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Our Lord Demands Our Whole Hearts

Categories:

Luke 12:13-21

8th Sunday after Pentecost

7/28/22; 7/29/22; 7/31/22

St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church—Beaver Dam, WI

The television show Top Chef pits a group of chefs against one another. These chefs come from all over. Some have accomplished great things in the restaurant business winning Michelin Stars and owing hard to get into restaurants. In this reality cooking show the chefs face off against each other in various challenges. They will cook their signature dishes. They will have to elevate traditional recipes putting a new spin on it. With each passing challenge the stakes become higher. Each chef shows their passion and joy for cooking. However, one by one a chef is eliminated until only one stands. This chef becomes the top chef.

 

It takes a lot of hard work and passion to be named top in a particular field.  The show cannot begin to describe the blood, sweat, and tears that go into all the preparation leading up to the competition. One thing is for certain. Top Chef winners will also experience a change in their life. They will become well known. Their restaurants will explode in popularity. It might even catapult the person to becoming the next big chef on their own television show.

 

What takes top spot in our life? Is it some great accomplishment we achieved? A job promotion, state title trophy, or a favorite collectible to name a few. Instead of a what maybe it is a who. Is our family at the top of our heart? It can vary from person to person. Jesus teaches us a valuable lesson today about who should be number one in our heart, and it does not take a competition to figure it out.

 

Our Lord Demands Our Whole Heart

  1. He has marked us as his own.
  2. Our heart responds in thanksgiving.

 

It all started with a statement from the crowd. “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me” (Luke 12:13). Two brothers were fighting. They had come into an inheritance. One brother wanted all the money for himself. The other brother thought it should be divided 50/50 between the two of them. Nothing had been settled yet. The one brother fighting for his half of the estate wanted Jesus to decide. If his greedy brother would not listen to anyone else or be persuaded by logic, perhaps he would listen to Jesus.

 

Jesus saw right through the statement. Many might have only wanted fairness. They would feel sorry for the brother who received nothing. Jesus looked into the heart. In addition to that Jesus did not come to act as a probate judge. Jesus would not just judge whether wills had all the “i’s” dotted and “t’s” crossed or the inheritance split correctly. Jesus responded to the brother, “Man, who appointed me to be a judge or an arbitrator over you” (Luke 12:14)?

 

Jesus went on to say to the people, “Watch out and be on guard against all greed, because a man’s life is not measured by how many possessions he has” (Luke 12:15). These two brothers got in a fight over things. They wanted earthly possessions, which would fade. The two brothers could have already had enough but they wanted more. Jesus came not to make people rich here on earth, but he wanted to make sure that they stored up riches in heaven. Jesus demanded their hearts be dedicated to him.

 

Jesus did bring riches to the world, but not in the way the world expected. Jesus lived a life not to bring glory to himself but to his heavenly Father. He did all of this by giving up his life on the cross. It did not seem fair. A man, who lived a life free from any lie, lustful thought, or selfish ambition, went to die. A man living a perfect life not even coming close to sinning suffered the pains of hell. A man innocent of any charges was found guilty to death. Jesus did all of this to make the world rich.

 

God demanded pure hearts. God required a life free from all sin in order to get into heaven. From birth all of us came into this world filled with sin. Our actions show it. Our words prove it. Our thoughts convict us. We should have been upon the cross. Our actions warranted a guilty verdict. However, Jesus lived a perfect life for us. Jesus won forgiveness for all the world’s sins by his death.

 

In our baptism God marks us as his own child. The water sprinkled upon our head washes sin away. The Word spoken over us shows us whose child we are. The sign of the cross upon our head and heart mark us as redeemed children. This changes our entire life. God makes us rich. Our riches reside in our heart holding to all the blessings our Savior won for us. All of this was done out of God’s rich love, his amazing love, his free and boundless love for you and for me. We are God’s child with heavenly riches awaiting us.

 

Jesus used a parable to prove how greed destroys life. A rich man planted his fields. To his amazement his crop produced more than usual. He had so much that he could not fit it in his barns or storehouses. He thought about it for a moment, and he came up with the only logical plan. He would tear down his barns and build bigger ones.

 

This man thought he had won the lottery. He had more than enough stored up for himself. After he built bigger barns to store his crops, he would take life easy. He would live by the motto of eat, drink, and be merry! He would never have another worry in life.

 

God had different plans for this man. That very night his soul would be demanded from him. What would happen to all his riches? He could not take them with him. All that abundance would not be able to buy a place in heaven. All those things would not be of value anymore.

 

Was what this man did wrong? Did God somehow get back at this man because of his abundant wealth? No! God had blessed this man with riches. However, this man placed his trust in those riches. God demanded his whole heart, but this man put his trust in his riches. Greed ruined this man’s heart.

 

The rich man is not alone in all of this. In ancient Egypt when Pharaohs died, great riches were placed in their tombs. This was given to help them in the afterlife. Today, we find those riches. They did the person no good. God demanded their hearts, but they settled their hearts upon their earthly riches.

 

We must be careful. Money is not the issue in all of this. It is a matter of the heart. Our Lord demands our entire heart. However, greed pulls our hearts away from God. Greed pops up in the most unthinkable moments. The Mega Millions lottery reaches over 1 billion dollars. We start to think of how much better our life would be with that kind of money. We think of all the things we can buy or do with that money. Ads in commercials or on our computer show us new cars and houses. We need those things in order to be happy. We start to think these worldly possessions will keep us safe.

 

Our selfish attitudes cause us to put more trust in our riches than in God. Our budgets show priority for luxury items or Amazon shopping, but our offerings are placed way down the line. We give our offerings to God but our mind thinks about holding back because of what we could do with the money. We want to enjoy the pleasures of this world, but our attitude towards God becomes indifferent.

 

God demands our whole hearts. Remember what he has done for us. He marks us as his own child. He freed us from sin, death, and the devil. He forgives us all of our sins because of his death upon the cross. Our Lord demands first place in our life, and he deserves it.

 

On top of all that he gives us all our blessings. He gives us his money to use for his glory. He gives us his material goods to manage for his benefit. When we put God first in our life, we do not need to worry. After God as first in our hearts, our heart flows with thanksgiving in all that we do.

 

Our budgets display hearts of thanksgiving. We joyfully bring our firstfruits to our Lord and Savior. We joyfully place our offerings for the Lord’s work. We find our pleasure upon the riches God has stored for us. In turn we use our earthly blessings to his glory. We do not build our hearts upon them, but we place our trust in God who demands our hearts.

 

It does not take a competition to see who occupies the top spot in our heart. God marks us as his child. He did it by his life, death, and resurrection. He freely gives the forgiveness of sins through faith in him. Our hearts respond in thanksgiving. Joyfully using all our gifts to God’s glory. God reigns without a rival in our heart. Our Lord Demands Our Whole Heart. Amen.

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