O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
Years ago a researcher for a publishing company was interviewing a number of people to determine what kind of books they liked to read. The Bible, Shakespeare, and the classics were high on nearly everyone's list.
In return for their cooperation, the researcher offered each person a choice of a free book from a list of titles published by the company. The most popular choice of this high-minded group was "Murder of a Burlesque Queen."
As I look at the culture of the Western world today it seems clear that we prize comfort more than commitment, self-indulgence more than self-sacrifice, possessions more than people.
And the sad thing is that many of us do not even realize that our values are askew. And this includes - though it ought not - people within the church of Christ Jesus.
In today's epistle reading St. Paul says there are two kinds of people: those who have their eyes set on worldly pleasures, whose God is their belly - and those who citizenship is in heaven and who await a Saviour from there - our Lord Jesus Christ.
And he calls us - as we wait - to stand firm in the Lord.
So where are you at?
Are you a person whose life is oriented toward this world, or is your life oriented beyond this world to eternity?
What is that you actually focus on?
What do you seek out for yourself and your family?
What do you value?
I've said before that people don't talk much about heaven anymore, even people who claim to be followers of Christ.
C.S. Lewis in his book, THE PROBLEM OF PAIN, written years ago - puts it this way:
"We are very shy nowadays, of even mentioning heaven. We are afraid of the jeer about pie in the sky' and of being told that we are trying to escape from the duty of making a happy world here-and-now into dreams of a happy world elsewhere."
"But", Lewis continues, "either there is 'pie in the sky' or there is not. If there is not, then Christianity is false, for this doctrine is woven into its whole fabric. If there is, then this truth, like any other, must be faced... whether it makes us popular or not"
Lewis is right.
Either our primary focus is on this world and its pleasures or it is on heaven and the Saviour that we await - the one who does not simply labour to make earth more like heaven, but whose mission is, instead, to have us become citizens of heaven - a people who are ready for the new heaven and the new earth that will come when the old heaven and earth pass away - a people who live - and live forever - because they depend more upon the bread of heaven than they do upon that bread made from grain and other things of this earth.
As I said before in speaking about the temptations that we experience, there is a choice that must be made and that choice primarily consists of what we focus upon.
Are we concerned to discover what it is God wants us to do with our lives?
- Who it is that God wants us to touch with his love?
- What it is that God wants us to say to our friends when they are in distress?
- Where it is that God wants us to go so that we might be a blessing to others - and perhaps receive a blessing ourselves?
Or do we seek instead to determine how we will get a bigger home or a newer car or take that vacation we have long wanted.
Do our values reflect a higher order of things - a divine order - a heavenly order? Or do they focus more on what Paul calls the things of the belly?
Are you able to enjoy the simple pleasures of life, those things that God has made and placed in your path, or must you surround yourself with the things that humankind make and then sell at price that only the wealthy can afford?
I remember reading a story:
Two of the characters were brothers - David and Michael. They were complete opposites. Michael was a successful businessman, while David took seasonal jobs at ranches, parks and resorts.
Concerned for David's welfare, businessman Michael tried to entice David with the so-called "good life." He would send David photos labelled "My new sound system" or "My new car." The campaign ended, though, when Michael received a poster from David showing a breathtaking view of Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park.
On the back David had written: "My back yard."
Whether it is the latest stereo equipment, a new car, the latest computer system, a massage at the neighbourhood spa, or a membership in the local health club, there are some people who are desperately seeking happiness and length of life through those things that money can buy.
It's sad, but our world is wrapped up in the pursuit of power, pleasure and possessions.
Some can only enjoy a sunset if it is in Thailand. Exercise has no lure for others unless they are in the right club or at least have on the right attire. Even the food we eat must be served with the proper ambience.
I'm not saying that all the things of this earth are sinful in and of themselves.
I am saying if you have to have these things to be happy, you are in trouble - and you are most especially in trouble when you consider that well over ninety percent of this world's population do not and cannot experience even ten percent of the physical abundance that is ours... and yet seem fully able to live and to love and to know joy and peace.
Dr. Eugene Brice once read an account written by a woman born near the turn of the 20th century. She wrote of raising a family on a farm during hard, hard times. She told about one terrible winter when their 18-month-old daughter came down with a cold, then flu, then pneumonia, then diphtheria. Living 18 miles from town, they resorted to home remedies and the help of neighbours. The baby's condition, though, went downhill rapidly and they grew more desperate. The worst night, the woman wrote, was when snow fell, making any more travel to town extremely difficult. That night the baby lay virtually lifeless. The baby's father wrote in his journal, "Heavy snow. How can we bury our baby in this? The blackest day of my life thus far."
The next day the doctor came out from town, making the last 8 miles of the trip on horseback over terrible roads. He said that the infection seemed to be lessened, but that the child was still very near death. If they could just get some nourishment of some kind down her, with a bit of strength and a lot of luck, she might make it. Maybe, he said, an egg would help.
An egg! Simple suggestion, but it was the dead of winter and the hens were not laying and there was no way to get to town. Someone went to the recently installed rural party line and rang the neighbours. The word went out quickly. Did anyone have an egg? The baby's life depended on it. Fortunately, one distant neighbour did! One egg was found, and the neighbour rode over with it. Into the house he came as they rejoiced. The baby was given an eggnog of sorts, and continued her improvement. The crisis was over, and the baby was soon well again.
The woman who wrote that was Eugene Brice's mother; the baby was his twin sister. Brice says he thinks of this occasionally when he opens the refrigerator door and sees eggs stacked there in every season of the year. He often compares his life, all that he has, with theirs in those far more difficult days when, in comparison to us, they had so little. And yet, he occasionally wonders if in his entire life he has ever felt the depth of joy they felt when that one egg was brought carefully into the house on that snowy December day of 1932.
"A person's life," Jesus said, "does not consist of the abundance of his possessions."
Indeed not. Our possessions are but a temporary illusion, a package of materials that can not and will not accompany us to heaven, and whose weight, in fact, might help hold us back from taking that trip.
It is all a question of focus - a question of faith, of what we seek.
Are you seeking, by the grace of God, to live a Christ-like life?
There's no use, you see, of talking about the eternal joy of life on the other side of the tomb if we don't really enjoy living for Christ on this side of the tomb.
Are you and I seek to live as followers of Jesus here and now?
You might quickly say - YES - OF COURSE - Why else would I be here today? But think about it for a minute.
Think of the parable found in today's gospel - the parable of the narrow door.
Think of how Jesus says to those who are locked outside the door, how he says those who are knocking on it - "I do not know where you come from."
And think too of how they reply to him - "but we ate and drank with you and you taught in our streets". And of how Jesus again replies: "I do not know where you come from."
A religious pedigree means nothing - Knowing Jesus' name - and saying the odd prayer - especially when you are in trouble - means even less.
Even doing things in the name of Christ - good things - is no guarantee of heaven - no guarantee that your values are right - that your focus is correct - that you really trying to live as Christ calls you to live.
Hear these word's of Jesus. Word's found in the gospel according to Matthew.
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in Heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?'. And I will declare to them: 'I never knew you; go away from me, you evil-doers."
And hear these words again from today's Gospel reading - hear them as if you were there with Jesus as he laments what might have been:
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing."
Are you willing to do the work of God as Christ did it
- even when it will lead you to some loss in this world
- even when it might mean that there are some pleasures you may have to avoid, or some people whom you will never be popular with?
Are you willing to follow Christ even though it may mean that you may have to give up certain business practices - or confront your boss or your neighbour or even your husband about their unacceptable behaviour? Are you willing to imitate the example of our Lord - even though it may demand of you that you forgive those who have hurt you badly and give all of yourself for those who don't even care for you?
Are you willing to follow Jesus - even when it might lead you to a cross???
Are you ready to stand firm in the Lord?? Or is there another God to whom you sacrifice?
These are the questions of our Lenten Season as we watch Christ himself struggle to focus on what God has called him to and to resist doing what his mortal flesh suggests to him he should be about.
it is all a matter of basic orientation. A matter of focus.
Stand firm by looking at Jesus and trusting in Him rather than pursuing the things of this world.
Remember that God promises that he will not turn away those who turn to him in faith and trust and obedience. And that He promises eternal life to those who seek day by day to walk in the way that leads to eternity.
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings... but you would not"
This morning, once again, Jesus Christ calls you and me. He calls us to the shelter of God's protecting wings. He calls you and me to the loving embrace of his arms - the arms that he stretched out on the cross - for you - and for me. May His Name be praised day by day. Amen!
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