Sermon: Self Fulfillment, Self Denial

Texts: Mark 8:27-38

Date: September 17, 2006

Rev. Dee Eisenhauer, EagleHarbor Congregational Church

              The question Jesus asks his disciples in this morning’s reading from the gospel of Mark sounds a bit like the sort of poll an employee of the Gallup corporation might dream up in order to help a politician spin his campaign: “Who do people say that I am?”  In my mind’s eye I see a guy in a white shirt carrying a clip board answering in percentages: “Well, 43% of those polled say you are John the Baptist; 35% say Elijah; 15% say ‘one of the prophets’;  7% undecided.”

            If that poll was being conducted by Jesus or his representatives now, Elijah and John the Baptist wouldn’t be among the answers people would be likely to give.  But it would be fascinating, wouldn’t it, to hear a little thumbnail sketch of who the believers think Jesus is or what Jesus is leading believers to do.  There would certainly be a great variety of responses. 

            One aspect of the different perspectives Christians have about Christianity was highlighted in Time magazine’s cover story this week, “Does God Want You to Be Rich?”  (Thanks to the anonymous worshiper who slipped a synopsis of the story in the offering plate last Sunday, giving me a heads-up.)  The story is about the current purveyors of what has often been called “Prosperity Theology,” which answers the title question with a “yes.”  God does want you to be rich.  If not rich, certainly prosperous. God’s generosity is emphasized and believers are urged to confidently claim that generosity in this life.  The signature verse might be John 10:10: “I have come that they might have life, and have it more abundantly.”   Time did a poll in which 17% of Christian respondents said they considered themselves part of such a Prosperity Gospel movement.  61% of those surveyed said they believed God wanted them to be prosperous.  31% believe that if you give your money to God, God will bless you with more money.[1]

            Other Christians would disagree.  The Time article actually quoted the lectionary for this week, noting that in three of the gospels Jesus teaches the disciples that they may have to deny themselves and take up a cross to follow him.  “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?”  The article’s authors note that generations of churchgoers have understood that being Christian, on some level, means being ready to sacrifice—money, autonomy, perhaps even their lives.

            “Who do people say I am?”  It’s a question with real consequences.  Practical consequences.  Do people say that Jesus wants us to enjoy life now and enjoy wealth as one of God’s blessings?  Some do.  The Prosperity movement is seen by some leaders as a corrective to leaders who are forever chastening believers for their sins.  TV preacher Joyce Meyer, for example, says, “Who would want to get in on something where you’re miserable, poor, broke and ugly and you just have to muddle through until you get to heaven?...I believe God wants to give us nice things.”[2]  There are certainly Bible verses that would back up this view, such as Ecclesiastes 5:18-19: (in Eugene Peterson’s translation) “After looking at the way things are on this earth, here's what I've decided is the best way to live: Take care of yourself, have a good time, and make the most of whatever job you have for as long as God gives you life. And that's about it. That's the human lot. Yes, we should make the most of what God gives, both the bounty and the capacity to enjoy it, accepting what's given and delighting in the work. It's God's gift!”  Another verse that is a favorite of Prosperity preacher Joel Osteen’s is Malachai 3:10 (Peterson): “Bring your full tithe to the Temple treasury so there will be ample provisions in my Temple. Test me in this and see if I don't open up heaven itself to you and pour out blessings beyond your wildest dreams.”  Here God promises abundant blessings to those who give 10% of the harvest at the temple.  Some Christian leaders emphasize giving to ministries using such verses, teaching that God will pay back a multiple of church offerings—as much as a hundredfold.  Who do people say that I am?  Sometimes, an excellent investment.

            Other Christian leaders hear a different message from the Bible regarding wealth.  The Time article quotes megachurch pastor Rick Warren as saying, “This idea that God wants everybody to be wealthy?  There is a word for that: Baloney.  It’s creating a false idol.  You don’t measure your self-worth by your net worth.  I can show you millions of faithful followers of Christ who live in poverty.  Why isn’t everyone in the church a millionaire?”[3]  The great majority of verses in the New Testament having to do with wealth warn against the spiritual danger of being wealthy.   Remember what Jesus said after his encounter with the rich young ruler who could not part with his wealth in order to follow Jesus?  “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”  The epistle of James doesn’t pull any punches in this address to the wealthy in James 5:1-3 (Peterson’s translation) “And a final word to you arrogant rich: Take some lessons in lament. You'll need buckets for the tears when the crash comes upon you. Your money is corrupt and your fine clothes stink. Your greedy luxuries are a cancer in your gut, destroying your life from within. You thought you were piling up wealth. What you've piled up is judgment.”  Who do people say that I am?  Some would say that Jesus wants us to live the simple life, both so that we might share what we have with the poor and so that we would be safe from the potential spiritual corruption of wealth.  Theologian Ben Witherington says in no uncertain terms, “We need to renounce the false gospel of wealth and health—it is a disease of our American culture.”[4]

            There’s the problem—it’s so difficult to get a clear view of Jesus outside the lenses of our culture.  The early Christians didn’t have any easier time of it.  Even those who knew Jesus personally were looking at him through the lenses of their religious culture, which gave them certain expectations about how he would behave.  You can see that play out in the gospel today.  Peter understands that Jesus is the Messiah.  But he has an expectation of what the Messiah will do that doesn’t match up with Jesus’ trajectory.  In his perception, the Messiah would save the people through divine intervention or armed revolution and then be glorified by taking up the throne of David.  When Jesus starts to teach them about his expectation that suffering and death were ahead, Peter took him aside and rebuked him.  That’s not what a Messiah does!  Suffering and dying—not in the standard Messiah contract!  That’s when Jesus tells him to get behind him and calls him Satan.  Why?  “You are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” [Mark 8:33]

            Jesus was standing right in front of Peter and he was still seeing Jesus through the lenses of his culture.  No wonder we have so much trouble getting Jesus’ character sorted out from this distance in time and within our very different culture. 

            One of the important things we need to do as contemporary followers of Jesus is to understand our culture and develop a healthy suspicion of its values so that we can hope to rise above our conditioning in following Christ’s way.  Every generation of Christians has to face the temptation to make Christ into our own image.  If Jesus has become a kind of chaplain blessing what our culture teaches, look out!  It’s more likely than not that our understanding of the Christian way has been warped if Christianity too easily conforms to the way we get things done around here.

            It’s almost always instructive to me both about the gospel and Western culture if a teaching in the gospel is grating, disturbing or offensive in some way.  It’s not a foolproof technique, but it’s a signal that some teaching might be contrasted from the common sense wisdom of the culture in which we live and breathe.  Take, for instance, Mark 8:34: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”  Self-denial.  Now there’s a teaching that contrasts sharply with what we are taught in contemporary Western culture.  We generally only get into self-denial when we can see the long term benefit—like giving up the ice cream for the sake of getting into a size 10 again. 

            Self-denial is not the same thing as self-abasement.  Self-denial does not mean we hate ourselves or declare war on all our healthy appetites.  What self-denial opens the door for is understanding that our lives have a higher purpose than just getting whatever we want whenever we want it.  I like the way Lutheran pastor Brian Stoffregen  writes about this:

Denying one's self is concerned with the will -- that one's own will should not be the controlling factor in one's life.

Perhaps related to this concept is the idea of sacrifice. Although sacrifice usually means denying things rather than denying self, part of my dictionary's definition of this word is: "forgoing something valued for the sake of something having a more pressing claim." Sacrifice implies determining what things are of utmost value -- that take precedence over all the other valuable things in one's life. Should we ask, "What things of value have we given up for the sake of following Christ?" "What important things have we denied ourselves because we are Christians?"[5]

Will we on occasion, at least, deny ourselves something because we believe that compassion is of higher value than fashion, kindness is of higher value than the satisfaction of giving someone a tongue-lashing,  and so on?  God knows we can get lost in the swamp of our own desires, and Jesus offers us a way out of that wilderness of me-and-what-I-want with this bracing alternative.

            Take up your cross.  Too often this has been interpreted in such a way that suffering people are taught to just endure quietly whatever random suffering comes their way because it is God’s will.  Not all suffering should be endured—particularly the suffering that ensues from injustice and oppression.  If your spouse is kicking you around the house, that is not your cross to bear, set before you by God to test your spiritual mettle! 

            I believe taking up your cross is a matter of will. Williamson (Mark, Interpretation Commentary) writes: "The cross Jesus invites his hearers to take up refers not to the burdens life imposes from without but rather to painful, redemptive action voluntarily undertaken for others" [p. 154].  The Christian life calls us to voluntarily take action on behalf of others even if it results in personal pain or sacrifice. 

There’s something here about being willing to be visible as Christians as well. Brian Stoffregen points out in his lectionary article that part of the crucifixion process was carrying the cross through town so that people could have an opportunity to mock you and ridicule you and spit on you en route to the crucifixion sight.  He writes,

With this understanding, the phrase might be paraphrased: "be willing to publicly display your faith and suffer the consequences that such a display might evoke."  Often, our reluctance to publicly display our faith is the fear of what others might think or do to me. Rather than denying self, we seek to protect it.

One of the commentators on this text said that he was part of a church that had a picture board in the narthex.  He could remember many occasions when at a wedding or a funeral he would hear someone acquainted with one of the members saying, “I didn’t know they were involved at this church.”  He would ask himself, “Why didn’t they know?  Why is being involved at this church or any Christian church kept under wraps?”  Could one way of taking up a cross be simply coming out of the closet as people of faith—even at the risk of being identified with some of the more embarrassing members of our Christian family?

            I have a few crosses I wear as jewelry.  I don’t usually go through a whole big philosophical decision when I’m getting dressed about what putting on a cross means as I go out into the world.  But the lesson for today reminds me that there is a difference between Christianity being merely a decoration on the self-absorbed life I am inclined to lead—like a jeweled cross thoughtlessly clasped on as an attractive accessory—and Christianity as a way of life that calls me beyond myself to pour myself out in love for others as Jesus did, following his lead.

            “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”  Let me repeat a quote from Mark Twain: "Many people are bothered by those passages in Scripture which they cannot understand; but as for me, I always noticed that the passages in Scripture which trouble me most are those which I do understand."

[1] Van Biema, David, and Chu, Jeff  “Does God Want You to Be Rich?”  Time September 18, 2006, p. 50

[2] Ibid, p. 52

[3] Ibid, p. 50

[4] Ibid, p. 55

[5] Stoffregen, Brian  Linked at textweek.com September 17, 2006