My guess is you know right away what gives you pleasure. It may be a big bowl

Transcription

1 Luke 12:32-40 God s Pleasure My guess is you know right away what gives you pleasure. It may be a big bowl of Blue Bell, or watching the cats running around the house, or listening to the birds on your early morning walk, or having a good laugh with your friends, or getting caught up in a good book or movie, or a shower after sweaty and dusty labor, or seeing your team win the big game; being reconciled to that important someone after a disagreement. You can add other experiences- the things we enjoy are probably not singular but many, though the most memorable pleasures of your life are likely few. Maybe the kiss that sealed your wedding vows or hearing your children speak your name for the first time. I like to think that the greatest moments- which give the deepest and most lasting pleasure are the times when we make the closest and most personal connections with another person. This brings us to the most profound questions of human behavior. That to achieve these connections with someone or something or some group, we may attempt all sorts of activities- which may be constructive or may be at times destructive. To get a feeling of acceptance and belonging, people may join churches, and social groups as varied as the Rotary or Good Sam Travelers Club or political parties and activist organizations or dating clubs or birdwatcher groups, or

2 even gangs- violent neighborhood thugs or the terrorist organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan or other white supremacist groups or secessionists, or al-quaida: any who try to justify their hatred with a perverted form of a noble philosophy. So, the desire for connections to others, and even connections to something, great can take us down the bright paths of friendship and kindness and understanding, or into a darkness of ignorance and prejudice. Some may say that this journey is a search for God, and so we may read about, or attempt it ourselves, the quest for God in esoteric religious experiences or even with the use of drugs; trying to discover the divine in nature or even in our own bodies- perhaps glorifying the body in the attempt to make it perfect and beautiful or pampering it and giving it every luxury, and sometimes in the abuse of our bodies in practices of self-denial like fasting, or forms of self-mutilation; or the prideful obedience to the commands of religion which can lead to a strict, judgmental adherence to religious customs like the Phariseeism of the New Testament, or the self-righteous distortions of the Taliban: and there are several Christian versions of this, make no mistake- take as an example the church in Florida that is hosting a Quran burning on September 11; or consider the church from Kansas whose members believe God hates homosexuals so much that they

3 travel about the country protesting at the funerals of American soldiers, celebrating the deaths of others as God s condemnation of our country, and as a victory of their twisted religion over anything that disagrees with them. This is how the followers of Jesus serve the Prince of Peace? This is how they preach the love of God? Is this how they give thanks for God s grace? In our passage Jesus informs us what gives pleasure to God: it is your Father s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom, verse 32 says. Do not think that here God s Kingdom means simply your eternal reward in heaven. What gives God pleasure is essentially the same thing that pleases us, the same thing that we yearn for: relationship, connection with others. God wants relationship with us, and it is God s greatest pleasure to hear us speak to him, for us to recognize our need of God s mercy, to hear us repeat words of love and gratitude. Surely it is an amazing thing to consider that God wishes to be with us, and not because God needs someone to boss around, or that God wants foolish humans as playthings for whom God can create obstacles for us to try to overcome like lab rats, or that God wants someone to act as his avenger upon those we think God may not like. No, God is pleased for us to dwell in the Kingdom of God, to live in fellowship with God. Look at these images of relationship Jesus uses in our passage. He calls us

4 the little flock and means it so that we need not fear, for it is God s pleasure to protect us. Jesus talks about a household (verses 36-38) of vigilant servants ready to welcome their master back home. But just look at this kind of master, who understands how his people labor and wait for him, and so the master himself will seat the servants at table and serve them. It turns everything upside down doesn t it? A master who gives, who serves, who loves? Doesn t that make service to such a master a joy? Isn t all of a sudden the greatest pleasure in the world to serve a Lord like this? God s pleasure and our pleasure- just the utter joy in being together and living for each other. Maybe this is the best way to think of God, that God is alive to love you. So how do we respond to a God like that? The title of this sermon comes from verse 32, and the idea that it pleases God to bring us into the Kingdom, that is, into the sphere of relationship with God and with others who love and serve God. But the title also stands as a counterpoint to last week s sermon, God s Burden, in which I tried to describe how so often our worship to God is anything but pleasant to our King, but rather weighs God down: anytime we try to come to God on our own terms, or come neglecting other persons, neglecting justice and mercy, forgetting that God takes pleasure in knowing his creatures and showing love to all the world. If we leave out the poor

5 and the hungry, outside the sphere of our connection with God, outside our fellowship with God, then we are only placing a burden upon God, and taking away God s pleasure in us, and fooling ourselves about our own place in the Kindgom of God. And so, let us rejoice that God loves us, and gives us the Kingdom. Let us understand the communion we have with God and with one another as the great treasure of verse 34 which can never be taken away because it is God s surpassing love and God s power to keep us. It is not my treasure, nor yours, but a bounty we all share, of the kindness of God that can fill our hearts; and as we come into this fellowship together with gratitude to our Father and to our Lord Jesus, our joy delights the heart of God. Our passage says that God wants to give us the Kingdom of God, which I have taken to mean, by the context of the passage, that God wants to give us these relationships with God and with one another. And the next words, in verse 33, are sell your possessions and give alms, and make a treasure that cannot be lost or destroyed. A difficult scripture to deal with. First of all, this indestructible treasure is not merely the everlasting residence in heaven after all things are done,

6 but it is the treasure we all possess together as fellow citizens in God s Kingdom on earth, as a humble and giving united people, sharing the love of God, the mercy of God, and the gifts of God. So the purpose of selling possessions and giving alms is very simply in order to share with others the blessings of God to you. I will not tell you, as some may, that Jesus is merely speaking symbolically- and that you should sell and give what feels right to you. That is not what Jesus says nor what he means. No, it is a sacrifice, and it s meant to feel like a sacrifice- you must give up something valuable in order to share something valuable. But, on the other hand, I cannot tell you that you must sell everything. But I can say that you must not hold back anything. All that each of us has, even if we should keep it for a time, everything must be kept ready for service to God. I think that is at least part of the meaning of the second half of our passage, being awake and watchful and ready for the Master s return. Do not think that it s possible to enter into this fellowship with God with selfish hearts, clinging to our possessions, but we must be willing to share and give. But do not think either that giving up everything you have is the price of admission into the Kingdom God wishes to give- it is a gift after all. Think rather that it is the cost of participation in the community of loving and sharing- the cost

7 of discipleship, a meaningful term we use now and again, and a cost that means, yes, you may sacrifice much, but you may receive much more: friendship and meaning and an unending connection to God. It is God s pleasure to bring you into this fellowship.