To ground our thinking on the role
of trust and how it should make us distinctive from other people, I have chosen
the parable of the rich farmer in Luke 12:
13-21 as our scriptural text. The
scripture reading opens with Jesus teaching a crowd of people. As he is speaking, a man in the crowd asks,
“Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” Apparently this person is unhappy with the way
his older brother is executing their family estate. Jesus declines the invitation to arbitrate
between the two brothers. Based upon
what he says, it appears as though he senses that the man’s request is driven
by greed.
What Jesus says in declining the
invitation to arbitrate is this: “Take
care! Be on your guard against all kinds
of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”
(Luke 12: 15) To illustrate and drive
home this claim, Jesus follows up with a parable about a rich farmer. One season, the rich farmer’s crops produce
abundantly and his harvest is so great that he does not have room in his barns
to store the crops. The harvest exceeds
his calculations.`
This presents a huge problem for the farmer, who eventually decides to
tear down his barns and build much bigger ones.
The rich farmer thinks to himself, “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, and
be merry.” (Luke 12: 19)
For Jesus’ audience that day, the rich farmer’s wealth and the abundant
harvest would have been signs of God’s blessing and favor. Note that in the rich farmer’s response to
the bountiful harvest, he does not give God any credit or offer any thanks to
God. Neither does the rich farmer share
from his wealth with his community, especially those who are poor or
marginalized. Instead, the rich farmer
turns his back on God and his community.
He shuts everyone out of his life, so that there is nothing left,
except for the rich farmer and his possessions.
The rich farmer begins to trust in himself and his affluence, rather
than trusting in God. He becomes a
“practical atheist,” uttering platitudes about his allegiance to God, while
living as though there is no God.
This quickly elicits a harsh judgment from God: “You fool!
This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will
they be?” (Luke 12: 20) Jesus concludes his parable with this
observation, “So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are
not rich toward God.” (Luke 12: 21)
Throughout history, many persons
have put their trust and faith in the wrong thing. In Jesus’ parable, the rich farmer erroneously
puts his trust in his money and possessions.
Others have erroneously put their trust in political or economic power, their
fame, their intellect, their weapons, other people, or science and knowledge.
By contrast, what sets authentic Christians apart as unique and special is
their faith and trust in God--and God alone.
Come, join us this Sunday, as we explore what it means to put our faith
and trust completely in God. Our
church is located at the corner of Main and Dawson Streets in Meriden,
Kansas. Our classic worship service
starts at 10 am on Sunday mornings.
Everyone is welcome and accepted because
God loves us all.
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