Preached by Michael Cheuk
November 29, 2009
First Sunday in Advent
Matthew 2:1-12

Today is the first Sunday of the Advent season, a time when Christians prepare for the coming of Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world.  This Advent, I will be preaching a series called “Advent Conspiracy,” which is an idea that three pastors, Rick McKinley, Chris Seay and Greg Holder, came up with in trying to help their families and their congregations celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.  Several years back, these three friends were lamenting about how much they dreaded pastoring during Advent.  They felt the tension of trying to prepare, proclaim, celebrate and worship Jesus, while at the same time, their families and their congregations were lost in crowded malls, mired in financial debt, tired of buying gifts people didn’t want and in receiving presents they didn’t need.  They were afraid that on Christmas day, God would come near, but they would miss it in the midst of their busyness, their exhaustion and their material consumption.  So they decided to try an experiment.  What if, they asked themselves, instead of acting like bystanders to the nativity, what if they led their congregations into the nativity story as participants?  What if they entered the story of Christmas by seeing the birth of Christ from inside the stable instead of inside the mall?  What if people entered the story of Christ’s birth by focusing less on consumerism, and focusing more on giving relational gifts to their loved ones and using a little of the money they didn’t spend to support organizations that are helping people in need both locally and globally?  It was out of those questions that Advent Conspiracy was birthed.  When I heard about this, I knew I wanted to learn more about it and then share it with you.  So, my messages during these Sundays in Advent will be heavily borrowed from Advent Conspiracy.

I’ve got a question for you this morning.  What or Who do we worship during Advent?  Of course, for long-time Christian churchgoers, the right answer is “Jesus.”  But is it the truthful answer?  Does the way we spend our time, our money, and our energy testify that we worship Jesus, God in human flesh?  It is easy to say the right answer, but do we know how to live that right answer out in our lives, in our families and in our church?  I must admit, this is a hard question for me to grapple with, because I am scared to look into my own life to see what my check book, my credit card bills and my calendar have to say about what I truly value and desire.

Young kids don’t usually suffer from this fear.  Ask a child what she is excited about at Christmas, and it is doubtful that she’ll exclaim with passion, “Jesus’ birthday!”  Before she has been indoctrinated with the proper religious mantra, she’ll tell you about that shiny blue bike that she can’t wait to ride on Christmas morning.  The things we desire are the things we worship.

On this first Sunday in Advent, it seems to me that the first thing we need to do is to be clear about what or who we are really desiring and worshipping in our daily activities leading up to Christmas.  Are we desiring the latest and greatest electronic gear?  A new appliance or car?  Jewelry or a kitchen makeover?  What does it mean to desire and worship Jesus during this time?

In our Gospel lesson from Matthew this morning, we read about the Magi, scholars and astrologers from Persia and Babylon, who noticed a change in the star patterns in the sky, which they understood as a sign of the birth of a new King of the Jews.  So they began a long and arduous journey to Jerusalem, looking to find this new King.  When they got to Jerusalem, they had the courage to seek an audience with the reigning power, King Herod, for directions to where the one true King was to be born so that they could worship him.

I don’t know if the Magi knew anything about King Herod, because if they did, they probably would have avoided him.  You see, historians have shown that King Herod was a brutal ruler who did everything to hold on to his power, even to the point of executing members of his own families and even his sons.  A paranoid power like Herod did not tolerate any rivals to his throne, and he told the Magi to report back to him once they found this newborn king so that “I, too, may go and worship him.”  But those of us who have read the “rest of the story” know that Herod did not really want to worship Jesus; he wanted to eliminate Jesus as a rival to his throne.  The Magi were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, and Matthew 2:16 tells us that “When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.”

Contrast the tyranny of Herod’s reign—and the reign of all earthly powers for that matter—with the inauguration of Jesus’ kingdom.  Instead of ruling by military power, financial strength, and technological development, Jesus rules his Kingdom in vulnerability, solidarity with the poor, and self-sacrifice.  Which king is worthy of our worship?

Jesus Christ is the king worthy of our worship.  But like Herod, the reigning rulers and powers of the world will not give up their kingship so easily.  Do you know what is the primary threat to Christianity in America today?  Is it Islam?  Is it liberalism?  Is it fundamentalism?  Well, according to pastors Rick McKinley, Chris Seay and Greg Holder, the primary threat to true Christianity in American may be radical consumerism.  According to them, the fastest growing religion in the world is the religion of consumerism.  Consumerism demands that we be dissatisfied.  You will never hear a salesperson say, “Great news!  This is the last one of these you’ll ever need to buy.”  We are constantly searching for the one thing that will satisfy us.  Yet each time we trust the promises of our possessions, more barriers are raised between our true selves and God’s plain command to love God above all things.  It’s not that we necessarily want to buy more—it’s that what we want is something we can’t buy.  Consumerism can also poison our relationship with Christ.  Jesus becomes a commodity we consume rather than a King who reigns.  We “try” Jesus like we try any other product.  We were satisfied for six months, but then something about it just didn’t meet our needs, and now, we’re ready to trade him in like a leased car for something better.  Because we’ve been so deeply formed by a culture of consumerism, we cannot fathom the lasting values of Jesus.  Consumerism also detaches us from the human cost of the products we buy.  Most of the time, we have no idea how the products we buy were made, who made it, or where it came from.  It’s practically magic: we can spend a few dollars and a new product travels across the world to our waiting arms.[1]

That’s why during these weeks of Advent, we are invited to worship more fully.  When the Magi finally came to the place where Jesus and his parents were living, they offered him costly gifts.  These men were not playing the worship games of which many of us are guilty—these gifts of gold and precious spices nearly cost the Magi their lives before Herod.  In the same way, our worship must be reborn.  The Magi shows us what can happen when someone glimpses the true worthiness of Christ.  They travelled across the world to meet Jesus, to confront dominant world systems, and give their all for the true King.

Can we learn to worship with the wise men, traveling beyond the boundaries of our comfort zones to bring the gift of ourselves—our time, our labor, our money, our love—to hungry, thirsty, sick people who need Jesus?  What might happen if, at Advent and throughout the year, all of God’s people worshiped like the Magi?  What transformation would occur as God’s people moved beyond our comfort zones loving Jesus with our time, attention and money?

According to the three pastors that started Advent Conspiracy, ever since the inception of the Conspiracy, the entire Christmas offering that is collected during their Christmas Eve services leave their churches—no matter how much is given or where they are with their church budget.  This public commitment to worship Jesus by giving to the ‘least of these’ has changed them, and with God’s help, the world.  They’ve heard many stories like the one about a six-year-old girl who told her parents that she didn’t want her family to spend money on her birthday gifts this year.  She asked instead that the money be given to Living Water International so that “other kids would have clean water to drink.”  Also, three high school girls organized an initiative that raised awareness at their high school about the global water crisis.  It all revolved around a single drop of water.  From videos that played throughout lunch hour to a benefit concert to T-shirts that invited their fellow students to “be a drop out,” they raised enough money for a well to be dug in West Africa.  I think these are beautiful examples of how people have lived into the nativity story.  Much closer to home, I also think it is beautiful that, out of their own initiative, Thea and Erin Copeland raised $100 for FACES by asking their friends and teachers to donate to this worthy cause in our community.  They presented the check yesterday as fifteen members of Farmville Baptist helped out in distributing food at FACES early yesterday morning.

Before I end this sermon, let me say one more thing.  I want to be very clear about what I’m NOT saying about this Advent Conspiracy thing.  I’m NOT saying that it is bad for you to buy gifts this year.   I’m NOT saying that you’re not a good Christian if you bought a new TV or appliance last Friday.  I’m NOT trying to replace the legalism of the marketplace with the legalism of religion.  What I AM trying to do is to give us all a greater imagination regarding how we can celebrate Advent this year that leads us to a truer meaning of Christmas.

Let me end by reading an article posted Friday on the Advent Conspiracy website written by one of its contributors.

“Last week a woman emailed me in a panic because she was so convicted over the fact that her son really wants a bicycle for Christmas. I asked her what the problem was. She told me her church is doing Advent Conspiracy this year and that she’s not supposed to buy gifts. I asked her if she had the money to buy her son a bike. She said she had been saving up for one for the past few months, and that she really wanted to buy it on Black Friday because she’d save a lot of money. She really didn’t know what to do, and asked for my “official” opinion. I told her, “As an official spokesperson for Advent Conspiracy, I want you to buy your son that bike!” She cried with relief.”

The article continues: “I’m worried that people are being guilted into Advent Conspiracy. The last thing we want is for people to feel like they can’t shop because their church or family member or friend told them it’s not the Advent Conspiracy way. Because that’s not true. So what is the Advent Conspiracy way? Simply this: We want to encourage people to do Christmas differently by worshiping Jesus first before anything else. We want to push back on hyper-consumerism. Notice the word “hyper”. We’re not saying you shouldn’t buy a gift, we’re merely suggesting you don’t gorge yourself on gifts or buy stuff out of obligation. That kid I mentioned earlier is going to wake up Christmas morning and he’s going to remember it forever because that’s the day he got a brand new bike. And the mom won’t regret it because she didn’t go into debt to show her son how much she loves him. That’s a beautiful thing. Some will opt out of buying gifts and make something for their loved ones, and that’s a beautiful thing. Others will buy things from [fair trade] organizations, and that’s a beautiful thing. Some will shop on Black Friday because they really want to honor their finances by saving money on gifts, and that’s a smart thing. Here’s what’s not a beautiful thing: Getting all bent out of shape and stressed out because someone said “we” don’t want you to buy gifts. Kind of a silly thing, especially since one of Advent Conspiracy’s intentions is to help people relax and enjoy the season. The point is, make it personal by making it about Jesus first. The rest is just details.”[2]

So this Advent season, let’s remember the point of all this: relax and enjoy the season by making it about Jesus first – in our worship, in our purchases, in our relationships, in our conversations, in everything that we do.  May God help us all to worship Christ fully as we wait and prepare for Christ’s coming!  Amen.

[2] http://www.adventconspiracy.org/blog/want_to_really_do_advent_conspiracy_go_shopping/

Preached by Michael Cheuk
November 22, 2009
Christ the King Sunday
John 17:13-19

Today, I’m concluding my sermon series on “The Good Life – At Least According to Walmart.”  In this series, we examined the check-out line at Walmart—or really any grocery store—to observe and reflect on what the check-out line is trying to teach and sell as the good life.[1] Throughout this series, we examined how things such as physical health, beauty and sex, wealth, celebrity and convenience can become false gods that can take us away from the worship of the one true God.  As I was working on this series of sermons, nagging tensions kept resurfacing again and again.  It’s easy for me to preach and warn about those false gods, but how can God help me and others in the congregation live the good life that God has intended for us to live and not fall into the idolatries that the checkout line offers?  I know that in my own life, it is so easy to be sucked into living a lifestyle promoted by the checkout line magazines and by other media outlets like television and the internet.  So is God calling us to totally boycott the checkout line just as certain Baptist groups have boycotted Disney?  But it’s not like we can totally avoid going to Walmart and the grocery stores; nor can we avoid the checkout lines once we get there.  Is it possible to participate in our economic system without falling victim to its power to take over the values of God’s kingdom in our lives and in our churches?  In other words, can we as followers of Jesus Christ be “in the checkout line, but not of it,” so to speak?

“In the checkout line, but not of it.”  This is really not a new challenge for followers of Jesus Christ.  I just happen to rephrase it for the purpose of this sermon series.  Any of you are familiar with the phrase, “being in the world, but not of it”?   How do we live in this world and within its structures and systems without being totally sucked into the values, beliefs and behaviors that those structures and systems demand from its subjects?  How do we live first as faithful subjects of the Kingdom of God and Christ the King, and then live as subjects of the present world order – whether it is the Roman Empire or the American Empire?  Followers of Christ have struggled with this challenge from the very beginning.  As a matter of fact, in our Gospel lesson from John this morning, Jesus addressed this very issue in his prayer for his disciples hours before he was betrayed, arrested and questioned by both the high priest and by Pontius Pilate.

Jesus prayed to his heavenly Father: “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they (my disciples) may have the full measure of my joy within them.  ¹⁴ I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.  ¹⁵ My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.  ¹⁶ They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.”

In this prayer, Jesus affirmed at least two things.  First, both he and his disciples were in the world, subject in some ways to the ruling powers of the world.  Second, both he and his disciples were not of the world—in other words, they did not identify themselves with the values, beliefs and behaviors of the world around them.  Because of that, Jesus said that “the world has hated them,” presumably because the world did not understand them, but more likely, because they understood Jesus and his disciples to be a threat to their power and their authority.  Under this threat, Jesus offered a very interesting prayer request to his heavenly Father: “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.”  Jesus wants his followers to remain in the world in order to witness and to live out a new world order of the coming Kingdom of God.  But Jesus knew that kind of lifestyle will threaten the powers that be, and so, Jesus prayed that his heavenly Father will protect his followers from the evil one, from the powers that would seek to pull us down and enslave us back into the old world order.

Now, I’ve just said a mouthful, so let me try to give you an example.  What if, during this week of Thanksgiving, the President of the United States urged all citizens NOT to purchase anything this whole week other than food items and necessities, as a gesture of their thankfulness for all that God has already provided them?  Citizens could resume their spending habits after this week.  Of course, I think most citizens would ignore this pronouncement and continue their annual pilgrimage to the stores, where they hold early sunrise services on the high holy day of our economic calendar called “Black Friday.”  But even so, do you think our President would make such a pronouncement?  Of course not!  That would be political suicide, and he would be labeled a Communist for sure!  I would imagine people from both political parties and even some Christian leaders would harshly criticize such a pronouncement as unpatriotic and a threat to our American way of life.  Arguments would be made about how such an act would hurt average, hard-working Americans.  Anxiety would run rampant among the big retailers.  The intensity of the outrage would precisely be a measure of the power that our consumeristic world order has over the minds, the hearts and the behavior of all of us, Christians and non-Christians alike.

Consumeristic materialism is the present world order that we live in, and it is the power that puts a monetary value on things like health, beauty and celebrity.  Those who have wealth have convenient access to those things; those who are poor have a harder time gaining access.  Consumeristic materialism is a power that leads many to be promiscuous with their bodies but guarded with their possessions.  Let me be clear—I’m not saying consumerism or capitalism is an unmitigated evil.  We as creatures have to consume and capitalism has brought about many good things.  What I’m saying is that we must recognize consumerism and capitalism as powers, and like all powers, it must be harnessed to a master, just like a throroughbred must be bridled to a master.  It cannot be the master.  What I’m saying is that consumeristic materialism has become a master that demands complete allegiance from its subjects and it does not tolerate any other competing powers or kingdoms.  That’s why the Kingdom of God is a threat to the powers of this world.  That’s why “this world” hates all those who truly follow Christ the King.

In this prayer, Jesus is requesting that his heavenly Father NOT take his disciples out of this world where consumeristic materialism is a reigning power.  Instead, Jesus prays that we live in this world, but in a way that allows God to protect us from its idolatrous tendencies so that we are not enslaved by its power to turn everything into a checkout line item for us to consume and accumulate.  Jesus is realistic about the cost of such a lifestyle.  The world will hate us for this.  We should not expect the world to applaud us for truly trying to live out what we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  The rulers of this world will always have problems with God’s Kingdom and with Christ the King.  I think that’s why it is such a temptation to not just live in the world, but also be of the world.

As I’ve mentioned before, when we are saved, we are not just saved for heaven, for “out of this world” after we die.  We are also saved to live in this world in a transformed kind of way, to live in a transformed community that gives the world a foretaste of what the Kingdom of God is like.  When we are saved, God enrolls us in a school of discipleship to engage us in Christian practices and disciplines so that we will no longer be conformed to this world, but we will be transformed by the renewing of our minds so that we may discern what is the will of God.  In traditional Christian terminology, this process is called “sanctification,” a process in which all Christians are called to take the journey to become more like Christ.  It is a school that no Christian ever graduates from as long as he or she is still living on this earth.  Unfortunately, many churches are not very intentional about this process; they assume that once you are saved or justified in the eyes of God, then sanctification happens automatically.  That’s like saying once we’ve received an acceptance letter to college, learning will automatically take place even though we rarely attend class or crack open a book.  Or that once we’ve received a job offer, we’ll automatically know everything we need to know about doing that job well even though we only show up for work a couple of times a week.  Either way, we do not learn the skills and the practices necessary to be a success in college or in our career, and we wonder why life is not going the way we had hoped or dreamed.

In the same way, if we have not learned the skills and practices necessary to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus, we wonder why our lives are often not that different from those who do not know Christ.  If we as a church do not learn the skills and practices necessary to be the community of faith that God wants us to be, we wonder why we don’t experience the vitality, the joy, and the impact that other congregations are experiencing.  Many Christians and congregations are living in the world but they are still of the world in terms of their values, their beliefs and their behaviors

But it is not all bad news.  The Good News is that Jesus promises to sanctify us, to make us holy as He is holy, and to mold us more into His likeness and image.  But sanctification rarely takes place outside of community.  We need each other’s support, encouragement and accountability to grow in our faith and to be transformed in our lives.  Several months ago, our church started a spiritual transformation journey, and we organized ten prayer groups (three people each) to begin praying to God to help us discern God’s will and direction for our church and our lives.  We haven’t talked about it much recently, but we are still on this spiritual journey.  After the first season of prayers, many of our participants reported back that they experienced a renewed connection with God and a greater connection with their prayer partners.  But we also acknowledged that we do not have clarity regarding where God wants us to go and who God wants us to serve.  So starting in January, we will continue to pray and we want to invite more of you to join these groups.  I invite you to contact me if you would like to join or to continue in a prayer group.  And as we pray, I truly believe that the spirit of Christ will be with us to sanctify us, to transform our lifestyle by the renewing of our hearts and our minds, so that we may begin to discern God’s good and perfect will for us as a church.  Just as Jesus prayed for his disciples to sanctify them in his truth and to fill them with his joy, I truly believe that Jesus will do the same thing for us as we pray for discernment and for His will.  This isn’t a program in the sense that we will stop praying when God shows us His will.  My hope is that we will become transformed into a praying church that will always seek God’s will to show us how we may worship God, grow together and serve others in new and exciting ways.

Bu we don’t have to wait until January to begin praying and living into a transformed lifestyle.  Starting next Sunday, the first Sunday in Advent, I will begin a new sermon series called Advent Conspiracy.  Too often, preachers and Christians have complained that Christmas has become too commercialized, too much of the world and of the checkout line.  Well, this year, I hope we can actually do something about that as we conspire against the prevailing powers of this world to live out and witness the true meaning of Christmas.

During the Sundays of Advent, we will learn how to worship more fully our true God and not the god of consumerism, because Christmas begins and ends with Jesus.  We will also learn how to reorder our desires so that we’ll spend less on ourselves this Christmas in order to free our resources for things that truly matter.  We will practice giving more to others of our presence, our hands, our words, our time, and our hearts.  Finally we will be challenged to love all – the poor, the forgotten, the marginalized, the sick, in ways that make a difference – because after all, for God so loved the world, that He send His only begotten Son.  And during our Christmas Eve service, we will collect an offering to give solely to our community, so that even as we receive God’s greatest gift to us, we may in our thankfulness and joy share that gift to those around us.

These are challenging actions, and ones that my own family has been talking about.  We’ve been brainstorming ways that we will try to live out the Advent Conspiracy this year.  Instead of spending our money on Black Friday, we will be spending our time at the FACES food pantry this Saturday helping to distribute food while most of their regular volunteers are away.  That’s our first resolution for thinking about the holiday season differently. We’re still talking about others.  Perhaps instead of spending time trying to find the perfect gift, we will try to spend time writing notes and making phone calls to our friends and relatives.  Maybe instead of telling relatives what gifts to buy for us, we will ask them to donate the money they would have spent on us to World Vision, or Heifer International, or Watering Malawi.  Last year, we started scaling back on the number of presents we give to our children.  We thought they might be disappointed, but Thea welcomed it, and Wesley said, “I think that’s a good idea – because my room and I are stuffed!”  These are some small changes that we as a family are exploring as we try to be in the checkout line but not of it.  And in the process, I have a feeling that we will experience the true spirit of Advent and Christmas in ways that honors and worship Christ the newborn King in ways that we haven’t before.

May Christ the King help us all to live in the world but be not of it during this coming Advent and Christmas season.  Amen.

Preached by Michael Cheuk
November 8, 2009
Luke 14:25-33

Today, I am continuing my sermon series on “The Good Life – At Least According to Walmart.”  In this series, we will examine the check-out line at Walmart—or really any grocery store—to observe and reflect on what the check-out line is trying to teach and sell as the good life.[1] The past several Sundays, I addressed the issue of health, beauty and sex, wealth and celebrity.  Today, I want to talk about convenience, which is a very important value in contemporary America.  If we look at the magazine racks at the check-out line, we see headlines such as “Jump Start Your Weight Loss” and “Speed through Your To-Do List.”  Most of the magazines themselves are convenient in that they are easily accessible, offer quick tips, and give instant access to “life-transforming” information.  In addition to magazines, the checkout line also stacks all kinds of candy and soft drinks, all within easy reach—especially for children.  The sheer volume of choices encourages impulse spending and the instant gratification of our desires.  Seeing our checkout line, a visitor from Mars might assume that Snickers bars are a major food group.  Also, the sheer ubiquity of breath mints at the checkout line might also lead a Martian to think that bad breath runs rampant among humans!

We as a society value convenience. We have drive-through restaurants, banks, pharmacies and even wedding chapels.  We own cell phones to contact anyone, anywhere.  We use computers that allow us to shop, to do our banking, our shopping and to communicate with others online.  We have all these time-saving devices like dishwashers, washers and dryers, and microwave ovens.  In a world of movies-on-demand, five-minute meals, and even instant Starbucks coffee, we are trained to expect instant gratification.  A good life by this definition is having things quick and easy, when and how we want it, with a minimum of work, fuss and cost.

Our expectation of convenience sometimes spills over to our Christian faith.  When that happens, it is easy to drift into an attitude that church is something we do when it is convenient for us, when it is quick and easy, requiring a minimum of work, fuss, and cost.  We pray and study the Bible and serve others when it suits our schedules, or when there isn’t anything else demanding our time and attention.  I must confess, pastors and church leaders often cater to this mindset out of our own anxiety of not wanting to upset or demand too much from members.  We set up our programs and ministries to be convenient so that they end up as products that we hope our members will consume and be satisfied with so that they don’t defect to other churches.

Theologically, churches sometimes communicate unwittingly that if you just walk down the aisle and say the sinner’s prayer, God will save you and you’ll automatically live the good life.  Now, don’t get me wrong, God is able to save people when they come to God confessing their sins and putting their trust in Jesus Christ.  Because of what Jesus Christ has done for us on our behalf, God is able to forgive our sins and justify or put right our relationship with him.  God’s salvation is a free gift of grace that does not cost us a dime.  But that’s just the beginning of the Christian life.  Once we are declared to be in a right relationship to God, God’s Holy Spirit begins the work of transforming our lives to conform us more fully into God’s image.  And we are called to cooperate and participate with the Holy Spirit in our sanctification, which is the discipline of becoming more holy and more Christ-like in our everyday life.

Perhaps in our market economy, convenience has its place, but when it comes to our spiritual life, convenience is vastly overrated.  Perhaps our first clue comes when we reflect on that fact that in a world tailored for our convenience, it would seem that we should now have all the time in the world to enjoy life and be spiritually fulfilled.  But we find ourselves living life at an ever more hectic and frenetic pace.  In the midst of being constantly connected with people through cell phones, texting and Facebook, we still find ourselves lonely and craving deeper relationships with people.  In a world where we are surrounded by more choices than we know what to do with regarding things we can consume, we find ourselves still empty and hungry for something that really satisfies, regardless of how many Snickers bars we’ve eaten.  Nevertheless, pastors and churches fall into the convenience trap because we want to increase our market share of members and we want large crowds in our sanctuaries.

That’s why today’s Gospel lesson is such a challenge.  Large crowds were following Jesus presumably because he conveniently fed the masses and healed the sick.  But now, Jesus turned to the crowd and told them some hard sayings about what it takes to be his disciple.  Jesus says, If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters–yes, even his own life–he cannot be my disciple.  Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.  And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.  In these sayings, Jesus almost goes out of his way to weed out the crowd, to winnow the masses down to those who were serious about following Him.

Following Jesus means that Jesus becomes our Lord who has priority in every area of life.  Following Jesus—discipleship—can cost us our family, our possessions and even our life.  Jesus’ own life reflected the truth of his sayings.  As we read the Gospels, we find that Jesus’ obedience to God’s mission strained his relationship to his family.  In Mark 3:21, Jesus’ family thought that Jesus was out of his mind, and was ready to seize him and take him back home.  Jesus also gave up everything that he had in order to preach the Gospel.  Jesus said in Matthew 8:20, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”  And of course, Jesus carried his cross and gave up his life in fulfillment of what he said in Mark 10:45, “For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  None of these things were convenient for Jesus, but they were necessary for our salvation.  What Jesus tells us today is not convenient for us, but it is necessary for our sanctification.  Jesus Himself is the inconvenient Truth.

What Jesus is trying to teach us is that in the Good Life as God intends for us to have, there are no quick and easy steps.  In many respects, it is one of patience and waiting.  In the coming season of Advent, we once again wait for Christ’s coming even as we are confronted with the fact that we are sinful and in need of salvation.  In our daily Christian life, we must wait upon the Lord in prayer, for Christ’s return, for God’s redemption of our bodies, and for a new heaven and a new earth.  We are told that patience is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22).  Our salvation was not achieved by an act of convenience and cheap grace; it was a costly endeavor requiring the shed blood of the Son of God.  We are not saved for a convenient and cost-free life of consumption.

Instead, we are saved to worship God, to grow together in Christian maturity and to serve others in Christ’s name.  The practices of worship, prayer, Bible study, meeting in small groups, leading and serving in ministries are the disciplines God uses to help us live the good life He intended and to free us from the god of convenience that reigns supreme in the market place.  And like so many other practices, it may seem inconvenient at first, but the more we practice doing it well, the more joy and fulfillment we will get when we find ourselves becoming more like Christ.

The good news this morning is that Jesus provides us His presence and His power in our practice of discipleship.  This morning, Jesus offers Himself to us at the Lord’s Supper.  The bread and the cup remind us of the high cost Jesus paid for our salvation.  We continue to eat and drink as a practice of on-going sanctification and as a patient waiting for His return when Christ will host a heavenly feast.  What these elements symbolize at the Lord’s Table was not cheap and easy for Jesus to provide, and neither is it cheap and easy for us to partake if we are to receive it rightly.  But if we receive it as a way to receive Christ as our Lord, then it will become food and drink that truly satisfies. Amen.

Preached by Michael Cheuk
October 25, 2009
Matthew 6:1-6

Today, I am continuing my sermon series on “The Good Life – At Least According to Walmart.”  In this series, we will examine the check-out line at Walmart—or really any grocery store—to observe and reflect on what the check-out line is trying to teach and sell as the good life.[1] The past several Sundays, I addressed the issue of health, beauty and sex, and wealth.  Today, I will examine an area of the good life that the checkout line particularly worships: celebrities.  The majority of magazines portray celebrities as the “saints” of the checkout line.  They embody the “good life” because they are often portrayed as healthy, beautiful, sexually fulfilled and, of course, wealthy.  They wear stylish clothes, drive new convertibles and look, even their pets are beautiful!  Because of all these qualities, they are often venerated, if not outright worshipped.

People reach the status of a “celebrity” when their lives are constantly on center stage in the theater of life, their every move watched, photographed and filmed.  It’s almost as if their lives have become a product for people like us to consume by purchasing magazines at the checkout line, and by watching Entertainment Tonight and “reality” TV shows.  They allow themselves to be placed on a high pedestal as models—or dare I say, idols—of the “good life,” where they are admired, desired and glorified from a distance.  While celebrities certainly benefit from all this adulation, there is a huge price to be paid in the form of the loss of privacy.  Their lives are no longer their own, and the same media that anoints celebrities into the pantheon of cultural gods is the same media that relishes in knocking them off that pedestal.  That’s why the checkout line is lined with tabloid magazines and newspapers that relish exposing celebrities of every foible, examining every pound of weight gained or lost, and every romantic relationship blossoming or blown up.  They play into our morbid curiosity over the tragedy of others.  The same lives that were charmed with the stuff of dreams can quickly become charred with a horror worthy of a Halloween nightmare.  All of that gets played out in a public theater generated by our media.

Furthermore, the shelf life of a celebrity is short.  Most get their five minutes of fame and then fade away.  Remember Tina Wesson from the second season of “Survivor” or Evan Marriott from “Joe Millionnaire”?  Many of us don’t recognize these names: Joanne Crawford, Norma Shearer, Dorothy and Lillian Gish and Roland Gilbert.  They were some of the most famous movie stars from the 1920’s.  Actress Carrie Fisher once said: “Celebrity is just obscurity biding its time.”

Some of you might be thinking right now, “I’m not a celebrity or someone famous, so what does all this have to do with me?”  While it is true that none of us in this sanctuary are celebrities like Oprah Winfrey; however, it is probably safe to say that almost all human beings have a desire to be noticed, to be recognized, and to be appreciated by somebody.  We want to be liked, to be admired, and to feel important.  In that sense, we’re no different from celebrities in terms of those desires and that mindset.  When Thea and Wes were younger, I remember when their grandpa and grandma were visiting, they would sometimes behave differently, sometimes literally putting on a show for them.  They would tell their grandparents, “Watch me!  Watch me!” as they competed for the attention of their grandparents.  Of course, grandparents make great audiences, and their “oohs” and “ahhs” and applause of approval would encourage our kids to perform even more.  At an early age, kids learn how to seek the attention of others as a way to garner approval and to affirm their worth.  And while that’s not necessarily bad, I wonder if we as parents sometimes pay too much attention to our children so that we inadvertently train them to always be dependent on us for their approval, their worth and their sense of self.  As a result, our children risk growing up into adults who will always look to other people to give them attention and approval.  And maybe, the reason why we as parents are so focused on our children is because we ourselves are too dependent on our children’s approval of us and our need for our children to like us and to need us.  Whether we’re famous or not, most of us want to be noticed, to be liked, to belong, and to feel needed and important.  That is the celebrity mindset, and I think we all have it to one degree or another as we relate to our parents, to our children, our co-workers, our friends, and our fellow church members.

In today’s Gospel lesson from Matthew, Jesus addresses this celebrity mindset when he teaches his disciples, “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them.”  In the Greek language that verse literally says: “Watch out that you do not do your righteousness in front of other people in order to be theater to them.”  As we approach another election, we are once again reminded that so much of what politicians do in public is staged, with handlers working hard to project the right image in front of the voters.  Election campaigns have become extended theater, with candidates tailoring their images and their messages to different audiences.  But it’s not just politicians.  If we’re honest with ourselves, we have to admit that many times we do the same thing.  We play to different audiences.  When we’re with one group of friends, we act one way; when we’re with another group, we act another way.  In Jesus’ day, there were people who displayed their righteousness and their religiosity in a very public way so that people would notice them and say what good people they were.  When they were helping the poor and needy, when they were doing all sorts of kind deeds and good works, they made sure that they performed these good deeds before an audience.

What Jesus was saying in this passage is that followers of Christ play to an audience of One, God our heavenly Father.  Jesus does not say that we should give up our desire to be noticed, to be recognized and praised.  We human beings are made in the image of God; therefore we are made to notice and be noticed by God.  As such, we are freed to be less concerned about our tailoring our image so that we may be approved by other people, because we already have the image of God within us.  Also, Jesus does not say that we should give up our desire for recognition and award.  It just our desire for reward should be directed toward God and not to others.  People who do things to get public praise have already been rewarded “in full.”  “In full” means that they have all the rewards they are ever going to get—the admiration of people admiration, not the reward of God.

Furthermore, one does not even need to impress oneself when doing a good deed – hence the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.  According to Frederick Dale Bruner: “Our social-justice work or our financial generosity (the one hand) should not be credited to our spiritual standing before God (the other hand).  Not only should there be no external trumpets, but there should not even by any internal music, suggesting, “I am, after all, a pretty decent person.”  Jesus is saying that we should not even seek to impress or internally justify ourselves.  Jesus is trying to liberate us from having to be impressive to anyone, including ourselves.[2] The only Person we need to impress is our heavenly Father, who sees what we have done in secret, and He will reward us, not just in this life, but with an eternal reward.

The one and perfect example of how such a good life is lived can be found in the life of Jesus Christ.  The incarnation of Christ is the antithesis of a celebrity mindset.  He was born in a lowly stable, not in Rome, the center of political power, but in Bethlehem, a small town on the outskirts of the Roman empire.  While He was as a miracle worker, many times commanded those He healed not to tell others about the miracle.  Nothing in scripture suggests that he was fashionable.  Indeed, according to the prophecy of Isaiah 53:2: “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.”  He did not seek his own glory or his own reward.  Instead, according to Philippians 2:8-11: “He humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross!  Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  Jesus shows us how to live the good life before God.

We are thankful for Jesus and we are thankful for the saints for have gone before us and who are still in our midst to also show us how to live that good life.  They are not perfect, but we can still be encouraged and inspired by them.  And at the end of the service today, we want to recognize four among us—Peggy Cave, Edith Ann Austin, Janie Simpson and Betty Watson—for their lives of service for the glory of God.  What we do today is not their full reward; they will receive their full reward from their heavenly Father later, and for our sakes, hopefully much later.  What we do today is merely our way to give thanks to God for His gift of these four lives in our midst.  May we follow their example and the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we seek to live good lives that bring joy and approval from our heavenly Father.  Amen.

[2] Frederick Dale Bruner, Matthew: A Commentary.  The Christbook: Matthew 1-12. p. 285.

Preached by Michael Cheuk
October 25, 2009
Matthew 6:19-24

Today, we are continuing my sermon series on “The Good Life – At Least According to Walmart.”  In this series, we will examine the check-out line at Walmart—or really any grocery store—to observe and reflect on what the check-out line is trying to teach and sell as the good life.[1] The past two Sundays, I addressed the issue of health and also beauty and sex, and today, I will examine what the checkout line has to teach us about wealth.  If we browse the magazines on display at the check-out lines, we see pages and pages of advertisements and articles that tell us that we are not living the good life because the clothes that we have are out of style, the house we live in is too small, the car that we drive is too dull, the computer we use is too slow, and the cell phone we carry is not smart enough.  The message is that if we acquire those things, we will live the good life.

At first glance, this vision of the good life is attractive and enticing.  Who doesn’t want to live in a mansion, drive a new BMW, wear trendy fashion and play with the latest electronic gadgets?  But upon closer inspection, living the good life this way exacts a price.  I’ll use myself as an example.  You all know that I like photography and that I’ve got a nice digital camera.  When I bought this camera in 2004, it was near the top of the line.  When I took it home, I was on top of the world—I had the biggest, baddest camera in my neighborhood!  But it wasn’t enough to just buy the camera, my new camera exacted a financial price in the form of a new camera bag, new lenses, filters, batteries, and an expensive photo editing program.  Furthermore, it exacted an emotional price in the form of constant anxiety about someone stealing the camera.  It exacted a relational price, as more than once I rebuked my kids for touching or playing with daddy’s big camera.  As time went on, it continues to exact a price of discontentment as newer and better models are being introduced every 18 months.  I must confess that lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time and mental attention reading up on new cameras and trying to talk myself out of upgrading and buying one of them.  While this “old” camera is a “treasure” to me, I’m still tempted to upgrade and start that vicious cycle once again.  So, when one thinks of the ways that this camera has exacted monetary, emotional and relational resources from me, one can rightly ask whether I own the camera, or whether this camera owns me.  Now multiply all the other material possessions that we all accumulate, and you can see how living and buying the good life according to this world is a costly affair, not just for us but for future generations.  In our credit culture of “buy now, pay later,” we as a country have succumbed to accumulating things we can’t afford and we have saddled ourselves and our children with a mountain of debt.

In today’s Gospel lesson, we hear Jesus’ message of what it means to live the good life in God’s Kingdom.  Jesus says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.”  Everyone has his or her own “treasures.”  It is part of human nature to want to accumulate.  We see that in very young children when they hug a beloved stuffed animal close and proclaim, “Mine!”  We adults do the same thing, except our treasures are usually less soft and huggable.  We want treasures because we think they give us security.  But in fact, earthly treasures lead us to security’s opposite, anxiety.  Jesus knows this and He is trying to free us from anxiety regarding our treasures.  But Jesus is not telling us not to treasure and store up things; He is telling us to treasure and store up the right things, things that last, things that give eternal life.

Many times, we accumulate wealth and treasures out of our desire to impress people, to win their admiration, and perhaps even their jealousy.  If that’s where our heart is, it will show up in the earthly treasures we accumulate.  But if our heart is first and foremost focused on loving God, then we will treasure the things that God values and love, things like feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick, and sharing the good news of God’s Kingdom.  When we make it our ambition to be a success before our heavenly Father, to obey Him and to impress Him, then we will store up treasures that are absolutely secure and lasting.

When it comes to our wealth and material possession, it is so easy to delude ourselves and not clearly see where we stand.  Most people don’t think they are wealthy.  That’s because they compare themselves with the Bill Gates, the Tiger Woods and the Will Smiths of the world.  But when we compare ourselves with the rest of the world, then it is clear that ALL of us are extremely wealthy.  A person earning $25,000 a year is already making more than 90% of the people in the world.[2] Sometimes, people justify making and spending a lot of money by saying that they are doing it for the sake of their children.  But too often, the things we buy for our children are really ways we try to lessen our guilt for not spending time with them because we are always at work making money.  Jesus says, “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.”  We need to have good eyes to clearly see our motivations for our accumulating wealth.  If our eyes are not clear on this matter of money and material possessions, the whole of our lives are perverted.  Following Jesus will cause fundamental lifestyle changes.[3]

Like health, beauty and sex, the heart of the matter is this question: “Who or what will we ultimately serve?”  Discipleship is not just about reading the Bible and attending Bible studies—very important things, to be sure.  It is also about doing what the Bible says, about obeying God’s desire in the way we treat our bodies, our sexuality and in the area of economics.  Jesus tells us that it is impossible to serve both God and Money at the same time; so we might as well not waste our time attempting the impossible.  I find it ironic that some Christians fight so hard to keep “In God We Trust” on our currency, when in practice, we do not act much differently from unbelievers when it comes to how we spend our money.  Could it be that this battle is merely a diversionary tactic Christians use so that we don’t have to face up to the fact that, in reality, we trust and serve money more than God?

Let’s ask ourselves, how has our faith in God transformed our attitudes towards money so that we learn to be more content with what we have?  How has our faith in Jesus Christ transformed our desires for material possessions so that we learn to live with less for ourselves and to be more generous in our giving to neighbors in need?  This month, we’ve raised $478 for missions toward our goal of $1000.  Not a bad start!  But I wonder how that compares to the money we as a church have spent on lunch after worship during these same three Sundays?  Let’s be clear here.  We’re not doing God or the church a favor by our giving to a missions offering or by tithing.  Stewardship drives and missions offerings are gifts that God gives to us to discipline our faith, to declare our allegiance to the one true God and to unbind ourselves from the shackles of the false god of materialism.  Stewardship drives and missions offerings are the spiritual keys to our financial independence!  Learning to spend less on ourselves and to give more to God is a spiritual discipline, just like remaining sexually chaste in our relationships is a discipline of spiritual formation.  Both help us to rightly order our desires so that we are freed from the bondage of the religion of the checkout line.

Jesus is right, we cannot serve two masters.  We cannot serve both God and Money.  Money is a good servant, but a bad master.  The good news this morning is that we have a Master who was described by Paul in 2 Corinthians 8:9 this way: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich,” and here I add, “with treasures in heaven.”  And so this morning, we are once again invited to choose our master, to choose between life or death, divine security or chronic anxiety, eternal joy or ephemeral happiness.  May God help us not only to choose rightly, but to give us the courage to live faithfully into the good life that God has for us.  Amen.

[2] http://globalrichlist.com/.

[3] Frederick Dale Bruner, Matthew: A Commentary.  The Christbook: Matthew 1-12, p. 324.

Preached by Michael Cheuk
October 18, 2009
1 Corinthians 6:15-20

Last Sunday, I started a new sermon series called “The Good Life – At Least According to Walmart” and in this series we will examine the check-out line at Walmart—or really any grocery store—to observe and reflect on what the check-out line is trying to teach and sell as the good life.[1] Last Sunday, we explored the matter of health, and this Sunday, I would like to explore what the check-out line is trying to teach us about beauty and sex.  So, I went to Walmart and picked up the current issues of two magazines, “O” the Oprah magazine for women, and “GQ” or Gentlemen’s Quarterly for men.  There’s no mistaking what GQ is selling on its front cover, and the cover of “O” touts a headline: “Instant Beauty Boosters.”  In both magazines, there are ads and pictures of attractive people calling us to “Live Your Best Life,” and showing images of what it means to be “Beautiful,” at least according to Estée Lauder.  In both magazines, page after page, we see pictures of slim, young models with buff bodies and flawless complexions in romantic settings, selling various products like makeup, perfumes, clothes and cars.  Who can measure up to these body images throughout the course of one’s life?  As Dallas Willard once observed: “As you encounter advertising and other media at supermarket checkout lines, newsstands, and bookstores or on television, you might think that the most unfortunate people in the world today are fat, the misshapen, the bald, the ugly, [and] the old.”[2]

What these magazine ads and articles and media messages teach us is actually a story of salvation.  Just as in the Christian salvation story, the check-out line teaches us that we are lost in a fallen world, but we can live the good life if we buy newer and better products.  The pages of the magazine are filled with images of new clothes, shoes, haircuts and make-up that we will transform us into beautiful and desirable people, worthy of love and acceptance by a group of friends, sure, but most importantly, by the one – your romantic partner.  And the highest, most sacred expression of this love and acceptance, according to the magazines, is sex.  We are taught that a good life that is happy, complete and whole is not possible without sex.

I truly believe that this is one of the stories of salvation preached by the check-out lines.  The stores are the “churches” of this religion, and every time we walk down those aisles, an invitation is extended to surrender our lives to another lord and savior.  And while the message of this religion is certainly enticing, upon further reflection, there is a price to be paid.  We may think that women are more susceptible to this story, but judging from the number of Rogaine and Bowflex commercials out there, men are not immune to it, either.  Both men and women can internalize the message that in order to be acceptable and loved, in order to be desirable and have worth, they will have to either attain or maintain an imaginary Photoshopped standard of beauty.  Their bodies become a commodity, a product.  Even children’s clothing these days can show our society’s pressure for young women to appear sexually appealing and attract a boyfriend.  Unfortunately, this product called “physical beauty” has an optimal shelf life of only about a decade, so that by the time people are in their thirties, we have often gone beyond our “freshness expiration date.”  Then, for the rest of our lives, we are sentenced to constant anxiety while fighting a losing battle to maintain a youthful appearance through botox, hair treatments, and cosmetic surgery.  This salvation story comes with a price and in the end, it is a losing battle.  We can think of any number of celebrities, male and female, who have made themselves a spectacle through endless attempts to cling to youthful beauty.  Is this good news?

One reason why physical beauty is so important in the marketplace is because it is the outward packaging to something all human beings desire: love.  Physical beauty is like a fancy wrapped Christmas gift that attracts our attention and begs us to open it first.  We think we have more of a chance to be loved if we’re physically attractive and desirable to others.  In addition, the check-out line confuses sex with love.  This story tells us that the powerful, ecstatic, bonding experience that sex can provide is the same as love, or at the very least, leads straight to love.  Unfortunately, in this story, sex itself has become a commodity, a product, where the partners come together as consumers, and as long as each is satisfied with the product, they stay together.  That’s why there are so many articles in the check-out line magazines about “improving” one’s sex life.  But if the product gets old or stale, or if new and improved versions of the product come along, then there is a temptation to explore new choices, to surrender to one’s desires and to pay the price by breaking someone’s heart or by divorcing.  That’s why in the check-out line, “great sex” is most often found outside of marriage, where the consumer can select from a choice of partners and indulge in a novelty of experiences while unencumbered by the inconvenience of children and pregnancy.  This story assumes that you’ll always be the consumer.  But the untold story is that sooner or later, we will be the one being consumed, and once we’re used up, we’re just as likely to be cast aside for someone younger and prettier.  Salvation is promised by this story, but we have to pay the price.  Is this good news?

In stark contrast to the salvation story preached at the check-out line is the salvation story found in the Bible.  In this story, at the very beginning in Genesis, it teaches us that God created human beings, not in the image of Madison Avenue, but in God’s own image.  In other words, there’s nothing we human beings need to do to attain God’s image, because God’s image is already in us, in our bodies.  Our bodies are not commodities, products to which other people can assign value, because God the creator has already assigned our bodies intrinsic value and beauty.  There is a world of difference between looking beautiful and being beautiful because our beautiful Lord is living in us.  When God finished creating human beings and their bodies, God told them to be fruitful and increase in number.  Part of what it means to be created in the image of God is to bring other human beings into the world as a way to continue God’s creative work.  And then God declared them not just good, but very good.  This is the starting point for us human beings.

Then the Lord God declared in Genesis 2:18, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”  Notice God did not say, “I will make a pleasurable playmate suitable for him.”  Also, it is important to note that in the Hebrew, the word for “helper” does not mean “servant” or “assistant” because that term is used to describe God Himself. The woman is not a subservient but an equal “helper” in fulfilling God’s mission.  When we are seeking a spouse, the first question we should ask is not, “Will this person make me happy?” or “Will this person complete me?”  Those are questions that consumers ask.  The first question we should ask is “Will this person help me fulfill God’s mission for my life?”  And this second question should quickly follow, “Can I help this person fulfill God’s mission for his or her life?”  If you’re looking for a life mate, pay less attention to whether you two have similar tastes in what you consume – like music, clothes and restaurants.  Pay more attention to whether you two can work together to produce joy and blessing in others by going on mission trips and service projects.  When we stop becoming consumers in our intimate relationships, we will more likely treat our significant others as persons and not as products.  That’s the beginning of true love.

Then there is the classical passage concerning sex within marriage: “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh” (Gen. 2:24).  In God’s story of salvation, sex is intended only for marriage, because the “one flesh” is not only about physical intimacy, but about permanence.  Choice, novelty and convenience are overriding values in the marketplace economy.  But in the economy of God’s kingdom, commitment, loyalty and permanence are the divine virtues of marriage.  In such a marriage, no spouse will fear being cast away for growing old, fat, or bald, and there will be nothing to prove or no standards of performance when it comes to sex.

Now, of course, in God’s story of creation, there too is a fall, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and a great gulf grew between them and God.  In the fall, our human sexual desires were disordered, and one task of Christian discipleship is the ordering of all our desires, of which sexual desire is just one.  Jesus said, in Matthew 22:37-39, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”  So instead of just surrendering to every desire and whim, Christians are called to desire God first and foremost.  And if you and your significant other can exercise self-control and order your sexual desires—outside and within marriage—then most likely, you will also be able to exercise self-control in other areas of your life, like financial expenditures, your emotions when you get into arguments, and your responses when things don’t go your way.  Therefore, the Christian admonition to refrain from sex before marriage is not an antiquated rule to spoil your fun.  It is a practice of spiritual formation to rightly order your desire in this powerful area of your life, so that you and your future spouse will develop the skills to rightly order other desires and exercise self-control in other areas of your life.  That is the path to wholeness and peace.

For you see, our bodies and our sexuality are distorted when we make it into a commodity, a product to be used to fulfill unfettered desires.  That’s why Paul warns the Christians of Corinth to not join with prostitutes, because that act traps us in a story that treats the prostitute as a product for pleasure and not as a person created in the image of God.  We also violate God’s intent for the gift of our sexuality and we sin against our own bodies, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit.  But I might say that anytime we’ve used anything or anyone, even our spouse, as solely a product for our own pleasure, we’ve sinned against our own body and against that person.  And there’s a price to be paid.  But in God’s story of salvation, in God’s economy, God pays the price for our failings and sins in the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ.

There’s a story about a young boy who built a small sailboat. He spent weeks carefully carving the hull, tying the rigging, sewing the sails and the painting it all. Once complete, this sailboat was the best sailboat the little boy had ever seen.  It was beautiful, and it was his.  Every day after school the young boy would take the sailboat down to the creek. One day however, the current was much stronger than usual and it carried his sailboat quickly downstream and it got lost.  Every day after that, the young boy would walk down the creek hoping to find his lost sailboat. One day, he saw a small sailboat lying on a bank.  It was scratched and dented, and the sail was torn, but it was his sailboat, found at last.

Just as he was about to reach for his sailboat another boy appeared and shouted “Get away from that. It’s mine!”

“But it isn’t yours, it’s mine. I made it.”

“I found it, so it’s mine!” cried the second boy.

“Let me buy it back then?” pleaded the maker of the little sailboat.

“How much do you have?”

“Promise to come back here tomorrow, and I’ll show you.” And with that the young boy ran home as fast as he could.  He gathered all his toys, his comics, marbles, soccer ball, boots, even his most prized pocket knife and bundled them all into a backpack.  When the next afternoon came around, the young boy ran to the creek to meet the other boy.

The young boy put his backpack on the ground and opened it, allowing the other boy to see all that was inside. The other boy’s eyes lit up for a moment and then he asked: “How much of that can I have for the sailboat?” he asked.

“I will give you everything,” was the reply.

The deal was done, and the boy took his boat and started home.  As he held it tight near his heart, he said, “Little boat, I love you even more now. You are twice mine. Once because I made you, but then you were lost to me, and now I have bought you back.”

Just as the boy in our story loved his boat so much that he gave all the money he had in order to buy it back, Jesus and God loved us so much that they gave the most precious gift they had in order to buy us back.  That’s why Paul says, “You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”  In other words, we, in our totality—mind, body and soul—were made beautifully by God in His image.  But in our sin, we got lost like that little boat, and as a result, we are marred and broken, and we may feel like we are damaged goods.  But in God’s story, Jesus comes looking for us, and when He finds us, hear these words that He says to us: “Little child, I love you even more now.  You are twice mine.  Once because I made you, but then you were lost to me, and now I have bought you back.”  Now that is beautiful.  That is the love we are looking for, and it is a love true enough that can order our other desires so that we can live a good life.  That is good news.  That is the story worth living.  Amen.

[2] Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, p. 122.

Preached by Michael Cheuk
October 11, 2009
Romans 12: 1-2

Today, I’m starting a new sermon series called “The Good Life – At Least According to Walmart” and in this series, we’re going to examine the check-out line at Walmart—or really for that matter, any grocery store—to observe and reflect on what the check-out line is trying to teach and sell as the good life.[1] At the check-out line, there are all those impulse items: candy, breath mints, razors, batteries, lip balm, cheap toys, and seasonal items are all strategically placed so that shoppers and their kids will be tempted to buy them.  Then there are the people celebrity, beauty and Soap Opera magazines.  I don’t know about you, when I’m waiting at the check-out line, I confess that I find myself browsing the magazine covers.  It’s really hard to avert your eyes from the beautiful people and the bold headlines promoting their version of the good life.  And one gets the uneasy feeling that we, the customers, are in reality the ones being browsed.  With their hyper-real eyes and Photoshopped bodies, modern-day sirens call out to us with their enticing songs like: “Less Stress. True Bliss.”  “Make Him Fall in Love with You.” “Ten Easy Steps to Financial Independence.”and “Make Your Dream House Come True.”  Market research has browsed and analyzed our desires and made them into various products, packaged and mass-produced for us to purchase as a way to pursue the good life.  At the check-out line, we are faced with the gospel of the god of materialism and success, trying to mold who we are and make us into that image.  Once we recognize that, we can, with God’s help, not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind.

Today, I want to address the topic of “health” – and just this week, I went to Walmart, and I picked up a couple of magazines at their check-out line.  One of them is Prevention magazine, and on the cover is a picture of Michelle Obama in a blue dress with these headlines: “Happy and Healthy at Any Age: Life Really Gets Good When You’re 40 and 50.”  Another headline is “Flat Belly Foods! Cure Cravings. Speed Metabolism. Beat the Bloat.”  And highlighted in the table of contents is this article: “Win at Weight Loss: What’s the best way to fight over 40 fat?  Miriam Nelson, Ph.D., an exercise pioneer, knows the secret and shares it.  Hint: It’s not with long sessions in the gym.”  Now, I found these articles to be interesting and informative.  I also found them to be wonderful ways to procrastinate from having to work on this sermon!

First of all, let me be clear, I’m not saying that our bodily and mental health is not important.  After all, the apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”  We honor God with our bodies when we take care of it, eat right, get exercise, and don’t abuse it.  I don’t think there is anything wrong with the preventative care of our bodies from disease.  Neither do I think there is anything wrong with going to see a doctor when we are ill.

But I do think that “health” has become a major challenge and preoccupation in our society today.  Many of us agree with what the fictional Count Tyrone Rugen said in Princess Bride when he says: “If you haven’t got your health, then you haven’t got anything.”  For many people, their health is the most important thing in their lives.  Just look at the health care debate that is raging around the country.  Now, I’m not smart enough to evaluate the proposals that are being offered and debated.  But it seems to me that this debate has touched a raw nerve in our country that has elevated our national anxieties and fears.

Apart from our national health care debates over medical access and cost, over justice and equality issues, I think I can safely say that the deepest issue we face as a country today regarding our health is a spiritual one.  For both believers and unbelievers alike, our preoccupation with our health reflects a deep anxiety about death.  How do you want to die?  Most people, including myself would reply:  “Quickly, in my sleep, painlessly and without being a burden.”  Ethicist Stanley Hauerwas once quipped: “You don’t want to be a burden because you don’t trust your children.”  But Hauerwas also argues that it is very interesting to contrast our modern day attitudes towards death with medieval practices and attitudes.  Medieval Christians feared the very thing that we want — a quick death.  A quick death would not give them the time to be ministered to by the church through the sacrament of reconciliation and penance.  A quick death would rob Christians of the opportunity to reconcile with their enemies (largely their families), their church and God.  What the medievals feared was not death, what they feared was God.  Cancer was not a tragedy, it gave them time to live through their death, to slowly prepare to say good-bye to this life.[2] And as late as the 1928 edition of The Book of Common Prayer of the Anglican Church, there is a litany that has this line: “From lightning and tempest; from earthquake, fire, and flood; from plague, pestilence, and famine; from battle and murder, and from sudden death, Good Lord, deliver us.”[3] Our modern-day attitude toward death, our hope of avoiding death is very different from what Christians have traditionally believed, and it skews the way we think about and value health.  In medieval times, the great buildings of their day were the cathedrals, great edifices built to pay homage to God.  A case can be made that the great cathedrals of our day are the medical centers, great edifices built to pay homage to fighting illness and death.

In our New Testament lesson today, Paul says in Romans 12: I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship.  What does it mean to “offer your bodies as living sacrifices to God as a spiritual act of worship?”  I think it can mean a lot of things, but I would like to suggest this morning that it can mean that we are called to live our bodily lives – not just as individuals, but in community – in such a way that we point to the grace and goodness of God, not just on Sunday mornings at 11 am, but every moment of every day.  Christians are in training in life and in death, in health and in illness to please God and give God the glory as a community.  When we are healthy, we are tempted to be autonomous and self-sufficient, not needing other people or even God.  Illness forcefully reminds us that we are limited and dependent on others as well as God.

This is the reason why we owe one another our sufferings.  Too often, we come to church to show people that we’re OK, that we’re strong.  Stanley Hauerwas tells a story of his church in South Bend, Indiana, that was made up mostly of self-sufficient, respectable people.  In their prayer times, they would pray for the starving in Ethiopia, to end the war in Iraq.  No one ever said anything about themselves.  One day, a bag lady attended Sunday worship and during the pastoral prayer time at one worship service, this lady prayed aloud: “Lord – I have a terrible cold this week – make these people help me!”  This lady reminded the church that that they needed one another.  They needed to say what was wrong with their lives to one another, to share their illnesses, their uncertainties with one another in a way that made community possible.

As a minister, I visit a lot of sick and dying people, and I used to think that that is my ministry to them.  But now, I’ve come to realize that I am called to visit the sick and the dying not just because I can minister to them, but because to the extent that the sick and the dying are living their lives pointing to the grace and goodness of God, they can train me on how to live with sickness and die with grace.  One example: I have been schooled by Sarah Terry throughout her journey with cancer.  She offered her failing, cancerous body as a living, sacrificial, spiritual act of worship.  And those of you who knew her would agree that she lived a “good life” in the deepest, most profound sense of that term.  The way she lived her life in our community as her health ebbed away transformed my thinking about a proper Christian attitude toward health and death that is less conformed by the idolatries of this world.  What Sarah taught me was not only good, it was beautiful.  And she’s not alone.  I’m sure we can all think of others in this congregation who have blessed us by being powerful models of what it means to live and die in Christ.  And may we learn to be bless others by offering our bodily presence to live a good life in Christ even in the midst of illness, suffering and pending death.

Our Lord Jesus Christ provided such a bodily presence during his Last Supper with his disciples.  He knew he was about to suffer and die, but instead of withdrawing from his friends, he intentionally sought their company and offered his body as a living sacrifice to teach his disciples how to live a good life in the midst of suffering and pending death.  So, when we eat the bread that is his body and drink from the cup that is his blood, we identify ourselves with the suffering and the death of our Lord.  We also proclaim that bodily health is not the ultimate value for us, and that we can live a good life (whether in sickness or in health) that points to the grace and goodness of God because the grace and goodness of God is literally in our bodies.  We also live in the hope of a bodily resurrection made possible by the bodily resurrection of Jesus.

Our Lord Jesus Christ now extends an invitation for His followers to commune with Him at His table so that we may be strengthened and sustained to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God as our spiritual act of worship.  Amen.

[2] http://www.emergentvillage.com/podcast/stanley-hauerwas-on-theology

[3] http://www.commonprayer.org/offices/litany_n.cfm

For five weeks starting September 4, I’m departing from the lectionary and doing a sermon series called “Get a Life!” based on a book by Reggie McNeal called Get a Life!  It IS All About You.

I will not be posting the texts to these sermons because I won’t be preaching out of a manuscript for much of these topical sermons.  However, you can download the audio files below listed in reverse chronological order:

Oct 4: “What Do I Need to Learn?“

Sept 27: “What Am I Really Good At?“

Sept 20: “What Is My Scorecard?“

Sept 13: “What Is Important to Me?“

Sept 6: “Why Am I Here?“

Preached by Michael Cheuk
August 23, 2009, Eleventh Sunday of Pentecost, Year B
John 6:55-69

Have you ever been in a situation where you were served something at a meal and you had absolutely no idea what it was? I’ve had several instances in school or in college at which the famous “mystery meat” was served. It’s uncomfortable biting into something you don’t know. However, I do have to say that sometimes for me, it is better to eat something not knowing what it is than to eat something out of the ordinary and knowing exactly what it is. Thirteen years ago, Beth and I traveled to Hong Kong and China with my family to celebrate my grandfather’s eightieth birthday. While we were there, almost every meal was a banquet, and we were served many Chinese “delicacies.” One time, they served us roasted pigeons, which weren’t too bad – I tried to think of them as pieces of midget chickens. Unfortunately for me, among the bits of pigeon wings, thighs, drumsticks and breasts were also roasted pigeon heads, chopped off at the neck, perfectly browned and caramelized, beaks and eyes included! There’s just something disturbing about your food looking back at you while you’re trying to eat it! To make it worse, my Chinese relatives have a practice of reaching into a dish and picking out pieces of food and offering them to Beth and me. On that day, I was praying to God that my relatives would not pick out a pigeon head and put it into my rice bowl. Thankfully they didn’t, but if they had, they would have seen Michael Cheuk up-chuck!

Well, today in our Gospel Lesson from John, Jesus served up some words that were definitely tough to swallow: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.” What in the world could Jesus have meant by that? If you remember earlier in the Gospel of John, chapter 6, Jesus had just fed five thousand men (not including women and children), and now, crowds of people were following him, probably wondering when Jesus was going to open up his free buffet again. Jesus then taught the crowds saying, “I am the bread of life,” signifying that the physical bread He was offering was only a sign pointing to something, or Someone, who was more life-giving and eternally satisfying. Now, Jesus followed that up with this scandalous claim in verse 53: “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” Those are tough words to swallow!

If the crowds surrounding Jesus were following Him because He could fill their empty stomachs, well, this saying was guaranteed to ruin their appetites. What Jesus said was offensive and a stumbling block to every good Jew because, for them, eating human flesh and drinking blood of any sort was totally out of the question. But what Jesus said sounds like cannibalism and it was offensive to Jews back then and is certainly to us today. Now, I certainly don’t think Jesus was literally offering his physical body to be consumed. So why would Jesus say such a shocking and scandalous thing that was almost designed to drive people away?

Anthropologists have discovered tribes that actually practice ritual cannibalism. The rationale for such behavior is usually that in consuming parts of the body, the person ingests the characteristics or the valued qualities of the deceased. In other words, this ritual act was one way a person can make a statement about his or her identity, values and character. It’s so easy for us civilized, enlightened folk to view these tribes as savage and barbaric. But apart from the actual eating of human flesh, are we that different from those tribes in our perspective about food? In our culture, eating is not merely for physical sustenance. We eat and consume things for a variety of reasons. And many times, what we eat makes a statement about our identity, our values and our character. Consider these examples:

I eat steak and potatoes because I’m a no-nonsense, manly man.

You won’t find me dead in a fast food restaurant, because I am cultured and refined.

Fancy French restaurants are not for me because I value frugality.

I am a vegetarian because I am morally sensitive and health conscious.

To some, people who drink Evian water are sophisticated.

To others, people who spend $1.50 for a small bottle of Evian are naïve, which is, after all, “Evian” spelled backwards!

So, the food we eat can tell a lot about us. After all, people say: “You are what you eat.” When Jesus says: I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you,” Jesus is calling us to “consume” Him so that our identity, our values our character, essentially who we are, are based solely on Him. Jesus is saying, “Eat my life and make it part of you and your life. Nourish yourself by my lifestyle and teaching, wash it down with the blood of my self-giving and sharing. It is not enough to consume what the world has to give. It is not even enough to consume what I can give to you. You have to consume me, take me in, absorb me so that I become an integral part of your life.”

So what does it mean to take in Jesus, to absorb Him integrally into our lives? Let’s do an exercise. Imagine yourself living in a country where Christians are persecuted for their faith. Imagine that the government came after you, separated you from your family, your children and your loved ones. Imagine the soldiers taking you away to prison, so that you cannot worship in church or at BCM, cannot attend youth group or youth camp, cannot attend Christian conferences and Emmaus Walks, cannot meet with your prayer triplets. You are physically alone in your cell with very little contact with the outside world.

Imagine this scenario and be honest with yourself. If those things happened to you, would there still be joy and peace in your life? Would you still feel the presence and love of Christ within you? I must confess that my answer to those questions would probably be “No.” And my answer tells me just how much I’m still attached to the things of this earth, just how little is Christ an integral part of my life, just how far I have to travel in my spiritual journey. Jesus is saying to me, “Don’t be satisfied with just consuming the blessings that I give to you, consume me.” And when I do that, I will be like the apostle Paul, who, while in prison separated from his family with very little contact with the outside world, could write in Philippians 4:12-13: “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

Consuming Christ has all sorts of practical implications for my spiritual walk. It implies that it is not enough to consume information about Jesus; I’m called to study the Bible so that I can live like Jesus. It is not enough to seek and consume worshipful experiences of God; my whole life is called to be a worshipful act of living for God. Consuming Christ also has implications in how we “do” church. As a church leader, it is tempting for me to offer people all sorts of programs for their consumption, while leaving them starving for Jesus Himself. Do you know why so many young people active in youth group drop out of church when they go off to college? I think one of the reasons is because church leaders often do a good job of feeding our youth “fun” and “exciting” experiences of God and of community—good things to be sure—but we fail to teach our youth how to feed on Christ Himself. When students go off to college, they are either looking for churches to replicate their past experiences of God, or they are so enticed by other fun and exciting experiences now available to them that they no longer “need” church. Finally, consuming Christ has implications for everyday life. For if I am truly filled and satisfied with Christ, then I will be less enslaved by my past failures, less needy for present approval and affirmation, and less anxious about future uncertainties. It implies that I will be more detached from the things of this earth and more attached to Christ and Christ alone. Things that are out of my control will no longer bother me because I know that Christ in me is fully in control.

“Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” ultimately means I live in such a way that only Jesus Himself satisfies my deepest longings. These are tough words to swallow, because I live under the illusion that the good life means Christ AND . . . Christ and supportive parents, Christ and a loving spouse, Christ and beautiful children, Christ and a lucrative job, Christ and things going my way, Christ and material goods, health, popularity, success, whatever. But Jesus is actually saying, “No, the good life means Christ, alone.” That’s it. No wonder many of Jesus’ disciples turned back and no longer followed him. It is so hard to let go of the things of this earth, even though they are merely human, temporary, passing and transient.

After seeing so many turn back from Him, Jesus asked the Twelve: “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Simon Peter answered: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” New Testament scholar William Barclay once explained “eternal life” this way. He says that it is far better to speak of eternal life than to speak of everlasting life. “Everlasting” means lasting for a long, long time, until the end of time. But “eternal” really means without beginning or end, existing outside of time. God is not everlasting, bounded by time. God is eternal because God existed before time; in fact, God created time. So “eternal life” is not just about how long in time one lives, it is really about living a certain quality, a certain kind of life that God lives. Barclay writes: “To enter into eternal life is to enter into that kind of life which is the life of God. It is to be lifted up above merely human, temporary, passing, transient things, into that joy and peace which belong only to God.”

In other words, we cannot enter into eternal life, that timeless quality of life filled with the joy and peace of God, if we’re still clinging on to the temporary things of this earth, the very things that Christ is calling us to let go of when He invites us to eat his flesh and drink his blood. In Revelation 3:20, Jesus says: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” The Good News is that Jesus wants to come in fully into our lives, not so that we can fix supper for Him, or even so that He can cook for us. He wants to come in so that He can be our feast. Jesus gives Himself to us, even to the point of allowing his body to be broken and his blood shed for us on a cross. When we truly feast on Christ, then we will take on His identity, His values and His character. We will begin to live the kind of life that God lives, not just after we’re dead and in heaven, but starting right now, right here. Peter was right, Jesus has the words of eternal life; in fact, Jesus is the Word, the Way, the Truth and the Life. They may be tough words to swallow at first, but ultimately, they are wonderful words of life! Amen.

Preached by Michael Cheuk
August 9, 2009, Tenth Sunday After Pentecost, Year B
John 6:35, 41-51

Have you ever been in a situation with a group of people in a quiet setting and your stomach begins growling?  First it starts with a low rumble, and then it quickly crescendos into a loud, gurgling grumble that catches the attention of everyone near you.  You try to look nonchalant, but everyone knows that it is you.  It’s really quite annoying and embarrassing.  But aside from the annoyance and embarrassment, a growling stomach is only a symptom of a deeper issue.  Your body is crying out for food to maintain its existence.  Food, water and air are things that we human beings need on a continuing basis to physically live.  Without those things, we would die.

And so, it is not surprising that when Jesus performed the miracle of feeding five thousand men with loaves of bread and fish at the beginning of John chapter 6, thousands of people began to follow him.  Here was a man who could feed their physical hunger, a man who could sustain their physical existence.  No more embarrassing growling stomachs!  They would have been fools not to follow Jesus.  But Jesus told the crowds in verses 26 and 27 that while they sought Him because they ate the loaves of bread and had their fill, they should work not for food that spoils, but food that endures to eternal life.  Jesus then dug deep into their common history to tell how their ancestors ate manna in the desert, but while that bread would spoil and rot, God the Father could offer the true bread of heaven that gives life to the world.  Upon hearing this, imagine what must have gone through the minds of the people: “Wow, this is even better than the loaves and the fish!  There’s bread that we can eat to give us eternal life!  No more hunger!  No more worries about where our next meal will come from!  One bite of this bread and we can relax and be secure!”  No wonder the crowds responded in verse 34: “Sir,” they said, “from now on give us this bread.”

In response to their request, Jesus replied in verse 35: “I am the bread of life.  He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”  One can almost hear a great big “thud” as the sky-high expectations of the crowd fell like a lead balloon.  They were probably expecting Jesus to reach into his robe and carefully bring out a magical bag from which he would distribute morsels of a most delectable, heavenly substance that would instantly fill their growling stomachs.  Instead, Jesus identifies Himself as the bread of life, and claims that the key to being filled is following and believing in Him.

“I am the bread of life.”  We Christians are so used to hearing this from Sunday School lessons and sermons that we’ve forgotten that this is actually a hard saying of Jesus.  There are a lot of things here to get hung up on.  For the crowds that were following Jesus that day, they were scandalized by His use of the term “I AM,” which was the name that God revealed to Moses at the burning bush.  They got hung up on Jesus’ claim of divinity, of being the Son of the heavenly Father, when they knew Jesus to be the son of an earthly father, Joseph the carpenter.  They wanted Jesus to meet their expectations and felt needs on their own terms, but as soon as Jesus failed to meet their expectations and asked for belief and trust on Jesus’ own terms, they grumbled – just like their ancestors grumbled in the desert when God provided another kind of bread from heaven on His own terms.  How many times have we wanted God to meet our needs and to fill our hunger on our own terms but struggled with following God on God’s own terms?

While the crowds were scandalized by Jesus’ identification with the “I AM,” others are scandalized by the meaning of “bread.”  “I am the bread of life” is a hard saying for us “civilized” folk because we are scandalized by Jesus’ claim that “this bread is my flesh.”  The charge of cannibalism has been made against Christians ever since the second century.  Once again, we in the Church are so used to this language, we don’t think twice about it, but for people not raised in the Church, this can be a big stumbling block.  It might be helpful for some to know that, in the beginning of the Gospel of John, Jesus was described as the Word, who became flesh and made his dwelling among us (John 1:14).  When Jesus said, “this bread is my flesh,” I believe He was making a theological and not a literal statement in line with the truth that human beings do not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4).  For John, Jesus is the eternal Word of God become flesh.  To receive God’s Word, to consume it into our lives is a part of what it means to believe in Jesus as the Son of God.

Finally, while some are scandalized over the “I AM” statement, and others stumble over the meaning of “bread,” still others struggle over the meaning of “life” in the phrase “I am the bread of life.”  In this passage, Jesus made a bold claim in verse 51 that “if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”  For most of us, when we hear this verse, we immediately think about life after death.  And much ink has been spilled over theological debates regarding the efficacy of the bread served at communion or the Eucharist to confer life after death.  But “life” is so much more than mere existence on either side of the grave.  The late Jesuit priest and mystic Anthony de Mello made a profound point:  “My experience is that it’s precisely the ones who don’t know what to do with this life who are all hot and bothered about what they are going to do with another life.”  Many times we are consumed over question of whether there is life after death.  But perhaps the real question is: Is there life before death?[1]

Jesus promised in John 10:10: “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”  I believe that this full life does not begin after we are dead, but it begins in this life.  The Greek word for life is zoe, which can also be defined as the state of one who is possessed of vitality.  There’s no question that everyone in this sanctuary has physical life this morning.  The real question, I think, is whether everyone in this sanctuary is living life with vitality, meaning, and purpose.  Physical bread and physical food can help us to exist.  But we are created for so much more than mere existence.  We are not meant to just live, we are meant to be alive!  We are not meant to just exist, we are meant to be excited about life, to have vitality, to have meaning and purpose.  As such, we are made to hunger for that zoe, that vitality, that aliveness filled with meaning and purpose.

When Jesus tells the crowds (and us) that He is the bread of life, Jesus is saying that only He can satisfy the deepest hunger of our spirits, only He can satiate the most profound cravings of our souls.  Physical bread can briefly satisfy our physical hunger.  But the Bread of life—the Word of God written in our minds, the Son of God living in our lives, the Spirit of God loving in our hearts—that is the only food that will forever satisfy our spiritual hunger.  Frederick Buechner once said: “A glutton is one who raids the icebox for a cure for spiritual malnutrition.”[2] Let’s face it, we eat for a lot of reasons.  We eat not just to keep ourselves in existence.  Many times, we eat as an attempt to alleviate not physical hunger, but the many other deep hungers we have – like our hunger for love, acceptance, companionship and emotional peace.  Most eating disorders originate from those unresolved issues, the only difference being some choose to eat a lot while others choose not to eat at all in their attempts to deaden their pain.  But pathology aside, why are we drawn to certain foods, usually nutritionally unhealthy ones called “comfort foods” when we’re sad or lonely?  And it is not just food, why are we drawn to consume things in order to fill a spiritual emptiness or to alleviate emotional pain and fear—things like alcohol, drugs, the internet, new material possessions, and new relationships?  These are the things we consume as futile attempts to satisfy our deep spiritual hunger.  But they are not the bread of life, and in the end, more often than not, those poor substitutes we consume will end up consuming us.

The Good News this morning is that Jesus offers to us Himself, the true bread of life, with the promise that if we eat and receive Him, He will satisfy our deepest, most profound hunger.

For you see, to eat the bread of life is to truly receive and be consumed by God’s boundless love, unconditional acceptance, abiding companionship, and a profound peace that transcends all understanding.  If you have that, then you will have no need to eat chocolate and ice cream when you’re lonely, drink alcohol when you’re sad, shop on Amazon.com when you’re at a loss, and have an affair when you don’t feel loved.  The apostle Paul was a great example of living on the bread of life.  Listen to his assertions in Philippians 3:8 and 4:11: “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ. . . . I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.”  Those who have gained Christ will be content and will never go hungry.  Because when you dine on the bread of life—by embracing God’s love, acceptance, companionship and peace through prayer, scripture reading, Christian community and service—your life will be filled with passion, purpose, excitement and joy.  In other words, you will be alive!

Two Sundays ago, after our Laity Sunday worship service, Bob Pino came up to me and said: “I really sense a spirit of vitality at Farmville Baptist.  It reminds me of the Lord’s Prayer: give us this day our daily bread.  I see so many Christians trying to live off the old, crusted spiritual bread that they received a long time ago . . . and not feasting on the daily bread of life that God wants to give us.”  I think his words are a challenge and an invitation for us to come before Jesus now to receive and feast on the bread of life that He so abundantly offers.  What are you hungry for?  What are you eating to fill that hunger?  May Jesus Christ be your daily bread that satisfies your deepest hunger and vitalizes your life.  Amen.

[2] Frederick Buechner, Beyond Words, p. 130.