Whose Are You?
Luke 12:13-21
Pentecost Proper 13C, 2010
Pastor Jonathon Bakker
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ amen. The Holy Scripture for our consideration this day is the Gospel reading from St. Luke which you just heard.
Then one from the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” Then he spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, whose are you? To whom do you belong? Where does your heart find its rest when you are troubled? These questions are at the heart of the parable Jesus tells this morning. It is a reminder to us that God alone is our refuge and strength; our one and only help at all times.
3 years ago I preached from this pulpit on this very text on what was to be a very significant day for our congregation – that same day we broke ground on River Rd. for the first phase of our congregational building project. You can imagine, then, that I could hardly help but chuckle yesterday as I was preparing the sermon on this text, when I opened a piece of mail from Zion informing me that our New Sanctuary Campaign is beginning and I am invited to take part. In other words, the very same week when we set the wheels in motion raise the funds for the completion of the building project, we have a parable from our Lord warning us of the dangers of laying up treasures for ourselves. I suppose you could call it a coincidence, but I think that the words God gave me then are just as important for us today.
We may be tempted to hear the words of Jesus and think that we are not the ones of whom he is speaking. After all, we have given generously of our time, of our talents, and especially of our treasures, and are preparing to do the same once again. However I warn you - do not be like the rich fool. It is one of the devil’s favorite ploys to make Christians believe that they are not storing up treasures for themselves when they are building God’s church with their own sweat, ingenuity, and gifts. It is the forgiveness of sins and the preaching of salvation; the sacraments of holy baptism and the Lord’s Supper; the very presence of God among his people – all of those together – make a building a church. The devil, the world, and our sinful flesh would have us believe that our building is our treasure. It is not. Our treasure is God and the forgiveness, life, and salvation he gives to us wherever two or three are gathered together in his name.
That was essentially the same thing I said to you three years ago. God and his Word are indeed timeless. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Yet things are different after three years. The world has changed, and even our congregation has changed. Some of you were not among us three years ago. There have been new faces, new babies, new baptisms, new families, and new weddings. Also, some of us who have been here for a very long time are no longer among us. There have been students away at college, some have moved away, and some have died and there have been funerals. All of this is the regular pattern for a Christian congregation. It has been like this for Zion since it was established as a congregation in 1889; it will continue as we undertake to finish building the sanctuary in these coming years; and it will remain, Lord-willing, long after all of us are gone and even after the buildings we are working on now are replaced.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is our true treasure. Jesus Christ is the meaning of life. This is the heart of the Gospel reading today. A man calls out to Jesus, complaining about his brother taking the inheritance. It is a common point of conflict within a family. Jacob schemed to get Esau’s birthright. The prodigal son squandered the inheritance his father gave him. Maybe you have seen or even been involved in a bitter dispute over who deserves what from their parents’ estate.
Inheritances are important things. Jesus knows this better than any of us. He is his Father’s one and only Son. Yet few of us consider our inheritances the same way. When we are young, unless we are royalty, we do not give much thought to such things. Our parents have always been with us and will always be with us. There is no distinction between what belongs to our parents and what belongs to us – it’s our house, it’s our car, it’s our family. Things change when we get older, though, and see that there is a distinction in property – we have debts that we wish we could pay; we have a desire to live in nicer homes and drive nicer vehicles; we have children of our own and begin to think of what we will hope to be able to do for them in due time. Where will they live and what will they drive? Where will they go to college? What will they have for their children?
It goes on and on and on. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. How many of us take comfort and find security in the inheritances we anticipate receiving from our parents and grandparents? Not that we are hoping to receive them quickly or anything morbid like that; but we have faith that eventually things will be easier for us because of what they will leave behind. Repent. As our Lord tells us, ‘Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.’
A good summary of Jesus’ parable in the Gospel today would be, ‘you can’t take it with you.’ That is most certainly true. What is also true is that you can barely leave it behind when you go. Think about it. What material possessions do you have today that you received from your parents? What do you have that they received from their parents, or from their parents’ parents, or their parents’ parents? Certainly, there are heirlooms, and even sizeable treasures can be made to last for a very long time, but the things we have in this world will not last forever for us or our children. Eventually, usually sooner than later, the things we have now will all pass away.
Consider the rich man in the parable who became a rich fool. He was a wealthy landowner, and his farms produced very well. When this happens to us, we consider it to be a blessing from God. We respond with thanksgiving. We are right to react, like that rich man, by making a plan to accommodate such blessings. When the harvest is plentiful, we build bigger grain bins; when our families expand, we buy larger homes; and when our income expands, we save and invest for our future. None of this is condemned – it is the proper management of the things God has entrusted to our care in this life. Neither is the rich man a fool for tearing down his barns and building new ones.
What makes the rich man a fool is the faith he stores up with his harvest in those great barns. Finally, after all that hard work, after a life of concern about whether his choices would help or hinder him and his family, he has no need to worry anymore about anything to come in this world. He has more food than he will ever need. If he needs money, he has more grain to sell than he will ever need. If he becomes sick, he has grain to spare that he can sell to bring in the best physicians. He says to his soul, ‘Soul, take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.’
Like I said before, how many times have we found ourselves longing for what the rich man achieved? Maybe our hope is not for the barns of grain, but how many times have we dreamed and longed for the security that an overflowing checking and savings account would give us? How many times have we looked forward to the day when our debts will be paid, when our cupboards will be full, and the rigors of full-time work will be behind us? When we put our trust for such peace and comfort in earthly things, we are just as foolish as the rich fool in Jesus’ parable. It is the same for all who lay up treasure for themselves, and are not rich toward God.
Only God, and him alone, can give us such comfort, and only God, and him alone, can take it away. And he will, indeed, take it away. Jesus calls the rich man a fool because that very night his soul would be required of him. It may not happen tonight for any of us, but just as God has numbered the hairs on our heads, he also has numbered the days and hours we have in this life. Nothing we do in this world can give us one more second than the Lord gives.
Worldly inheritances all pass away. Few last longer than a few generations. There is another inheritance, however, of which Jesus knows – the inheritance which comes from his Father in heaven and is unlike any other. Certainly it is divided among many children, like most others; and certainly death precedes the disbursement, like most others, but the similarities end there. Unlike every other inheritance, even though this one is divided among many children, every descendent receives the full birthright. Stranger still, it is the descendents themselves who die before they receive the fullness of this inheritance.
Friends, you know this inheritance. This is the inheritance that is stored up not by you but by the Lord. This inheritance is the eternal life won for you by your Lord, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for your sins and rose from the dead to the right hand of the Father. This inheritance is the forgiveness of sins which is given to you by the power of the Holy Spirit who calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies you in the one true faith. This inheritance is what it means to be rich toward God.
Today you are not called to be careless with the earthly things our Lord gives you, but you are warned that laying up treasures for yourselves leaves no room for God. Richness towards God, instead, means that you look to God for every help in every time of need. Richness towards God means that you put yourselves and your own comforts last because Jesus Christ is the true treasure, and the only one for you. God provides you that richness through the Holy Spirit and fulfills that inheritance for each of you.
And when the Lord finally does call you home, whenever that will happen; and when he has poured the inheritance upon you, then he will say to your soul, ‘Soul, you have the good things which laid up for eternity; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.’
To Christ alone be all the glory, forever and ever.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Your comments are welcome, but please:
1) stay on topic
2) avoid characterizations
3) be kind
Thanks!