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.
No comments:
Post a Comment