A Gospel of Prosperity?

Randall L. Ridenour, Guest Speaker
21st Sunday after Pentecost

We can learn a lot about the deepest human desires by knowing what people pray for. I don’t mean the prayers that we say in church, because, to be honest, we are often more worried about how they will sound than how they express our deepest needs.
So, if you want to know what the deep desires of humans are, listen to the prayers of those that don’t care about impressing the people who hear them. That is, listen to the prayers of children.

I, like everyone else, occasionally get those e-mails from well-intentioned friends that begin, “I usually don’t forward e-mails, but this is just too good. . . ” Most of the time, they really aren’t that good, but this one was. It was a collection of cards supposedly written to God from children. Here are some samples:

Dear God,
It rained for our whole vacation and is my father mad! He said some things about you that people are not supposed to say, but I hope you will not hurt him in anyway.
Your Friend (but I am not going to tell you who I am)

Dear God,
If we come back as something, please don’t let me be Jennifer Horton, because I hate her.
Denise

Dear God,
I bet it is very hard for you to love all the people in the world. There are only four people in our family and I can never do it.
Nan

Dear God,
My brothers told me about being born, but it doesn’t sound right. They are just kidding, aren’t they?
Marsha

Dear God,
Maybe Cain and Abel would not kill each other so much if they had their own rooms. It works with my brother.
Larry

Dear God,
Thank you for my baby brother, but what I prayed for was a puppy.
Joyce

Dear God,
Please send me a pony. I never asked for anything before. You can look it up.
Bruce


We can divide these prayers into two categories. First, the ones that deal with relationship issues among family, friends, or, in the case of Jennifer Horton, enemies. The second category is prayers for material blessings. Joyce is thankful, but she would have been more thankful had God been considerate enough to give her what she actually asked for. Bruce, on the other hand, has showed great self-control in the past, and given his remarkable self-constraint, feels that he is owed that pony.

And why not? Hasn’t God promised to give us what we ask for? In Jesus’ own words, “Ask and ye shall receive,” or as we hear in the classic stewardship sermon, “Give and it shall be given to you. A good measure, shaken together, running over. . . Surely God wants his people to be happy. We read the testimony of Scripture, God wants to bless his people. The lectionary Psalm for today is Psalm 34: “I sought the Lord, and he answered me. . . O taste and see that the Lord is good.”

What better testimony could there be to the power of the Gospel than the blessings poured upon the people of God? Wasn’t Job rewarded at the end of the book by having family restored, and possessions doubled? The Prosperity Gospel This attitude can be found in an old, but ever-growing, tradition in the church. It is known by various names: the prosperity gospel, positive confession, the word of faith movement, or simply “faith.” Those of us who are a bit more cynical call it the name it-claim it movement. It’s had several leaders in the past few decades, including Paul and Jan Crouch, owners of Trinity Broadcasting Network, Kenneth Hagin, Robert Tilton, Kenneth Copeland, Paul Yonggi Cho, and others. Their claim is that through faith, we can have anything we want— health, wealth, and success. To gain these things, we simply have to ask for them by the spoken word.

In his booklet How to Write Your Own Ticket with God, Kenneth Hagin claimed to have been told this in a vision by Jesus himself, “Then the Lord Jesus Himself appeared to me,” said Hagin and and instructed him to write down a simple four-step formula, and that “if anybody, anywhere, will take these four steps or put these four principles into operation, he will always receive whatever he wants from Me or from God the Father.” That includes whatever you want. The formula is simply: ”Say it, Do it, Receive it, and Tell it.”

According to Kenneth Copeland, “All it takes is 1) Seeing or visualizing whatever you need, whether physical or financial; 2) Staking your claim on Scripture; and 3) Speaking it into existence.” Are people listening to this? Is it possible for anyone to take these teachings seriously? It seems so, and I think you can find it in the teachings of Joel Osteen, the now best-selling author and popular pastor of Lakewood Church, which meets in the 18,000 seat Compaq Center in Houston. Note a few of his sermon titles:
• Enlarge Your Vision
• Holding Onto Your Dreams
• Financial Prosperity
• Faith to Change Your World Do All You Can to Make Your Dreams Come True

The word “Gospel” is the word used in place of a Greek term meaning “good message” or “good news.” The prosperity gospel is certainly good news to those who hear it, otherwise Lakewood Church would not have baptized 18,000 people last year. So, it is good news, but is it the good news of Jesus Christ?

If the prosperity gospel is true, and I could have anything I asked for, then after reading the gospels, I’m not sure that I would ask for wealth. Jesus’ teachings on wealth are anything but comforting.

In first-century Palestine, there were two groups of people, the rich and the poor. These major groups were composed of several sub-groups. The rich included the four high-priestly clans. They gained wealth from the offerings presented in the temple and controlled the extensive commercial activities associated with temple life.

Another group was the family and associates of Herod. Herod and his family, by some estimates, owned more than half of the land that was under his control.

Other wealthy people included what remained of the older Jewish aristocracy and rich merchants. To be considered truly wealthy, a person had to own land. So, as these people became wealthy, they would buy land, but would rarely farm it themselves. Instead, he would rent it to tenant farmers, while he lived and conducted his affairs in the city, primarily Jerusalem. Hence the parables about tenant workers and absent landlords. This system led to a practice of abuse of tenant farmers and laborers, but was considered perfectly legal by the wealthy. This practice in turn led to constantly increasing resentment of the wealthy merchants, and it is no surprise that one of the first things to occur during the Jewish revolt in the late 60’s was to burn the debt records and kill many of the aristocrats.

Of the people who were not wealthy, the best-off was clearly the small landowner. Palestine essentially had an agricultural economy outside the city, and the primary source of income was farming, which required land. So, those who owned some land were clearly better off than those who owned none. The problem is that those who owned land were always only two years away from financial ruin. After one bad crop, the farmer had to borrow money to purchase seed for the next year. If next year’s crop also failed, then he would lose his land to pay his debt. We know from records that the first-century had several bad droughts, so more and more land became concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer wealthy people.

The ones in the worst position were obviously those who owned no land at all, including tenant workers, laborers, and beggars. The poor lived on the brink even in the best of times. There were Roman taxes to pay, Pharasaic interpretations of the Law prescribed a tithe that ranged from seventeen to twenty-three percent of gross income. This put the poor in the position of a choice between religious piety and feeding one’s family.

This is the world into which Jesus comes. He is the son of a carpenter who neither inherited land nor acquired any himself. He took a special interest in the poor, the outcasts, and those on the fringes of Jewish society.

He never viewed possessions as inherently evil, but neither did he see wealth as something safe. It is something that easily becomes dangerous. It can function exactly like the idols in ancient Hebrew culture, it seduces the people away from total devotion to God. In the parable of the Sower in Mark 4.18-19, it is the deceit of wealth and the desires for other things that chokes the word.

In fact, surprisingly, one should not see wealth as a mark of God’s favor! It makes it difficult to enter the kingdom! Hence, the story of the rich young man ends with the claim “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Since the former is impossible, it implies that the latter is also impossible. The disciples are shocked, and ask, then how can anyone be saved. Jesus assures them that all things are possible with God.

Luke follows this same story with the story of Zacchaeus. The impossible does take place, Zacchaeus is saved, but he is not left rich. After Zacchaeus announced that he would give half his possessions to the poor and repay anyone that he has defrauded fourfold, Jesus proclaimed that now salvation had come to this house.

We misunderstand the teaching of Jesus when we think he is simply telling us to
keep wealth and possessions in their proper place, and giving God his proper due. The danger is that both God and mammon demand our service. Wealth must be preserved, one’s daily bread must be earned. Jesus rejects that there is no proper service to mammon: it is impossible to serve both money and God.

Jesus makes this point explicitly in the parable of the rich fool who has a bumper crop and decides now to take life easy, relax, eat, drink, and be merry. He has arrived, he has reached the American dream. He has attained the position that everyone would want. He has made it. But something is wrong. Most translations say something like, “You fool, this very night your soul is demanded of you.”

The implication, then, is that he will die that night. What’s the moral of the story? Don’t save? Spend it while you can?

My colleague, Dr. Bobby Kelly, who teaches New Testament Greek, pointed out to me that the Greek text is not passive voice, but active voice, with a plural subject. So, the translation should read, “You fool, this very night they demand your soul from you.” What demands his soul? It can only be the riches themselves. Both God and wealth make the same demands, only one can be satisfied.

What then is the solution? Is Jesus calling us to give up our wealth? I have no doubt that Jesus is clearly calling us to give up some of it. I also have no doubt that Jesus is demanding that we be prepared to give up all of it. To even be prepared to take such radical action requires radical commitment on the part of the disciple. How is it possible? Only because of radical trust in God. “Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you.” Those who are convinced that their heavenly Father will indeed care for them are able to give freely. Those who are not convinced that God will care for them will need to ensure for their own security by serving Mammon.

The prosperity gospel has turned the gospel upside down. It is not that we should trust God so that God can further enrich us, but we should trust God so that we will be able to enrich others. The world that Jesus entered was a world of social dichotomies, rich and poor, male and female, slave and free, all instances of one basic distinction: the powerful and the powerless. Jesus came to usher in a new kingdom, a kingdom that breaks down barriers, a kingdom that rights social wrongs, a kingdom that values those that the world decrees to be worthless. In his own words, he came to “bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, and to let the oppressed to go free.” Yet after nearly 2,000 years of Christianity, our world looks much like the world of first-century Palestine.

October 31 is Reformation Day, a important day of remembrance in some Christian denominations, although not often noted by Baptists. On that date in 1517, Martin Luther nailed the 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. Robert McAfee Brown, in his book, Spirituality and Liberation records a similar event. On June 16, 1985, pastors around the country read from their pulpits a statement acknowledging that these are troubled times and calling for prayer and action. A simple call to prayer, created an unbelievable furor, upset the social order, and was called an act of treason.

The country was South Africa, and the date was the ninth anniversary of the Soweto Uprising, when government troops entered Johannesburg and opened fire on black children. The statement read, in part,

“We now pray that God will replace the present unjust structures of oppression with ones that are just, and remove from power those who persist in defying his laws, installing in their places leaders who will govern with justice and mercy. . . The present regime, together with its structures of domination, stands in contradiction to the Christian gospel to which the churches of the land seek to remain faithful. . .

We pray that God in his grace may remove from his people the tyrannical structures of oppression and the present rulers in our country who persistently refuse to hear the cry for justice. . .

We pledge ourselves to work for that day.”

True Christianity is never a means of seeking one’s own prosperity and comfort. Instead, true Christianity is subversive, unsettling, and upsetting. In this, the prosperity gospel is simply another heresy.

On the other hand, there is something that the preachers of the prosperity gospel have right. The lesson of the blind man is that God asks us the same question that he asked him: “What do you want from me?” The blind man knew what he wanted from Jesus, and he knew that Jesus could give him what he deeply desired. How did he respond? Mark said that he followed Jesus on “the way” the term used for discipleship in the Gospels. The way does not always lead to prosperity. For Jesus and his followers, the way lead to Jerusalem and the cross. But the way, is the way of the disciple, as Jesus said, if any of us want to truly be his follower, we must deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him.

The Hard Side of Discipleship

20th Sunday after Pentecost

Mark 10:35-45

In teaching this class this fall out at NOC, I have discovered, present in the minds of adult students, two attitudes related to test taking, one of which reminded me of a childlike perspective, and the other of which sounds like early adolescence. Administration wanted us to assess learning about every two weeks, so in our third week of class, I gave them their first quiz. The class session before the quiz, you would have thought we were in third grade – “Can you tell us what part of the book we need to study for the quiz? Can you tell us what kinds of questions are going to be on the quiz?” I reminded them that they were adults, and that they were expected to know everything that was in the book for the first two chapters. They were somewhat aghast. Then, in grading the first quiz, I noticed the second attitude – the course I am teaching is called “Social Problems,” and one might expect that coming from the field of Sociology, things might come from a little more of a liberal perspective, and that the tests would require the students to submit answers that pointed out that they understood – not agreed with, but understood – that particular perspective. I had cautioned them about this, but several of the students chose to stubbornly hold to their rather conservative opinions in answering the test questions, and subsequently, their answers were incorrect. They did a little better on the next test . . .

I tell that little story to help us get an opening perspective on the gospel story for this day – a story which reminds us that as we progress from childlike faith into a more substantive adult faith, there are things that change for us, even while there are things that remain much the same.

There are four questions asked in quick succession at the start of our pericope for this morning. The Sons of Thunder – James and John, the rowdy ones – come to Jesus with an initial question. You know, it’s always interesting to me how each of the gospel writers deal with each of these stories – in this particular case, Luke deals with just the last part of our story, John doesn’t deal with it at all, and Matthew actually has the mother of the sons of Zebedee showing up with this question. Only Mark tells this as though the idea was original with James and John. Anyway, they ask their first question – and it sooooo sounds like children asking their parents for a favor, knowing that there’s very little chance that they will say “yes.” “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”

Do you remember when you were a child? Perhaps you had siblings, perhaps you didn’t. I have two brothers and a sister. For the longest time, it was really just the two brothers, and one of those is near my age. When we were younger, we would desire certain things, and so we would approach one or the other of our parents with our request. As we matured, we learned which parent was more likely to answer “yes” and so our choosing which parent to ask took on a bit of adolescent sophistication. We also learned how to frame questions so that our idea sounded like a good idea. I suspect this is a rather universal childhood experience. This whole exchange between the Sons of Thunder and Jesus starts out that way – like little children going to their parent, asking for something they know won’t happen.

That’s where most of us started in our faith experiences. We began as children. That’s not a bad thing – in fact, Christ said at one point in His teaching ministry something to the effect of “anyone who comes to me must come as a little child.” We have looked at that scripture relatively recently, and been reminded that when we come to Christ, we come with the full blown trust that is found in most children – trust that counts on those who know more than they know to tell them the things they need to know – trust that believes that those who love them want only the best for them – trust that doesn’t see other alternatives – only hopes for the possibilities that can be offered by the person in whom they trust.

Jesus surprises them. He certainly surprises me. “What is it you want me to do for you?” He actually plays along with them – for the time being. Maybe He wanted to know how their faith journey was progressing. Maybe He wanted to know what goofy idea they had come up with now!! We really don’t know – but He opened the door a crack, just to see what they were up to. He didn’t answer “yes” or “no” – He just let them go on with their ploy . . .

Maybe we are a little surprised that Jesus wants to know what we want. When we take a moment to step back and look at this relationship – you know, God to man – we may be a little surprised that God wants to know what we want in the deal. We speak of God’s will – we talk about it as though there is only one possibility in our lives for every situation in life, and God knows what God wants for our lives, and we have the responsibility to discern the will of God – almost as if it were a mystery that God wants to keep hidden from us. So when we hear the Son of God ask us what we want, we may be taken back a little – we may be just a little surprised.

Well, here was their question (their mother’s question, if you take Matthew’s word for it) - “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” Wow. Even Jesus was taken back. Talk about bravado!! That’s some request. “When you come into your kingdom, we’d like to be your left and right hand men – men of power – men of prestige – men of notoriety – men of whom other men stop and take notice. We want to be people to be reckoned with – people noticed for who we are, and not so much for what we’ve done. Besides, we deserve that kind of recognition – don’t you think, Jesus?? You’ve kind of picked us out as your friends, haven’t you? We’re a part of the Big Three – I mean, if you actually count Simon Peter!!” (I find it somewhat fascinating that Simon Peter isn’t in on this conversation, at least not at this point).

Do you have that kind of bravado in the presence of God? We are, after all, speaking of the Son of God, depicted by the writer of Hebrews as our very high priest, but not just any old high priest – rather, a high priest on the order of Melchizedek!! A High Priest, mind you, Who did not catapult Himself to this position of prominence – no, rather was exalted and appointed to this position of Eternal High Priest for all of us by His Father, God the Father, Father of us all. Not chosen from among mortals, the scriptures tell us, but appointed from the heavens for our eternal benefit. We do realize that this is the Jesus of Whom we speak?

Job, representative of everyman, had this kind of bravado. We hear about the patience of Job – that’s the way people speak of him – the patience of Job. Go back and read the book. He’s certainly patient – for a few chapters. But finally, the advice of his friends starts to pay off, and Job starts to question God. He speaks of his own integrity, his own righteousness, and come chapter 32, the friends realize that they’ve awakened something ugly in Job. The 1st verse of chapter 32 says that “these three men ceased answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.” For most of us that’s the problem with dealing with the Almighty – we eventually start to sing our own praises – we eventually begin to identify our own righteousness. Come chapter 38, God speaks back – “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now gird up your loins like a man, and I will ask you and you instruct Me!” I don’t know about you but I don’t want to hear God speak to me that way. Sometimes, God does. Sometimes God speaks to each of us that way.

Just a couple of other verses from the gospel, and then I’ll try to wind this thing up. Jesus looks beyond His own amazement at them for their request, and in a moment of extreme compassion, asks them if they know what they’re asking for. With more bravado, they answer in the affirmative, and at that point, Jesus goes ahead with His prediction for them. Earlier in the week, I started to entitle this sermon “Be Careful What You Ask For.” Jesus actually predicts that they will receive “exactly” what they ask for – that they will indeed receive and drink the cup of suffering that He is about to undergo when He enters Jerusalem. I found Fox’s “Book of Martyrs” on the internet the other day – the text from the first chapter indicates the kind of death by which every disciple was martyred. James was supposedly the first to die – beheaded under the rule of Herod Agrippa. John escaped being boiled alive in oil, only to be recaptured and exiled to Patmos, where he lived out the remainder of his days. They did drink the cup that Jesus was going to drink – not what they asked for, and certainly not what they were expecting.

The other ten disciples were annoyed with James and John, and I think a little with Jesus for putting up with their shenanigans and their questions. Jesus picked up immediately on their displeasure, and offered to them, and I think to us, our lesson for this day.

I think it is a two-fold lesson. The first is case specific – by that, I mean that when it comes to issues such as prominence and recognition and accolades and reward, we’re barking up the wrong tree if we go running to Jesus with such matters. He’s not interested in such things, no matter how “really interested” we are with them. He’s on a different mission – in His own life, and in the lives of all of His followers. He wants to introduce us to the “better” way – the way of humility and service – the way of giving over receiving.

Which leads us to the second lesson – the more “general” lesson for us today. When we begin with Jesus, He takes us where we are. He asks that we come as little children to His salvation and His care. But we don’t stay there. He challenges us – rather constantly – to become all that we can become in service in His kingdom. We rather “grow up” into our Christian understanding – in every way becoming more “adult” in our service – seeking service, rather than tribute and praise. Paul said it well in 1st Corinthians 13 – “When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.” I think to James and John, Jesus would have added, “and childish, unfocused questions.”

Christ calls us to something significant. Christians are always being challenged by Christ to take our commitment to Him in the manner of serious disciples. An adult response to Christ sees us choosing to see ourselves less as faith consumers, and always more as servants of Christ and His followers.


Richard W. Dunn, Ph.D.

A Considerably More Interesting Definition of Love

19th Sunday after Pentecost

Mark 10:17-31

You may have noticed that I went to the trouble to change the north side of the marquee for this morning. It is a quote attributed to the Danish theologian, Soren Kierkegaard - “Christ has many admirers but few followers.”

As we encounter our gospel lesson for this morning, we realize that the rich young ruler walks among us, and to a certain degree, within each one of us. We approach Christ and ask, timidly or boldly – it doesn’t matter. We ask Christ our question about eternal life, and Christ offers to us His answer. Too often, we, too “go away grieving.”

We go away grieving. We grieve, because we are suddenly confronted with the reality that we continue to be about the business of possessing life, when Christ calls us to give our lives away. We grieve because we possess much, and we perceive that Christ’s command that we give away all that we have is more than we can bear. We grieve because the meaning that we so desperately seek in this life is defined by our possessions, and so to give away all that we have is tantamount to giving away our own purpose and our meaning.

And we grieve, because in asking us to do what Jesus has asked us to do, we realize that He loves us.

Ah, the rub. Did you catch that part of the story? Mark is the only gospel writer who tells the story this way. Jesus is approached by this young ruler, He is asked His question, and He responds – Mark says, “Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said . . .” Out of Christ’s great love for this potential disciple, Jesus spoke words that challenged this man to his core, and he went away, grieving.

Perhaps we do the same thing.

Some of the commentators I read this week made much of the fact that Jesus did not offer this command to any one else during His ministry. I take issue with that assessment. Do you remember the parables? Do you remember the story of the treasure hidden in the field? That man found the treasure (quite by accident, I suspect), reburied it, and then went and sold all that he had to purchase that field. Do you remember the story of the pearl of great price? A hunter of pearls stumbled across a fantastic pearl, and went and sold all that he had previously invested in pearls in order to buy that one pearl. In those parables, Jesus lays down a truism – we cannot serve God and mammon. And that is not a message just for the wealthy. “Whatever your economic status, greed must go if you are to truly find God.”[1] And He lays down a second truism – discipleship is costly.

“Christ has many admirers, but few followers.”

And Christ loves us.

Will Willimon says that “there are benefits to following Jesus, but costs as well. And Jesus loves us enough to be up front about the cost.” Whatever else we might say about our Jesus, He shoots straight with us. We ask Him what He requires of us, and then His answer hits us like a ton of bricks. “Oh, what I ask isn’t much – I simply want it all from you. I want you to leave behind father, mother, sisters, brothers, children, spouses, and come follow me. I want you to leave behind your version of security for a new kind of eternal security that I have for you. I want you to dispossess all of your possessions, and come follow me as a vagabond and a sojourner. I want it all!! Because I want all of you!!”

Willimon goes on. “Christianity is all about loving Jesus, but it is about loving Jesus in the manner that Jesus loves us. The acid test for our love is sometimes how much we have been willing to give up for Jesus in order to realize the gift that he offers us.”[2]

You and I want to love Jesus. Really, we do. But too much of the time, we want to love Christ on our terms. We offer Jesus a partial commitment. We say to Him, “I know you want it all, Jesus, but I don’t see how I can give it all to you. Will you take what I will give?”

Like many of us, in my personal life, I struggled early on with my financial contributions to God’s work. Not as a child, mind you. I loved giving money to the church when I was a child. Of course – it was money that Mom and Dad gave me so that I could put something in the offering plate. It was easy to give away their money. Now, I don’t discount that practice for parents – frankly, I think it is a good thing, teaching children that they can make a contribution to the work of Christ. I applaud those of you who teach your children in that manner. No, my personal struggle began when I got my first little jobs – babysitting, mowing yards, and then working at Maverick Steak house when I was a Jr. and Sr. in High School. That’s when giving became more difficult. I struggled – I asked all of the usual questions – “Do I have to give if I really, really want to buy something else with my money? Boy, this is a lot of money. Does God really need this kind of money from me? Boy, I don’t have as much money as my parents – won’t God’s operation run okay without my piddly little contribution. Do I tithe on the gross or the net?” Some smart alec preacher answered that one for me during college. He said, “That depends on whether you want a gross blessing or a net blessing.”

Then came college, and my first “real” jobs. Lots more money, and that tithe check to the church grew, and I wondered how I would get by without all that money I was giving to the church. Besides, I worked for the church – it didn’t make sense that I would turn around and give money back to the church when that’s where it came from in the first place. Then there was the year that my little church didn’t give me a raise, and I really thought I deserved one. So, with what was supposed to be my tithe, I gave myself a raise. Little bit by little bit I saw my bank account grow smaller and smaller, until I relented and once again counted on the promise of God to bless my contribution to God’s ministry. In all the years following that, we have made it a practice to pay the church first, ourselves second, and all the other bills after that. And I have been blessed, really beyond measure.

My pilgrimage isn’t over. God seems to always want more from me. Don’t you find the same thing? Doesn’t it seem that God always wants more – more from us, and more of us? Either God wants more of our money, or more of our time, or more of our love, or more of our praise – always more of our devotion.

The lesson from the gospel this morning – that’s Jesus way of loving us. He gave us all, and that’s the way Christ wants us to respond to Him – with our all. Friend Willimon puts it this way – “Serious love is willing to give whatever it has, all of whatever it has, to its object. We are talking about priorities. You cannot have material prosperity, or even material security, as your first priority and find eternal life.”

“Christ has many admirers, but few followers.”

That phrase has haunted me this week. I keep hearing voices of people I have known over the years who have had a casual approach to Jesus. I remember my weird neighbor in Dallas, who sauntered over one night to watch me while I worked on my car, and when he discovered that I was a minister, said to me, “you know my wife and I, we’re rather partial to the teachings of Paul. We’ve read what Jesus has to say, and that’s nice and everything, but all in all, we like what Paul had to say.” And I remember the people I’ve run into who have tested the waters of various world religions. They say to me, “I love Jesus, and I love Mohammed, and I love the Buddha, and I am thankful for the teachings of Confucious. And I remember the people in my experience who have studied Jesus and what He had to say, but ultimately determined that to follow Jesus meant giving up the one, truly unique thing they possessed – their right to determine their own destiny and to make their own choices.

I suspect by now you have predicted where this sermon is going this morning. We, each of us, must ask ourselves the very question Jesus would ask of us – What is the one thing that is standing between you being able to follow me with your “all.”

This is one of those sermons that isn’t intended for your neighbor. It isn’t intended for your parents or your children or your spouse. It is intended just for you. It is designed to help each one of us step into that place where this rich young ruler found himself. We approach Jesus, wanting to know what’s left for us to do or get rid of in order to follow Him. He looks us in the eye, and He loves us . . .

And He says . . .

I want you to look at the front cover of your bulletin. There is that question – “What must I do?” Each one of us has to fill in the blank for ourselves. Well, that’s not really right – each one of us has to look our Savior right back in the eye, and listen to what He has to say is the one thing we still lack.

Are you listening to Him? Can you hear His voice? He is calling your name – just your name. He knows you intimately, really better than you ever thought He could, and surprisingly, better than you love yourself. Can you hear His words? Can you see the love in His eyes?

More than 20 years ago, psychologists coined a phrase designed to help parents deal with unruly teenagers. It was the phrase “tough love.” The concept advocated that every once in a while, parents are forced into a position in which they really begin to harm their adolescent children unless they force them into a position of responsibility – administering a form of love that is “tough” – “tough love.”

I think the kind of love that Christ exhibited toward this young man, and really toward each one of us, in considerably more interesting than any definition of love that we have seen or understood before. It is a “real” love – “tough” doesn’t adequately describe Christ’s love for this young man. It is more genuine than that. It is a love that looks beyond the moment – really beyond all the moments previous to our lives. It is a love that looks beyond our circumstances. It is a love that understands our fears, as well as our successes. It is a love that hopes more for us than we dare hope for ourselves. And it is a love that insists that we claim a future for ourselves – a future that Christ offers to us – that we haven’t ever dreamed was possible.

It is a considerably more interesting definition of love. It is Christ’s love – for us.

[1] Will Willimon, “Costly Love,” Pulpit Resource, Fall 2006, p.15.
[2] Ibid.

… that You are mindful of him

18th Sunday after Pentecost

Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12

I don’t think that in a sermon that I have told you much about the time I spend in Texas during the fall. People ask me all the time why I travel all the way down there to hunt, when the game is so much larger here. Truth of the matter is that I love the Texas Hill Country – the vastness of it all, the ruggedness, the unpredictability of the weather, the beauty of the night skies, and the solitude of living in my camper for a week at a time. It is relaxing and restful, and strangely at the same time quite invigorating and motivating.

I’ll mention three things about this place that thrills my soul. It is, of course, the Texas Hill Country. We travel ranch roads to get from our camp ground to the part of the pasture where we hunt. One particular place on the main ranch road my brother nicknamed “the telephone booth” – because at that particular place on the lease, we get a good phone signal. I stop there several times a day to make and return phone calls, and from that particular vantage point, you can see – oh, I really never have stopped to count how many hill tops you can see from right there. It is, in a word, spectacular. I love those hills.

Of course, where there are hills, there are also valleys. We moved our campground this year, and I’m still adjusting to the move. We had camped for the last 15 years on the creek – North Morgan creek, to be exact. It was an idyllic setting – meandering creek, surrounded by hills rising on each side of you, and huge oak and sycamore trees shading our campground. But a year ago this past August, we had a flood. Our land owner told us we were lucky – that this was only the “50 year flood.” My little camper floated down the creek about 75 yards, and our camp was rather devastated. So, this last spring, Barney, our land owner, made us move up the hill. We traded the valley for the hillside, and our new home possesses a spectacular view of Lake Buchanan. We don’t have near the number of trees, but we have a better breeze most of the day, and we have to open one less gate on our trip up the hill.

Maybe more than in some other places I know, water is important in the Hill Country. From my experience, they either have way too little of it, or much too much of it. Water is a precious resource, and occasionally a dangerous commodity. The pasture is either wet and muddy, or dry and dusty – I have rarely seen it in between. Water in camp is important. As the men on this lease have gotten older and lazier, and since the flood, we have each secured travel campers that have a few more luxuries – like air conditioning and showers. But we don’t have water access in our camp – at least not yet – and so we have to haul our water in from somewhere else. Getting water for camp is something of a daily chore.

One more thing about this little retreat setting. Our camp is far enough away from the city lights that we have spectacular night skies. This last week we had a growing full moon for the week. The early evenings were illuminated by a beautiful moon. But sometime early in the morning, as we would awake to begin the morning hunt, we were blessed with an incredible night sky. During this time of the year, early in the morning, the constellation Orion, the hunter, is starting to set in the western sky. It gave me pause to consider the millions of men over the centuries who have risen early in the morning to go hunt for game, and looked into that same sky to see that fantastic sight.

The epistle for today comes from the book of Hebrews. We don’t know who wrote Hebrews – scholars are divided on the subject – some think Paul, others the young evangelist, Apollos. I personally tend toward the latter opinion. At least a part of the purpose of this letter to Christians is to describe in rather majestic detail the glory of Christ – how in every way, Jesus was a more excellent example – of nearly anything you might consider. Beginning in that second verse – “but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.” Listening to those verses, you realize right away that we are speaking of someone special – really more than special – someone unique, in every respect.

My personal spiritual pilgrimage over the last six months or so has led me to consider Jesus – who He is, who He is not, what He purposed in His life, what He desired to accomplish, how He lived, how He died, what He wants for you and me today. Those kinds of questions. I have refused to accept the “Sunday School” answers – choosing instead to consider Christ from a variety of angles – biblical, personal, spiritual, human, socially and ecumenically. Here’s what I’ve come up with – Jesus Christ was someone special. He was unique – one of a kind. He was the only person to ever live who was both divine and human at the same time – one of a kind – fully divine, fully human. Words to adequately describe Jesus fail us – we are at a loss for appropriate metaphors.

There is a contemporary theology which suggests that we err when we consider anything other than God and Christ in our “theological” deliberations. The proponents of this theology suggest that all of existence and thought is really about God, and any consideration of those things which God has created beyond the simple idea that God has created them is troublesome and useless. In other words, when asked the question “What is the meaning of life?” they respond with the answer, “God.” That certainly is the easy answer to some of life’s most complicated questions. The trouble with that kind of thinking is that God thought enough about us to create us, to sustain us, and eventually to redeem us. It seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through for something that doesn’t matter!!

Why that little tirade? Well, the writer of Hebrews changes course in mid stream, and quotes from Psalm 8. You heard the choir do one of our favorite pieces this morning, Majesty and Glory. We love that song – it lifts us, and we rarely sing it without someone in the choir shedding a tear or two. By the way, if you have trouble remembering where certain things are in the scriptures, don’t be troubled – the writer of Hebrews did the same thing, right there in verse 6 – when he said, “But someone has testified somewhere . . .”

This is where my title came from this morning – “ . . . that You are mindful of him.” The psalmist was overwhelmed with the majesty and glory of God, and asked the pointed question, “What is man – in comparison to God, and all that God has created – what is man?”

I felt a little of that question this week, sitting on top of that hill in Texas. Looking up at the moon, and the stars, and viewing the hills and the valleys, and that beautiful lake. “God, just what is man, in comparison to all of this. We seem pretty puny, in my opinion. We think we’re worth more – of some real value – but still we seem mighty puny.” That’s kind of what I was thinking and feeling.

The writer of Hebrews elaborates on a quote from David the psalmist. “What are human beings that you are mindful of them, or mortals, that you care for them? You have made them for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned them with glory and honor, subjecting all things under their feet.” These writers give us something for our contemporary theologies to consider – God, in God’s infinite wisdom, has created mankind, and even though for a little while mankind is lower in status than the angels, God has placed mankind in charge of all that has been created – well, sort of – at least things on the earth. We’re starting to expand our control out into the rest of the universe, but we’re a little slow on the uptake. Considering the majesty and glory of God, what business does God have contemplating, considering, pondering mankind? It is a good question.

We have heard from a lot of people this morning. We have heard from Job, who really is everyman. Job, the righteous one, experienced suffering, and asked some of life’s most pointed questions. We have heard from the psalmist, who proclaims his personal integrity and trustworthiness, claiming that he does not “sit with the worthless” or “consort with hypocrites.” We have heard from the gospel writer, Mark, who reminds us that children are the best of the best among us, and that truly we come into the kingdom only as a child – there is no other way to make it.

I’ve talked for a while – now I’m going to try to say something. Not every question that you and I have about God and life and anything else gets answered adequately every time we ask them. I love the mix of these scriptures – they ask the questions, but they don’t necessarily answer them for us. In doing so, they rather compel us to examine our role in the relationship we have with God. They ask the questions we need to ask, and point out to us that every once in a while, it is enough simply to be asking the right questions.

I’m in the first throws of building a sermon in which I ask the question, “Are you more religious, or spiritual.” In that sermon, I intend to talk about the relational aspect of faith. Well, this morning, I speak of that relational aspect of our faith. This Jesus, this Christ – the One Whom God has highly exalted – is the same One Who is “bringing many children to glory” – to quote the writer of Hebrews again. We ask the question about our worth, in comparison to God. But while we ask that question, my dear friends, consider that God is still about the business of asking questions about us, and to us, and God is still about the business of entering into relationship with us – even in our puniness – and that God has taken it upon God’s self to “consider us.”

Richard W. Dunn, Ph.D.

WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON?

J.D.Sarver, Youth Minister - Guest Preacher

Can you remember as a child being on the playground or the neighborhood “sand lot” or maybe at the local YMCA basketball court and it came time to “choose the teams”. You know – 2 people would be selected to start choosing players for their respective teams. Were any of you like me – not wanting to be chosen last and, hopefully being selected by the “winning team”? Because, you know, the winning side was always already known right after the selection process – way before any ball was thrown or goal or basket scored. Because, inevitably, one side was “stacked” with all of the really good players.

Well, this morning we are going to take a look at “Whose side are you on”.
Our focus text for this week is the Mark passage. In the 1st part of the text – verses 38-41 – John begins by telling Jesus that the disciples had seen someone casting out demons in Jesus’ name. But, the disciples tried to stop him because he was not following the disciples. “He wasn’t on their side” so to speak. And, Jesus tells them not to stop him. Because, as he says in verse 40 – For he who is not against us is for us or as some scriptures say “on our side”.

Aren’t we just like John and the other disciples still today? We hinder Christ’s work by focusing on what other religious activities Christian people are doing and how they are doing them. Trying to determine if it is the “right” way or not. Here’s an example: One might say “Well, they can’t have Church on Thursday night or certainly not on Friday night. After all Friday night is for football games. Don’t they know that? Church and worship services are supposed to be on Sunday.” Or, as another example: You can’t go and worship in Church without your Sunday best clothes on. You’re supposed to be dressed appropriately to enter God’s house aren’t you?

As you know, I could go on and on with numerous other examples of how this is played out. But I won’t.

And then - can’t you hear Jesus’ words as he told John and the other disciples – Don’t hinder them – for whoever is not against us is on our side. Our struggle and battle on this playing field of life is not and should not be with each other. No, our battle is against evil in the world. The one who John and the other disciples saw casting out demons in Jesus’ name. He was battling evil, and, the disciples actions hindered his work and turned the focus of the struggle on other unimportant issues. That is why I think Jesus completes his statements in the final verses in this chapter of Mark the way he did. His words and comments help the disciples and us change the focus. Instead of looking at or criticizing how or what someone else is doing, he reminds us to consider our own actions in this struggle or battle. He tells us our actions in this life have consequences attached to them.

The way we choose to live and participate in this game of life has an effect not only on ourselves, but also on others. Therefore, Jesus tells us to play this game, fight this battle, participate in this struggle of life carefully as to not stumble. But, as we look at the way Jesus states this we see that He knows we will stumble. He says if your hand causes you to stumble, if your foot causes you to stumble, if your eye causes you to stumble, as if He was saying when you stumble…When we stumble? What do we do? We get up!! And, we continue on in the game. But how? We continue on knowing as the Psalm passage states because GOD is on our side. Look again at that 1st line of Psalm 124… “Had it not been for the Lord who was on our side…” See, without the Lord God on our side, we would not survive. And, oh by the way, as I mentioned at the beginning…when I was a child, I always wanted to be chosen by the winning team. Well, what better side to be on than GOD’s!!

So, I leave you with this final question “Whose Side Are You On”??