Sermons for the Month
A Story of Losing To Win
DATE: March 12th, 2006
SERVICE: Second Sunday In Lent
TEXT: Mark 8:31-38“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 I want to begin this morning by telling you a story about a Christian Church in Cairo, Egypt that knows something about losing in order to win.
The story goes back about 70 years to the time when a pastor and group of believers wanted to build a church. They had acquired land in a perfect location - how that happened is another story in itself. But, as I told you the week before last, in order to build the church they had to get permission from the King, and this was nearly impossible. Enter Mrs. White, an American, who had hosted Egyptian students in her home. When her husband, who was a pastor, died she donated her extensive library to Christian pastors in Egypt. As time passed she decided to visit the country and to meet some of the pastors who were using her husband's books. Her host during her stay was a young man who had stayed in her home while going to college in the United States, and it happened that he was a tutor for the King's children. So, her host escorted her when she went to visit the pastor of this particular congregation in Cairo. The conversation turned to how the Christians he led longed to build a church, but they could not get permission from the King to do so. Mrs. White, evidently accustomed to problem-solving, confidently proclaimed that her host - the tutor - could surely make it happen. No doubt this was much to the young man's horror. But, he felt he owed Mrs. White, so he weighed his options and one night when the king had imbibed too freely managed to get the permit in front of him and it was signed. With gratitude for this one incident of intoxication, the building of the church began. But, just as the congregation was about to construct the spire - which was to be a beacon for people looking for followers of Jesus - the king happened to pass the construction site on an outing. He was outraged. How did this church get permission to build in such a prime location? Upon checking the permit he discovered his own signature, which further outraged him, especially when his officials could not bully church leaders to turn over their copies. So, he ordered that a large government building be constructed in front of the church, blocking view of it from the main street. And, because of the commotion the congregation made the decision not to add the tall spire, lest it fuel the king's anger and create more problems for them. They had to lose their dream of a beautiful, visible church that would attest to the presence of Christians in the city. Now, years later, a group of nine pastors - including me - hear this story of winning, and then losing told by the 76-year-old pastor. Then, with great conviction he adds the "rest of the story". In a city where power outages are the norm there are certain areas that receive special service to keep the electricity on, including those where important government buildings are located. So, whenever the lights flickered at the church they were not off for long, because of that government building - which meant that church activities seldom had to be cancelled. Likewise, if there was upheaval of some type in the city Christian churches were usually quite vulnerable. But, not this church. The police were sent to that corner of the city first, to protect that government building, and to keep the Christians safe by default. One of the ways the Christian faith is contained is that churches can only receive permission to build it out-of-the way, hard to reach locations. But this "invisible" church was right next to a building where hundreds of people came and went day in and day out. As it turned out, many would stop for a quiet moment in the sanctuary since it was so close to where they were doing official business. Thus, a surprising number of people found this unseen church. And, finally, remember the spire that was never built? There was a devastating earth quake in Cairo in recent years. As the ground shook and gaped the pastor looked up at the swaying tall buildings and realized that had there been a tall spire on the church the damage to it would have been extensive, and rebuilding would have been next to impossible. So, even that loss resulted in a win. Could all this reflect what Jesus had in mind when he said, "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"? Oh, I know we usually think of that statement in a more intense way. It brings to mind everything from asceticism to being asked to endure hardship patiently to taking risks to share our faith. And, it is all those things. The gist of this passage in which Peter is so severely chastised for admonishing Jesus is that Peter is tempting Jesus - just as Satan did in the wilderness - to veer from the path God has set before him. And that's the temptation we face too- to get wrapped up in our way rather than God's way. So, to lose ourselves and to take up the cross means that we make Jesus the central focus of our lives rather than self. Not doing so means that while we may gain "the whole world", that is all the stuff, all the power, all the pleasure and all the prestige that the world has to offer, but we will in the end forfeit our lives. The Greek word that is translated "lives" here actually means personhood, the core of our existence. In other words, we will be empty. But, if we make Jesus the central focus, then that emptiness will be filled. While that might involve significant personal and financial sacrifice, I think it more often means that we put our lives in God's hands, acknowledge that we often do not understand why things happen the way they do, and let the power of the Holy Spirit do it's thing. Isn't that what happened in the story I just told? After the nearly impossible victory of getting the permit it seemed that all was lost when the king became angry and the government building was constructed. "How could God let this happen?" some of the people might have wailed. Maybe some gave up when their faith faltered. But those who accepted the loss and let God work in the midst of it ended up seeing the victory, or at least those who came after them did so. Let's go back to the Gospel lesson for a moment. After seeing Jesus heal people and work great miracles, after hearing him share teaching that was so profound that it had to be from God, Peter did not expect to hear Jesus talk about suffering and dying. No wonder he responded the way he did. We do the same thing when we expect certain things from Jesus and they do not happen. The problem is that we do not see life from God's vantage point, which is why we must give up our way of seeing and allow God to help us look at things in a new way. So, a government building intended to keep people out of the church it blocks actually keeps the Christians there safe and brings believers to the door. Who knew? Accepting that our point-of-view is limited is, I think, a huge part of what is required of those who deny themselves, take up the cross, and follow Jesus. And losing our lives often means we must let go of our plan for life and become open to the grace of God at work among us. By the way, the church in the story I told you about is now a thriving ministry in Cairo. There are 1200-1700 people in worship on Sunday, but they serve 8000 each week in various programs and groups. (Remember, this is in a country that is only 10 percent Christian.) Every problem is viewed as a blessing. There are so many people at their crusades - held twice a year - that members are asked not to come unless they are bringing at least two people who are not church members. So, since they want to be there, that's what they do. This is a church that cannot be seen from the street because of the government building in front of it. Who knew? Well, I guess God did, and when those church builders gave up their vision of a visible presence God intervened so that they would know that it was God, not them, who made it, happen. That's what it means to lose, yet win.
AMEN