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"THIS IS THE YEAR I STRIKE IT RICH!" #4

HUMBLE JESUS WANTS YOUR VOTE!

For some it was Black Friday. Bush supporters were absolutely ballistic with anger and frustration. Adviser Karen Hughes, who was already drafting a victory speech for her boss, abruptly shut off the computer. "I just couldn't even look at it again," she confessed later.

Over in Gore headquarters, there were high fives. Hugs and cheers. Glasses of champagne. Because Mr. Craig Waters had just gone out on the front steps of the Florida Supreme Court building and announced a 4-3 ruling that mandated the counting of all disputed ballots in the entire Sunshine State. In their fascinating book, DEADLOCK: The Inside Story of America's Closest Election, the political staff of the Washington Post writes:

"Gore's Hail Mary pass had been caught — but for a touchdown?"

Gore had been down by 537 votes, but this ruling immediately threw about 215 Palm Beach hand-counted ballots into his pot. Some Miami-Dade votes swung into his column, and all of a sudden, Mr. Albert Gore was down by just a razor-blade thin margin of 154. Victory was that close. Just 154 votes away from the keys to the White House, the Oval Office, Air Force One, the nuclear "football," and all the other trappings of power.

Of course, as we all know — and you either cheer or weep as you remember it — the United STATES Supreme Court stepped in less than one day later, and by a 5-4 count stopped the recount and later the election itself. And all the champagne glasses slid over from the Democrat side back to the Republican side, where they've been ever since.

Now, friend, let's say something very plainly. There was nothing wrong, during those 36 days, in Al Gore and George W. Bush wanting to get votes. When you're running for the presidency, votes is what you want and what you need, and any man who isn't willing to go all out to get all the votes he can, isn't worthy of the job. I'm convinced that both of these good men honestly wanted to attain the power of the presidency so that they could improve the lives of hurting people. They wanted to make things better and to be a blessing. Still, as we study here in Luke chapter 9 the biblical concept of "denying" oneself, of taking up the cross, of losing your life in order to save it, and so on, the tumult down in Florida doesn't strike us as being the epitome of that teaching.

Ironically, after five weeks and one day of grasping at straws, and contesting butterfly ballots, and desperately eking out any vote he could get, Al Gore was probably at his finest when, on December 13, he stepped up to the microphones and was willing to "make himself nothing." You remember his classic line, borrowed from Edwin Markham:

"Defeat may serve as well as victory to shake the soul and let the glory out."

But then he followed with these gracious sentiments:

"I . . . accept my responsibility," Gore said, "which I will discharge unconditionally, to honor the new president-elect and do everything possible to help him bring Americans together in fulfillment of the great vision that our Declaration of Independence defines and that our Constitution affirms and defends." A minute later he added: "Our disappointment must be overcome by our love of country." And this equally noble P.S.: "There is a higher duty than the one we owe to political party. This is America and we put country before party."

And you know, the public response to THAT speech, THAT political moment, was probably greater than anything that had gone on in the entire election cycle, from the snows of New Hampshire right down to midnight on Election night. Newsweek's reporting said it like this:

"[Gore's] performance left even partisan adversaries and smash-mouth cable pundits groping for superlatives. ‘I have nothing "hardball" to say,' said MSNBC's Chris Matthews. ‘It was an amazing speech . . . almost sacramental in quality.'"

But you know, friend, as we continue to parse the sentences and phrases here in Luke chapter 9, where Jesus seems to tell us it's almost wicked to campaign for high office, we find a fascinating dilemma. And you know, really, all of us are running for things all the time, whether it's to be hall monitor at school, for a raise at work, or simply for more approval from our spouses and kids. We're all looking for votes on a 24/7 basis, and the Bible warns us here that the fastest way to defeat is when you seek your own glory.

Let's take a look at the heart of Jesus' sermonette. Here's how it reads beginning in verse 23:

"Then [Jesus] said to them all: ‘If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world" — or the White House, we might add — "and yet lose or forfeit his very self [or soul]?"

You know, that's so familiar that it kind of slides right by us. But do you notice here that Jesus almost sounds like a presidential candidate Himself? "Deny yourself," He says, "and take up your cross . . . and follow . . . ME." "Give up YOUR campaign for MY campaign." "You need to lose your life for MY sake." And one almost gets a picture of presidential aides who are told to sacrifice their own careers, their own desires and dreams, to support the man at the head of the ticket. Write great speeches and then let Dubya deliver them to the cheering throngs.

In a recent cover article of Christianity Today, the editors highlighted the career of a well-known evangelical Christian leader who heads up a big ministry, has a national radio program, and has written a number of best-selling books. But the quiet inside story is that it's hard for the staffers, the flunkies, the writing partners, to keep picking up their crosses and following this high-profile leader. Let me generically call him "Fred" here, and share with you a quote from the article:

"The burnout rate among Fred's people is high," they write. "One person called them ‘the Bruised Reed Club.' In serving the wider mission, sometimes the lines get blurred as to who's writing what, whose idea it was, and who's getting the credit. People who enlist with Fred know, to some degree, that these are the rules. And Fred has led the way in modeling shared bylines and publishing credits with ghostwriters. Still, by virtue of the sheer force of his personality and sense of mission, the credit ultimately returns to Fred. This has caused pain and resentment among some ex-staff who have, they feel, lost ground in their own careers in order to keep Fred in the limelight."

That's a tough one, isn't it? Some of those same issues have rattled around in the hallways right here at our Adventist Media Center, and we have to fall to our knees sometimes and ask God to make us a little bit less interested in headlines and spotlights and bulging literary resumés. But how is it different if we have to lay low and give all glory to Fred or take off our crowns and lay them at the feet of Jesus?

I find it fascinating how Dr. Eugene Peterson renders this Luke 9 passage in his paraphrase, The Message. Take a listen to this:

"Then [Jesus] told them what they could expect for themselves: ‘Anyone who intends to come with Me has to let ME lead. You're not in the driver's seat — I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow Me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, MY way, to finding yourself, your true self."

And friend, here's our Thursday reality. This same Jesus, who certainly HAS modeled humility and laying aside power — by being born in a barn, by washing the feet of 12 no-good hypocrites, by dying for others on a cross of shame — then turns around and says very plainly: "Friends, the reality is that this is MY campaign. This kingdom belongs to My Father and to Me. That's fact. And the surest way to life for you is to give that life to Me. Lose your life for Me, and you'll find it forever. Follow Me. Proclaim Me and My mission and My message. Put My name on the top of the ballot, and then not only vote for Me, but spend your life, your energy, your fortune, getting everyone you meet to do the same."

Let me say again: Jesus talks about humility and then "Follow Me" in the same breath, the same sentence, because this is reality. Al Gore, in that closing speech, acknowledged the larger themes, and right here the reality of Calvary is that we need to embrace it; the Man on the cross is the Son of God. And there's a great difference, a difference we need to discern, between the Son of God saying, "Follow Me," and somebody named Fred or Lonnie saying, "Follow us because we're famous Christian guys on the radio." God help us to see the difference, and to know that Jesus' invitation to lift Him up is the very opposite thing from pride and self-exaltation. The lifting up of Jesus is for the sole purpose of saving lost people and restoring THEM to the high place God and Jesus always have wanted them to have.

And friend, that's a chad you want to punch all the way through. That's a vote worth casting every time.