SPECIAL DAYS: First Sunday of Advent (December 2, 2001)

December 2, 2001 - LESSON: Matthew 4, 8-11

SERMON TITLE: Living for Jesus!

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The story is told of a man who went to the priest and said, "Father, I want you to say a Mass for my dog."

The priest was indignant. "What do you mean, say a Mass for your dog?"

"It's my pet dog," said the man. "I loved that dog and I'd like you to offer a Mass for him."

"We don't offer Masses for dogs here," the priest said. "You might try the denomination down the street. Ask them if they have a service for you."

As the man was leaving, he said to the priest, "I really loved that dog. I was planning to offer a million-dollar stipend for the Mass."

And the priest said, "Wait a minute. You never told me your dog was Catholic." ⁽¹⁾

1. What is the impact of a million dollars?
1. Is it an exercise in compassion?
2. Is it that money talks louder than principle.
3. What would you do for a million dollars?
4. Before you think to answer this question listen to results of a survey.

MAIN BODY:

1. Here is another illustration for you to consider

James Patterson and Peter Kim, The Day America Told the Truth asked this question: What are you willing to do for $10,000,000? ⁽²⁾

Two-thirds of Americans polled would agree to at least one, some to several of the following:

Would abandon their entire family (25%)

Would abandon their church (25%)

Would become prostitutes for a week or more (23%)

Would give up their American citizenship (16%)

Would leave their spouses (16%)

Would withhold testimony and let a murderer go free (10%)

Would kill a stranger (7%)

Would put their children up for adoption (3%)

1. I know that it is 1991
2. It was long before 9/11.
3. We would like to believe that now perspective is different.
4. But is it?

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2. The confusion that we face in dealing with issues of worship and wealth are well-illustrated by the story of the spiritual progress of a poor Indian.

There is an Indian parable in which a guru had a disciple and was so pleased with the man's spiritual progress that he left him on his own. ⁽³⁾

The man lived in a little mud hut. He lived simply, begging for his food. Each morning, after his devotions, the disciple washed his loincloth and hung it out to dry.

One day, he came back to discover the loincloth torn and eaten by rats.

He begged the villagers for another and they gave it to him. But the rats ate that one, too.

So he got himself a cat. That took care of the rats, but now when he begged for his food he had to beg for milk for his cat as well.

"This won't do," he thought. "I'll get a cow."

So he got a cow and found he had to beg now for fodder. So he decided to till and plant the ground around his hut.

But soon he found no time for contemplation, so he hired servants to tend his farm.

But overseeing the laborers became a chore, so he married to have a wife to help him.

After time, the disciple became the wealthiest man in the village.

The guru was traveling by there and stopped in. He was shocked to see that where once stood a simple mud hut there now loomed a palace surrounded by a vast estate, worked by many servants. "What is the meaning of this?" he asked his disciple.

"You won't believe this, sir," the man replied. "But there was no other way I could keep my loincloth."

1. How easy is the rationalization
2. How comfortable is the compromise.
3. How infected are we with similar desires?
1. What drives the American dream?
2. The dream is of mobility upward and outward.
3. Not even the clergy are immune.

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3. What if Jesus had taken this position?
1. He did not.
2. So we don't have to worry about it.
4. Jesus met his temptation in the only reliable and constructive way possible.
1. ⁸Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor;
2. ⁹... he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me."
3. ¹⁰Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! for it is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'"
5. This is not only what Jesus did, it is also what he taught.
1. Last Sunday the story of the person in Luke 12:13-14, asking Jesus to arbitrate between the person and his brother was used.

¹³Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me." ¹⁴But he said to him, "Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?"

2. If you continue reading Luke 12, verses 15-21 you discover a story which illustrates the point that Jesus is attempting to make.

¹⁵And he said to them, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions."

¹⁶Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly. ¹⁷And he thought to himself, 'What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' ¹⁸Then he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.'

3. What did God say?

²⁰But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' ²¹So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God."

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4. Another illustration that highlights the subtly and power of the third temptation is found in the story that we title, The Rich Ruler in Luke 18:18-23

¹⁸A certain ruler asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" ¹⁹Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. ²⁰You know the commandments: 'You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and mother.'" ²¹He replied, "I have kept all these since my youth." ²²When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." ²³But when he heard this, he became sad; for he was very rich.

1. Jesus is not really asking to become a pauper.
2. Jesus is asking him to change his orientation of life.
3. To change it from things to people.
4. To change it from acquirement to generosity.
5. To change it from individualism to community

A long time ago a preacher observed that the only way you can get 500 people to LIE at the same time is to get them to sing a hymn: "Take my silver and my gold, Not one mite would I withhold."

Then pass the offering plate.

Money and status are not basic human needs. We are socialized into thinking of them this way.

"Rings and jewels are not gifts, but apologies for gifts,"

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote. "The only true gift is a portion of thyself."

5. Jesus offers help along the way to insure that the change will be possible.

CONCLUSION:

1. Jesus concludes this encounter with these words in Luke 18:

²⁴Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."

2. The conclusion of the story of the Wealthy farmer ends with these words from Luke 12:

¹⁵And he said to them, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions."

3. Or to listen again to the response of Jesus to the first temptation in Matthew 4:4

⁴But he answered, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

4. The day before his birthday, a little boy went out with his mother as she ran her preparatory errands for the big occasion.

At the grocery store, his mother whipped out her checkbook and paid for the groceries.

At each destination on her list - the toy store, the party store, the clothing store - his mother wrote a check to pay for her purchases.

Later that evening when his grandparents quizzed him about what he might want for his birthday, the boy didn't hesitate for an instant: "I want a mommy book."

To demonstrate he ran to his mother's purse and pulled out her checkbook. With it, he figured, he could get anything his heart desired.

1. We need a mommy book
2. We need more the God book.
   
5. The words to an old song lead us to acceptance and commitment.

Jesus, take this heart of mine,
Make it pure and wholly Thine;
On the cross You died for me,
I will try to live for Thee.

1. Copyright © Homiletics Online, Necessary NO's, Matthew 4:1-11, 2/21/1999, Used with permission

2. James Patterson and Peter Kim, The Day America Told the Truth, 1991.

3. Mark Buchanan, "Trapped in the Cult of the Next Thing," Christianity Today, September 6, 1999, 66.

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