Tale of the Sea
In his book The Life God Blesses, Gordon MacDonald shares a story about a
popular American yachtsman. In 1992 Michael Plant commenced a solo crossing of
the North Atlantic Ocean from the United States to France. But after two weeks
of the voyage Michael Plant and his sailboat were lost at sea. Many people were
puzzled by the news because Mr. Plant’s seafaring skills were without equal and
his sailboat, the Coyote, was state
of the art. Everyone in the sailing world knows sailboats do not capsize
normally. They are built to take the most vigorous pounding a sea can offer.
They are built to have more weight below
the waterline than there is above it. But when the Coyote was found, it was upside down in the water. So what
happened? When the Coyote was built,
an 8,000-pound weight was bolted to the keel. No one knows why or how, but when
the Coyote was found, the 8,000-pound
weight below the waterline was simply missing. No weight below the waterline to
ensure stability. The result? A very capable, experienced, and much admired man
lost at sea.
The Foundation
Some of you may wonder why I share
this tale of the sea. But if we really ponder this story, we can find some
parallel between today’s passage and the story of Michael Plant. In some sense
the Corinthian Christians were like the man who spends his years building up
the rigging, the sails, and the mast of life. The good life: it’s all there to
be admired and enjoyed. But all this frantic building was done above the waterline. So it’s good only
as long as there were no storms. But storms happen. When storms came, the
Corinthian church was torn apart. They were divided, they sued each other, they
judged harshly one another. But these crises, called disruptive moments, were in fact the signs that God cared for them.
Disruptive moments in life can be a blessing in disguise because they disclose
what is at the bottom. They reveal what is at the foundation.
In his book Who Speaks for God?, Charles Colson comments on a question asked him by an interviewer: “Mr. Colson, you are an unusual person. You have conquered the pinnacles of secular success. The goals most people strive their whole lives for, you have achieved—only to see it all collapse as you fell from the White House to prison. But now you’re out, leading a new life as a Christian. It’s like having lived two lives. How would you sum up the meaning of those two lives?” Colson answered, “I had spent my first 40 years seeking the whole world, to the neglect of my soul. But what I couldn’t find in my quest for power and success—that is, true security and meaning—I discovered in prison, where all worldly props had been stripped away. And by God’s grace, I lost my life in order that I might find true life in Christ.” This past week I was surprised by the news of my mentor’s retirement. I was even more surprised by the news of the successor who happens to be my age. It was kind of a disruptive moment. The news made me ponder and ask myself, “Where am I? Am I on the right track? Where am I headed?”
The Day
Disruptive moments in life can vary
from a cancer diagnosis to the death of someone we dearly love. Some of them
are universal experiences, and others are unique ones. Aging is one of the disruptive moments for everyone. I always
remember the question asked by one of my mentors: “What kind of an old man do
you want to be?” This question is a waterline question: “What are you building
below the waterline?” “What are you building your life on?” This question has
to do with character, personality, and a style of being. My mentor said that he
had known a lot of old men, but the list of those whom he might want to be like
was alarmingly short. It could be counted on the fingers of one hand. As we get
older, we may be tempted to live in the past. But here and there the aging
process (the process of letting go of power and control) can help us to
look beneath the waterline. The aging process can help us to get to the bottom
and ask ourselves: “How may I live with the end in mind?”
I would like to invite us to stop for a moment and imagine our own funeral. So now imagine the people closest in your life – your family, your friends, your coworkers, and your church family members – speaking at your funeral about your life. How would like to be remembered? What would you want them to say? What character would you like them to have seen in you? When the Corinthians were so self-centered, narrow minded, suffering from division and dissention, Paul invited them to look at things from an eternal perspective:
“What then is
Apollos? What is Paul?... I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth… I laid a foundation, and someone else is
building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it… the work
of each builder will become visible, for
the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the
fire will test what sort of work each has done” (vv. 5-6, 10, 13).
So live with the end in mind.
Today
The beginning, the foundation, is
Jesus Christ. And the end, the Day, is coming. Then in between, how should we live today? In verse 12
Paul says, “Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials
– gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw” (NLT). In other words, we must
take particular care in what we build on the foundation with. One day Jesus
told a parable. There was a rich man who has enjoyed a prosperous harvest and
is overwhelmed with profits. His remarkable prosperity offers a problem. There
is no place to store his crops. His solution? He chooses to build above the
waterline. He builds more barns to store the stuff and says to himself, “Relax,
eat, drink, and be merry.” But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the
things you have prepared, whose will they be?” (Luke 19:20)
In today’s scripture Paul says, “If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God” (vv. 18-19a). Jim Elliot, who was martyred in Ecuador, echoes this truth, saying, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” To the Corinthians, and to us, Paul says, “Do not boast about human leaders” (v. 21). We may paraphrase it this way: “Do not boast about things above the waterline – your wealth, your health, your career, your education. They soon shall pass. Rather, get to the bottom and build your life on the one and only foundation, that is, Jesus Christ. Build below the waterline.”
Building Below the Waterline
Then lastly, what does “building
below the waterline” look like in our Christian life? Henri Nouwen rightly
said, “The way of the Christian leader is not the way of upward mobility in
which the world has invested so much, but
the way of downward mobility ending on the cross… It is not a leadership of
power and control, but a leadership of
powerlessness and humility in which the suffering servant of God, Jesus
Christ, is made manifest.” The way up is the way down.
Let me give you an illustration. It’s a story about a missionary to Dutch New Guinea. One day the missionary decided to plant some pineapples (100 plants). They were rare and valuable to the natives. It took about three years to yield pineapples. He couldn’t wait! However, when the pineapples got ripe, the missionary couple didn’t get anything. The natives stole every one! The missionary god mad. “No pineapples, no clinic!” he said. The natives kept begging. He couldn’t stand and had to reopen. But when the missionary couple reopened the clinic, the natives started stealing the pineapples again. He felt bad again! This time he cut out the trade store instead. But it didn’t work. So this time he brought a German Shepherd. It did work for the time being. But the problem was that the natives went back to their jungle houses. They didn’t come. He didn’t have a chance to tell about Jesus and learn their language.
One Sunday the missionary attended a church service and heard a lesson, “We must give everything we own to God.” After the service, he went out to his pineapple garden. He prayed, “Lord, see these pineapple bushes? I have fought to have the fruit from them. I have claimed them as my own. I have stood up for my rights. It is all wrong, and I realize that now. I have to give them all to You. From now on, if You want me to eat any of Your pineapples, fine. If not, then that is fine too. Amen.” The natives kept stealing the pineapples just like before. But he didn’t say anything but just kept praying and trusting God to take care of it His Way. One day they finally came to him and said “Too-wan (foreigner), you have become a Christian, haven’t you? Because you don’t get angry anymore when we steal your pineapples.” He answered, “The pineapples don’t belong to me anymore. I have given the garden to God.” They answered, “To God?” They were afraid that they were stealing from God. And they stopped stealing. Then, the missionary couple was able to enjoy the fresh pineapples! And they shared the pineapples with them. Soon many of the natives decided to become Christians.
What is at the bottom of your life? Let the disruptive moments provide insight and learning. If God speaks to you something through those disruptive moments, listen and turn. Turn from your ways, and turn to God. Build your life on the solid foundation. Live for the Day, live for eternity. Be a fool for Christ, and stay foolish. May the Lord give you wisdom and strength today and bless you with peace. Amen.
