Not About You
based on Job 38:1-7 and Mark 10:35-45
by Rev. Richard Gehring

            “It’s not about you.” That's the first line in Rick Warren's book The Purpose Driven Life.  The book has sold more than 30 million copies, making it the best-selling hardcover adult book of all time—with the exception of the Bible itself.  It is a 40-day devotional journey designed to lead readers to the answers to the questions “What is my purpose?” and “What am I here for?”   And each of  the millions  of readers has started their journey by being confronted with these words which open the very first day’s devotion: “It’s not about you.”

            Personally, I find it amazing that a book that starts out with that premise managed to become such a huge commercial success.  It is a premise that flies in the face of so many other messages that you get every day trying to convince you that it is, in fact, about you.  Microsoft corporation asks, “Where do you want to go today?”  Visa tells you that it’s “everywhere you want to be.”  L’Oreal encourages you to go ahead “because you’re worth it.”  Gatorade wants to know “Is it in you?”  Budweiser says “This Bud’s for you.”  UPS encourages you to “See what Brown can do for you.”  TV news shows try to convince you that they’re “on your side.”  E-mail inboxes are jammed with messages all claiming to make you more beautiful, to get you more money, to bring you more satisfaction in every aspect of your life.  Everywhere you turn these days, you are getting the message that it is all about you.  Yet Rick Warren comes along and has the gall to say “It’s not about you.” 

            And you know what?  He’s right.  It’s not about you.  Whether we want to hear that message or not, it’s one  that comes through loud and clear in both of our scripture texts for today.

            Our Old Testament reading comes from the book of Job which tells the ancient story of a righteous man who had it all, and then lost everything.  The book opens with a conversation between God and the devil about Job.  In an attempt to show God that this man is not nearly as blameless and upright as the Lord thinks he is, Satan puts Job to the test by taking away everything that is valuable to him.  In a single day, the Sabeans steal all 500 of his donkeys and his 500 yoke of oxen; a terrible lightning storm kills all 7000 of his sheep; the Chaldeans organize a raid on his flocks and carry off all 5000 of his camels; and a devastating windstorm flattens the house of his eldest son, killing all ten of his children who were inside having a party.  In each instance, only one servant survives so that he can deliver the bad news, one after the other, to his master.  When that doesn’t yet get Job to turn away from God, Satan also attacks his health.  Job is completely covered with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.(Job 1-2)  Everything that was dear to him is now gone: his wealth, his health, and nearly all his family. 

            All Job has left is his wife.  Satan apparently leaves her untouched because he thought somebody ought to be around to nag the poor guy in his affliction.  “Curse God and die,” she tells her husband.(Job 2:9)  At least then he would be out of his misery.  But Job does not curse God.  Job yells at God.  Job challenges God.  Job asks God, “Why are you doing this to me?”  But Job never curses God.

            Our text for this morning comes then as the climax of the entire book as God replies to Job’s complaints.  God answers Job’s questions with a few questions of his own: “Hey Job, where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?(38:4) And let’s see, who was it that determined its measurements?(38:5)” While our reading for today ends after only seven verses of this inquiry, the interrogation continues for a full two chapters.  God relentlessly peppers Job with queries such as “Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place?”(38:12)  “Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?  Can you establish their rule on the earth?”(38:30)  “Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars, and spreads its wings toward the south? I s it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes its nest on high?”(39:26-27) In other words, it’s not about you, Job.  It’s about God.  And, like it or not, God does not have to answer to you.

            Jesus has similarly challenging words for his disciples in our New Testament text this morning.  As the passage opens, Jesus and his disciples are on their way to Jerusalem when two of those from his inner circle, the brothers James and John, come to him with a rather arrogant request, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”(Mark 10:35)  Parents, does this sound familiar?  It’s the sort of question that I’ve heard from my kids at times.  And I generally give the same sort of non-committal response that Jesus does: “What is it you want me to do for you?”(10:36)

            The brothers then explain that they want to sit on thrones on either side of Jesus when he establishes his kingdom.  They want the highest places of honor when Jesus is ruling in all his glory.  Now, in the paragraph just before today’s passage, Jesus has taken his 12 disciples aside and explained to them exactly what is going to happen to him when they get to Jerusalem.  First, he is going to be handed over to the religious leaders who are going to sentence him to death.  They are, in turn, going to hand him over to the civil authorities who will then mock him, spit on him, beat him and finally execute him.  He, however, will then raise from the dead in three days.

            The disciples, though, seem to have missed the part about the suffering and death.  They want to fast forward to the happy ending.  No matter what Jesus has said to them up to this point, they still have this image of the Messiah as a victorious king rather than as a suffering servant.   You can almost hear James and John saying, “Yeah, OK, mocking, spitting, flogging, yada, yada, yada.  Let’s talk about what happens once we get to the part where you become king.  What’s in it for us?  We want to make sure we get our piece of the pie, our share of the glory.”  But Jesus says, “It’s not about you, James.  It’s not about you, John.  It’s about serving.  It’s about putting others ahead of yourself.  You want to be great?  Be a servant.  You want to be first?  Make yourself last.  You want to be a ruler in my kingdom?  Be a slave to all.”  Ask not what your God can do for you.  Ask what you can do for your God.

            That, however, does not seem to be what most of us want to hear.  Whether it’s Steven Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Dr. Phil’s Seven Keys to Weight Loss Freedom or Deepak Chopra’s Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, the best-seller lists are usually crowded with how-to books designed to help you get what you want.  They tell you how to set goals, how to devise strategies and how to achieve results.  Now, there’s nothing necessarily wrong with goals and strategies as long as you don’t confuse attaining success with fulfilling your purpose.  There’s a big difference between the two.

                        The fact is that you may reach every one of your goals; you may live out every one of your dreams; you may find total success in everything you do and still be a complete failure at living out your purpose.  Because it’s not about you.  Now, just in case you’re wondering, I want to make it clear that it’s not all about me, either.

            God tells Job that it’s about remembering who is really in charge.  It’s about recognizing that God is the one who made you–that God gave you your reason for existence.  It’s about lining up your priorities with God’s priorities.  It’s about making sure you put yourself in proper relationship with God.

            Jesus comes along then and tells the disciples that it’s about serving others.  It’s about recognizing your role in relation to the rest of humanity.  It’s about giving priority to the needs of others over your wants for yourself.  It’s about making sure you put yourself in proper relationship with all of God’s children.

            Now, the statements of God to Job and Jesus to his disciples are not contradictory.  They are complementary.  If you put them together you discover that your true purpose, is found in relation to God and in relation to your fellow human beings.  Your purpose is found not in achievement, but in faithfulness.  Your purpose is found not in what you do for yourself, but in what you do for others.  Your purpose is not found in meeting your own desires, but in living out God’s will for you in service to those around you.

            Now, there are plenty of Christians who teach that living in God’s will means that you will be rewarded with fortune and fame, with health and wealth, with material abundance and mass adoration.  Yet as much as we might wish that were true–and as much as certain passages in the Bible, taken by themselves, might even lead us to that conclusion–the message of Job and the message of Jesus remind us that it simply isn’t so.  Faithful people do suffer.  Bad things do happen to good people.  Just because you are living according to God’s purpose for you doesn’t mean that you won’t have to face difficulties.

            Now, the good news in all of this–and there is good news–is that you do have a purpose.  There is a reason that you’re here.  You have a role to play–a crucial role–in fulfilling God’s plan for all of creation.  As I’ve said, Rick Warren begins his book by advising the reader “It’s not about you.”  But he quickly moves on then to chapter two where you are assured that “You are not an accident.”  Warren takes that statement in a direction that tends to be a little too tilted toward predestination than I would care for, but his basic premise is right on target: You are not an accident.  You are a unique creation of God.  You were fashioned to play an important part in the great cosmic drama.  You have value just because of who you are, not because of how much you have or how attractive you may be or how well-liked you are.

            So many of us, however, still try to find fulfillment by pursuing wealth or beauty or popularity. But none of those will ultimately provide genuine satisfaction and meaning for us because none of them get at the real purpose of our existence.  None of them recognize the One who created us for a purpose.  And none of them recognize that this purpose is found in seeking the good of all, not just the good of ourselves.

            What you need to do then–what we all need to do–is to prayerfully consider our own purpose: the unique reason that God created each one of us.  The church, I believe, is the place where we can explore our purpose together.  This is where we test our ideas, where we develop our gifts, where we seek to discern God’s purpose for us each as individuals and God’s purpose for all of us together as a community of faith.  I invite us then to join together as we move forward on a journey of discovery, a journey of searching for our purpose.

            In the final analysis, it is indeed not about you.  And, thankfully, it’s not about me, either.  It is about God.  It is about being servants to all of God’s children.  And it is about us if we are indeed the church that God would have us be. Amen.