Luke 18. 15-30 - "Little and Large"

(NB This is a short talk given at an All-age service)

Our two stories - the children, and the rich man, are in Matthew, Mark and Luke.  Not only that, but they are right next to each other in all three. Sometimes stories are in different order in different Gospels. So the fact that these two stories have stuck together in all three Gospels tells us they really belong together. Let's see what we can learn by looking at them together!

What these two stories do is make a contrast: between opposites: 


* Little and large.

* Babies, and a grown-up.

* Children who have nothing, and a grown-up who has everything.

• All the children had to offer Jesus was simple, total faith.  No strength. No cleverness. No polite introductions ("good teacher"). Not much understanding.    All they had to bring was weakness, need, and delight in being there with Jesus.  Simple, total faith. Dependency.  
• The rich man thought he had lot to offer Jesus.  He was smart. He was powerful. (He was a ruler). He had education: he knew the law. He had good behaviour.   He had things: he was rich.  He had influence, money, education. He had a lot to offer Jesus...  

* Children who have a share in the kingdom of God, and a grown up who can't get eternal life. The Kingdom of God.

• Little people already have the kingdom. It belongs to such as these. In fact, Jesus says, "If you want to enter God's Kingdom, you have to come like a little child."  
• Big people, rich, powerful, clever people, find that what they have can separate them from the Kingdom. Jesus said, "It is hard for rich people to enter God's kingdom." 

Photo by Ikiwaner: used under GNU License

Photo by George Shuklin used
under creative Commons License

WHAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE?

Listen: you can come to Jesus two ways.  You can come like a child: with nothing; in total dependency; in simple, total faith, like a child.  The Kingdom belongs to such as these.

Or you can come with something. Something you want to hold onto. Something you think you can keep and use. Something you can rely on. Something you like to have. You come depending on yourself, your cleverness, your gifts, your money, your know-how; your traditions, your history, your religion.

The rich man was holding onto his money.  When Jesus saw that and told him that he had to give all his money away, he went away sad.  It seemed impossible for this rich young man to become a follower of Jesus.  The things he had were too much to give up.  It seemed impossible for him to have eternal life.

Jesus said that it's easier to get a camel through the eye of a needle than to get a rich man into the Kingdom of God. A camel through the eye of a needle is a tight squeeze. It's a bit like me saying "I can squeeze Iain (who's well over 6ft tall) through a hole in this piece of paper!".  It's impossible.  But I think we can make a hole in this piece of paper, and squeeze Iain through it. Even the impossible is possible with God.  It takes a miracle inside us to make us let go of the things we want to hold onto.  But God can do it.

Children, it seems, come with simple total faith, always expecting Father to do the miracle.  Sometimes adults come with a complicated, partial faith: we trust ourselves, our abilities, our know-how and our things; we'd maybe like a miracle, but we don't, frankly, expect our heavenly father to work too many miracles.

But when we come like children, God changes us. We are able to make a difference in our world, to show God's love for the poorest in or world. We are able to take risks for God's Kingdom. We are able to let things go, and as we do, we get a reward: we see the Kingdom making a difference in our lives and in the lives of other around us.


© Gilmour Lilly March 2012

James 4. 13 - 5. 12 The Rich, the Poor, and the Short-sighted

1 Who are the rich?
Who is James speaking to when he says 'Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit"'?  He is speaking to the rich, who have an ability to make plans.
1. They have freedom of choice.  They have options. They have the possibility of going to another town, setting up shop there... Listen, the more money you have, the more choices you have.  If you are able to choose where you live, where you work, when you retire, you are one of the better-off people in our world.  Let's just think about house prices in Rosyth. If you can raise £230.000 you can buy any house that's on the market in Rosyth. If you have between £70,000 and £100,000 you can buy an average terraced house.   For £45000 you can get a one bedroom flat. But if you can't raise £45,000 you have to rent somewhere.  Less money, less choice.  And that is repeated hundreds of times...
2. They have predictability.  They can be pretty sure about the outcomes of their financial dealings.   There is a sense of security.  If they go to another town, they don't have to worry about how to survive. I heard of a man who became the riches guy in a town in America.  One day, when he had made his millions, he bragged, "When I first came to this town, I had all I owned in one suitcase." But what he didn't mention was that the suitcase contained several hundred thousand dollars in government bonds and cash.  The rich can feel secure: mo matter what happens, they will be OK.  They are not going to be made homeless. They are not going to starve.
3. They are full of confidence for the future.   They are confident in their powers to trade and make money.  Their circumstances give them a strong sense of self-belief, which stands them in good stead in lots of ways.  They can convince other people to invest in their business. They can sell.  They can think clearly and quickly.

If you have choices, a measure of security, and of confidence, that puts you among the rich.


2. Rich and short-sighted
But James says to this rich person: as you busily make your plans, just remember you are a mist that appears and then vanishes, a Firth of Forth haar that disperses as soon as the sun gets hot.  We can be short-sighted and need to perspective of eternity.  We have to recognize that there is something wrong with a self-sufficient and self-centered life.
1. We need to remember that we are mortal.  When I was a kid, it was quite common for Christians, particularly the older generation to say "God willing" (or DV meaning deo volente) when they were talking about future plans.  It seemed then, and still seems, rather quaint. It might be good to apply the principle.  Celtic Midday prayer has a line that says "Teach us O Lord to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom..."  We need that in our arrogant and self-sufficient society. However the lesson goes deeper...
2. Instead of just saying "God willing" we need to bring God actually into our planning. Surely other things than death, should make us change our plans: like God saying, "I have another plan for your life!"  It's a reminder of the importance of asking God to lead us and guide us.  Last summer when we went down to Gloucester for Josh & Cass's wedding, we planned to have a week or so on holiday, and to visit friends in west Wales. We were going to go to Church on Sunday Morning, visit our closest friends in Gloucester later on the Sunday, then head off on Monday to Pembroke.  But as the wedding day wore on, Pam began to get a sore throat and to feel cold.  She managed to go to Church on Sunday morning but went back to the guest house where we were staying and went to bed feeling really quite feverish and ill and we had to head straight back home.  I realised at the time that my frustrated plans were just that: my plans.  We hadn't taken them to God.  Instead of just doing what we want to do, let's get in the habit of saying, "What do you think Lord?"
3. But sometimes we don't even have to ask. We can check our plans against what God says in his word.  James says, "whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin."  If we know the good we should be doing, and we don't do it - maybe because we are too busy making a fortune - it is sin.  God expects us to use our resources for the benefit of others.  James reflects the teaching of Jesus when he writes to the rich in this way.  See Matthew 25. 31-45.  Jesus tells us that God will judge people on the basis not just of whether we have trusted Jesus as Saviour, but on the basis of whether we have taken the opportunity to do something for the poorest of the poor. If you know what God's word says, and you see the opportunity, and you don't do it, it's sin.

3. Judgement
But there is worse to come.  In chapter 5, James warns the rich: "Come now, you rich, weep and howl ... Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten."  It's s prophetic past tense. James is so confident about this future reality, that he talks about it as though it was already happening. God judges the rich for a luxurious lifestyle obtained at the expense of the poor. They hoard what they should share.  James criticized the rich for storing up treasures in the last days.  They commit extortion and fraud; for living in self-indulgence while condemning and murdering the innocent.   The day-labourer had in Bible times - as they often have today - a struggle.  The Old Testament law says The wages of a hired servant shall not remain with you all night until the morning (Lev 19. 13); and You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), lest he cry against you to the LORD, and you be guilty of sin. (Deut 24. 15)

Harsh?  Maybe, but just prophetic harsh.  James goes back to the Old Testament Prophets. See Isa 58. 6-10; 61. 8. Amos 5. 21-24; Micah 6. 8 ("justice" appears 28 times in Isaiah.). God cares about matters of international justice.  William Wilberforce struggled over two hundred years ago to bring an end to slavery; yet slavery still exists in the United Kingdom today.  People are trafficked into this country for the sex industry. Some of those who work picking vegetables and fruit in the UK are treated as barely more than slaves.  Cheap clothing made in the Far East is sometimes made by child labour or bonded workers who are paid in kind rather than in cash.  Tea, coffee and chocolate are harvested and processed on estates where often there is scant attention given to the wellbeing of workers, including children, in cottage industries where small growers struggle to receive a fair price for their produce.  We are all part of that. We like to buy cheap clothes and food.

Now listen, I know that there are people in this church for whom fair trade is a luxury choice.  People who literally can't afford to buy anything but the cheapest item in the shops. But I want to suggest that if we can, we should respond to the issues of world poverty.  I want to suggest a simple phrase: "If you're able, check the label." Sometimes we have no choice. Another item just doesn't exist. Sometimes we just don't know; the information isn't available. Sometimes we can't afford it.  So if you're able, check the label. We maybe can't do everything. But we can do something, either by how we spend, by how we share,  or by how we speak.

© Gilmour Lilly March 2012

James 4. 1-10: Conflict management

Introduction: James has been writing to his Christian friends about practical discipleship; he wants to see them becoming more like Jesus and making disciples.  He deals with the kind of practical things that can make the difference: things like favouritism, taming the tongue, wisdom - and dealing with conflict.

"Pregnant Woman" by
Ken Hammond (USDept ofAgriculture)
Image in Public Domain

Now conflict is going to happen. It is unavoidable.  There will always be tensions between different ages, different cultures, and different hopes and needs represented among us. There is an ongoing tension between the needs of the church community and the needs of a lost world.  Conflict, tension, that feeling of being stretched (that Anne was talking about last week) is inevitable in the real world. Indeed it is both a sign of health and a prerequisite for achievement.  Pregnancy stretches a mum's body, puts her resources under stress - but is actually a state of health not a state of illness. If you have ever tried stringing a bow and firing an arrow, you know that there is huge tension in that bow.  But that stress is what provides the momentum for the arrow to fly.   So we need to accept the reality of difference and tension.

But how do we manage conflict? How do we prevent the creative tension we all experience, from becoming a toxic thing, a fight, a quarrel?  James gives us some answers as he addresses this subject head-on:

1. Get to the roots.  What causes fights? James asks.  Then he answers, giving a simple, powerful analysis... three things that cause fights...
a. Frustrated desires. Simply put, you can't get what you want. Unpleasant fights are always, always caused by frustrated desires. Someone wants, maybe feel they need, something.  But it's not happening.  So they become angry. Blocked goals, says Neil Anderson, cause rage. He illustrates by telling of a Saturday when he planned to cook a special breakfast for his family. But one of his kids came in and took down a box of cereal and a bowl. Dad says "Hey Karl, we're having a special breakfast today: I'm cooking muffins for everyone.  Karl says, "I don't like muffins. I want cereal."  It becomes a big argument. Why? Because Dad's goal was to have a family breakfast, and Karl blocked that goal. Goals can be good: you want the ministry you are involved in to grow and prosper. We want our Church premises to be warm, welcoming - and paid for. Good goals.  So recognising that you have goals that are being blocked, is part of the solution. You may need to consider whether your goals are valid or purely selfish...

b. Unbelief.  James says, "You don't have, because you don't ask." (v2b) Part of what causes anger, is the underlying feeling that if our goals are good, (and some of them are!) we have to achieve them ourselves.  It's all down to us! And if it's all down to us we will fight to ensure these goals don't get blocked. It is basically about unbelief. There may be certain things, around our goals and desires, that our Heavenly Father just wants to pour out upon us, in his generosity and his love. But we don't ask.

c. Wrong motives.  You don't have what you pray for because you pray to spend it on your own desires (v3). Sometimes our desires are frustrated because they're just not right.  We're praying all right, but only because we can see how we benefit from getting the prayer answered.

2. Dealing with our hearts.  I was at college with Steve Chalke, and Steve liked to play table tennis. Steve's friend Bruce was very competitive, and was probably a better player than Steve. Once they were playing when Steve lost a point and Bruce was laughing.  Then almost immediately Bruce lost a point and Steve was laughing, and said "You ought to suss out your own game first, mate."   In dealing with other people we need to suss out our own game first. When there are tensions and we want to say the other party is stepping out of line, "suss out your own game first."  We need to deal with our own hearts...  nad that means....

London_Met_Police_riot_gear
by Hozinja
Image in Public Domain   

a. Choose your priorities. (Verses 4-5) James says "you adulterous people".  The literally meaning of the word is actually "adulteresses".  Now James isn't talking merely someone having an affair; and he's not just singling out the women. He's thinking of Hosea, the prophet whose marriage was an acted parable: eh was told to marry a prostitute, called Gomer. But Gomer kept returngin to her old wawy of lfie. Hosea;s message was that when God's people go to worship idols it is unfaithfulness like a married woman becoming a prostitute.  We need to ensure that none of our goals become so important they take the place of God himself. Because when it does it becomes an idol, a rival husband - and our God is a jealous God.  We thought about what happens when good goals become blocked goals. It's the world's way to pursue personal goals and to fight for them. But friendship with the world - doing things the world's way - equals a fall-out with God.

b. Resist the devil. (Verse 7)  Here is a simple little principle. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. It applies in all sorts of situations. But in particular it applies when the devil is trying to get a hold of your thoughts and to disable your witness.  Now listen, the devil loves to dress up as an angel of light.  He doesn't come to tempt us by putting on his black cloak, sharpening up his horns, picking up his pitchfork, and saying "Hey, you shouldn't be spoken to like that. You go and put that person in their place. You've been treated really badly and have every right to feel worry for yourself."  No! What he does is sow the ideas in our minds, but he lets us think they are our ideas. So, we find ourselves saying, "Hey, I shouldn't be spoken to like that. I'm going to go and give as good as I got. I've been really badly treated; I feel so sorry for myself."   When those thoughts arrive in your head, they are from the enemy. Resist him, and he will scarper. Leslie Mitton says we must NOT treat the enemy "with timid and misguided courtesy, nor yet with neutral indifference, but with determined defiance." Bill Johnson says "I cannot afford to have one thought in my head about myself, that is not in Jesus' mind."  Wrong thoughts, enemy thoughts, self-pitying, critical angry thoughts, are to be resisted - and they will go. They don't need to be in control.

c. Submit to God. (Verses 7-10)This involves... Intimacy: getting close to God, joining ourselves to him, looking for him. (another of these big principles, but it applies in this situation.)  It involves holiness - which isn't about making ourselves good enough for God but rather, letting him clean us up. It involves repentance: being really sorry, mourning, crying, about the rubbish in our lives.  It involves taking the lowest place in God's presence. When we come in absolute dependence, sorrow for our sin, and recognition that we really haven't got much to offer, God lifts us up.  It's when we are submitted to God that we are safe in relationships.

3. Guard your speech (Verses 11-12)
And one last practical thing. James says, "Don't speak evil of each other or judge each other."   The word James uses is to talk someone down. To belittle them and speak contemptuously of them; to slander them.  Whether it is behind someone's back, or face-to-face, if we talk someone down, we're setting ourselves above God's law itself.  People I the North of England have their own way of expressing things: Years ago I visited a shop in Pickering, Yorkshire with a sign over the low door, that said "Duck or Grouse!"  But it was in Lancashire that I saw a sign that says "Mud slung is ground lost."  And it's true. Always. When we insult other people, or slander them, or threaten them, or stand in judgment over them, we raise the stakes in a conflict and make it so much harder to mend.  In our speech, we need to avoid like snake venom anything that will rack up the level of conflict.

Conclusion. So let's guard our speech. Let's understand the roots of conflict - blocked goals, unbelief and selfish motives. And let's deal with our own hearts first of all.

© Gilmour Lilly March 2012