Sermon for Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

Sermon for Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

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And Jesus said to them, “Take care and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Please be seated. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Well, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we’re in that part of the church year where we hear about and we really want to reflect on and meditate on and think on what the sanctified life of the Christian looks like, what it ought to look like. Maybe, I think, a quick reminder about why we use green for the color of the season of Pentecost, because it’s symbolic of growing and living. And as we progress through the rest of this season, we will indeed hear about how we are to grow and live in the Christian life and faith.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll hear Jesus teach about what must be given up to truly become one of his disciples, how we are to humble ourselves in service to one another, how we are to be good stewards of all the blessings that we receive. Next week in particular, we’ll hear about Jesus teaching about anxiety and worry over things and how we are not to worry about even the basic things that we need for life. And that’s always easier said than done.

So we might ask ourselves in this context then, what is it that we worry most about in life? And I know there’s a long list for some of you, and there’s plenty of options to choose from: your health, your job, your personal relationships, whether or not artificial intelligence is going to take over the world. So we have plenty of things to be obsessed about and worry about.

And we do all, it seems, worry at one time or another about money and possessions. I think when we’re young, we really are looking forward to that day when we have enough to be content and kind of kick back and relax and retire. But then when we’re old, we start to worry about whether or not we hope that we will have enough to get by on, that we will have enough to even live out our remaining years comfortably. And so then somewhere in between, I think really is this time when we maybe are most vulnerable to discontent and worry.

And as if we need any kind of help with worry, we have those who come along and want to compound our fear and our anxiety. Drive up and down the road, you see the billboards for banks. We’ve got this higher interest rate available for you. You see the ads, the commodity hawkers are saying, “You should buy gold because it’s the only thing that’s real.” Or “You should invest in cryptocurrency because you know all the banks are going to fail,” or whatever other prediction of doom and gloom there is.

Speaking of billboards, that billboard that I pass on 183 every day that has the Powerball jackpot amount, promising millions. I recall the original slogan for the Texas lottery was, “You can’t win if you don’t play.” And that makes it sound like a game. It’s just a game. And so we have all these opportunities there in front of us to be reminded of what we don’t have or how we can even protect and increase what we do have.

And so the world wants us to worry and fret about all of this because, after all, there’s money to be made in that. St. Luke this morning tells us about these two different men, these guys who are in quite different situations, financial circumstances, especially when it comes to their possessions, this latter man being the main character in this parable, one of Jesus’ many parables.

But this first man, he’s quite real. He’s there among this throng of people who seem to gather anywhere Jesus is teaching. And he’s the one who calls out then to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide my inheritance with me.” Now, we don’t know who this guy is, and we have to wonder if maybe he did even make himself known to Jesus or if he was just kind of calling from the crowd, hoping he wouldn’t be seen, selfish guy that he is. And we don’t know his backstory.

We don’t know if this man has actually been cheated out of part of his inheritance or if he’s even entitled to any inheritance. Maybe he didn’t get what he thought he was owed, or maybe he’s just the younger brother, and the older brother was the heir. Either way, Jesus, it’s kind of irrelevant to him, and, yeah, of course, this guy graciously gives him the title of teacher, maybe kind of butter him up a little bit, because he perceives that he has some kind of earthly authority.

And Jesus says, however, that he is far more than just some ordinary rabbi or just a judge with the power to settle disputes. And he says as much to the guy when he says, “Man, who made me the judge or arbitrator over you?” He’s not about to get involved in earthly disputes and matters, and this had to have taken the wind right out of this guy’s sails because he’s not even going to get an answer, much less the answer he wanted.

And supposedly, you think maybe the crowd’s thinking this guy, what an idiot that he was to ask this question, that he was to demand this. But the thoughts in the hearts of those in the crowd aren’t any different because they’re corrupted by sin too. So as Jesus does, he decides to teach to the crowd. He turns to them because he knows their thoughts and he knows their hearts. And he’s laying this problem then before them: covetousness.

And he’s going to give this parable as an explanation of what that looks like. Covetousness is like any other sin. It begins in the heart. It starts with an attachment to and an affection for worldly possessions, but as we will see, if not kept in check, it can result in all sorts of other bad things. And this is why Jesus is teaching about it.

But this rich man, who by the way isn’t named, doesn’t deserve a name, apparently, has realized this windfall in this yield of his crop, and he doesn’t even have enough room to store it all. Oh, what a great problem to have. This guy doesn’t intend to pass it along to anyone else. He doesn’t want to share any of it.

And we get a clue as to this man’s selfishness in his words, in his arrogant, egotistical words. He’s talking to himself. “What shall I do? I have nowhere to store my crops. I will do this: I will tear down my barns. I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘There’s not room for anyone else in this decision.'” And so, God turns his words around on him. “Fool, this night your soul is required of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?”

For indeed he would leave it all behind, whether he is ready to or not. He’s exchanging his possessions and everything he has, his property, for his soul. And so these many years that he talked about that he thinks he has to relax, eat, drink, and be merry will vanish in the instant of his unexpected and untimely death, as his soul is then unwillingly brought to judgment.

And everything that he has rightfully and honestly, by his own toil, obtained, but also by the blessings of God, will go to someone else. It is all, as Solomon says, vanity, a striving after wind. But this fool doesn’t have Solomon’s wisdom, and he doesn’t have Solomon’s faith to see that all he has accomplished, all he has accumulated, and all he is even preparing to do with it will come to nothing.

And it won’t give him what he needs most, and that is eternal life. So to use some accounting terms, this man’s assets have become his liabilities. And he’s labeled a fool because he has been fooled. He’s been fooled into thinking that he is secure, that he can just kick back and relax.

So the parable of the rich fool begs the question: what did he intend to do with these ample goods? Much like the man from the crowd, we don’t know who this rich fool is. Was he married? Did he have children or other family? Did he have a plan for what would happen to all this stuff of his when he dies? Because on the surface, it appears the only plan he has was he was going to spend the rest of his life enjoying all of it by himself.

And this, I think, is an opportunity for us to talk about inheritance some, because it is the question of what is owed that really started this entire conversation. And it prompted the parable as the man in the crowd wanted what he thought was his share of what was entitled to him of his brother’s inheritance.

So inheritance is something that someone thinks that they are entitled to and has an expectation of receiving. But for the heir, there is always the reality of what they expect and what they get. And for the one who is leaving something behind as an inheritance, there’s the consideration of, well, what should I leave? And to whom? What should I not leave? And this causes this resentment that we see in the guy in the crowd. And some then decide to just not leave anything.

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen this bumper sticker on the back of, it’s usually on a big RV, and it says, “We’re spending our kids’ inheritance.” And that’s funny, but maybe it’s true. The one that’s leaving everything behind thinks that someone, probably their heir, is going to squander everything. So it’s best that I just do something with it. Maybe I’ll just blow through it all, or I’ll leave it to something else.

And Solomon this morning laments that what his toil would come to was just that. That all he worked for would be left to another, to the man who comes after me, knowing not whether that man, those men, will be wise or foolish. Spoiler alert, they were fools.

Now, we want to be clear and say that there is nothing wrong with having money and possessions. Abraham was wealthy. Solomon, we see, we know, was wealthy. Joseph of Arimathea, he was the rich man who gave everything necessary to bury Christ. But we know that there are blessings that come to both the good and the wicked. And so money and wealth aren’t the problem in and of themselves. It’s our attitude toward them.

It’s our desire to be judged by what we have accumulated. And so it’s one thing what we don’t have that is the big problem. It is this sin of covetousness, as Jesus tells this crowd, and it is our own commandments from God that guide us. Remember, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house or his wife or his maidservant or his ox or donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

It’s what Paul writes about in this epistle today. This word he uses, it’s not there, but it’s called “planexia.” It is an insatiable desire to have what is rightfully someone else’s. So covetousness is not just for money; it is for the things of others. And that’s where we can fall into other sin.

To those commandments, we have this explanation. We should fear and love God so that we do not scheme to get our neighbor’s inheritance or house, so that we do not entice or force away our neighbor’s wife, workers, or animals. Because a desire for money can lead to cheating and theft. A desire for honor and fame can lead to evil ambition. A desire for power can lead to tyranny. A desire for someone else can lead to sexual sin. A desire for revenge and justice can lead, yes, to murder.

So then the sins of our heart become sins committed by our hands. And so we must, as Christ says, always guard our hearts first. And as Paul says, we must crucify our flesh because our life is now hidden in Christ. Right? So the parables are good because they make us think. They make us think because we are able to see the consequence of sin, but not just that, how we are now able to live as Christians, to live this life of love and service to one another.

And the commandments are good, for they protect the gifts which the Lord has given not just to us, but to our neighbors. And in keeping the commandments, we serve and love our neighbor by letting him keep what is his, rightfully his. And we are also able to put ourselves into these parables so we may consider these things, especially in these coming weeks, as Christ is teaching us about how we are to view our earthly lives with our eyes on the coming life to come, the coming judgment, the world to come.

And so we do desire to live a sanctified life and a holy life, and the Lord promises to send us the Holy Spirit to indeed sanctify us in this. Like Pastor Wolf Miller said last week, we pray for the Holy Spirit to come to us and to give us peace and contentment, to guard us, again, as Christ says, to guard us in our hearts against all covetousness.

So the world wants you to think that you need more and that you even deserve more than you have. But if you don’t have all you want, then be thankful for what you have. And if your wealth and possessions cause you to worry, to have worry and anxiety, then there is a remedy for that. Begin to give it away. Make do with less. Share with your neighbor. Not just from your abundance of possessions, but from your abundance of faith.

Because we have everything we need in Christ, and as we know, he gave everything that he had for us. And he has divided his inheritance among us. And yes, Christ will come as judge, not to judge the things of the world and to decide who gets what and who is owed what and what is equitable. No, he will come to judge the world and who will be an heir of the kingdom of God.

And so we rejoice that we will inherit what is rightfully ours, not because we have built up a barn or storehouses and we’ve put in them a treasure of works or goodness, because Christ has paid the ransom for our lives. And we too can eat, drink, and be merry. We heard this from Solomon today, that he confesses that you can find enjoyment in the toil of your hands because it comes from God’s hand.

And so we find our relaxation and our rest in the Word of God, in his holy house here on the Sabbath. And we get to eat. We eat the bread, his body broken for us. We get to drink. We drink the wine, his holy blood shed for us, poured out for us. And we get to relax. Amen. And rejoice, knowing that in these things we have peace, redemption, comfort, and forgiveness.

And so we are then rich toward God as we praise and acknowledge him as the giver of all good things and by receiving his part in his peace and salvation. And so just as our things, our earthly possessions, don’t really belong to us, our souls don’t belong to us either. For as the hymn said, “All depends on our possessing, God’s abundant grace and blessing.”

So they say money can’t buy happiness, and it’s true. And it certainly can’t purchase salvation, for that was only bought and paid for by the most valuable thing on earth, the blood of Christ shed for the sin of the world. And as Jesus says, our life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions, but in our promise of the life to come in him. Amen.

Now the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.