Take Up the Cross

Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9; James 2:1-5, 8-10, 14-17; Mark 8:27-38

There's the story about a little boy who, upon returning home from Sunday School one day, said to his mother, "I wish I had some money I could give to children who are hungry."

His mother, not wanting to simply give him money, and wanting to teach her son the meaning of self-sacrifice, said, "All right. If you would like to go without sugar for a week, I'll give you the money, instead, and then you will have some to give to children who are hungry."

The little boy thought about it for a moment and then said, "Does it have to be sugar, Mama?"

"Why, no, darling," answered the mother, "not necessarily. What would you like to do without?"

Well, the little boy thought for a moment and answered, "How about soap?"

The fact of the matter is that most of us really don't like to sacrifice like Americans used to. Unless we can actually see something in it for ourselves, we don't go out for other persons, quite as much, anymore.

So, now, in order to raise money for causes, rather than simply asking people to give, they have to have gimmicks -- Walk-a-thons and Bike-a-thons and can collections and candy sales and soup suppers and steak suppers, events wherein people think their getting some sort of an immediate benefit in exchange for their donation. A few weeks ago I noticed that if a person wanted to donate to Jerry Lewis' Telathon all he or she had to do was sign up for a cable T.V. channel and pay the $5 fee, a dollar of which would go to Jerry's kids. There had to be a benefit attached to the donation. It couldn't be a pure and simple free-will offering.

And even churches are finding this to be a problem, as well. Rather than believing that when they give something they are laying up treasures in heaven, people want an immediate return on their investment. They want to see what they're getting right now. And, when it comes to the local church, I am finding that there are more and more persons who, rather than getting personally involved to serve their local church, simply sit by and wonder why the church isn't doing more to serve them.

We remember John Kennedy's famous words: "Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country." Do you remember those famous words? Well, I'd like to change that little quote around a bit, this morning to something like this: "Ask not what your church can do for you, but ask what you can do in ministry for your church." For we are all asked to be ministers of Jesus Christ. This comes with baptism. This comes with membership within the church. And rather than sitting and wondering what benefits you are going to get from the church, we need to be asking how we can actually get more involved in serving Jesus Christ.

But, indeed, that involves sacrifice. And sacrifice is a difficult thing to get people to do, anymore. In fact, I know people who are proud to have the bumper sticker on their cars which say, "I'm spending my children's inheritance." More and more people are living their lives only for themselves, feeling that they need leave nothing for those who come after them, never even remembering that they wouldn't have what they have were it not for the sacrifices of parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and hundreds of others down through the ages. But, this is the mark of Western civilization within the late 20th century. Our generation is known as the "Me Generation." We live as though there wasn't a tomorrow. We cut down the rain forests, we go on polluting the seas, we continue to use unrenewable resources, and we're destroying the ozone layer at such tremendous rates, without a thought for our children or their children; as though it really doesn't matter, at all.

Jesus told his disciples "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." And the disciples didn't want to hear this. When Jesus told Peter that he, Jesus, would have to suffer and die upon the cross, Peter took him aside and rebuked him. Peter didn't want to hear about suffering. He didn't want to hear about sacrifice. He only wanted to hear the positive side: the stuff about success that you hear on some of those religious T.V. shows. He only wanted to hear about the good things that would come from being a disciple of Jesus. He didn't want to know that there might be some hard work down the line.

About four years ago, when I was the pastor at the Centreville United Methodist Church, I was struck with how many people came into my office in need of food, clothing, money for housing, and all sorts of needs. People were walking into my office in need of advice on how to raise their kids, now to keep a checkbook, how to cook, how to save money, and hundreds of other things. And one of the reasons for these questions was that a lot of them hadn't had parents who had taught them much about life. And, so, at the Centreville United Methodist Church I got together with some persons who worked with the County Extension Service and a few persons at Social Services and some interested people in the church to see what kind of a program we might put together in the community to teach some of these things. I felt that such a program would, if anything, be an asset to my own ministry.

Thus, upon coming to this church, a year later, I was glad to find that a program like that was already underway, here. Indeed, the Family Development Center augments my ministry and the ministry of other Christians within the community by doing things for persons that I wish I could do, but do not have the resources to do all by myself.

But to have such a ministry in the community involves the hard work, gifts, and sacrifice of many people. Certainly, there have been times when we may have been perplexed by the large amount of things in the storage room in the basement. There may have been times when we wondered who all those persons were walking around in our church on Wednesdays. There may have been times when we may have even been tempted to rebuke the church, like Peter rebuked Jesus, for giving his life to such a ministry as this. But, I have been thrilled how so many of you have volunteered and willingly and joyfully given yourself and your time and your gifts for the ministry of the Family Development Center because you knew that this is the ministry of Christ.

There are many churches in Detroit Annual Conference who are looking for ways to grow and to survive for ministry into the 21st century. In fact, many churches will be participating in a program being offered, known as GROW. Our own church will be doing this within just a few days, as we gather together with a church growth consultant, and have a potluck dinner together on the 23rd.

But, there are many churches who think that the only way to survive into the 21st century is by saving their money, holding back, conserving, being careful, maintaining their organizations just the way they are, not sticking their necks out, by being quiet, not doing very much. Like defenders of a lost cause, they hunker down as one member after another is picked off by the enemy.

They forget the words of Jesus to Peter when he said, "Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it." These are important words for us, today. The only way we're going to grow as a church is by giving ourselves in ministry to others.

Several years ago I wrote a poem when a church I was serving wasn't too sure they could afford a Christian pre-school in their building: I've read the poem before. But the words are important and appropo:

The church board had a visitor

Who had but one request.

They looked him over carefully:

They didn't know their guest.

The face they didn't recognize,

A member he was not.

His clothes were kind of dirty, though,

"He must be poor!" they thought.

The visitor began to speak:

"Ive something now to say --

The church, you know, is where one goes

To worship and to pray.

But there is more that it should od:

Your building is God's tool

To help the poor and serve the world,

Or even house a school!

Throughout the week, you keep it closed;

It's hardly used at all!

But I've go something everyday

For which to use your hall!"

And when he told them what it was

They all looked rather tense.

The thing that worried them the most

Was all of the expense.

And then they listed other things:

The dirt and all the wear.

They doubted that their edifice

Was something they should share.

"We're really sorry, but you know,

Our church is in a bind.

Right now our church needs every cent

Our offering plates can find!

Our members, they are getting old,

The youth have gone away.

We have to keep our church for us

To worship and to pray.

The visitor got up to leave,

And as he left he said,

"My friends, you'll have to sacrifice

To rise up from the dead.

You've closed your church to life, itself,

While all the world is crying.

And that's the reason that our church

Has all this time been dying!"

The church board had a visitor,

They should have been quite awed.

Too bad they didn't know his name

Was Christ, the Son of God.

Amen.