"Survival, Success, or Significance
" Sermon Transcript for August 19, 2001 By Rev. Mike BeckScripture Reading: Luke 10: 24-37
We conclude today a three-part series of sermons on stewardship. And I want to extend a word of appreciation to those of you who have taken advantage of the stewardship teaching in Price Hall throughout the summer months. In the first of these three messages we were reminded that when it comes to our giving it’s not, "You ought to do this, you ought to do that"; but it all begins with our love for what God has done for us. "We can give without loving, but it’s absolutely impossible to love without giving in return."
And last week we asked the hard question (and it is a hard question): "Who is it that’s really in control of my life?" And the honest answer would be revealed if we were bold enough to let somebody look at two items: our date book and our checkbook which truly reveal who’s in charge of our life. Remembering the words of Jesus who said, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." And we asked the question last week, "Is your life a reservoir or river? Does it just collect things or do things flow through it? With this quote, "God will give to us what He knows will flow through us."
Well, I mentioned at the beginning of these three messages that I wouldn’t talk nearly as much about your money as I would about your attitude. So this final message asks us to examine our perspective on life. Is it one of survival, or success, or significance?
People who live a significant life, fulfilling their God-ordained destiny, understand this important stewardship principle: "significant giving is a part of significant living". In the story of the Good Samaritan, we see three very different attitudes toward life and giving. And it’s interesting to note that this particular parable is set up by a man asking the same question that was asked in the text we used last week: "Jesus, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" That’s the same question the man asked last week. And Jesus said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself." And then the man replied, "But who is my neighbor?" And Jesus responded to that question as he often did by telling a story. He told a story about three men who encountered a man who had run into trouble on his journey from Jerusalem to Jericho. And the characters in this story, starting with the robbers, represent three very different attitudes toward life and giving.
The robbers, first of all, represent a survival attitude toward life. Their attitude is one of "What’s yours ought to be mine and I’ll take it." And I don’t imagine we have very many if any people who fall in to this category here this morning. I hope not! But, the robbers take advantage of this traveler. They beat him, they strip him of his clothes, they take his money, they leave him bleeding by the side of the road. And he wouldn’t have been a pretty sight to anybody passing by. But persons with a "survivor" attitude live only for today. Life is hard from their perspective so they take what they can get. It’s a "dog eat dog" world out there for these folks. They are "entitlement" people. They believe that life owes them. They take; they don’t give. They are consumers, never contributors. They limp through life living only for themselves. They dwell on the past, they curse today, they fear for tomorrow. They’re the survivors.
But secondly, the priest and the Levite. It’s interesting to note that Jesus often picked out the religious leaders to use as the negative examples. They represent a success approach toward life. Their attitude is "what’s mine is mine. I’ve worked hard for it and by golly I’m going to keep it." Both of those religious leaders saw the victimized traveler along the side of the road. But instead of stopping to help they intentionally looked the other way and went on. They probably had an appointment to keep and didn’t want to be inconvenienced. Now as we look at this second attitude, let me remind us, there is nothing wrong with success. I want to be considered a successful person. But the problem lies when our pursuit of success becomes the driving force in our life where we cross over the line to where we live only for ourselves, we’re only thinking about getting ahead, it’s only our goals that are important, and we live only for a small circle of other persons. When we cross that line things like image and position, title, having the nicest house in the addition, being recognized in the newspaper, those are the things that are driving us. Results are usually more important than relationships. These folks need other people only to the extent that they can help them succeed. They may share some of their resources, especially if it benefits them, but "sacrificial giving" is foreign to their vocabulary. For to give sacrificially would exhaust resources that they may need for themselves in the future. And like the two religious leaders in Jesus’ parable, persons with this attitude toward life normally will not inconvenience themselves. They will not normally give sacrificially. They will not normally take any risk. Because, you see, life is basically about keeping what we’ve been able to accumulate.
But finally in this parable, along comes somebody with a refreshing, inspiring response to the wounded traveler. Jesus doesn’t give him a name, he just says a Samaritan passes by. I think most of you know enough about the culture of the day that the man hearing this story would have gulped when Jesus said a Samaritan passed by and he stopped to help. Because you see the Samaritans were the riffraff of society in that day. They were the outcast. They were the half-Jews. They were the no-goods. But it’s this un-named Samaritan. He responds with compassion and care. His actions represent what we could call a "significance mind set". His attitude is "what’s mine is not really mine and if you need it I’ll share it!" Let’s look briefly at what the Samaritan did for this wounded traveler.
1. He took a personal risk. For you see, he probably well knew the robbers could be hiding in the bushes along side of the road looking for their next victim! But he wasn’t thinking about his personal safety or inconvenience. Instead he was focused on the needs of this one that was bleeding by the side of the road.
2. He spent his own personal resources. He used his bandages, his oil, his wine to help the man.
3. He finished the job. When he went to the innkeeper to leave the man, he gave him some money but he said if it cost you more than that I’ll be coming back and I’ll pay you whatever it needs to finish the job. You can count on me to do it.
This Samaritan is the one who shows us how to give and how to love like Jesus does. Giving people are willing to take risks; non-givers aren’t. Givers don’t wait for somebody else to give. They’re the ones who get the ball rolling! Givers don’t ask, "How little can I give and get by?" They ask, "How much is needed to get the job done?"
So I ask you in closing, when God looks upon your giving what does He see? Does God see an attitude of, "what’s mine is mine and I’m going to hang on to it", or does God see an attitude of generosity that results in a life of significance? For you see, significance-oriented people want to make an investment in other peoples lives. Significance oriented people live by faith. They’re thinking eternal values, not just worldly values. Significance oriented people are contributors, not primarily consumers. They add to life. They live to serve and to give.
When I watch the news and they show us the earthquake, the floods ravishing people in other parts of the world who are living in huts anyway, and now there huts are gone and they literally have no roof over their head, I don’t know about you, but I often ask myself, "God, why have I been so blessed?" Because, friends, even if you’re where I’ve been in many points of our life where it’s a struggle to balance the checkbook at the end of the month, get the bills paid and have a little bit left over, even if that’s where you live, we’re still so blessed when we think about the world as a whole. And I often find myself saying to God, "God, why me? Why isn’t it me in that picture on TV which is a real person in God’s world?" And I have no answer for that question. I just am so thankful for the persons who taught me this principle, "If I have been blessed...", I don’t need to feel guilty about it. But "if I have been blessed, I am blessed so that I can be a blessing to others." I only need to feel guilty if I take that attitude, "What’s mine is mine and by golly I’m going to hold on to it with both hands." When we’ve been blessed, our attitude has to be, "I don’t understand why, but I know I’m going to share that blessing with others."
When I think about illustrating that I think about a very dear couple in Madison, Indiana. Nat’s gone home to be with the Lord now, but I think about Nat and Phyllis Huffman. Nat and Phyllis Huffman are wealthy people by the world’s standards, but you’d never know it to be around them. But I’d come out of college and we were beginning the nine years I led the cycling ministry with young people. Some how or other they had come across the paths of my life and they believed in me and they shared of their financial resources to allow us to minister to over 2,000 junior and senior high school kids over that nine year period. They opened their home to us. We were at the point we didn’t have money for vacation. They would say, "Come down and spend the weekend with us and we’ll go out on the boat and we’re teach you how to ski." And every summer they gave up two weeks of their time to go along with us to drive the truck and cook the meals, buy the groceries. You see, Nat and Phyllis Huffman are successful people, but much more than that. They are people of significance. They have shared their blessings so that others could be blessed. And when we come to the end of our life, it’s nice if persons say we’ve been successful. But what’s even better is when they look at our life and they see a life of significance where our sacrificial giving has made a difference over there and over there and in this persons life. And where our sacrificial giving has made a difference for what we call the Kingdom of God which has eternal significance.
So are you a survival this morning? Have you stopped with just success or are you pressing on to live a life of significance? I hope it’s the latter and I pray that the Holy Spirit will work in your life so that your attitude is, "What’s mine is not really mine" and "Where God needs it, I’ll share it for the sake of the Kingdom of God." Freely, we have received, freely we give--that’s our closing hymn of response, let’s stand together.
E-mail Comments to: Reverend Dan Sinkhorn