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I spent
my early years on the southeast side of Detroit. Even though
we lived one short block from school, in winter we bundled
up for that one block hike: jacket, gloves, knitted cap, scarf,
boots - the whole nine yards! (Michigan winters are the main
reason I moved to San Antonio.) Mom always gave us a full
breakfast, over which I dawdled. If my grandmother was visiting
we usually engaged in some kind of banter or debate. If granddad
was there we might talk - if he felt like talking. At any
rate, I would watch in fascination as he sprinkled black pepper
onto his milk before every swig. At some point my mother would
warn, "Dick, if you don't hurry you're going to be late."
I then would jam on my jacket, and while putting on gloves,
scarf, and head gear, I would button up (starting somewhere
in the middle of the jacket). Invariably I would feel one
collar around my ear and know I had made a mess of things.
So I would turn to mom and ask, "Can you make the buttons
even?" My mom would begin to unbutton the jacket, and
as she began anew with the lowest button she would say, "Dick,
if you get it right at the bottom it will come out right at
the top."
When school
was over I usually rushed to go home with my brother. He was
older and wiser. He knew the way home. It felt safer to walk
with him with all the older kids around. I would rush to meet
him, buttoning my coat as I went. By the time I got to him
I could feel the collar around my ear and knew it had happened
again. Then I would ask him, "Can you make the buttons
even?" George would look at me with the disgusted but
gentle look only an older brother can manage, undo the buttons,
and begin anew with the lowest. Then he would say to me, "Dick,
if you get it right at the bottom it will come out right at
the top."
Through
the years I have many occasions to remember those words about
the buttons. Sometimes it's when I rush the dressing process.
More often it is not when my clothes do not fit, but when
my life does not fitting correctly. When I finally stop grousing
about other people messing up my life, I hear the words of
my older brother - not George - but my brother and my Lord,
Jesus Christ. ("If you get it right at the bottom it
will come out right at the top.") Then he begins to help
me undo the wrong buttons and begin anew, starting with the
basics.
Through
thirty eight years of ministry I have had many good people
come into my office to chat. After a bit of chitchat they
often begin to share the real reason for their visit. In one
way or another they tell me their lives do not fit as they
should. They feel choked, ill suited, bedraggled . . . misfitted.
I am sometimes tempted to say to them, "Seek first the
Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things
shall be yours, as well." However, I resist that temptation.
They would probably respond, "That's what we are trying
to do, Dick." and they would be telling the truth. They
are good people who believe they are trying to do God's will.
The Kingdom
of God is an elusive goal - difficult to find. It becomes
ever more elusive with the passage of time. We understand
Jesus' words quite differently than the people to whom he
spoke in the first century. Try as I might, whenever I hear
the term, "Kingdom of God," I envision something
akin to Disney's Magic Kingdom, complete with castle and walls.
The Greek word we translate as "kingdom" is basilea.
When the people of biblical times heard "basilea"
they did not picture a castle with walls. The envisioned what
the people of Great Britain do when they say "United
Kingdom." They picture what we do when we hear the word
"Nation." To seek the Kingdom of God. Quite simply,
is to seek to become the nation of God - the people of God,
with God as ruler.
If they
were to ask, "How can we do that?" I could not imitate
Glinda, the good witch of the north and say, "Just follow
the yellow brick road. Follow the yellow brick road."
As I said, the Kingdom is elusive. Jesus, himself, said the
road is narrow. What makes it even more difficult to locate
is a prevailing American philosophy which distorts everything
we try to do as Christians. It is not a stated philosophy.
Still, it dominates our thinking. It is "materialism."
Materialism is not greed. True, it may lend itself to that
in some cases. Materialism is the belief that material things
are paramount. Things will bring happiness. Good things will
make life better. A good educational facility will produce
better students. When I consider that I recall that the best
Sunday school class I had as a youngster was held in the church's
furnace room (an appropriate setting for twelve year old boys,
perhaps). It was Mr. Vigor's class. If he had held it in the
back alley, it still would have been the best class I ever
had.
Materialism
says that a better house will make a happier family. A new
automobile will make traffic more bearable . . . on 696, 275,
Telegraph or Southfield . . . (Sure!) New clothing or gadgets
will make you feel better. There is an element of truth in
this. Nice things can create convenience, comfort, a feeling
of well-being - of being successful. However, the good feeling
fades quickly and we need to purchase still more things to
keep those good feeling going. The fact that this congregation
conducts two highly successful rummage sales every year says
something about our involvement in materialism. We keep buying
newer and better things and have to discard the older. Other
people, in turn, come to buy our discards, believing them
to be newer and better than what they have. There is nothing
wrong with wanting and having nice things - so long as we
realize that people are for loving and things are for using.
If we find ourselves loving things and using people, we are
in trouble.
When I
was appointed to the church in Brighton, I was told that the
divorce rate was exceptionally high. Sociologists called it
"The Livingston County Syndrome," and came to study
it. Nationally, the divorce rate is fifty percent. Would you
care to guess how high it was in Livingston County? Who says
seventy percent? Eighty? Ninety? One hundred? More than a
hundred? If you guessed this, you are correct. How do you
get more than one hundred percent? It's computed like the
death rate. If you want to be technical, the death rate is
one hundred percent (give or take a few characters from the
Old Testament). Actually, it is a ratio of births to deaths.
So it is with divorces. How many marriages? How many divorces?
In Livingston County there were more divorces than marriages
every year. I did more counseling in my eleven years at Brighton
than in all my other years of ministry combined. Most, unfortunately,
ended in divorce. However, after I left Brighton, I realized
that of all the couples I had counseled, only two who were
both actively involved in the church prior to any problems
surfacing in their marriage, were divorced. "The family
that prays together, stays together?" Perhaps. Was it
that they were both on a common spiritual pilgrimage? Maybe.
Was it the discipline of giving themselves to something larger
than themselves? Possibly. Was it the sanction and support
of a caring Christian community? That, too. It may have been
a combination of all those factors. It may have been that
they were farther along in seeking the Kingdom than most of
those whom I counseled in that county.
So how
do we find the Kingdom of God? The key is to be found in a
word we tend to ignore: "righteousness." Jesus said,
"Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness."
The word we translate as "righteousness" is dikaiosune.
It does not just mean, "We don't smoke and we don't chew
and we don't go with girls who do." To be sure, it includes
playing by the rules, but it also implies "making right
that which is wrong." Make right what is not right. Make
work what is not working. Let me give you an example of how
this looks in real life:
When I
was at seminary, Dr. Clarence Jordan was a guest preacher
of the quarter. Clarence was a brilliant Greek and New Testament
scholar, and a rich and courageous spirit. He did not translate
Greek literally. Rather, he took the meaning of the Greek
and - being generally true to the syntax, he translated it
into current "Americanese." Coming from Georgia,
he used the vernacular of southeastern United States. His
works are called the Cotton Patch Versions. Clarence
had also founded the interracial cooperative community of
Americus, outside of Atlanta back in the '50, when that was
not considered either wise or acceptable.
At chapel,
Clarence told the story of the rich young man. The young man
drove up in his stretch limo. His driver double parked and
stepped out to dust off the car while the young man (in a
hurry because his time was valuable) pushed his way through
the crowd, caught Jesus' attention and asked him how he might
gain eternal life. As he spoke, Jesus sized him up - so insulated
by his money and full of his own importance that he was oblivious
to the others around him. Still, Scripture tells us that Jesus
looked deep into him and loved him. So he said to him, "Son,
you've got the money sickness real bad! You've got to get
rid of it. Give all that money away to the poor. Take up your
cross and follow me, then you'll be part of the God Movement
(that's what Clarence called the Kingdom of God).
Clarence
told us he preached that sermon one night and later, while
he was in a cafe having pie and coffee, a young man came up
to him and inquired, "Dr. Jordan, did you mean what you
said tonight?" Clarence replied, "If I preached
it, I meant it!" The young man then responded, "I'm
afraid I may have that money sickness. You see, when I was
still a teenager I made a vow that I would have a million
dollars by the time I was thirty." (that was back in
the '50 when a million was worth more than it is today). Then
he added, "Today I went to my account and got this appraisal
of my worth." He then gave a paper to Clarence, who looked
it over and said, "Son, you've got it baaaaad!"
The young man said, "What can I do? Can I tithe?"
Clarence stopped him with, "You heard what the Master
said, son. You've got it bad. You've got to get rid of it
all." At that, the young man took the report back, put
in his pocket, and walked away. Clarence said that a year`later
he was in that area and the young man approached him and said,
"I did it!" Clarence responded, "You did what?"
The young man said, "I gave it all away." Clarence
said his reaction was, "I'll be da-- (it was almost enough
to make a preacher swear)." The young man continued,
"I saved just enough to buy a small hardware store. My
wife and I work together and we are having more fun than we've
ever had."
Clarence
died before I saw him again. Now let me play Paul Harvey and
tell you "The rest of the story." The young man
was taken by Clarence. He moved to Koinonia Farms and used
his business skills to put them on strong financial footing.
When Clarence died Millard Fuller became their leader. One
day, while the community was doing a "house raising"
for new arrivals, Millard begin thinking that it was not right
that there were so many homeless people in our country. He
believed there were good people like the ones at Koinonia
Farms who would be willing to help "raise a house"
for other people in the community where they lived. So he
put the idea to the test and began (you probably guessed it
by now) "Habitat for Humanity." Had he continued
to work for money and things, he well might be worth over
one hundred million dollars today. If he had tithed, he would
have given ten million away. As it is, he has done far more
good than money could have done. Habitat has built more homes
than his money could have. Additionally, they have generated
community spirit, and given people the dignity of helping
to build their own homes. All this occurred because one man
decided to seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness
- to make things right: first in his personal life and relationships,
then in his community, then in his country.
One more!
When I arrived in San Antonio I learned that they had a professional
basketball team, the Spurs, which had never won a championship
in their twenty six year history ( As a lifelong Lions fan,
I knew I would feel right at home there). They had a super
star player, David Robinson, who spoke comfortably about God
and Jesus Christ. A new super star had arrived the year before:
Tim Duncan. Yet the team was not a winner. This year, David
was asked to relinquish his offensive role and focus on defense.
That meant no more headlines for his heroics - no more being
the "go to guy." He would become one of the supporting
players. Yet, David agreed to do this, "for the good
of the team." That caught my attention. I suspected that
he might walk the walk as well as he talked the talk. Here
was a person willing to make right what was wrong at his personal
expense. I had to learn more about this man, so I read what
was printed about him. David thought it was not right that
the children in the southeast part of the city did not have
the cultural opportunities that those in the north had. So
he and his wife donated five million dollars to help erect
and fund a cultural center there. It is now open and operating,
incidentally. The people in south San Antonio can attend concerts,
plays and lectures of genuine value. David also decided it
was not right that the poorer children had no hope of college.
He told the entire fifth grade of a middle school that if
they graduated from high school he would give them two thousand
dollars each for tuition to a college or trade school. When
fifty plus of those students graduated from the same high
school, David and his wife attended - and listened to all
the commencement addresses (and other speeches). When asked
about his sacrifice, David asked, "What sacrifice? We
felt like proud parents of more than fifty great kids."
He also believes it is not right that people should be hungry
in this land of plenty, so he developed the "Feed My
Sheep" program in San Antonio.
As you
may know, the Spurs won the NBA Championship. When David was
asked about the party that followed, he replied that they
were asking the wrong man. He had promised his young son that
if the Spurs won he could sleep in bed with him. So even in
the flush of a first victory, he knew his priorities. He took
his son and went home. I also loved his response when
he was asked to kiss the trophy: "I never kiss anything
that can't kiss me back!" (People are for loving. Things
are for using.). He also said that though the hardware (trophy
and championship rings) were nice, what the players would
remember and treasure was the trust they developed as a team.
The teamwork. The genuine caring. The deeds they accomplished.
The adventure together. That is what really mattered to them
.
Somehow
I believe this is what Jesus was trying to tell us when he
said to seek first God Kingdom and its righteousness. If we
want our lives to work right - to fit right, then we do not
look to others to make that happen. We must first learn what
is and is not working in our lives. We can not blame others
for our failures. Then with Jesus as our guide and our support,
we unbutton those things that do not fit and start anew. We
begin to make right what can be made right in our lives and
in our relationships - and in our community.
If
we get it right at the bottom it will come out right
at the top. Amen
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