What we’re dealing with here is: “Who is Lord and Master of our lives?” Is Jesus the Lord of your life, and, if not, who is? Who calls the signals? Who calls the shots? Who is the basis of your decision making process for your life?
Now most of you are going to say to yourself right here, “well, Jesus is the Lord of my life.” But is He really? Do you really let Him call the signals and shots? Is He really the boss of your life?
There are so many gods screaming for our attention on all sides of us. We live in a multitasking world with the media piping in just some of what calls the shots in our lives. Every one of these gods asks us to bow down and serve them. Wealth and money is a god for some, because the making and acquiring of money and keeping it is what cause some people to make decisions for themselves and others. Power is a god for some, because (like some politicians) they have a “fire in the belly” to acquire power before they do anything else; they’ll sell their own grandmother to acquire power. Pleasure is god for some people, when they seek to satisfy the lusts of the flesh even to the point of loosing secondary gods of money and power – like some of our recently fallen politicians, who throw discretion to the wind. Elliot Spitzer was like King Saul who outlawed sorcerers, but sought out and used the Witch of Endor to conjure up the ghost of his mentor Samuel (I Samuel 28) in direct disobedience of that law of Moses (Deuteronomy 18:9-12).
People who worship these other gods will not admit this in public. They may very well claim to worship God and follow Jesus. But when the phone rings and asks them to do something that serves the other god, then that’s where they go. So that’s how we can tell who their god is.
I don’t think there are any of those kind of people here with us right now, but our closeness to family and to our friends might be another god, too. Jesus shows us how to balance our service to God and family when He lingered at the temple with strangers, but came home when his family told Him to (Luke 2:43-52); when He submitted to God's timing, but still helped His mother at the wedding in Cana (John 2:1-11); and when He died on the cross for the best and the worst sinners, but first provided for His mother (John 19:25-27). We can serve God by serving our family's needs (1 Timothy 5:7-8, Ephesians 5:33 and 1 Corinthians 7:3-5). But we must seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). Even in the best of family relations Jesus must be the Lord of your life and mine.
There is a second question: Do we do what Jesus says we should do? Do we in fact follow Him, when there are so many different paths to go down? Jesus wants us to do two things: 1) Love the Lord God with all our heart, soul and might – and that’s not all that hard to do since we haven’t seen Him, but He’s given us breath and life and a land to live on and to sustain life. He’s given us Jesus and the church. He’s given us forgiveness. It’s not really very hard to love God with all our heart, soul and might. But Jesus didn’t stop there. 2) He said “. . . and love your neighbor as yourself.” Now the shoe starts to pinch, when some neighbors just aren’t all that loveable. There are some people who are awfully difficult to love. There are all kinds of people around here who beg and demand that we give them things. People say they are the “dregs of society.” And we are only a stones throw from the railroad tracks where they roll out from under the boxcars. But I have to remind myself that Jesus Christ died for each one of them, too. And in that sense there is no difference between them and me – at all! Each one of them is the neighbor that Jesus says I should love as much as I may love myself. So, loving your neighbor is much more difficult than loving God – at least it is for me.
What frightens me is how Jesus came to the end of His Sermon on the Mount and said, “Not everyone who says unto me ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 7:21). But You preached in our streets – and the Lord says, “I never knew you.” I hear people praying and saying “Lord, Lord” and I wonder. Who is it that says, “Lord, Lord” who will not enter into the kingdom of heaven? That’s frightening when some give the impression of piety and thankfulness, but who aren’t going to enter the kingdom of heaven. Like John Wesley, I’ve finally gotten around to understanding that there are some who are not going to make it into the kingdom. Jesus says some will not listen and follow Him. And just following the trappings of righteousness can be scary, too. People followed James Jones from California to South America and then followed him to death by drinking arsenic laced cool-aid. That shepherd was a very poor substitute for Jesus. But the rest of Matthew 7:21 quotes Jesus saying, “. . . but the one who does the will of my Father will enter into His kingdom.” And that’s the salvation part.
Dear Heavenly Father, it has been so difficult to love my neighbor and I believe there are several others here who have the same problem. Some neighbors remind me too much of the part of me that I don’t like. Some neighbors are the enemy of all that I love like Osama bin Laden. Some of my neighbors are such ingrates and will turn around and return evil for good or just reject love and kindness. But You are all about forgiving 70 times 7 and my excuses are not better than my neighbors. Please forgive our lack of love and forgiveness in Jesus’ name, Amen.
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