Sermons for the Month
Making ourselves a means, not an end, for Jesus' sake
DATE: September 14th, 2003
SERVICE: 14th Sunday After Pentecost
TEXT: Mark 8:27-38“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN (Before the sermon review the "It All Begins With God" ELCA quiz.)
Today, and for the next two Sundays, our theme is "Making Christ Known." We've just focused on "Making Christ Known" through the ELCA. Today's Gospel lesson makes it clear what is required if we are to make Christ known in our lives and our world. As I began to prepare for this sermon I noted that in my file for the Gospel of Mark there are seven sermons that I have written on this particular Gospel reading. Each one is different. How can that be? The words that we read remain unchanged from year to year, decade to decade, century to century. How could there be any need to say more about these words of Jesus, "For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel, will save it?"
I guess the answer to that question is that in our 21st century lives there is even more need to stress these words of Jesus than was true in the first century. That's because we struggle so to grasp them. Oh, the first Christians struggled too. But, the meaning was perhaps a bit more real to them. By the time these words of Jesus were being recorded Christians were literally in danger of losing their lives for the faith. The temptation to deny Christ to save their lives was very real.
That's not true for us, although we can't say that it's untrue for others who are alive today. I've read that more Christians died for their faith in the 20th century than in the first century. But, for the most part, that happens in places far removed from us - in China, in North Korea, in India and in Iran - and therefore is somehow unreal and irrelevant.
We do face challenges when it comes to making serving Christ our first priority, but because they are not issues of life and death we are tempted to - and in fact we do - forget that the words of Jesus about losing our lives for the sake of the Gospel apply to us.
This is a great quote, it's new to me. "We would be willing to die for Christ, if necessary, but find it more difficult to live for Christ day by day." That day by day living for Christ is called discipleship. It's not a once-a-week, when I have nothing better to do, if it's convenient for me and does not ask too much proposition. In today's text Jesus gives a three part standard for being a disciple. It means that we: (1) Deny ourselves; (2) take up our cross and (3) follow Jesus.
Step one is essential, and hard, in a culture that would have us believe that what I want is what I deserve. Denying ourselves does not mean that we proclaim our worthlessness. That would be a contradictory thing for a transformed child of God, created in God's image, to do. It does not mean that we suddenly become an ascetic eating only bread and water and proud that we are not corrupted by the pleasure of the world.
No, to deny ourselves is to make ourselves not an end but a means. That's another new quote for the week. I think this is what it means: we become the conduit for the proclamation of the Gospel, using that which we have been given.
Each one of us possesses time. Everybody gets 24 hours in a day, although the number of days that are granted us may vary. We all have particular abilities. Some people have intellectual gifts, others are amazingly creative, some can make anyone smile - you get the idea. And, to greater or lesser degrees we all have "stuff", material possessions and monetary resources.
The amounts or the particular abilities are not our focus, but using what we have for Jesus' sake is. For those who are disciples denying ourselves means that we use that time, those abilities and resources to further God's Kingdom, not Jean's Kingdom. The question ceases to be, "What's in it for me?" but "What's in it for the proclamation of the Gospel?" The by-product for the disciple of denying self is a meaningful life, although not an easy one.
So, first we deny ourselves, we adopt the mind set that who I am and what I have is a means by which the Good News about Jesus is proclaimed. Then we do it. We call it "taking up the cross" because the task of being a conduit for the Gospel is not always easy. It may at times seem too heavy and as if too much is expected. That's why we need to follow Jesus, because if we keep our eyes on him we'll know we're headed in the right direction. We become willing to sacrifice as Jesus did and to follow his example of sacrificial love.
Day by day we live for Christ, a fact that is reflected in every choice we make. It does not just happen; this denying oneself, taking up the cross and following Jesus is an intentional process.
I've said this before, and I know I risk offending people when I do so, but if people's goal in being a part of a Christian community is to have their needs met and to feel good about themselves - but the idea of changing one's life, priorities and view of the world is not all that attractive - then those folks are in the wrong place. They better find a Health Club or a Country Club and pay dues to them, because that's not what we offer here. We offer the opportunity for transformed people, disciples of Jesus, to transform the world.
The "gain" of that cannot be measured in human, worldly terms. Or, to quote missionary Jim Elliot, who was murdered on the mission field, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."
Martin Niemoeller was no fool, and he became a conduit of the Gospel. This Protestant Pastor in Germany opposed Hitler from Hitler's earliest years. When the Nazis began their campaign against Jews, one of their first measures was to require Jews to wear a yellow Star of David pinned to their clothing. This "small thing" was the first step to six million murders. When Pastor Niemoeller heard about it he announced to his congregation, "Before one can say the Apostle's Creed, one must first wear the Star of David." In other words, if we are going to confess our faith as Christians, then we must be willing to stand with the oppressed and the disadvantaged. It will be a surprise to no one that he ended up in prison for eight years, his execution scheduled, when he was freed by American soldiers in 1945.
It is reported that in the midst of this struggle to remain faithful a man that Pastor Niemoeller had known while he was in the Navy asked him, "Pastor, why are you in prison?" Do you know what the response was, "Why are you not?"
Most of us are not called upon to live for Christ, to deny ourselves, in such an extreme way. Sometimes I wonder if doing so would be easier than the day to day difficulties of witnessing in the work place or challenging Sunday morning conflicts or expressing values that differ from those cherished by our culture. For us that is what it means to deny ourselves - to use our words, our time, our abilities, our money - for the sake of the Gospel, to further the Kingdom of God.
You know, I think about those seven - now eight - sermons sitting in my file and realize that 10 more could be added and this word would still be new and vital. We are part of a ministry that extends beyond Faith Lutheran Church, beyond the ELCA, beyond the history of Christians in this country. We are connected to those first followers who were shocked when Jesus firmly told them that denial is the way of discipleship. The command he gave them is our commission as well.
Deny yourselves. Take up your cross. Follow me. And then … save your lives. AMEN