Our Gospel message comes to us today from the 12th chapter of Luke, beginning with the 13th verse.
Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull 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, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:13-21, NRSV)
All mighty God, we thank you for your word and the way that you in it revealed to us who you are and what you've done for us in Christ. Now as we open that word we pray that your spirit may be present, that all thoughts of worry or distraction may be removed and that the Spirit will allow us to hear your voice. And so, oh God, fill us with your spirit through the reading and proclamation of your word this day. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.
“Be On Your Guard Against All Kinds of Greed!”
Grace be unto you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” (1 Timothy 6:10) That passage from the Apostle Paul’s first letter to Timothy is well known. It seems that many people who know little else about the Bible can quote that particular passage. Perhaps it is familiar and frequently quoted because so many people have experienced its truth either directly or indirectly. Who among us hasn’t seen arguing and fighting take place because of the love of money? We have all heard about lives, and marriages, and families destroyed because of the love of money. In the news every day we hear about people who commit heinous crimes because of greed.
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” The inspired Apostle wasn’t the first one to point out the powerful pull that wealth can have on a person. From the record of Achan’s sin in Joshua to the warnings penned by Solomon in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes we hear the warnings that God gave to his people about the danger greed poses to a person’s soul. Other Old Testament prophets delivered similar warnings from God about coveting. A reading of the New Testament will reveal additional warnings about greed from the lips of Jesus and the writings of the Apostles.
But perhaps we think that coveting and greed is only a problem for rich folks. If we are of more modest means we won’t have any trouble with greed, right? Although being wealthy may present an extra challenge for a Christian every one of us is faced with the temptation to sinfully crave money and more material wealth.
In the gospel lesson for this Sunday we hear Jesus give one of his strongest warnings about greed. He tells us to watch out for what the love of money can do to us. It can warp what we perceive as valuable in life and twist our view of material things. Greed can turn us inward so that we begin to care only for our self. And worst of all, greed will lead us to a frightening situation at the end of our life. So all of us must take these words of Jesus to heart. We ask him to use his law to expose our sinfulness and his gospel to empower us to change our attitude and actions. May the Holy Spirit enable us to listen to our Savior when he says:
“BE ON YOUR GUARD AGAINST GREED!”
Whenever we look at a section of God’s Word the background and the context of the verses are essential for properly understanding them. The first two verses of the gospel lesson for this Sunday describe the situation in which Jesus spoke his strongest warning about greed. “Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” Jesus saw right through the man’s request. It was greed that prompted him to ask the Rabbi from Nazareth to intervene in the squabble he was having with his brother over money. After making it clear to the man that a dispute over an inheritance was not any of Jesus’ business he said to everyone, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.” Beginning with that warning Jesus went on to explain the dangers that lie behind greed. Greed leads a person to a false view of life. Greed leads to a fool’s death.
Greed leads to a false view of life.
Just before Jesus told the parable of the rich fool he stated one of the fundamental misconceptions that can cause a person to become greedy. He said, “for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” The point that Jesus started to make with that statement is that greed leads to a false view of life. The people in the crowd that day were part of a society that measured a person by what he owned. In the parable that Jesus was about to tell he would bring home the truth that a correct view of life has little to do with money.
Keeping up with the neighbors, having the latest one of these or those, and measuring a person by what he or she wears, drives, or owns is the common practice in our society. Why do Sandra Bullock, Tom Cruise, and Gwyneth Paltrow demand 15 or 20 million for their part in a movie? Money is how they keep score of who is the best. Does a baseball player, or football player, or basketball player really need 87 million for a ten year contract? Once again, money is just a means of keeping score and determining who is the best. It is considered the measure of success.
How many employees will leave a job they love for a job they hate because it pays more? In the minds of many your salary is a reflection of how important and successful you are. To this way of thinking Jesus says, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Greed leads to a false view of life.
Have we been influenced by this kind of thinking? Has the love of money that surrounds us corrupted our hearts? You don’t have to be a movie star or a professional athlete to begin thinking that life is measured by money. Subtly Satan sifts us through the culture in which we live filling our hearts with greed. To set our thinking straight we need to hear reminders like this one from 1 John 2:15-16, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world.” We have this warning from Ecclesiastes 5:10, “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income” (NIV). To counter the culture of greed in which we live we need to regularly hear God’s law that condemns coveting as sin. We need to hear warnings from God’s Word to be on our guard against greed. Greed leads to a false view of life.
To illustrate how greed leads to a false view of life Jesus told this parable of the rich fool. “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull 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.’” Do you understand the point Jesus made with the parable? Greed leads a person to have a warped view of himself. It leads to sinful self-centeredness, sinful self-reliance, and a life directed toward pleasure instead of service.
Perhaps the title that has been given to this parable makes us think it doesn’t apply to us. Since it is the “parable of the rich fool” we may think it applies only to those who are rich. No. Any person, rich or poor, or middle class, can fall into greed’s grip and the false view of life it causes. Jesus used the rich man in the parable to illustrate an attitude. The rich man’s frequent use of “I,” “my,” and “myself,” jump out at us.
Perhaps we have more in common with this rich fool than we might think. Have we not been led to trust in our money more than our Maker when it comes to meeting our physical needs? Do your retirement plans hang on the number of zeros behind your savings or on the One in whose hands your future rests? Hasn’t greed distorted our view of what is important in life? Do we skip worship services to collect overtime pay and put a little more away? As our net worth and our weeks of vacation time have increased do we see ourselves taking it easy, eating, drinking and enjoying the good life?
Be on your guard against all kinds of greed! Jesus’ words of warning certainly apply to us. Thankfully in him we have a Savior who said “no” to Satan when he offered him all the wealth in the world. Instead he went to the cross to pay for the times we have given into greed. In the perfect life he lived in our place he never let greed guide him. Now we are able to say “no” to greed. With our living Savior living in us we can conquer the sin of coveting. We can be on our guard against all kinds of greed so that it doesn’t lead us into a false view of life.
After the rich man hatched his plans for the future he thought he was going to have it made for years to come. But God had other plans for him. Jesus went on to say, “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” The second part of Jesus’ warning against greed is just as important. Not only does greed lead to a false view of life, it also leads to a fool’s death.
Greed leads to a fool’s death.
The conclusion of the parable leads us to see the most tragic consequence of greed. The rich man’s life was “on loan” from God. When God balanced the books of the man’s life he was “out of balance.” He had lived his life for himself and not for God or in service to God. So God called the man a fool. In the original language this word means someone who doesn’t add up the facts correctly or someone who doesn’t have a grasp of reality. A person blinded by greed is such a fool. He or she chooses to overlook the fact that wealth is temporary and God’s judgment is eternal.
Sigmund Freud’s favorite story was about the sailor shipwrecked on one of the South Sea Islands. He was seized by the natives, hoisted to their shoulders, carried to the village, and set on a crude throne. Little by little, he learned that it was their custom once each year to make some man a king, king for a year. He liked it until he began to wonder what happened to all the former kings. Soon he discovered that every year when his kingship was ended, the king was banished to an island, where he starved to death. The sailor did not like that, but he was smart and he was king, king for a year. So he put his carpenters to work making boats, his farmers to work transplanting fruit trees to the island, farmers growing crops, masons building houses. So when his kingship was over, he was banished, not to a barren island, but to an island of abundance.
That story can be a good illustration of life: We’re all kings here, kings for a little while, able to choose what we will do with the stuff of life. Our Savior would have us use the blessings he gives to prepare for the life still to come. Jesus said in Matthew 6:19-20, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.” We store up treasure in heaven when we manage our material possessions with spiritual goals in mind. Yes, God calls on us to provide for our families and meet our financial responsibilities. But beyond that we are to manage our wealth with his kingdom in mind. Jesus also said in Luke 16:9, “And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.” Money is a temporary tool that we use to sustain our bodies. It only has eternal effects when we use it to share gospel.
When greed leads a person to a false view of life it will lead him or her to a fool’s death. That person will stand before God as one who wasted his or her life. Making money was more important than growing in God’s word. Taking care of personal needs was more important than serving others. Faith in God was replaced with faith in money. And so in the end the person will not enter God’s kingdom. And so we can see why Jesus says, “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.” It leads to a fool’s death.
It has been reported that monkey trappers in North Africa have a clever method of catching their prey. A number of gourds are filled with nuts and firmly fastened to a branch of a tree. Each has a hole just large enough for the unwary monkey to stick his forepaw into it. When the hungry animal discovers the food, he quickly grasps a handful of nuts, but the hole is too small for him to withdraw his clenched fist. And he doesn’t have enough sense to open up his hand and let go in order to escape, so he is easily taken captive.
This is a picture of how greed can work in the life of a Christian. The devil with his crafty devices tempts us to hold on to material things and then he captures us. We are too foolish to let go because we want what he offers.
Again Jesus’ warning comes to mind. “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed!” It will separate you from God’s Word and if it is left unchecked it will separate you from God forever. As this parable illustrates greed leads to a fool’s death.
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” (1 Timothy 6:10) Plants grow out of a root. Many wicked things grow out of the root of greed. In its ugliest form it can lead to crimes of every sort. But it can also grow into some pretty harmless looking things. But in the end greed is a deadly poison that destroys lives in time and souls in eternity. So take Jesus’ and remain continually be on our guard against all kinds of greed. Because greed leads to a false view of life and to a fool’s death pray that Jesus will preserve us from it!
Let us pray: Dear heavenly Father, throughout your Word, you have things to say to us about greed—strong cautions about our heart’s relentless hunger, quest, and demand to have a little more. But today, Jesus’ warning about “all kinds” of greed has broadened this admonition, and I find myself both convicted of sin and wooed to a deeper relationship with Jesus.
Like anyone, I can be greedy for money and the things money can buy. Though it’s easy for me to downplay my cash greed by comparing myself to others, seemingly much more preoccupied with getting rich than I am, nonetheless, Father, your warning about the love of money being a root of all kinds of evil is real to me.
But I am also aware of being greedy for other “currencies” too. When Jesus “isn’t enough” for me, I get greedy for control over my space, schedule, and interruptions; I get greedy for people to notice me and appreciate me; I get greedy for being included in special circles of cool and important people; I get greedy for being thought of as smart and spiritual; I get greedy for people not to be needy or have unrealistic expectations of me. Ouch, I’m going to stop there, Father, though I could add to my “all kinds of greed” list.
I repent, Father, and collapse upon Jesus as my righteousness; and ask you both forgive me and liberate me. I want to glorify you and enjoy you—more than ever. By the power of the Holy Spirit, help me to find my deepest satisfaction, joy, and peace in knowing, loving, and serving Jesus. Amen.
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Scripture taken from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)® Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Sermon contributed by Rev. Michael Otterstatter.
Through a parable about a "rich fool" Jesus gave a sharp warning about the love of money. Greed leads to a false view of life. Greed leads to a fool’s death.
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