Title: Keeping Score
Text: Luke 12:13 – 21
MP: Self-sufficiency is an insufficient legacy.
FCF: Through Christ and his Word, we can be sure that we have won the only game worth playing.
- Roger Maris
- Choosing the important
o Coming to a Rabbi, Coming to the President
o Money just a way of keeping score
o First / last, last first, Jesus’ kingdom not of this world
o Keep your eye on the ball
o Augustine: little hands
- Choosing grace
o Pick up the story
o Earning Money the old-fashioned way – Grace is new!
o Relaxation isn’t bad, it just isn’t the point. Don’t confuse the 7th inning stretch with the game
o What are you doing with your wealth?
- Choosing your legacy
o How we spend our money tells us what’s important to us, we tend to get what we want
o We’re all going to die – did we glorify God?
o Cash-on-hand / Self-sufficiency is an insufficient legacy
o Lot of Churches post-Depression saved money, spent it on buildings. But what about the children?
- Roger Maris: “What did I have to show for it” vs. “Well done thou good and faithful servant”
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Have you ever thought that you’d have a fighting chance, if only you knew what game was being played? If so, you can probably identify with Roger Maris.
In 1961, he and his fellow Yankee Micky Mantle were in a home run derby, the same way that Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire were dueling in 1998. Already by mid-season, and the talk of the town was as much about Babe Ruth as it was about them. Thirty-four years earlier (1927), Babe Ruth had hit 60 home runs. Roger Maris and Micky Mantle were both getting close, and the newspapers created a rivalry where none had really existed before.
Babe Ruth’s record held a place in the hearts of Yankees, even more than the “bad boy” Roger Maris. Neither Mickey Mantle nor Roger Maris had honeymoons in New York. They were both Midwesterners not well accustomed to the Big Apple. But by 1961, Mickey Mantle had learned to actively court the press, be their friends, enjoy their good graces, and hence have an advocate before the fans. Roger Maris never wanted to be friends with the press, and never did. If the record had to be broken, the New York press wanted the new hero to be Mantle – and definitely not Maris.
But by the end of the season, Maris had taken a clear lead. Mantle was good, but Maris was better. And as October approached, New Yorkers got nervous. On September 26th, Maris tied the record. And then, in a sparsely attended game on October 1st, Boston Red Sox pitcher Tracy Stallard allowed a home run in the 4th.
The record had been broken. The bambino had been bested. But even then Maris couldn’t quite get it. Baseball commissioner Ford Frick noted that Babe Ruth’s historic 1927 record had been accomplished in a season of only 154 games. With eight more games in the 1961 season, this was Maris’s 163rd. So, Frick said, Babe Ruth would retain the record for most home runs in a 154 game season. Maris had a new record for most home runs in a full 164 game season. No, Frick had declared, Babe Ruth and Roger Maris had been playing by different rules. The Babe’s record was safe. And Roger Maris would forever be remembered by an asterisk.
If you’re going to win, you have to know what game you’re playing. It’s true in baseball, it’s true in life, no matter unfair that may seem.
Jesus let us know as much in Luke 12:13 – 21. You’ll hear people refer to it as “The parable of the Rich Fool,” and it has an important lesson for anyone who cares about the legacy they leave. You see, just about anyone can win at something – the question is: will they win at the right thing?
Choosing the Important
This parable begins with what seems like an innocuous enough request. As a rabbi, Jewish society simply expected Jesus to help settle disputes. And, let’s face it, there’s nothing that can set off a dispute like dividing up the family fortune. And so, one day, a guy comes along and asks Jesus to do the expected thing. But Jesus wasn’t going to have any of it.
And, if you think about it, it makes sense. Imagine that you get to spend time with the President of the United States. Do you think it makes sense to discuss the latest Harry Potter movie? No! He doesn’t have anything to do with that, and it’s a waste of his time. Now you have God himself, choosing to limit himself to a single body in a short sojourn here on earth. Why would you waste his time with so something completely irrelevant as money?
After all, what is money but our own way of keeping score? And didn’t Jesus already say, the winners and losers were already backward?
For a guy who says, “My kingdom isn’t of this world,” his answer was pretty logical. I’m not going to get involved in worldly things, because worldly things aren’t important. For me, the most important thing is my living, heavenly Father, not the legacy of your dead one. It may have seemed a bit rude, but for Jesus, who knew how short his time on earth was, he was not about to waste his time on things that didn’t matter. Focus on what’s important, and do that. Anything else is a distraction. I must be about my Father’s business.
Any soul who successful at any sport will tell you the simple truth: You must keep your eye on the ball. You must stay focused on what is important. Anything less is a distraction, anything less keeps you from winning the game.
As we live our Christian lives, we need to keep that same ethic in mind. We know that we are made for God’s glory, and anything that detracts from God’s glory can far too easily sideline us.
“Take Guard,” Jesus says. “Life isn’t about possessions.” We know it’s about the one who possesses us. And we have a choice. We can be possessed by the Creator or his creation. Our hearts aren’t big enough for both.
St. Augustine used the metaphor of a child receiving gifts. He imagined a little one whose father wanted to give him so many things, but the little one’s hands were only so big. God’s love is all encompassing. In our smallness, if we would have more of it, we must set everything else aside just to hold it.
Now, understand, that Jesus is not saying that money is evil. He’s just saying, “There’s more to life than what you have.” That’s the wrong way of keeping score. I have yet to see anybody who put their final checking account balance on their headstone.
No, what’s important is your soul.
Choosing Grace
So, Jesus tells them this story:
There’s a guy, and he’s rich. He isn’t mean, he isn’t unfair, he’s just a good old fashioned guy who makes money the old fashioned way. He earns it. That’s the Protestant work ethic in a nutshell. If you work hard, we think, God is sure to bless us. And it’s true, you do earn money the old-fashioned way – you earn it. But we know living for Christ has never been old fashioned. Grace can’t be earned the old fashioned way. It must simply be received.
And tell me, what is it that you really need? Money or Grace?
For this rich man, even success has its problems. He wonders: what do I do with all this wealth? I have so much grain and not enough of a barn to hold it. Never mind, I’m sure, of all the bellies around that need it – his problem is, where do I store it.
I know, he thinks – I’ll tear down my barns and I’ll build bigger ones. Problem solved, right?
He says, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years.” It’s time to kick back and relax. Eat! Drink! Be merry! You’ve earned it. There’s something really nice in sitting around a beautiful house, enjoying beautiful gardens, and thinking to yourself – this is the life. And, make no mistake, God made great things, and there is nothing wrong in enjoying them. After all – don’t want to offend the Maker of all good things.
But never confuse the Seventh Inning Stretch with the game. These times of enjoyment and relaxation aren’t the goal, they’re simply the means by which God reminds us – gives us a foretaste of what being with him will be like. These are carrots edging us onwards – not indicators of our final reward.
Contrary to what well-intentioned theologians from Calvin to Max Weber would tell us, Money and God’s favor have nothing do with one another. They’re like fish and bicycles. Poverty is no more mark of God’s goodness than wealth. Both can love God with their whole being, both can reject him.
The question is not even “What are you doing with your wealth to glorify God?” It’s “how are you glorifying God?”
Choosing your legacy
That night, God has a rude awakening for this man. Fool – don’t you realize – tonight your very soul will be required of Thee?
Jesus was smart. He knew that how we spend money tells us more about what we think than just about anything else. How we spend our money is a fabulous indicator of our hearts toward God. But it tells us nothing about what God thinks of us.
How we spend our money tells us what’s important to us. And, as children of God, we have a pretty impressive track record of getting what we want. The only question is, when it’s all said and done, was what we wanted good?
Each and every one of us is going to have a night when God says, “Tonight your soul is required of Thee.” Death is no respecter of age. My best friend died when he was 20. Susan’s grandmother lived to be 95. But each and every one of them died. The question to ask in each of those cases was: What did they do with the time allotted them? Did they glorify God?
People build up bank accounts, Businesses build up bank accounts, even churches build up bank accounts. Cash on hand says a lot about how well you manage money, but says nothing about what you’re doing. Many a horse and buggy outfit in the 1920s went under with decent cash reserves. The question is: What is your business about?
I can tell you this: Self-sufficiency is an insufficient legacy.
Frankly, a lot of churches in the 1950s had to face this question. The people had just come out of the Great Depression and understood the value of having a lot of money. When the baby boom came, they were able to use that money to build bigger sanctuaries to accommodate all the children. And that was great to have the freedom to scale resources to meet need.
But what happened to the children? I daresay that in some cases they built the buildings better than the children. Faced between a legacy of bricks and mortar or living souls, I daresay I know which one they called “the Living Stone” would have chosen.
In 1980, Roger Maris reflected on his greatest achievement, but not so fondly. “They acted like I poisoned the record books,” he said. “Do you know what I have to show for 61 home runs? Nothing. Exactly nothing.” How sad to come so far and have so little.
No, at the end of your race, when you have fought the good fight, when you have completed your task, my prayer for you is that you will simply hear the words, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Master.”
Let us enter into a taste of that joy now. Would you pray with me?
Long Branch Baptist Church
Halfway, Virginia; est. 1786
Sunday, July 15th, 2007
Enter to Worship
Prelude David Witt
Meditation Psalm 25: 1 – 10
Invocation Michael Hollinger
*Opening Hymn #581
“Tis’ So Sweet to Trust in Jesus”
Welcome & Announcements
Collect, Responsive Reading [See Right]
Morning Prayer [See Insert]
*Hymn “O Lord, You’re Beautiful” #643
*Hymn “The Greatest Thing” #644
Creed [See Right]
Scripture Luke 12:13 – 21
*Hymn #410
“Standing on the Promises”
Offertory Mr. Witt
*Doxology
Sermon
“Keeping Score”
Invitation Hymn #634
“More Love to Thee”
*Benediction
*Congregational Response
May the grace of Christ our Savior / And the Father’s boundless love
With the Holy Spirit’s favor / Rest upon us from above. Amen.
* Congregation, please stand.
Depart To Serve
COLLECT FOR MORNING PRAYER
O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
RESPONSIVE READING
With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before God on High? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He has shown Thee, O Man, what is good. And what doth the Lord require of Thee? But to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with Thy God.
Micah 6:6-8
CREED
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father through the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
There will be a Deacon’s Meeting this Evening at 6pm.
We’re still collecting reading glasses of every strength between now and October.
PRAYER LIST
Debbie Flickinger, Warren Lee, Debbie Grigsby, Corey Keely, Susan Schulz, Martha Puryear, Cindy & Thomas Lee, Irene Griffith.
Long Branch Church, your deacons, the next pastor.
Our President, our Congress, our Court, our Governor, and other elected representatives. Our police, firemen, teachers, and men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan, Our enemies.
Zane, Steve, Jeff, and Bruce – for their families as they serve the Lord in Central Asia.
LUKE 12:13 – 21
13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14 But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
