Lk 12,16-21
A rich man’s land produced bountifully
A successful worldly policy
YO .
THE IMAGE OF A SUCCESSFUL WORLD POLITICS.
1. There is no sin in worldly success.
two. There is no sin in the wise and thoughtful provision of worldly goods.
3. The sin consisted in considering the possessions as their absolute property.
II. THE PICTURE OF A DISASTROUS WORLD POLITICS.
1. A foolish life due to the narrowness of its ends and purposes. You have seen a little anthill with its abundant life, a miniature world of work and duty; its busy absorbed and unconcerned inhabitants of any world beyond their own. So this man spent his life, and he spent it, perhaps, quite happily, getting and spending, and gathering and consuming, and tearing down and building again; until that other life and that other world thundered over him and they would not be forgotten. To mark what the big lesson is after all. It is the fatal flaw in the character and life of man that Christ calls our attention to. Not what he had, but what he lacked was his downfall. He was rich toward men, but he was not rich toward God, and while men called him “a success,” God called him “a fool.”
two. Once again, this policy is disastrous, and this life is called a foolish life, because of your hopes and expectations. Evidently, the man calculated to find happiness at one time or another in the future. Like most of us, he had never exactly felt at ease, but now that he is retiring from working life (what promises men make to themselves when they are out of business!), when their new barns are built then he will. eat and drink and be merry. How human is this, because “man is never but to be blessed forever.”
3. A foolish life for its false security. The only flaw was there. She calculated on a long life. The door was secured against poverty, and the time of undue labor and anxiety was past, and the banquet house was ready; but there was a visitor to whom he could not bar the door. “All men think that all men are mortal except themselves,” and the danger that lies in wait for us throughout life is, of all things, the most unreal to us. Years ago, among the Swiss mountains, there was a village over which an avalanche had loomed menacingly for almost half a century. It was only a matter of time, sooner or later he had to go down and bury everything under it. The travelers warned the inhabitants of that town, but the apathy only grew stronger with familiarity. Gray-haired men who had played as children under the ghastly cliffs now happily reaped their harvest, hardly looking at the looming danger. So it went on until one calm summer day, when, with barely a sound of warning, the overwhelming mass descended, bringing destruction and death to all below.
III. Finally, we have here THE IMAGE OF THE END OF A ONLY WORLDLY POLITICS. Suddenly, unexpectedly, without more warning than this text, the last hours of life have arrived. Like that avenging angel who passed over the houses of Egypt, so with this man, the angel of death comes in the midst of the shadows and with the darkness. How the hours of that terrible night must have passed as slowly as centuries! He began it with pleasant promises, in health, and strength, and hope, a reaper and a gatherer in the harvest fields; and he looks! he too feels the sharp blow of the sickle, and that in the middle of the immature grain that gives no promise of fruition. He ends it, and with this short, exciting, and terrible night, the tragedy of life is over. I have read of one that hung over a terrible precipice that, looking up, he saw the rope from which he hung jagged and worn against the sharp rock until it became a single thread that could only hold a moment longer. So this man’s spirit must have hung over for all eternity that night. Consider it! The salvation of God, the teachings of wisdom, were with him as with everyone. Yet that was how a life of privilege, great worldly prosperity, and multiple blessings ended disastrously in the midst of overwhelming turmoil. With God so near, and infinite mercy never far away, life grew darker and darker until the last ray of hope was extinguished, and man was left groping in the shadows of eternal night. (W. Baxendale.)
Of the deception of riches
Riches deceive the worldly -mind–
1. Regarding his earthly happiness–for–
(1) They fill the heart with worries.
(two) They cause a lot of trouble and request.
(3) They prove to be a short-lived possession.
(4) They get excited with the hope of a long life.
two. As for true happiness; because-
(1) They cannot provide true satisfaction to the soul.
(two) They plunge him into the most absolute sensuality.
(3) They close their hearts against any solemn concern for salvation.
(4) They prevent the inheritance of better assets. (FG Lisco.)
the rich fool
ME. A GOOD CULTIVATOR
1. He was rich. God too. So were Abraham, Job, David. “The love money” (not money itself) “is the root of all evil.”
two. Your investment was wise. Earth cannot be consumed by fire or removed by the enemy.
3. His farm was prosperous. He understood his business.
II. A BAD CALCULATOR. He undertakes to solve the problem of life, and is a miserable bungler in the use of figures.
1. It omits the biggest factor of the problem. God forgotten, the problem goes wrong.
two. It makes a wrong estimate of the soul.
3. A poor distribution of their assets.
Four. Wrong calculation of time. (Anon.)
The Rich Man: Where is Right and Where is Wrong
Me. WHERE RIGHT.
1. It was just that their soil produced abundantly. industry etc.
two. It was only fair that he pondered, “What shall I do?” Common sense.
II. WHERE IT IS WRONG.
1. You were wrong when you said, “I don’t have room.” Not the barn room, but the room of the soul, the room of life. She measured her room by measuring her barn.
two. He was wrong when he said:my fruits and my estate; my soul.” All of that was wrong. He wasn’t hers.
3. He was wrong when he said: “And I will say to my soul: Soul, many goods have you stored for many years”. I had the estate, but not them years.
Four. He was wrong when he said, “I will tell my soul… Take your case.” Here man was all animal. The error was that he had left God out of the account in his calculations. (Homiletic Review.)
The mistake of a businessman
Me. Let’s look from the beginning at some of the ATTRACTIVE FEATURES this man exhibited.
1. For one thing, he was rich. Notice that the Bible is never found joining any wild tirade against riches. Inspiration has not even said, as some quote it, that money is the root of evil. In general, it is good to be rich; great utility can be attained by silver and gold.
two. This man in the parable was successful in business. That shows well as evidence of his cunning and industry. He is considered a benefactor of the world at large, who makes two blades of grass grow where only one grew before, because it increases the general wealth.
3. Furthermore, this was a prudent man. He shows himself in the soliloquy recorded here as thoughtful about the future.
II. But now let’s consider some EXTRAORDINARY MISTAKES this rich man made.
1. To begin with, he was wrong in thinking that there was no place for produce except in barns. It is a silly question to ask where the money can be kept; it is part of a wiser man to wonder how he can do God’s service by using it. That’s just what this man didn’t think to do.
two. Then we see another mistake he made: he assumed that his riches would be a comfort to him when they were hoarded. Whereas they then became only a care and a burden. Money is our instrument, not our end. When it goes beyond, it owns us, instead of us owning it. The closest approach to the old disease of demon possession that we have in modern times is exhibited when a man is possessed by money that he thinks he owns.
3. The third mistake this man made was worse than any of the others: he shut out of his thoughts all consideration of the infinite God who made and possessed him. He says “my” barns, “my” goods, “my” fruits, and even “my” soul. It would seem that he imagined himself the absolute owner of everything he touched in two worlds. He made the radical mistake of forgetting that, at best, he was just God’s steward who had sent him his unusual harvests.
Four. But this mistake inevitably led to another: he seems to admit that his soul has no greater needs than his body (see Luke 12:19). The word here is “dialogued”; he is depicted as having a kind of complacent conversation with himself. For us there is an intense impression of sadness in his use of the recorded expressions. He speaks to his immortal soul in terms of the grossest familiarity, as if that soul should be grateful to him for his generous foresight in having made sufficient provision for all of his future. Do souls need luxurious tranquility? Will they be content forever with enough to eat and drink? Are souls to be congratulated by the rich in this unctuous way just because there is now so much fodder stored in the new barns? Is being joyful what the image of God in man has been longing for all these years? Most of us have read the story of the sailor who is shipwrecked on an inhospitable island and starves to death. One day, a box was suddenly washed ashore, and he hastened to loosen its restraints; but he recoiled in a faint, disappointed and dismayed, saying: “Alas, it is only the pearls of a passenger!” When this soul of ours stands at last on the eternal shore, unprepared and unfurnished, will his undying hunger be appeased only by indigestible jewels of earthly opulence? And will it be joyful then?
III. We must now return to the parable once more, to consider THE SEVERE REPROACHES RECEIVED BY THIS RICH MAN.
1. First of all, God called his soul away from him. Wealthy men age like other people. Some of them also die young and in middle age just like other people. As life goes on in our great money-making American attrition, it is becoming more and more observable that they are likely to die suddenly. The street strip undermines the vitality of many human constitutions. There are great requests engendered by the unusual increase in property, and work often does much, while worry does more, to shorten life. Death sometimes comes at night.
two. Second, this man’s property was ignominiously scattered. After all,…