Action: Reflect on the faithfulness of God in your life, and show gratitude/thankfulness. Let your heart rejoice in God. That remembrance/thankfulness sustains us during times it feels we've been forsaken.

Text: Psalmist Also, Satan's, "Does Job worship you because you give Job good things?"

Image: Slot machines, as if doing good insures a better chance of payout.

Last Sunday was such a special Sunday, of course.

Christ is RISEN! Our eyes are opened. Our hearts explode with joy. We talked about the Christian life being one of walking your road, even in the midst of sadness, until the risen Christ reveals himself, and you find that joy and happiness that others envy.

What I’d like to do today is follow this up by asking, “After the risen Christ reveals himself, THEN WHAT?”

Sure, we have that joy and that happiness of Easter and the days that follow. But weeks follow days; and months, weeks; and years, months. And the joy/happiness meter doesn’t always top out.

After a while, there’s a very human temptation to treat our relationship with Christ less personally and more, well, “mechanically.” We’re tempted to treat the risen Jesus less as a living savior, and more like a divine slot machine.

“I’m going to go to church every Sunday, Jesus!”

“I’m going to teach Sunday School!”

“I’m going to give more money to church and charity!”

“I was liturgist for Pastor Greg when he had me read that Bible passage that had the words, ‘Belshazzazar’ and ‘Amenahotep’ in it. That should be good for something!”

“I’m going to JOIN A COMMITTEE!”

It’s as if by doing good things, we think we’ll get a good payout. Our “Easter high” might return, or we’ll get the things we want.

Psalm 37 seems to encourage this type of thinking.

On the surface it sounds like a mechanical relationship between God and us. You do good, you get rewarded: “he will give you the desires of your heart.” You do bad, you get punished: “The wicked shall be cut off.”

And yet, that’s not our experience, is it? Often, our happiness meter doesn’t peak by the good things we do. On the contrary, sometimes, bad things happen to us regardless of how we’ve sacrificed. And to make matters worse, those who’ve never set foot in a church appear to get wealthier, happier, and eventually die peacefully in their sleep at the age of 99.

I think it’s natural for the Christian, sometime in walking with the risen Lord, to ask herself/himself the question: “What’s so great about being good? No matter how many ‘good’ quarters I put in, nothing seems to be coming out!”

What I’d like to do today is dig a little deeper into this old Psalm. I think we’ll find three answers to the question, “What’s so great about being good?”

I want to get into those answers in a little different way.

I’m going to tell you three stories. After each one, verses from the Psalm will flash on the screen. The answer will then appear at the end.

Here’s the first story:

A long time ago, there was an old man who lived in a very small village. The only possession he had was a strong, beautiful horse. One night a great storm arose. The horse was frightened and ran feverishly around the corral. As the storm continued, the gate to the corral was blown open and the horse bolted, running off into the desert. The next morning, upon hearing that the old man had lost his horse, the people of the village went up to him saying, "This is a sad day. You lost your only possession. This is truly terrible." The old man looked at the people and softly replied, "You don't know that this is terrible."

The days went by and the old man worked his land as best he could. He awoke one morning to the sound of prancing hooves and the familiar neigh of his trusted horse. He jumped out of bed and ran to the corral to find that his horse had returned, and had led 50 wild stallions from the desert right into the corral.

The old man also had a son. One day, he was thrown from one of those horses, and his leg was crushed. When the people of the village heard the news, they responded again by saying, "This is a sad day. Your only son has been crippled. This is truly terrible." The old man responded, "You don't know this is terrible."

Not long after this incident, war broke out and the warlords came to the village and took all of the able young men off to battle…most of them were killed. The old man's son, whose leg had been so badly damaged, of course, was not able to go. As a result, he lived a long, peaceful life.

And the Psalmist said:

“Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.”

Actually, comb through the verses in this 37^th Psalm, and you’ll find such verbs as, “be still,” “wait patiently,” “don’t worry.”

The old Hebrew song writer has every confidence in this one fact:

GOD IS WORKING!

It doesn’t matter if you see God working, or understand how God is working. When you are obedient to your higher calling; when you go about “doing good:” that unleashes God’s Spirit to do amazing things. After all, by Jesus “doing good,” even being “obedient unto death:” that’s how the Resurrection happened. Without Jesus’ faithfulness on Good Friday, we don’t see God’s powerfulness on Easter Sunday.

As you follow the risen Christ, and bad things happen no matter how many good things you do, remember: You DON’T know those things are “terrible.” God IS working! And trusting that God is working—well, that trust re-kindles the Easter joy.

Second story.

Pastor Fred Craddock tells of a little country church he pastored, nestled back in the hills of Tennessee.

This church had a tradition of holding a baptismal service on Easter evening, at sundown. The whole church would gather on the shore of the town lake. While Fred and the people to be baptized moved out into the water and he baptized them, the members would be making a fire, cooking supper, and singing hymns.

After the baptism, candidates got out of the water and changed, then gathered around the big fire, with the other members. One of the elders introduced the new people, gave their names, where they lived, and their work. The rest of the congregation then formed a circle around them, as they warmed by the fire. Each person in the circle gave her/his name and said, “My name is…, and if you ever need somebody to do washing and ironing…” “My name is …If you ever need anybody to chop wood…” “My name is…If you ever need anybody to baby-sit…” “My name is …If you ever need anybody to repair your house…” “My name is…,and if you ever need a car to go to town…” And so it went around the circle.

Then everybody ate, and had a square dance. Finally, old Percy Miller would stand up, with thumbs in his bibbed overalls, and say, “Time to go,” and everybody left. He’d stick around to kick sand into the dying fire. The first time Pastor Fred ever saw this, he stood still, soaking up the experience. Old Percy went up to him and said, “Craddock, folks don’t ever get any closer than this.” --Craddock Stories, pp. 151-2

And the Psalmist said,

“I have not seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.

They are ever giving liberally and lending.”

When the ancient Hebrews sang this old psalm in their worship, they KNEW why the children had enough to eat. They were standing next to people who freely, easily shared from their dinner table with each other.

Why did the children have enough to eat? Because…

GOD BUILDS A COMMUNITY.

Look around you. Look at these people. Aren’t they the ones standing by the shore of that chilly Tennessee lake? Aren’t they the ones standing together in the old Hebrew synagogue?

God doesn’t call His Easter people to be a society of little islands, separate and apart. God calls His Easter people to be a COMMUNITY, like a family where they call each other “Sister” Berniece, or “Brother” Glenn.

Look around you, and see how happy people are.

There are happy people who’ve been touched by the generosity of other church members—they’ve been lifted up by them when life’s beat them down.

And there are happy people who’ve lifted up others. You know, the happiest people in church aren’t the ones who say, “Here’s what I want to get from this church. Give me what I want, or I’ll take my toys—and my checkbook—and go somewhere else!” No, the happiest people in church aren’t the ones who ask, “What can I get?” but rather, “What can I give? How can I be a ‘community builder’?” The happiest people in church look out for the needs of the brothers and sisters. And by focusing on their needs, they discover Easter happiness all over again.

Third story.

These are the words of Bea Salazar, from an article in Fast Company magazine [12/2000]:

In 1990, I had undergone back surgery and was on disability. I was depressed, and just trying to get through each day. One afternoon, when I was putting out the trash, I saw a little boy digging in a dumpster for food. I took him inside, made him a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich, and sent him home. 15 minutes later, there was a knock at my door, and I opened it to find 6 more kids standing there. "Is it true that you're giving away pbj sandwiches?"

I couldn't believe that there was no one caring for these kids. It was summer, and school was out. They told me that their parents had to work. The next day, more children showed up, and more arrived the day after that.

When school began again, kids came and asked for help with homework. Volunteers and supplies from local churches and schools poured in. My landlord donated an apartment, and soon I had 100 children coming to visit each day. 10 years later, 5 of the kids have begun community college.

I never thought that making one pbj sandwich would grow into something that would affect so many lives--especially mine. Those kids pulled me out of myself. There was a point when I stopped thinking about my own pain and started concentrating on somebody else's. It's true that when you help others, you help yourself.

And the Psalmist said,

“The wicked will fade like the grass…they will be cut off….[But] you will live in the land, and enjoy security.”

It doesn’t necessarily appear that the wicked will fade, as you see mean, unscrupulous people living in the big homes and driving the big cars. But make no mistake about it: they are their own worst enemies. When you live only for yourself—when you shave off the sharp corners of your values or ethics in order to get ahead: you know what happens. You might have a bank account, but your soul is bankrupt. You might have a nice house, but it feels empty.

Reality is this: The ones who live are the ones who give, especially to strangers. When you do the PBJ thing, YOU BUILD YOUR SOUL.

Doing good involves you deeper in life. Doing good doesn’t protect you from things: doing good opens life up that you might experience its goodness.

A study was done on how you actually help yourself as you help others. It was documented in a book titled, The Healing Power of Doing Good. The author described how people who get involved in the lives of others find themselves pumped up, exuberant, happy. He called it the “Mother Teresa” syndrome. There was another study done that showed that doing good helped lower blood pressure and cholesterol, and increased the body’s immune system. [Homiletics, 3/28/93]

So: the next time you feel like withdrawing into yourself because of pain or disappointment; the next time the walls close in and you want to focus only on your hurt: STOP. Get out of the house. Do something for another person. BUILD YOUR SOUL—and you’ll rekindle Easter joy.

I must make a disclaimer about slot machines.

This is from our 2004 Book of Discipline: “Gambling is a menace to society, deadly to the best interests of moral, social, economic, and spiritual life, and destructive of good government. As an act of faith…Christians should abstain from gambling.” [Par. 163.G]

But maybe it’s not just the moral reason the church is against gambling.

There might also be a spiritual reason. It’s so easy to treat Jesus as a slot machine, instead of a living, loving, breathing Lord.

The Christian life isn’t about doing good, so you’ll get good things.

The Christian life is about doing good, because you just can’t help yourself!

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