Luke 12:13-21; What Will Make Us Happy
What Will Make Us Happy- Luke 12: 13-21
“ Patience allows others to approach us because they feel welcome. Patience is the gift we must pray for. It makes us able to accept the stranger and Christ. ” I heard this thought on a sermon from England this mid week. It is quite jarring then to hear this parable about the man concerned about his inheritance. I thought he must be quite unhappy. I suppose if we listed all the things that the Bible tells us will make us unhappy we would get close to knowing what will make us happy. ( And we may find we have started in the wrong place after all if we start with ‘ What will make us Happy’ )
This person in Luke 12 was referring to possibly Deuteronomy 21:17 which talks about inheritance. Jesus does not really trifle with that but goes straight to the problem. “ Take, heed and beware (12:15)against all covetousness…” The force of the original is “ that of taking a positive action to ward off a foe.” If we are truly to be happy in our lives Jesus says we should know that life is not about our possessions.
Life in the kingdom is not what we are being taught in our media, and perhaps not even in our institutions of higher learning. The word life, zoe in the original language is the general greek word for life. ( “ one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 12:15. Real life then must deal with the soul, the psuche, another Greek word used in vs. 21 . “ This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? Vs.20
Jesus says , “ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” Another sermon from Ambrose sums up this truth as we started with hearing a sermon. “ He uselessly accumulates wealth when he does not know how he will use it…The things that are of the world remain in the world, and whatever riches we gather are bequeathed to our heirs…Only virtue is the companion of the dead. Compassion alone follows us. It is the guide to the heavens and the first of the mansions…”
“ For True Riches and Liberality” A Free Church Book of Common Prayer, 1929:
O God, teach us to seek first thy kingdom and thy righteousness, to labour for true riches, to be content with what thou providest, and to be in this world like a stranger with affections set upon heaven; give us a heart compassionate to the poor, liberal to the needy, open and free in all our communications, without base ends or greedy designs or unworthy arts of gain. Let our strife be to obtain the blessedness of doing good to others, and of receiving from thee pardon and grace and life eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
“ Patience allows others to approach us because they feel welcome. Patience is the gift we must pray for. It makes us able to accept the stranger and Christ. ” I heard this thought on a sermon from England this mid week. It is quite jarring then to hear this parable about the man concerned about his inheritance. I thought he must be quite unhappy. I suppose if we listed all the things that the Bible tells us will make us unhappy we would get close to knowing what will make us happy. ( And we may find we have started in the wrong place after all if we start with ‘ What will make us Happy’ )
This person in Luke 12 was referring to possibly Deuteronomy 21:17 which talks about inheritance. Jesus does not really trifle with that but goes straight to the problem. “ Take, heed and beware (12:15)against all covetousness…” The force of the original is “ that of taking a positive action to ward off a foe.” If we are truly to be happy in our lives Jesus says we should know that life is not about our possessions.
Life in the kingdom is not what we are being taught in our media, and perhaps not even in our institutions of higher learning. The word life, zoe in the original language is the general greek word for life. ( “ one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 12:15. Real life then must deal with the soul, the psuche, another Greek word used in vs. 21 . “ This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? Vs.20
Jesus says , “ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” Another sermon from Ambrose sums up this truth as we started with hearing a sermon. “ He uselessly accumulates wealth when he does not know how he will use it…The things that are of the world remain in the world, and whatever riches we gather are bequeathed to our heirs…Only virtue is the companion of the dead. Compassion alone follows us. It is the guide to the heavens and the first of the mansions…”
“ For True Riches and Liberality” A Free Church Book of Common Prayer, 1929:
O God, teach us to seek first thy kingdom and thy righteousness, to labour for true riches, to be content with what thou providest, and to be in this world like a stranger with affections set upon heaven; give us a heart compassionate to the poor, liberal to the needy, open and free in all our communications, without base ends or greedy designs or unworthy arts of gain. Let our strife be to obtain the blessedness of doing good to others, and of receiving from thee pardon and grace and life eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
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