Community Church Sermons
Mark 9:33-41
When I went off to Springfield College in the Autumn of 1967, there was a tradition there of a competition between the sophomores and the freshmen. One of the events was a tug-o-war that took place down on Watershops Pond. The sophomores were placed on an island just offshore and we freshmen occupied the shoreline by the campus. Whoever lost the rope pull would end up in the water.
We freshmen were a brash group. We were pretty certain that we would de-throne the sophomores even though the sophomore class had never lost the event in the history of the school. We especially got cocky when we saw how many girls the sophomores had on their team. We freshmen only allowed guys.
Well, the referee paddled a canoe out to the mid-point between the shore and the island, and blew his whistle. The sophomores on the island dug in their heels. We freshmen pulled with all our might. There was a lot of grunting and groaning going on. The battle went on for a long time. Man, those sophomore girls were tough!
So tough, in fact, that inch-by-inch, and foot-by-foot, we freshmen began slipping toward the water. We gave it our all, but it was no use! Into the lake we went, much to the delight of the whole student body. SPLASH!! Like every freshmen class before us, we had been humbled by the sophomores.
The very next year, though, when we were the sophomores on the island, we loaded up our team with lots of girls, too. And we sophomores triumphantly kept the win-streak alive, dragging the new crop of freshman rope-pullers into the humbling deeps of Watershops Pond!
But it had nothing to do with the sex of the team, you know. That was just a mind game. It had everything to do, instead, with the sophomore secret – a great big oak tree on the island around which the sophomores always secretly tied their end of the rope. Then they just pretended to pull…and waited until the brash young freshmen were exhausted…and then all it took was a tug or two to send them all into Watershops Pond.
Have you ever found yourself pulling against something that just wouldn’t budge? I think that was Jesus’ experience with the disciples. So much of Jesus’ ministry was spent trying to uproot the disciples from a very big oak tree that anchored them in a place that just wasn’t where God wanted them to be.
And the oak tree to which they were anchored was SELF.
That’s the old oak tree you and I are anchored to as well.
Rick Warren, in his immensely popular book, “The Purpose Driven Life”, opens the first chapter with these words:
“It’s not about you.”[i]
Oh yes it is! Not that Rick Warren is wrong! In fact, he is quite right! But the reality for most of us is that IS about us. Here’s an experiment you can try at home: take a run through the cable TV channels that offer religious programming and simply listen to the focal point of almost everything that is said, taught, preached and sung.
It’s all about ME!
God loves ME. Jesus died for ME. If I ask for anything in faith, God will give it to ME. Following Jesus will get ME to heaven.
You see, many, many Christians – past and present – think it’s all about ME.
When I was in high school, our church youth group had an interesting program on a retreat where we took Bible verses and inserted our names into them. The idea was to personalize the text. First Corinthians 13 was one of them.
“If Marty speaks in the tongues of men and of angels,
but has not love, Marty is a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”
“Marty is patient and kind. Marty is not jealous or boastful. Marty does not insist on his own way…”
Pretty funny, huh? Going through a scripture passage like that will get you feeling like a low-down good-for-nothing sinner in a matter of seconds!
John 3:16.
“God so loved Marty Singley that he gave his only Son, that if Marty believes in him, Marty will not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Wow! That brings it home, doesn’t it? Brings it right back…to that old oak tree of SELF.
You see, the reality of it is that it IS all about ME. For many of us, Christianity is nothing more than a personalized self-help product designed to get us what we think we want and need. Its mainly about US.
But John 3:16 in fact does NOT say that God sent Jesus because he loved Marty Singley – or Tim Meadows – or Bob Puckett – or you..
You know what it says, “For God so loved,,,the WORLD…”
The world.
Christianity is not all about ME. It is about the WORLD.
Jesus and the disciples are hanging out in Capernaum. The disciples are arguing about which of them is greatest, which one is better than the others. People of faith argue about this all the time. That’s one reason we have so many denominations. Every sectarian division among us is simply the result of someone figuring out they’ve got a better way, a better theology, a better faith than everyone else. That’s also why we look down our noses at people of other religions. We’ve got the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. All they’ve got is error.
So Jesus asks the disciples what they’re fussing about. They’re too embarrassed to tell him. But he knows all about the old oak tree we humans tie our lives to. Jesus says, “Whoever would be first, must become last. The top dog is the one who serves everyone else.” Then Jesus calls a little kid over and brings her into the circle. “Whoever welcomes a little one like this welcomes me.”
Now let me ask you, don’t you think this is an awfully broad description of what a person of faith looks like? I mean, Jesus is describing what a true Christian looks like! And Jesus is essentially saying that faith doesn’t get any higher or better than serving others, and welcoming and loving little children!
What ever happened to doctrinal purity? I was always taught that was the standard by which faithfulness is judged. Whatever happened to theological conformity? Whatever happened to all the religious mumbo-jumbo people insist we have to believe in order to qualify as legitimate members of the household of God? Whatever happened to personal piety, and living by the ten commandments?
Serving others? Loving little children? Why almost anyone can do that!
Then the conversation shifts from who is better than who, to who is righter than who. John says, “Lord, we saw someone trying to heal mentally-ill people in your name, but we told him stop because he was not one of us.”
Probably some misguided Methodist out there!
Jesus says, “Don’t stop him! Anyone who does a miraculous work in my name can’t say anything bad about me, and besides, whoever is not against us… is for us!”
You know, Jesus – when you think about it - is starting to sound like a bleeding-heart liberal! ANYONE who does a good work for someone else is testifying to the goodness of Christ? WHOEVER isn’t AGAINST US is on our side? Why, that means that even though the Presbyterians disagree with the Lutherans who disagree with the Episcopalians who disagree with the Catholics who disagree with the Baptists – and even though the Jews disagree with the Christians who disagree with the Muslims who seem to disagree with everybody these days…
…even though we belong to different religious tribes, WHOEVER is not against Jesus is for him…and the measure of being FOR Jesus is the good people try to do to make others well – those who give a cup of water to a thirsty child – those who try to bring healing to those suffering with mental illness – those who love their neighbors as themselves, which Jesus said is the heart and soul of true faith.
It’s amazing to me how much effort Jesus put into trying to pull his followers out of SELF and push them into NEIGHBOR, out of ME and into the WORLD.
When my best boyhood friend Dennis Astrella and I went forward at the evangelistic rally where we became convinced that we’d better get up there right away and give our lives to Christ before we got thrown directly into hell, I remember praying what is sometimes called “the sinner’s prayer.” And the part I remember the most was the part that said, “Today I accept Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior.” That prayer has great meaning for me, and it was a turning point in my life.
But all these years later, I might pray that prayer a bit differently. Now, I think I’d pray it like this: “Today I personally accept Jesus as the Savior of the WORLD!.”
It’s not about ME.
It is about God loving and saving the WORLD of which I am
a small but important part! I am called not to a personal and private
faith, but a worldwide faith. I’m called to be a worldwide Christian!
One of the reasons we celebrate Worldwide Communion Sunday is so that we can open up our eyes to the global nature of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Gathered around the table today are people from east and west and north and south. We are many colors, many languages, many cultures. There are millions of us.
And we need to see each other! We need to see that some of the children around this table suffer with AIDS. We need to see that some of the parents around this table grieve children lost to sexual predators. We need to see that some families around this table are denied full access to life because their countries are gripped by war, racial injustice, religious intolerance, poverty, and hopelessness.
“Whoever would be greatest must become the least, and the servant of all… Whoever welcomes such children in my name welcomes me… Whoever is not against me is for me!”
Up in Minnesota there was a church that sponsored some great seminars. The one on how to pray with power was well-attended and well received. The one on developing Christian self-confidence was also very popular. Then came the one where they brought in a nationally known speaker who has a program on a Christian approach to financial freedom. They had to turn people away from that one.
But hardly anyone came to the seminar on “Christian Responses To The AIDS Pandemic in Africa” - just a couple of old ladies, a handful of local AIDS activists, and a few others who evidently understand the meaning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ so powerfully expressed in John 3:16:
“For God so loved…”