Pastor Sherry’s message for 10/25/26

Scriptures: Matt. 22:34-46; Deut. 34:1-12; Ps. 90:1-6, 13-17; 1 Thess. 2:1-8

At the Church Conference that I recently attended, in Montgomery, Alabama, the focus was on how to repair relational ruptures. It was one of the best church seminars I had ever experienced, and I would love to share what was taught with you today. However I believe the Lord wants me to focus on another tropic: Loving the Unlovely.

I stayed at the home of a woman deacon who runs a Celebrate Recovery Program (Christian AA). She is also a Certified Addictions Counselor. The large church she serves is a wealthy one and many of its members are the movers and shakers of her city. She has baptized 24 adults from CR in the past 9 months, but they don’t look or act like the rest of the congregation. Do you remember when I read to you about the homeless lady who brought her bicycle into a Sunday worship service in South Georgia? (from Theo of Golden) My friend’s congregation is having similar trouble accepting the new church members from CR. They don’t look, act, or even smell like the rest of the congregation–some have even left the sanctuary to go outside to smoke during the reading of the Gospel. They have then perceived critical looks and comments and thus some of the 24 have stopped attending church.

You see, they learn in CRP that Jesus loves them, but they doubt they will experience the same love from His body, the Church. They look around at church goers and say, “Hypocrites!” They see us as judgmental, critical of them, and of their lifestyles, dress, and habits. Sometimes I think they are so sure the congregation will reject them that they reject the church first. While we may be able to win them over to Jesus because He loves them and wants to heal and bless them—even though they cannot see Him–we do much less well at talking them into getting involved with other followers of Christ—who they can see. I have shared with you now several times what G.K.Chesterton, the noted British author, once said 100 years ago”Jesus…tells us to love our neighbors. Elsewhere the Bible tells us Jesus said we should love our enemies. This is because, generally speaking, they are the same people.”

(GKChesterton quotes, http://www.goodreads.com, 10/21/26.)

How exactly do we go about loving the seemingly unlovely? Not just those who don’t dress or act like us, but also those who may have offended us or harmed us? Our lessons today speak to this point:

A. First of all, Jesus instructs us on the supreme importance of love in Matthew 22:34-46: The Pharisees and now the Sadducees are colluding again to try to trap Jesus. This is like the strange modern coalition of Jihadist Moslems and the Democratic Socialists, who have united only around their hatred for America. The Sadducees and Pharisees joined together in their case, their hatred, envy, and fear of Jesus. A Pharisee asks Jesus (v.36, NLT), Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the Law of Moses?

Now bear in mind they taught there were as many as 613 commandments. Hoping to trip Him up, the Pharisee is asking Him to commit to what’s the most important of all 613. They are saying, “Give us the bottom line; What’s our takeaway? Just cut to the chase, and bear in mind that we will make a huge deal over the ones You omit!” So Jesus, who is great at getting to the bottom line, says two things matter most in this life: Citing Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, Jesus ties them together as the greatest commandment.

Deuteronomy 6:5 is the Shema, which orthodox Jews repeated every day–>Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Leviticus 19:18 reads…love your neighbor as yourself. We tend to assume these two laws were created by Christ, but God the Father had already set them out early on in the Torah.

Then Jesus politely shuts them up by tossing them a riddle from Psalm 110: If the Messiah is David’s son (descendant), how can He also be David’s master? This is for them an unanswerable question, somewhat like, “Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?” From this side of the Cross, we know the answer is “Jesus is Lord of all,” even King David. What the crowd understands is that Jesus has posed to them a seemingly unanswerable question to counter their difficult question, thereby besting them at their own game.

As Christ followers, we are to love God above all things, and love our neighbors—even the ones we don’t look like or care to hang around with–as ourselves. A woman pastor I know recently was asked by her next door neighbor—a nominal Christian who does not attend church now—to lead her friends and family members in a prayer for her recently deceased husband at his funeral. She agreed. But when she arrived at the funeral home, she discovered that no one had created an order of service and the widow did not know what is usually done. The funeral director asked my friend to lead the service, on the spot.  She had looked around the gathering and noticed motorcycle bikers in their distinctive jackets, a number of “rockers”—musicians dressed in black, with long hair and multiple tats and piercings—and some folks who looked to be drugged out. This was not her normal congregation. So, before things began, my friend asked God to give her the eyes and heart of Jesus, so she could love these folks as He does. They were not her usual mix of parishioners, but the Lord did give her a love for them, so she was able to engage them in prayer and in story telling about the deceased. He had been a drummer in several bands, could fix anything having to do with electricity, plumbing, cars, or carpentry, and was very generous in helping others. He had helped my pastor friend several times. What surprised her the most, however, were the “Amens!” and “Hallelujahs” she heard as she finished up the service with prayer. These folks didn’t look like her people—at first brush—but she discovered they were her people.

    How do we love the “unlovely?” We ask Jesus to help us see them as He does. We take on the mind of Christ, and we choose to love them. This means we also have to have a healthy love for ourselves. As they say in the small town in which I live, “You can’t get back from where you ain’t been!” We can’t give to others what we lack in ourselves. We have to love ourselves in order to love others. To qualify as healthy self-love, we can’t be either arrogant or narcissistic; nor should we be so self-effacing as to appear like we hate ourselves. We are to love God and others because God commanded us to. We are to love God and others because Jesus said to do so. We are to love God and others because this is what wins the world to Christ!

Let’s look at our other Scripture lessons to see if there are hints as to how we accomplish this:

B. Deuteronomy 43:1-12 describes the death of Moses, at 120YO.

Scholars say this ought to be the first chapter of Joshua. We know Moses wrote Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy—the Torah (Law). But how could he write this last chapter about his own death? Maybe Moses was being prophetic? Or perhaps his successor, Joshua, recorded what God told him (v. 9 says Joshua was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid hands on him). Verse 6 tells us He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is.

Who was the HE? God; God the Father probably had His angels do it, while He presided—talk ab out a great funeral! Some scholars say, He died by a kiss of God—that the Lord kissed him into eternity. This too would be a marvelous way to go! The Israelites honored Moses by grieving for him for 30 days.

Now, why did God see to his burial? Verse 10 tells us, Since then [until Jesus], no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD Knew face to face. Because Moses loved God and served God, our God remained with him until the end of this life and into the one beyond. If we love and serve Him with this kind of dedication and obedience, He will welcome us into eternity with open arms!

C. Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17–>Tells us that grasping the concept of eternity is beyond the capacity of our earthly intellect. Seriously, think about it for long and it will give you a headache. Moses wrote this Psalm in about 1400 BC. Now, having shepherded the children of Israel out of Egypt (1-2 million of them), and learning from God that none of them (except Joshua and Caleb) would enter the Promised Land—due to lack of trust in God to help them conquer the tribes living there—I think it is safe to say that Moses attended a lot of funerals! Thus, he wrote this psalm which has been called a Psalm of Death.

He lived to be 120, and yet he refers to how brief life is! Our lives are like a watch in the night. Our lives are like the new grass of the morning—though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered. Then he contrasts our lifespan with God’s: (v.2)–>from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. Literally, in the Hebrew, that means, from vanishing point to vanishing point; from east to west or from the past into the future. So, we can say, Before time was, God existed; when time shall be no more, God will still exist. God never was; there is never a time when God will be. God simply is—remember, He calls Himself I am who I am. He lives outside of time; He always is. 

So, in light of God’s eternity, Moses asks God to Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. We need to remember that we are mortal. Moses insists that we make our days count by demonstrating or living out God’s love to others.

D. 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8  In this  passage, Paul insists we make our days count by sharing the Gospel with others. Sometimes we do this with our words; but more often we demonstrate the Gospel by what we do. Paul says he did not come to the Thessalonians out of self-serving motives, like for money,

for prestige or honor, or for position. He came to them out of love for Christ. That’s how we make our days count. We do what God has put before us to do—like leading a funeral for basically persons one has never met, out of love for Christ and for His people.

Our Lord’s view of what’s crucial in this life ought to be ours as well, right? The upcoming election is certainly very important—I hope you will make every effort to vote. But even this election is not as important as loving God and loving others. Lord Jesus, please give us your heart and your eyes as we view and interact with others. Help us to love our neighbors as ourselves—and especially the ones we may not view as lovely. Amen!

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams