Luke 12:13-21
Colossians 3:1-14
“Don’t Be a Rich Fool”
By: Ken Sauer, Pastor of Grace United Methodist Church
Soddy Daisy, TN
www.gbgm-umc.prg/grace-sdtn
We Methodists have always been known for our good music!
Methodists are a singing group of Christians.
Back in the 1700’s there was a certain tavern-keeper who liked music and thus decided to attend one of John Wesley’s meetings in order to hear the singing.
He resolved, however, not to listen to the sermon.
So he sat with his head down and his fingers in his ears.
But, when God wants to speak to a person’s soul, God has His ways.
A fly flew onto the man’s nose and when he tried to swat it away, he heard nine words that changed his life.
He heard John Wesley say: “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
From that moment on the tavern keeper became restless.
So he returned the next night, listened intently and was converted! (borrowed from a sermon by: Joel Santos)
Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew, “What good will it be for a [person] if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a [person] give in exchange for his soul?”
The human soul is a priceless treasure.
It is the real you!
In fact, the Bible teaches that our souls are more valuable than the whole world!
And yet, so many of us “sell our souls” for what are surely petty bargains.
We are more than just material beings; the Bible teaches that we are body, soul and spirit.
And we also see that a great price has been paid for the soul, but not in an earthly sense.
1 Peter 1:18-19 says: “you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed…but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb, without blemish or defect.”
Jesus Christ allowed Himself to die on a Cross for your soul and for my soul.
His death pays the penalty for the sins of those who believe in Him by faith.
But it is possible for us to neglect and to lose our souls…those things which are truly most valuable!
In our Epistle Lesson that Barbara read for us earlier Paul tells us that as Christians we are to set our “minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God…”
…We are told to “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to [our] earthly [natures].”
And one of the first things listed is “evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.”
We are to put to death greed, which is idolatry!
How many of us have done that?
There’s a commercial that is currently running on t-v.
It’s for a car, and I can’t remember the brand, but the commercial is geared toward mainstream Americans…trying to help give direction on how we should spend our great piles of money.
It shows several ways that people waste their money, and then it shows the car they are advertising and the slogan comes up: “Don’t waste your money.”
That’s good advice, but I think it also speaks volumes about how so many of us have more money than we know what to do with!
And that’s kind of the situation that the farmer in our parable for this morning finds himself in.
But before we get to that, let’s take a look at the setting of Luke Chapter 12.
Here we find Jesus teaching the multitudes that gathered around Him as He made His way toward Jerusalem.
In the summary statements about Jesus’ words to the crowds that precede our lesson, we find Jesus warning against hypocrisy, promising God’s ultimate and revealing judgment, calling for a rightful fear of God in recognition of God’s ultimate authority, and promising God’s grace and care.
As Jesus teaches the people this way, a man from the crowd urges Jesus to settle a dispute he is having with his brother over an inheritance.
But Jesus refused to, and, instead warned against the consuming destruction of life by the love of money.
Jesus refused to become involved in controversy over “things.”
He shows no interest, and He denounces greed.
And then Jesus tells a parable.
And it’s a strange and challenging story.
Many of us may find this parable uncomfortable because, in America at least, we are considered wise if we hold onto our surplus and lay it up for the future.
This is called “financial planning.”
The other tendency is to use our surplus to acquire more extravagant consumer items.
This could be called “upgrading.”
The “rich man” in the parable, who could count up his amassed fortune and sit back and relax, living well off the interest, is the model for American retirement.
Jesus shows us this “rich man” in a very different way that convicts us all.
God confronts this man, mocking his efforts to lay up enough to feel secure, with the announcement of his impending death.
What treasure had he laid up for the future?
There is a danger that Jesus is pointing at, which is namely, standing before God at the judgment with nothing of lasting value to show for one’s life.
Having played the world’s game and having come out, in the bank accounts, a “winner,” the person finds out at the end that he or she has nothing but empty hands, an empty heart, and an empty life.
Let’s all heed Jesus’ timely warning.
Through God’s grace, this warning allows us to start paying attention to becoming “rich toward God.”
Consider the quality of your relationship with God.
How can you invest more fully in that relationship and the things of eternal value?
What assets will you have to reallocate to be “rich toward God” instead of being a “Rich Fool”?
One day a pastor was summoned to the house of a parishioner who was having financial difficulties.
The pastor counseled him for a while and then stopped.
“Let’s have a word of prayer and while I pray, you make a commitment to give one-tenth of your income to the Lord.”
Considering his income, the man thought to himself, “That won’t be difficult. That’s only $400.00 a year—only $8.00 per week.”
They prayed, and the man promised to give back 10 percent to the Lord and to the Lord’s work.
Years passed and the man’s income greatly increased—to over $100,000 a year.
He called the pastor once again.
“Pastor, I’d like to be released from that 10 percent I promised the Lord several years back.
A tenth of my income is now over $10,000 a year, and I have some plans for spending that.”
“That’s no problem,” the preacher replied.
“Let’s pray.”
As they bowed their heads, the pastor began to pray, “Lord, you know what a problem this increase has been to my brother here.
I’m asking you to reduce his income, perhaps back to the original $4,000, so he’ll be able to afford his tithe once again…”
“Hold it!” the parishioner shouted.
“That’s not quite what I had in mind!”
In our parable, the rich man used the pronoun “I” six times; “my” is used five times; and even a “you” is used to refer to himself.
His inner conversation was with himself, not with God!
He was spending all his time and energy on himself.
What are we spending our time and energy on?
William Barclay recounted an old story about:
“three apprentice devils who were coming from hell to earth to serve their time.
They were telling Satan before they left what they proposed to do.
One said, ‘I will tell people that there is no God.’
‘That,’ said Satan, ‘will not do because in their heart of hearts they know there is.’
‘I will tell people,’ said the second, ‘that there is no hell.’
‘That,’ said Satan, ‘is still more hopeless for even in life they have experienced the remorse of hell.’
‘I will tell people,’ said the third, ‘that there is no hurry.’
‘Go,’ said Satan, ‘tell them that and you will ruin them by the millions.’”
Like the “rich fool” and many of us forget that the days of each of our lives are finite and that time does run out!
Remember how Paul called greed “idolatry”?
Indeed, the grip of money on our lives can have a power that rightly belongs to God.
And the granting of such power to money, to the extent that it functions as a god, is idolatry.
And this, to put it bluntly, is a sin!
The Bible’s assumption is that money and possessions are spiritual concerns and they reveal more about an individual than any other aspect of life.
Let’s consider these words from the New Testament:
“But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.”
“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich [person] to enter the kingdom of God.”
“Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
“Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
Then he will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.”
“Watch out! Be on guard against all kinds of greed; a [person’s] life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
In Methodism, the newly converted truly became new creatures in Christ, and took on a new lifestyle of high morals and hard work.
Because of this, many persons wanted to hire Methodists and Methodists were getting rich!
This really worried John Wesley.
He was afraid that wealth and money would come between people and God.
And so Wesley came up with his own stewardship plan.
It goes like this: “Gain all you can, save all you can, give all you can!”
That is the only way to keep from finding out on judgment day that one is a “Rich Fool.”
We have been graced with a lot of resources, but is most of it still in our pockets?
One Sunday morning a pastor encouraged his congregation to consider the potential of the church.
He told them, “With God’s help we can see the day when this church will go from crawling to walking.”
The people responded, “Let the church walk, Pastor. Let the church walk.”
He continued, “And when the church begins to walk, next the church can begin to run.”
And the people shouted, “Let the church run, Pastor. Let the church run!”
The pastor continued, “And finally the church can move from running to flying. Oh, the church can fly! But, of course, that’s going to take lots of money for that to happen.”
The congregation grew quiet and from the back someone mumbled, “Let the church crawl, Pastor. Let the church crawl.”
It’s so very sad to see how the love of money is able to cut one short from living life to the fullest possible extent in relationship with God!
Let’s not be rich fools.
We have been entrusted with much, and from those who have been entrusted with much—much will be required!
There are so many folks in our community who need to know that God loves them, and that God died in order to purchase their soul!
That soul is the most valuable commodity in the world to God.
How valuable is it to us?
Let us pray: Dear God, You have given us so much and we do have a love affair with the creature comforts that money can buy us. But we don’t want to be in love with money. We want our full loyalty to be to You and You alone. Take us, shape us, use us in Jesus’ name and for His sake we pray. Amen.
