14th Sunday after Pentecost; 8:30 & 10:00 a.m., Holy Communion

“Our Attitude towards Ourselves”

Luke 14: 1, 7-14

Opening Prayer:

Lord Jesus, you . . . → Read More: “Our Attitude towards Ourselves”]]> The Rev. Canon Dr. Brett Cane, August 29, 2010

14^th Sunday after Pentecost; 8:30 & 10:00 a.m., Holy Communion

“Our Attitude towards Ourselves”

Luke 14: 1, 7-14

Opening Prayer:

Lord Jesus, you exhorted us to humble ourselves; teach us now, by the power of the Holy Spirit, how we can work this out in our lives, to the glory of God the Father.  Amen.

Introduction

Many of us are familiar with the very popular BBC comedy series, Keeping Up Appearances. The main character, Hyacinth Bucket (or “Bouquet”, as she prefers to be called), manages to involve her long-suffering husband Richard, and any other person whom she can manipulate, into making herself look good in the eyes of anyone she thinks she should impress.  The church women’s group groans and the vicar runs when they see her coming;  she goes to great lengths to keep her unsophisticated sister Daisy and her uncouth husband Onslow out of view.  I think a lot of us like the show because we see ourselves in Hyacinth.  Like her, we spend a lot of time, “keeping up appearances.”

“Keeping Up Appearances” is one way of describing the theme of our Gospel passage today – which I have more formally titled, “Our Attitude towards Ourselves.”  The story of Jesus at the Pharisee’s dinner party and their picking “the places of honour at the table” (verse looks like a first-century prototype to that British TV comedy series.  The parable of choosing the places of honour at a wedding banquet comes from the master of observation of human nature – Jesus himself.  In verse 1, it says that “he was being carefully watched”, but in verse 7, the tables are turned – Jesus was watching them: “When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honour at the table, he told them this parable…”  Today we will use this story to help us look at our attitude towards ourselves and the dangers of “keeping up appearances.”  We will look first at pride and humility and then at Jesus’ description of a practical way to demonstrate humility.

Humility and Pride

In the parable, Jesus uses a familiar home-truth about good manners to convey a religious lesson.[1]

When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honour, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited.  If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this man your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place.  But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honoured in the presence of all your fellow guests.  (Luke 14:8-10).

The lesson hinges on how you choose your place at table.  Now you might think that if only they had had place cards, then none of this would have happened!  Well, I was told of wedding reception where four guests walked out because they were not seated where they thought they should be!  I was also told the story of an older lady getting on a bus and sitting beside a youth with long hair but keeping her back to him.  The young person was so uncomfortable, he got up and moved somewhere else.  I also know of a situation where visitors coming into a church were asked to move because they were sitting in the seat of a regular parishioner!  Choosing where you sit is not an outdated example.

But what is the lesson Jesus is trying to get across?  It has to do with the most serious sin of all, pride, and its opposite virtue, humility.  “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (verse 11).   The people at that dinner party were obviously preoccupied with keeping up appearances.  By choosing the better seats, they wanted to look good in the eyes of others.  They were exalting themselves to boost their self-image.  Their pride dictated their actions.

Why is pride the first and greatest sin of all.  ?  Because it is the violation of the first and greatest commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3).  “Pride puts self before God.  Pride loves your self with all your heart and soul and mind and strength rather than God.”[2] Pride says, “My will be done.”

The opposite of pride is humility.  Humility says that I can’t do it all by myself.  Humility is that poverty of spirit spoken of in the Beatitudes.  Humility says, “Thy will be done.”  Humility is a detachment from power or adulation or possessions to tell us who we are and an attachment to God, to hear him say who we are.  Humility takes the focus off ourselves and onto God and others.

William Barclay describes humility through the example of a famous university figure of an earlier day (Principal Cairns of Edinburgh):  “He would never enter a room first.  He always said, ‘You first, I follow.’  Once, as he came on to a platform, there was a great burst of applause in welcome,  he stood aside and let the man after him come first and began himself to applaud.  He never dreamed that the applause could possibly be for him; he thought it must be for the other man.”[3] G.B. Caird says, “True dignity is always unconscious dignity and true honour, whether conferred by man or God is always unexpected.”[4] Another saying which illustrates this goes “Humility – a strange thing; the minute you think you’ve got it, you’ve lost it.”

But today, we are afraid to speak of humility because we feel it adds to our already low self-esteem!  “We need encouragement and self-affirmation,” people say.  However, this objection is due to a misunderstanding of humility.  “Humility is thinking less about yourself, not thinking less of yourself.”[5] Humility is not self-hatred; Leanne Payne has said that “Self-hatred is a (false) substitute for humility.”[6] We need to renounce both self-hatred and unhealthy pride in order to receive the true affirmation we need.  We do away with false attempts at self-acceptance.  We neither wallow in the mires of the false humility of self-hatred nor in the false affirmation sought by pride. These are wrong attitudes towards ourselves.

The right attitude that leads us to a healthy humility is to be open to hear from God about who we are, that our true worth comes from being loved by him.  We need to have our minds renewed:  “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2).  This renewing of our minds happens through Scripture, worship, and obedience, along with good teaching and helpful counselling.  We listen with our hearts to his affirming word, not the approving or humiliating word of others.  There is no instant healing; it is a process.  It begins with acknowledging we are sinners in need of God’s love; we accept God’s view of ourselves, not our own – in this way we can negate our unhealthy pride with its need for earthly recognition and embrace a healthy humility which will result in our “exaltation.”

Peter Kreeft summarizes the difference between humility and pride when he says,

Pride disguises itself today in our attempts to be “adult”, “mature”, and “take-charge”, “responsible for our own lives”…Remember what adult suggests in our culture.  Remember what adult books, magazines and movies are like.  Remember that Jesus never told us to be “adult” but instead said, “Unless you…become as little children, you will by no means enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 18:3).  Heaven’s gate is too tiny for any but a child.  It is the eye of a needle.  Large adult camels must go home to die or be born again as little children.[7]

One Practical Way of Demonstrating Humility

Children have a knack of showing us adults up for what we really are.  A child will freely associate with someone of a different cultural, racial, or social group; they might even invite them home to supper.  We adults cringe at the “inappropriate” choice they have made.  But this is the practical example Jesus gives us of demonstrating humility – looking at whom we entertain:

When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbours; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid.  But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed.  Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.  (verses 12-14)

On hearing this, you might at first be distracted by Jesus telling us not to invite our friends or relatives to dinner – it seems a little harsh; but this is the same manner of speaking Jesus used when he said we were to hate our parents and so on (Luke 14:26).  It is a way of making a contrast.  Of course we are to care for our families, but how much more are we to take seriously the need to entertain those who are excluded and marginalized – those different from ourselves, those who could not possibly pay us back.

Jesus’ main stress here is our motivation – what lies behind the choices you make when you socialise with others?  Do we invite people back because they have invited us?  Do we look for opportunities to boost ourselves up, to expand our pride, for what we can get out of it?  Jesus says that our motive in socialising should be generosity – what we can give, what others can receive from us – not what we get back from them.

However, in addition to not seeking a return on our hospitality there is also an element here of setting aside our pride by entertaining those we would not normally associate with – perhaps people we would not want others to see us with for fear they would think we were like them – in other words, giving up appearances!  I have often thought that, if the Titanic had not been sunk, most of us would have liked to have gone first class with the rich and famous.  As hinted at in the film and as Jesus says here, “Go third class…those people might be more fun to be with, anyway.”

In the context of our church family, whom do you invite to your dinner parties at home or to share lunch at a restaurant with you?  We are a mixed congregation – this is great place to try out this principle of humility; there are lots of opportunities!  Practice random acts of kindness!  We have young and old, rich and poor, sophisticated and unsophisticated, abled and disabled, those from your background and those who are not, and so on.  Those of you who are more wealthy, take out those on welfare or low incomes; those who are younger and popular take out someone who is older and lonely.  You will not necessarily be repaid, but you will be practising humility.  Your ultimate reward will come later, “at the resurrection of the righteous,” but Jesus also speaks of being “blessed” – which I take for this life.  The blessing comes not in return invitations but in living out the life of humility – a right attitude towards yourself – which brings spiritual and emotional health here and now.

Conclusion

This is generosity of spirit – not calculated giving, as we saw last week.  God did not give in a calculated fashion: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).  “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10).  We can be generous in Spirit because we ourselves have received abundantly.  We can give without needing the approval of others because our approval rests in our acceptance by God.  Have a right attitude towards yourselves – don’t base your giving on “keeping up appearances.”

[1] G. B. Caird, Saint Luke. (Harmondsworth, Middlesex, U.K.: Penguin Books, Ltd., 1963), pg. 175.

[2] Peter Kreeft, Back to Virtue. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1992), pg. 97.

[3] William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Luke, Rev. Ed. (Edinburgh: The Saint Andrew Press, 1975), pg. 190.

[4] Caird, ibid., pg. 176.

[5] Kreeft, ibid., pg. 100.

[6] Leanne Payne, lecture during Pastoral Care Ministries School,  Wheaton Illinois, June, 1998.

[7] Kreeft, ibid., pg. 101.

Pentecost 13; 8:30 & 10:00 a.m., Holy Communion

“Our Attitude towards the Rules”

Luke 13:10-17

Opening Prayer:

Dear Lord Jesus, you have shown us a . . . → Read More: “Our Attitude towards the Rules”]]> The Rev. Canon Dr. Brett Cane, August 22, 2010

Pentecost 13; 8:30 & 10:00 a.m., Holy Communion

“Our Attitude towards the Rules”

Luke 13:10-17

Opening Prayer:

Dear Lord Jesus, you have shown us a new way of relating to God in freedom without calculation; help us now, by your Holy Spirit, to experience that new way in our lives, that we might truly know and express the love of our Father in Heaven.  Amen.

Introduction

Why does so much religion often have a bad name?  “It’s all about rules and regulations.”  “They have such a ‘holier than thou’ attitude.” “They say one thing and then do another.”

It seems it was not much different in Jesus’ day.  Looking back to today’s gospel story of the crippled woman, Jesus certainly didn’t think much of how the religious people handled the situation.  They were so concerned about their rules and regulations; they got all upset when Jesus healed her on the Sabbath.  After all, healing was work and you weren’t supposed to work on the Sabbath.

It is easy to for us to see how hypocritical these religious folk were.  We know that God would want us to help a person out rather than deny them help just because of some religious regulation.  So how is this story of use to us today?

It is useful because it brings us back to the centre of true religion.  We may not have problems with healing on the Sabbath, but we can be just as guilty of misusing rules and regulations in other areas and so miss what Jesus wants for our lives.   What is your attitude towards the rules?

Rules before People

Jesus’ opponents in the story were quite clear about their attitude to the rules.  It says that they were indignant when Jesus healed on the Sabbath and that they told the people, “There are six days for work.  So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath” (Luke 13:14).  Keeping the Sabbath as a day free from work was one of the commandments God had given to Moses.  Keeping the Sabbath is a good thing – that was clear.  However, what was not clear was how you define work.  What was to be avoided in order to keep the commandment?  The rabbis and scribes had developed a list of 39 categories of work to be avoided, each of which was further refined.  For example, extinguishing or lighting a fire was prohibited as was walking more than a “sabbath day’s journey” which was set at 1000 yards.  Medical treatment to save a life was permitted but not to be given for a non-life threatening condition.  This is why the synagogue authorities were upset – the woman’s condition was not life-threatening.   After all, she had suffered from this for 18 years!  These people saw rules as protecting us from God’s condemnation.  God’s rules were to be obeyed, even at the cost of good not being done.

Jesus’ attitude towards the rules was quite different.  Jesus’ response to the ruler’s declaration about the Sabbath not being the appropriate day for healing was the exact opposite: “Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?” (verse 16).  The term “should not” has great force – something like “it is absolutely necessary that.”  The day that God had set aside each week to free humanity from the bondage of labour was indeed a most suitable day for a person to be set free from the bondage of all that dehumanises and diminishes us.  Satan’s kingdom brings bondage – God’s kingdom brings liberation.  Jesus saw rules as providing us with God’s blessing.  God’s rules were to be used, that good might be done.

The religious leaders had a fundamental flaw.  They were putting rules and regulations ahead of people and their needs.  The fact that this lady had been crippled for eighteen years didn’t seem to bother them.  What upset them was that Jesus wasn’t obeying the rules as they saw them.  To them, the system was more important than the people the system was designed to help.

Why is this wrong?  Obviously, because in God’s eyes people come first.  It is not that rules and regulations are bad, it is just that God designed them to help us, to give us a framework in which we can be able to love him and others.  The crippled woman was in bondage.  God wanted her free.  The religious people’s use of the rules kept her in bondage.  This was a misuse of the rules!

What would be some modern-day examples of a misuse of “rules”?  Up until fairly recently there was the issue of what you wear to worship – people who wore more casual clothes were seen to be disrespectful.  Snide comments would be given and people made to feel uncomfortable.  This is not so much an issue any more – but for some, boys wearing caps is – I’ve mentioned this before.  Now, the wearing or not of headgear is a cultural matter – not a religious one.  I know there is the issue of respect for commonly held values and courtesy towards the feelings of others.  (We worked a compromise where we said that wearing of caps in church was all right, but that they should be taken off for prayer.)  However, the parallel with our story would be for a young person, unfamiliar with church, to come to worship and keep his cap on, unaware of common custom.  Would you be more concerned to welcome and befriend him or would you be so upset by his wearing a hat that you would ignore him, or worse, speak to him on his first visit about not wearing a cap in church?

Thinking more seriously than the issue of dress, how do you relate to those in the congregation who differ from you regarding musical preferences in worship?  Even more importantly, how do we react to people who may not look like they are “our kind of people” or are of a different colour and race or seemingly erratic or immoral in their behaviour?  Do we just ignore them or make snide comments?  This is what people hear when we react in this way:  “Our standards of social acceptability and behaviour are more important to us than the fact that you are here to seek God’s presence in your life.”  When this happens, we put rules and regulations ahead of people.

The Deeper Issue

Our relationship to God: But there is a deeper issue behind all of this that we need to be aware of.  It has to do with how we view our relationship to God.  A person who puts rules and regulations ahead of people reveals that their own relationship with God is more based on careful calculation rather than on generous love.  “If I can just do such and such, I’ll have fulfilled my duty and be OK with God.”  “I’ve gone to church today, and that should do me for the month!”  “I’ve read the Bible three times this week – that should please God.”  “I’ve done my volunteer work this month, so I’m keeping up my end of the bargain with God.”

The religion of rules and regulations asks, “How little do I have to do to meet God’s standards?”  The religion of love says, “What more can I do to reflect God’s love?”  The person following the first approach sees their relationship with God as something to be won and maintained through effort, something they have to deserve.  The person following the second sees their relationship as something they could not earn, something God has given to them, that they do not deserve.  Religion based on careful calculation results in smugness or uncertainty; religion based on loving gratitude results in humility and assurance.  The first sets limits; the second knows no limits.

Parents know this instinctively in relation to their babies.  I don’t think any of those here who are parents with infants would say to their child, “Well, I’ve changed and fed you just so many times today – that’s enough according to my baby book, so I’ve done my duty.  You’ll just have to wait until tomorrow to get anything more out of me!”  Now, you might feel like that from time to time, but I’m sure your response will be uncalculating and generous.  You will give your baby what he or she needs.  You  relate to your children not from calculation but from love.  It is the same with us and God.  We relate to God not from calculation but from love.

God’s Relationship to Us: How can our relationship with God work like this?  It works this way because this is how God has worked with us.  God did not wait until we were good enough, until we had made the grade, before coming to rescue us.  He knew that none of our calculating – our obeying the rules – would ever make us fit for his kingdom, so he took the initiative, out of love, to come and liberate us.  “God so loved the world, that he sent his only begotten son…” (John 3:16).

When Jesus came, he himself demonstrated this way of relating to God.  He didn’t calculate how much he had to do to please his Heavenly Father – he gave himself in total love to do his will, whatever it was.  In total self-giving love, Jesus was able to stand in our place, on the cross, to pay the debt we owed.  The Bible says, “This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10).  When we respond to that love – not by trying to earn it, which we can not do, but by simply receiving it, which we can do – Jesus comes into our lives and we become transformed.  By his Holy Spirit living in us we are able to love him and to begin to let his love flow through us to others.  This is how we can live out a religion of love rather than a religion of rules and regulations.

Conclusion

This is the life of faith we are called to live out.  It is a faith which is based on Jesus’ love for us, not what we do for him.  What is the state of your religion today?  What is your attitude towards the rules?  Are you in the calculation mode like those religious leaders in that synagogue?  Have you smugly thought, “I’ve done all that can be expected of me; I believe in God, I do my duty to others; I’m OK”?  Or perhaps this has led you into a state of deep uncertainty, thinking, “I’ll never make God’s grade; I can’t possibly do all he wants me to; I’m lost!”  Either way you are trying to measure your relationship to God by rules and regulations.  Spiritually, you are just like the woman in the story, bent over and crippled.

Jesus wants to liberate you from this bondage to the treadmill of self-effort.  Jesus invites you to turn from trying to win God’s love through your own efforts, to simply receiving it into your heart.  He calls you to straighten up out of your bent position to rules and regulations to the upright position of living out of his love in gratitude and joy.  Whether you live with freedom in Christ or remain in bondage to rules is your decision.

Postscript

What does this freedom look like when it is lived out?  The following story from an earlier era focuses on the issue of right dress and behaviour in church.  I have used it before and the situation it deals with is not fully relevant to us here at St. Aidan’s, but it does speak most effectively to our attitude towards the rules, so that I why I want to share it with you once more.

His name was Bill.  He had wild hair, wore a T-shirt with holes in it, jeans and no shoes.  This was literally his wardrobe for his entire four years of college.  He was brilliant, rather esoteric and very, very bright.  He became a Christian while attending college.  Across the street from the campus was a well-dressed, very conservative church. They wanted to develop a ministry to the students, but were not sure how to go about it. One day Bill decided to go there.  He walked in to the main service with no shoes, wearing jeans, a T-shirt, and sporting wild hair.

The service had already begun and so Bill started down the aisle looking for a seat. The church was completely packed and he couldn’t find a seat.  By now people were looking a bit uncomfortable, but no one said anything.  Bill got closer and closer and closer to the front and when he realized there were no seats, he just squatted down right on the carpet.  (Although perfectly acceptable behaviour at a college fellowship, this had never happened in this church before!)  By now the people were really uptight, and the tension in the air was thick. About this time, the pastor realized that from way at the back of the church, the head sidesperson was slowly making his way toward Bill.  Now the man was in his eighties, had silver-grey hair, a three-piece suit, and a pocket watch.  A godly man, very elegant, very dignified, very courtly.  He walked with a cane and as he started walking toward this boy, everyone was saying to themselves, “You can’t blame him for what he’s going to do.  How can you expect a man of his age and of his background to understand some college kid on the floor?”

It took a long time for the man to reach the boy.  The church was utterly silent except for the clicking of the man’s cane.  All eyes were focused on him. You couldn’t even hear anyone breathing.  The people were thinking, “The rector can’t even preach the sermon until the Head Sidesperson does what he has to do.”

And then they saw the elderly man drop his cane on the floor.  With great difficulty he lowered himself and sat down next to Bill to worship with him so he wouldn’t be alone.  Everyone was deeply moved.  When the rector gained control he said, “What I’m about to preach, you will never remember. What you have just seen, you will never forget.”

11th Sunday after Pentecost; 8:30 a.m. & 10:00 a.m. Holy Communion

“Our Attitude towards Time”

Luke 12:35-48

Opening Prayer:

Lord Jesus, you have spoken clearly of . . . → Read More: “Our Attitude towards Time”]]> The Rev. Canon Dr. Brett Cane, August 8, 2010

11^th Sunday after Pentecost; 8:30 a.m. & 10:00 a.m. Holy Communion

“Our Attitude towards Time”

Luke 12:35-48

Opening Prayer:

Lord Jesus, you have spoken clearly of the end of time with your coming again; help us now, by your Holy Spirit, to grasp that reality with anticipation and so be prepared to joyfully welcome the appearing of the kingdom of our Father in Heaven.  Amen.

Introduction

At various points in history there is a lot of speculation about the end of time.   This happened ten years ago with the tremendous excitement about the arrival of the New Millennium and has arisen again, in some quarters, because of the Mayan prophecies for 2012.  These speculations lead some people to dismiss the whole idea of the end of time.  For others, it gets them thinking about the possibility of Jesus’ return and asking “Am I ready for Jesus’ Second Coming?”  But then the crucial moment passes and nothing happens and so the pressure is off once more – or is it?

Looking at today’s passage from Luke, we see that this is not the view Jesus wants us to have regarding our attitude towards time and his return.  According to Jesus, history is still working towards a climax and we are to live and act in anticipation of this.  This morning, we will examine our attitude towards time: we will look first at the reality that time will wind up with the return of Jesus and then at how we are to live in the face of this reality – our present responsibility.

The Return of Jesus

The Bible is clear – time as we know it will end with the return of Jesus.  If anyone is in doubt about the Second Coming, Jesus clearly states in today’s Gospel passage from Luke that he will return:  “You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him” (Luke 12:40).  This is not something that occupies our thoughts much, or even our sermons or church debates.  We argue about who Jesus is, whether he is the only way to God, and about appropriate lifestyles, but whether Jesus is coming back or not doesn’t seem to make any difference to us.

But indeed, it should make a difference, because Jesus’ coming back again is mentioned dozens of times in the Bible.  The Old Testament is full of passages dealing with God’s coming in judgement: “The Lord…he comes, he comes to judge the earth.  He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth” (Psalm 96:13).  As Jesus left the earth physically forty days after his resurrection, the message of the angels to the disciples was: “Men of Galilee…why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).  All the way through the New Testament, right to almost the last words of the Bible the fact of Jesus’ coming again is affirmed: “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’  Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).

The Church has affirmed this truth down through the centuries.  In the Nicene Creed written some seventeen hundred years ago which we say at every Communion service, it clearly states: “…and he shall come again in glory to judge both the living and the dead” as does the older Apostles’ Creed we use in our baptismal service: “From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.”  In our Book of Common Prayer from the sixteenth century, we declare in the communion service: “Looking for his coming again in glory”[1] reflecting Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 11:26: “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”  Finally, in our contemporary communion liturgy, we proclaim, “Christ has died…Christ is risen…Christ will come again.”[2] To some Christians, the fact of Jesus’ return is brought home to them every time they look to the future.  They will not refer to a coming event without saying, “We will do such-and-such, if the Lord tarries”…in other words, if he has not yet returned.  The fact of Jesus’ coming again is very clearly in the mainstream of Christian belief.

How seriously do you or I believe in Jesus’ second coming?  What difference does it make to our lives?  Now, while Jesus has made it clear to us that while neither he nor we know the time or date of his appearing –  “No-one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Mark 13:32) – we are to be prepared.  After all, should he not return in our life-time, the moment our life ends in death, we will be face-to-face with him at the great and final day of judgement as we heard last week in the story of the rich fool (Luke 12:16-21) – “You fool!  This very night your life will be demanded from you” (Luke 12:20).  In today’s passage, he says:  “You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him” (Luke 12:40).  The key is to be ready.  We are to be like servants waiting for their absent master to return, “dressed, ready for service with lamps burning” (Luke 12:35).  This is not some picture of casual relaxation.  We are to live in anticipation.  It is like the pilots of air force squadrons we see in World War II movies or the space fighters in “Star Wars” ready to “scramble” at a moment’s notice.  Jesus repeatedly states that his return will be unexpected: “The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of” (verse 46) and it will be “like a thief in the night” (1 Thessalonians 5:2).  We are to be ready.

So, the return of Jesus is assured – it will be sudden and unexpected and we must be ready for it.

Our Present Responsibility

How, then, are we to be ready and prepare for Jesus’ Second Coming?  Are we to abandon our responsibilities in the world and head off to the nearest mountain-top to wait for the Lord to come?  That is definitely not the impression Jesus gives in Luke 12.  In fact it is exactly the opposite.  Jesus speaks of “the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time” and that “It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns” (verses 42, 43).  The right answer to the question “How are we to prepare for the second coming of Jesus?” is faithfulness in the duties God has called us to.  This implies not only doing the right things but doing them in the right way

For example, in terms of both accomplishments and relationships, are there any loose ends left dangling for you at the moment?  Is there work not properly completed, something you know God has been calling you to do but you have been hesitating – even rebelling – at using your gifts and abilities to do what he calls you to do?  Are there relationships not properly healed – inasmuch as you are responsible?  Remember that Jesus said, “If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23, 24).  If that applies to reconciliation before we attend earthly worship, how much more so before we attend heavenly adoration?

If we are not faithful in carrying out our responsibilities, there can be negative consequences.  In this passage Jesus gives us serious warnings.  Do not use any delay in his return as an excuse to do what you like.  Jesus states clearly that if we are not prepared when he comes again, we will be judged.  He speaks of being “cut to pieces and assigned a place with the unbelievers” and being “beaten with many blows” (verses 46, 47).  This is not a very pleasant thought and something we might feel is out of character for Jesus, but it is not.  I have often pointed out that Jesus speaks more of hell than of heaven.  This is not because he wants to send us to hell but to keep us out of it.  When you want to keep children from running out into the road, you do not tell them that there might be unpleasantness or inconvenience if they run out in front of traffic, but they shouldn’t worry because you will still love them anyway!  You tell them plainly they could get seriously hurt or even killed.  You warn them because you love them.  It is the same with Jesus.

But on the more positive side, Jesus’ warnings let us know that we have been given responsibility.  What we do on this earth counts for God and others.  We matter to God.  God is relying on us.  “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked” (verse 48).  While this refers particularly to the extra responsibility that is required from Christian leaders, it underlines the point that God expects all of us who name Jesus as Lord to live faithfully using the gifts and opportunities we have been given in the time we have been allotted – whether short or long.  This is how we make ourselves ready for Jesus’ return.

Conclusion

“Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning…It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes” (verses 35, 37).  What is your attitude towards time?  Are you living with anticipation, ready and prepared for when Jesus returns again?  Are you making the most of the time God has given you?

[1] Book of Common Prayer, pg. 83.

[2] Book of Alternative Services, pg. 195.

]]> http://www.staidanswinnipeg.ca/v1/2010/08/%e2%80%9cour-attitude-towards-time%e2%80%9d/feed/ 0 http://www.staidanswinnipeg.ca/v1/2010/08/%e2%80%9cour-attitude-towards-possessions%e2%80%9d/ http://www.staidanswinnipeg.ca/v1/2010/08/%e2%80%9cour-attitude-towards-possessions%e2%80%9d/#comments Tue, 17 Aug 2010 18:23:15 +0000 Adele http://www.staidanswinnipeg.ca/v1/?p=1358 The Rev. Canon Dr. Brett Cane, August 1, 2010

10th Sunday after Pentecost: 8:30 a.m. &  10:00 a.m.  Holy Communion

“Our Attitude Towards Possessions”

Luke 12:13-21

Opening Prayer:

Lord Jesus, you challenge . . . → Read More: “Our Attitude Towards Possessions”]]> The Rev. Canon Dr. Brett Cane, August 1, 2010

10^th Sunday after Pentecost: 8:30 a.m. &  10:00 a.m.  Holy Communion

“Our Attitude Towards Possessions”

Luke 12:13-21

Opening Prayer:

Lord Jesus, you challenge us to count our wealth in terms of our relationship to God; help us now, by your Holy Spirit, to receive this truth in our hearts and put it into action in our lives, to the glory of God the Father.  Amen.

Introduction

How many of you have had to face the challenge of moving to a smaller home or accommodation and having to “downsize”?  As I get older, I am realizing that sooner or later I will have to get rid of a lot of the “stuff” that I possess.  I think this helps bring home that we need to live more simply and that if we had less “stuff,” things would be so much easier for us!

Is the main point of today’s Gospel reading that Jesus is condemning having just such an over-abundance of possessions?  At first glance, we might think this was the central thrust of the parable of the “Rich Fool.” But it is not.  At second glance, we could see in the story an emphasis on sharing one’s goods with those in need.  This is closer to the main point of the passage but it is interesting that the original question of the man who approached Jesus was about making his brother share his inheritance with him and Jesus does not address this.

What Jesus does address is the man’s underlying problem – the attitude of his heart.  Jesus speaks to this rather than to the other issues of over-abundance and sharing.  Because, if that underlying problem is addressed, then the other problems will be solved.  Jesus addresses our attitude towards possessions and through that, our attitude towards life as a whole.  He does this through two sayings in the passage which I believe speak directly to our hearts today.  Jesus talks about the root problem and the real solution.

The Root Problem

The first saying is:  “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions” (verse 15).  Here, Jesus exposes the man’s root problem.  The man in the story had brought him a predicament about the division of an inheritance.  Some of us may be familiar with break-ups in families and friendships because of quarrels over inheritance.  But Jesus says that the man’s basic problem isn’t with his uncooperative brother and the division of the inheritance, it is with the attitude of his own heart.  The root issue is greed.  The word used here for “greed” can be extended to mean “insatiable desire.”

This is a major problem in our western world today.  We can never get enough of what we think we need.  Many would see this insatiable desire as the cause of the current world economic crisis.  We always have to have more.  William Barclay quotes a Roman proverb that said that “Money is like sea-water; the more you drink, the thirstier you get.”[1] But are we happier?  No!  I would say we are less happy now than in the past.  Yes, a minimum of material goods is necessary for life but “greater abundance of goods does not mean greater abundance of life.”[2] That would seem to be a self-evident fact, but so many of us fail to see it.  It colours all our dealings with one another as it did here with the man in the story who asked the question.  Jesus saw through to the root problem which in his case was greed and the man was trying to use Jesus to satisfy it.

Are there problems in your life that are being caused by insatiable desire?  Even as a Christian, are you driven by anxiety at not having enough – of goods, of money, of security, of status, of relationships?  Take seriously Jesus’ words that our lives do not consist in abundance of possessions.

The Real Solution

We now come to Jesus’ second saying in the story to help us see the solution to our problem.  “So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God” (verse 21).  Jesus is expanding on his comment earlier about what life consists of.  Life consists of being “rich towards God.”  To make his point, Jesus tells the parable of the Rich Fool.

The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop.  He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’  Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.  And I’ll say to myself, You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.’  But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

The contrast in the story is between “being rich toward God” and “storing things up for yourself.”  In the parable, the rich man speaks only to himself (“He thought to himself…”; “And I’ll say to myself…” verses 17, 19) – he is not oriented towards others.  The man never sees beyond himself and never sees beyond this world.[3] So God’s word to him is not “What have you done for others” or “Why have you failed those in need?” – he would not be able to hear that.  Instead, he points to the heart of the matter – “Look what you have done to yourself!  You plan alone, build alone, indulge alone, and now you will die alone!”[4] – “You fool!” (verse 20).  What a tragic epitaph for a life!

The key here is that we are not our own – “Your life will be demanded from you” (verse 20) – it is on loan; both our goods and our lives are lent to us – they ultimately belong to God.  It is so difficult for us to see this.  We do not want to acknowledge God’s prior claim on our lives.  Not recognizing this is at the root of our insatiable desires.  If we see ourselves as self-made and self-sufficient, we will desperately try to support ourselves with all kinds of means and methods – but they will all ultimately fail, because we do not belong to ourselves – we belong to Another.  In fact, we will find ourselves sold in bondage to the things we try to satisfy our appetites with.  It is Jesus who has come to buy us back, to free us from that to which we have enslaved ourselves.  Freedom will only come when God’s will, not our own, is at the heart of our desires.  This is the real solution to our root problem.

Steps to Freedom

So how do you move from belonging to yourself to making yourself a gift to God?  Begin by asking yourself where is your greatest investment – in terms of your time, energy, money, etc?  Is it in physical things, your work, your family?  It ultimately needs to be with God.  Now this includes, of course, energy spent in doing a good job where we work, spending time with our family, and so on.  But is it with an eye to doing good for God first, rather than ourselves?  Is God and his will the central priority of your life?  Have you surrendered your life and will to him?  Are you growing in your relationship with him and his people through worship, prayer, giving, service and study?  This is where freedom begins.

Then we can move on to our relationship with others.  One of the key ways of being rich towards God is by being oriented towards others – if the man who asked the original question of Jesus about the inheritance had been more eager to serve others, including his brother with whom he had the disagreement, he would have been making himself rich towards God.  In this way, Jesus addresses the needs of the poor by addressing the cause of so much poverty – the greed and self-centredness of those of us who already have so much.  “In the Bible, wealth is given for sharing, but the rich farmer (in the parable) is stacking up goods to guarantee his own pleasant future.  He is reveling in profit while forgetting the poor.”[5] Storing up harvest for the future was not a negative thing in itself – after all, Joseph did that back in Egypt – but the storing-up was to have enough to share in times of need.  In Biblical times, there was a stark disparity between the rich and the poor.  Large landowners maintained their wealth and status by exacting tribute from the peasants around them.  We would, of course, say that today, we in Canada do not do that and we try to redistribute wealth through charities and government programmes.  However, in today’s global economy with its shocking disparities, there may be poor on the other side of the world whom we may be inadvertently exploiting.   For us, the others with whom we are called to share include those in different societies and cultures as well as our own.  Because God is a global God, our giving of ourselves involves gaining a global vision and seeing our neighbours as those around the world.  Sharing of the blessings God has given us is a key way of being rich towards God.

Conclusion

It is interesting that the parable is open-ended – we do not know what the response of the original questioner was to Jesus’ challenge to be rich towards God.  God extends the same open-endedness to us.  Are you storing up things for yourself or being rich towards God?  What is your attitude to

[1] William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of St. Luke, Rev. Ed. (Edinburgh: The Saint Andrew Press, 1975), pg. 164f.

[2] From T. W. Manson, in The Sayings of Jesus, (London: SCM, 1937), pg. 271, as quoted by Kenneth E. Bailey in Through Peasant Eyes, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1980), pg. 62.

[3] Barclay, op.cit.

[4] Bailey, op. cit., pg. 67.

[5] David Buttrick, Speaking Parables. (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 2000), pg. 189.

Thursday 11:30 a.m. &  12:30 p.m. Prayer Team

(call office to make appt.)

July 4 – 6th Sunday after Pentecost

8:30 a.m. Holy Communion (traditional) 10:00 a.m.  Holy Communion (contemporary/post-modern)

2nd Kings 5: 1-14; Psalm 30; Gal. 6: 7-16; Luke . . . → Read More: June 28 – July 3]]> Wednesday 9:30 a.m.    Intercessory Prayer Meeting

Thursday 11:30 a.m. &  12:30 p.m. Prayer Team

(call office to make appt.)

Next Sunday

July 4 – 6th Sunday after Pentecost

8:30 a.m. Holy Communion (traditional)
10:00 a.m.  Holy Communion (contemporary/post-modern)

2nd Kings 5: 1-14; Psalm 30; Gal. 6: 7-16; Luke 10: 1-20

Sermon: “What Do You Expect From God”

- Pastor Ken Turnbull

Vestry Person on Duty is Herb Schon

6:00 p.m. Prophecy Conference Organizing Committee

Wednesday 9:30 a.m.    Intercessory Prayer Meeting

7:00 p.m. Programme Planning Meeting

Thursday 11:30 a.m. &  12:30 p.m. Prayer Team

(call office to make appt.)

3:45 Ordination Service Rehearsal

7:30 p.m. Ordination of Bryan . . . → Read More: June 21 – 26]]> Tuesday 9:45 a.m.  Ladies Bible Study

6:00 p.m. Prophecy Conference Organizing Committee

Wednesday 9:30 a.m.    Intercessory Prayer Meeting

7:00 p.m. Programme Planning Meeting

Thursday 11:30 a.m. &  12:30 p.m. Prayer Team

(call office to make appt.)

3:45 Ordination Service Rehearsal

7:30 p.m. Ordination of Bryan Rivers

Next Sunday

June 27 – 5th Sunday after Pentecost

8:30 a.m. Holy Communion (traditional)
10:00 a.m.  Holy Communion (contemporary/post-modern)

1 Kings 19: 1-18; Psalm 42; Luke 9: 51-62

Sermon: “Taking Flight”

- Pastor Brett

Vestry Person on Duty is Joy Unrau

80th Anniversary Event