Luke 14:25-35
October 16, 2011
There is no doubt that it is hard to be a Christian in
today’s world. We live in a
culture that is constantly trying to convince us that we do not have
enough. Success is measured by the
size of our paychecks, the make and model of our cars, the location and style
of our homes, the name brand on our clothing, the extracurricular activities our
children are involved in, the quality of the assisted living facility where our
parents live. We are bombarded
daily with advertising that encourages us to upgrade, to buy more, to live
beyond our means. Our children are
almost blinded by their desire for the newest all too graphic video game, ridiculously
expensive shoes, or a chance to see the latest concert. Our culture is constantly telling us
that “he who dies with the most stuff wins” – and while we see the fallacy of
this, we still tend to measure our success by earthly standards. And we always come up short.
And then Jesus turns to us and says, “None of you can become
my disciples if you do not give up all your possessions” (33). Certainly Jesus is exaggerating, isn’t
he? He can’t mean it when he says, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate
father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life
itself, cannot be my disciple” (26).
Jesus is just using hyperbole to make a point, right? We aren’t meant to
take these statements literally, are we?
Henri Nouwen writes, “The pressure in our culture to secure
our own future and to control our own lives as much as possible does not find
support in the Bible. Jesus knows
our need for security... [but] we cannot find security if our heart is
divided... We have to make a choice whether we want to belong to the world or
to God.”[1] Jesus is not exaggerating when he tells
us we must give up our possessions if we want to be his disciple. Jesus is speaking the truth when he
tells us we must turn our backs on our families if we want to be his
disciple. We have to make a choice
whether we want to belong to the world or to God.
The first disciples literally gave up everything to follow
Jesus. They left their nets and
their boats, their livelihood and their families – they left everything to
follow Jesus (Matt 4:22). The
first Christians, filled with the Holy Spirit after Pentecost, sold everything
they had and held everything in common, and there was not a needy person among
them (Acts 4:32, 34).
Saint Francis of Assisi was the son of a wealthy merchant
who lived a carefree life of excess until his conversion. When he took a vow of
poverty and began to care for the poor, his father took him to court. In the courtroom, Francis actually
removed the clothing he was wearing and gave it back to his father, leaving the
courtroom and his family to follow Jesus. Francis literally took nothing from
his old life with him as he set out to follow Jesus.
Let me share another story by Michael Murray, in this
month’s Alive Now. He writes: “The American Dream was my dream. I had
always believed that money and possessions were a guarantee of happiness. One day... I was reading the New
Testament story of the young man who asked Jesus what he must do to inherit
eternal life. Jesus said, ‘Go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the
poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ Despite the
fact that I was familiar with this story, I was struck in a new way by the
brevity of Jesus’ response. He told the man quite plainly, no giving, no
life...
The story opened up a space in my heart. I felt that God was
telling me to follow what Jesus had advised... After about ten minutes of
doubt, I experienced a desire to go through with it and knew that God would
help me. Once I made up my mind, I felt a strong sense of peace throughout my
body. That summer, I gave away about ninety percent of my possessions...
Since that experience over a year and a half ago, my life
has changed completely. I live pretty simply now. I don’t make much money. I
pay my bills and usually give the rest away. I have never been happier. My
relationship with my mother and sister has improved dramatically... My
relationship with God has grown... [Jesus] will always be enough for me.”[2]
Jesus’ words ring in our ears: “None of you can become my
disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.” These stories tug at our hearts: disciples, Christians,
saints, ordinary people who gave up everything to follow Jesus. This truth resonates in our being: No
giving, no life.
Now as good Wesleyans I am not suggesting that we should all
leave this place today and give up everything to follow Jesus, turning our backs
on our families and getting rid of our stuff. Of course, if you feel God calling you to do this, then
answer that call! But John Wesley
provided a more pragmatic approach in his sermon on The Use of Money: “Earn all you can, save all you can, give all you
can.”[3] Wesley calls us to honest work – earn
all you can without harming yourself or others. Use your God given gifts to make the world a better place,
earning a fair wage for your work.
There’s no harm in making money – as long as the money is made honestly
and fairly.
Wesley also calls us to save our money. Don’t waste money just to satisfy your
desires, as all that does is increase your desires – the more you spend, the
more you want. Don’t throw your
money away on things you really don’t need – save it instead so that you have
it when you need it. You never
know when you’re going to need it – think of the Good Samaritan who had the
money to care for the man at the side of the road.
Finally Wesley calls us to give generously. If all we do is save our money, we
might as well throw it into the sea.
It won’t do any good sitting in the bank or hidden under the
mattress. Give all you can because
God has entrusted you to be a steward of this earth and its resources. Give all you can for the building up of
the kingdom. Give all you can,
remembering everything you have comes from God. In giving we find life, and we find it abundantly.
Let me share one more story – my own story. About ten years
ago my life was forever changed by a 34-week Bible study called Disciple I. Through daily readings and weekly meetings, I read
seventy percent of the Bible and asked tough questions about discipleship. For the first time in my life, I truly
understood that worship is about God – the God who has given me everything I
have and everything I am – worship is about God, not me. I knew with absolute
certainty that the broken piece of bread pressed into my open palm was an
extraordinary gift from God. And I
realized that I had been incredibly selfish – accepting all these gifts from God
and giving very little back.
That year I sat down and really looked at and prayed about
what I had been giving to the church.
I thought I’d been pretty generous with my money, but the truth was I
was giving less than one percent of my income back to God. I thought I’d even been pretty generous
with my time, but in truth I missed committee meetings and I rarely volunteered
to help with special events, because other things came up. And on Sunday mornings when the choir
wasn’t singing... well, a warm bed or a mug of coffee or a long walk seemed
like an equally good use of my time.
I wondered how this God who had given me everything and
blessed me so abundantly could continue to love me when my possessions and my
family and even my life were a higher priority to me than God. The first really dramatic step I took
was to begin to tithe. The first
year I went from less than one percent to five percent. The next year I gave ten percent. It meant completely reordering my
priorities and putting God first.
At first it was very hard, because I had terrible spending habits. And I really struggled with giving
money to the church and trusting the church to spend it wisely. There were times when I was tempted to
use that tithe for other things.
But an incredible thing happened. I discovered that when I set God first in all things my life
became infinitely richer. I
discovered that I had a huge family – the family of God – a family I wanted to
share my life with. I discovered
that true joy comes, not through money and possessions, but through giving all
that I am and all that I have to Jesus.
On this third Sunday of our Stewardship Campaign, as we
focus on gifts, let me ask you: How are you using your God given gifts? What are you giving back to God? Where is God on your list of
priorities? Are you giving the first tenth of every paycheck back to God? Is your first act every day an act of
prayer and devotion? Is
worshipping God the first thing you do every week? How is your life a witness to our awesome and gracious God
whose love knows no end?
Response: Wesley’s Covenant Prayer (UMH 607)
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