How Big Are Your Barns?
In Luke chapter 12, Jesus shared the Parable of the Rich Fool. Jesus' message in that parable is every bit as important for us today as the day it was first told. We’ll talk about it today on Faith and Finance.
Let’s start with 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.”
Now, a lot of people might read that and think, “Hey, that sounds like a solid, practical solution. You’ve got too much stuff coming in. If 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. They 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, Ebeneezer Scrooge takes on the role of the rich fool, obsessed with money and possessions. But unlike the Rich Fool, Ol’ Ebeneezer gets a second chance. And so do we.
Our second chance starts with understanding what “rich toward God” means. 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 Him, not our bank accounts.
“Rich toward God” means counting Him 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. Had the Rich Fool done that, he might have heard these words from Matthew 25:
“Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me … I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me … as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers … you did it to me.”
But the Rich Fool did none of that. He thought only of himself and when he died, he left his earthly treasure behind.
Now, Jesus is not saying that our works save us, but He is 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.
Because of that, some might think that money is bad, but it’s not. It’s really a powerful tool that can be used for good or bad. While the proper use of money can store up treasure in heaven for you, the improper use of money can be hazardous to your spiritual health as it was in the case of the Rich Fool.
The problem wasn’t that he became rich, the rich are no less godly than the poor. The problem was that the Rich Fool ceased to view God as his supreme treasure. If God had been his treasure, he might have said:
“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 discovered that— as Jesus is quoted 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 learn from his mistake and strive to be rich toward God.
On today’s program, Rob also answers listener questions:
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