Sunday Sermon

Sermon # 1003
Luke 12:32-40
Dr. Ed Pettus

“Ready and Active”

It is really hard to be ready for something you have never done or experienced. No matter how much pre-marriage counseling you do, nothing really prepares you for marriage. No matter how many books you read on the subject, nothing prepares you for having a baby. No matter the preparation, the death of a loved one is never easy. Life’s event, experienced for the first time, can only be truly known when experienced.
Jesus says to be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour. How does one prepare for the coming of the Lord? How do we even imagine what that day will be like? Is it just a matter of making sure we are saved? Is it selling all our possessions and giving away the money? Is it prizing only that which we receive from heaven and nothing of this world? What does it take to be ready?
This passage reveals a few ways to be ready and prepare:
First preparation: do not be afraid (or worry).

Luke 12:4-7 do not be afraid, even the hairs on your head are numbered. God cares for us, so much so that the hairs on our head are numbered! And the good news is, it doesn’t matter how many hairs are left up there! God is working in the details of our lives.
Luke 12:8-12 do not worry about what you will say in defense of the gospel. I know many people do worry about what they might say if anyone asks them about their faith. What if I say something wrong? Do I need to prepare something? Jesus says do not worry about that, the Holy Spirit will teach you. Can we trust in that? I hope so. It certainly helps when we know the scriptures and give the Holy Spirit more to work with, but Jesus says do not worry about what you will say. I trust in that promise every Sunday!
Luke 12:13-21 do not worry about what you will eat or wear. Oh, how we worry about what we will eat or wear. Everything we see in advertising seeks to cause us to worry about what we will eat or wear. Teens have been led to believe they have to wear the name brand clothes. Adults are not much better at this. We feel the pressure to wear the right clothes or eat at the best places.

First, do not be afraid, do not worry.

Second preparation: Jesus begins today’s reading with the command: “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom”. Receive the gift of the kingdom. This passage is filled with reassurance of God’s great provision and providence. God “our Father”, God’s “good pleasure”, giver of the kingdom, treasures in heaven, the return of the Son of Man. The kingdom is not just a pie in the sky heavenly realm, but a Lordship of Christ reign right now, in our lives. Imagine our lives within the kingdom of God. Is it a “pie in the sky” perspective to live in a thought process of the kingdom of God? -That we really can live in peace – that we can love, show kindness, live without fear and anxiety? So many times I hear people say living in God’s kingdom just isn’t our reality.
Jesus says it is God’s pleasure to give us the kingdom. When we talk like this, like Jesus, we are challenged to live in the real world – what is the real world? If there were any Presbyterians in the crowd when Jesus talked about the kingdom, I think they would have said or thought: Come on, Jesus, we live in the “real world”. Jesus is probably shaking his head saying: my kingdom is the real world. It is a kingdom where people are able to receive what God has given, where people can sell what they have and give alms, they make bags that do not wear out because they store in it the things of heaven. It is a strange kingdom because we are so wrapped up in the kingdoms of this world and we cannot imagine living anywhere else.
Second prep: receive the kingdom.

Third preparation: Be ready to receive the blessings of God. Receiving what Jesus gives us in Luke 12 requires that we change the way we think, it takes a conversion of thought. Perhaps the only way that can happen is by setting as a priority the next preparation.
Fourth preparation: the things of God take priority over all else. This is what gets us to a position to receive God’s kingdom and God’s blessings as the true reality. Treasure the things of heaven. Jesus says in Luke 12:31 strive for his kingdom and everything we need in this world will be given to us. Paul writes in Colossians 3: seek the things that are above…set your minds on things that are above, not on the things that are on earth (3:1-2). We are called to set our minds on the kingdom. Ways to do this: scripture study, prayer, worship, fellowship, and the like. It takes persistence and discipline to practice spiritual disciplines, but they serve to put us in a place, a condition of spirit and mind to receive the kingdom, to believe what Jesus says.
Sometimes I think about a basketball shooter who shoots a few times early in the game and misses. A good shooter does not let a few misses stop him from shooting. The theory is, if you are cold in your shooting, shoot ‘til you get hot! That is kind of the way I see our trust in what Jesus says to us. If we are having doubts, if we are having trouble believing that the kingdom of God is real, then we need to shoot ‘til we get hot – pray ‘til we do believe, study until we can trust, worship until we are convinced that life can be lived in the kingdom of God.
Fifth preparation: trust that the future is in God’s hands. We can be certain that Jesus will return, but as to the time, we do not know. What we do know is that Jesus says be ready. All this preparation: eliminating fear and anxiety, receiving the kingdom and blessings, focus on the things of God, all of this helps us trust that the future is in God’s hands, for the Son of Man is coming.

Luke 12 is primarily about fear and anxiety in the community of faith. Jesus may have been addressing our general state of fear and anxiety. We are afraid, because we have been conditioned to be afraid. If we were not afraid we would not buy half the stuff we own. If we were not afraid we would not believe half the stuff we are told from the world. We are worried because we do not trust God. It is just that simple. I did not grow up in a traditionally religious home. My father never attended any worship and my mother probably got us to worship 2 times that I can remember. But there was a sense of confidence in our home. There was a sense of trust that things would work out for us. My father built that kind of attitude that when we were struggling or could not immediately work things out as we had hoped, there was always the assurance that things would work out in the end. Yes, it was a vague pronouncement, but it was at least a trust that somehow, everything would work itself out. But it was a blind baseless trust, empty of substance.
Believers, on the other hand, have the greatest promises ever given, and yet, we are afraid and anxious. Jesus knew this. The Bible knows this. The Bible is filled with God and angels and people saying, “do not be afraid” or some variation of that statement. Jesus says in the gospels, “do not worry about your life”, because he knew that we worry, we are fearful. But Luke 12 is really a positive hopeful encouraging passage. Most of the time the end times or the second coming is accompanied with judgment, but here we have a version with blessings, gifts, the kingdom given, and assurances that the good news of his return is indeed good news for our fears and anxieties.
Jesus calls is to live this way – kingdom living – kingdom thinking – kingdom expectations – and every thought Jesus gives us is counter to the way of the world. This is affirmed again in 1 John 2:15-17 where we read: Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world. And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live for ever. We have a love relationship with the things in the world. We treasure the things of this world more than anything, but only because we have been unwilling to be ready and active in the things of God. All that loving the world has done is bring the very fear and anxiety that Jesus commands us to give up in order that God might give us the kingdom. []
1 John also reaffirms for us: There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear (4:18). It is only by God’s love that we can rid ourselves of the fear and anxiety that so permeates our lives. It is only by observing the ways Jesus reveals to us that we can receive the thought process to live in God’s kingdom here and now. Becoming ready and active is not just about “getting saved” or “getting to heaven”, but being ready and active is about being a disciple of Jesus Christ, an apprentice of his life and teachings, his followers who are willing to risk the ways of the world for the ways of God. Readiness is actively following Jesus with all our being. That is our challenge – that is our joy – that is our true reality.
Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom…be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.