Sermon Text

A young man from a wealthy family was about to graduate from high school. The custom of the affluent neighborhood was to give a new car as a gift for graduation. The boy fully expected that something bright, shiny and new would be in the driveway for him at his graduation. He and his father had done some car shopping and found the perfect car. He couldn't wait to take it for a ride and pick up his friends for some cruising. When his graduation came his father handed him a present which he diligently opened expecting to find the keys or the title to the car. Instead he found a Bible. He was so mad he threw down the Bible and stormed out of the house. He never reconciled with his father. He felt he was entitled to a car. His desire for that car and his feelings of being betrayed by his father destroyed the rest of their relationship together. Jesus warns against greed which is so dangerous it can easily destroy our relationship with him. Jesus, by means of a parable teaches us how to guard against greed in our own lives.

It isn't hard to see that our world certainly rates worth by wealth. This past week the agents for NFL rookies were fighting to get their clients paid what they were worth. People who live in affluent suburbs must be smarter and landed higher paying jobs. People who earn smaller amounts often get upset with those who make much more. They won't admit it but it usually is an anger born out of greed and jealousy more than being upset that the person isn't worth that kind of money. Our whole system of advertising and marketing is based on the truth that it is fairly easy to get people to want and to desire more.

I know that this kind of sinful greed is not unique to our world today but was a big problem in Jesus' day too. In know that because Jesus warns the crowds listening to him about greed and he does it in no uncertain terms. He says, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed." What prompts Jesus to say this is a request by a man for Jesus to get involved in helping him get a portion of his families' inheritance from his brother. Jesus has no desire to get involved in this civil matter but feels compelled to speak against the attitude of greed from which this request came.

That greed is so very dangerous can be seen in Jesus strong warning. Always be watching out for greed in your life and in your attitudes. Guard your heart against it like a watchman guarding a precious jewel. Don't let it come anywhere near you. Jesus gives such a strong warning because greed presents such a danger. First it comes straight from our hearts. Really greed was at the heart of the temptation to which Adam and Eve succumbed. Satan convinced them that there were great things that God was holding back from them. Adam and Eve wanted it and they wanted it enough to disobey God's command. Their greed for what God was supposedly holding back from them overcame their willingness to obey God. Colossians chapter 3 says that greed really is idolatry because it puts a person's desire for money and possessions above God in life.

Therein lies the danger. God becomes less and money and possessions become more. Greed is an obsession that eventually blocks out God from the heart. The apostle Paul warns in 1 Timothy, "People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." "Want to get rich, eager for money, love of money," that is greed. It is a root from which all sorts of evil deeds and desires grow and most dangerously it takes us away from faith in God.

As Christians sometimes we are very good at putting on a superficial piety on the outside all the while on the inside we struggle with greed, assaulted on all sides by a world that thrives on greed. For greed is often not a matter of what is seen on the outside but what is going on in our hearts and God knows our hearts. Greed affects the wealthy, the average, and the poor alike. To think that we don't struggle with it is to say that Jesus' strong warning is not needed. We too are tempted to feel the need to better ourselves in this world and the eyes of others by the size of our house or the amount of our possessions. It really relegates us to be people who are putting their hope only in this life. Even if we were to somehow become rich, that blessing would not define who we are. Jesus says, "A man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." I prefer a more literal translation of the Greek here. Listen to how Jesus literally says it, "Not even when it abounds to someone is his life derived from his possessions."

So where is our life derived? What is the measure of our life if it doesn't come from worldly affluence? It cannot come from ourselves but it comes from Christ. We are special people, we are rich because of Christ. In 2 Corinthians Paul writes, "you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich." We are rich, not in money or possessions or any other worldly gauge. We are rich because through Christ we have forgiveness for all of our sins and we have an eternal inheritance in heaven. Just think about how many times the Bible refers to believers as "rich" or how many times it speaks about the eternal inheritance that waits for us. God turns our attention from the riches that the world desires and the riches that we will most likely never have. (Even if we did it wouldn't be enough for our greedy hearts.) Instead he tells us about the riches that he has given to us. He helps us to recognize who we are in Christ. We are rich in all of the things that matter.

To illustrate how important being rich toward God is for eternity, Jesus tells a parable. ""The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' "Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry."'

In worldly terms, isn't this where we would all like to be? We would like to have a fat bank account that would allow us to sit back and eat drink and be happy. This man had all of those things and would certainly be considered a successful and lucky guy. But as the teacher says in Ecclesiastes, it is all meaningless for it matters only here under the sun and has nothing to do with eternity.

This was something this man was going to learn very quickly. For as soon as he had made his plans to set himself up for the rest of his life, he learned that the rest of his life was only a few hours. "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?" "But God...but God." Those words change everything. Up to now the focus in this parable is on the word "my". "My crops...my barns...my grain...my goods." But God, God is the giver of all of those crops and barns and blessings, a fact that this man failed to realize or acknowledge. God calls him a fool. The fool says in his heart there is no God. This man's very life was a gift of God. Jesus says that a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. Our very life is a gift of God given to us by his grace. At creation God breathed the breath of life into the lifeless lump that was Adam and he has done the same for all of us.

Our life is something that God can demand back from us at any time. We are not guaranteed a long life on this earth and so Jesus warning to watch out and be on your guard is to warn us that our hearts must be focused on God and not on anything else, especially not greed, because at any time God can demand our life back from us and bring our time of grace to an end. That is why Jesus call to watch and guard is so urgent.

Jesus sums up the parable with universal application, "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God." We have already discussed the fact that we are rich in Christ because of what he has done for us on the cross. We are rich in grace, forgiveness, and peace and we are heirs of the inheritance of God, eternal life. So what does Jesus mean when he calls on us to be rich toward God? He simply is saying, "Believe that all of these riches and blessings are yours. I have won them for you and I give them to you."

This parable points out that all we have is a gift from God. God caused the earth to empty its abundance in this man's lap. He was already wealthy to begin with blessed by God with a fruitful business. All that we have whether much or little is a gift from God that he asks us to manage. So what do we do with the gifts? Do we hoard it all or does God want us to share what he has given us with others?

An ancient church pastor named Ambrose suggests that the man did have a solution to his dilemma as to where to put his bumper crop. He suggests the stomachs of the needy, or the houses of widows or in the mouths of orphans and infants. The greater truth here is that in urging us to watch out for greed Jesus is encouraging us to take of the gifts that God has given us and help others who are in need. As the giver of all good things has blessed us, so too we can be a blessing to others by sharing the gifts God has given to us. Will we have enough if we are generous with the gifts God gives? Yes, that is why Jesus teaches us to pray, "Give us today our daily bread."

Remember the young man I told you about in the introduction. He had the sad job of cleaning out his father's things after his father died. He found the Bible that his father had given him so many years before. He brushed off the dust and opened it. To his surprise and horror he found a cashier's check inside the cover . It was dated the day of his graduation and was for the exact amount of the perfect car he and his dad had picked out. God's greatest gifts are found in the pages of Scripture where Jesus warns us against the never-ending danger of greed. He teaches us that we can guard against greed by recognizing that we are rich in God's grace in Christ and that we are heirs of eternal life. So we already have everything we need. He also urges us to live each day rich toward God, trusting in his promises of the eternal wealth of heaven. In light of all that Jesus gives us, let us also be generous with those gifts.