What will it take? 

What will it take for us to take the message of Jesus Christ to heart? 

Even in Jesus’ day people wondered what will it take 

for people to take the message of God to heart. 

Even though they had a thousand years of tradition, 

the people were not always living up to who they should be in God. 

People who thought they were good 

were walking past those who were in need. 

Jesus felt they needed to change. Jesus believed they could change. 

 

Now sometimes people will say the reason the people will not change 

is because the messenger is flawed. 

People will say the minister is not an effective communicator. 

The pastor didn’t visit enough. Didn’t pray the right words. 

Didn’t follow the right doctrine. 

This is an easy tactic, because if the failure is all the leader’s fault, 

then the people are not to blame. 

They didn’t change because the minister didn’t do his or her job right.

But our leader is not an imperfect person. Our leader is Jesus. 

 

So Jesus uses a simple parable to turn our ideas upside down. 

He tells of a rich man who ends up in hell, 

and the beggar who used to hang out at his door is in heaven. 

There is no mercy for the rich man. 

The rich man asks Lazarus to serve him water, but he is refused. 

There is no room for privilege in the afterlife. 

Your riches and your status will count for nothing. 

What you thought should have bought you a first class ticket to heaven might just land you in the other place. 

In desperation the rich man asks that Lazarus be sent back 

to warn his brothers so they might be spared the same fate. 

Again there is no mercy. 

They have been given all the necessary information they need 

to live the right way. 

 

 

 

 

It is natural to think there must have been a misunderstanding. 

In our society we are taught that to be a good person, 

we must make lots of money, save lots of money, 

and take care of our family. 

As long as you don’t hurt anyone doing this, you are okay. 

It is the truth we all live by. But it is a lie. 

 

All around us we are told that the most important thing in life is to be happy. I have heard many parents tell their children 

it doesn’t matter what you do in life, as long as you are happy. 

Sadly, those parents were lying to their children. 

What they were really telling their children 

was that they should do is get a good education. Get a good job. 

Make lots of money. Buy lots of things. 

Sadly, none of these things has anything to do with being happy. 

 

Now a good education is never wasted. 

A good education will teach you about the world, and how it functions.  

But getting the job for the sake of the money is not the road to happiness. Leaving your family and your friends, 

to go off to another city or country for the sake of money 

is not the road which will automatically lead you to happiness. 

Because making lots of money and buying lots of things 

won’t make you happy. In fact, it will probably make you unhappy.

 

It will make you unhappy, because you will never make enough 

to buy everything you will ever want. 

Your wants will always be bigger than your ability to pay for them. 

Even if you do get it all, someone else will figure out a way 

to do it one better than you. 

The money, the things, the glory don’t last. They never do. 

If you’re going to be happy in this life, you need to find a different way. 

 

For those of you who are retired, 

and have come out the other side of this materialistic journey, 

what is the message you are giving to your children and grandchildren? 

 

 

Are you perpetuating the lie of getting and buying, 

or have you learned how to teach the next generations 

what true happiness really looks like?

 

We all need to find this better way. 

This better way is going to require something of you to find it. 

You are going to have to give a good chunk of your time 

every year of your life  if you are to find it.

 

Most people are not going to want to make that kind of sacrifice. 

They want Jesus to tell them how much he loves them. 

They want Jesus to tell them its okay to make lots of money, 

because that is the way everyone else is searching for happiness. 

But Jesus is not here to bless our pocketbook. 

Jesus did not come to bless our extravagant lifestyle. 

Jesus died to all of that, 

so he could be reborn into the fullness of God’s grace.

 

Now it would be easy for me to stand here and say 

that Jesus wants to bless all you have and all you do, 

and we would all go home happy. 

But the world we would go home to would be unchanged. 

There would still be poor people begging for change 

outside the Tim Horton’s where you go for lunch after church. 

There would still be religious extremists 

willing to  kill people they don’t like in the name of God. 

There would still be pollution which is threatening our water system 

and our climate patterns. 

All these problems would still be there, 

and we would be powerless to change them. 

In fact it would be impossible to change them, 

because we will have kept Jesus distracted 

by having him bless everything we are doing wrong. 

 

But Jesus did not come to bless the rich who forget the poor. 

Jesus did not come to bless the powerful who exploited the peasants. Jesus did not congratulate the landowner who misused his slaves. 

Jesus did not condemn the woman who was accused of adultery.  

Jesus calls us to die to our sense of self. 

Die to this world. Die to this way of life, so we might be reborn. 

So we might be changed. 

 

Nothing is impossible for God. 

Any problem can be overcome. 

Every conflict can be resolved. 

There are solutions to every crisis. 

These solutions only seem impossible 

only because we are not willing to change. 

These solutions seem unrealistic 

only because we are not willing to let go of our possessions, 

our power, our prestige. 

They seem impractical, because we are not willing to die and be reborn. 

 

Here in North America we are rich, powerful and well fed. 

We have put our comfort and prosperity at the heart of everything we do. As a result, We sometimes put God at the edges of our life. 

God is often reduced to a pleasant diversion on Sunday morning 

enjoyed by the respectable middle class. 

God is often allowed to speak only to the private personal feelings 

we keep locked up inside. 

 

Our God is bigger than that. 

Our God wants to change this world, 

with a Spirit which has the power to change everything about us. 

I can tell you that if you open your life up to this power of the Holy Spirit, your life will be changed. 

If you go on such a religious pilgrimage of rebirth, 

you will discover what a difference your faith in God 

can really make in this world.

 

Our world is facing some difficult times. 

Racial intolerance is growing every day. 

We need prayerful reconciliation between many different groups 

including the world’s religions. 

AIDS is devastating the continent of Africa. 

They need medical, educational and food assistance.  

The poor in our cities need the kind of encouraging support 

which only a friend who walks with them can give. 

The environment is undergoing a massive crisis. 

All these situations need redeeming. 

They need your prayers. 

And in each of these places, you can make a difference. 

In each of these moments, you can be changed by the encounter. 

Even serving in a secular cause for the healing of the world, 

you can be reborn. 

God’s Spirit is not limited to these four walls. 

God’s spirit blows where it will. 

God is active in the world, seeking to redeem and save this world. 

 

You can only have a mountain-top life changing experience 

if you are first willing to climb the mountain. 

Which mountain will you climb in your life? 

Which mountain will you encourage others to climb? 

Which mountain will you help them to climb?

 

Nothing is impossible for God. 

It may seem impossible to us, given the way we are living our lives. 

But it is not impossible to change. 

We can be the change God wants to see in the world. 

We can live as part of God’s kingdom here today. 

We don’t need to wait for anyone else. 

We don’t need to lobby the government to change the laws 

so  everyone will be forced to change. 

We don’t need to wait for any of these things. 

We can die. We can be reborn. We can be alive in Christ.

 

So if you want, you can leave here this morning as if nothing has changed. You can leave here thinking the minister was a bit long winded today. 

You can continue to go down the road of consumerism, 

seeking nothing but money and bright shiny things. 

Or you can choose the road less travelled, 

which leads to a life lived in community 

with an imperfect world which is in need.

 

It depends on what kind of life you want to live, 

and what you believe Jesus wants for you. 

Are you called to be someone who does nothing but Take, Take, Take? 

Or are you being invited to find happiness, 

by giving, sharing , and blessing others, 

just as God seeks to bless you this day with the gift of the Holy Spirit? 

 

Choose well. Your future depends upon it. 

May God guide you as you find your way. Amen.