Consumption Assumption

Luke 12:13-21

October 23, 2022 • Mount Pleasant UMC

Okay, well, if you haven’t been paying attention for some reason, our topic for the next few weeks is money. And yes, I know, some people think (and often say loudly) that the only thing the church ever talks about is money. But I haven’t preached a sermon series directly about financial stewardship and our relationship with money since 2018, so we do talk about things other than money. But in the midst of a difficult and challenging economy, which has without a doubt affected this church, we need to take some time to discuss this topic, and we’re going to do it by asking this question: what would money say if it could talk to us? There are probably a lot of things it would say, and we’ll hear some of them expressed humorously in the videos each week, but we’re going to drill down on four things in particular money would say if it could talk, and the first is this: “I can add meaning to life, but I’m not the meaning of life.”

Undoubtedly, you’ve heard the saying or you’ve seen the bumper sticker that says, “The one who dies with the most toys wins.” Most people don’t even question the assumption underlying that statement; of course, our American culture says, the one who has the most is the winner, the important person, the one we all look up to and want to be like. We never stop long enough to ask the question: “Wins what?” Now, I can’t prove it, but I think the man who approached Jesus in our Scripture reading today had this sticker on the back of his chariot. His souped-up, gold-plated, one-of-a-kind horse-drawn chariot. Okay, maybe he didn’t have a chariot, and if he did it probably didn’t have any bumper stickers on it (or bumpers, for that matter), but he certainly seems to be living by this motto. Jesus is teaching a crowd. In fact, Luke says there are so many people they were trampling each other (12:1), so picture Black Friday when the TVs are on sale. And in that craziness, this man just calls a question out of the crowd. Jesus hasn’t even said he’s taking questions yet, but this man has an urgent request: “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me” (12:13).

There are a lot of things I wish we knew about this situation, but we do know that in first-century Jewish inheritance practices, the oldest would get a double portion of any inheritance (cf. Keener, Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, pg. 223). So, if there were three sons (and it was only sons; daughters were expected to be married into another family), the father’s estate would be divided into four pieces. The oldest would get two portions, and the other two would get one each. Now it could be that the man here is just asking to get his rightful portion (cf. Keener 223), but what I suspect is happening in this story is that this man (who is probably not the oldest) thinks the inheritance should be divided equally, that he should get an equal share, not just what he’s entitled to. Unfortunately Jewish law is against him. So he comes to Jesus, because you would ask a rabbi, a religious teacher, to arbitrate family legal disputes (cf. Card, Luke: The Gospel of Amazement, pg. 159). And he doesn’t even try to hide what he expects Jesus to do. “Tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me” (12:13).

Now, whatever the man expected Jesus to say, it’s probably not what Jesus actually says: “Man, who appointed me a judge or arbiter between you?” (12:14). That’s only a slightly nicer way of saying, “I really don’t care; this is not my concern.” Or, “That sounds like a you problem, not a me problem.” He sort of ignores the man, but he does use this moment to teach his disciples. He turns immediately to his friends and says, “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions” (12:15). Then to underscore his point, he tells a story about a rich man whose farm produces way too much produce. Rather than sharing what he has, the man makes plans to tear down his existing barns and build bigger ones to store his abundance. Then he will be able to “eat, drink and be merry” (12:19). Unfortunately for him, he is going to die that very night, and what he has accumulated won’t save him. “You fool,” God says to him. “Who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” (12:20). And then comes the punch line. “This,” Jesus says, “is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God” (12:21).

Okay, so not a funny joke sort of punch line. And there’s a lot to unpack there about money and our relationship with it. So I’m wondering how money was handled or how it was treated in your home when you were growing up. Maybe for some of you, it was an issue of fear. Too much month at the end of the money. Being constantly behind on your bills. For some others, money wasn’t even a thought. There was always enough. Maybe not extravagance. Maybe you didn’t have everything you wanted, but you had everything you needed. For some, conversations about money were constant, and for others, you never heard much about it, never learned much about how to handle it. And above all of that, a lot of us learned that there is a tense relationship between money and God. I know, for me, I remember giving back to God being a priority for my parents. I can still picture my dad, usually on Saturday night, writing out a check and putting it in the envelope (remember church giving envelopes?), ready for Sunday morning. As far as I know, there was never a discussion about whether or not we should give to God; it was just assumed. For others, the assumption was the opposite. Some of the things I’ve heard throughout 30 years of ministry: “God doesn’t belong in my bank account” and “It’s nobody’s business whether I give or how much I give.” That last one is usually spoken around the time we ask everyone to fill out pledge cards. But here’s my point: the things we learned about money and possessions early in life tend to stick and shape our adult lives, for better and for worse.

The man in Jesus’ parable had learned somewhere along the way at least two things. First, he learned that more is better. And along with that he had learned that you keep everything you have. Notice that Jesus doesn’t give him a name; he is just a “certain rich man.” He is defined by his wealth; he is known by what he has, what he owns. Only, as the story unfolds, we learn that what he has doesn't really belong to him.

This man in the parable suffers from greed, or as one commentator describes it, “possessionitis” (Bock, Luke, pg. 224), a disease that often manifests itself when an inheritance is in question. Greed, one dictionary says, is “an excessive desire to acquire or possess more than what one needs or deserves, especially with respect to material wealth.” Andy Stanley says it this way: “Greed is the assumption that it’s all for my consumption” (If Money Talked, pg. 11). Greed is the desire that, if we let it, will root deep down inside us and make us want to store up things, accumulate more and more and more. It is “one of the greatest obstacles to spiritual growth” (Bock 224). That’s why Jesus says we only have two options, really. We can be like the man in the parable and “store up things,” or we can be “rich toward God” (12:21). If money talked, it would tell us that it is able to add meaning to your life, but it is not the meaning of life. 

We’ve all experienced the pain of the current economy over the past year or so. It’s not hard to remember two years ago, when the inflation rate was 1.4% compared to today when it is hovering around 8.2%. The Labor Department tries to convince us that’s actually good news, because it was 8.5% just a couple of months ago, but our wallets don’t feel that good about it, do they? I have to confess, I don’t really understand economics, but I do get rising prices. That’s all inflation is, really. It’s a measure of how much less your dollar will buy today than it would buy, say, a month ago or a year ago or even ten years ago. The higher the inflation rate, the faster prices are going up. And it forces us to reconsider and possibly change our priorities. If I can’t buy as much with the dollar I have today as I could have yesterday, I have to decide what it is that matters most to me, like in the video. If the man wanted to buy the boat, Money tells him he’s going to have to probably give up food, shelter and water. And while that’s funny, it’s also the reality a lot of people are facing today in 8.2% inflation.

And so, the holiday season is just around the corner, and researchers are telling us that even in these challenging economic times, we are still planning to spend more than before on gifts, decorations and food between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s estimated that the average American adult will spend $1,041 each, over half of that just on gifts. Overall, retailers are anticipating a 4-6% increase in spending this year, even with inflation towering over us. Between November and January, if current trends persist, we will spend a total of $1.47 trillion (https://risnews.com/holiday-retail-forecasts-and-predictions-2022). There are a lot of reasons people are giving for the increase. We’re less wary of Covid these day. We have better access to websites that sell stuff. It’s anticipated there will be lots of bargains, and you can’t pass up a bargain. But honestly, the simple reason is greed. We want more stuff. I mean, come on, how many times have you wandered down the aisle at Walmart looking for something for the person who has everything because we don’t have the courage to just stop the madness? We think we have to show how much we care for someone by buying them something, and we’ll even go in more debt to do it. And Jesus says, “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God” (12:21).

I wonder if the reason Jesus is so harsh with this man in the crowd is because he’s been teaching on what it means to follow him and all this man is concerned about is his inheritance. Stuff. Things. Jesus has been trying to help his disciples anticipate what will come in the next few years—actually for the whole of human history from that point onward. In the first part of Luke 12, he’s talking about a sharp division that will exist between the world and the followers of Jesus. He’s challenging them to take a stand. They either have to be on his side or on the world’s side. In fact, he goes so far as to say that anyone who disowns him, who denies they know him, will be disowned by God. In today’s world, you can just do and believe whatever you want and it’s all okay. But that’s not Jesus, and I’ve been thinking a lot lately about this question: what if Jesus really meant what he said? What if he was serious when he told the disciples and us to not fear the world but instead be more concerned about eternity (cf. 12:4-5)? So he’s drawing this sharp line of division, and then someone cries out, “Rabbi, help me get the money I think I deserve!” I picture Jesus just shaking his head. Did this man not hear anything he’s been talking about? No, because’s he has given in to the consumption assumption, that life is all about “me” and “my stuff.”

Is that what life is all about? Is accumulating stuff the most important thing? Does the one with the most toys really win? Or, to ask it another way, is money the meaning of life? What happens when we become like this man, or like the rich man in Jesus’ parable? For one, we treat people as pawns. Rather than investing in relationships, we are only interested in others for what they can do or give to us. I knew a woman who basically disowned her whole family because everything in her life was about getting her inheritance. Had she simply invested in relationships, had she sat down and talked with her family, it might have so much different. But instead she spent all of her time scheming and planning and plotting up until the day both of her parents were gone. At that point, there was no more time to invest in relationships and I’m not sure she knew how to do it anyway. I knew another woman who lived like she had nothing, not because she actually had nothing but because her children had manipulated her into believing she had to store up all that she had for their inheritance. They didn’t want her spending anything. It was so sad, especially because she told me many times how heartbroken she was that they never came to see her. Still, until the day she died, she clung to the belief that she had to keep it all for them. People become pawns and relationships become unimportant when our priority is to “store up things.”

The other thing that happens is we forget who it is we worship. The Old Testament prophets and the New Testament letters are unified in referring to greed as “idolatry.” Paul, in his advice to his young protege Pastor Timothy, puts it this way: “Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.” And then, in an oft-misquoted verse, Paul says, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But you, man of God, flee from all this” (1 Timothy 6:9-11). It’s not money that’s evil by itself; it’s when money becomes our focus that it causes all sorts of sin and brokenness. Need evidence? Look around at our world. It’s all over the place. That’s why Jesus says, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24). And I remember being told that he was referring to a very narrow gate in Jerusalem that a camel had to kneel down and crawl through. No such gate has ever been found, which brings me back to my question: what if Jesus meant what he said? What if he’s comparing an actual camel to an actual needle? He doesn’t say it’s impossible for rich people to enter the kingdom. He says it’s hard because the lure of wealth quickly turns into idolatry, false worship, bowing down and giving our lives to the pursuit of something that is “not worthy of honor and that cannot deliver life’s true meaning” (Bock 225). What if Jesus meant what he said?

“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God” (12:21). It comes back to priorities; that’s what Jesus means by being “rich toward God.” Your life tells others what is most important. It’s not wrong to have stuff, to have money. It’s not a sin to be wealthy. But the question is: do you have money or does money have you? As one author put it, “The seeker of wealth ends up with an empty soul and an empty life” (Bock 226). Is life about accumulating more or is it about stewarding and sharing what you have? Being “rich toward God” in everything, not just in our finances, means we put him first and other things come in second, third and so on. We don’t live to consume; we live to worship, to serve, to walk humbly with our God (cf. Micah 6:8). We don’t live to accumulate, to just build more and bigger barns; we live to give ourselves away so that the world and our neighbors can be better. If money talked, it would say, “I can add meaning to your life, but I’m not the meaning of life.”

So, as we begin this series, I’m going to give you some homework. This week, I’m asking every one of us to go to the website on the screen (it’s also printed on your outline page and we will put a link to it on the Facebook page this week, but it’s really easy to remember): ifmoneytalked.com/quiz. You’ll find a “Money Quiz” there that is free to take, and the whole purpose is to clarify our relationship with money. When you get done, there are four possible outcomes, which will factor into where we go for the next few weeks. You might be “Living the Dream,” which means you and money get along well. You have a healthy, happy relationship. You understand yourself as a steward and are managing things well. Then there’s those who have a “Going Steady” relationship with money. It’s kind of up-and-down, but you’re moving forward. You spend and save wisely generally, and when you get off track you turn around quickly. A third relationship status is “It’s Complicated.” You’ve had good moments and really bad moments. Budgeting feels boring and hard and it’s just easier to spend whatever you want. And finally you might be “On the Rocks.” Money is a struggle, and it’s a painful topic, and you’re really not looking forward to the next few weeks here at church. It might even be that the stress around money is taking a toll on your health, or your marriage, and your security in life is determined by how much money you have in the bank. Now, you won’t be asked to share any of your answers to the money quiz, and none of us in the office will be able to see how you answer, so answer honestly. But the results you get will, in large part, shape how you hear the messages over the next few weeks. So while I can’t make you complete your homework, I’m doing everything short of begging you to take the quiz. And I’ll beg if that will help because the answers will help you in the next few weeks and, quite possibly, for longer than that.

If money talked, it would tell us, “I can add meaning to your life, but I’m not the meaning of life.” “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God” (21:12). Let’s pray.