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"Your Money or Your Life!
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November 11, 2007 “Your Money or Your Life!” Rev. Victoria Ney
Text: Luke 12:13-21
Some of you may remember the name Jack Benny--a great comedian who died some years ago. Part of his comic routine was that he was reported to be the tightest, cheapest man alive. On one of his TV shows, there was a classic routine that had him being robbed at gunpoint. In the sketch the robber says to Jack, “Hey, bud, your money or your life.” He got no reply. So the robber said again, “Hey, I said your money or your life.” Jack replied, “Don’t rush me. I’m thinking it over.”
Our money and our lives is a difficult topic to preach about, probably even more difficult for you to listen to. The subject of money, possessions, wealth, or whatever label we put on it makes all of us squirm a bit. It’s a subject that many people have accused the church of talking about much too often. It’s a subject that can raise the tempers of a lot of people, it can cause guilt feeling in others, or it can cause apathy and indifference is still others. In any case, money is an interesting subject.
Here’s an interesting question to think about: What would you be willing to do for $10 million?
In a book entitled The Day America Told the Truth, writers James Patterson & Peter Kim reveal some shocking statistics about how far people in this country are willing to go for $10 million.
This is what they found:
25% would abandon their entire family
25% would abandon their church
23% would become prostitutes for a week or more
16% would give up their American citizenship
16% would leave their spouses
10% would withhold testimony & let a murderer go free
7% would kill a stranger
3% would put their children up for adoption.
There is no doubt—or at least very little discussion—that we live in a very materialistic society. Marketing has convinced us we need so many things. We live in a culture that wants more & more “stuff.”
There’s even some discussion on how we get God into our “gimmee more” mindset.
Here’s a tongue-in-cheek prayer I found that I’d like to share with you.
“Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray my Cuisinart to keep.
I pray my stocks are on the rise, & that my analyst is wise.
That all the wine I sip is white & that my hot tub’s watertight.
That racquetball won’t get too tough, that all my sushi’s fresh enough.
I pray my cordless phone still works, that my career won’t lose its perks
My microwave won’t radiate, my condo won’t depreciate.
I pray my health club doesn’t close, & that my money market grows.
If I go broke before I wake, I pray the Lord my SUV they won’t take.
(Steve Farrar, Family Survival in the American Jungle)
Jesus addressed some thoughts on materialism in our scripture passage this morning. I had to smile when I read some of the preceding chapters & verses. Jesus had been preaching about some very heavy subjects—like hypocrisy, hell, and unforgivable sin. But this guy in the crowd didn’t hear a word of it.
He had a problem that distracted him so much that he couldn’t think of anything else. His motto may have very well been, “It’s all about me!”
The man shouted out, “Teacher, get my brother to divide the inheritance with me!”
His story was obviously about a legal matter over inheritance. We certainly get the sense that he is anxious and frustrated. It seems there is some unfairness in his situation, and yes, greed.
Down thru history, families have been destroyed by greed. In my own family, I can tell you that my father and his brother did not speak to each other for about 30 years because of a disagreement over insurance money. I’ve seen families planning the funeral for a loved one, but they cannot get along because they were arguing over property and assets. It’s very sad.
We don’t really know all the circumstances in the situation of the man who spoke to Jesus. Maybe there was an attempt at an amicable settlement. Maybe the older brother fears the loss of the estate or a loss of income. Perhaps his brother is a terrible manager of the estate—even a drunk or a gambler—running down the property and business. Who knows?
We can only speculate. But we do sense an attitude of, “I can do more and better with what is mine than I can with what is mine and his.”
We know that Jesus is certainly thinking about greed here, because he refuses to act as an unpaid lawyer or mediator. Jesus says, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a person’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
There are quite a few other places in scripture that address greed and the love of money. For instance, in Ecclesiastes 5:10, we find these words: “Those who love money will never have enough. How absurd to think that wealth brings happiness!”
But isn’t that what a lot of people think? If they could only hit the lottery! If only the man from Publishers Clearing House would appear at their door with that big check! With a big windfall of money, all their problems would be over!
The Greek word for greed here in this Luke text is pleonexia, which is literally “the yearning to have more.” Jesus knows this YEARNING is insidious. It can affect all parts of our lives.
Chuck Swindoll, a well-known Christian preacher and writer pictured it this way: Think of a shipwrecked sailor on life raft in middle of ocean. Terrible thirst makes him drink salt water. But that just makes him thirstier. He then drinks more and more. But he becomes dehydrated and dies.
Jesus doesn’t want something similar to happen to us. He doesn’t want us taking in more and more, which will dehydrate our spirits. Jesus wants something much better for us, because he knows life is much more than possessions.
Malcolm Forbes had it all wrong when he said: “He who dies with the most toys wins.” Malcolm has since died, and I’m sure he found out that he was completely wrong!
Life is a divine gift. Life is valued in ways other than the size of bank accounts, stock portfolios, houses and businesses.
Jesus used a parable to set the man in scripture—and us—straight.
He starts the story with, “The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully. Right away we learn two things very quickly: The man was rich and his land made him richer. He was a “victim of abundance.” (I just love that term!) He operated not only at profit, but also at surplus.
The interesting part here is that he probably acquired his wealth by hard work, diligence, good management, good sense, and cautiousness—all virtues our mothers and fathers tried to instill in us.
The man has done very well.
Please note here that Jesus does not condemn the fact that he has done well. Jesus does not condemn the fact that he is rich.
What the rich man does, however, is make two big—but quite human—mistakes.
First—he assumes his good fortune will continue and he will get richer and richer with bigger and bigger warehouses. The good times will keep rolling along. No end in sight.
The second error is that he believes he himself has done all of the work—that he produced the prosperity and now he can live off its profits. “Soul,” he says, “you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” (Luke 12:19)
Notice that there is a phrase missing—one we’ve heard many times: “Eat drink & be merry, for tomorrow we die.” This rich man doesn’t expect to die. He expects to live on forever, eating and drinking and being more merry and living off more income that is compounded daily.
He believes he’s earned it. It belongs to him and is for him to enjoy and to dispose of as he wills.
He can afford now to relax & to rest, because he IS what he has accumulated. The work and the worker and the results of the work have become one and the same. That’s where his identity is, that’s where his work is, that’s where his reward is—here and now.
This is where Jesus says, “Fool.”
He doesn’t call him a fool because he’s worked hard and planned ahead. Jesus calls him a fool because he has focused only on himself. He has focused on spending his resources only on himself.
Just so you know, a fool in biblical language is not a description of mental ability—but of spiritual discernment. According to scripture a fool is a man who leaves God out of any consideration. Psalm 14:1 says, “The fool has said in his heart there is no God.”
This man in the parable is a fool not because he actually said that, but because he has lived his life as if God did not exist. He is a fool in that he did not recognize that his material blessings came from God. Nor did he recognize any obligation to G in the use of his possession.
You see, fools leave God out of their lives. When you’re a fool, you put your treasure in all the wrong places.
“Fool!” Jesus says. “This night your soul is required of you…” You will be foreclosed upon tonight—even though you don’t have a mortgage—“and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?”
These things you have accumulated & laid up and invested in, whose will they be?
Here is where the silence of the text speaks volumes!
These things will not be yours. What will become of your money, your barns, your warehouses, your businesses?
I heard a story some time ago about Aristotle Onassis. I’m sure you remember that he was a shipping tycoon and that he was VERY rich when he died. After his funeral, some of his rich oil friends were eager to find out exactly how much Aristotle was worth. They asked the question, “How much did he leave?” Of course, the answer was “Everything!” He left it all.
This story in Luke is really not a story about money or wealth. As I said earlier, Jesus is not condemning wealth. He isn’t even praising or belittling hard work. This passage in Luke is not some socialist writing; it’s not an ethical injunction to give all your money to charity, or even this church. This is not about estate planning.
It’s really about a wake-up call—a reality check.
“Fool!” could really be “WAKE UP! These things you have prepared, whose will they be?”
If you are defined by what you have, or by what you do, or by who you are, well, you’ve missed the boat. You’ve missed the whole point of life.
Jesus sees this rich man as absolutely tragic and sad. If this rich man thinks his bulging barns and his big wallet are going to save him from the inevitable in life, he is sadly mistaken. It’s not what we have, it’s not who we think we are, it’s not what we leave to our heirs, it’s not what we’ve done in the past: Those aren’t riches.
What Jesus is saying here is that the person who is rich toward God is the person who has a full relationship with God. That’s the person who recognizes what real treasure is.
The treasure is in a relationship with God. The treasure is knowing we do not belong to ourselves or our work, but that we belong to God. We don’t belong to our talents or skills or brains or education.
They are gifts from God.
We have been given gifts—just because you are so loved. We are precious to God, redeemed at great price in Jesus Christ. We are gifted to give our lives purpose. We have been gifted to carry out God’s purpose for God’s world.
Purpose in life comes from loving God and loving our neighbors—whoever they might be. This is the secret of a happy life. There is treasure is this realization that we belong to God.
Ultimately, everything the world gives will be left behind. The only thing we can take with us is the one thing we started out with and had all along—and that is God’s love. Amen.
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