Sermon-July 8-The distraction of success

Sermon-Proper C9-July 8, 2007
Distracted by success
The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."
In the movie 'Pay it Forward' (Warner Bros., 2000) Mr. Simonet challenges his students with an extra-credit assignment to "change the world." He sends his students out to sow seeds and make a difference in the lives of those around them. And one 1 of his students, a little boy, takes it seriously.
Do you remember last week’s sermon? (I know, it was memorable). All these young men keep coming up to Jesus asking to follow him, and he keeps saying? You aren’t ready yet! Don’t follow til you’re ready. HE DISCOURAGES PEOPLE FROM JOINING HIM. Not exactly a good model for the church. And a few verses later we have today’s great story. Jesus sends 70 disciples out to change the world. Why 70? Because in Genesis 10 (seventy in the Hebrew text, seventy-two in the Greek) seventy represents all the nations of the earth. First Jesus discourages people from joining him, and now he sends them out as lambs in the midst of wolves-first they’re not strong enough, then they are given impossible tasks.
I think the two stories are connected. And I think the stories are for us.
Back in the early 1970s I was on fire with a desire to change the world. For me the ‘60s were still right there! I was in my early 20s. My best friends had just moved to Chicago, and I decided to go visit them. They took me to meet a guy, a Christian, who had developed something called , “The Plunge”. He took groups of young adult Christians, and he would set them down in the middle of Chicago for 72 hours with no food, no I d , just the clothes they were wearing, and said “now you will learn what it is to be poor and homeless in a big city-see you in 3 days.” This excited me so much, I couldn’t wait to do a “plunge”. I was ready! Then I heard what came next: All these fiery passionate young people came back raving about their “success”- how tough it was “out there-on the streets”, how much they had learned, how hungry and dirty they were, the people they had met, all that they had survived. They were elated not just that they had survived but all they had been through! And when he would get them all back together, This Christian minister would listen for awhile and then tell them: “you are educated, strong, healthy, smart-and you knew you were only doing this for three days. Of course you made it. But what impact did you have on people who aren’t any of those things?” And everyone would look sheepishly at each other. They thought about what had happened to them-not what a difference they had made on the lives of the people they had met. They focused on their survival-not the life of the street people. I turned around and went back to Kansas City thinking, I don’t know what success is-I’ll never be good enough or strong enough or passionate enough about the gospel to make a difference in people’s lives.
Jesus told all these people who came up to him, you’re not ready yet-you don’t know what I am about. But still they flocked to him, they yearned to be his disciples. They were excited, on fire with the impact he was having on them-and they wanted that power, too. Read through this gospel. Jesus gives 8 verses of instructions about how these 70 are supposed to act: take no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. say 'Peace to this houses!' that you enter; Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, Do not move about from house to house. eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.'
Eight verses on how to act, one verse on what to say: 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' One verse on how they are to change lives
Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, … cure the sick who are there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'
They return, ecstatic, triumphant telling him, EVEN THE DEMONS surrendered before us. They’re like young twentysomethings feeling great because they survived three days on the streets-THEY WERE SUCCESSFUL, THEY WON. And Jesus says, “it’s not what you survive, it’s what you plant.” 'cure the sick, The kingdom of God has come near to you.'
We become enthralled, mesmerized by all that we endure, all that we sacrifice, all that we achieve. That’s the temptation of the disciple-success-believing that what happens to us is what the gospel is for. Jesus teaches them, again-you can have power, but you don’t know how to use it or what it’s for. You think your success is what it’s all about. None of the disciples were ready yet-to follow, or to evangelize, or to understand. And much of our lives, neither are we. Last week’s disciples wanted to follow-but they had all these distractions. This week’s apostles, had all these victories-they’re the same thing- distractions. You know why this story is in the gospel here? Luke is trying to warn the early church-beware of victories-they can be the ultimate distraction.

We try, we strive, we take simple messages out into the world, and God uses the impulse, the drive within us to make a difference-to actually make that difference, to change the world.
Listen, what the disciples did wasn’t bad-it’s like James and John, the Sons of Thunder , wanting to command fire to come down from heaven and consume Samaritan villages"(from last week’s gospel). We want to change the world, we want to pay it forward, we want to make evil surrender, we want to see Satan fall from heaven, we want to survive three days with nothing. But here is what Jesus charged them with, “eat what is set before you, travel in poverty, stay focused, declare peace, leave if you’re not wanted-and give them this good news: “
cure the sick who are there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'
And you will have done your mission.
Chapter 9, verse 51- “he set his face to go to Jerusalem”. And as soon as Jesus did that, all these people kept begging him-let us follow you, let us go forth, let us cast out evil. As soon as Jesus started towards his goal, set his face, declared his mission, all these distractions emerged. And the one today was the most powerful-the lure of success. This sounds so much like last lent when we heard about Jesus and the adversary in the wilderness. See, just do this and you will win. All these people going out into the world conquering evil, "Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!" Yes, Jesus says, but it’s not about you. Every time I hear this gospel I think of a young man in Chicago falling in love with ”The Plunge”-for the wrong reasons. Jesus set his face towards his goal-to bring the Kingdom of God near to people. And too often our goal becomes our own success as followers. Luke put this story in right after the story of the three young men rejected for a reason-God has a goal-and sometimes even success in other ways can be a distraction, a divergence from that truth. All we are charged with, is
cure the sick who are there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'
God takes care of the rest.
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
10:1 After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go.
10:2 He said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.
10:3 Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves.
10:4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road.
10:5 Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this house!'
10:6 And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you.
10:7 Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house.
10:8 Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you;
10:9 cure the sick who are there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'
10:10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say,
10:11 'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.'
10:16 "Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me."
10:17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!"
10:18 He said to them, "I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning.
10:19 See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you.
10:20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

2 Kings 5:1-14
5:1 Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy.
5:2 Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman's wife.
5:3 She said to her mistress, "If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy."
5:4 So Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said.
5:5 And the king of Aram said, "Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel." He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments.
5:6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, "When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy."
5:7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me."
5:8 But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, "Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel."
5:9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha's house.
5:10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean."
5:11 But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, "I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy!
5:12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?" He turned and went away in a rage.
5:13 But his servants approached and said to him, "Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, 'Wash, and be clean'?"
5:14 So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.

Galatians 6:(1-6), 7-16
6:1 My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted.
6:2 Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
6:3 For if those who are nothing think they are something, they deceive themselves.
6:4 All must test their own work; then that work, rather than their neighbor's work, will become a cause for pride.
6:5 For all must carry their own loads.
6:6 Those who are taught the word must share in all good things with their teacher.
6:7 Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow.
6:8 If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit.
6:9 So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest-time, if we do not give up.
6:10 So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith.
6:11 See what large letters I make when I am writing in my own hand!
6:12 It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh that try to compel you to be circumcised--only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.
6:13 Even the circumcised do not themselves obey the law, but they want you to be circumcised so that they may boast about your flesh.
6:14 May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
6:15 For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything; but a new creation is everything!
6:16 As for those who will follow this rule--peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.