Storytime with Jesus: The Rich Fool

When You Win Big

Imagine what it would be like to watch the numbers show up on your television as you check to see if the ticket you ought could win you $1.5 Billion! As that last number turns up and you know you won, imagine the shock. How would you feel?

What would you do with all the money? List all the options: new house; new car; pay off loans; huge gifts for family; some fun toys; vacations? Would you quit your job? What would you do if you were still young and had no reason to work? Would you donate to charities? (Ten percent to First Baptist, right?)

Winning the lottery is like putting your heart on full display. What you do with your money tells everything about who you are and what you value.

Recently a guy told me about his Christmas party for work – a bunch of rough construction workers. They all received their Christmas bonuses at the party. They had a big poker game right there after dinner, and each one of them gambled away that bonus – except the guy who was telling the story. He won, and the rest of the night they made him buy drinks for everyone since he was the winner. He spent over $1500 at the bar by the end of the night. In one evening, none of them had any money from their bonus, but just a night of binge drinking and wild partying.

I’m sure you see how that story demonstrates this point: What you do with your money tells everything about who you are and what you value. That’s the bottom line of today’s message. I don’t usually lead with the bottom line, but there it is.

Jesus says as much when He says in Luke 12:34 – For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. What you desire – your treasure – will drive your heart, which controls how you live and how you spend your money. Desire dictates everything.

As we turn to today’s parable in Luke 12, I will show you how your desires, your values, and your view of your entire life are demonstrated by how you spend your money. This is especially true if someone comes into a lot of money at one time as in the Parable of the Rich Fool.

Parable of the Rich Fool

This parable has a bit of a back story before Jesus breaks into His story time.

Luke 12:13 – 14 – ¹³Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 

¹⁴Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 

Here’s the situation as it unfolds: it was common for people to ask their rabbi to be a mediator in a disagreement between them. That’s what is likely happening here. While the text doesn’t give the details, this is likely a complaint from a younger brother who wants his older brother to split an inheritance evenly instead of taking a double share because he was the older brother. Jesus stays out of the weeds of this situation. Instead He gives a warning that applies to both brothers as much as to every other person in the audience both then and today.

Luke 12:15 ¹⁵Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” 

The Old Testament, especially the book of Proverbs, is filled with teaching about greed. It was well established among the Jews that dishonest gain and the love of money were shameful and brought destruction. Yet humanity has always struggled with this issue of greed. That’s why greed is so often part of the sin lists the Apostle Paul mentions in his letters to the New Testament churches. Greed is one of the things people need to avoid!

Jesus also spoke about greed and how to use one’s money more than any other topic He preached about. Remember – as we already know – He is the one who pointed out the connection between “your treasure” (your money) and “your heart.”

After warning about greed, Jesus follows with the positive statement He wants people to understand. (This can be an antidote to greed if properly understood.) ”Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

The popular phrase “He who dies with the most toys wins” may fit a consumerist American society, but it never fits within the teaching of Jesus.

I’m learning about an abundance of possessions because having a farm requires me to acquire some new stuff. And I’m learning that more stuff means more costs! More machines break and rust. I lose tools and buy replacements only find the original tool under a pile of stuff. Believe me, having more stuff is in no way the key to my satisfaction!

Those of you who have lived a while are probably a bit more likely to agree with me than a younger person would be. I remember thinking, when I was younger, that all I needed was a little more. And when I made a little more, and bought what I thought was all I needed, I always wanted “a little more.” I still fall victim to this trap sometimes; but then, when I buy “a little more,” I’m not any more satisfied than I was before.

At least now I see this for the trap it is, even though I’m not always nimble enough to avoid it. Unfortunately, some people never recognize this impossible rat race of wanting more and more and thinking happiness is just one more purchase away.

Now we get to the story Jesus tells.

Luke 12:16-19 – ¹⁶And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. ¹⁷He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ 

¹⁸ Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. ¹⁹ And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ 

Jesus told parables the average person could relate to, and this one is no exception. Here in farm country, many of you know exactly what it’s like to have a bumper crop or one of those years when the pricing is just right at the sale barn, and you come away with a Great Year. (We all know what that means. TAXES!)

Even if you aren’t a farmer, perhaps you have come into some inheritance money or earned a large bonus or sold some property for a big profit. In all these ways, we are just like the guy in this parable – except maybe he hit it even bigger. Based on his actions, it seems that he essentially “won the lottery” with this crop, and he made a choice. He put it all into savings in the form of building bigger barns so he would never have to work again.

Just like our discussion earlier about what you would do if you won the lottery, we see a guy who wins, and then every decision he makes has him at the center. “This is what I’LL do. I’LL tear down. I’LL build bigger. I’LL store surplus. I’LL take life easy.” After receiving an incredible blessing he didn’t do anything special to earn, he is entirely “Me” centered. This is at the heart of what it means to be greedy. Do you see how he feels no concern or responsibility for anyone else? That’s the essence of greed: keeping resources God brings you way for yourself.

Unfortunately, in Jesus’s story, life doesn’t go quite how this man expected.

Luke 12:20-21 – ²⁰“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ ²¹This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

While this newly rich fool thought his life would forever be one of ease, his life was taken away in a moment. Just like all of us, this man had no guarantee of a long life. The money he thought would transform his future made no difference whatsoever except that now he had to answer for how he stewarded the blessings from God. Instead of God seeing a generous spirit, he saw a heart of greed. The man became self-centered, which led to his self-destruction. He had become rich in the eyes of the world, but he never invested any of his riches in the bank of God.

Sadly, this story is as old as time. Gamblers keep gambling with their winnings until they are losers. Lottery winners find themselves completely broke within a few short years of hitting it big. Professional athletes squander the millions they made during their playing days.

This isn’t a story for everyone with wealth, but for those who yield to the allure of treasures the world offers, it often leads them down dark paths. Money is blown on sex, drugs, gambling, clothes, toys, comforts and trips, but is never invested in needy people or in the kingdom of God.

Here’s a connection I find important. In this story, Jesus depicts exactly what He clearly shared earlier in Luke’s Gospel.

Luke 9:25 – ²⁵ “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very soul?”

Wealth, Greed, and Stewardship

This is an important topic because, as we have seen, it’s extremely easy to allow your love of money to lead you to eternal destruction. The temptation to use all the blessings of God on yourself – and your selfish desires – pulls you away from God and turns your heart to an empty, materialistic way of life.

Every time I talk about money I feel like I need to remind everyone that “money, by itself, is only a tool. Money is neutral.

“Wealth” occurs when you happen to have more money to manage in your life – but from whose perspective? To people in a third-world country, every one of us who has electricity and running water is wealthy. Yet, compared to the people who live in gated communities on golf courses, few of us are wealthy.

That’s why wealth is not seen as sinful in the Bible. Wealth can’t be easily defined from one culture to another or one area to the next. According to the Bible, Abraham and Job were wealthy, and David and Solomon made the Kingdom of Israel very wealthy. In the New Testament, one of the gifts of the Spirit is generosity – how a person uses their wealth. Even in this parable of the Rich Fool, there was nothing wrong with the fact that this man had an incredible harvest. Having more money than the people around you isn’t a sin; it’s an opportunity.

Luke 9:25 does not prohibit wealth. Yet Jesus DOES clearly warn His hearers concerning the dangerous eternal implications of wealth with its seductive tendency toward complacency, self-sufficiency and jealousy.

Wealth allows you to turn inward toward greed or outward toward generosity. You have the choice to keep an open-handed attitude, stewarding God’s money for God’s glory, or to allow greed to clench your fists tightly around the money as if it is your own. The greedy heart gives you the feeling that you are responsible for what you have, so it’s fair to use it on yourself.

A heart of generosity, however, recognizes that everything you have comes from God. It’s His, so you use whatever wealth He blesses you with for the betterment of others. This doesn’t mean every one of us is commanded to sell everything we have and give it to the poor, although some people are called by God to do that.

I’ll be honest – I often have wrestled with exactly how God wants me to manage His money in my life. Is it all right to save for retirement, or is that building bigger barns? Is it all right to give money to your kids, or must all your money go to the guy asking for money at the stoplight in Des Moines? Can I buy a new house or a new car, or is anything actually nice and new a sin to own?

Following are some very practical ways to look at managing your finances in a way that pleases God.

Pray and ask God how HE wants you to use the wealth He blesses you with. If you feel really guilty about some expense, that might be the Spirit’s conviction that you have allowed your treasure to move from God to something in this world and He’s asking you to correct it. If so, ask God to forgive you of your greed and replace it with a generous heart.

Seek to manage your wealth wisely for the future, seeking a good return on investments (like in the story of the talents), but not for the purpose of living an easy, work-free life like this rich fool.

For example, Michelle and I bought a new SUV this summer. I didn’t feel guilty about spending more on a new car rather than a used one. We weren’t seeking the shiniest, fanciest car to show off. We drive a lot of miles – on gravel – and with used car prices sky high, we felt like a new car was actually the best investment for the long term.

Plan for the future, but not at the expense of investing in the Kingdom of God today. You know you have today; tomorrow is not a guarantee. That means you can’t keep saying, as some people do, “I’ll give to the church or to charities when I make a little bit more.” That day may never come. Begin your eternal investment account today.

There are no hard and fast rules about exactly what to do with your money. That would be impossible, given the variation between times and cultures. Instead, everything is about where your heart is as you decide how to spend your money.

The fundamental test for where your heart is in relationship to money is whether you use your wealth as a tool to benefit God and others, or as a means to fulfill your own selfish desires. Remember: how much money is in your wallet is not nearly as important as how you use what’s in your wallet.

Conclusion

This parable calls for self-examination. How do I feel about what God has given to me? Is it mine? Am I a steward of what has come my way? Am I generous? Do I take the things God has given to me and store them up for my own purposes? Do I seek to grab what others have?

Almost every single day, every single one of us makes decisions about how to spend our money, and so this is a topic that each of us needs to wrestle with.

Some of you are older and have well-established patterns of how you manage your money. Some of you are younger and are still figuring it out. If you are in the younger category, I encourage you strongly to begin investing in your eternal account today. Choose to live generously. Support your church. Give to those in need. Choose an open-handed approach to life.

The sooner you learn to live with less (with a slightly smaller barn) but rich toward God, the easier it will be to continue being generous as your income increases and God trusts you with more. Remember from last week that the man who made a five-talent return on the original talents was given even more.

It’s all God’s anyway. Once you truly believe that about every dollar in your pocket, it will transform how you spend each dollar.