Making a Difference

Brad Merrills

Midland SDA Church

November 21, 2009

 

Most companies start out providing a specific group of products or services.  Often a company will do one thing really well. Companies like Ford Motor Company, Microsoft, and Merry Maids, are known for making automobiles, designing software, or providing cleaning services to homes.  As a company grows it may add other products and services.  The company may also purchase other companies to help with its mission.  As you know, in this day and age, it is not uncommon for businesses to buy and sell other companies for various reasons.     As the company grows it may acquire interests and activities  that are completely unrelated to their core mission.   Many of you probably remember when Frigidaire was a division of General Motors Corporation.    Now there is nothing wrong with a conglomerate per se.  But there is a risk when you have a lack of focus.  Instead of doing one thing well, you do many things on a mediocre level.  Sometimes there is a need for someone to come in and shake things up.  To refocus the company on their core mission.  To divest the company of distractions that sap resources and keep everyone from concentrating on what is important.

When Alan Mulally was hired to be the president and chief executive of the Ford Motor Company he took steps to divest the company of peripheral brands and to focus the company on making and selling a limited number of  lines of quality automobiles.  Now I don’t know if he will be successful in what he is attempting or not.  But focusing on the core essentials is what I what to discuss today. 

There is a trend for organizations to identify a mission statement that succinctly communicates why and organization exists.  Now sometimes mission statements can be a little hokey, and sometimes they are seem to be overdone.  But the basic idea is right on.  An organization functions best when everyone a part of that organization knows what the goal is.  Why are we here?  What do we do?

What is important in our Christian walk?  What really makes a difference for us?  What is our core mission? 

Professional football is an enormous enterprise.  Fans all over the country and the world follow their teams, pay to go to the games, watch them on TV, and participate in fantasy football leagues.  Cities compete with each other to attract teams with larger and newer stadiums Entire television networks and hundreds of millions of dollars of advertising revenue are based on this sport.  Each team has a large support staff of coaches, scouts, trainers, and medical personnel.  What is the purpose of this vast interconnected enterprise?  To get the football in the end zone.  Nothing else matters.  You can have the most luxurious stadium, the nicest uniforms, the best practice facilities.  If you can’t get the ball in the zone, and win the games, it is all for nothing.

And that’s what I want to focus on today.  Things that really make a difference.  Things that are important. 

Now some will say that everything in the Bible is equally important.  I would disagree.

Not everything does make a difference.  There are those that say everything is important, and everything makes a difference.  That really isn’t true.  Some things are much more difference making than others.

When I rake leaves in our yard each fall, I have to rake several times.   I can rake all the leaves, and the next morning have the yard covered with leaves.  So I have a tendency to not pick up every single leaf till the end of the season when all the leaves are off the trees.  Now some of you might say that I have a lazy streak in me.  And maybe I do.  But  until all the leaves are off the trees, it doesn’t make a difference if I leave a few leaves in the yard when I rake.  No matter how clean I have that yard, it will be leaf covered again in a few hours.  Now after all the leaves are down it does make a difference.

Jesus certainly suggested that some things were more important. 

Matthew 23: 23 ²³Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

We tend to talk about a lot of different topics.  Some are very important.  Some are trivial.  How would you rank these topics in order of importance?

What happens to me when I die? 

Who can lead God’s church?

How much money should I give back to God? 

What foods should I eat? 

What day is the Sabbath?

Who is my neighbor?  How do I treat my neighbor?

How did God create the world?

How many angles can dance on the head of  a pin?  (I’m told that this was actually a serious theological question during the middle ages.)

One of my favorite places to go when looking for insight into God’s will is to the gospels, and more specifically to the words and parables and actions of Jesus.

There are a number of instances where Jesus dealt with defining what is important, where He clarified the issues, where He set out the mission statement.  He identified that which makes a difference,  with the heart of the matter, the nitty gritty, with things that make a difference.  Sometimes He did this in response to a serious question.  Sometimes he did it in response to someone who was trying to trick Him.  Take the example of a questions the Sadducees decided to ask Jesus.  Now you will remember, the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection, so they were trying to make Jesus look foolish, by asking a loaded question.

In heaven, who will be the husband of a woman who had multiple husbands die?  This question was brought to Jesus.  If you had a chance to speak with Jesus, is this the question that you would ask Him? 

Warren Buffet is one of the richest men in the world.  He made his fortune by investing money.  His advice is sought and analyzed by investors all over the world.  Thousands of stockholders of his company, Berkshire Hathaway come every year to Omaha Nebraska for the annual stockholders meeting, in a large part to listen to Warren Buffet speak.  It has been called a Woodstock for Capitalists.  For the past several years a lunch with Warren Buffett has been auctioned off,  with the proceeds going to charity.  This year 1.7 million dollars was paid for the privilege of having lunch with Warren Buffet.  And while that is a lot of money, it is less than the 2.1 million that a Hong Kong money manager paid in 2008.  If you paid 1.7 million dollars to speak with Jesus what would you ask Him?

The Sadducees could have asked Jesus anything they wanted.  They went for the trick question.  But listen to Jesus answer. 

Matthew 22 :23 – 33

²³The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him,

 ²⁴Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.

 ²⁵Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother:

 ²⁶Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh.

 ²⁷And last of all the woman died also.

 ²⁸Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.

 ²⁹Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.

 ³⁰For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.

 ³¹But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying,

 ³²I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

 ³³And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine.

 

Listen to what Jesus says.  I am not the God of the dead.  I am the God of the living.  I care about people.  He took this opportunity to show real truth here.  Let’s keep reading. 

Matthew 22: 34 -40

 ³⁴But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.

 ³⁵Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

 ³⁶Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

 ³⁷Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

 ³⁸This is the first and great commandment.

 ³⁹And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

 ⁴⁰On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

 

Again, Jesus distills a long list of commands into some important principles.  Love God, and love your fellow men as you love yourself.  The things that make a difference.  He had a wonderful way of pointing that out.

The rich young ruler appeared to be a sincere seeker of truth.  Now I say he appeared to be sincere, because I have no way of knowing what was really in his heart.  It is important that we remember that.  Paul Harvey used to tell us “The Rest of the Story”.  Only God can judge what is in someone else’s heart.  Only God can judge another’s motives.  Only God knows the rest of the story.  I can observe actions, and infer a motive, but only God knows what is really going on. 

A lot of times we cause harm to others because we unfairly or inaccurately infer things that are inaccurate.   

Luke 18:18-24   ¹⁸And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

 ¹⁹And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.

 ²⁰Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.

 ²¹And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.

 ²²Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.

 ²³And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.

 ²⁴And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!

One theme that comes up over and over again in Jesus teaching is that our theology affects our actions.  Christianity is not an abstract theoretical debate society.  It is a pragmatic hands on way of life. 

A version of the golden rule expressed by others stated that one should not do to others shat he or she would not want done to themselves.  This is a passive expression.  Jesus turned that on its head.  He stated DO unto other as you would have other do to you.  The Christianity that Jesus teaches is an active all encompassing religion that affects everything that we do. 

Matthew 25:32-46

 ³²And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

 ³³And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

 ³⁴Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

 ³⁵For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

 ³⁶Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

 ³⁷Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

 ³⁸When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

 ³⁹Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

 ⁴⁰And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

 ⁴¹Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

 ⁴²For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:

 ⁴³I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

 ⁴⁴Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

 ⁴⁵Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

God expects us to take our scripture lesson to heart.

Ecclesiastes 9:10 (King James Version)

 ¹⁰Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

One of the core values of the Bible is to practice what you believe.  To put it into practice in your life.  God wants us to learn what He is like, and to become like Him.

Sanctification is the process of becoming like Christ. 

It has been said that the best advertisement for Christianity is the witness of a sanctified life.  I believe that with all my heart.  I know that I personally have been blessed by people who embody Christ in their lives.

How many people have touched your life by simply being good, kind decent people?  This is what Jesus preached.  Do unto others as ye would have others do unto you. 

I have been privileged to have had some amazing people in my life.  People who taught me by example how to be a citizen, a parent, a physician, a Christian. 

Now every role model but one is but an imperfect reflection of that perfect model.  We need to remember that when choosing our models.

We also need to remember our influence.  While a sanctified life is the best advertisement for Christianity, there is another side to the coin.

How many people have rejected God, and His message because we misrepresented Him.  While individuals bear responsibility for their own actions, we also bear responsibility for our actions.

We need to remember that some of the greatest evil in all the world is perpetuated by those doing “God’s will”. 

Ellen White, the champion of pragmatic pertinent Christian advice.

Sometimes we represent as the word of God what is only our opinion.  We need to take great care when we presume to know God’s will that we have the appropriate humility to realize we may have misunderstood His will.

“The Lord wants His people to follow other methods than that of condemning wrong, even though the condemnation be just. He wants us to do something more than to hurl at our adversaries charges that only drive them further from the truth.” – 6T 121 (1901)

 

I have twin boys.  Now while they share some similarities, they are not identical.  Even as babies they were not difficult to tell apart. 

I have friends who have identical twin boys.  Their mother told me that the only way she could tell them apart when they were young was by  the scar left by a minor surgical procedure on one of the boys.

On e movie that I enjoy is “The Parent Trap”.  Those of you who have seen this movie remember that it tells the story of identical twin girls, Hallie and Allie, whose parents separated when they were very young.  Each parent took one child to raise.  The parents lived a long way from each other,  and these children grew up not knowing that they had an identical twin sibling.  You know how the story goes.  The girls meet at camp, and discover that they are identical twins.  They switch places, and each goes home with the parent that had not seen since shortly after birth. 

Of course since this is a movie funny and entertaining things happen along the way, until their true identity is revealed.  Eventually all is made well with the world, the they live happily ever after. 

The question I want you to think about is this. Why did  it make any difference which twin was with which parent?  Why did it matter to the parents?  Why did it matter to the twins?

One of the reasons why this mattered was because of the relationship that had been damaged or never existed.  Relationships with our family are important.  Relationships shape who we are, what we become, who we are.  Annie and Hallie wanted a relationship with the mother and father. The relationship they never really had.  A relationship can make a really big difference in a person’s life.  A relationship can make all the difference in the world.

Jesus calls us to be a part of a family, a community.  A community is stronger because of the strength of its individuals.   You make a difference to the community.

We were born with the lack of an important relationship.  We have a Father that we really don’t know the way that we want to know Him.  We haven’t been able to spend time to know Him the way we need to.  We don’t really know who we are unless we know our family.

We have a family that wants to connect with us.  We have a Father who gave everything so He can have a relationship with us.

 

Restoring that relationship in our own lives, and in those we interact with is the most important difference we can make.  Everything else is secondary.