In many parts of the world, life moves at a much slower pace. One man I know was living in Caracas, Venezuela. One day he was standing in line at the bank to pay his bills (this is a common practice in Latin America). Frustrated with having to waste hours standing in line, he remarked, "In the US, we mail our bills in so we don’t have to wait in line all day!" A fellow in line in front of him turned around and asked, "Then how do you make any friends?" You know, he had a point. The world doesn’t come to an end if we slow down and "smell the roses" on occasion. In many countries, which are not so modern and efficient as we are here, they realize the value of taking time to experience life, not just live it. That’s usually not the case here.

Of all the lessons we have learned since Sept. 11, one of the more positive ones is just how fortunate we all are to be a part of this country. The events of that terrible day have served to bring home the truth that we’ve got it pretty good here in the USA. As Americans, we enjoy a quality of life never even imaged by the majority of people throughout history. For that, we have God to thank, as well as all those who have sacrificed over the last 230 years to protect the liberty and freedom of Americans. However, we have recently been reminded that this blessing comes at a price. The sad fact is that many people in this world envy and dislike us — sometimes even to the point of violence.

When my wife and I were in Argentina in 1988, we would go from the suburb where we were staying to the city of Buenos Aires to change money about every week. On these trips, we would often buy souvenirs, things to show people when got back home. Everything — including leather jackets and boots — was relatively inexpensive. We would get back to the family we were staying with and immediately they would ask us, "¿Que compraste? What did you buy?" We’d show them, but then we would always have to get into a discussion about the relative wealth and buying power of the average Argentine when compared to that of the average American. After doing this a few times, we got to point where we were tempted to lie to them and say, "Didn’t buy anything."

Once, our team was in a subway in Buenos Aires and someone noticed one person had mustard on back of his jacket. When we investigated, we discovered that nearly all of us had been blessed with a line of the condiment. Someone had run up behind us and squirted us with mustard - only because we were recognizable as being Norte Americanos (North Americans). They thought of us as people who hoarded all the riches of the world, people who wanted to control the whole world. They were very wary of anything resembling what they called "Yankee Imperialism." We experienced a little bit of that kind of attitude. Many people in this world consider us to be arrogant, spoiled, manipulative, self-centered and indifferent to human suffering.

And even though the terrorists who attacked us on September 11 have couched their hatred for us in their religious beliefs, I would bet that much of it can be traced to these same attitudes which are rooted in envy and jealousy.

However, there are also many people in this world who may not hate us, but they still pity and sometimes dislike us. This often has very little to do with envy and jealousy. Usually, they are uncomfortable with the arrogance we display when we express our belief that the way we live is the best way to live and that everyone else in this world, were they truly as smart and industrious as we are, should keep up the same hectic and frenzied pace of life we do.

I remember reading about an American sitting in a café in Europe, smoking a cigar and reading the paper. A fellow came over to him who was obviously agitated about something. The American struggled with the language and offered to put the cigar out, but the man said he enjoyed a fine cigar. His gripe was that the American wasn’t taking the necessary time and effort to truly appreciate the cigar. He told the American, "A cigar should not be hurried, but savored and enjoyed. That’s the problem with you Americans: you’re always in a rush, too busy, you don’t take time to take pleasure in the simple things of life." I’m not going to claim that we should all take up cigar smoking, but I would say that being a Christian in America means that we to have face up to the challenge of the hectic pace of life we’re famous for — the tempo that our society, our culture, runs at.

In many parts of the world, life moves at a much slower pace. One man I know was living in Caracas, Venezuela. One day he was standing in line at the bank to pay his bills (this is a common practice in Latin America). Frustrated with having to waste hours standing in line, he remarked, "In the US, we mail our bills in so we don’t have to wait in line all day!" A fellow in line in front of him turned around and asked, "Then how do you make any friends?" You know, he had a point. The world doesn’t come to an end if we slow down and "smell the roses" on occasion. In many countries, which are not so modern and efficient as we are here, they realize the value of taking time to experience life, not just live it. That’s usually not the case here.

Dave Nestor, in the satirical online publication, The Onion, writes this:

I've made plenty of mistakes in my life, believe you me. But when I do, I try to be man enough to admit it. So, I confess: I really [messed] up just now when I hesitated for a split second when the light turned green. I only hope the good Lord and you, the driver of the car behind me, will forgive me. Thank you for showing me the error of my ways.…

Anyway, I was sitting at the intersection, trying to figure some things out, when, all of a sudden, the light changed. (Hey, I’m not making excuses. There is no excuse for not hitting the gas the moment a light turns green.) Out of nowhere, I hear this honking. Now, this wasn’t a concerned, friendly, "Hey, I’m here, let’s move it along" honk. This was one loud, long blast of the horn. This honk said, "Hey, … just who … do you … think you are, anyway?" Only louder. …

Oh, if only I could do it all over again. Instead of taking my own sweet time, I would crane my neck to see exactly when the opposite light turned from green to yellow. Then, the moment it turned red, I would count, "One one-thousand... Two one-thousand," and then slam on the gas, peeling off exactly as my light turned green. That would have been the decent thing to do.

I’m sure you must be a doctor, and I prevented you from saving someone’s life. Or maybe you’re a dentist, and you had to do an emergency root canal on the Prime Minister of Japan. Or maybe you were in danger of missing the series premiere of The Agency. I shouldn’t question your motives. All I really need to know is that wherever you were headed, you arrived .000000013 seconds later because of me… Please, forgive me. Please?

Now, obviously that’s a bit over-the-top. Yet, doesn’t it typify our lives much of the time? We are fixated on efficiency, hustle, success, multi-tasking, and accomplishment. Not only does this make us crazy sometimes, but it is detrimental to our spiritual health and degrades our Christian witness. When we are always rushing through life - maybe even doing many good things in our rushing around - we run the risk of missing out on so many of the gifts that God gives us on a daily basis.

Please open your bibles and turn with me to Mark 2. We’re going to look at a situation here where Jesus confronted much this same problem in the "religious over-achievers" of His day, the Pharisees. I’m going to read vv. 23 through 27…

(Read Mark 2:23-27)

Mark tells us of one particular Saturday when Jesus and His followers were walking near some wheat fields. Now, I grew up in "wheat country" and have done what is described here many times. They would pluck a head of wheat from the edge of the field, rub it in their hands to break it up, then pick out the wheat kernels and eat them. The kernels are hard and not particularly tasty, but it was a common practice.

However, the Pharisees saw them doing this and they didn’t like it one little bit. Their problem was not that these fellows were picking grain that wasn’t theirs. Old Testament law mandated leaving the edges of fields un-harvested, for the poor to glean from. No, their problem was that it was Saturday, the Sabbath. The Old Testament Law mandated that Saturday, be set aside as a day for rest and for the worship of God. No work was to be done on the Sabbath. And by their way of thinking, picking grain, separating out the chaff, etc., was work, and therefore clearly not allowed on the Sabbath.

Another thing about the Pharisees was that they were not the least bit bashful about imposing their views upon others. They said to Jesus, "Say, look what your associates are doing! Why, they’re picking grain - doing work - on the Sabbath. That’s just not right! How could you let them do that?" Jesus answered by referring to a story they all knew from the Old Testament: King David was "on the lamb" once and he ate some special bread that only the priests were supposed to eat. Jesus’ implication was that sometimes, extreme circumstances justify breaking certain rules. Then He clarifies what He means: "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath."

You see, they were talking about keeping the rules. That was what was important to them. Jesus’ response was to question their priorities: "You guys don’t understand what’s truly important here."

Once a group of friends went deer hunting and paired off for the day. That night one of the hunters returned alone, staggering under the weight of a trophy-quality buck. "Where’s Harry?" the other hunters asked him. "Harry had a stroke of some kind. He’s a couple of miles back up the trail," the man replied. "You left Harry laying there alone and carried the deer back?" "Well," said the hunter, "I figured no one was going to steal Harry."

Jesus was pointing out something universal to human nature: that we can get so fixated on something that we lose the overall picture of life and forget what’s really important. Somewhere, years ago, I first read this piece of advice: "Be sure to keep the main thing the main thing." That’s what Jesus was saying here.

The Sabbath was not created for its own sake. It was a gift from God to men & women. God instituted the Sabbath for people’s sake. It provided a rest from labor (remember, they had no concept of weekends back then) and the opportunity to re-center their lives on God and worship Him. The Pharisees took this gift from God and perverted it into another burden, another chore, something to be dreaded. Jesus pointed out to them that that was not why God gave us the Sabbath!

These days we don’t worry about keeping the Sabbath. We realize that Sunday is not the "Christian Sabbath," but just as the Pharisees took God’s gift and perverted it into a hardship that separated people from God, we do the same thing when we take the gifts God has given us (like life, productivity, time, material blessings, money, etc.) and pervert these into things that separate us from Him. God gives us all sorts of great things in this life and our tendency is to get so caught up enjoying these gifts that we neglect the Giver. As one man said, "We live in a world that knows only itself and the scores of our modern-day circus games, but that does not know God… Many spend all their lives acquiring material possessions but shrink from sacred moments."

I believe that much of the time we truly do deserve the pity we receive from those people who are not so caught up, as we are, in doing, achieving, accomplishing and acquiring. I’m just saying that very often, we don’t take the time, nor put out the necessary effort, to rest in Him, to enjoy "the sacred" in life, to remind ourselves of our small place in universe. We forget the main thing.

Now, in all candor, I really don’t expect anyone here to go home today and make plans to radically alter their lifestyle by cutting out good percentage of their commitments, activities, or pursuits. Undoubtedly, many of us would benefit by doing that; but as my wife and I have found out in last couple of years, living a simple, uncomplicated life is extremely difficult when you have children, friends, jobs, church and other activities. Truthfully, we used to feel a little superior to those we knew who let their schedules and commitments rule their lives. Now, however, we face the same problem on ourselves on a regular basis!

What I will suggest is that each of us ask ourselves three simple questions that will help us - if we’re honest with ourselves - ensure that we are not the kind of people who let the gifts of God cloud our vision of Him or confuse our hearts as to our devotion to Him.

First question: What’s truly important to me? This is a deceptively simple question. Likely everyone, since you’re here this morning, would say that God is important to you, as well as your families, spouses, friends, your jobs, … things like that. However, the way to truly answer this question for yourself is not to ask yourself what you feel is important to you right now; but to look at your life and see what you spend your time on, what your efforts go into, and where your money goes. It would be very easy for me to stand up here and say, "Basketball is very important to me." But a true basketball fan would only have to talk to me for about three minutes to know that it’s simply not true. My lack of detailed knowledge about basketball would almost immediately tell them that I don’t spend much time at all watching it, especially this year with the Portland Trailblazers doing so poorly.

Haddon Robinson, one of my favorite preachers, points out that one old recipe for rabbit started with this injunction: "First catch the rabbit." Robinson said, "The writer knew how to put first things first. That’s what we do when we establish priorities - we put the things that should be in first place in their proper order."

People can say, "God is important to me" all they want, but if their lives demonstrate that this is not really the case, then their priorities are out of whack. We each need to answer for ourselves, the question, "What’s truly important to me?"

Second question: Am I misusing the things that God has given me? At a concert last fall, I heard a preacher from New Zealand speak. He said that once a skeptical businessman asked him, "What does your church believe in?" This preacher answered, "We believe in sex, drugs, & rock-n-roll!" The businessman’s eyes went wide, but the preacher continued: "We enjoy sex with our spouses, coffee in our fellowship time, and we rock-n-roll in our worship services!"

Obviously, he said that partly for shock-value, but I think he also made a valid point: Many of the things that are problems for us are really gifts from God and only become problems when we abuse them, or use them for purposes that God did not intend and in ways He does not sanction.

Sex, chemicals, and music are three good examples. Christians believe that sex is good thing - we all have children, so we’re not fooling anybody if we pretend we don’t know anything about it! But, we believe that in the context of a marriage between a man and a woman, it is gift from God. Used outside of that relationship, it becomes something dangerous and detrimental. Chemicals are also good things. Think antibiotics, medicines, salt, antacid tablets, you name it. But certain chemicals, when abused, become problems for us. Music is the same way. It is a very powerful tool used to express emotions and love, to communicate the contents of the human heart. But if it is abused, it can be detrimental to a person’s psyche, poisoning our thinking and our outlook on life.

Almost anything can be misused if we use it in a way that isolates us from God, if it keeps us from having "sacred moments" in life where we can contemplate our relationship with our Creator and Redeemer. TV, sports, games, friends, work, relaxation, even family - all things which are not inherently bad, but which have the potential to come between us and God. Therefore, we need to periodically ask ourselves: Am I misusing the things that God has given me in life?

Third question: Are there regular opportunities in my life for me to remember God? You see, many people claim to be "spiritual," but when pressed about how their spirituality expresses itself in their lives, they don’t have an answer. You can say any old thing you want about being a person who’s connected to God, but the truth is that merely being outdoors golfing, skiing, or hunting; working in a soup kitchen; protesting human rights abuses in China; or doing any number of things doesn’t necessarily make it so. Don’t misunderstand me; there’s not a thing wrong with these pursuits, but being involved in any of these things doesn’t necessarily mean we are avoiding the same trap that the Pharisees fell into. They were keeping God’s rules; they believed, yet Jesus said, "You guys have it all wrong."

We need to move beyond mere externals and diagnose our own hearts.

Ed Dobson has been the pastor of Calvary Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for the last fourteen years. Last year, Dobson was diagnosed with ALS (commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease). In an interview in Leadership Journal (Fall, 2001), Dobson reflected on how having what is, ultimately, a debilitating and fatal disease has changed his outlook on many things. He talked about what he learned about prayer on a recent visit to Israel.

For instance, I came back with a great appreciation for how the Jewish Rabbis pray. We ask God to bless the food; Jews think that’s ridiculous. "God sent the rain, the sunshine, the nutrients. What do you mean, bless the food? It’s already blessed! You bless God for giving the food."

I discovered in Judaism they have a blessing for everything. When they go to the bathroom, they bless God for their colon. We would consider that earthy and mundane. But I learned there’s a world of thankfulness that we rarely explore.

It is a shame that Dobson had to get sick before he realized this aspect of interacting with God; but it would be a sin for us to hear his words and not take them to heart for ourselves! Life presents opportunities every day - every hour - for us to realize how much God has done for us, how much He loves us, how dependent upon Him we really are. And if we’re not careful, we’ll let His gifts become distractions that actually eclipse Him in our hearts!

I guess my main point is that we all need to make time in our lives when we set aside the feverish pursuit of success for a while and reconnect with God. It is ironic that the very blessings God gives us can keep us from truly communing with Him. Let us not be people who are greatly blessed by God, but who cannot see the source of that blessing and recognize Him for who He is. Let us not forget the main thing.

Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.

 

The author of this sermon, Derek Helt,  may be reached at: dphelt@actionnet.net

[Archive]  [Home]  [Comments]   [Search]