“Where Your Treasure Is”
Luke 12:32-40
Jesus, the itinerant preacher, teacher, healer, rabbi and Messiah is camped out today right where we left Him last Sunday [and will be there next week as well]. A large crowd had gathered, many thousands according to Luke. So many so that they were trampling on one another. Wouldn’t that be a great problem to have? So many folks that we were trampling each other. Bishop King, one of our former Bishops in our old denomination used to say the church should be like the rides at Disney World; folks should be lined up around the block to get in to hear the Good News!
Jesus, as we learned last week, is teaching life lessons to His disciples; not just the original twelve but to all that were now following Him, and even to us this morning because we too are disciples, or as Dallas Willard used to say, apprentices. It seems that everywhere Jesus showed up a large crowd gathered. [Luke 12 similar to the Sron on the Mount of Matthew 6] And to this crowd He says, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.”
WOW! Everyone here needs to memorize that verse. That verse says it all! Does anyone remember Don Meridith when he was on Monday Night Football? Do you remember the song he would sing towards the end of the game? “Turn out the lights, the party’s over.” That’s what Jesus has done with this one verse. My Grandma Hamilton, if you would say something to her that was provocative, she would say, “I want you to hush.” The crowd could have said that to Jesus, “We want you to hush;” because He has said it all.
This passage indicates how Jesus thinks of His disciples. He thinks of us as a body, not only with affectionate devotion, but also as having important religious significance.
It’s easy to see why early Christians would interpret “little flock” as a reference to the church. That church conceived of itself as the nucleus or core of the coming new order. It wasn’t long after the Resurrection that Christians were all but identifying the church with the kingdom of God.
Fear is something that we all deal with, isn’t it? Fear that our job will be terminated—fear that our savings won’t hold out—fear what the doctor might tell us about our recent test. We live in a world of fear, which lurks around the corner or down the street.
The folks that Jesus is addressing in our text for this morning knew all about fear. In a country such as ours where we have religious freedom I don’t think we can understand the pitfalls that these people faced when it came to their faith and how they expressed it. Jesus calls them a little flock because they were small in numbers then—but some day, according to Revelation 7:9 they will be “a great multitude, which no man could number.” But even so, they, or we, will never be exempt from the calamities of life but we have a Father in heaven that will care for us and help to calm our fears.
Did you know that those words: “Do not fear,” appear 365 times in the scriptures? They were said to a multitude of groups and individuals; to Moses—to the prophets—to both Joseph and Mary—to the shepherds in the field the night Jesus was born—and to the women at His tomb on the morning of the Resurrection. He said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9b).
Now you may be thinking: what’s so important about that? Thanks for asking. This means, for us as Christians, every day of our 365-day year we can be comforted and not be afraid: “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.”
Jesus didn’t always think of the kingdom of God as wholly in the future. In some measure God’s rule was already a fact. The kingdom was already breaking in upon history, although its full manifestation will be an event of the last days.
What did John the Baptist preach to those who came out to the wilderness to be baptized? “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” (Matthew 3:2). After Jesus was baptized and tempted by the devil for forty days what was the first message He preached? “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” (Matthew 4:17). When Jesus gave His twelve disciples the authority to drive out evil spirits and heal every disease and sickness what did He tell them to preach? “The kingdom of heaven is near” (Matthew 10:7). Are you sensing a theme here?
Little flock, Jesus came to this earth as God incarnate—“God with us”—God in human form. And when He died, as His Father promised—at Pentecost, we were blessed with the Holy Spirit—Jesus living within us. Thus, as I figure with my limited mind, the kingdom, in some form, is already here; it resides in each of us! So, what are we supposed to be doing?
Well, first, we are to get ready by watching for the Master’s return. The waiting servants in our text appear to represent the early church—the absent Master would be the Risen Christ—and the Master’s return would be the Parousia or His Second Coming. This Second Coming of Jesus can be such a touchy subject for the church. We wonder why He has tarried so long—so many have tried to figure out when He is coming—and every one of them has been disappointed.
This was something that Paul was forced to deal with in his early church starts. There were false teachers who would follow him and tell the people not to listen to him—not to worry about how they acted or what they believed—because Jesus had already returned. If you would have asked Paul if he thought the world would still be turning in 2025, he probably would have called you crazy. He and the early church expected Jesus to return in their time and so should we.
In elementary school we had a set of triplets in our class—Mary, Martha and May, the Hurd girls. Whenever one of our teachers would leave the room and instruct us to study on our own what do you think we did. That’s right, we threw erasers and had a big time. Someone was always assigned to the door to keep watch so we wouldn’t get caught. But the rest of us were having fun, everyone but the Hurd girls. They were the brown noses, the goody-two-shoes of our class. And they were disliked for it. If they got in trouble everyone else relished it. Was that wrong? Probably so. But it was a way of life.
Jesus said that the attitude of the Christian is to be like that of servants who are expecting momentarily the return of their master, probably like the Hurd girls did all those years ago when our teacher left the room. We are to be ready to open to Him the moment He knocks at our doors. The servants whom the master finds watching will be blessed for He will serve them.
So, what does Jesus mean when He tells us to watch? If charting and planning and dating isn’t His meaning, then what is? This question brings us to the second way the people of God are to get ready.
Jesus is asking His followers to adopt a way of life that isn’t rooted in the securities of this world. We talked last week about being rich toward God rather than rich toward what society may think of as rich.
I can honestly stand before you this morning and say that I have never worn out a purse, a few wallets, sure, but never a purse. Granted, in the days of Jesus men didn’t need to carry around three picture IDs as proof of who they were. They didn’t carry credit cards, insurance cards, driver’s licenses, blood donor cards, business cards, and every school picture ever taken of their children and grandchildren. My point being that for a purse or wallet not to wear out it must not be used. If you don’t use it, you won’t wear it out. Jesus says, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor.” Remember now, as I stated last Sunday, Jesus isn’t expecting you to sell everything you have and live in poverty. I believe He’s telling us to sell the possessions that possess us and give the proceeds to the poor.
How much time do you spend worrying about storing up treasures on earth and how much time do you spend storing up treasures in heaven? Remember what the Spirit shared with me last week? We’re going to live even after we die. If the scales are tilting toward heaven, then I think you are fulfilling Jesus’ desire. And that brings us to the third way the people of God are to get ready. We are to get ready through service or action.
When one wished to go to work or go on a journey in Jesus’ day he would “gird” himself, pulling on his flowing robe and then tying the sash to hold it all together. The long robe would interfere with the freedom of movement if it weren’t caught up about the waist. So, said Jesus, we need to prepare for His coming again by girding ourselves—or be dressed for service and to keep our lamps burning.
On the surface, this is a routine story. Everyone listening would have understood the word picture that Jesus told. But there is a remarkable twist at the end. In ordinary life it is the servants who wait on the master. But for those servants that the master finds waiting and ready it will be the master who will serve them.
This probably isn’t what comes to mind when you picture that of master and a servant. One where rewards are beyond measure and grace abundant. That’s the kind of promise that our Lord has given us upon His return. He will sit down at His banquet table and satisfy the needs of us—His servants!
Many years ago, Mother Teresa met with Dr. Robert Schuller, the pastor of the Crystal Cathedral in California. Dr. Schuller was in awe of Mother Teresa’s ministries to the poor in Calcutta, India. She had devoted her life to serving the neediest, most destitute people in Calcutta, and has been an instrument in starting similar ministries around the world. Dr. Schuller asked Mother Teresa for some words of wisdom for his ministry. He was so moved by what she said that he had her words engraved into a plaque which he hung on his office wall. Mother Teresa told Dr. Schuller, “Be all and only for Jesus. Let His use you without consulting your first.”
“Be all and only for Jesus. Let Him use you without consulting with you first.” That’s what it means to be dressed and ready for service. What would have to change in your life to be ready for service? What fears would you have to overcome? What priorities would you have to change. And what could God do through you if you let God use you without consulting you first? Yes, these are scary questions. Jesus knows that they are. So, remember His words that are as true for us today as they were for the disciples and the large crowd gathered 2,000 years ago: “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.”
Eastman First Methodist Church 