SERMON: "BEYOND MINIMAL LIVING"

by Dr. H. Alden Welch

Leonia United Methodist Church, NJ

Scriptures: Luke 6:32-36

My father used to say that the main reason he wanted to go to heaven was so he could get God off in a corner and ask God some questions. A lot of us would like to do that.

We have questions, too; questions like: 

Why is there so much misery and suffering?

Why are there evil rulers like Saddam Hussein?

Why is it so hard to believe and to know God’s will?

Why must life beyond the grave remain such a mystery?

In Scripture, we find some answers, but not ones that remove all doubt. As Paul put it, “We see through a glass dimly.” Only in the world to come will our questions be answered, if then. 

But when we read the Bible closely, what we discover is that while we want to question God, God has some questions for us. Nowhere do we see this more clearly than in the story of Job. In chapter after chapter, Job complains about his lot. Finally, he gets an audience with God and demands to know why life is so unfair. Out of a whirlwind, God says, “Why do you talk so much when you know so little.  Stand up. I will question you, and you shall answer me.” (Job. 38:2-3) And then for next four pages, God fires question after question at him.

Or read the Gospels.  Folks were constantly asking Jesus questions. But Jesus was continually asking questions of them, sometimes even answering a question with a question.  Someone took the trouble to count them: Jesus asked over 150 questions of his disciples, enemies and others. Questions that forced his listeners to look into their hearts, reflect upon their behavior, examine their beliefs.

This morning I invite you to consider one of those questions. Jesus asks: “If you love those who love you, if you do good to those who do good to you, if you lend to those from who you hope to receive, what credit is that to you?”

As they arrive at a party, a man turns to his wife and asks, “How long do you think we have to stay?” He doesn’t want to offend the host but doesn’t want to stay any longer than necessary.

A teacher assigns a term paper and a student asks, “How long does it have to be? How many words? How many pages?”

A young person taking piano lessons wants to know, “How often and how long do I have to practice?”

A college freshman asks the registrar, “How many courses do I have to take and what grade point average do I have to get to graduate?”  

Someone knocks on our door or calls on the phone asking for a donation to a worthy cause and we try to figure out what is the minimum we can give without appearing cheap or uncaring.

Some of us are working on our tax returns. We intend to pay what we owe, but we want to make sure that we do not pay any more than is legally required.

In one circumstance after another, we ask, “What is the minimum that is expected or required?  What am I socially, morally, or legally obligated to do?” It is a practical way to deal with the demands of everyday life, a way to please the maximum number of people while expending the minimum amount of time, money, and energy.

We ask the same question of religion. What is the minimum I have to do to please God?

Human nature has not changed that much over the centuries.  Jesus was constantly meeting persons who asked this question. Remember the rich young ruler who came to him one day and asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What do I have to do to get into heaven?” Jesus saw right through him. 

To him and maybe to some of us, Jesus says, in effect, if you think you can get by doing just the minimum, think again. “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? “If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that? If you lend to those who can pay you back, what is special about that?” Why should God reward you for doing what anyone will do? The Greek word here translated as “credit” is the same word translated elsewhere as “favor.” As in “Mary, you have found favor with God” (Luke 1:30) and “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and humanity.” (Luke 2:52) Jesus is asking, “Why should God do you any favors, reward you, for doing what anyone is willing to do?” 

Jesus is saying: It is not enough to just love those who love you; to do good to those who are good to you; to help those who have helped or can be of help to you.

Why? Because just doing the minimum leads to minimal living and Jesus came to challenge us to go beyond minimal living. Just being nice and helping our family and friends is not enough. Not for those of us who call ourselves followers of Jesus.

Well, why not?  Loving anyone, doing good to anyone, helping out in anyway ought to be worth something, ought to win us some points and gain us some credit. After all, there are plenty of people out there who do a whole lot less than that. Who ignore or refuse to help others, who hurt those who have been good to them, who abuse or take advantage of family and friends.  Doing the minimum is doing more than a lot of people do.

True enough.  And Jesus appreciated the kind, nice things people do. But this, in and of itself, did not make them his disciples. Doing good, being a helpful person has its own rewards. “You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours” helps us get ahead. That’s why so many people, who have never heard of Christ or have made no commitment to him, still live this way.  

Jesus did not come just to show us how to get on in the world. He came to call us to discipleship, which means going the extra mile. “Love your enemies,” he said, “do good to all, lend expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, you will be called children of the Most High.” Love those you find hard to love; help those who most need your help; give without expecting anything in return; don’t just do the minimum; do all you can do.

John Wesley use to say:

            “Do all the good you can,

             By all the means you can,

             In all the ways you can,

             In all the places you can,

             At all the times you can,

             to all the people you can,

             As long as ever you can.” 

It became his motto.

Is that hard?  Of course, it is. It is easier to just care about those who care about us. 

We call that friendship and it is a blessing, but it is not discipleship.

Jesus asks us to care for strangers, those who are down on their luck, those who are homeless or in trouble, those who show up at the local food bank looking to feed themselves and their children. Jesus asks us to love persons who are hard to love,

persons who are having a bad day or a bad year, persons who have messed up their lives, persons who are cranky and ill-tempered-- an ornery customer or sullen family member. A doctor asked a woman, “Do you ever wake up grumpy.” She said, “No, I just let him sleep!”  Jesus says, love the grumpies of the world, too.

Sometimes our children are hard to love. Little children make little messes; big children can make big messes—do things that disappoint us and hurt us. Make bad choices; ignore our warnings. Jesus says, love them anyway.  That does not mean condoning destructive behavior. Sometimes we need to be tough, but love can be tough and still be love. 

Parents, too, can sometimes be hard to love. Especially, when health and mental ability declines. There comes a time when they need us more than we need them, yet often it is at these times that they are most unreasonable and hard to love. Continue to love them and do the best in your power for them.

Jesus in his life modeled for us this kind of divine, unselfish and sacrificial love. This is what he wanted us to understand: Love does not do just the minimum; love does all that it can do.  

I know, it seems too much to ask, more than anyone has a right to expect, more than most of us can possibly do, a terrible, heavy burden to bear.  And we say, “Hey, most days doing the minimum is challenge enough! How can we hope to go beyond that?”  

We can’t without the help and grace of God. That’s why we come here week after week.

You do not need the church to do what anyone is willing to do. You do not need worship if all you intend to do is the minimum. But if you are determined to go beyond minimal living you need all the help and encouragement you can get. You need the church, you need Christian friends, you need God.

The promise of Jesus is that if we step out in faith, God will be with us, will empower and sustain us. Jesus calls us to a seemingly impossible way of life, but he never said that we had to make it on our own. He promised us the strength to move mountains, the courage to face large challenges, the hope to endure suffering.

Have you experienced this in your own life? I hope that you have, or that soon you will. Because when you do, you will begin to realize that what we thought was so hard is really quite easy, and that a way of life that seems so demanding is really the easiest, most satisfying way to live. You will begin to sense that being a disciple of Christ

is the best reward of all, and that the real motivation for the Christian life is not to receive a reward, but that life with Christ is its own reward. When we let God work in us and through us, we become the persons we were created to be. God’s love so enriches our lives that we simply have to share that love with others, day after day. As Carl Menninger once put it, “Love cures people—both those who give it and those who receive it.”  

It is tempting to try to get by in life doing as little as necessary, but minimal living makes us unfulfilled, minimal people. So when we are tempted to love only those who love us,

to do good only for those who do good things for us, to give only to those from whom we can expect something in return, we need to hear Jesus asked, “What credit is that?” calling us to a higher road and a better way.       

O God, we thank you for this question of Jesus calling us to go beyond minimal living.  Amen.

PASTOR PRAYER 

    Gracious God, we thank you for your unwavering goodness: for blessings that fall like rain on the just and the unjust; for words that feed us in our seasons of doubt; for the songs your grace has taught our hearts to sing; for inexplicable happenings that, in retrospect, point to your gentle leading and your care. For all of these things and so much more we give you thanks and praise.

O Thou who loves all peoples and whose will is justice and peace, we are appalled that once again war seems imminent. We pray that it may not come, but if it does, that casualties will be few.   As have generations past, we pray for a world without war, where all are free and secure.

O Loving God, we pray for those whose needs we know and for those whose needs are known only to you. We pray for those who need healing. We pray for those who need to put the past behind them.     We pray for those whose lives are just beginning    and those whose earthly lives are nearing their end. May they though us sense your loving presence and care.

We pray now as Jesus taught us saying:

THE LORD’S PRAYER