Luke 12:32-40
32"Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
35"Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36like men 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. 37It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. 38It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night. 39But 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. 40You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him."
Introduction
There was a story about a man who was worried that the sky would one day collapse.
He had no joy at all.
After some counselling from his friends he became happier, but it wasn’t long before he started worrying about the earth.
He worried that one day the earth would sink.
Though this story sounds ridiculous, but the fact is many of us are bound to worry about certain things.
Some could be worrying about their jobs, some about their families or their health.
One day a church minister called up a parishioner because he has not attended church for long.
He became ill because of overworking.
The minister asked why he was overworked.
The answer he gave was that he has two jobs.
When asked why he needs two jobs, he said because he need more money for his mortgages and many luxurious entertainment appliances bought on credit.
The minister further asked him why, he told the minister he wanted all these appliances for relaxation.
He said every now and then he would sit on the lounge and so called enjoy his music and movies.
In order to make this man realise his situation, the minister continues to press on him and ask, “Why do you need these so called relaxations?”
Guess what’s the answer?
“I need these relaxations so that I can be relaxed and gain more strength for more work and more jobs.”
Do you see the point?
This man has fell into a vicious cycle: more jobs for more money and so became more tired and need more relaxations so he buys more entertaining stuffs and therefore need more jobs for more money!
Don’t be surprised.
I have seen many of such people in the church and everywhere.
Many parishioners came to me and said, “I wish I could have spent more time with my wife, my children.
I wish I could have spent more time equipping myself in the word of God and reaching out to friends and relatives who need words of comfort.”
Believe me. I have never heard someone telling me, “I wish I have spent more time in my work.” Nor “I wish I have spent more time on this or that TV program.”
1. The background
The Gospel passages we have just read (Luke 12:32-40) are part of the words of Christ in preparing his followers for God’s kingdom.
On their way to Jerusalem, the Lord Jesus was preparing his followers to understand the meaning of following Christ.
Last Sunday, we talked about the rich fool who invested his whole life on worldly possessions and ended up losing his soul.
Mark 8:36 reminded us, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”
At the end of my sermon, I mentioned about investment on the Words of God and human beings.
These are two investments with eternal values.
Again, in Luke 12:32-34, Jesus urged his followers to do the right investment, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted…”
More so, Jesus’ followers were challenged to be on guard by having their lamps burning while waiting for the coming of His glory.
Jesus said, “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like men 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.” (Luke 12:35-36)
Jesus meant to remind them to press on witnessing for him until the day comes.
In the New Testament reading from Hebrews 11, we learned from the servants of God who set their hearts on above.
By faith they invested their lives, believing and trusting the Creator God who promises and provides, for the things in the world to come.
Abraham, for instance, did not see things happened during his life time.
The writer of Hebrews described, “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.” (Heb 11:13)
Abraham’s descendents received the Promised Land only after about 700 years later.
According to writer of this New Testament Epistle, the actual Promised Land is yet to come for “they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one.” (Heb 11:16).
2. What are the lessons?
If we put the above passages together, we could figure out what Paul had to say in 1 Corinthians 13:13, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
a. Firstly, let us look at “faith”
Based on Jesus’ terminology “Faith” means “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32)
Faith is initiated by God the Father granted to those who believed and received Jesus.
The subject of faith is all about the kingdom of heaven and not the things of the world.
To some people, faith is one of the world's great evils, the surrender of the mind, it's the surrender of reason, an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable….
But for the people of God, faith is the foundation of our trust in God.
It is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report.
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. (Heb 11:1-3)
b. Secondly, hope is a quality of our hearts that generates strength that overcomes fears and helplessness.
In Jesus’ time, the real worries and fears have yet to take place in the hearts of his followers.
Jesus preached on this subject to prepare his followers in facing difficulties and persecution in the future.
After Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension, in the course of the early church history, the body of Christ faced strong and severe persecution.
Stephen became the first martyr.
James the brother of John became the first apostle died under the sword of Herod.
Hope is something they needed to hold on to.
This hope is based on the resurrection of Jesus.
In 1 Cor 15, Paul clearly pointed out, “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead.
c. The last but not the least is Love.
In fact Paul said that love is the greatest among the three.
The greatest commandment given by our Lord Jesus is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.” (Matt 22:37-39)
This is summed up from Deuteronomy 6:5 (Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength) and Leviticus 19:18 (Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbour as yourself. I am the LORD).
Look at the sign of a cross.
There are a vertical piece of wood and the other a horizontal.
The vertical one symbolises the love of God coming down from heaven through our Lord Jesus.
It also reminds us of our devotion and love towards God.
Christ made the communications between God and men possible.
The horizontal piece symbolises the expansion of God’s love embracing those who seek rest and come to him.
Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matt 11:28)
This horizontal stretching sign of a cross also reminds us the love we stretch out to others.
We are to become witnesses of God’s love.
Conclusion
The Gospel passage for today reminds us to love our neighbours and being watchful for the coming of the Master.
To be effective, we need to be God-centred and then people-centred
The similarities between people who worry and are anxious are their selfishness and self-centredness.
We need to trust God the Lord of providence.
We need to be watchful and not to fall into worldly temptations.
We need to have a heavenward faith like the saints who sing “this world is not my home!”, “We’re Marching to Zion”….
I would like to close this sermon with the hymn of Isaac Watts “We're Marching to Zion” (Music by Robert Lowry 1705) which is based on Jeremiah 31:6 “For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God.”
1. Come, we that love the Lord,
And let our joys be known;
Join in a song with sweet accord,
And thus surround the throne.
Refrain:
We’re marching to Zion,
Beautiful, beautiful Zion;
We’re marching upward to Zion,
The beautiful city of God.
2. The sorrows of the mind
Be banished from the place;
Religion never was designed
To make our pleasures less.
3. Let those refuse to sing,
Who never knew our God;
But children of the heav’nly King
May speak their joys abroad.
4. The men of grace have found
Glory begun below;
Celestial fruits on earthly ground
From faith and hope may grow.
5. The hill of Zion yields
A thousand sacred sweets
Before we reach the heav’nly fields,
Or walk the golden streets.
6. Then let our songs abound,
And every tear be dry;
We’re marching through Immanuel’s ground
To fairer worlds on high.
