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Well hey everybody, my name is Gregg Hampton. I am one of the pastors here. If we've never

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met it's probably because baseball season and vacation. So I am back. We were, I was

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in Colorado last week on a trip with my boys and the week before I was in Michigan serving

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at the camp that my oldest son is serving at and I have a certain number of vacation

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Sundays I try to use and save for things like that and so I've been using those up. So I'm

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really looking forward to the rest of the year with you guys. And we've been going through

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the gospel according to John throughout the summer and we've heard from a lot of different

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voices, a lot of different preachers are able to join us especially here from our congregation.

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I'm so grateful for all the different people that we have that preach from Scott to Alex

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to Jen to Chris. I'm just thankful for all of their voices. If we've never met I would

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love to have coffee with you. Put it on your connection card that you'd like to have coffee.

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I'll buy the coffee wherever you want. If you don't like coffee I'll buy the soda or

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if you're cheap we'll go water. Whatever you want. I'll be happy to meet with you and get

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to know you and especially if you want to talk about Jesus. I really like talking about

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Jesus. Let's go ahead and grab our Bibles. We're going to jump into the scriptures. If

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you don't have a Bible there's a Bible on the table. You can grab one of those or you

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can take one from the lobby and take that home with you. It's free. Or you can download

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a Bible from any of the digital app stores. We are going to be a course in John and we're

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going to be John 16. It goes Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans. If you see any of

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those you know that you're in the right neighborhood. John 16 starting verse 1 and we have a tradition

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of standing as we read the scriptures. As you are able and give your scriptures your

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full attention you can also do that as you sit if that is what you prefer. John 16 verse

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1 says this. I have said these things to you. This is Jesus speaking. I have said these

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things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed

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an hour is coming when those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering

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worship to God. And they will do this because they have not known the Father or me but I

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have said these things to you so that when their hour comes you may remember that I have

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told you about them. As we pray here I'm going to ask that you also pray for me and for this

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sermon. Father God we thank you for your scripture. We thank you that they have persisted throughout

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the millennia that we have them to read, to learn from, to consider. And God I pray that

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whatever you have for us to learn today that it would stick. That it would become a part

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of the framework of our faith. That our faith would become stronger as we become more like

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your son Jesus. Amen. Amen. You all can have a seat. Thanks. Do you all know what a lectionary

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is? Show of hands. Familiar with what a lectionary is? Typically a lectionary is a three year

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path through the scriptures. Churches and denominations will edit together a lectionary

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and use that throughout the course of three years. A congregation will use this so that

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they get a broad experience across many parts of the Bible. Each Sunday in the course of

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the service if you're using a lectionary you would read from the Psalms, from the first

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testament, from the book of Acts, from one of the epistles or letters that's in the new

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testament and then of course there would be a reading from one of the gospels. But in

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some cases a lectionary is also designed to avoid certain passages that for one reason

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or another might be problematic. In reference to today's passage the interpreters commentary

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says this, fortunately no Sunday lectionary features these early verses of chapter 16.

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They would almost certainly be heard in the modern period as Jewish violence directed

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at pious Christians. See these verses they don't find their way into the lectionary because

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the way that a lectionary is typically used in a lot of churches is those verses just

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get read throughout the service. The sermon isn't always based off of the verses that

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you heard. Does that make sense? And so a lot of times a verse would get read from a

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lectionary or in a congregation setting with no explanation. And so what the interpreters

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commentary is saying that it's generally beneficial for this not to be read as just a part of

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a lectionary because no explanation would then come along with it and if you're reading

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it at face value then all you would think was about Jewish violence towards early pious

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Christians. Truth is that without a question, without a doubt these verses and verses like

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them have been used to justify violence and prejudice towards the Jewish people. Through

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the years people have read these words in John and basically said well what goes around

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comes around. They did it so we can do it. Now if you keep reading chapter 16, this is

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the same chapter where Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit how the Holy Spirit will be

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our comforter, our counselor, will convict the world of sin, will remind us all the things

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that he had taught us and that is what I originally wanted to focus on today. But some things

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have happened recently in our world related to violence and so I think that we need to

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focus on this subject instead because we need to understand something. Our beliefs and I

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hope everyone's listening, our beliefs can hurt people. We have to understand that deeply

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held beliefs will eventually drive our actions. We don't just think or speak we end up doing

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and being. That is the very point of following Jesus so that we will think and be and do

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as Jesus did. We learn about Jesus so that then we will be like Jesus and so it is really

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really important and it really really matters what we believe about God and about other

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people. Amen? I said amen? Yeah. In these verses Jesus is talking specifically about

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how early on parts of, hear me, parts of Judaism would reject what was happening with this

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new way of believing and that some of these new Christians almost exclusively Jews, we

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have to remember this, that almost all the original Jews, all the original Christians

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were Jewish people and so they would continue to go to their synagogues as part of their

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worship. So Jesus is saying some of you will be pushed out of the synagogue and in some

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cases some of you might lose your lives and for a very short period in history this did

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happen but it was not on a large scale. The large scale persecution of Christians didn't

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come from local Jewish leaders y'all. It came from the Roman government. The horrific reality

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is that ever since then segments of Christianity have justified violence in the name of our

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Christian beliefs including violence against the Jewish people specifically because of

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verses like this. The man that began what is called the Lutheran Church is the same

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man that began what was called the Reformation. Over 500 years ago in the 1500s his name was,

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say it with me if anyone knows, Martin Luther. Yeah. The Lutheran Church is named for him

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and he was right about a great deal of things. He had some great theology but he was also

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a racist. He was staunchly anti-Semitic towards Jews. He literally wrote a book that is called

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The Jews and Their Lies and I will not quote anything from the book that he wrote about

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this because even as quotes they do not belong in the pulpit. But I will quote what experts

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have to say about those beliefs. They say Luther's rage and increasing religious and

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political power were accompanied by a program for protecting Christian society from Jewish

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influence and contamination by burning or raising synagogues, destroying Jewish homes,

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confiscating Jewish holy books, banning Jewish religious worship, expropriating Jewish money

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and deporting Jews. In 1983 the Lutheran World Federation said the sins of Luther's anti-Jewish

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remarks, the violence of his attacks on the Jews must be acknowledged with deep distress.

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And in 1994 the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America stated in the spirit of truth telling

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we who bear his name and heritage must with pain acknowledge Luther's anti-Judaic diatribe

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and the violent recommendations of his later writings against the Jewish people. And they

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added, we particularly deplore the appropriation of Luther's words by modern anti-Semites for

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the teaching of hatred towards Judaism or toward the Jewish people in our day. It is

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undeniable that Luther's beliefs and what he taught about the Jewish people led to violence

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against the Jewish people. It's undeniable that Luther's beliefs were formed by how

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he read the Bible. Meaning how he interpreted the Bible led to how other people acted. Does

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that make sense? What happens in a pulpit matters. What gets said in a pulpit matters.

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What and how we believe matters. Because what we believe can lead to hurting others and

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then believing that it was our right to do so. Now think back to the first song that

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we sang today. I know it was like 37 minutes ago. That song is called Praise. It's upbeat,

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it's catchy, it is relatively easy to sing. And as a worship leader I'll tell you right

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now one of the hardest kinds of songs to find for a congregation is a fast song that's easy

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for a congregation to sing. And so the first time I heard this song I knew that I liked

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it and I knew that I wanted us to sing it. But if you hear this song on K-Love or if

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you were to go online or to Apple Music or your preferred streaming music choice you

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will be confused by the words you hear. Because before we sang that song for the first time

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I changed half the lyrics. The original song says, I'll praise when outnumbered, I'll praise

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when surrounded, because praise is the water my enemies drown in. We sing, I'll praise

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when outnumbered, praise when surrounded, because praise is the answer when my enemies

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shouting. The original words say, my praise is a weapon, it's more than a sound, my praise

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is the shout that brings Jericho down. We sing, my praise is a lesson, it's more than

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a sound, and to the next generation my praise will resound. Why did I change the words?

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Because we do not need words of violence in our songs of worship. Is it true that the

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Bible says that the armies of Egypt drowned when they were chasing the Israelites? Yes.

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Does Jesus tell us to hope that our enemies drown? No. Does the Bible say the walls of

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Jericho fell and that everyone except Rahab's family died? Yes. Does Jesus teach us to hope

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the homes of our enemies are demolished and that only the people that help us survive?

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No. Jesus specifically tells me to love my enemies, to pray for those that persecute me.

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When the disciples wanted to call fire down from heaven onto people that disagreed with

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them, Jesus corrected them. When they wanted to be great rulers, Jesus said, do not lower

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your authority over others, but the first shall be last and the last shall be first.

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When Peter drew his sword, in the moment that the authorities were arresting his Lord, his

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savior, his rabbi, and cut off the ear of someone nearby, Jesus picked up the ear, healed

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the man, looked at Peter and said, if you live by the sword, you will die by the sword.

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And then he allowed himself to be arrested and murdered by the powers of this world.

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The example of Jesus is nonviolence. This past year, we have sung the song praise eight

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times. And if we hadn't changed the words, that would have been eight times that we taught

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you to put violence in your mouth, that we taught your children to put violence in their

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mouths. And not just words in their mouth, but as a form of worship. Do you understand

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why that is so important, that we not worship God with violence? It's deeply problematic

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when violence is not the way of Jesus, but we make it a way of worshiping Jesus. Martin

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Luther used his beliefs to advocate for violence. Martin Luther King Jr. used his beliefs to

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advocate for peace. He said, nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral

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questions of our time. The need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting

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to oppression and violence. He said, we must evolve for all human conflict, a method which

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rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. And the foundation of such a method is love.

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Eight days ago, someone fired a gun at the former president because of beliefs. People

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were injured, someone died. And while I have nothing to say to you about who you should

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vote for specifically, as a Christian pastor, I have a very strong belief about who we are

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allowed to murder or who we should hope gets hurt. And the answer is no one. If we celebrate

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violence, we misunderstand the character and person of Jesus. Believing in Jesus, following

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Jesus is meant to shape our actions into the likeness of Jesus. And that extends beyond

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the subject of violence to the problem of racism, to sexism, to ableism, to bigotry,

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to every form of discrimination. They have all been justified in the name of Jesus at

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one point or another, and it has all been wrong. So what do we do about it? We've always

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wanted, and you've heard me say it many times, that we want to foster a church community

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here that makes room for people that believe different things. The pastor and author Rich

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Velodas says about being a pastor, he says, in my role as a pastor, I'm not trying to

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get everyone to agree on everything. As much as I'm attempting to create environments where

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our disagreements don't automatically become cause for disunity. This is a space that is

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not meant to get everyone to agree about everything. It is meant to be a space where disagreeing

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about something does not automatically become cause for disunity or even division. Very

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specifically I want to say this. In the last few months I have talked with multiple people

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that are gay or lesbian, and they have all asked me if this is actually a church where

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they could come to and be safe and be affirmed for who they are. And I've told them what

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I believe. I've told them that I am an affirming person, that I will accept you exactly as

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you are, and I believe that God will lead you in your life. But I also tell them what

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I also think is true. I told them we have never told everyone at this church that they

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have to believe the same thing. And while I believe and hope that it will be a safe place

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for you, if you ever feel that someone was not kind to you, please come to me and I will

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be a part of healing that. Because we are a place where we do not need to agree or believe

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all of the same things but Jesus. Robert Jones Jr., also known as the son of Baldwin, said

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that we can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression

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and denial of my humanity and right to exist. So for me as a pastor of this house, I believe

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that this is a place for everyone. We will vote for different people. We will, listen,

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we will underline different parts of our Bibles. There is a spectrum of theological beliefs

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that exist in this room, but I want to make it clear specifically that violence, whether

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it be verbal, social, psychological, or physical, will not be condoned or celebrated from this

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pulpit. And I have no interest in teaching the Bible in a way that leads to violence

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against anyone else. Because Jesus took the violence of this world on the cross. And if

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we are resurrected with Jesus into new life, then let us let violence die in the grave.

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If our beliefs, if our beliefs can lead to hurting others, then our beliefs can also

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lead to loving others. Let us be a church, congregation, let us be individuals that follow

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and believe in Jesus Christ, the only Son of God in a way that leads to loving others.

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Amen? Amen.