“Give me neither poverty nor riches, feed me with the food I need” is the prayer found in Proverbs 30. The world is filled with extremes, extremes of poverty and extremes of wealth. There are those who are extremely poor. Those who are happy to own the clothes on their back, and if they are fortunate enough, to know where their next meal will come from.
And then there are the very rich. Those who don't know any financial limitations, who are able to afford a lavish lifestyle and flaunt their wealth with exotic purchases. Cars, homes, vacations, parties, they have lots of money and lots of friends. Whether we are talking extremes of wealth or extremes of poverty, the world is filled with both.
In the prayer from Proverbs, neither one is to be desired. Whether it be poverty or wealth, we are better off without it. Either extreme provides Satan with an opportunity. Those who are poor are tempted to covet, and the covetousness tempts them to steal. Those who are rich are tempted to feel self satisfied and secure in their wealth to the extent that they forget how greatly they need God. And so the author prays, “feed my only with the food I need, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God. “ Would that the Lord preserve us from both.
But while we might pray that prayer, God still deals with us according to his will. “The poor you will always have with you,” says Jesus. “There will always be the poor in the land.” writes Moses. And likewise, there are also those who are rich. Indeed, scripture acknowledges the fact that riches are a gift from God. After all, God gave wealth to Abraham, to Job, to David and to Solomon. There are times that God allows for his people to have plenty and times that God allows for his people to be in want. And this being the case, there are those of us who are could likely fit into either category. Here in our own little church family, there are those of us who are abundantly blessed with the world's goods and there are those of us who are very limited in these blessings. But it doesn't matter which category is yours, whether we are rich or poor, the word of God speaks to us all.
In our Gospel text for today, Jesus tells a parable that encompasses both extremes. Jesus tells the parable of two men, a man who is wealthy beyond measure and another man, a man named Lazarus, who is poverty stricken. The rich man would throw lavish parties, with tables filled with food. The poor man would watch from the outside and he would have been happy to have the food that they threw away. The rich man had plenty of friends, as it seems all rich people do. Lazarus was accompanied only by dogs. The rich man had the best that money could buy. Lazarus had nothing.
Well it turns out that while the rich man was well equipped with all of the world's goods there was one thing he lacked, one thing that Lazarus had in abundance, and that was the wealth of heaven. Lazarus possessed faith and by that faith he grabbed hold of God's goodness and grace and the promise of God's salvation. So when the two died, the rich man went to hell, where he was in torment and Lazarus was taken by the angels to the side of Abraham where he was comforted and at rest. The roles in life were reversed in death. The rich man could watch with longing while Lazarus received all the good things given by God in heaven. The rich man wished for a simple drop of water, while Lazarus was comforted even by heaven's dignitaries.
There are times when people have misunderstood this parable. There are times that people assume Jesus condemns the rich and favors the poor. That the rich man's crime was being rich and that Lazarus was righteous because he was poor. This isn't the case. Whether you are poor or rich we are all in the same boat. We are all equally impoverished when it comes to our relationship with God. Whether you are poor or whether you are rich, it doesn't make you any closer to God or further away from God. In the end, what matters is faith. In the end, what matters is the Word of God. It's like Abraham said in the parable. “They have Moses and the Prophets, let them listen to them.” And so do we. We have Moses, the Prophets, the Gospels and the Epistles. Let us hear them.
Today, our Old Testament text is written against the sins of the wealthy. It condemns those who have made an idol out of their wealth. They eat the finest and richest of foods, they drink their wine out of bowls instead of cups, they lounge around on fancy imported furniture and make up songs to sing about their wealth. It sounds like the subject of many a music video. It all amounts to idolatry. Diamonds and gold and mansions and luxury – the things of this world can lead one to fashioning a false god out of their wealth.
“You will be the first to go into exile.” says the prophet.
Worshiping wealth and holding on to money as your God is profoundly foolish. Money can't save you. Wealth can't provide for you. Possessions will not protect you. Only God can do these things. Only God can save us.
Our Amos text is written to those who cheated out the poor to make themselves rich. It's almost like he was writing to us in 21st century America. You only need to say, “Enron” or “Wall Street” and you will get the picture; the people at the top of the heap made themselves rich by taking everything they could get from the people at the bottom. Meanwhile, those people they stepped on as they were climbing up the ladder were suffering. And they didn't care. Just so long as they had their wealth and their riches, they didn't care.
This is wrong. It is sin. It's like we said, God allows some to be poor and he allows some to be rich. Neither one is more righteous and neither one is more sinful. Both are gifts from God. Both are opportunities for Christian faith and service.
Through poverty God teaches us faith. Those who are poor struggle to get by. They struggle to pay their bills and keep themselves fed and clothed and sheltered. It's not easy. But God provides. God knows what we need and while it might not be in abundance, God does take care of us.
As the Israelites were preparing to enter in to the promised land, Moses reminded them of how God provided for them in the wilderness. Even though they were living in the desert without the means to buy clothes and shoes and all those things, God took care of them. Their clothes didn't get wear out, their shoes didn't get holes in the bottom. God provided for them and they probably didn't even realize it. Consider that for just a moment, generally speaking, we don't stop to consider the condition of your clothes until they need to be replaced. We don't stop to consider the condition of the roof over your head until it starts to leak, or your car, until it breaks down. We have a way of taking these things for granted. Likewise with the Israelites, they probably didn't even realize it until Moses said it. But God had been providing for them and taking care of them all along and the same can be said for you. God is providing for you in ways you haven't even realized. Whatever bill you are worried about paying, God will provide for you.
That's the thing about being poor. You get to see God's providence. When you have to worry about covering your expense, you wind up having to depend on the goodness of God to provide for you. You have to pray about clothes for your kids and finding the money to cover the bills. You have to turn to God in faith with these things and then depend on him to provide. And then when he does you get to witness his providence. The rich don't have this blessing. They pay their bills out of their abundance and don't ever have to worry about it, they don't need to pray for God to provide. Depending on God is a blessing.
But there are also those of us who are rich. There are those of us to whom God has given an abundance of the World's goods. This too is a good thing. This too is a blessing from God. The danger lies in the temptation, to let that money become your god. To depend on your money to save you and to be your security. But wealth is also a gift and a blessing and an opportunity. God has given that wealth to you and that he wants you to enjoy it, but also that he wants you to use it to serve him and to serve your neighbor. He wants you to avoid the temptation to horde it like the rich man in the parable or to worship it like those mentioned in the passage from Amos.
When I was younger, there was a friend of my family who happened to have been blessed by God with wealth. He owned a lumber business that had done very well and that provided him an opportunity to get into real estate investments that also were very successful. As a result he had become quite well off. This man, rather than hording this money and keeping it all to himself and to his family, was very generous. He was in fact, very generous in his gifts to support education in general, but especially Lutheran education. He gave large sums of money to the Lutheran day school I attended. He gave to Concordia universities, he donated tremendous sums of money to the seminaries. He even gave support to me as I was making my way through the seminary. God had given to him a great abundance of wealth and he in turn used that wealth to help support the training and teaching of pastors and teachers and church workers, all for the building up of the kingdom of Christ.
In the end, what matters the most is the Word of God. God has given us Moses and the prophets. God has given us the Gospels and the Epistles. These things are the means by which he sends His Spirit to us to establish us and strengthen us in the faith. This word convicts us of our sin and points us to his salvation found in Jesus.
In his letter to Timothy Paul writes “As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.”
To the Church in Philippi he writes “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
Amen.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Pentecost 17. Luke 16
"It's not business. It's personal"
The Donald is at it again. His popular show The Apprentice aired its season premier this past Thursday with a new group of contestants set to take on the various challenges. Each week, viewers watch as the those contestants compete to earn the greatest amount of money at some assigned task. The winning team is safe, and the loosing team heads to the board room, where one member of the team will hear Mr Trump utter those dreaded words, “Your Fired.”
Donald Trump has made his fortune as a laser focused business man. He wants to earn a profit. Those who help him achieve that goal are rewarded. Those who cost him that goal are cut loose. And as the show says, “It's not personal. It's business.”
Not so with Jesus. As he illustrates for us here in our text through this parable what's good for business is not what's good for Jesus. It's not about the bottom line. It's not about making a buck. It's not about getting ahead. It is about love. It is about mercy. It is about the gospel. And the Gospel is about people.
In the end, Jesus is not impressed with money or wealth. And, in his mind, neither should we be impressed with money. Rather that money, that “unrighteous mammon” as he calls it, should be only and at its best a means to an end.
“And I tell you, says Jesus, make friends for yourself with that unrighteous mammon so that when it fails (and it will fail) they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.”
So money is a means to an end. What is that end?
In our text, Jesus offers a parable. He tells his disciples of the actions of an unrighteous steward, or manager. The man had performed poorly in his work and he was about to get fired. And when he discovered that his working days were through, he hit upon a plan to make things better for him when he was unemployed. He called in his master's debtors – his master was a business man, in real estate, not too different from Mr Trump in that regard. This master made his fortune renting out his fields to farmers who then brought some of the harvest to him as payment. It appears that this steward had not performed up to par for the master, and he was about to hear those dreaded words that Donald Trump has made famous, he was about to be told, “Your fired”. But the soon to be unemployed steward hit upon a plan. The steward gathered up the list of his master's debtors and he called these men into his office and gave each of them a discount. One owed 100 measures of oil, his bill was reduced to 50. Another owed 100 cores of wheat, his bill was reduced to 80. The renters went home happy with a reduced bill, and a favorable opinion of the steward. Perhaps he would find work with one of them.
Now this is a challenging parable. The seeming star of the show was a bit of a scoundrel. He was dishonest. Jesus calls him “unrighteous”. But it would appear that Jesus wants us to learn something from him. Does he want us to be dishonest? Does he want us to cheat? Does he want us to steal?
Obviously not. Jesus is not urging us to cut-throat business practices; nor is He commending the man's sin. The key to understanding the parable is to first understand what Jesus would have us know about the unrighteous man's master. In this parable, and really with any other parable, the main thing that Jesus wants us to learn, isn't what we do, isn't what we are supposed to do. Rather the thing that the parables are here to teach us is what God does. Instead of looking in the parable to see how God wants us to behave, Jesus wants us first to understand his character and the character of the Father. In that regard, this parable is less about the dishonest and unrighteous manager, rather it is about the merciful Lord.
The manager was dishonest. Not only that, he was also incompetent. That's why he lost his job. But he was shrewd. He was wise. He had the ability to size up the character or his master. He was able to predict how his master would react even when he was cheated. And this gave him an edge; he knew his master was kind and merciful and he hit upon a plan to take advantage of that kindness and mercy. The manager knew his master. He was a merciful man and the manager trapped him in his mercy.
The master had a reputation. The debtors didn't question or object when the steward gave them a break, they figured the master was being generous. And once the discount was given, the generous and merciful master wasn't going to take it back. You see, you understand, the master was more concerned to be merciful than he was to be rich. (Again, our tag line. “It isn't business, it's personal.”) So the steward, the manager, the first century apprentice, gave away his master's property, and then enjoyed the good fortune of being the hand that delivered the gift to the debtors, and reaped the benefits of their good will.
And there's the lesson. This is a parable about being faithful with those things that God has given to us. God gives us many things. And God is generous. And God would have us be generous. We are inclined to make decisions that are good for the bottom line. We are inclined to make decisions that are good for business. But God wants it to be personal. He wants it to be about the Gospel; the Gospel that is about His Mercy and His Generosity and His Kindness that he has set aside for people.
Now, certainly God gives us money. He gives us property. He gives us material things. But not so we can pile them all up and be impressed with how rich we are. Not so that we can build for ourselves a board room paneled with mahogany, furnished with a large table from which we can bark out orders and tell people they are fired. Rather He has given us that money as a means, as a tool, as an instrument for making friends with the world. “Money talks” people claim. The question is, what does your money say? Christ reminds us that the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.
Consider the Starbucks Corporation. You go into a Starbucks to buy a cup of coffee and you will find little advertisements printed on their paper cups that tell you about their corporate responsibility. They purchase beans from struggling 3rd world countries and reinvest the profits to support the farmers. Proceeds from their Ethos bottled water helps to provide clean drinking water around the world. They make a profit, but they use their profit to “give back”. They use their profit to create a public perception that is favorable with their customers. And in turn, their customers feel good about spending $4.00 on a cup of coffee. Indeed the sons of this world are shrewd in dealing with their own generation.
So what does your money say? Does your money say, “I care about people.” “I care about mercy and kindness.” “I care about the gospel.” Or does your money say, “I care about me and what's mine”? My family, my house, my business, my bank account.
For the Christian, money is not about money. It's not our hope, it's not our salvation. It's not our safety or security. It is just a thing. A thing that God gives and that God takes away. It's just a means to an end. When we have it, God wants us to use, but not simply for ourselves. God wants us to use it for our neighbor. To show love and to show mercy. Because that is what Jesus has done for us.
Consider if you will the generosity of our Lord. He is generous in all things.
The Lord is generous in giving us possessions. Stop for a moment and think about your routine this morning. You woke up in a warm and dry bed. Got dressed, ate breakfast. Had a ride here to church. You had those things because God is generous with you. But those things are small things. Those are the unimportant, and worthless things. God has given you so much more.
Jesus asks the question, 12 And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? And what is so very often lost on us is the fact that Jesus our heavenly father has set aside for us the gift of heaven. God is truly our heavenly father and he has given to us all the benefits of being his children.
In my own house, what's mine belongs to my children. They live under my roof and enjoy the fruits of my labors completely for free. I don't charge them. I don't send them a bill each month. I don't expect rent or compensation in any way. And someday, after I am dead and gone, everything I own will be left to them. My estate will be theirs.
God does this very thing for you. His estate. His heavenly mansion is yours. You stand to inherit heaven. Everything that is there. It's wealth. Its beauty. Its honor. Its glory. It will all be yours. You will walk through the kingdom of heaven, not as a bond servant. Not as an employee. As a son and a daughter of the King. God's servants will be your servants. Gods house will be your house. God's banquet table will be your banquet table. Gods celebration will be your celebration. And he gives it all to you for free.
It is so ironic that we spend so much time fretting and worrying and even arguing about something so simple and silly as money. God gives it. He knows you need it and he won't let you go without it so why worry about it? In the mean time you have neighbors who God has given to you and who you are able to help with that money and God wants you to do it. So do it. In the mean time, he will continue to give what you need. He will continue to provide what you need not only for this life, not only for your bills and expenses but also and especially for the next. He has paid for you with even his own blood. If you are worth all that to him, surely you can be confident that he will give exactly what you need.
And those neighbors, while they need your help and your assistance what they need more than anything is the gospel. The truth, the true riches. And just as God has given it to you, he would also give it to them. So share. Give. Be generous. Because God has been generous with you. And remember. It's not business. It is personal. It is about the Gospel.
Amen,
The Donald is at it again. His popular show The Apprentice aired its season premier this past Thursday with a new group of contestants set to take on the various challenges. Each week, viewers watch as the those contestants compete to earn the greatest amount of money at some assigned task. The winning team is safe, and the loosing team heads to the board room, where one member of the team will hear Mr Trump utter those dreaded words, “Your Fired.”
Donald Trump has made his fortune as a laser focused business man. He wants to earn a profit. Those who help him achieve that goal are rewarded. Those who cost him that goal are cut loose. And as the show says, “It's not personal. It's business.”
Not so with Jesus. As he illustrates for us here in our text through this parable what's good for business is not what's good for Jesus. It's not about the bottom line. It's not about making a buck. It's not about getting ahead. It is about love. It is about mercy. It is about the gospel. And the Gospel is about people.
In the end, Jesus is not impressed with money or wealth. And, in his mind, neither should we be impressed with money. Rather that money, that “unrighteous mammon” as he calls it, should be only and at its best a means to an end.
“And I tell you, says Jesus, make friends for yourself with that unrighteous mammon so that when it fails (and it will fail) they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.”
So money is a means to an end. What is that end?
In our text, Jesus offers a parable. He tells his disciples of the actions of an unrighteous steward, or manager. The man had performed poorly in his work and he was about to get fired. And when he discovered that his working days were through, he hit upon a plan to make things better for him when he was unemployed. He called in his master's debtors – his master was a business man, in real estate, not too different from Mr Trump in that regard. This master made his fortune renting out his fields to farmers who then brought some of the harvest to him as payment. It appears that this steward had not performed up to par for the master, and he was about to hear those dreaded words that Donald Trump has made famous, he was about to be told, “Your fired”. But the soon to be unemployed steward hit upon a plan. The steward gathered up the list of his master's debtors and he called these men into his office and gave each of them a discount. One owed 100 measures of oil, his bill was reduced to 50. Another owed 100 cores of wheat, his bill was reduced to 80. The renters went home happy with a reduced bill, and a favorable opinion of the steward. Perhaps he would find work with one of them.
Now this is a challenging parable. The seeming star of the show was a bit of a scoundrel. He was dishonest. Jesus calls him “unrighteous”. But it would appear that Jesus wants us to learn something from him. Does he want us to be dishonest? Does he want us to cheat? Does he want us to steal?
Obviously not. Jesus is not urging us to cut-throat business practices; nor is He commending the man's sin. The key to understanding the parable is to first understand what Jesus would have us know about the unrighteous man's master. In this parable, and really with any other parable, the main thing that Jesus wants us to learn, isn't what we do, isn't what we are supposed to do. Rather the thing that the parables are here to teach us is what God does. Instead of looking in the parable to see how God wants us to behave, Jesus wants us first to understand his character and the character of the Father. In that regard, this parable is less about the dishonest and unrighteous manager, rather it is about the merciful Lord.
The manager was dishonest. Not only that, he was also incompetent. That's why he lost his job. But he was shrewd. He was wise. He had the ability to size up the character or his master. He was able to predict how his master would react even when he was cheated. And this gave him an edge; he knew his master was kind and merciful and he hit upon a plan to take advantage of that kindness and mercy. The manager knew his master. He was a merciful man and the manager trapped him in his mercy.
The master had a reputation. The debtors didn't question or object when the steward gave them a break, they figured the master was being generous. And once the discount was given, the generous and merciful master wasn't going to take it back. You see, you understand, the master was more concerned to be merciful than he was to be rich. (Again, our tag line. “It isn't business, it's personal.”) So the steward, the manager, the first century apprentice, gave away his master's property, and then enjoyed the good fortune of being the hand that delivered the gift to the debtors, and reaped the benefits of their good will.
And there's the lesson. This is a parable about being faithful with those things that God has given to us. God gives us many things. And God is generous. And God would have us be generous. We are inclined to make decisions that are good for the bottom line. We are inclined to make decisions that are good for business. But God wants it to be personal. He wants it to be about the Gospel; the Gospel that is about His Mercy and His Generosity and His Kindness that he has set aside for people.
Now, certainly God gives us money. He gives us property. He gives us material things. But not so we can pile them all up and be impressed with how rich we are. Not so that we can build for ourselves a board room paneled with mahogany, furnished with a large table from which we can bark out orders and tell people they are fired. Rather He has given us that money as a means, as a tool, as an instrument for making friends with the world. “Money talks” people claim. The question is, what does your money say? Christ reminds us that the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.
Consider the Starbucks Corporation. You go into a Starbucks to buy a cup of coffee and you will find little advertisements printed on their paper cups that tell you about their corporate responsibility. They purchase beans from struggling 3rd world countries and reinvest the profits to support the farmers. Proceeds from their Ethos bottled water helps to provide clean drinking water around the world. They make a profit, but they use their profit to “give back”. They use their profit to create a public perception that is favorable with their customers. And in turn, their customers feel good about spending $4.00 on a cup of coffee. Indeed the sons of this world are shrewd in dealing with their own generation.
So what does your money say? Does your money say, “I care about people.” “I care about mercy and kindness.” “I care about the gospel.” Or does your money say, “I care about me and what's mine”? My family, my house, my business, my bank account.
For the Christian, money is not about money. It's not our hope, it's not our salvation. It's not our safety or security. It is just a thing. A thing that God gives and that God takes away. It's just a means to an end. When we have it, God wants us to use, but not simply for ourselves. God wants us to use it for our neighbor. To show love and to show mercy. Because that is what Jesus has done for us.
Consider if you will the generosity of our Lord. He is generous in all things.
The Lord is generous in giving us possessions. Stop for a moment and think about your routine this morning. You woke up in a warm and dry bed. Got dressed, ate breakfast. Had a ride here to church. You had those things because God is generous with you. But those things are small things. Those are the unimportant, and worthless things. God has given you so much more.
Jesus asks the question, 12 And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? And what is so very often lost on us is the fact that Jesus our heavenly father has set aside for us the gift of heaven. God is truly our heavenly father and he has given to us all the benefits of being his children.
In my own house, what's mine belongs to my children. They live under my roof and enjoy the fruits of my labors completely for free. I don't charge them. I don't send them a bill each month. I don't expect rent or compensation in any way. And someday, after I am dead and gone, everything I own will be left to them. My estate will be theirs.
God does this very thing for you. His estate. His heavenly mansion is yours. You stand to inherit heaven. Everything that is there. It's wealth. Its beauty. Its honor. Its glory. It will all be yours. You will walk through the kingdom of heaven, not as a bond servant. Not as an employee. As a son and a daughter of the King. God's servants will be your servants. Gods house will be your house. God's banquet table will be your banquet table. Gods celebration will be your celebration. And he gives it all to you for free.
It is so ironic that we spend so much time fretting and worrying and even arguing about something so simple and silly as money. God gives it. He knows you need it and he won't let you go without it so why worry about it? In the mean time you have neighbors who God has given to you and who you are able to help with that money and God wants you to do it. So do it. In the mean time, he will continue to give what you need. He will continue to provide what you need not only for this life, not only for your bills and expenses but also and especially for the next. He has paid for you with even his own blood. If you are worth all that to him, surely you can be confident that he will give exactly what you need.
And those neighbors, while they need your help and your assistance what they need more than anything is the gospel. The truth, the true riches. And just as God has given it to you, he would also give it to them. So share. Give. Be generous. Because God has been generous with you. And remember. It's not business. It is personal. It is about the Gospel.
Amen,
Sunday, September 5, 2010
September 5, 2010 - Luke 14:25-35
In 1975 the Main Technical Organization began construction on a high-rise office building in Krakow, Poland. The 300 foot tall structure was intended to be its headquarters and base of operations. After 6 years of construction the steel frame was in place, floors and levels were completed, but the parent corporation ran out of funds and construction was halted. They were never able to resume construction and costly obstacles have prevented the project from being completed by another investor. So today, 30 years later, the unfinished tower still stands; functioning only as a space for billboards and advertisements. Unofficially the locals refer to the bare framed high rise as Skeletor.
If only the Main Technical Organization in Krakow Poland had read Luke 14.
In our text this morning, Jesus uses this very sort of scenario as an example to teach about the Kingdom of Heaven. If you want to build a tower, do your homework before you do your construction. Figure out if you have the funds to complete the project because if you don’t, you could find yourself half way through, out of cash and out your investment. And consider the result – if you can't finish the job, think of the wasted resources, not to mention the public humiliation of having erected a lasting monument to your own poor planning. What does that do for investor relations?
But in the end, Jesus isn't talking about business. Jesus isn't talking about earthly investments and earthly towers. Jesus isn't concerned with building earthly kingdoms. Jesus is talking about heavenly investments and heavenly kingdoms. In fact, elsewhere Jesus commands those who would be his followers to be shrewd with such “unrighteous wealth”, to be faithful with such “unrighteous wealth” so that our Lord will entrust them with the wealth that is eternal.
Jesus is not giving us advice for managing our business, rather he is using this business as a touch-point to teach us about His kingdom. If you would come after Jesus, if you would be his disciple and follow in his footsteps, be sure you know what you are getting yourself into. Be sure you know what it's going to cost. You'd better be sure you can afford to pay.
Luke reminds us that Jesus is travelling. In Chapter 9 Jesus told us where he was going. He was going to Jerusalem and when he got there he was going to die. Talk about a construction project, hammer and nails, beams and board were being hewn and shaped into a cross to be carried outside the city to a hill where the hammer blows would fall on his hands and feet and the sweat of construction would be laced with blood from the tears in the flesh of he forehead. Jesus was using wood and a few nails to construct, not a tower, but a Kingdom built with his broken body.
As Jesus was speaking the words of our text, he was playing the part of a general contractor assembling a work crew to assist with the construction. He didn’t want any “part timers”. He would take only those willing to go the distance, the whole entire distance.
The question is, are you ready to work on Jesus’ construction crew? Are you prepared to follow him to his work site, prepared to follow Jesus even to death? Are you prepared to “take up your cross and carry it” even when it means you must die? Are you prepared to renounce everything, your money, your possessions, your very self to follow your Leader? This is what Jesus requires. This is what Jesus commands. Don’t we forget just how high is the cost of following Jesus?
So let's suppose St Paul Chuckery is a tower. A steel framed construction that has been standing for years. Is the building complete? Is the construction finished? Or are we a work in progress? Are the windows installed and the wiring intact? Has the heating and cooling been put in place? Is the wallboard up? The ceiling tiles? The light fixtures? Or are we like that high rise in Krakow, Skeletor, tall and strong, we've been around for ages, but there's still work to do?
There is plenty of work still to be done. And Jesus our general contractor needs workers; architects, engineers, building planners, welders, electricians, finish carpenters, technicians, all different people with all different gifts. Jesus also needs raw materials. Lots and lots of raw materials. And this building, this high rise, this Kingdom of Christ among the kingdom of men can't be completed with anything you'd find on the shelves at Home Depot. The building materials are people, 1 Peter calls them the livings stones that are built up into a spiritual house, the temple of our Lord Jesus Christ, with He himself as the chief cornerstone. We need people. We need to go out and get them. Retrieve the from the quarry of the outside world, chisel and shape them with the Word of God, put them here in their place, fasten them in with the mortar of the Gospel and then go out and find more.
But the cost is high. It doesn't come cheap. Good constructions never do. The question is can you afford the cost? Are you “all in”? Committed to the project or only half way? Remember, Jesus says “consider the cost”. Before you sign on as one of his workers in building the Kingdom of God ask yourself if you’ve got what it takes to complete the task?
Jesus says the cost is high. “How high,” is the question we always want to ask? How much is it going to take? How far will it set me back? Jesus says it will take everything. Everything you've got and everything you are. Remember his words, renounce everything; your family, your mother and father, you son and your daughter, you husband or wife, even your very self. And not just your self, your possessions, everything that you own in this world. Your house, your car, your money, the family farm, your savings, your retirement. Lay it all aside, count it all as loss, give it all up, give it all away. If you don't, you're not worthy. You can't be Jesus' disciple. You are useless to God. You are like salt that has lost its saltiness. No flavor.no use on the compost, throw it out on the road and trample it under foot.
So here's the question, are you in? Are you in? Not just a little bit. Not just half way. Not just 10%. Not just a tithe. We're talking all in. Going for broke. Putting the whole thing down for the kingdom of heaven. Are you in? We think this is hyperbole, a literary trick. It’s not. Jesus doesn’t accept 1/2 time workers. He calls them lukewarm; people he would spit out of his mouth. Jesus wants the whole thing. And so again, are you in?
I didn't think so. You're not. I'm not. None of us are. Not even close. A few of us might get up near 10% and assume we are doing pretty good. Others of us hover around 5, a few others 1 or 2%. A bunch of us are probably good for a few dollars here and there. No one is in all the way. We can't. (we tell ourselves) We couldn't. We won't. But that is what Jesus commands. And those who don't aren't worthy to be his disciples.
Friends we have sins to confess. First of all, we have been busy building earthly kingdoms, tallying up earthly costs and we have forgotten the eternal. We have lost sight of the eternal kingdom that Christ is building and would have us build. We have lost sight of the fact that we must go and get stones to lay on the foundation in this construction project he has called us to complete and we have been okay to let the exposed beams turn to rust from the snow and the rain. We should be abandoned, good for a few billboard and perhaps even torn down.
But then comes Jesus. On his way to Jerusalem. On his way to his meeting with the High Priest, with Pontius Pilate. On his way to meet with the guards, the crowds, the executioner. On his way to condemnation and crucifixion. We should be thrown out of the spiritual house built up into Christ, but he is sent out - outside the city, near the city dump, near the Jerusalem dung pile, where they piled up the trash. Jesus was cast out of the city like salt that has lost its saltiness. He was nailed to the cross and he died. In your place, for your sin. He took your place in God's punishment.
History tells us that when Rome crucified their prisoners and law breakers, often, if there was no one to claim the body it would be taken down from the cross and thrown into that trash heap outside Jerusalem. But this is not what happened to Jesus. His dead body was honored, carried to a new tomb cut into the rock and a large stone was placed over the opening. And after three days in that tomb, and before it had a chance to rot or decay, the body of Jesus was restored to life. The death of sin and the punishment of hell that was released onto him as he hung on the cross was used up so that he was raised from death to life.
Jesus is alive. And his life isn't just the happy ending to an otherwise sad story. It isn't just his story. This is your story. This was your death that he died for you and now this is his life that he lives for you. You were dead. You were tasteless salt, you were fodder for the dung heap. But you are not any more. You were not taken down and thrown out into the trash. You were buried with him through Baptism into death. And if you were buried with him you were also raised with him. And now you are alive. You have been resurrected. You have been restored. You were not worthy to be his disciples. You were not worthy to be counted as his follower. But now you are. You are his disciple you have been to the cross, because he has been to the cross for you. Your cross has been carried because he has carried it for you.
And now the Grand and great Architect of the Church and the Kingdom of God has added you as a living stone to his eternal house that He is building. He has handed you the schematics and blueprints and he has told you the work that needs to be done. He has called you to help finish out the construction. He has sent you out into the highways and byways to round up the raw materials to finish the structure that stands as yet undone.
It is soon to be finished. It is soon to be complete. And more than a palace, more than a tower, more than the Taj Mahal, it will be the eternal temple, the heavenly city of God himself. Pick up your hammer, grab your nails, and lets get to work.
Which of desiring to build a tower
Amen.
If only the Main Technical Organization in Krakow Poland had read Luke 14.
In our text this morning, Jesus uses this very sort of scenario as an example to teach about the Kingdom of Heaven. If you want to build a tower, do your homework before you do your construction. Figure out if you have the funds to complete the project because if you don’t, you could find yourself half way through, out of cash and out your investment. And consider the result – if you can't finish the job, think of the wasted resources, not to mention the public humiliation of having erected a lasting monument to your own poor planning. What does that do for investor relations?
But in the end, Jesus isn't talking about business. Jesus isn't talking about earthly investments and earthly towers. Jesus isn't concerned with building earthly kingdoms. Jesus is talking about heavenly investments and heavenly kingdoms. In fact, elsewhere Jesus commands those who would be his followers to be shrewd with such “unrighteous wealth”, to be faithful with such “unrighteous wealth” so that our Lord will entrust them with the wealth that is eternal.
Jesus is not giving us advice for managing our business, rather he is using this business as a touch-point to teach us about His kingdom. If you would come after Jesus, if you would be his disciple and follow in his footsteps, be sure you know what you are getting yourself into. Be sure you know what it's going to cost. You'd better be sure you can afford to pay.
Luke reminds us that Jesus is travelling. In Chapter 9 Jesus told us where he was going. He was going to Jerusalem and when he got there he was going to die. Talk about a construction project, hammer and nails, beams and board were being hewn and shaped into a cross to be carried outside the city to a hill where the hammer blows would fall on his hands and feet and the sweat of construction would be laced with blood from the tears in the flesh of he forehead. Jesus was using wood and a few nails to construct, not a tower, but a Kingdom built with his broken body.
As Jesus was speaking the words of our text, he was playing the part of a general contractor assembling a work crew to assist with the construction. He didn’t want any “part timers”. He would take only those willing to go the distance, the whole entire distance.
The question is, are you ready to work on Jesus’ construction crew? Are you prepared to follow him to his work site, prepared to follow Jesus even to death? Are you prepared to “take up your cross and carry it” even when it means you must die? Are you prepared to renounce everything, your money, your possessions, your very self to follow your Leader? This is what Jesus requires. This is what Jesus commands. Don’t we forget just how high is the cost of following Jesus?
So let's suppose St Paul Chuckery is a tower. A steel framed construction that has been standing for years. Is the building complete? Is the construction finished? Or are we a work in progress? Are the windows installed and the wiring intact? Has the heating and cooling been put in place? Is the wallboard up? The ceiling tiles? The light fixtures? Or are we like that high rise in Krakow, Skeletor, tall and strong, we've been around for ages, but there's still work to do?
There is plenty of work still to be done. And Jesus our general contractor needs workers; architects, engineers, building planners, welders, electricians, finish carpenters, technicians, all different people with all different gifts. Jesus also needs raw materials. Lots and lots of raw materials. And this building, this high rise, this Kingdom of Christ among the kingdom of men can't be completed with anything you'd find on the shelves at Home Depot. The building materials are people, 1 Peter calls them the livings stones that are built up into a spiritual house, the temple of our Lord Jesus Christ, with He himself as the chief cornerstone. We need people. We need to go out and get them. Retrieve the from the quarry of the outside world, chisel and shape them with the Word of God, put them here in their place, fasten them in with the mortar of the Gospel and then go out and find more.
But the cost is high. It doesn't come cheap. Good constructions never do. The question is can you afford the cost? Are you “all in”? Committed to the project or only half way? Remember, Jesus says “consider the cost”. Before you sign on as one of his workers in building the Kingdom of God ask yourself if you’ve got what it takes to complete the task?
Jesus says the cost is high. “How high,” is the question we always want to ask? How much is it going to take? How far will it set me back? Jesus says it will take everything. Everything you've got and everything you are. Remember his words, renounce everything; your family, your mother and father, you son and your daughter, you husband or wife, even your very self. And not just your self, your possessions, everything that you own in this world. Your house, your car, your money, the family farm, your savings, your retirement. Lay it all aside, count it all as loss, give it all up, give it all away. If you don't, you're not worthy. You can't be Jesus' disciple. You are useless to God. You are like salt that has lost its saltiness. No flavor.no use on the compost, throw it out on the road and trample it under foot.
So here's the question, are you in? Are you in? Not just a little bit. Not just half way. Not just 10%. Not just a tithe. We're talking all in. Going for broke. Putting the whole thing down for the kingdom of heaven. Are you in? We think this is hyperbole, a literary trick. It’s not. Jesus doesn’t accept 1/2 time workers. He calls them lukewarm; people he would spit out of his mouth. Jesus wants the whole thing. And so again, are you in?
I didn't think so. You're not. I'm not. None of us are. Not even close. A few of us might get up near 10% and assume we are doing pretty good. Others of us hover around 5, a few others 1 or 2%. A bunch of us are probably good for a few dollars here and there. No one is in all the way. We can't. (we tell ourselves) We couldn't. We won't. But that is what Jesus commands. And those who don't aren't worthy to be his disciples.
Friends we have sins to confess. First of all, we have been busy building earthly kingdoms, tallying up earthly costs and we have forgotten the eternal. We have lost sight of the eternal kingdom that Christ is building and would have us build. We have lost sight of the fact that we must go and get stones to lay on the foundation in this construction project he has called us to complete and we have been okay to let the exposed beams turn to rust from the snow and the rain. We should be abandoned, good for a few billboard and perhaps even torn down.
But then comes Jesus. On his way to Jerusalem. On his way to his meeting with the High Priest, with Pontius Pilate. On his way to meet with the guards, the crowds, the executioner. On his way to condemnation and crucifixion. We should be thrown out of the spiritual house built up into Christ, but he is sent out - outside the city, near the city dump, near the Jerusalem dung pile, where they piled up the trash. Jesus was cast out of the city like salt that has lost its saltiness. He was nailed to the cross and he died. In your place, for your sin. He took your place in God's punishment.
History tells us that when Rome crucified their prisoners and law breakers, often, if there was no one to claim the body it would be taken down from the cross and thrown into that trash heap outside Jerusalem. But this is not what happened to Jesus. His dead body was honored, carried to a new tomb cut into the rock and a large stone was placed over the opening. And after three days in that tomb, and before it had a chance to rot or decay, the body of Jesus was restored to life. The death of sin and the punishment of hell that was released onto him as he hung on the cross was used up so that he was raised from death to life.
Jesus is alive. And his life isn't just the happy ending to an otherwise sad story. It isn't just his story. This is your story. This was your death that he died for you and now this is his life that he lives for you. You were dead. You were tasteless salt, you were fodder for the dung heap. But you are not any more. You were not taken down and thrown out into the trash. You were buried with him through Baptism into death. And if you were buried with him you were also raised with him. And now you are alive. You have been resurrected. You have been restored. You were not worthy to be his disciples. You were not worthy to be counted as his follower. But now you are. You are his disciple you have been to the cross, because he has been to the cross for you. Your cross has been carried because he has carried it for you.
And now the Grand and great Architect of the Church and the Kingdom of God has added you as a living stone to his eternal house that He is building. He has handed you the schematics and blueprints and he has told you the work that needs to be done. He has called you to help finish out the construction. He has sent you out into the highways and byways to round up the raw materials to finish the structure that stands as yet undone.
It is soon to be finished. It is soon to be complete. And more than a palace, more than a tower, more than the Taj Mahal, it will be the eternal temple, the heavenly city of God himself. Pick up your hammer, grab your nails, and lets get to work.
Which of desiring to build a tower
Amen.
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