Walking with Bilbo – The Cost of Adventure
Sycamore Creek Church
January 20 & 21, 2013
Tom Arthur
Luke 9:57-62
Peace friends!
Have you ever watched one of those hoarders shows? Here’s a brief clip from one show about a “collector’s collector.”
We’re in this series called Walking with Bilbo, exploring spiritual themes in The Hobbit. One of the spiritual themes in The Hobbit is the question of hoarding stuff. Bilbo isn’t so sure about joining the adventure because he doesn’t want to leave all the creature comforts of his hobbit hole, and when he finally does join the adventure he exclaims to Gandalf the wizard, “I’m awfully sorry but I have come without my hat, and I have left my pocket-handkerchief behind, and I haven’t got any money.” Bilbo is a hoarder and it gets in the way of adventure in his life.
The problem is that we’re all hoarders in some shape, form, or fashion. I hoard my reputation. I protect very carefully what other people think of me. I want people to think I’m smart and well educated, emotionally together, competent and even excellent, creative, a leader, a compelling speaker, kind but firm, and well organized. Of course sometimes things backfire. A couple of years ago I was sitting at home waiting to leave to go to my yearly evaluation with our Staff Pastor Relations Team when I got a call from Bill Hoerner, the team leader. He said, “Where are you?” I said, “I’m at home. I’m getting ready to leave.” He said, “The meeting started thirty minutes ago.” I had it written down for the wrong time on my calendar. I was late to my yearly evaluation!
I’d like today to take a look at a story of Jesus interacting with several people who want to go on the adventure of following him, and see what we can learn about what kinds of things we tend to hoard in life, what we have to give up to follow Jesus, and what it costs to go on Jesus’ adventure.
Luke 9:57-58 – Stuff that Gives Us a Sense of Security
57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
Jesus points out to this person who wants to follow him that he’s going to essentially have to give up all the securities of the stability of home. He’s going to be joining the lifestyle of a wandering homeless preacher. He won’t know where he’s going to sleep each night. Now that’s an adventure!
We all tend to hoard stuff that gives us a sense of security. Stuff that gives us a sense of security is anything that you wonder how you’d live without it, like technology. I was sitting behind a guy on a plane recently when he realized he had left his cell phone at home as he was leaving for a week-long trip. He was busy borrowing his friend’s cell phone and talking to his wife. Some of you are feeling the bottom of your stomach drop out right now because you can’t imagine going away for a week and not having your cell phone. What would you do with yourself? How would you live? Of course, technology isn’t just cell phones. Some of us can’t live without our tablets, mp3 players, computers, or TVs. We hoard technology because it gives us a sense of security.
Another thing that gives us a sense of security is money. We hoard money like there’s no tomorrow. Which may not mean actually saving it. Hoarding money may mean simply hoarding its blessings for ourselves. We buy stuff for ourselves rather than pass the blessing around.
Others of us have certain things that give us status and that status gives us a sense of security. Owning a big home in the right neighborhood, a fancy car, designer clothes, extended degrees (like ones from Duke University, not that I know any Blue Devils around here), awards from our jobs, expensive jewelry, the best makeup, the latest hair fashions, the best destination vacations, and of course man-toys like boats, RVs, ATVs, and on and on and on. We hoard status stuff because it gives us a sense of security about our place in the pecking order.
This is kind of a touchy subject, but something that gives us a sense of security that I think can be used for quite a bit of good, but also can draw us away from God’s adventure for our lives is insurance: health insurance, car insurance, life insurance, long-term care insurance, home insurance, renters insurance, umbrella insurance. All these things can give us a false sense of security that can keep us from the adventure that Jesus is calling us on. Would you be willing to give up a job that provides health insurance but isn’t where you think Jesus is calling you for a job that has no health insurance but is on the road of adventure with Jesus?
We hoard stuff that gives us a sense of security.
Luke 9:59-60 – Old Dead Stuff
59 To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 60 But Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
Jesus comes across a guy who wants to go bury his father before he’ll follow Jesus. Jesus seems a little harsh in his response, but there is a recognition that following Jesus has a cost. We have to give up hoarding old dead stuff.
Most of us aren’t in the literal situation of having to bury anyone, but speaking more metaphorically, why do we keep doing stuff that keeps not working or that leads to dead ends? We hoard old habits that lead to dead relationships. We hoard old memories, pain, and guilt that lead to a dead spirit. We hoard old fears that lead to dead futures. We hoard old “scripts” that lead to dead ends in our relationships.
Sarah and I have a couple of fifteen-year-long arguments. They’re fifteen years long because we play out the script of the argument over and over in the same way. I’m not sure why we think we’ll resolve the argument this time using the same scripts from the past fifteen years, but we dive in with full vigor attempting the argument one more time. Then we went on a retreat for our 15-year anniversary back in May. We used a DVD marriage retreat from John and Julie Gottman called The Art and Science of Love. The Gottmans have done longitudinal studies of couples over several decades. That means that they’ve followed some couples for thirty or more years. They’ve found that 69% of problems in marriage are unsolvable. You’ll always have them. So how you approach them is key. On that weekend, Sarah and I made some headway on one of those fifteen-year arguments we’ve been having. We have simply learned some new lines to say rather than the old dead ones that we keep hanging on to.
We all hoard old dead stuff that is no longer working in our relationships and our lives.
Luke 9:61-62 – Relationships
61 Another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Jesus encounters a guy who wants to go back to his home and say goodbye to some of his friends before he’ll follow Jesus. But Jesus realizes that some relationships keep us from the adventure that God has in store for us. What relationships are distracting you from the adventure Jesus is calling you on?
Maybe one of those relationships is your boss at work. You think to yourself, “Let me first get a new boss, then I’ll be able to join the adventure Jesus has for me.” Perhaps your boss is like the CEO who was hired at a company to shake things up. This new boss is determined to rid the company of all slackers! On a tour of the facilities, the CEO notices a guy leaning on a wall dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. The room is full of workers and he wants to let them know he means business. The CEO walks up to the guy and asks, “And how much money do you make a week?” Undaunted, the young fellow looks at him and replies, “I make $300.00 a week. Why?” The CEO then hands the guy $300 in cash and screams, “Here’s a week’s pay, now GET OUT and don’t come back!” Feeling pretty good about his first firing, the CEO looks around the room and asks “Does anyone want to tell me what that slacker did here?” With a sheepish grin, one of the other workers mutters, “Pizza delivery guy.” So this boss is pretty bad, but you can’t wait for a new boss to follow Jesus. Jesus says follow me now.
Others of us say, Let me first find some good friends, then I’ll follow Jesus. Or Let me first deal with my aging parents or Let me first resolve the conflict with my brother and sister or Let me first finish high school, college, grad school, or Let me first find a boy/girlfriend, or Let me first see where this relationship leads, or Let me first raise my kids and get them out of the house, or Let me first get my marriage put together, and on and on and on. You see where this leads. Relationships are supposed to support us in the adventure of God, not keep us from the adventure of God.
We all tend to hoard relationships and let them distract us from adventure with Jesus.
We will never be able to get so “fixed” that we’re now “ready” to join the adventure of Jesus and proclaim the kingdom of God. Joining the adventure with Jesus and proclaiming the kingdom of God is the fix. Elsewhere Jesus says,
Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (Matthew 6:33 ESV).
Again, the problem is that we’re all hoarders. We try to hang on to these and a million other things. But in hanging on to them we lose the first and most important thing – the kingdom of God.
If you’re a guest here for the first or second time today, I want you to hear clearly a truth that Jim Elliot a missionary to Ecuador spoke. Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep [security/old dead stuff/relationships] to gain that which he cannot lose [eternal life].”
Today I want all of you to give up everything you’re hoarding and put the adventure of God first. So what can you take with you? Jesus answers that question too.
Mark 6:7-9
7 He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8 He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; 9 but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics.
In other words, take your shoes, the clothes on your back, and the staff in your hand. The shoes you should wear are the Heavenly Father who is your foundation. Do not take but one heart, undivided and fully surrendered to one Heavenly Father.
No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth (Matthew 6:24 NRSV).
You shall have no other gods before me (Exodus 20:3 NRSV).
The clothes on your back are Jesus who clothes you in righteousness.
Put on the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14 NRSV).
If you want to know what God wants you to do, here it is: be holy. Be righteous. Be right with God and with those around you. That’s the adventure you’re on. If you’re faced with two choices, which one will let you love God and your neighbor more? If neither clearly leads to more love, then it pleases God that you would choose whichever way most pleases you. God’s desire is that you would put on the righteousness, the full and total love, of Jesus.
The staff is the Holy Spirit that steadies and guides you.
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God (Romans 8:14 NRSV).
The Holy Spirit is the presence of God with you, the friendship that the Father and Son share. The Holy Spirit invites you into that community of friendship between the Father and the Son.
At the end of The Hobbit, Tolkien says that Bilbo “may have lost his neighbor’s respect, but he gained—well, you will see whether he gained anything in the end.” It costs you everything to join the adventure of Jesus, but in it you gain the friendship of God, and that is enough.
Prayer
God, show us where our hoarding keeps us from joining the adventure that you have set before us. Help us to give up everything and follow you. Let us be content to have gained friendship with you. Amen.
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