An excerpt from A Faith to Meet Our Fears
by Charles B. Bugg

What is the heart of the Christian faith? Is it right beliefs? Of course, doctrine is vital, but some would have us believe that as long as our minds affirm the “right” things, then we are right. Or is the heart of our faith right behavior? Jesus certainly told his followers that there were ethical standards for them to follow. Jesus called on his listeners to do as well as to believe.

Yet, I would contend that the heart of the Christian faith is right relationships. At least the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew seems to indicate this. How do we relate to the world? “You are the salt of the earth...Your are the light of the world.” How do we relate to our spouse? “But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” How do we relate to our enemies? “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

Let’s face it. These are hard words. For some of us who preach, our tendency is to try to tone them down. I have people in my congregation who have been through divorces. Maybe the reason wasn’t “martial unfaithfulness.” Maybe they divorced because of physical or emotional abuse. Maybe they tried everything they knew to do to make the marriage work. Am I to tell these people who are trying to put shattered lives back together that if they remarry it’s adultery?

I confess I don’t take Jesus’ words on divorce literally. However, I do try to take them seriously. I do try to interpret them in the context of their time. Women were regarded generally as property, not persons. Men could easily get divorces. Jesus was taking marriage seriously and sacredly. Salt and light to the world, marriage, loving our enemies—all of these relationships are a part of the fabric of our lives.

But another relationship is even more central in the Sermon of the Mount. That is our relationship to God. Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount with the beatitude, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Happy, Jesus says, is the person who realizes her need for God. Really joyful is the one who knows more than anything else that he is spiritually bankrupt and depends utterly on God. In the sermon, Jesus encourages us to ask, seek, and knock on the door of God. It’s our invitation to intimacy, and as Helmut Thielickke has observed, the wonderful news is that God give us a door on which we can knock.

In the middle of the sermon, Jesus offers his disciples a model prayer. Prayer is a powerful way be which we open ourselves to God. Jesus doesn’t admonish or scold his followers, but he gently guides them into the things that move them from saying prayers to genuine praying. The Lord’s Prayer is fairly simple—just fifty-seven words in the Greek. No long-winded, look-at-me stuff like the hypocrites on the street corner, but straightforward, simple, and short.

Forgiveness is among the areas that Jesus calls us to make a matter of prayer. “Give us this day our daily bread,” Jesus teaches, and then he instructs, “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” On the surface nothing seems terribly strange about this request. Most religions teach people to forgive. When I go to a different church, and the Lord’s Prayer is said, the main thing on my mind is whether I use “trespasses” or “debts.” I was recently at a chapel service at Princeton Theological Seminary. The order of worship called for everyone to say together the Lord’s Prayer. The order didn’t specify “debts” or “trespasses.” When the time came I said “trespasses.” Everyone else said “debts.” I felt I should ask for forgiveness.

Whatever word we use, however, the remarkable thing is that this petition expects something of us, which is different from the other petitions. Jesus didn’t say, “Give us this day our daily bread even as we help to feed the hungry.” Neither did Jesus say, “And lead us not into temptation as we assist others to avoid the traps.” When it comes to forgiveness, though, there is an expectation of us as well as God. “Forgive us our debts,” Jesus taught, and then the expectation of you and me, “as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

Charles Bugg is the author of "A Faith to Meet Our Fears." To order, go to the online bookpage or call 1-800-747-3016.

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