Scripture: Luke 12:13-34

The more you have to live for, the less you need to live on. Those who make acquisition their goal never have enough.

Sydney Harris

I’m not sure which side of the tracks I grew up on.  There were no trains on Grand Manan Island and thus no tracks.  There was a time when I wondered if the whole island was on the wrong side of the tracks.  The amazing realization that the years have brought to me is that I have been unable to give my children what I believe I had when I was growing up.  I never had a contraption, never had pockets full of money but I was rich.  Every creek belonged to me and every tree was mine to build a treehouse in.

I wept at the sunset over Grand Manan earlier this week.  I cannot tell you this in a way that will make sense to you but I believe that this was a gift to me.  I was watching and God was painting before my very eyes from his limitless palette of indescribable colors and his limitless creative nature.  He never recreates a person or a sunset.  The notion of cloning is not threatening to God.  He could have recreated people and things many times over but every action, every mercy is new.

I try to stay away from ranting and raving when I preach.  Because:

Ø      I don't want to be ranted and raved at.

Ø      It does not represent the "tone" of the gospel.

Ø      It requires little thought or preparation or prayer to go on little tirades in front of people.  Always easier to do this when you are looking for some response from people.  There is little substance to spiritual "shotgun weddings" where we threaten people to God.

Often this type of preaching expresses little more than annoyance.  I have felt at times that when preachers speak of things that have to do with money they can preach with the hint of the fuel of envy.  In other words, I can see how that people who have been blessed materially would feel that admonitions to give or to settle for what you have could come from the heart of a person who somehow envied their position.

I do not have this in my heart today.  If you have been blessed financially then that is good for you and I would encourage you to be thankful to God and worship Him for His goodness in your own life. 

“You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’  But remember the Lord your God for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms His covenant which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.”  Deuteronomy 8:17,18

But I would like you today to open your hearts one and all before God and ask Him to reveal the idols, the envy that transcend our financial status because it costs nothing to hold these destructive tendencies.  They are equally accessible to the rich and the poor.  In one they create pride and self sufficiency and in the other they produce worry and envy – a questioning of the providence of God in our own lives and they make us less charitable to those who have more than we do.  God help us all as we consider His word today.

Toddler’s Rules Of Ownership

1. If I like it, it's mine.

2. If it's in my hand, it's mine.

3. If I can take it from you, it's mine.

4. If I had it a little while ago, it's mine.

5. If it's mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way.

6. If I'm doing or building something, all the pieces are mine.

7. If it looks just like mine, it's mine.

8. If I think it's mine, it's mine.

9. If it's yours and I steal it, it's mine.

1.  An Innocent Plea – vs. 13 -15

q      A man wanted Jesus to settle a financial dispute (v. 13).  This was not just any dispute but one between family members.  I have been reading a book lately called “Boundaries”.  This type of boundary violation is called “triangulation”.  When someone else wants to pull you into a situation, expecting you to shoulder their responsibility as the major player.  They want you to solve their problems for them when it is their responsibility to do so.

q      He refused to be put in the middle (v. 14)  Jesus was quick to establish his “boundaries”  “Who appointed me a judge or arbiter between you?”  I have been in pastoral ministry now for 26 years and the most exhausting part of the experience for me is finding myself in the middle of two people who should be able to practice enough of the religion that they profess to settle things themselves.

q      Caution regarding the all-pervasive nature of greed (v. 15a).  None of us are immune from having this stirred within us.

Giving with glad and generous hearts has a way of routing out the tough old miser within us.  Even the poor need to know that they can give.  Just the very act of letting go of money, or some other treasure, does something within us.  It destroys the demon greed.

n      Richard J. Foster, Money, Sex & Power

q      Challenge to rethink life’s values (v. 15b) “For man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”  Really the message in the scripture today is a challenge to reconsider what is really most important in your life.  Are you working for the things that really matter?  When you stand before God will you be able to stand with the confidence that you have spent your life well.

1 Corinthians 3:10  By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds.  11 ¶ For no-one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12  If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw,  13  his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work.  14  If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.  15  If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

That would be the question to prayerfully consider before God today.  It’s not about which side of the tracks you were born on or which side you currently live on – it’s about getting away from the railroad tracks altogether, refusing to accept a superficial measurement of worth that drives a person through life in a manner that is totally unsatisfactory in the inner being.  Someone has said that if you win the rat race, you’re still a rat.  Jesus, inspired by the plea answers the question of the essence of life.  If it does not consist in the abundance of a man’s possessions then what is it all about?

2.   An Illustrative Parable – vs. 16 -21

q      An already rich man was blessed beyond expectation (v. 16)  Have you ever sat down to decide what is enough?  How much do I need to live the lifestyle that I would like to live and what will I do with excess.  Perhaps God might bless his people more if He was convinced that we would channel the excess in some direction other than our own interests.  This rich man was already blessed and he

q      He did not have the capacity to handle his blessings (v. 17)  The blessing was greater than his planning would have indicated.  He was not able to store, even temporarily the crop that he harvested.  Have you been so blessed?  Do you have more than you ever expected that you might have in life.  I certainly do.  I fought with God over my call to the ministry because I wanted more from life than I felt that the ministry would produce.  I gave in to Him simply because I tired of fighting and a half-hearted experience with God.  He has blessed me beyond my expectations. 

q      His first reaction was to “hoard” further (v. 18)  I pray for a spirit that would look to bless others out of the abundance that God has given me.  Deliver us from the “bigger-barn syndrome.

q      It occurs to him that this blessing will relieve him of the necessity of working any longer (v. 19)  Not only does he hoard the unexpected blessing, but his focus becomes to do nothing – to live a life of ease.

q      Called a fool by God for his lack of spiritual foresight (v. 20)

q      Called a spiritual pauper (v. 21)

q      General warning issued (v. 21)

3.  Some Incarnational Principles – vs. 22 - 34

We cannot claim to truly believe something unless we practice it.  We can scarcely claim to believe the Bible unless we practice it.  There is absolutely no virtue in belief unless the truth is incarnated in our living.

Jesus speaks to us all today in his “therefore”.  It’s not about some of the things that we are most consumed with in modern day society.

q      It’s not about my diet (vs. 23a, 24)

q      It’s not about my wardrobe (vs. 23b, 27, 28)

q      It’s beyond my control (vs. 25, 26)  As much as we might wish we are not guaranteed anything more than the present moment on planet earth

q      It’s about learning to trust God. (vs. 24, 27 – consider the . . .)

Just Wait

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried.

Quietly, patiently, lovingly God replied.

I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate,

And the Master so gently said, "Child, you must wait!"

"'Wait?', you say, wait!" my indignant reply.

"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!

Is your hand shortened?  Or have you not heard?

By FAITH I have asked, and am claiming your Word.

"My future and all to which I can relate

Hangs in the balance, and you tell me to WAIT?

I'm needing a 'yes,' a go-ahead sign,

Or even a 'no' to which I can resign.

"And Lord, you promised that if we believe

We need but to ask, and we shall receive.

And Lord, I've been asking, and this is my cry:

I'm weary of asking! I need a reply!"

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate

As my Master replied once again, "You must wait."

So, I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut

And grumbled to God, "So, I'm waiting. . .for what?"

He seemed then to kneel and His eyes wept with mine,

And he tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.

I could shake the heavens, and darken the sun.

I could raise the dead, and cause mountains to run.

All you seek, I could give, and pleased you would be.

You would have what you want -- but, you wouldn't know ME.

"You'd not know the depth of my love for each saint;

You'd not know the power that I give to the faint;

You'd not learn to see through the clouds of despair;

You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there;

You'd not know the joy of resting in me

q      It’s about discovering your worth in God’s eyes (vs. 24, 28)

q      It’s about understanding that God truly knows your needs (v. 30)

q      It’s about understanding that my physical and material well-being is a bi-product of my spiritual priorities  (v. 31)

q      It’s about exchanging worldly, temporal wealth for eternal riches (v. 33)

q      It’s about investing my treasure properly in order to guarantee the security of my heart (v.34)

THE COLD WITHIN

Six humans trapped by happenstance

In black and bitter cold.

Each one possessed a stick of wood,

Or so the story's told.

Their dying fire in need of logs,

The first woman held hers back

For on the faces around the fire,

She noticed one was black.

The next man looking cross the way

Saw one not of his church,

And couldn't bring himself to give

The fire his stick of birch.

The third man sat in tattered clothes;

He gave his coat a hitch.

Why should his log be put to use

To warm the idle rich?

The rich man just sat back and thought

Of the wealth he had in store.

And how to keep what he had earned

From the lazy poor.

The black man's face bespoke revenge

As the fire passed from his sight,

For all he saw in his stick of wood

Was a chance to spite the white.

And the last man of this forlorn group

Did naught except for gain.

Giving only to those who gave

Was how he played the game.

The logs held tight in death's still hands

Was proof of human sin.

They didn't die from the cold without,

They died from the cold within.

Unknown