02/15/26 Put Your Heart Into It

0:31 a reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew Chapter 5, verses 17 through 37. Jesus said to his disciples, Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish, but to fulfill. Amen. I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law until all things have taken place. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven. I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, you shall not kill, and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.

1:24 But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. And whoever says to his brother, Rakhah, will be answerable to the Sanhedrin. and whoever says you fool will be liable to fiery Gehenna. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar. Go first and be reconciled with your brother and then come and offer your gift. Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court. Otherwise, your opponent will hand you over to the judge and the judge will hand you over to the guard and the guard will throw you into prison. Amen. I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny. You have heard that it was said you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you, whoever looks, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.

2:19 It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into Gehenna. It was also said, whoever divorces his wife must give her a bill of divorce. But I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, unless the marriage is unlawful, causes her to commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

2:49 Again, you have heard it was said to your ancestors, do not make a false oath, but make good to the Lord all that you vow. But I say to you, do not swear at all, not by heaven, for it is God's throne, nor by the earth, for it is his footstool, nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. Do not swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. Let your yes mean yes, and your no mean no. Anything more is from the evil one. The Gospel of the Lord. Wait till you have a seat. So I don't know if you have heard of a place called Legionville. Has anyone heard of a camp that's called Legionville? So maybe you have, you know the kids who stand at the crosswalk and help you, we have the flags, the crossing guard kids, you know, Minnesota.

3:43 Okay. So basically Legionville is a camp where those kids get trained. So when I was in fifth grade, I got to, I got to be a camp crossing guard captain. So I went to Legionville. Then when I was 17 years old, I was like a junior, senior high school. My first job, my first real job was I was a camp counselor at Legionville. And it was the best. You guys, it was so much fun. It was, I would be assigned, as a 17-year-old, I'd be assigned up to 30 fifth graders for the entire week. We'd get there, they would arrive at 1 o'clock on Sunday. They'd leave around 10 or 11 o'clock Saturday morning. And so basically, the entire time I was in charge, from morning through the night, we slept in the same cabins as them. I was that 17 year old me was in charge of up to 30 fifth graders it was awesome I was so bad at it like I was really really bad I loved it I loved the job I mean we did the math at one point I think we figured out we were making 23 cents an hour but they were incredible I mean they were getting trained so they had like you know canoeing we had waterfront uh they were getting trained to be on the crosswalk so they had first aid they had safety training we had a state trooper would come in every week. So I was like laying the groundwork for being friends with troopers. It was awesome because I knew what my future would hold. Seeing a lot of them on the side of the road. And I was just like, it was awesome. And I was so bad at it. Some of the greatest men I've ever known in my life were my bosses. The one man named Todd Lisio. Todd was just one of my actual heroes in life. His brother, Tim Peabody, which is his real name. Tim Peabody, another hero.

5:11 A guy, Tom Sanford. Tom Sanford had been an army drill instructor. Then he put him in charge of fifth graders and me. And it was great. And again, I was so bad at that first summer. It was just, I was, and it wasn't like I was doing something wrong. I did, here's the thing. I did everything they asked me to do. Like I showed up when they asked me to show up. I did literally everything they said, hey, go do this. I did it. And I was so bad at it. It was one of the situations where, again whatever they asked me to do I would do but here's the problem the problem was I knew the summer would be long and I knew that I was in charge of up to 30 fifth graders for the entire summer every week after week and so I thought okay I'm going into the week going into the summer I'm going to pace myself I don't want to burn out I don't want to I don't want to like get all in and just be at the end of the summer just completely fried so I'm just gonna I'm gonna ease in I'm just going to, I'll do everything they ask me to do, and that's all. But there was another guy, he was in my grade, his name was Justin Eisel, and Justin had been a camper the year before me, my first year, it was his second year, and Justin showed up, and he just, he did it differently, it was just one of the situations. Now, here's the thing, I and Justin, we did the exact same things, but Justin did it differently. He did what they asked, I did what they asked. It wasn't what we were doing, it was how we were doing it again he showed up differently he showed we both wanted to be there but Justin wanted to be there every camper would just go down we all the other counselors just when you're near Justin you just had fun which I hear is actually the point of camp and I learned something watching Justin that first year at this the idea is basically this if I ever come back if I ever make this like my career at least for the next 10 years if I ever make this my job what I need to do is I need to do it like Justin because how Justin did it, I don't know how to say it other than this. He showed up and he put his heart into it. That for him, it wasn't about just checking a box. It was about changing lives. For me, it was about living. For him, it was about living. And there was one

7:21 difference. The one difference between me that first year and Justin was one step. we did the exact same what's it was how he showed up he showed up and he put his heart into it and you realize how much of life is this how much of life is just showing up how much of life is just hey do the thing i mean honestly think about here we are sunday night tomorrow all of the tasks that you have to do tomorrow all the work you have to do tomorrow what you're going to be asked to do the rest of this week is show up do the work show up do the task show up do the thing all that is good. The question is not, will you show up? The question is, how will you show up?

8:02 Because a lot of times I'm like, hey, I'm here. It's good enough. But I think in the gospel today, Jesus is breaking through to another level. Here we have the Sermon on the Mount, right? We've been listening to the sermon for the last couple weeks. And Jesus starts it off by saying today, don't think I've come to abolish the law. I've come to fulfill it. And here's the thing about Jesus. Jesus completely fulfills the Old Testament. Like all the Old Testament prophecies, Jesus fulfills them. All the Old Testament sacrifices that Jesus on the cross in the Eucharist, Jesus fulfills them. Like everything that God wants us to know about his heart in the Old Testament, Jesus fulfills every single one of those. So here's the thing. Jesus says, basically, I'm fulfilling all of the Old Testament prophecies. But here's the thing. You need to fulfill it too. that before this you got the commandments great there's more that's why he says you've heard it was said to your people of old don't murder i go even further you've heard it was said don't commit adultery great don't goes even further basically jesus is saying don't just show up and do the thing here's what i need i need you to put your heart into it Thank you.

9:13 because I don't know about you, but let's be honest. The first time I ever read The Sermon on the Mount, this gospel for today, as a high schooler, it's kind of intimidating. I don't know if you've ever noticed that. I remember thinking, as a high schooler, like, okay, thou shalt not murder. Check. Easy. No problem. I've made it this far. And then Jesus is like, don't even get angry at your brother. I'm like, well, I was born angry at my brother, so I don't know what to... Jesus says, don't commit adultery. I'm like, ha ha, piece of cake. As a 17-year-old, then he says, don't look lustfully at a person. I'm like, oh no, I'm cooked.

9:51 Because there's one thing, right? To be able to say, no, I'm doing all the things. At least I'm trying. We can look at Jesus and say, God, isn't it enough? Like I'm showing up. Isn't that what I'm supposed to do? We have to realize in the gospel today, Jesus is calling us to something new. And here's the thing. Jesus is not giving us a new weight to carry. he's giving us a new way to carry the weight.

10:17 He's not giving us a new commandment. He's giving us a new way to live. Because here's the problem. How do we usually show up? How do we usually show up to do the thing? How do we usually show up to do the task? I think we have one of three things we usually choose. I show up and I want to do the minimum. Or I show up with resistance. Or I show up and I just want to get through it. I just want to endure it. So we show up and do the minimum. Like I do the right thing, but I keep my heart my own. I don't know if any of you are like box checkers. Like you like checklists. I like checklists. Like all of my life is, I'm surrounded by checklists. I have the, here's the list for today. Here's the task for today. I love the box checking because it helps get things done. Check the box. The problem is this. The problem is when I bring box checking into relationships.

11:08 Again, it's efficient. It's a productive way to get your work done. but imagine being a box checker when it, Valentine's Day, flowers ordered, check, dinner reservations, check, dinner eaten, check, said I love you three times, check, check, check. What a romantic. Imagine taking that box checking mentality into our relationship with God. Some of us will do that. Some of us are actually planning on doing that starting on Wednesday. When it comes to Ash Wednesday, we're like, okay, here are the things, here are the boxes I'm going to check for Lent, and if I do those, I'm good.

11:41 Again, that's not, that's not a bad thing to say I want to pray every day, check. I want to give up something every day, check. I want to do something good every, that's wonderful. The problem is this. The problem is when we make box checking the point. In fact, there was this woman who wrote about this. She, like me, liked making boxes. She said it like this. She said, I am a professional box checker, which has helped me grow and get things done. But sometimes the action of checking those boxes becomes the entire mission.

12:09 How many of us are in that place? Where the action of checking the box, that becomes the whole point. And so what are we saying when it comes to Jesus? What's, minimum is this, what's the least I can do and not get in trouble? what's the least I can do and not get in trouble I don't know if you have you heard of this it's a kind of a new newly named phenomena called quiet quitting have you guys heard of quiet quitting it's on the internet the last couple years but quiet quitting is this someone's at their work and they don't want to leave their job because they get a paycheck they also don't want to stay and so they keep showing up to work and they keep doing the minimum but interiorly they've kind of quit. So as I do the least amount I possibly can without getting fired, what's the least amount I can do and not get in trouble? Again, they don't want to leave, but they don't want to work. It's called quiet quitting. Actually, I have a friend like this.

13:08 I have a friend who got a job at a great company over 10 years ago. For a decade, they worked so hard. For a decade, their motto was above and beyond. For a decade, their motto was more than they ask. And then after a decade of doing this, the people in charge kind of revealed that they didn't really care about her work. They revealed that this is our team, you're not really part of the team. They revealed that, yeah, we can bleed you dry and we'll go on to the next person. And so they said, okay. After that was very clear, you don't want my above and beyond, you don't want my everything, I will not give you my everything I will give you my minimum which maybe is an okay way to live in a company I mean you don't have to sell your soul to your company that's probably not wise what happens when we do that with the Lord what happens when we come before Jesus what happens when over the course of Lent like okay God I'm going to do the exact absolute minimum I can do and not get in trouble but you don't get my heart you don't get my surrender I give you the minimum as opposed to my friend Justin at camp who showed up and didn't give the minimum.

14:25 He put his heart into it. Imagine, here's Jesus once again today in the gospel. Don't commit adultery. Got it. Okay. Every poison of anger that still lives in your heart, get rid of that. Don't commit adultery. Okay, great. No problem. Okay. Every amount of toxic presence of lust in your heart, get rid of that.

14:45 What we're all called to is this, to put our, when we're tempted to give the minimum, we're all called to put our heart into it. That's one of the ways we show up with minimum. Another way we show up is with resistance. I don't know if you experienced this, but a lot of times we, I know that in this church tonight, there are people who have real suffering. Like right now, there are people right now sitting next to us, in front of us, behind us, who are in the midst of real grief, like real tragedy. but so often we're in the midst of real grief we spend so much energy and time just wishing it was otherwise we spend so much energy just wanting it to be different and we look at other people like well their life isn't like mine they're not struggling the way i'm struggling how come i have to be the one to go through what i'm going through and we can spend so much time so much energy so much of our lives just becoming bitter. I don't want it to be like this. It's one of the reasons why we know this, that Jesus, when he, in the gospel today, he didn't come to give us a new weight to carry, but a new way to carry the weight. Now imagine, imagine, what if every burden we experienced in our life, whether that be an external burden or even an internal brokenness, what if we looked at it as if this was God's will for my life right now?

16:15 Whatever you're going through real tragedy, real suffering, real brokenness what if we looked at that and said okay, this is God's will for my life right now? We know this, we know that people who are smart have talked about the two wills of God that's God's perfect will and God's permissive will so God's perfect will is this God's perfect will is all he wants to give us is good things like all he wants to give us is perfect will God is love, he wants to give us love. God is joy, he wants to give us joy. God is life, he wants to give us life. All those things are God's perfect will. But we live in a broken world where we're free to hurt other people and they're free to hurt us. We live in a broken world where earthquakes and catastrophes happen. In this world, God will allow those things to happen.

17:01 That's his permissive will. imagine if we realize this truth that everything that comes to us comes to us from the hand of God imagine how free we'd be because we realize this, right? there is no one more free than the person who can say yes to God's will at every moment no one none of us is more free than when we can look at whatever it is even in our own hearts the brokenness of our hearts we look inside and say God, I wish things were different I wish I didn't have, I wish this was not part of my story. But to be able to say, okay, God, I accept this as if you're giving it to me from your hand. Because what we're saying at the whole point when we say that is, God, I believe you're entrusting me with this brokenness. You're entrusting me with this burden.

17:53 God, you're entrusting me with this suffering. It's one of the reasons why resistance is so hard to carry because we're carrying it wrong. I would say it like this. so often what drains us, it's not the load, it's the way we carry it. It's not the weight, it's actually the way we carry it. Because so often we carry it resenting the fact that we have to carry it. Versus, imagine waking up tomorrow with whatever grief, whatever brokenness, whatever part of your story you just wish wasn't true and saying, God, you have permitted this to happen.

18:21 I receive this sadness as if it's from your own hand. So not the minimum, but put your heart into it. not resistance it's not the load it's the way you carry it and the third way we experience this is oftentimes we simply endure the task we simply endure the job we simply endure the thing we have to do and I this is me the other two are me too but this is really me you guys know this you know that for the last what two years now we were in the middle of a campaign to raise money to build our church and build a student center and you're tired of the prayer by now but I gotta tell you I just every week is every week I have to go somewhere else like every week there's more people to talk to every week there's more people to meet every week there's more people to say hey there's a bunch of college students in Duluth, Minnesota they don't have a church of their own would you please help us out and what happens is when I leave I come back and and y'all say like father how was your trip I hate leaving you Thank you.

19:24 and so so much of me just can't wait for this to be over i don't have to when i don't have to leave again i hate this process of having to ask people for help it's this kind of a i'll do it but only because i have to a couple years ago i came across this it really convicted me how much i was doing it wrong it's uh second corinthians chapter nine saint paul said it like this he's writing to corinthians these corinthians have they've agreed to give they've agreed to to help they've agreed to work and he says this so paul says consider this whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly you want to give a little you'll get a little here where so is abundantly will reap abundantly want to give a lot you're going to get a lot he goes on to say each must do as already determined basically if you've decided to work just go to work if you decided to do the thing do the thing he says each is each must do what he's already determined what he's already decided to do without sadness or compulsion and here i am what a dummy here i am complaining about this task that God has entrusted to us. Actually, because it's not just me. This is the generation of Newman people.

20:41 This is the generation of college students that your sacrifice this year and last year, maybe even next year, please Lord, no. But your sacrifice this year will bless so many generations of college students. Who knows? Maybe into the hundred years, 150 years of college students will be blessed because of your sacrifice. And here's what Paul says. If you decided to do that, do it without sadness and compulsion. Why? Because God loves a cheerful giver. Here I am, the dummy going like, I have to do this. I can't wait for this to be over. How often are you as dumb as I am?

21:12 You've been given a task, so I have to. I can't wait for this to be done. But the reality is what? This is life. Like, this is actually life. and if I just want to be done realize this life is made up of exactly what you did last week whatever you did last week that's what life is made up of and the question I have to ask myself and the question we all get to ask ourselves is okay you showed up awesome how did you show up you know every week we pray that every day we pray the campaign prayer in that campaign prayer which I I wrote it in the campaign prayer is the line we believe that in doing this work we're saying yes to your will do I believe it or not in doing this work or saying yes to your will.

22:06 Okay, I'm doing the work. You're doing the work. How are you doing it? In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is not giving us a new weight to carry. He's giving us a new way to carry the weight. So here's the question. What is the point? Whatever your task is, what's the point of the task? Whatever your work is, what's the point of the work? Whatever your job is, what's the point of the job? And this is the last thing. What is the point of the task? 1 Corinthians 13. Today we heard 1 Corinthians chapter 2. We're going to fast forward to 1 Corinthians 13 as Paul gives us the answer. Here is the point of every task you have to do tomorrow. This is the point of every task you have to do for the rest of this week. He says this, if I speak in human and angelic tongues, that'd be awesome. but don't have love. I'm a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge, if I have all faith so as to move mountains, that would be awesome.

23:05 Imagine getting, you'd get a lot done, but don't have love. I'm nothing. If I give away everything I own and I hand my body over so that that may be burned, but don't have love, I gain nothing. here's the invitation this week you know what your tasks are you know what your work is this week you know what the job is the invitation is show up and do the tasks but do them as if love is the point So not the minimum. Put your heart into it. Not with resistance. Remember, because it's not the load, it's the way I carry it.

23:55 Not because we're called to simply endure tasks or endure life. No, we're called to joyfully accomplish this task.