HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2007-11-29, Page 20By Pastor Ernest Dow,Living Water ChristianFellowship (EMC), BlythDid you know Jesus had a
sideline? Besides being an itinerant
rabbi, he was also a financial
adviser. He counsels us, “Sell your
possessions and give to the poor.
Provide purses for yourselves that
will not wear out, a treasure in
heaven that will not be exhausted,
where no thief comes near and no
moth destroys.” (Lu 12:33)
This world’s material goods, and
life itself, are so temporary.
On Oct. 18, a man who attended
the Fellowship Baptist Church in
Abbotsford BC was at a Surrey
apartment to do scheduled
maintenance on a gas fireplace. Ed
Schellenberg, 55, told his brother-
in-law and nephew, who worked
with him in the family business, that
they could go home early that Friday
afternoon.
Not long after that, Ed became
one of two innocent bystanders
killed during a gruesome multiple
murder at the apartment that claimed
a total of six lives. There would be
no weekend for Ed to enjoy with his
wife and two children: his life was
suddenly cut short.
How do we respond in a world
where threats and the unforeseen
attack our sense of security? The
‘consumer’ answer seems to be to
surround ourselves with more and
more ‘stuff’.
But the Bible warns us that
looking to material possessions for
security is folly. Jesus teaches us
that real security comes from
valuing God rather than material
goods.
In Luke 12:15, Jesus warns,
“Watch out! Be on your guard
against all kinds of greed; a man’s
life does not consist in the
abundance of his possessions.” Or as
NLT puts it, “Life is not measured
by how much you own.”
If that’s not life, what is it
supposed to be about?
Jesus tells a parable about a
farmer with a happy problem. His
fields were so fertile they produced a
good crop. He’s faced with the
predicament of not having enough
room to store his crops. Following
standard business practice, he
decides, “This is what I’ll do. I will
tear down my barns and build bigger
ones, and there I will store all my
grain and my goods.”
It doesn’t even occur to him to be
generous. He’s blind to any need
that there may be around him. He
dialogues with himself: “And I’ll
say to myself, ‘You have plenty of
good things laid up for many years.
Take life easy; eat, drink and be
merry.’”
Other people are so far out of his
frame of reference that he
degenerates to conversing with
himself. He presumptively andselfishly gives himself permission tobe greedy, gluttonous, complacent,and ignorant.
Farmer Fred talks to himself
rather than turning to God in
grateful prayer; nevertheless, God
interrupts his daydream with an
undreamt-of rebuke. “You fool! This
very night your life will be
demanded from you. Then who will
get what you have prepared for
yourself?”
The farmer’s presuming to assure
his soul of perpetual satisfaction,
while within hours God is going to
‘ask back’his soul from him. Life is
a trust, not something to take for
granted.
We don’t want to be like the fool
in Jesus’story. What should he have
done instead?
A first step would have been to
offer God the first fruits of the
fields’increase. Offering reminds us
that all we have is from God, a trust
to be managed for Him.
But what we give externally is
meant to reflect our orientation to
God, our passion for what He wants,
in our heart. Luke 12:31 says we’re
not to set our heart on whatunbelievers run after, but to “seek[God’s] Kingdom, and these thingswill be given to you as well.”
Jesus insists that the Father “has
been pleased to give you the
Kingdom” (32). Knowing that,
experiencing His grace and death-
shattering security, frees us to sell
our possessions and give to the poor
(33) - converting earthly perishables
into “treasure in heaven that will not
be exhausted...”
Farmer Fool left no real legacy,
just some assets to be re-distributed.
But there is another kind of legacy
that, though intangible, is much
more impressive.
At the beginning I referred to Ed
Schellenberg’s untimely death as an
innocent bystander. ChristianWeek
reports some very interesting
observations people made at his
funeral and in the days following.
(Over 1,000 people attended the
memorial service.) Someone from
the Bible College where Ed had
served as a janitor described him as
a man who “quietly modeled his
Christian faith with dedication to his
work, warm humour and kind
spirit.”Through tributes to him at theservice, “the name of Jesus Christwas put on the national news
broadcasts, and the faith and trust
that Ed had in Him was spoken
sincerely.” Sounds like he trusted in
God rather than wealth.
The associate pastor at Ed’s
church notes his death seems to have
hit the men of the church especially
hard. He expects a renewed
commitment and, as he puts it,
“involvement in the things that
matter, the important things, as
we’ve seen this touch so close to
home.”
He adds, “We’ve already had a
number of men come up and say,
‘We need to get something going
together as men, because we need to
be men like Ed was.”
Ed didn’t have multiple barns and
granaries overflowing like the rich
fool; but what he had was real, it was
most important, it mattered. His
kindness and trust in Jesus causes
others in retrospect to want what he
had, to ‘be men like Ed was’. That’s
life that’s more than just the
abundance of possessions!
PAGE 20. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2007.From the Minister’s StudyPastor’s message advises be Ed, not Fred
at
Brussels Mennonite Fellowship
Sunday, December 2
Pastor Brent Kipfer 519-887-6388
God loves you!
Your proof is in the manger.
Come celebrate the
Advent of Jesus Christ
9:30 am Worship Service
10:45 am Coffee Break
11:00 am Sunday School
Corner of Dinsley & Mill Street
Blyth United Church
Office: 519-523-4224
Communion & White Gift
Worship Service and Sunday School - 11 a.m.
Guest Speaker: Gwen Nichol-Macdonald
Sunday, December 2
All Welcome
Sunday 9:30 a.m. - Family Sunday School
10:30 a.m. - Morning Worship Service
7:30 p.m. - Evening Worship Service
Wednesday 6:30 p.m. - Olympians (JK to Grade 6)
7:00 p.m. - Youth and Adult Bible Study
HURON CHAPEL
EVANGELICAL MISSIONARY CHURCH
Auburn - 519-526-1131
PASTOR DAVE WOOD
Please join us for worship
SUNDAYS
Morning Service 10:00am
Evening Service 7:30pm
BLYTH CHRISTIAN
REFORMED CHURCH
Pastor John Kuperus
Hwy. 4, Blyth
308 Blyth Rd. E. ~ Pastor Les Cook 519-523-4590
B l y t h C o m m u n ity Church of God
C H U R C H O F G O D ,ANDERS
O
N
,
I
N
D
I
A
N
A
“The Church
is not a building,
it is people
touching people
Sunday School 9:45 a.m.
- Christian Education
for all ages
11:00 a.m. - Worship Service
Mid-week Bible Studies
See you
Sunday!
BRUSSELS - ETHEL PASTORAL CHARGE
UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA
Sandra Cable, Worship Leader
Church Office 519-887-6259 E-mail - bepc@wightman.ca
Sunday, December 2
Ethel United Church
Worship Service - 9:30 a.m.
Brussels United Church
Worship Service - 11:00 a.m.
Celebrating our Christian Faith together in worship
MELVILLE
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
BRUSSELS
SUNDAY, December 2
Wheelchair accessible ~ Nursery care available
Rev. Cathrine Campbell - 519-887-9831
11:00 am - Sunday Morning Worship
- Sunday School
9:30 am - Sunday Belgrave Service
THE ANGLICAN CHURCH OF CANADA
Welcomes you to come
and worship with us
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 2
Trinity, Blyth
9:30 a.m.
519-523-9595
St. John's, Brussels
11:15 a.m.
519-887-6862
getlivingwater.org
Pastor: Ernest Dow ~ 519-523-4848
Living Water
Christian Fellowship
at Blyth Public School,
corner of King & Mill
10:30 a.m. ~ Worship & Sunday School
1st & 3rd Mondays - Women at the Well
Tuesdays - Wingham Small Group
Youth: Mondays - Senior
- Fridays - Junior
“When Jesus
Comes...Be Ready”
Dec. 2: Mt. 24:36ff
Advent I
Communion
Evangelical Missionary Church
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