Cheeseburger in Paradise
John 10:7-10
Near the beginning of the Disney movie,
Pollyanna, the minister climbs the stairs to his high and mighty
pulpit and begins his sermon by leaning on the pulpit and looking down
on his congregation and shouting, “Death comes unexpectedly!”
I’ve thought of that scene many times these
past few weeks as we’ve heard report after report of yet another
celebrity’s death. In
addition to the death of Karl Malden, who played that minister, and Ed
McMahon, both of whom lived long full lives, we ‘ve also heard of
the death sof Michael
Jackson, Farah Fawcett, and Billy Mays.
In fact, according to one of my friends, the death of former
Titan quarterback, Steve McNair, makes 9 celebrity deaths in the last
two weeks. Personally,
I’ve lost count!
But what I think is so much sadder than the
roll call of celebrity deaths is the number of them who not only died
young and unexpectedly but whose lives were sad and tragic. The satirical website, The
Onion, summed up Michael Jackson’s life and death with a headline
that read, “King of Pop dead at 12,” and ended with the following
words:
"’He had so
much potential to blossom into a gracious and mature human being. As
it is, the world will never know the genius Michael Jackson might have
become had he grown up.’ The
singer leaves behind a large body of hits, 25,000 unopened toys, and
nearly $400 million of debt.” (http://www.theonion.com/content/news/king_of_pop_dead_at_12 )
Michael Jackson, Farah Fawcett, Elvis Presley,
Judy Garland . . . I could go on listing example after example of
people who had it all—money, fame, talent and opportunity—who not
only died young, but who, even more sadly, quit living long before
their deaths.
As the poet T.S. Elliott once asked, “Where
is the life that we have lost in living?”
Sadly, celebrities aren’t alone in losing
their lives in the midst of living.
Many people are chained to past hurts as well as current
addictions, fears and sins and, as a result, they have lost the joy
and meaning of their lives. So
they plod through this life either in complete despair or in the hope
of a better life to come.
Yet, listen to the words of Jesus:
7So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I
tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8All who came before
me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. 9I
am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and
go out and find pasture. 10The thief comes only to steal
and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it
abundantly. John 10:7-10
This is the gospel—the good news –that in
Jesus Christ God took on flesh and came to dwell among us. He taught us. He ate with outcasts and
sinners. He was crucified,
but the grave could not hold him and on the third day he arose. All this for one reason—so
that we may have life and have it abundantly—not only after we die,
but here and now!
Unfortunately, this is where I think many
Christians misunderstand the gospel!
Too many Christians have too small an understanding of the good
news of Jesus Christ. They
limit the gospel to the promise of heaven after we die thus missing
the good news of Jesus Christ for those of us yet alive!
This is why I dislike evangelism that centers
on the questions, “If you died tonight, would you go to heaven or
hell?” or preaching that centers on reminding folks that “death
comes unexpectedly.” Because
the truth of the gospel is that our relationship with Jesus Christ has
as much to do with heaven and hell in this life as in the next.
All too many Christians are waiting for the
next life for things to get better.
Faced with social problems, such as poverty, war and
addictions, they tell us to sit still and endure until death comes or
Jesus returns. They
emphasize the judgment of God in such colorful and rich language that
other Christians are afraid to live this life for fear of what will
happen in the next.
Yet listen to what Jesus said, he didn’t
come to condemn us! He
said that he came that we would have life—life abundant. The NIV
says “To the full” and Eugene Peterson says “real and eternal life, more and better life than
they ever dreamed of”!
I was reminded of the value of belief in the
promise of abundant life when I visited Thailand a few years back. I was in Thailand as part of a
class studying—among other things—the effect of the drug and sex
trade in Thailand. Since
the introduction of methamphetamines to the Natives Tribes in northern
Thailand, whole villages have become addicted. As a result, these
impoverished, addicted parents sell their daughters into prostitution
at young ages.
Now Thailand is approximately 95% Buddhist, 4
percent Muslim and less than a percent Christian. Yet, what we discovered is that
every ministry geared toward helping people break their addiction to
drugs and every ministry helping women escape prostitution was
Christian. When we asked
why the Buddhists priest did not do more, we were told that they pray
for the people. I’m not
an expert on Buddhism but as I understand it the biggest hurdle was
that Buddhist believe that our current life is either a reward or a
punishment for a previous life. Therefore,
the only real hope anyone has is to live this life in such a manner
that they can earn enough merits so that the next one will be better.
Christians, however, believe in the
possibility of new and transformed life now and so they worked to help
others live a life abundant and full!
That’s the gospel. The good news is that Jesus
came and died so that we could live full and joy-filled lives—better
than we ever dreamed!
Now at this point, I do need to clarify that
life abundant does not necessarily mean a life full of goodies. Despite what some are preaching
these days, God never promised that you will be rich or that you will
never be sick or that you will never have struggles in your life. The best example we have of
someone who had eternal life is Jesus and he was not rich—in fact he
said he had no place to lay his head—nor was his life without
struggle! Jesus
lived a perfect, sinless life of obedience and worship of God and he
didn’t die with a trust fund and an estate. And if Jesus didn’t
earn the right to be rich and successful than neither do we.
What Jesus has to offer us is better than
riches and better than fame. He
offers us a new start. He
offers us forgiveness for our past (and future) sins. He offers us joy and peace in
the midst of life’s storms. He
offers to walk with us in the good times and the bad.
In the week since Michael Jackson’s death,
I’ve heard folks talk over and over about what an awful father he
had. I’ve heard how he
was beaten as a child and how that marked and eventually destroyed
him. And I couldn’t help
but wonder if out of all his famous friends and advisors if anyone had
ever offered him Jesus—not as an escape from the flames of hell in
the life to come but as a way of breaking the chains of his childhood
pain and escaping the hell of this life!
I wonder if any Christian was willing to give
him a taste of the unconditional acceptance and love of God.
Sadly, Christians don’t have a reputation
for being loving and accepting . Nor
are we known for our joy or our abundant living. Study after study shows that
people are leaving and avoiding the church by the droves—not because
they aren’t interested in Jesus—but because the Christians don’t
act like they believe in Jesus. They
say we are judgmental, hypocritical, straight-laced, Puritanical,
sometimes mean and usually always joyless! And I think we don’t do
ourselves and most especially the gospel of Jesus Christ any favors
when we play into their stereotypes by emphasizing the bad news of
judgment over the good news of new and abundant life in Jesus Christ.
C.S Lewis once said that the serious business
of heaven is joy. And I
often think the serious business of evangelism is joy.
Jesus said we are to be a light, yeast and
salt to the world. And
most Christians rightfully understand that means that we are called to
live holy lives. Unfortunately,
we define holy by all the things we don’t do instead of the things
we should do! We define a
holy life by the sins we avoid rather than by the joyful, loving life
we live!
Yet how did Jesus define the greatest
commandment? You shall
love God with all your heart, your mind, your soul, your strength and
your neighbor as yourself! Jesus’
greatest commandment to us was not a list of things we were not to do,
but rather a way of living abundantly and joyfully!
When we live life abundantly and joyfully, we
give this broken hurting world a taste of what God has in store for
them. We act as a piece of
heaven here on earth—a foretaste of the kingdom to come. And if we do it well, we give
them just enough of a taste that they want more of Jesus.
Thanks to the life, death and resurrection of
Jesus Christ, sin, death and evil have been defeated! The past is past and it no
longer controls our future. Our
sins are forgiven and we are granted the gift of the Holy Spirit which
heals our sin sick souls and enables us to grow in holiness. Therefore, eternal and abundant
life is not something we have to wait for death to experience. We can experience it here and
now. We get a taste of
what is to come.
Jimmy Buffett sings of a cheeseburger as a
piece of heaven on earth. And
God has a propensity toward using ordinary things to point toward the
Kingdom of God: a baby in
a manger, an old man and woman setting out on a journey, a young
shepherd boy, fisherman, tax collectors, prostitutes, a hard-headed
Pharisee, bread, wine, water, you and me. Ordinary things which can point
toward the extraordinary love and grace of God!
In just a moment, we will all have the
opportunity to come forward and get a taste of heaven here on earth. As we come to the Lord’s
Table, listen to the words we pray as we ask God to send the Holy
Spirit to transform this ordinary bread and juice into something so
much more:
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us
gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine. Make them be for
us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body
of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed
by his blood.
Let’s come to the
table asking God to give us a taste
of abundant life—a slice of heaven on earth—so we can go
and be a piece of heaven on earth for someone else. Let us go and live a life of
abundant joy and love so that others will know the good news of Jesus
Christ!
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