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ZERO-SUM GAME

When I was a kid I went to a see a Ben Affleck movie called "The Sum of All Fears."

If I remember correctly it was a movie about being on the brink of a nuclear war.

The threat of nucelar war is often times referred to as "Mutually Assured Destruction" (i.e. - both nations would be destroyed) and the actual participation in nuclear war as a "zero-sum game."

The idea behind a "zero-sum game" is a situation in which both people go to zero or one person's benefit comes at such a loss to the other person that the benefit incured by one person is meaningless now that the other person is at zero.

It's essentially an "everyone loses" scenario.

A postive-sum game is the opposite - it's a game in which both persons that play end up in the positive.

This is kind of "game" that Jesus plays with those that follow him.

MATTHEW 19:27-29

Jesus has just asked a rich, young man to sell everything he has give it to the poor.

He refuses and walks away sad.

Jesus than says it's hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.

Peter then declares of the situation:

27 Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”

28 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife[e] or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.

Notice that Jesus does not respond with, "Nothing. You gave up everything because I commanded you to, and that was the right thing to do. However, you'll have to be content with never getting anything back."

On the contrary, to those that give up everything "will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life."

Mark 10:30 says it similar but is more clear about:

29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel

30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.

In other words, following Jesus is not a zero-sum game.

It's a postive-sum game.

GIVING UP TO GAIN

This kind of positive-sum game is replayed all throught scripture and local church phrases.

In addition to the two mentioned above:

  • Luke 10: 38, Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
  • 2 Corinthians 9:6-7, “Remember this...whoever sows generously will also reap generously."
  • "You can't outgive God." (The idea that no matter how much we give, God gives back more.)
  • "Don't rob me of my blessing." (The idea that blessing comes back to us when we give, so don't allow someone to stop you from giving.)

I note the above as just a few of the examples that remind us in this season of Lent as we fast, there is a reward that comes with it. Matthew 6:17-18:

"But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Fasting is not a zero-sum game. Following Jesus is not a zero-sum game.

This is a positive-sum game.