Complacent or active ?

From Helen

One afternoon a rich man was riding in his limousine when he saw two men along the road- side eating grass.  Disturbed, he ordered his driver to stop and he got out to investigate.  He asked one man, "Why are you eating grass?"  "We don't have any money for food," the poor man replied.  "We have to eat grass."  

"Well, then, you can come with me to my house and I'll feed you," the rich mansaid.  "But sir, I have a wife and two children with me. They are over there, under that tree."  

"Bring them along," the rich man replied.  Turning to the other poor man he stated, "You come with us, also."  The second man, in a pitiful voice, then said, "But sir, I also have a wife and SIX children with me!"  

"Bring them all, as well," the rich man answered.  They all entered the car, which was no easy task, even for a car as large as the limousine was.  Once under way, one of the poor men turned to the rich man and said, "Sir, you are too kind. Thank you for taking all of us with you."  The rich man replied, "Glad to do it.  You'll really love my place.  The grass is almost a foot high!"

The rich man in his life had completely missed what was right before him.Perhaps he was so content in his life that he didn’t notice those who were less well off or think of how he could really help them. In our readings today we have been reminded of the problems caused by being content and complacent. The people to whom the prophet Amos was speaking (6:1a-4-7) had failed to notice that there was more to life than luxury. They had taken everything they had for granted and because of this they had taken God for granted. Amos was not making a comment about being rich but he was pointing out that they had become so relaxed in their life, so content that their expectations of God would be met as they wanted that they didn’t notice ruin that was right before them.

In the gospel reading we heard Jesus tell the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. This was a story that would have been well known to the people to whom Jesus was speaking. It was a story that was told in many variations around the middle East. There is one crucial difference though. When Jesus told the story he changed the ending. In the usual story that people knew Lazarus was permitted to go and warn the rich mans relatives of what would happen if they kept living the way that they are. Jesus explained that nothing would work, even someone rising from the dead, if they hadn’t already noticed that the way they were living was ignoring the needs of others. 

In this parable it would be tempting to think of the rich man as a real baddie. You know, the type of person who doesn’t care about anyone else, who would be pictured as so rich they didn’t know what to do with their money, the type of person who would look down on anyone who was not as well off as them. 

I want to think about the rich man a little differently this morning.  I don’t want us to name him as a baddie, but as someone who missed the point. I think that the rich man is someone that we are all in danger of being a bit like as we follow Jesus. 

I am not saying that we’re all remarkably rich, or that we aren’t very nice people. But we can all be guilty of the biggest sin of the rich man. The man was content, he was complacent and he just didn’t notice what was right before his eyes. He had never helped Lazarus, but he did know his name. Can you imagine knowing the name of someone but never helping them. It sounds really quite ridiculous. Perhaps it might have been down to the fact that the rich man just didn’t realise that what he was doing was hurting someone so badly and when he did it was too late. 

I think the man was content and was so caught up in his own world and ways that he just didn’t notice the obvious need in front of Him.

I think we can all become content and complacent in our faith. We know what we believe, we know why we believe but do we work hard to maintain our faith to grow in it. To learn more through prayer, Bible reading, talking to each other about our faith. Perhaps even going to a Bible study to learn more, after all none of us know everything!

Faith needs to be worked at, it is something that we need to keep to and cultivate. Now, I am pretty rubbish with plants but even I know that in order for plants to grow they need to be watered, in the same way for us to grow closer to God we need to be challenged to think more about God. 

Faith is not something to be complacent about, yes we can be content because we know God but we are to do more.

In the epistle reading (1 Tim 6:6-19) we heard of the life of the Christian not being one of contentment and complacency but one of wanting to know more of God. If we are to avoid missing what is right before us we need to keep putting God first, because the more we are like Jesus the more we will be generous, the more we will notice what is going on around us. 

We don’t know everything but if we are to be active in our faith and I don’t mean jogging, but if we are to be active in our faith then like Timothy in the epistle reading we are to keep fighting the fight. To keep trying to be more like Jesus. To remember that He is the one to whom all power belongs. The one to whom all praise is given. 

Remembering Jesus, putting Him first and trying to be more like Him will make sure that we are not complacent, that we don’t take God for granted but that we are trying to be more like Him. 

The reason we do this is because like the epistle says, “we may take hold of the life that really is life.” Now I don’t think that’s worth being complacent about! AMEN