The Bethany Bullet - Week of April 30, 2017
Sermon: “Grace +
Gratitude = Generosity”
Text: Luke
18:18-27 – The Rich Ruler
Luke
19:1-10 – Zacchaeus
Two men stand at
the center of a pair of wonderful and connected stories. Both men are rich, both men are powerful;
both men come looking for Jesus.
One is, in everyone’s
eyes, a “good guy,” probably the president of his congregation, possibly a
national officer of his religious body, a volunteer with the trustees and
someone who would do just about anything.
The other man is
universally seen as a “bad guy,” he is seen as a liar, a cheat and a thief; his
is despised by others and called a sinner right to his face.
But there is a
twist that surprises everyone and a lesson that is just right for us as we look
at our own Renaissance project.
Here is part one of
the story.
Luke
18:18-27 (The Rich Ruler) – GW®
An official asked
Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me
good? No one is good except God. You know the commandments:
Never commit adultery. Never murder. Never steal. Never give
false testimony. Honor your father and your mother.”
The official replied, “I’ve obeyed all
these commandments since I was a boy.”
When Jesus heard this, He said to him, “You
still need one thing. Sell everything you have. Distribute the
money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then follow me!”
When the official heard this, he became
sad, because he was very rich. Jesus watched him and said, “How hard it
is for rich people to enter God’s kingdom! Indeed, it is easier for a
camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter God’s
kingdom.”
Those who heard Him asked, “Who, then, can
be saved?”
Jesus said, “The things that are impossible
for people to do are possible for God to do.”
Kind of a sad story
about such a nice guy...This is the kind of person most pastors would love to
have as a member of their congregation: pious, dependable, beyond reproach—Oh,
and did I mention, he was rich? The perfect person to make a financial contribution
to a capital campaign, don’t you think?
This is also the
kind of person who, when he dies, people come to the funeral home and say, “He was a good man.
If anybody is going to be there in heaven, he surely will be. He was such a good guy!”
And that was the
problem with this man. He was a good
man. But even he, in his heart, must have known that he wasn’t good
enough. You see, being good doesn’t cut
it with God.
That may have been
what was behind that little exchange at the beginning of the story where Jesus
says, “No one is good except God.”
(Luke 18:19b)
And the only way
goodness comes to us is if God Himself gives it as a free gift through the
merit of Jesus Christ alone.
But the rich young
ruler was not looking for a gift from God.
He was looking to bargain with God. “What must I do
to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 18:18)
It was a question
of the Law, and so Jesus dealt with him according to the Law. And to those who heard the conversation, it
would appear that if anyone could gain eternal life by the Law, this good man
could certainly do it.
So, Jesus starts
listing all these commandments: no adultery, no stealing, no murder, no lying,
honor your parents. And the rich young
ruler says, “I’ve obeyed all these commands since I was
a boy.” (Luke 18:21)
Now, be honest, do
you think YOU could say that? Never even
told a lie to his mother when he was a kid?
Always came when he was called? I
couldn’t!
This was a good
man. Jesus didn’t even argue with him on
that.
The Rich Young
Ruler followed the Law, but he was in pursuit of his own agenda not God’s. He was doing good to get himself somewhere.
It was not living under the “kingdom” rule of God that he desired. It was being in control of his own life and
destiny.
How often have you
done the same?
So Jesus says, “You still need one thing.
Sell everything you have.
Distribute the money to the poor…then follow me!” (Luke
18:22)
And suddenly it was
as though all the air was being released from this proud, good man, and he
collapsed in a pile looking up with sadness into the eyes of Jesus who said, “How hard it is for rich people to enter the kingdom of God!”
(Luke 18:24)
Remember that
stanza from the hymn “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”?
And take they our life, goods
fame, child, or wife
Though these all be gone,
they yet have nothing won.
The kingdom ours remaineth.
You know, it was a
lot easier for me to sing that song when I had no goods, fame, child or wife.
The potential
problem with wealth is that it makes you less willing to be under the kingdom
or rule of God.
And it makes you
more desirous to be under your own rule and control of all your goods, fame,
children and spouses.
And so our story
closes with these words, “Indeed, it is
easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to
enter the kingdom of God.” (Luke 18:25)
And those who heard
Jesus’ words said, “Who then can be saved?”
(Luke 18:26) because they all thought the same way.
Jesus’
response? “The
things that are impossible for people to do are possible for God to do.”
(Luke 18:27)
Now, don’t get
distracted here, thinking, well, how does a camel fit through a needle? Head first?
Tail first? Does the camel have one hump or two? That is not the point.
The point is, in
the end, it is impossible.
It seems that Jesus
leaves us with no hope. But just a few
verses later we find hope in the story of another rich man.
Luke
19:1-10 (Zacchaeus) – GW®
Jesus was passing
through Jericho. A man named Zacchaeus was there. He was the
director of tax collectors, and he was rich. He tried to see who Jesus
was. But Zacchaeus was a small man, and he couldn’t see Jesus because of
the crowd. So Zacchaeus ran ahead and climbed a fig tree to see Jesus,
who was coming that way.
When Jesus came to the tree, He looked up
and said, “Zacchaeus, come down! I must stay at your house today.”
Zacchaeus came down and was glad to welcome
Jesus into his home. But the people who saw this began to express
disapproval. They said, “He went to be the guest of a sinner.”
Later, at dinner, Zacchaeus stood up
and said to the Lord, “Lord, I’ll give half of my property to the poor.
I’ll pay four times as much as I owe to those I have cheated in any way.”
Then Jesus said to Zacchaeus, “You and your
family have been saved today. You’ve shown that you, too, are one of
Abraham’s descendants. Indeed, the Son of Man has come to seek and to
save people who are lost.”
Did you catch what
happened in that story? Did you see the
twist? A camel just went through the eye
of a needle and a rich man entered the kingdom of God, and what is impossible
for people to do became possible for God.
And it all happened
with little Zacchaeus sitting there like a fig in a tree waiting to be picked
by a gracious God, reaching out to seek and to save even what the world would
consider the worst of sinners.
It is the same
grace of God that claimed you and me in baptism when, sitting in our sin, we
were either helpless infants with nothing to offer God or helpless adults who
realized we were bought as Luther said, “not with gold or
silver, but with [Jesus’] holy, precious blood and His innocent suffering and
death, that I might be His own and live under Him in His kingdom.”
That is how we
enter through the eye of the needle into the kingdom of God, and that’s what
motivates us to serve Him.
The crowd that day
just didn’t get it, grumbling and mumbling because Jesus was going to share a
meal with sinners. They were still back
there with the Rich Young Ruler, lying like a deflated balloon in a pool of
sadness, more interested in having good works serve them than in serving God.
But Zacchaeus got
it. He knew he was being offered a gift,
the gift of forgiveness of sins which brings life, hope, and salvation, and all
he could do was celebrate it.
This is the story
of God’s math Grace + Gratitude = Generosity.
Zacchaeus’ reaction
to Jesus’ invitation and gift of grace was one of deep gratitude.
He knew he did not
deserve this visit from the Lord. He
heard the mumbling of the crowd, and he knew they were right.
But he also saw the
love of one who would risk the mocking of the crowd and the wrath of the “good”
people to seek out someone like him.
The son of Man had
come to seek and to save the lost, and now salvation had come by God’s free
gift to Zacchaeus’s house.
The result of grace
and gratitude was generosity. Jesus
never told Zacchaeus “You must make restitution” or “You
need to give this much to the poor”. Zacchaeus’s
generosity flowed out of gratitude for the grace of God.
The Rich Young
Ruler asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Zacchaeus,
on the other hand, knew he had been given eternal life as a gift from
Jesus. His question then was, “Since God has given me eternal life in Christ, how shall
I live that life now?”
You and I have been
given the same gift that was given to Zacchaeus by the grace of God. Your sin is forgiven on account of Christ.
Today we sit in the
place of Zacchaeus. On our own, unable
to gain heaven let alone go through the eye of a needle. But God has given you new life in Christ so
you can ask, “How can I live that new life now?”
You heard this
morning the report of where we stand with the commitments to our Renaissance
project. You have heard the need this
congregation has.
In our two stories
today we see that approaching this based on the Law and duty will result in
grumbling and sadness. This is no way for this congregation to move forward
with the Renaissance project.
We endeavor to move
forward by seeing the grace that God has upon us, the free gift that came,
purchased and won on the cross and we seek to live generous lives that flow
from thanksgiving and a sincere desire to live our lives under the kingdom of
God.
In the season of
Easter we reflect upon the significance of God’s grace in our lives and we seek
to respond with gratitude for what was accomplished on the cross and through
the open tomb and in so doing we desire to learn once again what we find in
Luther’s Small Catechism “to live under
Him in His Kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and
blessedness. This is most certainly true.”
Our desire is to
live by God’s math Grace + Gratitude = Generosity. May
we do so with the help of God.
Let us pray…
-Pastor Seth
Moorman
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