Preached June 1, 2008 at First Congregational Church of Tallmadge, UCC
Psalm 46 Matthew 7:21-29
Dedicated to this year’s high school graduates of our church family; and always to the glory of God.
Jesus once said that “the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
In other words, if you give everything you have and everything that you are toward a life in God, it’s worth it. I suppose this could sound like bad news. “Everything I have? That’s too much.”
But I think it’s good news, because even though nothing is as valuable in a life in God, even so, we can all afford it! All you have to give is all you have for this pearl of great price.
And what do we get with this offer? Well, I can tell you what we don’t get. We do not get a life of ease and comfort. Religion is not a free pass to save us from injury and illness, the hardship of danger or loss, or any other storm that life can bring to us.
Life with God is so valuable that it is worth everything you have. I just can’t tell you that it will protect you from the storms in life.
But here’s the thing: nothing will. The storms hit us no matter what we do.
Jesus said, at the end of the sermon on the mount, at the conclusion of his teaching on how to live, that if you put his words into practice (that is, if you give all you have for God) you are like the wise person who built a house on rock instead of sand. But the storm comes anyway. The storm came for Jesus; it came for his disciples; it came for the early church under persecution, and for the missionaries in South America who stood up for the oppressed natives, for the pilgrims who crossed the ocean to worship with integrity, for the those who stood firm for equality and were beaten back with hoses, dogs, and fists.
Doesn’t it seem as if a life in God actually gets us into trouble, rather than saving us from it? Jesus doesn’t promise that the storm won’t come, but he does tell us that we have a choice about where and how to build our lives.
So what is it about building a life in God that is so valuable?
The psalm that we heard said “Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.”
When the waters roar, we will not fear.
Let me show you what I think that looks like. Rabbi Abraham Heschel was born in Warsaw, Poland and studied at Berlin, Germany in the early part of last century, the descendent of generations of rabbis before him. He fled from the Nazis and arrived in the United States in 1940, although many in his immediate family were killed in the war and the holocaust. In the 1960’s, he was a leader for civil rights. He marched beside Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, because he saw in the scriptures a clear call for justice and equality for God’s people. Rabbi Heschel once wrote “I did not ask for success, I asked for wonder.”
At the end of his life, after suffering a heart attack that almost killed him, he said “when I regained consciousness, my first feelings were not of despair or anger. I felt only gratitude to God for my life, for every moment I had lived. I was ready to depart. ‘Take me, O Lord,’ I thought, ‘I have seen so many miracles in my lifetime.’” Exhausted by the effort, he paused for a moment, then added, “That is what I meant when I wrote, ‘I did not ask for success; I asked for wonder. And [God] gave it to me.’”
We want to be successful. We want our graduates to be successful in what they do, and that’s a good thing. Let us hope for their success, not as an end but only as a means toward giving yourself to a life in God. Let us not strive for success; let us strive for God. Success, in itself, is not a guarantee of safety, happiness, or health. Rabbi Heschel knew that the storms of life will bring pain and loss, but he also knew that the world is full of the wonder of God.
Albert Schweitzer was a successful man who realized that success wasn’t enough. At the turn of last century he was an internationally renowned organist and teacher of theology. His 1906 book, The Quest for the Historical Jesus, is still a landmark in New Testament studies. He was doing very well. But the words of Jesus in the sermon on the mount stuck with him, and he decided that the best way for him to live that out was to go live among the poorest of the poor in equatorial Africa, not as a doctor of theology to preach to them, but as a medical doctor to care for them. And so this accomplished scholar and organist went to medical school for seven years, and then founded a hospital in Africa where he spent most of the rest of his life easing the suffering of our poor brothers and sisters.
Listen to his words: “The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.”
Does this make any sense? Usually we hope for success, which will make us safe, secure, and happy. But it turns out that all our success is not as valuable as the life that Jesus calls us to live. Just like the pearl merchant who sold everything for the great pearl, a life in God is worth everything. Living the way of Christ is worth more than success, wealth, or fame.
Phillip Yancey tells about his time interviewing two groups of people. The first are the rich and famous, and he found them to be a hopeless lot: depressed and insecure, propped up by power and medication. Then he interviewed people who’s lives are given to the work of service. He wrote that while he was prepared to admire them, he was not prepared to envy them. They were content, happy, at home in the world.
Do you know people like that? People who give themselves to the world in love and service, and even when they suffer pain and loss they seem to have that calm of the faithful? We will not fear when the waters roar.
In two weeks some of us will be on our way to Henderson Settlement in Frakes, Kentucky, deep in the Appalachian mountains of beauty and hardship. Many of you have gone before, or you have gone to other places to live out the way of Christ. Here’s the thing that’s strange about this trip. It’s not a vacation. There’s no resort, no sleeping in, and no relaxing days by the water. We’re going to do difficult work.
So why is it that every year, people go on a mission tour and talk about what a great week it is? Why do people give up their time, give up money they could be earning at work, and pay their way, give their energy and strength to work on homes for strangers whom we will never see again?
I guess it’s because life can’t be just about ourselves, our own success, our own security. Life can’t be just about guarding against the storms that are going to come anyway.
Life is about wonder. Life is about love for neighbors, even strangers and enemies. The waters are going to roar, but where are you going to build your life?
I hope for all of us, that we build it on the way of Christ. Do not ask for success. Ask for wonder. Ask to be more aware of the great gift of this world, of God’s unconditional love for the unloveable, and of God’s power to make us more than we thought we could be. Ask for these things. God will give it to you.
