Sermon Preached by The Rev. Lance Wallace
Today’s Gospel reading is one which has the ability to relieve and cause anxiety at the same time, rather like when the doctor would tell someone, “Yes, I can take care of the life-threatening problem…. of course, the arm and leg will definitely have to come off.” Jesus says, “Fear not little flock.” For it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. That’s the good news. In fact that is wonderful news! Think about it. It makes God happy to give us the kingdom! Then Jesus says, “Sell your possessions and give the money away.” What?
This section is in the context of the readings from last week. You may recall a fellow from the crowd Jesus was teaching asked Jesus to tell his brother to divide the inheritance. Jesus tells him and the crowd around him to be on guard against all kinds of greed. And the reason we should be on guard is that one’s life does not consist in the abundance of one’s possessions. Then Jesus tells a parable. “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ In the Scriptures God very rarely calls anyone a fool. So this should grab our attention. Why is he called a fool? He certainly wasn’t a foolish farmer. He had done quite well for himself. Was he foolish for planning ahead? Anyone who is successful financially has to do that. Is God opposed to someone being successful? Certainly not, one only has to read through the book of Proverbs to see that God calls a person wise who plans ahead. So why does God call this particular man a fool?
This man is foolish for several reasons. But the primary one is that he has valued perishable goods (his possessions) as being worth more than non-perishable goods (his soul). He did not plan far enough ahead! What is really important to this guy? His stuff, his possessions are what is really important. God doesn’t say to him at the end of the story, “Weigh the value of your soul over against your possessions.” Clearly the man doesn’t care about his soul. Instead God says tonight your soul is required of you—Now who is going to get your possessions?” That is what this guy is concerned about. He is only concerned about his stuff. God calls this man a fool because his life was all about his possessions. He lived to accumulate. Jesus said the rich man was not rich toward God. The question then is how does one become rich towards God? Today’s reading includes the answer to that question.
Jesus says, sell what you have and give to the needy. So, is God against money or possessions? Jesus did tell the rich young ruler to sell all he had and follow him. This sounds kind of similar doesn’t it? And we know there have been people throughout church history who felt like they needed to sell all their possessions and give the proceeds away like Francis of Assisi and some others. But not everybody did. Jesus did not tell Mary, Martha and Lazarus to sell their stuff. They were pretty wealthy. He did not tell Zacchaeus the rich tax collector to sell his stuff. In the first several hundred years of the church, many times people met in the homes of the wealthy because they were the only ones who had room for everyone. God is not against wealth. He is against the misuse of wealth; He is against the sins that the love of money brings. James Montgomery Boice said in reference to this parable, “The Bible does not teach that money is evil in itself or that things in themselves produce evil. The fault is in those who use it. Before God created Adam and Eve He created a vast world of pleasant and useful things for them. They were meant for our use in every joyful and constructive way. But when man sinned the things that were meant to be helpful to him usurped God’s place in his heart. So he began to fight, steal, cheat, and do countless other things to possess these things. Today, when a person surrenders to Jesus and allows Him to redirect his Life, a process begins in which things are removed from the center and God is again reinstated on the throne.”
Again then, money and possessions are not evil in and of themselves. So why did Jesus tell the rich young ruler to sell his possessions? Why did He say it here? For the rich young ruler, possessions prevented him from following Jesus. For the young man who wanted the inheritance—possessions were too important to him as well.
Jesus says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart is also.” Thus the question remains for us as followers of Jesus, where is our treasure? Where is your heart? Where is my heart? What is most important to you? Is your heart all about your possessions? What is the most important thing in your life? Could you give your stuff away? Test yourself. Imagine for a moment selling all you have and giving the money away. Set aside worrying about food, clothing and housing for a moment. Think about your stuff. Could you give it away? Think about it, where is your treasure? In terms of the parable Jesus told, would God call you, would God call me a fool like He did the rich man?
What is being rich towards God? The obvious meaning here is to be rich in spiritual things, that is, things that last. What does that mean? Paul says in First Timothy: “As for the rich in this present age, tell them not to be proud, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19 thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.”
Jesus says, “Fear not little flock. For it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give the money away.” Jesus wants us to truly plan ahead; He does not want us to be foolishly attached to our possessions. Therefore we need to check our hearts—where is our treasure? We need to set our hopes not on our wealth or possessions, but on God through Jesus. We are to do good to others, and to grow rich through good works, to be generous with what we have and be ready to share. Then we will indeed be rich toward God.