Community
Church Sermons
Fourteenth Sunday
after Pentecost – September 5, 2004
I
have been reading a wonderful book about the late Richard Feynman who some of
you may remember was the 1965 Nobel Prize winner in Physics – more
specifically, in quantum electrodynamics. Well, Feynman was once asked in an
interview with the BBC if winning the Nobel Prize was worth it. Feynman’s
answer surprised me.
He
said, “I don’t know anything about the Nobel Prize. I don’t understand what
it’s all about or what’s worth what…I don’t like honors…I don’t see that it
makes any point that someone in the Swedish Academy decides that this work is
noble enough to receive a prize…”
Then
Feynman continues:
“I’ve
already got the prize! The prize is the pleasure of finding the thing out…”
That’s
the name of Feynman’s book – The Pleasure of Finding Things Out. Don’t
those words resonate in your heart? There is a wisdom being spoken here about
the meaning and purpose of life. The greatest joy any of us can experience is the
pleasure of finding something out!
Sandy
and I once owned a Ford Torino. It was a great car, but sometime in its later
years it began to have difficulty going around corners. The engine would
hiccup, or sometimes even stall. My local mechanic – Dan – told me the problem
was the carburetor and he could fix it for me for something like 1.8 million
dollars. You know how the auto repair business can be!
Well,
I made two observations. One was that I didn’t have 1.8 million dollars. I
didn’t even have a spare hundred dollars in those days. The second was that if
Dan, who had never made it past the third grade in school - in Texas - could
figure out how to fix a carburetor, surely I – with all my advanced degrees (in
theology no less) could do the same. Now, perhaps I was “misunderestimating”
this Texan as people sometimes do, but nonetheless, I went out and bought a
Chilton’s Repair book, and went to the local auto parts store and picked up a
carburetor rebuild kit. Then, armed with all this stuff, I went home to become
a mechanic. Once I figured out where the engine was, and what part of it held
the carburetor, I unbolted the thing, brought it inside the house and started
working at the kitchen table. Sandy informed me that kitchen tables are for
meals, not for rebuilding carburetors, so I was banished to the musty depths of
the cellar. And there, I took the beast apart.
Carefully
placing each disassembled piece in the divided sections of an ice cube tray, I
broke down the carburetor, carefully cleaning the parts that could be kept, and
replacing the float and other parts that had to be discarded. Then, with great
care, I put all the parts together again, and despite the fact that there were
still three or four thingy’s left over in the ice cube tray when all was said
and done, I thought to myself, “What the heck!” and bolted the
carburetor back onto the car.
The
hood was closed, the key was turned, and do you know what happened?
VROOM!
That baby started up like a charm, and it ran great for the rest of its life,
despite missing a few parts!
Now,
I will be the first to say that it was nice to have the good result, and a car
that no longer stalled going around corners. That was good.
But
the true joy I derived from the whole experience came simply from the
pleasure of learning how to do it – the pleasure of finding the thing out!
In
our Scripture text from Matthew, Jesus is making one of the most exciting
announcements in the history of religion! He is telling us something that ought
to propel us all to take up the way of Christ, something truly revolutionary
that can change the direction of and bring new meaning and purpose to our
lives. And what Jesus is saying to us can be highlighted in three powerful
words:
ASK! SEEK! KNOCK!
These
are the words Jesus uses to describe prayer. But this is no ordinary
kind of prayer. This is not any liturgical prayer, not any “Now I lay me
down to sleep” kind of prayer, not any “God bless mommy and daddy and
grandma and grandpa” kind of prayer, not any “God, get me out of this
mess!” kind of prayer.
No,
this is prayer that seeks TO FIND THINGS OUT!
And
in the 16th chapter of John, verse 24, Jesus further describes this
kind of prayer by saying, “Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be
full.”
So
I want to challenge you today with Christ’s new definition of prayer.
Prayer
is the pleasure of finding things out!
Think
about this for a moment!
Those
of you who come from Presbyterian backgrounds have an advantage over the rest
of us. In the Westminster shorter catechism, you declare a great truth in
answer to the question, “What is the chief end – or purpose - of man?”
And
the answer is - ? – “…to glorify God and enjoy him forever.”
The
very purpose of life itself is to enjoy God and the creation God has brought
into being for the enjoyment of Himself and all his creatures! This world that
God made is an amazing place – comprised of mysteries just waiting to be found
– and complexities needing to be sorted out – and discoveries to be sought -
and challenges that call us to overcome by asking and seeking and knocking.
I
wish everyone knew that being a Christian does not mean becoming the most
ignorant, intolerant, boring, obnoxious, hateful, joyless person the world has
ever known. I wish more people knew that being a follower of Jesus Christ
really means to come and discover the pleasure of finding things out!
ASK!
SEEK! KNOCK!
That’s
our job! And then Jesus adds another wonderful dimension.
Did
you notice that these words are all couplets, joined together with something
else?
Ask…and
it will be given you! Seek…and you will find! Knock…and the door
will be opened!
One
of the things I’ve learned about God – one of the things I value most about the
life of faith – is that it’s really not all about ME. Faith is about living in
partnership with God.
When
I was a child, our family used to vacation during the summer on Cape Cod. One
year, my father rented a bicycle-built-for-two, and he and my mother went for a
ride. When they returned, my father was completely spent – dripping with sweat
and exhausted. He said it wasn’t so bad on the flat stretches of the road, but
going up the hills was murder. He said, “It was like I was pedaling all by
myself.”
And
that’s when my mother got this horrified look on her face! She hadn’t known she
was supposed to pedal too! No wonder my dad was almost dead!
And
for many of us, life is like that! We’ve been doing all the pedaling all by
ourselves! And a good example is when it comes to prayer. How do we teach
people to pray? Bow your head. Fold your hands. Talk to
God. What is the number one problem that keeps people from prayer? They don’t
know what to say, or how to say it. And there are reports that some even find
it difficult to stay awake when they pray! Can you imagine that?
But
listen carefully to all those things we teach about prayer. They’re all about
who? ME! What I do with my head, my hands, my words, my wakefulness!
When it comes to prayer, many of us find ourselves pedaling away all alone. No
wonder it’s such a meaningless thing for so many!
But
listen to Jesus. Here’s what he says in the Marty version of this passage.
You
pedal, and I’ll pedal. You push, and I’ll push back.
Ask,
and I’ll give. Seek, and I’ll help you find. Knock, and I’ll open the door.
You
see, prayer is a two-sided enterprise. They say it takes two to Tango, and the
same is true of prayer. Prayer is something that you and God do together!
So
let’s think about what this means in the nitty-gritty of life.
God
wants you and me to go and explore the world. God wants us to ask questions,
and seek truth, and knock on closed doors until they open and lead us to new
places and new questions.
A
month or so ago, one of our families lost a son to cancer. He was just in his
30’s – with a wife and small child. The young man’s father – a friend of mine –
is a man of very deep faith, and yet this is what he told me the other day. He
said, “I haven’t been able to pray. Yesterday. I went for a walk, and I
tried to pray, but I couldn’t. I just started crying, and asking, ‘Why? Why,
God? Why?’”
For
many people, prayer is about expressing the certainty we have about God. But
Jesus taught that prayer is for asking questions and probing the mysteries of
life – even the most difficult ones. “Why, God? Why?”
You’ve
asked that question, and so have I. Then the religious crowd came along and
told us we ought to stop asking, and just accept things by faith.
But
Jesus says something else. Jesus says, “Ask! Ask! Ask! Ask! And keep on
asking! Even if it takes you the rest of your life to get an answer. Ask, AND
YOU WILL RECEIVE!”
I
don’t know if you’ve ever noticed it, but one of the last acts of Jesus’ life –
as he hung on the Cross that Friday long ago – was to ask.
“My
God, my God. WHY…hast thou forsaken me?”
Life
is full of questions of all kinds. “Why do stars twinkle at night?” has
led some to great discoveries of astronomy. “How does the human heart work?”
has led others to advances in medicine. “Why do people suffer?” has
guided many to give their lives to alleviating suffering and comforting those
who do.
Christians
are people who ask, expecting to receive!
And
we seek knowing that we will find. And we knock knowing the door will be
opened.
Because
Jesus has promised us it is so!
And
one final thing. Jesus connects this invitation to ask, seek and knock to one
of the most beautiful verses in the Bible. He concludes this invitation to ask,
seek and knock by saying:
“So,
in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums
up the Law and the prophets.”
One
of the men in our church came by the other day. He has a friend of thirty years
who is dying, and he wanted to know what he could say and do to be a good
friend to his friend as he faces the final times of his life.
What
a wonderful prayer to make! To ask, seek and knock in hopes of finding a way to
love a friend during his time of need!
All
around us are people facing the challenges of life as it really is - young
parents trying their best to raise their kids in a very dangerous and
complicated world; people who have limited job skills and yet have a
responsibility to provide for their family; innocent children suffering the
ravages of AIDS; young soldiers going off to war; elder Americans coming to
grips with the advancing frailty of aging; people of color living in a world of
racism and bigotry.
Think
about the world we live in, and all the challenges people face.
And
then go and ASK! Go and SEEK! Go and KNOCK!
For
Jesus promises that you WILL hear from God on all these things, and together
you and God will take the answers and make a difference in the world!
And
you’ll find joy!
Because
there is no greater enjoyment in life than the pleasure of answered prayer –
the pleasure of finding things out!