Sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Lance Moore on Sunday, February 3, 2008
The setting for this Scripture Lesson is immediately after Jesus performed the miracles of feeding the five thousand, and then walking on the water. We now read from John 6:24-35 & 63: “Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?" Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval." Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." So they asked him, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: `He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." "Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread." Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” And moving to verse 63:
“The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.”
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On this Mardi Gras weekend of revelry, perhaps you are not yet ready for the austerity of Lent. But these words from Jesus are a very good preparation or summation of what Lent is all about: ”The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing.” Those words run counter to the prevailing winds of our culture. During today’s Super Bowl, if you watch the TV ads, you will see a great emphasis on the flesh. And I don’t just mean the inevitable appeals of sexuality—beautiful women trying to sell you beer or new cars— but to every aspect of sensuality: food, drink, treasures, trinkets, etc. We are a “Mardi Gras” culture.
But Jesus is speaking the truth. It is not that things of the flesh are inherently evil. Rather, he implies, materiality becomes evil if we are COUNTING on it. “The flesh counts for nothing,” yet we revel in the material things, we sinfully measure our worth and value by our material accomplishments and accoutrements. It is the misplaced set of priorities and values that come along with materialism that makes greed and lust the sins they are. There is nothing evil in catching a moonpie or even in enjoying moonpies and beer during the Super Bowl. I don’t particularly like beer or pro-football, but I see no harm in either... UNLESS they become the center of your universe.
May I suggest that we are all faced with a ”Super Bowl”-sized contest or battle, but not on a field, but within the human heart... a super-sized battle over what kind of values, and which set of priorities, will be the champion of your life and destiny. I borrow another adjective from pop culture and call this the ”Titanic Question” of life. “Titanic” is a synonym for “gargantuan,” big. One of the biggest movies of all time, both in size of budget and ticket sales, was the movie “The Titanic,” based on the true story of the ill-fated ship of the same name. It was an engaging though trite film, with stunning special effects, but marred by teen sex and violence, smoking and drinking—an unhealthy diet to which Americans seem increasingly addicted. Nevertheless, the larger events portrayed in the movie, and in the real historical incident, teach us powerful lessons about what things are most important in life.
With the sinking of the “Titanic,” the rich and the poor found themselves equalled and humbled by the freezing waters. It is said that in those last moments as the ship was going down, millionaires grabbed up apples and oranges rather than gold and diamonds. The impending peril, the unexpected intrusion of death, instantly caused a re-evaluation of priorities. A flask of water became more valuable than a strand of pearls. That big event in history brings up a question of titanic proportions: what really matters in life?
Speaking of boats, another true story: Approaching 40, Jerry yearned for a speedboat. He put it off because he had other more pressing bills. Until one day he came across the obituary of an old classmate named Ted. He had been the same age as Jerry, but now Ted was dead. Jerry was certain this was a sign that life is too short. So he went out immediately and spent his retirement nest egg on an expensive boat. The next day, a former classmate telephoned Jerry to share their grief. Jerry said, “Hey, the obituary didn’t tell me: how did Ted die?” And his friend replied, “Oh, it was a boating accident.” That’s what you call irony!
Death, even the threat of death, has a powerful way of changing our priorities. A few years ago, an earthquake hit the West Coast, and in the aftermath of the 6.8 Richter Scale quake, the Associated Press reported that Bill Gates, the richest man in the world, had been speaking to a group in Seattle when it hit. The comment the reporter made was that when the room shook and people fled, and Bill Gates became “just another face in the crowd.” That may remind you of another famous anecdote: Alexander the Great was puzzled to find wise Diogenes examining a heap of human bones in the dungeon of the castle. “What are you doing?” the all-powerful ruler asked. “I am searching for the bones of your father,” the philosopher answered, “but I cannot distinguish them from those of his slaves.” Life and death have ways of leveling things.
As the baby boom generation nears retirement age, we are becoming more keenly aware of our mortality, and more focused on the passage of time. Life IS short and many boomers, having lost faith in Social Security, are socking away money like never before—which helps explains the huge rise in the stock market over the last 10 years. But as my Baptist friend, Dr. Jerry Windsor, has stated, “A stock speculator is only one bad deal away from humility.” With a cautious eye to the future, we might ask: Have you checked on your investments lately? But of course, money is not your most important investment. Some people think it is. It is easy to think: “when I have enough money put away, someday I'll be able to enjoy life. Someday I will be able to enjoy my family. Someday I will have time to do more volunteer work. But somehow we keep putting off someday. We had best get our priorities straight today, for tomorrow may not come.
This is what Jesus was teaching in the famous parable of the foolish man who said, “Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” But that night, he died. Jesus called him a fool.
Now consider this: the point of the parable is NOT that it was a sin to eat, drink and be merry. Even Jesus was accused of a being a “wine-bibber and a glutton” because he enjoyed eating, drinking and being merry himself! Rather, Jesus was teaching that the foolish man had his priorities backwards. In this same passage in Luke 12, Jesus said in verses 29-31,“And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it... for your Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.”
Can you hear that? Jesus is not forbidding the pleasures and necessities of life. Jesus wants you to have a joyful life. No, the problem with the fool was that he set his heart on temporary things, and not on the eternal kingdom of God.
Time is shorter than you think, and time is more precious than money. If you are selling your precious time and all you're getting back is money in return, you are not a wise investor. In Kahil Gibran’s small volume Sand And Foam is a thought-provoking verse:
They deem me mad because I will not sell my days for gold; And I deem them mad because they think my days have a price.
You may be thinking, “But pastor, you don't know how close to the edge we are living financially.” Not that any pastor has ever had to make difficult decisions with regard to money! I preach to myself here. Way too much of my energy and worry is devoted to money and material concerns.
But we are talking about more than money. This is an issue of priorities. This is an issue of what you give your life to, or as Jesus said, what you set your heart on. As in the sermon title, this is a question of titanic proportions. Asking “what matters most to you?” is a life and death question.
In the John Grisham best-seller, The Street Lawyer, a homeless hobo walks into a high-powered Washington law firm. The hobo locks himself in a conference room with eight lawyers and reveals that he has 12 sticks of dynamite strapped to his chest. Suddenly, the elite world of these attorneys turns upside down. Instantly, their Gucci suits, their Rolex watches, their status and power—it all becomes worthless. Their lives hang in the balance, all else pales in comparison.
The truth be told, our lives always hang in the balance. A chance meeting on the highway with a drunk driver, an aneurism, a burglar with a gun...this life is tenuous. We don’t like to be reminded that life dangles by a thread. And yet, occasionally it may motivate us to re-order our priorities.
Drawing yet again from popular media, I am haunted by the words of the Don Henley song, “New York Minute.” “Harry got up, dressed all in black, Went down to the station, and he never came back; they found his clothing scattered somewhere down the track, and he won’t be down on Wall Street in the morning. He had a home, the love of a girl, but men get lost sometimes, as years unfurl; one day he crossed some line and he was too much in this world....
In a New York minute, everything can change.”
“In a New York minute, everything can change.” Scary. And yet, there is freedom in accepting this. Let me explain. First, when we recognize that tomorrow is not guaranteed, we can devote ourselves more fully to today. Carpe diem, seize the day! Second, in acknowledging our frail mortality, we can become more reliant upon God. The more dependent you are upon God, the more content you will be.
If you set your heart upon God’s kingdom, you will be a better person. This is called “getting your priorities straight.” Again, Jesus said, “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.” The greatest challenge to our society is that we have this equation backwards: we place all emphasis on the flesh, the material, the tangible, and we confine the spiritual to a single hour on Sundays. Jesus understood that all of life is permeated by God’s Spirit. If we are not aware of God’s presence, if we are not in tune with the spiritual, if we think only in the temporal and not the eternal, we are already dead!
During the season of Lent, Christ calls us ever more loudly to awaken to life, love and eternity. Be more mindful of the spiritual. Change priorities. Let the divine, the eternal and the spiritual permeate all that we are and all that we do. The spiritual will greatly outlast our Chevrolets, microwaves, and bric-a-brac. Why then, do we not place spirituality first? Why, then, is Christ not central? After all, it is our life in Christ that really matters, that really endures.
I pray you will never have a “Titanic” disaster in your life, but if you ever do find yourself sinking, drowning in sin and sorrow, look to the one who can WALK on the water, and whose love can lift you up. As we prepare now for the Sacrament of Holy Communion, would you remember these words of Jesus: “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Foley, Alabama