[Sermon Archive] - [Weekly Devotional Guide]

This Week's Sermon The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost 12 August 2007 "We Are Ready!" Luke 12:22-40 LSB Series C Vicar Heath A. Trampe Soli Deo Gloria!

There are a lot of things about being an adult that can get you down. Lets face it, when we were kids, our biggest worries were mealtime and if we could stay out just a little later to play with our friends. Now that we're "grown up", there are many more obstacles in our paths to happiness. We have bills to pay, houses to maintain, and a family to provide for. We have so many activities to keep track of that we buy planners and calendars just to keep it all in order. Along with all of this responsibility comes anxiety and worry. You don't often see a child with an ulcer. Adults, however, have a ton of diseases and health problems associated with stress and worry. We stress ourselves out not only in our various jobs and occupations, but also in our spiritual life. We try to take control of our salvation situation and work our way into God's good graces. This mindset certainly doesn't control our thinking all of the time, and certainly not when we're in church hearing a sermon. However, we are sinful creatures and as such, we need constant reminders that God gives us what we need, and that we've been given our salvation freely, not due to our best efforts. We also need to be reminded that

(I. It is our Father's good pleasure to give us the kingdom, and we don't need to worry about this life. (vv. 22-28))
(II. It is our Father's good pleasure to give us the kingdom, and we seek heavenly treasures. (vv. 29-34))
(III. It is our Father's good pleasure to give us the kingdom, and we are ready for His coming. (vv. 35-40))

I.
So how do we stop worrying? Even if we tried to stop, we'd only end up worrying that we worry too much. Our culture tells us that we need to keep up with everyone else. For the younger folks, this means having the latest cell phone (maybe a Crazer with MP3) or perhaps a closet full of Lucky Brand Jeans and Nike shoes. For those of us who are beyond the cell phone and high fashion influence, we might be enticed by our neighbor's new plasma television or fancy BMW. How can we be expected to slow down when we are already so far behind? This is exactly what Jesus wanted to get across to His disciples. He had a way of teaching them using stories and parables so they could understand concepts they couldn't handle straight up. Since we also cannot handle the concept of relaxing and slowing down "straight up", we also can benefit from what Jesus says in today's Gospel. He begins by putting our priorities in order: "Life is more than food, and the body more than clothing".

What does this mean? Don't we need clothes and food as well? Jesus clarifies this statement with a comparison: "Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds"! Now we're told to be like the ravens, so let's think about this. What makes a raven unique? Ravens are scavengers, picking food here and there when others have left some behind. And yet they eat, don't they? Lest we should chalk this up to chance, Jesus tells us that the ravens eat on account of God feeding them. If God can remember to feed these silly birds who have no regard for the future, how much more can he provide for us!

But we don't just want to eat, do we? We want to eat gourmet foods, experience wonderful tastes. The whole "eating to survive thing" is fine for the birds, but we expect a little more out of life. Here we're limiting God and His promises, which are clear in Genesis "²⁹And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food". When you combine this with the section from Acts where God tells Peter that every animal is fit for him to eat, it's pretty clear that God wants to give it all to us, the entire planet. He doesn't want us to scrounge around for food, but instead promises us everything. He doesn't intend to limit us in any way. And it's not just food, either. All of the blessings we receive in this life are from God our Father. Even though we hear this message, it doesn't always sink in, and we sometimes wonder if we'll really be taken care of without taking matters into our own hands.

II.
When a child wants something, how does he go about getting it? Does he work really hard to earn the money and permission for what he wants? Sometimes, maybe. Usually, however, a child will come to his parents and ask them for what he desires. Can we do this with God? Sure, in fact, He commands us to do so. Jesus tells us about this relationship a little bit earlier in the book of Luke: "¹¹If a son asks for ?bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? ¹²Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? ¹³If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him"! God knows what we need, and He knows what we want, even better than we do ourselves. Our relationship with our Heavenly Father is what separates us from the heathen, and this is the next point that Jesus makes in our Gospel lesson for today: "For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. ³¹Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you".

Jesus is speaking here of worldly treasures. His examples of food and clothing, gold and silver might be translated today as flat panel televisions, brand new cars, and decent houses. We want these things as much as the heathen, but we have something they don't-a relationship with our Heavenly Father. Because we have this precious relationship, we can and should go about getting these things in a whole different manner, as Paul proclaims in Philippians: "⁶Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God".

Jesus tells us to seek the kingdom, but what does that mean? Jesus is commonly referred to and compared to the kingdom of God, so He's referring to Himself here. In essence, Jesus is saying that if we'll make Him our central focus, all the other things will fall into place. We have learned from experience that God showers His gifts upon the believer and the unbeliever alike, but just like it says in Luther's Small Catechism, we pray that He would lead us to realize the gifts we're being given and to receive them with thanksgiving. This is the crucial difference between Christians and non-Christians. A child who is thankful and understands what he's been given is much easier to deal with than an ungrateful brat who spits in your face as he snatches his gift away. This difference is also important because we realize that the most precious gifts we receive are not made by Sony or Mercedes, they're the gifts of heaven, the eternal gifts.

III.
When we give or receive gifts, it's usually more fun to give something really fancy, isn't it? There are few moments as pleasurable as the first reaction that a loved one has towards a completely unexpected treasure. If you've ever bought jewelry for your significant other or maybe even a car, you know that initial pleasure and shock, and it's priceless. But what happens after that? The car will eventually get old and lose its luster. The jewelry will likely be replaced with something newer as time goes on and packed away from sight. The fact of the matter is, no matter what we give to another person, our gifts will eventually wear out their pleasure factor. Jesus constantly warns us not to make such possessions our main focus in life, culminating with the oft repeated phrase: "³⁴For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also". So what should our focus be?

This next section in our text is full of energy and summarizes a great admonition for believers. Jesus seemingly changes gears from all of this "don't worry" language and warns us to: "Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, ³⁶and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks". Jesus is telling the disciples to be alert and on their guard. Does this remind us of a similar passage from 1 Peter? "⁸Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour". Satan is constantly at work in our lives, and his greatest pleasure is when we forget our relationship with the Father. Even if only momentary, this forgetfulness can be tragic.

The last thing Jesus says to his disciples in this pericope is that "You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect". Since we know that Satan finds no greater pleasure than to see us fall into unbelief and despair, Jesus warns us to be ready. But how does one prepare for the coming of Jesus? How can anyone truly be ready? A little bit earlier we discussed our relationship with the Father; we are His beloved children. But we're also full of sin, so how did we come into this status with God? Surly nothing that we've done could do this, but only the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ could have ever put us in such a relationship with God. Since Christ has made satisfaction for our sins, God sees us as the clean, perfect children that we were always meant to be. If you take this fact out of context, it appears as though we're set for the kingdom right now, regardless of how we live our lives, but you're only half right.

The wonderful news, however, is that we still don't need to do anything to prepare for the kingdom of God. We are adequately prepared through our normal Christian lives. When Christ told the apostles that He would be with them until the very end of the age, He literally meant what He said. Christ is still among us, even today. He remains in an active relationship of give and take with us, He the giver and we the recipients. Whenever we hear the Word of God preached from the pulpit on Sunday morning or hear the readings or read from the Scripture on our own, we are experiencing our relationship with Christ. Likewise, whenever we receive the body and blood of our Risen Savior during the Lord's Supper, we are becoming one with Him and the entire church. Our baptisms have also provided us with an immense spiritual gift that we could never earn on our own. Upon closer inspection, it appears as though we are already prepared for the kingdom of God. This is good news, the greatest news that we could ever hear. We are invited to a banquet, and our gracious Savior has not only prepared the meal, but He has purchased our ticket for us as well. Amen.