Life - A Tough Decision Sometimes

September 21, 2008 Life – a tough decision sometimes Phillipians 1 Matthew 20:16-20 Year A Introduction: What is fair? What is fair? That is a question that we all have been asking all of our lives, in every situation. When we were children, we were obsessed with what is fair, we wanted to make sure that we got everything that we saw that every one else had. The jews had that question The isrealites have always asked that question about life too. The old testment is based on that question of what does it mean to be fair. Is it fair that if I have more money than you do – that I get to spend my money on whatever I want and watch you starve? Or it is fair that I take everything that I own no matter how hard I work and put it in a common pot so that everything can be fed. We don’t realize that they never answered their own question – and they never lived up to the ideals that they established in the bible. We continue to have that question today We still ask that question today? What does it mean to be fair – how to we distribute our resources. The economy is still our biggest issue – and we are becoming painfully aware that there is never an anwer. An Experiment I would like to try an experiment (have two volunteers one walk around the sanctuary twice and one just walk up – but they both get a dime) What is fair? Was that fair? Jesus says that it is – he tells the story of a landowner who is paying people to work – and he pays the last just as much as the first. And says that it is his money he can spend it as he likes Jesus uses the questions of our lives in order to teach us a lesson It is obvious to us all that the landowner is God, and that all of the resources of our lives is God. But is Jesus really saying that God has a right to treat us any way because everything belongs to God. Jesus was Jewish – and jewish don’t have a problem questioning God – and letting god know when life is not fair. We Christians tend to be a little complacent. One person said that if this story is true – then there is no reason for us to come to church – until we are on our deathbed. It also justifies the economic reality that the rich get richer, while the poor get poorer. Is life really fair? But Jesus life story is not about the economic reality of the world – it is about the divine reality of God. The concept of Shalom In the midst of their questioning of what it fair about life – they developed the concept of shalom. Which says that in order for their to be peace, their has to be justice. In order for us to have personal peace – we have to have community peace, when all people are taken care o- there is justice, so there is peace. And the only way for a community to have shalom is to be centered around God. God is the center of what is fair, not the circumstances of our life Paul also talks about a life centered on God Philippians a very good lesson plan – it is short and includes everything I want to focus on the book for the next four weeks – because it has some significant lessons. It is the mission statement of many organizations including our church. We will focus on chapter 2 next week. Background on Philippi I have visited Philippi – it is a very small town on the side of the highway – not even a mile long – everything is included in a square. But Paul really loved these people for the way they accepted the gospel. And they way they accepted him. He was in jail in Epshesus – and they had sent a representative to take care of him. The representative shared the struggles of the church – but got sick while trying to help. Paul sent him home with this message. Focus on chapter 1 He tells them that at this moment that he is struggling so, that at this moment life is a choice – between dying and seeing Jesus personally, or staying alive and being in relationship with them. As long as he is alive – he will be struggling. And yet it is joy which keeps him alive and connected to the people he loves. It is suffering which makes us ask the question of whether life is really fair. We want what is fair because we all want to be happy Joy is shalom life with God Quote A pastor says that life with joy is a life where we learn to deal with our suffering. And our suffering leads us to new places we would never have gone, to new strength we would never knew possible to happiness we would never have found. We want joy not happiess Paul would say that we want joy, not happiness My cup runneth over Finally, I want to leave you with a practice that I learned about this day which demonstrates the joy of life with God – every morning this lady says that she fills a bowl up with water and lets it run over. As it overflows – she prays that God will bring in the events of her day. May God be present and may god bless her with life overflowing in that day. Then she keeps the bowl on the kitchen sink – so that she can be reminded that God is bringing her new life. Life brings both good and bad - asks God to bring it on With God in Christ I have