SIMPLE SAM AND HEAPIN HARV
LUKE 12:13-21
#SpiritualDisciplines
INTRODUCTION
I want to introduce you to two people this morning. They are two people who approach life in very different ways when it comes to money, material things, and financial habits.
First, we have Simple Sam (it can be Simple Samantha if you like!). Simple Sam is a guy who makes a conscious effort to be the same on the inside as he is on the outside. His speech is truthful and honest and he makes decisions based off of faith and thinking. He finds security in his faith and loves the things of God that he is blessed with and those are the things make him happy. He manages his money and does not let his money manage him. He never stresses over money. He has everything in his life he needs and more.
Second, we have Heapin Harv (it can be Heapin Henrietta if you like!). Heapin Harv is a guy who makes no effort to be the same on the inside and the outside. He flip flops often in what he says and what he wants and his opinions seem to change with the blowing winds. He makes decisions based on feelings. He finds his security in material things and calls covetousness ambition, calls hoarding prudence, and calls greed industry. He wants nice things to make him happy. He is always a slave to money and has many bills. He stresses and worries over money. He never seems to be content with anything.
QUESTION: Are you Simple Sam or Heapin Harv?
READ LUKE 12:13-21
13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”14 Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” 16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ 21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
THE SITUATION IN LUKE 12:13-21
The parable that Jesus gives in Luke 12:13-21 is one that comes because of an issue that arrises between brothers. The brothers apparently have lost their parents and have an inheritance coming their way. One brother is keeping the inheritance. One brother wants his cut. They are arguing. Probably when they are not arguing they are not speaking. What has overtaken each of them is desire. The desire for stuff. The desire for money. The desire to have and to hold. The desire to have financial security.
If you take a child, even a very young child into Toys R Us or Walmart, you will not have to teach the child what to do. Hours of training by TV and movies and even by parents have taught a child that there is no higher calling than desire. Now what does that tell us? It is as if greed and the desire for material things comes quite naturally, but it is also true that our society has become a vast supermarket where we are trained in desire. We live in a world of manufactured need. Advertising on TV, billboards, and the internet creates, molds, kindles desire.
Desire seems to be contagious. We want something because someone else wants it. We want what others have in order to have their approval. Yet such desire, rather than linking us to others, puts us in conflict. Whatever our neighbor has that we don't have diminishes us. Needing what our neighbor has in order to be somebody, we feel caught in an endless treadmill of acquisition which can never be satisfied. We must have the "latest new and improved model" but, scarcely before we get it home, "the latest" is already dated and we are upset.
So, the situation or the environment in which Jesus gives His parable in Luke 12 is one of desire. It is one of arguing. We find attitudes of “I want what is mine.”
THE PARABLE IN LUKE 12:13-21
Our parable that we read from Jesus this morning focuses on a certain farmer. This farmer has done very well for himself. Notice that he's done nothing illegal or wrong. This is neither a slum lord or drug dealer nor does he doesn't cheat his employees or mistreat them in any way. This is the American Dream come true- he's hit the big time. He’s got the house with the white picket fence, 2.4 kids, a dog, and his crops coming in are more than ever before. He’s rich. He's a hard worker and an upstanding citizen. This is lawful profit. He made it fair and square. Through a combination of skill and luck and plain hard work, his investment and labor have paid off.
And what was his conclusion in the matter? He decided that the best course of action was to tear down what he had and build bigger and better barns. He’s licked the storage problem and looks forward to years of enjoying his wealth. It’s the easy life. I do however, see a bit of a problem with this fellow. I noticed it as I was reading what he was saying to himself about his wealth and what he would do with it. In verses 17-19 he thinks much about himself and only about himself. I, I, I, I, I is all he thinks about. He praises himself. He plans for himself.
He seems to be totally controlled by his money and wealth, don’t you think? He’s going to make his life merry and really thinks of nothing else other than wealth and things. Most importantly, he thinks nothing of God who sent the sun and rain for his crops. He doesn’t think of others who live around him in his community who may need some help. He thinks only of himself and his stuff.
The point of Jesus’ parable is very plain to us. He tells us why He’s sharing the parable in verse 15. He’s responding to these two brothers arguing right in front of Him. They want Jesus to solve their problems over the inheritance and He refuses. Then He responds to them by saying, “Watch Out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of life’s possessions.” Be careful when it comes to money and possessions and finances because those things can get your life off track.
What Jesus is describing for us is a person who is taken in by material things. Jesus’ parable is describing the person you and I DON’T want to be. We don’t want to be materialistic, greedy, self-centered, and ruled by our bills. What we want is to live faithfully and simply with God as our priority. The discipline of simplicity is a way of life for the Christian that keeps us different from the world. Simplicity is a perspective about money and finances and material things.
The Bible wants us to have a simple way of life and a simple attitude about money. The Bible has many passages that deal with wealth and our attitudes about it:
(1) Leviticus 25:23 - speaks about land ownership and that God owns the Earth
(2) Psalm 62:10- Warns against setting our hearts on wealth if we become rich
(3) Exodus 20:17 - commands against covetousness and the lust to have what others have
(4) Proverbs 11:28- He who trusts in riches will wither
(5) Luke 16:13- you cannot serve both God and money
(6) Matthew 6:21- do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth
(7) 1 Timothy 6:9- wealth may snare men into hurtful desires and sin
Scripture clearly warns us against wealth and some of the desires and attitudes that come with it. What then is to be our attitude? The Old Testament and New Testament (including the parable told by Jesus in Luke 12) tell us to be aware of the dangers of money and building up wealth, but so much of our world is geared toward that end. What is to be our attitude? How are we to be different? One way we are to be different is that we are to have an attitude of simplicity.
QUESTION: Are you Simple Sam or Heapin Harv?
Simple Sam needs a new chair for the living room. The old one has worn out and it is time for a new one. He arrives in the store to see all kinds of furniture and couches and chairs. The salesman shows him a chair that massages his back. The salesman shows him a chair that automatically checks his email when he sits down. He even saw a chair that sends a monthly text with the amount of pocket change in the cushions. Simple Sam doesn’t need all that and realizes he cannot really afford it anyway. He finds a chair that is mid-ranged in price and will not quickly wear and tear. He uses the “90 days same as cash option” and can pay the chair off easily without any stress. He has is new chair and loves it.
Heapin Harv needs a new chair for the living room. There is nothing wrong necessarily with the old one, but he just kind of wants one. He arrives in the store and sees all kinds of furniture for the inside and outside of his house. The salesman shows him a furniture set that has a chair, a couch, and a love-seat. Even though he only needs a chair, he wants all of them. He feels like he wants them. Not only that, he can get a combo deal for inside furniture and outside furniture for his back porch. He never sits out there, but it might be nice to have. He uses his credit card because he definitely can’t afford new inside furniture and outside furniture. He pays the delivery fees. He swipes his card and now has a bunch of new furniture he wanted and has a headache of a bill he cannot pay.
THE NEED FOR SIMPLICITY (from R Foster)
If you had to describe to someone what a “simple” life was, what might you say? Would you say that they had a garden where all their food came from and they need not go to a grocery store? Perhaps they had no need of a car and the entire headache that comes with that. Perhaps the simple life means the person has everything they need and nothing more. What is the simple life? If you are a person who lives in today’s world, how do you have a life that could be described as simple?
Our culture is one that lacks the inward and outward reality of simplicity. Our world is always complicated. One of the basic needs we have in this world is security. Our culture tells us that we should trust in things to provide us with security. Our culture tells us that we should trust in money and influence for security. Our culture tells us that only the newest and best will provide the comfort and security we need. In our quest for security, we lose touch with reality:
(1) We crave things we neither need nor enjoy
(2) We buy things we do not want to impress people we do not like
(3) We feel ashamed if we drive a car until it wears out
(4) We feel that to be out of step with fashion is to be out of step with reality
(5) Covetousness and greed is called ambition
(6) People are important based on how much they produce or how much they earn
We need to realize that we are commanded not to be conformed to this world for a reason (Romans
12:2)! We as Christians are called to be different. We are called to think different and act different. We are called to live differently from this complicated material driven world.
QUESTION: Are you Simple Sam or Heapin Harv?
Simple Sam needs a new lawn mower for his house. He has a medium sized yard and a push mower will do. He goes to the local home improvement store and notices they have push mowers from $94 all the way to $499. Simple Sam has saved back around $225 and buys a nice small mower with cash. Actually, they were having a sale and Simple Sam bought 2 mowers. The mower he bought is about the same size as his last mower so it fits nicely in the shed. Now he can mow his yard and it will look nice and neat. He took the 2nd mower he purchased and gave it to his church which needed a new push mower. He then gave away his old mower to a neighbor who knew how to fix mowers and could use it himself. The fellow offered to pay, but Sam was eager to be generous and said no.
Heapin Harv needs a new law mower at his house. He has a medium sized yard and a push mower will do. He goes to the local home improvement store and notices they have riding lawn mowers from $1099 to $2499. He noticed his neighbor across the street has a new riding lawn mower that looks nice. He decided he wanted one of those to keep up with the neighborhood. He had the new mower delivered and realized that it would not fit in the shed he already owned. He went back to the home improvement store and swiped the old credit card to buy a bigger shed to fit his lawn mower. Now, because of the bigger shed, he actually had less lawn to mow. Also, he sold his old lawnmower to somebody at his work. He charged the loser way too much.
DISCIPLINE OF SIMPLICITY: ATTITUDE AND ACTION
ATTITUDE (From R Foster)
The central point of the discipline of simplicity is to seek the kingdom of God first, and then everything necessary will come in its proper order. Everything hinges on us maintaining God first. Nothing must come before the kingdom of God. A life of simplicity is to not have anxiety about material things.
A life of simplicity is to use what wealth you have for God… first.
A life of simplicity then is to keep this sinful drive to want things in proper perspective.
A life of simplicity accepts that everything you have is a gift from God.
A life of simplicity accepts God’s care of what we have.
A life of simplicity admits that everything they own should be available for others.
A life of simplicity means we are good stewards and take care of what we have.
ACTION (From R Foster)
First, buy things for their usefulness rather than their status.
Second, reject anything that is producing an addiction in you.
Third, develop a habit of giving things away.
Fourth, refuse to be swept up by gadgets.
Fifth, learn to enjoy things without owning them.
Sixth, develop a deeper appreciation for the creation and nature.
Seventh, keep a skeptical attitude about “buy now pay later” deals.
Eighth, obey Jesus’ instruction about plain honest speech.
Ninth, reject anything that hurts other people.
Tenth, shun anything that distracts you or keeps you from seeking the kingdom of God.
CONCLUSION
