Counterfeit
The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to
himself, “What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.” Then he said, “This
is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I
will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, ‘You have plenty
of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.
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?' This is how it
will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward
God. (Luke 12:16-21)
A
Monopoly champion is sitting in your
office this morning. The guy spends all day, every day slam-dunking the
competition, collecting houses, Park
Places, and make-believe money the way Solomon collected wives. He never
goes to jail, always passes Go, and
has permanent addresses on Pacific
and Pennsylvania avenues. No one has
more money than he does. And now he wants you to help him invest it. You are,
after all, a financial planner. You speak the language of stocks and annuities;
have ample experience with IRA’s, mutual funds, and securities. But all of your
experience didn't prepare you for his request. Yet there he sits in your
office, encircled by bags of pink cash and little plastic buildings.
"I have 314
Park Places, 244 Boardwalks, and enough Reading
Railroads to circle the globe ten times over." And you’re thinking, “Is
this guy for real?” But you do your best to be polite. "Seems you've
amassed quite a Monopoly
fortune." He crosses his arms and smiles. "Yeah, and I'm ready for
you to put it to work. It's time for me to sit back and take it easy. Let
someone else monopolize Monopoly for
a while." You take another look at his stacks of funny money and toy real
estate and abandon all tact. "Sir, you're crazy. Your currency has no
value. Outside of your game, it's worthless. I'm sorry to tell you this, but
you've made a foolish mistake." Strong words. But if that’s what you’re
thinking, you’re in God’s company: “Fool! You will die this very night. Then
who will get everything you worked for?” (Luke 12:20)
He seemed to be
a decent fellow. Sharp enough to turn a profit, savvy enough to enjoy a
windfall. For all we know he made his fortune honestly – he simply put his
God-given talents to making talents and he succeeded. We empathize with him,
because – truth be told – we want to learn from his success. Maybe he’s written
a book, like Bigger Barns for Retirement.
Or, gives seminars on how to “Recession-Proof Your Barn in Twelve Easy Steps."
Because doesn't the barn stuffer model responsible planning? And yet Jesus
crowns him with the pointy hat of the dunce. Where’d the guy mess up?
Jesus answers that
question by populating three sentences with a swarm of personal pronouns.
Reread the heart of the parable, noting the heart of the investor: And he thought to himself, saying, "What shall I do since I have no room
to store my crops?" So he said, "I will do this: I will
pull down my barns and build greater
ones, and there I will store all my crops and all my goods. And I will say
to my soul, 'Soul, you have many goods laid up for many
years; take your ease, eat, drink,
and be merry.'" (vv. 18-19) This rich man indwelled a one-room house of
mirrors. He looked north, south, east, and west and saw the same guy – himself.
Six “I’s,” and five “My’s.” No they.
No thee. Just me. And even when he said you,
he was talking to himself: "You
have many goods. Take your
ease." And so he did.
He successfully
hoarded enough stuff so he could wine, dine and recline. He unpacked the moving
vans, set up his bank accounts, pulled on his swim trunks, and dove into the
backyard pool. Problem is he forgot to fill the pool with water. So, he hit his
head on the concrete and woke up in the presence of God, who wasn’t impressed
with his portfolio. The truth is that the rich fool went to the wrong person
("He thought to himself"), and asked the wrong question ("What
shall I do?"). His error was not that he planned, but rather that his
plans didn't include God. Jesus criticized not the man's affluence but his
arrogance, not the presence of personal goals but the absence of God in those
goals. What if he'd taken his money to the right person (God) with the right
question? ("What do you want me to do?") Unfortunately, the accumulation
of wealth is a popular defense against economic anxiety.
We fear losing
our jobs, health care, or retirement benefits, so we amass possessions,
thinking the more we have, the safer we are. The same insecurity motivated
Babel's tower builders. (Gen. 11) The people feared being scattered and
separated. But rather than turning to God, they turned to stuff. They
accumulated and stacked. They heaped stones and mortar and bricks and mutual
funds and IRA’s and savings accounts. They stockpiled pensions, possessions,
and property. Their tower of stuff grew so tall they got neck aches looking at
it. "We’re safe!" they announced at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
"No you aren't," God corrected. And the Babel-builders began to
babble, eventually leaving it all behind.
Today, we
engineer stock and investment levies, and take cover behind the hedge of hedge
funds. We trust annuities and pensions to the point that balance sheets determine
our moods. But then come the Katrina-level recessions and downturns, and the
confusion begins all over again. If there were no God, stuff-trusting would be
the only appropriate response to an uncertain future. But there is a God. And
this God doesn’t want his children to trust money. He responded to the folly of
the rich man with a flurry of "Don’t worry" appeals. "Don’t worry
about your life. . . . Don’t seek what you should eat or what you should drink,
or have an anxious mind." (vv. 22, 29) In other words, don't be high on
financial cents but impoverished of spiritual sense. Instead, "Do not
fear, little flock, for it is your
Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." (v. 32)
This is the only
occasion when Jesus calls us his "little flock." And sheep, as you
know, aren’t the brightest crayons in the box, and – sometimes – neither are
we. Yet we have a shepherd who will not let us go unclothed or unfed. "I
have never seen the godly abandoned or their children begging for bread."
(Ps. 37:25) And when homes foreclose or pensions evaporate, we need a shepherd.
Thankfully, in Christ, we have one. And his "good pleasure [is] to give you the kingdom." In fact, giving
characterizes God's creation. From the first page of Scripture, he is presented
as a philanthropic creator. He produces in pluralities: stars, plants, birds,
and animals. Every gift, like shopping at Costco,
arrives in bulk and in multiples. Scrooge didn't create the world; God did. God
is the great giver. The great provider. The fount of every blessing. Absolutely
generous and utterly dependable.
The resounding
and recurring message of Scripture is clear: God owns it all. God shares it
all. So, trust him, not stuff. “Command those who are rich in this present age
not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who
gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in
good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good
foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.” (1
Tim. 6:17-19)
Are you
"rich in this present age?" Almost half the world – more than three
billion people – lives on less than $2.50 a day. So, if your income’s higher
than that, you’re rich, and your affluence demands vigilance because the
abundance of possessions has a way of eclipsing God, no matter how meager you
may think those possessions may be. There is a predictable progression from
poverty to pride. As God said through Hosea, "When I fed them, they were
satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me."
(Hos. 13:6) So, how can a person survive prosperity? Don’t be haughty.
Don’t think for
a moment that you had anything to do with your accumulation. Scripture makes
one thing clear. Your stocks, cash, and 401(k)? They aren’t yours. “To the Lord
your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything
in it.” (Deut. 10:14) “’The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the
Lord Almighty.” (Hag. 2:8) And the rich fool in Jesus' story missed this point.
But the wise woman Jesus spotted in the temple one day didn’t. (Mark 12:42-44)
The dear woman
was down to her last two cents, yet rather than spending them on bread, she
returned them to God. Wall Street financial gurus would have urged her to cut
back on her giving. In fact, the investment counselors would have applauded the
investment strategy of the barn builder and discouraged the generosity of the widow.
Jesus did just the opposite. His hero of financial stewardship was a poor woman
who placed her entire portfolio in the offering plate. Do not put your
"trust in uncertain riches." Or, as one translation reads, "[the
rich] must not be haughty nor set their hope on riches – that unstable
foundation." (1 Tim. 6:17)
Money is an unstable
foundation. Take the United States’ economy, for instance. It’s endured ten recessions
between 1948 and 2009. These downturns have lasted an average of ten months, and
resulted in the loss of billions of dollars. In other words, every five years
or so, the economy dumps its suitors and starts over. So, what would you think
of a man who did that to women? What word would you use to describe a husband
who philandered his way through ten different wives over sixty years? And what
word would you use to describe wife number eleven? Right. Foolish. So don’t be that woman.
“Don’t be impressed with those who get rich and pile up fame and
fortune. They can’t take it with them; it all gets left behind. Just when they
think they’ve arrived and folks praise them because they’ve made good, they
enter the family burial plot where they’ll never see sunshine again. We aren’t
immortal. We don’t last long. Like our dogs, we age and weaken. And die.” (Ps.
49:16-20)
God owns
everything and gives us all things to enjoy. He’s a good shepherd to us, his
little flock. So, trust him, not stuff. Move from the fear of scarcity to the
comfort of provision. Less hoarding, more sharing. Have you ever noticed that
the word “miser” is just one letter short of the word “misery”? So, instead, "do
good . . . be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share." And,
most of all, replace anxiety about the future with faith in the present, living
God. After all, it's just Monopoly
money. It all goes back in the box when the game’s over.
Grace,
Randy
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