Luke 12:32-40

"� 98, 99, 100 - Ready or not here I come." There you are. That was easy. Y'all really don't hide good do you? I guess you just weren't ready. When kids play Hide and Go Seek they always say "Ready or not, here I come" when they finish counting. It is a way of giving the hiders fair warning that the seeker is coming. In our lesson today Jesus is basically saying "Ready or not, here I come!"

Jesus is coming again. Jesus is clear about that and the Bible is clear. Jesus came to earth as the word made flesh. He lived and died and rose again. And before he ascended he said he would come again. He warned his disciples to be on the watch.

He is coming again. And we are told that his coming will be a surprise. It will be like the surprise inspection of the master or a thief that comes in the night. And if we are not ready there will be consequences. There will be blessings for the ready and rude awakenings for those who are not.

So how do we get ready? Well, hiding will not do the trick. You can't hide from God. So what do we need to do to get ready? What does Jesus say?

The first thing he told his disciples in the lesson today is "Sell your possessions and give to the poor." OK. Next Saturday we will have a big yard sale here at the church. Bring all your earthly possessions and we will sell them and donate the money to ministries that combat poverty. That sounds like the kind of thing some cult would do. But doesn't God want us to give away all our earthly possessions? For some people, yes. Most of us certainly have more than we need. We could go a long way if we just gave away our extra stuff to benefit those in need.

I think a look at what else Jesus says may be helpful. Jesus follows up his statement about giving it all away with statements about where your treasure is. What do you treasure? Do you treasure the material possessions of this world? Of do you treasure the spiritual blessings like love and peace and hope �?

Where is your heart? Is it in the things of this world, or is it focused on God? I think getting ready for Jesus to come is not about divesting ourselves physically of earthly possessions. I think it is more about divesting ourselves emotionally and spiritually of those things. It is about letting go of the desire to hold on to the things of this world and being ready to let go of them.

The story goes that there was a rich man who was also a faithful Christian. One day he was talking to God and he said, "I have heard it said that you can't take it with you. Why not? You have blessed me with nice things here on earth. Why can't I take just some of it to heaven with me since it was a gift from you." God replied, "Just to teach you a lesson I will let you take one suitcase of your earthly possessions to heaven." The man thought and then he packed one suitcase and left it in a special place so that he could grab it after he died and take to heaven. He got to heaven with his suitcase and St. Peter looked in the book and said, "Here's your name you can go in but you can't take that with you haven't you ever heard you can't take it with you?" So the man explained and St. Peter nodded and "OK. But can I ask a favor? Can I just see what you brought?" The man opened the suitcase and it was full of solid gold bricks. Peter laughed and said, "So why did you bring pavement?"

Even the most valuable of our earthly possessions will be nothing but pavement in heaven so let's not value them so highly now.

So to get ready, let go of your attachment to earthly possessions. What else does Jesus say? He said "Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit." Often in the Bible clothes represent righteousness. Are we clothed in a robe of righteousness? In one parable Jesus describes people being thrown out of a wedding because they are not dressed properly. Often in ancient times the host would give special robes to these participating in the wedding. That robe represents the righteousness of Christ. Jesus died to forgive our sins and has provided his righteousness to replace our filthy rags.

Are you dressed in the righteousness of God? Are you living out the holiness that Jesus has given us? Is your life always clothed in actions that would be presentable to the Almighty Holy God of the universe? Or have you pulled out those old clothes of sinfulness and put them on instead.

In like manner the light Jesus talks about is the light of God. Are we always shining the light of the gospel and the love of God? In one parable of a wedding Jesus describes bride's maids who get left out of the wedding party because they did not have enough oil to keep their lamps lit. Are you keeping your lamps lit? Are you replenishing the oil supply though prayer and worship and devotion or is your lamp running on empty?

Jesus says "Ready or not, here I come." At any moment Jesus could come. If Jesus came right now would you be wearing your robe of righteousness and shining your light of love and be ready to leave all your possessions behind. I hope so. You are in church after all. But what if Jesus came during the Monday morning rush hour? What if he came on Friday night?

Would you be wearing the robe of righteousness he has provided? Would you be shining the light of God's love? Would your actions and thoughts and attitudes be suitable for the Heavenly Father to see?

Ready or not Jesus is coming. Are you ready? You better get ready.

Luke 12:32-40

There is a lot to worry about today. Once there was a man who had been neglecting his health for a long time. It worried him so he went to the doctor for a check up. He knew that the news would not be good. The Dr. told him, "I've got some good new and some bad news. He said "Well let me have the bad news first." "You have a rare condition that means that you will be on medication and will have to come to the hospital frequently for treatments for the rest of your life." In shock then man replied, "For the rest of my life! What could the good news be." The Dr. replied, "Oh don't worry about that, your arteries are so clogged that won't be very long."

This story reminds me of our lesson today. Jesus is telling the disciples not to worry about what they will eat or drink. And right before this lesson he says a lot of nice things like "consider the birds of the air and the flowers of the field. God takes care of them."

But then we get to where our lesson starts today. All of a sudden he starts telling the disciples to get ready for the end. It's as if Jesus is saying, "Don't worry about what you will eat or drink, because the end is coming before any of that won't be a problem any more."

What I think Jesus is doing here is putting our worries into perspective. He starts off, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." He calls us his "Little flock." We shouldn't fear because God wants to give us the kingdom. I can't help but think of the 23rd psalm. We will not want because the Lord is our shepherd.

Remember Jesus said he is the good shepherd. You remember the good shepherd will look after the sheep and lay down his life for them. The good shepherd will leave the 99 and go search after the one that is lost. We are his sheep. He died for us.

We don't need to worry because our shepherd is trustworthy. He will lead is to peaceful waters and green pastures. He will care for us. What are the worries of this world compared with that truth.

Then Jesus says "Sell your possessions, and give alms; provide yourselves with � a treasure in the heavens that does not fail." So don't worry about how you will afford the things of life just give everything away? It sounds counter intuitive. If we are worried about how we will live the first impulse is to hold on to what we have. Conserve our resources. Don't give anything away that you don't have to or you won't have anything when you need it.

But Jesus puts our worries all in perspective. This world is passing away. So make an investment in the next world. You don't need what you have here. What you need is to live righteously and practice love of your neighbor.

He then says "Where your heart is there will your treasure be also." If your heart is in this world then here is where you treasure will be. If your heart is in the coming kingdom then that is where your treasure will be. If your treasure is here, with what you will eat or drink or wear, then you are in trouble. This world is coming to an end. If your heart and your treasure are here then you will lose everything you've been trying to hold on to. But if you give it all away, then when this world ends, you will have gained riches of heavenly rewards!

So don't worry about the problem of this world. You have bigger things to worry about! This world is coming to an end. Why worry about it? Instead you should be thinking about the next world and getting ready for it.

Jesus said, "Be like servants waiting for the master to come home from the wedding feast." This is an interesting statement. In other places it says we should be like those waiting for the master to come home from a long journey. Or it speaks of us waiting for the groom to arrive for the wedding. But here the master is coming home from the wedding.

So these servants are not preparing for the wedding. They are preparing for the life after the wedding. In the same way instead of worrying about the immediate things of this life, we should be thinking of the life to come. This world will end sooner or later - for some of us sooner than you can imagine. Jesus will return like a thief in the night to steal the faithful away and judge this world. What will all those worries mean to us then?

So put your worries into perspective. I have seen it over and over again and have even experienced it on some small level. A person is going about their daily life. Worrying about this and that and the other. Thinking about bills and deadlines and taxes and car maintenance and appointments and etc.

Then something happens. Maybe a close call on the free way. Maybe the death of a friend. Maybe a medical emergency that seems major but ends up being minor.

Whatever it is, it shocks them into realization. It put their lives into perspective. Suddenly all those bills and appointments and such just don't seem as important. Instead relationships with family and God and the world become more important and those other things fade into the background.

So don't worry about this life. Don't worry about your bills. Don't worry about your health. Don't worry about how you will live.

Jesus will care for you. If Jesus is your shepherd you will want for nothing. And after all you're going to die anyway! I know that sounds pessimistic, but it is the truth. Either Jesus will come again or we will die, but in the end we will all leave this world.

So put your focus on the next life. It's coming whether you like it or not. And it will come at a time that is unexpected. So forget about those bill and appointments and stuff. Don't waste you t time worrying about them. Set your hearts on the Kingdom of God! Consider instead how you can store up riches of righteousness and love in this life that will reward you in the next!

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-19

What is Faith? "Faith is the assurance of thing hoped for the conviction of things not seen." Some have claimed that this is the best definition of faith ever given. Faith is a sureness that the promises of God which we hope for are true. It is the conviction that unseen things, like grace, love, and even God, exist. It is the capacity, the gift, to believe in things that cannot be proven. Things like the fact that Christ saves, and that he will come again. The ability to believe in these things even when all the evidence argues against them.

"By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the hand of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are invisible." Who made the world? We Christians and our Jewish sisters and brothers say, "God did!" But on what proof? No human was there to witness it. The evidence could also support other theories. We are convinced that God spoke the worlds into existence because of faith.

If this is such a good definition of faith, why didn't the author of Hebrews stop there. Instead of stopping with this beautiful definition, the author goes on to site example after example of lives lived in faith. You see, faith is more than an intellectual assent to the existence of some unseen or unprovable thing. Faith is an action. Faith is an assurance that effects what one does. It is a conviction that is lived out. The formal definition is only the beginning. The best explanation of Faith is by example.

So the author of Hebrews gives us examples or testimonies of faith in others. He, or she, gives examples of how our ancestors in the faith were approved by faith. These examples demonstrate for us faith at work. And it is these examples of real life faith that move us to faith.

What is faith? Consider Abraham and Sarah. One day God came to Abraham and said, "Leave you homeland and follow me to a land I will give you." Abraham had a comfortable life. He was well established. Why should he leave? But he followed God anyway. He had no proof that God was not lying to him or playing him for the fool. By faith he took a chance and wandered the rest of his life not knowing for sure where he was headed, but trusting God to lead him.

One day God promised to make Sarah and Abraham a great nation and said Sarah would have a son. They were old by this time. Who was God kidding. Sarah laughed. By faith they listened to God and trusted. And in her old age Sarah conceived and bore a son just as God had promised.

Then one day God told Abraham to kill Isaac as a sacrifice. What?! Kill the child that was his only heir. Sacrifice the child that God had promised. Without Isaac how would God make Abraham and Sarah a great nation. It just did not make any sense. But by faith Abraham offered up Isaac. He trusted that the Almighty knew what to do. Perhaps God would even raise him back to life. And in a sense God did.

God made Abraham a great nation and gave his children a great land. It didn't make sense at the time. Abraham could not see how wandering could give him a land of promise. He couldn't see how God would make a great nation out of a barren woman. And the command to sacrifice Isaac made even less sense. But by faith Sarah and Abraham accepted God's promises and guidance. And God made a great nation out of Sarah and Abraham. Their faith was well founded for God's promises came true.

What is faith? Consider early church. Jesus had promised that he would be with them always. But it was hard to believe this truth at times. The evidence seemed to point toward the conclusion that Christ had abandoned them. Persecution after persecution came at the Christians. The church was so small, just a hand full of converts here and there. Any reasonable gambler would have bet against them. First they were thrown out of the Synagogues, then they were stoned. Finally they were fed to the lions.

Jesus had said he would return and do away with all evil. Well, they waited, and waited, and waited. It seemed he would never come back, and things kept getting worse. The objective evidence was that Jesus would not come back. Then the first generation died off and another.

By faith they held true to their beliefs. Despite the empirical evidence they were sure that Christ was with them and they held to the conviction that he would come again. But their faith in Christ amazed those who were killing them. And the Roman persecutors became believers. The stories of the faith of the Martyrs inspired others. And by faith the church was sustained and grew.

What is faith? I think of a woman I met who is incapacitated by the ravages of old age, diabetes, and a score of other ailments. But there is a smile on her face. And there is always a song of praise on her lips. She greets visitors with a happy voice. And she thanks God for how blessed she is.

This doesn't make sense!? Blessed? How? Is being confined to a wheelchair a blessing? Is the threat of constant infection and amputation a reason to give thanks? Are daily insulin injections a gift from God?

She is joyful because she is sure of some unseen things. She is sure of God's love for her. She has the conviction that all things work together for good for God's people.(Rom. 8:28) We can't see empirical evidence of these things, but she is sure of their truth. By faith she accepts God's promises of care and protection. By faith she knows a Joy in life that even I, a preacher, find myself longing for.

What is faith? It is the assurance that the promises of God are true. Promises like: Those who believe in Jesus have eternal life. The promise that Christ will always be with us. The promise that God will protect us and care for us. The promise that God can take even the worst event in our lives and use it to our benefit. The objective variables may not support these claims. When we look at the world, our observations may lead us toward the conclusion that God has abandoned us. But faith enables us to trust these truths despite evidence to the contrary.

Faith is the belief that things we cannot see exist. It is the conviction that leads the Astrophysicist who is studying the Big Bang to believe that God was the Author of the universe. It is the force of Spirit that leads the poverty stricken person to believe that they are rich in Christ. It is the hope that convinces an invalid that she is blessed. It is the spiritual force that enables us to grasp and hold on to intangibles like grace, hope, love, peace....God.

If we believe in only what we can prove and what we can see, we limit ourselves. These examples of faith show us how people are able to reach beyond themselves to something greater. You can't prove beyond the shadow of a doubt or in a scientific manner that God exists or that God is good to us. All you can do trust in God. And once we do that the power of God to make us truly alive is set free within us!

Faith is a gift. If you want this gift, just ask God. Do you want an assurance of all the things you most deeply hope for and a conviction that unseen wonders exist? Then ask, and God, the author of all faith, will bless you as Abraham and Sarah and many others were blessed.

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