I once heard a story about a
council member at a Lutheran church who was caught embezzling money from his
company. When he was asked how he could
on the one hand be a strong leader of his church while at the same time doing
something so very obviously unchristian at his job, his response was, “I guess
I just never connected Sunday to Monday.”
That line has gone on to be the title of books, ministry programs and
many a video series.
Would
you ever do something like that? I mean,
as a Christian, could you imagine compromising your faith to such an extent
that you would steal from the company you worked for? To stand up here in church and confess that
you believe in things like the ten commandments and then go right out and break
one at work for weeks on end? I mean, we
all know that some of those commandments written in the Bible are kinda
confusing or ambiguous maybe, but stealing isn’t one of them, right? Well, I believe that many Christians don’t
connect Sunday to Monday. You might be
one of them. It’s easier than you
think.
There
are many people in the world today who talk about the benefits of being a
Christian. Even in our church, we spend
a lot of time talking about how much better off you’ll be as a Christian. You’ll have peace in times of trouble, we
pray for healing of your sicknesses and diseases, God promises that when you
seek God’s kingdom first all your needs will be met as well. But sometimes being a Christian doesn’t make
your life better; in fact, at least as the world looks at things, sometimes it
can even make your life worse to those around you.
On
the ABC evening news on August 16th, there was a story entitled,
“Why nice guys finish last.” In a study
of people in the workplace, men who said that they were agreeable or “nice” at
work earned about $10,000 less than men who said that they weren’t
agreeable. Women who said they were
agreeable earned about $2000 less than women who said they weren’t
agreeable. Now this was a self-reported
study and, obviously, how we view ourselves might be different than how others
view us, but the point being made is that if you act nicely, you may be earning
less because of it. The study’s authors
were worried that, with this bad economy, people might change their attitudes
because of this study and be, you know, not as “nice” to earn more money. Jesus Christ calls us to, “Love our neighbors
as ourselves.” To, “turn the other
cheek” and to “clothe yourselves with compassion”. But if it means you earn $10,000 less a year
. . . is it really worth it?
Or
what about this example, maybe hitting a little closer to home. God commands us, in the third commandment, to
“Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.”
Martin Luther, in his Small Catechism, argued that this wasn’t so much
about the particular day, but about how we respect God’s Word, “We are to fear
and love God so that we do not neglect God’s Word or the preaching of it
but regard it as holy and gladly hear
and learn it.” In other words, you are
not supposed to come to church because it’s Sunday—you come to church because
you respect God’s Word and don’t want to neglect your opportunity to hear that Word spoken and preached about. If that happens on Mondays, you should go on Mondays.
If it happens on Sundays, which is the case at Emmanuel (as well as
Saturday nights by the way), then you should go on the weekend. It’s not about the day, but what is happening
that you don’t want to miss.
However,
what happens when the corn is ready to be harvested around here? Or, what if it’s a nice day and the fields
are ready to be plowed? What if we have
to make hay while the sun shines? Or
what if it’s a rainy day and you want to make sure that the combine is ready
just in case you have a nice day on Monday so you can get out in the fields
early? What if coming in on Sunday means
that you’ll miss out on getting your crops in on time or getting the whole
harvest in sooner than your neighbor down the road? How much money might that equate to? You’d know better than I. My point is that following God’s commandments
doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll earn more money; in fact, it might make you
earn less. I’ve heard farmers say that,
when they were younger, nobody worked in the fields on Sunday; but now, if you
don’t go out, you are seen as a slacker.
Did God’s word change? No, but
something did. Would your finances
suffer if you didn’t make it out into the fields on Sunday mornings? And, here’s the kicker, even if they did,
would God continue to provide enough for you?
In
two of the stories today, the one from Daniel and the one from Acts, Christians
are being persecuted because their faith is affecting the world, political
leadership or the economy. In the story
from Acts, Demetrius, the silversmith, wouldn’t have been angry with Paul’s
gospel message except that it was hurting business. No need for all those silver shrines for
Artemis if Artemis is just a figment of your imagination! I was just reading an article in the Omaha
World Herald this last week about how people have paid off more of their debt
in the past few years and that, while that was good for them, it was hurting
the economy since they weren’t spending their money on consumer goods. God said in Proverbs, “The borrower is slave
to the lender.” God wants us to pay off
of debts and stay out of it altogether.
But, since the economy is suffering, the government wants us to keep
spending. So, what are you going to
do? I remember, when we lived out in
Cincinnati Ohio, there was a big fight over pornography in stores. Some people felt that it was wrong to sell
pornographic magazines and paraphernalia in gas stations, but the gas stations
argued that it would hurt their business to get rid of them. These issues are still alive and well folks.
In the story from
Daniel, Daniel was going to be set in charge of the entire kingdom, but the
other administrations around him lied to the King in order to get him thrown
into a lion’s den! Now, we can say that
those other administrators were just jealous of Daniel and wanted more power and
that’s why they wanted him out but, maybe, if it’s anything like today, maybe
they also knew that Daniel, because he was a faithful follower of God, would
bring a particular philosophy of management to the job that they didn’t agree
with. Would Daniel have been a
Democrat? Libertarian? Tea Party Member? Republican?
I don’t know. But isn’t it
possible that these administrators thought their way of handling things would
have been better than his? Maybe that’s
why they didn’t want him to be the new leader.
The text says that he wasn’t corrupt, that he was trustworthy and that
he wasn’t negligent; the only problems they would be able to find were with his
following of God’s law.
If
you followed God’s laws in your workplace, would you find people upset with
you? Would it also affect how you made
decisions or prioritized activities? Kristy
and I just watched a movie, “Dinner with the Schmucks”. In that movie, a businessman is seeking to
get a promotion to make more money and impress his girlfriend. Through his assertiveness, he gets the
promotion except that he needs to find someone—someone really goofy and eccentric—to
come to a dinner to be made fun of by everyone else. . . not exactly the
Christian thing to do nor even a nice thing to do as his girlfriend explains to
him. This man maintains to his
girlfriend that while he is a good person at home, at work, he has to make a
lot of decisions that she wouldn’t like.
He can’t always be a nice person.
But, like it or not, he HAD to act this way to keep their livelihood
intact. Would you make the same
decision?
“I’m
sorry. I can’t work on Sunday morning
because I need to go to church.” “No, I
can’t perform that abortion, even if that means you must fire me.” “I know that it would be cheaper if we lived
together, but we aren’t married yet.” “I
have confirmation Wednesday nights, so I’ll have to leave practice early.” “I won’t lie on my resume even to get a
better job.” “Money may be tight at
home, but I’m still going to tithe to the church.” “I messed up big time at work, but I’m not
going to lie—I’ll admit my mistake.” “I
don’t want to listen to you gossip about people, even if we are friends.” “I’ll skip the trip to the strip club with
the new client because it’s degrading to both me and the women.”
Does your faith in
Jesus affect your life at work? If your
faith DOESN’T affect your work, what does that mean? Jesus said, “What good is it for a man to
gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the
Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory
of the Father and of the holy angels.”
(Luke 9:25-26)
In
the gospel text today, Jesus said that he had given God’s word to his followers
and the world has hated them for it. He
said that his word was truth and that this truth would sanctify them. Do you know what the word “sanctify”
means? It means, “set apart”. Following God’s Word, being obedient to the
commandments, being faithful to Jesus, will set you apart from those who do not
believe in this world. If being a
Christian hasn’t ever made you feel different or set you apart from others what
might that mean?
Being
a Christian means more than simply coming to church on Sundays and making an
appearance. It means more than getting
confirmed and being a member. Jesus said
in Matthew chapter 7, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the
kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in
heaven. Many will say to me on that day,
‘Lord, Lord did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons
and perform many miracles?’ Then I will
tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you.
Away from me, you evildoers.’
There is an old saying I heard that goes something like this, “Would you
have to tell people you are a Christian, or would they know it by your
life?”
Why do we believe
that we are only Christians on Sundays at church? Do you think that you work where you work on
accident? Or maybe, just maybe, do you
have your job, your house and your circle of friends for a reason? God created you with particular skills,
dreams, personality types and gave you particular opportunities . . . do you
really think he didn’t place you where you are for a reason? Some of you might say, “Well, we can’t all be
like you pastor . . . we don’t work at church.”
Exactly! One of my biggest
frustrations is that no matter how hard I try, most of my friends are already
Christian! I have to spend a lot of my
time in the place non-Christians hardly ever hang out—a church! You.
You all are the ones with the missionary opportunities! Every day people watch you and listen to you
trying to get a sense for what a Christian is . . . what are they seeing and
hearing and believing?
Being a Christian
isn’t a cake walk folks. That’s why
Jesus said it involved taking up your cross and following him. It’s going to be Monday morning again
tomorrow. Today, I pray that you take
the time to prepare yourself. You’ve
heard God’s Word. We’ll sing a few more
songs and then you’ll go home. If you’re
afraid for what living as a Christian will mean for your life, your family and
your job, how it might make you feel different around other people or be made
fun of well good! You’re sensing what it
means to be sanctified—set apart for God’s purposes. Tomorrow might be the beginning of a new
chapter in your life, in this community, in the world—even in this
economy. If you are a follower of Jesus
Christ today, what are you going to be tomorrow? Starting this week, I pray that you connect
Sunday to Monday. Amen.
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