Are You Ready

Are You Ready?

Luke 12:32-40

August 12, 2007 Pastor Garrison

Do you recognize any of these names? John Rockefeller, W. H. Vanderbilt, John Jacob Astor, Henry Ford and Andrew Carnegie. What do they all have in common?

Let me tell you a little more about them.

John Rockefeller said, “I have made many millions, but they have brought me no happiness.” W. H. Vanderbilt said, “The care of $200,000,000 is enough to kill anyone. There is no pleasure in it.” Astor is quoted as saying, “I am the most miserable man on earth.” Henry Ford said he “was happier when doing a mechanic’s job.” According to Andrew Carnegie, “Millionaires seldom smile.”

Now before you get too uncomfortable, let me tell you that, yes, this is a sermon about money. Well, just a little. Actually it is a sermon about being ready for Jesus’ return and the money angle comes into it because Luke’s gospel has Jesus’ teaching about earthly and heavenly treasures immediately preceding several short parables warning us to be ready for his coming. At first it may seem odd to put something Jesus said about money together with a warning about being ready for His return, but, you know, they do go together well. We won’t be ready for Christ’s return if we have spent our lives building our treasures on earth and have not laid up for ourselves any treasure in heaven.

So why don’t we like sermons about money? One reason is probably that we fully expect the preacher to tell us we have to give some of it to the church. Well, relax, I’m not going to do that this morning – although you might consider it! Another reason, I think is that our money is one of those thing in life over which we have some control and to have someone else tell us how to use it attacks that need - which is odd because we have the media telling us every day how we should use our money.

But the biggest reason I think is that we view money as the foundation for a secure life and a certain future. If we work hard, save and invest well, we can be reasonably sure that we won’t need to worry about the days when we no longer will be able to work, and we might even enjoy a carefree retirement. At least that is the dream. The problem with this whole scenario is that it is filled with risk. We might be the next one to be downsized. The company may decide to close the plant and move to Mexico. There are no guarantees and because we know that, we try hard to hang on to all we can.

The reality for most of us is a life of hard work – the best hours of our days, the best days of our years, the best years of our lives – and maybe we can live comfortably. We are slaves to an economic system that thrives on us wanting things and wanting them now. We live in a consumerist economy, money is a necessity, and it takes so much of our time and energy to get it.

I think there is one more reason, probably the most significant reason we give money all this time and attention. It is because we are afraid. We have a basic fear about life and the future. Fear is the big motivator of our time – politicians use it, the media uses it. Fear causes us to place our lives at the mercy of the economy for our physical livelihood and in doing so also allows economic concerns to capture our hearts. Steve Kuhl, in his commentary on these verses, calls it a “fiduciary faith” which has reduced life itself to the abundance of possessions. Think about it – how much of your time is spent focusing on making a living and securing your earthly future versus how much of your time you spend focusing on God and securing your eternal future? The fact is that much of our lives is lived focused on money and economics and without a conscious awareness of God’s nearness.

Some of the big news stories in the past week or so have been the big losses in the stock market, the slumping housing market, and record crude oil prices. Have any of these caused you concern in this past week? Have you worried about any of them? Did you think of any of these from the perspective of faith?

Most of us have at one time or another been in financial debt to someone or some financial institution. The problem is our biggest debt – our sin – is not something the world’s economic systems can satisfy.

The problem with placing our hearts – our whole being and livelihood – in the hands of the economy is that, in spite of whatever riches we manage to obtain, we will have earned no interest to carry us into the “kingdom” – nothing which really relieves the fear and gives us true security. By placing our security in the earthly economy we risk losing out on the true riches – God’s future which, Jesus says, He is pleased to give us.

Jesus challenges us to change our focus – to forsake that “fiduciary faith” for a treasure that will never fail, will never wear out, will never lose its value. He challenges us to reject fear and in its place choose the heavenly treasure for “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” He challenges us to forsake an earthly economic system which is based on greed and choose God’s economic system which is based on generosity. Jesus calls this system “the kingdom.”

The good news is that “the kingdom” is not something we have to buy – indeed we can’t. Jesus tells us, “do not be afraid…for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom,” that is, a real, viable and secure future. Jesus already paid our debt and the treasure of the kingdom is ours through Him.

Yet, Jesus is not blind to the fact that we need money in this worldly system. One day some Pharisees sought to try to trap Him so they could find something which they could accuse Him of before the authorities so they asked Him if it was right for them to pay taxes to the Roman government. Jesus asked them for a coin and questioned them as to whose image and inscription appeared on the coin. Acknowledging that it was Caesar’s, Jesus told them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and give to God what is God’s.”

Implied in Jesus’ answer is that, as Christians, we have a dual citizenship – in this world and in the kingdom. Jesus recognized that in this world we must honestly pay for the services and goods we need. What He is doing is challenging us to get our priorities straight. The problem is not that money or investing is bad. Money is only a problem when we don’t allow Godly principles to control our use of it. Does your money serve only you, or does it serve God?

A few verses earlier in Luke 12 Jesus says, “…do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food and the body more than clothes.” “…do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

Seek first God’s kingdom – the true riches, the only real, viable and secure future – seek first God’s kingdom and everything we need will provided for us. We hear those words. They were probably some of the first Bible verses we ever learned. We hear them, but do we believe them? Do we really believe that if we put God first, everything we need will be provided? Now that doesn’t mean that food will suddenly appear in your cabinets or clothing will fill your closets like magic. What it does mean is that, if we place our priority on God’s kingdom, living Godly lives, our Father will not let us down.

Listen for a moment to this excerpt from one of the daily blogs of the Sudan Initiative Assessment Team:

Hard rain slowed our movement for the rest of the day, but we were able to pass on greetings from the COB to a number of Presbyterian church leaders who had come for a meeting regarding development. We missed lunch again today and it was nearing our supper time so someone accompanied Phil to the nearby market to buy some food, getting soaked by the rain and sliding in the slippery mud (black cotton soil). Then they helped us look for accommodations which were not available in the places they checked, so they invited us to stay in the moderator's home (a big old broken down missionary house). We are humbled by their kindness and generosity. We are able to communicate now with you while it is still daylight, so we hope to go to bed a little earlier than usual tonight. We have been surprised by the number of places that have electricity, and are thankful for it. We have been blessed.

Well... we had a safe night in Malakal, thankful for all that God had provided for us, and the hospitality of the Presbyterians who had no word of our coming, but who welcomed us warmly, sharing what they had.

Taking Jesus at His word on this is the only way we will be able to store up the true riches – the riches of the kingdom – real security, no fear, joy, peace, love, generosity, kindness, hope – the things of the kingdom which God alone can provide.

Jesus says God is pleased to, God wants to, God desires to, God takes great pleasure in giving us the kingdom. He wants us to have the riches of heaven. Material possessions don’t cut it, they don’t give life security. The moth and the thief were the greatest threats to material security in Jesus’ day. Today it’s inflation, stock market failure, bank failure. These things can cause our life to change quickly – there is no real security in them. So we live in fear of the day that it might all come crashing down.

When we seek first God’s kingdom, when we place our hope and our trust in God’s gift of the kingdom, our attitudes change – even our attitudes about money. Our focus changes from worry and fear about the earthly economy to trust in God’s provision. We see our world differently. We begin to see the needs of others as important as or more so than our own. We learn to give generously. When we seek God’s kingdom, our attitudes towards our own possessions changes and, just like God is eager to give us the kingdom, so also our possessions no longer posses us and we become eager to share them generously. In addition, as we invest our wealth in the interest of God’s kingdom, the earthly economy, to which we are still connected, cannot help but to be affected as well.

All this is possible because God has already given us the kingdom. It is here, now, not in its fullness, but there are signs all around us if we will open our eyes, if we will trust, if we will take Jesus at His word. Jesus has paid our debt and God gives us the treasures of the heavenly kingdom through Him. “He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:13 NRSV)

Brothers and sisters, we live on the edge of eternity. Jesus said no one, but the Father, knows the day or the hour of His return. “You must…be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” Are you ready? Where is your most important investment, in earthly riches or in the heavenly? Do you live each day in conscious expectation of the nearness of God? Do you allow all aspects of your life to come under His control?

“Be dressed,” Jesus said, “ready for service and keep your lamps burning.” In this verse, I believe, is the key to how we invest in the riches of the kingdom, how we make ourselves ready for Jesus’ return. We do so by serving, by going about His work, and by living in conscious expectation of the nearness of God.

We need to be dressed ready for service. The parable speaks of servants who stay up into the night as they await the return of their master from a wedding banquet. When he arrives they are at the door fully ready to serve him. But the most amazing thing is that when he arrives and finds them prepared to serve him, the master will serve the servants. He will share the banquet with them.

Jesus once explained how we serve him. In Matthew 25:31-40, Jesus said, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'”

We invest in heavenly treasure when we serve Jesus by serving others.

We need to keep our lamps lit. In other words, we need to be living in anticipation and expectation of the nearness of God and in the imminent return of Jesus to this earth. The servants kept their lamps lit because they wanted to be able to see their master as he approached, to open the door for him and let him in. They were not going to keep him waiting. With these servants the master was well-pleased.

During his 1960 presidential campaign, John F. Kennedy often closed his speeches with the story of Colonel Davenport, the Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives: On May 19th, 1780 the sky of Hartford darkened ominously, and some of the representatives, glancing out the windows, feared the end was at hand. Quelling a clamor for immediate adjournment, Davenport rose and said, "The Day of Judgment is either approaching or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for adjournment. If it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. Therefore, I wish that candles be brought."

Jesus used three words to describe how we will be found doing our duty: in verse 36, “waiting;” in verse 37, “watching;” and in verse 40, “ready.” Those who are prepared for Christ’s coming will be good waiters, they will be found “dressed ready for service.” We wait well when we have chosen to seek first the kingdom, to do what Christ wants us to do, to be those good and faithful servants. Our sleeves will be rolled up and we’ll be caught up to our elbows doing the work of the kingdom of God.

Those who are prepared for Christ’s coming will be watching – they will be living with a deep awareness of God’s presence with them now and living in eager anticipation of the coming of the fullness of God’s kingdom when Christ returns. Their lamps will be lit. Their lights will have been shining making them a beacon of hope in the darkness of this world. They will shine so brightly that it will be obvious which kingdom to which they belong.

Those who will be ready are so because they have invested in the true riches – the riches of God. Jesus made this quite clear. “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

Oswald Chambers, in My Utmost for His Highest, writes: A Christian worker’s greatest need is a readiness to face Jesus Christ at any and every turn. This is not easy, no matter what our experience has been. … If you are…setting your heart on what He wants, and thinking His thoughts, you will be considered impractical and a daydreamer. But when He suddenly appears in the work of the heat of the day, you will be the only one who is ready.

We live on the edge of eternity. We must be faithful in little things because, in God’s eyes, there are no little things. We must trust in God’s faithfulness, because in all things, He will be faithful.

We live on the edge of eternity and God is here, now, among us. Stop worrying about tomorrow. Don’t let fear rule your life. Take a serious look at your life – do you seek security in wealth and material things or security in God?

We live on the edge of eternity. Don’t be like the homeowner who, had he known when the thief was coming, would not have let his home be broken into. If we knew Jesus was coming tomorrow, my guess is we would all be ready. But we don’t know, and still we are called to be ready “for the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

When He comes, may he find each of us “dressed ready for service” and with our “lamps burning.” Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where no moths or rust or inflation or stock market crashes can destroy. Put your hope in Christ. Wait for Him with eager anticipation while you go about His work. Amen.