The Markers of Success
Listen.November 8th, 2009
Rev. Dr. Craig A. Wagner
Introduction
This morning I’m going to talk about the markers of success in a person’s life. Let’s begin by thinking a bit about what our society considers to be markers of success. Success in our society appears to be governed by what a person can achieve during his or her life. Therefore, when we view a person’s life we look first of all at the material trappings with which we associate success. The house with all the amenities; five bedrooms, six baths, swimming pool, walk in closets and all the upscale appliances, not to mention the three car garage and on it goes. Of course, if a neighbor or friend or co-worker has a larger house with more features then they are more successful and competition ensues. If it’s not the house then it’s having the right car with the right insignia; if not the car then the designer clothes and on it goes. Success is often associated with the things people can afford to buy.
For other individuals, it is not so much what they possess but rather the profession that they’ve chosen. Success can be seen in high powered productive careers that demand everything from a person, but come with a high degree of status and wealth. Power and control are the markers that many people strive to have over their entire life.
And then there are intellectual pursuits governed by the right college or university training and the advanced degree – often not for a job but just achieve that position of honor in the academic community.
The markers of success in our society evolve around what we can achieve using any means at our disposal. The more we have; the more we want! We are encouraged to buy more and to accumulate more so that we can live successfully and comfortably; just as the old ads used to say so our society seems to say, “Supersize me.” Now that’s success!
Now don’t misunderstand me. I’m not suggesting that there is anything wrong with having nice houses and good things. There is nothing wrong with great wealth or vast power or success or fame in a person’s life. These can all be good things; but we need to be concerned that the greatest markers of success according to Jesus are not what common wisdom or our society considers important.
Markers of success; kingdom living
In our reading today, we learn that Jesus turns upside down the common wisdom of success. What everyone strives for in life is not what makes one successful, contrary to popular belief today or even in Jesus’ day.
Our passage begins with Jesus admonishing people to watch out, beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes, be greeted with respect in the market places and have the best seats of honor at banquets and in the synagogues. The long flowing white robes with fringes on the hem were symbols of status and the one’s who wore them were wealthy and felt they deserved respect and honor. They expected to be given seats of honor at a banquet or have the prime seats in the synagogues (in back?). The social status of the day dictated that at a banquet, the priests would be seated first, then the elders and then the rest of the people in order of their rank in the community.
Jesus also warned the people about the unscrupulous scribes who devoured widow’s houses. This refers to the unethical appropriation of a widow’s property; house and household good and households were included in this warning. The issue was that widows were easy targets for bad scribes. The widow could be either wealthy or poor, but through misappropriation by the scribes, they would be left desolate.
And of course, the long prayers were attacked by Jesus. These were prayers probably eloquently said by a scribe who would just love to stand in front of people and receive the admiration and the accolades of the people. In all of these items, the motives of the scribes used in these examples were shaped by common wisdom and governed by the markers of success that were selfish in orientation.
Then the scene changes. We find Jesus sitting opposite the treasury located around the outside of the Jerusalem temple. They had places where could drop off their offerings. They had 13 Shofar chests for collection of offerings: New shekel dues, Old shekel dues Bird offerings, Young birds for the Whole-offering, Wood, Frankincense, Gold for the mercy-seat, and 6 for free will offerings.
Into the scene walks a poor widow who places 2 lepta, coins in the offering. It was all she had in the world…a total of less than two pennies. Yet, Jesus commends her for giving everything she had as compared to the rich who gave out of their surplus, their abundance.
The markers of success was different in Jesus’ thought. The widow was held up as an example of a successful life as over against the rich and powerful. How was that possible?
In a passage not long before this one, we read that a scribe asked Jesus about the greatest commandment and Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself.” That is the marker of success: a love of God and of neighbor…. Everything else does not measure up; the widow was successful!
Kingdom living today
We call ourselves the community of Christ; we are people gathered in the name of Jesus – yet, which success story do we buy into? Do we hear Jesus and his call and challenge to be his people and reflect his wisdom for life or do we still worship at the altar of popular wisdom and society’s view of success?
We are people who confess Jesus as Lord; but do our lives reflect that basic confession? Do people know you are a Christ follower? Do they know how your life is dedicated and devoted to God? Do others see in you a person whose faith commitment and congregational participation really mean something; is it a strong commitment?
Do we really love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength? Do we take seriously that very first commandment or do we still have other gods that come before the one true God? Do we dedicate and devote ourselves to worship and prayer? Our priorities need to reflect our love of God and our lives need to center around glorifying God. The challenge is before us to focus on God – place worship central in life; develop a prayer life and take time to read God’s Word. FYI: beginning on January 1, 2010 we will enter into a congregation-wide program to read the entire Bible in 90 days. We want everyone to know what is in the word of God… The marker of success is about our relationship to God.
The second marker is about our relationship with others. How we care for those around us in this community of faith; that’s the issue! Widow gave all she had to help others, thereby relying on God. Our financial giving reflects our commitment; our volunteering in ministries reflects our commitment and our love for others as well as for God. The challenge is to reflect on our general attitude toward others and toward our resources.
Are we reaching out and caring for those around us? Do we live in a spirit of love toward our sisters and brothers in this community? If not we are missing the mark. What would Jesus say about our actions and attitudes on behalf of others?
Grace turns it around in kingdom living
As we reflect upon the markers of success as outlined by Jesus, we realize that we can not live them adequately, or successfully, without the grace that God offers us in Jesus. Too often even in congregations we attempt to strive by human effort and might to make things work and to try to be successful in human terms. This does not work, nor should we care. What we need to reflect upon is whether or not we, as a community, are conforming to God’s will rather than self-centered worldly will.
By God’s grace, through prayer, worship and the Word we find that our perspectives can change, our priorities can change and all that we do can reflect the grace and love of Christ. By the Holy Spirit in our lives, I pray that each one of us allow the spirit to work for the glory of God and the building of the congregation. Where we allow the old markers of success and the selfishness that goes with it to prevail, we do a disservice to God and to his people.
The call is to be vulnerable to the working of the spirit for Jesus markers are all that is important. We know that our economy is in difficult times, many are out of work, some have tired of looking – yet, through it all what remains? Only the love of God and the community of Christ where we care for, help and love one another.
Conclusion
Several of us have been taking Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University class. We have learned a lot about getting out of debt, following a budget, paying off bills and cutting up credit cards. However, the bottom line is not simply to live debt free – but to live like no one else – I suggest that will be when we allow the spirit to lead us to live with the markers of success that Jesus offered: love God and love one another. There is no greater way to live. Those are the true markers of success! Amen.