Luke 12:13-21
Listen to Sermon
Pastor Tom Johnson, August 4, 2019
One thing my dad taught me growing up was the difference between smoke and steam. Driving through the industrial Midwest, I would see a smoke stack. My dad said if the smoke continues to rise and be carried with the wind it is smoke. But if it vanishes it is steam. This is Solomon’s refrain—his repeated image: “vanity of vanities.” Vanity refers to the the steam that rises from a boiling pot that vanishes almost as soon as it rises. I remember my grandmothers talking about how quickly time flies by the older we get. I think as we experience life more and more we realize just how brief and fleeting it can be.
Like the Hebrew phrase “Holy of Holies” referring to the holiest place of the Temple where the Ark of the Covenant was and the Altar where the yearly sacrifice on the Day of Atonement was offered, so Solomon talks about the “vanity of vanities”—the most futile and meaningless place. This is when we live our lives in the pursuit of material things—when we amass wealth like the fool in Jesus’ parable—when we suffer hardship and anxiety because we never feel like we have realized our dreams and goals. Solomon says at one time he gave his heart up to despair—that is coming from someone who is considered one of the wisest and wealthiest people in biblical history. Solomon reminds us that this struggle is a universal human experience. He names the struggle as “days full of pain, work is a vexation, and even at night our minds will not rest.” Work can be a pain—emotionally and physically. It can create anxiety. And we can take the suffering home—so much so that it can keep us up at night because we cannot surrender the worry, confusion, and pain it causes. This is no way to live. Solomon, out of his wisdom and compassion, is our life coach. He warns us, as the Greek philosopher Socrates does, that the unexamined life is not worth living.
It is a courageous thing to look at our lives individually and do a self-assessment—to search the archives of our soul. What will we find? Both Solomon and Jesus point out that we are all at risk of putting our hope in material things and not in God. We find our lives can be like water vapor rising quickly only to vanish into nothingness. Vanity of vanities. We have few meaningful goals. We have not set up the next generation for success. And that our striving, working, and ambition are often like the ridiculousness of chasing after the wind. Have you ever watched a dog or a cat chasing after its own tail? It’s pretty entertaining—even adorable. But it’s also futility. God wants us to let go of the pain, worry, and restlessness. We can surrender it all just as Jesus did on the Cross when he prayed, “Into your hands I commit my Spirit.”
There is a pastor I have known for a long time who annoys me every time I ask how he is doing. He says, “Better than I deserve.” So aggravating. But a good reminder of the wisdom of Solomon and of our Scripture. Everything that brings us joy is a gift. So Solomon writes, “There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in their toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God; for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? For to the one who pleases him God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy.” God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy. He is the creator of everything. He has made the world and all of us who dwell in it. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1). “In the beginning was the Word—all things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men” (Jn 1:1-4). Everything we are—every person and every thing we are blessed by—it is all a gift from the hand of God. Apart from him we are nothing. Apart from him we possess nothing of value and benefit to our souls.
As Job said about his life: ”Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return.” Are you annoyed by airlines that charge you for carry-on luggage and checked in bags? God will not even allow one item on our flight from this life to the next. But we should be grateful. Everything we enjoy is not ours. It is on loan. We are not owners but stewards of God’s creation. The one thing we will continue in the life of the world to come is to build our relationship with God and one another. And we will continue to enjoy God’s re-creation.
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart imagined what God has prepared for us who love him” (1 Cor 2:9). For all eternity we will know that all of it is God’s gracious gift. The sooner we live our lives as if they are on loan—the sooner we enjoy the things of this world as from God’s hand—the sooner we are the wiser. And with that wisdom and knowledge comes joy. Joy is something nothing and no one can take away. Because of the greatest of those gifts—God’s eternal Son. Jesus has conquered all the things that threaten to take away meaningful, purposeful, and joyful living. Jesus has given us the victory over evil, our sin, and even death itself. Through Christ we have two other things that no one can take away: forgiveness and eternal life. And that only makes our joy even more full.
No comments:
Post a Comment