Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 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.”
And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 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 my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain 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?’
“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:13-21 NIV)
As part of our move to Tulsa, we needed to rent a storage unit for a couple months. It seemed like a simple thing. There were a ton of self-storage facilities around. But there was a problem: All the storage units were full. This was unbelievable to me. I called five self-storage facilities each with hundreds of storage units and not one of them had a single storage unit available. All stuffed! Finally, the sixth place had one unit available, but only in the smallest size. All the big ones were taken. Did you know that self-storage facilities are one of the fastest growing businesses in America? Now I can see why. People have way too much stuff! Would you agree?
Of course, we’re part of the problem. To move here, our family rented the biggest trailer you can get without using professional movers. I packed that trailer from top to bottom as full as it could go, and we still ran out of room. We had to leave behind a pile of stuff. So I believe a stat I saw recently. Do you know how many items are in the average American home? 300,000. So much stuff! The average size of homes in America has tripled over the past fifty years, even as the size of families has dramatically decreased. Why? So much stuff! How many of us right now are struggling to clean out our parents’ place with all their stuff? Or our place. We are stuffed!
So? Who cares? That’s not something we need to talk about at church, right? Except, Jesus does. Jesus talks about our stuff. A lot! The most common thing that Jesus teaches about in the Bible is the kingdom of God: Salvation. Heaven. Can you guess what the second most common thing Jesus teaches about in the Bible is? Money. Possessions. Jesus talks about our stuff more than about marriage. More than about loving others. Because our stuff affects our hearts. Like a storage unit, our hearts only have room for so much. Is yours stuffed with the wrong things?
We see that in our lesson today. As Jesus was teaching, “someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.’” Think about that. This man had one chance to ask Jesus a question, one chance to talk to the Son of God. But instead of asking, “How can I be saved?”, or “Where can I find forgiveness?”, or “How do I stop being anxious,” what did he say? “Jesus, get me my money!” You can see what was in his heart. Jesus gave an interesting reply. “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” Jesus didn’t come into the world to settle disputes about money. What did he come to do? Save our souls!
So instead of answering the man’s request, Jesus focused on his heart. What was in that man’s heart? Greed. Do you know how dangerous greed is? Jesus wants you to know. He says, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” Greed is like being thirsty on a hot day, always craving more and more and more. What is it for you? “If I just had that house… If I just had that spouse… If I just had that body… If I just had that job… If I just had that car… If I just had that…” Jesus says, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
Like he often did, Jesus told a parable—a story—to drive that point home: Greed is dangerous! “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’” What a good problem to have! This man was blessed with way more than he expected. So 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. And I’ll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink, and be merry.’”
Was he wrong? If you just hear the story that far, it sounds pretty reasonable, doesn’t it? Your hard work pays off, so you save up, sit back, and enjoy life. Isn’t that exactly what you and I would do? It’s just that something was missing. Did you notice what’s missing? God. No thought of God. Who makes the ground produce crops? God. Who is the source of every good thing? God. But God wasn’t on this man’s mind. Something else was missing too. Did you notice? His neighbors. He didn’t think about the poor either. Instead, “I’ve got too much stuff, so I’ll store it all away for me…” To be blessed is a blessing. To forget our God and our neighbors is foolish.
Here was the worst part. Listen again to his words: “I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink, and be merry.” This is when you know you’re way off track: The moment you put your security—your confidence—in your possessions. This is why the Bible calls greed “idolatry” (Colossians 3:5). That rich man trusted in his money. His possessions were his god. When that’s the case, you don’t control your stuff. Your stuff controls you. Greed is idolatry. It is putting my hope and my confidence in something other than Jesus.
That’s scary. Know why? I do that! How often do you think to yourself, “I’m going to be okay because…” How do you fill in that sentence? “I’m going to be okay because I’ve got a lot saved up for retirement… because we finally got the house paid off… because my family is here to take care of me…” What’s your source of security? This is so important. Jesus wants you to think about it. Actually, he wants you to watch out! He commands you to be on your guard. Is it money? Do you think you’re going to be okay because of all your stuff? You’re in for a surprise.
Because “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?” “You fool!” Can you imagine God—when you least expect it—looking you in eye and saying, “You fool!” Doesn’t that send shivers down your back? Jesus once said, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?” (Luke 9:25). It’s like when you come home from shopping, and you have so many bags in your hands that you can’t open the door. Is that us at the door to heaven? You’ve got to put the stuff down! That rich man had everything except what he actually needed: God. One day, my life will end. Possessions will be meaningless. Will God say, “You fool!”?
I once heard a missionary tell a powerful story. When this pastor got to Africa, he was surprised to see so many African Christians struggling with witchcraft. He thought, “How can you be a Christian and still play around with demons and spirits? Can’t you see how dangerous witchcraft is?” Years later, he traveled to the U.S. with an African pastor. When that African pastor got here, he was surprised to see so many Christians with so much stuff. He said, “How can you be a Christian and love stuff? Can’t you see how dangerous greed is?” Is greed our blind spot in America? “Watch out! Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” We’re stuffed!
So what’s life really about? If life does not consist in an abundance of possessions, what’s life really about? Jesus hints at it: “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” Life is about being rich toward God. Huh. Jesus calls you rich. That doesn’t make sense. We’re supposed to watch out for greed and be rich at the same time? How?
I looked up all the times the word “rich” is used in the New Testament. Do you know who’s really rich? God. But thankfully God didn’t build a big barn in heaven and store his riches there. “Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions” (Ephesians 2:4-5). God used his riches—his mercy and grace—to save us. Here’s how: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Jesus gave up everything, he even died on the cross, so that you might become rich. Your identity doesn’t come from what you have. It comes from who you are—the child of God! Your security doesn’t come from what you own. It comes from what Jesus has done for you. Your riches aren’t found in a bank. They’re God’s gift of salvation to us by faith.
You’re rich! But how do we get rid of that greed? That endless need for more? Let me ask you this: How do you get the air out of a cup? Have you ever tried that? How do you get the air out of a cup? You can tip it. You can blow in it. You can turn it upside-down. There’s still air inside. How do you get the air out of a cup? Only by filling it full with something else. When you fill a cup with water, the water pushes all the air out. So how do you get the greed out of your heart? You can try harder. You can tell yourself not to covet. You can buy lots of stuff. You can walk around with your eyes closed. But there will still be greed in here. How do you get rid of greed? Only by having your heart filled with something else. Only when your heart is filled with Jesus.
Earlier in our service, we heard this, “when Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:4). What did it say about Christ? He “is your life.” What does life consist of? Jesus. He wants to fill you up! Forgiveness? God has hurled your sins in the bottom of the sea (Micah 7:18). You’re stuffed with forgiveness! Love? Jesus loved you so much that he gave up his life for you. You’re stuffed with love! Hope? God sets our minds on things above, not on earthly things (Colossians 3:2). Stuffed with hope. Life? Jesus says, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). Stuffed with life. To the full!
You are rich. Can you see that? Your wealth doesn’t come from what you have. It comes from who you are in Jesus. Here’s what that means: You don’t have to hoard stuff. You don’t have to live for that next shopping trip. You don’t have to wait to be content until you get that next big thing. You’re free from that. Wise King Solomon wrote: “To the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth.” That’s the empty life of an unbeliever. You can be rich toward God—with your offerings. With your time. With your life. You can be rich toward others.
At the end of our service today, we’re going to sing a new song. It has the perfect title for this message from God’s Word today: “My Worth Is Not In What I Own.” Have you heard that song before? It goes like this: “My worth is not in what I own, not in the strength of flesh and bone. But in the costly wounds of love, at the cross. My worth is not in skill or name, in win or lose, in pride or shame. But in the blood of Christ that flowed, at the cross. I rejoice in my Redeemer, Greatest Treasure, Wellspring of my soul. I will trust in Him, no other. My soul is satisfied in Him alone.” You are worth so much more than what you own. You are worth the blood of Christ that flowed for you. It’s not about the stuff. You’re stuffed—rich!—in Jesus.
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