Don’t Settle for the Participation Trophy

Greeting

Lighthouse, thank you for loving on us and for being a part of what God is doing here in Vista. We feel so blessed to serve this community, to worship together with you, and to lead the amazing teams that selflessly serve here.

We will never forget the moments that we have shared together, and we look forward to seeing God do more incredible things here at Lighthouse.

OK, lets wrap up this series, Winning.

How many of you have been challenged in this series?

I know it is a very slow progression through the story, but it is one of my favorite ways to read and learn the text.

Let’s get to work.

Reading

Luke 18:18–25 NIV

A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’” “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

Introduction

How many of you have ever done a fun run, Turkey Trot, or maybe something more aggressive like a 10k, half marathon or marathon?

I’ve done a few of those over the years and here’s something that I have observed, and you probably have noticed it too.

There is a difference between the people who are there to compete, and those who are there to participate.

The ones running in a costume, maybe in a tutu, are there to participate. They aren’t taking it too seriously. They’re there with friends, or maybe they lost a bet.

The ones who are right at the very front of the race, and who aren’t talking to anyone before the race, and look like they have a sponsorship, but they really don’t… they are there to compete.

I’m not knocking either one. I am all for competition and competing, but we can tell when someone is participating, and when someone is competing.

Transition (create a tension)

What if I told you that in the Bible, there is this language that Paul uses that encourages us to compete.

1 Corinthians 9:24 LEB

Do you not know that those who run in the stadium all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.

So when we read that language, Paul is writing to the believers in Corinth and notice that he isn’t telling them to participate, but he is advocating that we compete. He uses the words, run so that you win.

And church, that is so important to distinguish as followers of Jesus, because if you thought that this was all about participating, and later you find out that this was for winning, you’d want to know.

So, we’re going back to this story one last time so that we can see if we can find the win and apply that to our lives as followers of Jesus.

And the title of my thought here this morning is, Don’t Settle for the Participation Trophy.

Text

At the beginning of our series I talked about this story being in all three of the synoptic gospels - Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It is each of their unique perspectives that frame what we call this person - the Rich Young Ruler.

Now, what is also true in all three of the gospels is the immediate context of this story.

How many of you know that context is important?

Words are defined by their context.

We can interpret entire conversations by their context.

My college professor used to say of the Bible, “A text without context is a pretext.”

If you don’t know what a pretext is, it simply means that it’s not the real reason for something.

So, in all three of the gospels, there is a preceding story to the Rich Young Ruler, and it is also a well known story. There are children who learn that Jesus is in their community and so these children run towards Jesus. These children want to be close to Jesus. These children want to talk to him, and sit with him, and just be in his presence.

And, you know the story… this annoys the disciples and they start shooing the children away.

Jesus corrects them and tells them one thing but probably thinks a second thing, or at least I think a second thing.

First off, Peter, they aren’t here for you. Why are you pretending to be the main character? They aren’t here for you. You are an NPC, Peter, stop it.

Maybe Jesus is thinking that… I am for sure thinking that…

But what Jesus does say to them is this,

Matthew 19:14 NIV

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

[Pause]

Right after that moment of Jesus telling his disciples that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to children, enter Stage Right comes the Rich Young Ruler, and this is no coincidence.

These two stories, linked together in the three gospels, are not two separate stories but one narrative meant to communicate to us how something can be so easy that a child gets it, and yet so hard that an adult misses it.

Let’s look at the question he asks Jesus once more.

Luke 18:18 NIV

A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Let’s compare the children for a second with the Rich Young Ruler.

The children who came running to Jesus had no agenda. They had no list of questions. They didn’t approach Jesus with something they could get from him. They simply wanted to be near him.

The Rich Young Ruler on the other hand, he knows better than to just run up on Jesus, he’s got questions for him, abut he knows he can’t just run up to him so he starts with a compliment…

“Good teacher!”

That sounds good doesn’t it? That sounds mature. That sounds genuine. That’s how he should be approaching Jesus, isn’t it?

But if we read further, we see that the reason he approaches Jesus this way is because he needs something from him…

[Transition]

Have you ever felt like you were being buttered up before?

Maybe it was a co-worker, a child, a needy family member…

You get a text message… “My guy!”

And you already know that there’s something coming after that message…

That’s what’s going on here.

The Rich Young Ruler starts off by calling Jesus the Good Teacher, but that is because he doesn’t want something for Jesus, he wants something from Jesus.

I love how Jesus responds…

Luke 18:19 NIV

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered.

You need to read between the lines here… this is about as close to being annoyed as Jesus is going to get. Jesus isn’t going to get annoyed, but if He did, this is how He would do it!

Let’s parallel these stories…

Children come up to Jesus, the adults get annoyed, and Jesus is pleased.

The Rich Young Ruler comes to Jesus, the adults are pleased, but Jesus gets annoyed.

[Transition]

Do you know what I see here… I think I see a thread here that is common as we age...

When we are young, we mostly view our parents as larger than life. Dad is a super hero. Dad can do anything. Dad can fix anything. If it’s broken, we call Dad! And you’ve seen this… when the family is all gathered together it’s the little ones that want to snuggle up next to their Dad and sit close to him.

Then as we age, Dad is the piggy bank. He holds the resources. If I want those resources, I better behave myself. He asked how my day was, but I really don’t even want to speak to him more than I have to in order to get what I need.

That is exactly what happens to so many people when come to faith and their relationship with the church.

When someone is first saved they can’t wait for it to be Sunday again! They don’t join the Dream Team, they join ALL the teams! They are first to arrive, and last to leave. Jesus is just so good and this church is just so amazing!

And then, unfortunately, there is this maturing in the faith, as they say. Now, you don’t serve in the team because you “served your time.” Let some of the new people serve, I’m a Day 1. And then we start judging the songs we sing, the message series we preach, and we start to treat the church not like the family that God created it to be, but a business that you are a consumer of, and if you don’t like what they are “selling” you are off, not to the next church, but to the next business, but not before leaving a negative Yelp Review as if that is how God intended for you to engage with his Kingdom.

And, as misguided as that is… it’s even worse when we approach Jesus, not to be with him but because of what we can get from him.

Jesus, my guy! What do I need to do to inherit eternal life?

Did you just come to Jesus for a transaction?

Did you just approach Him as if he’s got something to sell?

Did you not just see what happened a minute ago when the children came to Jesus, not to get anything from Him but to just BE IN HIS PRESENCE?

Conclusion [Big Hook]

And this gets to the heart of what I want to say to you today…

Jesus is the win.

Not what he can give you, not what he can do for you, not for the doors that he can open… but Jesus.

Religion offers you a participation trophy, but a relationship with Jesus is the win.

The older we get, and the longer that we are in faith, we lose sight of that.

We come to prayer only when we need something from him.

We fast when we need a breakthrough in our life.

We consecrate in order to earn the approval of the Big Guy Upstairs.

And all of those things, are not inherently wrong, but they take what was meant to be presence and turn it into performance.

The Kingdom of God belongs to those who don’t come to him because they want something from him, but to be with Him.

Conclusion

When was the last time you came to Jesus with nothing to ask - but to just be with him?

You know, I think about those children who ran to Jesus that day — they didn’t have anything to offer Him. No résumé, no record of obedience, no wealth, no titles. They just came running.

And I wonder if that’s what Jesus is still longing for today. People who stop overthinking how to get eternal life, and just run back into His presence.

The Rich Young Ruler walked away sad because he thought Jesus was asking him to give something up. But what Jesus was really doing was inviting him to become like a child again.

What if, before you leave today, you made that choice? To stop coming to Jesus for what you can get, and start coming to Jesus for who He is. To simply say, “Jesus, I just want to be with You again.”