| "Which Values Are Essential?" Sermon Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler – October 21, 2012 Centenary United
Hebrews 5:1-10; Mark 10:35-45 In our lesson for
this morning, Jesus received a very interesting request by his two
cousins, James and John.
“Teacher,” they asked, “There is something we want you to do for us.
When you sit on your throne in your glorious Kingdom, we want you
to let us sit with you, one at your right and the other on your left.”
(Mark 10: 35f) This request is
also mentioned in Matthew’s Gospel.
Matthew’s rendition of this event is even more dramatic because
the request comes from Jesus’ aunt, Salome, his mother’s sister.
She said, “Promise me that these two sons of mine will sit at
your right and your left when you are King.”
(Matthew 20:21) Regardless of which
person actually made the request, Jesus’ response was the same.
“I do not have the right to choose who will sit on my right and
left. It is God who will
give these places to those for whom he has prepared them.”
(Mark 10:40) The request by
James and John created an angry response from the other ten disciples
for daring to ask Jesus for such a favor.
Jesus, however, used the request and the response of the others
as a teachable moment. Jesus
knew that there are many values that only work in the physical world and
other values that are timeless. Jesus taught his
disciples how to distinguish between such values by saying that the
greatest among them had nothing to do with where they might station
themselves in the next world but rather how they use their attitudes,
thoughts and emotions to reflect the nature of God’s spirit. What is interesting
is that these latter values are seldom mentioned in western societies
because millions of people want to be successful in this world.
In fact, the lessons Jesus taught may be among the least popular
values that there are. Such
values were taught to us in Sunday school, but in western societies the
emphasis is clearly on other values. For example, almost
as soon as children enter the world, many parents buy them educational
toys that stimulate their minds.
As they grow older, wise parents guide their children toward
goals and interests that will benefit them in their adult years.
Many of these interests and goals are packaged around education,
skill-development and learning to be wise in their decision-making. Western societies focus on the
reality that we live in a competitive world.
To get ahead in our world, grades in school matter, becoming an
expert in your craft matters, being physically attractive can matter,
having a dynamic personality matters and enjoying a spotless character
matters. We are
trained to be faster and more efficient in our work ethic.
We have to know how to work in a team environment.
We are taught that if we fail, others are poised and ready to
take our place. There can be no
question that such values work and are economically beneficial. They
often generate the results that all parents want for their children.
Parents enjoy having the
bragging rights when their
children are successful and they often include the glowing details in
their annual Christmas letter.
So what is the problem with these values?
Think about this –
what happens to many of these successful people when the rewards, large
salaries and bonuses start coming?
What happens when having the competitive edge is so profoundly
engrained in them that having plenty is never enough and that being
second is unacceptable? What
happens to people that climb that corporate ladder and discover that it
was leaning against the wrong wall? Now and then people
receive a wake-up call in time to save them from the competitive nature
of our material world. One
day a friend was sitting in the doctor’s office.
He was at the pinnacle of a successful career.
The price he was paying to stay there was steep.
He spent long hours at the office and days away from his family.
His doctor said,
Harold, your blood
pressure is hovering at very dangerous levels. I don’t want to scare you
but strokes are common at these levels.
The human body was not built for the way you executives drive
yourselves. I can give you
medication but you have to change what you value or your body will make
those changes for you.
Another friend
frequently entertained his clients over lunch and he began to put on
about ten pounds a year.
His thirst for those mid-day cocktails became habit forming.
When he got home, his need to consume more alcohol continued.
Eventually his wife divorced him and she and their children moved
to another state. The list
of people who have lost control over their lives is extensive.
Only a fraction of their names ever make the headlines. Jesus said to his
disciples, “This lifestyle is not the way it is for you.
If one of you wants to be great, you must be the servant to the
rest. If one of you wants
to be first, you must become the slave of everyone else.”
(Mark 10:45) This
attitude toward life is slowly fading from the memories of millions of
people if it were ever there in the first place.
When we were in the
States recently, the results of a large survey by the Think about this –
was not the environment in Think of what
people must experience without any practical understanding of God.
Think about people who know nothing about harnessing the energies
of the spirit. Think about
how people must cope with disappointment, betrayal, being terminated
from our jobs or loosing a son or daughter because of an intoxicated
driver. What happens to
them when prayer is only an ancient memory of what their grandparents
did?
The world can become a very
frightening place when there are no reference points to being on a
spiritual journey with God as a life-partner. Jesus said, “The
path to fulfillment in life is narrow and the way that leads to it is
difficult to hold on to and there are only a few people who ever find
it.” (Matthew 7:14)
We might ask, “Why would God make the way to a happy, fulfilled
life almost impossible to achieve and maintain?”
The answer, of
course, is that the way is actually simple to find and easy to maintain
when we follow Jesus’ teachings.
(Matthew 11:30) His
disciples were mixing the values found in the material world with the
values of spirit. The problem faced by people is that the pathway to
life outlined by Jesus finds itself among so many alternatives that
appear more attractive and enticing, that people ignore completely or
become deaf to his wisdom. Many of the world’s values are
extremely important but without the balance created by the values that
govern the quality of our spirits, often there is no perspective or
insight into what power, prestige, seduction and greed can do to people.
Many people flirt with such
experiences without having sufficient skills to manage them once they
arrive. Even the most
skilled people among us have difficulties while navigating in
the tributaries of the
world’s rivers and
oceans.
Many of us satisfy ourselves by building
sand castles that will be
washed away by the tides of time. There is nothing wrong with doing so,
provided that, all along the way, our compassion for others was also
helping us to meet their needs.
If our lives have been
all about us, our spiritual growth may have been in
remission for years. For example,
imagine standing in the presence of God and reporting that we became the
greatest footballer of all time.
Suppose we told God that we were the greatest NASCAR driver and
had collected more trophies than any other competitor.
Suppose we told God, “I had the most successful medical practice
in my specialty than any doctor in the world.”
Suppose we said, “I preached to 25,000 people every Sunday
morning. My books of
sermons have sold millions of copies.
There is no telling how many lives I have saved as a
result of my work!” God might say,
Congratulations!
Where you are now, however, we have no football games, no race tracks,
no physical bodies to decay, and no need to hear sermons or read books.
The pursuits that you mentioned were all good ones, but the skills you
perfected are not useful here.
Instead, share with
me the spirit by which you lived.
Tell me stories about your use of patience, generosity, kindness,
humility, peacefulness, self-control or your ability to release
instantly the hurtful attitudes that were directed toward you by others.
Tell me what you have done to
make your world a healthier, more loving place for men and women to live
in peace. How would we answer
God? Hopefully, we have
lots of stories to tell God. What may be missing
today from the lives of millions of people is the
ingredient that has been
missing in the lives of billions of people throughout human history.
That
ingredient is the development
of a working-understanding of the infinite nature of who we are.
That ingredient is
realizing that our limited number of days on the earth is a drop in the
bucket when compared to the infinite journey each of us has embarked
upon. Jesus had awakened
to this knowledge and that is why he concluded our passage today with
words that express his understanding:
“I did not come to the earth to be served.
I came here to serve others by teaching them that there is more
to their lives than what they imagine.
I came here to encourage them not to be fooled by the enticing
illusions of a world, a world that does not exist where my father
dwells.” (Mark 10:45) This week, spend
time reading the newspapers, listening to the news and paying attention
to the conversation of loved ones and friends.
Think of how different
the societies of the world would be if everyone had the understanding
that their attitudes and responses will determine the quality of what
they will take with them when they leave this world.
What we are
experiencing today is that the pendulum is swinging away from the value
of living in community to the value of living as an individual.
This is why there is so much anger among people.
When life is all about me,
being in a hurry is the excuse to set traffic laws aside. We can
violate the freedom of others because we can.
We can end someone’s life because they offended us.
In spite of all this new found
power, we continue to remain
unhappy because our personal world is never the way we want it to be.
God will always
love us, however, even if we live in total ignorance of Jesus’ message
to humankind.
God’s patience is inexhaustible.
God will provide us with all the
time we need to learn to replace “me” with “we.”
Extending ourselves toward others in the manner Jesus taught is
the only path that allows us to grow. Jesus came here to
serve others by teaching this truth.
(John 18:37) That
truth has always existed from the beginning of time.
(John 1:1-4) This is the
way God radiates his spirit. At
the end of our days on earth, we will understand that we could have been
doing the same thing with our lives all along.
The world of spirit is
the only one that exists when we leave this world.
Our accomplishments do not
follow us. The spirit in
which we did them will. |