Luke 12:13-21
Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost - 31 July 2016
Rev. John Derme
Do you ever worry? That is probably a silly question. How often do you worry? What makes you worry? If you could change something about your life so that you would not worry, what would that be? What is it that makes you feel safe, secure, and happy? Is money the answer? Is that the solution to your worries?
That is what a lot of people think. There were many people who thought that at the time of Jesus' ministry, too. While Jesus was teaching one day, a man in the crowd said, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." Apparently their father had died, and the older son was trying to keep everything that had belonged to him. The younger son was upset and wanted Jesus, a well-respected rabbi, to step in and help. Jesus did help him. But he did it in a way that the man who spoke to him didn't expect. We don't know whether this man's case was right or wrong, but his trust was in the wrong place. Jesus helped him by telling a story to warn this man and everybody else in the crowd about the sin of greed.
The man in Jesus' story was rich, and he was getting richer. He was a farmer who had such a successful crop that he couldn't fit all the produce into his barns. Listen to him describe his problem and solution in his own words: "What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops. This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." He thought that he himself had produced enough goods, and as soon as he had enough buildings to store everything he had then he could retire early and enjoy life. He had plenty of money, so he thought his future was secure and he could be happy.
God knew that he would not be happy, however. God called him a fool, because he was about to die that very night. And, as our First Lesson from the book of Ecclesiastes said, when he died, all that he had worked for would go to someone else. He wouldn't enjoy any of his money.
What was his sin that made him such a fool? It wasn't a sin that he was rich. It wasn't even that he wanted to tear down his perfectly good barns to build bigger ones to store all his stuff, although some might find that distasteful. His sin was that he thought he could find his happiness, safety, and security in what he had. Jesus warns us today that this is how it is for anyone who stores up riches for himself, rather than being rich toward God.
Do you wanna be rich? Do money and possessions make you feel happy, safe, and secure for the future? I think we all know that money can't buy happiness. And I think we all know that when you die, you can't take it with you. But money can buy you things that make you happy. And you can enjoy it while you are still here. Money is necessary, or else we won’t be able to afford what we need to survive, right? If we didn't have money, we would worry a whole lot more than we already do, wouldn't we? If you had a little bit more money, wouldn't you worry just a little bit less? If you had plenty of money, you would have a whole lot less to worry about, right?
If you think that having money would make you worry less, doesn't that mean you are trusting in money rather than in God to take care of your future? Each of us here would say that we trust God to take care of us. But if we still worry about money, it means that we don't trust God as much as we say we do.
Someday your life will be demanded of you, and you will leave everything you have behind to someone else. On that day, where will your trust be? Will you be looking to the money and possessions that you have – or that you wish you had – for happiness, security, and safety? If you are trusting in riches that day, God will call you a fool, and you will be poor forever in hell.
It is impossible for us not to trust in the money we have, at least a little. And even those of us who say we have no desire to be wealthy sometimes think about how nice it would be to have more. This obsession with money that we can't get away from betrays that we are greedy by nature. Nobody is or ever has been immune to it. Nobody, except for Jesus. Jesus, who owns all things in heaven and on earth, gave up everything to become a poor person. Yet during his 33 years on earth he never worried about money even once. He was always rich toward God, devoting everything he had to serving his Father. Jesus lived that way for us. He also suffered and died to pay for our foolish greed. He lived and died so that, through faith in him, you and I will be wise about money in this life. Because of what Jesus has done for us, we will be rich – with everything we will ever need or want – in heaven.
The riches of heaven – living in mansions, eating choice food, and being clothed in the finest garments (the righteousness of Christ) – will be wonderful. But we are going to have to wait a little while yet for that. While we live here on earth, the Lord has blessed some of us with lots of money and others of us with a little. No matter how much you or I have, we must all consider the question: Do you wanna be rich? If, by rich, you mean storing up riches for yourself, then Jesus teaches us that the answer has to be "no." But if, by rich, you mean being rich toward God, then the answer is "absolutely, yes!"
What does Jesus mean when he teaches us to be rich toward God? First and foremost it means to trust in him rather than trusting in our money and possessions. Being rich toward God means having faith to fear, love, and trust in him above all things. And when we trust in God, our faith will show itself in a life that is not devoted to stockpiling things, but instead gives good things back to God. The truth is that he is the one who gives us all that we have. Therefore it is not wrong for us to own possessions or even to be rich. If God has blessed you in this way, give thanks to him. It would be wrong, of course, to make those riches and possessions into a replacement for God.
How does a rich person show God that he trusts in him? How does a poor person show God that he trusts in him? Both do it in the same way, by giving back to God a generous portion of their income. A generous portion of a rich person's income will be larger than a generous portion of a poor person's. The dollar amount isn't what is important. The faith that leads a person to give generously is what God wants to see. And it is for our good that we give generously to God, because through these gifts God teaches us not to rely on our money, but to rely on him.
We are constantly tempted to rely on our money. But Jesus has won forgiveness for that sin. So we don't actually need money after all, since it is God who has provided us with forgiveness and it is God who will keep providing us with everything else we need, too. So, do you wanna be rich? Yes, we do! We will not be rich for ourselves, of course. We will be rich toward God!