September 1, 2002
A sermon by Rev. Dr. John K. Luoma
One of our
Lutheran congregations in Los Angeles talks about how
difficult it is to minister to young black men in the inner city.
They are uncommitted and do not seem to care about anyone except themselves.
But that’s not just the problem of black youth in the inner city, that’s
our problems also. In our Gospel today Jesus asks us: are we his followers or are
we just believers?
At this point in the Gospel story Peter and the eleven appear to be believers but not followers. Peter, the spokesperson for the eleven, is quite willing to voice their belief that Jesus is the Messiah, i.e. that Jesus is the one through whom God will accomplish his will for the world. But when Peter hears how God intends to do that, he refuses to follow that way. Peter denies that God is going to work his will through unselfish love and that Jesus will express that love through his own death on the cross. Peter and the eleven prefer to think that God is going to accomplish his will through brute force and that God will crush their enemies. Peter expresses the hope of all the Jews, that God will destroy all these lousy Gentiles who are making their lives so difficult. They hated the Romans and their brutality, a brutality expressed at its highest in their willingness to crucify anyone who would dare to rebel against them.
Quite naturally, Peter takes Jesus aside and tells him that this can’t possibly be God’s will. God can’t possibly plan to save the world through this kind of unselfish, suffering love. If this is God’s will, Peter understands the implication: if this is the master’s lifestyle, it will necessarily have to be his lifestyle. We can all empathize with Peter. We don’t have any desire to suffer, and we would like to have our suffering kept to a minimum. But whether we like it or not, we have a God who wants to save everyone--even his enemies. And the way he has chosen to do that is through unselfish love, love that is willing to suffer for the sake of others.
Well, here are Jesus’ words to Peter and to all who would oppose his plan, “Get behind me Satan! God works for the salvation of everyone. God wants everyone to have a relationship with him. God wants fullness of life and eternal life for everyone. If you oppose this way, you are a barrier to my work, you are thinking the thoughts of Satan.”
Now, as if this isn’t brutal enough, Jesus really drives his point home. He says, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” We may not understand this language, but Peter and the eleven did. They knew what the cross was all about. They’d seen a multitude of people die on the cross. They knew how brutal death on a cross was: you were flogged, then you carried the crossbeam on your back to the place of crucifixion, then your hands and feet were nailed to the wood, then you were hung up to die.
Peter and the eleven knew what Jesus was saying through such brutal imagery. He was saying: if you are going to have the kind of love God has, if you are going to participate in God’s mission to renew the world, you have to be absolutely brutal as regards the sin and selfishness in your life. You must brutally crucify the selfishness in you. You have to recognize it as quickly as the Romans recognized a rebel and you have to crucify it and remove it from your life.
All of this, of course, raises a crucial question: Am I a follower or just a believer? When I look at my life is there any crucifixion of selfishness going on? If I had to go on trial and present evidence that I’m serious about crucifying the selfishness in my life, what kind of evidence could I offer? Could I offer any or would my life pretty much look like the life of everyone around me?
We don’t have to talk about this in the abstract. Many of you remember that about a year ago we participated in a national survey of U.S. congregations. It is the largest survey ever of its kind. The leadership of our congregation is going to look at it closely as we review our mission and goals for this next year. We will also develop a format to share it with the people of our congregation.
I’d like to share the answer to six of the questions which I think helps provide an answer to the question of how well we are following Jesus.
Question 1 : What percentage of us spend time in private devotional activities, i.e. prayer, meditation, Bible study? 42% said every day 23% said most days In other words, 65% say they participate in devotions every day or most days. That’s impressive. On the other hand, 35% have little devotional life. There’s lots of room for growth.
Question 2 : Are you regularly involved in any group activities at church, i.e. things like Sunday School, Bible study, prayer groups, social groups? 67% said yes. That’s impressive. On the other hand, that means that 33% of the congregation says that they belong to the church but they are involved in no groups whatsoever. There’s lots of room for growth.
Question 3 : About how much do you give financially to this congregation? 19% said that they tithed (10% of their income). That’s good news. On the other hand, that means that 71% give less than a tithe. There’s lots of room for growth.
Question 4 : Are you involved in any community service group or advocacy group? 43% said yes. That’s good news. That’s one of our primary callings. Again, there is a lot of room for growth.
Question 5 : Would you be prepared to invite to a worship service any of your friends and relatives who do not now attend a congregation? 47% said yes and said that they had done so in the last 12 months. That’s impressive. Yet, it means that 53% aren’t prepared to do that and haven’t done that. There is room for growth.
Question 6 : How often do you attend worship at this congregation? 73% said usually every week. That’s great. Unfortunately that means a large portion of our congregation is sporadic in their attendance. There’s room for growth.
When we talk about evidence for following Jesus, there is a lot to rejoice about in this congregation. But there is also a lot of room for growth isn’t there? And that’s why we need to regularly examine our lives and challenge ourselves. Jesus gives us a pretty severe warning. He says that if we continue down the path of being just believers and not followers, we may very well lose our lives. That’s not what Jesus wants for us. That’s why he scolds Peter and tells him to fall in line. Though he doesn’t kick Peter out of the fellowship for his unwillingness to follow, he does kick him in the pants. We may not like it, but he asks his church to continue to do that. We are called to warn each other. He wants us to have fullness of life, and that will not happen if we do not warn each other and keep this mission of unselfish love before our eyes.
One of our church publications, called Voices, tells the story of a Lutheran Church in Los Angeles. In this congregation they have developed a program for helping young black men in the inner city mature in Christ. They have modeled it after the Masai culture in East Africa. The stated goal of the Masai people is to prepare their young men to protect and serve the society that gave them birth. This is the mission statement each young person is urged to adopt: “Society must not suffer because of me.”
I think that closely approximates what Jesus asks of us, but he broadens it. It is not just that my society should not suffer because of me. It is that the world (all people) should not suffer because of me. And if I do not live according to the model of unselfish love I see in Jesus, the world does suffer because of me.
So, are we just believers, or are we followers? What evidence can we present to prove that?
copyright 2001 by Rev. Dr. John K. Luoma