If we live in a new Kingdom, not of this world, how then are we to interact with the governments of this world? While we are to submit, we also must necessarily subvert.

How political is the gospel? As it turns out, it is political through and through

We are in the political ad season, with every candidate promising that they’ll look out for your interests and, at the same time, telling us the other won’t. “I care about you” is the theme of them all, and for good reason. All politicians know one inevitable human fact – we care about ourselves, and often to the detriment of the good of others. Jesus here tells his disciples that this cannot be so for them. But that inevitable human fact is hard to shake. That is why you need to learn humility.

The Bible is a wonderful book. Written over the course of a millennium, in different languages through the eyes of different cultures and people, it hits on a variety of subjects. Money, sex, anger, power, war are huge issues, but it also tackles smaller ones – friendship, speech, time-management, philosophy, even at times giving us a look at simple personal correspondence. Yet, there is one driving question that lingers in the background, one thing that is the Big Thing in the Bible – how do we gain eternal life? Jesus is presented with that very question and gives a surprising answer.

Marriage is uniquely important in the Bible. In Genesis, we find in the opening two chapters three basic points: God has created everything that is not himself; Humans were made in his image; and humans are given into marriage. That’s quite a place of importance for marriage! The fact that God calls his people his bride, that Jesus is the bridegroom, and one of the few pictures we have of heaven describe it as a wedding feast shows that the emphasis in Genesis is not lost. Today, we see the importance that marriage has in Jesus’ eyes, but also the importance of those who do not fit into that mold.

Everyone has rules. Very few people are true anarchists, and even they are probably kidding themselves. We may differ on what they are, but we all believe that some things are right and some wrong; and doing justice is nothing more than to right the world’s wrongs. But where does forgiveness fit in? What should we forgive, or how much? Today, we follow Peter’s question, and Jesus’ quite difficult answer, and see what it means for us

Discipline, no matter the form, is difficult stuff. No matter how we need to be disciplined, the fact that we must work at it indicates our deficiency in some way. At times, that is just working on the basics of the Christian life, becoming more like Christ in our thoughts and actions. But at other times, more outside help is needed. As we continue to think through how we are to live together as community, Jesus today commands that we be loving one another through discipline. But what does that look like?

Veterinarians are not novel and new things; ever since there has been a need to keep working animals upright and pulling, there has been a need to have people to keep them that way. Quickly, animal care spread from animals that do work for us to the animals that provide for us. The church is both the sheep and paradoxically the vet at the same time. We are to keep each other whole and healed, and work hard to prevent sin and its sickness from spreading.

The Olympics are in full swing, and it is hard not to think of both the triumphs and failures of the past. There are many times that teams, with much more individual talent have failed their ultimate test. USA Basketball, loaded with some of the most talented players in history, were humiliated when they took only a bronze medal in 2004 – the precise opposite of the “Miracle on Ice” of 1980. We know well that it is not just individual talent, but how that talent works together that matters. Jesus has instructed us on our own individual morality in the Sermon on the Mount; now he turns to teaching us how to play well together. These are sermons for the church, beginning in the smallest of places: children

We think that we would love to get whatever it is our hearts desire. To have a genie grant us wishes, or the power and money to get what we want. Some think that this is precisely what Jesus holds out to us, especially in passages like the one before us. “Nothing will be impossible for you” is quite the promise – but what does Jesus mean by that? And what role does our faith play in this great promise? More than you may think!