2 Corinthians 8:1-15 - ‘The grace of giving’

Do you know the ad for the TV licence?  It goes something like this: ‘I love the way you remind me ever year.  I love the way you send me a letter on our anniversary.’  Then it says, ‘You don’t have to love it, but you do have to pay it.  It’s the law.’  It is a bit like your taxes.  You don’t have to like paying your taxes, but you have to pay them.

Now listen to me carefully!  Christian giving is totally different than that.  Christian giving is not about law, it’s about the heart.  You can give in a way that is of no spiritual benefit.  In this morning’s reading the apostle Paul is teaching the Corinthians about joyful giving.  How can we give in a way that pleases God?

Joyful giving is an evidence of God’s favour in our lives (1-5)

The Corinthians had been told that their Christian brothers and sisters in Jerusalem were struggling with poverty—in part due to famine.  They had agreed to give, and started to give, but their enthusiasm had worn off and they had stopped giving.  Indeed, they may have stopped giving at a time when they weren’t getting on with the apostle.  Now they have repented of their hostility towards the apostle, and they need to repent of having held back their giving.

Paul points them to the example of the churches in Macedonia—which included those in Philippi and Thessalonica.  Those churches much poorer than the Corinthians—in fact they were extremely poor and their circumstances were difficult—but they delighted to give.  They actually gave beyond what was reasonable.  And they didn’t just give their money to the collection for the Christians in Jerusalem, they gave themselves to serve the apostle and his companions.

The key to the Macedonians’ giving is the Greek word ‘charis’, which we regularly translate ‘grace’.  It is found twice in these opening verses.  ‘… we want you to know the grace God has given the Macedonian churches’ (1).  ‘They urgently pleaded with us for the privilege [lit. ‘the grace’] of sharing in the service of the saints’ (4).

Do we plead for the privilege to give?  Do we realise that when we want to give it is an evidence that the Holy Spirit is working in our heart?   Giving ourselves, our hospitality, our time and our money is not just a way of earning God’s favour, it is a sign that we have been favoured by God.  We want to ask God to work in us in such a way that we might get joy and satisfaction in being allowed serve others in this way!  Even when that serving is difficult and costly!

Joyful giving shows we understand the gospel (6-11)

The Corinthian Christians excelled in many in many things—in faith, in knowledge, in all earnestness, but their lack of generosity was leaving them spiritually stunted.   How can we get a generous heart?  Our hearts become generous when we when we contemplate the generous heart of Christ!  ‘For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, so that through his poverty we might become rich’ (9). 

Look at what Jesus has done for us!  Think of who He was and is!  He was exalted in heaven.  Surrounded by angels.  Perfectly enjoying the love of the Father and the Holy Spirit.  He had not felt want or endured temptation.  He did not know what it was like to thirst or hunger.  Then the creator stepped into His creation.  He was born to a poor carpenter.  Was misunderstood by His own family.  He surrounded Himself with the most imperfect of friends.  He was opposed.  He went homeless.  He was hated.  He was pinned to a Roman cross, where in agony of soul He cried out, ‘my God, my God why have you forsaken me?’  He did this in love.  He did this for the joy that was set before Him.  He did this for you! 

Think of who we were!  The New Testament uses terms like lost, enslaved, condemned, hopeless, dead and enemies of God to describe people without Jesus.  That once was us!  That’s you if you have not let Him swallow you up in His love.  Jesus became poor that we can become rich.  He has taken the punishment on Himself that our guilt deserves.  He has freed us from slavery and adopted us into His family.  He has brought us out of prison and to His banqueting table.  He has given us hope, joy and a future.  Through His poverty we have become rich!

If we love Jesus, then we will want to become like Him.  If Jesus treated us not as our sins deserved but according to His kindness then we will not demand that people have to earn our kindness.  If we are allowing Him shape our hearts then we will be those who are becoming joyfully generous.    

Joyful giving remembers that every good gift is from above (12-15)       

A single mother became a Christian.  She had five children and took the bus to and from church each week.  She struggled to pay bills.  But then someone gave her a car.  Others did house repairs.  Women in the church went to her town and took her for coffee.  They gladly gave out of their riches.  Christians seek to meet each other’s needs.

‘For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have’ (12).  The gift of the rich person might be greater in quantity than the gift of the poor, but the gift of the poor might be greater in God’s eyes.  Remember Jesus words of the widow who gave out of her poverty.  ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on’ (Luke 21:1-4).

‘At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need.  The goal is equality, as it is written: the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little’ (14-15).  ‘By this we know what love is, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.  But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?  Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and truth’ (1 John 3:16-18).

Like the manna in the wilderness we must remember that every good and perfect gift is from above (James 1:17).  King David acknowledged ‘… all things come from you, and of your own we have given to you’ (1 Chronicles 29:14).  The ability to make money can be a gift from God.  The opportunity to earn a living can be a gift from God.  The family from which you inherit is a gift from God.  So, we only give out of what has been given to us!

Conclusion

In one of the first churches I worked with, a list was published every year of people’s giving.  This list had names beside the amount they gave.  I suggested to someone that this was wrong.  It would be much better to keep our giving secret.  I was told that if we kept the giving anonymous, people would give less.  That simply revealed that their hearts were not in their gifts.  It actually suggested that keeping the church going was more important than honouring Christ.

God doesn’t need your gifts.  He is well capable of growing His church and looking after His people without us.  If you don’t yet know Christ, it might be better not to give Him money to the church.  He doesn’t need it, and you might actually end up thinking He owes you something.  If you are a Christian ask Him to work in your heart in such a way that giving is a source of joy more than an act of duty. 

Remember too that we care for each other not just with money, but with time and listening, opening our homes and welcoming each other.

How can you give to God’s people in need?  How can we see giving as a joyous privilege?  Preach the gospel to yourself.  ‘For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he become poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich’ (2 Corinthians 8:9).

‘Joy unending’ (Isaiah 65:17-25)

 

I was talking to the Youth Group and I asked them about their favourite holidays.  I think I can say that there were three features to their replies.

1.      Abundance:  I think two of them mentioned all-you-can-eat buffets.

2.      Refreshing activities:  I prompted this one.  The point I wanted them to realise that the best holidays don’t just involve sleeping in, but doing things we enjoy.

3.      Great relationships:  more than one of the young people said how they loved spending time with grandparents and cousins.

The book of Revelation tells us that when Jesus returns at the end of time He will establish a New Heaven and a New Earth.  In Isaiah we get a description of what this glorious recreation will be like.

An abundance of Joy

One of the things that can spoil our joy is regret.  We look back over our past and we might feel ashamed of certain things.  However, in the New heaven and the New Earth it will be impossible to feel regret.  For behold, I create new heavens and new earth, and the formed things shall not be remembered or come to mind (17).  Never again will anything from your past haunt you.  God will not allow anything to spoil your joy.

In this New Heaven and New Earth, we will have resurrected bodies.  These bodies will have an increased capacity for joy.  In particular we will experience an increased capacity for rejoicing in Jesus.  No longer will we get bored when we worship.  No longer will we be tempted to look to those things that do not satisfy to find the satisfaction that is to be found in God alone.

Not only will we rejoice in the love of God, but in love God will rejoice over us.  But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create, for behold I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness.  I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard the sound of weeping and the cry of distress (18-19).  We will sing about Him, and He will sing over us.

One of the saddest things in this life is when a life is cut short.  In the New Heaven and the New Earth such tragedy will never grieve us again.  No more in it shall there be an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed (20).  I believe that there is poetic licence here, for we know from Revelation that there is no death in the New Heaven and the New Earth.  Never again will the life of one of God’s people be cut short!

Refreshing activities 

Before Adam and Eve fell into sin they had work to do.  It was satisfying work.  After they rebelled against their loving creator work become backbreaking and frustrating.  In the New Heaven and the New Earth there will be work with purpose.  We all love the occasional sleep in.  But a really good holiday includes doing refreshing activities.  The work we do in heaven will bring great satisfaction.

They will build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.  They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall be the days of my people be, and my chosen shall enjoy the work of their hands.  They shall not labour in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the LORD, and their descendants with them (21-23).  There will be no more exploitation.  No more taking advantage of the work of others.  No one steeling what you have done.  Two things that I fear more than almost anything else is boredom and loneliness.  The work will be enjoyable and rewarding, never pointless and dull.  As we will see there will be no chance of loneliness.

Great relationships

I realized that I had a reservation about heaven.  You see we have pictures of great multitude worshiping Jesus.  But that looks a little impersonal.  Will we just be one of a vast nameless crowd.  I think that is the danger of forming your understanding of the afterlife with just one image.  We will rejoice together in Jesus but we will also know Him personally. 

God uses relationship language when He promises, before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear (24).  Speaking of Jesus’ return, the apostle Paul writes, ‘for now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known’ (1 Corinthians 13:12).  On the night before the crucifixion Jesus promised His disciples, ‘I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am’ (John 14:3).  He wants us to be where He is.

Once a dying patient told the Bible teacher, Jack Miller, that she wasn’t interested in going to heaven because it would be boring.  Jack asked her, ‘What was the most happy moment in your life?’  She said, ‘the best and happiest times of my life came when I was with someone I really loved.’  Jack replied, ‘That is what makes heaven so very special.  Jesus is my very best friend.  And the greatest thing about heaven is being there for ever with your greatest and truest friend.’

Finally, we read of great peace in this New Heaven and New Earth.  Nature will be at harmony and there will be no threat.  The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food.  They shall not hurt or destroy in my holy mountain (25).

Conclusion

I have to point out that in contrast to the joy of the New Heaven and the New Earth this great chapter in Isaiah begins with a warning to those who refuse to seek their joy in God.  I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me.  I said, “Here I am, here I am.”  I spread out my hands to a rebellious people …’ (1-2a).  But they were not willing to be swallowed up in His love. 

Jesus died that we might be forgiven.  He came that we could become beloved children of God.  He invites us to know His friendship.  He wants to give us life with purpose.  He desires that we would have hope.  But if we refuse His life transforming grace we will get what we have asked for.  Instead of knowing His forgiveness we will experience His righteous condemnation.  Instead of the New Heaven and New Earth eternity will be spent apart from Him.  When He returns He will not come as your Saviour but only as your judge.

To end on a positive note, I want to point out for those who are living in Jesus there are aspects of the New Heaven and the New Earth that we enjoy already.

Although our joy is not what it will be then, we have joy now.  Although God does not promise that life for His people will be easy we are ‘sorrowful yet always rejoicing’ (2 Corinthians 6:10).  We know that we are forgiven.  We know that we are loved by God.  We know that He is with us.  Indeed, He rejoices over us, even now in our imperfect state (Zephaniah 3:17).  The Lord takes delight in His people (Psalm 149:7).

Even though work can be stressful in this life, it is still a gift.  Our boss might not appreciate what we do but we serve wholeheartedly knowing that we serve not just people but the Lord (Ephesians 6:7).  One of my favourite verses tells us that we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).  Even serving a cup of water for His sake does not go unnoticed or unrewarded (Matthew 10:42).

While there are many things that are greater in the New Heaven and the New Earth than under this heaven and in this earth, one thing that won’t be greater then is the strength of God’s love for those who are trusting in Jesus.  We will experience Jesus with more intimacy, we will see Him face to face a fully know Him, but He loves us now as much as He will love we then.  So we pray, ‘I pray that through the power of the Holy Spirit you would show me more of the length and breadth and height of God’s love for those who are in Christ Jesus, so that I might know more of the New Heaven and New Earth even as I wait the day of Christ’s returning.’  Amen. 

Jesus teaches about hell (Luke 16:19-31)

 

 Jesus teaches about hell

‘We must remember that the very person who revealed most stunningly God’s love, our Lord Jesus Christ, is also the one who spoke most frequently and in most frightening words of the tragedy of the lost.  It is a dangerous thing to be more generous than God has revealed himself to be!’ (Roger Nicole).

In his book, ‘Why I am not a Christian’, the philosopher, Bertrand Russell, writes, ‘There is one very serious defect to my mind in Christ’s moral character, and that is that He believed in hell.  I do not myself feel that any person who is really profoundly humane can believe in everlasting punishment.'

Jesus certainly believed in hell.  In fact, He taught about hell more than anyone else in the Bible.  He was not embarrassed or shocked about it, but He grieved at the thought that people would reject His offer of salvation and receive the consequences of that choice.  Jesus warned people about hell because He loved them.

I want to look at one of Jesus’ best-known parables on this topic—the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.

Don’t let stuff keep you out of heaven

Jesus has just warned his religious opponents that it is impossible to serve both God and money (Lk. 16:13).  Now he tells them a parable of a man who lived for money and ended up in hell (Lk. 16:19-31).  Jesus calls us to put Him before everything else.  Stuff will keep us out of heaven, when stuff stops us following Jesus.  It is a terrible choice to live for what cannot satisfy and lose out on eternal joy.

This rich man had everything that money could buy.  He was a self-indulgent person who cared for no-one but himself.  He dressed in purple, which was extremely expensive, and could only be afforded by the wealthy.  He wanted people to see how rich he was!  He also wore fine linen.  He feasted every day.

At the gates of the rich man’s house lay a beggar.  He was laid there because he was too sick to walk.  He was covered in sores and longed to eat what fell from the rich man’s table.  The man in town who was best equipped to meet his medical needs didn’t even give him his scraps.  Kenneth Bailey points out that in Middle Eastern villages things were compact, so Lazarus could hear what was going on at the rich man’s banquets. In fact, the guests could not ignore Lazarus as they entered the rich man’s gate.  However, the rich man’s guard dogs showed him kindness as they licked his wounds.

Lazarus had one thing that the rich man did not have—Jesus gives him a name.  In fact, Lazarus is the only person named in any of Jesus’ parables, so his name must be significant.  The name Lazarus means, ‘the one who God helps.’  This is significant, Lazarus knows God and knows that God is for him.  What a contrast this passage is to those prosperity preachers on the television who tell you that it is always God’s will for His people to be healthy and wealthy.  Lazarus was living his best life now, and yet that life included a lot of pain.

Who would you prefer to be?

So, who would you prefer to be?  Would you prefer to live in luxury and not know Jesus, or could you enjoy Jesus even though your life involved sickness and suffering?  Where is your hope?  Is your hope in retail therapy and status or is your hope in the God who cares for you in life and who promises to bring you to His heavenly home?  

Lazarus dies, and he is taken by the angels to Abraham’s side.  In life he was carried to the rich man’s gates by his friends.  In death, it is the angels who carry him to his heavenly home.  It is not that rich men can’t go to heaven.  Abraham was a rich man who did not put his riches before God.  Abraham is also seen as the father of all who put their faith in God.  Lazarus had been rejected in life, but he is eternally accepted.

While Lazarus was probably thrown anonymously into the community pauper’s grave, the rich man subsequently dies and is buried.  No doubt it was a large funeral with many people saying kind things about him.  However, the rich man goes straight to hell.

In hell there is no repentance

It is important to notice that the rich man continues to be self-absorbed in hell. 

He looks up and sees Abraham, with Lazarus at his side.  He addresses Abraham as his father.  He had not cared to obey the Bible’s teaching on care for those in need, but he thinks that he should be in heaven because of his Jewish heritage.  Abraham may have been his genetic father, but sadly Abraham was not his spiritual father.  Jesus is very clear in teaching us that it is not religious rituals or cultural background that puts people right with God. Like Abraham we are put right with God by simply trusting in the life-transforming promises of God (Genesis 15:6). 

The rich man asks Abraham to have mercy on him, and to send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and ‘cool my tongue for me, for I am in anguish in the flame’ (24).  It is noteworthy that the rich man recognises Lazarus and knows his name.  He had not been unaware of the person who had sat at his gate.  Yet he had never done anything to help Lazarus.   Now he demands that Lazarus serves him!  There is no change of attitude in hell.

We might have hoped that the rich man would have looked at Lazarus and apologised to him, but he doesn’t even speak to Lazarus.  He doesn’t talk to people like beggars.  He simply asks that Lazarus be sent to him as a servant.  Hell is a place of regret, but not a place of repentance.  People continue in hell as they have lived—with themselves at the centre of their concerns.  If you haven’t centred your life on the person of Jesus, you might not like hell, but heaven will actually not be that appealing.

Abraham tells the rich man that a great chasm has been fixed between heaven and hell.  There is no crossing over.  We might understand why someone would want to leave hell, but why would Abraham have to mention that you cannot cross from heaven to hell?  Perhaps, because Lazarus is at Abraham’s side saying, ‘I’ll go and serve him!’

It is the hardness of our hearts that result in people going to hell

Having asked for Lazarus to be his servant he now asks Abraham to send him as an errand boy.  Send him to my father’s house—for I have five brothers (28).  The rich man is only concerned about his own people.  Even tyrants can be concerned about their family.  Abraham tells him that if they have ignored God’s word (referred to here as ‘Moses and the Prophets’) then someone coming back from the dead won’t cause them to repent. 

A number of years ago someone gave me a copy of a talk by someone who claimed to have spent twenty minutes in hell.  I was somewhat sceptical.  I knew one church that played this talk in their service.  The problem is that Jesus is saying that such a talk will be of no use in bringing people to faith.  If we reject the teaching of God not even someone coming back from the dead will change our mind.

In John’s Gospel there was another Lazarus that Jesus did raise from the dead, yet there were many who saw that amazing miracle and still refused to turn to Christ.  The reason people don’t put their trust in Jesus is not because they don’t have enough evidence.  It has a lot more to do with the hardness of our hearts and our refusal to let go of all the other things we put before God.  What the rich man had put before God was money and luxury.  We run from the light for fear our evil deeds will be exposed.

Jesus died that we could be spared hell

It is important to notice where in Luke’s gospel this story has been told.  Luke has shown us that Jesus had set his face for Jerusalem where He was going to die for His people’s sins (Luke 9:51).  He would endure hell  so that we need not.  Jesus not only warns people about hell, He experienced hell in our place.

It is not only stuff that causes people to go to hell, it is anything that we put in the place of God.  Perhaps you don’t want to follow Jesus because you are scared of what people will think.  Maybe you don’t want to follow Jesus because you are scared of what He will ask you to do.  That would be a sad mistake to make.  Jesus loves you more than any friend can, He can satisfy you more than any purchase, and He will guide your life in ways that will be for your spiritual good.  Even if that means, like Lazarus, you have to endure sickness and poverty in this life.

Heaven and hell are where the story ends

Finally, notice how final this story is.

There are those who suggest that there will be a second chance to repent after we have died.  They base this opinion on a text that has been open to a wide variety of interpretations (1 Pet. 3:19-20 and 4:6[.  The problem is that their interpretation of this text seems to contradict the clear teaching of other texts that are more straight-forward.  It is not wise to base a questionable conclusion of a very debated understanding of a text that is open to a variety of interpretations, especially if the conclusion you are reaching seems at odds with the clear teaching of other more straight-forward passages of Scripture.  The author to the Hebrews seems to exclude the idea of post death conversion when he writes that it is appointed for people to die once and then face judgement (Heb, 9:27).  The other problem is that it does not seem that people are capable of repentance after they have died (Rev. 22:11).  As we have seen in this chapter, Jesus teaches us that in hell, people may experience regret, but they do not experience a softening of heart.

Another dead end is the doctrine of purgatory.  This doctrine has a long history in the Christian church, but it is a clear contradiction of the gospel.  It is actually a teaching that takes away from the glory and completeness of Jesus’ work on the cross. 

I was at the funeral of the mother of a friend of mine.  The priest actually claimed that it was not a Christian teaching to believe that people go straight to heaven when they die.  That is a clear contradiction of what we have seen of Lazarus in this passage.  The priest said that no one could go to heaven until they had been perfected and that we could help my friend’s mother on her way through our prayers, and even in the mass that was being offered.  The priest was actually reflecting the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which reads, ‘all who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation, but after death, they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.’

Yet when Jesus died, he cried ‘it is finished’ (John. 19:30).  Nothing further needed to be done to save people from their guilt.  No Christian is perfect (Phil. 3:12).  We deny the truth if we claim that we no longer sin (1 John. 1:8).  But a great exchange has taken place in the life of those who believe.  In Jesus, I am considered righteous, as His righteous life is gifted to me and as I realise that all my sin has been removed by His sacrificial death.  It is not our perfection that will get us into heaven, it is Jesus’ perfection that will take us there.  Because of Jesus the Christian no longer lives under condemnation (Rom. 8:1), and we can be assured that to depart from this life is to go and be with Christ (Phil. 1:23).    

Conclusion

So how do we answer Bertrand Russell’s objection to Jesus, that no humane person could believe in hell?  We can begin by pointing out that when we read the gospel there is no one who has compassion like Jesus.  Say what you like about Him, but you cannot deny that He is a man of love.  But love is not the only attribute of God: so is goodness.  A loving and good God cannot be indifferent to the evil that human beings do.  In fact, Jesus’ love is so strong for humanity that He gave His life for people (Gal. 2:20).  He experienced hell so that we would not need to.  Jesus speaks about hell, not to frighten people, but to lovingly warn them.  He teaches the reality of hell so that we might escape its terrors.  If we do not heed His loving warnings the fault will be entirely ours.  May God give us the courage to follow His loving example and warn people about the consequences of their choice about Jesus.

Let’s pray:

‘Lord Jesus, you were not ashamed to talk about hell.  Forgive me that at times I am embarrassed by what you taught so clearly.  Help me love people enough to bring this topic up with them.  Help me love people the way you love people.  Help people understand the gospel and have the opportunity to know your forgiveness.  Amen’.

 

Luke 18:1-8 How do you feel about the return of Jesus?

How do you feel about the return of Jesus?  I suspect many of us give it little thought.  Others may see it as something terrifying—that is how it can be portrayed in the movies.  We may have questions about it—for example how can Christ appear to the whole world at one time?  (He is God, I am sure he can sort that one out!) 

Christians should live in anticipation of the Lord’s return.  It is something that we should be looking forward to.  Think of the disciples on the day that Jesus was taken up into the clouds before their sight.  What would they have longed for more than anything else?  They would have wanted him to come straight back down and be with them again.  For the Christian the Lord’s return should not be a fearful prospect by a joyful one.

I suspect that some of us might want the Lord to delay his return.  ‘I don’t want him to come back before I get married’, ‘I would like him to delay until I see my grandchildren grow up’, ‘could he wait until after my holiday?’, ‘I want to see my grandchildren grow up first’.  How foolish we are!  How our minds are settled here on earth.  Don’t we realise that if he were to return tonight then tomorrow would be better for the Christian than anything this world has to offer?

There is, however, one legitimate reason why we might want the Lord to delay his return.  We should be praying for people to become Christians and we don’t want Jesus to return before they do.  God actually shares this concern.  Peter writes to Christians who are impatient that the Lord has not yet returned, saying, The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.  He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).  He is delaying his return so that all who will come to faith will have repented—when Jesus returns all who are going to become Christians will have turned to Christ.

Jesus will return and establish justice

The Saturday before last I was at a table quiz.  We were raising money for Claire and Alex’s trip to Uganda.  The general consensus was that Brain asked very difficult questions.  Here is my table quiz question for you this morning: what is the last prayer in the Bible?  In the second last verse of Revelation John says, Come, Lord Jesus (Rev. 22:20).  John has seen how history will unfold and the glorious future that awaits God’s people, and he says ‘Come, Lord Jesus.’ 

You may have noticed that although we are looking at the beginning of chapter eighteen our reading included the end of chapter seventeen.  The context into which Jesus speaks these words is his teaching on his second coming.  That day will be like those of Noah—people will be going about their business, eating, drinking and being married, and the judgement came and destroyed them all.  It will be like the day of Sodom and Gomorrah—people will be buying and selling, and the judgement came and destroyed them all.  When Christ is revealed—people will be going about their business ignoring God and Christ will come in judgement.  Then their will be a great division between those who have trusted Jesus and those who have refused him—on that night two will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left.  Two women will be grinding together; one will be taken and the other left.

After the parable Jesus explains, ‘and will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones … he will see that they get justice and quickly…’  This parable is focusing on a prayer that justice would be done.  The widow wants justice from here oppressor.  Jesus promises that God will bring about justice for his people.  While, at times, God brings about justice for his people now ultimate justice awaits his return.  Take some of the Open Doors literature and read of those being persecuted for their faith.  Christians discriminated against, marginalised, beaten, imprisoned and even killed.  In our own society people act as if Jesus is utterly irrelevant and they live as they please.  I love going to the cinema, but one of the things that saddens me there is the language that is used, in particular how Jesus’ name is used flippantly.  All these things should create in us a longing that Jesus would come again, vindicate his people, establish justice, and be recognised by all.  So we pray, ‘Come, Lord Jesus!’

If you are sitting here this morning and you are resisting Christ I hope that these verses will be a wake up call.  Have you prayed with the tax-collector ‘Lord, have mercy on me a sinner’?  Have you responded to Jesus command to take up your cross and follow him, as you submit all of you life to his loving rule?  Unless you turn to Jesus you will be condemned on the last day.  Before a perfectly holy God our sin is far worse than we imagine.  We will see that is right that he should punish us eternally for it.  Jesus died on the cross that we might be forgiven, but if we ignore his offer of grace we will pay guilt forever in Hell.

Keeping on praying until Christ returns

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.  He is teaching them about how we should live in this time when we are anticipating the Lord’s return.  We are to keep on going until the end.  We are to be a praying people.  Praying and giving up are mutually exclusive.  As one preacher points out, ‘The one sure way to give up your Christian faith is to stop praying, for praying is the expression of our personal trust and confidence in God the king.’

We have failed to fully grasp the gospel if we think that Jesus promises us an easy life.  The gospel pattern is suffering now, glory to come.  The expectation is that we will be opposed.  When we stick up our hand and say ‘I belong to Jesus’ we will be marginalised.  When we talk about the gospel we are going to be considered to be a ‘fundamentalist.’  As society moves further away from a Christian understanding of morality our views will be labelled narrow-minded, intolerant and bigoted.  We are strangers and pilgrims in this life, we are not meant to simply fit in.

So why doesn’t Christ return and end his people’s suffering?  We might be tempted to lose heart and give up praying for justice.  After all in this life God’s people are often denied justice, and we have been waiting a long time for Jesus to return and establish perfect justice.  So Jesus tells us a parable about a heartless judge and a helpless widow to encourage us.

We bring our prayer to a good God who delights to answer

I suppose we could read this parable and misunderstand what Jesus is saying.  If we ignored the verses leading up to this passage we might not realise that it is primarily concerned with Christ’s return.  We might also think that Jesus is teaching us that God is like the judge and we are like the widow.  Therefore the only way to get our prayers answered by God is to hound him until he reluctantly gives us what we want.

However, God is not like this judge.  This cruel person neither feared God nor cared about men.  God is not so much being compared with the unjust judge as contrasted to him.  The relationship the widow had with the judge is not like the relationship we have with God.  In that culture widows were amongst the most vulnerable of people.  She had no one to stand up for her to ensure she got justice.  She meant nothing to him.  Unfortunately she has an adversary—she is being denied justice, perhaps someone is denying her access to her husband’s estate.  Her only hope was pester-power.  Even though she is a ‘nobody’ to the judge, and he is not interested in justice, she persists with her request.

A woman told a Bible-teacher, ‘I don’t pray about the details of my life because I reckon the Lord Almighty has enough to do in ordering the universe.’  Perhaps she was merely using this as an excuse not to pray.  She certainly didn’t understand the sort of relationship God invites people to enjoy with him.  Unlike the widow before the unjust judge, Christians are precious to God.  Unlike the judge God is generous and delights to respond to his people.

So if a woman persisted in making her request known, to a cruel judge who considered her to be a ‘nobody’, how much more should we cry out to God day and night in the knowledge that he is good and that he cares for his people.  He will not keep putting us off?  I tell you, he will see that we get justice, and quickly.

Conclusion—

One objection remains.  If this parable is primarily about God establishing justice on the day that Christ returns, how can Jesus speak of God seeing that we get justice quickly?  We have been waiting for two-thousand years!

It is quickly in the sense that God is not delaying without reason.  The only reason he has not yet returned is because he has purposes to be fulfilled.  We have already seen that he delays his return until all those who are to become Christians have repented.  We also see a similar reason for this delay in Revelation 6.  There people who had been martyred for their faith are with God in heaven and cry out to him, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?”  They are waiting for Jesus to return and bring perfect justice.  Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow-servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been completed.  The delay was because God’s purpose had yet to be fulfilled—which involved the martyrdom of some of his people.

Amazingly our crying out for justice, our praying ‘come, Lord Jesus’, has an influence on the Lord’s return.  He will come in response to our prayers.  This is part of the mystery of God’s sovereignty and our responsibility.  God will do has he planned, but it not be independent on our actions.  He is not delaying because he does not care about restoring justice, he is not delaying because he is unmoved about the suffering of his people, and he is not delaying so that we have a chance to go on that holiday or get that promotion.  He is only delaying because he has glorious purposes in this age that have yet to be fulfilled.  At the right time he will return and establish perfect justice.  However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?  He will look for are praying and awaiting his return.  We will we be among that number?

Preached in Richhill before 2011

Luke 12:13-21: ‘How to be successful’

(Preached in 2010)

I have a big event coming up on the 24^th April.  It’s my twenty year school reunion.  I have to admit that while I think I am looking forward to it I am also somewhat nervous.  It has actually motivated my long standing diet.  We all want to make a good impression.  We all want people to think that we are a success! 

What is real success?  Is success arriving at your school reunion in a big car?  Having a youthful body?  Being able to talk about your foreign travels and a fancy home?  Maybe your success is living in the reflected glow from your children’s achievements.  You success may even be that you are content and happy, and don’t care what people think.

Imagine if the man in today’s parable lived in our culture and was going to his school reunion.  It might be forty years since leaving school.  While everyone else has a decade in the office before retirement he tells people that he is retiring that summer.  People had always envied his wealth, and his wealth had multiplied.  He had invested in the right stocks, and brought and sold property at the right time.  Recently his financial advisor had pointed out that he had more than enough set aside for a luxury retirement.  What was the point of carrying on working?  He would only be earning money that he would not spend.  So he bought a large house in the country, another one in the south of France, and the yacht he always wanted.  He even planned for further down the line when his health might deteriorate, getting the best medical cover and putting aside a large amount of money to be put into care for when he becomes elderly.  This was no workaholic who spends his life toiling but never reaps the rewards.  People looked at him and said, ‘there is a man with the right idea about life!’

However, those who were staying in the hotel where the reunion was being held were disturbed in the early hours of the morning by the flashing lights of an ambulance.  The talk over breakfast was about how the man had awoken with a sharp pain in his chest.  He had realised that something was wrong and rung for assistance.  But by the time the paramedics arrived it was too late.  People couldn’t help pondering the irony of this man with his great plans that would never be fulfilled.  What did his success matter to him now? 

This morning’s passage prompts us to ponder what real success is.

Wealth does not equal success (13-15)

In Luke 12 Jesus has been speaking to a crowd of many thousands.  He was actually talking about issues of eternity.  He had warned them, ‘There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known’; ‘Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has the power to throw you in hell’; he has spoken of the Son of man, to whom the future belongs.

Then someone from the crowd says to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.’  It was common practice for rabbis to sort out such family disputes.  Did this man reckon his inheritance was more important to him than the things that Jesus had been talking about?  Did the here and now mattered more to him than the ever after, like it does to many people?

Jesus warned the crowd “Watch out!  Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

The Bible is not actually against wealth and possessions.  They can be a blessing and ought to be put to good use.  However, we are warned about the deceitfulness of wealth—we can fall into the trap of living for things and believing that what we buy can satisfy our longings.  We are told that the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil.  We can allow what we own, and want to own, get in the way of the most important thing in life—God and our relationship with him.  Be careful we don’t make possessions an idol.

If you’re a parent, what sort of understanding of success are you giving your children?  Are they being driven to succeed in studies because they think that is where their worth will be found?  Do they believe that it matters that they have an impressive job because that is how success is measured?  Do you put them under pressure to find a partner and have kids, as if that is the only route to fulfilment?  Do they understand that while their hobbies and sports may bring them joy their achievements in these don’t really matter in light of eternity?  We need to teach our young people that life will ultimately be measured in terms of our relationship with God.

Don’t live as a ‘practical’ atheist (16-20)

The film Invictus is based on the 1995 South African victory in the Rugby World Cup.  In it Morgan Freeman (playing Nelson Mandela), tells Matt Damon (playing Springbok captain Francois Pienaar) how he was inspired by a poem entitled Invictus.  The last lines of this poem read, ‘I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.’  Interestingly this poem, written in 1875, is the fourth in a series of poems entitled Life after Death.  However, when it comes to life after death we are not the master of our fate or the captain of our soul.  It is God who has determined our days on this earth and he will decide our destination for eternity.

In response to the man’s question Jesus tells a parable.  He is speaking to a crowd that would have been made up mostly of subsistence farmers so they would have recognised the story’s central figure as a success.  Here is a rich farmer who was blessed by a good crop and now has enough to sit back and enjoy life.  His philosophy in life: ‘Take life easy: eat, drink and be merry.’ 

I want to suggest that this figure was a ‘practical atheist’.  By calling him a ‘practical atheist’ I am not saying that he didn’t believe that God existed.  He may have been a regular at his local synagogue.  But when it came to things he viewed as important God was not allowed shape them.  He had a philosophy of life centred solely on him.  God was not in his plans.

I think that we can act like this godless man.  I think that even those who profess to be followers of Christ sometimes act like ‘practical atheists.’  We set our goals, we spend our time, we form our relationships, we make our priorities as if God is not watching and he is not the one we are living to please.  Our lives are to be centred on Christ.  There ought to be no part of our lives that are not placed under his loving rule.  Our relationship with him should be shaping how we view all things and what we see as important. 

In the end it doesn’t really matter who thinks you are a success or who says you are a failure.  In the end the only verdict that will matter will be God’s.  What is God’s verdict on this ‘successful’ man?  God calls this man a fool!  Apparently the Greek word translated ‘fool’ means ‘to be without thought.’  This man had thought about how to maximise his wealth, he had planned how to enjoy his possessions, he had figured out what he would do for himself, but he had not thought about something far more important, he hadn’t thought about his relationship with God.  ‘Have you really considered life beyond the grave?’ ‘Have you planned for eternity?’ ‘Have you sought God’s forgiveness?’ ‘Do you live with Jesus as your king?’  If you haven’t seriously considered these things then God thinks you are a fool.

Woody Allen once quipped, ‘It’s not that I am afraid to die; I just don’t want to be around when it happens.’  This joke could not disguise his fear.  In one interview he said, ‘The fundamental thing behind all motivation and all activity is the constant struggle against annihilation and death.  It is absolutely stupefying in its terror, and it render’s anyone’s accomplishments meaningless.’  Death renders this man’s success as worthless.  Someone asked of the deceased, ‘how much did they leave?’  The answer came that they had left everything! 

Death is the great leveller.  It won’t matter how far up any career ladder you went.  It won’t matter if you had a title before your name and many letters after it.  It won’t matter if you received an obituary in a national paper, or whether there were only two people at your funeral.  All that will matter will be whether God was at the centre of your life!   

You need to be rich (towards God) if you are going to be a success (21)

Don’t let me put you off paying your pension contributions.  I am not trying to discourage you from investing something for the future—Caroline and I put a little bit away every month ourselves.  But if that is where your security is then you are a fool.  If you have given thought to you retirement before you die and haven’t prepared for eternity after you die, then you are a fool. 

After the parable Jesus pronounces that, “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich towards God.”  You need to be rich (towards God) if you are going to be a success.  But how can we rich towards God—how can we be eternally successful?

By doing what the man in the parable failed to do: by being on our guard against all kinds of greed—our priorities can be seen by what we do with our money; by realising that a person’s life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions—our property, our bank account, our job status and many of our achievements have no bearing on who we are in God’s eyes; by giving thought to life beyond the grave and living with God in the centre of our plans and ambitions.  The person who is wise in God’s eyes, and who is rich in his estimation, has said with the tax-collector ‘have mercy on me a sinner’ and having received God’s forgiveness lives in grateful obedience to their Saviour.  Indeed in how they live they are storing up for themselves treasure in heaven.

This richness towards God was demonstrated in the life of the evangelist and preacher David Watson, who died of cancer in 1984.  Listen to his outlook on death (and compare it to the bleak assessment of Woody Allen):

When I die, it is my firm conviction that I shall be more alive than ever, experiencing the full reality of all that God has prepared for us in Christ.  Sometimes I have foretastes of that reality, when the sense of God’s presence is especially vivid.  Although such moments are comparatively rare they whet my appetite for much more. The actual moment of dying is still surrounded in mystery, but as I keep my eyes on Jesus I am not afraid.  Jesus has already been through death, and will be with us when we walk through it ourselves.  In those great words of the Twenty-Third Psalm: 'Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for thou art with me ...'

A life centred on God and lived in light of eternity.  That is true success.  That is success that will last for eternity.