Being Rich Toward God

What does wealth mean to you? According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, wealth means,
“abundance of valuable material possessions or resources; abundant supply.” About 40% of Americans say that the economic inequality that exists in America should be top priority. In the Old Testament, the view of wealth was a bit more generous that that of the New Testament. Typically, wealth in the Old Testament was seen as God’s favor. Whereas, in the New Testament, wealth can be a stumbling block, can encourage self-indulgence, and exploitation of the poor. However, wealth is not seen as a bad thing in and of itself, rather it depends on how it is used. That is, the wealthy should be good stewards of their money, generous with their wealth, and not given to idolizing wealth.

Today, we will be looking at a passage in Luke 12:13-21. Here, Jesus discusses wealth with a person listening to Jesus’ teaching asking for his family’s inheritance to be divided with him.

Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus of grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink, and be merry.”‘ But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

Luke 12:13-21

In our capitalistic and individualistic society, we have a tendency to believe that our money is our own and we can do with it as we please. Beth Azar, in How Greed Outstripped Need, quotes Tim Kasser who says, “Our form of capitalism encourages materialistic values, and the research shows that people high on materialism…are more likely to engage in unethical business behaviors and manipulate people for their own purposes.” Azar states that, “Research also supports the notion that the more people care about money and power, the less they care about community and relationships.” People with money can care about people, but it seems the more money people have the less they care about the needs of other people.

So, what does this all mean in relationship to our passage? Jesus is confronted by a person who asks him to tell his brother to divide their inheritance with him. From our perspective, that doesn’t sound unreasonable. After all, if this person’s brother received his share of the inheritance, this man should have as well. Possibly, Jesus as a teacher, may have an interpretation of expectations that may favor this young man and his inheritance. But, Jesus claims that he is neither judge nor arbiter between this man and his brother. Rather, Jesus tells a parable that he undoubtedly hoped would help clarify this young man’s perspective.

A man who was already rich received an abundant harvest, meaning that his financial status had increased. The man chose to build larger barns to house the grain. So far so good, right? The rich man appears to have owned some land which was not common among people of first century Galilee. Those that did own land were wealthy elite families who hired lower class peasants to work their land. There was no middle class and the upper, wealthy class consisted of about 2% of the society. So, a majority of the people in the Middle East during Jesus’ day were poor.

In our society, a man harvests a bumper crop, he may purchase larger tractors to help with the harvest next year, possibly more seeds to plant more crops. In our part of the world, particularly our part of the country, farmers may own large amounts of land and do quite well. However, when planting and harvesting time comes around, long days fill the farmers weeks to work toward a good crop.

In Jesus’ story, after the rich man harvested his crops and built new barns, he took it easy, eating, drinking, and living it up. So, what is the problem here? Is the man lazy? That may be one of the issues we would point out. Many people in America value hard work. Interestingly, the hardest working state in America is Alaska. What’s the second one? North Dakota. South Dakota is the fourth hardest working state in the nation. Certainly not everyone in America would be concerned that the rich man in Jesus’ story was taking it too easy. But, that wasn’t the value that was of most concern for Jesus’ listeners.

So, what was the problem? From the perspective of Jesus’ followers, the problem wasn’t laziness or too much money. The problem was that the rich man didn’t share his wealth and he had more concern for his money than he did for God. What does this mean for our young man who asked Jesus about his inheritance?

What was the young man more interested in? He seemed less interested in his relationship with God and his relationship with his brother. He was more interested in his relationship with his part of the money his brother owed him. Because of this, Jesus said he was in danger of not being rich with God.

So, this begs the question: How can I become rich with God?

1. In general, the views that the average listener during Jesus’ day would have had about wealth includes, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength,” Deuteronomy 6:5. Essentially, love for God must overshadow love for anything else in our lives including wealth. Likewise, being generous with ones wealth is important. Jesus says in Matthew 6:19-24, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” This passage reminds us that if we have bad eyes, eyes that don’t see need around us, our light has turned to darkness. We can use money, but we must serve God only.
2. Deuteronomy 15:8, 10 says, “Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them [the poor] whatever they need…Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.” We are reminded here to give to those in need without a grudging, or reluctant heart. Give so freely and God will bless your work and efforts.
3. Likewise, the best always belongs to God. In Leviticus 3:16, we read, “the choicest belongs to God.” God deserves the best of what we have, from wealth to possessions. Paul says in Colossians 3:23, 24, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” The best of what we have, even our work and service, belongs to the Lord.
4. Wastefulness is forbidden as it says in Deuteronomy 20:19, “When you lay siege to a city for a long time…do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can eat their fruit.” Also, in Isaiah 65:8, “As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes and people say, ‘Don’t destroy it, there is still a blessing in it.'” As followers of God, it is important that we realize that all that God has created is good. As such, it is important that we do not waste resources that we are given. Likewise, we need to ensure that we do not waste God’s natural resources. In the case of our passage, the parable reminds us that the landowner wasted his money by not giving to those in more need than he.
5. It goes without saying that cheating and stealing is forbidden, as it says in Leviticus 9:11, “Do not steal…Do not unjustly withhold that which is due your neighbor. Do not rob.” This passage instructs us that not giving to those in need when we have the ability to give to those in need is like robbing our neighbor. Finally, borrowing without permission, accepting something given out of duress or shame, or desiring another persons possessions are all forbidden.

So, how do we become rich with God? For Jesus and his contemporaries, the idea of having wealth or gaining wealth was centered around loving God with our possessions and loving one another with our possessions.