Grace and Peace to you from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and may our Lord and Savior sanctify you in
the truth; for His word is truth. Amen
The Tenth
Sunday after Pentecost (2010)
Where Does
Your Treasure Lie?
Luke 12:13-21 (ESV)
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."
What is the secret of a glorious life? What is the pathway to abiding
happiness and contentment in life? What is the key to the poise, peace and
contentment which some visibly possess and other noticeably lack? What is the
pearl of great price which you and I must earnestly seek in order for life to be
worth living and death worth dying? Does it consist in the abundance of our material
things? Does it lay in the lack of friction, tension, and worries? Can it be
found in physical health and strength or is it more easily found in the absence
of physical illness and pain? Can it be traced to some philosophy or idealism embraced
by the supposedly learned and educated but withheld from the unwise and simple?
Does it consist in the cloistered pursuit of spiritual ends to the neglect of
the carnal and the physical? Just what is the formula of a truly satisfying
life?
Our Lord frequently
concerned Himself with answering questions such as those I just asked. If
you’ll recall, He said to Satan, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’ ” (Matthew 4:4 ESV).
Again, He answered Martha’s request to tell Mary to help her by saying, “Martha,
Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is
necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from
her” (Luke 10:41-42 ESV). After having taught the disciples the most
excellent of prayers, The Lord’s Prayer, our Lord reminded them not to, “lay
up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where
thieves break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19 ESV). Rather, “seek
first the
In his letters to
the various churches we can see that throughout his ministry
Giving proper
consideration to the sayings of both our Lord and St. Paul, when it comes to
learning the secrets of abundant living, you must come to the conclusion that
first of all abundant living consists in a true and fervent faith in the
blood-bought Gospel of the forgiveness of sins. You will also note that abundant living truly consists
only in the greatest fruit of faith; love, which leads to unselfish living,
that is living for others motivated by the love of God in Christ Jesus which
dwells within you. Living in this manner is following in the footsteps of our
Savior, Jesus Christ; living and sharing with others their burdens, sorrows, and
suffering. Such living leads you to drink deeply from the waters of life’s
satisfactions as it provides profound joys from living an unselfish life. Disciples
who live in this manner know “Where their
treasure lies.”
Such living is the
theme taught by our Lord in today’s Gospel Reading; however, it is taught in a
negative manner. Jesus is teaching the crowd how not to live selfish,
self-centered lives by placing before their consciences the picture of a
covetous, miserly farmer whose only concern is for himself. Therefore, let us
give consideration to the question our Lord Jesus is asking, “Where Does Your Treasure Lie?”
This well known
parable is so true to life. I am always amazed when I see this parable played
out in the lives of family members who squabble over the inheritance of a deceased
relative. It is as if they themselves were in the crowd asking, “Teacher,
tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me” (v. 13). I, me,
mine, this is the only issue the supposed grieving family member is concerned
with. Give me; Give me; Give me! This is the refrain of the selfish. This is
the refrain of the wealthy farmer in our Lord’s parable for today.
The farmer was the
recipient of an abundant crop. God had blessed his fields and the farmer had
reaped a harvest he could only dream of. Yet his good fortune gave him a
perplexing problem because his granaries could not hold the bounty. Not once in
this parable does our Lord say that the farmer ever gave thanks to a loving and
gracious God for his remarkable harvest. The thought never enters his mind because
it was never in his heart. His heart was corrupted by selfishness. He wants to
keep all of the harvest. There will be no sharing with neighbors or friends or
any distribution to family members. But what to do to preserve it, his
granaries are too small. That’s not a problem; I’ll tear down my old barns and
build new, larger ones to hold the bounty. Thus, as he says this to himself he
thinks this is the answer, now he’ll be able to keep the entire harvest. My
soul is satisfied and now I can eat, drink, and be merry unfettered by the
worry of where and how to store my great harvest. His epicurean desires have
once again led him to think only of himself. It’s all about me and mine. In
fact, fourteen times in this short Gospel, in reference to the farmer, our Lord
Jesus speaks of “me, mine, and I.” The farmer lived in a world which consisted
solely of him. He was the original cold-hearted, tight-fisted, greedy Scrooge
and Bob Cratchit wasn’t going to get any of his harvest to help his Christmas.
This farmer had a heart of stone because he had never learned the secret of
abundant living; a true and fervent faith in the blood-bought Gospel of the
forgiveness of sins and in living a life dominated by the greatest fruit of
faith; love, which motivates one to help their neighbor.
However, selfishness
and covetousness is not reserved solely for wealthy farmers; it is equally
distinctive in poor city dwellers. It can be found in the mansions of the rich
or the shacks of the poor. In fact, it is deeply rooted within the heart of
every man and there is not a surgeon living on earth who can remove it from its
bed. It is a malignancy against which we must struggle everyday. If not, it
will take us captive and lead us away from God and to Satan. Sin is selfishness
and selfishness is sin. Moreover, all men are sinners.
We are conceived in
sin and born with a sinful nature, which includes an extremely selfish heart.
Ask most four-year olds to share and watch their reaction. No way mom; this is
mine! I’m going to keep it! In fact I like that toy that little Sarah has, give
it to me! A child cannot get away from their self-centeredness. Thus, when we
see adults act in this same self-centered, self-willed, selfish way, we rightly
deduce that they have never grown up. In fact we state emphatically, they are
acting in an immature way; time has not improved the self-centeredness of their
childhood days. Thus, selfishness is a characteristic of every age. It is
forgivable in children and youngsters, but it is alienating, disturbing, and
contemptible in adults.
All this points to
the great need for you and I to read the parable of our text this morning with
a view to its personal meaning; we may not be exactly like the wealthy farmer,
but it is a portrayal of ourselves none-the-less. It is a mirror in which we
can see ourselves if we but look at it in an unselfish way. Its design is not
only to teach us the fact of universal selfishness but also to alert us to its
seductive character.
The wealthy farmer
felt no reproach or guilt in his thought and action over against the
threatening abundance of his harvest. Truth is he most likely thought he was
doing the right thing. He possibly even argued that he had to conserve God’s
bounty. To let the harvest rot or be consumed by birds was unthinkable and
would bring him nothing but disgrace. Thus, he believed his action would be
approved by his neighbors. Anyway, wasn’t it his property to do with as he
desired? Imagine, then, his amazement and dismay when that very night God
summons him to justice, calls him a fool, and informs him that all his
possessions would have to be left behind; he couldn’t take them where he was
going. Much too late, he learns the subtlety, the deception, and the seduction
of selfishness. His life has been taken by God and his soul comes face-to-face
with the reality that we are not to lay up for ourselves the treasures of the
earth but, instead, we are to lay up for ourselves the treasures of heaven by
which we obtain the kingdom of glory. The angel of death has come for him and
now it’s too late.
Our Lord’s example
in this parable doesn’t teach us how to curb or conquer selfishness, however,
we do see how selfishness completely conquered the farmer and we see how it can
completely conquer us. The farmer thought in terms of years; God thought in
terms of a day. The farmer imagined himself to be wise; God called him a fool.
The farmer thought he could determine his own future; God told him that he had
an engagement that was unbreakable—death, judgment, and damnation. This was the
end, the ultimate goal to which his selfishness had brought him. When asked “Where Does Your Treasure Lie?” the
farmer answered, here, in my possessions and with myself; God told him, then reap
the reward of your treasure, separation from Me for eternity.
This is the mask of
selfishness; it never reveals its true character to those whom it seeks to
victimize or to whom it has victimized. Look at what it did to the wealthy
farmer. It blinded his eyes with greed and pride. It made him think only of his
body and not of his soul. His selfishness caused him to rule God out of his
decisions.
How many have
realized the insidious nature of selfishness, but, like the wealthy farmer,
realized it too late? How many couples and families have realized it only after
they had been disrupted? How many congregations have realized it; but only
after their unity has been destroyed? How many friendships have been destroyed
because for someone it was always a matter of getting and never giving?
Selfishness breeds just one thing, sorrow in time and damnation in eternity.
To conquer
selfishness we do not need a new philosophy, or guru, or self-help books,
rather we need a new heart; a heart created by the Holy Spirit in conversion. Natural
man, for selfish reasons can sometimes suppress, tone-down or harness his
selfishness to a degree; however he can never truly curb it or crucify it. Such
strength and work comes only through a life of faith, a life that is led by the
love of Christ in man’s heart.
Such a life sees
the unselfishness of our Savior, Jesus Christ. It sees our Lord’s life of
poverty and humility as He went from town to town throughout Galilee and
Our Lord asks, “Where Does Your Treasure Lie?” and then
He answers us by saying; not to, “lay up for yourselves treasures on earth,
where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19
ESV) because, “the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God”
(v. 21) will
not see the kingdom of glory. However, the one who seeks treasure in the
promises of the Gospel will be made children of God and live with Him for
eternity in paradise. Amen.
May the Peace of God which passes all understanding
keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.