A Man's Life

We love welcoming new people here from all around the world. So if you’re an international student – we’re really glad that you’re with us this morning. Wherever in the world you come from, we want you to feel at home here among us.

We are, of course, all very different in many ways. We speak different languages (though thank you very much for learning English, and for all those hours of learning vocabulary – you’ve certainly saved us a lot of hard work!) We like different food (no unkind remarks about the quality of English cooking please). Our cultures are very diverse. We are used to different climates (we may not have Mediterranean summers here but at least we don’t have Siberian winters).

But from your point of view, why are you here? Our experience is that many people who come here don’t just want to know more about their subject of study, or British culture. They are also wanting to discover more about themselves, about the meaning of their own lives, and about God. And that’s where we can help.

So I want to ask you this morning: what are you dedicating your life to?

That was the issue at stake when Jesus had a sharp exchange with a (presumably fairly young) man. We could think of him as a representative international. What happened between him and Jesus? Well, we heard it read earlier. It’s from Luke’s Gospel chapter 12. The account is in the Bibles that are spread around the pews on p 1045.

This short incident raises questions for us all. You can see those questions on the back of the service sheet under my title: ‘A Man’s Life’. That title is a phrase Jesus uses here, and it points to what is really the question behind all these questions: What’s your life going to amount to? If you’re an international, then you’re probably never going to have a better opportunity than you’ve got now, away from your usual environment, to get sorted on what your life’s about.

Anyway, here’s question one.

First, WHAT’S WORRYING YOU?

This guy was all chewed up about something. What was it? Verse 13:

Someone in the crowd said to [Jesus], “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

Do you know what it is to be frustrated with a brother? This man did. But this wasn’t just the niggling irritation of a brother who wouldn’t put his dirty socks in the washing basket instead of leaving them stinking out your bedroom. This brother was a blight on this man’s life. Why? Because in one way or another he was blocking him from getting his hands on what he saw as his rightful inheritance. Whatever the details, this was the big thing in his life. He wanted the money. And his brother was in his way. You can practically hear his teeth grinding. If only his brother would get out of his way, then his life would be good.

So what about you? What’s worrying you? I remember well when our son went off to be an international student studying engineering in Spain. We worried about him! That , of course, is what parents do.

But what worries you? What do you think is preventing your life from being all you want it to be? It could be any number of things: a family member who make’s your life a misery; depression; a lack of money; girlfriend or boyfriend trouble; no job; the wrong job; a serious illness; your looks; fear of getting exam results that are not good enough; maybe wanting to get rid of a burden of responsibility that weighs you down.

What’s the big frustration creator in your life? Identify it in your own mind. And note this: the man here in this incident got a lot wrong but this he got right – he took his worry to Jesus. Somehow he had got the idea that Jesus was the one to go to get his life sorted out. And he was right. Bring what’s worrying you to Jesus. Almost certainly he won’t deal with it in the way that you most want him to. And he’ll do it on his terms not yours – as happened here with this man demanding his money. But in this, at least, follow his example: bring your deepest frustrations and fears to Jesus.

You can’t do that, of course, without facing up to the next question that this incident raises:

Secondly, WHAT’S JESUS TO YOU?

How does Jesus react to the demand he’s faced with? Verse 14:

Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?”

Why does he say that? Jesus is not denying that he does have the right to judge. But he’s challenging this man to face up to the question of who he really thinks Jesus is. Because this man’s view of Jesus is utterly inadequate. He just wants Jesus to solve his problem and then go away again. But Jesus isn’t having that. The truth is that Jesus is this man’s creator and judge and saviour and ruler. Nothing less than complete submission and total worship is an adequate response. But what’s this man’s view?

He calls Jesus ‘teacher’. And, by implication, he thinks of him as nothing more than a teacher. The truth is that Jesus is nothing less than God in human flesh, the judge of all men, and the saviour of those who depend on him.

He regards Jesus as having some authority. But he wants Jesus really to be at his beck and call; he wants Jesus to exercise authority over his brother in order to serve his purposes. He’s almost treating Jesus as if he has authority over Jesus and can make demands on Jesus to meet his needs.

I can remember three times that I’ve been in a court of law in my life. The first was at a murder trial, as an observer. The second time I acted as a witness. The third time I sat on a panel that decided whether a man’s career would be ended because of gross misconduct. Only in that last case did what I thought really count. Why? Because I had real authority to judge.

The authority of Jesus goes much further than this man thinks. In fact Jesus is the judge not just of his brother’s approach to their joint inheritance. He is the judge of the whole of this man’s life.

What’s Jesus to you? Maybe that’s a relatively new question for you, and you don’t feel you’ve given it enough serious consideration to come to a proper conclusion yet. If that’s you, then the JPC Internationals Beginners Small Groups that we run are just the thing for you. That ‘What’s on for Internationals?’ leaflet has the details, and also a form to fill in if you’re interested in trying one out. It could be the best investment of time you’ll ever make.

But Jesus doesn’t just challenge this man about what he thinks of him. He exposes the rotten heart of this man’s life. And that brings us to the next question:

Thirdly, WHAT DOES YOUR LIFE CONSIST OF?

Jesus challenges this guy by telling a short story. And it’s not very complimentary. Take a look again at the passage, from verse 15:

Then Jesus said to them [in other words he wants the crowd to listen in to his reply to the man, even as we are this morning], “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to me, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

Watch out! A man’s life does not consist in the amount of cash he has or the amount of stuff he has. Implication: that’s what this man’s life consists of. He’s worried about his brother because his brother is preventing him from getting his hands on his money. And money is what his life revolves around. And that’s just one kind of greed. We need to be on our guard against ‘all kinds of greed’.

Now what we all need to ask ourselves is this. In your heart of hearts, what does your life consist of?

What matters more than anything to you? For the ‘rich man’ in Jesus’ story, it was some combination of wealth, success, pleasure and leisure. And he’s not alone in that is he? He wanted to eat, drink and be merry. What does your life consist of? A man’s life does not consist in the satisfying of our greed.

Identify your priorities. Put them under the spotlight. Do they stand up to scrutiny? In particular, do they stand up to the scrutiny of Jesus? That’s the next question – the last but one:

Fourthly, WHAT DOES GOD THINK OF YOUR LIFE?

This is how Jesus ends his parable – verse 20:

“But God said to him [the rich man who wanted to eat, drink and be merry], ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’”

So here’s the verdict on the life of this man. It’s not from a mere observer. Nor is it from one who is no more than a witness. This is the verdict of the one to whom every one of us is accountable for our lives.

And we’re not just accountable for the so-called ‘spiritual side’ of our lives. The lifestyle gurus might sometimes ask whether we’re neglecting our ‘spiritual side’ as if it’s some underused muscles that should be exercised every now and then, or as if ‘spirituality’ is a lifestyle option that can be satisfied by some quiet contemplation in the countryside or a night in reading poetry instead of going to parties.

We’re accountable to God for every part of our lives. He made us. He sent his one and only Son to die for us on the cross so that we could be forgiven and set free from the consequences of our lifelong rebellion against him. We belong to him. He is our judge. And the day will come for every one of us – as it did for this rich man in Jesus’ parable – when we will stand before God to give account, and God will give his verdict on our lives.

And the verdict here is short, to the point, painful, and just two words: ‘you fool’. You’ve blown it. You were given a life, and you’ve blown it. How? By living as if the temporary is eternal. By living as if some combination of wealth, success, pleasure and leisure for yourself was the only thing worth pursuing. And by forgetting God. Forgetting that it’s our relationship with God which is at the heart of what life is for. Forget that, and what’s the verdict on our lives? ‘You fool’.

So what do you think God thinks of your life? I remember an occasion when I was a teenager, with my mother in the kitchen at home. I think I was giving some excuse for why I couldn’t possibly do something useful that she was asking me to do because I had more important things to do with my time, like enjoy myself. And she quietly said to me: ‘You’re very selfish, you know Jonathan.’ My mother got to me that day. It was as if she wasn’t commenting just on my one lack of consideration that day – she was giving her verdict on my life so far. This was the woman who gave me birth, who had loved me and served me and provided for me year in, year out all my life. And here was the verdict. ‘You fool. You selfish fool.’

Each of us has to reckon with God. We need to put our priorities through the ‘you fool’ test of Jesus. Put yourself in the parable. What’s the verdict on your life? What does God think of your life? So to the final question:

Fifthly, WHO ARE YOU GOING TO LIVE FOR?

Here is how Jesus wraps up this incident (it’s in verse 21). He says:

“This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich towards God.”

It might not be cash in the bank that we store up – it might be memories of exciting experiences. But if it’s all for me, then the verdict from God will be ‘you fool’ and we’ll lose it all, for ever.

But the whole point of this parable is that Jesus is offering an alternative. He’s warning us, certainly. But it’s a warning we’re supposed to take notice of. While we live, it’s never too late.

What’s the alternative to a self-centred life? It is to be ‘rich towards God’ says Jesus. What does that mean?

The big surprise is that being rich towards God does not mean that God needs to be on the receiving end of all we can give him. After all, you might think that getting your dad a birthday present is a rather tricky task. And trying to out-give God is infinitely more difficult. What do you give the God who’s got everything – literally? It all belongs to him anyway. No, being rich towards God is all about realising that he wants to be rich towards us rebels. He doesn’t want to send us packing for ever – that’s the last thing he wants to do. That’s why he sent Jesus to us. He wants us to be rich towards him in the sense of the two R’s: return and receive.

He wants us to return. Realise that without God we’re going to get to the end of our lives and find that we’ve blown it big time. Recognise that God is the only one who can turn the situation around and get us back on track. And turn back to him. Return.

And he wants us to receive. Jesus came to give, not to take. To give what? To give forgiveness. To give hope. To give wisdom so we can make sense of life. To give power for living really rich lives – lives that are rich towards God. How do we receive forgiveness, hope, wisdom and power? By asking Jesus, by trusting him and by depending on him. And that’s not just for your first weeks at a foreign university. It’s for life. Don’t be a fool. Put Christ first. Return; and receive.

Who are we going to live for? For ourselves? Or for Christ? We all need to answer that afresh. Here’s two very specific and practical things you can do to help clarify this issue in your own mind.

The first is this. Take some time during this coming week to sit down and write what you might call a mission statement for your life. It should be short and to the point – just a few words or a sentence. You could start it with the words: ‘My aim in life is…’ Better still, write it in the form of a prayer – in other words, write it as if you’re speaking to God (which you will be if you do this). Write down your mission in life.

The second thing I’d ask you to do is simply this: please keep coming. Get involved with JPC Internationals. Fill in that form on the leaflet. And next week, bring a friend and come again.