The Author of the Future: Luke 12:13-21 - Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

¹³Someone in the crowd said to [Jesus,] “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 toward God.” (NRSV)

Peterson Barn by Bailiwick Studios on flickr. CC BY-SA 2.0

There was nowhere you could go without seeing the name Tompkins. It was on the grocery stores, the hardware stores, the pharmacies—and not just in one town, but in many towns. They were wildly successful entrepreneurs. Their other talent was philanthropy—which funded parks, libraries, hospitals, and most especially, their beloved church. One day, they took a sizable sum of their fortune and invested it in the bank—to ensure their beloved church would be funded in perpetuity after their deaths.

It seemed like a good idea at the time. But then the Great Depression happened. The town bank failed—which wiped out the Tompkins family fortune, including the trust they’d established for their church.

I consider this as the Parable of the Barns with a Christian generosity flare, but with the same error in judgment: wealth cannot secure the future. But there are many people—and many churches—who are true believers.

It’s no secret that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. People believe that if you don’t have to worry about money, you don’t have to worry about anything. Yet, how many lives have you seen wrecked by wealth? How many families tear themselves apart over an inheritance? There are congregations that have died with millions of dollars in the bank because they hoarded God’s gifts instead of investing them in God’s kingdom

I’m not saying that it’s wrong to save for the future. I hope my financial advisor is every bit as shrewd at making money as the rich landowner in Jesus’ parable. But there’s a big difference between being a good steward versus being a miser.

With rampant poverty all around us, and the great recession still fresh in our memories, the fear of scarcity is very real and terrifyingly powerful. You accumulate more, you give away less, and you hold on everything with a Kungfu grip. Survival becomes the ultimate ideology. Life becomes a battle for power and resources we believe are rightfully, and exclusively, ours.All of life

Life cannot flourish in such an atmosphere—because survival leaves no room for faith, hope, or love.

Consider for a moment: the landowner asks himself, “what should I do?” What if he asked God that question?

Surely his greed would’ve turned to gratitude. If he’d been Jewish (Jesus doesn’t say), he would’ve presented offerings at the temple. Instead of going back over his fields and vineyards a second time to ensure he harvested everything, he would have left what remained for the alien, the orphan, and the widow.

Rich or poor, when you ask God, “what should I do,” God asks you: “what am I doing,” and “what do you have to participate in it?”

We know God is creating and re-creating. God is providing daily bread. God is calling and gathering people to belong to each other in Christ. God is forgiving sins. God is healing the wounded and binding up the broken. God is liberating all creation from death and the devil. Shoving the grain into a barn accomplishes none of those things—and he loses his life, his fortune, and the opportunity to bless others.

Even the Tompkins family was in error in this regard: no amount of power, money, or possessions can control the future. Sink everything you have into controlling the future, you forfeit the blessings of the present. Everybody loses.

Nothing in life is certain but death, taxes, and God’s faithfulness.

Nevertheless, God’s future begins now. Now is the time to be freed of scarcity mindset that binds you to fear. Now is the time to stop sacrificing yourself, your neighbor, and God’s gifts before the altar of the false god, control. Now is the time to invest yourself and all that God has entrusted to you into the economy of grace.

That’s not to say that we squander God’s gifts like the Prodigal Son, and mindlessly give everything away without planning for the future. You can be a faithful steward while planning for the future. But if you’re accumulating treasures and stashing them away for your own exclusive use; if you hear the call to discipleship as a threat, you’ve essentially locked God out of your life. And there will be no joy; just constant anxiety and the burden of your own self-preservation.

Be on the lookout for the Holy Spirit to loosen your tightened fist. Be ready for Jesus to show you how your abundance can ease another’s poverty. Be prepared for the Holy Spirit to reveal the clutter in your home and even your schedule—and free you of it so that you can finally start living instead of worrying about tomorrow.

Nothing is certain in life but death, taxes, and God’s faithfulness. No amount of power, money, or possessions can guarantee the future. God is the author of your future—and the future starts now. You don’t need a beachfront condo and a life of luxury as much as you need hope, healing, and love. Your neighbor needs them to. And in the economy of Grace, where God is in charge of the future, everyone will enjoy these gifts in abundance.