September 5, 2004

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Luke 14:25-33  

“All or Nothing?”

     OK, I’ll admit it – the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of Luke isn’t exactly my favorite Bible passage.  I’ve never been comfortable with this talk of hating “father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes and even life itself.”  I thought we weren’t supposed to hate anyone, but love other people as we love ourselves…even if they aren’t very lovable!  I guess Luke chose a version of Jesus’ words that were rather blunt because he thought his readers needed to be challenged.

     Matthew’s version, however, has a more gentle approach: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.  Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”

     So, which version is closer to the actual words of Jesus?  No one knows, but we do know that both passages have a real urgency about them.  Jesus’ earthly ministry was very short (maybe less than 3 years), so his call for people to follow was often urgent.  If they were going to follow, they’d have to quickly reprioritize their lives and make an all-or-nothing decision.  Peter, James and John dropped their nets and left their fishing boats behind.  Matthew got up from his tax table and left his career.  The disciples left family, friends and jobs behind. 

     Truth is, we don’t have much time, either.  Our earthly ministries are short, even if we are fortunate to have more time than Jesus had.  A 90 year-old man once asked me why his life had passed so quickly.  Like Kodak commercials used to say, “Turn around and they’re two, turn around and they’re four, turn around and they’re walking out of the door.” 

     Life goes by so quickly and we might not find the time to say “yes” to Jesus: “Yes, Lord, I will follow you wherever you call me to go.  I will love you with all that I am, more than anything or anyone else.”  Life can run out without our ever losing it for Him.  Consequently, we can live out our lives without fully living.

     So here is that great paradox of faith – we must lose our lives to gain them.  At the heart of it all is losing, personal sacrifice for a greater purpose.  This is the heart of Christ.  Body and blood.  Bread and wine.  All-or-nothing.  He gave it all for us.  No greater love has anyone than this and it is to such love that we are called. 

     Hopefully, we’ll never have to give our lives on a cross, but still, true love always means a sacrifice of self for someone else.  It is a beautiful paradox that we only get to keep love when we give it away.

     We’re probably going to need to remind ourselves of this as we go forward in our relationship with Second Church!

     Last Sunday, after nine consecutive Sundays of worship together, we sat down together to talk about the future.  We talked about possible blessings and concerns if our churches merge.  Then, we took a straw poll to see where people are on the issue today.  2 people said they were “generally opposed” to the idea of a merger, 6 people said they were undecided, but a whopping 62 people said they were “generally in favor” of a merger - an overwhelming positive response.  So, in two weeks, we’ll have a congregational meeting to consider giving the Joint Exploration Team permission to work on drafting a merger proposal for us to consider.

     Very soon, we could be working out the details of our future ministry.  Very soon, we could be struggling with church building, staff, program and budget issues.  Very soon, we may find we need to do some quick reprioritizing of our lives, just as the first disciples did.

     We’ve been having a really good time with our sisters and brothers of Second Church and have been blessed all along the way.  We’ve made new friends and have enjoyed a number of new things, but the road ahead may not be so easy.  If these very old and very traditional churches decide to blend together into one new and vibrant congregation, we will all need to make plenty of sacrifices for the greater good, in the name of Christian love.  Undoubtedly, we will all need to remind ourselves (perhaps a number of times) that love happens only when we give it away.

     If we choose to go forward, the way will not be easy, but I can assure you this - if we seek in all things to be Christ’s disciples, to get our priorities in good order, to set aside selfish ambition and allow the Lord to work in us, there will be blessings every step of the way.  We will give and receive love beyond our expectations. 

     The Lord is calling each of us to follow him, to give ourselves completely to his will.  We are invited to experience the fullness of life, the joy of living that beautiful paradox: give it away, and receive it in fuller measure.