Our Gospel message comes to us today from the 12th chapter of Luke, beginning with the 32nd verse.
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. “But know 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. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.” (Luke 12:32-40, NRSV)
All mighty God, we thank you for your word and the way that you in it revealed to us who you are and what you've done for us in Christ. Now as we open that word we pray that your spirit may be present, that all thoughts of worry or distraction may be removed and that the Spirit will allow us to hear your voice. And so, oh God, fill us with your spirit through the reading and proclamation of your word this day. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.
“Faithfulness”
Grace be unto you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
A man was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light and the Savior appeared. The Lord told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin.
The Lord explained that the man was to push against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all his might. This the man did, day after day. For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down, shoulder set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore, and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.
Seeing that the man was showing signs of discouragement, Satan decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the man’s mind: “You have been pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasn’t budged. Why kill yourself over this? You are never going to move it.”
The man began to believe that the task was impossible and that he was a failure, and he felt discouraged and disheartened. “Why kill myself over this?”, he thought. I’ll just put in my time, giving just the minimum effort and that will be good enough.”
And that he planned to do until one day he decided to make it a matter of prayer and take his troubled thoughts to the Lord. “Lord”, he said, “I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock by half a millimeter.
What is wrong? Why am I failing?”
The Lord responded compassionately. “My friend, when I asked you to serve me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push.
And now you come to me, with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed, but is that really so? Look at yourself.
Your arms are strong and muscled, your back sinewy and brown, your hands are callused from constant pressure, and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have, yet you haven’t moved the rock. Your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom.
This you have done.
“I, my friend, will now move the rock.”
At times when we hear a word from God, we tend to use our own intellect to decipher what He wants, when actually what God wants is just simple obedience and faith in Him....By all means, exercise the faith that moves mountains, but remember it is still God who actually moves them.
As Oswald Chambers said, “God does not call us to be successful, only faithful.”
That is a harsh story, but such a story is called for as our gospel text this morning speaks about being ready for the coming of Christ.
“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes… You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”
Jesus is reminding us that we are accountable to Him for the faith lives which we live. Our Lord challenges us to be faithful at all times as we walk our journey of life of trusting in Him. Our faith is not something which we turn on and off, but something which is always prevalent in our lives. Jesus wants us to be accountable in our faithfulness.
Jesus’ unanticipated and sudden coming keeps us motivated or conscientious. I don’t see this coming so much as a threat, and yet because it is sudden it motivates us to be ready for Him inasmuch as we want our faithfulness to please him.
This faithfulness is based on the promises of God as we find them in Bible. In our Old Testament lesson we see God’s promises Abraham that he would have a descendant and through that descendant, his offspring would be as numerous as the sands on the seashore or the stars in the sky. Abraham trusted in God’s promise even though at the age of 100 he had no son, no offspring, but he had confidence in God’s word and as the text says in Genesis 15:6: “And he (Abraham) believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.”
Abraham believed in God’s promises and they came true. This is no easy circumstance having reliance in something as intangible as a promise. But Abraham did and we are asked to have the same kind of reliance in God’s written promises as we see in the Bible. The gospel message is indeed a promise for our lives in which we are asked to believe.
It is like the following: Far away in a lonely desert stands a water pump in the sand. You are a solitary traveler, and your canteen is empty and you come upon that pump. Tied to it is a hand written sign put there by some pilgrim.
The sign reads, “I have buried a bottle of water to prime the pump. Don’t drink any of it.
Pour in half of it to wet the leather. Wait, and then pour in the rest. Then pump. The well has never gone dry, but the pump must be primed to bring the water up. Have faith, believe. When you are through drawing water, fill the bottle and bury it in the sand for the next traveler.” Having come upon this pump in the desert with this sign and being out of water, what would you do?
Will you dig the water bottle from the sand and drink from it? Or will you believe and believing dare to pour that water every drop of it down into the old trusty pump? Because you trust, you take a risk, both for yourself and for the next person who will pass that way. What will you do?
Will you be faithful in the written promises of God? God has promised through Christ to care for us, to redeem us, to provide for us in His unique way. Will you believe in the promises of salvation that are found in the Bible? Or like the man in our first story do you begin to waver in your faithfulness to those promises? Do you trust what you have heard and read about God’s of salvation?
Faith is trust. For example, when you go swimming you need not trust the buoyancy of water as long as you can touch bottom. But get out over your head and it is another matter. If you become tense and rigid and fight to stay afloat, you will sink. But if you relax and trust the water to hold you up, you can float and live.
Will you go with the flow so to speak? Go with God each day and believe, trust in His promises for salvation?
Faith is trusting in God’s promises each day, because we are accountable for our faithfulness at all times when we need it and when we don’t. Confidence in God’s promises is a way of life. We are held accountable for that way of life and because we believe and trust we will want to live a faithful life.
A boy and his father were taking a walk. In the far corner of the field they found a small patch of beautiful and fragrant flowers. They were in the middle of weeds, almost completely hidden and unnoticed, yet these flowers were blooming in full beauty and they sensed their fresh fragrance.
All of us have met persons unnoticed by many, but who in the middle of struggle and unlikely surroundings far from the center of attention live lives of beauty and fragrance. And living lives which seemed obscure they faithfully fulfilled God’s calling for them.
God’s question on the last day will not be, “How much were you noticed?” or even “How much did you do?” Rather, His question will be, “Were you faithful in fulfilling your calling where I placed you?”
Were you faithful as a house wife, a farmer, a teacher, a banker, etc. Were you faithful in what ever God has called you to do in this world. Did you do your work faithfully believing and trusting in God to provide? Were you faithful knowing that at any moment, Christ might come again?
A closing story speaks about this faithfulness waiting for the Lord to come again:
“While taking a tour of Europe, a tourist visited a lovely estate in Italy. He admired the beautiful garden which had been taken care of in a wonderful way. He walked ground the garden, he came upon the gardener and said, “My, you have done a beautiful job with this garden. How long have you taken care of it?”
The gardener replied, “25 years.”
“How often has the owner been to this estate?”
“Four times.”
“When was he last here?”
“Twelve years ago.”
“But, he must write to you often with instructions?”
“Never.”
“Well, who comes to look after things? To make sure things are kept up?”
“I am left pretty much alone. I take care of things.”
“But you keep the garden so lovely that one would think you were expecting the owner tomorrow.”
“Today, sir, today,!!!”
“And he (Abraham) believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.”
“You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”
Let us pray: Lord, our God, help us to prepare for the coming of Christ your Son. May he find us waiting, eager in joyful prayer. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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Scripture taken from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)® Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Sermon contributed by Rev. Tim Zingale.
God does not call us to be successful, only faithful.
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