Luke 12:13-21 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke
“Bigger Barns”
Build on the Rock Summer Series 11 August 12, 2018
Sometimes a building needs to be rebuilt. Not too far from my house, in an area where I drive perhaps not frequently but regularly, there used to stand a McDonalds restaurant. I don’t really remember the exact time frame, but a few months ago the old building was completely demolished. And the last time I drove by, a new structure was up in the same general place as the old. I don’t consider myself an expert on McDonalds, but I assume that when it is finished the new restaurant will look nice for those who drive by. It will probably have all the latest McDonalds technology that helps a restaurant run efficiently and do business in the best way that they know how. What had become old and worn and outdated was taken down and replaced. It doesn’t surprise us or shock us when these things happen. There are simply times when old buildings get replaced. No doubt those who run the McDonalds carefully considered their options and the various possibilities before ultimately deciding to tear down one building and replace it with a new one. If we don’t carefully take to heart the lesson that is intended by Jesus in today’s Gospel, we might think that tearing down some old barns and building newer, bigger, better barns, might simply be something that happens from time to time. Sometimes old buildings are replaced by new. That march of progress and its effects on buildings is not the message at the heart of today’s Gospel. What is at the heart of today’s Gospel is the message that Jesus announces, “Be on your guard against greed.” And he uses a story about the tearing down of old barns and the building of bigger barns to illustrate his point. As Jesus was teaching, he had a large crowd gathered around him. When he was done with one lesson and before moving on to another, someone called out: “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” All we know about the man who called out was that he said this. We don’t know the dispute with his brother other than this man thought he had at least some portion of an inheritance coming his way. Maybe he thought that a figure as significant and important as Jesus with the large crowd gathered around him might persuade his brother to do what he was asking. But Jesus wasn’t interested in that. He did not come to the world to be a legal judge or to decide inheritance questions. Instead, Jesus had things to teach the people that were much more important. He used the occasion of this man’s request to warn the people about being greedy. He said, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions” And then he told a story. Once upon a time there was a rich man. I know that’s not exactly how its worded in Luke’s Gospel, but Jesus was telling a story in order to teach a lesson. It was a story about a rich man. What do you think of when you hear about a rich man? Maybe that he must have something going for him that he was able to accumulate or keep wealth? Maybe that he had earned a level of respect? Maybe you look with a little bit of jealousy or envy at him? Well, this rich man was about to get richer. His fields, Jesus says, yielded an abundant harvest. Now, a rich man getting richer doesn’t sound like too much of a problem for the rich man. But this man looked at his abundance as a problem. It was fine that his ground had yielded so many crops, but now he had nowhere to put them. So he made a plan. He would tear down the barns that he had, the ones that had now become too old and too small, and he would build new bigger barns in their place. And then he could enjoy life because he would have plenty of grain stored up to last for years. But God calls this man what he had proven to be: a fool. Just when he thought he had the foolproof plan for enjoying his life, eat, drink, and be merry, God knew that he would die that very same night. He would enjoy none of that incredible harvest, he would no longer be able to use any of his amassed wealth, and he would not be able to build his bigger barns. And Jesus concludes his story with this warning: “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
Now, at first glance, it might seem to us that we have nothing in common with the man in Jesus’ story. Certainly our context is different than his in both time and place. The way in which wealth is stored and kept is very different. So it is very likely that none of us has worried about whether to tear down and rebuild barns. But that action, that specific plan, is not really the point of the story is it? That action was the result of the rich man’s attitude. It was the result of his greed. And when we realize that, suddenly many of us can identify ourselves with the rich man quite closely. I know how often my thoughts have dwelled on material possessions. Do I have enough? Will I be able to provide for all my needs? Will I be able to do all the things that I want to do? And those questions usually get answered with a desire for at least a little bit more and preferably for a lot more. If I could fill my barns—or even better my bank account, I assume I would be happy. I would be taken care of. I would be able to do what I want and what would make me feel happy. That attitude of greed is natural to us. Our inherited sinful natures look only to ourselves and can’t do anything but desire more. We tend to rely on our possessions and on our wealth to get us through whatever we face. And when hard times come, we tend to think that what we have is what we need to hold on to. The rich man from Jesus’ story learned that you can only hold on to possessions for so long. He thought that he would be set not just for the immediate future but also for the long term. He found out that he simply could not depend on that. His greed led him to seek possessions that are unreliable. His wealth couldn’t help him at the time of his death, and after his death he couldn’t use any of those possessions that had once meant so much to him. That’s a lesson that we need to learn. It’s not that it is sinful to have possessions. These things are a gift from God. He gives them to us so generously, giving us so much more than we deserve. And certainly he allows some to enjoy even more possessions than others. It’s not the riches themselves that are the problem. It wasn’t a problem that the rich man had an abundant harvest. No, the problem was greed. The problem was, as Jesus said, that the man had stored up things for himself but was not rich toward God. That’s our problem, too, isn’t it? God wants us to enjoy and to appreciate our possessions as gifts from him, but to have that perspective that the giver means so much more to us than the gift. We have in common with the rich man that at some point our lives will be demanded from us. And at that time, all that we once owned will be worthless to us. And if we stored up things for ourselves without being rich toward God, we will have nothing. We will have the endless punishment that our sinful attitudes and actions deserve. So what does it mean to be rich toward God? Well, first of all, it means recognizing how rich God has been to us. To people who are by their very nature so endlessly selfish, God was selfless and giving. He gave his own Son. Jesus gave his own life to forgive our greed and selfishness. Because of what Jesus did, because of how he lived and because of his death in our place, God looks at us as if we have always been selfless and caring and content. To be rich toward God is to be thankful. It is to be content with what he gives us. It is to be more interested in the things that are eternally important than in those things that are good for nothing beyond this brief life. Being rich toward God shows itself in our attitudes and in our actions. It leads us to avoid greed and to live in thankfulness. To be rich toward God leads us to use our material possessions not just for our own needs but also to serve others and to honor our God. And yes, that does mean taking care of our needs and the needs of our families. It also means being generous. We have opportunities each week to give our offerings, and unique opportunities like the one that our congregation is looking to undertake in a new building project to serve the needs of our neighbors in Sahuarita. Not only in these ways, but in all ways, as we consider God’s riches to us, may he lead us to be rich toward him. May he guide our focus away from stuff that doesn’t last and toward those gifts that are eternal.
The Text: Luke 12:13–21 (NIV) 13 Someone
in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
14 Jesus
replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” 16 And
he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ 18 “Then
he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ’ 20 “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?’ 21 “This
is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”