Comedian Jack Benny, from TV’s Golden age, had a skit which illustrated how we place money ahead of everything. He is walking down the street when suddenly he is approached by an armed robber, "Your money or your life!" There is a long pause and Jack does nothing--The robber said, "Well?" Jack replied, "Don't rush me, I'm thinking it over."
I would like us to think a few moments about our money and our life and let’s see what Jesus has to say about these two subjects.
The background for our story is an incident that occurred in Galilee as Jesus was teaching to a large crowd. A young man called out from the crowd and said: Rabbi, tell my brother to divide the inheritance of our father.”
Now, Jewish law clearly prescribed that at the death of a father, the elder son received 2/3 of the inheritance, and the young son received 1/3. This is obviously a younger son who is complaining about the inherent unfairness of it all. Nothing will divide brothers and sisters more than dividing up an estate. So it was then, and so it is now.
Jesus refused to get involved in a petty family squabble. Jesus was concerned, however, with the larger implications of preoccupation with the things of this world. He said: Beware of greed, for life does not consist of things possessed. The sum total of a person’s life is more than their financial portfolio. He then illustrated this point by telling a story. There was once a man who had an unbroken run of prosperity. In today’s language, he had successfully played the commodities market. So prosperous did he become that his barns could not hold all of his crops. His solution was to tear down these barns and build bigger and better barns. Then, with his financial security in hand, he could sit back and truly enjoy life. His philosophy was: eat, drink, and be merry. Truth be told, when we hear this story we find ourselves rather envious of this man. A financially successful man—we see him as savvy and wise. Yet, Jesus concluded the story by saying that this man was a fool.
The issue before us is then: what did this man do wrong? To answer that question we must understand that this is not a parable about money. It is a parable about values and what is important in life. With that in mind, let me suggest four things that this man did that made him a fool.
I. First, he was a fool because he had full barns, but an empty heart.
He was rich in man’s eyes; he was poor in God’s eyes and the question that we should ask ourselves is: Are we rich in God’s eyes? Jerome, writing about 400 A.D., mentioned in a letter a woman who “preferred to store her money in the stomachs of the needy than in her purse.” It is all right to make investments, as long as we understand that the best investment that we can make is in the Kingdom of God. The only future that is sure is God’s future. God will be with you whether or not the stock market is up or the bottom drops out completely---God will be with you. All a man really owns is a 6 by 3 piece of earth, so we are better off putting our confidence elsewhere. Jesus is warning us that we had better not put our trust in the promise of materialism; if we do we will be sadly disappointed. Jesus might have asked, “How much barn does a man need?” We might ask today, How much storage space does a man need? The only resource that can possibly address our deepest longing is God. It is God that will be our rock and our sanity and our security; not a mutual fund. When the doctor calls you in one day and says: It is some dreaded disease--It is God that will offer you the peace and calm that you so desperately seek.
II. Secondly this man was a fool because he overestimated his own value in the
scheme of things.
Listen to how he talked: I will store my grain, I will build bigger barns, I will say to myself.
In four short verses the rich man used the word “I” and “my” ten times. He did not see others as the source of his bounty, or even God, only himself. His error is not that he was a wealthy man his foolishness lay in his superficiality and egotism.
There are some states here in the US that prefer to call themselves commonwealths rather than states--Kentucky is one. I like the term, because it reminds us that all wealth is really social in nature. No one of us can maintain ourselves in a social vacuum, short of moving to Montana and trying to live on the land out in the wilderness. I suppose that even then you’re not truly living in complete independence.
In the movie Shenandoah, James Stewart plays a Virginia farmer during the Civil War years. He begins every meal with the same prayer: “Lord, I planted the seeds, I plowed the ground, I gathered in the harvest. If I hadn’t of put the food on the table it wouldn’t be here--But we thank you anyway.” We had all better understand the role of grace and mystery in life or we too might fall pray to the sin of thinking too highly of ourselves.
III. Third, this man was a fool because he forgot what his real business in life was really all about.
This man thought that his business was about commodities and markets--Jesus thought in deeper terms. Jesus is suggesting to us that our business in life goes far beyond tally sheets, investments, and tax forms. Our real business is that of our humanity. It gets down to that old philosophical tension between becoming and being. We spend too much of our time concentrating on what we are becoming, and we lose sight of what we are being. What is our business in life? It is not to be successful; it is to be faithful. It is not to amass things, but to grow closer to the mind of God. It is not to become rich in things, but to love people. That is our business, but a fool will never grasp it.
IV. Fourth, this man was a fool because he forgot about time.
His whole attitude in life was that time was unlimited. I have a quirk about digital watches and clocks because I think time should have a sweep to it. If we learn to see time as number, then we see time only in the context of the immediate moment, and not in the larger context of time. And friends, it is absolutely lethal for Christians to see time only as “right now because that is how the world looks at time. The Christian should learn to view time as moving toward something. How many people have I known who spent all of their life preparing to live? It may be good to save our money for a rainy day, but it is perilous to save our life for a rainy day. Why? Because time might just run out on us.
Friends, the clock is relentless. It beats us down--- It is always ticking. Regardless of what we do or fail to do, the clock keeps ticking. It is a fool that says: “Heaven can always wait.
It is a fool who builds barns, but postpones life.
I would like us to think a few moments about our money and our life and let’s see what Jesus has to say about these two subjects.
The background for our story is an incident that occurred in Galilee as Jesus was teaching to a large crowd. A young man called out from the crowd and said: Rabbi, tell my brother to divide the inheritance of our father.”
Now, Jewish law clearly prescribed that at the death of a father, the elder son received 2/3 of the inheritance, and the young son received 1/3. This is obviously a younger son who is complaining about the inherent unfairness of it all. Nothing will divide brothers and sisters more than dividing up an estate. So it was then, and so it is now.
Jesus refused to get involved in a petty family squabble. Jesus was concerned, however, with the larger implications of preoccupation with the things of this world. He said: Beware of greed, for life does not consist of things possessed. The sum total of a person’s life is more than their financial portfolio. He then illustrated this point by telling a story. There was once a man who had an unbroken run of prosperity. In today’s language, he had successfully played the commodities market. So prosperous did he become that his barns could not hold all of his crops. His solution was to tear down these barns and build bigger and better barns. Then, with his financial security in hand, he could sit back and truly enjoy life. His philosophy was: eat, drink, and be merry. Truth be told, when we hear this story we find ourselves rather envious of this man. A financially successful man—we see him as savvy and wise. Yet, Jesus concluded the story by saying that this man was a fool.
The issue before us is then: what did this man do wrong? To answer that question we must understand that this is not a parable about money. It is a parable about values and what is important in life. With that in mind, let me suggest four things that this man did that made him a fool.
I. First, he was a fool because he had full barns, but an empty heart.
He was rich in man’s eyes; he was poor in God’s eyes and the question that we should ask ourselves is: Are we rich in God’s eyes? Jerome, writing about 400 A.D., mentioned in a letter a woman who “preferred to store her money in the stomachs of the needy than in her purse.” It is all right to make investments, as long as we understand that the best investment that we can make is in the Kingdom of God. The only future that is sure is God’s future. God will be with you whether or not the stock market is up or the bottom drops out completely---God will be with you. All a man really owns is a 6 by 3 piece of earth, so we are better off putting our confidence elsewhere. Jesus is warning us that we had better not put our trust in the promise of materialism; if we do we will be sadly disappointed. Jesus might have asked, “How much barn does a man need?” We might ask today, How much storage space does a man need? The only resource that can possibly address our deepest longing is God. It is God that will be our rock and our sanity and our security; not a mutual fund. When the doctor calls you in one day and says: It is some dreaded disease--It is God that will offer you the peace and calm that you so desperately seek.
II. Secondly this man was a fool because he overestimated his own value in the
scheme of things.
Listen to how he talked: I will store my grain, I will build bigger barns, I will say to myself.
In four short verses the rich man used the word “I” and “my” ten times. He did not see others as the source of his bounty, or even God, only himself. His error is not that he was a wealthy man his foolishness lay in his superficiality and egotism.
There are some states here in the US that prefer to call themselves commonwealths rather than states--Kentucky is one. I like the term, because it reminds us that all wealth is really social in nature. No one of us can maintain ourselves in a social vacuum, short of moving to Montana and trying to live on the land out in the wilderness. I suppose that even then you’re not truly living in complete independence.
In the movie Shenandoah, James Stewart plays a Virginia farmer during the Civil War years. He begins every meal with the same prayer: “Lord, I planted the seeds, I plowed the ground, I gathered in the harvest. If I hadn’t of put the food on the table it wouldn’t be here--But we thank you anyway.” We had all better understand the role of grace and mystery in life or we too might fall pray to the sin of thinking too highly of ourselves.
III. Third, this man was a fool because he forgot what his real business in life was really all about.
This man thought that his business was about commodities and markets--Jesus thought in deeper terms. Jesus is suggesting to us that our business in life goes far beyond tally sheets, investments, and tax forms. Our real business is that of our humanity. It gets down to that old philosophical tension between becoming and being. We spend too much of our time concentrating on what we are becoming, and we lose sight of what we are being. What is our business in life? It is not to be successful; it is to be faithful. It is not to amass things, but to grow closer to the mind of God. It is not to become rich in things, but to love people. That is our business, but a fool will never grasp it.
IV. Fourth, this man was a fool because he forgot about time.
His whole attitude in life was that time was unlimited. I have a quirk about digital watches and clocks because I think time should have a sweep to it. If we learn to see time as number, then we see time only in the context of the immediate moment, and not in the larger context of time. And friends, it is absolutely lethal for Christians to see time only as “right now because that is how the world looks at time. The Christian should learn to view time as moving toward something. How many people have I known who spent all of their life preparing to live? It may be good to save our money for a rainy day, but it is perilous to save our life for a rainy day. Why? Because time might just run out on us.
Friends, the clock is relentless. It beats us down--- It is always ticking. Regardless of what we do or fail to do, the clock keeps ticking. It is a fool that says: “Heaven can always wait.
It is a fool who builds barns, but postpones life.
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