How many times have you viewed the following scene in a movie? An investigator is trying to get some information, but he’s having a hard time getting anyone to talk even though he’s sure they have the information he wants. So he pulls out a $100 bill and waves it around. In a matter of seconds he has the intel he’s looking for. Money talks.
Or what about this scene? A man arrives at a fancy restaurant without a dinner reservation. He’s about to be turned away when he slips the hostess a $100 bill and asks her to look at the reservation book again. She then says something like, “Oh, I see we just had a last minute cancellation. Follow me.” Money talks.
Yes, money talks, so what does it say about you? Your attitude towards money says something about your attitude towards God. It also provides a window of insight into where you might spend eternity. Let’s take a closer look at our Gospel lesson to see what Jesus says our attitude towards money ought to say about us.
The setting of our Gospel lesson from Luke is this: a crowd of many thousands has gathered to listen to Jesus teach (Luke 12:1). When there was a pause in the lesson, a man yelled: “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me” (Luke 12:13). What would you think if the next time I paused in the sermon to gather my thoughts, Brock suddenly yelled out: “Pastor, tell Liam to give me the 10 bucks he owes me!” In my 17 years of serving you no one has ever interrupted a sermon or a Bible study to ask me to settle a family dispute. What was so important to the man in our text that he should interrupt Jesus while he was in the middle of teaching a crowd that would have filled a small stadium? Money. This man felt certain that his brother was cheating him out of the family inheritance and he wanted Jesus to do something about it. Money talks. In this case, it said that this man was more concerned with getting his fair share than keeping the peace in the family. It also said that this man saw Jesus as “muscle” who was useful in his dispute with his brother.
Is that what money would say about us too? Are we so driven by getting our fair share that we would let a dispute about money tear our family apart? And do we see Jesus as nothing more than our servant who should do what we want him to do, rather than seeing him as our Lord whom we are to serve? If so, then listen to Jesus’ response. “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you? Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Lk 12:14, 15).
This man wanted Jesus to judge his brother. Instead Jesus judged him and pointed out a heart that was motivated by greed. How many family disputes would cease if we took an honest look at how we contribute to the problem? Wouldn’t there be more peace if we acknowledged how we often jump to conclusions, or make a big deal out of issues that are really not that serious? God has given you the reason to be so conciliatory—even when money is involved. Jesus would say in the verses right after our text: “…do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30 For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. 32 Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys” (Luke 12:29-33).
There is no need for us to try to lay claim to every loonie that we lay eyes on. Our God knows what we need and he will give that to us. He’s already given us the kingdom says Jesus! An eternal life of peace and joy awaits and is ours through faith in Jesus. Think of it like this. When you’re headed out the door to Grandma’s for a delicious Thanksgiving meal, do you get upset that Mom won’t let you have your usual mid-day snack? Of course not! There’s something better that awaits. You know you can do without for the time being, and anyway, skipping the snack will help you enjoy Grandma’s meal even more!
And so it should be for every believer. I don’t need to run after every loonie or keep up with the latest fads or have the latest gadgets for my life to be fulfilling. My life is already filled—with God’s love and his promises of peace. In order to drive this point home with his audience, Jesus went on to tell a parable. There was a farmer who was blessed with an abundant crop. He wondered what to do with it because his barns weren’t big enough to hold the wealth. So he decided that he would build bigger barns. After that he was certain he could retire to a life of ease. But that very night God said that his life would be demanded of him and he wouldn’t get to enjoy all those blessings he was storing up for himself.
Note how this farmer isn’t “evil.” He hadn’t gotten rich by selling drugs. Nor was he careless with the blessings God had given to him. He wasn’t going to leave the grain out in the field where the birds could get at it. He was going to store it away like any prudent man would. And then he was going to enjoy retirement. Was he going to travel the world and party it up? No. He was going to stay close to home and eat, drink, and be merry. That doesn’t sound very different from how we look forward to a long weekend like this when we can cook a special meal and savor it with friends. This guy in the parable wasn’t a crass unbeliever. He never cursed God, he just forgot about him. But that’s just as bad, as God made clear by calling him a fool.
Are we like this fool? The farmer had called the bountiful harvest, “my crop, my grain, my goods.” Do we speak of “my house, my car, my music, my medal” forgetting that all these have come from God? Even if we have worked hard to get them, it is God who gave us the energy and the smarts to accomplish what we have. When we start to forget that, we think that these blessings belong to us and can be disposed in the way that we see fit. The farmer in the parable, for example, was at first perplexed. What was he going to do with all that grain? Build new barns! That would take care of the storage problem. But the rich man already had storage available: in the mouths of the needy (Ambrose). That thought, however, never occurred to him because he believed that all those blessings were for him. When our love for others diminishes that’s a clear sign that our love for God is fading too.
But can you really blame the guy for storing away the grain for himself? I mean how is that different than putting money into a retirement savings plan? Ah, now we’re hitting close to home aren’t we? The question to ask ourselves is this: does my retirement plan hang on the number of zeros behind my savings, or does it hang on the one in whose hand my eternal future rests? (Michael Otterstatter) One way to answer that question is to look at your offerings. Do you give in such a way that confesses: “OK Lord, I know my friends would think I’m crazy for “giving this away,” but please accept this as my act of worship, for it demonstrates my trust in you not to leave me short this month, or when I get to the age of retirement.”
Even if money would not say of you now that you’re in love with it and rely on it more than you rely on God, note how Jesus said: “Continue to be on guard against all kinds of greed.” Do we take that warning seriously or do we needlessly and daily expose ourselves to the sin of greed when we pour through the advertisements that come in with the newspaper? Do we really need to feed our sinful nature’s desire for the best and the brightest when what we have is working just fine? Do we steel ourselves against greed at dessert time when Mom is scooping out ice cream or do we give full vent to the cry: “Why did she get more? No fair!”? Wasn’t that what the man at the beginning of our text had said, that his brother had received more of the family inheritance, “No fair!”?
How it must have pained Jesus to hear evidence of that man’s covetousness. Jesus would quite literally feel the pain of that sin again on Good Friday when he suffered for it on the cross. But he did so willingly because he had come to mediate a heavenly inheritance for all greedy sinners, including you and me. Do you see why Jesus pleads with us to guard against this sin? If we don’t guard against greed, we’ll end up cashing in a glorious and eternal heavenly treasure to obtain and to hold on to a short-lived and imperfect earthly one. That’s foolish—like the child who tosses aside the $100 bill because it’s an “ugly brown piece of paper” to clutch instead a shiny dollar store toy.
“Be rich towards God,” Jesus pleads (Luke 12:21). How do we do that? As one Bible translation put it: “Fill your barn with God, not with Self” (The Message - adapted). We fill our barn with God when hearing and studying his Word is prized above all activities. If work and sports gets in the way of worship attendance, find another time to fill yourself with God’s Word. If you don’t have the discipline to do that, then find a job and hobbies that don’t conflict with your worship attendance. Seriously! What good is it, Jesus asked, if you gain the whole world but give up your soul? (Mark 8:36)
Money talks. So what does it say about you? Does it say that you rely on it more than on God? Does it say that you think about it, more than you think about others? Does it say that you enjoy it more than you enjoy God’s Word and the peace and pardon he gives you there? If so, then you are a fool. That’s not my conclusion, it’s Jesus’ pronouncement and we should take it seriously. So friends, keep repenting of your sin of greed and keep asking Jesus to fill you with the contentment of knowing that we already have everything that we need through faith in him. Amen.
SERMON NOTES
What motivated a man to interrupt Jesus in the middle of a Bible study? What kind of things threaten to interrupt your study of the Word?
The unnamed man in our text wanted to use Jesus as his “muscle.” How do we often treat Jesus that way?
Why don’t we need to run after every dollar bill, or chase every fad, or collect all the latest gadgets?
The farmer in the parable made careful plans for his excess grain. So why did God call him a fool?
Jesus warns us to continue to be on our guard against greed. List at least two ways you can do that.
Jesus must have felt pained at the man’s greediness. When and how would he feel the pain of that sin again?
