Sermon preached at Our Savior for the 11th Sunday after Pentecost on August 8, 2010. Sermon text: Luke 12:13-21
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I'm not saying these work-at-home jobs are good or bad. I don't know a thing about them. But I get what the appeal is. Anyone watching that commercial is supposed to think, I want as much money (and the stuff I can buy with money) as possible, this work-from-my-home job gets me money quickly and easily, and so I'll call the number and see if I can get some of that money for myself.
Money isn't a bad thing; we need it. We use it to buy things we need: food, clothing, and shelter. We use it to buy things we want: whatever we can think of, most of it could be ours...for a price. And that stuff, those possessions we have or that we want, they're not bad, either. In fact, they are gifts from God that he has given us to enjoy. We should give thanks for them and not feel bad about having them and enjoying them.
But how quickly those good things can take over our minds and hearts. All it takes is a split-second thought, the slightest desire, and those good things can turn into poison for our relationship with our God. Those possessions, that stuff, that money -- or the desire to get more stuff or more money -- can take over our minds to such a degree that they become more important than almost anything else in our lives, including the God who created us, loved us, and bought us with his blood.
Jesus makes some strong statements about greed and possessions in our text from Luke's gospel. He gives us all a warning about how greed and the love of "stuff" in our lives can push God -- and our faith -- right out of our hearts. Instead, Jesus encourages us to focus not on our possessions and the greediness of our sinful hearts, but on the God who loved us and sent his one and only Son. So, go ahead, get rich! But not with possessions and money and "stuff." Get rich toward God.
In his ministry, Jesus took every opportunity he could to teach us something. That's what happened in our text. Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." (Lk. 12:13)
Inheritances are all about money and possessions, and fights about inheritances are still common today. We don't have any background as to what happened between this man and his brother to cause him to bring this question to Jesus. But we can see the attitude of his heart based on Jesus' answer. Of course, Jesus is speaking to our hearts, too. Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" And here comes the part for us to focus on: "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)
Watch out for greed, Jesus says. A man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. It's amazing how much Jesus' words challenge us in our culture today. Often our world says, "Greed is good." It says, "Get rich quick!" Anything that motivates you to make more, to get more, to keep more, well, that must be a good thing.
It's worth saying one more time: possessions aren't bad in and of themselves. They're gifts from God. But the greed, the sinful desire for more and more and more, that's the problem. Possessions aren't bad, but thinking that life is all about possessions is.
I remember as a kid one thing that proved that Christmas must be near: the Sears Christmas catalog. I don't think they make it anymore, but I remember this catalog filled with toys and games and all sorts of things I might want. I would go through it page by page looking for things I wanted, often circling the ones I wanted most so that I could pass on my wishes to whoever I could.
Think of how often we see things we want. In catalogs. On the internet. On the non-stop barrage of ads on TV. Seeing things we want isn't bad. Wanting things isn't bad. But who of us hasn't seen something we wanted, and then we couldn't stop thinking about it? We thought about getting it, we thought about when we might get it, we thought about how we might get it. If it's something we were going to get, we anxiously awaited the time until we got it. If we couldn't get it, we got angry and thought how unfair it was that that precious object couldn't be ours, and why couldn't it be ours right now?
That's greed. And that's the dangerous greed that can take over our minds and hearts -- and eventually our lives -- to the point that our "stuff" is all that really matters to us.
This is exactly what Jesus' parable was talking about in our text. He said, The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' (Lk. 12:16-17)
Jesus introduced a problem here that is probably familiar to anyone who has ever moved. When you move and you have to pack up all your stuff and take it to another house, you realize just how much really have. Well, this particular rich man realized it, too. In fact, he saw that his stuff was getting too much for the space he had. So, he came up with a pretty simple plan: tear down his older, smaller barns, and build newer, bigger barns to store all that grain and "stuff" he kept bringing in. (Lk. 12:18) And he even envisioned his own retirement and the pleasure all this stuff would bring him. He said, I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink, and be merry." (Lk. 12:19)
The good life. That's what this man thought he was getting. That's what we're all supposed to be aiming for, isn't it? We want the good life. We want to work just enough to get to the point where we can finally enjoy it. We want to be able to sit back, relax, and just take in all the happiness and joy that "stuff" can bring.
But Jesus turned this whole idea on its head in his story of the rich man. The rich man's dreams would not work out how he had planned. 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?' (Lk. 12:20)
All that work, all that preparation, all that enjoyment that was going to happen from all his "stuff"...it didn't happen. The rich man died. He's spent his life to enjoy his "stuff," but he died before he could. His life wasn't worth anything, because he didn't accomplish his final goal. He lived for his stuff, but he died without it.
You see the problem here? It reminds me of a couple of joke t-shirts that used to be popular. One of them said, "He who dies with the most toys wins." This is the idea that life is a competition, and we all just want to get as much as we possibly can to win. But the other shirt said, "He who dies with the most toys, still dies." In other words, the amount of "stuff" you accumulate in this life means absolutely nothing when you die, because you can't take it with you.
The ancient Egyptians were famous for how they buried their Pharaohs and other noble people. The Pharaoh wouldn't just be in a grave with a coffin. Oh, no. He'd have his servants, his animals, and all his riches buried with him. The hope was that, in the next life, he'd get to still have all his "stuff" for all eternity.
But it doesn't work that way. If you spend your life obsessed with "stuff," obsessed with getting the fleeting enjoyment that riches and possessions offer, that's all you'll end up getting: fleeting enjoyment. Enjoyment that doesn't really provide happiness. Enjoyment that leaves you a little bit emptier each time. A mind focused on stuff and consumed with greed has no room for God, for Jesus, for faith, for eternal life.
Jesus' warning is a strong one for us. This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God. (Lk. 20:21) Don't let that be you, Jesus says. Don't get caught up with the greed and the constant pursuit of stuff that this world encourages. Because it's all liable to tear your faith right out from under you, leaving you with nothing but sin, death, and hell. Because finally, What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? (Mk. 8:36)
The solution that Jesus gave is for us to get rich, not in possessions, but to get rich toward God. To really get rich toward God means you have to store up the kind of treasure that doesn't fade or get destroyed, but the treasure that lasts. And what treasure is that? God tells us.
Jesus said, Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. (Lk. 21:33) The Bible tells us that the Word of the Lord stands forever (1 Peter 1:25), and that in Christ you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. (1 Peter 1:23) God's Word is our treasure, our great heritage. And why is it so great? Because it tells us what Jesus did!
It tells us Jesus lived, not for "stuff", not for the greediness of this world, not for what he could get for himself, he lived so that he could die to give you everything he had. He died and paid for your sins, not to get you more stuff, but to win you the heavenly kingdom that you were hopelessly unable to get by yourself. Jesus won each one of you the lasting treasure of heaven. He's given it to you by faith. He's proven it by rising from the dead, ascending into heaven, and being with us every step of our lives.
So get rich toward God! That doesn't mean you throw all your possessions away; it means you don't hold onto them too tightly. You use your possessions, remembering that they are God's gifts of love to you. You use them and look for ways to use them for your Lord, you look for ways to use them to get the good news of Jesus to those who need to hear it.
That's what we do with our offerings. That's what we do with our service. That's what we do as a congregation. We don't exist so that people have a place to go on Sunday mornings. We exist to proclaim Jesus Christ and him crucified for our salvation. We proclaim it to ourselves, to keep reminding our sinfully forgetful selves of Jesus'
love. And we proclaim it so that others may hear it and believe it, too.
That is the point of all of our lives, whether you're a pastor or not. We live for our Savior because he died for us. So get rich! Get rich toward God as you put your possessions into his service. Get rich toward God as you realize that your "stuff" isn't the destination, it's a tool God gives you to use on the way to the eternal life that he won for you. Get rich toward God, as you study his Word, not as a source of trivia for really religious people, but as a source of truth and salvation for all people.
Lots of places might advertise ways to get rich quick. But only our Savior can give true riches. And you won't believe how easy it is. With no effort of yours, with none of your works, he has bought you, he has saved you, he has given you life now and forever. Rejoice, then, and live in the great riches of his grace that are already yours.
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