Now, this is the life!  This seems to be an exclamation that many people aspire to say.  Now, this is the life!  What does that life look like for you?

We’ve been focusing on the 8 Jesus Habits during the Lenten Season, a series developed in reading a book by Christopher Maricle entitled, The Jesus Priorities.  The book was written with one question in mind, “What did Jesus consistently say and do during his public ministry that would be instructive for us?”  One of those habits that Jesus discussed and demonstrated was Building up Treasure in Heaven.  Twenty-five times in the Gospels he is reported emphasizing this.  People around him had the idea of what it would take for them to be at the place where they could exclaim, “Now, this is the life!”  One day, one man came to Jesus asking for his help in his quest.   The story is found in Luke 12:13-34.  Allow me to read selected verses from this passage.  Hear now the Word of the Lord:

¹³Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” ¹⁴But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” ¹⁵And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” ¹⁶Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. ¹⁷And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ ¹⁸Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ ²⁰But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ ²¹So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” …

³²“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. ³³Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. ³⁴For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

This is the word of God for the people of God.  In this passage Luke reported to his readers Jesus’ insistence that kingdom people build up treasure in heaven.  Just what is ‘the life’?  Verse 15 makes it quite clear that “one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”  R.C.H. Lenski wrote regarding this verse and this man, “The man’s actual life is in him, the life principle is not drawn from his earthly possessions.  He will not have a bit more of actual life when he has much or a bit less of that life when he has little.” There seems to be two steps toward that place where we can exclaim, “Now, this is the life!”  Those two steps are: 1) Beware of the Snares, and 2) Invest in the Best.
 

Beware of the Snares

Jesus has already made his turn toward Jerusalem.  His teaching, always pointed, now has an added urgency.  He had just warned his followers about pending persecutions, when a man seemed to break through the crowd seeking rabbinic intervention.  Apparently, it was rather common back in the day to seek out an impartial third party with some religious insight to mediate disputes such as this one.  This man’s brother had not settled the estate in a way that seemed fair.  The man probably had talked with his brother about this and then said, “I’m going to tell Jesus on you!”  I can imagine Jesus looking at the man with that “you’ve got to be kidding me” look in his eyes.  Then he looked even deeper and saw that a few material possessions had created disharmony between two brothers.  That’s when he exposed the first snare – fair.  Most people’s idea of fair is that everyone gets the same.  Jesus’ idea seems to be that everyone gets what they need and what this man needs is life, life that does not consist of the abundance of possessions.

The second snare is more.  Jesus warned the man and all those around him to beware of all kinds of greed.  Leon Morris noted that greed can never get enough, while worry fears not having enough.  Jesus told them to be on guard against all forms of this.  That word translated, “be on guard” means “a positive action to ward off a foe”.  Greed is always advancing against us and we must be on guard as we would if someone were trying to break into our home.  The thirst for more is insatiable and is set as a snare early in life.  Jesus then told the story of a man who had a bumper crop and wondered what he should do.  It is important to note in this story the ‘I’ problems that this man has.  In the Greek there are eight ‘I’s and five ‘my’s in this short parable.  That is a lot of self absorption, so much so that even when discussing the problem he speaks to his own soul.  Because of his inward vision, he is only interested in his own comfort and his comfort will require more.  How much more?  There has been quite a bit of research into this question.  Bishop Robert Schnase cited one study that asked respondents, “How much more income would it take for you to be happy?”   He wrote, “They answered in surprisingly consistent ways (regardless of their current income) saying that 20 percent more income would ease their burdens, help them buy all they needed, and bring security.”  Beware of the snare of more, be on constant watchful guard.

The third snare revealed in this passage is the snare of then.  The man saw that if he had just a little more stuff, housed in bigger barns, then he could relax –eat, drink, and be merry.  How often the anxiety over the ‘then’ has robbed people of the joy and contentment of the ‘now’!

Beware of the snares of fair, more, and then.  Earlier this month Tammy and I were invited to the Twin City Mission Fundraiser featuring Denver Moore and Ron Hall.  They are the co-authors of the book, Same Kind of Difference as Me.  It is an interesting story of a homeless man from Louisiana, Denver, and a Texas millionaire, Ron, who meet in the Fort Worth mission where the millionaire’s wife volunteered him.  Ron’s wife encouraged him to befriend the homeless man, which he did with much effort.  It is not easy to get into the world of a man who has been abused most of his life.  Ron saw himself as a Henry Higgins type of character reaching out to the lowly, but he did not see the snares that had robbed him of real life.  He wrote:

I knew Denver was sincere when he told me that he would not want to trade places with me for even one day.  His convictions became clear to me when I laid my key ring on the table between us at one of our earliest meetings for coffee.

Denver smiled a bit and sidled up to a cautious question.  “I know it ain’t none of my business, but does you own something that each one of them key fits?”

I glanced at the keys; there were about ten of them.  “I suppose,” I replied, not really ever having thought about it.

“Are you sure you own them or do they own you?”

That wisdom stuck to my brain like duct tape.  The more I thought about it, the more I became convinced we’d enjoy life a whole lot more if we owned a whole lot less.  In some ways, Denver became the professor and I the student as he shared his particular brand of spiritual insight and plain old country wisdom.

Beware of the snares – fair, more, then – they can so easily rob us of the life that Christ desires for us.  Jesus came to bring people to God, not property to people.  Do you wish to be at place where you can exclaim, “Now, this is the life!”  Then beware of the snares and invest in the best.
 

Invest in the Best

After exposing the folly of a life that plans without regard for the creator, compassion for others, and community; Jesus assured his audience that God cares and wants to give his flock the best – life. Just as there are three snares, there are three investments that are eternally sound.  Those investments are share, enough, and now.

The man seeking arbitration was told to give what he has away, he was to see the possessions of the present as an opportunity to invest in sharing with those who had need.  Almsgiving was giving to those who had no way to reciprocate the gesture.  They were not going to pay you back.  Joel Green wrote in his commentary on Luke, “Those who give without exacting reciprocation are actually repaid by God.”  All the ‘I’s and ‘my’s of the wealthy farmer are transformed from the snare of fair to the investment of share.  It was the homeless man who understood this before the millionaire.  Denver Moore wrote in his book, “Now, believe it or not, there used to be what you might call a “code of honor” or unity, in the hobo jungle.  Down there, if a fella’ got hisself a can of Vienna Sausages and there was five other fellas around, then he gon’ give each one of ‘em a sausage.”

The second investment is enough.  This is a gift that few realize until it is too late.  Enough is what allows for Sabbath rest – God will provide enough, today I will rest.  Earle Ellis wrote that this passage identifies the choice of goals in life: to have or to live. Enough lets us live, while all forms of greed, the insatiable desire for more, shackles us to having.  St. Neilos, a fifth century student of St. John Chrysostom, noted, “Those who travel by sea, when overtaken by storm, throw into the waters with their own hands their own property, considering their own property less important than their life.” He went on to wonder, “Why is fear of God less powerful than fear of the sea?”  It is a question of enough.

The third investment is the investment of now, to realize that life does not happen when we get that twenty percent more, it is happening now.  How sad, that just as the man developed a plan for his future happiness, his life was over.  Earle Ellis wrote, “Life does not consist in possessing.  Life consists in living, and in losing that one loses all.”

This week someone sent to me the Sports Illustrated article about Albert Pujols, the star player of the St. Louis Cardinals.  I don’t know much about this ball player except for seeing some of his monster home runs.  The article highlighted his faith and how it speaks to his life.  Listen to how he wants to be remembered, “You know how I want people to remember me? I don’t want to be remembered as the best baseball player ever.  I want to be remembered as a great guy who loved the Lord, who loved to serve the community, and who gave back.  That’s the guy I want to be remembered as when I’m done wearing this uniform.  That’s from the bottom of my heart.”  It is going to be hard to cheer against this guy.  He seems to get it.

In an age where people seem more interested in finding the best investment, we seem to have it right here in the twelfth chapter of Luke.  Do you really want to invest in the best?  You are not going to find it in real estate, oil, or stock.  You will find it when you share, recognize the enough in your life, and live life now – today.

Build up treasure in heaven – this was a priority for Jesus.  It was among the eight essential habits talked about and lived out in Jesus’ public ministry.  Christopher Maricle wrote that this is achieved through detachment of material things (stop craving more), maintaining an abundance mentality (recognize that there is enough), and acting justly (developing charitable souls).  In order to accomplish this we must beware of the snares and invest in the best.  Then we will be able to exclaim, “Now, this is the life!” Amen.