Every once in a while, there is a news story that is both bizarre and tragic. In Spain, for example, a poacher shot a stag deer that was standing on an overhanging rock above him. Unfortunately he didn’t take the time to calculate where the deer might fall. It fell directly on him; he was killed instantly. (1)
Equally as bizarre and tragic was the story of a 22-year-old man who was killed when he tried to use occy straps (the stretchy little ropes with hooks on each end) to bungee jump off a 70-foot railroad trestle. According to police this young man taped a bunch of the small occy straps together, wrapped an end around one foot, anchored the other end to the trestle, jumped and hit the pavement. Why? The length of the cord that he had assembled was greater than the distance between the trestle and the ground. (2) Surely, we think to ourselves, he would have figured this out before he jumped.
Poor planning will do you in every time.
A gang of robbers back the 1930s planned to rob a Midwestern bank.
They laid out a nearly perfect plan--but the operative word is “nearly.” They decided to break into the bank late at night and to make their escape via a complex route through back alleys and darkened lots. The day of the robbery came and the initial phases went perfectly. As the alarms pierced the quiet Midwestern night, the three men ran off into the cover of darkness. In the darkness and the confusion that followed, the police lost the robbers and assumed they got away. Early the next morning it was discovered that the three men had gotten sidetracked, fell into a water-filled ravine, and were drowned. (3)
Even the best-laid plans of mice and men, said the poet, go awry. But you don’t have to be a criminal to be poor at planning. You could be a bureaucrat.
According to Time magazine, the American Center in Paris was forced to close just 19 months after opening its dazzling new $41 million building designed by West Coast architect Frank Gehry. Why? Construction costs ate up the center’s entire endowment, leaving nothing for running the literature, language and dance classes that had made the center the pre-eminent showplace for American artistry in Europe. (4)
It’s a story told time and time again. Somebody didn’t look ahead. As someone has said, Let’s all sing that wonderful old hymn about the church that spent $140,000 for a new building and didn’t have enough left over to buy pews. It’s called: Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus!
A large crowd was following Jesus. Some of them doubtless followed out of curiosity. Jesus was the best show in town. An exciting communicator, he performed amazing works of healing and he tweaked the Pharisees besides. What more could you ask for in a preacher and teacher? He was the best!
THERE ARE STILL PEOPLE WHO COME TO JESUS FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT VALUE.
There is always a danger to popularizing the Gospel. There is a danger that people may miss the real point of it all. We all feel the strain, don’t we? When somebody comes up to me and says, “I sure enjoyed the sermon today,” what am I to make of that? I sure enjoy hearing it, though. I try very hard to make my sermons enjoyable, if you want to know the truth of it. I don’t believe Jesus wants sermons that are dry, academic lectures. Jesus certainly didn’t give dry academic lectures. He spoke to the common people.
When we sing our favorite hymns. We get pleasure out of that. And the special music. When it lifts us unto heavenly places, we want to break out into applause [and sometimes we do]. There is an intrinsic entertainment value in our worship and praise. There’s nothing wrong with that.
A lady came up to the great preacher Charles Spurgeon--one of the most influential preachers who ever lived--and complained that he used too much humor in his preaching. Spurgeon answered, “My dear, you don’t know how much I hold back.”
There’s nothing wrong with enjoying worship . . . UNLESS WE ASSUME THAT IS WHAT CHRISTIAN FAITH IS ALL ABOUT.
Entertainment. Amusement. Self-serving pleasure.
Large crowds were following Jesus, but some of them were there for the wrong reasons. It’s time to get serious. And so Jesus says, “And whoever does not take up a cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.”
Say what? This wasn’t what most of the crowd had come to hear. “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower,” Jesus continued. “Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, `This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’
“Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.
“In the same way,” Jesus declares, “any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” (NIV)
Whoa! That will sure thin the crowd in a hurry. Before you jump into this Christianity thing, Jesus is saying to them and to us, be sure you understand what you are getting into.
Well, what are we getting into? Three things quite obviously:
WORSHIP GOD, LOVE PEOPLE AND LIVE RESPONSIBLY.
You and I might add many more items to our list of what practical Christianity is all about, but certainly these three attributes would be at the front: worship God, love people and live responsibly. This is a holy triad--a three-legged stool, if you will. Subtract a leg and inevitably you fall off. Worship God, love people and live responsibly. Easily said, hard to put into practice.
WORSHIP GOD. This is where the life of faith begins. We are not simply a collection of do-gooders. Do-gooders can be some of the unhappiest people on earth. Christians are people who have discovered that there is both a vertical and a horizontal dimension to life, and it is the vertical dimension that empowers us and gives us hope.
Pastor Robert Morgan was working on a sermon based on Isaiah 40: “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not by weary, they shall walk and not faint.” He was having trouble getting into this verse, so Morgan went to the library to study about eagles. He discovered that eagles do not grow weary in flying long distances. Unlike other birds, who must frantically flap their wings to fly, eagles rely instead on thermals, or columns of hot air, to lift them high into the sky. The eagle just settles into the thermal, spreads its wings, and soars. (5)
How long has it been since you soared? That is what worship ought to do for us. Maybe, in addition to having a dove as a symbol of the Holy Spirit, we ought to have a hot-air balloon. Genuine worship lifts us into the presence of God. And when we are lifted into God’s presence, we receive power and peace and a feeling that all is right with the world--not because of who we are but because of who God is. Worship God.
AND LOVE PEOPLE. Christian faith is both vertical and horizontal.
Pastor Don Emmitte, a Baptist preacher in Weatherford, TX. was struck one day several years ago by two images that leaped off of the front page of a newspaper. One was the image of “Miss America.” There on the front page of his newspaper was a list of the “vital statistics” of the Miss America contestants. There were fifty-one participants in the pageant. Of those, the paper had combined the various statistics and presented their version of the “perfect woman.” She has brown hair and brown eyes. She knows how to sing and dance. She has the perfect figure: 35-24-35. She is Miss America. She is the ideal.
The message trumpeted off the page: “This is the standard for American women.” The implication is very clear. Do whatever it takes to be like her.
Firm your thighs. Pamper your hair. Improve your walk. Whatever it may take is well worth the sacrifice to become the perfect woman.
Don’t you find it at least interesting, asks Emmitte, that no mention is made of Miss America’s convictions, her integrity, or her faith in God? It is much more important to know the perfect American woman’s hip size than it is to know her values or faith!
In that same newspaper, in a small photo, just to the left of this article proclaiming the perfect woman for our time, another woman was pictured. Her face was very thin. Her skin was wrinkled with age, almost leathery. She had no makeup, no blush, no lipstick. But there was a faint smile and a glint in her eyes. She looked pale. The caption read: “Mother Teresa in serious condition.” Do you remember Mother Teresa’s story? She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985, and she gave the two hundred thousand dollar prize to the poor of Calcutta. When a businessman bought her a new car, she sold it and gave the money to the underprivileged. She owned nothing. She owed nothing.
Two women: Miss America and Mother Teresa. One walks the boardwalk; the other worked the alley. Two voices: one promises crowns, flowers and crowds; the other promised service, surrender, and joy. The contrast couldn’t be any greater. Please do not misunderstand. There is nothing wrong with beauty pageants per se. They are representative of a philosophy of life, though, that emphasizes loving oneself more than loving one’s neighbor. They are a part of a philosophy of life in which competition is more important than compassion. The call of Christ is to get out of ourselves and to minister to others.
Worship God. Love people. And one thing more: LIVE RESPONSIBLY. Followers of Jesus are accountable to God for how they live their lives.
Ben Kinchlow, pastor and host of the 700 Club, was thrilled when, on a trip to Germany, he got to drive on the famed Autobahn. There is no speed limit on the Autobahn. You can drive as fast as you want. There are three lanes available. The left lane is for the highest-speed driving--nothing less than 120 miles per hour. The middle lane is for those in the 80-100 mph range. And the far right lane is for those driving 60-80 miles per hour.
There’s only one catch: at such dangerous speeds, you better be sure that you and your car can withstand the consequences of the lane you choose.
Kinchlow believes that life is like the Autobahn. God has given us free will to live however we choose. But we better be sure we can withstand the consequences of our choices. (6) We better be sure that our choices make life better for ourselves and others, and not worse.
The Christian life is rather simple, really. It’s not easy, but it is simple. Worship God. No matter how moral and well-meaning you may be, if you are living your life strictly on a horizontal plane, you will never discover the joy or the power of Spirit-filled living. Having said that, though, Christian spirituality is impossible without a commitment to serving others. We are to lay down our lives just as Christ lay down his life. And finally, we are to live our lives responsibly. We are not saved by our works, but neither can we separate our works from our faith. Worship God. Love others. Live responsibly. How about it? Have you counted the cost? Are you willing to be counted as his disciple?
1. Help 4 Sunday
2. Amused News #16, January 29, 1999
3. Dan and Nancy Dick, Wisdom from the Proverbs (Uhrichsville, OH: Narbour & Company, 1986).
4. February 5, 1996, p. 19.
5. Robert J. Morgan, From This Verse (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1998).
6. Ben Kinchlow, You Don’t Have To If You