When John and I lived in
We all have to decide for ourselves what is worth our time and money and
passion and anxiety and investment of self, not just once, but every day of our
lives. Our culture tries to help us make
these decisions with crafty advertising and careful marketing, and we are all
susceptible to the values that our society wants to press on us. Our society wants us to measure our worth by
our wealth, by the name brands and status symbols we can collect. This allows a
select few to amass more wealth so they can collect more status symbols than others
and consider themselves more worthy. This in turn, enriches a more elite few,
and so on, and so on, and so on. It turns out we are
all trapped in a worldwide economic pyramid scheme of materialism.
Tony Campolo tells the story about a couple of kids a
few years ago who broke into a department store one night and changed all the
price tags around. When the store opened the next morning, you could buy a
television set for $1.59, but a pair of panty hose might cost you $500! That's
what's wrong with our society, Campolo observes.
Somebody has broken into the store and changed all the price tags around so
that price and worth no longer match. Basketball players make salaries in the
millions while teachers get paid peanuts, and notwithstanding the call for
welfare recipients to take responsibility for themselves, many poor people who
work hard and for long hours simply cannot live on their minimum wages.
Something is out of whack in our society. But this isn't a sermon about social
justice and wealth; it's a sermon about worth.
For most of my life, I never read obituaries.
Now I read them almost every day. A by-product of middle age, I guess. I
read the summaries of person's life … his education … her career
… the organizations he joined … the significant accomplishments she
achieved … his family … her children. Especially interesting are
the comments of affection added by a family to describe their beloved. It's
impossible, of course, to express the meaning of a life in words, let alone a
few brief paragraphs, especially since every life has infinite value in the
sight of God, worthy of the sacrifice of Christ. But I have never seen a family
speak of the things a loved one purchased for them. Instead, they speak of
kindness, of love, of courage, of tender heartedness or inner strength. They
talk about their loved one's passion in life.
Every person makes value choices along the way about where to invest the
allotted time and energies and resources they are given. Every person must ask
themselves, "Is it worth it?" Ironically, our culture trains us to
ask "What can I gain from this?" rather than "What can I
give?" or "How can I contribute?" or "What can I gain for
others?" or "What can I do for the God who has entrusted me with this
life?" These are the questions Christ calls us to ask. And these are not
just sweet questions for high minded people. They are the stuff of life itself.
According to Christ, we make our lives by losing them, by giving ourselves
away, by giving ourselves to something that matters, and our highest sacrifices
offer the deepest gains.
In our epistle reading this morning, I think the Apostle Paul was asking
himself “Is it worth it?” as he sat in jail on trial for his life
and wrote to his beloved Philippian church. They were
worried about him. They sent Epaphroditus with gifts to see if he was surviving his
ordeal. And they had reason to be concerned. In the letter you can hear Paul's
faith, but also his anxiety as he speaks of his possible execution. He says,
To me, living is Christ and dying is gain.
If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me; but I do not
know which I prefer. I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart
and be with Christ, for that is far better; but to remain in the flesh is more
necessary for you. Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and
continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith, so that I may
share abundantly in your boasting in Christ Jesus when I come to you again.
(Philip. 1:18-26).
When you're facing death, especially execution for your beliefs, you can't help
but reflect on the meaning of your life and the value of the sacrifices you
have made. We know what Paul suffered for the sake of the gospel: beatings,
assassination attempts, imprisonment, misunderstanding from his friends, abuse from his enemies. But Paul also sacrificed a lot. So
the Apostle reflects on what he has given up:
Circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the
tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to
zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless
(Philip. 3:5-6).
Quite a resume for a Jew to claim in those days, and Paul did not find being a
Torah-obedient Jew an impossible burden. It was a source of pride, a
significant accomplishment for God! Paul was a rising star among the young
Jewish rabbis of his day. But he gave it all up. The people he had loved all
his life lost all respect for him. He had met their standards … he had
accepted their laurels, but he gave all of that up in order to follow his
conscience … to follow Christ … to carry the gospel to the despised
Gentiles. Was it worth it?
Whatever gains I had, (writes Paul) these I have come to regard as
loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of
the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have
suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I
may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that
comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the
righteousness from God based on faith (Philip. 3:7-9).
Funny thing about accomplishment. So often we strive
for something - a degree, a recognition, a job, a
position of status, or even some material good. And when we get it, we find it
doesn't mean as much to us as we thought it would. It isn't worth what we
sacrificed to gain it. Instead, we discover something else that makes life
worth living … that gives us peace … fulfillment … inner joy.
We feel the pain of what we have lost, yet somehow it shrinks in relation to
what we have gained, and the sacrifices are somehow liberating.
That is what Paul discovered in his long obedience to Christ:
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of
his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the
resurrection from the dead (Philip. 3:10-11).
I love that "if somehow." Paul is humble about what he has
accomplished. He knows it was actually
God's doing. And he is not so arrogant as to presume he has grasped it yet.
He goes on to write, Not that I have already obtained this or have already
reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has
made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but
this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what
lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of
God in Christ Jesus (Philip. 3:12-14).
I have to admit I sometimes have mixed feelings about Paul because he can be a
bit of a pain in some ways. Too self-focused at times, patriarchal, a little
misogynistic, even racist in places. He was also
human, which excuses nothing, of course. Still, we all owe our presence in
church this morning to this Apostle. He brought “us” Gentiles the
gospel.
I want to thank Paul and tell him he was right … that it was worth the
sacrifice. For all Paul's struggles with enemies without and demons within, can
you imagine a life more meaningful than introducing the world to the grace of
God in Jesus Christ and breaking down the barriers which exclude anyone from
God's love? Wouldn't that be a worthy goal for you and me in the context of our
own lives?
I want to ask you to look at your life today and consider what you are doing.
Where are you headed? What are you trying to accomplish? What gets your best
gifts … your greatest energies … your deepest anxieties …
your most significant sacrifices? Ask yourself, "What can I give?"
"How can I contribute?" "What can I gain for others? What can I
do for the God who has entrusted me with this life?" Ask yourself if what
you are doing will add anything to the eternal dominion of Christ in goodness
and justice and peace? You only have so much time to do something beautiful for
God. Ask yourself about what you are doing: "Is it worth it? Is it worth
it?" Paul sacrificed everything to follow Jesus, and discovered he had
gained everything that mattered to him because of it. Can you say that about
your life? Is it worth it? Is it worth it? Of course, only you can decide if
it's worth it for you.
May we pray?
You have already made our lives of infinite worth, dear God, purchased by the
cross of Christ. Give us wisdom, give us courage to offer our lives to you as a
living sacrifice, pursuing your grace with our whole hearts and serving your
the beloved world of your creation until evil is defeated and all people come
to know you, to rejoice in your love, to experience your life in Jesus' name.
Rev. Mary Anne Biggs, Pastor
Nekoosa United
Nekoosa