August 3, 2013

What’s the Measure of Your Life?

11th Sunday after Pentecost, 8/4/13
Luke 12:13-21


What’s the Measure of Your Life?
I. The abundance of possessions?
OR
II. The riches of God?


9 linear feet of hanging clothes. 6 dresser drawers. 52 inch screen and 134 games. iPhone 5. 4 loaves of bread. 10 cans of soup. 9 bottles. 2011 with 23,500 miles. 75K a year. 3,200 square feet of space. 6% return.

Measurements. We make them nearly every minute of the day. And many of them are necessary. Have we packed enough? Do we have enough time? How much can we get done? How long will this take?

Our God expects us to use the gray matter between our ears to assess the situations before us and make wise decisions. He wants us to plan carefully and that always involves measuring. What do we have and what do we need?

In fact, we do it so often each and every day that it can easily become what matters most to us. We measure how successful we are, how we’re doing in school, where we are compared to others with our athletic or musical talents, what we’re driving, wearing and where we’re living. Not that we would say about ourselves, “Yes, I’m materialistic!” But there are moments in our lives when we get weary of this endless pursuit and we stop our measuring momentarily and ask ourselves, “What’s really important?”

If we had a chance at the end of our lives to look back on our days here on earth, what would we like to make sure we had accomplished or acquired? What would we point to and exclaim, “I’m sure glad I had that much of that!”?

Measurements. That’s one of the themes of the event before us this morning. Jesus wasn’t pleased with one man’s measurement of his life. But that begs a question. Is he pleased with mine? Is he pleased with yours? Another way of asking that question is, “What’s the measure of your life?” My goal is for each of us to ask that very thing so that, with the power of the Holy Spirit, we can pursue it.

Part I.

It happens to the very young and the very old alike. The toddler tries fitting her toys in her chubby hand. But as she picks up one too many, one in her grasp falls out.

The shopping cart is loaded to capacity, but she has a few more items she wants to get. But as she pushes them into her cart, one slides off the other side.

The arthritic hands grab what seem to be more than a dozen bottles of medication on the counter and as he tries to get that last one in his grasp, one falls out and onto the floor. We have so many blessings that we can’t hold them all.

That’s what our possessions are. They’re blessings from God. He gives them all to us for us to use and enjoy. All that we have is a gift from our Father in heaven who provides for our daily needs and so much more. He gives generously, sometimes wildly so. And his intent is that we enjoy these blessings to the fullest, to make use of them as we live our lives here on this earth.

But he wants us to do so with a godly perspective. They’re just things. We only make use of them for a time. They aren’t the end all and be all of life. As the Lord showed in the case of Job, he can give an abundance one minute and take it away in the next. There’s far more to life than just accumulating possessions.

That was one of the truths that Jesus shared with a crowd of thousands on this day that Luke records for us. Jesus was proclaiming various warnings and encouragements when a man in the crowd said, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” We don’t know any of the details, but it seems as if this man was disputing the amount that he received verses the amount that his brother had received as evidenced by the reply that Jesus gave, “Man, who appointed me a judge or arbiter between you?” More importantly, Jesus could see into this man’s heart and he wasn’t pleased with what he saw. It prompted him to declare, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.” It’s apparent that this man had an unhealthy attachment to the things of this life. Jesus had been sharing spiritual truths with the crowd, but this man wanted Jesus to help him with earthly possessions. He was measuring his life by the abundance of his possessions.

To drive his warning home, Jesus spoke one of his parables, one commonly called The Parable of the Rich Fool. This man was a wealthy farmer. His fields produced an abundance, so much so that he didn’t have enough storage space for all of it. So he used his head. He measured what he had and built barns large enough to hold it all. That sounds wise. We would even say it was good stewardship. But that’s when he failed. Having secured an abundance in his barns, he told himself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” In other words, he measured his life and determined that he had reached his goal. He had accumulated much and wasn’t concerned with anything else.

That may have been the last thought that crossed his mind as he fell asleep that night. He never got the chance to enjoy all that he had accumulated because that night he met his Maker unprepared.

His situation and the young man’s question of Jesus make us ask the question, “What’s the measure of your life? Is it the abundance of your possessions?”

We know people who have the same outlook on life as this rich man. They live to accumulate possessions. And they love to show others what they possess. And we shake our heads. We’re not impressed. But that doesn’t mean we’re immune from the spiritual disease of greed. Greed is wanting more when you already have enough. And I would submit that all of us here have enough. Most of us have far more than enough. And all that we have includes all the pursuits and the goals that we have in life. The opportunities we have to enjoy life tend to become the measure of our lives. We falsely conclude that if we just accomplish that next thing, if we just get to this level, when we arrive here in our lives, then we will feel fulfilled in life. Then we’ll have made it. And all the while we’re forgetting the reason we’re here in the first place—to have an eternal relationship with our God who will one day bring an end to our lives here with all this stuff and call us home to heaven. That heaven was won for us by our Savior’s sacrifice on the cross. He’s the one who had no place even to lay his head. But that didn’t matter to him. What mattered to him was winning you for eternal life. What a blessing that he has brought us into his kingdom by faith in him! Now that’s real living!

Part II.

You’ve probably heard the phrase “attitude adjustment.” I don’t hear it as often as I used to, just once in a while. I hear it most often in the context of the parent-child relationship. For instance, the young boy is pounding his feet and hands and screaming. He’s throwing an obvious temper tantrum. His mother picks him up and removes him from the room stating, “It’s time for an attitude adjustment.”

Attitude adjustments aren’t just for children in a defiant moment. They apply to people of all ages, especially when our outlook on something doesn’t fall in line with God’s outlook on the same thing.

Surrounded by an abundance of possessions as we all are, it would be easy to measure our
life by them. But our God gives us a daily attitude adjustment. In his Sermon of the Mount, Jesus talked about possessions and gave this divine advice, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Mt. 6:33). Instead of the riches of this world and an abundance of possessions, Jesus commands us to seek the riches of God.

And by God’s grace, through faith in Jesus, you are already spiritually rich. How much cash would you be willing to pay to forgive the last time you thought evil about someone else? No matter what, it’s not enough. Would you be willing to part with your home for the sin of worry? Don’t bother, it won’t do any good. But that’s OK, because you already possess the riches of the full forgiveness of all your sins through Jesus Christ. Measure your life by that truth!

You have the riches of forgiveness because you are a child of God. There’s another gift Christ won for you. You can do nothing to become that child of God on your own. Not all the effort, not all the pleading in the world could accomplish that blessed relationship with your God. But you don’t have to. Jesus already did it for you. He purchased you with his blood shed on Calvary’s cross. Measure your life by that truth!

Finally, this life on this earth is not your ultimate existence. The goal your God has in store for you is life with him forever in heaven. Jesus won that life for you. It’s yours by faith in him. Not all the money, gold and jewels in the world could buy a single moment for you in heaven. But that doesn’t matter because it’s already yours. At your baptism your name was written in the Book of Life. Measure your life by that truth!

So what’s the measure of your life? Is it the abundance of possessions or is it the riches of God? We all know what the answer should be, we just fail to live like it from time to time. But we have a Savior who never failed, who offered his perfect life for our salvation. Remember that each day and measure your life by it! Amen.