3/23/25 “Rich Toward God”
“Rich Toward God”
Luke 12:13-34
About a year ago on April 17th, 2024, a man by the name of Mark Krogman from rural Clinton County, Iowa, walked into the state lottery headquarters in Clive, Iowa….to pick up a check.
Krogman had made the journey to claim his prize of 2 million dollars that he had won through the state Powerball just a few days earlier.
When Mark arrived, the local newspaper was there to interview him about his winnings – and his newfound wealth.
Mr. Krogman explained that he was full of joy after realizing he had won such a significant amount of money…
…He explained that he had big plans.
Including a sizable renovation to his existing house….
In addition to that, he was going to help family members with some unpaid bills…
…and, lastly, he wanted to live out the rest of his days in comfort and ease.
On April 18th, 2024 – the Very Next Day – Mark Krogman was dead.
According to reports, he suffered a medical event of some kind in the morning… and then died peacefully later that day.
Now, I don’t know if Mr. Krogman was a Christian man…or if he had plans of donating any of his winnings to a local church or ministry…
But something in his answer sounded eerily familiar to the mindset of the man in our parable for today…
Mr. Krogman mentioned his plans to expand his property – and to pursue a comfortable lifestyle.
If these plans were the extent of what Mr. Krogman wanted to do with his money…
…then his situation was, indeed, very similar to that of the man we read about in today’s story.
Our passage for today begins at verse 13, with the parable itself ending at verse 21…
…but I also included the next 13 verses in our reading for today, because they not only disclose a few of Jesus’ teaching points concerning the parable…
but they also just so happen to be some of the most beautiful words ever recorded from the lips of our savior concerning the goodness - and the faithfulness of our loving heavenly Father.
Let’s begin by looking at verse 13 (Luke 12:13)
Jesus is speaking to a large group of people (Thousands, actually) when someone in the audience – quite rudely – interrupts him…
A man yells, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
Now….If we look back at the first 12 verses of chapter 12, we see that Jesus is preaching about some very important spiritual truths – things like hypocrisy, spiritual warfare, anxiety, forgiveness, boldness, the Holy Spirit…
…and then, suddenly, out of the blue this man blurts out a complaint regarding his brother and their inheritance money – something completely off topic to what Jesus was speaking about.
It’s obvious that this man was not interested in what Jesus had to say that day – as evidenced by what was going through his mind at the time.
Jesus was teaching about deep spiritual truths, while this man was only thinking about physical things in his life, specifically, money.
Maybe we shouldn’t be too hard on this guy…
Have any of you ever had your mind wander while the preacher was talking on a Sunday morning….?
No!...Never, right? 😊….some of you might have already drifted into thinking about your March madness brackets….welcome back!...I’ll try to keep you engaged for another few minutes! 😊
It’s ok…I understand.
In seminary, they remind students that the average adult attention span here in the United States is now under 10 seconds…not minutes…SECONDS!
That means I probably lost most of you somewhere back in the into about the lottery winner….some of you are like, “lottery winner? I don’t remember you talking about a lottery winner”
Anyway…this rude man interrupts Jesus and (ridiculously) asks Jesus right then and there to settle a monetary dispute between he and his brother…
Siblings fighting over inheritance money…THAT never happens anymore, right?
Over thousands of years, certain things never change, do they.
Rather than “Where there’s a will, there’s a way”….all-too-often, it’s “Where there’s a will, there’s a war”
Inheritance money really has the ability to reveal a person’s true colors regarding their priorities in life….are those priorities spiritual…or are they simply - physical?
In verse 14 (Luke 12:14) Jesus replies to the man “Man….who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?”
In other words, I’m not here today to settle petty disputes among squabbling siblings…I’m here to tell you about something much more important – I’m here to tell you about the kingdom of God…and about how you can receive eternal life.
Then, in verse 15 (Luke 12:15) Jesus – in response to this man’s question - pivots from what he had been teaching about…
…and now begins to educate his audience on how man’s natural greed – combined with money – can be a very dangerous combination.
Jesus begins with a warning…watch out!
He knows that man’s fallen heart is pre-wired to lust after physical things…especially those things that bring recognition…or pleasure…or comfort…or accolades.
…And money in abundance has the potential to deliver on all of these worldly pursuits.
We naturally crave these things for ourselves…to satisfy our self-centered egos.
This is why the apostle Paul tells his young protégé Timothy that “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.” (1 Timothy 6:10)
Jesus tells the crowd here in verse 15 that “…A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
What a person owns really has nothing to do with who they truly are inside…
However…. the way in which a person chooses to use their money can most certainly be an indicator of where their true allegiances lie…
Is a person benevolent with their financial surplus….or do they choose to spend it all on themselves?
You’ve heard the worldly adage that says, “He who dies with the most toys wins.” Right?
I guarantee you that many people who you know live their lives according to this philosophy!
Like me, you may know a few workaholics.
Workaholics follow this ideological pattern....they incorporate a materialistic-driven competitive nature to their lives….
…they feel they must work as many hours as possible to stay financially ahead - or catch up to - their siblings…or their friends…or their neighbors….all in the pursuit of extra “things”….“toys”…. Or “prestige”….or maybe even to feel seen or validated in a work-centric society.
Workaholics allow their occupation to eventually become the all-consuming hamster wheel of their lives…
while all the while…they themselves….are the hamster.
…exerting a great deal of time and energy that – instead of being put toward God’s kingdom and serving fellow believers – is just spent trying to keep up financially with others.
Job famously said that he came into this world naked…and he will go out of this world naked….taking nothing with him,
There’s never a need to install a trailer hitch on a hearse, right?...our belongings don’t go with us into the next world.
Jesus is teaching here that life’s toys are just that…toys. Things. Stuff. Physical items that a person surrounds themselves with.
Jesus begins to tell a parable about materialism in verse 16 (Luke 12:16)
A story about a farmer who is fortunate enough to be living on some acreage that – one particular growing season - provides him with a bumper crop.
We aren’t told why it was specifically this one year that his land overachieved, so to speak.
Perhaps it was an especially wet year, and his land was situated just right to utilize the extra moisture…
…or maybe it was a dry year, and he lived on low ground that tended to thrive during dry years.
If you’re old enough, some of you might remember the drought of 1988 here in Wisconsin.
I was a high school sophomore working on my Grandpa’s farm at that time…
My grandpa and his sons (my uncles) owned large, late model combines, so many local farmers would contract us to harvest their fields for them in the fall.
I vividly remember combining some fields that produced hardly any grain that year…while other fields – mostly in the low ground - did alright because of the soil’s natural ability to hold water.
So, whatever, the case was….this man’s land produced a bountiful crop for him during this particular growing season
The other thing to notice here in verse 16 (Luke 12:16) is that this farmer is already wealthy….even before this particular year that provided him with a bumper crop.
This man had been blessed with land that provided him with financial growth for many years…
After this bumper season, the man says to himself in verse 17 (Luke 12:17) “What shall I do?....I have no place to store my crops.”
Oh, the dilemma!
He has so much grain that he cannot store it all within the barns that are already on his land…
Will he sell the surplus and use the proceeds to help others in need?
Will he haul the extra grain to the Temple as a grain offering?
Will he distribute the proceeds to his employees as a bonus for their faithful labor?
Well, verse 18 (Luke 12:18) provides us with his answer.
“I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones….there I will store all my grain and my goods”
One thing I’m reminded of whenever I go to Menards these days is the high demand for storage units….
Now…. if you currently rent a storage unit somewhere, what I’m about to say isn’t meant to be a slam on your decision utilize a storage facility…
…..I realize there are many different reasons why people feel the need to rent storage beyond what their home or property can handle.
But…the number of storage facilities just in this area alone that have popped up over the past 20 years is staggering.
At the very least, It tells me that we are a culture that – in general – desires to hold onto things.
This area isn’t alone, the self-storage market in America is a 38 Billion dollar industry….with a growth rate of over 7% every year.
Where there is a demand…there will always be entrepreneurs looking to capitalize on that demand.
If you’ve ever watched the reality show “Storage Wars” where people bid on items that are left behind in delinquent or abandoned storage facilities.…
…you soon realize that many of these units are packed full of….a lot of junk.
As humans, we can sometimes have a very difficult time getting rid of surplus things in our lives….
and this was the case with the farmer in our parable as well.
Continuing in verse 19 (Luke 12:19) the farmer hatches a plan…
With the surplus of grain (seeds of gold, so to speak) that could soon be stored in the bigger barns for years to come, he would now be able to “Take life easy, eat, drink and be merry.”
As John MacArthur puts it, “This miserly decision was nothing but blatant, unabashed hedonism.”
The greedy farmer was thinking of no one but himself…and what he could do to “ensure” comfort, ease, happiness, and safety - all for himself.
Look at all of the “i’s” and “my’s” in verses 16 through 19.
What shall I do?....I have no place to store my crops…This is what I’ll do…I will tear down my barns…I will store all my grain and my goods…I’ll say to myself….
This guy is really on the i-plan, isn’t he?
There is absolutely no hint of this rich fool giving a thought to anyone else in his life…
Again, the apostle Paul warns Timothy about people like this, “People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” (2 Timothy 3:2-4)
Does this describe anyone you know?
This describes the rich fool in our passage for today.
He was in love with one person…himself.
Like the unjust judge in the parable of the persistent widow, this man seemed to have no concern for God…or for other people…only for himself.
This man had no concern for his own spiritual well-being…or for his eternal destiny.
His only concern was for his own temporal existence…he wanted to have complete control over his current life and wanted to ensure safety for his future…
Well, in verse 20 (Luke 12:20) God reminds this man who really is in control of his life and his future…
“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?”
How often we hear of people who spent their lives making a fortune…they retire early, anticipating a golden age filled with pleasure, comfort, and ease…but then pass away soon after retiring.
This is what is happening with this rich fool…
He is not trusting in anything but his own riches…
….So, God not only ends his life…but in an ironic twist…everything the man had received from the land that God made…will now belong to someone else!
In his own mind….this would have been the man’s worst-case scenario for himself
He had hoarded this wealth for himself to enjoy…not for others to use as they saw fit!
Jesus ends the parable with this statement in verse 21 (Luke 12:21) “This is how it will be with anyone who store up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”
What a sobering statement from the savior…especially for we who live in a land of plenty…a land of surplus…a land of storage units on every-other-block.
How convicting these words are to those of us who have been trained from an early age to get a good education, land a high-paying job, work hard, and strive to be at the top of your field…
…and there is nothing inherently wrong with these aspirations.
….but along with these lofty goals for one’s life…typically come the enhanced temptations that accompany a surplus of money in one’s life as well…
From the perspective of spiritual health, worldly success really is a double-edged sword.
Now, at this point, before we wrap things up here this morning, it needs to be said that having an abundance of financial resources is not in and of itself - sinful….or evil.
As you recall, Paul tells Timothy that it is the LOVE of money that is a root of all kinds of evil…not money itself.
Jesus tells his disciples in Luke chapter 18 that it is harder for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God....but then immediately goes on to say that what is impossible with men ….is possible with God.
So, it is possible for people with wealth to be able to be genuine, committed believers….
but these believers also live with a brand of temptation that is unique to their financial position in life…
…and if you are the type of person who finds it difficult to be benevolent toward others…or you find it hard to freely give generously to Christian ministries…or to part with excess material items in general…
…then, its probably best that you don’t have the extra weight of dealing with financial surplus in your life.
There were numerous people throughout the Bible such as Job, Abraham, David, Joseph of Arimathea, and Lydia who were all strong people of faith, and yet they all had an abundance of materialistic resources.
What made them spiritually healthy – despite their wealth - was that they never allowed their concern for riches to eclipse their concern for their own soul.
The key to living successfully with abundance, is to always be looking for opportunities to give that abundance away!
The Bible never tells us that we cannot have a nice car…a nice house…a good paying job…a healthy retirement fund…
These are all just “things”….the question is…what are you doing with those “things”?
Are you using your nice vehicle to help others in some way?
Are you utilizing your nice house to show hospitality to others – and by so doing - advance the kingdom of God?
Are you using that fat bonus check you just got last week to assist a fellow believer with something they need….or help your church with an upcoming expense of some kind?
Lisa & I have a good family friend who lives in the Twin Cities area…he and his wife are in their 80’s now and they have lived very financially successful lives.
BUT…they have also donated more money to Christian ministries than many of us will earn in general throughout our entire lifetimes.
THESE are the kind of people who Jesus describes when he says that “with God, all things are possible.”….Its people like these individuals who are the camel that goes through the eye of a needle.
In fact, the more money this couple would give away in their lives, the more God continued to bless them…
…Like the servant with the 5 talents – they demonstrated to God that they could handle wealth wisely – and He has honored their life choices by continually giving them more and more to work with.
Thank God for Christians like our friends in MN who have invested heavily in ministries that make an impact in the lives of countless Christians every single day.
Think about it, without wealthy Christians, ministries like RightNow Media, or Angel studios, or WVCY, or Life 102.5, or Samaritan’s Purse, or biblically sound institutions of higher education would most likely never have originated.
Without financially resourceful Christians, I wouldn’t be standing here before you today….
….It was only through a large donation from someone who once attended my home church that I was able to afford 4 years of seminary…
Thank God for those unique and rare individuals who can handle the talent of wealth wisely for the kingdom…they are a blessing to all of us.
In conclusion, the rich farmer in this parable was not one of those people who could handle wealth wisely…
He only thought of himself – all of the time….
He was – in the words of Jesus – a fool.
Brothers and Sisters in Christ…don’t live your life like this man.
Be generous and benevolent to others.
Give of your time, money, and talents for the Lord.
….Be rich toward God.
…and I promise you – because Lisa & I have experienced this first hand in our lives – that if you use your financial talents wisely - and continually give of your surplus to His kingdom…
God will bless you for it.
No matter if its 5 talents, 2 talents, 1 talent….or half a talent….
Whatever you have been given to work with….Use it for His purposes….
Remember, the only thing you can take with you to heaven….is other people.
Let’s Pray.