"Would You Rather...?" (Luke 5:1-11)

I was watching a movie recently. There was this scene, where three high school students are walking home from school, and they’re playing a game of “Would you rather?”

Have you ever played that game?

In the movie, one of the friends says: “Would you rather step barefoot on an ant nest, or have a cockroach climb up your pants?”

What do you think?

The answer that one of the friends gives is: “The cockroach! I’d just take off my pants.”

A moment later, one asks: “Would you rather have a mosquito fly in your mouth, or lose your allowance?”

This time the scene ends before we hear the answer, but maybe you can think of an answer. Who would rather have a mosquito fly in their mouth?

Who would rather lose their allowance?

We play this game every day, even if we don’t realize it.

For example:

Would you rather spend your money on a new iPhone, or a week of summer camp?

Would you rather buy a new TV? Or pay for a week of summer camp?

Would you rather spend your money on a trip to an amusement park, or on a week of summer camp?

I’m not trying to influence your answer here. Not at all.

Actually, in my own family, I have a reputation: Dad won’t spend money.

Personally, I don’t think the reputation is deserved. It’s not that I don’t ever want to spend money. It’s just that, in the game of “Would you rather,” I am very careful about how I answer. And I don’t want to spend money on things that are less important, so that my family has money when it’s time to spend it on things that are important.

In the story from scripture that we heard, there is a game of “Would you rather?” going on. Did you notice it?

Jesus came to the lake. He taught the crowds. There was this huge catch of fish; and then Peter, James, and John “left everything and followed him.”

That’s a big game of “Would You Rather?” Would you rather… continue with your fishing business (which, in an instant, has become far more successful than you could have imagined), or leave it all behind and follow Jesus?

That’s a big question. The game of “Would You Rather?” just got a lot harder

Because we are so used to having everything. Everyday, the message we receive from the world around us is: YOU CAN HAVE IT ALL. The world tells us everyday: You don’t have to play the game! You don’t have to play “Would You Rather?” You can have it all!

But the world is lying to us.

And as a preacher, I wondered: how do I preach on leaving everything behind in a world where people believe they can have everything?

It’s not easy!

The problem is that so much of what we have, and so much of what we want, gets in the way of following Jesus.

It gets in the way, because it keeps us from being grateful. If we’re always wanting more, we never get around to being thankful for what we have.

It gets in the way, because a lifestyle of having everything and wanting everything is not sustainable. Our oceans are filling up with plastic, our atmosphere is filling up with carbon, we’re destroying the climate, destroying the earth, in our pursuit of having it all. Would you rather have a clean planet, or cheap energy? I don’t like the answers we’ve been giving.

Wanting everything gets in the way, because having it all really doesn’t make you any happier. Contrary to what you may have heard, God really does want you to be happy. But the path to happiness is not having it all.

This is where personal management intersects with the gospel. You scouts are working on your personal management merit badge. A few weeks ago I heard Scoutmaster Gray talk to you about “buyer’s remorse.” Remember? Well, here’s an example of buyer’s remorse:

Imagine that Peter was so excited by the overwhelming catch of fish, that instead of following Jesus, he decided to sell all his fish and use the money to buy a new boat and new nets. This new boat would be the envy of all the other fishermen on Lake Galilee, complete with cupholders. And a hot tub. And a bar.

He could have had it all.

But would that have made him happy, really? Sitting out there in the middle of the lake, in his boat, watching, from a distance, Jesus walking along the shoreline, changing the world without him?

Peter’s passion was to follow Jesus. His passion was to help change the world, make a difference.

The happiness of having everything doesn’t last. That’s why, even when we get that one thing that we really want, it’s not long until we want something else. Have you ever noticed that? The happiness fades over time. Maybe you’ve even said, “If I get this thing I really want, I’ll never ask for another thing ever again!” But that never happens, does it? The thing that we thought would make us happy, doesn’t make us as happy as we thought it would. It leaves us disappointed.

That’s buyer’s remorse.

Peter’s fishing business was suddenly more successful than he could ever have hoped for. That jackpot of fish was everything he ever wanted. But would that happiness last? What was it that would really make him happy?

The moment Peter hauled those nets in, he realized there was something else that he wanted, something else that he needed, even more.

That happens sometimes. We think about what we want, we plan for it, we play games of “Would You Rather,” choosing answers that will help us get what we want, only to realize that it isn’t really what we want, or that it has failed to live up to our expectations.

Maybe it happens because we don’t take the game seriously.

Maybe it happens because we base our answers on what society tells us we should want, rather than what we really want.

There was a day once when I wondered why having everything I had wasn’t making me as happy as I thought it should. I was pursuing all the things society said I should be pursuing, but it was starting to seem pointless. It seemed like I was chasing after the wind, as the writer of Ecclesiastes put it.

So I spent some time trying to remember some truly happy moments in my life, and what it was that made them happy.

You’ll never guess what came to my mind…

Summer camp.

Church camp. Boy scout camp. Not only the times I was a camper, but also the times I was a counselor. For four summers in a row, I spent several weeks on staff at a boy scout camp in the Sierras… and for four summers in a row, I spent several weeks on staff at a camp for adults with developmental disabilities. And ever since, most summers, I’ve spent at least one week volunteering at church camp.

And I remember, waking up each morning, crawling out of my sleeping bag, and looking out of a canvas tent to a grove of lodgepole pine trees, or opening the door of Ross Hoose and seeing those great majestic oak and sycamore trees at Loch Leven... The only personal belongings I ever have at camp were what fit inside a duffel bag. Everything else I had left at home.

And they were among the happiest, most stress-free, most meaningful days of my life, those days at camp when I had left almost everything behind.

These memories have helped me greatly every time I’m faced with a question of “Would you rather…?”

When I’m faced with a decision, like Peter, between two possible things that I think might make me happy, two choices of what to do, how to spend my money, how to spend my time, how to spend my life…

I remember those experiences I had, when I didn’t have much, and yet was really and truly happy.

And I begin to understand how it is that Peter and the other disciples could have made the decision to leave everything behind, and follow Jesus.