September 26, 2010 1 Timothy 6:6-16 Luke 16:19-

31 “Now, or Eternally?”
Dr. Ted H. Sandberg

Hauerwas and Willimon begin their book, Resident Aliens, this way. They write: “Sometime between
1960 and 1980, an old, inadequately conceived world ended, and a fresh, new world began. We do
not mean to be overly dramatic. Although there are many who have not yet heard the news, it is
nevertheless true: A tired old world has ended, an exciting new one is awaiting recognition.
“When and how did we change? Although it may sound trivial, one of us is tempted to date the shift
sometime on a Sunday evening in 1963. Then, in Greenville, South Carolina, in defiance of the state’s
time-honored blue laws, the Fox Theater opened on Sunday. Seven of us – regular attenders of the
Methodist Youth Fellowship at Buncombe Street Church – made a pact to enter the front door of the
church, be seen, then quietly slip out the back door and join John Wayne at the Fox.
“That evening has come to represent a watershed in the history of Christendom, South Carolina style.
On that night, Greenville, South Carolina – the last pocket of resistance to secularity in the Western
world – served notice that it would no longer be a prop for the church. There would be no more free
passes for the church, no more free rides. The Fox Theater went head to head with the church over
who would provide the world view for the young. That night in 1963, the Fox Theater won the
opening skirmish.
“You see, our parents had never worried about whether we would grow up Christian. The church was
the only show in town. On Sundays, the town closed down. One could not even buy a gallon of gas.
There was a traffic jam on Sunday mornings at 9:45, when all went to their respective Sunday schools.
By overlooking much that was wrong in that world – it was a racially segregated world, remember –
people saw a world that looked good and right. In taking a child to Sunday school, parents affirmed
everything that was good, wholesome, reasonable, and American. Church, home, and state formed a
national consortium that worked together to instill ‘Christian values.’ People grew up Christian
simply by being lucky enough to be born in places like Greenville, South Carolina, or Pleasant Grove,
Texas.
“A few years ago, the two of us awoke and realized that, whether or not our parents were justified in
believing this about the world and the Christian faith, nobody believed it today. At least, almost
nobody. Whether we are with Pentecostals, Catholics, Lutherans, or United Methodists, we meet few
young parents, college students, or auto mechanics who believe that one becomes Christian today by
simply breathing the air and drinking the water in the generous, hospitable environment of
Christendom America.”1
While I never snuck out of Baptist Youth Fellowship, to go to the movies as Willimon did, I do
remember at least some in the youth group staying home to watch Bonanza on TV rather than going to
BYF. That would’ve been about the same time frame that Willimon and Hauerwas write about.
Couple this changing attitude in society, this attitude that it wasn’t society’s responsibility to bring
people to Christ but rather the church’s responsibility to preach the Good News of Jesus, with the
realization that the church wasn’t preaching a very moral world view, and it’s no wonder that the ‘60's
saw a rapid decline in church attendance and membership, a decline that continues today. Remember

1 1. Hauerwas, Stanley and William H. Willimon, Resident Aliens: Life in the

Christian Colony, Abingdon Press, Nashville, 1989, pp. 15-16.
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the ‘60's. Yes, the mantra was, “Sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll,” but even more, the ‘60’s were about the
Civil Rights movement and Vietnam. And while many in the church supported the efforts of Dr.
King, indeed the Civil Rights movement grew out of the Black church, many white churches
supported the status quo, supported keeping blacks out of their churches, supported keeping schools
segregated, supported anything but loving one’s neighbor if that neighbor was black. In fact, some
church members did everything they could to keep blacks from moving into their neighborhoods. And
that was in the North as well as in the South.
Much of the church also supported the war in Vietnam. Again, there were elements of the church that
protested the government’s action, protested the war, but much of the church supported that war, even
though the church’s own Just War Theory called the morality of the war into question. According to
the church’s own thinking, Vietnam was wrong, but much of the church supported the war
nonetheless.
Who was it that heard and saw the church’s response to both Vietnam and the Civil Rights
Movement? College age, and high schoolers. Those who are my age, give or take 10 or 15 years. It’s
generation that saw the church supporting that which could be seen as immoral. Is it any wonder that
so many in our society saw little point in going to church?
Add this failure of the church to live up to Jesus’ teaching to love one’s neighbors and to even love
one’s enemies to society’s rising standard of living. We are more well off today than our grandparents
were. Things that were luxuries 40 years ago are necessities today. Who can imagine living without
telephones or tv’s or radios or indoor plumbing? Today we have hip replacements and knee
replacements and drugs to lower cholesterol and techniques to help individuals recover from heart
attacks. Our houses are bigger and fancier as are our cars and these things are seen as ordinary, not
just for the wealthy.
Our standard of living is simply higher today, and because it’s higher, more and more people have the
same attitude as the rich man in today’s sermon text. They, maybe we, feel we can make it on our
own without God’s help. They/we feel we’ve made it, or will make it, because of our own hard work,
our own skills, our own ambition and drive.
How has the church traditionally tried to preach to the person with this attitude? What do we try to
do? “[The church tries to] follow Martin Luther who followed Saint Augustine in thinking that the
chief sins are human pride and self-assertiveness. An admission of utter helplessness and total
wretchedness is usually considered to be the first necessary step on the road to salvation.
Our gospel seems tailored to fit only the downcast, the outcast, the brokenhearted, and the miserable.
We think we do an adequate job of comforting the sad and uplifting the depressed. But what do we
say to the strong, the mature, the joyous persons in our midst?”2
This is an interesting question, isn’t it? What do we as the church say to the strong, the mature, the
joyous person in our midst? Traditionally, we’ve said, “You may think you’re strong, you may think
you’re joyous, you may think you’re happy, but you really aren’t. Really, you’re miserable. You just
may not realize it. You just don’t know it, because you can’t truly be happy without God in your life.”
But this hasn’t worked, because lots of people are truly happy and happy without being in church.
We’ve also tried to preach a secondary plot to this morning’s text. You may be happy now, but you’re

2 2. Willimon, William H., The Gospel for the Person Who Has Everything, Judson
Press, Valley Forge, PA, 1978, p. 1.
2
going to die and go to hell where you won’t be happy. I don’t believe that’s what Jesus was preaching
in this parable of the rich man and Lazarus, but that’s the message we often take from the parable, and
that’s how we’ve attempted to reach the person who seems to have everything. “You’ve got yours
now, but unless you repent, you’re going to suffer for eternity.” The trouble with this is that most
people aren’t worried about eternity when they’re 20 somethings or 30 somethings or even 60
somethings. They figure they’ll worry later.
To summarize how I feel the church has gotten to the point we are at today. Society is no longer
doing the work of the church. That stopped in the early ‘60's. J. Edgar Hoover told parents to take
their children to Sunday school, but that doesn’t happen today.
It also doesn’t work today to preach Jesus but live hate or at least strict rules. Much of the church was
on the wrong side of Civil Rights, the wrong side of the question of war. Too often, the church is on
the side of “if you do this, you’ll go to hell,” rather than on the side of God loves you.
And finally, the church has tried to preach to those who are successful and mature and happy that they
really aren’t mature and aren’t really happy. They need God to be happy – and maybe at the deepest
level that’ true, but most people don’t go to that deepest level. They’re happy and content without the
church. And they aren’t worried about hell, at least not now. They’re content to live in the present.
Which explains, at least in part, why attendance in our churches continues to decline. The world has
changed, but the church hasn’t. We deplore that the world isn’t like it was when I was a kid. We
lament that youth soccer leagues have practice and games on Sunday mornings, let alone Wednesday
nights. We may long for an age of Blue Laws, when stores were closed on Sundays, but we still go
shopping Sunday afternoon, and are thankful the restaurants are open when we get out of worship.
The world has changed, but the church too often hasn’t.
So – what do we do as the church, both the church universal, and this congregation? First, and most
importantly, we remember that God is in charge. Not us. When some of the Pharisees tried to get
Jesus to order the disciples to stop preaching, Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the
stones would shout out.”3 God’s message of love and grace and peace and hope can’t be denied.
While it’s true that God’s church is the instrument to proclaim the truth of Jesus Christ, God is always
in charge. It’s important to always remember that.
Second. I believe that as God’s church, we’re to be honest to the message of the New Testament
which is that we’re to love God and love our neighbors. It’s as simple as that, and as difficult as that.
When I was growing up, I heard of churches that primarily preached about what people weren’t
supposed to do. We weren’t to smoke or drink or dance or play cards or go to movies. One
denomination named Adolf Hitler “Man of the Year,” because he didn’t do those things. As the
church, we’ve been more concerned about the little stuff than we have about the big stuff, and by big
stuff I mean how we treat those who are different from us, those who have less than we do. This is the
message of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. The message is that the poor are the
responsibility of the rich. It’s not a message about heaven and hell. It’s a message of “right now,
today.” It’s a message that the rich are responsible to care for the poor. This is the message that we as
God’s people are to proclaim to the world.
This is also the message that we as God’s people are to live out in our daily lives. It’s not enough to
talk it. We are called to live it, too. This is the intent of what’s being called “the Missional church”

3 3. Luke 19:39-40
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program we’re undertaking. It’s basically what Dr. Patton was talking about last week when she
brought the sermon to us. We’re called to reach out to our community, not so that we’ll grow but
rather so we’ll be faithful to our calling to be God’s people. She said that church isn’t about Sunday
morning, though I do believe that Sunday morning is important because worship is a way of saying
“thank you” to God, and it’s important for us to say thank you. Her point in saying that church isn’t
about Sunday morning is to move us beyond these walls and into the community where we’ll preach
God’s love for all people.
The “Love Chico” program begins this. It’s good for the churches of Chico to be seen out doing
something – painting murals, and fixing school grounds, and doing those kinds of things. It’s even
more important for us to be feeding and sheltering the homeless at the Torres Shelter and the Jesus
Center, to be supporting the work of Catalyst in helping battered women. It’s important for us to
house the Rose Scott School as they seek to educate those with ADHD and autism. It’s great that
they’re able to be here and we can help them succeed. It’s important for us to support Ron Reed as he
helps the people of Tanzania drill water wells.
And there are things that we as a church can do. The North Valley Honor Choir Festival used our
buildings yesterday. They rehearsed all day and then had a concert at 5 pm. There were 102 high
school singers plus choir directors and the North Valley Chamber Chorale and parents here. The
sanctuary was so packed we brought in 50 extra chairs. All of them had to go by our sign saying, “We
Love Our Muslim Neighbors.” Too many times, churches have been intolerant, have been closed-
minded. It’s important for people to see us as accepting of those who are different, accepting of those
with whom we do not agree. What else can we do? I’ve thought of some things, but in the weeks
ahead I want you to think of what it is we as God’s people may be called to do. It doesn’t have to be
something big. Doing small things is important too. Start by asking yourself, “What is the most
important need in Chico today?” Then as God’s people we’ll think of how we can help meet that
need.
We can do this because God is with us. We aren’t alone. God is in charge.