Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
The Transformative Power of Love and Righteousness {Reflections}
How often do we focus on winning arguments rather than embodying genuine kindness and love? Join us as we explore the profound impact of "The Power of Love and Righteousness" through personal stories and poignant reflections. Drawing from my experiences at Bethel University, I share the story of a student whose argumentative nature, despite his theological prowess, isolated him from his peers. We also reflect on a brilliant seminary professor whose moral shortcomings eclipsed his intellectual legacy, prompting us to reconsider what it truly means to live a life of righteousness and goodness.
In "Living Out Love," we turn to the teachings of Jesus and Paul to unpack the true essence of love defined by self-sacrifice and putting others before ourselves. Actions without love, no matter how wise or well-intentioned, fall short of their true potential. We invite you to follow Jesus' example, seeking wisdom to recognize and embody genuine love in all aspects of your life. Finally, we encourage you to join our gatherings at Central in Elk River or online, embracing the transformative power of love and righteousness. Let peace and love be your guiding lights on this journey.
Join us! Facebook | Instagram | www.clcelkriver.org
What is up everybody? My name is Ryan. Welcome to our Reflections podcast. I'm in the studio here with Mike Lauer and, hey, I heard this podcast. It was actually a while ago and on the podcast the host said something that struck me and I'm not even entirely sure I've formulated this all the way. It's kind of a half-baked idea, but I want to run it by you guys and see what you think, but I think it's actually quite compelling. He says this. He says he was talking about two people arguing and he said, hey, you don't always need to know who's right to know who's right. You don't have to always know who's right to know who's right.
Speaker 1:Years ago I taught at Bethel University it's a great Christian university in St Paul. I'm an alum from there and I was teaching Theology 101. It was my first time in the class as the professor and it was an incredible experience. But I had this one kid in there who just at every chance would argue with not just me and what I was saying but everybody around himself, and he was so dogmatic in what he thought was true and right in his view of Scripture and theology and all these things that he just was vehement at pushing back against most everybody else in the room and I'm not exaggerating, and the thing was he was never nice about it and he was vocally. He said he was a Christian, you know, a Jesus follower, but his theology had kind of made him into this. I don't know an argumentative monster, and it made me think like you don't have to always know who's right to know who's right. At the end of the class a bunch of the students said to me a bunch of kids were hanging out without this kid was gone and they were like, hey, we don't really understand a lot of what he was saying or even what you guys, how. You guys were going back and forth all the time. But man, we don't want to be like that guy talking about this other kid. And I was struck by the fact that, like this guy had done nothing to endear himself to his fellow classmates and whatever arguments he was making theologically nobody cared about because he was sort of being a jerk about it. And I just was reminded like you don't have to know who's right to know who's right.
Speaker 1:I had a professor when I was in seminary and this guy was incredibly brilliant and he would critique the church as an institution and operationally and how it had morphed into this thing over the course of centuries. And I don't think he was wrong, necessarily, but he would challenge people in this way. That was just, I don't know, not nice, I guess, for lack of a better term, right Turns out years after. I mean, the things he said and taught really struck me and I think have shaped me in many ways. But years later I learned that this guy had this absolute moral collapse and failure. His life had kind of fallen apart and there's probably all kinds of reasons for that. But it made me think like man. I don't know if I want to hold that guy up as a model for how I want to be in my own life, and maybe he said some great things and no doubt it doesn't take away the things that he did say.
Speaker 1:But when people were arguing about whether this guy was right or not, it made me think like you don't have to know who's right to know who's right. You know what I mean. I had a friend who just would say to me often he's like I don't read books by jerks. Now here's the thing you can find wisdom and insight and the good I mean. Find it wherever you can. And there are jerks out there who will write good and wise things, and there are jerks out there whose lives have fallen apart, who've said good things. I'm not saying it's a formula, but oftentimes you don't have to know who's right. To know who's right, I mean, jesus said only God is good. So it's like good luck finding someone who's entirely good. That only says good things.
Speaker 1:But here's the thing. The deeper meaning here, I think, is the question what are we aiming at? We all have this sense, I think, in our lives, if you're paying any attention, that we should be aiming at something, and ideally, this is what philosophy is all about. You want to aim at something high or lofty or the good. This is why people wish upon stars, because stars are like this immutable thing in the sky. It's high and beautiful and there's a sense, I think, in ancient world that these are things you can wish upon. And so I do think we have this sense, most often as human beings, of when we see those kinds of things in the world the good, the high, the lofty things we should aim at or, in essence, wish upon.
Speaker 1:This is what I would call God. God is one of the ways to define. God is that which. There is no other thing that is greater, that exists. This is a great definition for God. It's the greatest thing that exists among all the things, right, although God is not a thing. But that's another podcast for another day. But anyway, here's what the good and the lofty and the godly looks like to me, and this is what philosophers for many, many years have debated what is the good and what does it mean to be and live and produce the good? But here's what I would say For me, and this goes back to these stories the good is always. It always looks like love. Without love, I think it really is hard to find the good. Do you know what I mean? And also not just love, but love in action. So I love what, no pun intended.
Speaker 1:I love what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians, this often quoted verse. But Paul writes this if I speak in tongues of men or of angels, like if I speak with eloquence and wisdom and insight and profundity, but I don't have love. And this is Paul, by the way, paul who wrote most of the New Testament. Paul says if I do that, if I speak in the tongues of angels and of men, but I don't have love. I'm only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. In other words, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what you say or how wise you are, how profound you are. If you do anything without the good, the loving, then it doesn't matter. You're a loud and noisy gong and I think, as Christians especially, the call is that to love our neighbors as ourselves, jesus says, and without that it doesn't matter what you do. You don't have to know who's right. To know who's right and this is why I think we gravitate at least I do to the Jesus story.
Speaker 1:I mean watching Jesus argue with the Pharisees you know, about whether or not the disciples should pick wheat on the Sabbath or heal a guy who's lame on the Sabbath, like how asinine is it that these guys were like berating Jesus for healing a dude on the Sabbath. And it wasn't all the Pharisees. There were some good Pharisees, of course, but these ones that get kind of picked on in the gospels, it's like you don't have to know who's right to know who's right. Or watching Jesus kneel to rescue the woman caught in adultery. You know this woman not she wasn't innocent, but this woman sort of dragged out in front of the public arena to be indicted. And, by the way, where's the man in this scenario? The guy she was with, who was also committing adultery, is nowhere to be found. And Jesus sort of handles this situation beautifully in the Gospels. And you don't have to know who's right to know who's right and, of course, watching Jesus go to the cross, you know.
Speaker 1:1 John says this is how we know what love is. So if you're wondering, what does it mean to be a person of love? And when Paul writes if I do these things but I don't have love, then I'm only a loud gong, what does that mean? Well, love looks like this that Jesus came down and died for us and now go to the same for your brothers and your sisters. So love is that it's self-sacrifice, giving up of yourself on behalf of others, even, as in Jesus' case, your enemies, those that don't like you. So sort of putting ourselves in the gap on behalf of others. This is what love is, it looks like and this is why we love. I think this is why I love the Jesus story. It's the greatest love story of all time.
Speaker 1:So I think the invitation today is to be people of love. To be people of the cross. It doesn't matter what we say all the time. Now look again, I do think there are people that write wise things and not wise things, and we should use discernment to kind of understand those, of course. But, friends, if we do anything and don't do it in love, it doesn't matter and it won't be long lasting. And the invitation of Jesus is to follow him, even to the point of death on a cross on behalf of the world. So today, may you understand and know that you don't have to know who's right to know who's right. May you have wisdom enough to know where's the love and how to be people of love and follow Jesus in his behavior and action of love in the world on behalf of others. All right, peace, love you guys.
Speaker 2:Hey, if you enjoy this show, I'd love to have you share it with some friends. And don't forget, you are always welcome to join us in person at Central in Elk River at 830, which is our liturgical gathering, or at 10 o'clock, our modern gathering, or you can check us out online at clcelkriverorg Peace.
