Being A Loser at the Game of Life
Mark 8:31-38
NOTE: The general concept for this sermon was adapted from a children’s sermon idea found at sermons4kids.com
In 1860, Milton Bradley created his first game. The game, originally called The Checkered Game of Life, was basically a modified checker board with the purpose of earning points by landing on “good” squares as the players moved from infancy (in the bottom left corner) to “Happy Old Age” in the upper right corner. The game sold 45,000 copies in its first year!
In 1960 (on the original game’s 100th anniversary) the Milton Bradley company re-introduced the “Game of Life.” And now, after many variations and updates, the game can be found in family game closets around the world. The board no longer resembles a checker board, but the basic premise is the same – land on good spaces, earn money (instead of points) and by the end of the game, earn a place in “millionaire estates” rather than “countryside acres retirement home”. Through the decisions made by the players (from choosing a career to risking money in the stock market to having the opportunity to give to good causes) the game attempts to model the ups and downs of life. With one spin of the spinner, you can lose everything or double your worth.
In the mid-1980’s Milton Bradley adopted the advertizing slogan: Be a Winner at the Game of Life! The commercials promoted what many in the world think it means to be a “winner” at life. One commercial showed a family playing Life together with the tag, Be a winner at the game of Life playing in the background as the announcer says… get a job – And the little boy says “I’ll be a doctor”. Have a family – and another family member says, “I have twins”. Be a winner at the game of Life… I won the lottery. Be a winner at the Game of Life… I’m a millionaire!
Unfortunately too many people think that to be a winner at life a person must accomplish what it takes to win at the board game of life. The world tells us that winners are people with status and clout. Winners are people with healthy, normal (whatever that is) families. Winners are people with money, people with no problems, people who are lucky enough to win the lottery. Isn’t that what we really want in this world - to be considered a winner at the game of life?
We want others to look at us and see people who have it all together. We don’t want others to see our struggles. We don’t want people to think that perhaps we don’t have as much stuff as our neighbors. We don’t want people to think we’re losers! We want to end up in “Millionaire Estates” with all the other winners, not at the “Countryside Acres” with the other losers!
But real life is not a board game. The decisions we make in life don’t go away after an hour of play. Choices of careers and families and how we spend our money can and do have long-term effects for us and for those around us. And yet, many will say that the winners in life are the Bill Gates, the Oprah Winfreys, the Donald Trumps, the rich, the powerful. Those are the ones who will retire happily, while the rest of us just bide our time.
The scriptures turn this concept of winning and losing on its head!
In our Gospel reading this morning, Jesus begins talking about ideas that aren’t what others are expecting. The scriptures tell us that Jesus speaks plainly (no parables or tricky sayings) as he teaches about the suffering that the he must endure. He tells his followers that he will be rejected by the Temple leaders. That he will be killed. That he will suffer, die and on the third day be raised from the dead. And all of this is too much for Peter. Peter, has just proclaimed that Jesus is the Messiah, the chosen One who will redeem the people of Israel. But this Jesus is not talking like the Messiah that Peter is expecting.
Peter is expecting what many of the Israelites were expecting – a Savior who will come with great military power to overthrow the Romans. All this talk of suffering and dying and rejection is not at all what Peter thinks Israel needs. In his mind Israel needs a “winner” at the game of life. They need someone who can stand up to the opposition and then put them in their place. He wants the Messiah to have power and wealth – not death on a cross. So, he pulls Jesus aside and tries to talk some sense into him. Peter rebukes Jesus – he begins to tell Jesus everything that is wrong. He tries to convince Jesus what the people need is a winner who triumphs over the enemy, not a loser who is rejected and put to death.
But Jesus turns to him, and his words cut Peter to the heart – Get behind me, Satan. Ouch! Can you imagine how Peter must have felt? Here he thought he was doing the right thing by talking sense into his master, and his master in return calls him Satan. Then Jesus goes on to say, You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.
And immediately Jesus calls the crowds to him and says, If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life FOR ME and FOR THE GOSPEL will save it.
You see, to be true disciples of Christ, we must first become losers at the game of life. We must deny what the world sees as valuable, we must put aside worldly goals for power and wealth, we must reject what the world tells us is important, and pick up the cross of Christ and follow him, obeying his teachings and finding our wealth and our worth in him.
When we think of picking up the cross to follow Christ, we think of picking up a burden. But for the people gathered there that day their image would have been much different. For them the cross was more than a burden – it was a symbol of the enemy’s power over them. The cross was death. The cross was execution. It would be like saying to a group of 18th century French peasants, pick up your guillotine and follow me. It would be like telling 19th Century Americans to pick up their noose and follow. Or telling our society today, pick up your lethal injection and follow me.
The image of picking up your cross and following Christ for those gathered was an image of death that undergirded Christ’s words about rejection, suffering and death. Following Christ is following him unto death. Following Christ is dying to this world. Following Christ is losing life in this world to gain it in the world to come.
Christ asks us, What good is it for a person to gain the whole world, yet forfeit her soul? What good is it to be a winner in the game of life, but to have it all end when life on this earth ends?
Sadly, many people would rather be a winner here and now than reap the rewards of eternal life. Too many of us make choices that are based not upon the promotion of the Gospel of Christ, but upon saving face with the world. Too many of us care more about what other people think of us, that we forget what is truly important is what GOD thinks of us. Living life is not living to be recognized and rewarded by our peers, but to praise God in everything that we think, and say, and do.
When we live according to the commands of Christ, we are going to live counter to what the world see as important. Isn’t that why Christ was rejected in the first place? He challenged the status quo. He didn’t believe that the way it had always been done, was the way it need to be done or the way it should be done. He challenged the teachings of the religious leaders and in doing so he challenged their power. Christ lived a life based on grace and love, acceptance and forgiveness. He loved the ones others hated. He forgave those others condemned. He found his worth not in things of this world, not in worldly wealth or even fame. By many accounts based the ways of the world, Jesus would have been a loser at the game of life. He didn’t impress his superiors, let alone stroke their egos. He didn’t amass monetary wealth. He didn’t live according to the societal norms. Instead of finding satisfaction and fulfillment in wealth and power, Christ found his worth in doing the work of his Father in Heaven.
We should do the same. Every aspect of our life should be lived to glorify Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Each word we say, should be said to promote the Gospel of Love. Every action we take should work to build up the body of Christ. Our motivation for living should not be to have the most stuff, it should be to honor and praise God.
What good is it for people to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their souls?
What good is it to be considered a winner in this world, but have nothing in the world to come? Yes, Christ wants us to succeed in this world – but he wants us to succeed on HIS terms, not the world’s. Christ wants us to find value in the lives we have been given to live, He wants us to find value in each person with whom we come in contact. He wants us to reach out in love and generosity. He wants us to live true lives of faith – following where he leads, even unto our death. As the children of God in the world, we have a great responsibility to live faithfully, to honor God with our whole hearts, souls and minds, and to use our God-given blessings for good. Each of gathered here when compared to the rest of the world have been given great blessings and wealth – that alone will not condemn us. BUT, the priority we place on wealth may.
Our sole purpose in this life should be to focus on the world to come.
In the board game version of Life, once all players reach the end of the path and enter either Millionaire estates or Countryside Acres, the game is over. Money is counted and a winner is declared.
But real life isn’t the same. When your life in this world ends, it’s not the treasures you have amassed here that will decide where you go. Rather your eternal future will be based on the the grace of God and the treasures that you have stored in heaven.
I encourage you this day to be a loser! Lose your worldly life and live for Christ alone. Lose control over your life and follow Christ. Lose what you think is important and tet what is important to Christ fill and rule over your hearts. Pick up your cross (your death) and follow Christ to his, that all death may be conquered and you shall win the reward of life everlasting. Amen.
