The Poverty of Possessions!
BY PAUL BUBNA
A phenomenon of our time is the proliferation of financial planners. I suppose this reflects the general well-being of our society. I remember when we were coming out of the Great Depression, most people were living on a bare subsistence income; we didn't think of financial planning at all.Luke 12:16-21 Having a financial plan, however, is an important part of our stewardship as believers. Are you aware that the majority of parables told by Jesus speak directly to the matter of stewardshipthat is, managing things for God?
Well, I want to talk to you on this subject and have chosen the Parable of the Rich Fool as our text. We read in Luke 12:16-20:
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."Is it possible to be rich and stillThen 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."
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?"
be a fool? Typically, we tend to think of the rich as smart and hardworking people. But "smarts" and hard work are no substitute for wisdom from the Word of God. It is wisdom that enables a person to use the resources under his control to gain true wealth. Jesus called this rich man a fool because he had made at least three mistakes.
I. The Issue of Ownership
The personal pronouns in the story emphasize the farmer's mistaken idea of ownership. This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns. I will store all my grain and my goods. I'll say to myself, "You have plenty."Genesis 1 and 2 addresses the issue of ownership succinctly. God made everything. By virtue of His creatorship, God owns everything. He made Adam and Eve. He put them in the Garden. He charged them with managing what He owns.
Thus, Psalm 24:1 declares: "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it." God owns it because He made it.
The rich farmer had a faulty plan because he assumed that he was the owner. This is a common mis-assumption in the world. But I am afraid the lives of many Christians are out of kilter also because they have not clarified the issue of ownership. You will be surprised at how the pieces of your life begin to fit together once you have this truth clearly established in your heart.
II. The Issue of Investment
Because the rich fool was unclear about ownership, he was in a possession mode instead of an investment mode. This view of his is particularly popular in today's modern secularism. When we leave God out of the
formula, hedonism becomes the logical outgrowth. Hedonism is the worship and the pursuit of pleasure. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.It all sounds good until you begin to do it. Then the law of diminishing return sets in. The pursuit of pleasure becomes an empty drive. Having personally experienced it, Solomon set forth this truth well in the Book of Ecclesiastes.
If God is the owner of everything, then the pressing question is, "How can I invest it according to God's will?" The worshiper is not only keenly aware of God's ownership, but has a growing desire to obey God's commands. Life has meaning for us believers only when we begin to invest all that He has given us in what He deems important.
In fact, later in this chapter, our Lord says in verse 31, "But seek His Kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well." In other words, He is telling all of us: "Don't spend your life in the pursuit of adequate food, bread, clothes, shelter. Don't make that the focus of your life. Trust Me for that, seek first the Kingdom, and all those things will be added unto you."
III. The Issue of Abiding Value
The rich farmer's financial plan was devastatingly faulty also because it was earthbound. It had no eternal dimensions.In verse 20 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?"
The rich man's mistake was two-fold. He assumed he was going to live a long time; he didn't. That was sad. Even sadder was that he had made no preparation to face God after death. As a result, He will surely suffer eternal damnation.
Notice how Jesus leaves the story with this epitaph: "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God" (v.21).
Rich toward God, that's a key phrase. It is saying that we can invest what God puts into our hands to bring satisfaction, a satisfaction that begins
now and will last beyond death.In closing, let me read the statement Jesus made as a preamble to this parable. We read in verse 15: "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
When we see ourselves as the owner of things, the things we possess begin to possess us. That is when possession leads to povertyspiritual poverty. On the other hand, we become spiritually rich when we gain the wisdom that God is the Creator, and that because God has sent His Son to redeem us, He has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. o
Rev. Paul Bubna is pastor of Long Hill Chapel, 525 Shunpike Road, Chatham, NJ 07928.