Living the Dream
12/17/2006 - Priority One
A week ago Thursday night a number of us from Valley View went over to Phoenixville High School to hear a talk by a man named Joe Ehrmann. Joe Ehrmann is the subject of the New York Times bestselling bookSeason of Life written by Jeffrey Marx. And his talk was on what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman in our culture today. Which I thought was an interesting topic especially coming from a football coach.
Joe Ehrmann coaches high school football at the Gilman school in Baltimore, Maryland. He's also an ordained minister. But before he went to seminary he was an All-American football player at Syracuse University and then played thirteen years of professional football with the Baltimore Colts.
After he retired from the NFL he and his wife, Paula, moved to the inner city of Baltimore where they started a ministry called "The Door," committed to addressing issues of poverty, racism, and social injustice. And while they were working hard to provide food and shelter, after school programs, and a number of other services it became obvious to them that they were just scratching the surface of much deeper social issues.
In fact, after ten years of working on the streets of Baltimore Ehrmann became convinced that there is an even greater crisis in our country than poverty and addiction and abuse. In his mind at least, the greatest crisis we face in America today is the crisis of masculinity. That is, what does it mean to be a man?
And so during his talk he mentioned three lies that every boy and every man in America is being fed through our culture. The first lie is that real masculinity is all about athletic ability. It's the lie of the ball field and it starts when boys are seven or eight years old and they line up on the playground to choose sides. And of course, the better athletes are picked first and the weaker ones are picked last. And so the message comes across loud and clear that the better athlete you are the more worth you have and the more masculine you are. But athletic ability has nothing to do with being a man.
The second lie is that being man in our culture is all about sexual conquest. It's the lie of the bedroom and it's fed to young men all throughout their teenage years. Somehow we've associated manhood with the capacity to use girls and women for personal pleasure and to validate a twisted concept of masculinity.
The third lie comes along later in life when men move into the marketplace. It's the lie of the boardroom. It's the message that being a man is all about financial success, the size of your salary, the power of your position, the amount of your toys. And so the heroes of our culture are professional athletes and other celebrities who can perform on the field or on the screen, attract lots of women, and make tons of money.
Those are the lies of our culture that produce a twisted view of masculinity. But there are lies that are fed to young girls as well. And perhaps the number one lie that young girls grow up with in our culture is that your worth is all wrapped up in your appearance. It's all about how you look on the outside and how attractive you are. And because the standard of beauty is "perfection," whatever that is, no woman ever really feels like she can measure up.
So Ehrmann and his wife started another organization called Building Men and Women for Others. And if you go to their website you'll read this quote by Martin Luther King, Jr. at the top of the home page. "Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'"
It became their conclusion that real men and real women are characterized by two things. The first is the ability to give and receive love. At the end of our lives the most important thing about us will not be how attractive we were or how many awards we won or how much money we made. The most important thing will be, "Was I good husband, was I a good wife, was I a good mother, was I a good dad, a good friend, a good son, a good daughter, a good person?" Life is all about relationships and men and women built for others understand that.
Their second conclusion is that true masculinity and true femininity can only be found when we live for a cause greater than ourselves. We all need a transcendent purpose for our lives that goes far beyond our own goals and ambitions. We need to understand that we've been put on this earth for a purpose that is bigger than ourselves. We need to know that we've made a difference in this world. We are built for others.
And when I heard him say that I couldn't help but think of what Jesus has been saying to us Sunday after Sunday in the greatest sermon ever preached, the Sermon on the Mount. It's all about relationships. It's all about love. And it's all about living for something greater than ourselves. Jesus called it the kingdom of heaven, this great dream of God that is not only a cause worth living for, but for many down through the centuries has been a cause worth dying for as well. In fact, there are those who will die today because the kingdom of God is priority one in their lives.
What Joe Ehrmann does as a football coach is apply the dream of God to athletics. And so he tells his players that his number one job as their coach is to love them. And the number one job of his players is to love each other. And together they give themselves up for the team, the cause that is greater than themselves. And this fall USA Today ranked the Gilman High School football team #1 in the East and #12 in the country. Love is powerful even on the football field.
This morning we continue our series calledLiving the Dream with a look at some amazing promises that Jesus made to all of us who are willing to give up our own goals and ambitions for the cause of his kingdom. I've titled the teaching "Priority One." If you have a Bible please turn with me to Matthew 6:25.
Matthew 6:25-34 ,Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? 28And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, "What shall we eat?" or "What shall we drink?" or "What shall we wear?" 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
This is one of the most powerful passages in the whole Sermon on the Mount and maybe one of the most powerful in all of Scripture. To a bunch of bone weary, stressed out people standing on the hill that day and to us sitting in chairs on this day feeling the deadline of Christmas fast approaching Jesus says, "Stop worrying! Don't stress out about things like food and clothes because it's not going change anything. You can't even add an hour to your life by stress. Instead, trust your heavenly Father to take care of you."
And when we hear that a part of us sighs, "Thank you, Jesus, I needed that today! I'm so tired of worrying and stressing out about things especially during this Christmas season. I love the fact that my Dad is going to take care of me." One part of us says that and feels great relief.
But not long after, like a few seconds after, another part of us screams, "Wait a minute! Time out! You've got to be kidding, Jesus. Do you mean that I can sleep in tomorrow and not go to work or school and my Dad is still going to take of me? I can be like a bird and just hang out all day, waste away in Margaritaville and still get a paycheck? Get real. That sounds too good to be true."
Worry is such a part of our lives that most of us can't imagine living life without it. It would be like trying to live life without air. We tend to worry about so many things that when we're not worried about something we're worried that we forgot something that we should be worried about. I know I can be that way at times.
A few years ago a simple song was very popular called "Don't Worry, Be Happy." In fact, it won a Grammy for the best song of the year in 1989. It was written by jazz composer Bobby McFerinn. And in it he says, "In every life we have some trouble, but when you worry you make it double. Don't worry. Be happy. Ain't got no place to lay your head? Somebody came and took your bed? Don't worry. Be happy. The landlord say your rent is late? He may have to litigate. Don't worry. Be happy." It was a catchy song and I can remember singing it a lot in my head.
But is that what Jesus is talking about? Is that the kind of apathy that he's encouraging his followers to have? Don't worry. Be happy. It will all work out in the end. Well, yes and no. Jesus is definitely saying don't worry, he uses the word six times in this brief passage, but he doesn't follow it up by saying be happy, instead he follows it up by saying seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all the things that can stress you out will be taken care of partly because they won't be all that important to you anymore.
There's a condition that Jesus attaches to these promises. It's the condition of making his kingdom and his values priority one in our lives. You see by this point in the sermon Jesus has already addressed money, sex, and power, the tyrannical trinity that threatens to dominate all our lives. These are the values of the world. There's nothing wrong with having money or enjoying sex or wielding influence. But when these things become gods to us, which can happen so easily, we're destined to live stressed out lives serving them. They are only the means to an end, never intended to be an end in themselves.
And so against the backdrop of money and greed, Jesus says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Against the backdrop of sex and lust Jesus says, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. And against the backdrop of power and pride Jesus says, Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Money, sex and power those are the values of this world. And when we live for them we will always be stressed out because in and of themselves they do not have what it takes to satisfy our souls which is why Jesus encouraged us to practice the three spiritual disciplines that undermine the power of these values. Generosity combats greed, the humility of prayer undermines power, and the practice of fasting keeps our physical appetites under control.
And lest there be any doubt as to what Jesus is saying he draws a line in the sand in verse 24 when he says, Read my lips. No one, not you or me or anybody else, can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot faithfully serve both God and Money.
Notice Jesus doesn't say that we shouldn't serve two masters. He's says that we can't. It's impossible. There's a fork in the road when it comes to following Jesus and we can't go both ways. We have to make a choice. We're either going to live for his kingdom and his values or for the world's kingdom and its values. And that can be a frightening choice. Jesus knows that. He knows what these dear folks are thinking and he knows what we're thinking right now.
"Can I really trust God to take care of me? If I'm going to go for broke and get on this mission of Christ and really trust God I can't also wrap my arms too tightly around my own career goals and other ambitions. I can have them, but they must always come second to serving Christ and his kingdom. That must be my most important vocation in life. That is priority one."
And when we make that choice then reaffirm it over and over again, because it will be assaulted often, then we can lay claim to the promise that we need not worry about things like food and clothes, cars and houses because our heavenly Father knows that we need them and he will take good care of us. Someone has said, "Put the world first and you'll find that it gets moth-eaten in your hands. Put God first, and you'll get the world thrown in."
So the lyrics are not "Don't worry. Be happy." The lyrics are "Don't worry. Seek God first."
And so we imagine Jesus sitting on the hill that day pointing to a sparrow landing in a nearby tree saying, "Look at that bird. Does he look stressed out to you? No. Not at all. He doesn't spend the day in bed expecting food to fall from the sky. No. He's out working, but he's not worried about having enough for tomorrow. He just knows that he's going to get fed today. And as much as I like birds, you're even more valuable than they."
"Do you see those flowers over there stretching up towards the sun? They're doing what they were created to do and that's to look pretty and bring beauty to this world. They didn't have to make their own clothes. God took care of that. And yet they look a whole lot better than you do or even Solomon did, the best dressed man in the world. They're not going to last too long. They'll be here today and gone tomorrow. But if that's how God dresses up wild flowers, don't you think he'll take care of you?"
I love what Clarence Jordan writes about this passage, "Jesus told his followers, kingdom citizens, to look at the birds in the sky and to consider the lilies of the fields. They were nourished and cared for because they were in the environment and plan and purpose for which the Father intended for them. They must stay within that plan if they are to claim the Father's care. Suppose the bird chose to live under water and the lily decided to live on concrete? Would the Father feed and clothe them there? He might wish to, but he could not because they chose to leave the environment of his care."
"The environment that God intends for all people is the kingdom. It is the summation of all his plans and purposes. It is the framework of his will. People in it are like birds in the sky and lilies of the field - living in harmony with God's design. And being of more value than either, human beings have a perfectly natural right to expect more from the Father's bounty."
Do you hear what he's saying? He's saying that we were all created to live in God's kingdom. And when we respond to what we were created to live for God promises to take care of us. So we need not worry. That doesn't mean we don't plan ahead or save for the future. But we don't worry about the future.
That doesn't mean we don't work. Jesus worked, first as a carpenter and then as a rabbi, but he worked with joy. He was content with who he was and lived in the present moment celebrating the goodness of God every single day. He wasn't looking ahead anxiously making the present moment count only because of what might come next. He didn't worry about whether he would have enough for tomorrow. He knew his heavenly Father would be with him tomorrow as much as he is with him today. That's a promise only God can make. That's not a promise that money can make. God will be there tomorrow, our job or money may not be. And he will care for those who make his kingdom priority one in their lives.
I don't claim to be the poster boy for this passage. I battle my own anxieties. But I can tell you this. Over the years my experience has been that our heavenly Father can be trusted to take good care of us. He's been faithful to me. And the times in my life when I've stepped out in faith and taken a risk for his kingdom he has always provided more than enough for me and my family.
When Jennifer and I were dating we memorized a verse together that sums up the way I feel God has treated us over the past 21 years. It's Ephesians 3:20-21, Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we could ask or imagine according to his power that works in us, unto him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever. Amen. Our heavenly Father is an exceedingly abundant God.
The turning point in Joe Ehrmann's life came when his younger brother, Billy, died of cancer. He was only eighteen years old, ten years younger than Joe, and because they both had an absentee father Joe was more like a Dad than a brother to him. Billy died when Joe was at the top of his NFL career. He had money, fame, and power. But he was empty inside.
About that he writes, "The turning point came as I stood next to my brother's casket and open grave in a cemetery in Buffalo. It was the middle of December, the snow was blowing, and hundreds of people were there. I heard the priest say the last amen, and everybody turned and started to walk away."
"I remember wanting to scream, 'There has to be more to life than this!' That's when I began asking questions like, 'Do we just live and die, have some good times and some bad times, and then everybody walks away? What is the meaning and purpose of life?'"
"I found my answers in Jesus Christ. For us as Christians, our relationship with Christ and our commitment to advance the kingdom of God are what matter most. This is what will bring the healing and hope that boys and men, girls and women in our culture need so desperately."
God wants his kingdom and his righteousness to be priority one in our lives. And when they are, he promises to take care of the rest.