10-20-19 Grace-Tucson Sermon

Pastor Tim Patoka

Christian Character #3 October 20, 2019 Christian Character: The Believer Serves God Above All Luke 18:18-27 1) Driven By A 1st Commandment Faith 2) Use All to Serve God

When I was still living at home, I once saw a movie where all I remember from it is a single scene. There was a married couple that was having some problems because they no longer agreed about what was truly important. They had gone to counseling and supposedly made progress. But the wife wanted to see if they were on the same page again, so she decided to try an experiment. She was going to set off the smoke alarm and tell her husband that they only had a few minutes to grab what was truly important before the house burned down. If the husband grabbed the family pictures and other items of sentimental value, then the wife would know the counseling worked. But if he didn’t, then they still had problems.

So the wife put her experiment into play. With the smoke detector beeping away, the husband used the precious few minutes to grab what he thought was truly important before everything was supposed to be burnt to a crisp. And what did he grab? Important legal documents like birth certificates, marriage licenses, and the deed to the house. Not the sentimental items that the wife was hoping for. And when the wife saw this, she broke down in tears.

I would tell you how things ended if I remembered the name of the movie or more about it to find it on Google. Sadly I cannot. But regardless of how the movie turned out, the fake fire drill revealed what was truly important to the husband. In our verses for this morning from Luke chapter 18, we see Jesus likewise reveal what was truly important to a certain rich ruler in a far less dynamic way. Although the rich ruler failed the test, we can learn from him what more is part of a Christian’s character. And it is to serve God above all. This character trait must begin with the heart that has a 1st Commandment faith so that it may then use all to serve God above all.

1) Driven By A 1st Commandment Faith We meet a certain rich ruler who was confident that he was a good person. When he asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus pointed him to some of the 10 Commandments. The rich ruler naively thought he kept them all. Yet Jesus knew his heart wasn’t set on the right place. So Jesus ran his version of the fake fire drill and said, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.

Then come, follow me.” (Luke 18:22) Suddenly things changed. The rich ruler went from being cool and confident to sad and worrisome. He realized that he wasn’t as good as he thought because his heart wrongly trusted in his riches.

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Pastor Tim Patoka

Christian Character #3 October 20, 2019 Jesus then made an observation, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Luke 18:24b-25) It’s physically impossible for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Therefore is Jesus saying that rich people will never enter heaven? Of course not! We know that if any person has faith in Jesus as their Savior, they will certainly heaven. But for those who have riches in this world, it is tempting for them to have greater faith in their wealth than in their Savior. Our rich ruler here is only one of many examples of how this is true.

But it’s not only the rich who struggle to trust in God above all. It is all people who fight to have a 1st Commandment faith. Listen to how Martin Luther defines what this faith is: “The 1st Commandment: You shall have no other gods. What does this mean? We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” (Luther’s Small Catechism) A 1st Commandment faith fears, loves, and trusts in God above all things. It places God as number 1 in a person’s heart. For we who will likely never be millionaires, does not our limited financial picture compete with God to be number 1 in our hearts?

What else may vie for that top spot? We are blessed to have many people who are going or have gone to college. But can there be times when our intellect or pursuit for advanced training overtake our lives? We live in a consumer society that can buy anything from anywhere for a good price. Do our wish lists or homes perhaps show that our hearts might be too fixated on these temporary toys? If God were to come down, read your heart, and say to you, “You still lack one thing. Give this up and don’t go back for it. Then come, follow me” how would we respond? It’s not just rich rulers who struggle to have a 1st Commandment faith.

As we know from Scripture, there is nothing else that is worthy to have that top spot in our hearts. God alone is deserving of this honor because of what he has done for us. When the people around Jesus heard him say how difficult it is for the rich to enter heaven, they asked, “then who can be saved?” (Luke 18:26b) Jesus rightly answers, “what is impossible for people is possible for God.” (Luke 18:27) We know that it’s impossible for people to save themselves.

Look at Adam and Eve, the only two humans who have been free from sin’s corruption. And they went from perfect to sinful. Look at our 1st Lesson about Achan. He grew with God’s Word, saw God’s miracles, and knew better. Yet even those within the family of faith struggle to have a 1st Commandment faith.

It is impossible for people to save themselves. But it’s possible for God. Jesus can do more than read people’s hearts and say what’s needed to identify the core issue without resorting to a fake fire drill. He also can live in the way that no other person can because he is perfect. Jesus never lost sight of why he came to earth. He never lost his way amidst life’s temptations. He stayed on the straight and narrow path that led right to Calvary’s cross so that he could sacrifice his perfect life there for us imperfect people. But our salvation is more than 2

Pastor Tim Patoka

Christian Character #3 October 20, 2019 possible. It’s promised to us. As we reviewed already, the only way to enter heaven is through faith in Jesus as your Savior. There are no prerequisites to that promise or fine print to read. It’s as simple and wonderful as that.

A 1st Commandment faith fears, loves, and trusts in God above all else and will list him as number 1. God has certainly blessed with finances, intellect, and possessions. But they cannot offer us the same promises that God does. As such, we ought to be aware of what’s competing for number 1 in our hearts and be sure to keep it God above all. Because if it’s anything else, we run the risk of having Jesus say how it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for us to enter heaven.

2) Use All To Serve God We need to get our heart straight before we can serve God above all. Because if our hearts are wrong, then our resulting acts of service which will likely be wrong too. Again look at the rich ruler. The reason why he failed to serve God above all – which for him was selling his wealth, giving it to the poor, and following after Jesus – was because his heart was set on the wrong things.

The Apostle John tells us about this in our 2nd Lesson. “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, boasting about material possessions—is not from the Father but from the world.” (1 John 2:15-16) We either love God our Father or we do not. If our hearts are set on anything from this world, we are by default not going to serve God above all. If finances are number 1 in our hearts, will not all our decisions naturally go to serve them? Or if intellect or possessions have that top spot, will it not be the same? Wherever we set our heart, our life will follow.

I’m not suggesting that we do what Jesus told the rich ruler to do. That was a specific prescription for a specific problem. But what our Savior teaches us this morning is that we set our hearts on him above all so that we may use all to serve him above all. We don’t have Jesus spelling out for us what we individually still lack to have a 1st Commandment faith that gladly uses all to serve him above all. But there are a number of possible ways. I’ll walk us through some of them.

Last month we had our 10 for 10 stewardship series where we learned that we are managers, caretakers, of God’s blessings which we often measure in dollar signs. Money is not evil in and of itself. Rather it’s a tool we can use to reflect a heart that is set first on God by firstfruits and proportional giving with the added encouragement to do so sacrificially. For more information on these things, take a look at Grace’s Facebook page or our past worship folders.

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Pastor Tim Patoka

Christian Character #3 October 20, 2019 We are blessed to have many people who are or have gone through college. With our intellect and advanced training, we can marvel at the complexity of God’s creation and equip ourselves to intelligently speak with those who sadly stereotype Christians as ignorant simpletons. We are blessed to live in a country where we can buy anything from anywhere for a good price. These toys and luxuries that fill our lives are daily reminders of our God who loves his children so much that he gives us far more than what we need. Our possessions are also opportunities to freely give to others as our God has freely given to us. Our list of possible ways could go on, but you get the idea. If our hearts are set first on God, then we can more easily look at everything in our lives and consider how we might use them to serve God above all.

And by doing so, we thus embody our Christian character trait for this morning.

I hope no one runs a fake fire drill by you to see what is truly important to you. But if someone did, what would you grab? That might be a hard question to answer since many family pictures are on Facebook or our phones. Important legal documents are stored in warehouses or on the cloud. But this hopefully hypothetical situation leads us to ask ourselves, “what is most important in my life?” As we saw with the rich ruler, his wealth had the number 1 spot in his heart and he was not willing to give it up. We know that God should have that spot for he has done what’s impossible for us – to save us from our sins. So let’s us take Jesus’ words to heart and embody a 1st Commandment faith that fears, loves, and trusts in God above all else. And then let us put that faith into action by using all to serve God above all. Amen.

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