Luke 12:13-21: A Lesson from the Rich Fool

INTRODUCTION

A bishop once preached a sermon to a wealthy congregation on the subject of “God’s Ownership.” In it he made the point that what we have, we have in trust. All that we think we own, really belongs to God.

A rich man in the congregation was upset by the sermon and invited the bishop home for lunch.

After lunch the rich man walked the bishop through his elaborate gardens and woodlands and farms. He then turned to the bishop and demanded, “Do you mean to tell me that all this is not really mine?”

The bishop smiled and said, “Why don’t you ask me that same question a hundred years from now.”

This is from Luke 12:13-21:

One of the multitude said to Jesus, “Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me.”

But Jesus said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or divider over you?” And he said to them, “Take heed and beware of all covetousness; for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.

And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and bid larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’

“But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’

“So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

I. The man in the crowd listening to Jesus had a problem, and he brought it to Jesus.

A. The man’s father had died. According to Jewish law the property was to be divided among the man’s sons, the oldest son receiving twice as much as everyone else. If the father had no sons but only daughters, the property was to be divided among the daughters. Apparently, in this case the oldest son was refusing to give the younger brother his share of the inheritance.

B. The man’s complaint may have been just. He may have suffered an injustice, and it wasn’t wrong for him to call on Jesus to help him. But Jesus pointed him to the courts as the place to seek redress.

It was no part of Jesus’s mission to judge matters that were properly the responsibility of the courts. So Jesus used this as a “teachable moment,” an opportunity to teach that man—and us—something of enormous importance for our lives.

C. Jesus said, “Take heed, and beware of all covetousness, for a person’s life does not consist of the abundance of his possessions.”

The word translated “covetousness” in the version I read is simply the word for “greed,” the desire to have more and more—more than what one needs.

The desire for more and more food is “gluttony.” The desire for more and more money or possessions is “greed.”

What the man needed to understand—and we also need to think of often—is that the value of our life is not determined by how much wealth we possess.

The value of our life is determined by whatever we have that we will be able to enjoy for eternity.

“How much did he leave?” someone asked at the rich man’s funeral.

“Every cent,” was the answer.

II. So Jesus told the Parable of the Rich Fool

A. The rich man’s problem was that his land produced abundantly, so abundantly that he had nowhere to put his bumper crop of grain.

So he set about solving his problem. It involved building bigger barns in which to store his grain and his goods until he had time to sell it.

It was actually a pretty easy problem to solve—so he thought.

We may wish we had the problem of so much money we don’t know what to do with it.

B. The rich man has it all figured out. He has a conversation with himself. (This is called a soliloquy.) He tells himself: “I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and bid larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’”

That rich man has the kind of problem many of us would like to have—a problem with an easy solution.

C. But then God interrupts the rich man’s thoughts: “Fool, this night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?”

Oh, oh! Just when he thought he had all the bases covered something new enters the picture: the end of life on earth. The rich man had said, “…many years…” God says “This night…”

D. Then Jesus gives his listeners the moral of the story: “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

It is terrible to die with all our treasure on earth and not to be rich toward God.

III. Application:

A. We don’t know whether the rich man believed in God or not. What we know is that he lived as if this life on earth was all that counted.

He forgot that we are made for eternity.

When I was a child I had a little plaque that I hung above my bed. It was a picture of a little country road with flowers along the sides. On it were these lines:

“Just one life, ‘twill soon be past.

Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

I think it did me good to sleep under that and think about it from time to time.

Jesus spoke many times about laying up treasure in heaven.

How much do you have laid up in heaven?

St. Augustine commented on this man’s mistake: “He did not realize that the bellies of the poor were much safer storerooms than his barns.”

Whatever you have done for God or whatever you’ve done for others because you love God is your treasure in heaven.

Whenever you’ve generously given—whether money or time or effort—to your church or needy people or for the work of the gospel you’ve laid up in heaven—it will be a blessing for you for ever.

I don’t mean five dollars here and ten dollars there—everyone does that. It makes us feel good to help out.

Jesus is talking about whatever you’ve given that cost you something—whatever you’ve done without so that you would have more to give. That’s the treasure you’ve laid up for eternity.

Years ago when we belonged to a little country church near Wayland, Iowa, we became acquainted with a godly man named Leonard Tindall. He had formerly been wealthy but had lost almost all his wealth.

One Sunday evening he stood up in the meeting and told us that at one time he had been the largest landowner in Washington County, farming many acres of prime Iowa farmland. He had held a large interest in several businesses, and he had sold more seed corn for Pioneer Seed Corn Company than anyone in Iowa. The president of Pioneer used to phone him to talk ask his advice. He felt proud that he had the ear of the president of the largest seed corn company in the world. But then Leonard had gone bankrupt and lost almost everything he had.

After his loss, he told us, he realized that it had all been rubbish as far as God was concerned. He said he wished that he had realized that when he had had it all.

He said, “I don’t get calls from the president of Pioneer nowadays; I don’t have his ear anymore—but I have the ear of God.” Leonard was a happy man.

CONCLUSION

Right now, some of you are thinking: If I ever was striving to become rich those times are past now.

My concern now is: will I have enough?

What if I have to go to assisted living?

What if I have to go to a nursing home? How could I ever pay for that?

To some people wealth means luxury.

For us, wealth means security.

But the problem with the craving for security is that you can never have enough to feel totally secure.

It would be sad to have so much money in the bank that you didn’t need to trust God.

How much to give, how much to keep is the issue we all need to think through. And the answer will be different for each of us.

The way we use our dwindling resources is something we need to pray about and decide before God.

Luke follows the Parable of the Rich Fool with teaching about anxiety.

Jesus says, “I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear” (v22).

Then he says, “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (vv32-34).

The uncertainty in our lives gives us the incentive to trust God, to rest in him, to find our peace in him—and nowhere else.

One thing more—

There may be some here have been generous in times past but who now honestly have little beyond what is necessary to pay the bills.

I want to leave you with this thought:

Think back over your generosity in times past when you could (and did) do what you could.

Know that God remembers.

You have something that no one can ever take away from you.

You have treasure in heaven—and it is yours for ever.