You Fool

Luke 12:13-21

We’ve all been in this situation I’m sure…  you’ve been preaching on some real weighty, significant matters, when someone afterwards comes up to you and says, “Did you know that your shirt is the same colour as the curtain, and your trousers are the same colour as the stage, and so when you were preaching, you just looked like a floating head?”

What?  A mildly interesting observation I confess, but what about any of the things we were talking about?

Jesus has just been talking about hypocrisy, the fear of God, the consequences for denying the Son of God – weighty, eternal matters.  Someone then, having wriggled his way through the crowd to somewhere relatively close to the front, dumps this request on Jesus and says in Luke 12:13, “Hey teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

Jesus is now confronted with a choice.  Will he get down into the nitty-gritty of the inheritance dispute, or not?

He says in v14, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?”

In other words, “Look, I’m not here for this sort of thing.   However, I do have something relevant to say to you.”

Then he gives a warning about how dangerous this inheritance is.  He says in v15, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

Jesus sees something.  He sees a man losing his grip on his portion of the inheritance and he sees a man losing his grip on reality.

This inheritance was lying to the man.  Which is what money does.  It lies to us.  It tries to deceive us.  What was it saying?

It was saying: “If you lose me, you lose a very large part of your life.  If you lose me, your life will be drab and boring and empty and meaningless and unhappy.  I can give you life.  Life will be real life — true life — if you have me.  I am your life.  I am the way, the truth, the life.” says money.

To this Jesus says in v15, “One’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”  In other words.  It’s a lie.  Don’t listen.  “Take care, and be on your guard.”  Not only is this inheritance not your life.  It is about to take your life.

Oh, how vulnerable the fallen human heart is — mine is — to feeling that having lots of things equals being really alive.  Jesus is urgent and passionate (verse 15): your life does not consist in having lots of things.  Life consists in knowing God.

John 17:3: “This is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”  Life is not having things.  Life is knowing God.  Now Jesus is coming to that.

So Jesus tells them a parable.  Not just for the man who asked the question, but for all of us.  We are all listening in and so it says in v16, “He told them a parable.”

The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, “What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?” And he said, “I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.

It’s not a bad thing when your “land produces plentifully” (verse 16).  It’s not a bad thing when your business prospers.  It’s not a bad thing to receive a promotion and with it a pay increase.  It’s not a bad thing when your investments increase in value.

That is not the evil in this parable.  He is not called a fool for being a productive farmer.  God knows this broken world needs productive farmers and profitable businesses.

Why, then, is he called a fool?  That’s the question in this parable.

Most Australians would look at this guy and think, what a success.  So why does God call him a fool?

He is fooled in the same way that most Australians are fooled today…

We’re Fooled

We’re fooled into thinking stuff satisfies.

Relax!  Eat, drink, be merry.  Live life.  That’s the Australian motto isn’t it?  (In fact Jesus says in v30, all the nations of the world seek after these things).

We’re fooled into believing the bumper sticker which says, “He who dies with the most toys wins.”  We’re fooled into thinking that material wealth brings happiness.  We’re fooled into thinking we don’t have enough.

Millions of people live as if that’s true.  It’s the culture we’re in.

It’s Australia Day.  I love Australia and think there’s so much we should be thankful for.

For many Australians today, would you say our general disposition is gratitude rather than discontentment and grumbling?

While we were on holidays recently we took the kids to a playground, and when we were there I overheard a conversation between two ladies who had brought kids as well.  One of them was saying just how terrible it is these days that although her two girls are only two years apart she’s having to all the time buy new clothes for the youngest instead of reusing clothes from the oldest because the fashion keeps changing too much.  The girls were about 5 and 3.

The thing is it’s easy to think of examples of other people who are worse than us.  It’s easy to think of other people who are well, they’re looking for satisfaction in their things.  While ever we’re comparing ourselves to those people we think we’re doing ok.

It’s a bit like how we view pride.  We can always think of others who struggle in that area, but find it difficult to evaluate ourselves properly.

So because I’m quite happy for our kids to wear hand-me-down clothes, and I now know someone who isn’t, I think I’m doing pretty well, materialistically speaking.

However, it’s not about how you compare to others.  It’s about where’s your treasure and to be honest, my happiness for hand-me-down clothes is maybe not as happy as I think it is.

How do you know if you’re fooled?

• Do you spend more time thinking about what you don’t have, than being thankful for what you do have?
• Do you ever find yourself looking into your full wardrobe and thinking ‘I’ve got nothing to wear’, or looking into your full pantry and thinking ‘there’s nothing to eat’?
• How often do you compare what God has given you, or what he hasn’t given you, to what he has given others?
• How quickly do things go from ‘that’d be nice to have’ to ‘I think we need to get that’, so you consider yourself, especially compared to these others, actually to be needy?
• Have I fallen for the lie that I just don’t have enough to be generous, despite the fact that the greatest examples of generosity in the Bible are from people who are poor?

“With closets bursting with more clothes than we can wear and refrigerators filled with more than we can eat and houses bigger than we actually need, we are still able to tell ourselves that we are needy.  It is because we have told ourselves that we are needy, we will spend more.”

That is: lay up even more treasures for ourselves.

I’m not saying this to make you feel guilty about anything you’ve already done.  I ask these questions because I think we get fooled all too easily.

The mark of the one who’s been fooled is not contentment because they’ve found that inner rest of satisfaction.  Rather it’s ingratitude, neediness, envy, discontentment.

So David Wells in a recent book of his says, “Never have we had so much, and yet never have we had so little.  Never have we had more opportunities, products, options, and access to people, but never have we been as depressed as we are now, as anxious, or as empty.”

So no wonder Jesus says, Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.

Not only is it spiritually dangerous but it’s also just plain dumb.

Fool!  This night your soul is required of you.

John D. Rockefeller was one of the wealthiest men who ever lived.  After he died someone asked his accountant, “How much money did John D. leave?”  The accountant’s reply was classic: “He left… all of it”.

He who dies with the most toys … still dies, and takes none of it with him.  You never see hearses towing trailers full of stuff.

While this guy was going to find that out this very night, you don’t need to die to work that out.

We’ve probably all heard of stories of lottery winners who are more miserable a few years after winning then they were before.

John D. Rockefeller said, “I have made many millions, but they have brought me no happiness.”  Henry Ford said, “I was happier when doing a mechanic’s job.”  King Solomon said, “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income.”

Jesus said, “Don’t lay up treasure for yourself on earth, but lay up for yourselvestreasure in the heavens (v33)that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.”

We’re also fooled into not trusting God.

Along with the message that stuff satisfies is the message that stuff brings security.  Not only do we treasure money and what money can get us, we trust it.

Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years – nothing can touch you.

As long as I have “X” dollars in the bank, then I feel safe.  Once the project at home is finished (which they rarely ever are) then we’ll be free to serve.  Now I’ve got a couple of new outfits I’m socially acceptable, socially secure.

If I give up my time, talents, treasures for others, well that’s too risky.  I couldn’t possibly do that.  After all, God hasn’t given me the spiritual gift of generosity like he has others

Maybe.

Or maybe you’ve been fooled into not trusting him, not trusting that he will provide you with everything you need for eternal life, everything you need to live for and serve him.  Fooled into not trusting that if he doesn’t provide it, it’s because you don’t need it.

Maybe we’re fooled into thinking that once we reach a certain level, a certain standard of living, a certain figure in the bank books, then I’ll be set, secure, able to do x, y, and z.

When you think about it, it really is foolish.  For this guy, he had less than 24 hours to enjoy it, so that was dumb.

Even if that wasn’t the case, do you really want to trust stuff that thieves can thieve, or that moths munch on?

If your trust (satisfaction/security) is in those then of course you will be anxious; anxious about your life, what you’ll eat or drink, what job you’ll have, what course you’ll study; anxious about your body, what you’ll wear, what you’ll drive, what the house in which you store what you wear and drive will be like; anxious about what people will think about your life and body.

Anxious about all those things because in none of those things is there any guarantee.

Jesus, speaking into a society whose living was much more day by day, subsistence farming, than ours, they didn’t have freezers full of food, or supermarkets you could go to at any time to get anything, says, “You can trust your heavenly Father.”

Look at the birds, look at the lilies, look at the grass.  How much more will your heavenly Father, who being your Father who knows what you need, give you, as his loved children, all that you need to serve and live for him, to treasure him above all things, to be rich towards him?

We don’t need to build bigger barns because we have a big God.  We don’t need to store up treasures, because, if you belong to Jesus, you’re already treasured by God.

Don’t be fooled.

We’re fooled into thinking stuff satisfies…

We’re also fooled into not trusting God…

We’re fooled into thinking it all belongs to us.

‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ ¹⁸ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’

But he was wrong wasn’t he.

Your house, your car, your money, your possessions, your abilities, your time all ultimately come from God and belong to him.

One day, a distraught man rode his horse up to John Wesley, shouting, “Mr. Wesley, something terrible happened!  Your house burned to the ground!”

Wesley weighed the news, then calmly replied, “No.  The Lord’s house burned to the ground.  That means one less responsibility for me.”

Wesley’s reaction wasn’t a denial of reality.  Rather he was affirming it – that God is the owner of all things, and we are stewards or managers of what he has entrusted to us.

Some people, in order to encourage giving, will say, “Open your wallet, and have a look inside.  Is there some of God’s money in your wallet right now that you need to give?”

What a silly thing to say.  It’s all God’s money and he cares about how you use all of it, not just the percentage you put in the offering plate, or give to the charity or whatever.

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it says Ps 24.1.

“The silver is mine and the gold is mine,” declares the Lord Almighty in Haggai 2.8.

Remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth reminds Moses in Deuteronomy 8.18.

All things were created through him and for him says Paul about the Lord Jesus and so on and so on.

Why don’t I want to share my stuff? It is because you might wreck it.  Don’t you know I work hard at keeping my car clean?  I’m not going to lend it to you so you can scratch it.

Why don’t I want to share my time? It is because you might waste it.  Don’t you know I’ve got a busy schedule?  If I lend you my time it’ll ruin my week.

Why don’t I want to share my talents?  It is because you might get the credit for what was really my idea or my work, and I want to be seen as the one who has the smarts and skills.

We forget that actually it all belongs to God, not me – it’s from him and for him.

All things are from the triune God, and all things are for him.  Your time, talents, treasures.

So we might ask, why has he given you what he has given you?

Answering this will help know how to be rich toward God.

Well Paul gives the answer in 1 Tim 6:17-18.  He says there are two reasons.  God has richly provided you with everything to enjoy firstly.  God’s given you things to enjoy them.  You don’t need to feel guilty about having a house, a car, a coffee, fishing rods, books, money, etc.  They’re gifts from God to be enjoyed.

The mark of one who remembers it all comes from God is thankfulness and gratitude, i.e. rich towards God.  The more grateful you are the more you’ll enjoy it.

There’s a second reason why God has given you what he has given you, and that’s to be generous, to share them, to use our time, talents, treasures for the sake of others not just for yourself.

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. ¹⁸ They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share.

How is generosity related to being rich towards God?

Generosity displays the glory of God.

I think that’s part of what it means to seek his kingdom, v31.  Do all you can to see and display the greatness of God.

³² “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. ³³ Sell your possessions, and give to the needy.

Generosity says something about what his kingdom is like and what the character of the King is like, who he is and what he’s on about.

Lack of generosity, in whatever way it might show itself, ingratitude, neediness, discontentment, envy, says something about what this earthly kingdom is like.  It’s a kingdom of self-preoccupation, self-promotion, self-pursuit.

Generosity says there’s something even better to pursue and promote, to trust and be satisfied in – knowing and showing the worth of the one from whom and for whom it all comes.

Let’s hold loosely to the things of this world.  Let’s not sacrifice the things that do matter for the things that ultimately do not.

Remember, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom and when the King of that kingdom returns, he’ll bring with him such joy and freedom, that you’ll wonder why anything else apart from knowing and showing him could have mattered for even a moment.

Heavenly father, we confess how difficult it is to step back and evaluate our own culture we live in and the impact it has on us.  In a culture, a kingdom, that is largely about self, we ask that we will not be fooled.  Give us discernment and resolve not to conform but be transformed, that we might live lives that display the worth of the one from whom and for whom it all comes.