Sermon Starters: "Forgetting the Hatchet"

I usually store my sermon outlines here so I can remember where, when, and what I preached. I didn't put this one down from two weeks ago at Houghton Wesleyan Church. You can hear my pre-preach run through here and the live sermon here.

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"Forgetting the Hatchet" (6/13/21)
Text: Genesis 33:1-11

Introduction

• Phrases you use without knowing where they came from--"burying the hatchet"
• It seems to come from a Native American practice (Iroquois?) of two warring chiefs burying their war hatchets when peace is finally reached.
• Jacob and Esau, the backstory. Jacob the trickster, Esau the non-diligent
• Now Jacob has nowhere to go. The gig is up. But all is well. Esau has been blessed beyond his needs.
• Conflict in the church right now. We need to find a way to be at peace with each other--we're family (of God).
• Like Esau, let's go beyond burying the hatchet, let's forget where that thing is buried.

1. Burying the hatchet is not denying what happened.

• When two tribes burying the hatchet, it didn't bring their sons back from the dead.
• Neither Jacob nor Esau denied what had happened in the past.
• Abusers often try to guilt the abused into being in the wrong for not forgiving--then sometimes they go on to kill the abused next time they lose it.
• The Allies forced the citizens of Dachau and other Nazi camps to walk through the concentration camp so they couldn't deny the atrocities that had been done.
• Five years ago I thought it would (fearfully) become obvious to one side or another of the church that they were in the wrong--I no longer expect this.
• We need to continue our quests for the kingdom of God, even though it may bring us into conflict with other believers who believe they are also questing for the kingdom of God.
• Yet we must also find a way to get along with each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.
• At this point I playfully used the Bugs Bunny cartoon of the coyote and the sheep dog. They both follow their quests, but they are still friends when they clock out for the day.

2. Forgiving is unilateral

• Ultimately, forgiveness is something we do whether we ever get a heartfelt change of mind or apology from the other side.
• Forgiving is not being stupid (see comment on abuser above).
• Forgiveness comes from self-awareness, that we cannot earn God's favor or forgiveness. We stand right before God because of God's grace to us.
• We are not Michael Jordan in the old SNL Stuart Smalley skit. We are fundamentally flawed as human beings.
• Jacob has to hit rock bottom before he can face Esau.
• An utter sense of God's grace is the place of forgiveness.

3. We can forget when we have an overwhelming sense of God's blessing.

• Esau is no longer bothered by what Jacob did to him in the past. God has blessed him so much that those wrongs seem trivial now. He may not have received Isaac's blessing, but he received much more from the Lord.
• Paul feels this way in Philippians 3. He had a really impressive CV. In his own words, those merits were like "crap" in comparison to the gracious gifts of Christ.

Conclusion

• A couple siblings who stopped talking to each other over the politics of the last few years. But they resumed as if nothing had happened when they sensed something attacking their family. So let us realize that we have far more in common in Christ than the things that are trying to separate us.
• We are family. Let's bury our hatchets for sure. Then let's forget where we buried them because we are so blessed by God.