Sermon – Upping the Ante
Luke 12:32-40; Isaiah 1:1, 10-20
Farmville Presbyterian Church
8/10/25
Which is worse, to be paralyzed by worry about what we think might happen or to be completely uncaring about what is wrong with the world around us? They are probably both pretty bad. In neither situation are we doing what we SHOULD be doing. Neither one has a good side other than it is probably easier to sleep if you just don’t care. That one seems harsher, though. Both situations scream of inaction for what is right.
It is not always easy to know the right thing, however. Life was easier when we were little – when we could depend on adults to look after us and answer questions and the worst of our worries might be what happened to our favorite blanket. Then, the world grows us up. We begin to make decisions that have consequences. As hard as we try to avoid regrets, they come with the territory. Things can become more complicated when other people are involved in our lives, when we are responsible for others. We like safety and security and stability, but life has a tendency to pull the rug out from under us. Just a few weeks ago, our church family was different. There is no getting around the fact that we can have no idea what is coming, even tomorrow.
This is not to scare anyone, though our readings for today seem headed in that direction. These are both wake-up kinds of passages. In Luke, the people were hungry for the wrong things, and Jesus was trying to get them to focus on the Kingdom of God. In Isaiah, the people making sacrifices were going through the motions but not living any differently. They were not a changed people but kept to tradition for tradition’s sake. They very well might have been thinking they could do whatever they want through the week, so-to-speak, and sacrifice the required offering to be forgiven and go out to do it all over, again. The people who go to church out of obligation might be like this. They might not have much of a relationship with God but just go out of habit or networking or whatever other reason. Church is just a thing to do – maybe it makes someone feel better for going – but it does not lead to any lasting change unless you want it to. Both Jesus and Isaiah are calling for people to wake up and change. Take action to get ready for what’s coming. Pay attention to what’s going on around you. Living in fear is not going to cut it. Living in arrogance or idolatry is not, either. There is more to life than our little bubble.
Some occupations or past-times require people to pay attention. Snake charming came right to my mind. I am not sure if anyone here might have ever tried that, but the charmer must, must, must be very aware of what is happening in that moment, not just of what you are doing but what others are doing around you. If someone gets too close to the cobra, then that can get tricky very quickly. Diffusing explosives is another time when you must be especially attentive to what you are doing and what’s happening. Those may be extreme situations, but so much more in life should receive our attention. In a world that was looking for a worldly, political, military king, Jesus spoke of a Savior from God’s Kingdom. In a world where people could “fix” and excuse any kind of behavior with sacrifice, Isaiah said that would not cut it. It is easy to get into a routine or rut and put the blinders and live that way. There are absolutely times to just put the head down and trudge forward the best we can, but we cannot live as if the world around us is acceptable the way it is. We cannot live as if we are fine the way we are. There is a reason why we are growing each and every day along our path to God. The church word for that is sanctification. We are working on living up to God’s holiness day after day after day. That involves more than just our hearts, though. It also involves our feet, our mouths, and our hands. In a world in which a life can be wrecked by one social media post, we have figured out how to hurt others. It is how to help others that can change the world. I maintain that if every follower of Jesus just walked with one other person in their time of great need and helped that person to realize their worth as a child of God, then we would change this world more than any other activity or campaign or crusade that we could ever do. Just one person through meaningful change. It changes us, also, when we pull the head out of the sand.
This is on my mind because of Clyde and Barbara. We know how families tend to get together for weddings and funerals. Well, church families can work that way also. Only those occasions are more than relationships and love. Don’t get me wrong – those are super important, but it is possible to have a wedding or a funeral without much regard for God. Especially for funerals, however, God is the focus for those of us in Christ. A funeral is when the rubber meets the road in faith. People who have been bopping along mindless of the world around them get woken up when someone important to them departs this world. It is easy to realize that we never got to tell that person how much they meant to us or to thank them for the grace they shared in our lives or whatever it is that made that person so special to us. We can take things for granted as long as things continue pretty much the same. We can take things for granted that are special and meaningful and important. We can choose to do that, but that is our loss.
Funerals can stir us and force us to recognize that no one knows how much longer we might have to do anything ourselves. Jesus calls those listening to focus on what is important then and there. Don’t just go through the motions of life and assume things will be such and such a way. Isaiah calls his fellow Jews to realize that God will not just accept the lame and empty worship that they think is proper to cover their sinful lives. They cannot keep using God as a get-out-of-jail-free card. In fact, the fact that this passage in Isaiah is the very beginning – the opening chapter – shows how it is the lens for the entire book. We need to wake up. This is about paying attention to what’s going on. People out there are raising the stakes all the time, trying to see how they can work the system, how they can take advantage, how they can get for themselves, how they can avoid responsibility, or how they can step on others to get to the top. Life in Christ is exactly the opposite. We serve and give. We call out injustice and oppression. We share mercy and forgiveness. We love and help. We work to make this world closer to God’s heart. We cannot do that without seeing the world, seeing our neighbor, seeing the one in need, seeing what we can do, and seeing Jesus’ hand already there leading the way. Do not wait until it is too late. Even though it is God who gives any of us true, lasting value in God’s grace, we can certainly strive to make our lives count for God’s glory. To God be the glory. Amen.