5-19-2013 Sermon by The Rev. Dr. Brian K. Jensen

 

CHRISTIANITY 101: WHAT WOULD JESUS DRIVE?

  Once upon a time, there was a man who worked as hard as he possibly could to fulfill his vision of the American Dream.  Unfortunately, if that meant stepping on one or two people along the way in order to get ahead, that’s exactly what he did.  In the end, as you might suspect, he was indeed quite successful.  He had a massive bank account, he owned several beautiful homes, and he drove nothing but the fanciest of automobiles.

  Then one day, as ultimately happens to us all, he died.  He was met at the Pearly Gates by none other than St. Peter himself.  St. Peter said to the man, “Would you like to see the house in which you’ll be spending all eternity?”  The man replied, “I can think of nothing I’d like better.”

  Thus, St. Peter led him through the Pearly Gates and into the center of the kingdom of heaven.  The homes there were absolutely beautiful three-story mansions.  The man said, “I could get used to this.”  To which St. Peter replied, “Just be patient.  We’ve got a ways to go.”  As they went a little further, the homes became less ornate.  Still, they were two-story homes with neatly-trimmed yards.  The man asked, “Is this where I’m going to be living?”  To which St. Peter replied, “Just be patient.  We’ve got a ways to go.” 

  As they went a little further, the homes became single-story ranch houses.  Not bad, but not quite that to which the man was accustomed.  The man asked, “Is this where I’m going to be living?”  Again St. Peter replied, “Just be patient.  We’ve got a ways to go.”  Finally they reached the outskirts of town where the homes were little more than ramshackle huts.  As they reached a particularly bad one, St. Peter abruptly stopped.  “This is where you’ll be spending eternity,” he said to the man.  “What?  Here?” the man exclaimed.  “I can’t live here!”  To which St. Peter replied, “I’m truly sorry, but this is the best we could do with the materials you sent up.”  Are there eternal consequences to the lives we live on earth?  Keep that thought in mind as we move on.

  A number of weeks ago we noted how – each and every day – we make decisions that move us closer to a life of virtue, or closer to a life of ruin.  Though the past may be written in stone, the future is more like wet cement…pliable, soft, and ready to be shaped by the decisions we make.  Our goal is to develop a more godly life narrative.  Our goal is to discover what it means to live a life of virtue.  Our goal is to seek to discern where our deep happiness may truly be found.

  We suggested that our deepest happiness is found in the kingdom of God.  We noted that the kingdom of God is not just something we hope to attain in the future.  As Jesus clearly stated, the kingdom of God is also a present reality.  Thus, the kingdom of God of which we speak is not a place.  The kingdom of God of which we speak is an interactive relationship with God…an interactive relationship that brings us peace of heart and mind.

  We noted how many of us will not even consider a more godly life narrative – many of us will not even begin to seek out an interactive relationship with God – until we encounter a drought in life…until we come up against something that we cannot control.  So what we did was consider a social problem that appears to be beyond human resolution: bullying in the classroom.  We postulated that while we may not be able to resolve all the social ills that surround us, God is able to resolve the un-resolvable.  What we need to do is recognize that fact and be open to the movement of God’s Holy Spirit.  That, my friends, is where our own transformation truly begins.

Then we wrestled in turn with overcoming anger, lust, lying, and the law of reciprocity.  We even took a stab at defeating vainglory.  The theory behind these endeavors is that abiding in the kingdom of God is different than abiding in the kingdom of this world.  We have different priorities.  We aspire to a higher ideal.  We seek to put behind us that which would hold us back.

  Today our goal is to seek to overcome avarice.  Avarice is a little like greed in that it has to do with excessive desire.  Yet avarice is more specifically defined as greed for money or for possessions.  Case in point, the man we described at the beginning of this sermon.  Or, consider an urban legend about a reporter who once interviewed John D. Rockefeller.  The wealthiest man in the world at the time, Rockefeller supposedly told the reporter that still, he was not satisfied.  When the reporter asked him how much money it would take to make him feel satisfied, Rockefeller replied, “Just a little bit more.”  That same sort of comment has been attributed more recently to Bill Gates.  When a reporter once asked Bill Gates how much was enough, Gates supposedly replied, “You can never have enough.”  That, my friends, is avarice.

  Let me go on record here by saying that Jesus is against avarice.  Consider the passage we read from the gospel according to Matthew.  Jesus says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

  Jesus seems to indicate here that there are actually two kinds of treasures.  There are earthly treasures, and there are heavenly treasures.  What exactly is a treasure?  Spiritual writer Dallas Willard defines a treasure this way: “We reveal what our treasures are by what we aim to protect, secure, and keep.”  Thus, in Jesus’ mind, perhaps our real treasure should not be a house, or a car, or a bank account.  Perhaps our real treasure should be our faith, or our friends, or our marriages, or our families.  Those are the kinds of treasures that can last through all eternity.

  Now believe me, I know that’s the last thing on earth that most people want to hear these days.  People want to hear things like what an old televangelist by the name of Oral Roberts called, “The Miracle of Seed Faith.”  You know, if you give God ten dollars, God will give you a hundred.  If you give God a hundred dollars, God will give you a thousand.  And, of course, Oral Roberts was more than willing to position himself as God’s investment banker.  He was certainly more than willing to hold God’s money for you.

  What “sells” in the pulpit these days is what we call the prosperity gospel.  Preachers stand up in their pulpits and proclaim to their congregations, “God has a miracle in store for you.  God wants you to have even more than what you have.”  To the richest people in the history of the world – often suffering primarily from overextended credit – they are saying that God wants them to have even more…and people are flocking to their churches in droves.  That’s the difference between motivational speaking and prophetic preaching.  Motivational speaking has to do with telling people what they want to hear.  Prophetic preaching has to do with telling people what they need to hear.  I mean, which would you rather hear: “God has a miracle in store for you,” or “Take up your cross and follow me?”  That, my friends, is why those who attempt to preach in a prophetic manner will never be popular.  They may be right, but they will never be popular.

  Jesus clearly advocates heavenly treasures over earthly treasures.  “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also,” he says.  He goes on to say, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon.”

  Mammon is a Semitic word that means money or riches.  Let me take a moment here to explain why Jesus’ use of the word mammon would have been so disheveling to the people who heard him speak.  Scholars have no record of the word mammon being used in a negative context in Hebrew culture.  In fact, it was just the opposite.  Mammon – or wealth – was seen as a sign of God’s blessing.  Yet here Jesus refers to it as a rival God.  Why on earth would he do that? 

  Consider this.  Recently, some neurologists scanned the brains of people of faith as they recalled the times they felt close to God.  Then the scientists exposed these people to stained glass, the smell of incense, and other religious images that make people feel connected to God.  One particular area of the brain called the caudate nucleus lit up on the brain scans when these people felt close to God.  Could this be evidence of how our brains are actually hard-wired for God?

  Now listen to this.  Those very same neurologists tested another group of people, but this time exposed them to desirous material possessions…what Jesus called mammon.  When images of said desirous material possessions were shown to these people, the exact same area of the brain lit up on the brain scans.  What these neurologists discovered was that people who encountered material goods they wanted…experienced the very same brain sensations as those who had deep religious experiences.

  This research seems to explain two things.  First, it explains why a trip to the mall can be such a cathartic experience for those who’ve had a really bad day!  Second, it also explains why Jesus referred to mammon as a rival God.  And as Jesus so succinctly put it, “You cannot serve both God and mammon…for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

  Now don’t get me wrong.  Jesus is not begrudging us a luxurious home, or a fancy car, or even a two-dollar cup of Starbucks coffee.  Kingdom economics are not about financial stinginess or carelessness.  Kingdom economics are about simplicity.  Simplicity is an inner attitude that affects what we choose to purchase.  According to spiritual writer Richard Foster, “Simplicity is an inward reality that results in an outward lifestyle.”  Yet in order for it to become an outward lifestyle, it must first become an inward reality.

  Perhaps the question thus becomes: What would Jesus drive?  The politically correct answer these days, I suppose, is that Jesus would probably drive a Prius.  That would certainly minimize his carbon footprint, right?  But wasn’t Jesus a carpenter, and didn’t Jesus have to lug around twelve of his best friends wherever he went?  In that case, Jesus probably would have driven a passenger van and pulled a great big trailer! 

  You see, that which we spend – and that which we aim to possess – should really have to do with our genuine need.  What’s more, the longer we strive to live in the kingdom of God, the more we come to discover the needs of the world around us.  In light of that fact, we just might find ourselves becoming more and more able to give with a cheerful heart…and our treasure will thus be in exactly the right place.  Amen.

 

5-12-2013 Sermon by The Rev. Dr. Brian K. Jensen

 

GO ASK YOUR MOTHER

  Mother’s Day holds a very prominent place in the hearts of most Americans.  The Hallmark card company estimates that 150 million Mother’s Day cards will be sent this year, compared to about 95 million Father’s Day cards.  Americans spend an average of $105.00 on Mother’s Day gifts, while they spend an average of only $90.00 on Father’s Day gifts.  The phone rings more often on Mother’s Day than it does on Father’s Day too, although the statistics do indicate that more collect calls are made on Father’s Day.  I’m not exactly sure what that implies. 

  What do these statistics reveal?  It seems to me as though they reveal that Mom is more popular than Dad.  And why is that?  Perhaps it’s due in part because – when our children come to us with difficult questions – we fathers tend to reply, “Go ask your mother.”  Mom tends to be the primary go-to source for the questions that plague men’s minds…literally!  Keep that thought in mind as we move on.

  The scene in the passage I read from the gospel according to John is the Last Supper.  Judas Iscariot has just arisen to go betray the Lord.  Jesus Christ, the consummate teacher – fully aware of the fate about to befall him – continues to instruct his disciples.  And what is the first thing he talks about, in spite of what’s about to transpire?  Jesus speaks of love.  “A new commandment I give you,” he says, “that you love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples.”

  Love is a familiar theme for Jesus.  Perhaps that’s because love seems to be so difficult for us.  For example, how do we love the unlovable?  How do we love someone we’d really rather strangle?  How do we love the people who make themselves so incredibly difficult to love?  Listen to the following two stories, and try to decide for yourselves which one better expresses love for the unlovable.

  Apartment dwellers in New Zealand now have a brand new weapon to use against noisy neighbors.  It seems a local man has recorded a compact disc that consists of 64 minutes of lawn mower noise.  Thus, if your neighbors have a party that keeps you up really late, what you do is get up at six in the morning, put the lawn mowing C.D. in the stereo, crank up the volume, and go out for breakfast.  The new compact disc offers listeners general lawn mowing sounds, along with special features like the emptying of the grass catcher and the blades clipping stones.

  Believe it or not, this has become a huge seller in New Zealand.  The lawn mower C.D. is actually the creator’s second.  His first was entitled, “Urban Assault,” which consists of a car alarm, a revving motorcycle, and a crying baby.  For some, love consists of what we might call “tough love,” and tough love seems to be all about getting even.  Is this the love of which Jesus speaks?

  Here’s another story that depicts loving the unlovable.  The author is unknown.  I found it in an old newsletter in my files entitled, From the Ranch.  The author writes:

A friend of mine went to the County Clerk’s office to renew her driver’s license.  The clerk said to her, “Do you have a job, or are you just a…”  My friend – fuming – replied, “Of course I have a job!  I’m a mother!”  The clerk replied, “We don’t list ‘mother’ as an occupation.  ‘Housewife’ pretty much covers it.”

I found myself in the very same situation one day when I was at our town hall.  The clerk was obviously a career woman: poised, efficient, and possessing an impressive-sounding title like, “Town Registrar” or “Official Interrogator.”  She asked me that very same question: “And what is your occupation?”

The words just popped out of my mouth: “I’m a Research Associate in the field of Child Development and Human Relations.”  The clerk paused; pen frozen in mid-air.  I repeated the title slowly: “I’m a Research Associate in the field of Child Development and Human Relations.”  The clerk wrote my pompous title in bold, black ink on the official questionnaire.  Then she asked, with a measure of suspicion in her voice, “Might I ask just what you do in your field?”

I replied, “I have a continuing program of research in the laboratory and in the field.  I’m working for my Master’s – the whole family – and already have four credits…all daughters.  Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities, and I often work 14 hours a day.  But the job is more challenging than most run-of-the-mill careers, and the rewards are in satisfaction rather than just money.”

There was an increasing note of respect in the clerk’s voice.  She completed the form, stood up, and personally ushered me to the door.  As I later drove into our driveway, buoyed by my glamorous new title, I was greeted by my lab assistants – ages thirteen, seven and three.  Upstairs I could hear our new experimental model – six months old – in the child development program, testing out a new vocal pattern. 

I felt triumphant.  I had scored a beat on bureaucracy.  And I had gone down in the records as someone more distinguished and indispensable to society than “just another…”

  Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment: that they love one another.  He gives the very same commandment to us.  Yet we know all-too-well how difficult some people make themselves to love.  So, how do we love them?  Do we love them by getting even?  Or do we love them by instilling a gentle sense of humor?  You be the judge.

  Philip Gulley is the author of a book entitled, For Everything a Season.  In it, he offers an intriguing philosophy as to what love really is.  He writes:

Now I want to tell you a lie.  Hate is an emotion we can’t help.  Hate is a feeling we cannot overcome.  If we hate someone, it’s because we just can’t help ourselves.  We’re human; we have no choice but to hate.  That is a lie.  Unfortunately, it is a lie that many people believe.  They believe this lie in order to excuse their hatred.  After all, if we can’t help but hate – if hate is a feeling we simply cannot help – then hatred is never our fault, is it?

But we can help it.  Hatred is a choice.  We choose to hate, just as we choose to love.  Oh, I know, there are people out there who believe love isn’t a choice…that love is primarily an emotion, a feeling, a stirring in the loins.  Those are the same people who love the idea of love, but seem to be unable to stay in it.  Love is a matter of the will – something we decide to do.  Love, my friends, is a choice. 

  Now that’s a fine definition for those who need a definition of love.  You know, I often say in wedding sermons myself, “Love is so much more than a fickle emotion.  Love...is a state of being.”  And that it is.  Yet perhaps love defies description.  Perhaps love is something that is better witnessed than discussed.

  The following e-mail came to me last January.  I saved it for Mother’s Day because it talks about mothers.  But I think it also reveals true love.  Love may be a choice – love may be a state of being – but love is also something much, much more.  Listen to the following story, and I think you’ll see what I mean.

This is for all the mothers who froze their backsides off on metal bleachers at football games on Friday nights, instead of watching from the car, so that when their kids ask, “Did you see me?” they can say, “Of course I saw you.  I wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” and mean it.

This is for all the mothers who have sat up all night with sick toddlers in their arms, wiping up sputum laced with Oscar Meyer wieners and cherry Kool-Aid saying, “It’s okay, honey.  Mommy’s here.”

This is for all the mothers of the earthquake in China who fled in the night and can’t find their children.  This is for all the mothers who gave birth to babies they’ll never see.  And mothers who took those babies in and made homes for them.

This is for all the mothers of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and the mother of the murderer.  This is for the mothers of the survivors – and the mothers who sat in front of their T.V.s in horror – hugging their child who just came home from school safely.  This is for all the mothers who run carpools and make cookies and sew Halloween costumes.  And for all the mothers who don’t.

What makes a good mother anyway?  Is it patience?  Compassion?  The ability to nurse a baby, cook dinner, and sew a button on a shirt, all at the same time?  Or is it heart?  Is it the ache you feel when you watch your son or daughter disappear down the street, walking to school for the very first time?  The jolt that takes you from sleep to dread – from bed to crib – at 2:00 a.m. to put your hand on the back of a sleeping baby?  The need to flee from wherever you are to hug your child when you hear news of a school shooting, a fire, a car accident, or a baby dying?

So this is for all the mothers who sat down with their children and explained all about making babies.  And for all the mothers who wanted to, but just couldn’t.  This is for reading Goodnight, Moon twice a night for a year.  And then reading it again, “Just one more time.”

This is for all the mothers who mess up.  Who yell at their kids in the grocery store, and swat them in frustration, and stomp their feet like a tired two-year-old who wants ice cream before dinner.  This is for all the mothers who taught their daughters to tie their shoelaces before they started school.  And for all the mothers who opted for Velcro instead.  For all the mothers who bite their lips until they bleed when their 14-year-olds dye their hair green.  Who lock themselves in the bathroom when babies keep crying and won’t stop.

This is for all the mothers who show up at work with spit-up in their hair, and milk stains on their blouses, and diapers in their purses.  This is for all the mothers who teach their sons to cook dinner, and their daughters to sink a jump shot.  This is for all the mothers whose heads automatically turn when a little voice calls, “Mom?” in a crowd, even though they know their own offspring are at home.

This is for all the mothers who put pinwheels and teddy bears on their children’s graves.  This is for mothers whose children have gone astray, and who can’t find the words to reach them.  This is for all the mothers who sent their sons to school with stomach aches, assuring them they’d be just FINE once they got there, only to get a call from the school nurse an hour later asking them to please pick them up.  RIGHT AWAY.

This is for young mothers stumbling through diaper changes and sleep deprivation.  And mature mothers learning how to let go.  For working mothers and stay-at-home mothers.  Single mothers and married mothers.  Mothers with money, mothers without.  This is for you all.  Without precious mothers, children would flounder.  Thank you for being the best mom you could be.  Love is what catches us when we fall.  And we all fall.

  Jesus commanded us to love one another.  We feel the need to define that love.  We say, “Love is a choice.”  We say, “Love is a state of being.”  Yet love is really so much more.  Love is what God is.  Love is what we become when someone means more to us than we mean to ourselves.  If that’s not clear enough…go ask your mother.  Amen.

 

05-05-2013 Sermon by The Rev. Dr. Brian K. Jensen

 

CHRISTIANITY 101: PLAYING TO AN AUDIENCE OF ONE

  There’s a fascinating story that’s been making the rounds on the Internet for quite a while now.   I honestly don’t know if the story is real or if it’s a myth.  In any case, it reveals what I believe to be a profound and insightful truth.  The story is called, “Life Is Like a Cup of Coffee,” and it goes like this. 

  Once upon a time, a group of college alumni – all upwardly mobile and well-established in their careers – got together for a reunion at the home of a beloved, old professor.  The conversation soon turned into a litany of complaints about how stressed out they all were at work, and how their lives had not turned out at all the way they’d envisioned them in college.  The professor then quietly offered his guests some coffee, and the distinguished alumni graciously accepted.

  The professor went out to the kitchen to brew a pot of coffee.  When he returned, he brought the coffee…and a varied assortment of cups.  Some of the cups were made of porcelain, some of the cups were made of glass, some of the cups were made of crystal, and some of the cups were made of plastic.  Some of the cups were very exquisite-looking, and some of the cups were really quite plain.  After each of the alumni had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor began to speak.

  He said, “I want you all to look around.  Notice that all of the more expensive, nicer-looking cups have been taken…while the plainer, cheaper-looking cups have been left on the tray.  While I suppose it’s only natural for you to want the best for yourselves, that just might be the source of all your problems and your stress.  Rest assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the taste of the coffee.  In most cases, it’s just a bit fancier and more expensive.

  “What all of you really wanted was the coffee, not the cup…but you consciously went for the best of the cups.  Then you even began eyeing each other’s cups in an effort to see who had the best one.  Now consider this.  Life is like a cup of coffee.  The jobs, the money, the position in society…those are merely the cups.  They’re just tools to hold and contain life, and the kind of cup we have does not define – or change – the quality of the life we live.  In fact, sometimes – by concentrating only on the cup – we actually fail to enjoy the coffee.  Savor the coffee, not the cup.  The happiest people don’t necessarily have the best of everything.  The happiest people simply make the best of everything.  Live simply, love generously, speak kindly, and care deeply …because life is a lot like a cup of coffee.”  Perhaps the question for us now is this: How do we get there?  How do we get to the point where we seek not to have the best of everything, but instead seek to make the best of everything?  Keep that thought in mind as we move on. 

  A number of weeks ago, we noted how – each and every day – we make decisions that move us closer to a life of virtue, or closer to a life of ruin.  Though the past may be written in stone, the future is more like wet cement…pliable, soft, and ready to be shaped by the decisions we make.  Our goal is to develop a more godly life narrative.  Our goal is to discover what it means to live a life of virtue.  Our goal is to seek to discern where our deep happiness may truly be found.

  We suggested that our deepest happiness is found in the kingdom of God.  We noted that the kingdom of God is not just something we hope to attain in the future.  As Jesus clearly stated, the kingdom of God is also a present reality.  Thus, the kingdom of God of which we speak is not a place.  The kingdom of God of which we speak is an interactive relationship with God…an interactive relationship that brings us peace of heart and mind.

  We noted how many of us will not even consider a more godly life narrative – many of us will not even begin to seek out an interactive relationship with God – until we encounter a drought in life…until we come up against something that we cannot control.  So what we did was consider a social problem that appears to be beyond human resolution: bullying in the classroom.  We postulated that while we may not be able to resolve all the social ills that surround us, God is able to resolve the un-resolvable.  What we need to do is recognize that fact, and be open to the movement of God’s Holy Spirit.  That, my friends, is where our own transformation truly begins.

  Then we got a bit more specific as to how we build an interactive relationship with God.  The first thing we aimed at was conquering anger.  We contrasted anger with Sabbath rest.  Anger is a result of our need to control; Sabbath teaches us to trust in God’s strength.  Anger is a result of the narrative that we need to be perfect; Sabbath reminds us that we are forgiven.  Anger is a result of our fear that God has somehow lost sight of us; Sabbath ensures us that God is watching over us at all times.

 Our subsequent goal was to overcome lust; certainly not an easy thing to do.  In the words of one Harry Emerson Fosdick: “Only by a stronger passion can evil passions be expelled,” and, “a soul unoccupied by positive devotion is sure to be occupied by spiritual demons.”  What we sought was what we called the expulsive power of a new affection.  We determined that if our new affection was, in fact, the kingdom of God…then lust would simply lose its grip on us.  Thus, perhaps the solution to our problem here…is prayer.

  The next thing we aimed at overcoming was lying.  What we determined was that as we move further and further into kingdom living – as our hearts become more and more transformed into the likeness and image of Christ – what we need to do is use our tongues to bless and encourage, rather than to harm or humiliate.  We need to learn to build up, rather than tear down.  In short, we use our tongues to speak words that bestow the grace of God upon others.  While that means on the one hand, that we do not lie…it also means that our general tone is one of hope, compassion and kindness.

  Then we talked about learning to live above the law of reciprocity.  The law of reciprocity, of course, is an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.  Yet as Gandhi once put it, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth makes the whole world blind and toothless.”  Jesus proposed a better way.  He taught us to trust that God, in spite of all odds, can somehow turn that which is evil into good.  Why do we believe this?  Because our new kingdom narrative assures us that the kingdom of God is never in trouble.

  Today our goal is learning to seek not to have the best of everything, but rather, to make the best of everything.  In short, we need to learn how to conquer a little sin we call vainglory.  Vainglory is called the eighth deadly sin in the Eastern Orthodox Church.  In the Western Church we have but seven deadly sins, which are usually described as: wrath, greed, pride, sloth, envy, lust and gluttony.  The Eastern Orthodox Church adds an eighth deadly sin called vainglory.  Vainglory is defined as the need to have others think well of us.  It’s rooted in a basic insecurity that is driven by our need for affirmation from others.  Thus, vainglory can be very subtle…and can often be very hard to detect.

  We saw the perfect illustration of vainglory in the story I told at the beginning of this sermon.  The distinguished alumni visiting their old professor scrambled to acquire the nicest coffee cups, then eyed the cups of their peers in an effort to see who was sipping from the fanciest one.  Such behavior is rooted in the desire to receive the approval of others.  Such behavior is rooted in the need to have more than what someone else has.  And what does that get us?  Nothing but a lot of pain and heartache and stress.  That’s because when we are under the spell of vainglory, we are only as good as our next acquisition.  When we live for the approval of others, we are only as good as our last performance.  

  Outside the kingdom of God, we have no way to determine our intrinsic value other than by what others say about us, or by what we think others think about us.  For example, if we do something incredibly well – and no one even notices – it drives us crazy because we have failed to attain the things we wanted most…those things being: affirmation, adulation, and praise.  We thus begin to suffer from vainglory.  We thus begin to aim our goals in life toward pleasing others.

  Vainglory is a sin that tends to afflict the pious, as well.  For example, many years ago, my family and I were on vacation in Duluth, Minnesota.  It was a sunny Sunday morning, and we’d all gone to church.  Right after the worship service, we went to a restaurant for lunch.  My family and I were all sitting there in our Sunday best.  Others in the restaurant were sitting there in t-shirts and shorts and flip-flops.  I honestly began to feel a little bit superior.  My wife and I actually talked about it later.  She said she’d had the very same feeling.  That, my friends, is vainglory.  That’s what people outside the church are complaining about when they use the phrase, “Holier than thou.”

  John Cassian was a fourth century Christian monk who once wrote, “One who would not be taken in by the vices of the flesh can be all the more vulnerable to vainglory.”  Because they are not defeated by the more carnal sins, they might be tempted to think they are better than others, and that their spiritual lives are superior to those who fail in more obvious ways.  Vainglory is thus a sin that afflicts devout Christians in particular.  Devout Christians pray daily, worship regularly, and study their Bibles diligently.  And in the process, they often come to see themselves as being superior to those who do not.  That, my friends, is the sin of vainglory.

  I have a sneaking suspicion that it’s this sin of vainglory that is killing the Christian Church.  People who are not involved in the life of the church tend to take offense at those who are involved in the life of the church when those people come to view themselves as being somehow superior.  If you think about it, that’s a pretty harsh criticism of the Christian faith.  In fact, I’d say it’s pretty much the opposite of the image we ought to be trying to project.

  Jesus addresses the sin of vainglory in the passage we read from the gospel according to Matthew.  He says, “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.  So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogue, so that they may be praised by others…But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret…And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogue and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others…But whenever you pray, go into your room, shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

  There’s more, but I think you get the picture.  Jesus is addressing the sin of vainglory here.  Do not do your good deeds in order to be seen by others, or to impress others.  Do your good deeds in secret, and your Father will reward you in secret.  Jesus is not speaking against devotional practices here; he is speaking against the ways in which they are being practiced.  In other words, Jesus is not so much concerned about the method…as he is concerned about the motive. 

  What is our motive?  Why do we take part in devotional activities?  I think the fourth century theologian John Chrysostom lends some insight here.  He once wrote, “Why do we pray?  We pray not to instruct God, but to prevail with God; to be made intimate with him by continuance in supplication; to be humbled…and to be reminded of our sin.”  In short, our devotional activities are aimed at attaining intimacy with God.  If they are aimed at impressing others, they are all for naught…for we come to suffer from the sin of vainglory.  Thus, in the kingdom of God, we are not playing to an audience of many.  We are playing to an audience of one; and that one…is God.

  Ladies and gentlemen, I firmly believe that if all of us could come to live our lives that way – not playing to an audience of many, but playing to an audience of one – many of the world’s problems would simply go away.  If everyone lived their lives with the primary goal of pleasing God, there would be no more pride; there would be no more envy; there would be no more violence; there would be no more crime.  Instead of needing to have the best of everything, we would thus be freed to make the best of everything.  I think that in the long run, we’d find ourselves to be a whole lot happier.  And truth be told, isn’t that what we really want?  Amen.