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Religion Pleasing to God
By:
J. Kent Holland, Jr.
Introduction:
Good morning.
Not so long ago if anyone would have told me that I’d be
standing before you presenting the morning message, I would have told
them their crazy. I would have told them the same thing if they’d said
I’d be teaching Sunday school, but for the past several months its
been my great pleasure to lead a single adults class during the third
hour. Thank you so much for
welcoming me to the class and for your encouragement and prayers.
What makes it particularly significant that Pastor
Randel would invite me to speak is that six years ago I gave up on being
a Christian. I gave up on my
ability to live my life in a manner befitting the name “Christian.”
I found myself sitting in church week after week, half listening
to the sermons and half-heartedly singing along with music.
Intellectually, I knew Jesus.
But he had not gotten from my mind to my heart.
While professing to know Christ, I lacked the love, joy, peace
that I knew was supposed to be experienced by those who truly know him
and have the “personal relationship” with him.
The reality was that I was living for me in my own little
self-centered world – taking pretty good care of myself (and even my
family) but not concerning myself with the needs of others.
My favorite Bible verse was “God helps him who helps
himself.” Don’t bother trying to find that verse.
It’s not in the Bible.
*
All that changed as the result on an encounter with a homeless
man. In fact, I could say,
that I’m standing before you today because I accepted an invitation by
that homeless man. As
a result of that encounter, my understanding of God and myself was
totally changed. He opened
my to what it means to be loved by God and to honor him.
II. Consider how we
worship God. Is our religion
acceptable to God? Is our
worship acceptable to God?
In
church today we look around us and see a lot of nice looking, well
groomed people – not an axe murderer or heinous criminal among us. We
see good people sincerely trying to be good Christians and worship God
in an appropriate way that is pleasing to Him.
But is our worship pleasing to the Lord?
In the book of Isaiah, God tells the people “Stop
bringing meaningless offerings. Your
incense is detestable to me. . . When you spread out your hands in
prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers I
will not listen.” (Is. 1:13).
This is rather dramatic. In
fact, it’s how I felt in my own life. Just as he wasn’t listening to
the Jewish people, He wasn’t responding to my prayers either.
Why? How could God
turn his back and not listen to the prayers of Jews who were going to
temple and offering sacrifices or Christians who are going to church and
putting that offering in the plate?
God rejected their empty worship then and he rejects
our empty worship today, and he tells us the kind of religion he wants
to see. He says: “Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow (Is.
1: 17). So what is the
Religion that God accepts? “Religion
that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after
orphans and widows in their distress….” James 1:27.
III. Introduction to the
Homeless Man – Waiting for Train
I had just sat down in the Philadelphia 30th Street
Station and tucked myself comfortably behind a newspaper to await my
train to Washington, D.C., when, to my dismay, I saw a homeless man
walking up to me. His
approach was slow and deliberate. He stood before me, waiting for me to
make eye contact. When I finally looked up to acknowledge him, I was
discomforted by this man, probably in his mid-forties, with dirt and
grease on his hands and unkempt clothing.
What struck me most about him, though, were his indescribable
eyes
¾
eyes
that seemed to know me, that seemed to penetrate right through me; that
appeared be full of love, compassion and sorrow. Being a rational,
unemotional lawyer, I tried quickly to put those thoughts out of my
mind. I thought I must be
imagining things.
We looked at each other in silence for a moment and then he
asked,
“Sir, may I
speak with you?”
My first thought was, “Oh no, here we go again, another bum
begging for a handout.” I had never appreciated the plight of the
needy. They made me
uncomfortable and perhaps a bit afraid.
I felt they should stop bothering people, and go out and get a
job like everyone else.
I wasn't inclined to give this man any attention, and I
certainly didn’t want to give him any money.
But he hadn’t asked for money.
He asked only: “May I speak with you?”
What kind of a question was that?
As I pondered him and his question, his incredible eyes gripped
me. Finally, I couldn’t
remain seated any longer. I
stood up to face him.
“Will you feed me?” he asked.
I wasn’t prepared for that question.
As he continued to speak, his language seemed peculiarly
articulate, and his words became increasingly strange and disquieting.
He spoke like a well-educated and intelligent man, not at all
like what I would have expected based on my image of him.
All around me, finely dressed men and women hurried off to
dinners, shows, and business meetings.
Others, like myself, looked forward to getting home to their
families. I wondered why he had so intentionally picked me out of this
mass of people. So, I asked
him,
“With all these people sitting around daydreaming, why did
you choose me? Why did you pick me from behind a newspaper?”
“Because,” he
answered, “you look like a gentlemen with whom I should speak.”
This
was so strange, and his eyes were so penetrating, that he got my
attention.
IV. No
sympathy or concern troubled me as I considered this homeless man.
I had apparently never learned (or perhaps I had forgotten)
the Scripture that tells us: “If
anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no
pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children let us not
love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”
1 John 3:17-18.
As I stood considering this man, my only concern was how quickly
I could get rid him so I could get back to my paper.
You see, I had become complacent in life.
I had a nice family, a good job, a nice home, and plenty of
expensive toys – all of which I took for granted.
But this homeless was different and wasn’t going to be easy
to shake. He actually used
better grammar than I normally do. He
sounded like an English teacher and I wondered,
“What’s going on here?”
Even stranger than his speech was the fact that instead of
asking for money, he said his purpose in approaching me was that he
thought he “should speak” with me. Now, this got my interest.
What could he possibly have to say to me?
In my cynical heart, I was disdainful and critical of this man.
He looked like he was perfectly capable of working for a living,
but had chosen to live the life of a bum instead. I just came right out
and challenged him, saying,
“You’re obviously a well-educated man.
You speak better than I do. Why
aren’t you working instead of being on the street?”
“I’m glad you asked that,” he replied. “I hoped that
you would permit me to share something with you.
I’m a pharmacist by training.
For many years I was employed as the pharmacist at the Thomas
Jefferson University hospital right here in town.
Life was good. I had
a wife and two children. I
had a nice house. I thought
I had it all. Yes, life was
good
¾
until the day I received a phone call at the pharmacy telling me that my
house had burned down and my wife and children had perished in the
flames.”
The truth was readily apparent in his teary eyes.
Even the genuine sadness in the matter-of-fact way he told his
story made it impossible for me to doubt its truth. He went on to
explain his situation.
“After losing my family, I could no longer think clearly. I
couldn’t concentrate well enough to make a prescription. But even if I
could, I no longer had any desire for my job since I had lost my whole
reason for living. Everything
I lived for was gone. I’ve
been on the streets ever since, talking to men like you who need to
know. I share with them, and
eat with them, but I never ask for money.
It’s been a long time since I’ve eaten, and I’m very
hungry, will you feed me?”
Looking back on the scene now, I’m embarrassed to say that
by this point in the conversation I was still clueless about what was
happening here. My
insensitive and foolish response was to offer a couple dollars so he
could buy something. He
looked at me with kind eyes and gently declined my offer of money.
Once again, he asked: “Will
you please feed me?”
Did he mean this literally and, if so, what did he expect me
to do? I asked if I could
buy him a burger and fries at the McDonald’s located in the station.
But this was not what he had in mind. Instead, he asked me to
join him for lunch at the small atrium-like cafe located in what might
be described as a chapel hall just off the main cathedral of the
station.
At this point, I didn’t know what to say.
What could I say to
this increasingly mysterious man who had picked me out a crowd and then
confidently directed me to the specific café where he expected me to
join him for lunch?
I had a train to
catch but, as I considered the homeless man, my heart was strangely
moved. What began as a
passing thought that perhaps I might as well sit down with this man for
a few minutes became a compelling desire to do just that.
The train could wait. There
would be another one later. Talking with this man had become the single
most important thing I could do at that moment
¾
even
though I didn’t understand why.
The conversation with this man over lunch is probably the most
important conversation I will ever have. Deciding to spend time with
this man may be the most critical decision I ever made.
As a result, I experience nothing short of
a complete transformation of character.
V. The
lunch with the Homeless Man
We went over to the cafe and ordered a good meal.
We sat together and talked for quite a while. Our conversation
touched on issues that I wouldn’t normally discuss with an
acquaintance of many years. He
asked me questions about myself and what I was doing with my life.
Perhaps my guilty conscience made me imagine things, but it
seemed that he knew things about me that I didn’t want him to know.
I felt like he could see my immorality and knew my self-centered,
frustrated and empty heart.
Finishing our meal, I rose to leave.
He turned to me then and asked: “Will you make me a promise?”
I must have given him a surprised and bewildered look.
He held my eyes with his as he said, “Think about this. The
next time you see someone who is poor, needy or homeless, remember me!
I once had everything you have now.
I had a wife, two children, a good job and a home.
I lost them all in an instant.
The difference between you and me is so small.
You could lose everything as quickly as I lost it.
Remember me. And
remember that all you have is by the grace of God.”
When he spoke of the grace of God I thought of how often I had
heard preachers, parents and teachers speak similar words.
They had always seemed so trite.
Coming from this man, however, I was awestruck by the simplicity
and truth of this statement. In
that moment, I experienced an odd sensation. I felt that his words had
hit hard right where I needed to be hit.
Even as I stood there, I found myself thinking that this man got
to me like no preacher or teacher ever managed to do.
Indeed, there but for the grace of God, go I.
There but for the grace of God go you.
In that moment, I felt my eyes being opened and I felt myself
seeing for the first time the plight of the homeless and less fortunate,
and realizing that it is or could be my might plight too.
VI.
Faith Without Works is Dead.
We Christians so often quote the scripture saying “It is by
grace you are saved, through faith … it is the gift of God – not by
works, so that no one can boast. (Eph. 2:8-9).
But we forget (or at least I forgot) the countervailing Scripture
where James, the brother of Christ, admonished us:
“Suppose a brother or
sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him,
‘Go, I wish you well, keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing
about his physical needs, what good is it?
In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by
action, is dead” (James 2:15-16).
I can tell you that as I stood before the homeless man
my eyes were opened to the fact that my faith in Jesus was bogus.
It wasn’t real. It
was mere words. It wasn’t
backed up with action. My
faith was dead.
VI. Saying “Yes”
I was still marveling at the Homeless man’s message about
the grace of God, when I realized that he wasn’t done with me
yet.
Looking steadily into my eyes, he asked: “The next time you
see a homeless person or a someone in need, will you feed them, will you
care for them, will you clothe them, will you meet their need?
Don’t give them money. That isn’t what they need.
They need you. Will you give them
of yourself? Will you love
them?” This final question
stunned me.
As he spoke, something seemed strangely familiar about what he
was asking. But over the
years I must have become so numb to the needy that I had forgotten how
Jesus describes the day of final judgment.
Read Matthew 25:31-46
In Matthew, chapter 25, Jesus describes a scene when
people will be brought before the "heavenly throne."
Two large groups of people are standing before the King.
One group He blesses and the other He rejects.
To those He blesses He says: "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty
and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me
in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after
me, I was in prison and you came to visit me."
To the surprise of the good people who say that they don't know
when they did any of these things for the King, He will respond: "Whatever
you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for
me." And for a
final irony, he turns to all those people standing at his other side and
tells them they are cursed and must depart his company because they
didn't care for Him when He was in need.
The startled outcry of these people is that they attended
religious services and were good and decent folks, and surely there must
be some sort of mistake because they never saw the King hungry or
thirsty, or a stranger or needing clothes, or otherwise needing help.
But the King responds, "whatever
you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for
me."
My homeless man in Philadelphia said me “They need you.
Will you give them of yourself?
Will you love them?” An
uncomfortably long moment passed while I thought about it.
Quietly, almost reverentially, I replied, “I will.” His eyes
gleamed as he smiled and wished me well.
As I boarded the next train for Washington, the impact of what
had happened to me in Philadelphia and how it was going to fundamentally
change my life had not yet dawned on me. As a new love and compassion
seemed to well up inside of me from depths previously unknown, I
realized that when I said “yes” to the homeless man, I had said yes
to God.
As I think
about all the people with physical needs, emotional needs, and spiritual
needs that I have ignored and passed by, while secure in my belief that
I was acceptable to God because I put my faith in Him and attempted to
live a good life, my heart aches with the knowledge that by ignoring
these people who needed me, I have ignored and rejected God.
My worship was unacceptable to God and prayers went
unanswered.
As followers of Christ, our lives are to be bearing the fruit
of the Spirit, which includes love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness.
If we ask ourselves whether we are genuinely experiencing these
"fruit," I believe we will agree that each of us has a way to
go yet. We need to decide
from the depths of our being, to reach out to others
-- to give consistently of ourselves (a listening ear, a helpful
hand, and a compassionate heart).
This includes sharing ourselves and God’s compassionate love
not only to those with physical needs but to those with spiritual needs
and emotional needs. Not
only those who are strangers to us, but those who are our colleagues at
work, family members, club members, neighbors.
You and I have the truth to share:
-- the body of Christ to satisfy their spiritual hunger and the
Living Water to quench their spiritual thirst.
This radical personal transformation of bearing fruit
¾
giving
of ourselves (not just our
money and our words), happens naturally when we answering the call of
the homeless man
¾
when
we answer the call of God. That
results in religion pleasing to God.
J.
Kent Holland, Jr.
www.KentHolland.com
Kent@KentHolland.com
703-623-1932
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