Pastor Taylor Shippy - Luke 12:13-21
“Take care!” Jesus says, “Protect yourself against the least bit of greed. Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot” (Lk 12:15). The ‘life’ that Jesus is referring to here is the same life He refers to in the Sermon on the Mount: “But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matt 7:14). It’s also the same life that in John’s Gospel Jesus famously said: ‘Whosoever believes in me shall never perish, but have everlasting life’ (Jn 3:16). They’re all talking about the same thing: life unto the coming new age. Life in the age to come.
What Jesus is talking about often gets mistaken for the afterlife—our existence in heaven. But that’s only partially true. Jesus is talking about a mode of existence that can be accessed and enjoyed even now— before we even step foot to heaven! It’s a life of abundance and blessedness and fruition and joy that God promised His people, that will come to fulfillment in the life to come, but Jesus says it’s already here, among us, available to us, and we just have to tap into it.
What if Jesus, from time to time, gives us a clue on how to enjoy the life He’s talking about? A hint on how to get through that narrow gate even right now? And this morning He gives us one that has to do with our possessions…
