Mark Michael - "Uncomfortable Trust" (February 15, 1998)

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Instructor	This morning's gospel lesson	0:11
	is taken from the gospel according to Saint Luke	0:13
	the sixth chapter, verses 17 through 26.	0:17
	And he came down with them and stood in the plain,	0:22
	and the company of the disciples and a great multitude	0:25
	of people out of all Judea and Jerusalem,	0:28
	and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon,	0:31
	which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases.	0:34
	And they that were vexed with unclean spirits,	0:38
	and they were healed.	0:40
	And the whole multitude sought to touch him	0:42
	for there went virtue out of him and healed them all.	0:45
	And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples	0:49
	and said "Blessed be ye poor.	0:52
	"for yours is the kingdom of God.	0:55
	"Blessed are ye that hunger now; for ye shall be filled.	0:58
	"Blessed are ye that weep now; for ye shall laugh.	1:03
	"Blessed are ye when men shall hate you,	1:08
	"and when they shall separate you from their company,	1:11
	"and shall reproach you and shall cast out	1:14
	"your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.	1:17
	"Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy.	1:21
	"For behold, your reward is great in heaven;	1:25
	"for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.	1:28
	"But woe unto you that are rich,	1:32
	"for ye have received your consolation.	1:35
	"Woe unto you that are full, for ye shall hunger.	1:38
	"Woe unto you that laugh now, for ye shall mourn and weep.	1:43
	"Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you,	1:49
	"for so did their fathers to the false prophets."	1:52
	The word of God.	1:57
Congregation	Thanks be to God.	1:58
Instructor	About a year or two ago,	2:05
	my home church voted on whether we would have pew cushions.	2:06
	A family in the congregation had decided	2:11
	they would like to donate them as a memorial gift.	2:13
	But the church consistory thought that this sort of matter	2:16
	should be brought before the entire congregation.	2:18
	Now the issue aroused a rather lively debate,	2:21
	as it seems many such unimportant issues do	2:24
	in small town churches.	2:27
	As it turned out, pew cushions had been voted down	2:30
	by the congregation at least once before.	2:32
	Now some folks thought that cushion pews	2:36
	would make our sanctuary more friendly to the elderly.	2:38
	Others thought they'd be hard to clean	2:42
	or that they would encourage sleeping during the sermon.	2:44
	(congregation laughs)	2:46
	The vote was close, but in the end,	2:48
	we decided that we would have pew cushions,	2:50
	in a nice shade of blue that matched the upholstery pattern.	2:53
	We decided it was good	2:56
	that our church be comfortable.	2:59
	We humans, we like to be comfortable.	3:03
	We have comforters, those thick blankets	3:05
	that dispel the chill of cold winter nights.	3:08
	We have recliners and sweatpants and vibrating pillows,	3:12
	all for no real reason aside from the fact	3:16
	that they make us comfortable.	3:18
	Comfort often controls what we say, and to whom we say it,	3:21
	where we go and don't go.	3:26
	We're most often comfortable with the familiar.	3:29
	Familiar coffee mugs and books.	3:32
	Familiar voices, dare we say, familiar problems.	3:36
	Church can become comfortable for us too.	3:41
	We show up long enough and eventually	3:44
	we know the hymns and the prayers.	3:46
	We don't have to look in the bulletin	3:48
	to know when to stand up and when to sit down.	3:50
	We become comfortable with the way our church does things.	3:53
	What gets said and what doesn't.	3:58
	We become comfortable with our view of Jesus.	4:01
	The problem is Jesus isn't all that comfortable to us.	4:07
	Blessed be ye poor.	4:13
	Blessed are ye that hunger now.	4:15
	Blessed are ye that weep now.	4:19
	Blessed are ye when men shall hate you,	4:23
	and when they shall separate you from their company	4:25
	and shall reproach you and cast our your name as evil	4:28
	for the Son of man's sake.	4:31
	But woe unto you that are rich.	4:34
	For ye have received your consolation.	4:38
	Woe unto you that are full. For ye shall hunger.	4:41
	Woe unto you that laugh now.	4:46
	For ye shall mourn and weep.	4:48
	Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you,	4:52
	for so did their fathers to the false prophets.	4:55
	Jesus steps into our just fine thank you lives	5:01
	and slaps us in the face.	5:06
	Look at where we're sitting, Duke Chapel,	5:09
	a place just teaming with those blessed poor.	5:12
	(congregation laughs)	5:15
	We don't pronounce woe upon our rich and powerful.	5:17
	We bury them in the side chapel. We're Duke students.	5:20
	We're on the fast track to somewhere.	5:25
	We're plugged into the system.	5:27
	We hear Jesus and we assertive, confident,	5:29
	dare I say arrogant students feel compelled	5:34
	to give this Jesus an answer.	5:36
	We say thanks Jesus for ruining our days.	5:39
	You know, we appreciate your time and concern and everything	5:42
	but that's okay, Jesus. We'd rather not be losers.	5:45
	I mean after all, we just want to get along	5:50
	with other people and get as much as we can out of life,	5:53
	and I mean, let's face it Jesus,	5:56
	your poor, weeping, hungry societal rejects	5:58
	just aren't all that comfortable.	6:03
	It's not all that strange.	6:06
	We like to be secure, and what makes us secure	6:08
	is accumulating things.	6:12
	We can control things if they're ours.	6:15
	We can decide what we want to do with them,	6:18
	when to buy and when to sell.	6:20
	We're just watching out for ourselves after all.	6:23
	We don't want to be a bother to anybody else.	6:25
	We're just being practical.	6:28
	God helps him who helps himself, right?	6:30
	Yes, our concern with the accumulation	6:35
	of wealth and honor may have some true greed	6:38
	lying curled up in its roots and no doubt,	6:42
	we do take some pride in what we can do.	6:45
	But our wealth, which Jesus so pities,	6:50
	is most often the product, not of mere acquisitiveness,	6:54
	but of a desire to be comfortable,	6:59
	to be secure, merely to trust in our own abilities	7:01
	to solve our own problems.	7:06
	Now some people say that Luke's beatitudes	7:09
	are a description of the nature of Jesus' ministry.	7:12
	And other folks say they're a call to positive action	7:15
	for social justice, an exhortation	7:19
	to fill the empty stomachs and brighten	7:21
	the broken faces of the world.	7:24
	Now it cannot be denied that we must not ignore	7:27
	the social dimensions of sacrificial love	7:31
	of God and our fellow man,	7:34
	but that's not the central message.	7:36
	We are confronted with an issue of trust and dependence.	7:40
	Whom do we trust? On whom are we dependent?	7:46
	The good Christian of course answers	7:50
	I am dependent on God.	7:52
	Next question please.	7:53
	Everyone seems content to give that answer.	7:56
	Every piece of money we use bears those words:	7:59
	in God we trust.	8:03
	Now it's a little ironic that the same government	8:06
	that authorizes the federal reserve	8:09
	also derived from the Declaration of Independence,	8:11
	but that's another matter, maybe.	8:15
	(congregation laughs)	8:17
	We say we trust in God,	8:25
	but our actions seem to show something a little different.	8:27
	That's the American way, after all.	8:30
	The skin-clad warrior chopping his way	8:32
	through the dense forest,	8:35
	building a cabin from yard thick logs pasted together	8:36
	with wild cat spit.	8:40
	The clever, strong, pioneer bravely ushering in civilization	8:42
	half-alligator, half snapping turtle, half tax attorney.	8:47
	Well, you get the picture.	8:51
	(congregation laughs)
	We take care of ourselves.	8:55
	We write the plans, and then we carry 'em out.	8:57
	We believe in God, but well, His mercy,	9:01
	His power, His grace, they're just a little too abstract.	9:05
	As C.S. Lewis says, "We see God	9:11
	"kind of like an airman sees his parachute.	9:14
	"We're glad he's there, but we sure hope	9:18
	"we won't have to use Him."	9:21
	Who trusts in God then?	9:24
	Think of the stories you've heard about Christians	9:26
	who were laid powerless by one illness or another,	9:29
	who said that in their darkest days,	9:32
	when they were ready to give up hope,	9:35
	they trusted that God would carry them through.	9:37
	We've read the stories of people who've lost their jobs,	9:41
	or lost their homes, who've been destitute	9:44
	in one way or another. I depend on God, they say,	9:47
	because I can't depend on anybody else.	9:52
	I've never heard a story which said,	9:56
	well I was a bank executive with a healthy family.	9:59
	I drove a BMW and lived in a nice three story house	10:04
	out in the suburbs, and let me tell you	10:07
	I am dependent on God for everything.	10:09
	When you've got a BMW and an IRA,	10:13
	who needs God?	10:17
	Saint Augustine said that God wants to give us something	10:20
	but our hands are too full.	10:24
	This is why Jesus places such an emphasis	10:27
	on the blessing of the poor.	10:30
	If our lives sufficiently please us,	10:32
	we'll never give 'em up to God.	10:35
	We rich are fooled by our wealth into thinking	10:37
	that we can get along just fine without God.	10:40
	The poor, the very poor,	10:43
	have no one but God to turn to.	10:47
	Jesus doesn't say that the poor are without sin.	10:52
	What He says is that their worldly want whets their appetite	10:56
	more vigorously for the joys of life with God.	11:00
	The prophet Jeremiah said that the man who trusts in man,	11:05
	the one who places his dependence in himself is cursed,	11:09
	like a dry bush in the desert	11:15
	that inhabits the parched places	11:18
	in the wilderness, an uninhabited salt land.	11:20
	He says that the man who trusts in God,	11:24
	who places his faith in the Lord	11:27
	is like a green tree by the waters,	11:29
	whose roots extend deep into a river,	11:32
	drawing forth strength that'll help it to withstand drought.	11:37
	A tree that never fails to bear fruit.	11:41
	That's an amazing image, isn't it?	11:45
	He tells us what we must already know,	11:48
	that trusting in ourselves, trusting in man	11:51
	cannot truly satisfy. The very rich are burdened	11:54
	with the concerns of their own richness.	11:57
	The famous can find no peace.	12:00
	Even we normal people, well,	12:03
	we ever can't really get enough to be comfortable either.	12:06
	Someone once asked John D. Rockefeller	12:10
	how much money it took to satisfy a man.	12:12
	His answer: just a little more than he already has.	12:16
	Even when we seek to be fulfilled by doing good,	12:21
	we can never succeed.	12:24
	The peace we work so hard to build in our neighborhoods	12:26
	is shattered by the thoughtless and cruel.	12:30
	The close friendships we cultivate fade away.	12:34
	Our marriages are broken.	12:38
	The children we pour our souls into die.	12:42
	From the hour of our waking, each of us goes about lying,	12:47
	practicing petty deception,	12:51
	saying things and casting glances that hurt others.	12:53
	We are a sinful people, and yet we dare	12:58
	to depend upon ourselves.	13:03
	That leaves us with faith. Trust in a God who is real.	13:07
	Scripture tells us that the great matter	13:13
	of facing each individual is the fact	13:15
	that he cannot save himself.	13:17
	Our dependence upon ourselves leads directly	13:21
	to death and eternal condemnation.	13:23
	The only power great enough to overcome sin,	13:27
	sin that pervades our existence.	13:31
	Sin that attracts us to things.	13:34
	Sin that fools us into thinking	13:38
	we can depend upon ourselves.	13:40
	The only thing that can overcome it is the love of God.	13:41
	In the person of Christ, God stoops down	13:47
	and becomes man through the blood and pain of childbirth.	13:51
	He lives a life of poverty and dies a death of shame.	13:55
	God becomes the rejected because He loves us.	14:01
	He rebukes our sin because He loves us.	14:06
	He shows us the way of salvation	14:10
	because He loves us.	14:14
	We need only receive the free gift of grace He offers.	14:17
	John Donne, in one of his most famous sermons,	14:21
	described the Christian as hanging upon Him	14:24
	who hangs upon the cross,	14:28
	bathing in His tears, sucking at His wounds,	14:31
	and lying down in peace in his grave.	14:35
	We cling to the things of the world	14:40
	like a baby to his toys when what we really need	14:42
	is the warm embrace of a loving Father.	14:47
	When God takes us into His arms,	14:51
	we learn how to seek direction,	14:54
	how to allow ourselves to be led.	14:57
	We must allow God to make us into the kind of vessel	15:00
	He most needs us to be.	15:03
	Does that mean, you ask me, that we must all do	15:05
	as Jesus told the rich young ruler,	15:08
	and go out and sell everything we have,	15:10
	and give all the money away?	15:12
	Does that mean we can't be popular and depend upon God?	15:15
	We rich ask just how big is that eye on Jesus' needle.	15:20
	The Christian struggles with these matters continually.	15:25
	When I try to determine how I should live out	15:30
	my Christian commitment, I always look	15:32
	for opportunities to use what I have.	15:34
	I don't wanna stop and listen for God's call	15:38
	because I'm afraid.	15:42
	I'm afraid because, well, things aren't so bad now,	15:44
	and waiting can be scary.	15:47
	I can't tell you how to live out	15:52
	your commitment to Christ on earth.	15:54
	I can't tell you what to do.	15:56
	The message isn't primarily about what to do.	16:00
	It's about who you trust.	16:04
	We can't do enough,	16:07
	but through grace, we can trust.	16:11
	The story is told of a band of reporters	16:17
	who approached an elderly lady after an earthquake.	16:19
	They walked up to her and they said, "Weren't you afraid?"	16:23
	And she said "No, not really.	16:26
	"I'm glad to know I have a God who can shake the world."	16:29
	Thus is God; He can shake the world,	16:34
	and He will shake the lives of His faithful people.	16:37
	He might call us to be uncomfortable,	16:41
	to endure the persecution of the raised eyebrow,	16:44
	to be humble when we'd much rather be showy,	16:49
	to forsake the things we can get	16:52
	if we just set our minds to them.	16:54
	The path blazed by Christ's blood is steep and rocky.	16:57
	And company sometimes seems scarce.	17:03
	If we trust in Him, if we depend upon Him,	17:07
	we will bear fruit; this is the promise of God.	17:10
	This past summer, I taught school for a time in India,	17:15
	and there I met Mr. Livingston.	17:19
	Mr. Livingston speaks more of dependence upon God	17:21
	than anybody else I've ever known.	17:24
	He closes each one of his prayers with the words	17:27
	God, please allow us to have the full trust in You.	17:31
	Mr. Livingston lives with his wife and two children	17:36
	in a room about a third of the size of my dorm room.	17:39
	He keeps all of his possessions in a single trunk.	17:43
	The Christian school of which he is principal	17:49
	is located in a rather remote rural area	17:51
	that hasn't received substantial rainfall	17:54
	in almost two years. Rice can't be grown there anymore,	17:56
	and starvation is a real problem.	18:00
	He told me that when he opened his school	18:04
	five or six years ago,	18:05
	everybody told him he would never succeed.	18:07
	Today his school has 500 pupils	18:11
	and recently added a new classroom building.	18:14
	His project is foolish, many would say.	18:19
	His debts are high, and he's dependent upon tuition money	18:21
	that often never comes in, and he's dependent	18:24
	upon the mere generosity of others.	18:27
	He trusts in God though, and he bears fruit.	18:30
	And so the Lord stands open to receive those	18:36
	who will depend upon Him.	18:38
	His river splashes over its banks	18:41
	to revive thirsting bushes.	18:44
	Trust in God; let go of the wheel,	18:47
	and receive spiritual riches which never decay.	18:51
	Be filled with flesh and blood	18:56
	that never lose their sweetness.	18:59
	Be blessed with joy that never fades.	19:02
	Receive comfort that is true,	19:07
	amen.	19:11

Item Info

Title:

Mark Michael - "Uncomfortable Trust" (February 15, 1998)

Description:

We seek comfort in our wealth and in our possessions and in ourselves, but these will only lead us to destruction. To find true security, we must let go of our grip on the things we possess and trust God to provide for us. Such trust is the kind that will make us like trees who never cease to bear fruit. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Sermon start time: (Part 1) 00:10. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 19:13.
Key quotation: “We cling to the things of the world like a baby to his toys when what we really need is the warm embrace of a loving Father.”

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https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r42f7k60j

Date:

February 15, 1998

Speaker:

Michael, Mark

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Duke University. Chapel

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UA.17.01.0003 CS-0893
ref9935_c7o
uachapelsermaud
duke:321254
dcrau001537
ark:/87924/r42f7k60j
dc518eb6-da52-48f9-99ef-109d0fb18acc

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Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

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Durham (N.C.)

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The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

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Mark Michael - "Uncomfortable Trust" (February 15, 1998)

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