"Your Estate Sale"
Sermon Presented August 1, 2004
(Luke 12:13-21)
Last year my birthday present from Gary and Angie was a night on the town - KC, including theater tickets to the musical Mamma Mia based on songs from the group Abba. One song from the production is "Money, Money, Money." Hear the words.
I work all night, I work all day to pay the bills I have to pay
And still there never seems to be a single penny left for me.
In my dreams I have a plan, if I got me a wealthy man
I wouldn't have to work at all, I'd fool around and have a ball!Money, money, money Must be funny, in a rich man's world.
Money, money, money always sunny in a rich man's world.
Aha, aha All the things I could do if I had a little money
It's a rich man's world.A man like that is hard to find, but I can't get him off my mind
And if he happened to be free, I'll bet he wouldn't fancy me.
So I must leave. I'll have to go to Las Vegas or Monaco
And win a fortune in a game, my life would never be the same. (refrain)
Acquiring wealth is the dream of millions of people. If I can't marry a wealthy person, then maybe I can get rich by winning the lottery or the casino jackpot. Maybe I can choose a profession that will bring wealth and the perfect life.
Jesus had lots to say about wealth and possessions. One example is the parable he told to a man who approached him while he was teaching. Let's look at the story found in Luke 12:13-21.
In this text, a young man asks Jesus to intervene in a family dispute over an inheritance. He wants justice and believes Jesus can help him acquire his fair share of Dad's bank account, land, stocks, insurance, and family treasures. But instead of becoming involved in a controversy over things, Jesus tells him (and the listening crowd) a story to illustrate that life doesn't depend on the abundance of possessions.
A wealthy farmer owns rich bottom land and because it doesn't flood, he has abundant crops. His barns are already full from previous harvests and there's simply no place to put the grain. So instead of providing food for the needy or adding another barn, he decides to really show off by tearing down his existing barns and building enormous new barns. Now everyone will know how wealthy he really is. When the barns are built and the grain stored, he will relax: eat, drink and be merry.
But God calls him a fool! Why? Because his priorities are skewed! He cares only about himself - his own comfort and pleasure - and he has no consideration for eternal or godly things. A literal translation of the 20th verse is: "Fool! In this night they (your possessions) demand your soul from you. But the things you prepared, whose will they be?" In other words, his possessions possess his soul! They own him; he doesn't own them. When greed leads to the accumulation of material goods and money and these things ultimately control our lives then we aren't free to live for God. When we become obsessed with building great treasures, our focus isn't on God but on things, as we guard our possessions, listen compulsively to the stock market report, and try to figure out how to acquire more things.
I imagine the poor fellow who asked the question is appalled when Jesus tells this story in answer to his innocent question about getting his fair share of the inheritance. He doesn't consider himself greedy! He only wants what he believes is rightfully his.
But his focus is on material things. He has no spiritual questions for Jesus who is a spiritual leader because thoughts of this inheritance consume all of his energy. His interest is on building up treasures here on earth and these treasures take control of his soul.
This text reminds me of Robert Courtney, a KC pharmacist who diluted the drugs people depended on for life itself so he could make more money. He admitted that he did it because of greed. This preacher's son was so obsessed with accumulating things and building an image of success that he caused or hastened the deaths of hundreds of people. (By the way, his church gave the 2/3 of a million dollars that Courtney contributed to the church building campaign to the restitution fund for his victims' families.)
It's amazing how much of our physical, mental and spiritual energy can be consumed with things. Even legitimate concerns like education for our children and grandchildren, retirement income, house payment or nursing home expense take much energy and can easily possess our souls.
The fool had no thought of generosity. He felt no obligation to help others - only an obligation to care for himself. By the way, people in the ancient world believed that any one who was wealthy was taking what belonged to the poor. A godly person gave his excess to the poor to help redistribute the wealth. The parable warns of the failure to use wealth for the common good.
Goals versus greed. Wisdom versus folly. How do we know when we cross the line? None of us wants to be considered foolish or greedy. How do we do what God wants us to do?
1 John 3:17 says: "How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help?" Our willingness or unwillingness to help those in need is a prime indicator of the extent of our sellout to greed.
I Timothy 6:10 states: "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil and in their eagerness to become rich, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains." Riches aren't evil per se but are dangerous. Having wealth can lead to pride and more covetousness.
In Eugene Peterson's translation of the 21st verse in The Message, we read: "That's what happens when you fill your barn with Self and not with God." Things don't make us rich toward God and what makes us rich toward God can't be grasped! The things we can grasp won't fully satisfy us. What does satisfy can be reached but never fully grasped.
We live in a self-centered, materialistic world. Greed and covetousness are expressions of our distorted world-view. "Let's eat, drink and be merry." The life Jesus calls us to live centers on God and others - not self!
One of my favorite musical comedies is Fiddler on the Roof. Tevye, a charming Jewish man prays: "Dear God, you made many, many poor people. I realize, of course, that it's no great shame to be poor…but it's no great honor, either. So what would have been the difference if I had a small fortune?" He then breaks into the song: "If I Were a Rich Man" - his prayer for wealth. More than anything else, Tevye wants the respect that comes to those who are wealthy. Maybe, just maybe, if we didn't admire wealthy people so much, there would be less of a desire for people to become wealthy. (Just a thought!)
Let's remember the reason Jesus told this story. The Bible says that the reason was to let everyone know that life doesn't consist of the abundance of possessions.
Now you might think that you're off the hook because you don't possess lots of property or money. Greed can't be a sin for ME! However, everyone has the capacity to desire more and more material things, power, money or fame - and most of us do.
When greed overtakes us, it will eventually destroy our spiritual lives. Greed causes people to betray the trust of others, neglect their families, do immoral and unethical acts, acquire more things than they need, or fail to help those in need. There are no happy misers. When we focus on acquiring more and more things, we are diverted from reliance on God.
Not long after I moved to Marysville, KS, Beth moved there from DC to care for her 96-year-old mother. Less than a year after arriving, Beth's mother Lillian died. Lillian was a collector extraordinaire! When her hometown of Irving, KS was condemned for the Tuttle Creek Dam, she took everything that remained in that community to her new residence in Marysville. A large metal storage building was erected on the property to house antique vehicles, the large stone sign that hung over the bank, the Stations of the Cross from the Catholic Church (and she wasn't Catholic) and tens of thousands of other objects that took months to inventory following her death. She collected dolls, doll beds, dishes and antique furniture which she kept in her home that was on the National Historic Registry and another stone house on her property! You wouldn't believe the estate sale after she died.
Antique dealers flocked to Marysville and they were well rewarded. Even though her children and grandchildren took everything they wanted and many items were donated to the county museum, there was still enough stuff remaining for a 3-day-sale. At 11:00 on the final night of the sale, everything that was left was auctioned off in one lot and an antique dealer took away truckloads of stuff. Lillian would have been crushed to see the lack of enthusiasm her family had for her treasures.
It's too bad we can't be present for our own estate sales because there's something morally instructive about an estate sale. When the owners are gone, most items lose their meaning. Can't you just hear Jesus asking: "And these crystal dishes, silver trays, Bavarian china, brass beds, antique tools, Model-T Ford, whose will they be?"
As usual, we assume Jesus is speaking to someone else. However, he's speaking to us - the widow with her mite, the wealthy and all of those in between. You see, we've over learned Joseph's advice to the Pharaoh to lay up stores in the good years to be ready for the lean years. We have money tied up in SEP's, IRA's, stocks, bonds, and real estate while our neighbor needs help today. And some day, we will leave this world. Then what will happen to our treasures?
May we learn God's lessons for us from this parable! May our lives be examples of generosity and not of greed. May we live the kind of life God honors.
BENEDICTION: The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord life up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen
