By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
August 10, 2025
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Luke 12:32–40 (ESV)
32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 35 “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, 36 and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. 37 Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. 38 If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! 39 But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
The past couple of weeks, I have probably challenged some of us. I made the bold claim that we should only pray for what we need, and not for what we want. When we discussed what Jesus taught his disciples to pray. I do think I need to make some clarifications to that statement, because it was challenging to the religious culture in that day just as much as it challenges us today. Only the challenge was a bit reversed. When the disciples said to teach us to pray, they expected to gain the words or the proper sets of scriptures to use in their prayers. This is where we get things like the Psalms. The Psalms is a book of both songs and prayers. This tradition has been carried on from the Jewish into the Christian traditions, and to this day we will repeat words that others have written for us to pray.
In Evangelical circles we might be smug and say we do not need prepared prayers because we have a personal relationship with God, and we are not wrong. We need to be a bit careful when we say this though, because how many of us began our journey of faith by saying something called the “sinner’s prayer?” Where we repeat the words given to us by some evangelist. The prayer that Jesus taught is interesting. He taught us that it was not the words that mattered it was the heart. It was that we took the time to converse with God just as we would our spouses, our closest friends, our children or our parents. Jesus taught us to be real when we pray.
Then last week. I spoke about the foolish and selfish rich man that wanted to Jesus to tell his brother to split the inheritance. This might not have challenged you as much. But there is something in that passage I think I need to clarify too. The laws of inheritance were not about what we get but they were about the community. The eldest son received the double portion not because the eldest son was better or that it was all patriarchy. It was patriarchy, but if you were to compare Hebrew teachings to other contemporary teachings in that region, you would find that God was pretty liberal in many cultural ways. And when I say liberal I do not mean liberal in the manner of our current political climate, I mean liberal as in God grants us a great deal of liberty, and that God was concerned with the well being of the people.
I mentioned the practice of slavery last week. And I mentioned that there are more scriptural verses that promote the practice of slavery than those of abolitionism, and that pains me to say. But there is a difference in how scripture handles slavery than the other cultures of the world. In scripture the slave was to maintain a certain human identity. We can look at this today and be shocked that scripture did not outright oppose the practice, but there is still liberty. Scripture taught that a slave was not to always be a slave unless they chose that lifestyle. This is liberal even though it permitted the act. God taught that it is not proper for humanity to be enslaved forever, and those that are to be called followers of God would be required to free those in bondage, and that those that were once in bondage would have restored to them land of their inheritance.
I want us to just consider how liberal that truly is. Not only were they to be given their freedom, their liberty, but they were to be restored. Sadly history cannot prove that this was ever fully practiced among the people, but that was the teaching. The situation that you are facing right now though it seems bleak, though it seems like it will never end, though it feels as if there is no way out. God is tell us that there will be liberty. That there will be a time where all things will be restored. That even the slaves will have an inheritance.
And that is why inheritance was important. It was not about the money, it was about life. The eldest son received a double portion because that son was to ensure that the family would remain. That when the world came crashing in on humanity that there would be someone with something that the family could come back to. And when the day of restoration occurred their name would not be forgotten. But it was more than just the family name. It was the entire community, the hired hands that helped work the farm, were part of that family name. The sisters and the brothers all part of that name. And yes even the slaves. God was concerned for the lives of the entire community, each human being was important, and had a role to play in the community and it was our responsibility. It is our responsibility to care for those within our community.
Which brings us back to prayer. Father, hallowed is your name, your kingdom come. Give us today our daily bread and forgive us just as we have forgiven all who are indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.
Do those words bring us comfort? Do they challenge our understanding of life? We are saying God is Holy and hallowed with our without our recognition. God is set apart from all other beings and it is his kingdom that is to come not ours.
What is the kingdom of God?
It is the influence of God. It is the commandments of God. It is the wisdom and the teachings of God going out over all the world, bringing all the descendants of Adam and Eve back to where the were created to be. Man, male and female, created in the image of God.
Where is slavery in that? It cannot exist because it would deny that a human being is a descendant of Adam and Eve. To deny the humanity of someone is to deny that they bear the image of God, and in that moment we are bearing the name of God in vain. And according to our scriptures we are in violation of the commandments and we have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.
That is the power of the teachings of God. It is not a rule book telling us how to live a holy life. The words of scripture are conversations between sinful humanity and God, where God is patiently teaching us to recognize who we are, and who he is, and as we begin to see this we fall on our faces knowing that I have failed and I need help.
“Fear not, little flock.” Jesus tells us, “for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
He wants us to be restored. It is his one and only desire that all of humanity would be restored to liberty. That we would see the areas of life where sin has grabbed hold of us and held us in bondage. But when we pray, Jesus teaches us to say, “forgive us as we forgive those indebted to us.”
I want us to think about that just a bit more. We were in bondage, and we are not any more. How are we going to live now? You were once under the a crippling weight, you were once suffering, you were once a slave in Egypt, scripture says, and it says remember. Remember where you once were, and look at where you are now. How did you get here? Who was with you?
Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. It is God’s pleasure to give us the kingdom. Does this mean we are supposed to take the seven mountains of culture for Christ? Are we supposed to hold the offices of the culture and government? Are we supposed to go across the world making sure everyone lives our way? No he is giving us his kingdom, not ours.
Our kingdoms are filled with fear. So much fear. We need to make sure we vote a certain way because if we fail to do so God will turn his back on us. If we do not save, if we do not prepare, if we do not worry about what we will do, everything will fall apart.
Is this the teachings of Jesus? There are seven imperative or commanding verbs in this passage today: Fear not, Sell, Give, Provide, Stay, Know and Be. The first is not to fear. We should not fear because we have prayed, Father hallowed be your name your kingdom come, give us today our daily bread and forgive us as we for those indebted to us, and lead us not into temptation. We should not fear because we know that God will give us what we need. You will have what you need, this day.
I want us to just rest in that for a moment. Just think about all the things you are worrying about right now. How many of those things are things you need today? I am not saying they are not important. I mean it is important for a student to know where they might attend school in the future, and how they are going to pay for that education. It is important for us to have a job. It is important for our children and our other relatives to have good doctors and the best treatments. These are important things. And they often cost a great deal of money, and tomorrow that mail delivery will probably bring more things to our door to worry about. But I want us to just rest for a moment, is that today? Do you have what you need today?
This changes things. When we stop worrying about everything in the far future it can paralyze us. But what if we just worried about what we can do today? Today I noticed that I am running low on socks. If I have the time right not to put them in the wash maybe that is what I should do. It is something I can do today. I have a bill in the mail, do I have the money today? No, ok, so what can I do today to make sure it is covered? If we just look at today, many of the fears we once carried fade. They don’t necessarily disappear but they fade into something manageable.
Now we get into something different. We are no long in fear because we are praying for today. Now we have stuff. We have possessions, abilities, and talents. Sell it.
God is commanding us to sell what we have available to us. Sometimes we do not understand what this means. Are we supposed to just get rid of everything we have all at once? No, the verb is sell. It means to exchange things of value for other things of value or its equivalent. It means that we should participate in the economy, it means we are supposed to work, construct, knit, do everything you always do, so that you have the things that you need. Sell what you have available to sell. And then what are you supposed to do?
Give to the needy.
I am often challenged by this. And I have often been accused of being a hypocrite about this part of the verse. I have had people come up to me trying to accuse me of not following Jesus because I have a car. If I was a true follower I would give my car away. I have had these accusations come not from people in the world but from people in the church, that were in disagreement with me for some reason. Jesus does tell us to sell our possessions and give to the needy, but I need my car. If I did not have a means of transportation someone would need to give me a ride. And I do give my car away at times, because I have often given people that need a ride a ride.
Everyone has needs. You have needs, and your selling of your possessions should cover your needs. This is the first priority, but often you have more than you need. I once heard a story about John Wesley, that he would strictly conform to a budget where he would live on something like a tenth of his income. He chose this number because he determined that all of his most important needs could be covered with that amount. And he stuck to this budget so that he could give more away. I am not telling you that you should do that. I fact do not think that it is possible. What I am saying is that we should be aware of what our needs are and live in such a way that we can give to others in need. And this giving comes in just as many forms as we can imagine.
If you own a business, and you find that you have more income from your selling of goods and services than you need. The giving you can do may come in the form of buying the service of another so that they will have their needs met. Hiring employees is a way of giving to the needy, but often when we hire people we hire based on what we get from them not what we give so it might not be the best example. But what if we did something risky. What if we were to hire the person whose resume may not be the best for the position? What if we were to hire the person that recently had a criminal conviction. What if we took a chance on someone? By giving someone an opportunity that seems illogical in the kingdom of the world, we are participating in God’s kingdom. We are giving because we are investing in the greater community. We have turned our attention away from what I can get and obtain, and have made a conscience decision to give what we have to the needy.
What do we get when we do these things? When we give food to people that are hungry, when we give clothing to people that do not have socks, when we give a job to the person that is willing to work but might not be the best fit. We are building a stronger community. We are recognizing in that person that they are more. That they have value in this community not because of what they can give to us, but because they bear the image of God. And when we are focused on the community around us, we are participating in the Kingdom that God is pleased to give us.
In the kingdom the things of value are not the things that we value in the kingdoms of men. Have you ever wondered why John described the street of heaven as being made of gold? I have often heard that it is because God is so marvelous that heaven would reflect the splendor. But I got to thinking about it a bit more. Maybe the streets are made of gold because God was showing John that the things that we find as valuable on earth are not the things that are valued in heaven. That the one thing we will spend our entire lives to obtain, in heaven will be unimportant, something we would walk on to go from one place to another. But what God values in the kingdom is the crowning achievment of creation, humanity. When we focus on our community, when we adjust our lifestyles to focus only on today’s needs, selling our possessions and giving to the needy we are providing ourselves with restored humanity to populate the kingdom. And Jesus says for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Where is our heart? What do we treasure?
There are three more verbs. Stay dressed for action. The sense of this verb is to be in a state of being. To remain ready to go at a moments notice. Jesus illustrates this with a wedding feast. To me this does not really make sense. Maybe it is because I am a guy and when it comes to weddings I just do not care as much as I should. In my opinion the most important part of the wedding is the joy of the celebration after, because that is where the cake is. This is probably why the weddings I do are extremely short. But in Jesus’s culture a wedding feast was a multi day event. The families had already made the arrangements and as soon as all the requirements were met, the groom would go to the bride’s house and the wedding celebration would begin. You did not know exactly when that would be so the servants of the house would have to always be ready to begin the work.
“But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into.” This verb know, is connected to the one for stay dressed for action. We do not know what we will do in life, we do not what struggles we will face. Yet Jesus commands us to know. In this sense to know is to know experientially. Or if you have read George Fox’s journal, he says experimentally. This is practice. We must train ourselves, discipline ourselves, prepare ourselves. Put ourselves into positions where we are able to respond.
This applies to the Quaker Query in our faith and practice. Query 7, “Do you try to observe simplicity in your manner of living? Do you frequently inspect your affairs and settle your accounts? Are you careful to live within your income and avoid involving yourselves in business beyond your ability to manage? Are you just in your dealings, punctual to your promises, prompt in the payment of your debts, and free from defrauding the public revenue?”
We encourage simplicity in life. This is a discipline of living withing our means. Of focusing on a lifestyle with few luxuries so that we are not encumbered by possessions we need to protect, or bills that we need to pay. It means that we mindful of our time and what taking on another task will do. And most of all it deals with how we are interacting with those around us. Can people trust our word. The last part of this query is the one that bothers me, “Free from defrauding the public revenue.”
That literally means pay your taxes. There was and still is a practice among Friends where some within our extended family within the faith tradition would not pay a certain percentage of their taxes if they were going to be used for things they found morally wrong. Traditionally this would mean if the government spent forty percent of the budget on military, they would only pay sixty percent of their taxes. They know that they are breaking the law when they do this, and some of the people will put that forty percent in a savings account just in case the taxman comes knocking. When the Unified Discipline emerged shortly after the civil war, this was part of that original faith and practice. We say we do not agree. We will actively protest and work to alleviate the need the public revenue to spend money on these things we find morally wrong, but we will pay.
Why? Because even though the world around us may be living in sin, our job is show them a different way. We are to stay, know, and be ready to spring in to action. We should position our lives to sell what we have, and to give to the needy so that when Christ calls us to provide an answer for the hope that we have, we are already prepared to answer that call. But we will not fear.
To not pay our taxes is saying that we are afraid that people will use our money immorally. Guess what they will. You do not need to be afraid. But it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. That means if you find something immoral in our community you get involved. If abortion is immoral in your eyes, you take care of the needy. That does not only mean make laws preventing the practice, it means helping those in the situation. If war is immoral, then what are you doing to prevent it? Are you teaching your children a healthy way to resolve conflict that they can teach others? And are you willing to go, or assist others to go to areas of conflict to provide aide?
I wrote this last night, after thinking and praying. I thought about all things I have watched this week, all the news, all the commentaries of the world. I thought about the bills sitting on the table, and my own health as I sat with a migraine half the week. And I came to the realization. God wants us to pray. Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, give us today our daily bread, forgive us as we have forgiven everyone indebted to us, and lead us not into temptation.
He wants us to pray, to have a conversation with him, and then he is sending us out to the world outside our doors. He is sending us into the kingdom which is our inheritance. This is our inheritance. It is what we are giving to our children and it is what we will have on the day of resurrection. What are we doing? Are we letting the thief take it or are we building his kingdom?
Previous Messages:
In Your Hearts Honor Christ as Holy
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 10, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 3:13–22 (ESV) 13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for…
Living Stones
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 03, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 2:2–10 (ESV) 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have…
Endure
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 26, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 4 (Faith and Practice of EFC-MAYM pg 61) Do you provide for the suitable Christian education and recreation of your children and those under your care, and…
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