"Three Ways of Life"

Sermon Transcript for October 8, 2000

By Rev. Glen Beck

Scripture Reading: Luke 10:25-37

 

I appreciate the music of the church. I had the privilege today to sit where I don’t usually sit and look into the faces of Deanna and Sarai. I can see why the choir sings like they do. I tried not to get behind somebody, but I couldn’t help singing a little myself. Did it mess it up too bad? Okay. Nobody’s ever asked me to sing in the choir. My choir director in the last church said, "Don’t even sing when the congregation sings."

And your song this morning....I lost my brother a few weeks ago. And we, Myrna and I, went to Georgia to be with him. And one of the days when he was more lucid, I said, "Luke", that’s what we called him. I said, "If you get there before I do, ‘Soon and Very Soon’ I’ll be there. You tell them I’m coming."

I do want to say a word about John Enright. I’ve been down in Africa five times with him. Supported his work in pastors. Hugh and Marge Deale know all about it. His father, Ken Enright, a career missionary, he’s an old guy like me. John was born on a mission field. His dad said, "I can do all the language and all that, but..." he said, "John thinks like an African." I’ve coordinated some 145-150 of these meetings and of the speakers I’ve listened to in those days, I put John Enright right at the top. Don’t miss next Sunday.

You know, a little preacher in a big pulpit, takes a lot of water for me. And I set it right there. And I remember one day at church this little guy was sitting on the front row. And I was waving my arms around and all of a sudden there went that glass of water and baptized this boy real good. He went home and told his parents, he said, "You know Reverend Beck is always telling us stories about when he was in the navy." He said, "Today I felt the water."

The story we know of the Good Samaritan is a perfect picture of the forces which dominate the actions of society. And the three ideas can be expressed in this five-word sentence that we need only to change the position of the words to see these three motives and forces. What is thine is mine (and these are the sermon points if you want to write them down).

What is thine is mine

What is mine is mine

What is mine is thine

Let us pray that God will speak to this part of the service. "Lord, as I stand here where great preachers have stood to proclaim the Word, I feel my inadequacy. But you said, "When we are weak, then we can be strong." So may the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts together be pleasing in your sight. May they only see and hear the words of the master. Amen."

"What is thine is mine" is portrayed by the thieves and the robbers, who perhaps had their eyes on this traveling man before he left Jerusalem. They saw his purse, the coins there. They looked at each other with a knowing look which meant we’re going to relieve him of this before he gets to Jericho. You know, there’s a commandment that says you are not suppose to covet another’s possessions. And if people and nations would take seriously that command it would save a lot of this world’s problems, wouldn’t it? Think for a moment. What if Hitler, and Mussolini, and Stalin, and Saddam Hussain had taken seriously the word of our text? How many million would have been spared the terrible tragedy of those wars? But instead they neglected it completely, rejecting it. And their governing ideology was, "What is thine is mine."

Now not many business and professional people would admit to this crude kind of expression of their code of ethics, but their actions say, "What is thine is mine if I can get it." Nor is this spirit confined to some money-grabbing businessmen only. We find it in homes. And, would you believed it, we find it in churches? Do you know there’s church politics? I don’t know if I’d have entered the ministry if I’d known how much politics we had. Preachers get involved in that, but you don’t ever, do you? People strive for position, prestige, honor and power that belongs to another. We can become awful ruthless in our means of gaining that. There’s nothing here of the spirit of Christianity which puts a golden gate of our Christian brothers and sisters above our own. Socialism looks around at people who’ve piled up possessions. They’ve gained honors and they say, "They’re no better than we are, we’ll bring them all down to our level. Why should we live by the sweat of our brow while they wear white shirts and lounge in luxury?" And then so capital and labor and pride in both must bear the philosophy that control the thieves on the Jericho road so long ago. "What is thine is mine and I’ll take it anyway I can." Know the heartbreak that is brought to our world.

The second ideology, "What is thine is mine and I’m going to keep it." The Levis and the priest present that second ideology. "A concerned priest", the Bible says, "and a Levi chanced that way. And when they saw him they passed by on the other side." And perhaps they thought, "He needs my help, my time, my beast could carry him, some oil for his wounds, money for his medical expense, a room to recuperate in." But you can see him grip that old money bag a little tighter and hide it in his robe. What is mine is mine and I’m going to keep it.

Jesus talked about that, you remember, when he told the story of the rich man Lazarus. The rich man didn’t do anything to Lazarus; he just didn’t do anything. Or the rich young ruler who came running to Jesus. "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus, knowing what was His God, said, "Sell all you have and come after me." The Bible said, "He went away sorrowful." You could hear him mumble something about, "What’s mine is mine and I’m going to keep it." You know the story of the Prodigal Son? He said, in substance, the same thing. "Give me what’s mine and I’ll do with it as I please." And though he didn’t say it aloud, "My life is mine and I’m going to live it in a way I want to."

Do you like Frank Sinatra? His music spanned three generations. I heard him when I was a young fellow at the University of Minnesota, and he was appearing downtown with Tommy Dorsey’s orchestra. That really dates me. Know body’s ever heard of Dorsey’s orchestra here. Anyway, don’t understand why all the girls are screaming, and squealing, and rushing the platform. But I still like Frank Sinatra. Great singer. But he left us a very, very poor legacy. What was his theme song? "I did it my way." Hardly the picture of a Christian.

The Bible has a great deal to say about the fact that "no man loveth to himself and no man dieth to himself. "We are our brother’s keeper", Jesus said. But the jail is full of men and women who said, "My life is mine I’ll do with it as I please." And somewhere there’s a mother and dad brokenhearted, disgraced, ashamed almost to show there face. All because of that son or daughter who said, "My life if mine and I’ll do with it as I please." Did I hear someone say, "His name’s Jesus. You are not your own. Your bought with a price."

There was a farmer who was waiting for his wife, miserably waiting for his wife, there’s always a place to sit. Anybody who would follow a wife around a shopping center had to be insane, but anyway, he was waiting for his wife to finish her shopping. And we was near the candy counter. And a poor little fellow came along looking at the candy in the case. The man, reaching out into his pocket, and he told the clerk, "Give that boy a dollar’s worth of candy." And so he went around the candy case carefully picking out the candy of his choice. When the clerk handed it to him, he greedily crammed all of it he could into his mouth. And the man said, "How do you like the candy?" His mouth was so full, all he could say was "Uhh..huh." And then the man said, "Would you give me a piece of the candy?" And the expression on that little boy’s face changed to one of fear and defiance and clutching that candy he said, "This is mine, mine." And he ran out clutching the candy.

Do we ever treat God that way? Hasn’t he given you everything that you have. And the means to give gain. And we hold back and say, "Mine...Mine.", when he asks us to give a portion of it? Let me ask you. Now the preacher didn’t tell me to say this and the Finance Committee, I’m not on that either. Where is one of the great blessings of the service? I suggest to you that the Offertory ought to be one of the high moments of the service, especially when we get to the Doxology, Sarai. Okay? Is giving for you a blessing or an obligation. Jesus said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

Myrna, I get to telling these stories. Is it all right? She said, "If you’d just stick to the subject, you’d be all right." I know this guy in Good Shepard, Georgia whom I dearly love and he said, "I think of the preachers who have been here and I like them all. And I’d love to have you participate in my funeral." He’s older than I am. Very sharp guy. He said, "I’d love to have you participate in my funeral, but I know you’d take an offering." Now I’ve lost my place. I don’t know what I was saying.

The Old Testament says something about a tithe, that’s ten percent of something. And Jesus commenting on that said, "This you all ought to have done." But we aren’t under the law. We’re under grace. You go in II Corinthians, 8^th and 9^th Chapter, it tells you about how we ought to give. But it also has this scripture there, "The grace of the Lord Jesus, though He was rich, He became poor." In other words, God so loved you He gave it all up to come for you. And our motive of giving then becomes thanksgiving, not obligation. So when we bring our tithes and offerings, we sing the Doxology, it ought to be one of the high moments of the worship. But do you know, just to think back to that tithe. You all believe in tithing don’t you? Hold up your hand. Well, not everybody’s got their hand up. Without those faithful Christians who have learned the joy of giving the tithe and more, we’d never be able to do the things we do in this church or anybody else’s church.

There was a story I heard a TV preacher give the other day. He said, "These two sailors were sailing around the world. Things didn’t go just right and they ran out of food. And they were almost out of water. And they were marooned on this desert island. And one guy was frantic, he thought he was going to die. And the other was like he was on vacation in the South Seas. This one guy said, "I think I’ll lay on the beach a little bit and then I’m going swimming." And the other guy said, "Man, you’re crazy." He said, "We’re going to die here. Our families will never even be able to find us to bury us. What in the world’s got into you? Your attitude?" And the fellow said, "Well, I make a million dollars a year. And out of it all I tithe $100,000 into my local church. And I know my pastor will be looking for me." He will.

Every church I’ve ever been a part of, and I expect this one is no exception, if every wage earner would set aside half a tithe we would substantially increase our budget. Charlie Tyler, my old D.S. who meant so much to my life, I heard him say one time at Rushville something like this, "If you don’t have enough faith to do tithes, start at some kind of percentage and see what happens and you’ll work up to the top." I heard an old preacher put it this way, "You can’t take it with you, but you can send some on up ahead." I preached at a lot of funerals too, and the last thing an undertaker does is take off all the valuables. But, Sarai, I’ve never seen them go in the pockets." I didn’t get any "Amens" on that but I just kind of throw that in. There’s no extra price alright.

Would the God of this philosophy, this selfishness existed only in nations, not in people. But we know people who say they are Christians, yet are saying to God, "What is mine is mine and I’ll keep it." But St. Paul says, "We are love slaves or Jesus Christ and a slave doesn’t tell his master what he’ll do. He’s a person under order." We don’t come to Jesus saying, "I’ll go this far and no further." We come singing, "I’ll go where you want me to go, I’ll be what you want me to be, I’ll do what you want me to do." We don’t say, "What’s mine is mine and I’ll keep it." What we do say, this is my last point, "What’s mine is thine, since you need it."

The actions of a Good Samaritan distinctly say, "My beast of burden, my oil and wine, my time and care, my compassion simply, my money for all your expenses in Jericho, all of these are mine, but I give them to you because you need them. That is a picture of the gospel of Jesus Christ. "God so loved the world that He gave His..." all and came here, to be born in a stable, to live a poor person, to finally die on the cross, all because He loved you. "I gave," God said.

Like that helpless victim lying there beside the Jericho road, we are helpless and needy. And then Jesus came, as the song said. Or Isaiah said, "Though your skins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." I tell you, when you meet the master in that dimension, He really becomes to mean something to you. The response is thanksgiving and gratitude. As Jesus said, "Freely you have received, freely given."

That goes with this story I heard. A layman who had been richly blessed by God, wanted to do something for his pastor. So he presented him with the keys to a new car as a Christmas present. And he said, "As I came out of my office and walked over to the car, there was a little street urchin walking about it looking in the windows and touching it. And as I started to put my key in the door to unlock it, the boy asked, "Is this your automobile, mister?" "It sure is, son. Isn’t she a beauty." "Wow," the little boy said, "I reckon so. How much did it cost, mister? And when I told him I really didn’t know, the boy looked me up and down and said, "You don’t look like a fellow who would steal a car. Where did you get it?" He said with a little pride, he said, "A Christian brother gave it to me and it didn’t cost me anything." The little boy with a lisp in his voice said, "You mean, your friend ‘git it to you and it didn’t cost you nothing?" The preacher answered, "That’s right, he ‘git it to me and it didn’t cost me nothing." And the pastor said he dug his toes into the sidewalk and for a moment, lost in his own thoughts, said he began, "I wish..." And he said, I knew what he was going to wish, that he had a brother that would give him a car like that also.

But then, the little boy went on. "I wish I could be a brother like that." "What did you say?" the pastor said in astonishment. And the boy repeated, "I wish I could be a brother like that." The pastor, so sure he knew the boy, was kind of confused and blurted out, "Do you want to take a ride in my new car?" And the boy looked down at his dirty clothes and his shiny new car and he said, "It’s so pretty and clean and I’m so dirty, I’d mess it up." But the pastor answered, "You may be dirty on the outside, but you’re awful clean on the inside. You come and ride with me. You’ll do my car good." The boy wanted to know what all the dials and the buttons were on the dashboard and the pastor went through it all explaining carefully each thing and letting him try it out. They rode around for a while and the boy turned to the pastor with his eyes all aglow. He said, "Would you mind driving in front of my house?" The pastor squeezed that new car down that narrow half street to where the boy lived. And he thought the boy wanted to show off to the neighbors that he could ride in a big new car but he was wrong again.

The boy pointed again and said, "Stop right there where those two steps are. You stay here I’ll be right back. You just wait, it won’t take a minute." He said he heard steps coming down the stairway, slowly like, putting one foot carefully in front of the other. He said, "I saw his feet first." He said, "Then I saw two more feet. They were just dangling. They were the feet and the mark of a boy with polio. He was carrying his little brother in his arms. As he came to the step, he sat down his little brother and took the seat beside him." And he said, "There she is buddy. Just like I told you upstairs. His friend ‘git it to him and it didn’t cost him nothing and someday I’m going to ‘git you one." The preacher’s about to come unglued as he wiped the tears from his eyes and he got out to sit down beside the boys.

He said, "So that’s the reason you want to be a brother like that." He said, "Yes, I go downtown, I see the store windows all full of pretty things, and I try to remember them. But I can’t tell him about them very well. And some day I’m going to get him a car so he can see them for himself." And the pastor replied, "You won’t have to wait until then. I’m going to put you both in my new car. You can both see everything. And then I’m going to let you both pick out anything you want. And then we’re going to have a little Christmas party together, just us three." And the preacher, commenting on it later said, "That’s the greatest Christmas I ever had, because the little boy said, "I wish I could be a brother like that."

You know, there’s three ways of life. What’s thine is mine, I’m going to take it. What’s mine is mine, I’m going to keep it. Or what’s mine is thine, if you need it.

And could I just say a word about missions. One hundred forty people last year, according to the people that know, filled out the Faith Promise cards. No doubt these folks will do it again. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think that 200 people could fill out a card or more; there’s 700 members of this church I think. Missions is not an option; it’s a mandate. It’s the last thing Jesus said before he went away, "Do this." And the church is trying to do it. You know, there’s not a person probably in this whole congregation, who couldn’t set aside a dollar a week so you could be a part of what God is doing in this place and around the world. That little boy said, "I wish I could be a brother like that." That’s the theme of the Good Samaritan. Jesus said, "As you have done it unto the least of them, you have done it unto me."