Sermon for Sunday November 18th
How to Miss Your Flight:
Part 6: Give up your seat
The passage I'm working from is Luke 14:1-11, and here's the premise:
Sometimes on a plane the flight attendant will announce that if you are willing to give up your seat you will be put on the next flight out and given a voucher to fly for free anywhere in the country. The act of giving up your seat reaps blessings and rewards in the long run. Sometimes it can be difficult to think about giving up your seat. You may feel entitled to that seat, you worked hard for it, you paid a lot of money for it, but if you can let it go you will still catch a flight to the same destination, and, you will receive a free ticket for another flight.
Jesus turns a lot of things upside-down in the Kingdom of God. The last will be first, blessed are the poor, and Jesus says in Luke 14 that when you are invited to a feast, don't sit in the place of honor. Instead, sit down at the lowest place.
A lot of times we feel entitled to having things a certain way. Change can be difficult, giving up feelings of entitlement can be difficult, but if we can give up our seat, be humble and willing to let God come in and do what he wants, we will be blessed by what God pours out in our lives. Change is always inevitable. If we don't embrace it, we will be crushed by it. So if we can give up our seat, let go of feeling that things absolutely have to be a certain way in our lives or in our church and we are somehow entitled to having those things, then God will come in and bless us beyond what we could ever have received by not being humble, staying in our seats and trying to retain control.
You can miss your flight by giving up your seat, but this is a good thing because you're really not missing your flight, you will reach your destination with more blessings!
Does that make sense? I'd love your thoughts so be sure to leave a comment!
Much grace and peace,
-Tim
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3 comments:
Hi Tim, that analogy makes alot of sense to me. The hardest thing to do would be to give up your seat on a flight not knowing when or if another flight would be leaving. It would be like trying to go home for christmas and it's a crazy blizzard and they are only letting one more plane leave the airport before cancelling all the flights and you have a ticket on that plane. Then the attendants ask if you would be willing to give up your seat (for emotional effect, let's say to an orphan, or maybe harder, an IRS accountant (i.e., Zacheus)). I don't know if I could do it, but I'm sure Jesus would. It's alot easier when the reward is tangible (free tickets, vouchers, whatever) but the test is when it's intangible ("treasure in heaven", whatever that is...).
Keep on keepin' on,
Ben
Rt. Rev. Tim,
There's something uncomfortable about change, especially within a church setting... though it is often needed, it is highly resisted. I wonder why church leaders and church members can be so resistant to change?
My guess: Changing something sometimes means admitting that it is not "all about me." As a church-goer, I find that there are times when my fellow church-goers refuse to "give up their seat," even when all signs point to it being something that just needs to be done (most likely I have done it too!).
I love this analogy stuff,
Nick
PS. Maybe you and the Gathering could give out free plane ticket vouchers to anywhere in the U.S. to the first 50 people who talk through the door...???
Pastor Tim,
I agree with Nick, plane vouchers seems like a great way to start our new journey together!
Looks like Nick and I are "Hijacking" word up wednesday comments. Is it still ok to say "hijack" in this post-9/11 world?
Ben
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