"Playing The World's Games By God's Rules"
Luke 14:1-14
August 29, 2010

Specialist Filarowski was a soldier in my Army unit many years ago who "walked to the beat of a different drummer." He was not the smartest soldier, but he was a hard worker. In fact, when a job that wasn't very glamorous really needed to be done, such as cleaning and repairing equipment - Specialist Filarowski was the person we called and he never complained. When new soldiers right out of high school came to our unit, Specialist Filarowski always made sure they had all of their paperwork and supplies, and he would guide them around and explain to them how the unit worked. The reason Specialist Filarowski was the kind of person "who walked to the beat of a different drummer," was that he was humble, he never sought any attention for himself, and he was willing to do anything you asked. But in an environment where you were encouraged to lead, to take the initiative, and to earn awards so you could be promoted to the next rank, Specialist Filarowski wasn't really interested in any of those things. Sometimes he even helped guys who were lower in rank get promotions ahead of him or above him. But that didn't seem to bother him. Instead of having that "me-first" mentality, he enjoyed seeing other people get awards and promotions, even while sacrificing his own career advancement so others could get ahead.

What is it that makes a person so humble? Jesus talks about this in our Gospel lesson for today where He is invited over to a Pharisee's home for dinner on the Sabbath. This Pharisee was not being nice to Jesus; he invited Him over because he and the other Pharisees wanted to see if Jesus would do anything wrong on the Sabbath so they could have Him arrested.

The house was packed and when it was time to sit down at the table it appears that everyone was trying to get the best seats, right next to Jesus (the guest) and the host, based on their self-perceived honor. In other words, it was very much of a "me-first" atmosphere. I wonder at times if it was like the children's game of "musical chairs," where you don't have as many chairs as people and when the music is turned off people rush around trying to get one of those last chairs so they are not eliminated from the game. So as Jesus sees this taking place, He decides to teach them how to play musical chairs by God's rules. He says, "When someone invites you to a banquet, don't show up with a 'me-first' attitude. Don't rush to sit in the best seats or in the seats of honor. You would look foolish in front of others if you took a seat of honor and then someone more prominent than you shows up and the host has to tell you to move to a lower seat. Instead, when you are invited to a banquet, be humble, take the lowest seat so the host can invite you to move to a better seat if one is available."

Jesus is not talking about just table manners here. He's talking about our relationship with God. Everyone who is proud before God, who thinks he/she is better than everyone else, God will someday humble that person. But the one who is humble before God, who realizes that he's not any better than anyone else, who believes that he/she is a lowly sinner, and humbly trusts in Jesus for forgiveness, that person, Jesus says, will be exalted by God. In other words, none of us are worthy of sitting in seats of honor, but when we recognize our own unworthiness, that is when God responds to us. In God's eyes all of His creation is equally important, this is why in God's kingdom there is never a shortage of honorable chairs, in fact, there are always more than enough chairs.

After talking to the crowd about humility, Jesus continues His theme about who is important in God's eyes by telling the host who to invite to the party. Our world tells us that we should invite people we are trying to impress or people who can return the favor, but God says when you give a dinner, don't invite just your rich friends or your relatives or those who can pay you back. Instead invite people who can't pay you back - the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Why? Because to God, these people are just as important and deserving of honor as you and me. These are the people God will add chairs to accommodate in His kingdom. These are the people who will be given a seat of honor at God's table in heaven.

While many of us are very comfortable with giving food to the poor or to those in need, how many of us would be comfortable actually inviting the poor and those in need into our homes? What Jesus is describing here is one-way giving. Real love, real charity is when a believer in Jesus says, "I will give and it's OK if I get nothing back."

Have you ever looked in a mirror and said to yourself, "I don't look so good today." Mirrors do that sometimes, and the Bible does that too. The Bible is like a mirror. As we read these things that Jesus says about humility, love, and caring for others, and then look at ourselves, our lives, our motives, and our attitudes, we can see that sometimes we don't look so good. We know we're supposed to be humble, but isn't there a part of us that would rather say, "me-first?" Giving something without expecting anything in return is not easy, because there's a part of us that always asks, "What's in it for me? Why should I donate some of my money toward that group or that ministry? Why should I volunteer my time for those people? Why should I go out of my way for that person?"

God's Word is like a mirror - we look into it and say to ourselves, "I don't look so good." It shows us our sin. It humbles us and shames us. But God's Word also shows us our Savior. The Bible isn't just a book that makes us feel guilty. It's the Word of God that brings us comfort and peace and joy, because here in the Bible, we not only see our sin, but we also see Jesus our Savior.

When you read about humility in our Gospel lesson, think about Jesus' humility. When He came into this world, He didn't rush to take the highest or best place. He took the lowest place. He had a humble birth (in a stable), a humble life (the son of a carpenter in a small lowly town), and a humble death. Hanging on a cross is humbling, but imagine hanging on a cross for someone else's wrongdoing and having people hurl insults at you. Dying on a cross for the sins of the world was an agonizing and humiliating form of death, but that's what Jesus willingly did for us.

Just think about what Jesus gave to this world. He didn't just give a portion of His income that didn't affect His lifestyle, He gave His whole life, something that you and I could never repay Him for - that was His gift of love to you, so we could live forever. What do your actions and attitudes in life say about your relationship with Jesus? Do you live your life with a "me-first" attitude? If we were to die today, would you be an honored guest of God?

There's one thing I didn't tell you about Specialist Filarowski. While he was a hard worker and helped other guys get promoted, he was never able to make his next promotion - that being Sergeant. What I mean by this is the Army had a policy that says you have to move up the ranks - you cannot stay at a certain lower rank for your entire career. Eventually, after so many years, if you do not make it up to the next level, you will be released - you will be discharged. Specialist Filarowski was good at helping others get promoted, but he couldn't pass the board interviews, because he would just get too nervous and couldn't demonstrate that he had the ability to handle the work at the next level. Many of us encouraged him, tried to help him, and did our best to prepare him for promotion, but he never made it. And after 10 years of service, the Army discharged him. We honored him on his last day of work with an award and we were sad to see him leave, but he told us not to worry about him, God would take care of him and his wife and his young child and show him what He wanted him to do next in his life. Specialist Filarowski may have lost his seat or his chair in the Army, but he made an impression on all of us with his humility and care for others, and I know through his faith that God will have a chair for him in heaven someday and he won't have to pass a board interview to earn it.

I encourage you this week to look for ways to be humble and let God be the one who exalts you. And look for ways to give to those in need, and let God be the one who pays you back. May God truly bless you to be a person who walks to the beat of a different drummer.

"Don't Follow The Crowd"
Luke 13:22-30
August 22, 2010

A few weeks ago a 4-year-old girl in our Open Arms center said, "Pastor Bill, my grandpa died, and he turned into an angel in heaven so he can watch me." That's a sweet thought and maybe you've even told children things like that before, but I must admit as I stood there I thought, "That's not exactly what the Bible says, so should I try to explain that while her grandpa may be in heaven, he's probably not an angel?" As I gently tried to tell her how we get to live with Jesus in heaven when we die, I discovered there was no way I was going to change her mind that her grandpa was now an angel; and that was fine, because it brought her great comfort knowing that her grandpa still lived.

However, there is a lot of confusion about heaven in our world and a lot of myths that people believe. If you were to ask people if they believe in heaven and hell, I would guess that almost everyone would say yes. I personally have never met anyone who didn't believe that there is some kind of life after our existence here on earth. I've also discovered that most people believe they are going to heaven some day. When our last vicar, Michael Zeigler, and I did some "man on the street" interviews last year, we saw that most people, when asked, "How does one get to heaven?" said that as long as you live a good life or try to do good things, you'll go to heaven. That sounds good, but it doesn't say that in the Bible.

What was really interesting in those interviews was when we had a chance to talk with some people at great length about heaven and faith; and inevitably the question would come up that some people would ask out of curiosity and others out of a sense of being offended. The question would usually go something like this: "So, are you saying that according to what you believe, the only people who are going to heaven are those who believe what you believe about Jesus?" In each case the question was asked, because what we said about Jesus being the only way to heaven sounded "exclusive." For some, it was "exclusive," because it sounded somewhat strange that Jesus would be the only way to heaven, especially since we seem to live in a world today where almost "anything goes." For others, it was "exclusive," because in their mind it sounded somewhat arrogant and judgmental to say that some people were going to heaven and others were not based solely on their beliefs in Jesus.

This mindset, though, is nothing new. Jesus faced this same kind of curiosity and objection in our Gospel lesson when someone asked Him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?" This question did not come from someone who had never heard of Jesus' message. It's a question of someone who has heard it and has realized just how different it is from the rest of society's beliefs. It's either asking for clarification of this new teaching Jesus had or the question is making an accusation against Him because of His new teaching. And there's a lot we can learn, and apply, from how Jesus answered. He shows us what to say to those who are critical and to those who are curious, plus He also gives us a message for those who are complacent.

Jesus' answer to this question was very simple. He didn't get bogged down in a deep philosophical debate. He didn't go through all of the Commandments to show this man all of the things he had failed to do. In answering his question, Jesus simply talked about sin and grace, and He went straight to the most fundamental sin of all: unbelief - failing to put your trust in God. In verse 24, Jesus said, "Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able." Jesus Christ is the "narrow door," and anyone who is trying to enter into heaven through any way other than Jesus is not going to be able to get in.

Then Jesus speaks of the end, verse 25, "When the master of the house has risen and shut the door," in other words, once you die or when Judgment Day comes when I return to this world, "you will stand outside knocking on the door saying, 'Lord, open the door to us.' But he will answer you, 'I do not know where you come from.' - meaning, "I don't have a relationship with you. You did not put your trust in me - you put your trust in someone or something else." Verse 26, "They you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets." That's what the people of Jesus' day would say. People today might say, "Hey, wait a minute. I grew up in a Christian family. We went to church many times. Our society isn't so bad. I tried to live a good life and do good things the way you wanted us to live." But Jesus does not accept that logic. He goes on to say in verse 27, "I don't know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil." To those who don't believe Jesus says in verse 28, "There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Jesus makes it very clear - the consequences of unbelief are very severe.

My sister and I are in the process of selling our parents' home. All the furniture is out. We replaced the carpeting on the main level. We had the living room painted and a few weeks ago we received an offer. However, about once a week I get a call from the real estate agent telling me about a problem that may keep us from closing. The first call was, "Bill, we found some mold in one corner of a room in the basement and we have to get this cleaned out. There's a crack in the wall in that spot where water is probably seeping in causing the mold." I never saw the mold, because it was behind a chest of drawers that probably hadn't been moved in 10 years. So we had the mold removed and the wall sealed. The following week the real estate agent called saying, "Bill we found a water spot on the wall in a bedroom. It looks like your parents had painted over that spot trying to cover it, but we have to get that taken care of immediately." Fortunately, we found the problem and had the wall repaired. Then came the most recent call, "Bill, the carpet in the basement is wet in one corner, after a recent storm we had here. It's not too bad, but water has probably been leaking into this corner for a while and we have to get this fixed." I never saw water in that corner, because my parents had a piece of furniture in that corner.

I thought it would be easy to sell my parents home, because it always looked so nice. I never saw any of these problems, because they were covered with furniture or paint. But once everything had been taken away, the problems were exposed for everyone to see.

Now apply this situation of my parents' home to your life. We can try to live a good, decent, honorable life. We can tell Jesus about all of the nice things we have done. We can appear to be wonderful individuals, but Jesus sees right through our good deeds and says while you may appear to many people to be a good person, you have all kinds of stains and imperfections - sins - that I see that need to be fixed. And the only way to have those sins removed is by believing in me. The punishment for sin is death, but Jesus says, "Believe in me and I'll wipe out those sins permanently and give you everlasting life."

There are many ways to die, and there are many ways to hell - Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, materialism, selfishness - but there's only one way to life, one way to heaven, and that's through the narrow door that is Jesus Christ. The door is considered narrow, because there's only one way in and because you can't being anything with you - none of your own works, none of your own selfish ways - nothing. And that narrow door of Jesus is what makes us Christians "narrow minded." Our message is not one of arrogance or pride or prejudice. It's grace - which is an amazing and miraculous thing that does not fit the world's way of thinking any more than the message of sin and it's punishment - death. But grace is God's way of thinking - Jesus has taken on your punishment for sin and because of His work on the cross, you are forgiven and eternal life is yours - it's free, and that's the only way of thinking that really matters. God's thinking is truly an amazing message of grace.

To those who are critical, curious, or complacent, who ask, "Are you saying that only a few, only certain people, only those who believe in Jesus like you are going to heaven?" you now have an answer. It is, "I certainly hope it's not going to be just a few who are saved. That's not what anyone wants. But being nice, or doing lots of good things, or perfect attendance at church will not get you into heaven. Only by believing in Jesus will you live and whether it's few or many I want you to be in heaven with me. Jesus is the only way, the narrow way, believe in Him."