United Lutheran Church of Red Wing, Minnesota
One Family in Christ 
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United Lutheran Church of Red Wing, Minnesota One Family in Christ
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Sermon for the Second Sunday in Advent Beloved… I want you to picture an old-time sailing ship from back in
the early days of America’s history, an ocean-going ship fashioned of wood and
tar and rope and canvas, freshly painted and stocked with supplies on its maiden
voyage across the Atlantic. Now
imagine that vessel far out to sea, the only thing around in any direction is
the ocean, but that ocean is as smooth as glass and the boat is sitting still.
The sailors haven’t even bothered to hoist the sails, because there is
no wind, and without any wind, the ship is going nowhere. You can imagine the frustration of the sailors on this
well-built, well-designed vessel floundering in the doldrums.
But it’s more than frustration, because that ship needs to keep moving
or the supplies will run out before it finds its destination.
A ship going nowhere is a ship that is dying. Now you could holler and scream at the sailors on the ship
to get moving, try harder, work smarter, put your back into it, but what are
they going to do? “All right
everybody, inhale! Exhale!
Inhale! Exhale!”
Come on. Even the ship’s
preacher only has the wind for a mile or so.
The sailors need more power than they can raise on their own. For some Christians, this picture is exactly what’s
happening to them spiritually. For
whatever reason, maybe a reason they can’t even explain, they feel stuck,
stranded, like they are on a really nice boat that is going nowhere. And just like for sailors, it’s more than just frustration.
There is real danger in sitting still when Jesus is calling us to follow
him, to move, to grow as disciples, to become more than what we are.
It is deadly to be left without power.
A Christian going nowhere is a Christian whose faith is dying. Just like with the sailors, you can holler and cajole such
people to get themselves squared away, but the fact is that they don’t have
the power to do it on their own. Neither
does anyone in this room. I cannot
by my own understanding or effort even believe in Jesus Christ, let alone become
more like him as my Lord. The
sailors need the power of the wind. We
do, too. We need the Holy Wind --
the power of the Holy Spirit. All three of our lessons for today talked about the Holy Spirit. Isaiah wrote about the Spirit of the Lord resting on the savior. Paul said in Romans, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” John the Baptist said, “Someone is coming who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire”. We call on the Holy Spirit several fairly often. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. When we have a baptism, we quote those lines about the Holy Spirit from Isaiah – the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord. In spite of all that, you sometimes get the feeling that the Holy Spirit is the forgotten step-child of the Trinity. It’s like you have the Father and the Son, and oh yeah, don’t forget about the Holy Spirit, he’s really important too, which you only have to say when the importance of something isn’t already self-evident. This time of year, we hear more about the Christmas spirit than the Holy Spirit. We need it to be the other way around because the Christmas spirit is a nice sentiment, but the Holy Spirit is supernatural. The Christmas spirit is seasonal, and the Holy Spirit is eternal. Most importantly, the Holy Spirit is the only one who can move us, spiritually, where we need to go. The Spirit alone is our power. Our theme for this month is becoming disciples of Christ through worship. Worship needs the power of the Spirit. Jesus said, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and in truth.” Without the Holy Spirit, worship is just an hour of talk radio. Baptism is just a baby with a wet head, communion is just cardboard wafers and cheap wine. Without the Holy Spirit, the Bible is just an old book of make-believe and moralizing, and United Lutheran itself is just another civic organization. With the Spirit, worship is a real encounter with the creator of the universe and His son, who rose from the dead. Baptism is the start of a new life, communion is the tangible reality of God’s grace, the Bible is a living message from God to you, and this church, United Lutheran, is a group that it pleases God to call his chosen people. Worship needs the Spirit.
We need the Spirit. So how
do you get the Holy Spirit? You
might just as well ask how you can capture the wind.
The answer is, you don’t. The
wind catches you. The message of the Bible today is to raise the sails and
get ready because that wind is coming. Especially
if you’ve been floundering dead in the water, listen to this word from the
Bible. The kingdom of God is at
hand. New life is rising up from a
dead and forgotten stump. The God
of hope has filled us with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. The breeze is starting to pick up. Raise the sails, and when the Spirit starts to move you, let
yourself go. You’ve come here to worship today, and just walking
through the door of the church is a big part preparing for the Spirit.
It doesn’t matter whether you came because of your kid in Sunday School
or for the Lutheran coffee fix or because you like guys in white robes, whatever
was on your mind when you came through the door, you came through the door.
This is where you need to be for the wind of the Spirit to catch you. Now that you’re here, I’m asking you to raise the sails
for the Holy Spirit to move you. That
means mentally and spiritually anticipating that something is going to happen
when you worship. Let’s go beyond
just coming through the door. Let’s
come together in worship with a sense of expectation that God is going to do
something, that the wind will actually take us somewhere.
Let’s raise our sails in anticipation that we will meet the Holy
Spirit. Let’s seek out that
encounter, thirst for it, hunger for it, long for it, more than the watchmen
long for the morning. Let’s
expect that God will find us today and move us with the Spirit’s power. I’m tired of trying to row my own boat and getting nowhere. Come, Holy Spirit, stir us and move us where you want us to go. Amen. Sermon for All Saints Sunday Beloved… I want to tell you a story this morning about a person
who’s been an inspiration for millions of people, not just because he
succeeded in life but because of how he succeeded.
He found success the old-fashioned way, and even though he’s no longer
living, people still follow his old-fashioned principles all the time.
So his story is one we can’t afford to miss. It’s the story of a man who was born at the very
beginning of the first century AD. His
parents were Jewish, and like most Jewish parents of the time, they gave him a
name out of the Bible. And no, it
wasn’t Jesus – that’s a different inspiring story.
This man’s name was Saul, although you might know him by his other name
of Paul. Now even though he lived 2000 years ago, we know a lot
about him. We have more historical
sources about Paul than about people like Julius Caesar and Shakespeare.
We have a lot of things written about
him, and we have a lot of things written by
him. So we know a lot about Paul and his old-fashioned
principles for success. And one
thing Paul would tell you about himself is how hard he worked to get to the top.
Paul’s first step to success was the principle of hard work.
He disciplined himself in single-minded in pursuit of success. He went the extra mile.
He did everything he had to do and more, and he did it well. That brings us to his second step, the principle of high
standards. Paul never settled for
second. When it came to his
religion, there was no one more pious than Paul.
When it came to his morals, there was no one more respected. When
it came to his career, he studied law under one of the great professors of his
time – the famous Gamaliel; a big name, and a big honor for Paul. That brings us to his third step, the principle of
networking. After setting his high
standards and working hard to achieve them, he got connected with the right
people. He moved on from the famous
Gamaliel to join the Pharisee club, where he networked with the movers and
shakers of his community. He got
the attention of people in high places. One
who was VERY high up. That brings us to the most important principle of his
success. There was a time in
Paul’s life when he met someone that we all hope to meet one day – The Lord
Jesus Christ. That encounter with
Jesus taught him the last and most important principle, where it turned out that
his first three steps had gotten him nowhere in the kingdom of God.
His hard work and high standards and good connections had moved him
backward in God’s eyes, and this last principle, literally, took him off his
feet and threw him to the ground. That principle is the principle of grace.
It’s the principle that he was on track with God only because God had
chosen him, not at all because of his work or his knowledge or his connections.
It’s the principle that he was a saint only because God had elected him
to be a saint. It’s the principle
that success in God’s eyes comes by letting God do all the work. Now you might think, “Wait a minute.
That’s your message for success – to let someone else do all the
work? That’s the old-fashioned
principle you were talking about?” Well, I’ll tell you what, even in the business world, there’s a saying that the real old-fashioned way to make money isn’t to earn it, it’s to inherit it. And I’m telling you that Paul’s secret to success, his old-fashioned principle for disciples and saints, is that the only way to earn God’s favor is not to earn it at all, but to totally trust God do the work. There’s an old tale about a man who died and found
himself standing in line outside the pearly gates.
When it was his turn to talk to St. Peter, the blessed saint told him,
“Here’s how this works. You
tell me all the good things you have done, and I’ll give you points for each
of them. When you get to a hundred
points, you get in.” “OK,” the man replied.
“I was married to the same woman for 50 years and never cheated on her,
even in my heart.” “Wonderful,” Peter replied.
“That’s worth 3 points.” “Three points!” the man replied. “Well, I attended church all my life and supported its
ministry with my money and service.” “Terrific,” Peter replied.
“God is very proud of you. That
gets you one more point.” “One point!?” said the man, who was started to panic by
now. “How about this:
I opened a shelter for the homeless in my city and fed needy people by
the hundreds during the holidays.” “Outstanding,” Peter said.
“That’s good for two more points.” “Two points!” cried the man in desperation.
“At this rate the only way I’ll ever get in is by the grace of
God.” “Come on in,” said Peter, and he opened the door. As you look down the list of those we honor in worship
today, there are some good people who have died in the last year.
Yet not one of them, nor anyone else here, nor anyone else we’ve ever
honored, has earned the right to be called a saint.
But there are saints among those we honor and saints among us right now,
people who didn’t earn the right to be saints but inherited that right through
total trust in the Lord who earned it for us. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians says “In Christ also we
have obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of
him who accomplishes all things according to his own counsel and will.
This is the pledge of our inheritance.”
And later on he says, “that you may know what are the riches of his
glorious inheritance among the saints.” The
old-fashioned was to success isn’t to earn it, but to inherit was Christ has
earned on our behalf. My daughter Bethany will be baptized later today. She is four months old and, just like the rest of my family, she’s the most wonderful girl I’ve ever seen, and she makes her Daddy very happy. But she has done nothing to earn the gift God has for her today. Yet God has chosen her to be his own. It makes God happy to call Bethany his daughter, and through the merit of Christ, she has a glorious inheritance from her heavenly Daddy. Through the merit of Jesus, she is just as much a saint in God’s eyes as St. Paul himself. And so is every one of you. Amen. The Truth Will Make You Free Well, there is only two more days until the election, and I, like most of you, I suppose, can’t wait until it’s over. Some have said this has been the longest campaign that they can remember, and one of the most contentious. I believe that. Some have also said that this is the most important election of all times. I’m not so sure of that, because I’m not old enough to remember too many past elections, but I suspect there have been other elections and times in history that have been pretty important. What I do know is that what we will be doing on Tuesday is the cornerstone and ultimate expression of our freedom as citizens of this country – to vote. I encourage you to vote. Some have been critical of us pastors for not speaking up, or saying anything in regard to the political situation of the day, whether it be about the war in Iraq, abortion, the marriage amendment, the conflict in Israel. Some have been critical when pastors do speak up, such has been the case when our ELCA Bishop Mark Hanson has tried to speak about issues of justice and peace in the world. This often leads to questions about the role of faith in politics. How does our faith inform us? Can our faith inform us? It seems as though “faith talk” has reached new levels in the political realm. I was sitting in the hot tub at the YMCA after a racketball match, as I often do, and a man engaged me in a conversation about which of the candidates was the most religious, or faithful. It was important for him to think that our president be a man of faith. I agree with that, but I am not sure I can determine which candidate is the best Christian. There are other people and groups that would have you think that there are Christian issues and tell us “How a Christian should vote.” Jerry Falwell and the Narrow Road Committee on Pioneer Road, whoever they might be, have done the most unchristian thing by telling us how a Christian should vote, because what they have done is put the shackles of the law upon us rather than speaking a word that sets us free. They have confused the law with the Gospel.
Pastor Steve had an excellent article in a recent Uniter. He wrote: “For
one thing, faith does affect how you vote.
Faith should affect how you vote. The
Bible itself says that “those authorities that exist have been instituted by
God” Romans 13:1. The Lord gave
us the office of civil leaders and he cares about what goes on in the
government, because those decisions affect people’s lives.
If God cares about politics, people of faith cannot keep their integrity
with him if they check their faith at the political door….However, faith’s
involvement with the public sphere does NOT extend to labeling any one party as
the “Christian” party.”
Lutheran Christians are very clear about this.
In an article written a decade ago by Dan Hofrenning, a political science
professor at St. Olaf College, entitled “Jesus is not a Republican (or a
Democrat), he writes this of the so-called religious war:
Of course, Jesus in neither
Republican nor Democrat. But I have
been troubled in recent elections by some politicians who suggest their
positions reflect God’s point of view….There are powerful connections
between religion and politics. But
to claim that God favors your political agenda over your opponent’s is to risk
mocking God and reducing God’s power. The
God whom we follow suffered with us in the person of Jesus.
The Jesus whom we follow shed his blood and died for us.
Have you seen any politician suffering or dying for anyone?
Have you seen any politicians even making themselves vulnerable to each
other?
What civil leaders do for us is related to the law.
They are concerned about policy and making laws that provide order,
protection, equity, support, and concern for the most vulnerable in society. They can not, and will not, save us or our world.
Only God can do that and has done that for us in Jesus Christ.
The greatest gift of the reformation is this idea of the Freedom of the
Christian and to know that we are “saved
by grace through faith apart from works of the law.”
The truth is that we are sinful and our world is sinful.
There is nothing that we can do, including voting on Tuesday, which will
change that. Knowing and believing
that God has defeated the powers of sin and death through the death and
resurrection of Jesus sets us free, giving us the freedom to participate in the
political affairs of this world to help make it more peaceful, just, and loving.
Knowing that our future is secure in Jesus sets us free to live and be
involved loving service to our neighbors, and that is what good politics should
do, improve the lives of its citizens and promote peace and justice in the
world. We seek God’s wisdom and
guidance that what we do is in accordance to God’s will for us and the entire
world, but we must be careful not to equate what we do with the in-breaking of
the Kingdom of God. The Freedom of
the Christian transcends any political candidate, party, policy, or nation.
As our text for this morning states, “If
the son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” This truth that sets us free is found in the scriptures, the Word of God. There are lots of things that are said in the Bible, but the most important thing that the Bible proclaims is the good news of Jesus Christ. Martin Luther would say that the scriptures are the cradle of Christ, and that all scripture points to Jesus as the fulfillment of the law and prophets. As we read the Bible we learn of five truths that lead us to freedom. The first is the truth about GOD INCARNATE. The Gospel of John tells us that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.” In Jesus, God became a human being in order to share with us our joys and sorrows, our frustrations and successes. The truth of God Incarnate is that we are important to God and that God cares and loves us so much that God become one of us, a human being. His name is Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.” Secondly, there is the truth of GOD CRUCIFIED. There was a reason the God sent Jesus to this world. It was to do battle with sin. Because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, sin has had its way in the world. The truth is that all “are by nature sinful and unclean.” But God did not hold our sins against us. God sent his only Son Jesus to die and the cross for us. In the meaning of the Second Article of the Apostle’s Creed, Martin Luther wrote: At great cost he has saved and redeemed me, a lost and condemned person. He has freed me from sin, death, and the power of the devil – not with silver or gold, but with his holy and precious blood and his innocent suffering and death. The truth found in the cross of Christ is that our sins are forgiven. God has mended our broken relationship, reconciling us and the world back to God, giving to us a new relationship with him. God has declared us not guilty through his saving act on the cross.
The third truth is GOD
RESURRECTED. On the third day
after his death, God raised Jesus from the dead, destroying the power of death
once and for all. The truth of
Jesus’ resurrection is that there is new life for us now as we live and hope
for everlasting life for when we die. For
all who believe in Jesus as the living Lord and Savior, the promise is this: “Because I live, you
will live also.” Fourthly, there is the truth GOD EXALTED. Following the fifty days Jesus walked on this earth after he was raised from the dead, Jesus was lifted up into heaven to sit at the right hand of God. Jesus had completed all that his Father in heaven had commanded him to do, and the time had come for the Father to glorify the Son. The truth in Jesus’ exaltation into heaven is that Jesus is the living Lord, the Son of God, the Savior of the world. As the Bible says, “every knee should bend in heaven and on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
And finally, there is the truth of GOD
EVER-PRESENT. Before he left
this world, Jesus promised to send to us a Comforter. Through his Holy Spirit, we continue to experience the
Lord’s presence and love in our lives. The
truth is that through the Holy Spirit the work of Jesus to save continues as the
Spirit creates faith. Through the
Holy Spirit the Lord strengthens us in our weakness, comforts us when we suffer,
gives us faith when we doubt, and helps us to live out our Christian faith in
our daily lives. The promise was
given by Jesus himself, “Lo, I am with
you always, even to the end of the age.” On this Day of Reformation, take with you the word and promise of Jesus into the voting booth, “If you continue in my word, you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” Amen.
Title: God Takes a Fall Beloved in Christ… When a minister reads out of the Bible, I am sure that at
least nine times out of ten the people who happen to be listening at all hear
not what is really being read, but only what they expect to hear read. And
I think that what most people expect to hear read from the Bible is an edifying
story, an uplifting thought, a moral lesson – something elevating, obvious,
and boring. So that is exactly what they very often do hear.
Only that is too bad, because if you really listen – and maybe you have
to forget that it is the Bible being read and a minister who is reading it –
there is no telling what you might hear. These words I’ve just read are from a sermon entitled
“The Magnificent Defeat” by Frederick Buechner, and I’m in his debt for
that beginning to my remarks today. We’re
going to talk about the Old Testament lesson, one of the more mysterious and
ominous stories of the Bible, Jacob wrestling with the stranger at night by the
ford of the Jabbok. The prelude to this lesson is the saga of a young man, born
as the second of twin brothers and given the name of Jacob, which means “One
who grabs” or “One who usurps”. For
much of his life, he would live up to that name, using deceit, trickery, and any
other form of leverage to get what he wanted. Jacob would have gone far on a reality series. Now the edifying moral lesson would be that God frowns on
that kind of trickery, and that Jacob would pay for his sins.
But the story doesn’t go that way.
After stealing his brother’s blessing from their father Isaac, Jacob
leaves home for twenty years, and through even more trickery, he earns himself a
fortune. He has setbacks, but in
the end, he gets the girl he wants, he gets the money he wants, and instead of
frowning on him, God gives Jacob a vision of angels and heaven.
It’s hardly an uplifting story so far for those who walk the straight
and narrow. So this shrewd, ambitious man who is strong on guts and
weak on conscience, decides it is finally time for him to go home.
He’s done everything he set out to do, and now it’s time to go back
to claim the land that God promised to Abraham, to Isaac, and now, to him.
In today’s story, Jacob is going back home to seize God’s promise for
himself. But just as he reaches the Jabbok River, the last boundary
remaining before he crosses into his land, he receives a message.
His brother Esau is coming to meet him with an army of four hundred men.
And verse 7 says that Jacob was terrified. Now Jacob had been traveling in a huge caravan along with
two wives, two other women, a baker’s dozen of children, and all of his
servants and all of his livestock. It
was quite a caravan, because Jacob was a wealthy man. But out of his fear, he sent everyone else ahead of him
across the Jabbok and he stayed behind, by himself until late at night. That’s when it happened.
Out of the darkness, when he was all alone, verse 24 says “A man came
and wrestled with him until dawn.” Imagine
being alone in the deep, cold darkness of a desert night.
Imagine being attacked out of that darkness by a shadow of a stranger
whose face you can’t see and whose strength is beyond that of normal men. Jacob didn’t know it yet, but he was wrestling with God. Now throughout the centuries since that time, Jews and
Christians have used this story as a metaphor of our own struggles with the
Almighty. When we find ourselves in
a job we never wanted, in a family filled with tension or heartache, when our
lives are burdened with sadness and pain, the preacher tells us we should give
it over to God, but in our hearts and our minds, there are times we fight.
We wrestle with God. Realistically, you have to wonder -- did Jacob think that
he could win? Do we?
Everything we know about God and everything we know about human beings
tells us there is no way. What chance does a person have against God?
Can we force God to do something against his will?
It’s impossible. You’d
sooner hold back the Mississippi with a coffee filter than overcome the power of
God. It’s like a twenty pound toddler forcing her 200 pound daddy
to the ground and pinning him there helpless.
It doesn’t happen. Unless, the daddy allows it to happen.
Unless the daddy decides that rather than pushing the little child away,
he will let himself be wrestled down. For
the sake of the child, the daddy takes a fall. Isn’t that exactly what happened with Jacob in the story
at the Jabbok? All night long,
Jacob holds his own in a wrestling match with God.
Impossible. Just before
dawn, it looks like Jacob actually has the upper hand.
No way. Unless God allows it
to happen. Unless God allows
himself to take a fall. Isn’t that exactly what happened for all of us with the
story of Jesus? Maybe the whole
history of the Bible is a story of God’s chosen people collectively wrestling
with him. He gives them life.
They turn against him. He
sends the 10 commandments. They
fight back with a Golden Calf. He
sends prophets and kings. They
fight back through idolatry and violence. Finally,
he comes to earth himself in the person of Jesus Christ.
Once again, God’s people fight back, and God himself, Christ, is killed
in the fight. Impossible, unless
God allows himself to take the fall. And that’s exactly what he does, because it is right at
that point, where Jacob and we have done everything in our power to win, when we
have spent all our strength and appear to have the upper hand, that God brings
the reversal. After struggling all
night, the strange wrestler simply touches Jacob’s thigh and Jacob is left
helpless on the ground. Then we
know that this whole battle from the beginning was fated to end this way, that
the stranger had taken a fall and allowed Jacob to almost win, so that when the
reversal came, he would know he was truly defeated. He would know that all the shrewdness, and will, and brute
strength he could muster were not enough to force a victory. It’s right at that point when Jacob realizes what has happened that the sun begins to rise. And once again in the words of Frederick Buechner, “For the first time, he sees his opponent’s face. And what he sees is something more terrible than the face of death – the face of love. It is vast and strong, half ruined with suffering and fierce with joy, the face a man flees down all the darkness of his days until at last he cries out, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” Only now it is not a blessing that he can have by the strength of his cunning or the force of his will, but a blessing that he can only have as a gift.” You can fight for things like power and success, and those who fight hard enough can win. But things like peace, love, and joy are only from God. They are only from God, and we cannot force them from his hand no matter how hard we fight. But after we have expended all our strength, after God has taken the fall and risen again in victory, after we have finally given up the fight and surrendered to our beloved enemy, then we understand that in taking everything away, God has given us infinitely more. Then we understand the gifts that we can only receive, then we understand the defeat that is victory in the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Amen. “HOW CAN I SAY THANKS?” Let us pray: Healing God, we fall at your feet with prayers of thanksgiving. Thank you for your mercy and grace that are fresh as the morning dew. Thank you for hearing us when we call upon you for assistance, healing, and help. Lord, I pray for all who are gathered here today that you would cleanse us once again. Cast away our selfish pride and foolishness. Wash away our sin. Free us from being self-centered and help us to see the many ways we can serve you by serving those around us. For the sake of our Lord Jesus who has called us as his disciples. Amen. As people of God, one of the things that God has called us to do and be is to be thankful. When we become aware of the presence of God in our lives, when we realize all that God has done for us and continues to do for us, our response is thanksgiving. Two of my favorite Bible passages reflect this calling of God. The first is from the psalms: “Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation.” As we gather for worship, we do so in order to thank and praise God. The other passage is from Paul’s letter to the Colossians: “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” We are to be thankful and to live thankful lives, and yet, we know how easy it is to forget or fail to give thanks to God for all the gifts that God provides.
In the book of Deuteronomy, God warned the people of Israel against being
forgetful. “Take
heed lest you forget the Lord your God….when you have eaten and are full, and
have built goodly houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks
multiply, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is
multiplied, then your heart be lifted up and you forget the Lord your God, who
brought you out of the land of Egypt….Beware lest you say in your heart, ’My
power and might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’”
Certainly, that kind of warning can be and should be directed toward
each of us as well, for we know how easy it is to forget the Lord our God.
But the amazing thing about God is that even though we may take God for
granted, God still gives us all that we need from day to day. In Martin Luther’s explanation to the fourth petition of
the Lord’s Prayer, “Give us our daily
bread,” Luther says, “God gives
daily bread, even without our prayer, to all people, though sinful, but we ask
in this petition that he will help us to realized this and to receive our daily
bread with thanksgiving.” Here Luther tells us that we should not only receive God’s gifts with thankfulness, but we also need to call upon God to help us be thankful. In asking God to help us be thankful, we receive not only the gift, but also the giver and his presence in our lives. You see, by being thankful to God, we receive more than just food and clothing, home and family. We receive the gift of faith which leads to the greatest gift of all, life and salvation. To acknowledge God and give thanks for all God’s goodness is to live in a relationship with God. It is this relationship that will enrich your life beyond all measure and comparison, strengthening us through the hard times and making the good time seem even better. In our gospel lesson for today, Jesus encounters ten men who were social outcast. They had the disease of leprosy, they were forced to live on the edge of town. When Jesus came walking by one day on his way to Jerusalem, these forgotten people lifted up their voice in unison, crying out to Jesus for mercy. Jesus stopped and told them what to do, to go and show themselves to the priests. As they went, they were healed. Because of this chance meeting with Jesus, all ten were healed, all ten were restored to society, all ten received a gift. What follows this healing miracle of Jesus is what is interesting for us today. How did they respond to this gift so great? Only one person returned to praise God and thank Jesus for the gift of healing. And he was a Samaritan, a person despised and hated by the Jews. Jesus asks, “Where are the nine?” What about the others? Were they not grateful for the gift they received? It’s easy to condemn those none people for their ingratitude until we see ourselves standing in their midst. When have we ever taken the mercy of God for-granted? Do we ever find ourselves calling upon God only in ties of trouble, and then forget God the rest of the time? Do we think it’s God’s obligation to heal us, to get us out of trouble, feed us, help us get an A on the test, give us all that we want if it is our due? Jesus asks, “Where are the nine?” I suspect it wasn’t as if the nine were not thankful for the gift of healing. Their lives were changed for the better. They certainly knew that. They were probably so caught up in their good fortune that they failed to see beyond the miracle to the miracle worker. Being blessed once with a gift of healing, they could have been blessed twice with a relationship with Jesus. This story reminds me of a friend of mine who I met while at seminary. Her name is Jan. She taught me a lot about what it means to be grateful. She is a pastor who has cerebral palsy. You would if someone had a reason for complaining, or think that it was God’s duty to heal her, she would be the one. Life, as she described it, was not always easy for her, as she goes through life on crutches and puts up with the unwelcome stares and comments of people on the streets in the city she lives in. And yet, she continues to praise and thank God for the blessings of life in spite of her of her disease. How can she give thanks? She has met the miracle man Jesus and has discovered that wholeness in life is more than physical healing. It is a relationship with Jesus who gives life, hope, and salvation. In her gratitude to God, she sees her relationship with God as life’s greatest blessing. As I have said, the story of Jesus’ healing the ten lepers points not so much to the miracle itself, as it points to the miracle man Jesus. He is the one who has entered our human situation, taking upon himself the guilt and shame of our sinful, broken lives, and who, in his mercy, died on a cross so that we might be set free from sin and death and receive the gift of his life. It is the gift of faith that the Samaritan received when he was healed. He was the one who, in the midst of the joy and excitement, felt compelled to return to praise God and thank Jesus. Through his faith, the Samaritan received the greatest gift of God’s grace, wholeness, life and salvation. How can I say thanks? By saying “Thank you” and living a life of thanksgiving to God each and every day. It is joining the psalmist and all the people of God when he said, “Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation.” It is doing as the Apostle Paul tells us when he says, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Amen. Sermon for the 18th Sunday after Pentecost Sisters and brothers… There was a missionary who went to do his work for the Lord in the nation of Ghana. It’s a West African nation of just under 21 million people, previously known as Gold Coast until it was renamed in 1957. With over 100 languages and dialects to choose from, this missionary spent most of his time with the dominant language family in Ghana, known as the Kwa dialect. And one thing he learned in that dialect is that the only way to ask the question, “What is your religion?” is to phrase it like this: “Whom do you serve?” Whom do you serve? In any language you can speak, discipleship is about
serving. Discipleship is serving.
Our theme for the whole year is becoming disciples of Christ, and this
month we’re going to talk about discipleship as service. We had a preview of the theme last week with our youth
worship. It was an awesome service,
amen?, and it renewed in me the connection between serving God and serving other
people. We’re going to build on
that theme today, and in particular we’re going to hit a topic that several of
the speakers mentioned in their messages – how to keep the spirit of service
alive when the mission trip is over. How
can we develop a disciple’s heart for continuing service? The first step is to have a good understanding of what
service means. Very simply, a
servant is a person who meets a need for someone else.
One of the great things about service is that it’s not complicated.
When you bring someone a plate of food, or help them solve a problem, or
keep their neighborhood safe so they can walk to church – you are serving by
meeting one of their needs. We have a whole segment of the workforce known as the
service industry. In the service
industry, one key idea is that no matter what service you provide, you are
supposed to smile, and say, “It’s our pleasure to serve you”, and put the
needs of the customer first. Jesus
might have done all right in the service industry except for one issue – Jesus
didn’t serve customers. Customers pay for the service they receive.
Jesus didn’t get paid. He
served people who couldn’t pay. He
served the poor as well as the rich. He
served those on the edge of society as well as the movers and the shakers in the
middle. He served people in every walk of life without receiving a
dime for his services. He served
because it was his pleasure and his purpose to serve.
As he said himself in the book of Mark:
That is why I came. Not to
be served, but to serve. His disciples serve in the same way.
When you serve other people as a follower of Jesus, you’re not doing it
for money. In fact, when you serve
as a disciple of Christ, you will be serving a lot of people who couldn’t
pay you, just like the people that Jesus served. So when Christians talk about serving, it means meeting a
need for someone else without expecting them to pay you back.
Now that can be an obstacle some times.
It’s natural to feel like, “Hey, I scratched your back, now it’s my
turn.” Part of discipleship is
trusting that our needs are taken care of already by God, so we are free to
empty ourselves, and look out for the needs of other people.
Somebody once said about Mother Teresa that her greatest strength was her
courage to become nothing, so that God could use her for anything. Another obstacle to serving is the worldly idea that
servanthood is demeaning. The word
“servitude” is practically an insult, and some people see it as an insult
when we are called to serve others, especially when the service is dirty,
difficult, beneath us and, worst of all, unrecognized.
Service is easy when somebody comes up and says, “Thank you, thank you,
you’ve been such a blessing.” It’s
tougher when nobody acknowledges your work. I read a poem last week that highlights the challenge of
truly serving like Christ. It was
written by a woman named Ruth Calkin, and honestly, I don’t know anything
about the author but the poem really struck me.
She says, You know, Lord, how I serve You With great emotional fervor In the limelight. You know how eagerly I speak for You At the women’s club. You know how I effervesce when I promote A fellowship group. You know my genuine enthusiasm At a Bible study. But how would I react, I wonder, if You pointed to a basin of water And asked me to wash the calloused feet Of a bent and wrinkled old woman Day after day Month after month In a room where nobody saw And nobody knew. Christ taught us again and again that the highest honor in
God’s eyes is humble service, not honor as the reward for humble service but
in the service itself. Whoever
wishes to be great among you must become as a servant.
God will never fail to see when you serve. So how else do we develop a disciple’s heart for
continuing, ongoing service? One
answer is to make a conscious decision to be aware of the needs.
Look around your community with the belief that God will show you an area
of need where you can serve. We
have a human tendency to see what we want to see. Use that tendency for something good, and say, “God, today
I’m looking for a way to serve you. Show
me a need where I can help.” If
you’re looking for a place to serve, you’ll see it. When you find that area of service where God is calling
you, be realistic about what you can do and what you can’t.
You are only one person, after all.
Even Jesus didn’t do all of his ministry by himself. But you are one person, and one is a whole lot more than
none. By that I mean that your
service matters, even if it is washing someone’s calloused feet in a room
where no one can see. For a
disciple, there is no such thing as prominent service and obscure service. There is just a desire to serve one another with whatever
gift you have received, with the strength that God supplies so that God may be
glorified through all things in Jesus Christ. I’ll leave you with this story about a man who discovered
what it meant to have a disciple’s heart for serving. He was a pastor on a hospital visit to the neo-natal
intensive care center, where a family from his congregation had a newborn son
who was born premature. The baby
and family were doing well, but the pastor wanted to check in and the family
appreciated his visit. As he left, he noticed another infant who was in an
incubator with no one else around. The
pastor asked one of the nurses about that baby. The nurse told him the tragedy of how this baby’s mother
had died in childbirth, and the father was incarcerated, and how sad it was that
so few people came to be with this child. And
she said, “Thank you for caring.” The pastor didn’t know what else to say at that point, so
he had a short prayer for that child and left.
As he walked out of the hospital, all he could think about was his
gratitude that he had two healthy children and it wasn’t his kid in the
incubator. And it was as if the air
around him was charged with electricity, and the Spirit of God said in his
heart, “That is your child, because that is my child, and that is why I sent
you to that hospital.” If we can see the people around us through the eyes of Christ, as our sons and daughters and fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters, then it will be our pleasure to serve them again and again with a disciple’s heart. Amen. September
5, 2004 Beloved… Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother,
wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself cannot be my
disciple. Whoever does not carry
the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
If you do not give up all your possessions, none of you can become my
disciple. How much does it take to be a disciple for Jesus?
The same man who talks about healing and forgiveness now speaks of
dividing families, giving up everything you own, and even sacrificing your life
for the sake of God. They sound like the words of a militant radical, not the
words of the Prince of Peace. Most of us are used Jesus being a nice guy, the guy that
we’ve seen in so many works of art looking thoughtful and gentle and
compassionate. He’s the guy
that you’d love to have for a neighbor because you’d never have to worry
about him causing trouble. He’s
the loving shepherd who calls us softly and tenderly. These words today are anything but soft and tender.
Can that really be Jesus with a stern crease in his brow and angry fire
in his eyes? Did he really say that
if you don’t hate life itself, you can’t be my disciple? Yes, he did. And
if he is tender and gentle, which I still think is true, then he is also tough
and strong. If he is compassionate,
he is also courageous and even stubborn. If
he looks harmless, then we need to look more closely, because “harmless” is
the wrong word for the King of Kings. It
takes a backbone of steel to walk the road that Jesus walked.
It takes faith like a mountain to say what Jesus had to say.
He faced opposition. He
faced rejection. He faced suffering
and shame. Most people would have
turned away from the road that Jesus walked, but he laced up his sandals and
made his choice to follow God’s direction, even when it led to a cross. Today, he’s looking for disciples who are willing to do
the same. Starting next Sunday, our theme for the program year will
be discipleship. Every month from
now until May, we will focus on a different part of discipleship, starting next
Sunday with Discipleship is learning. But
the common theme all year is becoming a disciple, and today Jesus warns us ahead
of time what discipleship can cost. Along with the great joy of accepting Jesus as savior comes
the great challenge of following him as Lord. Jesus is looking for a few good disciples who are willing
to take up that challenge. He’s
looking for a few good disciples who are willing to pick up their own cross and
follow him. And he’s telling them
in advance that discipleship will be tough. It reminds me of the way the Marine Corps has gone about
the business of recruiting new Marines. A
while back, their tag line was “We’re looking for a few good men with the
metal to be Marines”. The few,
the proud, the Marines. It was
letting people know right from the start of the challenge of being a Marine. I’ve met some Marines in my training with the Army.
Any former Marines in here today? We had a couple of former Marines go through chaplain
school with us. You don’t have to
tell any of my Army Ranger buddies I said this, but those Marines I met were
something else. There were days
they would try to do things the hard way, just for the sake of the challenge. One time I was out with a group of chaplains in what they
call the night infiltration course, where you’re running around in the dark
with explosions and simulated gunfire all around you, trying to get from one
side of the woods to the other. So
we came across a concertina wire obstacle, that’s the wire with razor blades
attached every few inches or so, and we had to get across. The former Marine says, “OK, here’s what we do.
One of us has to dive face first on the wire, and the rest of us will run
across over his back.” And the
rest of us, middle-aged religious type guys, were all very quiet for a couple of
seconds. Finally one of the other
chaplains in training said, “All right, Marine.
While you do that, the rest of us are going to take this 8 foot plank
that’s right next to the wire and run across that instead.” So the Marines have always been ready to walk the hard
road, and many times they have for the sake of their duty. But there was a time in their history when they found their
numbers dropping. Something had to
be done. The obvious solution would
be to lower their recruiting standards so that more recruits would qualify and
therefore more would get in. The Marines instead chose to raise their standards.
They even started an ad campaign so that everyone knew right from the
start that it is tough work to be a Marine.
Not everyone’s cut out for this. We
are the few, the proud. If you join
this group, we will test you to your absolute limits.
We will grind you down until you are razor sharp.
But when you prove yourself to the Marines, you never have to prove
yourself to anyone else again. When
you are a Marine, you’re a part of something hard, something important, and
something special. It’s a strange idea that when you need more recruits to
make it harder to qualify. But the
strategy worked. The number of
Marines went up, and the quality of Marines went up even further. Still today, the Marines have a reputation of being a group
that is worth the agony that it takes to become a member. Jesus is here today looking for a few good men and women
with the metal to be his disciples. He’s
looking for people who will do what it takes to follow him, no matter the cost.
He’s looking for people who will make God the first thing in their
lives. He’s looking for
disciples, and he’s telling you up front that it won’t be easy. Being a disciple of Jesus means sacrifice and commitment.
When you make that commitment, it will cost you something.
It will certainly cost you time and money to be Jesus’ disciple.
It may cost you more than that. But Jesus makes a promise when you accept that commitment.
He says that “whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also
acknowledge them before my Father in heaven, and whoever denies me before
others, I also will deny them before my Father in heaven.”
When this life on is done, all that will matter is whether Jesus
acknowledges you and invites you in to join with him in heaven. Christ is looking for committed disciples who will accept a
challenge in this life for the sake of the next. Now, unlike the Marine Corps, Jesus disciples don’t
qualify by their physical and mental ability.
Jesus doesn’t care how many push-ups you can do in a minute.
You don’t have to get a certain score on any test.
You don’t have to qualify as a marksman with the M16.
But you might want to remember the Marines motto.
(ASK FORMER MARINES?) Semper
fidelis. Always faithful.
That’s the quality that Jesus needs in a disciple. Age and strength and academic ability don’t qualify you
for discipleship. Commitment and
trust in the Lord are what matter. I
have never met an eighty-year-old, wheelchair-bound Active Duty marine.
I have met disciples of Christ who were eighty, ninety, and even older
and still going strong as disciples even when their bodies were failing. Jesus is looking for a few good disciples.
And for those of you who have made the choice to follow him, I pray that
these words from Christ will give you motivation and hope to keep going.
His words remind us that suffering doesn’t come from a lack of faith,
but sometimes as a result of faith. I
know there are people who beat themselves up, saying, “If only I’d had more
faith, this would have turned out better.”
Well, maybe, but not necessarily. Suffering
and struggle are part of life for Christians. Christ’s Gospel is a promise that the struggle is worth
it, that the things you give up because of your faith are nothing compared with
what you gain. The disciples of
Jesus Christ are an elite group of people, not because they’re so great in
themselves but because they are conforming their lives to the greatest leader of
all. Disciples are not proud for
themselves, but they are extremely proud of their Lord. Disciples choose the hard road when that’s where God
leads them. They follow him and try
to conform their lives like his. Lives
of love and forgiveness, like his. Lives
of justice and truth, like his. Lives
of self-sacrifice, like his. Discipleship
means giving up something of yourself, trusting that everyone who dies with
Christ will also be raised with him. What
looks like death is actually life, because Christian discipleship always, always
leads to resurrection. Examine yourself in light of these words today. Ask yourself whether you are ready to do what they call for, and remember what they promise for the person who does it. Not many of us are cut out for the Marine Corps. But God wants you for the few, the proud, the disciples. Amen. “Family Values According to Jesus” As the political season heats up with the election less than three months away, one of the themes that is bantered about is family values. Who will encourage and advance to a greater degree the family values of this country? As the candidates put forth their ideas and promote their policies, I have yet to hear anyone espouse the family values according to Jesus which we find in our text this morning: “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth?” Jesus says. “No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided; father against son, mother against daughter, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law, father-in-law against son-in-law.” Statements like this from Jesus surprise and startle us. What’s going on here? What kind of family values are these? Jesus is suppose to encourage and help our families, not divide them. If this is the result of following Jesus, I’m not sure I want anything to do with it. But then again, maybe that is exactly what Jesus is getting at – following him. To follow Jesus and be his disciple means something. It has an impact on our lives, the way we think, what we do, who we associate with, how we spend our time, the choices and decisions we make. As we seek to follow Jesus and be his disciples, it will have an impact on those around us, including our families. William Willimon tells the story of St. Francis. St. Francis of Assisi became a knight in the wars with Perugia and had a fabulous future in front of him. His father was proud of his son, but the problem was that Francis kept going to church and praying, asking God what he wanted him to do. Over time, he became convinced that God did not want him to be a French troubadour or a dashing knight, but rather to be a follower of Christ, a genuine disciple. God wanted Francis to serve the poorest of the poor. Francis heard the scripture say, “Sell all that you have and give it to the poor: and with a startling naiveté he said “Okay.” He sold all that he had and gave it to the poor.
But his father took exception, for what the boy gave away wasn’t really
his but was given to him by his father, who had no desire to take the Bible
literally. He threw Francis in
jail, then took him to court. Francis
said, “No longer is Pietro Bernardone
my father, for from now on, my father is in heaven.”
I have always found the life story of Martin Luther to be intriguing.
As Martin grew up, he was a promising student.
His father and mother had hopes for him to go on to school and become a
lawyer. That would provide a good
life for Martin as his father only knew the hard work of a miner.
But one day, as Martin was traveling, he was caught in a very bad storm
that made him fearful for his very life. Martin
prayed to St. Anne that if he survived the storm he would become a monk.
Well, he survived and made good on his pledge. When he told his father about his decision, he was not
pleased at all. His father asked
who would take care of him in his old age as monks are the poorest of the poor
as they give away all their possession. Martin
told his father that his prayers would do more for him than any possessions he
had, and after all, Martin said, his calling comes from God.
In response, old Hans grunted and said, “Or
from the devil.” Jesus came to bring division, a very unsettling proposal. It is unsettling, I think, because it confronts us with what we hold to be most dear to us – ourselves - and we don’t want anything to get in the way of ourselves. As I said earlier, to follow Jesus means something. It has an impact on our entire life. Jesus uses two images to stress this point – fire and baptism. Both bring about changes. Both bring about transformation. This past week we have been hosting three girls from Japan. It’s been a wonderful experience for our family. It is fun to watch their expressions as they experience new things. In our house we have a fireplace. We often use our fireplace to burn important papers or documents that we don’t want to put in the trash. Last night we lit the fire and it captivated our Japanese students. One of the girls got out her camera and took a picture. They sat in front of the fire adding papers. They even went outside and got some logs to put on it. As the fire raged, I watched the papers and wood change in appearance. The fire caused them to become something else. Jesus says to us this morning, “I have come to cast fire upon the earth.” We prefer to keep our lives just the way they are, but Jesus sets a fire that changes us into something different than what we were before. The fire of his Holy Spirit changes us into the kind of people he wants us to be. This fire melts us and molds us, creating a passion in us for this world that Jesus loves and has given his life for. This fire purges away sin and purifies us for service in the world. Through us, Jesus sets and kindles a fire in others as we share our faith and tell of God’s love for them. What this fire does is change our perspective away from me, myself, and I and onto the cares and concerns of others. This fire that Jesus brings clears the way for God to do a new thing – create a people committed and dedicated to Jesus as Lord and Savior. The other image of change and transformation is baptism. Jesus says, “I have a baptism with which to be baptized.” When I meet with baptismal families to discuss and prepare for a child’s baptism, one of the things I stress is the need to get away from the notion that “we have to get the kid done” as if that is the end of it all. Baptism is so much more than a tradition of the church, or a getting together of the family, or having dinner after worship. It is the beginning of a whole new life for the baptized person. It is the power of God to make the baptized person a Child of God. It is the giving a new identity by God that calls the baptized person to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Baptism makes a difference in the life of the baptized person.
In his explanation of Baptism, Martin Luther asks the question, “What does Baptism mean for daily living?” It is what I call the “So
what?” question. So I’ve
been baptized, so you have been baptized, so what?
What difference does it make? Well,
it makes all the difference in the world as Luther says, “It
means that our old sinful self, with all its evil deeds and desires, should be
drowned through daily repentance; and that day after day a new self should arise
to live with God in righteousness and purity forever.” The image of baptism here is that of a drowning. In the waters of baptism our sins are put to death, joining us to the death of Jesus. As we arise out of the waters, we are joined to the resurrection of Jesus and given a new life. With our sins forgiven and with the promise of eternal life granted, we can’t possibly be the same. We are changed. God changes us. We now live our life for God and for others. That puts a radical new perspective on what it means to be a Christian. The new life we now live for God may not be a life that others like or appreciate, including our family members. This new life changes our behaviors, changes our attitudes, changes the way we look at and interact with the world around us. The death and resurrection of Jesus which baptism incorporates us into is the power of God to change the world. This can and does create divisions, because it requires a whole new loyalty and obedience. But it can also bring about important changes that will enhance and promote life, including our family life. It is no secret that family life in America is struggling. The problems and challenges confronting family life are many, often leaving us wondering what we can do. What I think the most important thing we learn from our text this morning to help and enhance our family life it is to let Jesus be number one in our lives. It is a radical perspective that changes our priorities and reinstates the most important values of all, faith, hope, and trust. With Jesus at the center, we realize that it isn’t just about me, but I am part of a community. With Jesus at the center, we are called to respect each other more, listen to each others concerns, offer forgiveness when we hurt the other, spend more time with one another. With Jesus at the center, we make different decisions for our family in regard to what we do, how we spend our money, what kind and how many activities we involve ourselves in. With Jesus at the center, we place an importance upon worshiping together as families, reading the Bible and praying together, finding ways to serve our neighbors and friends who are in need, sharing the joy that is ours in Christ and inviting others in to a relationship with Jesus. Maybe divisions are not all that bad if they further the purpose of Jesus in bringing about the kingdom of God. All we need is a little fire to get us going. So…let our prayer be today: Send to us your Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus, and set us on fire. Bring about a whole new world, and let it begin with me. Amen. “Rich Toward God”
A question that I often ask to help me put perspective on the practical
matters of life is “What does our faith
say?” or “What does God say about
it?” Well, when it comes to
the topic of wealth and riches, Jesus is very clear:
“Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life
does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”
I can’t gloss over such a statement. In fact, it makes me squirm a
bit. It addresses all of us as we
are a consumer-driven society always striving to increase our lot in life.
We live in a country that is the envy of the world when it comes to
wealth. With one political
convention over and the other a couple weeks away, we will be hearing much about
who has the best plan to lead to growth and prosperity.
I heard an interesting quote in the video we have been discussing at
Coffee and the Word, that if the world’s population were boiled down to just
100 people, 55-70% of the world’s wealth would be controlled by six people –
and they would all be Americans. This
is something that should concern us all. What
our Bible text moves us to do today is to consider the place or role that
material possession play in our lives. Another
way to put it is to ask “Where is true
life found?” As people of faith, we are not immune from the dangers caused by the endless pursuit of worldly goods. It is easy to lose sight of what is important in life and where our priorities should be placed with the constant pressure to buy and to spend. It isn’t that material things are not important, or that we should not have any possessions at all, but, rather, we need to ask what place do our possessions have in our life; what control do they have over us; when is enough enough? The paradox of the whole thing it seems to me is the more we have, the more we think we need. The more we think we need, the more afraid we are of losing what we have, and so we try harder to get even more. It’s a vicious cycle that can tear away at our very soul. As the story is told, this teaching of Jesus was prompted by a dispute concerning a family inheritance. The one brother asked Jesus for help, saying, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” We have all seen and heard this kind of story. It tears up our hearts to see how families can be divided forever because of such disputes. I remember one case where a woman told me she hadn’t spoken to her sister for years because she thought she got the better portion of an inheritance. Bitter feelings and jealousy over material things often break up families, leaving relationships in ruins. Not wanting to be pulled into their argument and take sides, Jesus uses this opportunity to teach them about a greater issue - about greed and misplaced security. To make his point, Jesus tells the story of the wealthy farmer. He was fortunate because his land produced abundantly. This man probably worked very hard, spending long hours to improve his lot in life. He managed things well and took good care of his possessions. He was so successful that he felt he needed to tear down his old barns and build larger ones to store all of his goods. We like success stories like these. It is all part of the so-called “American Dream.” If you work hard, maybe get some breaks once in a while, you can be successful. Wealth by itself is not bad or sinful. In fact, we should look upon wealth as a gift of God. But something went wrong with this success story. The problem was that this rich farmer forgot the meaning of life and what one’s possessions are meant for. This rich man turned inward and became self-absorbed, trusting in his wealth and possessions as his security in life. In fact, he relates his abundance of goods with the substance of his very soul.
In a careless moment, actually, Jesus calls it a foolish moment, the
farmer talks to himself, “Soul, you
have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” It sounds like the perfect retirement plan. Yet, it
turned out to be the ultimate tragedy. He
failed to realize that, first of all, his soul is not under his control, but
belongs to God, and secondly, his possessions are not really his own either,
because when God calls back his soul in death, his material possessions will
fall back into the hands of others. The
wisdom writer of Ecclesiastes sees this as vanity when he says, “I
hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave
it to those who came after me.” God
speaks the last word in this tragic story, “You
fool! This very night your life is
being demanded of you. And the
things you have prepared, whose will they be?”
The Brothers Grimm tells a story about greed and the perils of
wealth. There once was a poor man
who complained loudly that the world had been unfair.
“Most of those who are rich did nothing to gain their wealth,” he
cried to anyone who would listen. “They
inherit their money from their parents.”
One day, as the man walked home, FORTUNE appeared before him and
said, I have decided to provide you with
wealth. Hold out your purse, and I
will fill it with gold coins. There
is one condition. If any of the
gold falls out of the purse onto the ground, everything will become dust.
Be careful. I see your purse
is old; do not overfill it.” The poor man was overjoyed. He opened the strings of his purse and watched as FORTUNE began to pour a stream of golden coins into it. The wallet soon became heavy. “Is that enough?” FORTUNE asked. “Not yet,” the man cried.
FORTUNE poured several more coins, so that the purse was filled.
“Shall I stop?” “Not yet,” he said,
“just a few more.” But at that moment the purse split apart, the gold coins fell to the ground, and the treasure turned to dust. FORTUNE disappeared, and the man was left with an empty wallet.
In an affluent, consumer driven society such as ours, it is easy to get
caught up in the endless pursuit of riches and wealth, possessions and
prosperity. What is foolish is not
only the greed that drives us, but that we would find our security in life in
the things of this world. The Bible
tells us, “Do not lay up for yourselves
treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and
steal, but lay up for your selves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor
rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your heart is, there your treasure will be also.” What Jesus would want for us is not to measure our lives in the abundance of our possessions, but rather in how rich we are toward God. You see, the ability to live a life free from the power of greed and the attachment to possessions comes from God who is the giver of all things. As the provider, God has an inheritance to give us, an inheritance that is “imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” There is nothing to dispute or argue about in regard to this inheritance, because there is more than enough for everyone, and God is so willing to give it. In fact, God is already giving to us a portion of his inheritance through his Holy Spirit and the new identity we receive as Children of God in baptism. God gives us the forgiveness of sin and the promise of new life every time we eat and drink our Lord’s body and blood in Holy Communion. These are priceless treasures beyond compare. These gifts come to us as a result of Jesus Christ who gave up everything, including his life on a cross. These are the riches of God that we receive through faith. It is what we call grace. Knowing that our security rests in God who wants to do nothing more than give us the kingdom, we can live by God’s example and do what God does with all good gifts, give them away. Whether you are rich or poor, you have something to share, something to give away. And when you realize that you can probably live without it, or with less of it, and still have a quality of life and a high standard of living, then you will be set free from greed and insecurity. Florence Ferrier, a social worker in Appalachia tells this story. The Sheldons were a large family in severe financial distress after a series of misfortunes. The help they receive was not adequate, yet they managed their meager income with ingenuity – and without complaint. One fall day I visited the Sheldons in the ramshackle rented house they lived in at the edge of the woods. Despite a painful physical handicap, Mr. Sheldon had shot and butchered a bear which strayed into their yard once too often. The meat had been processed into all the big canning jars they could find or swap for. There would be meat in their diet even during the worst of the winter when their fuel costs were high.
Mr. Sheldon offered me a jar of bear meat.
I hesitated to accept it, but the giver met my unspoken resistance
firmly. “Now
you just have to take this. We want
you to have it. We don’t have
much, that’s a fact, but we ain’t poor.” &nbs |
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