Theme: Set your hearts on things above
Text: Eccl. 2:18-23; Col. 3:1-11; Lk. 12:13-21
The daily routine for the average adult is sleep, eat, work, exercise and relax and occassionally a minute or two when they remember to pray. Is this how God expects us to live? This is the world’s prescription that promises to improve your live style but is this really true. If not why do we continue doing it? Why do we not accept God’s prescription to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” (Matt. 6:33) Seeking first the kingdom of God is what really benefits the soul and the human soul is a priceless treasure that is more valuable than the whole world. “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matt. 16:26) Unfortunately, many today are more concerned about the world than about their souls. Is that not the reason why a person would swallow cocaine pellets knowing that it could lead to death? Is that not the reason why a person would risk his or her life to steal a pair of sneakers or a mobile phone? These people give God very little place in their daily lives and are more concerned about pleasing themselves rather than pleasing God. They set their hearts on earthly temporal things rather than “set their hearts on things above”.
Seek the things that are above is an advice to seek Christ. The Scriptures are all about Christ and we seek Him by hearing, reading and studying the Word of God. “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ”. (Rom. 10:17) From the Scriptures we learn about Christ’s death and how His lifeless body was taken from the cross, prepared for burial and buried in a tomb. We also learn of how He was filled with the life of God and rose from the dead on the third day, ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father. The Scriptures bring us into the spiritual realm where we can communicate with Christ and hear Him speak to us. The Scriptures make us understand that believers die to sin with Christ and are buried with Him. The Scriptures also make us understand that we were made alive by His Spirit, rose from the dead with Him and are now seated with Him in the heavenly realms. Everything we are results from His life in us and has made Him our priority in life. Through prayer we have access to His presence and His heavenly blessings and provisions. Our response to the presence of God can only be worship. Worship makes us focus on Christ and enables us grow in intimacy with Him. The closer we are to Christ, the brighter the light of His presence shines on us and the brighter His light shines from us.
When we seek Christ we will find Him and see our need for a Saviour. The realisation that Christ has paid the price we could never pay and that salvation is available to us because of Him is enough reason for us to confess Him as Saviour and Lord and make Him our priority in life. When Christ becomes the focus of our lives we develop a growing and maturing relationship with Him. The more time we spend with Him in prayer and the reading of His Word the more we will understand Him, see as He sees, hear as He hears and live out the truths of His word. What we believe determines the way we behave and changes our attitude to wealth and possessions. They have no permanet value and according to the Preacher in Ecclessiastics are all vanity. This is especially true in the area of money as illustrated in today’s parable. Jesus was interupted while teaching on eternal issues with a request to resolve a family dispute over inheritance. This prompted Jesus to teach about the dangers of covetousness and and the danger of placing one’s confidence in earthly riches rather than eternal treasures. In our materialistic society, what Jesus had to say is especially relevant today. For most people their main priority in life is to accumulate wealth. Money in itself is not bad. It is the love for money, in other words greed, which is so destructive. Greed simply wants more. It is having a desire that always keeps increasing and cannot be satisfied. The destructiveness of greed is evident all around us. Life is not about possessions but about our relationship with God. It is not about material goods but about our commitment and faithfulness to Christ. Do you have a relationship with Christ? Is your heart set on earthly things or on Christ? If not you can enter into a relationship with Christ today by confessing Him as your Saviour and Lord.
Set your minds on things that are above is to meditate on heaven where Christ is. Jesus taught us in the Lord’s prayer to pray “Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as in heaven”. The focus of our lives should be on God in heaven, the care and love of the Father, and on His Kingdom and His will. Setting your heart on things above and not on things on the earth is to meditate on your future eternal life. This is not an escape from problems we face in life but a means of coping with them. When Jesus went to the cross He knew about all the suffering that awaited Him but He “For the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God”. (Heb. 12:2) Set your hearts on things that are above is to think about and meditate on the promises of Christ. The Scriptures are filled with these promises and these promises take care of every aspect of our lives. Christ has promised to give us peace, joy, healing, and protection. He has promised to bless us and never leave us. No matter what we may be experiencing in life we can be assured of His promises because “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” (Num. 23:19)
The world would want us to believe that to be heavenly minded is to be of no earthly good but the truth is just the opposite. Abraham and Lot were both rich in this world’s goods, but whereas Abraham was heavenly minded, Lot was earthly minded. Abraham, although the elder and the one who had brought Lot along, gave Lot the first choice when the time came for them to separate. Lot, because he was earthly minded, chose the plain of Jordan because it was well watered everywhere. Abraham on the other hand, because he was heavenly minded, trusted God for his portion of the land. Lot eventually lost everything he owned teaching us that those who seek the things of this world end up empty handed, not only in this world, but also in the world to come. It is so sad to think about Lot but not realise that what happened to him is happening to many present-day believers who are not heavenly minded. Life presents many problems but as believers we are not to meditate on those problems but on the promises of God. Focusing on the problem leads to unbelief whereas focusing our hearts on heavenly things leads to faith.
When we set our hearts on things above we will have no difficulty serving the One who is seated above at God’s right hand. How can we refuse to serve the One who shed His blood to restore our righteousness. How can we refuse to serve the One who never sinned but was made sin with all the world’s sinfullness, past, present and future that we might be made righteous with His righteousness. “For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.” (Rom. 5:19) Christ has not only restored our righteousness but also our authority and dominion. How can we refuse to serve the One who has saved us, given us His Holy Spirit and empowered us for service? We were saved to bear fruit by leading those oppressed by the enemies of God to freedom in Christ. “The LORD said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies Your footstool. The LORD shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of your enemies!” (Psalm 110:1-2) Christ has restored our life. We are in Him and He in us. He is our life. He has perfected His life in us so that we can live His life as the Scriptures declare “By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the Day of Judgment, because as He is so also are we in this world”. (1 John 4:17)
Christ is our life and we can only find fulfillment when we live to serve Him. The landowner in today’s parable did not have the life of Christ neither was he ready to serve Him. He was diligent but Jesus points out that he was not the one who produced the crop. True, he was the one who planted, tended and harvested. However, he did not make the rain to fall, or the sun to shine or produce the nutrients in the soil. He had nothing to do with the seed germinating, sprouting and multiplying. If he were honest with himself, he would acknowledge God as the provider. If we view our wealth as the result of our own work and effort we will, without doubt, think of ourselves as owners rather than as stewards. In reality, we are all stewards of what God has provided. Whether we are into farming or into manufacturing or into business, God is the One who provides. He gives us the ability to do whatever we are doing. He gives us the ability to reason, to calculate numbers and to make recommendations. All of us depend on God to earn to earn a living. The ‘rich fool’ in today’s parable was not a fool because his fields produced a bumper crop. Neither was he a fool because in planing for the future he decided to build bigger barns. He was a fool because he did not think of his harvest as a blessing from God. According to the Psalmist “The fool says in his heart, there is no God”. (Psalm 53:1) He was so filled with greed that he intended to hoard his wealth for himself as an investment for the future. He believed a full barn is the guarantee for a full and satisfying life. Like many today the rich fool believed that life consists of what we own, the clothes we wear, the cars we drive and the houses we live in. They believe that the more they own, the happier they will be. God called the rich man a fool, and so is everyone who substitutes temporal treasures for a relationship with God. What appears most valuable in the here and now, barns packed full of grain, will collapse and rot, but a heart overflowing with love for God and kindness toward others will endure forever. Everything we have comes from the Lord as the Scriptures teach saying “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. Coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:17) We are only stewards of the gifts that God has given us. We please Christ when we change our attitudes and use his gifts to honour and glorify Christ.
Advertisers spend millions to entice us to think that if we buy more and more of their products we will be happier, more fulfilled and more comfortable. Planning for retirement, preparing for life before death is wise, but neglecting life after death is disastrous. If we accumulate wealth only to enrich ourselves, with no concern for helping others, we will enter eternity empty handed. We are stewards of what God has given us to promote His kingdom and are accountable to Him. We should be concerned about the lost and dying world around us because it matters to God. Giving to God helps us hold our greed in check. It adds an element of richness to life, which is far more gratifying than money. We should not be so concerned with temporal comforts that we forget to make room for God. The rich fool did not care about other people. His remarks are full of himself. Not once does the man look toward heaven and give thanks for God’s provision or seek the Lord’s guidance with how to spend his surplus. Not once does he look toward other people and think of their needs. He can only see himself. Christ blesses us to make us a blessing. As we bless others we invest in eternity and experience a joy that riches cannot buy. No one can take a briefcase full of money with him to heaven and angels will not accept credit cards. However, we can take with us the people whose needs we met and whose lives we touched with the gospel. This is the only way to find true contentment in life and glorify the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ! Amen!
