Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions

Sermon preached at St. Mark’s Honey Brook, PA

By The Rev. Thomas C. Pumphrey, August 5^th, 2007

Tenth Sunday in Pentecost (Year C, Proper 13):

Luke 12:13-31, (Ecclesiastes 1:12-14; 2:1-7, 11,18-23)

Luke 12:13-31  Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’ But he said to him, ‘Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?’ And he said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’ Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build 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; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’  

He said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?* If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;* yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, strive for his* kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

“Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions!” Jesus makes this claim about life in response to someone who wanted Jesus to order his brother to divide up the family inheritance. Jesus takes this request as a teaching moment, and an opportunity to challenge those who put their riches at the center of their lives. This is Jesus’ judgment of the materialistic of his day, but are his words more than judgment? Is there good news in Jesus’ words? “Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”

Jesus tells a parable about a rich man who has a “problem.” He is so rich, he doesn’t have enough barns to store all his grain. So his solution is to build bigger barns—that way he can be truly secure and safe forever with all those riches! But he is considerably short sighted to think that his possessions will be his source of life.

In today’s world, this rich farmer would be sort of like a rich businessman. When the stock portfolio gets so big, he goes looking for new investments and new bank accounts in which to store his money and make even more millions. Barns in Jesus’ day are the equivalent of bank accounts in our day. The rich man in Jesus’ parable could only view life through his own desires, and his own sense of security, but he is a fool, for he has misplaced his security in his riches.

Today we are constantly bombarded with the message that if we ever make any money, there are a world of toys that we can buy for ourselves: 40 inch flat panel surround sound TVs, yachts, vacation homes in France, airplanes, exotic resort vacations—the Donald Trump lifestyle is the objective. More houses, more cars, more gadgets that go obsolete in six months, more stuff—stuff that in a short time will become junk.

Many people pursue these riches and discover that they are still empty and broken, and not nearly so secure as they had hoped. They discover that the pursuit of wealth can become an empty obsession—that our possessions can become idols to us that sit in the place of God. They discover the truth of Jesus’ challenge that all this stuff is not what life is about—that life is more than the abundance of possessions.

But is Jesus’ message all about judgment? Is this just a harsh tirade against the materialistic rich? What about those who are not wealthy? What about those who have real material needs, and who think about those needs day and night? What about those who are caught up in the rat race of career and earnings—convinced that they don’t have enough to live a happy life? Is this message also for working stiffs who scrape and sacrifice because our culture has sold them on the pursuit of stuff and security through wealth? Have we warped our sense of what “the basics” are in life to an unattainable goal?

Jesus is not against hard work. The Bible certainly commends hard work. There is a difference, however, between offering our best skills and creativity to our colleagues and customers, and becoming slaves to our careers. There is a difference between hard work that serves others and supports the family, and an obsession with advancement or job security or the next move or the next pay raise. Our culture has developed an idolatry of work and career. So often this obsession sacrifices family and health and integrity and competitors on the altar of the gods of work. Work and career are callous gods, however—with an insatiable demand for more and more, and giving only brokenness and emptiness to the most devout of their worshippers. No wonder the writer of Ecclesiastes looks at the toil of his hands in today’s Old Testament reading and declares “Vanity! Vanity! All this too is vanity—a chasing after the wind!”

To those entrapped and embittered by these false gods, Jesus brings good news—“Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions!” Jesus invites us to throw off the shackles of our slavery to money—our slavery to stuff—our slavery to worry and insecurity and the fleeting and instable foundations of possessions. Jesus cares about our material needs—indeed, Jesus says our heavenly Father knows that we need them. But strive first for the Kingdom of God and all these things that we need will be given to us as well.

What, then does it mean to be rich toward God? What does life truly consist of? Will God truly supply those needs? You already know some of the answers, though reminders are helpful. Life consists more of our relationships than our possessions—that our work and our career serves our relationships most of all. Life is richer for the relationships of collaboration and support that one finds with colleagues and customers and employers. Life is richer for the relationships between friends, between parents and children, husbands and wives, neighbors and strangers, brothers in arms and brothers and sisters in Christ. These connections are valuable no matter what your salary. The Thanksgiving feast is truly not measured in the size of the turkey, but in the size of the hearts around the table.

The message of the Gospel is one of forgiveness and reconciliation in these relationships. The message of the gospel is that healing is possible when these relationships are stressed and broken. The message of Jesus Christ is the invitation to a renewed and life-giving relationship with God. In this renewed and restored relationship with God, we are fed and nourished from the riches of God’s grace. God’s barns and store houses and bank accounts are rich with abundance—abundance that will not rust or decay.

Jesus said strive first for the Kingdom of God—the life that sees God as king and seeks his will and his good news in the world. Seek the Kingdom of God and our material needs will be satisfied as well. Where there is abundance of spirit and abundance of God’s grace, there you will also find people who are generous with their material resources as well. A great Christian once said that “the best barns are the stomachs of the poor.”

Where hearts are abundant with the good news of Jesus Christ; where there is a surplus of God’s love, Christian people fill the stomachs of the poor and clothe the naked and defend the oppressed and welcome the stranger and meet those needs that our heavenly father knows we have.

Jesus gives us good news in this reading. God gives us great riches every day. Through God’s grace we will find our needs met and find the joy of life that is so elusive in the pursuit of wealth.

The good news of Jesus Christ is that life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. Riches toward God are lasting riches for our life together.