Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.”  But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?”  And 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.”  Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly.  And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’  Then 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.  And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’  But 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?’  So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” Luke 12:13-21

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.” (Mahatma Gandhi)

I love it when the Bible hits at realities that continue to be true today – like the person who says to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.”  If we allow ourselves to think that the Bible is irrelevant to our situations today, texts like this should snap us back into reality. In other words, money, and the arguments that it can spark between family members was, is and continues to be a problem for us today. Also, money and the love of money can spark disagreements within the church and can be a problem for us today as well.  Jesus says, “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” I would say that the bible speaks against the bumper sticker that reads, “The person who dies with the most toys wins.”  The idea is that if we focus our lives on the accumulation of things rather than spreading G-d’s love, then we have missed the mark. Surely we all need things in order to eat, to live and to protect ourselves. But we are not to hoard items. We are to called to give things, to share out of our abundance and out of our lack as well. All that we have is a gift from G-d – not necessarily a mark for how blessed we are – for many accumulate great wealth and possessions outside of the realm of G-d’s blessings. 

Be rich in G-d – so that if this very night your life is demanded of you, then you will have accumulated the wealth that stores us treasures in heaven.

Pastor Dave