Luke 12:13-21 English Standard Version
13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14 But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
The Galileans sang a song several years ago titled “I’m On Tour.”
A portion of the lyrics are as follows;
I'M ON TOUR THROUGH THIS WORLD, WHAT I HAVE IS NOT MINE.
ALL THE SILVER AND THE GOLD, I'M GONNA LEAVE FAR BEHIND.
I AM GOING TO A CITY, WHERE THE LAMB IS THE LIGHT.
WHERE THEIRS NO DEATH AND SORROW, AND THERE IS NO NIGHT.
CHORUS
I'M ON TOUR THROUGH THIS WORLD,
THIS COULD NEVER BE MY HOME.
GOD'S ALREADY BUILT A PALACE, RIGHT AROUND THE MASTER'S
THRONE.
I CAN SEE THE CLOUD A COMING,
I CAN HEAR THAT TRUMPET SOUND.
FOR THIS TOUR IS NEARLY ENDED,
AND I'M PRESSING HOMEWARD BOUND.
Simply put, humankind truly is “on tour” through this world.
We are temporarily here and in reality, it is for a very short period of time.
Yet, we have a tendency to ignore this fact, living and planning like we are going to inhabit this earth indefinitely.
We save money and build our wealth through prudent planning for our golden years. We strive for security, which is not all bad as long as we keep our priorities straight and give God all credit for our many blessings.
James tells us that our life is like a vapor that quickly vanishes;
James 4:14 English Standard Version
14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
Our life appears for a little while and then it vanishes. In other words, we live and then we die.
In this parable about the “Rich Fool”, Jesus tells the story of a very prominent and wealthy farmer, who experiences what we would call another bumper crop.
His newly harvested crop yields so much that the farmer simply does not have room to store it. In this day and age there were no grain elevators where farmers could store their grain, so the farmer had to make a decision.
The farmer decided that he would tear down all of his existing barns and build larger barns, in which to store his grain.
I’ve always found this perplexing in that the farmer razed all of his existing barns, rather than continuing to use them.
As usual with His parables, Jesus is teaching us a lesson.
I do believe that most prudent farmers would continue to use their existing barns and just build enough new barns to accommodate future bumper crops. In other words, they would incur less expenses by utilizing their current structures.
However, this farmer felt so rich and so proud of himself that he decided to tear it all down and build shiny new structures. What a status symbol this would make.
This farmer was obviously full of pride and full of himself.
He was going to make a statement to the neighbors and town-folk, showing how successful he has been.
He was also a self-centered man.
The famer was foreseeing the building project in his mind, seeing ample buildings and room to store his grain and goods. He was imagining all this with pride and satisfaction.
As he imagined the impressive structures to be built, he said to himself “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for yourself that will last for many years. So, I will relax, eat, drink and be merry.”
Jesus continues the story and tells us that God had a different plan.
God said to the rich farmer “Fool, this night thy soul shall be required and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?”
In other words, the rich farmer was going to die that evening and all of his plans would be for naught.
Jesus ends the parable by teaching us that anyone who lays up treasure for themselves without being rich toward God is a fool also.
What a beautiful parable, that teaches us several simple truths;
- We are “on tour” in this world.
- What we have is not truly ours. We are just renting it. We are stewards of God
- We should not become too prideful if we have been blessed with material goods or wealth.
- Rather, we should be rich toward God, thanking Him for his blessings and all that he has allowed us to have.
- Finally, we should not become self-centered or proud of our accomplishments, for all things come from God and any talent or skill we might have is a God given blessing.
- God is in control
Remember, it is not the wealth or riches that are bad in themselves. It is when we place too much trust in them and forget that our real security is in God.
So, continue to save for that rainy day and contribute to your retirement account so that you will have financial security in your golden years. These are not a problem with God.
It becomes a problem if we allow our priorities to get out of order.
Let us always remember these "do nots";
- Do not forget where all your blessings come from
- Do not forget God
- Do not place too much emphasis on your wealth
- Do not forget that God is in control
These lyrics say it better than I can;
I'M ON TOUR THROUGH THIS WORLD, WHAT I HAVE IS NOT MINE.
ALL THE SILVER AND THE GOLD, I'M GONNA LEAVE FAR BEHIND.
I AM GOING TO A CITY, WHERE THE LAMB IS THE LIGHT.
WHERE THEIRS NO DEATH AND SORROW, AND THERE IS NO NIGHT.
Remember, God could say at any time that our soul is required and our earthly life is over.
At that moment, all of our earthly riches will mean nothing. As the old adage says, we came into this world with nothing and we will leave this world with nothing.
The most valuable thing we have is our relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
In addition to and more important than all earthly goods are the treasures we lay up for ourselves in Heaven.
Matthew 6:19-20 English Standard Version
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust[a] destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
RVH