What Is the One Truth From Sutherland Springs that Applies to Everyone?

Who could have imagined it?   Here you are living in a town about as far off the beaten track as you can get.   And into that quiet, even peaceful place comes something that puts your town on the map in an awful way.  Your little town joins a painful list of other names from Columbine to Sandy Hook, from Vegas to Pulse in Orlando. 

It’s hard to wrap your head and heart around the senseless violence that took 26 lives in Sutherland Springs.   Now, we, as a church, are doing what we can to make our worship gatherings as safe as they can be.  But, in spite of that, what happened there can’t help but be a little scary.  It reminds you of how vulnerable life is. 

Years ago, someone said to me: When it comes to life, we all have a limited lease and are subject to immediate eviction.   I admired the cleverness of the phrase. But more than that, I couldn’t deny its disturbing truth.   Every day, things can happen that put your life in crisis, that threaten your existence.   Each time you get in a car, you open yourselves to all sorts of danger.  But you don’t even have to go anywhere.   It can be your body that gets you right at home.  A cancer comes out of nowhere.  Your heart seizes and squeezes the life out of you.

What do you do when life is that uncertain; in the midst of a world that can be so terrifyingly unpredictable?   How do you find stability there, security, peace?    In these words, Jesus shows you the way. Let’s listen and hear what Jesus has to say.    

Luke 6:24-26, 30-36

Life can seem at least somewhat certain, until, well it’s not.  Then, you remember.   No matter how secure you make your life, that security only goes so far.   And that’s disturbing, scary even.  But in these words, Jesus reminds you of what is certain, of what you can trust, when everything else falls apart.    And the more you get what Jesus is telling you, the more your life will rest on something that can never be shaken. 

So, what is Jesus telling you?   Jesus is telling you that as precious as the gifts can be, true certainty isn’t found there.   True certainty never lies with the gifts but always with the Giver.

That’s the point Jesus makes with all those woe statements, we just read.   I never liked these statements.   Jesus’ words seemed so petty, mean even.   Woe to you rich, you’ll get yours.  And if you’re full now, someday you’ll be hungry.   And if you’re laughing now, just wait, your crying will come.   And if everyone likes you, you’re just a sellout.

But Jesus doesn’t say those words out of anger or resentment.  Woe isn’t mainly a word you use to condemn someone.  Woe is a word you use when you feel deeply sad for someone.   

Jesus isn’t saying either that you can’t be rich or full or enjoy life or have someone speak well of you.   Yes, with one rich guy, he did tell him to give away his wealth.  But with Nicodemus, who was rich too, he didn’t address money at all.   And when he fed the 5,000, you can bet those folks were full.   When Jesus turned the water into wine, he certainly stirred up some joy and laughter there. 

And while certainly not everyone liked Jesus, lots of people did. 

So, what is Jesus saying?  Jesus is saying that if you put your trust in these things, wealth, desires, success and recognition, then you are headed for trouble. 

When Jesus tells the rich they have received their consolation, he uses a very interesting word for consolation, Parakletos.  It’s the same word he’ll use later to describe what the Spirit of God does, that the Spirit, your comforter, your consolation.    Jesus is warning people who are making wealth their ultimate source of security and comfort.  He is saying.  When you do that, not only will it not give you the comfort you seek, it will lead you to miss where that comfort actually lies.

In the same way, Jesus say, if you make fulfilling your desires the end all and be all of your life, it will never be enough.   You will always be hungry.   Satisfying your appetites might fill you a bit, but it won’t ever fulfill you.  It may give you what you want.  It will never give you what you need.

But still what about laughing?   Why does Jesus hate laughter?  But this Greek word for laughter means something else here actually.  It means the laughter of gloating, gloating because you’ve won.   Jesus isn’t warning you against telling a good joke.  Jesus is warning you against making success what you prize most in life.  That, Jesus says, will only lead you to grief and regret. 

And finally, Jesus warns you against making recognition what you aim for.  Why?  When you aim for that, you will find yourself making compromises that haunt you.  You will find yourself putting up a false front that only imprisons you.   And in the end, like it did with the false prophets, the truth, ugly parts and all, will always come out. 

Jesus is warning you.  All these things, wealth, pleasure, success, recognition, they don’t give you the comfort, the security you need.   In fact, if you center your life on these things, they will make you more insecure than ever.

Wealth can come and go.  So can pleasure.  Success can disappear too.  And recognition, forget about that.   One year, you’re a household name.   And a few years later, Oprah is featuring you on that show, where are they now?

This can all seem obvious right?   It’s even fashionable for rich and famous people to say that it’s not about success or fame.  They’ll say.  It’s about the art or making a difference, something high-minded like that. 

But Jesus warns you.  You can tell yourself that; that you’re not making these things the center of your life.   But how do you really know? 

One way is to ask yourself this question.   Are you a giver or are you a trader? 

Now, when Jesus talks about that here, when he says things about giving when anyone asks of you, you can get the wrong idea.   You can think that Jesus is talking about that guy you see panhandling by the freeway.  But that’s not what Jesus is talking about here at all. 

In Jesus’ day, you didn’t have banks.  Nobody took out loans to buy land or anything really.   You bought with cash.   So, if you were looking for a loan, it meant, you were desperate.  Something awful had gone wrong in your life, and you needed someone to bail you out.  But if someone came to you with such a need, you didn’t just dig into your pocket and give them a loan.  No, you assessed the situation.   You thought.   Does this person have something that that one day they can give me in return for my help?   It could be the repayment of the loan.  It could be some other favor.   Maybe they have a relative who you can count on a for a future favor.   Maybe they had a skill or talent you could use one day.   And if they didn’t have anything to offer you, that person didn’t get your help.   Everyone did this.  That’s the way things were done.

But Jesus blows that whole system up.   He says to people.  When you give, just give.  When you loan, don’t look for a return.   And why?  Because that’s how God deals with you.   Not only does God not expect anything back from God’s gifts.   God gives blessings to even the folks who most disappoint him, the ungrateful and the wicked.  But here’s the problem with Jesus’ advice.   People don’t naturally go this way.   People aren’t natural givers.  No, they’re natural traders.

Last week, my son experienced a bit of a trauma.  We went to the store to get a birthday present for a friend of his.   I was surprised about how excited Patrick was.   He really wanted to pick out this gift.   And he picked out a perfect one.   But then, he asked me.   “Can we go home and open it now?”    And I said.  “No, this present isn’t for you.  It’s for your friend.”   At first, he didn’t comprehend it, this whole idea of giving a gift.  And when he did, you could see the shock and dismay.  This whole gifting thing seemed so unfair.  He tearfully questioned me.   If my friend is going to get one, why aren’t I getting one too?  Finally, I told him that at the birthday party, there would be cake.   It still didn’t seem fair, but at least he was getting something for this gift. 

That’s where people naturally go.   We’re all natural traders.   If you go out to dinner with friends, and pick up the check, you’re not giving them a free meal.  At some point, you expect something in return.  Maybe next time, they’ll pick up the check or they’ll help you out in another way.     And if they don’t do that, that could put the friendship on the rocks.

Human-beings like to keep score.   It lies behind a lot of conflicts in marriage, all sorts of relationships.  One partner senses that one partner isn’t doing their part.   One family member feels that they’re doing all the work.   It even leads to wrong ideas about God.  You think, if I do my part, then God has to do his.  

Now what’s wrong with that?  Isn’t that just fair.  Well, let’s lay out a few of the problems.  First, you think you’re keeping accurate score, but you’re not.   You’re always giving yourself way more credit, than you’re giving the other person.   You remember everything you’ve done for them, but some of the stuff, they’ve done for you, you conveniently forget.  How do you know that?   Well, it’s because when you calculate the score, aren’t you always winning?    

But beyond that, let’s say, that even if you are skewing the score, it’s still clear, you are doing way more than they are.   Where does that lead you?   It leads you to resentment, to bitterness.  You give power to this person to shape the attitudes of your life, usually in negative and hurtful ways.     

But more importantly than that, Jesus is saying, when you do this, you are insulting God.  If God were keeping score, none of us would be close to winning.   Just by living, you owe a debt you can’t repay.  But God doesn’t expect you to.   Why?  Because God doesn’t trade with you.   God gives to you.   So, when you go around trading with others, God is thinking.  After all, I have given to you, you’re doing this.   You have got to be kidding.  And it’s even more ridiculous, when you try trading with God, as if that’s even a possibility.

More than that, when you focus so much on what others need to give you, you insult God in a deeper way.  You say to God.  After all, you’ve done for me.  I still don’t trust you.   No, I’ve got to look out for myself.    I’ve got to focus on the gifts, what I have.  If I give it up, I’ve got to get something in return.  But God is thinking.  Are you nuts?   Where do all your gifts ultimately come from?   They come from me.  Yet you are so tied up in the gifts, you have forgotten completely about the One who gave them, who gives you everything.  

But here’s the clincher.   At some point, all your gifts are going away.  If nothing else, death will take them.   Even if you die wealthy, you can’t take it with you.  You don’t see u-hauls on the backs of hearses do you?    But before death comes, losses will come your way.   Family members will die.  Relationships will founder.  Financial setbacks will befall you.  Health losses will hit you.   But if you are living focused on the giver, then even as you grieve and cry, you have a foundation that cannot be shaken.   You will know, that while the gifts come and go, the One who gives them doesn’t.  And you know that, because that Giver, in Jesus, gave everything for you.   God sealed God’s promise of faithfulness to you with God’s very life.

And if you doubt the power of that, look at Sutherland Springs.  As the New York Times put it:

One minute the Holcombes were a tight-knit family praying in the tiny church on Fourth Street. The next, eight of them were gone.  Bryan and Karla Holcombe, a guest preacher and his wife, were dead.   Their son Marc Daniel Holcombe, gone. Their pregnant daughter-in-law, Crystal Holcombe, gone.  And four of their grandchildren — Noah, Emily, Megan and Greg — gone.

The gunman nearly wiped out the Holcombe family, leaving Joe Holcombe, 86, Bryan’s father, to mourn the loss of the generations he had raised. “We know where they are now,” he said in an interview, his voice strained by exhaustion. “All of our family members, they’re all Christian. And it won’t be long until we’re with them.”

Or hear these words from the pastor of that church, who lost his 14-year-old daughter that day.

"You lean in to what you don't understand, you lean in to the Lord," Frank Pomeroy told reporters during the press conference. "I don't understand but I know my God does."  

Even in the awfulness of their losses, these people have a foundation that cannot be shaken.  Why?  They know.  The Giver, stands with them, the One who in Jesus, gave everything for them.  They know. If Jesus didn’t abandon them on that cross, he won’t abandon them now.  They know.  God’s love has the last word, not the violence of that day.    And if you trust in this One who has given everything for you, you have that same foundation.   And it will free you to give because you know the source of every gift.  And when loss comes, that God will give you the strength to get through, to know that whatever you face, this God never leaves you nor forsakes you.     Do you want that?  Then leave trading behind.  Cherish the gifts, yes.  But trust in the Giver.   Trust in the One whose love you will never lose.