{"id":33512,"date":"2005-08-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2005-08-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/good-lesson-from-bad-example\/"},"modified":"2005-08-26T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2005-08-26T00:00:00","slug":"good-lesson-from-bad-example","status":"publish","type":"sermons","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/good-lesson-from-bad-example\/","title":{"rendered":"A Good Lesson From a Bad Example"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Some wag has described preaching as “the fine art of\ntalking in someone else’s sleep.” I’m not sure that’s true, but I do know\nthat one of the occupational hazards of being a preacher is lost attention.\nI’ve taken some consolation, however, from the fact that even when our Lord was\nhere on earth, there were those who were part of his congregation who listened\nto him preach but did not really hear what he had to say. <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n \n Obsessions with worldly priorities keep us from hearing what\nJesus has to say.<\/span>\n <\/strong>\n <\/p>\n

\n One such incident is recorded in the twelfth chapter of the\ngospel according to Saint Luke. Jesus is preaching to a huge multitude. He is\ntalking to them about life and death, about hypocrisy and hell. He is telling\nthem about the love and fear of God. He is saying that if you fear God, you\ndon’t have to fear anything else. But as Jesus was moving through the middle of\nhis message, a man elbowed his way to the edge of the crowd and interrupted\nJesus in the middle of his sermon. He said to him, “Teacher, divide the\ninheritance between my brother and me.” <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n I don’t know this man’s problem. Evidently his father had died,\nand now he and his brother were squabbling over the estate that his father had\nleft. There’s probably no bitterness any greater than bitterness.\nOne thing is certain: this young man had this at the center of his life. The birds\nwould never sing again for him, the flowers would never bloom again, the sun\nwould never shine again as brightly until somehow he got what he thought was\nhis fair share of the inheritance. <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n It was this obsession that kept him from\nhearing what Jesus had to say. There he was, standing in the presence of the\nGod of heaven, and his mind was fixed on gold. Jesus turned to him and said,\n“Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?” What Jesus was\nsaying is, “You have stood here and missed it. You somehow think that I\nhave come to settle the disputes between two warring brothers.” <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n It’s interesting that back in Exodus 2:14, Moses presented\nhimself to the Jewish people as their leader. And they said to Moses, “Who\nmade you a judge and the divider over us?” In that passage, Moses wanted\nto judge and divide, and the people refused. Here the people want Jesus to\njudge and divide, and he refuses. He would not be reduced to the place of a\nMoses, the place of the county judge. Jesus is not saying that judging and\ndividing are wrong. He was realistic enough to know there are disputes that\nhave to be settled. He was simply saying that that wasn’t the reason he\ncame. <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n Again and again, men and women damn Jesus Christ with faint\npraise, trying to make him less than he is. For example, there are many people\nwho like to refer to Jesus as a teacher. If only we would follow his\nprinciples, they say, we could settle the disputes among nations and among men\nand women. If Jesus Christ came merely to be a teacher, however, he was a\npathetic failure. The world had better teaching when he came than it was able\nto live up to. <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n There are others who tell us that Jesus came to be an example.\nIf in the situations of life we could only figure out what Jesus would have\ndone and then do it, we would find that disputes and animosities would be\nsettled. But I say to you that if Jesus came simply to be a model and an\nexample, all he does is mock me. I can no more live the kind of life God calls\nme to live by trying to imitate Jesus than I could become a concert pianist by\ntrying to imitate Van Cliburn. Jesus Christ came to bring God to man and man to\nGod. He did not come to make bad men good or good men better. Jesus Christ came\nto make men and women who are spiritually dead alive. And anything short of\nthat is to miss the reason for his coming. <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n \n Jesus said, “Beware of covetousness, for a man’s life does not\nconsist of the things he possesses.<\/span>\n <\/strong>\n <\/p>\n

\n Then Jesus turned to the crowd and said, “Beware of\ncovetousness, for a man’s life does not consist of the things he\npossesses.” I would like to see that word from the lips of Jesus plastered\nacross the twentieth century. Covetousness is one of those overstuffed\nreligious words that has lost its cutting edge. We don’t take covetousness very\nseriously. We somehow think God had nine good, solid commandments, but he\nwanted to round out the list and make it ten, so he threw covetousness in at\nthe end. We don’t really think it’s a sin. Covetousness is simply\ncraving more of what you have enough of already. Jesus is saying that’s not\nlife. Life does not consist of the things you possess. <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n Yet if there is one message that comes to us in 10,000 seductive\nvoices, it’s the message of our country and our century that life does consist\nof things. You can see it on a hundred billboards as you drive down the\nhighway. It is the message from the sponsor on television. It is sung to you in\njingles on radio. It is blared at you in ads in the newspapers.\nWe’re like the donkey that has the carrot extended before it on a stick. The\ndonkey sees the carrot and wants it, so the donkey moves toward it, but the\ncarrot moves, too. The carrot is always there, promising to fill the appetite.\nBut what it promises, it does not deliver. <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n America, because it is after that carrot made up of things,\ngives itself to the largest junk business the centuries have ever known.\nYesterday’s new car becomes today’s and is on tomorrow’s junk heap.\nYesterday’s mansion becomes today’s boarding house and tomorrow’s slum. When we\nacquire things believing they will satisfy, we discover we’re still empty. But\non we go, worried about things. <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n Jesus says, “Beware of covetousness. Beware of craving more\nand more of what you have enough of already.” And then to drive home that\nbasic lesson, Jesus tells a story about a man who has made his money in\nagriculture. He’s a wealthy farmer. We don’t even know his name. But in that\ncommunity in the long ago, as well as in our community today, folks would feel\nhe had succeeded. We are constantly measuring people by what they have rather\nthan by what they are. <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n Now, don’t misunderstand. Riches in and of themselves are not\nevil. Some of God’s great men and women were people of means. Abraham, measured\nby the standards of his day, was a very wealthy man. Job came through his\nsuffering, and as a result God rewarded him with great wealth. David and\nSolomon were wealthy kings. We are indebted to a man of wealth, Joseph of\nArimathea, for providing the tomb in which they put the body of our Lord. In\nthe early church, in many communities it was wealthy people who opened their\nhomes to the bands of Christians and provided a place to worship. So wealth in\nand of itself is not evil. <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n But for every verse in the Bible that tells us the benefits of\nwealth, there are ten that tell us the danger of wealth, for money has a way of\nbinding us to what is physical and temporal, and blinding us to what is\nspiritual and eternal. It’s a bit like the fly and the flypaper. The fly lands\non the flypaper and says, “My flypaper.” When the flypaper says,\n“My fly,” the fly is dead. It is one thing to have money, another for\nmoney to have you. When it does, it will kill you. <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n \n The Bible commends industry, but it’s not progress to move\nrapidly down the wrong road.<\/span>\n <\/strong>\n <\/p>\n

\n Something else we know about this wealthy farmer is that he was\nindustrious. I’m sure he did not make his money by selling his lands for houses\nof prostitution and was not running a casino on the side. Having grown up in\nthe concrete jungles of New York, I’m really out of my element here; I know\nvery little about farming. But one thing I do know is that if people make their\nmoney in agriculture and they do it out on the land, they usually do it with\nthe sweat of their brow. Lands do not plant themselves, and harvests do not\ngather themselves. <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n Certainly the Bible commends industry. If you decide you’re\ngoing to take life easy and be a sluggard, the Bible will not give you much\nconsolation. But there is a danger in industry: you can work hard and never ask\nwhat you’re working for. You could spend your strength and your life and never\ntake time off to ask what the purpose of it is. It’s possible to be industrious\nabout the wrong things.<\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n Not only was this farmer rich and industrious, but he was also\nprogressive. When he had made his killing on the market, he decided he would\ninvest in capital improvements. His problem was no longer growth and\nproduction, but storage. He was going to pull down the old barns and put up new\nones. We admire progress in our society. One of our national corporations tells\nus that progress is its most important product. The only trouble is that most\nof our progress is not made in people; it’s made in things. It’s not really\nprogress to move rapidly down the wrong road. That can be an illusion. <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n \n Illustration<\/span>\n <\/em>\n : Years ago there was a missionary in\nAfrica by the name of Dan Crawford. He was returning from Africa to the United\nStates one time, and to do so he was leaving the inner part of the country,\nwhere he worked, to go out to the coast to catch his ship. So he would not have\nto make the trip alone, four of the men to whom he had ministered walked with\nhim. As they walked, Crawford told his friends about the glories of the coast.\nHe told them about the light that did not have flame, about wagons that did not\nhave animals, and about storing their food so that it would not spoil. <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n As he walked and talked, three of the men entered into the\nconversation. The fourth man, however, seemed strangely unimpressed. And after\na few days, as they were sitting one evening, Crawford found it irritating that\nthis one man did not seem at all excited about getting to the city. He said to\nhim, “Aren’t you eager to get there? I mean, don’t you want to see all\nthese things?” That black brother responded with a word that I wish could\nbe put into the schoolbooks of our nation. He said, “Mr. Crawford, to be\nbetter off is not to be better.” <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n \n If you live to collect riches and as though God does not exist,\nhe says you are a fool.<\/span>\n <\/strong>\n <\/p>\n

\n Here was this man in Jesus’ story: rich, industrious,\nprogressive, had everything going for him — until one night everything changed.\nYou can imagine the rich man sitting at this desk one evening, and across the\ndesk is the town architect. They have sprawled out in front of them the\nblueprints, and the rich man says to the architect, “Now listen. There’s a\ntime when I had the best farm in this whole community. Then I had the best farm\nin the entire Jordan Valley. And I want to have a model farm that they’ll know\nthroughout all of Israel.” The two men work and plan into the night, and\neventually the rich man’s wife comes in. She urges him to come to bed and then\nkisses him good night, but the two men go on until the clock strikes eleven.\nFinally the architect says, “I’ve been out almost every night this week,\nand I’ve just got to get home. I’ll take these plans and work them over.”\nHe rolls them up and goes to the door, and the rich man sees him out. <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n He bolts the door, but the adrenaline is flowing and he can’t\nsleep, so he goes back to his desk, takes out his pen, and continues his plans.\nHe’s still making his plans when he’s startled by a knock at the door. He’s\nabout to open it, but he discovers to his astonishment that there’s a presence\nalready in the room. The rich man says, “Who are you?” The presence\nsays, “I’m Death.” The rich man says, “Death? What do you\nwant?” Death says, “I’ve come for you.” The rich man says,\n“No! I mean, there’s been some mistake. You did not tell me you were\ncoming.” Death says, “Oh, yes, I’ve told you. I just don’t think you\nwere listening. I told you when I took that young man down the street a few\nmonths ago. I told you when I took your partner a year ago. I told you every\ntime you opened the newspaper and saw an obituary column. I told you every time\nyou saw a cemetery. Hah! I’ve told you. But whether you heard or not — ten,\nnine, eight, seven, . . .” <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n The rich man says, “Wait! Look, we can make a bargain. You\ncan have half of everything I have collected. You can have half of my barns,\nhalf of my money, half of my farm. Just let me live.” Death says,\n“What do I have to do with that? Six, five, four,. . .” The rich man\nsays, “Wait! You can have it all. It’s yours, take it. Let me start again\nat my beginnings. I’m just not ready for you.” Death with a grin waves his\nhand, and the rich man is counted out of the picture. <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n That man prepared for all contingencies but ignored life’s only\ninevitability. Next morning his wife comes down and finds her husband slumped\nacross the desk. She tries to waken him and discovers he’s dead. A day later\nall the people in the community gather, and they have the eulogy and talk about\nhim as a model to the community. They talk about his success and his\ncontributions — after all, he has built the biggest barns in the community.\nThen they take him out to the cemetery. Over his grave they put a large stone.\nOn that stone is a word from the Bible, something from the poets, and a\nstatement that he was noble, successful, visionary, and progressive. Then the\ncrowd goes home. <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n That night the angel of God walked through that cemetery, and\nover all they had engraved in the stone, he wrote one solitary word: <\/span>\n FOOL<\/span>\n . Too\nlate he discovered the obvious: there are no boxes in a casket. He\nhad built barns and fed donkeys and not given much thought to God. Now, don’t\nmisunderstand. I’m sure he was a religious man. However, you may believe that\nGod exists, but if you live as though he does not exist, God says you are a\nfool. That is simply practical atheism. Then the haunting question: “Whose\nshall these things be which you have provided?” The picture is of two\nbrothers quarreling over the inheritance, laughing heirs, taking what is\ntheirs. But all this man collected is left behind. He’s lived his life like a\nfool. <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n There are many different pieces in the game of chess. They have\ndifferent power, different maneuverability. But when the game is over, all\nthose pieces are put into the box. That’s true with life as well. You can play\nthe game and play against the system. The system may beat you, or you may beat\nthe system. You may jump some and be jumped by others, but the reality is that\nthe game is eventually over. We all come to a grave. <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n What Jesus is saying is this: When you measure what you’ll give\nyour life to, don’t measure it in the flesh of youth, the anticipation of your\nteens or twenties. Stand by the side of a grave, and then look back and ask,\n“Is it worth your life to get what you are after? You amass things and you\nleave them all behind. Is that worth living for?” <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n \n Jesus says you ought to be concerned about living your life for\nthe kingdom of God, not how you will pay the bills.<\/span>\n <\/strong>\n <\/p>\n

\n Jesus says, “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up\nthings for himself and is not rich toward God.” How then are you rich toward\nGod? The answer is that some place in your life, you decide that God will have\nall of you; that whatever else you do, your life will be centered in him. Jesus\ndrives that home. He says in verses 2223, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry\nabout your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear, for\nlife is more than food, and the body more than clothes.” Don’t make that\nthe focus of your life. <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n \n Illustration<\/span>\n <\/em>\n : Then he gives us two illustrations. He\nsays, “Consider the ravens. They don’t sow or reap, they don’t have\nstorerooms or barns, yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable are you\nthan birds? Who by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you can’t\ndo the very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? If God takes care of\nhis creatures, don’t you think he’d take care of his children?” <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n \n Illustration<\/span>\n <\/em>\n : For a second illustration: “Consider\nhow the lilies grow. They’re just flowers of the field. They don’t labor, they\ndon’t spin, yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was\ndressed like one of these. That’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which\nis here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire. How much more will he\nclothe you, ye of little faith? Don’t set your heart on what you’ll eat or\ndrink. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows\nyou need them.” <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n But God’s a realist. God can be as real to you as your tuition.\nGod knows you’ve got to pay the rent. God knows you have to buy groceries. He\nis not saying, “Don’t think about those things.” He’s saying,\n“Don’t worry about them. Don’t make them the aim of your life. If you’re\ngoing to worry, worry about something important.” Then he says, “But\nseek first his kingdom, and all these things will be given to you as\nwell.” <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n Jesus is saying that what you ought to be concerned about is\nliving your life for the kingdom of God. Look, it just makes good sense to live\nyour life for that which is eternal, that which outlasts you. Put that first.\nWhen he talks about making his kingdom first, he doesn’t mean it’s at the top\nof a list and there are other things second, third, and fourth. He means first\nin the sense that you make it central. There’s a way in which life is like a\nwheel. At the center of the wheel is a hub, and out from that hub come spokes.\nWhat you put at the hub of the wheel determines its strength. <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n I know many men in our country who live for possessions. All the\nspokes of their lives grow out of this desire to acquire things. Their family\nlife is governed by that. The church they attend is a church that will enable\nthem to get an advantage in the marketplace. Their business is devoted to\ngetting things. Then one day there’s a turn in the market or a recession. Their\npossessions are wiped out, and their lives crumble. <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n I know folks who live for passion. That fire that burns is at\nthe center of their lives like a fire on an altar, and everything else is\nsacrificed to that. Their families, their homes, their communities, their\nbusinesses — everything revolves around the feeding of the fire. Then they\ndiscover it can be a fire that is never satisfied and has a way of destroying\nlife. <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n I know men who live for power. They live to get power, and all\nof life, every spoke, is directed to that. Then they lose the election. They\nfail to get the promotion. And suddenly life crumbles, and the thing to which\nthey gave their lives mocks them. Or even worse, they get the office that they\nseek. Perhaps one thing worse than not getting what you desire is getting what\nyou desire and discovering you didn’t want it after all. <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n Jesus is saying, “Is God the center?” For God’s sake,\nguard the center. What you put at the center of your life determines the spokes\nof your life. The rest of life will take care of itself. To put Jesus Christ at\nthe center of your life is to link your life with that which is eternal and to\ngive yourself to that which will never fade. <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n \n Illustration:<\/span>\n <\/em>\n There’s a legend of a man who\nhad a rather stupid servant. The master often got exasperated with his servant,\nand one day in a fit of frustration he said to the servant, “You’ve got to\nbe the stupidest man I’ve ever met. Look, I want you to take this staff and\ncarry it with you. And if you ever meet a man stupider than you are, give him\nthe staff.” So the servant carried the staff, and often out in the\nmarketplace he’d meet some pretty stupid people. But he was never sure they\nwere worse off than he. Years passed with the servant carrying his staff, and\nthen one day, he came back to the castle and was ushered into the bedroom of\nhis master. Master was quite sick. <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n In the course of their conversation, the master said, “I’m\ngoing on a long journey.” The servant said, “When do you plan to be\nback?” The master said, “This is a journey from which I’ll not\nreturn.” The servant said, “Sir, have you made all the necessary\npreparations?” The master said, “No, I’ve not.” The servant\nsaid, “Could you have made preparations?” The master said, “Yes,\nI guess I’ve had my life to make them, but I’ve been busy about other\nthings.” The servant said, “Master, you’re going on a journey from\nwhich you’ll never return, you could have prepared for it, and you just\ndidn’t?” The master said, “Yes, I guess that’s right.” The\nservant took the staff he’d carried so long and said, “Master, take this\nwith you. At last I’ve met a man more stupid than myself.” <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n Beware of covetousness. A man’s life does not consist of the\nthings he possesses. It consists of seeking, at the center of your life, God’s\nkingdom, God’s rule. And when you do that, all these other things, unnecessary\nas they are, will be added unto you. Do you believe that? Then why don’t you do\nit? <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n \n Haddon Robinson holds the Harold J. Ockenga chair of preaching\nat GConwell Theological Seminary. He is senior editor of Preaching Today,\nauthor of <\/span>\n <\/em>\n Biblical Preaching and coauthor of <\/em>Mastering Contemporary\nPreaching and <\/em>A Voice in the Wilderness.<\/em><\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n \n <\/span>\n Haddon Robinson<\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n Preaching Today Tape # 56<\/span>\n <\/h2>\n

\n \n www.PreachingTodaySermons.com<\/a>\n <\/span>\n <\/p>\n

\n A resource of\nChristianity Today International<\/span>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[306],"tax_ctp_authors":[1701],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[170],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_sermon_series":[],"tax_ctp_tags":[3707,4388,4401,4708],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-33512","sermons","type-sermons","status-publish","hentry","tax_ctp_authors-haddon-robinson","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-coveting","tax_ctp_tags-lordship","tax_ctp_tags-love-of-money","tax_ctp_tags-priorities"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"\nA Good Lesson From a Bad Example - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/good-lesson-from-bad-example\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Good Lesson From a Bad Example - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Some wag has described preaching as “the fine art of talking in someone else’s sleep.” I’m not sure that’s true, but I do know that one of the occupational hazards of being a preacher is lost attention. 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