Luke 12.13-21
13 Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’ 14But he said to him, ‘Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?’ 15And 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.’ 16Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly.17And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?”18Then 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. 19And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”20But 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?” 21So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.
I remember when lockdown began a couple of years ago, initially there was a great sense of novelty. I remember having conversations with people who were saying, ‘well it gives me more time to get the house sorted out!’
I felt it myself. I though ‘oooh what an opportunity to declutter and get rid of some stuff.’ Of course, the novelty of that quickly wore off. But during that time, I did pare back a lot of my books which I had been collecting for quite some time. Never read them mind; so, I got rid of many of them. And I realised that I didn’t need many of the things that I owned. This is popular these ways, with a more minimalist lifestyle being in vogue. And I think on balance, this is a good thing as it’s the realisation that, having more stuff is not the answer to our problems or our unhappiness or our lack of fulfilment. We are finally learning that possessions aren’t everything. As we see our houses get clogged up with stuff, our landfill sites filled with more stuff, more pollution, more waste, more plastic, more resources used, we are perhaps coming to the end of the obsession for more.
None of this is new, both the want of things, and the realisation that they don’t bring fulfilment.
‘One’s life does not consist in an abundance of possessions’
Jesus is right of course, and yet the whole of the modern world and its economy is based on the opposite being true. I leaned in my first week of university where I did business studies. The so called, ‘economic problem.’ Or the problem of scarcity We have infinite needs, and limited resources to fulfil those needs.
But there is an issue with the way that this problem is framed; it’s framed as if problem is a simple lack of resources, and if we just sorted that out then everything would be fine. Oh, if only we had unlimited resources, then everybody could have everything that they want! As if having everything we desire will bring is happiness and fulfilment and contentment in life.
This misses the point entirely and it doesn’t get to the heart of the matter. Because ultimately, it’s a spiritual problem; it’s an attempt to find fulfilment in anything else but God alone.
Jesus knows as does anybody who seriously want to follow the Lord, that life is all about him; that fullness of life is in him. He hits the nail on the head, ‘one’s life does not consist in an abundance of possessions’
The desire for more and more. There’s an old word for it, covetousness.
It’s the tenth commandment. Now, before I read this out, bear in mind that this was spoken in a society where the male is the head of the household; hence why it’s said in the way that it is.
“You shall not covet your neighbour’s house. You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.”
seeing what your neighbour, your family member, your friend, has and saying ‘I want that’ whether it’s physical as in possessions, or relational as in jealous of somebodies friend or whatever it is. It is this that creates all kinds of evil in the world. Some may suggest that this is a trivial concern, what does it matter what you desire things, after all, the desire for things can be quite a good motivator. After all, it leads to industriousness, and hard work and tenacity. What’s wrong with that?
Bishop Ryle, writing in the 19th century says this about it:
“Covetousness is a sin which, ever since the fall, has been the productive cause of misery and unhappiness upon earth. Wars, quarrels, strifes, divisions, envyings, disputes, jealousies, hatreds of all sorts both public and private may nearly all be traced back to this fountainhead of covetousness!”
Sort out your mind, God says, if you spend all your time desiring what other have or being jealous of others then it will lead to nothing but disaster and misery. But more than that, it’s a complete waste of time, time we may not have.
Look at Jesus’ parable, A man has had a good crop, but he cannot store them all, so he thinks ‘ah, I will build bigger barns, then retire and have the good life.’ But Jesus says:
“You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” 21So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’
What a waste of time, our lives can, quite literally, end at any moment. Jesus says in the parable. We know deep down that this is the case, though we try to deny it day to day. We want to last forever, but on this earth we don’t.
What if we lived each day as if there was no tomorrow, as if it was our only one? As if we had one last chance to do the right thing. To do the thing that we put off; to tell that other person we love them, to reconcile with a family member, to do good to our neighbour? These are the things that truly matter, to know the love of God in our hearts? A continued focus on possessions draws us away from this great spiritual truths and the things that truly matter.
In the sermon on the mount from Matthew’s gospel, Jesus says this:
““Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Our treasure is with God, our treasure is who has saved us, Jesus Christ. Our treasure is orientating our lives towards him and doing what he would have us do. Our treasure is knowing that we are loved, deeply deeply loved by our heavenly father. I said this at a year six leavers service a week or so ago. When we know in our hearts that we are dearly loved by God, the it’s easier, and in fact it’s a joy to work to help others who are struggling and suffering. It’s a joy to do God’s will and to be generous with our time and our resources, to store up those treasures in heaven and not horde everything for ourselves.
Jesus is the only one who satisfies! And I mean this will all seriousness. Only he can satisfy those deep needs, those deep insecurities within us. We all have them; we know we do. And we distract ourselves from them with the things of this world; but let’s not distract ourselves. Let’s come to Christ in prayer and know his love and care for us. Know that he is helping us through, know that whatever difficulties we face that he will help to pick us up and get us through them. Whatever your going through right now, put your trust in him, live your life for him, he is for you and he is with you.
Amen