The Uncertainty of Life: VBS Sunday Message

The Uncertainty of Life: Luke 12:13-21

This week our church became a Hawaiian island. The props are the backdrop for the theme: Unshakeable Truth. And of course, that unshakeable truth is Jesus.

If you’ve been watching the news this week, you will probably recall these two stories- both occur on a bus: the first story, two men were on a bus late a night- the driver and one passenger- when the bus they were in began to be pelted with falling rocks coming down from the side of the mountain they were driving on. The driver, Peter Skeels, made the split second decision to speed up, not knowing if he was speeding into something worse. His decision saved the life of those to men- the road was covered in bolders, any one of which could have flattened the bus and its passengers instantly snuffing out their life.

The second story is too horrible to go into detail. A young man- 22 year old Tim McLean (who is described by his uncle as "a little guy with a heart bigger than you could know”)- was asleep on a bus, listening to his headphones, when he was savagely attacked. I won’t say anything more about the violence. One minute he’s on his way home to see his family and friends, the next, he’s dead.

I was listening to an interview on the radio last week with the driver of the first bus- Peter Skeels. This blew me away because I often wonder what the moments of people’s lives were like just before they die (I hope that doesn’t sound morbid). But I wonder if they have some knowing- if the world around them changes. People talk about their life passing before their eyes and we imagine a film being rewound to the beginning and being replayed in fast motion.

What blew me away was the conversation the Skeels said he was having with his passenger just before the mountain fell on them. This helped in a way to make sense of what happened on the other bus. He said they were joking about “what if they were caught in a rock slide”. And (I’m not sure who said it) but one of them said, “You almost have to come close to dying before you really appreciate what life is about” (my paraphrase).

I want to show you something that Jesus says about the uncertainty of life, its in Luke 12 (Read 13-21).

Jesus underlines the need for vigilance in verse 15, he says “take care and be on your guard.” And the point of this parable is that if all you do is live this life for yourself without any regard for God and ignorant of the fact that God holds your life in his hands, you will regret it.

This is not a question of the character of the young man who was killed. By all reports, he was a good man who brought joy into many people’s lives. But that’s not always the case, sometimes people die and the world is a better place without them.

More often though, people die whose lives were like that farmer in the parable, always accumulating, always getting, always building bigger barns to store up more things without ever thinking about the needs of others; without ever thinking that this day God could demand their soul of them. And all their wealth and things will mean nothing to them. Someone else will get it- maybe someone who does not deserve it.

Does that describe the society we live in?

Does that describe you?

But the point of this is not to stoke your sense of despair. Jesus gave this parable as a warning and to offer hope. Whether or not you get your fill in this life, there is more to come after this life. So much so that it makes all our accumulation of things in this life look foolish.

Have you ever been driving to work early in the morning and seen a shopping cart full of garbage? I see it quite often. The reason that happens is because the night before someone got high on crystal meth. And when you’re high on crystal meth, it makes your mind do weird things like picking up worthless useless filthy junk because it looks like treasure. But when they come down from the high they realize all they got is a shopping cart full of useless trash.

I think when we die it will be the same thing for us. We’ll see our lives the same way, as a mindless getting of worthless goods. John Piper explains it this way,
Here Jesus calls us to replace thing-seeking with kingdom-seeking, and to do it without anxiety for not having things. He calls us to be different from the rest of the world: "All the nations of the world seek these things." The followers of Jesus replace thing-seeking with kingdom-seeking. And they leave the financial "success" of their ventures with God as they focus on the spiritual payoff—the righteousness payoff and mercy payoff and Christ-exalting payoff—not the money payoff.

Those two men on that bus that narrowly avoided the rock slide had it right. Sometimes you need to come close to losing your life before you realize what it’s all about. They were fortunate. But not everyone gets a second chance. I think we can learn something from the horror of this past week- you never know what may be your last minute of life. You could walk out the door today and get hit by a car, or have a heart attack, or something worse.

I believe that God was speaking to those two men on that bus on the way to Whistler just before the rocks came down around them. And I also believe that God was speaking to Tim Mclean just before he was attacked and I have peace about it. God is speaking to us this morning!

We don’t need a near death experience to realize what Jesus is trying to tell us: to quote the modern philosopher MnM: “We only got one shot”; one shot to make the most of this life and the way we make the most of it is by being rich toward God.

That begins with what the kids have been talking about all week: the ABC’s- accept, believe and confess. Accept that you are sinner, just by virtue of the fact that you have been living this life for yourself makes you a sinner- you are separated from the will and love of God by choice and by nature.

B is for believe- believe the unshakeable truth that Jesus is who he claimed to be- the messiah, the saviour of the world! He died in your place for your sins so that you can live for God.

The C- confess, confess your faith to others. Jesus said if you confess me before men, I will confess you before my father who is in heaven.

And live your life rich toward God, by serving him, by giving to the poor, by helping the helpless, by loving the unlovable and the unloved. And by doing so you will store your treasures in heaven!