317. Tuesday after Ninth Sunday after Trinity.
O God, make us partakers
of the heavenly riches
of thy grace and love. Amen.
Luke 12, 32-37. Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell that ye have, and give alms: provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that, when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the lord, when he cometh, shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.
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“It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” He takes pleasure in it; it is his most earnest desire; it is his delight to save you, and he longs to have you with himself. Be of good cheer, then, thou little flock. Be willing to endure poverty and want on earth; beware of loving mammon; your heart possesses a much greater treasure, which you shall surely enjoy; for it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
This is a grand expression, sweet and strengthening to our poor and unbelieving heart, which so easily grows despondent. Shall not the almighty Father be able to bring about that which is the good pleasure of his will? You are, then, rich, and have treasures which no thief can reach, neither moth corrupt. Sell, then, that you have. This does not mean that you are to hold an auction, and turn all your property into money, and give it away; this would not necessarily bring you nearer the kingdom. But in your heart you shall sell that you have; let the heart rid itself of every earthly encumbrance. And give alms with hearty pleasure, whether you have much or little; be ready and willing to relinquish it all. Thus you have your treasure in heaven; thus your heart possesses that which God has given you in Christ, the glory of the kingdom of heaven. The hands of the poor are “bags which wax not old.” If we delight in filling them, we lay up treasures in heaven. But the treasures of heaven possessed by the heart, what are they but the living God himself, the heavenly fullness of love? Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. As the bees in the flowers, thus our hearts in Christ. The heart of the Christian lives and is bound up, not in chests and storehouses; not in moneys and chattels; not in fine clothes and ornaments; not in house and farm, nor in family and friends; not in honors and high reputation; not in art and science, nor in any good things whatsoever of this earth; but in heaven, in the life eternal, in Jesus Christ.
Lord, teach us to gird about our loins; and to kindle our lights, and keep them burning. In mercy loose our hearts from all the treasures of the world. Be thou our life, our delight, and our salvation; and make us rich in charity and mercy. Amen.*
Thine forever! Oh, how blest
They who find in thee their rest;
Savior, guardian, heavenly friend,
Oh, defend us to the end.
Thine forever! Thou our guide,
All our wants by thee supplied,
All our sins by thee forgiven,
Lead us, Lord, from earth to heaven.
[TLH 338, LSB 687, ELH 515; listen here]
* Here the head of the family says a short morning or evening prayer in his own words, and closes with the Lord’s Prayer and the Benediction. This is to be done every day. If the stanzas are not sung, they may be read in their proper place before the impromptu petition and the Lord’s Prayer.