Well Played – Reverend Anne Rosebrock
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Scripture References
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Ezekiel 33:30-33
Luke 12:15-21
Hymn References
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Sanctuary
This sermon is based on the book When the Game is Over It All Goes Back In the Box by John
Ortberg. The board game used as an example for the sermon is the Game of Life distributed by
Hasbro Gaming.
Sermon
He was very successful. He was known for his wealth. He had a massive home and many barns.
Some people just get lucky that way. Sometimes they find themselves in the right place at the
right time; or, sometimes, in dedication to their career, they experience great success and
financial gain. He was a Warren Buffet of his day. He was uber-successful, and then what
happens? A crop comes in and he doesn’t even have enough space to store the harvest! He
needs bigger barns! And so he plotted and he planned and he came up with a strategy: he
was going to build the very barns that he needed to store his harvest. He felt like his every
dream had been fulfilled. He was all set and finally going to get on with his life. Once the barns
were built he could really become the person he envisioned.
We’ve all been there. We all are people who work really hard; we’ve seen people have great
success, but we also know that not everyone who works hard has great success. I learned
recently that Bill Gates’ net worth is seventy-two billion dollars; Oprah is about two-point-nine
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Well Played – Reverend Anne Rosebrock
Sunday, August 3, 2014
billion, and this man was somewhere in between – a very wealthy, very successful man. Yet for
all of his efforts, Jesus calls him “foolish”.
Let me be clear: success is not a bad thing. Being successful is not a sin. Ultimately, however,
the only thing that matters is not how rich we are in this life – this life is temporary! – but how rich
we are in our relationship with God through our relationship with Jesus Christ. If our relationship
with the Divine is our first priority, then whether we’re billionaires or living on the streets, we will be
rich in what truly matters. Let us pray…
Holy and loving God, we set our sights on what is important to the world, but now step into your
love and grace to consider what is important to you. Open our minds, open our eyes, open our
hearts, and open our very lives to your vision for the living of our days. We pray it in Christ’s
name, Amen.
The man was foolish – not because he was successful; the man was foolish because he kept
putting off his relationship of faith. He was going to get to that tomorrow. We all know about
tomorrow: we’re going to pray more tomorrow; we’re going to study more tomorrow; we’re
going to serve more tomorrow. We all look to tomorrow when it comes to faith, since it gives us
the opportunity to focus on our own agenda today. We trust that tomorrow is coming; and
that’s the day we’re going to turn our lives around and be ever-devoted disciples of Jesus Christ.
Of course, one tomorrow after another comes and we look to the next tomorrow. Before we
know it, the barns are full and we’ve taken very good care of our own agendas, but have never
actually gotten around to God’s agendas for us. Then the tomorrows are gone and life is over.
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Well Played – Reverend Anne Rosebrock
Sunday, August 3, 2014
When the game is over, it all goes back in the box. That’s the title of a book by John Ortberg,
and that game, that box of which he speaks, is a casket. I wasn’t prepared for that when I
started the book. I was prepared for the box of the game, not the casket of reality.
What good is another barn? What good is another home? What good is another car? What
good is another pair of shoes? What good is another degree? What good is another watch?
What good is another night at a baseball game? What good is another award or another
vacation if we do not get our lives in order with God? Because when it’s all over, we go back in
a box. When it’s all said and done, we’re buried six feet under. Not a very pretty picture, but it
causes us to pause and think about the ways we’re living our days. For if all of our time is spent
on being successful, may we be clear: nothing of that on earth will go with us. All that is left
undone won’t really matter to us when we go in the box. All that will matter is the relationship
that we have with the Divine, for that is what will lift us beyond this life into life everlasting.
What three things are at the top of your list to accomplish in life? If you had to narrow it down,
what would be those three things? What matters most to you? Think about it. Where is God on
the list? Did God even make it to the list? Did God only make it to the list because it’s Sunday
morning and we’re in church together? Would God make it to the list on Monday morning?
What are your priorities?
John Ortberg writes: “The object of life, according to Jesus, is breathtakingly simple: being rich
toward God.” He goes on to write:
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Well Played – Reverend Anne Rosebrock
Sunday, August 3, 2014
“Being rich toward God means growing a soul that is increasingly healthy and good” which is
living the image of God daily.
“Loving and enjoying the people around us” which means being in community with one
another.
“Learning about our gifts and passions and doing good work to help improve the world” which
means serving on behalf of God.
“Becoming generous in spirit, giving of ourselves and our gifts from God”
“Making that which is temporary become the servant of that which is eternal.”
We do this by loving God, loving neighbor and loving self. Ortberg writes, “All else is
commentary. No one can love God with heart and soul and mind and strength and be poor in
God’s eyes. No one can fail to do this and be rich in God’s eyes.”
We can’t take it with us – not the success, not the accolades. We can’t take it with us. It won’t
matter then. We can only take love with us: love for God and love for others. Our legacy, if it’s
going to last, has to be built on Love. To know God is to love God, and we know God as we
worship together, as we study, as we serve, as we give, as we share God’s love story with this
world. May we not humor ourselves thinking that an hour on a Sunday means that we’re rich
with God. No; it takes more intention than that. Cultivating a deep, meaningful relationship with
Christ takes time and effort on our part. But when we focus on our connection with the Divine,
the Spirit of God will move in our lives in amazing ways.
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Well Played – Reverend Anne Rosebrock
Sunday, August 3, 2014
There can be no denying that the Spirit of God is moving in this congregation in miraculous
ways. There’s a team working on our next step after Imagine Meridian, and this fall and winter
we’ll be looking at that together. All sorts of ideas are coming forward from different areas
within Meridian Street and beyond about the impact we can make on this community. We
already have the impact. Now we take the next step to make it even greater. The more we
remind ourselves in prayer every day on where God is leading us, the clearer we will become
about those ministries and that impact.
The Spirit of God is moving in our midst, and it is going to change our lives and the lives of many
others. That is the transformation that God does deliver. Those ideas will have life breathed into
them as we begin to pray together and serve together in the name of Grace.
Think about your list again. My guess is that “family” was on that list of three. My family would be
on that list. What are those three things? Love God, love self, love neighbor. Allow Love to
shape and guide our living. We cannot be a great parent unless we are rooted in the love of
God. We will not be a great neighbor unless we are rooted in the love of God. We will not
become the person we know we can become unless we are rooted in the love of God. We will
never leave a legacy of blessing and love unless we are fully rooted in the love of God.
The Game of Life takes forever to play. You may remember: you get a little car, and then
there’s pegs – blue for boys, pink for girls (and as I recall, pegs don’t stay in the car very well) –
you spin the dial and move around the board. You come up with a career, and there’s choices:
you can be a Musician, a Stunt Performer, a Pilot, a Fashion Designer, a Rocket Scientist (you
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Well Played – Reverend Anne Rosebrock
Sunday, August 3, 2014
think of me, right?), a Film Star. You can choose a house – I drew the beach hut for $100,000.
Trust me: most beach huts cost more than that. Then you choose action cards – you can sell
flowers from your garden for $70,000; you can invent a new fruit; you can buy a designer suit;
you can take a dream vacation; you can get fired for sleeping on the job. There are all sorts of
realities.
As you go around the board, you get money and then you lose money. You have to pay the
bank. At the end, you’re headed toward Millionaire Estates. You may or may not make it there,
but the object is that the wealthiest player at the end of the game wins. Only, here’s the reality:
at the end of the game, it all goes back in the box – the car, the houses, the money, the career.
It all goes back in the box.
Just like real life. When that happens, what’s left? We’re in the box; what’s left? It gives us
pause to think about the way we’re living our days, about that list of priorities; it gives us pause to
think: God is great! As we live out our love for God, it won’t end for us in the box. Let us pray…
We have great intentions, O God. We’re building barns. You understand that. We’re going to
get to you tomorrow and then we’re going to give ourselves to you completely…tomorrow.
Help us not to live in such a way that Jesus calls us “foolish”. Help us not to run out of tomorrows
before we turn to you. In this very moment, we rededicate our lives to you and to your love. We
pray that we live toward your purposes for this world in our every word and every action. Help us
make space for you to move in our lives so we will be rich in our love for you. In the name of
Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
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