TEXT: Luke 12:13-34

SUBJECT: Luke #49: Preoccupation with Money

Are you preoccupied with money? Hardly anyone says he is, but it seems to me a great many people are—and maybe you’re one of them. Now, kids, to be preoccupied with something means to be very, very, very, very interested in it.

Let me give you an illustration. I’m interested in sports. I listen to games on the radio, read the sports section, talk about my teams with Norm and argue about them with my dad! I am interested in sports.

But, when I was a boy, I was preoccupied with them. I followed—not only my teams—but every team. I read not only the sports section, but books and magazines, too—as many as I could get my hands on. As for talking about the games? They’re all I could talk about from age ten to fifteen or thereabouts. Even when I went to church, I worried the pastor would preach too long and I’d miss the kickoff. Back then, I was preoccupied with sports.

Does the Lord want us to be interested in money? Sure He does! His Word says a lot about money—about making it, saving it, and spending it wisely. What you do with your money is important because it’s not your money! It belongs to God, He wants you to use it wisely, and will one day call you on it. People are terrified of being investigated by the IRS. But the poking around they do is nothing compared to the Audit awaiting every one of us on the Day of Judgment. In light of that, you ought to be interested in money.

But not preoccupied with it. That’s what today’s story is about. It’s about two kinds of people who are overly interested in money. The first is well known and easy to criticize. The second, however, touches closer to home. He’s not named for us, but you know him: he’s Everyman—he’s you and me and most people you know. His preoccupation with money is less comical than the first man’s, but it is also more common and hard to spot—especially in yourself.

Let’s look then, a couple of men who cared too much about their money.

Number one is the Rich Fool. The Lord describes his life and folly in the parable of vv.13-21.

The story is told in answer to a man who wants his brother to divvy up their inheritance more fairly. Instead of listening to the details of the case, however, the Lord throws a light on the man’s heart. He is not interested in justice, but in getting more of the father’s money. Our Lord refuses to rule in such as case; He leaves that up to the lawyers and judges of Israel.

But He cares very much about the man’s grasping for money for it reveals a flaw in his character. The man wants the money so he can relax with the security he thinks it will buy him. But money—the Lord says—does not secure the future. That’s what the parable is about.

It’s starts with a rich farmer who has an exceptional harvest one year. It’s so good, that he tears down his old barns and silos and builds new ones to hold his bumper crop. Looking over the fat barns, the man sighs with contentment and tells himself,

But that man was a fool! God says so because—instead of having decades of happiness before him, he didn’t even have one more night left in him. While he dreamed of ease and wealth that night, God took his soul.

The riches that promised him a long and secure future were no longer his. Greedy heirs now had their dirty hands all over his precious money!

The man was not alone. The Lord says

What was the rich man’s folly? Is it wrong to be successful or to provide for the future as best you can? No, it isn’t. Riches are often the blessing of God and thinking ahead is prudent.

The man’s sin was something else. It was trusting his money. He thought that money would fend off age and disease, that it would postpone death, and maybe secure the favor of God.

He was wrong on every point. It does none of the above. Money does not guarantee happiness in this life. Solomon called it "an evil under the sun"—that a man with riches often cannot enjoy them. And that even the laboring man sleeps better than he does.

Money can buy good health care, but the best doctors and finest medicines can only treat the symptoms of the disease that everyone’s got: death! "Death passed upon all for all have sinned" Paul said. And he was right. Nobody gets out of here alive. The funeral of an industrialist looks better than the service for a maid, but it’s only a matter of outward trappings: inwardly they’re no different. Rich and poor die alike. Sometimes on the same day: Remember old Dives lifting up his eyes in hell at the same moment the beggar laid back in Abraham’s bosom.

Most of all, riches cannot buy God’s favor. Even if they’re given to the poor or donated to missionary work, the Lord’s mercy cannot be bought. I wonder if Psalm 49:6-8 has ever been read at a the funeral of a rich sinner? Maybe it should be:

…That is, too costly to be paid for with money! Peter says,

I used to read a financial newsletter that pointed clients away from paper money, stocks, bonds, and other investments that are so easily deflated. The editor advised me to invest in silver and gold—for they never lose their value! I laughed and laughed at his advice, as these were the very things God said "are corruptible"—that lose their value and one day won’t be worth anything!

Trusting money is foolish because it cannot deliver on its promise. The Rich Fool thought it would buy him forty years of happiness. It couldn’t buy him eight hours of it!

Maybe some of you older people are salting money away for retirement—and that’s good. "But don’t trust in uncertain riches—Paul says—"but in the Living God who gives us all things freely to enjoy".

Maybe some young people here haven’t got two nickels to rub together, but you’ve got hope and big dreams for the future. One of these days, you'll make money, invest it wisely, and retire when you’re still healthy and active enough to enjoy it. Again, there’s nothing wrong with your hopes as long as it is God you’re looking to for your happiness and not your dreamed of money.

Millions live and die trusting the money they’ve got or the money they hope to get some day. But money is an unfaithful wife; it’ll betray you in the end!

Some people are preoccupied with money in the sense of trusting it. The Rich Fool was that way—and he paid dearly for it.

If this were the end of the story, most of us would feel pretty good about ourselves. For, we’re not guilty of trusting our riches because we don’t have any and aren’t likely ever to have them. 112 dollars in the bank and three quarters in your pocket aren’t likely to breed excessive trust in your money!

But trusting riches is not the only way you can be preoccupied with money. For in vv.22ff. the Lord turns away from the rich man and to His disciples who were not rich now and never would be.

Unlike the Rich Fool, the Poor Fool does not trust his money. What he does is worry about it. And this, too, is a kind of preoccupation with money.

Do you remember the Parable of the Sower? The Seed is the Word of God preached. Some of it does good, but most of it doesn’t. For some of it is choked out by "the deceitfulness of riches". But it’s not only that that can kill the Word of God in your soul: "the cares of the world" can too—things like paying your bills or coming up with a security deposit for an apartment.

The concerns of the Poor Fool are quite modest. In vv.22,29, we find all he’s looking for are the necessities of life: food, drink, clothing. There’s nothing here to indicate that he wants the finest food or the most expensive wine or clothes that are well made and fashionable. His sights are set pretty low. The basics will do for him.

You’d think the Lord—being a poor man Himself—would understand the worry and approve of it. He understands it, of course, but He does not say it’s all right. In fact, He says the worry is both foolish and wrong. What’s wrong with it? A lot.

In the first place, there’s more to life than food, drink, and clothing. You need these things, of course, but they’re not your all in all and mustn’t be your only concern in life.

We are not mere animals, living only for the next meal and finding our chief happiness in a warm place to lie down. We are made in the Image of God and capable of communing with Him. This means that when the basics of life are hard to come by, you’ve still got something.

When you’re not sure what you’ll eat and drink tonight or what you’ll put on for tomorrow, you still have The tree of Life to eat, the River of Life to drink, and A Robe of Righteousness to wear. Thinking about these things won’t fill your belly or keep you warm, but it does put these other things in perspective. The poorest Christian is Rich—not only when he dies, but even now, for in this life he has "All things that pertain to life and godliness". And more than all things, he has Christ.

In the second place, the Lord reminds us that our Father loves us.

Birds do not plow, plant, water, weed, fertilize, or harvest their fields, yet they’re fed by God. Lilies don’t do anything, and yet what they wear makes Solomon in all his glory look shabby by comparison. Now, if your Father takes care of birds and flowers, don’t you think He’ll take care of you?

Nothing is more blind that worry. The singing sparrows, the green fields, everything bears witness to the wisdom and goodness of your Father in Heaven.

I never get tired of telling my Italian Story. Several years ago I was in Milan, Italy. My hotel was beautiful, but the neighborhood around it was terrible. We came in at night and didn’t notice. But first thing the next morning, I went for a walk, hoping to see quaint shops and so on, but what I saw looked something like Los Angeles with a lot of well-dressed people! Well, anyhow, behind my hotel there was a garbage dumpster fenced in by a cyclone fence. Yet, growing out from behind it and wrapping around the fence there was a flower—a Bougainvilea—that was the most exquisite color I’ve ever seen. Right then and there, I thought of my Father’s overflowing love. Not even man’s stupidity could smother God’s goodness.

Does God love the garbage dump behind a hotel? Yes He does—enough to festoon it with a flower unearthly in its beauty. And thinking about that, should you and I doubt that He cares for us, His children?

People who have never seen the Bible are condemned for their ingratitude, for "the visible things of the creation clearly manifest God’s invisible attributes"—including His great love.

You ought to trust your Father to take care of you because He loves you.

In the third place, worrying about money is something the Gentiles do!

To us, "Gentile" is a neutral term. But, to the Jews who heard the Lord that day, it was loaded with meaning—and all of it bad! The Gentiles were rejected by God, worshiped idols, and lived disgusting lives. It’s no wonder they worried so much: their God were not worthy of their trust!

But the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is! To worry is to think like a Gentile. It’s to think like an Atheist hoping (for some reason) that blind chance will be good to him.

Doesn’t your Father deserve more confidence than the Gentiles gave their gods? If so, don’t worry about money.

In the fourth place, you’ve got something better to do than worry.

Although worry never accomplishes anything, it takes up an amazing amount of time and energy! Which you don’t have if you’re "Seeking the kingdom of God". One of the main causes of worry is laziness. We’re worried about something because we’re not doing anything about it. If you spent more time praying or reading the Bible or witnessing or helping the poor, you’d have less time to stew about what you’re going to eat, drink, or wear.

And, adding to this, there is a special promise to people who do put God’s Kingdom first: "All these things shall be added to you". What things? The things you’re worried about.

Let me take a quick detour at this point: I believe that one of the main reasons that Christians suffer so many financial problems (and the worries that go with them) is because they don’t give to God. Or, if you like, they don’t tithe. Now, giving to God is not a magical formula. It’s not a rigged slot-machine (for every quarter you put in, you get two back—it doesn’t work that way).

What it does is to make us think about our money. By giving the first ten percent, for example, we remember that all our money belongs to God and that we’ve got to spend it wisely—and not just any way we want to, on impulses and so on. The money is given to God and for God. Yet, it has a side benefit for you: Proverbs 3:9-10:

It seems like a paradox, but it’s true: the best way to stop worrying about your money is to give some of it to God believing that He’ll bless the rest to you. You can look it up,

Some believers have to go through life "in sheepskins and goatskins, living in caves and holes in the earth, being destitute, afflicted, tormented."

But these dear saints didn’t do without! No, they got far more than they lost: they got the Kingdom. In this life, they receive grace, in the life to come, they receive glory. For God promises to

Thus, the poorest believers can be—and often are—the most generous. If you want hospitality, don’t go the row of mansions, but go to the poor. For they know what it is to be in need and though their tables are often scanty, their love more than makes up for it.

One of the strangest details in the New Testament is the fact that the disciples—the disciples!—carried a money bag to relieve the poor! Because money wasn’t their all in all, they could share what they had with those who had less.

In the last place, when you start spending your money for God, your heart goes with your money.

Who is more likely to follow the Stock Market—the man who is invested in it or the one is isn’t? That’s an easy one—and the principle is also true of investing your money in the Lord’s work. All by itself, this will take your mind off the worrisome things—food, clothing, shelter—and put it on things that bring comfort instead of anxiety.

Today’s sermon is about becoming preoccupied with money—and why you shouldn’t! Two kinds of men are subject to getting too interested in money: those who have a lot of it and those who don’t. That pretty well covers everyone—including you.

So what are you going to do about it? Are you going to trust your money as the Rich Fool did? Or worry about your money as the Poor Fool did? Or will you choose more wisely than they did? Will you choose to think about your money in the sense of being responsible, but—at the same time—trust your Father’s goodness and put your money—and heart—to work for His Kingdom?

You know what’s best: now, by the Grace of Christ and with the help of His Holy Spirit, go out and do it. And the love of God be with you. Amen.