The Rich Fool 052310
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Parables M3 May 23, 2010
Title: The Rich Fool (Parable of the Rich Fool)
Text: Luke 12:13-34
Props: coin, pointer
Big Idea: We can move from a place of greed to generosity by recognizing that God will more than take care of all of our needs.
In the song Ain't No Rest For The Wicked by the group Cage the Elephant)
A man is approached by a woman who offers to have sex with him in exchange for some money.
The song continues…
Not even fifteen minutes later
I'm still walking down the street,
When I saw a shadow of a man creep out of sight.
And then he sweeps up from behind
And puts a gun up to my head,
He made it clear he wasn't looking for a fight.
He said "Give me all you've got
I want your money not your life,
But if you try to make a move I won't think twice."
I go like "You can have my cash
But first you know I got to ask
What made you want to live this kind of life?"
He said "There ain't no rest for the wicked, Money don't grow on trees.
I got bills to pay,
I got mouths to feed,
There ain't nothing in this world for free...
A woman sells her body; a man holds another person at gunpoint for money.
As a pastor, I’ve seen families torn apart as they fight over an inheritance.
As we continue our series on the parables today, we are going to look at what Jesus says in response to a brother who is in a dispute with his brother over how they will divide the inheritance. In response, Jesus tells this parable and then offers a teaching that relates to the parable.
(Jesus has been teaching his disciples and a crowd of thousands of people has gathered)
The Parable of the Rich Fool
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 those who store up things for themselves but are not rich toward God."
Do Not Worry
22 Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23 Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life [a]? 26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
27 "Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! 29 And 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 all 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. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Jesus is teaching his disciples, and someone in the larger crowd says to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Because Rabbis were well versed in the law, they were often called upon to settle legal disputes around inheritances.
The brother (almost certainly the younger brother) asks Jesus, “Tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” In Jesus’ day, the eldest son would always receive double what any other sons would receive as an inheritance. There was a legal formula that could have been used to divide up the inheritance. But Jesus refuses to step into the fray. He replies, “Who appointed me judge or arbiter between you?” He chooses not act as the arbitrator in this inheritance case, but uses the man’s question as an opportunity to teach.
In verse 15 Jesus says, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does consist in an abundance of possessions.”
It is interesting that Jesus says, “Watch out! Be on our guard” against greed because greed is subtle. Greed is something that we are likely unaware of. Greed by its very nature hides itself from us. So Jesus says be on your guard against it. Jesus does not say, “Beware of committing murder” or “adultery.” Obviously, Jesus prohibits both, but when one is actually murdering someone or committing adultery, it is quite obvious. Greed is more subtle.
I know a pastor who serves in Manhattan. He was giving a series of talks, not in his church but in another venue in New York City. He was speaking on the seven deadly sins across 7 weeks. The themes had been announced ahead of time. His wife Kathy predicted that when he came to the deadly sin of greed, the attendance would drop. They had a good attendance for the other talks. People recognized, for example, their struggle with pride so people came out for the talk on pride. People even came out for the talk on sloth in driven New York City. But when Tim spoke on the theme of greed, the attendance dropped. It wasn’t that people were offended by the topic; they just assumed that this was not something they personally struggled with. Many of us are the same way we think… oh… someone like Donald Trump or Paris Hilton or struggle with greed or the people responsible for the financial credit crisis they’re greedy… but not me…
How would we know if we struggle with greed? Very few people think they do.
Jesus tells this parable of this rich man:
16-19… "The farm of a certain rich man produced a bumper crop. He asked himself: 'What can I do? My barns aren’t big enough for this harvest.' Then he said, 'Here's what I'll do: I'll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I'll gather in all my grain, and I'll say to myself, Well done! You've got it made, Freedom 35, you can now retire. Take it easy and have the time of your life!”
How do we know from this parable that this man struggled with greed? For one, we see he placed his security in his grain and his money. He has this bumper crop, this massive harvest, and says to himself, “I don’t have the space to store all my crops.” So he tears down his barns and builds bigger ones to store his surplus grain. He says to himself, “I have plenty of grain laid up for years. “Take it easy for a while.” He believes that because he is safe and secure.
There’s nothing wrong with saving per se, but are you inclined to put your security in your money, or the value of your house if you’re an owner, or retirement portfolio, or in the value of your parent’s house, or your income earning potential?
Another way to ask the questions, would you feel if your house, your investments were reduced to half of what they are now (as some people experienced in the fall of 2008)? How would you feel if the value of your home began to spiral downward so that what you owed on it was more than it was worth—so you have negative equity (as is the case for some now in certain parts of North America)? Naturally you’d feel anxiety, but would you feel despair and hopeless?
We know that this man is greedy because he places his security in money.
We can be greedy by placing our security in money that’s one side of the COIN—the flip side of the COIN (turn coin with powerpoint) is worry. Right after this parable Jesus says in vs. 22 22 Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. In fact in this section he names worry four times (vss. 22, 25, 26, 29). It’s possible to be greedy by placing your security in money or some kind of investment. The flip side of that kind of greed is worry. Now if you find yourself in a financial crisis—you’ll have naturally have some anxiety about money, but let’s you have enough to live on modestly… but do you find yourself stressed over money? Even if you don’t have a huge amount of money, it is still possible to be greedy be stressed about money. I know someone who by all accounts has enough money, but seems to always be worried about money, about not having enough. So, this person is almost always willing to take an extra shift at work…
You can be greedy by placing your security in money…(show “security” coin again) sometimes that shows itself by trying to amass a fortune, at other times that greed manifests itself through worry …(show “worry” coin again).
Jesus in vs. 15 said there are all kinds of greed.
We know that this man is greedy because he puts his security in money, but we also know he is greedy because he is self-indulgent, hoarding his wealth for himself. There’s nothing wrong with saving per se, but in God’s eyes there is something wrong when we save only for ourselves and for our immediate family.
We know that this rich farmer would have known about God’s call when harvesting to not glean wheat to the very edges of their field. According to the book of Leviticus chapter 19, and as we see beautifully portrayed in the book of Ruth, in the example of Boaz, land owners were to leave some grain in the field for the poor and for the alien. This man obviously is not doing that. He is directing his money toward himself. The rich man in the parable says, “You have laid up grain for yourself for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink, and be merry.” Jesus, at the end of the parable, condemns this man because he has been rich (v. 21) toward himself, but not rich toward God.
Not everyone who is greedy wants to amass a financial fortune. Among younger people, a more common form of greed is taking on the attitude “let’s eat, drink, and be merry and thinking only about yourself and your well-being.”
I recently saw the movie, An Education. The movie is set in England in the early 1960s and is based on a true story, a woman’s memoir. Jenny Mellor, a school girl,
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meets an older man—twice her age--named David and they begin a romantic relationship. Jenny is bright, but she feels like her life has been secluded in the protective suburbs of London.
David charms her by taking her to concerts, trendy jazz clubs, art auctions…and even to Paris. Her parents have high hopes for Jenny and they really want her to go to Oxford, but she decides to pass up that dream to be with this older man who has given her everything that she could have hoped in terms of a lifestyle with an Oxford education. The headmistress, played by Emma Thompson, in one scene asks Jenny about her relationship with David and her plans to no longer seek admission to university (review scene): “What do you think you are doing?” Jenny replies, “No one has been able to explain to me the point of university. Jenny says to the headmistress, “Studying is hard and boring. If I study and go to Oxford, maybe I can become a teacher like you. But teaching is hard and boring, too. Are you telling me to go to university so I can be bored the rest of my life? This whole stupid country is bored. There is no fun in it, so my choice is to either do something hard and boring, or to marry my David. Go to Paris, and listen to jazz, and read, and eat good food in nice restaurants and have fun.” Jenny turns and walks out the door.
Jenny is a young person who doesn’t want to study any more, doesn’t want to go to university because it is hard work and boring, and because it will lead her to a job that will be hard work and boring. Instead, she wants listen to jazz at trendy clubs, eat at good restaurants, travel the world--have fun. David is her ticket to that kind of life. She doesn’t need to go to Oxford. Jenny’s whole life at this point is defined by her pleasure, her fun, herself.
In many ways her life is not that different from the rich fool. She is rich toward herself, but not rich toward God and others. A person can be greedy by placing their security in money by worrying about money, but also by being self-indulgent and self-centered with it.
One side of the coin of a self-indulgence (show COIN) lifestyle is a life of the Jenny and the rich farmer “eat, drink, and be merry.” The other side of the coin of a self-indulgence lifestyle is being stingy (SHOW COIN).
According to Jesus’ parable and his commentary after it, if we are not willing to give our money away in radically generous ways to God, to the poor, we are struggling with greed. In vs. 33 Jesus says, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor.”
One of the signs that we struggle with greed and is self-indulgence (show self-indulgence COIN again) lifestyle which may mean living like Jenny going to all the trendy restaurants and vacation places, but the other side of greed may also be expressed in another way by being stingy (show stingy COIN) —by a person not giving their money in generous and radical ways away to God and the poor.
(transition)
What does God say of him?
Before we get to that, let me say again that this man because of his material wealth would have been a sign to people in his culture that he was being blessed by God.
In our world, the man would have been lauded--considered visionary, entrepreneurial, and successful. This is the kind of person who may have been featured in the business pages of the Globe and Mail or Business Week. In either a spiritual or secular world he would have been seen as “blessed” because of his money.
But God says of him, “You fool!”
In the Scriptures, a fool, unlike someone in our culture, doesn’t necessarily refer to someone who has a low IQ, but someone who lives as if there is no God. This man has lived as if there is no greater reality beyond himself, to whom he one is accountable, to whom his world belongs.
So God says of him, “You fool! You have lived as if you are God, and not me. You have lived as if you are the centre of the universe, and not me.” He lives as if his money is his—not something on loan from God.
The only one whose opinion really matters says of him, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?”
How do we avoid God writing over our lives with his finger when we die the four letters: F-O-O-L? How do we live as people who are free from greed, free from putting our security in money? Free from worry about money?
Free from self-indulgence? How do we become people who are radically generous to God and the poor? The verses immediately following vss. 22-34 are a commentary on the parable and show us how we can live like this.
Jesus says in verse 22-24, “Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat, or your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens. They do not sow or reap; they have no storeroom or barn, and yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!” vs. 27 "Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith!
If you see how God cares for the birds of the air, the lilies of the field and recognize that you are much more valuable than they are, you will see how you don’t need to worry. When we recognize just how much we are valued by God, how much treasured we are by him, we will find ourselves placing less of our security in money, as we place our security in God’s care for us.
If we seek first his kingdom, and all these things will be given to you as well. Vs. 31
It is also as we recognize how treasured we are by God that we can fulfill the call of verses 32- 34, where Jesus says, “Don’t worry about money, but instead sell your possessions and give to the poor…
When we realize just how generous God has been to us, we can become generous toward others. In 2 Corinthians 8:9 we read, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” When we recognize that God became impoverished for us; he left the glory and splendor of heaven to become a human being, and to live as a peasant, to die on a Roman cross, to absorb our sins, when we recognize that he gave everything for us, so that we, through him, might become reconciled to God and become spiritually rich, we will become radically generous.
Isn’t it true that when we feel we have been the recipient of generosity that we become more generous? Generosity begets generosity.
Recently, my colleague, Sarah Zeigler, married to Ziggy, received a letter from Carnegie Mellon, the prestigious university in Pittsburgh informing her she was admitted to one of their graduate programs in architectural design. She was really grateful…really happy. She came around to all of our offices and with paper and pen saying, “What do you want from Starbucks, it is all on me.” J When you feel like you have been given a great gift, the door is open to a school where you really want to study at or something else, out of that gratitude you want to give. When you know that the greatest door has been opened to you, the door into a life with God and into God’s Kingdom, part of the way that we respond is by becoming radically-generous people.
We are really going to miss Sarah. She has been a wonderful part of our staff.
Another story from life that illustrates this point.
A couple of weeks ago at one of our staff meetings, Sarah and I got into a conversation on the topic of giving. I had talked about proportionate giving in a recent sermon and somehow we got onto that topic. Sarah told me how she and Ziggy, her husband, want to get to the place where they are giving away 80% of their income. They are not there yet, but that is where they want to land.
Afterwards, I followed up and asked her to share a little more of her thinking with me.
Sarah (photo) told me when she was 20 years old and a university student who loved drinking wine at parties and extolling the virtues of Nietzsche’s philosophy. Secretly afraid of leading a life of meaningless and mediocre, she went on a mission trip to a very poor part of Nepal with Operation Mobilization. She was absolutely blown away by the generosity of Nepalese people. They themselves were destitute, but so sacrificially gave to her. They had no money, and yet when they had Sarah over for dinner; they prepared their very best. Their “unbridled kindness, graciousness, and hospitality of the poor” was overwhelming for Sarah.
At the end of the summer, Sarah met with the leaders of the mission. Sarah said she had been so deeply moved, so profoundly touched by the generosity of the Nepalese people this summer, I want to ask you: “How can I express my gratitude to God? I want this summer be more than simply a fleeting experience? How can this mission be more than just another page in my photo album of a tourist?” Her mission leader said, “Why don’t you make a commitment now to express your gratitude to God by proportionate giving?” (Proportionate giving means that you decide that tithing 10% is going to your absolute minimum in terms of giving, but you make a commitment assess what you project you’ll need to live on, and then give the rest away.)
Up to that point in Sarah’s life she had been giving 10%, but no more. A straight 10%. A simple tithe. And that was painful. But, Ziggy as her once said, that if financial giving ever stops being painful, then we aren’t giving enough. She was just an undergraduate student at the time, she made a commitment to proportionate giving. “Some years are more financially comfortable than others, but we find we can always afford what we truly require…. Every year, regardless of our combined income, we’ve made an effort, through God’s provision, to increase our giving and to ensure it’s always a little painful.” As I mentioned, she recently told me that her and her husband’s Ziggy’s goal is to give away 80%. Not there yet, but last year they upped their giving by 5% more.
Sarah was telling me that since Ziggy is a student and she is working at the church, sometimes they are not able to give as much from their income as they like, so they dipped into their savings to give more to missions…to God’s work. (I said to Sarah, “That must have been hard. Right?” She said, “Yep. It was hard.”).
She said, “You know, I used to think that I only wanted to give money if I could get a tax receipt, but Ziggy and I are committed to giving in other ways, too, in ways that won’t land us a tax receipt.” She shared with me how she and Ziggy had bought suits for people who were applying for jobs and could not afford suits…how they had paid for homeless people to stay at a hotel…no tax returns there.
When we recognize how God generous God has been to us, one of the ways that we can express that generosity is by becoming radically generous to God and to others. The two are obviously linked.
I am challenged and moved by Sarah and Ziggy’s story. I, too, prefer to give where I can get a tax receipt.
I do look at my tax return as a kind of benchmark that gives me an indicator of what my giving is like across a year. But, like Sarah and Ziggy, I want to be free to give to organizations and people where no tax receipt will be forthcoming, not because it is a burden, not because it is an ought to, but simply as a way to express my gratitude for the fact that God has given me everything in Christ. So many gifts.
We can become people free of greed, free of worry about money, free of self-indulgence, free to give radically and generously because we know God has given us so much..
If we put ourselves first, as the rich fool, as Jenny did, we will find ourselves last one day. But if we know that we are first already in God’s eyes, and we trust in the provision of Jesus Christ, we can put the needs of others ahead of ourselves.
And we will find that all that we need, and more, is added to us.
Parables M3 May 23, 2010
Title: The Rich Fool (Parable of the Rich Fool)
Text: Luke 12:13-34
Props: coin, pointer
Big Idea: We can move from a place of greed to generosity by recognizing that God will more than take care of all of our needs.
In the song Ain't No Rest For The Wicked by the group Cage the Elephant)
A man is approached by a woman who offers to have sex with him in exchange for some money.
The song continues…
Not even fifteen minutes later
I'm still walking down the street,
When I saw a shadow of a man creep out of sight.
And then he sweeps up from behind
And puts a gun up to my head,
He made it clear he wasn't looking for a fight.
He said "Give me all you've got
I want your money not your life,
But if you try to make a move I won't think twice."
I go like "You can have my cash
But first you know I got to ask
What made you want to live this kind of life?"
He said "There ain't no rest for the wicked, Money don't grow on trees.
I got bills to pay,
I got mouths to feed,
There ain't nothing in this world for free...
A woman sells her body; a man holds another person at gunpoint for money.
As a pastor, I’ve seen families torn apart as they fight over an inheritance.
As we continue our series on the parables today, we are going to look at what Jesus says in response to a brother who is in a dispute with his brother over how they will divide the inheritance. In response, Jesus tells this parable and then offers a teaching that relates to the parable.
(Jesus has been teaching his disciples and a crowd of thousands of people has gathered)
The Parable of the Rich Fool
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 those who store up things for themselves but are not rich toward God."
Do Not Worry
22 Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23 Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life [a]? 26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
27 "Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! 29 And 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 all 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. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Jesus is teaching his disciples, and someone in the larger crowd says to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Because Rabbis were well versed in the law, they were often called upon to settle legal disputes around inheritances.
The brother (almost certainly the younger brother) asks Jesus, “Tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” In Jesus’ day, the eldest son would always receive double what any other sons would receive as an inheritance. There was a legal formula that could have been used to divide up the inheritance. But Jesus refuses to step into the fray. He replies, “Who appointed me judge or arbiter between you?” He chooses not act as the arbitrator in this inheritance case, but uses the man’s question as an opportunity to teach.
In verse 15 Jesus says, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does consist in an abundance of possessions.”
It is interesting that Jesus says, “Watch out! Be on our guard” against greed because greed is subtle. Greed is something that we are likely unaware of. Greed by its very nature hides itself from us. So Jesus says be on your guard against it. Jesus does not say, “Beware of committing murder” or “adultery.” Obviously, Jesus prohibits both, but when one is actually murdering someone or committing adultery, it is quite obvious. Greed is more subtle.
I know a pastor who serves in Manhattan. He was giving a series of talks, not in his church but in another venue in New York City. He was speaking on the seven deadly sins across 7 weeks. The themes had been announced ahead of time. His wife Kathy predicted that when he came to the deadly sin of greed, the attendance would drop. They had a good attendance for the other talks. People recognized, for example, their struggle with pride so people came out for the talk on pride. People even came out for the talk on sloth in driven New York City. But when Tim spoke on the theme of greed, the attendance dropped. It wasn’t that people were offended by the topic; they just assumed that this was not something they personally struggled with. Many of us are the same way we think… oh… someone like Donald Trump or Paris Hilton or struggle with greed or the people responsible for the financial credit crisis they’re greedy… but not me…
How would we know if we struggle with greed? Very few people think they do.
Jesus tells this parable of this rich man:
16-19… "The farm of a certain rich man produced a bumper crop. He asked himself: 'What can I do? My barns aren’t big enough for this harvest.' Then he said, 'Here's what I'll do: I'll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I'll gather in all my grain, and I'll say to myself, Well done! You've got it made, Freedom 35, you can now retire. Take it easy and have the time of your life!”
How do we know from this parable that this man struggled with greed? For one, we see he placed his security in his grain and his money. He has this bumper crop, this massive harvest, and says to himself, “I don’t have the space to store all my crops.” So he tears down his barns and builds bigger ones to store his surplus grain. He says to himself, “I have plenty of grain laid up for years. “Take it easy for a while.” He believes that because he is safe and secure.
There’s nothing wrong with saving per se, but are you inclined to put your security in your money, or the value of your house if you’re an owner, or retirement portfolio, or in the value of your parent’s house, or your income earning potential?
Another way to ask the questions, would you feel if your house, your investments were reduced to half of what they are now (as some people experienced in the fall of 2008)? How would you feel if the value of your home began to spiral downward so that what you owed on it was more than it was worth—so you have negative equity (as is the case for some now in certain parts of North America)? Naturally you’d feel anxiety, but would you feel despair and hopeless?
We know that this man is greedy because he places his security in money.
We can be greedy by placing our security in money that’s one side of the COIN—the flip side of the COIN (turn coin with powerpoint) is worry. Right after this parable Jesus says in vs. 22 22 Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. In fact in this section he names worry four times (vss. 22, 25, 26, 29). It’s possible to be greedy by placing your security in money or some kind of investment. The flip side of that kind of greed is worry. Now if you find yourself in a financial crisis—you’ll have naturally have some anxiety about money, but let’s you have enough to live on modestly… but do you find yourself stressed over money? Even if you don’t have a huge amount of money, it is still possible to be greedy be stressed about money. I know someone who by all accounts has enough money, but seems to always be worried about money, about not having enough. So, this person is almost always willing to take an extra shift at work…
You can be greedy by placing your security in money…(show “security” coin again) sometimes that shows itself by trying to amass a fortune, at other times that greed manifests itself through worry …(show “worry” coin again).
Jesus in vs. 15 said there are all kinds of greed.
We know that this man is greedy because he puts his security in money, but we also know he is greedy because he is self-indulgent, hoarding his wealth for himself. There’s nothing wrong with saving per se, but in God’s eyes there is something wrong when we save only for ourselves and for our immediate family.
We know that this rich farmer would have known about God’s call when harvesting to not glean wheat to the very edges of their field. According to the book of Leviticus chapter 19, and as we see beautifully portrayed in the book of Ruth, in the example of Boaz, land owners were to leave some grain in the field for the poor and for the alien. This man obviously is not doing that. He is directing his money toward himself. The rich man in the parable says, “You have laid up grain for yourself for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink, and be merry.” Jesus, at the end of the parable, condemns this man because he has been rich (v. 21) toward himself, but not rich toward God.
Not everyone who is greedy wants to amass a financial fortune. Among younger people, a more common form of greed is taking on the attitude “let’s eat, drink, and be merry and thinking only about yourself and your well-being.”
I recently saw the movie, An Education. The movie is set in England in the early 1960s and is based on a true story, a woman’s memoir. Jenny Mellor, a school girl,
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meets an older man—twice her age--named David and they begin a romantic relationship. Jenny is bright, but she feels like her life has been secluded in the protective suburbs of London.
David charms her by taking her to concerts, trendy jazz clubs, art auctions…and even to Paris. Her parents have high hopes for Jenny and they really want her to go to Oxford, but she decides to pass up that dream to be with this older man who has given her everything that she could have hoped in terms of a lifestyle with an Oxford education. The headmistress, played by Emma Thompson, in one scene asks Jenny about her relationship with David and her plans to no longer seek admission to university (review scene): “What do you think you are doing?” Jenny replies, “No one has been able to explain to me the point of university. Jenny says to the headmistress, “Studying is hard and boring. If I study and go to Oxford, maybe I can become a teacher like you. But teaching is hard and boring, too. Are you telling me to go to university so I can be bored the rest of my life? This whole stupid country is bored. There is no fun in it, so my choice is to either do something hard and boring, or to marry my David. Go to Paris, and listen to jazz, and read, and eat good food in nice restaurants and have fun.” Jenny turns and walks out the door.
Jenny is a young person who doesn’t want to study any more, doesn’t want to go to university because it is hard work and boring, and because it will lead her to a job that will be hard work and boring. Instead, she wants listen to jazz at trendy clubs, eat at good restaurants, travel the world--have fun. David is her ticket to that kind of life. She doesn’t need to go to Oxford. Jenny’s whole life at this point is defined by her pleasure, her fun, herself.
In many ways her life is not that different from the rich fool. She is rich toward herself, but not rich toward God and others. A person can be greedy by placing their security in money by worrying about money, but also by being self-indulgent and self-centered with it.
One side of the coin of a self-indulgence (show COIN) lifestyle is a life of the Jenny and the rich farmer “eat, drink, and be merry.” The other side of the coin of a self-indulgence lifestyle is being stingy (SHOW COIN).
According to Jesus’ parable and his commentary after it, if we are not willing to give our money away in radically generous ways to God, to the poor, we are struggling with greed. In vs. 33 Jesus says, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor.”
One of the signs that we struggle with greed and is self-indulgence (show self-indulgence COIN again) lifestyle which may mean living like Jenny going to all the trendy restaurants and vacation places, but the other side of greed may also be expressed in another way by being stingy (show stingy COIN) —by a person not giving their money in generous and radical ways away to God and the poor.
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What does God say of him?
Before we get to that, let me say again that this man because of his material wealth would have been a sign to people in his culture that he was being blessed by God.
In our world, the man would have been lauded--considered visionary, entrepreneurial, and successful. This is the kind of person who may have been featured in the business pages of the Globe and Mail or Business Week. In either a spiritual or secular world he would have been seen as “blessed” because of his money.
But God says of him, “You fool!”
In the Scriptures, a fool, unlike someone in our culture, doesn’t necessarily refer to someone who has a low IQ, but someone who lives as if there is no God. This man has lived as if there is no greater reality beyond himself, to whom he one is accountable, to whom his world belongs.
So God says of him, “You fool! You have lived as if you are God, and not me. You have lived as if you are the centre of the universe, and not me.” He lives as if his money is his—not something on loan from God.
The only one whose opinion really matters says of him, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?”
How do we avoid God writing over our lives with his finger when we die the four letters: F-O-O-L? How do we live as people who are free from greed, free from putting our security in money? Free from worry about money?
Free from self-indulgence? How do we become people who are radically generous to God and the poor? The verses immediately following vss. 22-34 are a commentary on the parable and show us how we can live like this.
Jesus says in verse 22-24, “Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat, or your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens. They do not sow or reap; they have no storeroom or barn, and yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!” vs. 27 "Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith!
If you see how God cares for the birds of the air, the lilies of the field and recognize that you are much more valuable than they are, you will see how you don’t need to worry. When we recognize just how much we are valued by God, how much treasured we are by him, we will find ourselves placing less of our security in money, as we place our security in God’s care for us.
If we seek first his kingdom, and all these things will be given to you as well. Vs. 31
It is also as we recognize how treasured we are by God that we can fulfill the call of verses 32- 34, where Jesus says, “Don’t worry about money, but instead sell your possessions and give to the poor…
When we realize just how generous God has been to us, we can become generous toward others. In 2 Corinthians 8:9 we read, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” When we recognize that God became impoverished for us; he left the glory and splendor of heaven to become a human being, and to live as a peasant, to die on a Roman cross, to absorb our sins, when we recognize that he gave everything for us, so that we, through him, might become reconciled to God and become spiritually rich, we will become radically generous.
Isn’t it true that when we feel we have been the recipient of generosity that we become more generous? Generosity begets generosity.
Recently, my colleague, Sarah Zeigler, married to Ziggy, received a letter from Carnegie Mellon, the prestigious university in Pittsburgh informing her she was admitted to one of their graduate programs in architectural design. She was really grateful…really happy. She came around to all of our offices and with paper and pen saying, “What do you want from Starbucks, it is all on me.” J When you feel like you have been given a great gift, the door is open to a school where you really want to study at or something else, out of that gratitude you want to give. When you know that the greatest door has been opened to you, the door into a life with God and into God’s Kingdom, part of the way that we respond is by becoming radically-generous people.
We are really going to miss Sarah. She has been a wonderful part of our staff.
Another story from life that illustrates this point.
A couple of weeks ago at one of our staff meetings, Sarah and I got into a conversation on the topic of giving. I had talked about proportionate giving in a recent sermon and somehow we got onto that topic. Sarah told me how she and Ziggy, her husband, want to get to the place where they are giving away 80% of their income. They are not there yet, but that is where they want to land.
Afterwards, I followed up and asked her to share a little more of her thinking with me.
Sarah (photo) told me when she was 20 years old and a university student who loved drinking wine at parties and extolling the virtues of Nietzsche’s philosophy. Secretly afraid of leading a life of meaningless and mediocre, she went on a mission trip to a very poor part of Nepal with Operation Mobilization. She was absolutely blown away by the generosity of Nepalese people. They themselves were destitute, but so sacrificially gave to her. They had no money, and yet when they had Sarah over for dinner; they prepared their very best. Their “unbridled kindness, graciousness, and hospitality of the poor” was overwhelming for Sarah.
At the end of the summer, Sarah met with the leaders of the mission. Sarah said she had been so deeply moved, so profoundly touched by the generosity of the Nepalese people this summer, I want to ask you: “How can I express my gratitude to God? I want this summer be more than simply a fleeting experience? How can this mission be more than just another page in my photo album of a tourist?” Her mission leader said, “Why don’t you make a commitment now to express your gratitude to God by proportionate giving?” (Proportionate giving means that you decide that tithing 10% is going to your absolute minimum in terms of giving, but you make a commitment assess what you project you’ll need to live on, and then give the rest away.)
Up to that point in Sarah’s life she had been giving 10%, but no more. A straight 10%. A simple tithe. And that was painful. But, Ziggy as her once said, that if financial giving ever stops being painful, then we aren’t giving enough. She was just an undergraduate student at the time, she made a commitment to proportionate giving. “Some years are more financially comfortable than others, but we find we can always afford what we truly require…. Every year, regardless of our combined income, we’ve made an effort, through God’s provision, to increase our giving and to ensure it’s always a little painful.” As I mentioned, she recently told me that her and her husband’s Ziggy’s goal is to give away 80%. Not there yet, but last year they upped their giving by 5% more.
Sarah was telling me that since Ziggy is a student and she is working at the church, sometimes they are not able to give as much from their income as they like, so they dipped into their savings to give more to missions…to God’s work. (I said to Sarah, “That must have been hard. Right?” She said, “Yep. It was hard.”).
She said, “You know, I used to think that I only wanted to give money if I could get a tax receipt, but Ziggy and I are committed to giving in other ways, too, in ways that won’t land us a tax receipt.” She shared with me how she and Ziggy had bought suits for people who were applying for jobs and could not afford suits…how they had paid for homeless people to stay at a hotel…no tax returns there.
When we recognize how God generous God has been to us, one of the ways that we can express that generosity is by becoming radically generous to God and to others. The two are obviously linked.
I am challenged and moved by Sarah and Ziggy’s story. I, too, prefer to give where I can get a tax receipt.
I do look at my tax return as a kind of benchmark that gives me an indicator of what my giving is like across a year. But, like Sarah and Ziggy, I want to be free to give to organizations and people where no tax receipt will be forthcoming, not because it is a burden, not because it is an ought to, but simply as a way to express my gratitude for the fact that God has given me everything in Christ. So many gifts.
We can become people free of greed, free of worry about money, free of self-indulgence, free to give radically and generously because we know God has given us so much..
If we put ourselves first, as the rich fool, as Jenny did, we will find ourselves last one day. But if we know that we are first already in God’s eyes, and we trust in the provision of Jesus Christ, we can put the needs of others ahead of ourselves.
And we will find that all that we need, and more, is added to us.
posted by Shigematsu at 3:52 PM
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