How Much Do You Love Me?

Matthew 19:16-22

            October 29, 1981.  August 14, 1986.  March 3, 2000.  Those three dates are key turning points in my life education.  The events of these days were critical in helping me really get to know and appreciate my parents.  These three dates were the days that my children came into my life. 

            October 29, 1981, I held John for the first time and I sat in awe of this tiny little boy with his tiny little fingers and I wanted to protect him from every thing or person out there that might cause him pain.  I wanted him to succeed at every thing that he tried and be happy all the time.  I wanted him to have the benefit of all that I had learned in life with out having to experience the painful things that had given me the little wisdom I had.  I did not want him to have to struggle with any thing, to avoid the mistakes I had made.  Those of you who have had kids, can fill in the rest.  And most importantly, I wanted him to love me like I loved him, more than anything in the world.

            August 14, 1986, I held Tim in my arms.  I had come to a place where I knew that I could not protect him from everything out there and I knew that I couldn’t give him everything he wanted, but I still wanted him to succeed at everything he tried and be happy all the time.  I wanted him to have the benefit of all that I had learned in life with out having to experience the painful things that had given me the little wisdom I had.  I did not want him to have to struggle with any thing, to avoid the mistakes I had made.  I wanted him to get along with his brother and never fight and I wanted them to be as close as any two brothers have ever been.  And most importantly, I wanted him to love me like I loved him, more than anything in the world.

            March 3, 2000, I met Chaney for the first time.  She was an adorable little fuzz ball.  As my relationship with Kim progressed, I realized that if Kim and I were going to get married, that Chaney would be my daughter.  I remember holding her in my lap and reading a book to her and thinking that while I could not protect her from all the bad out there, I wanted to keep her from anything that might take her joy away.  I wanted her to succeed at every thing that she tried and be happy all the time.  I wanted her to have the benefit of all that I had learned in life with out having to experience the painful things that had given me the little wisdom I had.  I did not want her to have to struggle with any thing, to avoid the mistakes I had made.  And most importantly, I wanted her to love me like I loved her, more than anything in the world.

            Through out the years, I have come to realize that the only thing I can hope for out of those things that I want for my children is the last one, that they love me like I love them, more than anything in the world.  As I grow older, I have gotten to the place where the best gift my children give me is their presence, not a present.

            Each of these experiences help explain my parents to me.  It explained why they let me take my birthday money when I was 8, and rather than making me buy a savings bond as they had always done, let me take it and buy a baseball glove.  That explained why my parents took me to their childhood homes for vacations and told us stories about their childhood years.  It explained why they would brag about my accomplishments to complete strangers and go out of their way to teach me things and take me places that I wanted to go. 

            It also explains why, now that my parents are gone, that even though we were not a family that said I love you to each other, that they needed to hear that I love them and am proud of the way they spent their lives.  That I am proud to be called their child.  You see I have come to realize that they did not want anything from me other than to know that I loved them like they love me.

            Our passage this morning gives us some insight into God in a similar way.  A young man, who had reached a position of wealth and power comes to Jesus.  He had reached a point where the necessities of life were taken care of and he began to wonder about what came next.  So, he asks the big question, “What do I need to do to guarantee eternal life for myself?”  That is the question isn’t it?  I must admit that every time I read this verse, my mind anticipates a task that I can do to earn my place in heaven. 

            Jesus responds, “Why do you ask me this question?  You know the answer. Keep the commandments.”  The young man, probably feeling pretty good about himself at that point says, I have done that, the book of Mark adds since my youth, probably referring to the time he went through his Bar Mizpah and became a son of the Covenant, which was the time when children became adults and thus, responsible for their actions.  Just to make sure, he asks “is there anything else?”  Jesus then says, only one thing, go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor and come and follow me.

            Wow.  What a requirement.  I have read the Old Testament through several times and, the good news for us, is I have never run across that prerequisite. Maybe this statement was specific to this man; or maybe not. So that raises the question, “Why did Jesus lay this on him?”

            The reason is that the young man had missed the point of “the commandments.”  Two of the reasons God had given us these rules for life are so that we could live together in harmony, learning to treat each other the way God wanted us to AND so we could show our love for God by living the way God asked us to live.  Jesus, himself, told His disciples, if you love me you will keep my commandments.  The young man had missed that completely.  To this young man the commandments were a way to get what he wanted from God. Rules to check off so that he can have that eternal life he wanted.

            But Jesus answer to him shows that God is not in to rules, He is into love.  God doesn’t want us to keep the rules just for the sake of keeping the rules.  God wants for us to love Him like He loves us, more than anything in the world.  So, when Jesus tells him to sell all he had and give it to the poor, He was showing the young man that if he wanted to be assured of eternal life, all he had to do was fall in love with God.  But this was a problem because he was in love with something else, his wealth.

            My favorite Christmas movie as some of you know, is the Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.  One of the saddest scenes in that movie is the scene where Ebenezer Scrooge’s fiancé informs him of her realization that something had replaced her in his heart, his gold.  She, giving him the chance to give her back the place she longed for, released him from his promise to marry her.  Scrooge, angrily denying it, proved her theory true when he took his ring back and stormed out of the room.  He traded love for gold. In the same way, through his actions, this young man declares that he loved his wealth more than God. His money was his God.

            So here we sit in West County. We take pride in the fact that we provide for ourselves and that we have enough to take care of us through our old age. We have worked hard for that wealth. But we spend so much of our lives trying to acquire the wealth we need to give us a comfortable and fun life, that wealth begins to take on a life of its own. We accumulate it. We grow it. We try to protect it. We judge our status in life by it. We let it make decisions for us (what is good for our money). Before we know it, we have fallen in love with it. We even teach our children to do the same. There was a young boy who wrote one of those infamous letters to God. He wrote “Dear God, if you give me one of those genie lamps, you can have everything I own, except my money or my bike.” Already, this boy is learning that his money is to be prized above all else.

            That is why Jesus chose to talk about money more than any other topic in the Gospels, except for the Kingdom of God. Money for them was the other god, the thing that they put their trust in, that they depended on, that they loved, more than God. I think you are beginning to see what this has to do with our stewardship of our money. When God asks us to give a tithe, God is not doing to manipulate us or control us. God is not saying you must do this or you can’t get in to heaven. God is giving us a way to show that we trust God, more than our money, to provide for us. By making this request of us, God makes Stewardship a matter of faith. God is asking us what we love more. Do I love God more than anything else? Or do I love God more than anything else, except my money and my bike?

            This morning stop and think about the things that you love.  What is at the top of that list.  Be honest. When it comes to God, All God wants from you is that you love Him, really love Him, like he loves you, more than anything in the world. God proved His love for us, as it says in Romans 5, by giving us Himself through His Son Jesus. He did it to say I Love You more than anything else. All He wants from us is that same love in return. So the question is for me and for you is what are we in love with?

 October 27, 2012 Sermon