Aug. 11, 2013, 12th Sunday After Pentecost

Luke 12:32-40

32"Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  35 "Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. 37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. 38 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night. 39 But understand 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. 40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him."

“Our Treasurer and Our Hearts”

What we live for is what we become.  I will end up - my heart will end up - where I put my energy and hope.  We become possessed by what we set out to possess.
i.e. addictions of all sorts.

We need to remember that life is a gift not a possession; and so is the Kingdom of God.
To lose life is to find it; to be possessed by the gift of the Kingdom is to become a servant in the work of the Kingdom.

Gospel feels like a double whammy.

It contains grace pure and clear - God is pleased to give us the Kingdom.
It contains a warning - we can miss the kingdom by living for the wrong reasons.

To live by faith is to live in openness to God as the faithful promise maker and promise keeper.  It is to live in readiness for the unpredictable arrival of God’s grace; it is to journey through life seeing more then can be seen and certain of that which cannot be seen.


“The Gift Of The Kingdom”

God wants to give us a great gift - a tremendous, valuable, priceless gift.
We are not sure we want it.

God wants to give us His Kingdom!
We are afraid to accept it for the gift cannot be kept to ourselves - we in tern must give it.

God’s Kingdom is a free gift, but God is never thrown at us for free; it costs us our lives given in thankful service for so great a gift, freely given.

For God’s Kingdom, freely given, joyfully received, becomes not a possession we have but a possession which has us!

We become possessed by the gift and all of life becomes a means of giving the gift.