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"Abundance"

photo of Greg preachingSermon by Dr. Greg Knox Jones
on Luke 12:13-21
given August 5, 2007

What do you think has been the fastest-growing sector of the commercial real estate industry over the past 30 years? The self-storage industry. We Americans have so many possessions that we cannot fit them all into our houses, garages and sheds. So, there are now more than 51,000 self storage facilities across the country. It surely makes Christ weep to know that last year alone, we spent over $22 billion just to store all of our extra stuff. (1)

And the trend is heading in the wrong direction. Despite the fact that most people will readily admit that they have far too many possessions, the number of households needing to offload some of their things into storage units is rising. In 1995, 1 in 17 American households rented a storage unit; today it’s 1 in 10.(2) Keep in mind this is despite the fact that the size of an average house has increased 50% in the past 30 years. (3)

When you consider what Jesus taught about wealth and possessions, and then compare it with the consumer culture in which we live, the disconnect is so astounding, that you have to wonder how anyone could even begin to think that this is a Christian nation. Tony Campolo, who spoke here last month, writes: “We exhaust ourselves and all of our resources in buying what the system is ceaselessly trying to sell us, most of which we do not need. Advertising lures us into believing that our ultimate desires will be gratified by the purchase of (more) goods. So effective are the seductive allurements, that we have allowed materialism to become our reason to exist.” (4)

Certainly advertisers never cease to blare the message: “You will be happy if you are wealthy. Life will be grand if you have more possessions.” And we are enticed by the stories that feature “30 year-old multimillionaires who have achieved their college goal of amassing a fortune within a decade of graduation. Rarely do journalists who revel in the rich ask whether such a goal is commendable; (rarely do they ask) at what psychological or spiritual cost it was achieved; (rarely do they ask) if immoral means were used (to amass their wealth); (and rarely do they ask what good will be done with all of this wealth.” (5)

Just a week ago in a casual conversation, someone was telling me about three young Wilmingtonians who built up a very successful business, and when they turned 40, they were bought out for millions. It sounded like what many of us call the American dream. But within five years of attaining their great wealth, two of three had divorced, their families pulled apart.

This morning we continue to move our way through the Gospel of Luke, and we encounter a powerful tale of what wealth can do to people. A man approaches Jesus and asks him to serve as an arbitrator in a family squabble. Apparently, the man’s father has died and his older brother has laid claim to the family inheritance. The younger brother wants the older brother to split it with him, and calls upon Jesus to serve as a referee.

It is easy to relate to this story. Most of us know families who have argued over who gets the furniture and who gets the silver. Families can be torn apart over an inheritance; siblings can cease speaking to each other. The desire for material possessions can set people at odds and destroy relationships.

It is rather surprising how Jesus responds to the man’s request. He does not offer to help solve the dispute. Instead, he issues a warning. He says, “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”

The younger brother believed that the dispute involved what was just. However, Jesus perceived that there was something deadly about to ensnare the man in its grip. Jesus said it was better to lose out on the inheritance than to fall into the trap of thinking that an abundant life can be found in wealth and material possessions. (6)

He then illustrates his point by telling a parable about a wealthy man who became even richer when his crops produced a banner harvest. The man had prepared for a substantial yield from his crops, but his bounty exceeded his wildest expectations. In fact, it was greater than his barns could contain. He pondered his unexpected windfall and how to manage his problem. He said, “I know what I’ll do. I will get rid of these barns and build much larger ones. Then I can store the entire harvest, and I can kick back and take it easy. I won’t need to work anymore. I can just eat, drink, and be merry.”

The man’s self-centeredness is revealed in the frequency of the use of the possessive pronoun. My crops, my barns, my grain, my goods, and finally my soul...There’s no one else in the story - just the man and his possessions - until God speaks to him. No sooner has the man envisioned his perfect future than God declares what the future actually holds for him. (7) “You fool!” God says, “This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” And Jesus ends the parable, saying, “So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”

When I was young, my picture of greed was a miserly old man sitting at his table stacking his coins and counting his money. Today, the image has been completely transformed. Greed is no longer the tight old man alone with his money. Instead, it is the celebrity who is admired by the masses. It is the Hollywood actor and his 10 million dollar home. It is Donald Trump and his high-rise hotels and casinos. “What used to be vice, now parades glamorously as virtue.”(8)

The Christian faith does not claim that wealth is evil. It says that it is dangerous, because its lure is so powerful. We need money to purchase our food and our homes. We must have money to buy clothing and cars. We need money for many things in life, but the desire for more and more of it causes people to lose their moral bearings. It causes people to become deceptive, to cut themselves off from others, to pursue the wrong goals in life and to completely lose their perspective.

We hear that a professional athlete is offered five million dollars to play football for one season. He gets offended and goes to arbitration because he thinks he should paid 10 million.

Wealth is not bad in itself, but the desire for more of it can become destructive. If we can keep wealth in the proper perspective, it’s not a problem. However, it is nearly impossible to keep it in a reasonable perspective because its power to tempt is so potent. Without ever recognizing it, acquiring wealth can become our primary objective in life. It is constantly maneuvering for position to become the center around which we organize our lives.

Haven’t all of us, at one time or another, dreamt of becoming wealthy? Some of us who do not even play the lottery, dream of winning it. Most of us have imagined inheriting a grand fortune. And surely all of us think that becoming rich might change other people, but it would never change us. “I can handle it, God. Give me a shot at it.”(9)

Scholar Fred Craddock reminds us that in this passage, “there is no mention of graft or theft, nothing about the mistreatment of workers, or any criminal act. The text does not say that it’s wrong if our investments yield good returns or that it is wrong to have nice things. The problem comes when we expect our wealth to sustain us, to provide lasting security and to create for us a rich life.”(10) The man’s preoccupation with his wealth and securing his future cut him off from others. And it’s our tie with others, those we know and those who need us, that makes life rich.

The story goads us to ponder this question: What is a life of abundance? Albert Einstein pointed us in the right direction when he said, “What really counts, cannot be counted.”

Our culture defines abundance in terms of financial wealth and possessions. The message is constantly drilled into our heads that happiness comes from filling up our houses, our garages and our storage units. Jesus defines abundance in very different terms. He says it derives not from getting, but from giving. For Jesus, abundance means being generous to those in need.

A few chapters after this morning’s lesson, Luke tells the story of a wealthy man named Zacchaeus. When Jesus goes to stay at the home of Zacchaeus, he does not condemn him for his wealth. But he says that it is not until he gives away a portion of his wealth to care for the poor that a life of abundance comes to him.

A man with a lucrative law practice decided to take the words of Jesus seriously, and so he gave up his large income to spend his life helping poor people obtain decent housing. One day his wealthy brother confronted him and said, “Look at what you’re doing with your life.” And then he went on to say, “Don’t get me wrong. I believe in being a Christian, up to a point.” (11) I’m afraid that’s what most of us believe - or at least how most of us live. We believe in being a Christian, but only up to a point.

Contrary to what we constantly hear in our culture, one’s life does not consist of the abundance of possessions. It consists of the abundance of blessings. And we cannot experience the abundance of blessings if we cling to our possessions too tightly. In the end, it probably comes down to this: “It’s not a matter of how much wealth we have, but of how much our wealth has us.” (12)

NOTES

  1. The Self Storage Association’s “Self Storage Industry Fact Sheet,” at www.selfstorage.org
  2. Ibid.
  3. M. P. Dunleavey, “Storage Units: America’s Creeping Menace,” on the MSN Money website, September 30, 2002.
  4. Tony Campolo, Letters to a Young Evangelical, (New York: Perseus Books Group, 2006), p.227.
  5. Solomon Schimmel, The Seven Deadly Sins, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), p.165.
  6. G. B. Caird, Luke, (Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1972), p.163.
  7. Alan Culpepper, The New Interpreter’s Bible: Luke, (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995), p.256.
  8. Stephen Shoemaker, The Jekyll and Hyde Syndrome, (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1987), p.74.
  9. William R. White, Fatal Attractions, (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1992), p.49.
  10. Carol J. Allen, “Be Rich Toward God,” August 19, 2001.
  11. Tony Campolo, Letters to a Young Evangelical, p. 235.
  12. Richard Spencer, “Exegesis,” Lectionary Homiletics, August - September, 2007

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