About the Author: Sunday Sermons from Sell Chapel are written by Rev. Preston Van Deursen, Director of Pastoral Care at the Masonic Village at Elizabethtown.
A humorous story is told about golfer Arnold Palmer. Palmer was invited to play a series of exhibition golf matches in Saudi Arabia. The king of Saudi Arabia was so impressed with “Arnie” and so appreciative of Palmer’s impact on his countrymen that he wanted to give him a gift. “It really isn’t necessary,” Palmer insisted. “I am honored to have been invited.”
The king was persistent. “I would be unhappy if I could not show you my appreciation,” he said.
Finally, Palmer relented. He thought for a moment and said, “Well, how about a golf club? That would make a nice memento of my visit to your country.”
The next day Arnold Palmer received the title to a golf club consisting of thousands of acres of real estate, a club house, beautiful trees, etc.
Sometimes a labor of love is richly rewarded. Have you ever heard of Sister Emmanuel? Sister Emmanuel was at retirement age when she fell on her knees and prayed that God would send her to the most desperate spot on earth. He did. Today this 79-year-old French nun serves God in “the City of Garbage.” That is the name of a “suburb” of Cairo, Egypt where live the people who collect Cairo’s garbage. They not only collect the garbage, they live in the garbage, eat the garbage, and salvage all their earthly belongings from the garbage as well.
They are the most despised people in Egypt. For one thing, they raise pigs in their garbage kingdom. Pigs are forbidden in Moslem society as they were in the Old Testament.
Into this desperate situation came this retired nun to live among the garbage people, to love them and to teach them and their children better ways to live. Has she succeeded? More than you might possibly imagine. There are schools now, and at her urging the government is providing better housing. Many lives have been immeasurably improved. Emmanuel means “God with us.” Certainly the people of the City of Garbage know that God is with them in the presence of this determined and dedicated nun.
What is Sister Emmanuel’s reward? Nothing earthly, to be sure. She lives as simply as the people to whom she ministers. But, one day….
Diane Sawyer, the CBS correspondent, asked Sister Emmanuel if she thought about death. Sister Emmanuel showed Ms. Sawyer a painting on her wall of angels joined hand in hand dancing in the Celestial kingdom. “One of these days,” said Sister Emmanuel, “They will offer me a hand and I will dance into the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Who can doubt that she will?
WHAT IS IT FOR WHICH YOU ARE WORKING? What is it that motivates you? What is it that makes you happy. Conventional wisdom says, money. And money is definitely an important motivational consideration. We can sympathize with the poor man who went to a psychologist and said, “Doc, I’m ready to end it all. I have nothing to live for anymore.” The doctor said, “What do you mean you have nothing to live for. Your house isn’t paid for. Your television isn’t paid for. Your furniture isn’t paid for. You haven’t paid me for this visit. What do you mean that you haven’t got anything to live for?”
Money does have a way of dominating our lives particularly if we do not have it. We are like the man who happened to find a $10 bill on the street. He was so happy that he spent the rest of his life walking with his head down hoping to find more. He accumulated hundreds of buttons, thousands of tabs off of soft drink cans, a few scattered pennies, a bent back and a sore neck. Meanwhile, he missed the beauty of God’s creation all about him.
Soren Kierkegaard told a parable once about a wealthy man driving along in a well lighted carriage, looking comfortable and secure. There was so much light in his carriage and he was so wrapped up in his secure little world that he never noticed the majestic beauty of the stars overhead. On the same road traveled a peasant who had no majestic well lighted carriage only a small cart. But he had the stars.
What is it that makes us happy? Is it money?
There is a limit to the motivating power of money. What is it that motivates you? Is it money? Is it fear? Sometimes fear can be a good short term motivator. There was a cartoon sometime back about a company in which the boss was looking dejectedly at the pins in a map representing each of the territories of his salesmen. Sales were obviously slumping. The boss is saying, “Maybe we ought to take the pins out of the map and put them in the salesmen.” Sometimes fear is a good short term motivator. Studies show, however, that it loses its power in the long run.
What is it that motivates you? Is it the admiration and respect of other people, particularly your peers? It has been noted many times that ball teams play much better on their home floors. There is something about having people around you cheering for you that enhances performance. Is that what motivates you? Is it the thrill of a job well done? That is a worthy motivation. Or is it something even higher than that?
After the tragic bombing in Lebanon, some of the wounded and dying were shipped to a West German hospital. In one hospital bed lay a severely wounded Marine, moments away from death. His commander walked to the Marine’s bed to speak with him and to offer some encouragement. The marine peered up from his death bed and struggled to voice the words, “Semper Fi,” the Marines’ motto, “Always faithful.” That Marine was motivated by some higher calling. “What is it that motivates you?”
THE GREATEST MOTIVATOR IN THIS WORLD IS LOVE. As Rollo May wrote many years ago, “Will follows from caring.” There is nothing in this world that can motivate like love. Nothing brings us more joy.
You doubt that? Let me ask you a question. If one of your children were critically ill and needed an extremely expensive operation in order to survive, how much would you be willing to spend? Would you be willing to take all of the money out of your bank account? Of course. Would you be willing to sell your house? Your cars? Without a moment’s hesitation. Would you be willing to take a second job? A third job? Would you be willing to humble yourself and take a job late at night washing dishes at the local truck stop? How far would you go? You would do whatever it takes.
Love is the greatest motivator in the world. We will do things for love that we would not do for any other reason. We say, “I would not do that for love or money.” The truth of the matter is that there are a lot of things you and I would not do for money. But unless there is something dreadfully wrong with us, there is practically nothing that we would not do for love.
What do you imagine motivated St. Paul? Our lesson from the Epistle for the day is one of the most interesting passages in 1st Corinthians. St.Paul is really talking here about compensating pastors. He is very careful to point out that the pastor ought to be adequately compensated for his work. I hasten to say that because there are always some people who think that the pastor is paid too much as it is.
St. Paul makes a point of saying that the pastor ought to be compensated. However, St. Paul also notes that he himself never accepted any payment for his missionary work. He was a tent maker by profession. That was his way of making a living. He never accepted any money for the preaching of the gospel. He was proud of that. He even boasted of it. It allowed him to say truthfully and dramatically, “I’m not doing this for the money.”
What did motivate him if it wasn’t money? Prestige? Hardly. St. Paul was reviled even within the church. There were many of the redeemed who wouldn’t walk across the street to speak to St. Paul. That was inside the church. He was imprisoned and beaten by those outside of the church.
It wasn’t prestige that motivated him. It certainly wasn’t any sense of power or any of the other things that generally motivate people. What was it that motivated St. Paul?
It was love. Love for the gospel. Love for other people. Love for the Lord.
What is it that motivates you? There is only one motivation that matters in the Christian faith: Love. St Paul says at the end of 1st Corinthians: “Do all things in the spirit of love.” That is the only motivation.
Reinhold Neibuhr once said, “You may be able to compel people to maintain certain minimum standards by stressing duty, but the highest moral and spiritual achievements depend not upon a push, but upon a pull. People must be charmed into righteousness.”
I am not sure I would have used those exact words, but what he is saying is that the only motivation that really matters is the motivation of love. “Will follows from caring,” Rollo May said.
Leo Buscgalia tells a fable in his book Loving Each Other, about a young girl who was walking through a meadow. She saw a butterfly impaled upon a thorn. Very carefully, she released the butterfly and it began to fly away. Then it came back and changed into a beautiful fairy. “For your kindness,” the fairy told the little girl, “I will grant you your fondest wish.” The little girl thought for a moment and replied, “I want to be happy.” The fairy leaned toward her and whispered into her ear and suddenly vanished. As the girl grew older no one in the land was happier than she. Whenever anyone asked her for the secret of her happiness, she would only smile and say, “I listened to a good fairy.” As she reached the last years of her life, her neighbors were afraid that her fabulous secret might die with her. “Tell us, please,” they begged her. “Tell us what the fairy said.” The now lovely old lady smiled and said, “She told me that everyone, no matter how secure they seem, had need of me.” *
That is a great secret of life. Everyone has need of us. And the willingness to give ourselves to others, is the secret of happiness. The only motivation that matters is love. Love for neighbor and love for Christ.
That is what motivated Sister Emmanuel to go into the City of Garbage. Love for people and love for Jesus.
Do you love Christ? You ask, “How can I love Him, whom I have not seen? I can be obedient to Him, I can fear Him, I can worship Him and praise Him, but how can I love him?”
The great commandment is, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind and strength.” Do you love Him?
Perhaps we misunderstand the meaning of love. Love is more than a warm feeling. Love is a total commitment to someone worthy of our admiration and respect. It also helps when the one we love also loves us in return.
What is it that motivates you? Could you go into the City of Garbage and remind the people there that “God is with us?” God may never call you to such a ministry, but would you be willing to go? There are needs almost as overwhelming right here in our own community. Why should we care? Not from a sense of duty. That would only breed resentment. Not because people would think more highly of us. That would breed selfrighteousness. Only one motivation will do: Love.
