The Bottom Line
Sermon
Something's Coming ... Something Great
Sermons For Advent, Christmas And Epiphany
One of the most common phrases heard in the marketplace today is "the bottom line." It makes no difference if you are buying a car, or a new house, a new wardrobe or planning a vacation. Whatever it is, we want to know how much will it cost. What's the bottom line?
There is a story going the rounds about a self-employed painter who had come on hard times. There was very little work in his area, so when he was asked to bid on the painting of a local church, he figured a little too closely to the bottom line. He got the job, but he soon realized that his bid was so low, he could not even make expenses. Feeling desperate, he decided to water down the paint. As the job was nearly finished, the sky grew dark, and it was not long before a raging thunderstorm washed the fresh paint completely off the church!
"It must be an act of God," he thought. He got down and looking up to heaven, he prayed, "O God, I'm sorry. How can I make this right?" A big, deep voice from heaven said, "My son, repaint and thin no more!"
Now you are probably saying that is not only bottom line thinking - that's bottom of the barrel! But let me raise an important question. Is there a bottom line in our religion? Is there something so basic, so fundamental, that we can say with confidence, "This is the bottom line in our walk of faith." Long ago the prophet Micah asked a similar kind of question: "What does the Lord want from me?" Thinking of the religious heritage of his people, Micah wondered if burnt offerings were the thing God most wanted. Then he asks if God would be happier if we gave up one of our own children.
Suddenly there seems to break on the consciousness of this prophet the wonderful truth that what God most wants is not something but rather me! "What does the Lord require of you?" And then comes the surprising answer, "To do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." All along Micah had assumed that the bottom line in religion was something that God wanted. But then, with the eyes of faith, he realizes what God most wants in response to what God has done is the commitment of our human hearts. Micah's familiar words provide a framework for how the people of God in every age are to live.
1. To Do Justice
The first aspect in bottom line religion emphasizes the social dimension: to do justice. Now you will notice that justice is something one does. To do justice means to work for the establishment of equity for all people, especially those who are powerless. Throughout this little book, Micah has provided many examples of the failure to do justice. He mentions how the powerful oppress the powerless, how laborers are' exploited and courts are corrupted.
Sometimes when we hear the prophets call for doing justice, we can miss places in our contemporary lives where justice is needed. I have often appreciated a modern writer who paraphrases the familiar words of the prophet Amos: "Going to church on Sunday is no good unless your religion makes you honest on Monday. The money you put in the offering plate is money I do not want if it comes from ill-gotten gain. The anthems you sing make me sick, unless your living is in harmony with the Ten Commandments. If the person who raises the tune at Sunday school also raises the roof at home, if the person who offers long prayers in worship is also the person who makes the lives of employees miserable the rest of the week, then I despise your covered dish suppers and I take no delight in your dignified services of worship. But let civil rights roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream."1
That call to do justice often makes a lot of Christians uncomfortable in our time. Sometimes it is easier to say that what happens in the society, in politics, in business, or even in our homes is not the concern of the church. Our business, according to some, is to save souls and help needy individuals. Now that is certainly a part of our responsibility, but Jesus makes it very clear that our corporate response to the evil in this world must be just as important. It is a part of our service to God to help provide food and clothing to those in need, but is it not also our task to work to prevent the conditions that make human beings become refugees? It is certainly our task to comfort the family of a soldier killed on the battlefield, but is it not also our task to work for a just and lasting peace in the world? It is our task to comfort someone who has been a victim of violence, but is it not also our task to work to eliminate the causes of senseless violence in our homes and on our streets?
To do justice, then, involves us both as individuals and as a corporate body in bearing witness to the love of Jesus Christ for all persons. Recently I heard of a church that became quite concerned over a corporation in their community that was practicing dishonesty and deception in the production and marketing of a certain product. The officers of the church met and debated what should be done. Some people wanted to start a protest movement in that town. Others suggested an article in the paper condemning the corporation, while others favored a delegation going to the next stockholders' meeting. Instead, the officers prayed, asking God to make clear what their response should be.
Suddenly, someone remembered that two officers of the corporation attended that church. The officers as a body called on these two executives who were totally unaware of the enormity of the problem, and within two weeks of their visit, the offending product was withdrawn from the market! This is something of what it means in our time to do justice - to bring the Lordship of Jesus Christ into every area of our lives. To do justice is the first aspect of bottom line religion.
2. To Love Kindness
The second aspect of bottom line religion moves us from the social dimension to the personal: To love kindness. The word used by Micah means love with a strong element of loyalty, such as that between two dear friends. This is a kind of love that never quits. It is something radically different from the sentimental stuff of television soap operas. This is nothing less than a call to love others in the same incredible way that God has loved us in Jesus Christ. In our own human strength, such loving is impossible, but when we allow the Spirit of God to rule in our hearts, sometimes we are able to love even those who hurt us deeply.
Some years ago the noted columnist Bob Considine wrote a story titled, "Could You Have Loved This Much?" It was the true story of Edith Taylor, who for many years lived happily with her husband, Karl, in Waltham, Massachusetts. Then the government sent Karl to Okinawa on business. Edith stayed behind because of her job. Karl's letters became less and less frequent, and then one day he wrote to Edith saying that he had obtained a divorce in Mexico so that he could marry his Japanese servant girl, Aiko. Edith's life was shattered! She and Karl had been married 23 years. She still loved Karl and could not stop loving him. She accepted his decision, asking only that he write to her occasionally about his life.
It was in this way that Edith learned of the two daughters' born to Karl and Aiko. Then came the dreadful news that Karl was dying of lung cancer. Suddenly, Edith knew that her last gift to the man she loved was to send for that young Japanese wife and her two daughters, and offer them a place to live here in America. She prayed for many days, and when the news came of Karl's death, she sent for Aiko and her daughters. On a never to be forgotten day, Edith watched a frightened, pale, young woman and her daughters step off the airplane. There was a moment of hesitation, and then, both women rushed forward in a warm embrace of love.
Could you love that much? No human being in their own strength can show that sort of loving kindness, but with the help of God's Spirit, incredible things can happen! A love that never quits is the second aspect in bottom line religion.
3. To Walk With God
The third aspect in the sort of life God wants from us brings us to the spiritual or theological dimension: To walk humbly with God. Now the key word here is "walk." It suggests that the whole orientation of life centers in a daily walk of faith with the Lord. This call to walk is similar to Jesus' invitation to the disciples, "Follow me." Jesus seldom asks us "to believe," but rather to "come after me." One who so walks with God will not be exempt from the dark places of life, but that person lives each day in the assurance that he or she will never walk alone!
It is here that Micah's words really come alive for me in describing the kind of God with whom we walk each day. All that Micah has said about justice and about love helps us to grasp something of the greatness of this God we know in Jesus Christ. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once wrote these meaningful words: "The greatness of God lies in the fact that God is both tough-minded and tenderhearted. God has qualities both of austerity and of gentleness. The Bible expresses God's toughmindedness in his justice, and God's tenderness in his love and grace. God has two outstretched arms. One is strong enough to surround us with justice, and one is gentle enough to embrace us with grace. I am thankful we worship a God who is both tough-minded and tenderhearted. If God were only tough-minded, God would be a cold, passionless despot sitting in some far-off heaven. But if God were only tenderhearted, he would be too soft and sentimental to function when things go wrong. Thank the Lord for a God who is tough-minded enough to transcend the world, and yet, tenderhearted enough to live in it!"2
What's the bottom line in religion? The bottom line in terms of what God expects is to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with a God who is both tough-minded and tenderhearted enough to be our Lord and our Savior.
There is a story going the rounds about a self-employed painter who had come on hard times. There was very little work in his area, so when he was asked to bid on the painting of a local church, he figured a little too closely to the bottom line. He got the job, but he soon realized that his bid was so low, he could not even make expenses. Feeling desperate, he decided to water down the paint. As the job was nearly finished, the sky grew dark, and it was not long before a raging thunderstorm washed the fresh paint completely off the church!
"It must be an act of God," he thought. He got down and looking up to heaven, he prayed, "O God, I'm sorry. How can I make this right?" A big, deep voice from heaven said, "My son, repaint and thin no more!"
Now you are probably saying that is not only bottom line thinking - that's bottom of the barrel! But let me raise an important question. Is there a bottom line in our religion? Is there something so basic, so fundamental, that we can say with confidence, "This is the bottom line in our walk of faith." Long ago the prophet Micah asked a similar kind of question: "What does the Lord want from me?" Thinking of the religious heritage of his people, Micah wondered if burnt offerings were the thing God most wanted. Then he asks if God would be happier if we gave up one of our own children.
Suddenly there seems to break on the consciousness of this prophet the wonderful truth that what God most wants is not something but rather me! "What does the Lord require of you?" And then comes the surprising answer, "To do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." All along Micah had assumed that the bottom line in religion was something that God wanted. But then, with the eyes of faith, he realizes what God most wants in response to what God has done is the commitment of our human hearts. Micah's familiar words provide a framework for how the people of God in every age are to live.
1. To Do Justice
The first aspect in bottom line religion emphasizes the social dimension: to do justice. Now you will notice that justice is something one does. To do justice means to work for the establishment of equity for all people, especially those who are powerless. Throughout this little book, Micah has provided many examples of the failure to do justice. He mentions how the powerful oppress the powerless, how laborers are' exploited and courts are corrupted.
Sometimes when we hear the prophets call for doing justice, we can miss places in our contemporary lives where justice is needed. I have often appreciated a modern writer who paraphrases the familiar words of the prophet Amos: "Going to church on Sunday is no good unless your religion makes you honest on Monday. The money you put in the offering plate is money I do not want if it comes from ill-gotten gain. The anthems you sing make me sick, unless your living is in harmony with the Ten Commandments. If the person who raises the tune at Sunday school also raises the roof at home, if the person who offers long prayers in worship is also the person who makes the lives of employees miserable the rest of the week, then I despise your covered dish suppers and I take no delight in your dignified services of worship. But let civil rights roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream."1
That call to do justice often makes a lot of Christians uncomfortable in our time. Sometimes it is easier to say that what happens in the society, in politics, in business, or even in our homes is not the concern of the church. Our business, according to some, is to save souls and help needy individuals. Now that is certainly a part of our responsibility, but Jesus makes it very clear that our corporate response to the evil in this world must be just as important. It is a part of our service to God to help provide food and clothing to those in need, but is it not also our task to work to prevent the conditions that make human beings become refugees? It is certainly our task to comfort the family of a soldier killed on the battlefield, but is it not also our task to work for a just and lasting peace in the world? It is our task to comfort someone who has been a victim of violence, but is it not also our task to work to eliminate the causes of senseless violence in our homes and on our streets?
To do justice, then, involves us both as individuals and as a corporate body in bearing witness to the love of Jesus Christ for all persons. Recently I heard of a church that became quite concerned over a corporation in their community that was practicing dishonesty and deception in the production and marketing of a certain product. The officers of the church met and debated what should be done. Some people wanted to start a protest movement in that town. Others suggested an article in the paper condemning the corporation, while others favored a delegation going to the next stockholders' meeting. Instead, the officers prayed, asking God to make clear what their response should be.
Suddenly, someone remembered that two officers of the corporation attended that church. The officers as a body called on these two executives who were totally unaware of the enormity of the problem, and within two weeks of their visit, the offending product was withdrawn from the market! This is something of what it means in our time to do justice - to bring the Lordship of Jesus Christ into every area of our lives. To do justice is the first aspect of bottom line religion.
2. To Love Kindness
The second aspect of bottom line religion moves us from the social dimension to the personal: To love kindness. The word used by Micah means love with a strong element of loyalty, such as that between two dear friends. This is a kind of love that never quits. It is something radically different from the sentimental stuff of television soap operas. This is nothing less than a call to love others in the same incredible way that God has loved us in Jesus Christ. In our own human strength, such loving is impossible, but when we allow the Spirit of God to rule in our hearts, sometimes we are able to love even those who hurt us deeply.
Some years ago the noted columnist Bob Considine wrote a story titled, "Could You Have Loved This Much?" It was the true story of Edith Taylor, who for many years lived happily with her husband, Karl, in Waltham, Massachusetts. Then the government sent Karl to Okinawa on business. Edith stayed behind because of her job. Karl's letters became less and less frequent, and then one day he wrote to Edith saying that he had obtained a divorce in Mexico so that he could marry his Japanese servant girl, Aiko. Edith's life was shattered! She and Karl had been married 23 years. She still loved Karl and could not stop loving him. She accepted his decision, asking only that he write to her occasionally about his life.
It was in this way that Edith learned of the two daughters' born to Karl and Aiko. Then came the dreadful news that Karl was dying of lung cancer. Suddenly, Edith knew that her last gift to the man she loved was to send for that young Japanese wife and her two daughters, and offer them a place to live here in America. She prayed for many days, and when the news came of Karl's death, she sent for Aiko and her daughters. On a never to be forgotten day, Edith watched a frightened, pale, young woman and her daughters step off the airplane. There was a moment of hesitation, and then, both women rushed forward in a warm embrace of love.
Could you love that much? No human being in their own strength can show that sort of loving kindness, but with the help of God's Spirit, incredible things can happen! A love that never quits is the second aspect in bottom line religion.
3. To Walk With God
The third aspect in the sort of life God wants from us brings us to the spiritual or theological dimension: To walk humbly with God. Now the key word here is "walk." It suggests that the whole orientation of life centers in a daily walk of faith with the Lord. This call to walk is similar to Jesus' invitation to the disciples, "Follow me." Jesus seldom asks us "to believe," but rather to "come after me." One who so walks with God will not be exempt from the dark places of life, but that person lives each day in the assurance that he or she will never walk alone!
It is here that Micah's words really come alive for me in describing the kind of God with whom we walk each day. All that Micah has said about justice and about love helps us to grasp something of the greatness of this God we know in Jesus Christ. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once wrote these meaningful words: "The greatness of God lies in the fact that God is both tough-minded and tenderhearted. God has qualities both of austerity and of gentleness. The Bible expresses God's toughmindedness in his justice, and God's tenderness in his love and grace. God has two outstretched arms. One is strong enough to surround us with justice, and one is gentle enough to embrace us with grace. I am thankful we worship a God who is both tough-minded and tenderhearted. If God were only tough-minded, God would be a cold, passionless despot sitting in some far-off heaven. But if God were only tenderhearted, he would be too soft and sentimental to function when things go wrong. Thank the Lord for a God who is tough-minded enough to transcend the world, and yet, tenderhearted enough to live in it!"2
What's the bottom line in religion? The bottom line in terms of what God expects is to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with a God who is both tough-minded and tenderhearted enough to be our Lord and our Savior.
