Life is more Luke 12 13 31
Life is more; nv 4/24/05 am Lk 12:13-31
OS: 1 In an Atlanta Journal Constitution article by Jim Auchmutey, the writer quotes comedian George Carlin as saying, "The essence of life is trying to find a place to put all your stuff." Auchmutey writes that there are 32,000 self storage businesses nationwide (or the equivalent of 1.3 billion feet of rentable space), 620 in Atlanta alone (twice as many as 10 years ago), and 100 million storage containers are sold by Rubbermaid every year. This "stuff" explosion peculiar to Americans has led to a new profession: the professional organizer. Some P.O.'s charge as much as 75 dollars an hour to help people get organized in this culture of clutter." Citation: Jim Auchmutey, "Our Overflowing Lives," Atlanta Journal Constitution, (1-20-02); submitted by David Slagle, Lawrencville, Georgia
I. Remember when we sold the building? – We had to store our “stuff”
A. Cleaning out – Dumptser – “Throw it away” – “Tell ‘em Jim did it.”
B. 2 Cartoon – Office “We are missing one of our dividers. Have you seen it?”
C. Andy Warhol (so called pop culture icon) died in 1987, when estate executors went to clean out his home they found an incredible mountain of clutter.
1. 5 story NY house full to the ceiling except for the two rooms
2. He couldn’t even throw away a gum wrapper.
3. 608 boxes he had collected in which he packed odd and ordinary stuff to be saved as “time capsules” for some future purpose.
4. Life is more.
D. Brian Scudamore started his company 1-800-GOT JUNK? In 1989 straight out of highschool with $700 and a beat-up old pick up truck.
1. Today they have 96 franchise partners across North America with a true national presence – they are in 47 of North America’s top 50 cities.
2. Life is more.
II. What kind of Junk do we keep?
A. Karen Kingston wrote a book about clearing your clutter and she listed four main categories or clutter:
1. Things you do not use or love
2. Things that are untidy or disorganized
3. Too many things in too small a place
4. Anything unfinished.
5. “Don’t own so much clutter that you will be relieved to see your house catch fire.”
B. Material things are not the only kind of Junk we hang on to. We also tend to hang on to emotional baggage as well.
1. 3 Picture – Paul in Romans 3:10 & 23 reminds us that no person is righteous and that we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
2. Sin – falling short (arrow shot at a target – it doesn’t even make it)
3. We are arrow collectors – We pile up these arrows, these mistakes, sins, problems, misdeeds, garbage and they separate us from a relationship with God, one another, and eventually crushes our own spirits.
C. 4 Life is so much more than the accumulation of things material or emotional.
TS] The question is why? Why do we tend to hang on to the old junk of life? Maybe Jesus can help us with another one of his “farmer” parables (Luke 12:13-21) 5 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Read Luke 12:13-21 6, 7, 8
PQ: 9 What makes life worthwhile? What is life really about? Greed = Desire for more. (vs. 15) a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. 9 25 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?
I. 10 It is not selfish desires for more material things.
A. Psychologist Patricia Dalton says rampant consumerism, once confined to the holidays, has become a year-round American affliction. She observes unhappy people trying to fill the emptiness of their lives by irresponsible spending and then consulting psychologists like her to figure out what has gone wrong in their lives. "Those of us who lived through the '60s," she says, "seem to have forgotten the warning that everything you buy owns you." To pay for all their junk, people now work so hard that they're ruining their marriages, their families, and their health. No wonder many of us feel "spiritually empty" as the year winds down. Citation: "Christmas: The Growing Backlash Against Greed," The Week (12-10-04); submitted by Rubel Shelly, Nashville, Tennessee
1. The emptiness in our lives cannot be filled with material things. Even though our consumer culture drills this into our minds every minute of the day if we allow it.
2. That void & emptiness can only be filled by God.
B. Selfish desires will end up trapping us with self.
1. Patrice Moore, a 43-year-old man living in the Bronx, New York. Moore lived a reclusive life in a 10-by-10 foot room where he compulsively saved newspapers, magazines, books, catalogs, and junk mail. On December 27, 2003, it all came crashing down on him—literally. An avalanche of Moore's stuff trapped him, standing up, in his room for two days before neighbors heard him moaning and called the fire department. Neighbors and firefighters hauled out 50 garbage bags of paper for an hour just to reach him.
2. Life is more.
C. 11 Philippians 4 …I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength. Secret = I can through Christ who gives me strength.
D. 11B Life is more… 23 Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.
TS: Lee Iacocca, the legendary carmaker, wrote in his autobiography: Here I am in the twilight years of my life, still wondering what it's all about. I can tell you this: fame and fortune is for the birds. PQ: What makes life worthwhile? What is life really about? Not the accumulation of material things.
II. 12 Giving – Giving makes life worthwhile, because giving is being rich toward God.
A. We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give. Citation: Winston Churchill, quoted in USA Today (11-10-00), p. 3B; submitted by Rubel Shelly, Nashville, Tennessee
1. 13 Matthew 10 42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.”
2. Matthew 25 40 “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
B. 14 Giving is what makes life worth living.
1. Money, time, attention, encouragement, talents, ect. Giving of self
2. A man has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of human life when he plants shade trees under which he knows full well he will never sit. Citation: D. Elton Trueblood, Leadership, Vol. 8, no. 1.
C. As a church, today we build on the sacrifices of those who have gone on before us.
1. We are thankful for the sacrifices of those who started this congregation and sacrificed to give us the congregation we inherited.
2. We are called upon to sacrifice today, as a congregation, and work for things that will benefit others long after we are gone.
3. Men – The greatest thing you will do in life is help another person.
a. Opportunities – small group as ex: this Wed. Orientation/Planning for next year. Mark McCurry - Community Outreach / Norm Patterson – Guest Services
b. Encouragement – Men’s Retreat, May 6th & 7th
4. 15 We have an opportunity to do something worthwhile! Something that will last for beyond our time.
III. In the movie About Schmidt, Jack Nicholson stars as Warren Schmidt, a man leading a life of quiet desperation. He retires from a vice president's job at an insurance company, looks back on a meaningless life, and ahead to a meaningless retirement. One day, while watching television, Warren sees an opportunity to give money and write letters to an underprivileged child in Tanzania. Warren responds to the appeal, and throughout the movie he faithfully sends the $22 a month and writes poignant letters to a child named Ndugu. On one occasion after a long road trip, Warren comes home to an empty house—a metaphor for his empty life. He reluctantly walks in with an armload of impersonal junk mail. Warren ambles up the stairs and looks disappointedly at the disheveled state of his bedroom. Throughout this scene, the audience hears Warren's voice-over narration of a letter he recently composed to Ndugu. He pours out his intense feeling of emptiness: I know we're all pretty small in the scheme of things, and I guess the best you can hope for is to make some kind of difference. What difference have I made? What in the world is better because of me? I am weak, and I am a failure. There's just no getting around it. Real soon I will die. Maybe 20 years—maybe tomorrow—it doesn't matter. Once I am dead and everyone who knew me dies, it is as though I never existed. What difference has my life made to anyone? None that I can think of. Hope things are fine with you. Yours truly, Warren Schmidt. At the end of the narration, the depression on Warren's face gives way to wonder as he stares down at a letter from Tanzania. It is a letter from a nun who works in the orphanage where 6-year-old Ndugu lives. She tells Warren that Ndugu thinks of him every day and hopes he is happy. Enclosed is a picture drawn by Ndugu for Warren—two stick people smiling and holding hands. Warren is overcome by the realization that he has finally made a difference. He lifts his hands to his tired face and cries. Elapsed time: Measured from the beginning of the opening credit, this scene begins at 01:54:40 and ends at 01:59:10. Content: About Schmidt is rated R for profanity and sexuality. Citation: About Schmidt (New Line Cinema, 2002), rated R, written by Alexander Payne, directed by Alex Payne; submitted by David Slagle, Lawrenceville, Georgia
A. 16 Three things to remember:
1. Life is more than material things.
2. You are valuable because you were created and given life by God.
3. Giving is the answer to the meaning of life.