The Dark Corner

OK, close your eyes. I want you to imagine a room in a house. Now, I want you to… really? Sorry, I just wouldn’t have picked that wallpaper, that’s all. Anyway, you need to make the room bigger. Now, look up at the ceiling. See the wide skylight? Ok, that’s to let the sun (son) in – get it? Let the “son” in?

Anyway, we need to put some furniture in the room. I told you, you have to make the room pretty big. Here we go:

First piece – a table and chairs. This represents the family part of your life. Everyone gathered around the table to share a meal and talk about whatever. This is the whole family, not parts of it.

Second piece – a 42 inch flat screen TV. This represents the entertainment part of your life. Could be football or bowling or going to the movies or hanging out with your friends at the school.

Third piece – a desk and chair, computer optional. This represents the working part of your life. The office, PTA, house work, bill paying; anything that represents the working part of your existence.

Fourth piece – a safe. Now, most of us don’t think of that as a piece of furniture, but it’s important to have this. This is the place where you store your jewelry, money, savings and checking account information.

Now, there can be other pieces of furniture to represent other parts of your life – bedroom furniture, a hook for your car keys, a couch and chair for your friends to sit and talk. That kind of stuff. Furniture to represent every aspect of your life. Doesn’t really matter what order they are arranged in the room because they are all very, very light and can be moved from one place to another – just as they are in your life.

Up comes the sun and it shines through the skylight, illuminating all parts of the room. Well not all parts. There seems to be one corner that the light just can’t quite touch – it’s just out of reach. And there’s a piece of furniture in that corner but I can’t quite make out what it is.

You can open your eyes now, but keep that room in mind. We’ll come back in a bit.

Matthew 19:16-24

Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” “Which ones?” he inquired. Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’” “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?” Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, 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.”

Luke 9:57-62

“As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

In each of the above situations, Jesus confronts someone (whether He called them or they came to Him) about following Him – eternal salvation. And I think these situations are misunderstood by many Christians today. You see, so many of us are so anxious about getting the message out to those who are not “saved” that we often misinterpret what is being said, in our haste. In each of the example we looked at, Jesus is speaking specifically to the individual.

In Matthew 19, Jesus is approached by a rich, young man who asks a simple question: What must I do to have eternal life? Please note, this is not a generic question. The young man does not say, “ What must one do…” or “What must a person do…” No, he is very specific – “What must I do to have eternal life?” And Jesus answers the question: “If you want eternal life, keep the commandments.” Which the young man claims to have done. The he asks again, “What do I still lack?” Interesting question. If Jesus just told him that he must obey the commandments and he’s already done that, wouldn’t he just be better off cutting his loses and making an exit? Why does he ask again? Is it because he knows somewhere deep inside that there’s something missing? Jesus responds by saying, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Please note again, Jesus did not say, “If a man…” or “If anyone…” Nope, he says, “If you want to be perfect…” He’s talking directly to the young man about what he needs to do. See, Jesus could see deep in the heart of the young man and knew there was something keeping him from having that full relationship that God requires of us. In this young man’s case, it was his money that was keeping him. How do we know? The next verse tells us: “When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.”

Now don’t misinterpret this. It wasn’t saying that great wealth is going to stop you from getting into heaven. I suspect there have been many, many people who were wealthy who have died and are celebrating with the Lord. No, Jesus was telling this young man – you need to put away whatever it is that is keeping you from having that all encompassing relationship with God. In other words (heard this before): “A man cannot have two masters. Either he loves the one and despises the other, or he loves the second and not the first.”

“I will follow you where ever you go.” Bold statement. Jesus says back to him, “Hey, when you say that you need to remember that I don’t have the safety of home. No shelter to protect me from whatever comes my way. Can you deal with that?” Again, this statement is aimed at this particular man. This is what that man needed to hear in order to understand what is being asked of him.

“Lord, let me bury my father first.´ “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Was Jesus just being rude to the man? No, He was just pointing out that thing which is standing in the way of that ultimate relationship necessary for entering the kingdom of God. Why shouldn’t the man go back? What will happen when he returns home? He’ll get caught up in the day to day business of running the home, taking care of his father’s estate and will lose sight of that which he was called to do: “Follow me.”

“I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” What does it mean? Once you have made the commitment, you can’t go back to your old life. Everything, and I do mean everything, has to come in second to your relationship with God. When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus replied “You will love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your strength.” Not, most of; not some of; but all of… And so each of these men was hit right where it counts – right where it means the most to them. Right where their relationship with God hits the road block.

And so, we too have the parts of our lives which cause a road block in our relationship. Ok, you can come into my house Lord, but you’re not allowed in the bedroom. Or there will be times when I sit down to watch television that you’re not allowed to sit with me. You can come to the office today, but you can’t come into this meeting with me. After work on Thursdays we go out for a couple of drinks. I’ll see you at home when I’m done. And we try to set up the relationship on our terms, not on His. See, it’s harder for the rich man to get to heaven not because he’s rich, but because of how he feels about his wealth and how that wealth rules his life. Major, major misquote by the way: The bible does not say “money is the root of all evil”. It does, however, say that “the love of money is a root of evil.” But so is lust and envy and jealousy and gluttony and sloth and pornography and watching too much TV and anything else that takes place of our relationship with God.

So, guess what I did? I added a door to your room and I’m opening the door and letting all those people who are part of your life into the room. As is true with most mixers, they tend to gravitate toward others in their “group”. And so, the work people are all together at the desk and the family is all together at the table and the friends are all together at the TV area. But which one is in the corner? You know what corner I’m talking about – the one which is hidden from the light that shines in from the skylight.

See, God isn’t satisfied with looking through the skylight into our lives. He wants to be in there, meeting everyone in the party and getting to know each and every side of you. So let’s say He comes through the doorway and enters the room. Who do you introduce Him to and who do you try to keep away from Him? Who’s in your dark corner, no longer hidden from the light because the light is now in the room? Don’t be afraid to show Him everyone and everything. See, the Good News is that “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son…” so that we don’t have to hide anything from Him. He has a plan for us, a plan which includes a final resting place in His house. But we have to do our part. And our part is to open our entire self to him – “all our heart, all our soul, and all our strength”. Because it is only then that He can make us into the miracle that He has planned us to be since we were in the womb.

Does it mean that you have to give up your wealth, your family, your shelter or your life? What is it that is stopping you from giving everything to God?

Mark 8:34-38

Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”