REAL RICHES

We humans believe in barter, bribery and bargaining, swapping, trading, compromising and negotiating. God believes in giving. What's in your heart is much more important than what's in your wallet. Pastor Ken Klaus describes the real riches that are yours in Christ. It's Archives August, today on The Lutheran Hour. I'm Mark Eicher and today we revisit a classic message from Dr. Ken Klaus. Later Lutheran Hour speaker Michael Ziegler and Dr. David Schmidt discuss how Jesus' parables help us to better understand who God is. Pastor Ken Klaus was Lutheran Hour speaker from 2002 to 2010. He was known for his storytelling and illustrations. Today's message was originally aired in August 2007. Now here is Pastor Klaus. Christ is risen, he is risen indeed. Because these words are true this day, every day Christians give thanks for the redemption riches which are theirs in Jesus. We join with the hymn writer and say, let us all with a gladsome voice praise the God of heaven, who to bid our hearts rejoice his own son hath given. We acknowledge what he has done with the words. To this veil of tears he comes here to serve in sadness, that with him in heaven's fair homes we may reign in gladness. By faith believers know we are rich, for he was poor. Is not this a wonder? Therefore praise God evermore here on earth and yonder. Here on earth and yonder. Jesus is our riches, which are real, amen. In an attempt to make sure his membership knew something about the faith they were professing, the pastor made it his practice to give a basic Bible knowledge test to anyone requesting membership at his church. Unfortunately on the very morning such an interview was to take place, the pastor came down with the flu.

Since his leaders had sat through a number of these interviews and they remembered most of the questions which their pastor normally asked, they decided to proceed pastorless with the process. One of the leaders asked the potential member, what part of the Bible do you like best? The man replied, the book of parables. Unfortunately the leaders of the church didn't know there was no book of parables in the Bible. That's why, in ignorance, they asked the next logical question, and sir, can you tell us your favorite parable? The man hesitated and cleared his throat and slowly began, my favorite parable is... And it came to pass in those days an Amalekite went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves where the thorns grew up and choked the man. And the Samaritan went on into the wilderness for forty days and forty nights until he came upon Mary and Martha who said, he stinketh, and he gave them forty pieces of silver. And having stood in the fiery furnace, he got into his chariot and drove along stony ground which brought forth ten thousand fold. This he did until he came across a man who said, why do your disciples eat on the Sabbath? Won't you come in and eat with me? But he answered the man not, for he had recently bought a field and taken a wife who was along the highways and the byways of Jerusalem. It was there, in that city where sinning was great, he met Queen Jezebel who sat on the ledge of a window. To one of her servants he gave ten talents, and to another he gave five talents, and to another servant he gave the command, throw her down. And the servant did as he had been ordered. And the servant threw the queen down seventy times seven. And the falling of that queen was great, and the fragments which they picked up from her falling filled twelve baskets full. Before I go any further in this message, I need to tell all the Lutheran Hour listeners that this nonsensical parable is not found in the Bible.

Yes, there are a lot of words which sound like they come from the Bible, but nothing like that story appears in Holy Writ. You should also know that I'm not trying to poke fun at church leaders, I'm not. Over the years I've met non-clergy men and women who knew the Bible far better than I. No, all I'm trying to say with that story is, sometimes people may not know the Bible as well as they think they do. As proof, let me give you an example. Here are six commonly known statements which many people believe are found in Scripture. You tell me which one is not found in the Bible? Ready? Here we go. Statement number one. Cleanliness is next to godliness. Is that found in the Bible? How about number two? God helps those who help themselves. Here's three. Confession is good for the soul. Four, we are as prone to sin as sparks fly upward. Five reads, honesty is the best policy. The last of the expressions is, money is the root of all evil. Did you figure it out? Were you able to identify which of those common expressions is not found in the Bible? If you said none of these ideas is in God's inspired word, including the one about money being the root of all evil, you would have been right. The truth is, many of us don't know as much about the Bible as we think we do. That is especially the case when it comes to what God

and our Savior had to say about money and stuff, which is why I'd like to speak to you this morning about money and stuff. That's right, this message is about money and stuff and what Jesus had to say about them. I'm relatively sure that what I'm going to say isn't what you expect me to say. I'm relatively sure of that because I'm relatively sure you don't know what Jesus said about such things. In recent months, I've heard a great many TV and radio preachers use a big percentage of their airtime selling holy handkerchiefs, inspirational incense, anointing olive oil and sacred soil taken from the streets of Jerusalem. Like a broken record, they repeatedly tell their listeners that if they send in a suggested donation, those supporters will receive the spiritual equivalent of a rabbit's foot, which they can use to compel God to give them money and stuff. There are other preachers who refuse to hand out such holy hardware. They tell their listeners to sow a seed offering and submit a substantial donation to support their ministry. Many do so, believing that such an act of devotion will obligate God to help them win the lottery, pull their business out of debt, give them true love, grant their children good dental checkups, and reward their bribery of the divinity with any other thing they might imagine. What foolishness!

God has no need of our money and stuff. In the book of Psalms, God says, I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the creatures of the field are mine, the world is mine, and all that is in it. Do we need to bribe God to get his attention? St. Paul tells us, God did not spare his own son, but gave him up for all of us. How will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Jesus himself says, if you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? Scripture is plain, God thinks differently, he works differently than we do. We operate under the principle, you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. We believe in order to get something, you've gotta give something. Bosses tell their employees, if you want a paycheck, you need to give a day's worth of work. Parents tell their children, if you expect an allowance, you've gotta do your chores. Spouses inform their mates, we can go to visit your family for Thanksgiving, but only if we go to my family for Christmas. We humans believe in barter, bribery, and bargaining, swapping, trading, compromising, and negotiating.

God believes in giving. When Adam and Eve sinned, God gave them his promise of a Redeemer who would carry their sins. When Abraham was childless in his old age, God gave the patriarch a son. When the children of Israel were in slavery, God gave them a land flowing with milk and honey. When the world lay dying and dead in sin, when we were condemned, unloved, homeless, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life which comes to us through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's right. So we might not perish, God gave us a gift. So we might have everlasting life, God gave us the gift of his only son. The Lord doesn't need our money and stuff, but he does want us, he wants a faith response from those who have been delivered from the conviction and damnation of sin. For Jesus' substitution and sacrifice, God wants our hearts, our worship, our thanks. If you doubt me, listen to Jesus. He said it clearly when he spoke. to a woman by the side of a Samaritan well the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth for the father is seeking such people to worship him

God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth sadly humans who make it a regular practice to lie to themselves think Jesus must be doing the same when he says God wants your soul not your stuff now don't get all upset when I say we lie to ourselves we do for example if you ask someone what is more important your family or your job those individuals will almost without hesitation reply family but the truth is most people seem to work harder at their jobs seem to care more about their jobs and derive greater pride from their jobs than they do their families you tell me which is more important ask a person what is a higher priority reading the Bible or watching TV although most religious people will say reading the Bible is more important that's probably not where they put their time inquire of any random audience what is more important your soul or your stuff they'll readily reply my soul that's what they say but how many of those folks who dedicate endless time and resources to fixing up their houses will spend a half a minute thinking about their eternal home you see what I'm saying we lie to ourselves about the importance of money and stuff lying about our priorities is a human habit which Jesus says can be pretty dangerous that's the point Jesus tried to make to a fellow whose story is told in the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of Luke the chapter begins with the Savior speaking to his followers about

hypocrisy hell and how to be a witnessing disciple that's when somebody from the crowd called out a request well not a request really the man made a demand he said teacher get my brother to divide my inheritance with me sounds like a reasonable appeal doesn't it of course it does but let me ask do you hear and anything the man says any expression of grief any bit of mourning at the death of his parents you hear him asking about their eternal destinies or how he might be sure he can get to heaven when it's time to die do you hear the man express any concern of how the sad news of their parents passing might be affecting his brother none of those thoughts those feelings are there are they they're not there because the man was sick having contracted a terminal case of affluenza where his heart and mind were centered on controlled and commanded by a desire to get his share of the money and stuff he felt was coming to him the unnamed man wanted his money and stuff indeed he probably would like to have been given a bit more than the money and stuff which law said would be coming to him the man wanted his money and stuff and he wanted Jesus to give the command to dole out the money and distribute the stuff and that's when Jesus told the story if you're among those who think Jesus never talked about money and stuff you need to hear the story which is come to be known as the parable of the rich fool the main character the story is called a fool not because he was a stupid man indeed he had made a success of himself by making some pretty shrewd moves

a first-rate farmer the man had bought the right seed and had planted that seed at the right moment he had fertilized when his fields needed to be fertilized if they had had pesticides fungicides and weed killers back then he would have applied them at the right time as well the man sold his crop when the market was at its highest and had bought land when it was at its lowest the man was good at what he did and because he was good he had a lot of money and stuff sure his crops have been blessed by rain and he had been given a suitable number of sunny days but he didn't worry much about those variables the man's confidence was in himself his wisdom his consistent and successful accomplishments the money he had managed to accumulate the stuff he had stored in his barns confident in himself the man had no reason to think things would ever be different but at least according to the story Jesus told things got different the year finally came when the man wasn't going to bring in a good crop he was going to be blessed with a bumper crop a once-in-a-lifetime crop the kind of crop that other farmers Farmers could only dream of. Doing some mental calculations, the first-class farmer realized he had too much crop and too little storage. Being the shrewd businessman that he was, the farmer realized, I've got a problem here, but it's the kind of good problem which is easily fixed. He said, I'm going to tear down my small barns and build bigger barns, barns big enough to

store all my grain, my goods, my stuff, that when everything is done, I'm going to say to myself, congratulations, self, you've all the money and all the stuff you're ever going to need. It's time to kick back, relax, to eat, to drink, and be merry. Now, if this was a made-up fairy tale, an animated cartoon, the man's story would have ended with the words scrolling across the screen, that's what he did, and he lived happily ever after. But this story isn't a fairy tale, and the man didn't live happily or unhappily ever after. Jesus finished the story of the rich fool and made his point about money and stuff with this ending. God said to the first-grade farmer, Fool, this night your soul is required of you and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? The man wasn't a fool because he was smart or because he was a rich. He was a fool because he thought being smart, making money, and getting stuff was the beginning, middle, and end of life. It's a thought which sounds great until death, like a wet blanket, shuts it down. Of course, you might say, Pastor, that's a story, a parable. You and I both know things don't actually happen that way. Really? Several years ago, construction workers were laying a foundation for a building outside the ancient city of Pompeii. There they found the corpse of a woman who appears to have been overcome by the rain of ash which fell from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. In the woman's skeletal hands were jewels,

perfectly preserved gems. She still held on to the jewels when death grabbed hold of her. She learned the time will come when money and stuff doesn't do the job. Was Jesus' parable a mere story? Years ago, I read a narrative told by the chief accountant of one of the wealthiest men who ever lived, John D. Rockefeller Senior. Mr. Rockefeller was a very smart, shrewd fellow. You can get some idea of his attitude toward money and stuff from a little anecdote which is supposed to have happened. When someone asked him, how much money is enough money? John D. is said to have replied, just a little bit more. Well, this rich Rockefeller fellow, like all of us, eventually passed away. As his vast estate was being settled, someone inquired of his accountant, just how much did he leave behind? Without a moment's hesitation, the accountant answered, everything. That you are someday going to leave everything behind, including your money and stuff, is a truth which cannot be denied. That's why Jesus wants you to know that having money and stuff is okay, as long as it doesn't displace God from your heart. That's right, there's nothing wrong with stuff, but don't, not for a moment, think that being rich in money and stuff can be a suitable substitute for being rich in your relationship with the

Savior. Don't delude yourself into thinking that whatever you have accumulated here will be with you in heaven or hell. Don't lie to yourself as did the rich fool. Money, my friends, is not the root of all evil. Love of money, love of stuff, love of anything which displaces God, which overshadows the Savior, which overpowers his grace, which overrides his plans and his life-giving intentions for you, is the root, trunk, branches, and leaves of all evil. If you doubt me, read the scripture, look at your neighbors, watch tonight's evening news, take a close look at the rich, the powerful, the famous, and ask, do these who possess everything the world can offer possess anything of permanence? Who can argue that on the day of judgment, fame and fortune, influence and affluence will be forgotten and having Jesus as your Savior will be everything? This Lord's Day, the Holy Spirit calls you away from the sinful folly of following money, stuff, anything which says it can substitute, supplant, and supersede the Savior from any lifestyle which says God is deserving of your leftovers. Today, the Holy Spirit encourages you to look at Bethlehem's lowly manger, Calvary's bloodied cross, and the Savior's empty grave. Behold, and believe on God's Son, who took your place under the law so you might have a place in heaven, who resisted Satan's temptations so you might be given divine redemption, who died so you might live, who lives so you might never die. By the Holy Spirit's power, be given life. given faith in Jesus Christ, God's great gift, your gracious Redeemer. This is the truth of scripture. That is the message of the Lutheran Hour.

Having Jesus as your Savior, as your Redeemer, is real riches indeed. Amen. You're listening to the Lutheran Hour. Go to LutheranHour.org for free online resources, archived audio, our mobile app, and much more. That's LutheranHour.org. Joining us now, here's Lutheran Hour speaker, Dr. Michael Ziegler. Thank you, Mark. I am visiting once more with my good friend and teacher, Dr. David Schmidt. Thanks for being here, David. Oh, thank you for inviting me. I've heard it taught that there are two branches or two kinds of teachings in general that Jesus has for us. One is the work of God, the kingdom of God, and then the other category would be our response to God's work. Yeah, that's a distinction that Klaus Festerman made with the parables and a distinction that Jim Veltz also made with them. Right, you have kingdom parables, and I think he calls them piety parables or parables about our human response to God's work. This parable, though, is pretty clearly a our response parable. Would you agree with that, the one that we just heard today? Yes, I would, but I do think God's actions

are always present, right? And our response is a response to God's action. The last time we did the one with the persistent widow and the unjust judge, right? And so it's a piety parable in that it's about our action of prayer, but our action of prayer is based on our understanding of God and his actions toward us. And so this one, too, is about our actions in regard to wealth, but I think it also has to do with God's actions toward us. Even though we can think of these as two different categories, they're never separated. They're never separated, it's just the emphasis. Why do we have these two categories, and how does this fit with the rest of the narrative of Scripture, the teaching of Scripture, that there's God's action in our response? I mean, God created all things, God has redeemed all things in Christ, and God is bringing all things to their resolution in the new creation, and God is the worker of all things. And so part of the work of Jesus in preaching on parables was to open our eyes to understand who this God is. But once you understand who this God is, you begin to see how that God is using your life, what he's doing for you and what he's doing through you for others in the world. And so I think we're always going to have those two aspects related when you're talking

about the spiritual life, because it's a relationship, a relationship with God and a relationship with others. What is the error that we could fall into if we only focus on God's work and not our response? We will end up having a wonderful, deep, rich, beautiful relationship with a God who loves us and cares for us, but we won't know what to do in this world. We don't have any understanding of our life as God has designed it, our vocations, the things he's called us to do, the ways in which we'd have us treat one another, because it's all about this experience of God's relationship with us through Christ. Well, let's talk about the other error. If we only were to focus or primarily focus on our response, our work, what's the error there? Yeah, so we will be extremely active, extremely busy, we will be doing all of these wonderful things for the kingdom, but we will be so spiritually exhausted and wonder if God even notices me. Yeah, and you get a picture of God kind of like that unjust judge that we talked about, who's aloof and doesn't really care and maybe will do something if we bug him enough, but he's not a loving, watchful father. So Jesus gives these parables and the teaching is going to meet our need, whatever we need. Right, and in this particular case,

the guy forgot he had a soul. And then God comes in at the very end. He's like, oh, tonight, my soul, I've got all this other stuff. What are you talking about, my soul? Your soul is required of you. Right, and who's gonna get all that stuff? Don't forget you have a soul. Right, yeah. Yeah, and you've got stuff to do good things with. Correct. And don't forget that either. Right. Amen. ♪ For kingdom of God is mine ♪ ♪ Glorious pleasure, my world and conquer all world ♪ ♪ Its value exceeds every standard of measure ♪ ♪ Surpassing no wealth on the earth ♪ ♪ Lord give me your grace and the power of our spirits ♪ ♪ To buy in this pleasure our lives ♪ ♪ Let never a good by the world die in Paris ♪ ♪ Your kingdom of glory and right ♪ ♪ Your kingdom, O God, is a field for the growing ♪ ♪ Of seeds that your mercy has sown ♪ ♪ But still in our midst is the earth of its growing ♪ ♪ While we stretch in memory our own ♪ ♪ So sing we all the words that your day of returning ♪ ♪ And all the rest we owe the world at last ♪ ♪ To shine in the homeland and by its shining ♪ ♪ Let sorrow and danger alast ♪

♪ Your kingdom, O God, is my glorious treasure ♪ sung by the Christus Chorus of Concordia University, St. Paul, Minnesota. Now Dr. Ziegler leads us in praying the Lord's Prayer. Lord Jesus, remember us in your kingdom and teach us to pray. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever, amen. Receive the blessing of the Lord. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look upon you with his favor and give you peace, amen. Jesus is the priceless treasure we do not deserve and cannot earn. His forgiving love is God's gift to us through faith. The Lutheran Hour is made possible through the ongoing support of faithful listeners like you. To learn how your prayers and gifts are extending the worldwide outreach of the Lutheran Hour, go to LutheranHour.org.

Next week, Archives August concludes with a classic message from Dr. Dale Meyer. I'm Mark Eicher. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪