Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
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As someone who grew up as a runner, one of my favorite movies is Chariots of Fire. It tells the story of the 1924 Olympics, specifically the story of Scottish runner and missionary Eric Liddell. Liddell's race was scheduled for Sunday, and after a long period of thought, he decides his religious convictions prevent him from running on that day.
In a dramatic scene from the film, Liddell is sitting with the British Olympic Committee, including the heir to the throne, as they try to convince him to change his mind. Liddell won't budge, prompting this response from the oldest member of the committee: "In my day, it was King first, God after." Another member replies sharply back, "Yes, and the war to end all wars nearly proved your point."
All is well, thanks to another runner who is willing to give his place in one of his races up for Eric Liddell, which Eric goes on to win.
But the point here is really the conflict between the world and the Divine. There are many situations where we have to make a choice between one or the other. Like Eric Liddell, we are called on to make the choice for God over all else.
Colossians and our Gospel reading today lay out that choice. Colossians tells us that we have been raised in new life with Christ Jesus. As a result, we are called to seek those things above, that is, those things that have to do with Jesus, and not those things which are earthly. This takes us back to what we discussed last week, mainly that we are dead to sin and alive in Christ Jesus. Seeking the things of earth is a step back when we really should be taking a step forward.
Our passage from Luke says the exact same thing. Jesus warns the brother who asks Him to be an arbiter in an inheritance dispute that such things aren't what really matter. Jesus then tells the parable of the rich man with abundant goods. This man does everything that is smart and that one would expect. He has a lot of goods and not enough place to store them, so he builds more storage houses. But this man forgot one important thing: that these goods would not be what matter in the end. He hadn't taken the time to develop his spiritual life in the way he had his earthly life, so when death came early, he was, in fact, not prepared at all.
Greed, as Colossians describes it, is idolatry. It's placing the importance in life on things over and above God. That's what the rich man in Jesus' parable was doing. He held on to the importance of earthly treasures so much that he neglected building up his love and faith in the Lord. In the end, only the latter actually mattered.
We are called to break away from these earthly allegiances that draw us away from God and instead hold onto our Lord Jesus Christ as the one thing we need and the one thing that matters. That is why Colossians tells us we are no longer Greek or Jew, slave or free, and everything in between. Our station, our allegiance, our tribes don't matter. As Colossians says, and again as we heard last week, we are made a new creation in Christ Jesus. We are made a "new self", to quote Colossians, rather, we have become our Resurrected Selves thanks to Jesus. Our old designations don't matter anymore.
We all encounter times, like Eric Liddell, where we have to chose between God and our worldly allegiances. What will you choose? Will you be like the rich man, focused on nothing but storing up goods in this world, or will you be like the new self, the Resurrected Self, that God has made us through our Lord Jesus Christ? The choice is yours. My hope is each and everyone of you will choose wisely.