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By Pastor Brian Bestian
Some of you here today will remember watching comedian Jack Benny, from TV’s Golden Age. Benny had a memorable skit which illustrated how we place money ahead of everything else. The skit began with Benny walking down a street. Suddenly he is accosted by an armed robber who shouts, “Your money or your life!” There is a long pause. Jack does nothing. The robber impatiently queried, “Well?” And Jack replied, “Don’t rush me, I’m thinking it over.” This morning I would like us to think a few moments about our finances and our life. Let’s see what Jesus has to say about these two subjects.
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, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Now, Jewish law clearly prescribed that at the death of a father, the eldest son received two-thirds of the inheritance, and the younger son received one-third. This is obviously a younger son who is complaining about the inherent unfairness of it all. Nothing will divide brothers and sisters more quickly than dividing up a family estate. So it was then, and so it is now. Jesus refused to get involved in this family squabble.
Rather Jesus was concerned with the larger implications of it all—preoccupation with the things of this world. He warns, “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.”
Jesus then illustrates His point by telling a story. There was once a rich landowner who had an unbroken run of prosperity. In today’s language, this guy had successfully played the commodities market. So prosperous had he become because of a bumper crop that his barns couldn’t hold all of the harvest. His solution was to tear down his current barns in order to build bigger and better ones. Then, with his financial security in hand, he could sit back and truly enjoy life. His philosophy of life was simply “eat, drink, and be merry” (v. 19).
Truth be told, when we hear this story we find ourselves rather envious of this guy. A financially successful man—we see him as savvy and wise. Yet, Jesus con-cluded the story by saying that this man was a “fool.”
The issue before us this morning is: “What did this man do wrong?” To answer that question we must understand that this is not a parable about money. Instead 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. He Had Full Barns, But An Empty Heart.
First of all, he was a fool because he had full barns, but an empty heart. He was rich in man’s eyes, but poor in God’s eyes. Now I must caution you that this farmer was not a fool because he was rich and successful. The Bible nowhere condemns well-earned, well-deserved financial prosperity.
So why was this farmer a fool? Well, he misunderstood the origin of his wealth. If you had asked him about it, he would have told you, “I worked hard for it, and I earned it with my own two hands.” After all, he had plowed the fields, planted the grain, tended the soil, and gathered the harvest. But that’s not the way Jesus viewed it. Please notice that Jesus didn’t say, “A certain man worked very hard and accumulated a great fortune.” No, Jesus said, “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop.” (v. 16) In other words, it was God that had given him his harvest. The problem was not that he had a good income; the problem was he loved and worshipped his income. He had replaced the true eternal God with a false material god.
The rich man’s plan seemed good on paper. It might have been good, except for one thing—among the many things he had considered, among the many paths he thought his life might take—he never considered the inevitability of his death. Jesus says, “that night the man died.” In spite of his plans, in spite of his wealth, in spite of his harvest, he died. His security was insecure, his future was fleeting, and his tomorrows were terminated.
So that your heart could be secure, so that your soul could be cleansed from sin, God sent His Son, Jesus to rescue you from sin, death, and the devil. Having Jesus Christ as your Savior makes everything different. The way you see the world—different! The priorities of your life—different! Your goals and the things that are important to you—different! The things that used to make you afraid—gone! Jesus, Who was born to save us, Who lived His life to rescue us, Who fulfilled the law to free us from our sins, brings about this change of heart and attitude.
St. Jerome, writing about 400 A.D., mentioned in a letter a particular Christian 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 Nasdaq ever gets back to 5000 again or the bottom drops out completely. God is with you!
Leo Tolstoy once wrote a story about a successful peasant farmer who was not satisfied with his lot in life. He wanted more of everything. Here is how Tolstoy tells the story: One day a farmer received a novel offer. For 1,000 rubles, he could buy all the land he could walk around in a day. The only catch in the whole deal was that he had to be back at his starting point by sundown.
Early the next morning the farmer started out walking at a fast pace. By midday he was very tired, but he kept going, covering more and more ground. Late in the afternoon, he realized that his greed had taken him far from the starting point. So he quickened his pace and as the sun began to sink low in the sky, he began to run; knowing that if he did not make it back by sundown the opportunity to become an even bigger landholder would be lost.
As the sun began to sink below the horizon he came within sight of the finish line. Gasping for breath, his heart pounding, he called upon every bit of strength left in his body and staggered across the line just before the sun disappeared. He immediately collapsed, blood streaming from his mouth. In a few minutes he was dead. Afterwards, his servants dug a grave. It was not much over six feet long and three feet wide. The title of Tolstoy’s story was: “How Much Land Does a Man Need?”
In the end, Tolstoy suggests, all a man really owns is a 6’ by 3’ piece of earth, so we are better off putting our confidence elsewhere. Jesus, like Tolstoy, is warning us that we had better not put our trust and our future in the promise of materialism. If we do so, we will be sadly disappointed. Jesus might have asked, “How many barns 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—our sanity and our security—not a mutual fund. When the doctor calls you in one day and says: “I’m sorry, but your tumor is malignant; you have cancer.” It is God alone that will offer you the peace and calm that you so desperately seek.
The man in the parable was a fool because he banked on full barns. Let us as the people of God store our money in the stomachs of the hungry, the minds of the uneducated, the bodies of the sick, the spirits of the oppressed, and the spread of the Gospel. Then we shall be rich in God’s eyes.
II. He Overestimated His Own Value.
Secondly this man was a fool because he overestimated his own value in the scheme of things. In verse 17 we read, “He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’” Now first of all, this man was talking to the wrong person when he “thought to himself.” He never spoke to God about anything. All he cared about was how he could support his addiction to the habit-forming narcotic of materialism.
In verses 17-19 you will notice that eleven times he uses the first person pronoun referring to himself. Not once do you hear about others or a word about God. It is all I, I, my, my. This man could not see the God who gave him all of his wealth; he could not see the poor who needed some of his wealth. Greed had pulled the shades of selfishness over his eyes and had coated his heart in the concrete of covetousness.
I once read where a professor with a PhD in agriculture said that by his estimate nature (God) provides 95% of the energies necessary to produce a crop, while the farmer provides 5%. Yet, in Jesus story this narcissistic farmer is using the words “I” and “my” as though he is the only one involved.
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. He Forgot About His Real Business in Life.
Third, this farmer was a fool because he forgot what his real business in life was all about. He thought that his business was about barns, buildings, budgets, and bank accounts. In fact, he had probably kept many appointments that day, but he was unprepared for the most important appointment that every person will have to keep, for “Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).
I can just see this man. He has settled down for the night. He has just gotten between those satin sheets and laid his head on that soft fluffy pillow. He’s so satisfied with himself. As a matter of fact, he may have even sang himself to sleep with this little song:
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray my Cuisinart to keep.
I pray my stocks are on the rise
And that my analyst is wise.
That all the wine I sip is white;
That my hot tub is water tight;
That racket ball won’t get too tough;
That all my Sushi is fresh enough.
I pray my cordless phone still works
That my career won’t lose its perk.
My microwave won’t radiate;
My condo won’t depreciate.
I pray my health club doesn’t close
And that my money market grows.
If I grow broke before I wake,
I pray my Mercedes they won’t take.
This man worked all of his life for everything, and died without anything. Jesus is suggesting to us that our business in life goes far beyond tally sheets, in-vestments, and tax forms. Our real business in life is that of our fellow 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.
Several years ago there was a very powerful movie starring John Hurt called “The Doctor.” This particular doctor was a very businesslike and rather glib surgeon, who had absolutely no rapport with his patients. One day he is in his office with a Hispanic farmer and his family. He has run some tests on the man and he is seriously ill. He matter-of-factly suggests to him: “Sir, if I were you, I would get my affairs in order.” At that the Hispanic farmer places one arm around his wife, and the other arm around his children, and he says very simply, but very profoundly: “Sir, my affairs are in order.”
In case you’re wondering what life really is and what life really consists of, listen to these verses: [Jesus said,] “I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10) “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6) “He who has the Son has life.” (1 John 5:12) Life is not found in possessions; life is found in a Person, and His name is Jesus. Our goal in life is not to become rich in things, but to love God and other people. It is to share the Gospel of Christ with others—especially the ones we love the most. That is our business, but a fool will never grasp it.
IV. He Forgot About Time and Eternity.
Fourth, this man was a fool because he forgot about time and eternity. His whole attitude in life was that time was unlimited. I have a bit of a dilemma with digital watches. I like them; in fact, I own one, but I also own two analog watches too. But here’s the problem: We are raising an entire generation of young people who do not know how to tell time. If you say that it is 7 minutes till 10, they don’t have the slightest idea what you’re talking about. To them it’s 9:53. Because that’s what their digital watch tells them. So what’s the problem with that? Simply this. Time should have a sweep to it. If we learn to see time as 9:53, then we see time only in the context of the immediate moment, and not in the larger context of time. It is absolutely lethal for Christians to see time only as “right now.” That is how the world looks at time. The Christian should learn to view time as moving towards something or rather Someone.
Dear friends, how many people have you 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. Regardless of what we do or fail to do, the clock keeps ticking. Only a fool says, “There is no heaven!” or “Heaven can wait!” Only a fool builds barns, and postpones life!
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