“What if Jesus Meant What He Said?

[Aloha! At first I thought I would try to impress you with a Powerpoint

presentation or an iMovie. But instead, I changed my mind and decided to
impress you with my good looks and charming personality….]

After Camp Erdman, I experienced a lot of aches & pains. My knee was sore
after the hike, I sprained my shoulder lifting bags…. I realized that I was
feeling my age. Then it dawned on me, half my life is over. At least half of it.
So I started to reflect back on my life. I wanted to see what my “half-time
score” was. Am I doing what I’m supposed to be doing? Am I living for Christ?

Seems like I spent the first half of my life chasing the “American Dream.”
What’s that? It’s going to college, getting a good job, getting married, having
2.5 kids, owning a house with a yard, taking family trips to Disneyland, and
sending the kids to private schools (like Punahou, Iolani, or preferably, the
Kamehameha Schools!) Then retiring comfortably.

And the “definition” of being a Christian in America. That means going to

church on Sundays, giving to the Lokahi Tree at Christmas time, and donating
canned-goods to the Food Bank at Thanksgiving. “No honey. Not the spam!
Give ‘um the creamed broccoli. Look, the date expired already. Give ‘um that.”
And if you’re a super Christian, then you watch Pastor Wayne on Sunday
nights at 6:30. That’s uber-Christianity!

But you know, that’s not what Jesus talked about. Jesus talked about a
different kind of life. He said to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and bring
the good news of the gospel to the poor. He said to go out into all nations and
make disciples. Who’s He talking to? He said to pick up your cross and follow
Me. He said that you will be blessed if you suffer for my namesake. He said….
very radical things. But am I listening?

A bunch of years ago, I accepted Jesus as my Lord & Savior. I know for sure
that He is my savior. He died on the cross for my sins, and by His grace I get
to go to Heaven. So amazing…. But do I know Him as Lord? Sometimes, we
only care to memorize what Jesus says. Uber-Christians can even give you the
Greek translation! Remember those Star Wars movies? When the
stormtrooper didn’t do what Darth Vader said. Lord Vader made a fist, and
the stormtrooper started choking…. cough…. cough…. In the olden days,
everyone obeyed the king. Of course! But am I obeying?

And what if Jesus decided to spend Christmas in Hawai’i? What if He came to

church today and stood right outside that doorway? What would it be like?
What would it look like? Well, He probably wouldn’t be wearing a
Manuheali’i shirt. Or Abercrombie & Fitch. He would probably have humble
looking clothes…. may be even dirty from helping people all the time. He
would have dirt in His fingernails. He wouldn’t be staying at the Ko ‘Olina. He
would go down another 10 miles and stay at the tent city. He would be
feeding people, healing the sick, and just hanging out.

OK, so He would be standing here at our doorway with probably a homeless

person on one side and maybe a drug addict on His other side. Would we
welcome them with open arms? Would we embrace Him? I don’t know. We
would probably call security. “Call Jiggy at the guard shack!” Would Jesus be
welcomed in His own church? Or would He be a “misfit.” Think about it. How
could Jesus not fit-in among His own followers? I mean, we’re all trying to be
like Him…. right?

So right now you may be saying to yourself, hey, this is Christmas. You’re
bumming me out. Let’s not get carried away here. Let’s be real. Don’t take
things so literally. Soooo then, we come back to the question. Did Jesus really,
really, really mean what He said? [pause.]

I think we all know that He did. So now what? Well, I’ll tell you what…. There
is hope!

Jesus said to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and bring the good news of
the gospel to the poor. We can do that. We can donate food to the Food Bank.
And not just at Thanksgiving. I’m sure that hungry people get hungry at other
times of the year! You can deliver food, clothing and toiletries to homeless
shelters. If you live on the Leeward Coast, you can bring food to the families
directly.

I once interviewed the director of the IHS (Institute for Human Services) on
behalf of Kamehameha Schools Hawai’i. One of the questions from the 3 rd
graders was, “What is the cause of homelessness?” I expected the answer to
be typical: drug abuse, poverty, broken families, mental illness, etc. Her
answered floored me. She looked into the camera and said, “What causes
homelessness is that people don’t believe they can do anything about it. And
when you have thousands and thousands of people who believe that nothing
can be done, then there is no hope. There is homelessness because we don’t
do enough.”

Abject poverty is the poorest of the poor. You can sponsor a child through
Compassion International. For $38 a month, you can rescue a child from
poverty. $38 is only like skipping Starbucks for a week. A couple of years ago,
my sponsored child wrote to me to thank me. She said that because of me,
she got a new sweater and a new school bag, and that it was her best
Christmas ever. That made me feel good. But as I reread the letter over and
over, it kinda made me sad. Not sure if she’s ever had anything “new” before.
And if anyone here needed a jacket because you were cold or a backpack for
school, you could probably get it. For her, it would take the “best Christmas in
her life” for that to be possible.
Jesus said to go out into all nations and make disciples. If you can’t leave
home because of family, you can support a missionary through your church.
If you don’t go to church, start going! If you don’t have a personal
relationship with Jesus, then see me after this. I can hook you up. If you feel
shame, then sing the Kamehameha Alma Mater. “Be strong,” and “Be firm!”
Those lines are rooted in the Bible.

In closing….
My prayer is that this doesn’t become just another one of those Christmas
sermons. My hope is that it will encourage us into action. Do something. Yes,
there’s a whole lotta of things going on that aren’t right in this world. So why
doesn’t God fix it? Why doesn’t God do something about it?

He did. He made you, and He made me. We’re His Plan A. There is no Plan B.
Yes, Jesus said some very radical things. And He meant every word. Yes, Jesus
said very extraordinary things. Now will you do extraordinary things?

[My time is up, so I’m out. God Bless you, and have a very Merry Christmas!
Mahalo.]