No Loopholes,
We are called to be fools for Christ's sake
Matthew 10:1
"Then He summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority to expel unclean spirits and to cure sickness and disease of every kind"
Everything in life that has meaning and value is rooted in God's Grace. Paul begins all his letters by reminding the people, to whom he was writing, of the Grace of God. "Grace be with you," he says.
Jesus came to reveal that Grace to us: To show us what it is; to show us that it’s real; to show us that it’s available. But he also came to show us that the way we appropriate that Grace for our lives…is through the completeness of our response to God. This is made more and more clear to us as we draw close to Jesus and see Him as the Model of how we should respond to God. In Jesus we see the total response: total obedience to God’s Will; total acceptance of God's love; and total dependence for fulfillment of God's Resurrection Power. That is our model.
The legendary Hollywood motion picture executive, Samuel Goldwyn, was one of those people who "saves" everything. Through the years, he refused to allow his staff to throw anything away. His secretary began to get the feeling that she was drowning in the stacks of old telephone messages, letters and inter-office memos that were piled everywhere in the office. So in desperation, she pleaded with Mr. Goldwyn: "Please," she said, "Won't you allow me to at least throw away the memos and letters that are more than ten-years-old?" To which Samuel Goldwyn replied, "All right. But don't forget to make a copy before you do!"
In a sense, that is exactly how we see the Grace of God working in today's message. Jesus, having selected the twelve apostles, is now training them to carry on His ministry to the world. In a few short years He will be gone, but before His seeming destruction on the Cross-He will teach them to imitate Him, to copy His lifestyle. "The gift you have received, give as a gift," He told His apostles. "Cure the sick, raise the dead, heal the leprous, expel demons." In other words, "Receive God's gift of Grace as I have received it. Respond to God's gift of love as I have responded, through a ministry of loving service to the whole world. I am the way the truth and the life . . . Imitate Me! Copy Me!"
"Copy Me!" To copy Jesus is what we Christians are being asked to do with our lives. We are being asked to respond to God totally, as Jesus did; to bring every part of our being into our relationship with God. We are being asked to freely and joyfully say to God, "Lord, I love You with my whole being. In imitation of Christ, I will do Your Will in all things. In imitation of Christ, I will place my complete trust in the Resurrection Power of Your Love. In imitation of Christ, I will commit my life fully to a ministry of loving service, even unto the least of my brothers and sisters…In imitation of Christ." Copy Jesus; plagiarism is not only allowed it is encouraged! Commanded even!
Some time ago, oil was discovered in southern Kentucky. Believe me it wasn’t a major oil strike by any stretch, but it was a big deal for Kentucky and soon that entire area of the countryside was ripped apart, as more and more people began drilling. One day, a man who was driving through the area saw a local farmer on the road, walking into town. He offered the farmer a ride and during the course of their conversation, the man driving the car learned that oil had been discovered on this man's farm. The farmer said, "Yes sir! Three good wells! They say they'll bring in at least 300 barrels a day." So, at that time, at $27 a barrel for crude, this average “Joe farmer” just discovered an annual income of about $2.5 million dollars after expenses. At this, the other man replied, "My goodness. What are you going to do with all that money?" The farmer looked out over the scarred land and oil rigs and said, "I'm gonna buy me a farm that don't have any oil on it."
That’s a striking story, mainly because it shows a person who sees something more valuable than the money his oil wells are producing. Such a person is a rare individual these days. More and more in our society money is the name-of-the-game of life. Most of us know what we would do in that farmer's situation: we'd keep on digging for more wells; try to get more money; we'd do everything in our power to move deeper into that “strike-it-rich” that “strike while the irons hot” situation. And, it is precisely in this area of our existence that most of us, who are trying to imitate Christ, encounter our biggest stumbling block. The ability to totally respond to God's love and to be totally committed to the Christian ministry of loving service depends, in this money driven age, largely on a willingness to choose God over mammon. If our priorities are sound then our “natural family” should be the most important thing “On Earth” to us. But even they should be no higher than “Second Fiddle” versus our relationship with God. Then there is the “Church Family” and a lot of other things that come before our desire for the “almighty dollar.” That doesn’t belong anywhere close to the top!
If the materialistic or money aspect of our lives is not included in our response to God, God is being blocked out of every aspect of our lives, whether we realize it or not. In imitation of Christ we must trust God enough that even our quest for money and material possessions will be made to harmonize with His Divine Will…In other words, we will want less and give more. We cannot serve God and mammon simultaneously. We have Jesus' word on that!
A character named "Mr. Pump" appears in a novel by A.A. Milne called "Two People." At one point in the novel, Mr. Pump, an important London publisher, is described as follows,
“... Mr. Pump was not a hypocrite. He was a religious man, whose religion was too sacred a thing to be carried into his business. The top hat that he hung up in his office was not the top hat that he prayed into before placing it, thus hallowed, between his feet as he sat in church on Sunday. He had two top hats and one hatbox for them. On Monday morning he put God reverently away for the week and took out his mammon hat. On Sunday morning he came back to God. No man can serve two masters simultaneously!”
"No man can serve two masters simultaneously!" To which we might add that Mr. Pump, who was at least willing to admit this, was closer to the truth than many of us who go on living as though it were possible to serve God and mammon at the same time. We know that mammon is money, but it can be anything! Fame, prestige; anything that competes for God’s attention. This goes for us church going people too. If we are on too many committees and this outreach and that outreach, at some point we move from being effective to just being busy! At what point this is, well that is between you and God. But I can say that most servants who become overburdened get that way because it is a shamelessly low percentage of the congregation that is committed to the functioning of the church. The statistics show that most churches are run by less than 20% of the congregation, the other 80% enjoy the fruits of their labor.
TV personality Hugh Downs tells a story about the problem lawyers and doctors often encounter with people who seek to obtain free professional advice at parties and other social events. It seems that a certain doctor and lawyer were having a conversation during a cocktail party. While they were talking, a woman approached the doctor and complained about a sore leg. The doctor listened, then told her about applying cold compresses and keeping the leg elevated and taking aspirin, etc. After she had gone, the doctor turned to the lawyer and said, "I think I ought to send her a bill, don't you?" The lawyer said, "Yes, I do think you ought to send her a bill." So the next day, the doctor sent the woman a bill…and the lawyer sent the doctor a bill."
Sometimes, when people come looking for spiritual counsel and advice, don’t you feel like you should send a bill for legal services. They come looking for a loophole in the Gospel. They come wanting someone to read the fine print for them. They come wanting to learn how to keep God out of a certain area of their lives. They come seeking advice on how to leave some portion of their lives unbaptized, uncommitted, unreconciled to God. They come wanting to strike out certain clauses in their covenant with God. They come wanting to reduce the consideration; they come wanting “CHEAP GRACE”. But there is no fine print. There is no loophole. There is no escape clause. There is no cheap grace. The Grace and Mercy of God comes at the highest price ever paid…The Blood of His Son!
And that’s the reason why Jesus' words to his disciples in Matthew still apply: "The harvest is good but the workers are few" (Matthew 9:37). The Old Testament Book of Hosea contains a passage in which the prophet is ridiculed. It reads,
“…Let Israel Know it! Because your sins are so many and your hostility is so great the Prophet is considered a fool, the inspired man a maniac.” (Hosea 9:7).
Yet, to prophesy for God is our calling. All of us! We are called to live our lives in imitation of Christ, the Prophet of Prophets…Ambassadors for Christ, salt of the earth, light of the world. We are called to be copies of Christ. We are called to be fools for Christ's sake, as Paul has written. To be a "fool for Christ's sake" is the highest title we can aspire to attain. The genuine, serious believer, who is willing to stake everything on the love of God in Jesus Christ, is always "A Maniac" in that sense. It requires a real touch of madness to go that one big step beyond the mediocrity of just going through the motions and common sense, to take the great leap of faith into the arms of Jesus. It takes a special kind of foolishness to accept God's Grace in a way that says, "in imitation of Christ, I will respond to Your gift of love to me by giving myself over totally to the ministry of loving service to my earthly brothers and sisters."
Can you say this today? When you say “Lord, Lord” do you know that you know that you know! You can discover one “BIG WELL” today and it pumps the priceless “Water of Life” and believe me it pumps more than 300 barrels a day. And if you have discovered the well already, is it pumping life “ABUNDANTLY?” Or is it sputtering…a little here a little there? Private agendas, work, family, money and any number of other things competing for God’s attention in your life? Commitment doesn’t guarantee consistency but persistence and daily dependence does! Wouldn’t today be good? God Bless.
