Jeffrey T. Howard
Eagle Rock Presbyterian Church
According to Luke three groups of people were following Jesus around during his ministry on Earth. There was a small group of twelve people called apostles who were chosen by Jesus and sent out to preach, heal and exorcise demons. Later as witnesses to the resurrection they experienced the coming of the Holy Spirit and were the leaders of the early church. There was another larger group following Jesus called disciples who had expressed personal allegiance to Christ and gave him their exclusive loyalty. Sometimes disciples left their families and businesses to follow Jesus, but they always put Jesus’ teachings first. Members of the early church were called disciples. The third group of people following Jesus was called the crowd. The crowd consisted of various onlookers, who were curious about what Jesus had to say but were unwilling to accept Jesus as their Lord and savior. In today’s text Jesus is speaking only to the disciples. So if you are a disciple of Jesus Christ and have publicly acknowledged him as your Lord and Savior please listen carefully. If you are part of the crowd please listen, but realize that what Jesus is saying will only apply to you when you are ready to follow Christ as his disciple.
Jesus told his disciples that they had nothing to fear.
We all have our fears. We fear the loss of our health. We fear not having enough money. We fear the uncertainty of beginning a new life in a new country. We fear not having a job. We fear the loss of important relationships. And we deal with fear in many ways.
Some of us deal with fear by accumulating stuff. Over $200 million is spent every year on advertising creating new fears and proposing solutions with new and improved products. The hope is that if we buy one more thing our fears will disappear. But as we accumulate more and more stuff our fears actually increase as we experience the burden of storing it, cleaning it, moving it, insuring it, and securing it from theft. The more stuff we acquire the more anxious we become, so we buy even more. The vicious cycle of fear – get more stuff – experience greater fear – get even more stuff goes on and on until our homes and garages are filled. Some people spend a lifetime accumulating more and more stuff and then leave it to their kids to get rid of it all. Sadly the acquisition of stuff never seems to calm our fears.
Some of us manage our anxiety by numbing it. Fear lead to the abuse of alcohol, illegal drugs and prescription pain medicine. We have all heard of the young
Still others of us try to deal with our fears by being busy. We work all the time never taking a Sabbath rest. We are busy from sun up to sun down fearful that if we ever experience a moment of solitude our fears will overwhelm us. Business, if taken to excess in a way that consumes all your time to the exclusion of a balanced life, becomes just one more way of trying to escape fear by being a workaholic. But it never works. Eventually our bodies break down and the fear we have been trying to avoid still plagues us.
To his disciples, those of you who follow Christ and acknowledge him as your Lord and Savior, Jesus offers a solution. In Jesus Christ the
Once we experience the removal of fear from our lives we can experience the kind of life that we were created to live. Without having to constantly deal with our fears we are free to love others. We are free to live sacrificial lives following the command of Christ to give up what we have so that we can give to those less fortunate than ourselves.
In Isaiah’s day a widow lived a desperate life. In that society economic security was available only to those with land, and land was only owned by men. A woman was supported by her father until she married. After marriage she was the responsibility of her husband and later her sons. But if her husband died and there were no sons to support her, a woman would fall into a desperate situation. God made sure that she was provided for. Farmers were told not to pickup fruit and vegetable that fell on the ground during the harvest. And they were required not to harvest all the way to the edge of the field. This provided a source of food for the poor, widows and orphans who could find something to eat by gleaning from what was left in field.
Poverty is still with us today. Over 1 billion people live in the kind of grinding poverty that we can only imagine. We live comfortably with plenty of food and access to everything we could ever need or want. But what if we were to sell our possession and abandon the luxurious lifestyle that we have become used to live as one of neighbors who live in desperate poverty? What would our lives look like?
First of all we would lose all of our furniture, the beds, chairs, tables, TV and lamps, all gone. We would be left with a few old blankets, a kitchen table and a wooden chair. All of our clothes would go to. Each person would be left with their oldest suit or dress and an extra shirt or blouse. Only the head of the family would have shoes. In the kitchen we would retain a box of matches, a small bag of flour, some sugar and salt, a bag of dried beans and a couple of onions. We may have a few moldy potatoes. There is no running water or electricity. And did I tell you that we have to move out of the house to the tool shed out back? There are no magazines or books, but they are hardly missed because no one in the family can read. There are no schools, fire stations, or medical clinics within 10 miles. Your family has $5.00 and hopes to save enough money for a bicycle this year. In this world created by God, over one billion people live this way, on less than $1 per day. Hunger and famine are still common. Each day thirty thousand children die of hunger and malnutrition. But things are getting better. Poverty rates have fallen dramatically in many Asian countries. But, sadly, poverty is increasing in many places in
According to Christ we have a responsibility to help. He called it giving alms. Giving Alms is not just about giving money. It is far more than that. Almsgiving includes both the giving of money and the strong desire to help people. It is more of an attitude or mindset than an action. But as Christ correctly points out the act of giving money is important in creating in you the proper attitude. So just as God’s action of giving you the kingdom leads to the reduction of your fear so too will your action of giving to the poor result in an increase in your compassion. As your compassion for others increases you will want to give more and more money. This will lead you to a simpler lifestyle where you are less concerned about acquiring more and more things and more and more concerned with helping the world’s poor.
In a simpler lifestyle we will live in a way that is sustainable if everyone on the Earth adopted it. We will clearly distinguish between necessities and luxuries, and only indulge in luxuries occasionally. We will avoid all spending that elevates our social status, keeps us in fashion, or satisfies an urge to compete with others. We will spend on legitimate hobbies and talents but avoid spending on the current fad. We will distinguish between the holiday feast and everyday eating realizing that overeating is a sin. We will resist buying something just because we can afford it. And we will budget not only for our own needs, but have money left over for emergency relief, broad structural change that leads to sustainable growth, and of course Christian work of evangelism and education.[2]
What Jesus is calling for is a new way of thinking, a way of thinking not based of fear and the need to protect yourself, but a way of kingdom thinking that promotes economic justice in the world. Let me illustrate this new way of thinking with a true story from a Christian writer, Eileen Linder. One day she entered one of those places you go to have your oil change every 3000 miles. While in the waiting room she picked up a booklet on the safe handling of vessels in the open water. Here is what it said:
There are two kinds of craft. One of them has access to great power. It can accelerate and push its way through the strongest of waves. It can change direction on command. It can even stop on demand. It has great power of its own. The other class of craft is dependent on the forces of nature, wind, tide, and human effort in paddling or maintenance of the sails. These two classes of craft are categorized as privileged and burdened. One class is privileged and the other burdened. Think about the powerful boats, the ones with the engines that power their way through the waves, do you think they are privileged or burdened? They are the burdened vessels. The powerful boats, that can make their way forward no matter what under their own power, are burdened with the responsibility to give way to the boats without power. And the powerless vessels, the ones that are dependent on the vagaries of tide and wind and weather, they are classified at privileged vessels. To them is accorded the right of way. The powerful are burdened. The powerless are privileged. The powerful must give way if the powerless are ever to make safe harbor. Now, who came up with this rule? Billy Graham? Mother Theresa? It was the New Jersey Department of Transportation.[3] The New Jersey Department of Transportation got it right. In the Kingdom of God the powerful are burdened with the need to help the poor, and the powerless are privileged in that they deserve to be given assistance in climbing out of there desperate situation.
Dealing with world poverty is a difficult task, but there are examples that can be followed.
But many countries in the world are stuck with large international debt and a landed aristocracy that resists change. This combination results in massive poverty and the movement of people to more prosperous nations. Desperate people unable to buy food and other necessities for themselves send relatives to
Dealing with the problem of world poverty is a daunting task. Our only hope in dealing with it is to join with other Christians in a coordinated effort. This is where organizations like Bread for the World come in. Bread for the World is a nationwide Christian organization that keeps it members informed about issues of poverty and hunger. Their staff begins each Friday with worship and they encourage member churches to engage in prayer and Bible study. It has 50,000 members and 2,500 churches, which they use to lobby Congress on hunger legislation. This has led to both direct aid for hungry people and debt reduction freeing capital to spur economic development in the neediest country.
So long as we hold onto our fears and focus on ourselves we cannot deal with the problems of the world. But as soon as we realize that in Christ we have been given the
As I said at the beginning Jesus was only speaking to his disciples, those who followed him as their Lord and Savior. Disciples are freed from fear so they can serve those in need. If you have not declared Jesus as your Lord and Savior then you are still part of the crowd and your fears remain. I urge you to deal with your fear by becoming a follower of Jesus and experiencing his gracious gift of freedom from fear. You will then be free to join other Christian in helping those who desperately need it. And you will be happy to tell Jesus what you have done when he returns. Amen.
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