No Choice But To ChooseDr. James Mayfield September 19, 2004 Text: Hosea 11:1-5 & Luke 16:13 In the passage we read from the Gospel of Luke, Jesus said: “No servant can serve two masters….” But we try. At least I do. I want the gifts of grace that make me feel good, but I resist the challenges of grace that call me to change. It is a common problem among us church folks to try to get by serving Christ with beliefs we hold in our heads, without significantly modifying the way we live. We want the gifts of grace Christ offers without any of the claims Christ makes on our living. I want the celebration of Easter without having to deal with any of the reality of Good Friday. I want God's love without the expectation that I love others as God in Christ has loved me. The problem is not a new one. This is the same problem Hosea addressed in the passage we read today. He was reminding the people of Israel that it was God who had freed them from slavery and made them a people. Time and again God had given them what they needed. Nevertheless, the people of Israel kept wandering away from God. Regardless of all that God had done for them, they were like an unfaithful spouse, having a regular affair worshipping other gods, especially the gods that promised wealth and pleasure. Focused on getting what they wanted for themselves rather than on being the persons God intended them to be, they ignored the claims of the one true God who, as Hosea put it, had taught them to walk, had taken them in his arms and healed them, had led them and fed them with kindness and love. They accepted God's love; but not so far as to allow God's love to shape the way they lived. As the old folk saying declared: “They wanted to have their cake and eat too.” They wanted God's grace without any of the commitments that come with accepting God's grace. And so, they lived split lives. Although the people Hosea addressed claimed to believe in God, their living was obviously not committed to God. Who among us has not been guilty of this same sort of behavior -- worshipping God on the Sabbath and false gods during the week? But as Jesus told us, we cannot serve two masters. When we try, we inevitably end up giving lip service to one while investing our time and energy serving the other. Because it is impossible to serve two masters, in our behavior we make a choice, whether we admit or not. Regardless of the beliefs we hold in our heads and creeds we recite on Sunday, what we do with our time and money reveals what we really worship, what we really place our faith in. We may affirm God loves us and that we love God, but what does our behavior and our use of money reveal our primary commitment to be? When all is said and done, what do we really place our faith in? To what do we give ourselves? What shapes our priorities? What does our checkbook say about all this? What does an examination of our daily schedule reveal? God's grace comes into our lives with gifts of forgiveness, healing and hope. God's grace comes into our lives declaring each of us to be of infinite worth in the sight of God. God's grace comes into our lives opening our eyes to potential and possibilities regardless of the past we have experienced. God's grace comes offering new life after we have messed up our old life. This is the part of grace each of us want to focus on. However, this is only one side of the coin. Grace not only comes offering new possibility, God's grace also comes with a set of priorities -- priorities that challenge our priorities. Throughout the four gospels, not only are the gifts of grace revealed but also the claims of grace. For example: through Jesus Christ we see clearly that God's grace reaches out to the outcasts, and as long as we see ourselves among those receiving this grace, this is a soul healing, comforting story. But sooner or later, we discover that in Jesus reaching out to the outcast we are also confronted by the role model for our living. We too are to reach out to the outcast, and when we become aware of this claim on our living, God's grace becomes a challenge to our priorities. We read of Jesus driving money changers from the temple and damning religious hypocrisy, and to the extent we see this addressed to other people who misuse their religion for selfish reasons we cheer Jesus on. But to the extent we are aware our membership in this congregation is more concerned with networking that is good for our careers than about worshipping and serving God, we are confronted with the painful truth that we are all too much like the money changers in the temple. When we have used worship and prayer as a tactic to get God to give us (and ours) what we want, we are not unlike the religious hypocrites Jesus described as white washed tombs. They too tried to substitute their efforts to manipulate God for worship of God. The grace of God not only exposes the truth about the selfishness, pride and hypocrisy in others, the grace of God also exposes these expressions of sin at work in our living as well. The gift of grace comes not only challenging the priorities of others; it also comes challenging our priorities as well. Passages in the Bible such as those we read today, call this truth to our attention. Passages such as these expose the pretense of saying we love God without allowing love of God to shape our living. Passages such as these expose the hypocrisy of declaring our belief in Christ without allowing Christ to shape our priorities. Claiming to be Christian does not make us Christian. Christians serve Christ, and we cannot serve two masters. We can try to avoid this truth and its implications, but avoidance is at best merely avoidance. Avoiding the truth does not change reality. I can avoid facing the truth of some problem but that does not do away with the problem. It simply means I am refusing to face it. It does not make the problem go away, and more often than not, avoiding a problem only empowers the problem. We can avoid the truth proclaimed in the two passages we read today, but our avoidance of that truth does not negate that truth. It is impossible to serve God and at the same time allow priorities that are in conflict with Christ to shape our living. We cannot serve two masters. We must make a choice. Or more accurately stated, we do make a choice, whether we are aware of it or not. In each situation our behavior and attitude reveals the choice we have really made -- regardless of the creed we may eloquently profess. We cannot serve two masters As I have thought about the message in this sermon, I asked myself: “So, what will you do and what do you hope, expect, pray the individuals who hear this sermon will do?” I hope we will be brave enough to make a thorough and honest examination of the way we use our time and money. I plan to keep a record of the way I will spend my time this coming week. I intend to keep a record of what I do, each 15 minutes of my being awake. Because I cannot do this moment by moment, I will try to be as accurate as I can when I do have time to write it down. I also intend to examine my check book and prayerfully look at the way I use money. My goal is to try to discover to what extent my behavior clearly reflects the beliefs I think in my head and can say with my lips. It is my hope and prayer that you will join me in this self-examination. Jesus spoke the obvious truth when he said we cannot serve two maskers. So, what master do we really serve? I am convinced the accurate answer is to be found in what we do with our time and money, not simply in the beliefs we can recite. God, give us the courage and self-discipline we need to examine our living in the light of the scripture passages we read today. Amen. Pastoral prayer:
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