Bucket List: Is it your List or God's List?

Pastor Burcham’s Sermon

 Sunday, February 10, 2008

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

A couple of weeks ago, I received an e-mail from my brother. He just got back from vacation down in Mexico. He went to one of those all-inclusive resorts. No, I’m not jealous at all. Anyway, he said while he was down there, he decided to do something called ziplining. Never heard of it myself. So he went on to explain ziplining is they take you out into the jungle and they hook you up to this cable that’s about 90 feet up in the air and then you jump from tree to tree so you can see the canopy of the jungle, meanwhile, being tethered to this cable. Now mind you, his wife did her best to talk him out of doing this little adventure. But unsuccessful, my brother being hardheaded as he is, it doesn’t run in the family, he went ahead. “In fact, Ron,” he says, “I even had a DVD made to prove to you that I did it.” He said the funny thing was when he got back to the resort and got back with his friends, they kept saying to him, “You’re just working on your Bucket List.”

Bucket List is becoming a catch phrase because of the movie of the same title. It stars Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. They are two men who have been diagnosed with terminal cancer and they only have one year to live. So Morgan Freeman starts making this list of things he’d like to do, he’d like to accomplish before he kicks the bucket, thus, it’s his Bucket List.

I started thinking about that and we all have things we’d like to do before we go to heaven, right? I know it’s not pleasant to think about death, talk about death, but let’s face it, all of us are going to be there one day. We only have so many years, so many days, so many hours that we’re going to be in this world and so think about that for a minute. What are some things that, before you get to the other side in heaven, you’d really like to see? What are some of the things you’d like to do if you could?

I’ve started kind of a Bucket List. I’ve thought to myself, “You know what I really someday would like to do? I would really like to tour England and go into those castles that were built in the 700's and 800's. I always wanted to do that. I want to go Down Under. I want to be in Australia. I guess I want to see a wallaby in the wild. I don’t know. I want to be there. I’d like to learn a foreign language that you actually speak instead of the Greek and Hebrew stuff that I learned in seminary.” Those are some of the things that are on my Bucket List.

What’s on yours? Let’s be interactive this morning, yeah, loosen up. I know it’s early. What’s on your Bucket List? Somebody tell me. You have to be thinking about some of these things. What would you like to do? Uh oh, I don’t know if I’m going to call on Pastor Meyer. Go ahead. You want to go see the Northern Lights. Okay, before you kick the bucket. And somebody else, come on, help me out there. Yeah. You want to go white water rafting. Ooh, alright. Do you have one? Go to Ireland. Ooh, sounds good. Anyone? One more. What do you have? You want to see the Great Wall of China. Incredible things to put on our Bucket List of the things we’d like to do.

Over the next few weeks, let’s think about that list and let’s think about the things we want to put on there but let’s do so guided by God. Because God’s Word really does have something to say about that. It has something to say about what’s on the list. In other words, let’s start asking, “What would God like us to accomplish before we get to heaven?” I think all the things we have on our list are fine but let’s also say, “What are the things God would have on His list?”

Now we’re going to do that by looking at the life of Jesus because, if you will, Jesus has His own Bucket List. I don’t know if you picked up on how the reading started this morning but it says, “From that time on, Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law that He must be killed and, on the third day, be raised to life.” In other words, Jesus understands that He has to go to Jerusalem and, when He’s in Jerusalem, He’s going to die. And there are certain things He wants to accomplish, certain things He wants to get done before He faces the cross. If you will, He has a Bucket List, right? He has a certain amount of things He wants to do before He dies upon the cross. It would serve us well, then, to see what is it Jesus wants to get accomplished before He goes to the cross and see if that doesn’t help us formulate our own Bucket List.

We’re going to begin this morning with a real fundamental thing and that is we’re going to ask the fundamental question, “Does my list match up with God’s list?” Or the way that Jesus put it when He was talking to Peter, “Do you have in mind the things of God or the things of men?” You see, it’s quite possible that God’s list will be different than your list. Peter found that out in kind of a big way, almost a shocking way. Because Peter kind of had a list of things that were on his Bucket List and, all of a sudden, Jesus comes in and rebukes him and says, “You have the wrong list, pal.”

Now a little bit of context here is necessary to understand the conversation that Jesus has with his disciples and why Peter jumps up and he is so enthusiastic about, “No, that can’t happen to you, Jesus.” The conversation right before this, Jesus is asking His disciples, “So what’s the talk going on out there? Who do people say that I am?” And they give various answers. And then He comes up with this, “But what about you, who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man but by my Father in heaven.” Peter nailed it. He’s feeling good right now. He got the answer right, right? His chest is just a little bit puffed out a little bit more. The other disciples are kind of looking over at him. Peter is excited. He gets high praise from Jesus, from his teacher, his master. “He has been revealed by my Father in heaven.” How good can that be? On top of that, Jesus says now, openly, publicly, says to His disciples He indeed is the Christ. He’s openly said, “Yes, I am the Christ, the Son of the living God and I’m among you.” So Peter’s thinking, “Wow, I am walking side by side with the Messiah that we’ve been waiting centuries for.” Peter is flying high.

Things go south pretty quickly for ol’ Pete because the next conversation, Jesus starts talking about His impending death. Impending death? That doesn’t make sense to Peter. It doesn’t even register in his brain. “What do you mean impending death? Jesus, we just found out you’re the Messiah. You’re going to restore Israel.” Peter’s thinking about how now prosperity is going to come back into the land. He’s thinking about now how they’re going to be the great nation they once were. Maybe he’s even thinking about, “I wonder what post I’ll have in Jesus’ cabinet?” He’s probably thinking ahead of the years walking side by side with the Messiah, God’s promised one. And now Jesus starts talking about He’s going to Jerusalem and He’s going to die? Peter’s going to have none of that. He says, “No, no, no. Come here. I have to talk to you for a minute. I’m not going to let it happen, Jesus. Not going to be that way. I’m not going to let you die.” Then comes the stinging rebuke and it had to sting. Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan. You are a stumbling block to me. You do not have in mind the things of God but the things of men.” Ow. One moment Peter is speaking for the Father in heaven, the next moment, he’s the mouthpiece for the devil himself. That hurts. That hurts.

You see, Peter’s list was too short. His list of what he thought would be accomplished in his lifetime was too shortsighted, maybe even a little bit selfish about how great it would be to be with Jesus for 10-20 years on earth. He was thinking about the restoration of Israel. But God was thinking about something much bigger. God’s list of things that He wanted to accomplish was much greater than what Peter could imagine. Peter’s thinking of the restoration of Israel. God is thinking about the restoration of mankind. Jesus has to go to Jerusalem. He must suffer and He must die. If He is going to accomplish the ultimate thing that is on His list, the salvation of the world, He has to go to Jerusalem. God’s list was different than Peter’s list.

It’s a good question for us to ask ourselves. How does your list match up to God’s list? As we think about the things we want to get accomplished in our life, the things we want to do, the things we want to see, how does that match up with what God wants us to get accomplished in our lifetime? Now I’m not suggesting that we have to throw out the trip to Europe or the white water rafting or going to Ireland or all the other things. I’m just saying this is an evaluation tool to say, “Am I being a little shortsighted? Could I be a little bit selfish in my list? What is it that God wants to get accomplished? What’s on His list?”

You see, more than likely, what’s going to be on God’s list is God is going to call upon us to make some sacrifices. He’s going to call upon ourselves to deny ourselves. Certainly, His list for Jesus called for a sacrifice. He called for Jesus to sacrifice His very life and that’s what He was trying to explain to His disciples. He’s using imperatives. His words were chosen very carefully. He says, “I must go to Jerusalem. It’s necessary that I suffer at the hands of the chief and elders. It’s absolutely essential that I go to the cross and give up my life.” You see, Jesus knows that the only way we can be restored to our Father in heaven, the only way we can be reunited with Him is if He goes to Jerusalem because if Jesus doesn’t go to Jerusalem, we’re still lost in our sin. And, my friends, we cannot stand before a holy God if we are still covered in sin because you cannot be sinful in front of God and survive. God is a holy God, a just God, a righteous God. He cannot and will not be in the presence of anything which is unholy or unrighteous. We cannot stand before Him as sinful human beings. That’s why Jesus must go to Jerusalem. That’s why Jesus must be the one who doesn’t survive. Jesus is the one who has to die in our place.

But in so doing, He changes all of history. He changes all of eternity for us. Jesus knew what was ahead of Him but because of the joy on the other side, He willingly, almost gladly went to the cross. He was willing to make the sacrifice because He knew what that sacrifice would bring. He knew it would bring the salvation of mankind. He knew that it meant He could spend an eternity with His creation so He was willing to make the sacrifice because of the reward that was on the other side.

And Jesus is very clear with us. We’ll have to make sacrifices. We’ll have to deny ourselves. That’s what He said to His disciples. He said, “Look, if you want to follow me, if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. Whoever wants to save his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life will find it.” What Jesus is saying if you really want to know what life is about, if you really want to have a life which is fulfilling, which has meaning and purpose to it, then you have to understand what it is to deny yourself and to live for someone else other than just you.

Think back at the list that you made at the beginning of the message, things you wanted to do. Was there anything on there about denying yourself or sacrifice? I mean, isn’t that the whole point of a Bucket List is that you’re going to stop denying yourself, you’re going to stop making sacrifices and finally do some of the things that you want to do? Here’s the wisdom of God. The wisdom of God is if you really want to know what life is, if you really want to have meaning in your life, then know what it is to sacrifice, know what it is to deny yourself and to live for something greater than you. Lose your life so that you really gain your life in Christ.

Maybe the best way to explain it is those of us who have children. You know how much you sacrifice to have children. You don’t really know it going into it. That might change your mind. You have somewhat of an idea that this is going to cost you something but it isn’t until after you have kids that, “Wow, this costs a lot.” It costs a lot economically. I stopped looking at the projections of what it cost to raise a kid anymore. I don’t want to know. It costs you emotionally because there’s the stress, there’s the anxiety, there’s the worry about your children that will never go away. There’s the cost of time. Think about how much free time you would have if you weren’t taking kids here, there, doing this, doing that, traveling across the country to see grandkids and doing all of that. It costs a lot, right? There are a lot of sacrifices to have kids. Who among us would go back and say, “No, I don’t want to have them.” Oh, I know we have our moments but seriously. I don’t know about you but I don’t consider it a sacrifice. It’s a privilege. I mean it is a sacrifice but you don’t look at it that way. It’s a privilege. It’s a privilege to watch them grow up. It’s a privilege to love them unconditionally and then, all of a sudden, they have to return that love back to you. It’s a privilege to see how God shapes and molds them and makes each one of them unique. It’s a sacrifice but you don’t consider it a sacrifice because of the reward and the blessing they are in your life.

When our list starts to look like God’s list, there’ll be sacrifices. The world’s Bucket List is going to look a lot different than ours. It’s going to tell you to live on the edge. It’s going to tell you to do these things that are going to be satisfactory for the moment and bring a lot of pleasure but it’s going to be shortsighted and God says, “No, you shouldn’t do those things. Those are wrong and they’re harmful.” And so, if you will, He takes them away.

Think about the fact right now you could still be in bed sleeping, right? But you got up early so you could come to worship. That’s a sacrifice. The offering we’re going to take in a moment. You’re going to take some of your money, your hard-earned cash and you’re going to give it back to God. Think about the things you could do with that? My goodness, I could be in a bigger house. I could drive a different car. I could take different vacations. Lots of things could be different. Sacrifice.

But if you’re doing those things, I suspect you’re like me and I don’t consider it a sacrifice. I consider it a privilege. Isn’t it a great blessing to have a God who loves us so much and cares so much about us that He’s willing to say no to us? He’s willing to say, “No, don’t get involved in that because it will hurt you.” And so He sets parameters for us on how we should live. That’s a blessing, my friends. That’s not a sacrifice. It’s an honor to come into God’s house and to be able to worship Him, to receive His Word and the Sacrament, to be built up in our faith, to offer up our prayers and our praise to Him. That’s an honor. It’s a privilege. It’s a privilege to recognize that everything I have comes from God and now this pittance of a percent I give back to Him so I can thank Him and recognize Him, that’s a privilege to do all those things.

You see, God’s wisdom, God says, “If you really want to live, then give up your life and then you’ll understand.” We give up our life to God and we let Him set the priorities, let Him make our list. If you really want to live, match it up with God’s list. That doesn’t mean that we can’t have our things on there that we’d like to accomplish and we’d like to do but it does say something about the priorities and it probably changes some things on that list.

But if our Bucket List matches up more with God’s list, we’re going to enjoy every moment of every day in this life and we get to look forward to the next one. Amen.

Copyright 2008 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church