MEASURING LIFE

Luke 12: 13-21

August 5, 2001

How do you measure a person’s life? How do you quantify a person’s influence? Touch? One measure is the length of their years. If a person lives to be 85 or 90 or more, we say they lived a full life. If a person dies at a young age, we feel they were robbed of the fullness of life.

Some people measure a person’s life by the size of their investments – the greater the wealth, the greater the person’s life. And the same goes with the house one lives in – the bigger the house, the greater the person. People are often judged by the influence they have made in the community or a particular organization. They may not have been rich, but they influenced a lot of people. An unspoken measure among clergy is how many people attended the funeral of a person. I have officiated at funerals where several hundred were present, and then I have been at the graveside of a person when only a couple of family members were present.

How do you measure a person’s life? I have officiated at the memorial service of a person who didn’t make a big splash in the community, but who, in her own quiet way, touched the lives of hundreds of people. The values she portrayed, the assistance she gave to many, the compassionate listening ear she provided to friends in need. No one on the block would dare do or say anything to hurt or upset Grandma. For several decades she lived her life there on that street, welcoming everyone. How do you measure a life?

The father had died several years ago and now the children and grandchildren had gathered to bury mother. In the process the family gathered and started going through the things in the house. The dreaded process had to be done. In spite of the love for each other and their parents, emotions began to come to the surface in the decision making. "I understood Mom to say that I could have the china." The other daughter replied, "But Mom said I could have it; you were to have the cedar chest and the linens." " But my heart was set on the china; I have a place all set for it. I was wanting to use it at Thanksgiving this year." The brothers had words over the tools in the shed. It was becoming a mess. There were the pictures on the wall, the stereo, the recliner, the antique clock. None of them were thinking straight; the grief was overriding any sense of listening. They saw Jesus walking by and asked him to come in and be an outside arbitrator.

In Luke 9: 51, it is written that Jesus had set his face toward Jerusalem. The next 11 chapters are all about Jesus moving toward Jerusalem, the cross is looming ever larger. Luke hints that Jesus knows what he is going to face. He is on a mission. Life is short and there is much to do. Have you ever been around anyone who has a goal set in their minds and hearts and nothing will deter them? Everything he says and does is done in light of that consuming mission!

Jesus’ face was set toward Jerusalem. This family comes up to him and asks him to be the referee in a family feud over the family possessions. Jesus replies, "I’m not going there." He looked at the situation and realized that the feud was only the surface response to a deeper and, in fact, spiritual issue. The spiritual issue is greed; the human desire to surround ourselves with all kinds of physical possessions becomes a god that separates us from Creator God. It is called "practical atheism." We believe in God; we love Jesus Christ; we claim to be a Christian, but when push comes to shove, we cling dearly to the physical signs that we are successful, that we are secure, that we have made it in society; we worship at the altar of consumerism.

The parable Jesus tells is of a person whose crops do very well; he tears down his existing barns in order to build larger ones to store his grain. Feeling secure for years to come, he sits back and enjoys life with "me, myself and I." Eat, drink and be merry. God called him a fool; he was a successful farmer; he was surrounded by that which would make his life easy and comfortable. But God still called him a fool. Whoever dies with the most toys, still dies. Life is more than the abundance of possessions. "What does it profit a person if she gains the whole world and forfeits her life?"

Times haven’t changed all that much over the past 2,000 years. The message of Jesus then is just as relevant today. Instead of tearing down barns and building bigger ones, we build larger homes with a three car garage; we build bigger and bigger automobiles in which to ride and to haul or pull the variety of toys that entertain us. We hold garage sales to get rid of the things we aren’t using in order that we can buy more clothes, more exercise equipment, more tools and gadgets with which to make our lives more enjoyable.

Is it a sin to have possessions? No. Is it a sin to have a retirement fund? No. Is it a sin to enjoy some of the good things of life? No. It does become a sin if the longing for possessions takes the place of God in our lives. It does become a sin if all we can think about is ourselves and there is no compassion for those near us who have inadequate housing, who have no medical care, who have no food in the cupboards, who can’t afford reading glasses, children who go to school to learn with tooth aches and empty stomachs, parents who can’t afford quality child care while they try to make a living on minimum wage. If our hearts are cold toward those around us and we continue to surround ourselves with the signs of plenty, may God have mercy.

How much in the retirement fund is enough? When does living the good life become greed and selfishness? What size home is enough and when does it become a hindrance to faith in Christ? How many clothes and shoes do we need in the closet; and when do they become a god? These are not easy questions and I would hope that each and every one of us wrestles with them on a regular basis. A minister friend shared the other day about one of the images of eternal life for him. It is like a long airplane ride in which we sit next a person who had inadequate housing and clothing and begged for food; can I sit next to him in eternity with a clear conscience?

Those of us who confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are to look to God for our security, not the physical possessions that we accumulate on earth. When Jesus faced Jerusalem and the cross before him, his priorities changed. And we don’t know what tomorrow may bring. Where is our security? The question that I want to leave with you today is this: what difference should our faith in God make in the practical matters of life?

A television reporter interviewed a man who had just lost his house and all his possessions to a raging brush fire driven by Santa Anna winds in southern California. Recalling that his brother had recently mused that they should be careful not to allow their possessions to possess them, this man who had just seen everything he owned but the shirt on his back go up in smoke, announced to the reporter with a note of unexpected triumph: "I am a free man now!"

Jesus, would you come over here and help us decide who gets the sewing machine and who get the grandfather clock, who gets the china and who gets the silver tea service, who gets the workshop tools and who gets the Grand Cherokee, who gets the vacation house on the lake and who gets….