Say "Yes!" and Go!

Matthew 21:23-32

Whether we are willing to acknowledge it or not, our culture loves to watch the mighty and powerful take a fall. In politics, if we sit on one side of the aisle, we hope to see our opponent lose his or her power, influence and prestige. When George W. Bush was President, he had more than his fair share of critics and was the subject of many jokes by many comedians and others. During Barak Obama’s presidency, he, too, has had more than his fair share of criticism and has been the subject of many jokes by many comedians and others. Our culture loves to build up and tear down those in power. We love to take aim and fire our weapons of slander and gossip at those who govern and sit in high places.

Whenever one of these two men gave a speech, there were those individuals who are skeptical about their thoughts, reflections and ideas. There are always individuals who want to heckle them, who want to trip them up and make them look bad. Remember when President Bush had a shoe thrown at him during a news conference. President Obama has had hecklers of all kinds in the audience at various speaking engagements across the country. We see this everyday on any one of the variety of 24-hour news channels available to us.

Criticism, trying to make someone a fool: this was nothing new for Jesus. He had experienced this before. They were not innocent questions. The chief priests and the elders of the people had been trying to find ways to expose Jesus as a fake and a fraud for some time. They were trying to trip him up and discredit him. “By what authority” do you teach the things you do? Their agenda is clear. But Jesus has their number.

Jesus has an edge over the religious leaders of his day: he’s fully human AND fully God. He knows the hearts of those leaders. He sees them coming miles down the road. He knows them so well that his counter-question to them sets up a lose-lose scenario for them and a win-win for Jesus. Any answer they would offer would anger the crowd and expose their hidden agenda.

Jesus knows their hearts. He knows they wanted to make him look bad in public. He knows them so well he explains it through a story; a story about a father with two sons. The father asks them to go work in his vineyard. One son refuses to go, but later changes his mind and goes to work. The other son says yes but fails to show up for work. Jesus asked, “Which of the two did the will of his father?” Our God is a God of grace, mercy, love and forgiveness. The answer is the son who, though he first said no, later changed his mind and went. The other son could talk the talk, but was not able to walk the walk. He knew the right words to say, but didn’t live according to God’s will. “God welcomes those who have had less than ethical lives but who have repented and desired the goodness of God and God’s realm.”[1] The chief priests and the elders said the right words, but they didn’t follow through working to fulfill God’s will. They knew what was expected of them, but didn’t practice what they preached and taught because I believe they presumed that there were extra actions to be taken in order to be a true believer of God. There are some who believe you must have a proper understanding of and ability to articulate theories of Christian dogma in order to be eligible for heaven. There are many who express a deep faith in God but live a life that promotes a faith based strictly on one’s moral righteousness. And there are others who put their faith in a specific denomination, a specific church building, a specific way of interpreting Scripture or some doubtful type of conversion experience, complete with date, time and location. These are secondary aspects of faith. We must be careful to not put our faith in something other than God’s grace. It will be a distraction for us and lead us down the wrong road; a road that leads to the loss of ourselves, our faith and to our destruction.

As stewards of Christ, we are called to remember who we are. The chief priests and elders remembered who they were, but didn’t live it out in their daily lives. On the other side we have people represented by tax collectors and prostitutes who may not know the right words to say, but they are the ones who do God’s will because they learned who they were by living out the Gospel as they heard it. They expressed their faith by repenting of their sins and giving themselves to God in Christ. They may not be the most articulate individuals of theological doctrine, but they quickly understood what the walk of faith with Jesus truly entails.

We have four options according to this parable as Christ’s disciples: 1) say yes and fail to go, 2) say no and fail to go, 3) say no, then repent and go, and 4) say yes and go. Number four is our best option; our most faithful option. And as they say at Nike, we are called to “Just Do It”; we are to say yes and go; to let our yes be a yes and our no to be a no. We are to say yes to God and go wherever he leads us. To lose one's own will in the will of God should be the true occupation of everyone’s time on earth.[2]

Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk and writer, wrote this great prayer many years ago that continues to be a guide for me on my own spiritual journey. “My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing."[3]

And we must make sure we are responding and relating to Jesus, allowing him to confront us at any point in our walk with him where we have been like the second son, saying ‘yes’ to God while in fact running in the opposite direction.

For any promises we make as Christ’s disciples can never take the place of performance, and articulate words are never a substitute for fine deeds.[4] Amen.

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[1] The Stewardship Companion: Lectionary Resource for Preaching. David N. Mosser (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997)  p.68.

[2] Poet George Mackay Brown, quoted in Context, December 1, 1997, 8.

[3] Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude (New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 1983), 83. 

[4] The Daily Bible Study Series: Matthew. William Barclay

It's God's Prerogative

Matthew 20:1-16

Christian author Phillip Yancey, in his book “What’s So Amazing about Grace?” shares a story about a discovery among theologians of what is unique about the Christian faith. “During a British conference on comparative religions”, he writes, “experts from around the world debated what, if any, belief was unique to the Christian faith. They began eliminating several possibilities.

Incarnation? Other religions had different versions of gods' appearing in human form. Resurrection? Again, other religions had accounts of return from death.

The debate went on for some time until C.S. Lewis wandered into the room. "What's the rumpus about?" he asked, and heard in reply that his colleagues were discussing Christianity's unique contribution among world religions. Lewis responded, "Oh, that's easy. It's grace."

After some discussion, the conferees had to agree. The notion of God's love coming to us free of charge, no strings attached, seems to go against every instinct of humanity. The Buddhist eight-fold path, the Hindu doctrine of karma, the Jewish covenant, and the Muslim code of law -- each of these offers a way to earn approval. Only Christianity dares to make God's love unconditional.

Aware of our inbuilt resistance to grace, Jesus talked about it often. He described a world saturated with God's grace: where the sun shines on people good and bad; where birds gather seeds in grace, neither plowing nor harvesting to earn them; where wildflowers burst into bloom on the rocky hillsides. Like a visitor from a foreign country who notices what the natives overlook, Jesus saw grace everywhere. Yet he never analyzed or defined grace, and almost never used the word. Instead, he communicated grace through stories we know as parables.[1]

Parables like the one I just read from Matthew 20 where Jesus reminds us that in the kingdom of heaven the grace and mercy of God is often surprising, shocking, provocative, even offensive. The kingdom of heaven is where people are valued not because of their economic productiveness, but because God loves and engages them for who they are. That which initially appears to be an outrageous injustice between the landowner and the laborers is actually the greatest justice of all—a justice motivated by a different set of criteria: mercy and grace.

This is not a parable for just anyone; it is not addressed to the general crowds or even to seekers. This parable is designed primarily for the disciples (19:23, 27; 20:17); for those who have been around with Jesus since the beginning, to “insiders”, to those in the know, who, to some extent, know about God’s grace and mercy. The passage is a part of their instruction, their learning, as they travel from Galilee to Jerusalem (19:1; 20:18). It’s a warning to the disciples. Jesus is teaching them to not think that, because they’ve been close to Jesus so far, they are somehow the favored few for all time. They cannot claim any special honor or a special place because they were followers of Christ before anybody else. They are on the same level with believers of every time and place. All of us are equally precious to God.

This parable is also bracketed by two counter intuitive sayings (19:30; 20:16), sayings that in themselves carry an enormous threat for those who identify themselves as insiders, for the privileged who enjoy a special place with Jesus (see 20:20–28). The parable in effect shows what it means when the first shall be last and the last shall be first. It’s God’s prerogative that there is no first and there is no last. God does not rank us based on any criteria.

This parable is a warning for all of us. We come to believe that because we’ve been a member of a particular club, group or church that we are in charge. We get to call the shots. Any new people, new members are ignored, not included in what’s happening, and resented if they provide ideas for a new project, a new curriculum, or for suggesting doing something new or something better or doing something completely different from what has been done before. Will we put ourselves in eternal danger by begrudging God’s generosity to those whom we think unworthy? Will we endanger our community by resenting those who do not measure up to our standards?

This parable about the laborers and the vineyard owner tell us three things about the character of God: it is God’s prerogative to be a God of comfort; it is God’s prerogative to be a God of infinite compassion; and it is God’s prerogative to be a God of generosity.

First, the comfort of God is that everyone is equal in God’s eyes, whether you believed in Him your whole life or on your deathbed; whether you’re an elder or a deacon or a member of Presbyterian Women or youth group, you are equal in God’s eyes with everyone else. No matter when someone comes to Christ, he or she is equally dear to Him.

Second, there is the infinite compassion of God. There is nothing more tragic than a person who is unemployed; whose talents are rusting from idleness because there is nothing to do. In Jesus’ time, men went to the marketplace prepared to work. The men in our parable stood waiting because no one had hired them. The master shows compassion by recognizing the average day’s wage was not very much. In fairness to all, those who worked fewer hours should receive less pay. The owner showed compassion toward and did more than was required giving them more than what they deserved.

And third, there is the generosity of God. All service is equal in the eyes of God. It’s not the amount of service given, but the love in which it was given. That’s what matters. Is there a difference between a rich person buying a gift out of their abundance? Or a child gives a gift that cost a few bucks but which he saved for it held more value. All God gives is grace; it’s grace you can’t earn and grace you don’t deserve. God’s grace is not the sort of thing you can bargain with or try to store up for a rainy day. God’s grace is not the sort of thing that one person can have a lot of and someone else only a little. It’s what people receive from having served God and God’s kingdom. It’s a covenant in which God promises us everything and asks of us everything in return. When God keeps his promises, God is not rewarding us for our effort, but doing what comes naturally for God: being overly generous and gracious with all of us.

It all comes down to God’s grace. Pastor and teacher Frederick Buechner describes grace as “… something you can never get but only be given. The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn't have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It's for you. I created the universes. I love you. There's only one catch. Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you reach out and take it. Maybe being able to reach out and take it is a gift too.”[2]

God’s grace is for everyone. Who are we to judge God’s generosity to those whom we think don’t deserve it or don’t measure up to our standards? God’s grace is for everyone. Will you accept it? Amen.

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[1] Philip Yancey, What's So Amazing About Grace? (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1997), 45.

[2] Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC (New York: Harper & Row, 1973), 33-34.

Why Should I Forgive?

Matthew 18:21-35

Will you pray with me?

Holy God, your Word is strong and leads our feet to your holy dwelling place. Strengthen and guide us with your Word through the power of your Holy Spirit; in Jesus’ name. Amen.

There once was a man named Simon Wiesenthal.  Simon was a Jewish prisoner in a concentration camp during World War II.  He suffered a great deal at the hands of the Nazis, but not as much as some of his friends and family who lost their lives in very cruel, inhumane ways. 

One particular day Simon was taken away from his work group to speak to a dying Nazi soldier.  The dying soldier wanted to confess his atrocities and sins to Simon.  The soldier told Simon about specific instances when he had been ordered to kill Jewish families and he complied.  The soldier asked Simon to forgive him.  He appeared to be truly repentant of his sins and wanted to confess to Simon, who for him represented all Jews.

Simon was faced with a very difficult choice between compassion and justice.  After some time passed, Simon said nothing and left the soldier’s bedside.  The soldier died sometime during the night.  Simon was often haunted by the memory of the soldier and wondered whether he had done the right thing.

What do you think? Did Simon do the right thing?  Should he have forgiven the penitent soldier?  What would you do if you were Simon?

Forgiving someone is very difficult to do because it involves becoming vulnerable; it involves removing the barriers which separate us from God and our neighbor.  These barriers are a result of sin and they cut us off from a relationship with God, the source of life.  Because of this separation, we are out of sync, out of step with creation; we are filled with anxiety and fear living a life that is incomplete. 

The unforgiving slave of our text found himself with a debt of ten thousand talents.  This is an outrageous amount of money!  If one talent was worth more than fifteen years’ worth of wages for an average laborer, imagine how much it would be if you multiplied that by ten thousand.  One would have to work for one hundred and fifty thousand years to pay this debt.  It’s mind-blowing.  The unforgiving slave is buried under a mountain of debt. 

So the king one day decides to call in his loans, beginning with the unforgiving slave.  The king is all but ready to sell the unforgiving slave and his family to another master to pay off the debt, but the slave begs him to reconsider. Then a miracle happens: the king forgives the man of his enormous debt and sets him free; this huge, enormous debt that was weighing him down, that had him stuck in the mud with his wheels spinning, was taken away.  The barriers between him and the king are gone.

This is the Gospel message: God has removed the barriers between God and us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death.”(Romans 6:23)  Death is the pay check of sin.  God has given us a way out of this mess we’re in.  Jesus Christ took upon him the sin of all humanity, past, present and future, paying in full the debt we owe through his death and bodily resurrection.  This is why every Sunday we confess our sin together, letting go of our debt that comes from sin.  We acknowledge our need for God’s forgiveness through our prayer of confession. We are forgiven of our sin.  And we are assured of this when the pastor or lay reader or all of us in one voice declare in Jesus Christ we are forgiven.

What do we do with this freedom from sin?  What are we to do with this forgiveness that has taken down the barriers between us and God?  Jesus says we are to share this same forgiveness with our neighbor, with everyone we meet each day.  (And so we have the Passing of the Peace.  “Because God has forgiven us let us forgive one another.”  When we pass the peace to one another, we’re not simply exchanging pleasantries and small talk, we are sharing the forgiveness we have found in Christ with those around us.)  There is nothing anybody can do to us that can in any way compare with what we have done to God; and if God has forgiven us the enormous debt we owe to Him, we must forgive one another the debts owed to us.  We forgive one another because God has forgiven us.

Once the slave was forgiven by the king and released from slavery, he ran into one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii.  One denarius equals one day’s work.  Multiply that by one hundred and it’s only one hundred days of wages or just over three months of work.  It doesn’t compare to the debt forgiven by the king.  But it turns out the forgiven slave does not forgive as the king had forgiven him.  He has him thrown in prison until the one hundred denarii is repaid.  Word gets back to the king.  The slave is punished and tortured.

Forgiving one another is very difficult, but it is necessary to bring wholeness and restoration to our lives and our relationships with one another.  It gives us the chance to rise above the old baggage that once weighed us down. 

Have you ever attended a tractor pull?  For the uninitiated, the “tractor” in these events is more like a rocket with four wheels.  Some of these tractors have multiple engines and are longer than a truck.  The tractor-like rear wheels are about the only item on the machine that resembles an ordinary farm tractor.

These high-powered tractors are hitched to a wedge-shaped trailer that plows into the ground creating greater resistance the farther it is pulled.  The tractor, racing toward the finish line, usually starts out strong, but quickly labors and often stalls under the ever-increasing resistance.  The wheels of the tractor often spin so rapidly that the tractor becomes literally stuck in the mud, spinning its wheels and unable to continue.  Only when the trailer is unhitched from the tractor can it move again.

We all have something in our past or present that is weighing us down: old memories, spoken words we regret, imposing physical abuse upon someone or a victim of abuse, financial debts that we just can’t seem to pay off.  Many of us have done things that we are unable to forgive ourselves for.  And we find ourselves spinning our wheels and stuck in a moment we can’t get out of.  It’s when we unhitch ourselves from what is weighing us down that we can get out of the pit and get back on solid ground. 

Why is it so hard to forgive others?  Why do we hold on to grudges, old hurts, bitterness and feelings of resentment? 

When we hold on to bitterness and hurts from the past, we are enslaved to it.  It gets a grip on our hearts and it slowly suffocates our spirit.  It grows like a cancer that’s out of control slowly killing us.  It’s a splinter that festers under our skin infecting our spiritual and physical bodies.  Do we really want to live like that? 

To forgive is to let go; to let go of the barriers that separate us from God and from one another.  It is to let go of what is holding us down and holding us hostage.  It’s one of the hardest things you’ll ever do, but it is the only way to get right with God and with one another.  It’s the only way to free ourselves from slavery to the hurts, bitterness and resentment of the past.  It’s the only way to free ourselves from the tremendous debt we owe God because of sin.  It’s the only way to free ourselves to live in peace and harmony with our neighbor.

I believe that, as author Beth Moore puts it, “We never look more like Christ than when we forgive.” We never look more like Christ than when we forgive.  To be Christ in our time is to forgive ourselves and one another as God has forgiven us.  That is why we are to forgive.

Let us pray.  Gracious God, we kneel before you acknowledging our need for forgiveness.  We are entangled in a web of sin and resentment.  We’re tired of living enslaved to fear and anxiety.  We want to be made complete and whole again so we may live in sync with your whole creation.  Thank you for forgiving us our sin so we can forgive one another.  Amen.

What Does It Profit to Gain the Whole World?

Matthew 16:21-28

I want to tell you a story about native hunters in the jungles of Africa and the clever technique they use for trapping monkeys.  They slice a coconut in half and hollow it out. In one half of the shell, they cut a hole just big enough for a monkey’s hand to pass through.  Then they place an orange in the other coconut half before putting the coconut back together.  Finally, they secure the coconut to a tree with a rope, retreat into the jungle, and wait.

Sooner or later, an unsuspecting monkey swings by, smells the delicious orange, and discovers its location inside the coconut.  The monkey then slips his hand through the small hole, clutches the orange, and tries to pull it through the hole.  Of course, the orange won’t come out; it’s too big for the hole.  No matter how hard he tries, the persistent monkey continues to pull and pull not realizing what danger lies ahead.  The monkey REALLY wants that orange.

While the monkey struggles with the orange, the hunters simply stroll in and capture the monkey by throwing a net over him.  As long as the monkey keeps his fist wrapped around the orange, the monkey is trapped.

It’s too bad for the monkey.  He could save his life and escape the hunters if he would just let go of the orange.  It serves as a deadly trap, a trap that we all too often find ourselves in.  A trap that is not seen or understood until it is too late.

What does it profit to gain the whole world, yet forfeit your life?  There is no real answer concerning what a person can gain, but there IS an answer to the question of what one will lose.  If you place greater importance on the things of this world, you will lose out on many wonderful blessings from God. If you seek your OWN happiness because you think all God wants is for you to be happy, then you will miss the amazing adventure God wants to share with you.

The text serves as a transition point in Matthew’s Gospel, dividing the Galilean ministry from the Passion of Jerusalem.  The Galilean Ministry was all about the power and authority of Jesus; he healed and taught people everywhere he went.  He has a following, a fan club; the original “flash mob”.  He’s making headlines everywhere he goes.  It appears that Jesus has the whole world in his pocket; that he has worldly fame and fortune.

From this point to his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the emphasis is placed on Jesus’ preparation of the disciples for his death; sharing with them how he must suffer and endure the horror and terror of the crucifixion.  All the people who love him will turn on him.  The headlines Jesus makes will be far less than flattering.  He won’t have the whole world in his pocket.  He will not be as popular and loved as he is now.  Jesus will pay the ultimate price with his life so that all people, even us today, could be free from sin. 

In our current economic climate, all of us are price conscious.  We clip coupons or download them on our phones for the grocery store or the pharmacy.  We shop around for the best price, especially on big ticket items.  Stores of all kinds advertise big sales where you can save twenty, thirty even fifty percent off the retail price.  We camp out at the store entrance on Thanksgiving evening for the start of Black Friday hoping to get at least a bargain or two.  We search for the least expensive gas stations.  I’ll drive an extra mile to save a couple of cents!  We are all very price conscious.

We need to be this conscientious in every area of our life including the spiritual.  How often do we get caught up in ourselves and forget to count the cost of neglecting our spirits.  Many do not count the cost of buying the world with all its glitter and glamour at the price of losing their life, real life, spiritual life.  It is perfectly possible for a person to gain all the things they set their heart upon, and then to awaken one morning to find they have missed the most important things of all.  If we were able to find out what our soul or our life is worth and then used it buy the whole world, it would be the worst investment ever.  Why?

First of all, the world is perishing.  It’s broken.  It’s dying.  Would you buy a Rolex watch that you knew couldn’t tell time?  Would you pay top dollar for a house that is uninhabitable?

Second, the world does not and cannot satisfy our deepest needs.  We were made for God.  Only God in Christ Jesus can meet our deepest needs and satisfy our spirit.  It is pointless to try to fill ourselves with wealth, advancement in our careers, power, prestige, lots of activities and busyness if that’s all we are about.  We need God, the Living God revealed to us in the life of Jesus Christ, to complete and fulfill us.  Otherwise, our life will always be incomplete and missing a vital part.

Lastly, you cannot take it with you.  All the awards, academic degrees, titles, homes, cars, kitchenware, power tools, the bath towels you love that are so absorbent yet so soft to the touch can’t make the trip with you into eternal life.  The one who commits their life solely to gain the whole world will be greatly disappointed, empty and lonely when they discover their possessions, toys and stuff can’t make the trip from earth to heaven.  You can only take yourself; and if you have degraded yourself in order to get the things of the world, you will regret it dearly.

What does it profit us to gain the whole world, yet forfeit our life?  It doesn’t.  You don’t profit by acquiring the wealth, power and prestige of the whole world as your primary objective.  Like the monkeys, so long as you keep your fist wrapped around the orange, you are trapped.  You will lose out on the many wonderful, eternal blessings that come from God and God alone.

There are many individuals who came from humble circumstances and became wealthy beyond their wildest dreams.  One such man was the son of a widower farmer in Alabama.  He earned his first profit at age six by selling a pig.  He attended college and later law school.  While in school, he and a friend began their own marketing firm.  His expertise in business and his entrepreneurial drive made him a self-made millionaire at age 29.  He was successful and respected.  He had it all.  He had enough to own several homes, a plane, luxury cars and more, but the long hours, business travel and more put an awful strain on his marriage.  As his business prospered, his health and integrity suffered greatly.

The crisis prompted him to change, get well and go in a new direction.  He and his wife, after much prayer, sold all their possessions, gave the money away to those in need and began looking for a new route to travel. 

They landed up at Koinionia Farm, a Christian community located near Americus, Georgia, where people were looking for practical ways to apply Christ’s teachings.  With Koinonia founder Clarence Jordan and a few others, they initiated several partnership enterprises, including a housing ministry. This ministry built modest houses on a no-profit, no-interest basis to families with low incomes. Homeowner families were expected to invest their own labor into the building of their home and the houses of other families. This reduced the cost of the house, increased the pride of ownership and fostered the development of positive relationships. 

His name is Millard Fuller.  Mr. Fuller and his wife Linda went to Africa to try out and test their idea.  The Fullers were convinced that this model could be expanded and applied all over the world.  So in 1976, Fuller met with several close associates to start an independent organization called Habitat for Humanity International.  Habitat has become, in the words of former President Bill Clinton “…the most successful continuous community service project in the history of the United States.”  And this remains so even after Millard Fuller’s death in 2009.

Millard Fuller, with all his wealth, influence, intelligence and power, was a self-made millionaire who had gained the whole world or at least a huge chunk of it.  But all his wealth and success came with a price: his deteriorating health, compromised integrity and a conflicted marriage.  He came to the realization that he did not want to gain it all and forfeit the precious life that God had given him.  He wanted to change the world, to help those in need and make a difference in the lives of millions with no decent home to live in.  He figured out early on the illusion of wanting it all.  His hand was once in the hollow coconut grasping the orange unable to free himself from it until he let the orange go.  He refused to spend his whole life with his hand stuck in a coconut.  He refused to listen to the evil one’s trap that if you just have enough money, stuff, power and prestige, then you’ll be happy. 

There are people right now spending their whole lives trying to pull the orange out of the coconut because they think you must have it all to be happy and successful, not realizing that the way to self-fulfillment is the way of self-denial.  We must die to our own will and take up God’s will.  Jesus’ path of suffering and death on the cross is the ultimate example of obedience to God’s will.

Theologian John Calvin saw self-denial as the summary of the Christian life.  He wrote, “We are not our own…we are God’s; to him, therefore, let us live and die…let his wisdom and will preside in all our actions.” (Institutes III.7)  Dietrich Bonheoffer emphasized this as the deep answer to the question of Christian identity when he said, “When Jesus calls a man, he bids him come and die.” (The Cost of Discipleship, part one, ch. 2).  If we seek life in the constant search for safety, security, ease and comfort, if every decision is taken from worldly-wise and prudent motives, we are losing all that makes life worthwhile.  Life becomes a soft and flabby thing, when it might have been an adventure.  Life becomes a selfish thing, when it might have been radiant with service.  Life becomes an earthbound thing when it might have been reaching for the stars.  It is the person who is prepared to bet their life there is a God who in the end finds abundant life.

Not all that understand this are famous theologians or founders of non-profit corporations.  They are the woman who devotes her life to raising children in need of a home.  They are the man whose faithful devotion to his terminally ill wife is consistent, quiet and steady.  They are the college students who give up the chance to spend Spring Break on a beach in Mexico and instead spend it in Honduras, Guatemala, Haiti, serving the poor and the needy.  They are the families who spend Thanksgiving and Christmas Day serving meals in a soup kitchen feeding the hungry and the homeless.  They are the men and women of First Presbyterian Church who give so much of their time and energy “behind the scenes” without any fanfare or public recognition.

It comes down to where we put our values.  Do we sacrifice honor for profit?  Do we sacrifice principal for popularity?  Do we sacrifice the lasting things for the cheap ones?  Do we sacrifice eternity for the moment?  These are important questions we must ask ourselves to see if either we are walking in the freedom of the Lord or clinching an orange inside a coconut.

Don’t fall for it.  What the world offers appears delicious and enticing at first, but it doesn’t last.  It’s not worth giving up the freedom to become all that God has called for you to be.  It is not worth giving up the joy we find in Christ.  It is not worth giving up our present life or our life to come. 

For what will it profit us to gain the whole world, yet forfeit our lives?  Let go of the orange before it is too late.  Amen.