Purpose and Commitment

There was a man I once knew. We’ll call him Bob. Bob had grown up in a family that had very little – but they owned their own home, their own land, their own tools. His father had been honest with our hero – there was no money available for college, although his father would never stop Bob from going to college if he could earn the money himself. So Bob learned to work hard – his exercise consisted of handling the cattle on the farm, digging the garden with a shovel, a rake, and a hoe, lifting bales of hay into the barn. He didn’t play football because his mother was concerned he’d get injured, but he became the pitcher for his high school baseball team.

Bob made a commitment when he was young to always work long and hard, to play by the rules, to be honest and trustworthy, to stick to his plans, his jobs, his studies. He made a commitment to be loyal to his purpose, which was to earn a good living, a good home, a good name, and financial security.

He worked as a carpenter’s helper and a roofer’s helper during high school, carrying those heavy squares of asphalt shingles up the ladder to the roof, cutting 2x4’s to length and handing them to the carpenter, working hard and long hours in the summer, cutting firewood and delivering that firewood to neighbors on fall evenings while his friends practiced football or marched in the band. He gave extraordinary attention to his studies, saved his money, and so he was able to attend college, studying engineering.

At college, he refereed intramural games. Volleyball and basketball, mainly, he called outs and fouls while the fraternities competed – all to earn 50 cents a game. In addition to his regular classes, he joined the ROTC program. He typed his own papers because he couldn’t afford to pay a typist.

When summer came, he returned to work, surveying for construction projects, more roofing, more carpentry work, more long, hot, difficult hours, working construction at a chemical plant, carrying two 80 lb bags of cement on his shoulders as he walked up five stories to the work area. He did this for the summer, went back to college that fall, he’d paid his own way in a time before all the grants and loans and scholarships, but the second summer the jobs weren’t available, so he couldn’t go back for the third year.

He met a girl, got married, and managed to just barely support the two of them that fall and winter. He made a lifelong commitment to her and kept it, because that was part of what it meant to be a “good man”.

Then, Uncle Sam called him and so Bob went into the army.

A couple days into Basic training, though, the sergeant asked if anyone had any ROTC experience. Bob stepped forward and found himself as the assistant drill sergeant in all but pay and rank. As anyone who has taught has learned, Bob learned more leading those men than he would have learned being taught by the drill instructor.

After Basic training, with his background, Bob was moved to an engineering battalion, and, because he could type, he became the company clerk which was easy duty until the night they were put on alert and he wore his fingerprints smooth typing orders for every man in the company. But then, just as they were heading to the airfield, the alert was cancelled and he never left the States.

After his service, he returned to his hometown, started his construction work, and then his wife found him a job with a new chemical plant. He soon bought some land and built a house. He worked there as an operator, moved up to shift foreman, then moved to maintenance foreman, then became a superintendent. On the side, he bought a dilapidated home each fall and remodeled them over the winter, selling in the spring at a nice profit. And so he paid off his house early, and continued with similar projects.

To everybody who knew him, Bob was an honorable man. He was hard-working, had no noticeable vices, was honest and followed through on his promises. If anything, he cheated himself by pricing the homes he remodeled too low – they always sold in about a month. He was generous to people who needed help, paying high wages to high school boys whom he’d hire for projects that needed muscle like digging ditches and wheelbarrowing concrete. When he acquired some rental property, he kept the rents stable and reasonable for years and years. His home was neat, modern, and well-kept. The same with his vehicles – they always looked nice. Bob always dressed appropriately – neat and clean, suits on formal occasions, nice blue jeans on Saturday morning trips to the hardware store.

But Bob would not go to church.

You see, Bob had many church-going friends who were always talking about men and women who had serious problems needing to go to church. Men who drank too much, women who went from man to man, people who were lazy – these were the people Bob’s friends were always saying needed to be in church. And Bob didn’t have these sorts of problems. His standing in the community was high – he had heard the Ten Commandments as a child, he had followed them, no one had anything against him and he was secure that he was a good man. In fact, when people talked about him in the community, it was said that Bob was a good man. In Bob’s mind, he didn’t need to go to church. His actions and interactions with other people were beyond reproach.  

He believed in God. But Bob never mentioned Jesus. And so Bob lived his life, happy, content, increasingly popular in the community. Clearly God had blessed Bob because of his strong morals, ethics, and hard work.  More than anyone else in town, Bob was a good man – and so Bob wasn’t the least bit worried as he grew older. God would take care of Bob and welcome Bob into heaven.

One day, as Jesus was walking along, a man ran up to him, fell on his knees, and said “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

This man was wealthy. He had a good home, a good family, a good name just as Bob did. But this man had something even more – he had the humility to understand that he might not have eternal life. Unlike Bob, this man who was on his knees was asking the question of the wisest man he’d heard of. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Jesus took issue with part of the question.

¹⁸ “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 

This was the something neither Bob nor this man on his knees never realized. For they both thought of themselves as “good” and so this man called Jesus “Good teacher”. Both Bob and the man thought that “goodness” was something where men and women compared themselves to one another. But Jesus pointed out that the standard of “goodness” was God’s goodness. Every one else falls short of the goodness and glory of God.

We often think that being good, being righteous, is something on a scale of 1 to 10, and we might be a 9.5 while our neighbor is a 4.7. But Jesus effectively tells us that while we might be a 9.5 on the scale of man’s goodness, God’s goodness is 1000. We may be very good compared to other men and women, but God is comparing us to God’s goodness and we fall very, very short of God’s goodness. Jesus even implies that perhaps even Jesus doesn’t measure up – but that’s a deep discussion for another time. Suffice it to say, that Jesus severely challenged the man on his knees about what the standard of goodness was – it wasn’t just to be applied to a man with no apparent moral or ethical failures. God alone is good, according to Jesus.

Jesus continued talking to the man on his knees:

¹⁹ You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”

²⁰ “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”

The man was very honest. He did not say, “I have always kept these.” He said, “these I have kept since I was a boy.” This is honesty. We have all broken commandments as children. Almost everyone has broken commandments as adults. This man on his knees before Jesus honestly stated that he had broken the commandments as a boy, but he had then pulled his life together and become a man who tried his best to follow the commandments – and succeeded.

²¹ Jesus looked at him and loved him. 

As a pastor, I can tell you that the man on his knees is extraordinarily rare, for most people will confess adult sins and there are others who will falsely claim to have always followed the commandments, but this man, on his knees before Jesus, stated the truth – “all these I have kept since I was a boy.” The imperfection of youth is acknowledged. The striving for moral and ethical perfection is also stated.

And so, ²¹ Jesus looked at him and loved him. The man, you see, was humble even in his striving for perfection, for he had presented himself on his knees in front of Jesus.

“One thing you lack,” Jesus said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Just like Bob, this man who was on his knees, was convinced that he was on the way to the good life. And he probably was – he had his security, he had his social standing, everyone liked him, he was following the rules that society had put down, he could dress well, he had a nice home, no one could lay a charge against him.

But, you know, there is a commandment in Deuteronomy 5 which says:

6 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 7 “You shall have no other gods before me.

In Bob’s case – and in the case of the man who was on his knees before Jesus – they had both put something in front of God. They had chosen to assume that a good life, a good name, a good home, living a moral and ethical life were proof that God and them had a bargain, an agreement, an understanding.

But they both chose to put their good lives ahead of following God. Jesus told the man on his knees before Jesus, the man whom Jesus loved for his honesty, for his commitment to being good, for his love of all things right – Jesus told him to sell everything he had, give it to the poor, and then to follow Jesus. Jesus even said that if he sold his wealth and gave it to the poor that the man would have treasure in heaven. But that wasn’t good enough for the man on his knees in front of Jesus.

²² At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

Bob never even asked the question. So many people today never ask the question, for they feel that their wealth and social standing is sufficient evidence of goodness. They have listened to the subtle message of the last hundred years in America that says, “Work hard, be ethical, be moral, and God will bless you. And if you are blessed by God, that is proof you have done the right things.”

But the actual fact is just that you have played by the rules of America if you have a nice home, if you have a nice vehicle, if you are respected by your neighbors.

Jesus, the Son of God, says that to achieve eternal life the man on his knees must get rid of his wealth, his distractions and  “follow me”.

Is it surprising that becoming a success in America is mainly focused upon the accumulation of wealth and status? Almost every commercial speaks subtly or blatantly about how buying this particular car will show the world that you have succeeded, either by attracting a beautiful woman or a handsome man, by allowing you to take your finely dressed wife to a high end restaurant – or take your lively children to a great camping location. Phone commercials show us how to make videos that will lift our worldly status – even drink and pizza commercials make us the heroes of our family or our friend’s circle. Lowe’s and Home Depot show us how to turn our homes into Roman villas, while medicine commercials subtly tell us that the proper American life has us running marathons at age 85.

But Jesus says, “One thing you lack,” Jesus said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

And that is very difficult for the Bobs of the world who have become successful in the eyes of their neighbors, their families, their self. I know. I was a Bob. Saundra and I had a nice home in Lowell, a nice Internet business, a growing standing in the Marietta community – but Jesus said to sell everything and follow Him.

Why did we do this?

Because there comes a time when we realized that the purpose of gathering wealth cost too much. If your home, your wealth is your security, you must have more and more security, for the market is always going up and down, sales are always going up and down, the business climate is always changing, and there is a constant tug of war between money for the business and money for the home and the stuff. There is a constant tug of war between time spent on the business and time spent on family. There is a constant question of “what is really important?”

And so, we began first by trying to follow Jesus as an add-on to our business. We began trying to operate the business and the household and adding Jesus-stuff to the mix. But eventually, we saw that the only way to follow Jesus is to follow Jesus and let everything else go. It is impossible to just add following Jesus to our lives. We have to follow Him, or stay behind.

So I became a part-time pastor, went to seminary, taught full-time as a teacher and part-time as an adjunct professor for three years, then became a full-time pastor in Clarksburg while Saundra became a part-time, then a full-time pastor. We sold the house and closed down the Internet business.

And along the way we found eternal purpose for our lives. For we found that we cannot just ADD Christianity or DO Christianity, but we must completely follow Jesus. And eternal purpose comes when we commit to following Jesus.

Bob had a purpose for his life when he was young. His purpose was to acquire a good house, a good name which was respected in the community, wealth for security.

I’m sorry to say, but as we look toward our future life, there is no amount of wealth that can do more than buy a few years of life. Steve Jobs, the billionaire owner of Apple Computer found that out when he was diagnosed with liver and pancreatic cancer. Despite spending over 10 million dollars on new and experimental treatments, Jobs died ten years ago.

All good houses decay and eventually fall or must be remodeled. Good names fade over time as people forget who you are. Over time you stop being “Bob”, and become “Jim’s father” or “Sarah’s grandfather”. And then you die and fade away.

But when we decide to truly follow Jesus, when we make that strong commitment to walk away from the wealth of this life and instead follow Jesus, we find purpose. For Jesus always give us eternal purpose.

If I speak to you, your children, or your grandchildren, with the help of the Holy Spirit, I can make an eternal, positive difference in lives, even possibly in the long-term condition of souls.

It is possible for you, also, to find an eternal purpose with Christ. With commitment, you, too, can affect people eternally. But not if you remain like Bob, more committed to your home, your wealth, your good name than to following Jesus.

²³ Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”

²⁴ The disciples were amazed at his words.

They were amazed because most people thought that wealth was proof that a person was right with God. Most people, like today, thought that poverty was proof that God was upset with a person. Even today, we mostly mistakenly believe that the Bobs of this world are blessed by God.

But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵ It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁶ The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”

The disciples, like most people, were still focused upon earthly wealth.

²⁷ Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

²⁸ Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”

Peter always felt that he needed to state the obvious, as if Jesus didn’t know these things.

²⁹ “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel ³⁰ will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. ³¹ But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

Jesus said that following Him has great rewards – a hundred times as much, even in this present age – “along with persecutions” – plus eternal life. But, Jesus said, “many who are first will be last, and the last first”.

In Jesus’ Kingdom, there is a re-ordering of priorities. Many – not all – but many of those who are looked upon as successful…leaders…wealthy – will be at the back of the pack, and many who are seen as losers – will find that they are actually the winners.

So what about you? Are you a Bob, dedicated to being a good man, working long and hard to earn a good living, a good home, a good name, a good life? Many people are today.

Or have you recognized that no one is good except God, and have you chosen to follow Jesus, even if it means the loss of your home, your good name, your wealth and security, because following Jesus means eternal life and purpose for you and for others you lead to Christ.

Or are you like the man on his knees in front of Jesus, unable to give up the good things of this life in order to follow Jesus into eternal life.

The choice is simple – and yet very difficult. The stuff of the good life – or eternal life because you decided to make your life’s purpose and committed to following Jesus. Wealth or eternal life? It’s your decision to make.

Amen!

Response Hymn  - Tis so Sweet to Trust in Jesus 

Commitment – I will Follow