It is 2:15 in the morning. You are awakened by the cries of your baby. You nudge your husband, ¡§It¡¦s your turn honey.¡¨ He draws in a deep snore and rolls over. ¡§Oh well,¡¨ you say to yourself. You get up, try to get those eyes open, finally focus as you get near the crib. A skillful finger under the elastic of the diaper tells you it¡¦s time for a fresh diaper. Gently smiling at the baby, though he wrecked your night¡¦s sleep, you put on the powder, close the diaper, put the jammies back on, and go to the kitchen. You warm a bottle and feed him. It is quiet in the house now. The only sound is the compressor of the fridge kicking on. You look down at this little thief who is stealing your rest and despite all that, feel the unconditional love mother¡¦s know for their children.
The commercial says, ¡§There are some things money can¡¦t buy.¡¨ That¡¦s the gospel truth.
Life is all about sorting those things out.
God wants to guide you through that.
Nestled deep in the Bible in one of those pages that doesn¡¦t often see the light of day is a story of human bravery, loyalty and an example of what makes something precious.
Second Samuel, chapter 23, is a collection of war stories about men of valor ¡V the fierce and famous warriors of Israel and what they did in ongoing battle with their enemies in Canaan, the Philistines.
David, after a long, long time of war, of being away from any kind of civilized life, of not knowing if he¡¦d lose his life or lose a battle, longs for the days of his youth at home. ¡§O that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate!¡¨ David should have kept his thoughts to himself.
Because Bethlehem was now the site of the Philistine encampment. That means the gate to the city would be guarded day and night, with soldiers always posted on guard duty.
David should have kept his thoughts to himself, because three of his bravest men ran the twelve miles across the dusty dry hills of Judea, slipped past the Philistine encampment, managed to get into the city, filled a skin with water from David¡¦s hometown well, and it sounds like there was a skirmish as they fought through the perilous lines and brought David his drink.
David is taken aback. His men ought never have risked their lives for him. Wasn¡¦t it enough that they were willing to die in battle for him as their commander? But to put their lives at risk to satisfy a whim?
This water is too precious to drink.
So David does the only thing he can ¡V he makes the water an offering and pours it out to God. He calls it the ¡§blood¡¨ of his men, because it could easily have cost them their lives. (And in the OT, blood is sacrificed on the altar to God. Blood is a sacred offering)
Good soldiers are willing to die for their comrades.
During the Vietnam War, three buddies are out in the jungle at night patrolling the fuzzy territory between them and the Viet Cong. Their sergeant gives the signal for the men to stop and be vigilant in the jungle. They will remain motionless for hours. The three buddies do what they always do, they crouch down, back to back, three very young men, each facing outward, each scanning the one third of the circle (120 degrees), each counting on the other to watch his third. They know, each of those soldiers, that the men whose sweaty backs are pressed against his own will die to protect him. Each man is ready and willing to die if necessary to protect his two buddies.
Who is worth dying for in your life?
The things that really matter in life might seem like intangibles. But they are not. The things that really matter have to do with people.
What is the most precious thing about our church?
For example, last week we had visitors here as we celebrated the role of our church and village in the Washington/Rochambeau march to Yorktown that led to the end of the Revolutionary War. Ellen Idler was in here in colonial costume and her son Alex was dressed as Dominie Christian Foehring, the founding pastor of our church in 1766.
Visitors commented on the chandelier. People commented on our old, old documents. This building breathes history. It is a treasure to be sure. But as precious as is this building it is not the church. You are the church, and in God¡¦s eyes ¡V you are precious.
What matters in your life? What is precious to you?
The Christian parents in our church are trying to teach something important to our children. The best things in life can¡¦t be bought in the mall. There cool things ¡V cool cars, cool iPods, cool video games, great clothing labels. But if you had every single thing you coveted, you would have nothing after all. These things are not life givers. Life has to found somewhere else.
David¡¦s soldiers found something worth dying for in their commander David, a man they loved and admired. They respected David, not simply because he was a success on the battlefield. They most likely respected him because they knew he was a man after God¡¦s own heart. He was a man who wanted the best for Israel. He was a good man ¡V a man of honesty and integrity. So they were devoted to him.
And David loved his men ¡V they were precious tom him - and so when they put their lives at risk for him, to satisfy a whim of him out of devotion, he could not drink the water, but offered it to God. It was too precious, because it represented the love and loyalty of his men.
What do you value like that? What do you have that is so precious you can only offer it to God and thank God for it?
In the ancient world, in some pagan religions, people were called on to sacrifice on the altar of their God, the first child born to them. These horrible religions ¡V grotesque and evil as they were, hit upon a great truth. The greatest treasure produced in a marriage was a child. So their gods said, ¡§I¡¦ll take that, thank you.¡¨ In the Bible, we read that no one is more repulsed by child sacrifice than our God. God loathed it. But our God wants to lay claim on our children ¡V in a different way ¡V because of love. God wants the best life for them and God knows what it is. We do not always know what is best for them. God knows.
In San Francisco, a woman named Margarita Gutierrez takes the money she has saved from her $7.00/hour job washing cars and sends it to her two children living in El Salvador. Margarita and her husband do not live well in the United States. Their income is low as it is, but they send all they can to their children to give them a better life. Margarita says, ¡§As a mother, I thought first, second and last about the children and sent them everything I had.¡¨
According to a United Nations study, Margarita is not alone. 95 million women in the world ¡V half of the world¡¦s immigrants, live in a foreign country and send three-quarters of their income home ¡V estimated to be 232 billion dollars per year, according to the World Bank.
These women deny themselves, so their children can have a decent life and above all ¡V finish their educations to give them a better chance.
When Jesus knew he was going to the cross, he made it clear what mattered to him.
He prayed.
For what did Jesus pray?
Not for what¡Kfor whom¡KJesus prayed for you.
Listen to the end of Jesus¡¦ prayer for his disciples: 20¡§I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, 21that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us,„T so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
Jesus came for you, lived for you, died for you.
Jesus is praying for you.
Jesus said, ¡§The one who comes to me shall never thirst.¡¨ David had a nostalgic thirst for the sunny days and sweet waters of his youth. Jesus gives us drinks of living water, that sustain us in this life and to life eternal. Jesus calls it living water ¡V it is water that slakes our deepest thirst.
The question we must answer is, ¡§What is that worth to us?¡¨ Or, ¡§How precious is that?¡¨
Life is made up of choices. We pray for our children to make right choices ¡V to shun drugs, to study and do well in school, to choose good friends, to be disciples of Jesus Christ, loving our God, to be people who treat others with respect and dignity.
God is hoping we make the right choices.
So you slump into your chair in front of the TV some Friday night, exhausted from a hard week. You have driven yourself. You have driven your kids too (!) ¡V to practice, to the store, to their friends¡¦ houses, to rehearsal, to the game. You don¡¦t know how you can fit everything into your week, then your phone rings and it is someone from church saying you have been nominated to be a deacon. ¡§Good grief, how could I ever find the time?¡¨ Or an announcement is made Sunday morning asking for Stephen Ministers and you know this is something you can do. Or there is a need for Sunday School teachers, or for mission work.
What is it worth? What is precious? What matters?
David took the thing he coveted, the fulfillment of his whim, and would not indulge himself ¡V he knew it¡¦s value and he gave it to God. What are we willing to give to God?
Several years ago, I got one of these things that goes around on the internet that you are supposed to pass on to others. It said, ¡§If you are feeling down about yourself, just remember this. In this world there is someone willing to die for you.¡¨ That caught my attention. Was it true? I turned the question around. Is there someone for whom I would be willing to die. Absolutely. And the reverse is equally true.
And I¡¦ll bet it is true for most of us here.
And what if it isn¡¦t?
When I was a pastor in Jersey City, I was often called upon by the local funeral director to conduct funerals for people who had no one left. Many such people were immigrants with few relatives here who outlived everyone ¡V family and friends. Henry Mack was the funeral director¡¦s name. It reached the point where when he had such a death, he called me. I would come in, put on my robe, say the entire liturgy while Henry himself sat in the chairs ¡V he was the whole congregation. We did the entire liturgy, including a brief homily about the resurrection.
Then we¡¦d go to the grave or crematorium and there do the committal.
Sad? Yes. Heart breaking. Except those services with only two souls were rich. Rich because of the promise of God in Jesus. Every human being on the face of the earth has at least one person willing to die for her or him ¡V Jesus.
That is the gospel ¡V the value of every human being alive ¡V your value.
You are worth dying for¡KJesus said, ¡§This is my blood poured out for the sins of many¡K.This is my body broken for you.¡¨
Isn¡¦t the one who died for you worth living for?
Fred D. Mueller
