God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. Luke 12: 20-21

 

If they you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.   Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Colossians 3: 1-2

 

 

            Last weekend I happened to walk into the living room when Dan had the induction ceremonies at the Baseball Hall of Fame on the TV.   I did not catch all of it but I heard a couple words from Tony Gwynne who was one of the honorees that day.  Tony Gwynne was a tremendous hitter and justly deserved to be in Cooperstown that day.  But what he said struck me as a message that so many young people especially needed to hear.  He said that he got where he was by hard work.  He always valued batting practice and continually striving to work harder.  Nobody simply handed things to you.  He told the crowd that if you worked at it, though, dreams could come true.  Then he admitted that he did miss the glory days being out there in the field with teammates. But he went on to say that in no way was he looking backward.  He told everyone that although he did not play the game anymore he was still in the game as a coach at San Diego State University .  He went on to say, “And I love it.  I absolutely love what I am doing now.”

            Tony Gwynne at least in what I heard did not make any real references to the Lord and certainly not to the words that are on our bulletin cover.  But he gave the secular version of what the Lord is telling each of us today. Even back then some people had an entitlement mentality, as if life owed them everything.  This person in the crowd who wants Jesus to divide the inheritance with his brother basically speaks for so many in our world and in our generation.  “I want what is mine.  I want it now.  I am entitled to it.  Give it to me.”

            But that attitude is just the tip of the iceberg that still floats in the oceans of the twenty first century.  It comes with this insatiable need we all have to get more and more material things.  We have no time to thank the dear Lord for all of our blessings because we have already begun our prayers to Him to give us the next thing on the list which we believe will make us happy and fulfilled in life.  The Lord says, “There is nothing on that list that will do that for you except for me.  Pursue me.  Seek the things that are above. That is where you will find blessing that lasts.”  But nobody seems to want to listen to the Savior anymore.

            We all relate to that farmer whose entire life, to quote the Savior, “consisted in the abundance of his possessions.”  This rich man in all actuality didn’t produce anything on his own.  As Jesus put it, the land produced plentifully for this man.  Everything we have is a gift from God.  But the man apparently could not even sleep at night because the stress of where to put the possession he believed he earned in life kept him awake.  In the greatest irony of all the man as he babbles on at 3 in the morning even addresses his own soul, the very thing, the most precious thing he had, which he had entirely neglected through the years.  He speaks with the firm belief that the life of earthly pleasure he has sought will continue for years.  If I can read between the lines, he says, “At last… NOW I will relax.  Now I will take it easy and be merry, something I never ever had time for in life.”  But there is no more time left for him.  And as he hears about the soul he has lost, the very things he has strived to accumulate can never follow him to where he is going.  And Jesus might just as easily have said to all of us who understand this rich man very well, “What’s the point of living life like that?”  And we all say, “You’re right. Lord.”  But we keep on living that way.  We never enjoy anything because we need the next thing.  Someday we will, we tell ourselves.  But is “someday” a guarantee?

            The best example of this occurred this week to me when I was talking to someone who is very dear to my heart.  I was on the phone with him and asking how his week went.  And I said, “I had a pretty good day.  Went to the mall actually.  And guess what… I know you wont’ believe it because I never thought I would ever say it.”  “Say what?”  “I want an I-phone.”  Yes, I have succumbed to the advertising and the consumer mentality.  I want the big one.  I want the cell phone that is an Ipod and gives you maps and tells you the weather and irons your pants and makes your dinner for you and tucks you into bed at night.  I want an I-phone.”  His response was one that I have yearned to hear and longed for:  “Hey, don’t get it… you don’t need it.”  In my soul I said, “Breakthrough.  We have made a breakthrough.”  But as I savored this moment, the words continued, “You don’t need it … because the next version is already in the pipeline and will be out next October. That’s the one you want!!”

            There really is nothing wrong with getting a nice phone.  And I have to say that I am most proud of the values this person I just mentioned has developed in his life, especially the financial ones he has.  But do you remember the event that happened once in the Gospels when a rich young man approached Jesus?  He went up to the Lord and told Jesus that he wanted eternal life.  “Tell me what to do, Lord.”  Jesus said, “OK, keep the commandments.  Don’t murder, don’t lie, honor your father and mother.”  I believe Jesus was setting the young man up because once the young man realized nobody could keep the commandments perfectly Jesus could then tell him the Gospel message about God’s love and mercy and grace.  But this young man went on to say something interesting.  He made the claim to Jesus that he did keep all of them.  “What’s next Jesus?” he asked the Lord.  Jesus immediately knew the real problem.  He said to the young man, “Go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Matthew 19:21  Jesus took the man at his word and asked him, “OK, you say you have kept the commandments.  Let’s try the first one: ‘You shall have no other gods.’”  Jesus knew that in this young man’s life wealth was the stumbling block.  It was the idol in his life that this young man worshiped more than anything else.  Jesus was telling this particular individual to get rid of the thing that was his god.  “Then come, follow me.”

            The irony is that the Lord God has nothing particularly against wealth and being rich.  For some reason people think God is pro-poverty.  This example I just mentioned has even been used as a proof of that claim.  God hates wealth and prefers you to live in abject filth and financial misery.  That is the farthest thing from the truth.  What God knows is that love of money is a root of all evil.  Money can so easily become your god in life, or the pursuit of it.  That is what He wants us to remove from our lives.

            The Ecclesiastes passage tells us that today.  If the Luke account this morning speaks to those of us slogging it out on the long road to acquire material possessions and how we trade our lives for the stress and agony of pursuing things over God, Ecclesiastes really speaks to the person who has already made it and has already acquired wealth.  The passage was written by one of the wealthiest men who ever lived on planet earth.  His name was Solomon.  He was the wisest king in history and had more earthly things than most of us could ever hope to imagine.

            Solomon never once says that hard work is a waste of time.  He never once condemns eating and drinking and earning a living and getting the things in life that bring us joy.  In fact, one of the lines in Ecclesiastes says “There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil.”  Solomon even says that this way of spending your days is from the hand of God.  But he goes on in his wisdom to let us all know that if you do this apart from God in your life it is never going to ultimately satisfy you.  Working hard and earning good things is a blessing when God is God to you.  But when you do it only for yourself or just to acquire things it all becomes mere vanity.  A striving after the wind.  It won’t take long , Solomon says, before you hate all the toil you do under the sun.  Like the man in Jesus’ parable today, Solomon says that days become filled with sorrow and your heart cannot find rest at night.  And when you look back at it all and realize you cannot take it with you but must leave it all behind to someone who didn’t put half the effort into acquiring these things that you did – was it all worth it?

            Colossians today offers the alternative.  By now you may be saying that you have heard this sermon before.  You have heard it twenty or thirty times.  But when you keep on needing to hear the same message we thank the Lord that He continues to give it.  The Lord today says that seeking things in life is a good thing. But seek first the things above.  It begins with a recognition of the emptiness of a life pursuing things that do not last.  I love the one word St. Paul used to describe that.  It is right in the middle of the passage.  The word is “idolatry.”    It is the Holy Spirit’s reminder that there really are no atheists in the world. Something always becomes your god.  But the idolatry of earthly things if that is your sole focus in life is as lifeless and speechless as those carved stone objects we think of when we hear the word “idol”.  Jesus says that there is  a new self that is possible for you.

            It is possible because you have been raised with Christ.  To use Colossians’ imagery, when Jesus went to that cross for you He was taking with Him that old man or woman that needed to die so you could be free of his or her demands on you.  When Jesus rose from the dead on Easter it was with a message that a new self could be there for you that is really renewed in the image of God the Creator.  It is the image of Jesus who gave up all the riches of heaven because saving you was far more important to Him than having those things.  And Jesus taught us a better way of seeking the things above because those are the only things that will last not only after we are gone from this life but will last for all of eternity.

            The latest TV or technological marvel will be outdated by October and be obsolete by year’s end.  But that insight you got from the Bible that one day will last always.  That forgiveness of sins you experience in worship is forever.  The unity of Christians who are a family goes on.  The work we do for Jesus in His name lasts.  The lessons you teach in Sunday School, the livelihood you have made possible for Kenyan widows in Jesus’ name., the vicars you have taught and shaped and blessed so that one day they can be a blessing to another congregation – those things endure.

            Jesus says to seek the things that are above in your life.  That means quit serving the earthly things.  Quit allowing them to consume your life and your thoughts.  Easy to say… not so easy to do, right?

            But remember you are not alone.  It is God Who can change your heart and He will if you ask Him to do it. You have the Holy Spirit to strengthen you and the Bible says that you have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16)  And you are surrounded here by people who are full of faith.  Instead of rehearsing all your problems to them let them tell you about the goodness of Christ and the life that is far more satisfying in Him.  Join in with their faith and resist the darkness. 

            And praise God.  Do whatever it takes to make yourself praise Him.  As another one dear to my heart told me this week, so often we are so busy moving on to the next “thing” we need from God that we never pause to consider the unbelievable blessings He has already given us in Jesus.  But when you can thank the Lord and praise Him God’s presence in your life will turn back those worried thoughts and make them fall.

            Your problems are not the biggest thing in your life.  Jesus is.  Unless you’d really rather spend your life chasing after the wind, serve Him…. even with your desires, hopes, and aspirations in life and He will set you free!  Amen.