August 5, 2007. Surprised at the End

KNU International English Church
Josh Broward
August 5, 2007
Surprised at the End
Luke 12:13-21

In 1995, Willy King was 51 years old. He had diabetes. One common problem for people with diabetes is poor blood circulation in the feet. Willy’s right foot had gotten so bad that it was starting to get gangrene. There was no hope left for Willy’s foot, so the doctors decided to cut it off so they could save the rest of his leg from gangrene. Willy agreed.
On February 17, Willy went into surgery in Florida to have his leg amputated (cut off) just below the knee. After a long day of work, doctors began one last surgery on Willy King. Everything was going perfectly. It was a textbook surgery, perfect incisions, perfect sawing, perfect control of blood loss. Any medical instructor would have been proud to have his students watch this surgery.
All in all, it was a perfect surgery. There was only one minor problem. IT WAS THE WRONG LEG! The doctors cut off the wrong leg! There was a mistake on the surgical schedule. Someone had accidently typed “left leg” instead of “right leg,” and so the doctor did a perfect amputation surgery on the wrong leg.
Sometimes it looks like we’re doing everything right, but we’re surprised at the end.

British doctors report similar mistakes. Doctors there have mistakenly removed the wrong teeth, the wrong spinal discs, the wrong kidneys, even the wrong testicle!
Sometimes it looks like we’re doing everything right, but we’re surprised at the end.

Our text today tells the story of someone who thought he was doing everything right, but he was surprised in the end. Let’s read it now. Look at Luke 12:13-21.
Like many of Jesus’ stories, this story is somewhat of a puzzle. It’s so easy to misread this passage, that we need to be careful. Let’s start first by talking about what this story doesn’t say.
First of all, this story doesn’t say being rich is wrong. I kind of wish it did. It would be so much easier to understand the Bible and to make decisions about money if the Bible were just more clear. Sometimes I wish the Bible said something like “Being rich is bad, and being poor is good. Every Christian needs to sell everything and take a vow of poverty.” That would be hard, but at least it would be clear. It would be easy to understand: money – bad; no money – good.
Instead, we get a mixed message from the Bible. Some parts of the Bible say that if we are wise and careful, God will bless us with increasing wealth. Some rich people are celebrated as faithful, godly people in both the Old and New Testaments. So let’s all just be rich and happy! Well, it’s not that easy. The Bible consistently challenges (or condemns) rich people for being lazy, greedy, selfish, and unfair. The Bible is especially hard on people who get their money by cheating, stealing, or taking advantage of the poor.
But this story doesn’t say the rich farmer got his money in an unjust way. It simply said that he had good ground that produced a good harvest. Year after year, his good ground produced a good harvest, and one year the harvest was especially good, a “bumper crop,” overflowing his barns. There is no implication of injustice or unfairness. He simply has a great farm in a great year.
This story also doesn’t say he is stupid. Apparently, he is a great business man. He knows how to manage a farm. He has enough money on hand to build new buildings without selling his crops. He is smart enough to know that if his farm did well, all of the other farms probably did well, and the price of grain will be low at harvest time. So he plans to save his crops until the market is right and the price goes up. When God calls him a “fool,” he clearly doesn’t mean stupid.
Lastly, this story doesn’t say this guy is going to hell. It just says he’s going to die. He might go to hell. We don’t know. That’s not the point – at least not the point of this story.

What is the point of this story? Well, to explain the point of this story, I need you’re help. I’m going to give you all a quiz. I know it’s summer vacation, and there aren’t supposed to be any quizzes right now, but just work with me. For us to take this quiz, I need a volunteer. (And the volunteer has to be someone who hasn’t already read the sermon notes! And if you have read the sermon notes, just play along. Don’t give away the quiz. Give me a Weigook up here!)
Here’s how the quiz works. Inside this suitcase, there are 3 different objects. Here’s a ruler. You need to measure them. Measure all four of them. Speak into the microphone, and tell everyone here what their measurements are. When you are finished, I’ll give everyone a quiz about these items. Be careful and thorough. Now, everyone needs to listen and pay attention. I’m warning you, the quiz is tricky!

-- Wait while the volunteer measures 3 items of various sizes and relays the information to the congregation. --

All finished? OK, everyone, ready for the quiz? Here’s the question: How much do they weigh? Oh, you didn’t measure their weight? Why not? Yeah, I gave you a ruler, but I told you this quiz was tricky. There was a scale right over here.
This is what happens to us every day in life. The world gives us a ruler to measure life: “How much money does he have?” “How smart is she?” “Is his son at the top of his class?” “Is he advancing up the company ladder?” “How big is her house, her car, her closet?” “Does she have the nicest clothes?” “Is she more beautiful than you?” “Does he have more friends than you?” “Are you popular, famous, respected?” “Where have you traveled to?” “How much fun are you having?” There are a hundred measuring sticks, but they all come down to possessing – possessing money, possessing power, possessing pleasure. The world tells us to measure life by how much we’re getting and how much we’ve got. So we all go around with our little rulers measuring everyone and everything and even ourselves. When our measurements are up, we feel good. When our measurements are down, we feel bad. How big is it? How tall is your stack of possessions?
And God asks us “How much does it weigh?” God asks a completely different question. He asks a question we’re unprepared for. We’ve been running around with our little rulers, and God asks a question that requires a scale. It’s not about how big, how much, how many. It’s about how significant, how real, how beautiful.

A first grade teacher announced to her students that she was holding an art contest. The winning picture would win a blue ribbon. She told them to get out their paper and colors and start drawing. Timmy whipped out his paper and colors and starting coloring in a fury. He was going fast. He was coloring all over the place. There was practically smoke coming up from the paper he was coloring so fast. After a grand total of 3 minutes, Timmy marched up to the teacher and said, “I’m finished! I win! I’m the first one done. I win!” The teacher laughed a little and gently said, “Timmy, this is not a race. This is an art contest. You don’t win by being first. You win by having the most beautiful picture.”

We are just like Timmy. We are coloring away. We are working away at our little lives, just as hard as we can, trying to get all we can out of life, trying to possess all the money, power, and pleasure that we can hold. If we get full, we build a bigger barn to hold more. When we measure our success, we feel like we’re doing pretty well. But it’s not a race. It’s not something that can be measured with a ruler. This life is not about having the biggest, the best, the most, the fastest. This life is like an art contest. In the end, the criteria for the Judge will be beauty.

How beautiful is your life? How rich is your relationship with God? How are you doing at loving God and loving others (Luke 10:25-28)? How are you doing at being compassionate just as our Father in heaven is compassionate (6:36)? How are you doing at loving your enemies (6:35)? How are you doing at being grateful for all Jesus has done (7:36-50)? How are you doing at being repentant and humble (5:27-32)? How beautiful is your life? How rich is your relationship with God?
Don’t be fooled. Don’t be surprised at the end. Don’t measure your life by the wrong standard. This is not a game of measurements: how much, how far, how many. This is an adventure in beauty. This is a journey of relationship. How beautiful is your life? How rich is your relationship with God?




Big Idea: Don’t be fooled. Don’t measure your life by the wrong standard. Real life is found in a beautiful relationship with God.

Action Steps:
1. Imagine your funeral. What do you hope people will say about you? Your family, your friends, your coworkers, your neighbors, people in your community? What changes do you need to make to have that kind of funeral?
2. Take an account of your life. Are you satisfied? Are you going in a good direction? Are you putting too much hope in possessions? Do you have a rich relationship with God? If someone were auditing your life (how you spend your time and money), what would they say is most important to you?
Imagining the End You Want
Take a few minutes and imagine your funeral, 30 years from now: August 5, 2037. Imagine where your funeral will be, maybe in your home town, maybe in whatever town you hope to be living in. See the church or the funeral home where the funeral will be held. See the people who are gathered there in your mind. Imagine what those people will say about you. But, don’t imagine what you think they will actually say. Imagine what you hope they will say. Imagine what they want them to be able to say at your funeral.
What will each of these groups of people say about you?

Family:
What kind of person is _____? ______________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
How did _____ make a difference in your life? ________________________
________________________________________________________________________
How did _____ make a difference in the world? _______________________
________________________________________________________________________

Friends:
What kind of person is _____? ______________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
How did _____ make a difference in your life? ________________________
________________________________________________________________________
How did _____ make a difference in the world? _______________________
________________________________________________________________________

Coworkers and community:
What kind of person is _____? ______________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
How did _____ make a difference in your life? ________________________
________________________________________________________________________
How did _____ make a difference in the world? _______________________
________________________________________________________________________

Are you this kind of person now? _________________________________________
Are you making this kind of difference now? _______________________________
What kind of changes do you need to make now to have this kind of ending later? __________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________