Selfish Altruism

I sat at lunch today listening to a couple of guys talk about stories. When I sat down, one of them was talking about a Ray Bradbury short story. A smart house survives an apocalypse and slowly breaks down. The conversation centered on Bradbury's point that nature left to itself erodes.

Later in the same conversation, they discussed Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. One of these gentlemen noted how Ayn Rand treated religion as a kind of selfish altruism. Religious people do nice things because they expect to be rewarded by God. I'm nice because of what I get out of it.

In one sense, Ayn Rand would be right. God does promise reward. And the perfectly natural thing is to seek that reward. And yes, that would be selfish. Ironically, chasing after the reward doesn't get you the reward.

Today's sermon covered Jesus' parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-29). Our pastor pointed out how the last servant, who just buried the money, acted out of laziness, using fear as en excuse. The master in the story praised the two employees who produced something out of what was provided and returned more than what they had when they started. This aligns perfectly with Jesus' analogies of bearing fruit.

Okay, how is all of this related? God asks us to do what is unnatural, or super natural, if you like. The natural thing is to be selfish - look for what I get out of it. Over and over the Bible stresses what the apostle Paul calls dying to the flesh, or doing what isn't natural. Yes, it is possible to the right thing just because it's right. But it's not natural.

Nature breaks down. Nature always destroys itself. In nature, things decay. Why? Because nature was never intended to exist on its own. God designed a kingdom. He is, after all, a King. He created us as His means of flowing into the universe, bringing new life. Restoring, refreshing, and ordering the universe away from the decay. His life flowing through us into everything around us. Think of the champagne glass pyramid. You pour champagne into the top glass until it overflows and fills the level below. Then those overflow and fill the next level down. All the way to the very bottom. God placed us on the top level to overflow and spill out into the world. But we (I) raise an umbrella and let the champagne splatter on the floor.

This is where Jesus stepped in. He became the very top glass. God pours into Him all His love. Jesus pours into us. And so on. That love, the champagne if you will, makes it possible to act super naturally. Or, as Paul describes it, the flesh submits to the spirit. Life instead of death.