Thanksgiving Day – Luke
12:13-21 - November 28th, 2013
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
“Someone in the crowd said to Him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide
the inheritance with me.’” Well,
here we are on Thanksgiving Day, and Pastor Brown has pulled a fast one on
us. The ten lepers are gone, and we hear
this reading instead – the reading from Luke 12, the reading appointed for the
celebration of the harvest. Why? Because this actually drives to the heart of
the benefit to Christians of Thanksgiving, it points out what we are trying to
avoid with a focus on thanks. The
purpose of thanksgiving is not so that we will get more blessings, not that we
will get more stuff, but rather that we will enjoy the blessings we have.
Consider the fellow in our crowd. There he is, listening to Christ, and he
feels the need to pipe up, to interject.
Tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. This has nothing to do with what Jesus had
been talking about in Luke 12. He had
been warning against hypocrisy, He has said that you should not fear those who
mess with the body, but rather fear God, for He will care for you. And then, out of the blue, Jesus, make my
brother pony up the cash. Do you see
it? Here Jesus has been warning against
self-righteousness and showiness, and rather pointing to God and His great care
both now and for all eternity – and it goes completely over this guy’s
head. And why? Because he is so focused on getting more,
getting part of what his brother has. He
ignores what he has.
And this is why Jesus is somewhat curt with the
fellow. “Man, who made me a judge or
arbitrator over you?” And He said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard
against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of
his possessions.” I’m here
preaching life and salvation, and you want to turn me into Judge Judy? Dude, what’s wrong with you? Do you see what is going on? I’m talking about life, eternal life – and
you are all hot and bothered about just stuff.
Your life isn’t stuff, isn’t junk now.
Look, it’s an inheritance – that’s a reminder that your dad died, that
he didn’t take it with him. I am here
preaching eternal life, and you’re ignoring it because of covetousness. What’s wrong with you?
Sometimes it’s good to learn and understand what something
is by pondering its opposite. The
opposite of thankfulness isn’t being unthankful – if you are unthankful you’re
not anything, you’re just not doing anything.
No, the true opposite of thankfulness is coveting. Consider, when one is thankful, one sees what
one has, one enjoys it, one delights in it, and one expresses that joy and
delight. Check this out, it’s awesome. And now, consider covetousness. No longer do you see what you have, what you
can and ought to be delighting in. No,
rather… see what that person has. Look
at what my brother has. Look at what is
in my neighbor’s drive way, see what the other guy in the office gets… and that
envy, that covetousness comes in and it creeps through everything and permeates
the way you look at life and blessings and everything, and it sours
everything. And you no longer see the
blessings you have right in front of you, and all sense of thankfulness
evaporates and is replaced with jealousy and disappointment and anger and
indignation. The man in the crowd, he
can’t see his blessings, he can’t even hear of everlasting life – no, no, show
me the money.
And this is especially apt for us in America, where the “American Dream”
is to have a better house, a better car, to have a better phone, to keep up
with what your neighbors have. This is
especially apt for us in America, the richest country in the world where we
have so many wonderful luxuries, but also the commercials and ads telling us
that we need to have more and more if we want life to be happy, where we need
to make our plans to go shopping early tomorrow morning… or maybe tonight,
otherwise we’ll miss out on joy and happiness this Christmas because junior
won’t have that toy that he just has to have, because the missus won’t have
that thing she just needs, because I won’t get my tablet or TV. We live in a culture that thrives and runs on
covetousness and envy – it is what literally drives our economy. And so we ought this day pay attention to the
parable Jesus now speaks.
And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced
plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have no where
to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will
do this: I will tear down by barns and build larger ones, and there I will
store all my grain and my goods. And I
will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years: relax,
eat, drink, and be merry.’” And
there was a rich man in a rich land… there was an American in America who hit
the American Dream. Growth. Progress.
Prosperity. We’ve got to expand
the business, we’ve got to open up another location – the money is rolling in
hand over foot, and see how wonderful life will be once I just get this last
bit of expansion done. Then I can rest
and enjoy what I have.
But God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you,
and all the things you prepared, whose will they be? So is the one who lays up treasure for
himself and is not rich towards God.”
Oops. Not going to make it to
retirement. And do you see the tragedy
of this, why it’s a great reminder for Thanksgiving day? The man was already rich… this isn’t Jed
Clampett with nothing suddenly finding the black gold and moving to Beverly
Hills – the man was rich already… but it wasn’t enough, he wasn’t satisfied,
and he never enjoyed, he never delighted in it.
He never was thankful… and so he misses out on it.
As Christians, we know that God doesn’t need our thanks –
we aren’t pagans where we think that if we aren’t thankful God’s going to cut
us off the gravy train. God isn’t some
petty relative who cuts you out of the will if you don’t jump through hoops and
butter him up. But rather this – we, you
and I, need to be thankful for our own benefit.
Thankfulness is a good thing, a blessing for us, because when God makes
us to pause, to see just how richly we are blessed, when we see what He has
provided for us, not only are we able to enjoy what we have now, but we are
prepared for the greater and more wondrous blessings we will have for all
eternity in Christ.
Consider this. We’re
going to have a feast today. Oh, I
suppose Martha Stewart might be putting on one that is more spiffy, or that
Donald Trump’s might be more sophisticated and fancy – but here, or at your
homes, a good meal. Something to delight
in, to rejoice in – and it would be a shame to show up to that meal thinking,
“Well, it’s not as nice as what they’re eating in the White House today.” No, God calls us away from that covetousness,
away from that sinfulness, calls us to see what He has provided not for the guy
on the other side of the fence, but for us, and says, “See, this is here for
you to rejoice and delight it.”
But it doesn’t end there.
There is a greater feast to come.
Christ Jesus knows your struggles with sin, He knows the temptations you
fight, He knows the way the world tries to twist you and fill you with
discontent. And so, He has planned for
your rescue and release from the world.
He says to you, enjoy your feast now, enjoy all your blessings now – but
there’s something better to come. I have
gone to the Cross, I have suffered and died for you, I have risen, and do you
know what that means? Oh, you feast now
– but that ain’t nothing compared to the feast of all eternity that You and I
are going to have. Yes, you have
blessings now, even in this fallen world where moth and rust destroy, where
death comes and leaves you squabbling over the inheritance. Nope, I have died, and
I have left you as your inheritance the New Heavens and the New Earth, where Eden is restored, where
the wine never runs out, where there is no more destruction, where it is all
very good once again. Enjoy your life
here, enjoy the appetizers – for the full feast is coming soon, and because of
Me you are forgiven and ready for it.
This is what Christ has proclaimed to you. This is what He has given you, this is how He
makes you to see both your life now and the eternal life which is yours in
Him. God grant that He ever more make
and keep us thankful, so that we always see and remember His great gifts to
us! In the Name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit +
1 comment:
Nice job, Rev.!
Thanks for that gospel Word on Thanksgiving, for those of us who are quite often, much less than thankful and in desperate need of a Savior.
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