The Scripture Readings
- Old Testament – Ecclesiastes 1:1-3, 12-14 and 2:18-23
- Epistle – Colossians 3:1-11
- Gospel – Luke 12:13-21
Meditation: What difference does it make how much you have? What you do not have amounts to much more. – Seneca
Stuff.
I’m going to be talking about stuff today.
I can’t tell you exactly what kind of stuff I’m talking about because everybody’s stuff is different. Everybody here has stuff. Some of us have tons of stuff, some of us have just enough stuff to get by, but everybody has stuff. The comedian George Carlin says that’s all your house is: A place to keep your stuff. A house is just a pile of stuff with a cover on it.
Anyone who has ever moved knows that is a pretty simple, but accurate definition of a house. Why do people move? Usually to get a bigger cover for their stuff. If you’ve moved to a smaller place what did you have to do first? Get rid of some stuff. But you can’t just throw away good stuff. If you’re like a lot of people, you put some of your stuff into storage. You rent another cover for your stuff. Can you imagine that – there is an entire industry that has developed just to store people’s stuff. And you can ask Tim what’s happening to the one next door to his place over on Rt. 18, they’re expanding. Building more covers for people’s stuff.
Now before I go too far here, I need to add a disclaimer to this message. If you’re the type of person who has lots of stuff, or you spend a lot of time thinking about your stuff or worrying about your stuff, or trying hard to get more stuff, this message might not sound like good news to you. But that’s the nature of the gospel. Gospel means good news, but sometimes it isn’t easy news to hear.
The message in Ecclesiastes is mostly about the work we do to get stuff. The author, who is believed to be Solomon, writes, “…vanity of vanities. All is vanity.” Now the word vanity doesn’t mean exactly what we first think of when we hear the word. When I hear the word vanity I think of all those Hollywood stars on the magazines I see at the grocery checkout counter.
The Hebrew word for ‘vanity is ‘hebel,’ but the Hebrew word also carries the meaning of futility, pointlessness, emptiness, and meaninglessness. This is what the author is lamenting in today’s passage. We could reword it by saying, Futility of futilities, everything is pointless. What do you get from all your hard work on earth?
Something else I’d like you to notice are the words, “under the sun” in that passage. “What do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the sun?” An important thing to remember when reading the book of Ecclesiastes is that the words, “under the sun.” usually mean things that are on the earth, apart from God. Everything is pointless and meaningless apart from God.
Now this is a pretty pessimistic way to look at our work. Basically the author of this book is saying that if this world is all there is, then there is nothing worth living for. There is nothing worth living for under the sun – apart from God. That’s the important part. With God, our lives and our work have meaning. Without God, everything we work for is vanity.
I read on the Internet last week that the definition of pointless work is when no creation of anything useful or worthwhile is involved… no creation of anything useful or worthwhile is involved. I do apologize to any government employees I may have offended with that statement, but really this is just a starting point. According to Solomon, you can create useful and worthwhile things all your life and your work will still be pointless if it is apart from God.
Do you know who Jim Marshall is? He played football for Ohio State back in the late 50s and he played for the Vikings for twenty years in the 60s and 70s. Do you remember what he’s best known for?
He played in four Super Bowls and two Pro Bowls, but that’s not what he’s best known for.
He set an NFL record for starting in the most consecutive games with 282 in a row. His record was just broken last year, but that’s not what he’s best known for.
He recovered 29 opponent fumbles in his career which is an NFL record that still stands, but that’s not what he’s best known for.
On October 25, 1964, in a game against the San Francisco 49ers, Jim Marshall recovered a fumble, and ran it 66 yards into the end zone – his own end zone. Thinking that he had just scored a touchdown, he threw the ball away in celebration. The ball landed out of bounds, and the 49ers got two points. To this day, he still holds the NFL record for the longest safety in history, and that is what he’s best known for.
Sometimes I think I know how Jim Marshall felt when he realized what he had done. Have you ever put forth a great effort and felt like you’ve just scored a touchdown; but in reality, you’ve been running the wrong way? If Jim Marshall’s head was in the game, he may have indeed scored a touchdown for his own team. But he was looking the wrong way when he took off running.
The second verse we read in Colossians sums up how to avoid this kind of mishap. Verse 2 reads: “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth…” It is always a good idea to make sure that our minds are set on God before we put forth effort toward some stuff that we think we want.
Before we leave Ecclesiastes and get on to our reading from Colossians, I’d like to read a couple words of wisdom that can be found elsewhere in that Old Testament book. Ecclesiastes 5:19 reads in part: “…when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work–this is a gift of God.”
And Ecl. 6:9b is the verse that I think may sum up the entire book of Ecclesiastes “…It is better to be satisfied with what you have than to be always wanting something else.”
This verse basically tells us not to be greedy and like the verse before it, to accept our lot in life. In other words, be happy with the stuff you already have. The message in Ecclesiastes was about the work we do to get stuff. The message is Colossians is to not be attached to the stuff here “under the sun.”
The apostle Paul mentions greed in our reading from Colossians this morning. He uses some very harsh language when writing about some of the stuff that we should give up. He doesn’t just say we should stop doing them, he says we should put them to death! “fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry)” “anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language.” Notice that these things aren’t stuff we work for, but mostly things we feel or think. I think that evil desire and greed sum up all the others pretty well.
Now I have to stop for a minute to say something about these verses. These are examples of those “two-headed axe” verses. If you’ve ever split wood on a freezing cold day with a two-headed axe, you probably know what I mean. You take a big swing to sink the blade into a log and the axe bounces off and sinks itself in your head.
There are a lot of “two-headed axe” verses in the Bible. They are intended to help us to cut away sin, but they also cut away things that we all tend to cling to. Greed! Who among us doesn’t want more stuff? Not a lot more stuff, just a little more. In the novel, Fight Club, author Chuck Palaniuk says, “Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy stuff we don’t need.”
With that said, I guess it is confession time. Time to plant that axe in my head for all to see. You’ve already seen my collection of newspapers from a decade ago. That’s not the only stuff that I treasure. I have a beer can collection in my garage that I haven’t looked at since I was 18. I have a comic book collection that has been sitting in a box for 20 years. I have a collection of about 200 books on baseball that has been gathering dust for almost 10 years. I don’t want to give them up, but holding on to them certainly doesn’t get me any closer to heaven.
And this is a hard truth: Almost every Christian has some stuff that they love more than God. It may be stuff we collect, it may be stuff we do, it may even be stuff that we think! To paraphrase Martin Luther, “Any stuff that comes between us and God is an idol,” and we all know what God says about idols.
The good news is that there are always alternatives; there are always choices. We don’t have to go on instinct like the animals, we can think and reason. We can choose different stuff. We can choose between earthly stuff and heavenly stuff.
You know those cute sayings that churches put up on their signs? I read a story about one that was near a district of ill-repute in a big city. The church sign read, “All you who are tired of sin – come on in” And underneath some graffiti ‘artist’ had scrawled “All you who ain’t, call 555-3442”
Our lives are very much like that sign. We have choices between earth and heaven every day. We can flee from sin or call it up on the phone. We can live for God, or live for ourselves. But sometimes we get so busy that we don’t know which way we’re going. We think we’ve been running away from temptation, and all of a sudden there it is staring us in the face again.
So Ecclesiastes was about the work we do to get stuff and how it can be pointless. Colossians was about not being too attached to our stuff, and choosing the right stuff and the parable of the rich man and his barns in Luke is about what we should do with our earthly stuff.
One interesting thing about this parable is that it is the only parable that Jesus tells in which God speaks. It must be a pretty important message. And what are the first words that God says to the man? “You fool!” Why is he a fool? Because he doesn’t understand reality. He thought that filling his barns with good stuff was reality and that God was an illusion. God arrives on the scene and shows him that the exact opposite is true.
Notice that Jesus doesn’t say that he stored stuff up just for his physical comfort. The rich fool believes that in acquiring this physical wealth, his body and his soul are safe. He says to himself, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink and be merry.” What he has done is to set himself up as a kind of “god,” someone who can ensure his own comfort and welfare.
God gave the man an abundant harvest. He didn’t plan to do any more work, certainly not any work for the kingdom of God. He didn’t give thanks to God for the abundant harvest. He didn’t plan to give away his excess to the poor. He thought his body and soul were now completely safe. He believed that he was in control. Then God showed up and demanded his life. The rich fool had no control, just as we have no control. According to Jesus, the feeling of control is an illusion.
So we’ve seen that storing up treasure on earth is pointless and really gives us no control. We know we should set our minds on God before we pursue a goal or we’ll just be chasing the wind. We know that in the end, nothing we have acquired will matter. These are all good lessons, but I still have a couple questions.
How do we become “rich toward God?” I think the first step is to realize that the stuff we hold onto most tightly, the stuff that makes us feel like we’re in control or the stuff that makes us most comfortable is exactly the stuff that is keeping us from being rich toward God. We think this “good stuff” gives our life meaning, but it only hides from us of the meaning of the “great stuff” that God gave us in the person of Christ Jesus.
So how do you get rid of this stuff that is blocking us from being rich toward God, from laying up treasure in heaven? Well, as it happens, we’re having an auction in a little more than a month here at Mt. Zwingli. Would you believe that this sermon was just an advertisement for our auction? Well, Mt. Z can help get rid of some of your earthly stuff, but I’m more interested in how we can store up treasure in heaven.
My wife has a lot of sayings that she tells our kids. One of the best is: “Things don’t matter, people matter.” That’s really good, isn’t it? I think she knows more about this stuff “stuff” than I do. And I think that this is what Jesus was getting at. Remember the parable of the rich young ruler? He asks Jesus what he has to do to get eternal life in heaven. Jesus tells this young man to keep the commandments, and he says that he does. Then Jesus tells him to sell everything he owns and give the money to the poor and “you will have treasure in heaven.” Do you remember what the young man does? He walks away. Why? Because he had a lot of stuff. (Matthew 19:21)
If we decide to heed Jesus’ advice, to get rid of all our unnecessary possessions and give the money to the poor, will we be guaranteed a place in heaven? Nope. That’s justification by works. If you remember only one bit of stuff from me today let it be that we can only get to heaven through faith and belief in Jesus as Christ. Remember: There is nothing you can do to make God love you more. There is nothing you can do to make God love you less.
The mistake that the rich young ruler made and the mistake that the rich fool made was to deny God. Their god was their stuff. Their stuff came from God, and they made the stuff into their god. It became an idol to them. The things they owned ended up owning them.
Let us not fall into the same trap; in our own lives with our own stuff or in our church lives with church stuff; and not with our auction either. Let’s remember when we’re gathering all this stuff together to sell it next month, that Jesus told the rich young man to give his money to the poor to lay up treasure in heaven.
I think the chairman of our upcoming auction would be happy to hear me add that there’s no virtue in holding on to the stuff that we think is “too good” for the auction. If you want to get rid of it, give Bryan or Jim a call. And don’t be afraid to suggest to the auction committee how we as a church can use the proceeds from the auction to lay up treasure in heaven.
Will you please join me in prayer?
Our heavenly father, we pray that you will help us figure out a way to understand the real value of the earthly stuff we have and the earthly stuff we do and realize how valuable your heavenly stuff really is. We pray for strength, because getting rid of stuff, even bad stuff is difficult. All this we pray, and all this we do in your holy name, giving thanks always for the gift of your son, our redeemer, Jesus. Amen.
