Building Bigger Barns

Show Notes

A favorite passage of ours is in Luke 12—the Parable of the Rich Fool. But do we still need to be concerned about the size of our barns? The short answer is yes. While very few of us even have barns these days, Jesus’ message in that parable is every bit as important for us today.

• Let’s look at the first part of the parable, Luke 12:16-19. That’s where Jesus says, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”
• There are people in the world who might read that and think, “Hey, that sounds like a solid, practical solution! You’ve got too much stuff coming in, your barns aren’t big enough, you need bigger barns. What’s wrong with that?” Well, the rich man finds out what’s wrong in the next two verses, which read, “But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
• If that theme sounds familiar to you, there’s a good reason. Charles Dickens no doubt borrowed it when he wrote A Christmas Carol. Of course there, Ebenezer Scrooge takes on the role of the rich fool, obsessed with money and possessions. But unlike the Rich Fool, Ebenezer gets a second chance. And we do too.
• What does “rich toward God” mean? It’s an unusual phrase and God’s Word doesn’t elaborate on it. But we can get an idea of its meaning by contrast. It’s the opposite of building bigger barns or laying up earthly treasure for yourself. Being rich toward God is acknowledging that we’re made for Him, not for our own pleasure or possessions. Our abundance is in God, not our bank accounts. “Rich toward God” means counting God as greater riches than anything on the earth. And it means using earthly riches to show how much we value God. How do we do that? By giving generously to His Kingdom.
• But the Rich Fool did none of that. He thought only of himself. When he died, he left his earthly treasure behind. But Jesus isn’t saying that our works save us. He’s saying that not doing the good works we were designed for will hurt our relationship with God. Jesus is teaching that money and possessions are dangerous because they can lure us out of love for God and keep us from treasuring Him.
• The problem wasn’t that he had become rich, but that the Rich Fool ceased to view God as his supreme treasure. If God had been his treasure what would he have done differently? Instead of saying, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry,” he would have said something like this: “God, this is all yours. You have made my fields prosper. Show me how to express with my riches that You are my treasure and that riches are not. I already have enough. I don’t need more luxury and leisure.” Had he said that, the Rich Man wouldn’t have been a fool at all. He would have been a very wise man who was rich toward God. He would have believed what Jesus says in Acts 20:35, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” The Rich Fool learned that the hard way, but we don’t have to. We can take God’s Word for it.

On this program we also answer your questions:

• Could you tell me some ways to increase my credit score?
• Is there a specific number of times, when a lender pulls my credit, that it won’t effect my credit score?
• Other than in a money market account (where I currently have $800,000), what are some better places to put my money where it’ll provide a good return?
• How much money is the maximum that you can get from Social Security if you retire at 65 or 70?