Well, "you can't win them all."  And if this sounds like sports wisdom, it is actually biblical wisdom.

Jesus has gathered his disciples.  In their presence he has taught, healed and performed miracles.  Now it is their turn.  Either because the job is too big or Jesus knows his days are limited, it is time to send the disciples out.  But not without instruction. You heard some of it this morning.

They are told to stick close to home.  To avoid the Gentile territories and the Samaritans, and instead go to the lost sheep of Israel.  This is not a prejudiced Jesus, by the way, but a realistic Jesus.  Jesus, himself, and the disciples later, will minister to the Gentiles and the Samaritans, but starting out is challenging enough.  Stick to the ones you know best. 

This is like the advice we get in starting out in sales.  Begin first with your family, your neighbors and friends, and your minister.  Only later go to the strangers, where the sales are tougher.

Jesus gives further advice.  Travel light.  They don't need a lot of equipment or cash.  Go with God and God will provide. Live modestly, and be content. 

And then this advice, "Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave.  As you enter the house, greet it.  If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.  If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town."

Well, this is incredible advice.  Jesus is empowering his disciples with an authority from on high.  This is the A team! And yet Jesus, their coach, expects, indeed, he knows, they will not be all successful all the time. Some homes will accept them.  Some homes will reject them.  "You can't win them all."  That's life.   "Shake the dust from your feet" and move on.

I find this a great relief.  I have been serving this church for 25 years. The first ten years we had great growth.  The next ten years we kind of plateaued.  And the last five years were, well, take a look around.  We're not exactly beating the sox off of them.  Jesus expected this.  Not every stop or every year is going to be a winner.  Put it behind you and keep on keeping on.

There is a myth in America, which in many ways has served us well.  The myth is: success is guaranteed to anybody who works hard.  We are hard workers in America.  But it does not guarantee success always.  Ask Mike Zadick.  Other people are working hard, too.  And they just might win the gold.  Making us losers. 

The real problem here, however, is our worship of success.  There are eight individuals or teams who will be little remembered, for they won silver to Phelps' gold.

If this were ancient Israel, the prophets would call our worship of success idolatry.  Indeed they did. And indeed we do, worship at the altar of success.  We bow down before success.

I mean, can you believe it, Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in Southern California, interviewing the two presidential candidates on national television - an hour a piece - right in his sanctuary?  What is he doing?  He is a minister, for crying out loud.  How is he pulling this off?  If I were younger, I would be crazy with envy.  Oh, the success of the "purpose driven."

But Jesus does not preach success. You can be a good person, and still fail...in marriage, in parenting, in employment, in popularity, in personal achievement.  Jesus does not promise success, "a car in every garage and a chicken in every pot." 

Although who would be satisfied with this today?  Talk about inflation.  "A fleet of cars in every garage and a flock of chicken in every pot."  And if it is any less, I am suing somebody. 

But these are things of this world.  Gold is a precious medal, but it comes from the earth.  And as tempting as it is, as seductive as it is, to worship gold is idolatry.   We should put God, not gold, at the center of life.  We should put God, not things, or even other persons, at the center of life.

To worship success is to suck the spirit out of life.  We compete with one another instead of care for one another.  We get rich at the expense of relationship.  We express jealousy instead of justice.  We lust instead of love.

Jesus does not teach us how to be successful in this world, in spite of the many self-help books and pulpits which use him to promote this stuff.  No, Jesus teaches us how to overcome the world, and its many temptations, to be "in" the world, but not "of" the world.   And it has very little to do with worldly success.  Ask Mahatma Gandhi.  Or Mother Teresa.   Or Martin Luther King, Jr.  Or Nelson Mandela.

Back to our morning text.  Jesus is sending out his disciples.   On their first mission.  God love ?em, they were making sacrifices to follow Jesus.  Not that they were giving up all that much, for they did not have much, but they were certainly giving up what they had and putting themselves at risk, for they were going out into a cold, cruel world with a contrary, counter-cultural message.

Jesus knows they will be rejected.  Jesus knows they will face failure.  Jesus knows they will make mistakes. "Shake the dust off your feet" and move on.

For as Jesus says elsewhere, "We are ordinary servants doing our daily duty."  (Luke 17:10)  Or as someone else said about success, "If at first you don't succeed, you are running about average."

People remember Casey Stengel as the manager of the New York Yankees.  We remember his glory days of the ?50s, the Yankees of Maris, Mantle and McDougal, Berra, Kubek and Ford.  The dynasty which won successive American League titles and World Series.

We don't remember Casey Stengel as the manager of the other New York team, the loser Mets, including their record season of 120 loses, at the end of his career, and we don't remember Casey as the coach of the Boston Braves at the beginning of his big league career, who were another outstandingly unsuccessful team.

In fact, the records reflect, as a manager Casey Stengel lost more games than he won.  His career is a testimony to "you can't win them all."  Maybe it is the wisdom of the sport that he is enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

We, by the grace of God, are on Jesus' team.  "We can't win them all."   Jesus knew this.  But, by God, we cannot lose either.  Praise God for the incredible athletes who have entertained us and thrilled us these past two weeks.  Olympic champions all.   Olympic champions every one of them.

Some of whom are so old, and I am not talking about our 41 year old pup, Dara Torres, swimming for a metal in the 50 yard free, but the Japanese equestrian rider (Hiroshi Hoketsu) competing at the age of 67, that I have been personally inspired.

So just to let you know, I am back in training and peaking for the 2012 Olympics.  I will be 65 then, which I figure will be just about perfect.

In the meantime, let us prepare to shuffle faithfully into the fall.  For remember, we are not called to be successful, but to do God's will through discipleship in Jesus Christ.  And with God we cannot fail.  To God be the glory.  Amen.