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Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Lent

March 30, 2003

Genesis 12:1-2
Psalm 23 (Marty Haugen)
Ephesians 3:14-21
John 10:7-10

I.N.I. (In the name of Jesus)


ABUNDANT LIFE

Good Morning!  First of all, I want to tell you how much I have enjoyed working with and getting to know your pastor and leaders.  What a talented, dedicated, creative, resourceful and fun group of people.  And what a joy it is for me to have this opportunity to worship with you today, and to experience first hand the beautiful sense of family that the Spirit has created among you.

Well, I am what you call a “Christian Resource Developer”—more commonly referred to as a “fund-raiser.”  But I don’t like to think of myself as a fund-raiser.  In fact, when I am traveling on an airplane and the person sitting next to me asks, “So, what do you do?”  I respond, “I am in finance.  I finance faith.”  And this invariably leads to a puzzled, skeptical look, and either the end of the conversation or another question, which is usually, “ What does it mean to “finance faith?”

Well, that is exactly the question that we are in the process of answering here at Christ the King. Over the next two months, your leaders will be helping you to understand what it means “to finance your faith” when it comes to the future of this congregation.  This capital appeal will enable you to take the next steps toward renovating and expanding your facilities so that you can better  accommodate the people who are already here, and expand your ministries to further serve those in the community.  The theme for our appeal is “Ministry With God:  Moving the Tent Pegs.” The vision is to broaden the space in which the Spirit of God can move out and stir hearts and touch lives.  Our goal is to raise at least $500,000 over the next three years in order to begin this project.  Now, that’s a lot of money, and the bottom line is that you are going to need a lot of faith to move forward in this venture.  In fact, this whole endeavor is more a matter of faith than finance.  So, let’s turn to the word of God for guidance and strength and wisdom as we begin this journey together.

I have always been intrigued by those last words of Jesus in our Gospel text for today: “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”   He didn’t say,   “I came that they might be more just in their dealings with others.” Or, “I came that they might get their act together and accomplish great things for God.”  Or “I came to explain God’s laws and make sure they obey them.”

No.  He said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”  That was Jesus’ mission statement.

But, what do you think Jesus meant by this?  What exactly does it mean to have “life abundantly”?  Does abundant life mean that we have more than we need— more the enough — more than is necessary?   Does abundant life simply mean that we have a lot ? Lots of money, lots of friends, lots of education, lots of talent, lots of accomplishments , lots of good looks, lots of energy, lots of fun , lots of all the good things in life?  For many people, achieving this sort of abundance becomes the goal and purpose of life.

I do a lot of work with Lutheran churches in Estonia and Latvia.  And it is very interesting to talk with people about what life was like under the Soviets.  One of the things that keeps coming up is that under the 50 years of Soviet occupation the people lost their ability to dream—they had no hope for a better future.  Now the Soviets are gone, and the churches are growing and people have dreams again.  But do you know what the dream is for many of their young people?  To work hard and save enough money to come to America —the land of plenty—the land of opportunity—the land of abundance.  They want a chance to strive for what has come to be known throughout the world as a “the American dream.”

But, is this why Jesus came?  Is this why he died on the cross—to make sure that his followers would achieve the American dream—a prosperous life of abundance?

I don’t think so.  In fact, Jesus made it clear that when he spoke of abundant life, it had nothing to do with the abundance of things people manage to gather into and around their lives—whether it is money, achievements, friends or even precious memories.

Jesus once told a powerful story about a very rich man who had an abundance of material blessings. So much so that he wondered to himself, “What on earth am I going to do with all my stuff?”   After much deliberation he decided to tear down his barns and build bigger ones, so that he would have plenty of room to store all his bounty.  Now this sounds very logical to me—I am always talking to my husband about building a storage shed so we can get some of the extra stuff out of the basement.  My husband feels we should give these things to Good Will, but I think we should save it just in case our children might need it in their dorm rooms or apartments or who knows?

But Jesus informs us that the rich man’s decision to store up his treasure—to accumulate all sorts of extra stuff—revealed that the rich man was a fool.  In other words, to spend our time and energy striving to accumulate and store up abundance is to miss the point.  It is a foolish thing to do with this gift of life we have been given.  Jesus sums it up very beautifully is those familiar words, “One’s life does not consist in the abundance of one’s possessions.”

Now, this does not mean that abundance is a bad thing.  It does not mean that we are going to be punished by God because we enjoy so much abundance in our country compared to most countries in the world.  No.  What is does mean is that when it comes to material possessions, we can be easily fooled. We can start to believe that our lives do consist in the abundance of our possessions and spend all our time and energy living for these things.  And this is not surprising.  Every single day we are bombarded by advertising that is geared to convince us that abundance leads to happiness.  The more we have the merrier we’ll be.  It is no wonder that we can become confused when it comes to the real meaning and purpose of this gift called life. 

The bottom line is that outer things are never enough. They cannot satisfy the deepest longings of our hearts.  Material things cannot give us the kind of meaning our soul—the eternal part of us—desires. The events of Sept. 11th are a reminder of how fleeting these sorts of things can be.  As much as we might imagine how wonderful it would be to win the lottery, even millions of dollars will not guarantee that we experience the abundant life God has in mind for us. 

So, if abundant life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions, what is the essence of abundant life?  According to Jesus, abundant life has its roots in our relationship to God and is directly linked to being “rich toward God.”  Today Jesus is trying to help us make a wise decision about how to spend our lives.  He wants us to choose a path that leads not to mere abundance –a life that is simply stuffed—like a stuffed drawer or suitcase—but to real abundant life—a life that overflows! 

He tells us that He is the Gate.  His way of life is the path to the green pastures and still waters where we can find food land rest for our souls—where we can find deep contentment, true satisfaction, and a life that causes our cup to overflow!  That’s the secret to abundant life—allowing our cup to overflow!  This means that we don’t stop the flow of the good things in life by trying to hold on to them.  Rather we let them flow through us to others. When that kind of life is flowing through us, it fills us with energy and vitality!

I once heard someone say that when it comes to Stewardship—what we do with what we’ve been given by God-- there are two kinds of Christians:  Wine Christians and Champagne Christians.  In both cases we have a beverage contained in a glass bottle.  But, in order to open the wine bottle you have to have a corkscrew or some kind of implement, and even after you get it open, the wine just sits in there.  There are a lot of wine Christians around.  You have to find the right program or the right words or the right cause or something major has to happen in their lives before they will share what is in their bottle.

But when it comes to opening a bottle of champagne, it’s a entirely different story!  The cork in a champagne bottle pops out as soon as you untwist the wires, and the champagne can’t wait to get out of the bottle.  There’s something dynamic and alive in champagne —It’s ready to gush out!  Champagne Christians are eager to share the treasure that is stored within them —the gifts of their personality and talents, as well as their financial resources.  They are anxious to release their gifts into the world in order to bring joy and celebration!

And just like there are two kinds of Christians, there are two kinds of congregations.  Both wine and champagne congregations have a lot to offer the world.  But, as you might suspect, wine congregations tend to keep the good stuff stored in the wine cellar for some unknown time in the future while champagne congregations are always out there looking for new ways to share what they’ve been given.

It’s true that abundance comes from getting.  But abundant life comes from giving.  The Native Americans put it another way, “The richest one in the tribe is not the one who has the most, but the one who gives the most.”  All the great religions of the world agree that there is great wisdom in generosity—in giving of oneself for others.  The rich man in Jesus’ story was a fool because it never occurred to him to use his abundance—his bounty to enrich the lives of others.  He never discovered the truth that he was blessed to be a blessing, and so, in spite of all his abundance, he missed out on abundant life!

Jesus tells us, “Don’t be fooled!  Your life does not consist in the abundance of your possessions.  Your life consists in the abundance of your faith—the depth of your relationship to God who is the source of all life.  It has to do with saying, “Here, Lord—Take what I am and use me.  Take what I have and use it.  Help me make something worthwhile out of what you have given me. Help me to make a difference!”

When I was a little girl, I used to love to sit in the rocker in our living room at Christmas time with the Sears and Penneys Catalogues and circle each toy that I wanted to get for Christmas.  My mother would walk through the room and ask, “Did you find anything in there you would like to give to your sister this Christmas?”  “NO,” I’d reply, in an irritated voice.  I’d continue circling away.  A little later Mom would pass through again and ask, “ So, have you found anything your brother might like for Christmas?”  “NO,” came my reply.  And Mom would say, “You know, honey, it is more blessed to give than to receive.” “Yeah, yeah, yeah…” I would answer.  But my mom was right. That old cliché is so true!  Do you know why it is more blessed to give than to receive?  Because it is in giving that we receive what we really need.  There is nothing in life that brings more joy, more satisfaction—than realizing that not only have we received blessing upon blessing, but we have actually become a blessing!  That, my friends, is to have life and to have it abundantly!

We are God’s chosen people.  We have all received blessing upon blessing.  May we wisely place our abundance in the hands of the One who can transform it into abundant life!  My prayer today is that God would continue to bless your congregation, so that together you might experience more and more of the abundant life that God intends for all his people, and that you might find powerful new ways to share this abundant life with others as you “Minister With God and Move the Tent Pegs!”

Amen.

I.N.I.

Rev. Renee LiaBraaten, Guest Pastor
Christ the King Lutheran Church
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