Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text this evening is from the Gospel according to Luke, the 12th Chapter:
Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
I just bought 35 pounds of peanut oil. My sister and her fiancée are coming up for Thanksgiving, and we’re going to deep-fry a turkey this year. You should have seen me in the store. Here I was, in the store, trying to figure out how many gallons 1134 tablespoons made. I mean, come on. Who buys by the tablespoon, moreover, who eats peanut oil by a tablespoon serving size? And who buys by the pound? Why couldn’t they just give me the number of gallons? That would just make sense, that’s why. It equals about 4.4 gallons, by the way. But I bought it. All 35 pounds of peanut oil.
And I’m excited. Deep-frying a turkey sounds delicious. We also bought five pounds of sweet potatoes, three big bags of celery, a huge thing of butter, a ton of eggs, a bunch of stuff for pies. And that’s just what we bought. My sister is bringing up a bunch more. They’re driving all through the night to spend a short part of the weekend with us.
They’re driving to our home, a house that, in my opinion, is quite homey. We’ve got a TV, a few beds, all of Elias’ toys. We’ve got all of our toys, the computers, the devices, the things that make life a little more fun. We’ve got beer, running water, some soda. We’ve got a riding mower, a snow blower, and various other tools. We’ve got furniture, the couch, the bookcases, the books, a desk, a crib, a dining room table.
And none of it matters at all. Not one bit. The house, the stuff, the food, the beer, none of it matters. And none of what you have matters for you. At least, not really. Like I said, it makes life more enjoyable, doesn’t it? I mean, we here have all been so incredibly blessed by God in this country. We have our freedoms, or liberties, our responsibilities, our stuff. But none of it matters. Because, when it all comes down to it, the saying is true: “You can’t take it with you.”
When your life is demanded from you, when the day comes and death knocks at your door, you won’t be asked what stuff you’d like to take with you, you won’t even be asked who you would like to take with you. You just have to go. When death comes, he doesn’t take requests.
But, that’s not something of which we should be fearful. As good Christians, we know this, yes? We know that when we leave this world in our death, when our souls ascend into heaven, leaving our bodies behind to wait for the soul’s return in the resurrection, nothing comes with us. Well, nothing that is, except for the robes of Christ’s righteousness. You see, there is nothing that can be taken out of this world except that which one who is not of this world gave you.
Jesus Christ, by His death and resurrection, robed you, clothed you with His righteousness. He covered you in white. Your sins would turn you scarlet, yet, by washing these robes in the blood of the Lamb, they are made whiter than snow. And by this gift, He gives you everything else.
By His righteousness, by His perfect obedience to the Law of God, and then by His declaration that you, on account of His work, you are righteous, even that you are forgiven of all your sins, He gives to you everything else. He gives you the peanut oil. He gives you the home. He gives you the family. He gives you the friends. He gives you the stuff. And He doesn’t just do this so that you can use these things to tell others about Him, though He certainly does. He gives it to you to make life, even life in this sin-filled world, a little more enjoyable. He cares for you, and all that you receive from Him is pure gift.
That’s why the rich man was really not all that smart. He thought he did all the work. He thought he made the land bring forth its crop. He thought it was up to him to store it all. He thought it was up to him to do all of the work. And he thought he was preparing himself for the future. But he didn’t know it was all done for him that night. Instead of eat, drink, and be merry for many years, it’s eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.
We should go out and enjoy all that God has given us. We should enjoy all the things. We should even, if you’d like it, have others to enjoy them with us, and not be arguing over who gets what or when. We enjoy life as it comes, as we can prepare for it, but we, as God’s chosen people, as His sons and daughters, are ready to give it up at a moment’s notice. We’re ready to give it all up for we have an inheritance coming larger, bigger, nicer, more amazing than anything we have in this life.
We have eternal life coming. And that is from Christ. It’s said that through Christ’s death, our sin finds its death, and through His resurrection, we are given eternal life. Sin is dead in us, forgiven, and life is given life, made righteous. It flows to us through our Baptisms, washes over us in His Word, permeates our entire being through His Supper, and all of this to bring to us a greater inheritance than we could have ever hoped. There’s nothing in this life that compares. I’ll give it all up when He calls me to Himself. I won’t have a choice. None of us will. But are we prepared to do so?
The covetousness in our hearts, well, it tries to rob that inheritance from us. It does. But, in Christ, by hearing His Word, cherishing His Sacraments, He transforms us from self-loving, world-loving, work-loving miscreants, to God-loving, people-loving, life-loving people. He’s still working on me, on that. But I have, as you do, complete confidence, that He will still save me, calling me to Himself someday so that I may inherit all things, the entire world, life itself forever in His name.
All the things I hold dear in this life, they’re not mine anyway. They’re all His. He gives them to me to take care of until His return. And so, I’m going to do my best and trust Him. I’m gonna fry that turkey. I’m gonna take care of my wife and son. I’m going to keep up my home. I’m going to hug my sister and future-brother-in-law. I’m going to enjoy all of His gifts, giving thanks to Him for it all. And I’m going to be prepared to let it all go when He calls me to do so, because I’m holding onto His righteousness. And so are you. That’s why we’re here: we’re holding onto Christ and His righteousness that He grants to us.
What He’s coming to give you is greater, and you get it all, you get everything, in Christ. You get eternal life, with no want, no need, but Christ Himself, and there is plenty of Him in abundance, now and in eternity, now and forever. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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