“Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.”
It is important to consider these words as we begin to unpack today’s Gospel reading for in it we find support for the claim that the Father, “Has been pleased to give you the kingdom.” The problem is that today’s Church (I fear) reads the Bible all wrong because we read it with the eyes of power and possession: The idols of the age.
Not only that but I think the Church is ‘living it wrong’ too, and has been since it got itself organised and started having leaders who were no longer priests (which would surely have been enough) but political leaders playing power-broking games and demanding to be worshipped and feted by the plebeian classes (or in today’s language – Bums on Pews (BoPs)).
Church leaders should be (and should have been) the servants of all and the shepherds of the shepherds – but read your history and you’ll find political figures who schemed, plotted, covered up wrongs and acted contrary to the word of God. Recent Church history confirms the ‘falleness’ of the human race and its impact on the Church and its reputation and its effectiveness in the the society around us as those in authority stumble and fall.
Some, looking at other faiths (and those of no faith), seek to find comfort in the fact that they too have in their histories abuse of power, trust and integrity; but that should only make us more sad shouldn’t it? We live in a fallen world and without the renewal and the life-changing presence of the one true and living God made open to us by the sacrificial death of Jesus, the Christ – the taking of our place on the cross – the power-seeking, self-pleasing, self-satisfied fallen humanity persists and corrupts.
But here’s the good news (and that’s the Gospel!):
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.”
You have been given the kingdom – what on earth does that mean?
Someone I knew won the Lottery. It was a big win totalling a few million pounds. The first thing they did was take a few days off from their job to get over the shock and try to make sense of it all whilst catching their breath. Monday came and there they were back at their desk as usual. Come tea break time I passed them and they asked if we could have a chat – which being me was readily accepted as I LOVE to chat – and it was fascinating. They’d decided to continue with their job until their scheduled retirement arrived. The reason for this was that having worked to reach the top of their ladder, to bin it and walk away would have diminished the value of their whole working life. The had pretty much everything a person could want and yet they did not sell out or become focussed on themselves but sought to live out a higher truth.
Now we, as Christians, have everything too and the question is who you going to serve and how are you going to do it? Do you believe that Jesus’ dying for you has given you the kingdom? If the answer is ‘Yes’ then are you living by faith in that kingdom now? Are you storing up your treasures in heaven, after all what does the Gospel reading tell us to do?
“ Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Where is your heart I wonder? What is your expectation and reality? Are you living as a citizen of the kingdom of God and seeking the things of the kingdom or living as one of this world and playing at being a believer?
Are you prepared and ready for the Lord to return or is it merely a nice idea, a dream which you hope will be fulfilled? Are you watching and waiting, ready for His return or are you thinking, "My master is taking a long time in coming," and because of this are living as one of the world in the world rather than as one of the kingdom in the world? "It’s been so long, what if He never returns?" But we should be assured that He will and so it’s a question of ‘who do you believe?’ And ‘who do you trust?’
Do you have faith? A faith that gives you confidence in what we hope for even though we do not see it? Like those we read of in the Hebrews passage, do we have a faith which sees past the now and lives fulfilled in the ’yet to come’. Aren’t we like every other unbelieving generation in that we are looking for signs and assurances? The whole point of having 'faith' is that we believe and trust that the hope we have, which is made real for us by the sacrifice of love that is Jesus, will come to pass. We may not see it in the 'now' but it will be ours in the eternity with Him.
Trust in God and believe in Him and the promises made to us – have a faith that denies the wisdom of this world and reside in the wholeness and health won for us by Jesus, the great physician.
Who do you say you believe?
Is this the reality those around you see you living in, or do we look like the rest of the world?
Who are you going to serve?
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I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord; be strong and he shall comfort your heart; wait patiently for the Lord.
(Psalm 27)
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Lord God, your Son left the riches of heaven and became poor for our sake: when we prosper save us from pride, when we are needy save us from despair, that we may trust in you alone; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Luke 12:32-48
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.“Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
Peter asked, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?”
The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. 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. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.
“The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. 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.
Hebrews 11:1-16
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.
By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
Genesis 15:1-18
After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”
But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.” But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”
So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.” Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—
Strengthen for service, Lord, the hands that have taken holy things; may the ears which have heard your word be deaf to clamour and dispute; may the tongues which have sung your praise be free from deceit; may the eyes which have seen the tokens of your love shine with the light of hope; and may the bodies which have been fed with your body be refreshed with the fullness of your life; glory to you for ever. Amen.
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