THE SUPERFICIAL SAGA: PART VI
Haddon Robinson is the Professor of Preaching at the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary near Boston, Massachusetts. He recently gave a lecture that somewhat highlighted the evolution of preaching. More specifically, he said that the model for the preacher has changed. For example, up through the 1940s and into the early 1950s, the model for the preacher was the evangelist. In other words, preachers were doing their level best to get people to commit their lives to Jesus Christ.
In the late 1950s and on through the 1960s the model for the preacher became that of the Bible teacher. Helping people to understand the Bible came to be the most important thing. It’s interesting to note, however, that he never addressed the 1970s. Apparently the 1970s was a lost decade of preaching. In the 1980s and the 1990s, the model for the preacher became that of the therapist. In other words…the task of the preacher came to be meeting the needs of people who were trying to be Christian, but who were still largely secular.
He is much more critical of preaching today. He says, and I quote, “Sermons today are much more likely to be topical than expository…and many of the materials in the sermon come out of the behavioral sciences. The aim of most sermons today…is not to explain the biblical text. The aim of most sermons today is to connect with the listeners’ felt needs.” Then he adds, “The Bible is used as a way to get a divine imprint on what is simply good advice.”
Ouch! Is that what the preached word has become? Is it simply good advice? Or is the preached word still meant to be, by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, the word of God to a lost humanity? Is the preached word still meant to be, by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, divine instruction on the way to live a godly life? Is the preached word still meant to be, by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, a means of grace by which one can draw closer to God? Hey, I’m old school. I still think theology is important. Thus, I suspect you know what I think. But just in case you don’t…let me tell you what I’m really trying to accomplish in a sermon.
The goal, plain and simple, is communion with God. All I’m trying to do is help you come to know God. As John Calvin noted in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, “Without knowledge of self, there is no knowledge of God.” Yet what do we see when we look at ourselves? We see ourselves as sinful human beings and we see a great chasm between us and God. Yet we also see a redeemer in the person of Jesus Christ: a redeemer who sets us right with God when we confess our sin and sincerely strive to repent, sincerely strive to live a better life, and sincerely strive to have a change of heart. Perhaps John the Baptist put it best when he came to announce the arrival of God’s Messiah. He cried, “Repent…for the kingdom of God is at hand.” In other words, we need to change the way we are. Thus, the goal of preaching is not to make us feel good about ourselves. The goal of preaching…is to inspire us to change.
This is the sixth in a series of sermons entitled, The Superficial Saga. It’s a sermon series on the seven deadly sins. We poke a lot of fun at sin these days. Truth be told, I don’t think we take sin very seriously. Yet God takes sin seriously. In fact, God takes sin so seriously…that he sent his Son to die on a cross in order to overcome it. Sin is not a matter to be taken lightly, as though a person could saunter into God’s presence at any time, in any mood, with any sort of life behind them…and at once perceive God there. No, the sense of God’s reality is a progressive and often laborious achievement of the soul; the soul that takes sin seriously and earnestly tries to dispel it.
Like it said, The Superficial Saga is a sermon series on the seven deadly sins. The seven deadly sins are: pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony, and lust. Yet along with the seven deadly sins there are what we call the seven holy virtues or the seven cardinal virtues. The seven holy virtues are meant to counteract the seven deadly sins. For example, the opposite of pride is humility. The opposite of envy is love. The opposite of wrath is forgiveness. The opposite of sloth is diligence. The opposite of greed is charity. The opposite of gluttony is temperance, and the opposite of lust is chastity or purity. You see, the way to conquer sin…is to replace it with something better.
Four weeks ago, we examined the sin of pride. There we determined that pride is a sin basically because Jesus said it was. The secret to overcoming pride is humility. We determined that the key to humility is to approach God not as the big, self-sufficient, and self-reliant adults we pretend to be. Instead, we approach God as little children: frail, empty, dependent…needing a gracious and loving God in the worst possible way.
Three weeks ago we examined the sin of envy. We determined that envy is cold-hearted and cruel. From a theological standpoint, envy is basically our own sense of dissatisfaction with the way God created us. The secret to conquering envy is love. And the secret to love…is to wish what’s best for someone else.
Two weeks ago we examined the sin of wrath or anger. We determined that anger is a normal human emotion that needs to be expressed. Yet that anger needs to be expressed in the form of an offering to God. In other words, we express our anger to God in prayer…and then leave it in God’s hands to rectify the situation. The secret to conquering anger is forgiveness. Forgiveness then breaks the cycle of anger in order that peace might rule the day.
Last week we examined the sin of sloth. We determined that sloth is essentially a spiritual apathy that stems from a sense of hopelessness about the world. The key to overcoming sloth is to remember that we work for God, not for anyone else. We are called to remain diligent in our tasks and in our belief that God’s kingdom will come to pass when all the world comes to serve God.
Today we examine the sin of greed. Perhaps the most famous personification of greed can be found in Charles Dickens’ novel, A Christmas Carol. I’m talking about Ebenezer Scrooge, of course. Why the very name “Scrooge” has become synonymous with the word “greed.” In the novel, Dickens introduces Ebenezer Scrooge with these words:
Oh! But he was a tightfisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire…secret and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.
When it comes to the sin of greed, perhaps there is no more appropriate description. These days, we tend to view Bill Gates in a similar light. I’ve heard it said that Bill Gates was once asked by a reporter, “How much is enough?” To which Bill Gates replied, “You can never have enough.” I’ve got to admit that I was unable to substantiate that comment. However, I was able to substantiate a quote from one of Bill Gates’ predecessors in opulence…a man named John D. Rockefeller. A reporter once asked John D. Rockefeller, “How much money is enough?” Rockefeller replied, “Just a little bit more.” That, my friends, is greed personified.
I’m here to tell you, however, that it’s not just the Bill Gateses and the John D. Rockefellers of the world that suffer from the sin of greed. I recently heard the story of a girl who told her friend, “My mom is only happy when she’s spending money. She went shopping every day until a thief stole her credit card.” “Oh, my gosh,” her friend replied. “Did your father report the stolen credit card?” To which the girl replied, “No. He says the thief is spending less money than Mom did!”
Now that’s not sexist! That story is true of both men and women. A recent survey indicates that the average American spends $1300.00 on credit for every $1000.00 they make. As someone once said, “People spend money they don’t have to buy things they don’t need to impress people they don’t even like.” A lot of us suffer from greed.
A lot of us may suffer from greed, but I don’t think anyone respects it or admires it. Not long ago, woman named Kristen Clawbury announced to her friends that she was suffering from ovarian cancer. Her friends immediately rushed to her side to comfort her, to cry with her and to pray with her. After a few months, she told her friends that the cancer treatments had not worked and that she was going to have to go out of state for experimental medical treatments that would not be covered by her insurance. Her friends then got together…and held fundraisers that brought in more than $40,000.00. Then they found out that it was all a great big scam. The woman had cut her hair to make it look like she was undergoing chemotherapy. She took the money her friends had raised and bought a car, went on vacation and had some plastic surgery. At the ensuing trial, one of her friends said, “She had a disease even more deadly than cancer. She had the disease of greed.”
Is greed a deadly disease? Consider the passage we read from the book of Acts. It’s the story of Ananias and Sapphira. Let me set the scene for you. It’s shortly after that very first Pentecost and the apostles have established a church in Jerusalem. As it says in Acts 4:32, “Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common.” In other words, in the first century church, they were into communal living. Obviously it did not work, and that is why we do not do it today. But in the first century church, they held everything in common.
A man named Ananias, and a woman named Sapphira, were a married couple who belonged to this first century Christian community. Ananias sold a piece of property that belonged to him. What he should have done is bring all of the proceeds to Peter and lay them at his feet. Or, if he needed to keep some of the money for himself, he needed to be honest about that. Ananias and Sapphira plotted to do neither. Ananias brought a part of the proceeds forward and laid them at Peter’s feet...but he told him that he was giving all of it. Peter somehow knew better and he said to Ananias, “You have not lied to us, but to God!” And at that, Ananias dropped to the floor and died. Not long after that, Sapphira came in before the apostles. She, too, was questioned about the incident. She, too, lied about it…and she dropped dead as well.
And you thought greed was no big deal. Look, I’m not saying that greed is going to make you drop dead, but perhaps it can keep one from communion with God. Perhaps it can keep one from finding inner peace. Listen to this.
Once upon a time, an ambitious American businessman was standing at the pier in a Mexican costal village. A small boat with a lone fisherman inside puttered up to the pier and docked. The businessman noticed several large yellowfin tuna in the boat and complimented the fisherman on his catch. He asked the fisherman, “How long did it take you to catch those fish?” To which the fisherman replied, “Oh, it didn’t take long at all.”
Puzzled, the businessman asked, “Why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?” The fisherman said, “I’ve got enough here to support my family’s needs for the day.” So the businessman asked, “Then what do you do with the rest of your time?” The fisherman replied, “Oh, I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with my wife. Then at night I stroll into the village, I sip a little wine and play the guitar with my friends. I really have a full and busy life, senor.”
The businessman scoffed, “Look, I have an MBA from Harvard and I could really help you. You should spend a lot more time fishing, and with the proceeds you could buy a bigger boat. With the money you make from the bigger boat, you could buy a few more boats. Eventually, you’d have a fleet. Then instead of selling your fish to a middleman you could sell directly to the processor, eventually opening up your own cannery. You would then control the product, the processing, and the distribution. You would then need to leave this little village and move to Mexico City, then to Los Angeles, and eventually to New York City, where you could run your expanding enterprise.”
The fisherman thought about that for a moment. Then he asked, “Senor, how long would all of this take?” The businessman replied, “Oh, I suppose you could do it in 15 or 20 years.” “And then what?” the fisherman asked. The businessman laughed, “That’s the best part. When the time is right…you announce an Initial Public Offering, sell your stock to the public and become filthy rich. You could make millions.”
The fisherman asked, “Millions, senor? Then what?” The businessman said, “Then you could retire. You could move to a small coastal village where you could sleep late, fish a little, play with your grandkids, and take a siesta with your wife. At night you could stroll into the village, sip a little wine, and play your guitar with your friends.”
So what does greed really get us? A whole lot of stress and a much shorter life. The holy virtue that counteracts the deadly sin of greed is charity. Perhaps that’s the reason for the divine mandate of tithing. You know, people often cynically say that all the church cares about is money. Yet maybe God calls upon us to give because he knows that charity is the only cure for our greed. So maybe giving to the church isn’t just for the church’s sake. Maybe giving to the church is for our sake, as well.
Greed says, “I want, I need, I’ve simply got to get.” Charity says, “Thank you for what I have.” As 13th century German mystic Meister Eckhart once said, “If the only prayer you ever said in your entire life was thank you…that would suffice.” Keep that thought in mind the next time you see something you’ve simply got to have. Amen.
1 comment:
I found this sermon on Sermon Central from Nov 2005. Different person though.
Post a Comment