New Year’s Decision

Pastor Joe Fuiten, January 2, 2005

 

Scripture Reading:  Luke 12:13-21 Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."  14 Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?"  15 Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."  16 And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17 He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'  18 "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. 19 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." 20 "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?'  21 "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God." 

22 Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23 Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

27 "Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28 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, O you of little faith! 29 And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30 For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

 

            The setting of this section is the response to a family problem.  The parents had died.  One brother, probably the oldest, was in charge of the estate and was unwilling to divide it according to the law.  The oldest was supposed to get a double portion, or two shares, with all the rest getting one share.  That older brother appears to be unwilling to divide the inheritance as he should.  The younger brother is the one who I think is asking the question.

            I have seen terrible things happen to families as they have fought over an inheritance.  Unfortunately, it is not new.  Maybe the greatest will ever written simply said, “Being of sound mind, I spent it all.”

            Jesus gives an important answer that should guide us as we think about 2005.    We can break down the response of Jesus into three categories.  First, he illustrates the foolishness of greed.  Then he points out the foolishness of worry.  Finally, he directs us to seek the kingdom of God as the first goal of our life with his promise, that if they we that, he will provide for us the rest.

            In a moment, I want to share with you some perspectives on our priorities.  First, I want to turn the pulpit over to John Mohan for him to talk about his resolutions.  John is an adjunct faculty member at Northwest University.  He also owns an operates a consulting firm that evaluates school teacher performance.  For many years he was been the foremost expert in this part of the country on skiing, having written several books on the subject.  He and Sharon have been extremely generous with Cedar Park and he has been my very good friend for a very long time.  Please welcome John Mohan. (John will share about seven minutes on his goal to be a “tease” which he defines around the following acronymn):

T houghts and Tongue

E yes-

A ctivity

S ervant vs. Self-serving

E ating

 

            Thank you John Mohan.

I would like return to the original text.  The words of Jesus are powerful in this passage.  If we will think about them today, we will understand.  Jesus called that man foolish because his priorities were incorrect.  He had good goals by most standards, they just were not adequate to his situation.  Instead of being rich toward God he was greedy for himself.

As we apply this to our own situation, what if we have really good goals for our life but they just happen not to match up with God’s values?  How would Jesus characterize our situation?

I would like to propose a bit of a checklist, using our old friend GOMU as the model.

First, what will you do to learn to love God fully?

Second, what steps will you take to increasingly love Others by acts of mercy especially for the poor bruised, and broken-hearted? 

Third, what will I do for Me?  How will you refresh your personal faith by acts of devotion such as prayer, fasting, worship, and spiritual disciplines?  For me, I have decided to add physical disciplines as well.  Dr. David Wood warned me that after six months, most people have completely abandoned efforts they began after a heart attack.  It didn’t take me that long.  Starting tomorrow, I am taking Evergreen Hospital’s Cardiac rehabilitation program which will hold me accountable for exercise and I presume diet as well.  I discovered that if you are dead, your ability to serve God on the earth diminishes radically!  Starting with Ash Wednesday on February 9th, we will focus in on some of these topics.

Finally, there is the Kingdom of God, Us!    What will you do to work together to build the church through giving, involvement, and evangelism?

If we will build our lives around these values, when Jesus returns, he will be able to call us wise instead of foolish.