Luke 12:16b-19

“The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

From Background Notes [BN] for May 5^th & 6^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

What is the mistake of the rich man? Is it his diligent preparation to make room for his good crop?

 
Hardly, since, in so doing, he would be a good steward of its generous yield. Rather, in Jesus' summary statement: "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.” The failure of his steward lay with the manner of his stores and their intended object. Note the repeated expressions:

"What shall I do?"

"I have no place…"

"…what I'll do"

"I will tear down my barns…"

"I will store all my grain"

"I'll say to myself…"

"… my barn … my grain, and my goods"

The rich man imagined that he could manage his own life as if it were itself his possession. He supposed that, like his barns, his grain and his goods, he owned his life. While he could produce a certificate showing claim to the property, he could not produce the deed to his own life. Rather, God showed up one night and said, "This very night your life (Greek: psyche, the common word for "soul,” "mind,” or "self") will be demanded of you….” It was not his possessions that were "due upon receipt,” but the man's very life. And, calamity upon calamity, God reminds him, "who will get what you have prepared for yourself?" Or, as has been often paraphrased, "You can't take it with you!"

 A number of significant truths flow from Jesus' leading statement and from the parable. But Jesus headlines this one: Don't store up for yourself and fail to be rich toward God. We certainly see well-illustrated the man's act of "storing up for himself.” But what about "being rich toward God"? The Greek construction of this sentence implies that when a person enriches themselves, as the rich man does, he does not factor God into the acquisition of wealth. The one action inhibits the other. Self-absorbed wealth accumulation excludes God from the wealth-gaining process, Jesus is telling his audience. The rich man does not include God in his financial portfolio, nor does he allow Him to direct the use of his material possessions. And in this way, he is "not rich toward God."  [BN, 3]

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* Saturday 6:00pm
* Sunday 8:30am & 11:00am, 5:30pm