“What’s it
Worth?”
August 21, 2022
Dear brothers and sisters, grace and
peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ, Amen.
A long time ago, there was a popular
kids’ TV show called “Howdy Doody.” The star of the show was a cowboy puppet by
the same name, who would always open the show by asking, “Hey kids, what time
is it?”. To which his audience of kids, called the “peanut gallery,” would
respond, “It’s Howdy Doody Time!” I imagine that, back in the day, this was a
time during the day or week that a lot of kids looked forward to, a special
time made just for them. It was a break from all the other times of obligation.
I’m sure many of us have something similar nowadays we look forward to: a TV,
radio, or internet show; a regular sports game; time out with family or
friends; a special time we can say is just for us, to give us a break from
everything else we have to devote our time to, something enjoyable we consider
to be worth our time.
If we think about it, a lot of the
choices we make are determined by what we consider is going to be worth our
time, what’s going to be the greatest benefit to us if we devote ourselves to
it. Everything we do is governed by time, even if we can’t see it, or control
it. If we think about it even more, every moment of our days are occupied with
some activity or other, with little or no break. We wake up, and get ready for
the day by eating breakfast and grooming ourselves. We then head off to our
schools or places of employment. When we’re done with school, we have sports or
other activities to participate in. When we finish with our jobs, we have
family obligations and household chores. Occasionally, we have other things to
do on certain days, like doctor’s visits; taking our cars in to be repaired;
grocery or other shopping; or different meetings for the school, community, or
other organizations we belong to. And, while all of this is going on, we
generally always have our phones on, which means that, at any moment, we can
receive a phone call, text, or email to respond to, to add one more obligation
to our already busy days. At the end of the day, we fall asleep – but sometimes
we’ll fall asleep watching a TV show, or listening to music or a podcast. So
our minds are still occupied even while we’re falling asleep. Whether or not
we’ve come to realize it, our days are literally packed – with all kinds of
activities, which we’ve just gotten used to as being normal.
Yet, as we are reminded in
Ecclesiastes this morning, in the long run, all of these things are ultimately of
less worth. The old King James translation for chapter 1, verse 2, uses the rather
poetic phrase “Vanity of vanities”: the word “vanity” means something that is
superficial, that may seem like it has an important appearance on the surface,
but really isn’t as important as it looks. The word that is used in our
translation, “Meaningless,” is maybe, on the surface, a bit harsh: of course
the activities and everything else we’re involved in right now do give us
meaning, and are worth our time. But what we are encouraged to think about is
that even though we may devote ourselves to certain things by striving,
sweating, and toiling, there is something – or someone – even more important to
devote ourselves to. It’s all a matter of where we give our time. Everything
else that may seem like an important priority actually pales in comparison to
what our true priority ought to be – God.
We also hear more about this in today’s
Gospel Reading, in what is traditionally called the Parable of the Rich Fool.
In the story, two brothers are arguing over an inheritance, and so they call
upon Jesus to try to resolve their dispute. This is actually a logical thing
for them to want to do: in Jesus’ time, rabbis, or teachers, were frequently
called upon to interpret the Law, especially when it came to disputes between
family members or neighbors. Also, Jesus, already being recognized as an
influential authority figure, is someone they believe they can appeal to try to
get the outcome they want. However, Jesus sees right through this, and instead,
warns them to be on their guard against greed. In other words, just like Ecclesiastes,
don’t be so concerned about this life and the problems of it that you lose
sight of what’s really important and worth your while. To illustrate His point,
Jesus tells this parable. A rich man decides that, in order to hold his large
harvest crop, he’s going to tear down his barns and build bigger barns. Then
he’s going to devote the rest of his life to pleasing himself. But then, his
life is taken from him, and then he’s asked, who will get everything he has now
that he’s gone? Now, here we have to be careful: the usual approach most
preachers, if not most people, take towards this story is to interpret it as a
kind of threat. That is, if we focus so much on this life that we ignore God,
then we will be punished. That’s really not the point of the story at all.
Instead, it’s to encourage us to think about things that are permanent versus
things that are temporary, and to remember what’s really going to last forever.
Here are a couple of examples: I’m going
to guess some of us still have at least one or two favorite toys we’ve kept for
many years – but we’ve also had either to give away or throw away many others
over time. Many of us also probably still have a favorite shirt or other
article of clothing which we still hang on to – even though we probably outgrew
it a long time ago, or it’s no longer suitable to be worn in public. There are
probably even some foods or beverages we used to enjoy, but as we’ve grown
more, no longer do so. We probably used to listen to certain types of music at
one time, but then our tastes and preferences changed. These are instances of
things which we may have thought were permanent at one time, but have
turned to be only temporary as time has gone on for us. But even then,
again, none of this is meant to intimidate us in any way: God doesn’t
want to have a relationship with Him based on us being afraid of Him. Instead,
all of this is meant to be a promise from God, something meant to comfort
us: that all the things we’re having to commit to, all our obligations, are
someday going to come to an end. But what will always remain is God’s
relationship with us: a relationship where, no matter what else is going in
life, He shows His special love and care for us in many different ways.
In the midst of all of our struggles,
we can remember that God has something greater in mind for us than just to live
and be worried about how we’re going to make it from day to day. Do we still
have duties and obligations in this life? Of course we do. Are we still, as
Christians, called upon to give our best efforts to everything we are called to
do in this life? Yes, we are! All our earthly duties, as Ecclesiastes reminds
us, are also blessings from God for us to treasure and maintain. Our families help
to encourage, nurture, and sustain us; our education helps us move forward into
the life God has planned for us; and our jobs help us to support both our
families and our education, as well as help us to enjoy times of rest and
relaxation. These are gifts which God gives to everyone, including us. And yet,
even these come and go. What we will be known as after we all are gone is
determined by where we put our energies and attentions to in this life: and
what we hopefully will ultimately be known for being is Christians,
children of God.
You see, we have an even greater destiny
than just living this life: we are here to grow. Our lives are a process
of growing physically and mentally, yes, but we also have to remember we are to
grow spiritually – in close relationship with God. It’s easy to allow
everything else to distract us from even remembering who we are. As Paul encourages us in Colossians, we are to
grow every day by letting our old selves, who we used to be, die off, and
letting our new selves take over. And we can know which is which by watching
what we devote our time to: if we are involved in things which are selfish;
which satisfy us but end up hurting other people, especially anger, malice,
slander, and abusive language, then that is our old nature. But anything that reflects
who God is: that is, kindness, generosity, compassion, love, gentleness,
encouragement, upbuilding, is our new nature. To use the example of clothes
again: the reason we discard old clothes to be able to put on new ones is
because those old clothes either no longer fit us, no longer reflect who we
are, or are no longer comfortable. In the same way, certain behaviors we may
have may no longer reflect who we are, or no longer make us feel good, and so
we have to get rid of them, just like we do old clothes. Then, as Paul further
encourages us in verse 10, we are to let God “put on the new self, which is
being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” That’s what growing
spiritually is: becoming more who God has created us to be.
So the question to ask is: what is
growing spiritually worth to you? What worth does your relationship with God
have, and how important is it for you? Remember – everything you’re involved in
right now is important, but there’s something that’s going to be worth your
time even more if you devote yourself to it now – letting God cause you to grow
in faith, love, and generosity. Even as Thomas Edison once said, “Your worth
consists in what you are, and not in what you have.” And it is a choice: today
you can choose whether to go from here to continue to live as you’ve always
lived, or you can live the life of growth and newness God wants for you. So,
what time is it? It’s time for God – it’s always time for God!
Now may the peace of God, which
passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen.
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