27 Run For Your Life!

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"RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!"

Did you see the picture on the front page of the Miami Herald of
the man who survived the crash of his malfunctioning airplane, which came
to rest close to I95. . He was still seated at the controls - but the front of
the plane was gone. There was nothing over his head - the plane was in
pieces, but there he sat upright, blood from a gash on his forehead pouring
down over his face. He had a broken arm and a broken leg. But he had
SURVIVED!
Survival is very big on television. I choose not to watch that kind
of program. Why not put all the herculean effort to survive into something
real and worthwhile. Jesus wants us, as we read in Luke 15: 1-13, to
think as hard and as fast as the dishonest manager did when caught cheating
by his boss. He bought favors for his future from those who owed his
boss money by changing the amounts owed to him.
Good old Jesus, of course, was not suggesting that we be dishonest
in our dealings, but rather to be as inventive, creative as the dishonest
manager was when he was running for his life.
The "children of the light" as Jesus called us (His followers) tend
to play it safe, to act prudently. We like to stay within the church budget.
We don't like to spend what we don't have or commit ourselves unless we
know we have the resources to succeed. We tend to be careful, cautious,
deliberate and conscientious.
But where is our willingness to do anything God asks, to step out
on a limb of faith, to rush forward to do something that needs to be done.
Jesus said "Love your God with part of your heart - part of your
soul and with part of your mind, and part of your strength" NO, HE
DIDN'T! JESUS SAID "LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH
ALL YOUR HEART WITH ALL YOUR SOUL AND WITH ALL
YOUR STRENGTH AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND!"
Use you mind for GOD. GET CREATIVEIN DOING GODLY
THINGS! Let me illustrate as I like to do. A member our church with a
few other individuals set out to build a building to house three arts agencies
at a cost of just over three million dollars. Amazingly, they had just about
raised that amount, but they had all used up their contacts it seemed, so
the remaining, needed dollars they needed to get creative. So all involved
were asked to Get Creative. To go beyond the geographic area where it
seemed everyone had been contacted. So the member asked me to put a
request before the Board of Directors to direct $3000 to the project. I
got creative. Learning that I could spread my gift out over three years, let
me offer to match their funds if they would pledge $5000. They did.
Now, instead of $3000, the project had $10,000. Our member was so
moved by our action that he matched the $10,000. And, as such things,
go, when the people in that project heard that a little church in Miami
Beach was doing this they were deeply moved, and when we started
raising money for sanctuary restoration, our $5000 gift came back several
times over.
It's THIS dynamic that God wants you to have up and operating
in your life in reference to what you do as a disciple of Jesus. WHAT
HAVE YOU DONE FOR HIM LATELY! How creative have you been.
How "out of the box" have you thought?
How many people have been added to this church because you
invited them to come with you to church?
If every member were to give as much to the church as you have
this year, would the church be able to continue?
Have you ever joined in a march for civil rights or gay rights, or
for fair wages - a living wage for those who work in our hotels,
condominiums and produce fields?
This strange metaphoric parable asks us directly and point blank
what we are doing in this life for the life that follows it. "I tell you" Jesus
said, use the worldly things you have now to make 'friends' for later.
Then when those things are gone, you will be welcomed into a home
that lasts forever."
What He didn't say was that as we stop "walking" and instead
"RUN the race that is set before us" we enter the Home that Lasts Forever.
We experience it now.
"Have you ever had to scrabble for your life? Have you
stood on the edge of a rocky cliff and felt the ground start to crumble
beneath your weight? Have you ever walked across a street and
noticed a dangerous driver careening around the corner and rushing
toward you? What did you do? You ran for your life. Or maybe not.
Alexandra didn't have a chance to, but a chance meeting with a homeless
man made all the difference in her life. As he appealed to her for a
handout, she reached for a dollar in her purse. There was a five there.
She was headed out for dinner with her husband. Didn't this man deserve
to eat as well? She gave him the five - and he exclaimed "I haven't eaten
for days! Now I can! I want to shake your hand," he said. She hesitated
but couldn't refuse. He left, then he came back and asked her name. In
all the years of helping the indigent, no one had ever asked her name.
"Alexandra" she said. She asked his. It was James.
Two years later, deeply engrossed in her thoughts she steppout
outin front of a speeding car. "Alexandra, look out!" a voice boomed
and a stong hand pulled her to saftety. She turned around. It was James.
Was he really a homeless man, or "an angel unawares." She'll never no.
nor will we.
When you scramble for your life, comfort and appearance
do not occur to you. It doesn't matter whether you like to run, or if
you are in good shape. It doesn't matter whether you run elegantly
like a gazelle, or lumber like a pregnant Holstein. You simply run,
scrambling away from the danger. Such things don't matter when
you are totally committed to on thing: survival. The operative
words, "totally committed." Run for your life to get to the home
that lasts forever - in the here and now!
A couple I read about adopted a little girl who had run for her life
and her father's life. Her father was dying, and she would venture out into
the streets of Calcutta to steal food for them. When her father died, she
was put in an orphanage and adopted by a couple from America - given
new clothes and brought into their safe, bountiful environment.
Yet they began to notice food missing. They found bananas and
bread and other food hidden in her room. It took her a long time to learn
that there would always be enough food for her.
Today, Jesus is asking us to think not about physical food - bananas
and bread, but spiritual food - to think not of ourselves but others.
In Small Miracles of Love and Friendship, I read about a
woman who had always put the needs of her family above her own. So
when they came into a little money, her husband insisted she take the
money for a wonderful trip to Italy, the land of her history and heritage.
It was a wonderful trip, and on her last day there sought to find gifts for
her family. She found necklaces for her mother and sister, and as she did
so her eyes fell on an exquisite silver-and-turquoise necklace. She fell in
love - irrevocably, and immediately., It had her name stamped all over it,
she decided. But she could only afford it, or the gifts for her mother and
sister, not most.
`"Me or them" she thought - after all this was a trip for Me. But her
lifetime of living for others prevailed. She got the gifts for her mother and
sister. But three years later, her mother returned from a trip to Italy, and
brought necklaces for each of them. Always, she would get the same gift
for each, but this time, one got one necklace and the other - the other.
And there before her was the necklace of her dreams. As she had never
mentioned it to anyone, she asked her mother why she chose it. "It just
seemed to have your name on it!" she replied.
When we use our money in loving caring ways, in the ways of
God and for His purposes, we open up entry doors into a loving home
that begins now and keeps on going forever.
By the way, there was an interesting comment on that necklace
incident. It read, "Even simple objects have a mysterious way of reaching
their human soulmates." Something to think about! Small Miracles of
Love and Friendship
The Season of Pentecost we're now in is devoted to the subject
of growth in faith and the practice of our faith. One aspect of that growth
in learning how to give ourselves away.
The little girl from Calcutta had learned about survival. Now she
was in a position to learn about getting beyond herself and her needs into
spiritual territory - the needs of others. Now she could scramble not for
her own existence but for the lie and well-being of all people. We all have
that potential in common.
Quoting from Rob Bell in VELVET ELVIS: Jesus said that as
this new reality takes over our hearts and lives and minds and actions, we
are crossing over - "from death to life." He called this new kind of life
"eternal life". For Jesus, eternal life wasn't a state of being for the future
that we would enter into somewhere else, it is a quality of life that starts
now.
Eternal Life then is a certain kind of life I am living more and more
now and will go on forever. I am living more and more in connection with
God, and I will live connected with God forever.
The more connected we are, the happier we become. Do you
remember Chris Gardner whose struggles as a homeless single father trying
to break into the stockbrokerage business inspired the Pursuit of
Happiness.
The happiness he pursued I believe was to be a good father to his
son - to give him things he didn't at that moment have - like a roof over his
head and regular meals in their own place. One of the most touching
scenes was when they were huddled in a subway bathroom, their room
for the night. Nestled in his father's arms, his son says, "You are a good
papa." I may not have the words exact but the sentiment came not from
the money his father had or didn't have but for the presence of his father,
holding him tight, keeping him close and secure. In a luxury home that
moment might have been missed, but here where their very survival was at
stake, the peril was real and the protection he felt from his father -
palpable - and knowing that he was pursuing a future home for them with
every ounce of his energy, time and stick-to-it-iveness. He wasn't
walking toward it - he was running toward it with everything he had.
OUR PRESENCE IS PRIMARY - to our loved ones - and to
our God who wants nothing more than to be with us - to have us with him.
That's why I say to you on this Sunday, RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!

Sermon Notes(Not edited nor proofed)The Rev. Dr. Garth R. Thompson Pastor, M.B. Community ChurchA sermon is a simple truth told by someone whobelieves it to people he knows and loves (Phillips Brooks)September 23 2007 10:30 a, m. Luke 16:1-13
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our heartsbe acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.