Rich Towards God, Sermon for August 5, 2007
Scripture: Luke 12:13-21 and Colossians 3:1-11
The title of this sermon is “Rich Towards God”; I considered “What have you stored in your barn?” as well as Abundance of Soul. No matter what I name it, it really is about money, greed, and your life—the life you live today and your life eternal. It is probably the topic that I have the most difficulty with in my personal life, the area of my life where I feel I am the most sinful. As I write this sermon, I have a visceral reaction in my stomach. I even feel close to tears. Part of me is saying it is just too hard to be a disciple of Jesus-- to say nothing about being a minister that is charged with teaching and preaching to other Christians.
Let’s look at the gospel lesson: Luke describes an incident that occurred in Galilee as Jesus was teaching to a crowd of followers. He is interrupted by a young man who yells out, “Teacher, tell my brother to give me a fair share of the inheritance of our father.” The Jewish law provided at that time that the elder son would receive 2/3rds of the father’s wealth and the younger son 1/3. Jesus quickly let’s the young man know that he is not the inheritance police and then he goes on to tell the story that most Bible’s title, “The Rich Fool”
Let me give you an updated modern version of what I believe Jesus was saying: There was once a man who had a great run of good fortune and prosperity—maybe he did well in the stock market, in this case probably the commodities market. In fact he had made so much money he had to find more banks for his deposits as he didn’t want to risk having over the $100,000 that is federally insured per depositor in any one bank. Now I want to point out that this was not an evil man. He was not unlike most of us who are well off and want to enjoy life. No way do I see Jesus indicating that God doesn’t like folks who work hard and are successful. In this congregation and in my own family there are a range of households, some living month to month, others having a net worth of a half a million or so. This story tempts us to think that Jesus is down on material things and wealthy people. What I think Jesus is doing is cautioning us of the seductiveness of wealth and consumerism. If we spend a large amount of time on acquiring money and other material things and then worrying about keeping them safe or preventing them from losing value, it consumes a tremendous amount of our time that could be used in better ways to bring about the Kingdom.
I’d like to illustrate with a true story I saw on the internet about hummingbirds. There was a family that put up a hummingbird feeder with four feeding stations. Almost immediately it became very popular with the local hummingbirds. Two, three, or even four birds would feed at one time. Suddenly the usage decreased to almost nothing. “The reason for the decreased usage soon became apparent. A male bird had taken over the feeder as his property. He was now the only hummingbird who used it. He would feed and then sit in a nearby tree, rising to attack any bird that approached his feeder. Guard duty occupied his every waking hour. He was an effective guard. The only timeanother bird got to use the feeder was when the self-appointed owner was momentarily gone to chase away an intruder.”[1] You see by choosing to be the owner and guard of the feeder, the hummingbird forfeited his freedom. He was no longer free to come and go as he wished. He was tied to the work of guarding his STUFF. He was possessed by his possession.
In the same way our wealth and possessions can keep us away from serving God or enjoying our family, or relaxing. With what are our barns, our attics, our closets filled? After God has called this man a fool, the last sentence in our NRSV translation says, “So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’ Listen to the translation by Eugene Peterson in the Message, "That's what happens when you fill your barn with Self and not with God" What ways might we be rich towards God? One commentary answers in this way, "This is the wealth we acquire when, trusting the future to God, we use what is given us unselfishly…The way to real life is to give our lives away."[2] The rich man in Jesus’ story disregards God’s role in his life. One of the real dangers/seductions about wealth is the illusion it gives us of being in control of our lives. When someone close to us has a tragedy, we are aware for a moment that life is not predictable and that the true value in our life has to be other than the material. The rich fool had the following follies according to Culpepper: 1 Preoccupation with possessions, 2 Self-sufficiency, no need for other people—he was alone; 3 Hollowness of hedonism—eat, drink, and be merry; 5 Greed—not sharing his abundance and good fortune with others.[3]
In the letter to the Colossians, there is a very similar theme. “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth..” and “Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). The essence of this passage is that as we are now raised with Christ, (through our baptism) “seek the things that are above, where Christ is.” This again is about the top values in our life.
Some of my great difficulty with this topic is how do you determine how much is enough and how much is too much when you come to saving. Being a good New Englander, I very much was influenced by saving up for a rainy day as well as my experience of seeing the pain of my parents’ poverty which came from their not earning much money nor making wise financial decisions. Consequently, I became a saver not a spender.
The other question is how much do you give away? How much do you share with your children, your church, your larger community that is in need? Then what happens when you and your partner have different philosophies about spending and saving and giving away? The Hebrew Bible has many verses that tell us to give 10% to God. Before or after taxes? Salary or total income? And so on-- the questions could take up many sermons. If any one has a clue to how to answer these questions, I’d love to have conversation with you.
The man Jesus told the story about evidently had no conflict about his wealth and possessions. He felt easy and secure about the future; however, God calls him a fool. God knew that all the man’s labors for his own gain could not be taken with him when he dies. God only required his soul. Jesus tells us that if we lay up treasure for ourselves and are not rich towards God, we too will be a fool. We need to be careful about hoping that our successes, our prosperity, our bank accounts will fill our souls. And really, the only thing that God requires in return for God’s gift of life and love, is that we go and do likewise, that we allow others to live by living more simply ourselves and sharing our blessings. As Gandhi said, we have enough for our need but not for our greed! How do we live more simply so that others may simply live?
So I come to the end of writing this sermon four hours later and still have so many questions. My stomach is less tight and I no longer feel tearful. There are some things I do know. God does not disapprove of wealth and prosperity; Jesus is cautioning us not to let greed and wealth be a block to following the path required of us. I don’t know all the specifics, yet I do know that to be rich towards God means putting God first, giving God attention in our prayers and other practices, loving God and loving all God’s children and always remembering what we do to the least of these we do to God.
Let us pray, Gracious, gracious God, please help us figure this whole thing out and do what you want us to do so that we can be rich towards you. Thank you for your guidance, the teachings of Jesus, your love. Amen
[1] David E. Leininger, Collected Sermons, at e-Sermons.com
[2] Richard Bauckman, The Lectionary Commentary, ed. by Roger van Harn.
[3] In New Interpreter’s Bible on Luke.
The title of this sermon is “Rich Towards God”; I considered “What have you stored in your barn?” as well as Abundance of Soul. No matter what I name it, it really is about money, greed, and your life—the life you live today and your life eternal. It is probably the topic that I have the most difficulty with in my personal life, the area of my life where I feel I am the most sinful. As I write this sermon, I have a visceral reaction in my stomach. I even feel close to tears. Part of me is saying it is just too hard to be a disciple of Jesus-- to say nothing about being a minister that is charged with teaching and preaching to other Christians.
Let’s look at the gospel lesson: Luke describes an incident that occurred in Galilee as Jesus was teaching to a crowd of followers. He is interrupted by a young man who yells out, “Teacher, tell my brother to give me a fair share of the inheritance of our father.” The Jewish law provided at that time that the elder son would receive 2/3rds of the father’s wealth and the younger son 1/3. Jesus quickly let’s the young man know that he is not the inheritance police and then he goes on to tell the story that most Bible’s title, “The Rich Fool”
Let me give you an updated modern version of what I believe Jesus was saying: There was once a man who had a great run of good fortune and prosperity—maybe he did well in the stock market, in this case probably the commodities market. In fact he had made so much money he had to find more banks for his deposits as he didn’t want to risk having over the $100,000 that is federally insured per depositor in any one bank. Now I want to point out that this was not an evil man. He was not unlike most of us who are well off and want to enjoy life. No way do I see Jesus indicating that God doesn’t like folks who work hard and are successful. In this congregation and in my own family there are a range of households, some living month to month, others having a net worth of a half a million or so. This story tempts us to think that Jesus is down on material things and wealthy people. What I think Jesus is doing is cautioning us of the seductiveness of wealth and consumerism. If we spend a large amount of time on acquiring money and other material things and then worrying about keeping them safe or preventing them from losing value, it consumes a tremendous amount of our time that could be used in better ways to bring about the Kingdom.
I’d like to illustrate with a true story I saw on the internet about hummingbirds. There was a family that put up a hummingbird feeder with four feeding stations. Almost immediately it became very popular with the local hummingbirds. Two, three, or even four birds would feed at one time. Suddenly the usage decreased to almost nothing. “The reason for the decreased usage soon became apparent. A male bird had taken over the feeder as his property. He was now the only hummingbird who used it. He would feed and then sit in a nearby tree, rising to attack any bird that approached his feeder. Guard duty occupied his every waking hour. He was an effective guard. The only timeanother bird got to use the feeder was when the self-appointed owner was momentarily gone to chase away an intruder.”[1] You see by choosing to be the owner and guard of the feeder, the hummingbird forfeited his freedom. He was no longer free to come and go as he wished. He was tied to the work of guarding his STUFF. He was possessed by his possession.
In the same way our wealth and possessions can keep us away from serving God or enjoying our family, or relaxing. With what are our barns, our attics, our closets filled? After God has called this man a fool, the last sentence in our NRSV translation says, “So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’ Listen to the translation by Eugene Peterson in the Message, "That's what happens when you fill your barn with Self and not with God" What ways might we be rich towards God? One commentary answers in this way, "This is the wealth we acquire when, trusting the future to God, we use what is given us unselfishly…The way to real life is to give our lives away."[2] The rich man in Jesus’ story disregards God’s role in his life. One of the real dangers/seductions about wealth is the illusion it gives us of being in control of our lives. When someone close to us has a tragedy, we are aware for a moment that life is not predictable and that the true value in our life has to be other than the material. The rich fool had the following follies according to Culpepper: 1 Preoccupation with possessions, 2 Self-sufficiency, no need for other people—he was alone; 3 Hollowness of hedonism—eat, drink, and be merry; 5 Greed—not sharing his abundance and good fortune with others.[3]
In the letter to the Colossians, there is a very similar theme. “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth..” and “Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). The essence of this passage is that as we are now raised with Christ, (through our baptism) “seek the things that are above, where Christ is.” This again is about the top values in our life.
Some of my great difficulty with this topic is how do you determine how much is enough and how much is too much when you come to saving. Being a good New Englander, I very much was influenced by saving up for a rainy day as well as my experience of seeing the pain of my parents’ poverty which came from their not earning much money nor making wise financial decisions. Consequently, I became a saver not a spender.
The other question is how much do you give away? How much do you share with your children, your church, your larger community that is in need? Then what happens when you and your partner have different philosophies about spending and saving and giving away? The Hebrew Bible has many verses that tell us to give 10% to God. Before or after taxes? Salary or total income? And so on-- the questions could take up many sermons. If any one has a clue to how to answer these questions, I’d love to have conversation with you.
The man Jesus told the story about evidently had no conflict about his wealth and possessions. He felt easy and secure about the future; however, God calls him a fool. God knew that all the man’s labors for his own gain could not be taken with him when he dies. God only required his soul. Jesus tells us that if we lay up treasure for ourselves and are not rich towards God, we too will be a fool. We need to be careful about hoping that our successes, our prosperity, our bank accounts will fill our souls. And really, the only thing that God requires in return for God’s gift of life and love, is that we go and do likewise, that we allow others to live by living more simply ourselves and sharing our blessings. As Gandhi said, we have enough for our need but not for our greed! How do we live more simply so that others may simply live?
So I come to the end of writing this sermon four hours later and still have so many questions. My stomach is less tight and I no longer feel tearful. There are some things I do know. God does not disapprove of wealth and prosperity; Jesus is cautioning us not to let greed and wealth be a block to following the path required of us. I don’t know all the specifics, yet I do know that to be rich towards God means putting God first, giving God attention in our prayers and other practices, loving God and loving all God’s children and always remembering what we do to the least of these we do to God.
Let us pray, Gracious, gracious God, please help us figure this whole thing out and do what you want us to do so that we can be rich towards you. Thank you for your guidance, the teachings of Jesus, your love. Amen
[1] David E. Leininger, Collected Sermons, at e-Sermons.com
[2] Richard Bauckman, The Lectionary Commentary, ed. by Roger van Harn.
[3] In New Interpreter’s Bible on Luke.
posted by Sermons given at Deering Community Church @ 12:36 PM
<< Home