMENTARY Topic: Matthew 18: 1 35, Lessons from The Spiritual Oasis The gospel of Matthew's message is powerful and relevant to our current human situation. Matthew's purpose is to give us a training manual for teaching the Deeply Satisfied Life. This material is developed for the early church, but is applicable for us today. Matthew's teaching role model is Jesus. The "Deeply Satisfied Life" is the experience ("Gut Trip Analysis") of the term Sanctification (which is an Old Christian Code Word understood as "Head Trip Analysis). This is our twentieth lesson in this series, and it is associated with "Life In The Spiritual Oasis. My reflections on the gospel give us the overall title of, "The Training Manual For Teaching The Transparent Sanctified Life." With this metaphor established, let us continue. A Partial Summary Chart of the Gospel of Matthew Tools for teaching The Methods For a Happy/Holy Life The Teacher s Handbook Part II: Life in the Spiritual Oasis Teaching life in the Spiritual Oasis The high cost of teaching Demonstrating the power of the Good News Demonstrating the new directions for ministry Lesson Series: The Spiritual Oasis Growing to perfection 12:22 13:52 13:53-14:12 14:13-16:20 16:21-17:27 18:1-18:35 19:1-20:16 I. Read the assigned reading at one time. II. What is life like in the Spiritual Oasis? Vss. 18: 1 5: Living in the Spiritual Oasis is living as the greatest in the Kingdom of God. The one caveat is that we are asked to become like children: humble, trusting, surrendered. Perhaps, it is helpful to remind ourselves that living in the Spiritual Oasis is living AT HOME i.e., living our human existence with a sense of place. What we give up is living ON VACATION i.e., living our human existence without a sense of place. WS: What is the difference between living at home and living on vacation? Living at home is where humans are intended to live in At-One-Ment with neighbor, self and Perfect At-One-Ment. This is living in the Spiritual Oasis. Living on vacation is to live blind to the reality of the Spiritual Oasis. Vss. 18: 6 9: Jesus gives his disciples (and us) two warnings about preventing others from living in the Spiritual Oasis. 1. Vss. 18: 6: The operating word here is sin. Remember, our use of this word 119

2 means to cause separation, or the antithesis of At-One-Ment. If anyone causes any of these children to be separated from the experience of At-One-Ment, Jesus reports that it is better this person be drowned (suffering permanent separation!). WS: How is sin experienced? Sin is the experience of living in a state of separation from neighbor, self and Perfect At-One-Ment. 2. Vss. 18: 7 9: In Vss. 7, Jesus reminds us that in the natural world there is the experience of separation. Such things must come. However, the one (man or woman) through whom it comes will himself or herself end up in separation. WS: Why must such things come to us? The axiom The reward for the deed is found in the deed itself helps here. I prefer to use the indicative phrase will come instead of the imperative must come. The reward always is found in the deed itself! Then Jesus tells us how to enter life. By this Jesus means entering the Spiritual Oasis. He reminds us of the eternal fire and the fire of hell which is a metaphor for permanent separation. WS: How is this the judgment? The judgment is built into the deed itself. God is not in the business of punishing us. We punish ourselves through our choices. Sometimes the reward is experienced harshly; sometimes it comes to us as grace. So, how are we to enter life? We enter life in the Spiritual Oasis by surrendering our deeds and our lives before Perfect At-One-Ment. The conditions for putting ourselves in such jeopardy is that if our hands or foot or eyes are the cause for hurting others and causing their separation, it would be better that we enter the Spiritual Oasis maimed. WS: Why is this true? Hurting others prevents us from living in the Spiritual Oasis. Thus, it would be better to enter the Spiritual Oasis maimed than to be prevented from entering it because of our tongue, finger, hand, foot, other any other body part. III. Now, see what you can do with the following 1. Vss. 18: 10 14: The parable of the Lost Sheep Living in the Spiritual Oasis is accomplished how? WS: Helping a lost one who is on vacation to awaken to the deep satisfaction of living in the Spiritual Oasis is a very pleasing experience. 2. Vss. 18: 15-20: A brother who sins against you There are three little lessons here: 1. How we are to treat our wayward brothers and sisters; 2. Binding and loosening; 3. Consensing with two or three. How does this inform us on how to live in the Spiritual Oasis? WS: Vss. 18: The obligation of those who live awake is to care for our brothers and sisters who are asleep or who are returning to spiritual sleep. This is the work of The Church the Awakened Ones. Vss. 18: Bound and loosed. In the Early Church, these terms referred to a judicial activity. In our context, binding is the reward for the deed. Loosing is likewise a reward for the deed, but loosing refers to enabling At-One-Ment. WS: Vss. 18: The consensus of two or three together, on the 120

3 basis of WWJD, results in the experience of wholeness and authenticity of life. 3. Vss. 18: 21-35: The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant What is the lesson to be learned? How does this inform us on how to live in the Spiritual Oasis? WS: We live as the Awakened through our experience of gratitude. The failure to extend forgiveness to other results in further separation and the denial o our own Awakenment. Do a little commentary research on the significance of forgiving others seventyseven times. WS: The Internet is full of commentary. One source I frequently use is Bible Gateway Commentaries at biblegateway.com. ABOUT THIS SCRIPTURE: Material from SermonStarter Matthew 18: (2005) The Season of KINGDOMTIDE (the 16th Sunday after Pentecost). The theme of Kingdomtide is to preach the message of Jesus: repent and believe. In Gut Trip Analysis, this theme is described in the following formula: When God don t make no junk, then every moment is a precious gift, and this is why it is called the Present. When we affirm these two things, then our Past is not only forgiven, it is forgotten. And when these three things are affirmed, then our Future is an open possibility. I submit to you, this formula is THE GOOD NEWS! The key to the sermon is: Before you begin writing this sermon, define the following words using your own experience of them. (I've provided how Gut Trip Analysis experiences them.) 1). Sin. In Gut Trip Analysis, sin is not a moral category but descriptive of our relationship to separation; 2). The authentic life. In Gut Trip Analysis, authenticity is the life that asks WWJD. It is the surrendered life. It is life that is lived joyful and free to be obedient to God/Love/Perfect At-One-Ment. 3). Matthew's use of heaven and earth. In Gut Trip Analysis, heaven is not a place but a relationship to God. Earth also is not a place but a relationship we take to our created, or intended purpose, which is to be HUMANE. 4). Doing the Will of God. (See verse 18.) In Gut Trip Analysis doing the Will of God is to live out of the ethic of WWJD. The ONE THING to get said: When Christ is made the center of our community life, the result of deep listening is care for the unawakened that brings friends and neighbors into At-one-Ment that is an expression of wholeness and authenticity. Provide an illustration making. (Hint: my wife accuses me of selective listening. Consequently, our decision making frequently ends up in arguments or increased separation.) The point to make is the many of us really do not do deep listening. Jesus has some help for us. Share your experience of what this means. (Hint: Living out of the ethic of WWJD.) ABOUT THIS SCRIPTURE: Material from SermonStarter Matthew 18: (2005) The Key to this sermon is: To prepare this sermon, ground in your own human experience the following: 1) What is the experience of living in the Kingdom of Heaven? 121

4 (Hint: Gut Trip Analysis identifies this experience as the inner peace that comes when we return home from vacation. This is our sense of place.) 2) Ground your experience of forgiveness. 3) Ground your experience of gratitude. 4) Ground your understanding of God s Judgment or accountability. (Hint: Gut Trip Analysis uses the axiom, The reward for the deed if found in the deed itself. In this way, the judgment is associated with the deed. When we experience accountability, it is an expression of God s grace. Traditionally, this is associated with God s wrath.) ABOUT THIS SCRIPTURE: Material from SermonStarter Matthew 18: (2008) The Season of KINGDOMTIDE (the 18th Sunday after Pentecost). The emphasis during Kingdomtide is on sanctification, or on how to live the Awakened life; sometimes sanctification is about living the holy life which is the Spiritual Oasis. Gut Trip Analysis prefers the Awakened Life because it immediately grounds it in our indicative behavior; we ARE humane and gracious citizens fulfilling the expectations of the Kingdom of God. Head Trip Analysis uses the awkward interpretation about living the moral life of naughty and nice. Sanctification defines the Spiritual Oasis. The Key to this sermon is: To prepare this sermon, ground in your own human experience the following: 1) What is the experience of living in the Kingdom of Heaven? (Hint: Think like a Jew by asking how do we experience Heaven, rather than a Greek who wants to know about heaven.) Gut Trip Analysis identifies this experience as the inner peace that comes when we return home from a vacation. This is our sense of place. 2) Ground your experience of forgiveness. The experience is that of being brought into harmony with self, neighbor and the Experience of Perfect At-One-Ment. In this way we experience the Divine Commandment. 3) Ground your experience of gratitude. This is our acceptance of living out of our experience of harmony and unity. 4) Identifying the innumerable # 7. The Disciples question implies a moral issue. Jesus response implies an indicative statement; i.e., we don t DO forgiveness, we ARE FORGIVENESS. Luther implies this in his theology that we all are little Christs. We ARE what Christ is, all that is necessary is to awaken to it. The Disciples and the Pharisee always want to talk about naughty and nice. Jesus Response always pushes us to fulfill our intended creation: we ARE HUMANE A ND GRACIOUS, and because of this, it is necessary to BE what we ARE CREATED TO BE. 5) God s Judgment: God s judgment always is God s love; it is tough love. It is helpful to remember that God never punishes us, we already to a good job of that on our own. What God does is to GUARANTEE that all our actions have consequences. We obey the law, and the consequence is that we are not free to drive on the wrong side of the street. We can choose to disobey the law but when we do the consequence is likely to be a ticket! When we experience accountability it is an expression of God s grace. Traditionally, this is associated with God s wrath. 122

5 ABOUT THIS SCRIPTURE: Material from SermonStarter Matthew 18: (2008) WISE WORDS TO THE WISE: Recently, I heard one of the best sermons I ever heard, perhaps the best. The characteristic that made it the best was the use of passion and emotion. This was not the kind of emotion that manipulated people; rather it was a testimony of the pastor to his unique experience of going mountain climbing with a group of men whom he had grown to respect. As the sermon took us higher up the mountain, the deeper the bond between the men grew, and the deeper we were led on a journey of faith. At the top of the mountain, while taking Holy Communion, and attempting to sing with lungs deprived of oxygen, the men discovered themselves to be in tears; and so were we. I want to share with you some of my ruminations with this wise pastor. We have a weekly exchange of ruminant that we call cud. I wrote the following The key is emotion. Is this as good as it gets? Holy Smoke! If this is keeping our expectations low, then how much lower can we get? That is, how much deeper can we fall into contact with the EXPERIENCE of QUALITY. Good Grief, Charley Brown! You dig it deep. Thanks. Today s sermon was the most complete sermon you ve preached since you been here. It made super use of The Lowery Loop, you expressed your unique brand of selfeffacing humor, and you dropped into a touch with the Deeps of Life itself. This is what the addition of EMOTION does. You chose the right story, for the right time, in the right place. The photos just took us deeper, and the higher we climbed, the deeper we got. The key is passion. First, passion is the missing link in 98% of the sermons I ve heard, and most of which I ve given, at least, until recently. Second, this sermon supports my axiom, Teach the preach, rather than preach the teach. People are aching to be taught. This sermon can be the proto-type for the ingredients that go into feeding the 4,000, or it is the 5,000? The key to the sermon is: Before you begin writing this sermon, define the following words using your own experience of them. (I've provided how Gut Trip Analysis experiences them.) 1). Sin. In Gut Trip Analysis, sin is not a moral category but descriptive of our relationship to separation; 2). The authentic life. In Gut Trip Analysis, authenticity is the life that asks WWJD. It is the surrendered life. It is life that is lived joyful and free to be obedient to God/Love/Perfect At-One-Ment. The authentic life practices dependence on God while forsaking personal independence. 3). Matthew's use of heaven and earth. In Gut Trip Analysis, heaven is not a place but a relationship to God. Earth also is not a place but a relationship we take to our created, or intended purpose, which is to be HUMANE. 4). Doing the Will of God. (See verse 18.) In Gut Trip Analysis doing the Will of God is to live out of the ethic of WWJD. 5). Binding and loosening. (The following is copied from the SermonStarter dated, August 24, 2008, Matthew 16: ) Binding and loosening ( FROM Vss. 16: 19B,C ) --- This is a real sticking point to explain when using Head Trip Analysis, but Gut Trip Analysis comes to our rescue. Vs. 19B, Whatever is bound on earth is bound in heaven. The Awakened Community (the Church) has within its awareness the power to remind people that the human/natural is not all there is to life, there is the spiritual 123

6 dimension of this same reality. The Church is called to rescue all of creation, and all of humanity, from missing out on the fullness of our intended creation; all things human and the inanimate are to live in harmony, in unity, or in At-One-Ment with each other. Vs. 16: 19 C, Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. First, they are not objects but metaphors. Matthew, nor Jesus, is referring to dirt, but to the conditions that human/natural existence experiences. Second, the same is true for the reference to heaven. Heaven is not a place to which we escape, but rather it represents the relationship we take to the meaning and significance of our living in harmony and wonder with all things and with everyone. Consequently, when we experience the human/natural experiences that lead us into wonder, i.e., a beautiful landscape, or the birth of a puppy, then it is possible to see through these experiences to the true experience that already are present in all things, but to which we are mostly blind. 124