Christ Memorial Lutheran Church - Houston TX
CMLC 2024-09-22 Sermon (Contemporary)
Howdy. Well, and I hope that our youth, the fifth through 12th grade, I hope that you'll all be able to join us in two weeks when we go to the amusement center. So we've gotten a sponsorship so that that should be heavily discounted for you and be able to have you all go with us. A couple of things. This last few weeks have been really, really hectic, but a lot of things happening. And recently I ended up going to San Antonio. My cousin had passed away and ended up going there and having an opportunity to be able to remember him and just be able to share not only what we knew about him, but also to remind people of our hope in Christ. And there were some different people that wanted to go up and to share a few words. And one of them was my aunt. And she was talking about how she had married into a Hispanic family. My father's family is Hispanic and many of them speak Spanish. And my aunt being, well, a white lady basically thought, I don't fit in. I'm not sure how to fit in. I don't know what to do. So what she would try to do though is she would try to speak Spanish. Notice the air quotes. You know how you can try to take something and make it into Spanish and you put L at the beginning and O at the end. You've got a car. So it's El Carro. Oh, wait, that actually kind of works. Okay. But you have a cat. And instead of saying Elgato, you're like Elgato and you're like, oh my goodness. And then of course, you know, for dogs, Elgato instead of Perro. And with it is that my aunt really wanted everybody to know that she was very, very cool. So she kept telling them she was El cool low as a few people are catching the joke already. And for everybody else that is Spanish for your backside. So she went ahead and was telling people four years that she was the backside. And time and time again until finally, my cousin snickered. And she caught him laughing and said, what, what, what, what did I say? What was I saying? And finally, somebody told her and her husband who had never stopped her for many, many years, that bruise stayed there for quite some time. But with it is she wanted to prove herself, but in trying so hard, she was starting to lose some of the respect of the people there. And I can't help but feel this or wonder this when we're reading from the letter of James. Could you imagine James was the half brother of Jesus. His mom was married. What would it be like to be the half brother of Jesus? Oh, you're Jesus's brother. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. The Savior of the world, the Son of God, the one who has given his life for all of creation to conquer sin, death and the devil, the one who rose again on the third day, the one who sits at the right hand of the father. Why don't you tell me about yourself, James, second place in the Pinewood Derby? I've also got a coin collection. It's great. I mean, to constantly have to wonder what that's like. Of course, James ended up being the first leader of the Jerusalem church during the time of the Apostles. And of course, his letter ended up being captured in Holy Scripture. So to spend so much time comparing oneself, you'd end up missing out on what opportunity there truly was already. Now, I was taking what the verses were saying about jealousy and ambition. And I kind of wanted to get some examples of jealousy and ambition. And I figured that before artificial intelligence creates Terminator robots and decides to come in to show you all of humanity, I could ask you a question for my sermon. So went ahead and I asked it, would you give me some examples of jealousy and ambition? And it gave me five, workplace rivalry, two colleagues compete for promotion, one feels jealous of the other's accomplishments and begins undermining them while also working late to prove their dedication. Interesting. Athletic competitors, a runner feels jealous of a teammate's natural talent and success. This jealousy fuels their ambition, leading them to train harder and ultimately outperform the rival. These don't sound so bad. Social media influencers and influencer notices appear gaining more followers and brand deals. And instead of supporting them, they feel envious and double down on their content strategy, working harder to outshine the competitor. Fourth, academic settings. A student feels jealous of a classmate's high grades. This drives them to study intensely and seek help from tutors, ultimately achieving their own academic goals. Well, surely this fifth one will be terrible indeed. Entrepreneurs. A startup founder sees another company thriving in their niche. Jealousy sparks a fire to innovate, leading them to pivot their business model and attract a larger audience. Is it just me, or did all of these examples make jealousy for ambition seem like a good thing? And I find that interesting because these examples that showcase jealousy that fuels ambition and ambition that fuels success and happiness, these things that drive us toward goals, this is a reflection of us because artificial intelligence can only give us answers based on what we have put out there. So if I asked AI what it is that ambition and jealousy do, they're showing us what we think because we believe that they are good and blessed things in our life. But are we really sure about that? Is it really true to see that competition is always supposed to have the last word, that instead of being a part of an entire life, is that instead our jealousy and our drive and that ambition is supposed to be the final word in everything that we do. And that somehow whatever it pushes us to do is somehow the right answer. Or do those choices betray true wisdom? What if it is that for the co-worker that it's undermining other people, he's actually losing trust among peers and at the same time all those late hours losing time with family and friends? Or for the athlete, pushing themselves physically in ways that can ultimately hurt them, injuries, steroids, or even losing themselves emotionally because of always being uncontent with not matching what they thought they're supposed to achieve. Or the times whenever the social influencers, we see some of the tricks of the trade. And I saw at one point there was a lady who was putting the center of the video on her physical assets, if you will, in order to get us to hear about affordable housing options. Or even the guy who says the most ridiculous thing because I'm bringing attention to things even though he knows that it's almost definitely not true. Or like the student, in my freshman year of college, the guy down the hall that I knew before he had a test the next morning, he would down a fifth of whiskey in order to cram and to get the good grades that he thought he needed to have. Or the entrepreneur who doesn't care if their monopoly stops anyone else from being apart of the industry and loses anything that helps them innovate and improve because there is no other competition now. I was at a lecture yesterday with Dr. Amy Orr Ewing that was talking about the problem of pain by CS Lewis and that Lewis had pointed out that oftentimes the pain that we see and that we struggle with is because we keep looking at everything on the outside instead of dealing with what's happening on the inside. Or that we will oftentimes blame society for the things that we're actually doing, that we somehow think that if we just wait long enough that time will cancel all sin or that as long as we're better than the people around us or better than our ancestors, that means we are okay. But you see wisdom is asking deeper what are ultimately our goals? What is it that is truly a measure of success? Are we headed down dark paths to get what we think we want instead of asking for what is good and true and right? Do we slow down and do we respect others, even other competitors, when in reality we should be asking these deeper questions in all we say and do. There was an example of a runner, it was a Spanish athlete who was in a cross country race, Ivan Fernandez Anaya and he was in second place by a stretch. He was nowhere close to being first. But as he looked ahead, he saw the first place runner, Bell Mutai from Kenya and he had stopped before getting to the finish line, you see he didn't speak the language of the signs that were all around and he was not quite clear that he wasn't quite finished and he stopped 10 meters before the finish line because he thought he was done. But you see while other people in second place might have been taken advantage of that opportunity and ran right past it to snag the first place, Ivan did not. As he knew in his heart, he might get the medal, he hadn't won that race and so instead he got behind a bell and he gestured and he pointed until he finally got him to cross the finish line first place that he knew he had earned. What's fascinating is that his coach said flat out, "If I were in his place, I would have run past because that's what competition is all about." And isn't that amazing? Even the people teaching us will oftentimes see instead of asking how to actually grow and pursue what is good is instead just getting the goal we thought we wanted. But you see when we look at so much of what we try to achieve with our job, with our school, with our friends, with the world around us, with all these things, is that so many of them are so fleeting. Is that job even going to be around next year after downsizing? Is your video channel going to actually matter in the next few months, switch from whatever format we're on to the next one? Are you actually going to find any hope or joy in these things that are fleeting? But instead, what is it that humanity has always had? Is that we've always had a heart that can either pursue God or run away. And that's the thing that God cares the most about. That is what it is that God is saying he's seeing and his desire to rule over. See, that's the thing about wisdom. Is that wisdom goes past these things that are fleeting and instead is asking how to be honest about reality and what we're actually in service to. Because how many times do we not care how we get what we want? Maybe we're thinking about the clothing or the computers or the tech or whatever thing that we're thinking is so important and we are so glad when we can find it cheap and easy. When we find out how many times whatever company it was had to take land from people who had nothing or impose harsh hours on people or even find out how many people died in the middle of it and we have a moment of saying, "Oh, well that was too bad." And then stop worrying about it when we need to buy the next thing that we want. Do we take time to look at what is good and true and right or do we just ignore the council of things around us? How many times are we even willing to take advantage of people or situations and then we act like the victims ourselves? We realize that what we did was underhanded, was wrong, was hurtful, undermined somebody else and instead when someone calls us out on it, I cannot believe that you would talk to me like that. I cannot believe that you would think so poorly of me, "Oh, I'm such a victim." Even when we were the ones who did that to somebody else because there are genuine victims in the world and how many times do we try to ignore it realizing that if we hear something multiple times, even if it's still true and even if it's still bad, then we're like, "Oh, I can't believe that you would make me have to hear that one more time." Even as we continue to do exactly what it was before, even our relationships, oftentimes instead of looking for true connection, we just want to be with somebody that we think other people will be jealous of. We're just wanting to know that other people will envy us and who we're with. Frankly, jealousy can even be for pastors too. There are times whenever I'm like, "I don't want to listen to somebody else's sermon on something because I don't want to go and be like, "Oh, I wish I'd done that. Oh, man, that would have been so much better." Or even times whenever I've sat in on a forum that's discussing science and faith and I'm like, "I know this stuff. I could be there discussing this." And then someone says, "I don't have any background on this subject, but they needed somebody to be up here." And I'm like, "Ah." Instead of pausing and wondering, "What is it that God actually wanted me to be spending my time on if that wasn't intended for me?" See, that's the thing is that God is looking at what's happening with our heart. But are we willing to be humble and to admit when our heart is not pure? We love. We love being able to point out all the things around us where we're like, "Look at all the bad things that are happening in the world." And God, you know what? If things were just fair, then everything would be better. And to the point where we are angry at another person for either being better than us or for getting credit that we think is supposed to be ours, or we're mad at God. We're like, "God, you didn't get me what I deserve, and I can't believe you." But the reality is that we don't know what it is that God is doing, and we don't take the time to pause and say, "God, was there a reason why you humbled me?" See, the thing is, is that it speaks in here about grace for the humble. And why is that? Because sometimes to find peace, we have to be humble enough to let go of the thing that we were pursuing with jealousy and ambition as hard as we could. Because it may turn out that God is trying to do something that we didn't even realize. Because there are times to be sad. There are times to be serious. There are times to get real with the weeping and the mourning and the gloom and the wretchedness. But if we spend all of our time saying, "God, this is what I want," and I'm stuck over here, frustrated, and without it, "Why can't I have what I want?" Then we haven't paused to say what it is, "God, what is it that you were trying to do in me in the first place?" Because the reality is that in the struggle, in the suffering, in the loss, in the humility, that is often when God is speaking to us the most clearly. Because that is also a God who sent his son Jesus to suffer at the hands of jealousy and ambition. Because there's Jesus doing so many good works, so many great things, and instead of being joyful to see that God's kingdom was on this earth, what is it that the religious leaders are doing? I can't believe somebody else is doing it. That guy and not us. So do they take the time to ask what God could be doing? No. They just look for a way to get rid of him. And that's the thing about this. Is that Jesus allowed that jealousy and ambition to overcome him? And that's the thing about this is that he needed to, in order to save us from ourselves. That's the thing about this is that if those people, the irony of it all, if those religious leaders had been humble enough to say, "God, maybe we need to see what you're doing." Then would Jesus have even needed to give his life for them in the first place? But that's not reality. The reality is that they were jealous and killed him. And so his death ended up being the very salvation needed for the ones who suffered from that the most. And instead of Jesus saying, "God, Father, why do I have to let these people get their way," is instead saying, "Your will and not mine." But through that humility, God was able to do something amazing that brought all of us life and hope everlasting. And that's the thing. We're all in the same place together. We're in a place of jealousy and ambition where we struggle and then we see somebody else being jealous and doing the same things. And we're like, "See? See them? How terrible are they? But are we really the judge? Who actually is the judge? Because as we see others who do this, are we willing to forgive them? But then are we also willing to pause and say, "God, when is it that I did the same thing?" Because at those moments, that's when God can speak to us and can change us. And maybe spending some time in humility will help us to actually rise to the challenge or maybe realize that the challenge wasn't actually that important after all. But whatever it may be, are we willing to stop undermining others to promote ourselves when Jesus himself was willing to be undermined in order to bring us life? So whatever may be causing you those feelings and those hurts, my hope and prayer is that you'd be able to let that go. When you see others to do that same, to be able to forgive them. Because in so doing, we are able to live out and embrace the humility of God who loves you and wants to give you everything that he desires. Because what God has for you is who you truly are in Christ and what is truly what matters. Thanks be to God. [BLANK_AUDIO]