“Not Rich Toward God”
Luke 12:13-21
I heard about a mother who saw her two-year-old boy swallow a nickel. She immediately ran over to him—picked him up—turned him upside down—began to hit him on the back—and the boy coughed up two quarters.
Well, Mom went into a panic mode and yelled for her husband, who came running up and said, “What happened?” She said, “Billy just swallowed a nickel, I hit him on the back, and he coughed up two quarters. What should I do?” He said, “Keep feeding him nickels!”
In the 12th chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke, a large crowd had gathered to hear from Jesus. So many so that they were “trampling on one another.” Sharing for us all a life lesson Jesus said: “But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him” (Luke 12:5 NIV).
From there we get to our lesson for this morning where a young man calls out from this large crowd, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
Problems like this were often brought to rabbis to be settled. Jesus, however, directed the man to the core of his problem. He didn’t need legal advice but a correct attitude toward the accumulation of wealth. Jesus taught him that his relationship with God was far more important than getting his fait share of the inheritance. Jesus put His finger on this man’s real motives. When we bring a problem to God in prayer, he often responds in the same way, showing us how we need to change and grow in our attitude toward the problem. His answers may not be the ones we are looking for, but they are more effective in keeping us true to His priorities.
Choosing to not get involved in this petty squabble, Jesus, as was His custom, sensed and took advantage of a teaching moment. You may find this hard to believe but Jesus spoke more about money and possessions than He did about prayer, faith, or salvation. Of His thirty-eight parables sixteen of them dealt with man’s relationship with money and material things. Why? Perhaps we find a clue in Jesus’ words: “Where your treasure is, there will be your heart also.”
One of the reasons Jesus gave so much attention to the stewardship of our possessions is that He understood that possessions can soon own us. The farmer in our parable never saw beyond himself, has clearly forgotten God, and has no intention of giving or sharing with others. Giving helps to remind us that nothing belongs to us and that we only belong to God.
In my payer of consecration earlier in our service I read these words from the Apostle Paul: “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:2-3 NIV). Paul was saying, “Don’t think about now and instead focus on what comes next.” More simply put, or what the Spirit revealed to me this week: We live even after we die!
How many of us have a garage that can no longer be parked in because it’s filled up with so much “stuff?” Or how many of us have an off-site storage unit because we have too much “stuff” to keep in our homes—so we arrange for visitation to see this other “stuff.”
There are probably few of us, including me, whose lives aren’t dominated in one way or another by materialism. The desire for bigger homes—nicer cars—a boat—a swimming pool—a large screen television—a camper—new furniture—and the list goes on. After all, according to all the credit card commercials: “We deserve it!”
Our life isn’t made secure by things but by triumph over things. You see, the more stuff and the more money that we accumulate along the way quits serving us and we begin to serve it and allow it to control us.
The Greek word for covetousness is very interesting. It literally means “a thirst for having more.” It refers to the attitude of wanting whatever you see and wanting more of it once you get it.
Luke writes: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest.” In other words, it was God that had given him his harvest. It was God that had given him his money. The problem wasn’t that he had the money—the problem was he worshipped his money—and he replaced the eternal God with a material God.
The farmer in our parable is having a conversation with his favorite person about what to do with all his wealth. But God calls him a name. You might think it’s the worst name God can call a person. He calls the man a fool. Why?
Because he isn’t living with the end in mind. He’s thinking about the present with no time spent preparing forever. In God’s book, that makes you a fool. Oh, he was planning for the future, but only the future of this life.
Stop for a moment and think about how much you think about eternity. Your answer to that question reveals whether or not you’re a fool.
Do you live with the end in mind? If you look at your relationships, finances, calendars, how you spend your time and energy—would all of it say that you are using this life to prepare for your next life? We need to get our minds on things above, not on earthly things.
My experience on the surf/ski board in the ocean (balance)
Jesus calls us to develop a life that is rich toward God but too many of us think we have brought all our good times on ourselves. The man in our parable never saw beyond himself. His attitude is the opposite of what Jesus taught. Instead of denying himself he affirmed himself. Instead of finding happiness in giving he sought to find it in hoarding. He also never saw beyond the world. All his plans were made on the basis of life.
My friends—all our money cannot protect us from the ultimate experiences of life and death. Our lives aren’t made secure by things—but by triumph over things! Our lives have significance not in what we accumulate but in the light of God’s love for us.
We come into this world naked, and we leave this world naked. None of our riches or possessions will go with us. In His day Jesus challenged the accepted standard of values. He denied that it is possible to achieve security by amassing property—but instead; we achieve security by being rich toward God.
What is your plan? Now please understand me when I say I’m not telling you to sell your house and car and empty your bank account and I don’t believe Jesus is saying this either. But there comes a point when enough is enough. Are you going to be rich according to society or are you going to be rich toward God? This is the question—this is my challenge for you this morning—and your very life, as well as your next life depends on your answer.
Eastman First Methodist Church 