Sermon-How Do We Get to El Paso?

"HOW DO WE GET TO EL PASO?"

Dr. James L. Mayfield
Tarrytown United Methodist Church

October 17, 1999

Text: II Corinthians 9:6-10 (also see Luke 12:15-21 & John 10:10-11)

Jesus said: "I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly." Everyone in this room knows there is a significant difference between having an abundance of things and having an abundant life. But even though we know there is a difference, it is easy for us who live in this materialistic culture to forget and to be seduced into thinking our fulfillment resides in the accumulation of things and titles.

Jesus talked about this problem of ours in a story you can find in the 12th chapter of Luke. It goes something like this. Once upon a time there was a farmer who had a fantastic farm. The soil was fertile, and the farm was located where the rain almost always came at the appropriate time. That farmer was very prosperous. He looked at his crop one day and realized that this year's harvest was more abundant than usual. It was going to be more than his barns could hold. So, he said to himself, "I know what I will do. I will tear down the barns I have and build even larger barns so that I can keep and save this great crop. Then, I will really have it made. Then, I will really be able to enjoy life." However, that night the man died. Maybe he had a heart attack; maybe it was a stroke; maybe he was walking beside the road like those college students last week and a driver went to sleep and hit him. Jesus said God called that farmer a fool. He was a fool because he spent his life making stuff to go into barns and building larger barns that could hold even more. He spent his life chasing after an abundance of things and he failed to have the abundant life Jesus talked about. Jesus said God called him a fool.

I have taken a few liberties with the story as Jesus told it, but not with the meaning of the story. That meaning is all too clear. We can understand it because we have been there. From time to time (if not all the time) we have chased the illusion that we will really have it made and really be able to enjoy life when we fill bigger barns and larger trophy cases. We know what it is to chase the illusion that our life will be fulfilled once we obtain "that"—whatever "that" is. If we can just obtain a larger market share, if we can just get that position, if we can just have that authority, if we can just achieve "whatever," then we will be a success.

Of course, like the farmer in the story Jesus told, we already have a barn that holds more than enough. We have already accumulated more than almost all of the world's population. We have accomplishments we list on our resumes. We really have "been there" and "done that". It is a sign of insanity when we keep doing what did not work before, thinking that if we keep doing it, it will finally work. It is sort of like trying to go to El Paso driving north through Dallas. We get to Dallas and we say: "Well, this is not El Paso; I had better keep driving so I will get there." We come to the North Pole and we say: "Well, this is not El Paso; I had better keep going until I get there." So, we stay on the road, going all the way around the planet, but we never get to El Paso and will never get to El Paso because we are going the wrong direction. And it is crazy to keep doing what we have been doing, expecting different results the next time. This is part of what Paul was talking about when he wrote about our bondage to sin and death.

Yet our bondage to sin and death is so great we keep doing what is as stupid as trying to get to El Paso by driving north. We say to ourselves: "I am really going to have it made and really enjoy life and feel good about myself just as soon as I can make a little more money, get that next promotion, or accomplish ‘this’ or achieve ‘that.’" And so this is how we invest our time and energy in life, and all that happens is that we make more money, we get the promotion, we accomplish "this" and achieve "that." We harvest a bigger crop and build larger barns. Meanwhile, there is less sand in the hourglass of our lives.

We know better. All of us gathered here know better. We would not be in this room if we did not know better. We know there is a difference between an abundance of things and titles, and the abundant life Jesus mentioned.

The question is, how do we break the cycle? How do we stop trying to get to El Paso driving north? How do we change the direction our lives are moving? I suspect we know the answer to that also. We might say it differently, but we know that the abundant life Jesus was talking about comes to us as we live our lives trusting—really trusting—what we see in Jesus, trusting Christ to the extent that we actively strive to have the priorities we see in his life be the priorities in our lives. It is through faith, through trusting Christ and what we see in Christ so completely that we allow Christ to shape the way we live. This is why he said he came, to make known and make possible the life God intends us to live. "I have come," Jesus said, "that you might have life and have it abundantly."

This change of direction in our living does not happen just because we believe that if we ever did really give ourselves to living as Jesus said, we would experience it. That will no more bring us to abundant life than knowing we ought to go west will get us to El Paso while we keep driving north. It takes more than knowing in our heads what we ought to do to change our living. We have to make a change. We have to begin.

From the stories I have been talking about the past few weeks, one of the lessons that can be learned is that all of the persons God drafted did not suddenly become the persons God intended them to be. They made a commitment; they stayed with their commitments even though they stumbled along the way, and inch by inch, yard by yard, mile by mile, each of them moved toward being the person God intended. The men Jesus drafted to be his disciples were just ordinary men with limited abilities and brainpower. They may have suddenly made decisions to follow Jesus, but there was no sudden transformation of these men. They did not understand; they misunderstood; they argued about positions of prestige; they ran off when Jesus was arrested; Judas betrayed; Peter denied; they all were afraid. It was not until at Pentecost that they began to understand, but even after that they still misunderstood and fought about religious rules. The point is, all disciples of Christ have always been works in progress. None of us will ever be finished products. There is a sense in which the goal is not to arrive at some El Paso–like destination. The goal is to forever keep moving west; that is, to forever keep moving in the direction God intends us to go.

What is important is to begin. And each of us can do that. We may not be able to immediately be in El Paso, but at least we can stop going north and begin to go west.

So, how do we begin? There are many ways to begin. But one of the ways Jesus suggested we begin—a way he suggested on more than one occasion—was to begin with our possessions. A few verses after the story Jesus told about the farmer, Jesus said: "… where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

Notice, Jesus did not say that where our heart is there will our treasure be. Jesus said it the other way around. Where our treasure is, there will be our hearts.

Jesus knew that what we do with our money reflects who we are and what we really value. Change what we do with our money and we begin to change what we really value. Remember the man who asked Jesus what he had to do to inherit eternal life? Jesus told him that the first step would be to put his possessions to work serving the needs of the world. Jesus knew that if we put our money to work serving others it will not be long until the direction of our living shifts in the direction of loving neighbor, which is one of the primary ways we express love for God.

We who are gathered in this room already know that when we find ourselves thinking and behaving like the farmer in that story Jesus told, our lives are going in the wrong direction. We cannot continue to travel north and ever expect to reach El Paso. For our lives to begin going the direction God wants them to go, we must change directions.

The questions for each of us, then, are: "Are we willing to change?" and "What will our first step be?" Jesus strongly suggested several times that a very good first step is to put our money to work serving others.

God, we do not want to waste our lives. Help us make the changes we need so that our living is moving in the direction you intend. Amen.

Pastoral Prayer:

God, we do not understand tragedy—such as accidents that took the lives of William Langlay or the college students last weekend. And God, we certainly do not comprehend the evil at work in the lives of persons whose twisted psyches and souls cause them to murder their fellow human beings such as happened in Pleasanton this week. God, we are heartsick with grief because of the death of those young people who had so much potential, and, God, evil, calculated, intentional murders cause us to be soul sick with angry bewilderment and frustration.

We remember the story of Jesus weeping because of the death of his friend, and through that memory we know you more than share our sorrow in the midst of tragedy. And God, we can only imagine your reaction as the ideal parent seeing your children make choices that move them farther and farther from that which is good to being and doing that which is evil. We remember what the scriptures tell us, not only about your justice that finally brings consequences for evil, but also your amazing mercy that never quits, your transforming love that is available to all—including the worst of sinners.

God, such profound love is beyond our understanding—especially when so fresh in our memories are tragic deaths and evil murders. Help us deal with our bewilderment and sorrow in the face of tragedy and enable us to grow in our ability to deal with evil in the world through both the justice and mercy you have revealed to us in Christ.

Teach us to live the prayer Jesus taught us. "Our Father …"

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