How many of you remember that popular song of some years ago called, "My Way?" The original lyrics in French are by Giles Thibault and the English lyrics by Paul Anka – but it was Frank Sinatra who took the song to the top of the charts.

"And now the end is near, and so I face the final curtain. My friend, I’ll say it clear, I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain. I’ve lived a life that’s full, I traveled each and every highway. And more, much more than this, I did it my way. Yes, there were times, I’m sure you knew, When I bit off more than I could chew. But through it all, when there was doubt, I ate it up, and spit it out. I faced it all, And I stood tall, and did it my way."

Although that song expresses independence and autonomy – too much autonomy and independence leads to self-centeredness. And most of us like to do things our way!

But the problem with putting the self at the center – the problem of the self concerned soul is that it makes itself the object of all contemplation and all other things as being related to itself – such that the self feeds upon itself. The food may seem wonderful at the time – but the process is inevitably one of shriveling and shrinking.

The hunger of self-centeredness is never satisfied and it carries with it continual contraction – and thus the self gets smaller and smaller - losing its capacity to grow. How we invest our self is a fundamental question of life.

A college boy brought in a framed picture of his girlfriend which he wanted duplicated. As the studio owner was removing the picture from its frame, he noticed the inscription on the back of the photograph. The girlfriend had written: "My dearest Jimmy: I love you with all my heart – I love you more and more each day – I will love you forever. I am yours for all eternity." It was signed "Marsha" and contained a P.S.: "If we should ever break up I want this picture back."

A seemingly sincere commitment and investment can be surprisingly hollow at the core.

Investments – how shall we invest ourselves? If I were to invite one of our bankers, stock brokers, investment managers or financial planners up here and say to them, "I’d like to make an empty investment," they would probably look at me and think, "Boy, this guy is crazy!"

Most of us, whenever we make an investment – want a good return. But an empty investment has no return. An empty investment in the eyes of the world is stupid – it is folly.

Now, you may be thinking to yourself – is David – really asking us to make an empty investment? And the answer is "Yes!" But I hope you will hear me out – for this whole sermon is keyed on one phrase from our Philippians text in verse 7, and it is this,

"He (Jesus) emptied himself."

Jesus took the form of a servant – not a king – he did not grasp for worldly power and status – no, he humbled himself in an obedience that went so far as to die on a cross for us. He emptied himself – though he was in the form of God – he emptied himself.

Friends, that is folly. But in that folly is the key to the entire gospel. You see, God is forever turning the world upside down – but so few ever notice it: light comes out of darkness, joy from sorrow, the first shall be last and the last – first, those who make a good return on their investment already have their reward, hope is born out of despair and that which is dead comes to life again.

To the world that is all foolishness – to those of us with faith – it is a far different matter. How we invest ourselves is a fundamental question of life – in fact, it is really a religious questions.

It is not been by accident that "An Empty Investment" closes out our current sermon series. Self-discovery and self-assertion come before self-denial. That is why we have looked at our financial resources, our faith, and our intellect – all of which we have and are – our identity – prior to looking at how we channel it – which is the gift of service.

We need a place before we can give it up. We receive before we give. We exist and establish an identity before abandoning ourselves in faith. But that is finally and fully what Jesus did, he emptied himself.

Jesus Christ emptied himself for us! And so, the question for us today is will we invest ourselves fully and finally in God?

There’s a wonderful story about a young Presbyterian ordinand who had to go before the Presbytery - to be interviewed before he could be ordained. And the processes have changed over the years, but it used to be an intimidating situation, and an ordinand could be grilled for three or four hours on questions of theology and faith. Well, this particular young man was finally asked by one old curmudgeon on the Presbytery, who said,

"Young man, are you willing to be damned for the glory of God?" The young man with perspiration running down his face said, "Yes I am…and I would even go further than that. I would be willing for this entire Presbytery to be damned for the glory of God."

Following a great musician’s performance, a fan came up to him and said, "I’d give my life to play like that." The musician replied, "I did."

So, what do we invest ourselves in really? If we take ourselves as Christians at all seriously, we will invest ourselves through the gift of service. Jesus did – he emptied himself – to show us just how much God loves us. We do not seek suffering for sufferings sake – anymore than Jesus did. We do live through a life of suffering and service to both embrace and show forth a caring and loving God.

Making an empty investment does not ask us to engage ourselves in some form of self-castigation or self-scrutiny, but to pay attention to others in such a way that values them and expresses God’s love. That kind of investment is unnatural from the perspective of the world – yet it becomes natural for those who would truly seek to follow Christ.

An empty investment through the gift of service is emptying ourselves of a self-directed life – for the very purpose of attaining a far greater fullness under the direction of God.

I would ask that each of us take seriously these adapted words of the late President John F. Kennedy,

"Ask not what your church can do for you, but what you can do for your church."

When it comes to volunteering and serving - I sometimes will hear people say, "I’m pretty much done with that – I did my thing – now it’s someone else’s turn." That may be true for certain tasks or because of health limitations – but if we take seriously the most important investment of all – which is our life – then as long as we are receiving gifts we need to keep sharing them through the gift of service. I am so inspired when I see some of our 70 and 80 year olds working and serving on behalf of the church.

I said this on Stewardship Sunday – when we examined the gift of money – and I’ll say it in the context of service today. And it is this – if you are unhappy with your life and the service you offer – either stop altogether or do more. Because, I for one, don’t want bitter or resentful servers.

But I also want to say that if the main purpose of your life or the reason for coming to church is to be happy and feel good about yourself – you’re missing the boat – that is a by-product – it is not the purpose.

We come to church to worship God and thus be energized and filled up so that we can go out to serve as we empty ourselves for others. And when you do that – the more you’ll look at yourself and the more you’ll see the reflection of Christ. And once you stop needing to look at yourself – without hardly knowing - you will be reflecting Christ – which is what an empty investment is all about.

Jesus shows us the value of trading self-love and self-interest for a better way – his way. Last Sunday was Reformation Sunday and we looked a little bit at Martin Luther and he said this,

"We should learn well how to please Christ. We do please him by dedicating our entire life with all possible diligence solely to the service of our neighbor. ‘Down, down,’ says Christ, ‘you will find me in the poor, you are rising too high if you do not look for me down there.’"

"He emptied himself."

The gifts we are given and give make up our identity. Remember in our passage from Luke – Jesus asked, "Who do people say that I am?" And they responded with all sorts of answers. And then he asked, "Who do you say that I am?" And Peter answered "the Christ." Then Jesus told them how he must suffer and be crucified and on the third day be raised – because God always turns things upside down in the end and life overcomes death.

Then he said to them all, and so he says to us too, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. What does if profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves?”

It has been said it is easy to die for Christ – that only takes a few hours. It is much harder to live for Christ – because that means dieing to self daily.

Christ and what the cross symbolizes is at the center of our faith – and it is that – which helps us to see that any empty investment is really the richest of all. In your minds eye, just for a moment, envision a picture of Christ on the cross – and underneath is this question, “This I have done for you, what will you do for me?”

We are making a lasting, growing, and wise investment – of resources, heart and head – of money, faith and intellect – when we make an empty investment of service in and for Christ.

"Take up your cross daily."

"He emptied himself."

"An empty investment."

The corollary for today’s sermon is simply this: If you don’t empty yourself to God, in the end you will be empty. God gives us life and gifts – we take those – nurture them – allow them to grow – and then offer those gifts back to God.

That’s growing gifts with God. And the more we can allow that to happen in all of our life – the more we truly are “Growing Gifts with God!

May it be so – today and always!

Amen.