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.