Sermon manuscript:
Gymnasiums have been around for a long time. They are older
than Jesus and the apostles. They come from ancient Greece. Gymnasiums were for
training men to compete in athletic games. The word, “gymnasium,” comes from
the Greek word, “Gymnazdo,” which means to train, to practice, to drill. The
young men would train to become faster and stronger and more skilled. Good
training increased the chances of success on the field or the mat.
The apostle Peter uses this Greek word, “Gymnazdo,” in an
interesting way. When he is describing the characteristics of the ungodly he
says that they have “hearts which have been trained [gymnazdo] in
covetousness.” But let me say a little bit about that word “covetousness” too.
At its root it means having an abundance, and, especially, “getting more.” So
Peter says that the ungodly have a heart which has gone to the gym in order to
be trained at getting more.
Since I am a child of the 80s I can’t help but think of the
training that takes place in Rocky or Karate Kid. “The eye of the tiger” is
playing in the background. But instead of running through a train yard or
catching flies with chop sticks different drills are being run. This is a
training in getting more. So the exercises are like this: $5 or $20, which one
are you going to pick? $20, good! A candy bar is split in two, which part are
you going to take, the bigger part or the smaller part? The bigger part, good!
I’m going to try to trip you up now: 4 quarters or 9 dimes? 4 quarters? Bam!
Got it! I can tell you’ve been working out.
Of course we do not really need training in this regard. It
is in the nature of training that we learn to do things that we otherwise
wouldn’t naturally do. We might not automatically know to plant our feet, or
square up, or keep our eye on the ball. We naturally aren’t fond of having
muscles ache or our hands get blistered. When it comes to getting more for
ourselves, that does come naturally. If we have to choose between having lots
of what we enjoy or having little or none of what we enjoy, we naturally are
going to pick the one over the other.
Although the concept is simple and natural so that no
training is required, there is a complicating factor that makes training in
covetousness advantageous. Other people, your competitors, are being trained in
covetousness as well. So what do you do when you both want the larger part of
the candy bar? Here some training can be useful. There are different tools you
can use. You can manipulate the other person. You can deceive the other person.
Grand productions can be put on in order to get more for yourself. The true
virtuosos are the ones who take what others have, but the other person smiles
and thanks them for the favor.
At the root of all of this activity is the lie. Those who
want to learn how to get more for themselves need to learn how to become good
liars. It would be more honest to just club the other person over the head and
take it all for yourself. But then you might not get away with it. Part of our
training in covetousness is that you have to get what you want without negative
consequences for yourself. Siblings are often very good for training in this
regard. You learn to take advantage of your sibling, but you have to make sure
that you don’t go so far that they’ll tell mom or dad.
Now let’s go to the end of how this story goes, to the end
of one’s life. You work out at the gym. You learn how to cut costs and maximize
profits—to hell with whomever it might affect. Slowly but surely you accumulate
a mountain of advantages for yourself. The one with the most wins. Maybe, if
you are really good and perfectly trained, you can accumulate enough for
yourself that you don’t care about money anymore because there’s no way you’ll
ever run out of it. Then you can give away a few spare millions and you can get
your name on some building.
While it seems like such a one is a big winner, ultimately
it will turn out that he or she will be the biggest loser. While we live on
this earth we can all deceive ourselves into thinking that what we think must
be true. We can think that we set the game, and the name of the game is: Who
can get the most? The way the game is played is that you cheat and manipulate
and seek your own advantage until you get to the top of the heap.
If the devil were god, he would probably say to such a one
at the end of his or her life: “Well done, my good and faithful servant. Enter
into the joy of your master.” Then maybe you’ll get to club and rape and cheat
for all eternity. Of course, you’ll be clubbed and raped and cheated too, but business
is business.
However, the devil is not God. God is God. He is the one who
sets the terms. He says how the game is to be played. Ever since the Garden of
Eden human beings have thought that they can safely ignore God, play their own
game, and everything will be just fine. But this evil time in which we are
living—this evil time where there is so much lying that it can be impossible to
know what is true—this evil time will not go on forever. Maybe that’s how
things will be in hell, but Jesus did not come to inaugurate a deeper and
darker hell.
Jesus came to reveal God to us. His eternal life is
different. Forgive me for saying this yet again. (I’ve said it several times
the last two times I’ve preached already.) Jesus says in John 17: “This is
eternal life: to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent.”
There you have the definition of eternal life: Knowing the only true God.
So what is this God like? There is no finer week to learn
what God is like than this one we are entering into—Holy Week. Let me encourage
you to come to all the services this week, unless you don’t care what God is
like. Then you might as well not come. But if you want to know what God is like
there’s no avoiding especially Good Friday and Easter. On Good Friday and Easter
we learn that God is not interested in accumulating as much as he possibly can
for himself. It’s exactly the opposite. How much can he give?
Here we have quite a different
game with quite different rules. Listen to what Jesus says in our Gospel reading:
“Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and
dies, it continues to be one kernel. But if it dies, it produces much grain.
Anyone who loves his life destroys it. And the one who hates his life in this
world will hold on to it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, let him follow
me. And where I am, there my servant will be also. If anyone serves me, the
Father will honor him.”
In a way, Jesus’s words can sound rather gloomy. He talks
about dying and being buried in the ground. He says that whoever loves his life
destroys it; whoever hates his life in this world will keep it. But Jesus’s
words can remain sounding gloomy only if we think his cross is bad. It is only
gloomy if we think Jesus’s cross is pure tragedy. Then it will sound to you as
though Jesus is telling you to die, to hate life, and if you should happen to
love life, then you’re in for a world of hurt.
But Jesus’s cross is good. We do not call this Friday Bad
Friday or Sad Friday. We call it Good Friday, and for very good reason. Jesus
poured out everything that he had until there was nothing left. He gave and
gave and gave. Then he gave some more. He was not dealing with dollars and
cents, or other, similar, created things. His giving had to do with guilt, with
responsibility, with divine justice. There was a huge yawning hell of evil that
we collectively and individually are responsible for. It was God’s good
pleasure to fill that void by the suffering and death of his beloved Son. Like
a grain of wheat he died. He hated his life in this world to the point where he
screams out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
But, having hated his life in this world, he keeps it for
eternal life—not just for himself, but for everyone. He sets us free. He breaks
the curse. We are not consigned to an eternity where the stronger preys on the
weaker, where there are so many lies that we can never be certain of what’s
true. Jesus’s death and resurrection opens up the ability to live a different
and new life—a new adventure. A life that is not hostile to God, but a life in
Jesus where we may know the only true God without fear.
Jesus died like a grain of wheat that fell into the earth.
Had he not done that, he would have remained alone. However, by doing so, he
created much fruit. Good Friday is followed by Easter. Jesus did not stay dead.
He gloriously rose from the dead.
From the accounts of the witnesses to his resurrection, you
can tell that things have changed. His appearance was different. He did not
want Mary Magdalene to touch him yet, because, he says, “I have not yet
ascended to the Father.” Jesus does not just give us a mulligan, a do-over,
or a pardon so that we may live our life of crime. He gives us eternal life.
And eternal life is to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has
sent.
And so, as the Bible says, you are new creatures. Paul says,
“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, behold, the
new has come. All this is from God, who, through Christ, reconciled us to
himself and give us the ministry of reconciliation.” Paul really means it
when he says that we are new creations in Christ. The old is gone. The new has
come. The game has changed, and so have the rules.
According to these new rules greatness is no longer the
ability to accumulate as much as you possibly can for yourself while telling
the most sophisticated lies you can come up with. That was greatness according
to our old lord, the devil. We have a new Lord. Greatness is defined by him. He
fell like a grain of wheat into the ground and produced much fruit. He gave. He
was willing to lose, and thereby he won.
You, as new creatures, are invited into this life of your
God. Do not seek your own advantage, but the advantage of others. If someone
wants to win against you, let them win. That is what Jesus means when he says
that if someone strikes you on the one cheek, turn so that he may strike you on
the other. This is also what Paul means he says that we are to be living
sacrifices. We should not avenge ourselves. If your enemy is hungry, feed him.
If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. Do not be overcome by evil, but
overcome evil with good.
These are not the rules for life that come naturally to us.
To play according to these rules it requires faith. We have to believe that God
will protect us. God will bless us. If our coat or our shirt are taken away,
then God, who feeds the birds of the air and clothes the lilies of the field,
will take care of us.
And not only do we need to believe that we will survive, we
must believe that we will thrive. Jesus said that the grain of wheat the fell
into the earth was all by itself. When it died, it produced much fruit. So also
your new life in Christ: it is going to produce much fruit.
The possible examples of this are countless, but let me give
you just one so that you can see what I mean. Why is there such strife and
hatred between certain individuals? Isn’t it because they both refuse to budge?
They both have been hurt. They both demand apologies and reparations. What if
the Christian involved allowed himself or herself to “lose”? What if the
Christian allowed himself or herself to be humbled and take the form of a
servant? What if the Christian sought out reconciliation? This, of course,
would be a miracle, worked by the Holy Spirit, but this is also what it means
to be new creatures. And if a Christian were to risk that, what might happen?
Who’s to say? I certainly can’t guarantee that the other
person would be broken and love in return. But I think you can see with merely
human logic that love is a whole lot more likely to materialize if the other
party is no longer demanding apologies and reparations. Regardless of what we
might anticipate happening, however, we have Jesus’s promise: our sacrifice
will produce fruit. Maybe that fruit won’t come to maturity as quickly as we
think it should. Maybe our peace and reconciliation won’t come until eternal
life. But Jesus promises fruit.
How different this is from the old life. The training in
covetousness that we naturally believe in can only produce sour fruit that is
no good for anyone, including ourselves, for very long. It is destined to be
thrown out and trampled. The training that we have with our new Lord and Savior
will produce fruit that abides.
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