When Enough Isn’t Enough
Play Video: I Want It All (click your back arrow when you want to get back to this sermon)
I was in for a real awakening when I went to Hannaford on Tuesday. I was expecting to see empty shelves on the paper goods aisle. After all, I haven’t been unaware of the great toilet paper wars. (Did you see the Youtube video of the two women fighting over toilet paper? They actually punched each other out!) However, I was surprised to see that there was no meat, no chicken, no potatoes or onions, no canned pasta sauce or pasta or peanut butter, no bread, no laundry detergent or dish detergent. When I asked the cashier about it, she said that they had restocked overnight, but people were in line at 6:00 AM waiting for them to open at 7:00; by 8:00 they were already sold out of a lot of items.
In spite of the current crisis caused by those who are hoarding unnecessary amounts of food and toilet paper, there is something even worse that people may be experiencing. And that is the family feud. I’m not talking about the TV show hosted by Richard Dawson or Steve Harvey. I’m talking about real family members at war with each other. There is nothing uglier than a family feud. And the ugliest kind of family feud is over an inheritance. I know this. I saw it happen in my mother’s family when my great-grandmother died. I was only a very small child at the time, but I knew that there was something wrong, and the consequences of that fight lasted as long as the various participants were still alive.
My grandmother was one of five sisters and two brothers. When their mother passed away, the five girls began to fight almost immediately over who was going to get which of their mother’s possessions. They fought over the furniture; they fought over the china; they fought over the jewelry and the kitchen items and the knick-knacks. Before long, battle lines were drawn up: Mary and Katie Sue were on one side, Eleanor and Margaret were on the other, and my grandmother Ruth found herself caught in the middle, sometimes at odds with all four of her sisters at the same time. She ended up having a stroke, which my mother always attributed to the stress of this family fight. She was paralyzed on her right side and lost her ability to speak clearly. My mother never forgave her aunts for what happened to her mother. And while the sisters eventually moved on with their lives, whenever there was any kind of disagreement, the two sides were fighting again.
It does not surprise me in the least that what prompted Jesus to talk about greed was a family feud over an inheritance. A man came to Jesus and asked him to tell his brother to divide the family inheritance with him. Jesus’ immediate response was to say, “Beware! Don’t be greedy,” and then he said, “Real life is not measured by how much we own.”
In case the crowd that was gathered around didn’t get the message, Jesus then told a parable. A rich man – note that he was already rich – experienced a super-abundant harvest one year. His fields produced such an enormous crop that his barns weren’t big enough to hold it all. And so he decided that the solution to his problem was to tear down his barns and build bigger ones. Then he could sit back, relax, take it easy; eat, drink, and be merry. He had succeeded in business beyond his wildest expectations, and now he was going to enjoy the benefits of that success. He would never have to work again; his retirement was secure. He was nobody’s fool; in fact, he probably would be an example held up to others as a model of success.
But from another perspective, this man was a tremendous fool. He somehow missed the real point of it all. He never understood the meaning of life. This man never once thought to thank God for his success. He never once thought to ask God what to do with his overabundance of resources. He never considered giving any of his money or food away to those who had little or nothing. Instead, he was focused only on himself. My land. My crops. My barns. My life. It was all about him. And so, when night fell and his life was about to end suddenly and without warning, God called him a fool, because, after all, he couldn’t take any of his wealth with him. Where would it go now? Who would enjoy it after all?
The main concern of the parable is not wealth; it is our attitude toward wealth. Having a lot of money or possessions can become an obstacle to our spiritual growth and maturity. This man hadn’t done anything immoral or unethical to obtain his wealth; but he chose not to use it with any degree of compassion or concern for others. He didn’t share any of it, and he felt no concern for anyone but himself.
Most of us in the United States are wealthy, by the world’s standards. And that wealth opens up choices to us. How will we use our resources? What will we do with what we have? How do we use what God has given to us? Will we pile it up for ourselves? Or is generosity something we practice on a regular basis?
The problem for many people is that they never get over their desire for more. They are never satisfied with what they have; there is always something else they want. They are governed by greed. Enough is never enough. And somehow, they have turned things around so that they believe that greed is a good thing, that wanting more is a good thing. They may buy into the attitude expressed by Gordon Gekko, a character played by Michael Douglas in the 1987 movie, Wall Street. Do you remember his speech?
Play Video from the movie (click your back arrow when you want to get back to this sermon)
Do you believe that greed is right? That greed works? That greed is good? Is greed governing your heart?
Some years ago, a nationwide survey was conducted in which people were asked what they would be willing to do for $10 million. Some of the answers would surprise you. There were people willing to abandon their families; some who were willing to become prostitutes for a week; some who would leave their spouses; and some who give up their US citizenship. For money. Granted, a lot of money. But, still. James Harnish asks, “What are you willing to do for money? How much of your integrity will you give away for greed? How much of your character will you sell off for wealth?” And perhaps the most important question is: “Is the way we use our money consistent with our commitment to Jesus Christ?”
I don’t believe that any of us would want to be described as a Scrooge. And yet, some of us embody some of his character traits. We hang on to our money, and we are only concerned with making more money. But listen to how Charles Dickens describes Scrooge: “Oh! But he was a tightfisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had every struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.”
So what is the alternative? How do we fight greed? How can we make sure we don’t become Scrooges? How can we make our lives different from the rich fool in Jesus’ parable?
Let’s look at the second half of the text for today. Jesus describes what it means to live a different kind of life, a kingdom of God life. He shows us a picture of what it means to create treasure in heaven, rather than on earth.
First, we must trust God to provide what we need. True security is not to be found in money or homes or possessions, or even in stock-piling toilet paper! Money can be made, but it can also be lost. Homes can be destroyed by fire or flood or foreclosed on by a bank. Possessions will wear out or be outgrown or become out of date and out of style. But God is dependable. God is always going to be there. God will never abandon us or neglect us or take his love away from us. We can count on God. Granted, God expects us to do our part. We can’t just sit back and do nothing and expect God to give us everything. But we can trust in God to provide for our basic needs.
Second, we must stop worrying about things. We must stop being afraid. Because we trust in God, we know that there is nothing to be afraid of. I know that there are a lot of people who are worried, anxious, and even afraid right now because of the COVID-19 pandemic. And yet, worrying can never add even one second to our lives. In fact, worry and anxiety can actually reduce our life expectancy because of stress-related illnesses. So don’t worry! Trust in God.
Third, Jesus says we are to sell our possessions and give to the needy. We don’t have to sell ALL our possessions, or maybe not literally sell any of them. But perhaps we could choose to not buy more possessions that we don’t really need. Will Willimon writes in his book, Sinning Like a Christian,
What we need … is character. We need the sort of character that is able to look at the world and all it has to offer and at certain key moments say simply, ‘Thank you, but I’m now satisfied.’ It takes a huge amount of moral stamina to be able to say, ‘Yes, we could afford it, but we are not going to buy it, because it does little to contribute to the basic goodness of our lives.’
And Darrell Bock writes in a similar vein,
How we use our resources communicates our values. If we invest in earthly possessions, we show we care about things. If we invest and care for people, we radiate our love for others. God’s kingdom is about people. That is where our investments of time and resources should be, especially with those who have needs to be met.
That is not an easy way of life to adopt. But Jesus never told us that following him would be easy. It can even be a little intimidating. It calls us to act in very counter-cultural ways, and when we go against the flow, when we choose a different path, we feel exposed and vulnerable. Donovan Allen Drake states,
The problem with sacrifice is that it is terribly frightening. It is a move from relying on inheritances and building up storehouses to a life that gives beyond measure, while relying on God. In our culture we often measure ourselves by the size of our storehouses. In the kingdom of God, the storehouses are sold and life is measured by what we do for others.
Ann Nelson was just thirty years old when she died in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. She had left her laptop computer at home that day, and her parents took it with them when they returned to North Dakota. After a long time had gone by, her mother finally took it out and opened it. She found a file labeled, “Top 100.” It was a list of the goals that Ann had set for her life. Among those goals, Ann included, “be a good friend, keep in touch with the people I love and that love me, make a quilt, never be ashamed of who I am, and appreciate money but don’t worship it.” Ann Nelson knew what really mattered in life. She wanted to make a decent living, but she didn’t want to become greedy. When she faced the end of her life, I am sure that God did not call her a fool.
When Ronald Reagan died, his daughter was one of the people who spoke at his funeral. She did not talk about his professional life or his accomplishments, though there were many things she might have said about him. Instead, she told a story about how he had helped her bury her pet goldfish when it died. Donovan Allan Drake writes,
Here was a life that was lived on a grand and global scale; yet what was recalled was a small sacrifice of time and love that a father shared with a daughter.
When you come to the end of your life, will God call you a fool? Or will he welcome you home with the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant”? Will your life be a reflection of the values of this world, based on greed? Or will your life be a reflection of the values of the kingdom of God: love for God and love for others? When you learn to trust in God to provide, when you understand the difference between wants and needs, and when you joyfully share your wealth with others who are in need, then you have defeated the deadly sin of greed.
