A Loyalty Above All Other Loyalties

Disclaimer: This sermon (now an article) was really laid on my heart. So I hope that if you find it offensive, that you would consider the message deeply and not just find another church that won't challenge you on this. Looking across the church landscape in our town, I believe you are the only church in our town where this message could be preached and you won't have a meeting afterward to consider firing me and dealing with a bunch of negative criticism. Because of that, we have an extra important job of living faithfully to this message.

THE STRUGGLE IN MASSACHUSETTS

In history, we see the tendency of societies to demonize other societies and then to treat them like they are dogs.  “Christian” societies like Spain and England, when they discovered America, treated the Indians like they were a sub-species because they had not discovered, adopted, or were even wanting to adopt the “superior” technologies of Europe.  And this isn’t just me projecting my 21st century sensibilities onto the past.  Roger Williams was a minister in Massachusetts Bay Colony who spoke out against the treatment of Indians.  And others from the time also wrote about the Europeans abhorrent treatment of the Indians.  But the powers that be wanted them to stop because it was not in their best financial interest to treat the Indians well.  The were getting land and resources all at the expense of the Indians.  

On October 9, 1635, the Massachusetts Bay Colony by the General Court of Massachusetts banished Pastor Roger Williams because he was outspoken against the rights of the civil authorities to punish religious dissension and to confiscate the land of the Indians.

“After leaving Massachusetts, Williams…. established a settlement at the junction of two rivers … located in present-day Rhode Island. He declared the settlement open to all those seeking freedom of conscience and the removal of the church from civil matters, [meaning that you would not be punished from being on the wrong side of a religious debate,] and many dissatisfied Puritans came. Taking the success of the venture as a sign from God, Williams named the community ‘Providence.’”

“Among those who found a haven in the religious and political refuge of the Rhode Island Colony were Anne Hutchinson–…[another religious leader who]…had been exiled from Massachusetts for religious reasons–some of the first Jews to settle in North America, and the Quakers. In Providence, Roger Williams also founded the first Baptist church. (source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/rhode-island-founder-banished-from-massachusetts)

This happened all because Roger Williams place his loyalty to God and His ways above the state. A loyalty above all other loyalties.

And he is not alone in that. We come from a long line of dissidents. People who had one loyalty above all other loyalties.

THE STRUGGLE IN BABYLON

Let’s go back a little further even, from Massachuesetts in 1635 all the way back to around 600 BC. The Jews had been conquered and the best of the Jews were taken back to Babylon to help the empire. So, as servants in the great empire of Babylon, we see the story of Jews trying to remain faithful in a pagan land. And the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, made a giant statue and proclaimed that people must fall down and worship it or be thrown into a fiery furnace.

So the moment came. And the sound to worship was made. And three Jews refused to bow. I can imagine the thinking and arguments. You should just submit to the State. Really, you can just bow and not mean it. Instead, with all the pressure to bow and worship the state in order to avoid punishment, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to join in.

The story goes:

Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews.  They declared to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever!  You, O king, have made a decree, that every man who hears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image.  And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into a burning fiery furnace.  There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, pay no attention to you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” 

Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king.  Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up?  Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?”  

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.  If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.  But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”  Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated.  And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.  Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. Daniel 3:8-21 (ESV)

We, those who claim to follow Jesus, come from a long line of people who have had one loyalty above all other loyalties and honored that loyalty at great cost.

THE STRUGGLE IN THE EARLY CHURCH

Let’s look at another story.

Let me set up the context here. Jesus had just been killed by the state. Hung on the cross and humiliated. Forty days after his death and resurrection, his followers received the Holy Spirit, God’s power moved, and the church was established and flourishing. The Jewish leaders thought they had won the battle against the Jesus movement by cutting off the head, but the movement just flourished because they didn’t know that when they killed Jesus, the Holy Spirit would come. God was at work. They could kill Jesus, but death couldn’t keep him down. And when He rose again and ascended into heaven, and he imbued His followers with the Holy Spirit. God worked. But the state didn’t want to see this religion grow.

Acts tells the story:

And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them,  saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.”  But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. Acts 5:27-29 (ESV)

One loyalty above all other loyalties.

And when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.  Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.  And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus. Acts 5:40-42 (ESV)

They continued doing the will of God, despite being beaten, because they had one loyalty above all other loyalties. 

THE STRUGGLE WITH OUR LOYALTY

We share that conviction. When we became Christians, we expressed one loyalty above all other loyalties. A loyalty to God who came to earth and dwelt among us as Jesus and now lives in us through the Holy Spirit. That is where our loyalty lies. For them, that meant they would honor their loyalty to the kingdom of God when it contradicted with loyalty to Babylon or Rome. And so, when it comes to allegiance to our nation, as long as our nation isn’t going against the things of God, we can be loyal to America. But we have one loyalty above all other loyalties as people who have surrendered our lives to the will of God. And it is an easy decision for someone who has surrendered their life to the will of God and service to His kingdom to choose loyalty to God over any other earthly loyalty when they conflict.

So your workplace may tell you to do something unethical. If they do, you refuse to do it because your loyalty is to God and not to that workplace. Your spouse or family may encourage wrong actions, again the same.  If any group encourages something that goes contrary to the will of God, we choose disloyalty to that group and loyalty to God. The church is a radical group of rebels following Jesus, the ultimate revolutionary, refusing to bow down to any of the power structures of this world. When we are living His way, obediently, as God intends for us, we conform only to God.

But let’s be honest, the biggest challenge to our faith can come at times from a contrary state. Historically, this has always been the case for people who place an unyielding loyalty to God above all other loyalties.

The State, although a different state, tried to stop Roger Williams in Massachusetts and he remained loyal to God. The State, again a different one, tried to make Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego bow, yet they remained loyal to God. And the same with the early church. Loyalty to God above loyalty to the State. It’s as if the State has this evil tendency that regularly springs up throughout history to try and stop people who are loyal to God.

Maybe there is something to Paul’s teaching to the church in Ephesus where he tells us to prepare ourselves for these sort of evil days where the state is out of step with God.

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.  Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Ephesians 6:11-13 (ESV)

Our nation has some policies that conflict with the teachings of Scripture; when that happens we don’t concede our ethics to the State. What is right and wrong is never decided by the majority or by who has the most earthly power. It’s always decided by sovereignty. The sovereignty of God. We have one loyalty above all other loyalties and that loyalty is reserved for God. 

WE SERVE ONLY ONE KING

The early Christians lived with an obvious rebellious idea that we now sanitize. They called Jesus “king.” King Jesus. The authorities of that day even mockingly put that label above the cross as they executed Jesus. And in labeling Jesus king, the earthly Caesar understood this to be an attack on his authority, as it rightly was. Throughout history, from the beginnings of the church, Christians have had one loyalty above all other loyalties. When they said that Jesus was their king, they really meant it. They had one loyalty above all others. King above all kings. Lord of lords. They would serve Jesus over the state if the two would ever get at odds, which they most assuredly do at times.

Jesus taught at the end of the Parable of the Dishonest Manager.

No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” Luke 16:13 (ESV)

In this specific case, he was talking about money, but that principle can apply to anything, although money will often be the idea that we cut corners on and serve rather than God. But we can’t serve God and sport. We can’t serve God and entertainment. We can’t serve God and work. We can’t serve God and family. We can’t serve God and our state. We have one loyalty above all other loyalties. We serve God. And when we have that loyalty right, the other things will fall into proper perspective. Money will be used to further God’s kingdom. Sport will be used to build discipline and responsibility. Entertainment will be used to foster community. Work will be used as a mission field and an opportunity to better things. Family will be used as a fountain for which God’s love can overflow. The state is to bring peace and prosperity. We can even be a good citizen, although, inevitably, our loyalty to God will cause us to be a bad citizen at times and live in rebellion to the ideas expressed by the state when they collide with the way of God. And let’s not deceive ourselves, the state does conflict with the way of God on certain issues right now and, most likely, always will. I’m not specifically addressing or mentioning the hot button political issues of our time, but I challenge you to filter them through the teachings here.

But we must never concede the ideas that the state is the hope of mankind, the salt of the earth, the city on a hill, the light of the world. That’s the church when it is properly reflecting God’s kingdom.

Now, if I was talking to you as a person in a position of authority in the State, my message would be different. I would be telling you to align the state as much as possible to the kingdom of God without oppressing people. Work for the poor. Work for the powerless. Bring about justice. Live in righteousness. And as much as we can do that in our lives, we must. But I’m not addressing a message here to the people who control this land. Instead, in a way, we are the poor and powerless. None of us here has the power to get any law changed. We barely have a voice despite the color of our skin supposedly giving us some privileges.

THE STRUGGLE IN NAZI GERMANY

But we must recognize that we, as people who have surrendered our lives to Jesus and His will, will sometimes face a state that is opposed to the will of God. And when that happens, we still do God’s will. We see this in the life of Corrie Ten Boom. The Germans were rounding up Jews to put them in concentration camps after conquering the Netherlands. And what did she do? She and her sister rebelled against the authorities and helped the Jews. This is living out the loyalty above all other loyalties.

And resistance to the evil German state was widespread among the Christians in the Nazi Germany.  Jews weren’t the only people killed in the Holocaust despite that being what we think of when we think of the Holocaust. It is estimated that 3 million Christians were killed in the Holocaust, but it’s hard to find an accurate number, as it is also hard to tell who was executed just because of their nationality regardless of their religion. But they also spied on and targeted priests and pastors. At Dachau, the Germans held 2,720 priests and pastors in the concentration camp. One of them is one of my heroes, Pastor Martin Niemoller because of his boldness that caused him to be sent away to the concentration camp.

As Dr. Laurence White described it in a message I heard him give:

“In 1934, during his second year as chancellor of the German Reich, Adolf Hitler invited the leaders of the evangelical churches of Germany to a meeting in Berlin. His goal was to quell mounting criticism from the Christian community of the Nazi regime and its attempts to subvert the churches. Among those present at that meeting was a fiery young Lutheran pastor from the Berlin suburb of Dahlem named Martin Niemoller. Niemoller would later recall this encounter as the moment from which he knew that Germany was doomed. Hitler was amiable and deliberately reassuring as he sought the support of these prominent churchmen. He promised the pastors that the position of the church in Germany was safe and secure - that its legal protections, its tax exemptions, and state support would remain unchanged under the Nazi government. Niemoller pushed to the front of the group to confront the chancellor directly and reject his casual consignment of Christians to social irrelevance. Standing face to face with Germany's ruler, the brash young pastor asserted: "Our concern, Herr Hitler, is not for the church. Our concern is for the soul of our country." An embarrassed silence followed his remark and it was immediately evident that Niemoller spoke only for himself. [He, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, stood alone.] His chagrined colleagues quickly shuffled him away from the front of the room. Noting their timid reaction, the dictator smiled as he replied, "The soul of Germany, you can leave that to me."”

“And so they did -- Christians looked the other way while innocent people were slaughtered and a nation was led down the path to destruction.” (source: http://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF16H41.pdf)

For many of them, their loyalty to God was not above their loyalty to the state. They just went along with Nazi Germany. They didn’t want to rock the boat. They didn’t want to cause any outrage. They didn’t want to sacrifice like Niemoller and find themselves in a concentration camp. They just conformed to the State rather than Jesus. And atrocity followed. That is the end result of the church conforming to the state. It empowers the powers and principalities of this world to unleash hell on earth unhindered. When we cave to the pressure to give blind obedience to the state, we become a tool for evil rather than a vessel for the beauty and way of God to flow through. We lose our prophetic voice as we become an example of conformity rather than the countercultural revolution of Jesus.

Martin Niemoller gave the famous quote, which I’m sure that you know even if you don’t know Niemoller:

“In Germany they came first for the Communists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me--and by that time no one was left to speak up.”

This wasn’t some abstract concept for Niemoller. He was then imprisoned by Hitler and served at concentration camps for eight years.  He wasn’t released until he was freed by the allies in 1945.  Unlike his famous peer, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Niemoller made it out alive and died in the 1980s.

THE STRUGGLE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

But we can easily point the fingers at Christians who compromised the gospel in Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany, but we have to be careful to not do the same thing here in America.

The siren call of the American culture and nationalism is alluring and tough to resist.   Where have we compromised?  Do we go along with our culture of waste?  Do we go along with war drums and violence? Do we buy into the idea of keeping our faith personal and out of our public life? Do we cave and not stand up when it is difficult?

[slide – one loyalty] We can just say that battle of loyalties is a thing of the past and deceive ourselves. Beacause it is obvious when we look at the faithful in Babylon, the early church in the Roman Empire, the early days of the American frontier, Nazi Germany – All eras seem to have moments where the state strives to pull us away from our ultimate loyalty to God.

So I will give you a present example. I hope It encourages us to live more radically in Jesus’ revolution. In their words from The Simple Way’s website.

“In 1995, dozens of homeless families had moved into an abandoned Catholic church building in North Philadelphia. They were told by the Archdiocese that they had 48 hours to move out, or they could be arrested. With nowhere to go, these courageous mothers and children hung a banner on the front of the building that said, “How can we worship a homeless man on Sunday, and ignore one on Monday?” The families held their own press conference and announced that they had talked with the real “Owner” of the building (the Lord Almighty!) – and God said they could stay until they found somewhere else to go.”

“That’s was the spark that lit the fire of The Simple Way.” Their church in Philadelaphia.

“A few years after the takeover of the church ended --  in January 1998 -- some of the students who had been a part of that movement pooled their money together and bought 3234 Potter Street. They took an old shoe repair store and made it their home. Before long they grew into other abandoned houses on the block…And now – after over two decades -- an intentional community has turned into a little village.” (source: https://www.thesimpleway.org/about/)

And through their life together, standing in loyalty to the kingdom of God over any other loyalty, the community is being transformed. People’s lives are changing. God’s kingdom is being realized here on earth as it is in heaven.

Christians should be different than the world around us. We live in rebellion to the state at times. We come from a long tradition of people who have placed loyalty to God and his kingdom above the State. The State killed our Lord and Savior, but they couldn’t keep Him down. Likewise, we are called to live with this ultimate loyalty to God in our lives. This means that we won’t look just like and behave just like our nonChristian neighbors. We will invest in and create a community of encouragement and support, the church, as we go out into the world that will try to get us to compromise our faith and, yet, we will always choose to be a blessing. Loving those who oppose us. We will stop our world's downward spiral of hate. Loving our enemies. Loving strangers. We are called to be bringers of a different way of living. A different kingdom. We will place our loyalty to God above all other loyalties no matter what the cost.  You are part of the greatest revolution the world has ever known. Live it.

A Sacrificial Christmas

Have you ever wondered what the world would be like without you?

Through the mistake of another, George Bailey was going to lose his business. He had hit rock bottom. Despair crept in. He wondered what the world would be like without him

In his despair, as we sometimes feel in despair, George Bailey went to that bridge intending to kill himself because he thought the world would be better off without him.

I once heard the story of a man who was contemplating committing suicide like George Bailey was. But instead of killing himself, he decided to smuggle Bibles into China. If he was caught and killed, that would be fine with him. But instead, through the process, he found meaning in his life.

I don’t know if that story is true or not. It may just be a modern parable, but it illustrates the point that we truly live - we find meaning in our lives - when we die to ourselves and begin to live our lives for Jesus. For when we surrender to Jesus we start living the life that we were made to live. When we despair and everything seems to be crumbling around us, we should commit ourselves or recommit ourselves to picking up the shards of our dreams and letting Jesus put them back together as we head into the future. To find our true destiny, we should surrender our will to God’s will and live for Him.

We impact the world one way or another. The question is whether we will impact it for good.

When Jesus was asked what the most important teaching was, he replied that God is one, that we should love Him with every bit of who we are and to love our neighbors like we love ourselves.

Shane Claiborne shares an old story from the early church. Christians were spread throughout the desert and lived in little clusters of communities. Someone had brought one of the communities a bundle of grapes as a gift. That was quite a delicacy, maybe sort of like giving someone chocolate truffles today. They got so excited, and what happened next is fascinating. Rather than devour them all, they didn’t eat a single one. They passed them on to the next community to enjoy. And that community did the same thing. And eventually, those grapes made it through every community and back to the first community without being eaten. Everyone simply wanted the others to experience the joy of the gift....As Shane says: “The best thing to do with the best things in life is to give them away.” (edited from an excerpt from Shane Claiborne’s The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical 167-168).

This kind of love doesn't seem to come natural to us. To love others as we love ourselves. But it is the kind of love we are called to. Actually, Paul makes it a little more sacrificial than just that.

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,  complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.  Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,  who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,  but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,  so 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 (Philippians 2:1-11 ESV).

This is the Christmas story. God emptied himself and took on the likeness of us. When we refuse to allow the true story of Christmas to be drowned out by all the noise and busyness of this season, we see that this example of God becoming flesh was done to teach us how to live.

But as the Philippians passage shows, there are some obstacles to living the life Jesus lived. Paul shares two obstacles to love.

Obstacles to Love:

- Selfish ambition.

- Conceit.

Abraham Lincoln had a neighbor who was drawn to Lincoln's door one day by the sound of the crying of children. He saw Lincoln passing by with his two sons, both crying lustily. "What is the matter with the boys?" asked the man. "Just what is the matter with the whole world!" answered Lincoln. "I have three walnuts, and each boy wants two. (—London Christian Herald)

But our world teaches us to be selfish. The CEO and Opportunity Shaper at Now Possible says, "Let's get real. If you want a great career and wonderful life, you need to be spectacularly selfish..." We're taught that greed is good. Our society sometimes seems like a bizarro world compared to the teachings of Jesus.

These thoughts go directly against what we were made to be. And if we buy into them, we miss out. Our world misses out. Life isn't about the homes, the cars, the gifts, or whatever physical thing we make it about. Even when we celebrate the birth of Jesus, instead of seeing the culture inundated with profound acts of self-sacrifice, which would be more appropriate in celebrating the birth of Jesus, it's about consumerism, gluttony, Black Friday, and shopping.

Yet Paul unlocks how we can do this. We need to have a new view of ourselves.

New view of self:

- In humility count others as more significant than yourselves.

- Look to the interest others, not just our own.

You may have heard humility described as "Humility isn't thinking less of yourself, its thinking about yourself less." Preachers like to come up with these witty sayings. It's catchy, yet I think that disagrees with the teaching of Paul. It makes humility more palatable, but who said humility had to be palatable? Who says we need an easy faith? We're supposed to respond with surrender, with sacrifice. And in our desire to make the faith more appealing, we cheapen the lofty humility that Paul teaches us to have, a humility exemplified in the Christmas story that we celebrate this time of year. God emptying Himself of all his deserved privilege and taking on the form of a baby. 

It's tough to follow in His steps and consider others better than ourselves. That word, "better" in the original language has to do with something of surpassing or exceptional value. It's the same word Paul uses in Philippians 3:8 when he says, "I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." This is a radical teaching. Jesus had the attitude that we were better than He was. Jesus viewed us as better than Himself. But that's what love is. And Paul calls us to have same view toward other -- an attitude that cherishes one another; that extols the value of one another; that looks for the best in one another instead of the worst. When we do that -- when we start to love others the way God loves them -- it will be much easier to be humble and sacrifice for them.

Then Paul moves on to two characteristics that Jesus exhibited that we are to adapt to our lives.

 Self-sacrifice:

- Be willing to empty ourselves for others.

- Be obedient to God even in the hard stuff.

"Mary Brenner was a twice-divorced mother of eight children when she began doing volunteer work for the poor in Mexico in the 1960s. She had been active in charity work in California while she was married," living a comfortable life in Beverly Hills "but her devotion intensified after a priest led her to La Mesa state penitentiary, which housed convicted murderers, gang leaders, rapists and other serious felons."

She was faced with a call to self-sacrifice. Or to continue living her comfortable life. She was in her 50s, yet she still decided to heed God's call.

'Mary began providing for inmates’ basic needs, giving them aspirin, blankets, toiletries and prescription eyeglasses. She sang in worship services....If a prisoner died, of illness or in a gang fight, she prepared him for burial."

But this is the amazing part. She didn't just minister to the prisoners at La Mesa. She asked to move in and then actually moved into a cell to live alongside those she was called to minister to. A woman, moving into a male prision because God called her to it.

"Inmates told how Mary once walked into the middle of a prison riot while bullets flew and tear gas filled the air. When the inmates saw her, fearless in her habit, the fighting stopped. She never seemed to stop smiling."

Sadly, Mary Brenner passed away this October. Will you help fill this gap? (quotes on Mary Brenner from Antonia Brenner, ‘Prison Angel’ Who Took Inmates Under Her Wing, Is Dead at 86)

Self-sacrifice makes love real. There is love. We can say we love prisoners all we want. Or we can say that we love so and so. All words without sacrifice. But these proclamations of love are abstract and meaningless to the one we proclaim to love until our words are connected with self-sacrifice. Self-sacrifice makes the love we have toward someone become real to them.

Yet we sometimes do a disservice to sacrifice. Stories like Mary Brenner's story are amazing. Yet we can then fell defeated and unable to accomplish such lofty tasks. Maybe that's what you are feeling right now. "I can't possibly go and live in a male penitentiary like she did. They wouldn't even allow me to."

Your sacrifice does not have to look like hers. If each of us are committed to following God, He will orchestrate us all into a symphony. We will be living out our faith in the places where we need to. Our self-sacrifice may be giving time to make a meal for someone, visiting someone who is lonely, taking care of a sick loved one, or whatever it is you that you sacrifice your own life so that you can give to others. Those acts of love, when they are in response to God and intermingle with the Holy Spirit, are just as meaningful as moving into a prison and ministering to those prisoners. God has this amazing way of meshing our meager sacrifices together to bring Himself glory. One sacrifice at a time, we are being used to create a song of love.

See how this all works.

We are so often, as Christians, focused on receiving the blessing, whether it is a blessing from God or someone else. We may hear people complain about not getting something out of a church's worship gathering or that the church isn't doing this or that. But God is saying, "Stop being the kid at Christmas; it's time to give the presents."

Christmas is about being reminded of the sacrifice God made to live as flesh among us. It's about him emptying Himself of all the privilege and honor that He rightfully deserves to be a blessing for us. We often miss the beauty and majesty of this story and respond by getting hung up on the being blessed part.

This is a difficult issue because being blessed is typically a byproduct of the Christian life. People's lives are often transformed and improved, even by the world's standards, when they become a Christian. But being a follower of Jesus can never be about the blessings. We have this tendency to explain Christian teachings through the framework of selfishness to appeal to the selfish people around. Even to our own selfish natures. But we shouldn't. We have to remove our selfishness to be who God wants us to be.

And this goes against all modern sales methods. In sales, the salesperson tries to show the potential customer a product or service and convince them that their lives will be improved if they just use that product or service. The door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman tells us how his vacuum will pick up dirt that we didn't even know was there. The gadget manufacturer convinces us that our lives will be better if we have this or that gadget in our pocket. Selling is all about the benefits.

And we fall prey to that tactic as Christians. Being a Christian becomes about getting to heaven. Or the temporal blessings in this life. And we, the church, have made the gospel of Jesus all about the benefits.

But that is not what being a Christian is about. Being a Christian is about following Jesus. And we follow Jesus, not because of the blessings - although the blessings at times are great and the eternal blessing is worth living for - but we follow Jesus, not because of the blessings, but because He is worthy to follow.

We must empty ourselves of our selfish ambitions and vain conceit and just follow Him. And we do that, by doing what He did. He viewed others as better than Himself and looked to their interests, not his own. He was obedient, even when it got hard.

We follow Jesus because His vision of the world is the right one. We follow Jesus because He is worthy to follow. Forget the blessings. Those are just a byproduct of faithfulness. And even if they don't come, we know that we are following the One who is worthy to be followed.

Jesus did not come to be blessed. He came to be a blessing. Likewise, we live not to be blessed but to be a blessing.

On January 13, 1982, Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into the 14th Street Bridge over the Potomac River near Washington DC., tumbling into the icy river in the middle of a snowstorm. All but six passengers were killed. Some 20 minutes later, a helicopter arrived to rescue the survivors.

After getting one man to safety, the helicopter threw a life ring to Arland Williams. He immediately gave it to the passenger next to him. They threw two lines down and Arland helped to strap it on to other passengers who were struggling more than him in the freezing water.

When the helicopter came back a final time, Arland was gone. He had slipped under the water. He’d used his last ounces of strength to save complete strangers. Sacrificial love.

Have you ever wondered what the world would be like without you?

In the end of It's A Wonderful Life, George Bailey was able to see all the lives that he had touched.  And they reciprocated that love and helped him get his business back. It's beautiful.

It's a Hollywood ending. We like it. It's what makes It's A Wonderful Life one of the most popular Christmas movies of all time.

It's stories like this that makes us say to people when they suffer, "It will get better." Because when George Bailey suffered, it did get better.

But Hollywood isn't where we should get proper doctrine.
It may be unpopular, but things may not get better. Many of you know this all too well. Someone who has alzheimers. It's not going to get better on this side of the grave. Or a debilitating disease that you or someone you love is going through. It's not going to get better on this side of the grave. Some of you have experienced tragedy all too much. I have been in too many ICUs and done too many funerals. Things don't always get better. Sometimes they may get worse. Tragically worse. It's true that it may get better, but I don't think we're implying when we say "It will get better" that we may have to die to receive that "better."

We want the better. And we want it now. We think we deserve the better, especially if we're trying to be faithful to Jesus.

The idea that "things will always get better" just shows how inundated we are with concepts like the health and wealth false gospel in Christian circles. But the truth is that it may not get better. I may be the only person to tell you this because everyone is trying to build a facade around you, but the situation you are currently struggling with may not get better. You may be sick, and it could lead to death. You may work hard and not prosper. But even if we don't get better, even if we don't get wealthy, we still serve a worthy King.

We don't worship God because of the presents; we worship Him because He is worthy. When things are going well, we celebrate. We know things won't always be this great, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't ruin the good moments by worrying about their end. Celebrate the moment of beauty if that is what you are experiencing. Celebrate it without worrying about tomorrow.

And for those of you who aren't living in a moment of celebration, remember that He is there with you. Offering you comfort and peace where there should be no comfort and peace. Even in our darkest valley, God is still worthy of our worship.

Being a Christian and following Jesus, isn't about things getting better for us. That may happen. It often does. I've seen crazy, unexplainable blessings come to people who start giving and are blessed in return. God does seem to bless radical faithfulness. But we serve a savior who was executed, along with most of the apostles who followed Him. Being a Christian is really about humbling ourselves and serving others, being Jesus' hands and feet in this world because His hands and feet were nailed to a cross for us. It's about being Jesus to everyone around us. It's about following the example that Jesus set and living for others. That little baby born in a manger in Bethlehem was going to face a lot of pain, discouragement, obstinate people, and a disgraceful death in His days here on earth. Who are we to think we deserve differently?

"It will get better." That's the false gospel of Hollywood, happy endings, and many Christians. The message of Jesus is to humble yourself. To love God and to love others. Arland Williams was doing God's will and it didn't get better for him. The early Christians who gave away those grapes were doing God's will and didn't taste the pleasure. Mary Brenner, imprisoning herself for Jesus, was doing God's will. Jesus, emptying Himself, being born as a little baby, and living a life of suffering for us, was doing God's will.

If you're just focused on life getting better for yourself, then you will be unable to live the life of self-sacrifice that shows the love of Jesus to our world. You will be out of step with the song God is performing.

In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe one of the children asks one of the beavers about the lion named Aslan.

"Is he safe?"

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

When we teach that things will always go well for Christians, we make it difficult for those who are having tough times. In our bad times, our bad theology makes us ask, "Am I right with God? If I am, why all this pain, suffering, and sorrow? Do others think I am a bad Christian because I am suffering?" The truth is that you are still right with God, even if things are going bad. Even when you think you are a small star, alone, suffering in the darkness, Jesus came to show you love. This is Christmas.

So when we see someone suffering and feel the need to utter "It will get better" to give encouragement, recognize that it may not get better for the person we want to comfort on this side of the grave. But for you--following in the steps of Jesus--you should be willing to follow the teaching of the Christmas story, sacrifice yourself to make it better for them. Jesus was in the form of God yet did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. Instead, he emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of us. Being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

It may not get better, but like Jesus, we need to be willing to remove our self-perceived loftiness - not self-perceived in His case - , be willing to get dirty, and make it better for others.

We sacrifice so that life is better. Like George Bailey did when he gave up his own plans and stayed in his small town to make it better. Like the people around George Bailey did when George needed loved back. Sacrifice makes the world better.

At this time of year, we celebrate the birth of Jesus. His humble arrival to this world. And this world will not be the same, especially when those who claim to follow Him model his humility and life of sacrifice. You were called to make this world better for others by sacrificing yourself. 

Determination

One of my best friends, Mike Fabian, who is a pastor outside of Detroit, told me a story about the summer before his junior year in college. Mike was on camp teams that summer for Great Lakes Christian College. Camp teams go from church camp to church camp all summer long, representing the college. He was also planning on playing soccer again in the fall. Before the summer started out, the coach warned the team that the first practice in the fall would be a two-mile run and everyone would need to finish the run in under twelve minutes if they wanted to play. My friend Mike had never even ran a six minute mile in his life. Let alone two six minute miles in a row. Even in tiptop shape, his legs, because he has cerebral palsy, just won't let him do it.

So Mike approached the coach after the announcement, and the coach told Mike, "You have to want it." Mike replied, "No matter how much I want it, my legs just won't let me have it." The coach repeated, "You have to want it."

Fearing failure and not being able to play on the soccer team that he loved, Mike set some goals for himself over the summer. He was determined to achieve what he thought was an impossible goal and woke up early every morning before camp to run. On the weekends, he ran the actual two-mile course he would have to run in the fall. He ran and ran and ran all summer long. He even timed myself. He wanted it. But he still could not run the two miles fast enough.

The first day of practice came. The day of the run. Coach gathered the team together and said, "Hopefully, you guys have been training all summer for this. Here you go. You got to want it." Mike was going to give it his all. He wanted to be on the soccer team and would run his heart out. He ran as hard as he could for two miles and even sprinted the last quarter mile. He wanted it.

As he came around the final turn, his teammates were clapping. They were cheering. Coach was encouraging, "Want it! Want it, Fabian!" Mike ran harder and harder.  As he finished, his time was called out - and remember, he had to run it in under twelve minutes. "14:23."

Under fifteen minutes for two miles is Mike's personal best to this day, but it wasn't under the twelve minutes that it needed to be for Mike to make the team. He was really disappointed. He put his hands on his dropped head, breathed heavily in his slumped chest, and walked away. And then threw up. He really wanted it. And he didn't achieve his goal.

Coach blew the whistle and called the team in. He said. "This season - if we are going to succeed, you gotta want it." Then he continued and said something that Mike will never forget. "You have to want it like Fabian wants it. No one ran harder than he did." Mike was second to last that morning, but coach used him as an example of someone who wanted it because, despite his limitation, he gave it his all. He was determined. He prepared. He worked hard. He left everything he had on that run. He wanted it. He made the team!

Determination doesn't mean you will succeed. Mike showed determination, yet he failed. Determination means that you will try your hardest. It means that you will work toward it even if you can't accomplish it.

We need to introduce a little crazy determination back into our faith.

Determined to live out the life of Jesus, ShaneClaiborne has moved into the inner city of Philadelphia and lives among the poor.  Also determined to live out the life of Jesus, other lesser known, yet just as faithful, brothers and sisters in Jesus live with him.

Determined to live out the life of Jesus, Martin Luther King Jr. stood up against racism in our nation.  Also determined to live out the life of Jesus, many others marched with him.

Determined to live out the life of Jesus, Milton Bates, a pattern maker at General Motors, after seeing disaster strike Bangladesh in 1972, started International Disaster Emergency Service, which has been helping around the States and around the world when disasters strike. 

Determined to live out the life of Jesus, Mother Theresa moved to Calcutta to help the poor.

Determined to live out the life of Jesus, Millard Fuller, in 1976, started Habitat for Humanity and since then, Habitat, with the help of many other determined volunteers, has built over 400,000 homes.

Determined to live out the life of Jesus, a group of people from this area started a place to help kids in need. This place we know as the WoodburnChristian Children's Home. Since it started forty-one years ago, hundreds of lives have been made better because of the determination of a few who decided they were going to live out the life of Jesus.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV)