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Two rich men are introduced in Luke chapters 18 & 19. One was a Ruler of the Jews who lived according to the 10 commandments and as such was well liked and well received in Jewish society. The other was a Jew who collected taxes for the Roman Government. He, on the other hand, was hated because he worked for the enemy. In essence, he was stigmatized and ostracized by his fellow Jews.
The Ruler was living a righteous life and even Jesus recognized that. However, Jesus knew something that the Ruler may not have even known about himself… he loved his money and possessions too much. When Jesus told him to sell it all and distribute the proceeds to the poor the conversation ended and the Ruler walked away with great sadness. He loved his money too much.
The Tax Collector, like the Ruler, had heard of Jesus and when he heard Jesus was in town he climbed a tree just so he could catch a glimpse of Jesus. He wasn’t blind or crippled or in need of any miraculous healing from Jesus he just wanted to see him. And then Jesus did something that violated all the social norms of Jewish society… he noticed the Tax Collector and stayed in his home. You see the Tax Collector suffered from a non-physical malady he suffered from a love deficiency. He had all the money he could want but no one cared for him.
At Jesus expression of love the Tax Collector, Zacchaeus, was over whelmed and offered something the Jewish Ruler wouldn’t give… he offered to give 50% of his possessions to the poor and offered a four fold restitution to anyone who he might have over charged for taxes.
Jesus’ response? “Salvation is come to this house.”
The Jewish Ruler asked what he needed to do to be saved. Zacchaeus already knew the answer and with great enthusiasm offered the price.
How does a rich man enter the kingdom of God and how does a camel go through the eye of a needle? By understanding the true value of wealth and using it properly.
In Matthew 21:33-41, Jesus tells the story of a man who decided to build a vineyard and start growing grapes. He planted the grape vines then built a hedge around the whole place to keep out sheep and goats and other animals who might destroy the plants. He also built a tower with a hut on top to be able to watch over the vineyard and he dug out an area for a wine press to collect the juice from the grapes.
Once he had it complete he rented the place out to share croppers and left the country. When the time of the year came to collect his share of the crop the owner sent servants to get his share. The renters instead beat up and killed the owner’s servants. So he sent more servants who got the same reception. Finally the owner reasoned they will respect my son and he sent his son to collect his share. The renters schemed that this was the owner’s son and that if they killed him the owner would finally get the message that they weren’t going to pay.
The story ends with the question, what will the Lord of the vineyard do to these men and the answer is he will kill them and rent out his vineyard to other renters who are more righteous.
Nice story, but this story isn’t about growing grapes. The vineyard is God’s people (Jews), God is the builder and owner. The renters are the High Priest, chief priests and Pharisees who ruled the Jewish nation. The servants who were killed are the prophets God sent including John the Baptist. The son of course was Jesus Christ. Because the Jewish leaders killed Jesus, God promised he would kill them which occurred (finally) in AD 70. The vineyard/kingdom would then be turned over to faithful men including Gentiles who would act more righteously.
When we eat of the Lord’s Supper every Sunday we recall that God gave up his only born Son for our sakes. Usually when we remember the death of someone we are sorrowful and sad and those are some of the emotions that we should have when we remember Jesus but paradoxically we should also be happy and glad because without God’s sacrificial gift we could not receive the blessings that we have as being God’s sons and daughters. We would be lost and without hope.
Don’t neglect the assembling with other Christians on Sundays to take of the Lord’s Supper… mourn but also rejoice… after all it memorializes God’s great and unspeakable gift to us. To do less would be shameful and insulting.
One of the problems in the church at Corinth was some of the members didn’t feel they were important. They thought that no one appreciated them.
The medicine for that problem was love. The other members needed to identify those members and apply that healing salve. That’s kind of a problem because generally those weaker members don’t just stand up and say “I’m weak”. So… the more mature members need to be on the look-out for signs of weakness. Keep their ear to the ground so to speak.
I knew a family many moons ago that thought that everyone else thought they were better than them… kind of had a chip on their shoulder. I also knew a fellow who really wanted to teach a Bible class but the Elders had decided that they only wanted professional teachers teaching those classes and said… no thank you. He was hurt by that.
1 Cor. 8:1 says, “Knowledge puffs up but love builds up.”
Knowledge might address the above problem by stating, “everyone is equal in this congregation” and “we want the very best teachers”. But knowledge doesn’t really solve the issue does it? In fact it might make it worse.
Love addresses the problem by acting like this family was the most important to them in the world… inviting them over for Thanksgiving, asking their opinion, seeking out their company , etc., etc., etc.
Loving Elders might say, OK you might have all the teaching talent in the world but we’ll never know unless we give you a try… have at it. Or ask them to team teach with someone else, or lead a home Bible study, etc., etc., etc.
As a congregation we need everyone looking forwards, not sideways and certainly not backwards. If our vision is distracted by ancillary issues our mission is also distracted.
Don’t tear people down with superior knowledge but make a few sacrifices along the way and demonstrate love, patience and understanding because after all that’s how God is with us.
There were a lot of problems in the church in Corinth, Greece. One of the big problems was that some of the members didn’t think they mattered very much (1 Cor. 12). There were others who were front and center in the congregation and who got a lot of attention and acclaim so they felt that in comparison they weren’t worth too much.
Feelings aren’t necessarily facts but if they’re your feelings they feel like facts. It’s a problem because if you buy into those feelings you can become non-productive in the Lord’s Kingdom and cripple the church.
Paul answers this by comparing church to a human body. Everybody understands that to have a fully functioning body you have to have all the parts that make up the human body. To run and jump you have to have legs and knees and toes. To climb mountains you also have to have strong arms and hands with all their fingers. To see, smell, hear and feel you have to have all of your sensory organs. Otherwise, you’re handicapped and crippled.
So too the church.
You can’t have a congregation made up solely of preachers or solely of song leaders or composed of only young people or only of old folks. You’ve got to have all kinds of people with all kinds of abilities. I’ve said before that I’m glad the church isn’t made up of people just like me. If it was I would probably go find somewhere else to attend.
The church needs all its parts and every different kind of member; families, widows and widowers, young people and old people, smart people and people who are not so smart, quiet people and people who are outgoing.
When a small member like the toe can say… I’m sure proud to be a member of a body that has such good eyes, ears, arms and legs, etc. I can’t do what they can do but I can do my part then as a church we can accomplish some things. Otherwise as a church we’re going to need a handicapped parking sticker and just putter along the road as others pass us by.
Let’s make sure we appreciate all our members and build each other up so we can accomplish great things!
In Luke 16, Jesus was with some Pharisees and he figured out they liked their money a little too much so he told two stories that both started the same way, “there was a certain rich man”.
The first story was about a rich man that was unhappy with the fellow who was managing his money so he told him he was fired and to settle up his books. While he was looking at the books he realized that he wouldn’t be able to support himself in the future so acting within his authority he called in one of the ones who owed the most and said if you’ll pay your debt now I’ll give you a 50% discount. The second one who owed he gave a 60% discount. He curried favor with them so they would give him a place to live after he was out of work.
The money manager then went over the books with his master and the master saw what he had done and commended him for his shrewdness in preparing for his future at his own expense and then fired him.
Jesus using this story said to pay attention to what the money manager did and follow his example to use your earthly wealth to prepare a home in eternity.
The second story was about a rich man who dressed well and enjoyed his life but wouldn’t stoop to help feed a poor beggar or tend his wounds. They both died and the rich man suffered torment and anguish while the beggar (Lazarus) was carried up by angels and was in comfort.
Message to the Pharisees and other lovers of money… remember who gave you that money and instead of spending it in merry making and entertaining your other money loving friends take a long look at helping those who are poor or have some other need because that’s an investment in Heaven.There won't be any merry making in Hell
I went to the funeral for Ofelia Guzman today. I find that in this point of my life I’m attending more and more funerals. Today I got there early so I could have a seat and was visiting with all the people, learning family connections and giving my condolences. Luis Torres (Ofelia’s brother-in-law) was the speaker and one thing he said that sticks in my mind was that he thought God had looked down on Ofelia and said “you’ve suffered enough… it’s time to come home.”
The Guzman’s children attended at Parkway and I know them very well. Every time I see Ron he calls me “Guero” and every time I see him I call him “Uncle Ronnie” (because that’s what his niece and nephew call him.)
As we were filing out of the auditorium today and everyone was expressing condolences to the family I saw Uncle Ronnie sitting next to his Dad and the emotions hit me and all I could do was shake hands. See… you would think I would be prepared for that because it happens at every funeral I go to… but no it always catches me by surprise.
When I was standing by the hearse I was still choked up. Uncle Ronnie came up and said… It’s Ok Guero. But at the internment Uncle Ronnie was going around asking people if they needed anything (like water) and I said, yeah I’ll take a Whataburger with cheese, fries and a Coke and he grinned and said that’s my Guero!
I see my parent’s generation quickly fading away and know that there are some big funerals awaiting me. We’ve lost three old timers at church this year and there are several more right behind them.
It’s at times like these that we need God the most… when we hand over our most beloved to him to care for them forever.
I lost my Dad when he was 62 years old. I still ask God to find him and tell him that I love him.
Oh and by the way, Ron and Sylvia Guzman drove all the way from Corpus Christi to Houston to attend my Dad’s funeral in 1998. I’ll never forget that.
I’m always torn about what would be best… for me to attend Julie’s funeral or for her to attend mine. We’re hoping that God takes us at the same time. We know there’s no marriage In Heaven but Julie says maybe we can hold hands.
I attend a lot of funerals and I’m glad to attend them because it reminds me that this life won’t last forever and every day I live brings me one day closer to eternity.
Rest in eternal peace Ofelia… you have lived well.
Luke 15 starts out by describing the reaction of the super-righteous Jews (Pharisees and Scribes) to Jesus socializing with the worst sinners of Jewish society. They criticized Jesus and felt morally superior to him.
Jesus then tells three stories; the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son. There’s a progression in these stories.
A sheep wanders off, the shepherd leaves 99 sheep to go look for the one that was lost and when he finds it there is great rejoicing. Of course everyone knows that.
A woman loses one of her 10 coins. She searches the house to find it and when she does she is over joyed and tells her friends and they rejoice. Of course she does.
A man has a rebellious son (one of two sons) who leaves the family and goes to a far country and lives a live of debauchery and sexual misconduct. The son repents and comes home and the father rejoices and throws a big party in celebration. Some understand this and some don’t.
The super self-righteous Jews criticized Jesus for caring about the lost children of God. Their spirituality was messed up. They mistakenly thought that God’s children couldn’t have anything to do with those whose lives were sullied by sin.
Perhaps they thought those lost should repent first and clean their lives up and then and only then could there be any social contact. Sound familiar?
They were spiritual failures. They didn’t understand that God loves all his children and is anxiously awaiting the day that they would repent and that repentance always, 100% of the time results in great rejoicing in Heaven. Maybe, not always on earth but always in Heaven.
They didn’t understand the process of bringing people to repentance. They didn’t understand the need for social contact to demonstrate care and concern and correction for the ultimate well-being of those who are lost in sin.
When I’m working with someone I have to ignore a lot. I have to ignore bad language, bad behavior, bad jokes, immodesty, etc. So I can build a relationship to show Christ living in me so that they will look at their own lives and want something better. If I condemn every little thing I lose my chance to address the greater things.
I’ve seen that process work.
Jesus worked hard with the morally bankrupt of Jewish society… should we do less?
