The Gift of Comfort

Introduction: What is “Lent?”

Hello and welcome to Prairie Lakes! Glad you’re here. Hey - we’re in week 2 of a series that Pastor Chip kicked off for us last week called “The Gift of Lent.” The Gift of Lent.

What is “Lent,” and why is it a “gift?”

Well, some of us grew up in churches that approached the calendar year like it was made up not just of 4 seasons, but several different “spiritual seasons.” They called it a “liturgical calendar.” Depending on where you were in the calendar year, church services focused on different spiritual topics.

And the spiritual season that a lot of liturgical churches get into during these weeks that lead up to Good Friday and Easter is called “Lent.” It’s meant as a time to reflect and prepare to encounter the fullness of the death and resurrection of Jesus.

So that’s what Lent is.

Now, here’s the deal:

We are Baptist (kinda… mostly). I mean, that’s our denominational affiliation. (Some of you are probably learning in real time, right now, that you’re at a Baptist church—which is actually kinda awesome.)

But here’s the deal: Baptists kind of treat Lent more kind of like a buffet: it probably wouldn’t be first on my list of options; but every once in awhile it’s good… as long as I get to pick and choose what I eat. Best I can describe our relationship with Lent.

Which is not at all the case if you grew up in a liturgical church. Because it probably wasn’t a buffet; it was more like Sunday lunch at Grandma’s house, and you showed up to the table with your Sunday best on, and you ate whatever was in front of you, and you shut up about it. Here’s a nice plate of Lent. The faster you choke it down, the faster you can go outside and play.

And listen: we’ve got a weird mix of Baptists and Methodists and Catholics and Presbyterians and Lutherans (and whatever else you were or weren’t growing up) all in the room and joining online together in this wonderful Iowan crockpot that we call Prairie Lakes.

So:

No matter who you are, where you’ve been, or how much baggage you have with Lent—we’re glad that you’re here.

And:

We think that Lent is actually a gift to us—if we put ourselves in a position to receive it.

Series Intro: Gift of Lent (Overview)

So last week Pastor Chip talked about the gift of Freedom that Lent offers us—which on the surface sounds pretty awesome (because who doesn’t think freedom is a gift, amirite?).

Except… that we ended up talking about how fasting from food was a great way to receive that gift.

So how many of us jumped just head first into fasting last week and reminded ourselves of what it felt like to be “hangry?”

Ok.

All jokes aside: if you really want to be free in the way that Jesus talks about freedom, fasting is a great way to get there. It’ll help you discover how to get past some of your own appetites and attachments and all of these things that we’ve convinced ourselves that we need to be happy and free. It really is.

So good job if you tried it. Good job if you feel like it was successful. And even good job if you feel like it wasn’t. Trust me when I say this: God doesn’t need you to be perfect; he just needs you to be obedient. He can do a lot with really small acts of obedience.

Big Idea: The Gift of Comfort

Alright. Here’s where we’re going this week. Lent offers us another gift:

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The Gift of Comfort

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And… it was really hard for me not to just add in parentheses next to that word, “food.” Would’ve been great.

So, no, we’re not talking about comfort food—but similar to last week, the pathway to this gift of comfort might not feel very intuitive. Because here’s the big idea:

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The Gift of Comfort:

The less you depend on the comfort of your “stuff,” the more you’ll experience the comfort of God.

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Okay? Doesn’t feel very intuitive. But I think it’s true.

Exegesis: Luke 18:18, 22

There‘s a story of an encounter that Jesus has that’s gonna help us wrap our minds around this. Turn in your Bibles to Luke 18:18.

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Luke 18:18

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We’ll have these on the screen as well so that you can follow along. But in Luke 18:18, we’re gonna see the beginning of a conversation Jesus is having with a “certain ruler.” We really don’t know what kind of ruler he was; Luke doesn’t explicitly say. Could be religious leader or even a political leader. But it was someone who had some power and some means.

Here’s the question this ruler asks Jesus:

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Luke 18:18 “A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

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Ok. So these are questions that pastor-types dream about. It’d be like one of you coming up to me or to your campus pastor right after the service and asking: “Hey… tell me what I have to do to cross the faith line.” I mean… it’s what we live for. It’s why we exist. Center of the bullseye.

But Jesus being Jesus senses that the question might not really be all that genuine, and he does some digging.

We’re gonna go over their exchange here in a little bit, but for right now, hop down to verse 22 with me and see what Jesus eventually says to this ruler:

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Luke 18:22 “When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

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Ohhhkay. There it is. Guy asks Jesus how to cross the faith line, and Jesus eventually tells him to sell everything that he has and give it to the poor.

Yikes.

On a weekend where we’re talking about the gift of comfort, that’s pretty uncomfortable.

But there’s gotta be a reason, right? A special set of circumstances, maybe, that were true just for this poor sucker and not the rest of us? That’s gotta be it. Because if I’ve gotta sell all of my stuff in order to get “in” with Jesus, seems like heaven is going to have a lot of vacancies.

Maybe Jesus, because he’s Jesus, knew that greed or money or materialism had a grip on this guy’s heart, and that’s why he said it.

Maybe this guy was just plain too rich, and wasn’t being generous.

Maybe…

Application

Maybe we should consider this as good rule of thumb:

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Whenever a particular story or passage in the Bible makes us feel uncomfortable, we shouldn’t push away from it, but instead pay closer attention to it.

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That’s a good rule of thumb.

Hey: this exchange that Jesus has with this ruler makes me uncomfortable. Jesse Tink, 2022, pastor… makes me feel uncomfortable.

Because I got a closet full of things that I’m chomping at the bit to get back out this spring for turkey hunting.

Because I got eyes on the next truck I want to buy.

Because the idea that Jesus wants me to sell all of those things or not buy that next thing to get “in” with him makes me kinda sad and kinda angry and kinda anxious.

Because I thought that this whole “faith line thing” was about what Jesus has already done for me, not what I have to do with my stuff.

And so, because I feel uncomfortable, I want to push away from this. I want to make this somehow about this guy and this guy (and maybe other guys like him) instead of about me.

But a good rule of thumb, my friends, when it comes to stories like this in the Bible is to do exactly the opposite:

Let’s push in.

Let’s pay closer attention.

Let’s start to see our own discomfort as a window that if we’d just come a little closer to, look a little longer through, we might see something that God really wants us to see.

Let‘s do it together.

Transition: Context

A great way to do that is to start with the context:

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Pay closer attention by looking at the context—what comes before and after.

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Exegesis: Luke 18:9-14

We kind of helicoptered down into this story. There was a certain ruler in the crowd watching and listening to Jesus that day. But if we jump just a few verses up in the chapter, we’re gonna get our eyes on a couple of things that this ruler, right before he asks his question to Jesus, has heard Jesus say.

Jump up to verse 9 with me:

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Luke 18:9 “To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable…”

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So that’s a great clue in the context here that will help us see why Jesus said what he said to the ruler. Some in the crowd that day were pretty confident in their own “righteousness”—or people who, after looking at how they were living their life, were confident that they were in right standing with God.

Jesus is speaking directly to them when he tells them of this story about two guys praying two very different prayers at church one day.

One guy was a regular attender, even a leader, and he prays this prayer where he lists all of the good things that he’s done that make him so different from all of the other messy people who were worshiping with him that day—including this gem:

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Luke 18:12 “I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.”

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So this dude did what we said we should do last week: he fasted—not once, but twice—every week.

AND he’s doing something like what we’re talking about this week: he‘s giving up some of his “stuff” (10% of his income, to be exact) as a “tithe” to the church.

Confident in his own righteousness. “God, because I do this, and because I do this, well… I’m just so grateful to be so blessed to be in such good standing with you.”

Meanwhile, a tax collector—which is a type of person we really don’t have a category for. But just imagine that some foreign country goes to war with us, conquers us, and then occupies our towns. Then imagine that one of your friends starts working for them to collect money from you for them.

And then, imagine that they collect not just what the occupying country demands, but more. For themselves.

And then, imagine they showed up to your church as sat next to you.

That’s who the tax collector actually was in this story.

And here’s what Jesus said that he did:

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Luke 18:13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’”

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And then here’s what Jesus concludes:

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Luke 18:14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God.”

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One guy fasts, gives 10% to the church, and prays a kind of arrogant prayer.

Another guy extorts money for your country’s sworn enemy occupying force, but prays a genuine prayer of repentance.

And Jesus says that God listened to only one of those prayers, and that only one of those guys went away in right standing with God.

Here’s the point of this first story:

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God sees through our good behavior to what has actually gripped our heart.

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Crazy, isn’t it, how easy it was for the religious guy in the story to give himself a pass on all that… arrogance and… self righteousness and… judgmental attitude toward the guy next to him because of… what? Because he skipped a couple of meals? Gave the church a few bucks?

He prays this prayer that he’s so proud to pray, completely oblivious to the prayer he actually needs to pray—and even more blind to the fact that he had a perfect model just a few feet away.

God sees through our good behavior all the way down to what has actually gripped our heart. He does.

And he desperately wants us to be free. He does.

But it’s so easy for us to stay bound up by whatever has gripped our hearts—especially when we convince ourselves that we’re doing alright.

Transition

Okay. So the ruler Jesus has told to go sell all of his stuff—remember him? He’s in the crowd, and he’s just heard Jesus tell this story. K? Now, here’s what he sees next:

Exegesis: Luke 18:15-17

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Luke 18:15 “People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them.”

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Remember, this was 2,000+ years ago. This is more than just a “Child Dedication” ceremony. Back then, a lot of babies didn’t make it past the first year, let alone the first few days.

So these moms and dads—most of them probably poor peasants—were bringing their newborns to Jesus so that he could “place his hands on them.” As in: protect them. Shield them with his power. Help them grow up healthy.

It’s likely that they were not very well dressed, maybe didn’t smell the greatest, and if they were desperate, not at all concerned with decorum or how to behave properly in public.

And so, watching this situation “get out of hand” (at least, from the disciples’ standpoint), they intervene.

Take a look at what Jesus does, though:

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Luke 18:16-17 “But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

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Jesus had literally just told the story about a lowly tax collector and how God heard his prayer over the important, prominent, i’m-generally-a-good-guy prayer.

And then what couldn’t have been much more than a few moments later, the guys closest to Jesus try and keep these lowly parents and kids away from Jesus.

When the gospel of Mark tells this same story, he says that Jesus was “indignant” at his disciples. Like: “Are you serious right now? Did you not just hear what I said about… and now you’re…”

Very similar to that story, Jesus again elevates what’s in the heart of these parents and kids. And here’s what was in their heart that Jesus loved so much:

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Before anything else, all I know is that I need Jesus.

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That’s it.

You’ve got what I need, Jesus.

Just your touch, Jesus. That’s it. That’s all I need.

Whether it was the parents that day who didn’t care how they looked or what people thought or who was standing in the way…

Or it‘s the simple, humble, innocent, pure heart of a child who simply believes…

Jesus loves that. He loves people who know:

Before anything else, all I know is that I need you.

Before anything else.

Anything.

Transition

So there’s the second story. There’s the second thing that ruler heard Jesus say that day, right before he asked his question.

Let’s go ahead and just put those two learnings up here so we can see them both:

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God sees through our good behavior to what has actually gripped our heart.

Before anything else, all I know is that I need Jesus.

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This is the picture Jesus has just painted for everyone who was watching and listening to him that day. These two things. Pretty striking.

And there in the crowd that day is this ruler who asks his question—again, after just witnessing these two object lessons.

Let’s look at it again:

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Luke 18:18 “A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

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As you read this, especially in light of the context, put some emphasis on that “I.” Like, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Or: I’m not a tax collector or a peasant child; I‘m… me. What does someone like me need to do?

Right? Because he’s different. The lessons that Jesus just taught apparently aren’t for him. He’s a ruler.

And so they go back and forth. Jesus talks about following the ten commandments. The ruler responds that he’s done a good job following those for pretty much his entire life.

But, just so we don’t forget, here’s what Jesus has just taught before this conversation:

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God sees through our good behavior to what has actually gripped our heart.

Before anything else, all I know is that I need Jesus.

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Which is exactly why he says what he says in verse 22:

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Luke 18:22-23 “When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy.”

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Jesus is saying:

I see past your good behavior. I see what’s gripped your heart. Your generally decent life can’t cover up your attachment to and dependence on your stuff.

And if you want eternal life like you say that you do,

You’ll only get it when you learn to depend on me first.

So:

Get rid of your stuff, man! Get rid of it. Then come, follow me.

Friends: this is the same invitation that Jesus gave to the 12! This is what he said to Peter, James, John, and the rest of them! It’s an invitation of a lifetime! This ruler could have followed in the literal footsteps of the person who created the universe.

But he couldn’t—because he kinda liked his house, and kinda liked having control over his finances, and maybe he had a vacation planned next year that he was really looking forward to.

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The comfort your stuff provides you can’t compare with the comfort only Jesus provides.

It’s not a good exchange.

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It’s so blazingly clear, isn’t it? How ridiculous it was for the ruler to say “no” to Jesus‘ offer?

And yet, every single day, when we choose our stuff and the comfort it provides us over Jesus‘ invitation and the comfort only he can provide…

We’re doing the same thing.

Application

(Set this up… what we’re going to experiment with this week…)

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“Redeem Comfort:”

Choose to not spend something on yourself this week and instead spend it on someone else.

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(End with story of Jesus‘ parting words to the ruler: “It’s hard… but nothing is impossible with God.)