Sunday 3rd August – Undeserved Goodness – Pastor Gus Schutz

3-08-2025, luke 12:13-21, Pastor Gus Schutz, The Rich Fool, Undeserved Goodness

The parable of the rich fool

¹³Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.’

¹⁴Jesus replied, ‘Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?’ ¹⁵Then he said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.’

¹⁶And he told them this parable: ‘The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. ¹⁷He thought to himself, “What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.”

¹⁸‘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 grain. ¹⁹And I’ll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.’”

²⁰‘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?”

²¹‘This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich towards God.’

I wonder where you and I might be at in the discussion Jesus has with his listeners today!

Possessions in themselves do not have to be a problem. Problems arise from our attitude and relationship to our possessions. What we do with them, and why we have them.

Our bible story begins with an apparent disagreement over a family inheritance.

“Tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” (v. 13)
“Tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” (v. 13)

But Jesus wants no part of this family feud. Possessions get in the way. They strain family relationships. In the ancient world there were regulations for disputes over dividing the family inheritance. Sadly, these disputes are all too familiar in our time. Haggling over furniture, jewelry, house and property, savings that may be left by the deceased. I hope this is not your story – but it may be!

Jesus refuses to be a referee in this family wrestling match.

Rather, he calls it as he sees it.

“Be on your guard against all kinds of greed,”

he says (v. 15) Greed is at the root of this family feud. Well, at least, that is what Jesus implies here.

Greed teaches that our life consists in the abundance of our possessions. But when is enough really enough? The more we have, the more we want. How does one know when they are being greedy?

Now, Jesus didn’t say, ‘don’t prepare for a rainy day.’ He said,

“our life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” (v. 15)

The farmer appears to be a wise businessman. He’s got it all together.

His land has produced abundantly. Never mind the natural factors, like rain, wind and sunshine. Things that he, and we have no control over. We don’t see any gratitude here. It’s all about him! This man is set for his future. Retirement is looking nice and cushy! He’s going to build larger storage areas. (v. 19) He’ll have goods laid up for many years.

“Take life easy, eat, drink and merry,” (v. 19)

he says to himself.

He’s worked hard. Hasn’t been involved in any scams. He’s not a thief. He doesn’t mistreat his workers. He’s not unjust. But Jesus calls him a fool! He’s an individual in his own world. Living in a life of abundance with no-one else in attendance. He’s an audience of one. But his possessions are not stronger than his destiny. The clock ticks down to his death.

. “This very night your life will be demanded from you.” (v. 20) _

He’s so consumed with his things that he has no concern for his life. He has not learned that tomorrow has never been promised to anyone. I suspect he’s probably got a lot of mates in the world today!

But, his tomorrow is about to be terminated. How very dangerous it is to think we have it all. In a split second we can lose it all. A heart attack. A brain aneurysm. A car crash. Bad things do happen!

Death is a robber, and robbers come unexpectedly, don’t they?

Each and every one of us here is nearer to the destiny of death than we have ever been before. But that should never terrify us. Facing our mortality can help deepen our spirituality. It can show us more clearly what is truly important in life.

There is nothing like death to teach us about life. And life does not consist in possessions. We will be led to the grave empty handed. Godly wisdom tells us,

“we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.” (1 Timothy 6:7)

Nothing! No titles. No positions. No awards. No trophies. No savings. No citation for anything praiseworthy we may have done.

We came into the world naked, and we will leave it naked. How our life began and how it ends is exactly the same for every single one of us. What happens to us between those two dates may vary greatly. But hopefully we have all learned this important life lesson. We came with empty hands, we leave with empty hands.

Life in the world teaches us to store up treasure for ourselves.

So, the rich farmer builds larger barns to store his stuff. At the end of the day, that’s all it is – it’s stuff! He hoards, putting his goods in place of God. Greed is idolatry. His greed is his god. He stored up treasures for himself. But he was not rich toward God. Greed keeps on seeking possessions. It’s a hunger that is never satisfied! You have probably noticed that those who have a love affair with having more, will never have enough!

So, we must all learn this lesson of contentment in life. The wisdom of God’s word suggests that

‘if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.” (1 Timothy 6:8)

We know, and God knows that we need so much to get through life. God clothes the fields with grass and he feeds the birds. We, who are made in his image,

“are much more valuable than they are.” (Matthew 6:26)

Our life is not measured by what we have achieved, or the wealth we have accumulated. Nor are we defined by our career or what we do. Nor is our life measured and defined by how successful we are and how wealthy we become. Contrary to what the wisdom of the world may suggest. This is not true living, because the possessions function as the substitutes for the proper object of our worship – which is God alone.

Here we see the danger of possessions. They make us less than human. Because in our desire for things we lose our humanity. We lose our life. And we lose our soul. We lose sight of the purpose for which we have been created. We may gain the things of the world, but in doing so, lose our eternal future.

In the response of Jesus, he is inviting us to see ourselves in the story.

He is challenging us to look deep within ourselves and see if his commentary on the rich man is actually how it is for us. This lust for things is as real for us as it was for the rich farmer. We too, live with the danger of being possessed by our possessions!

So, Jesus presents the confronting warning and challenge:

: “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 anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich towards God.” (v. 20-21)

You heard me say earlier that in death we get to take nothing with us. That is absolutely guaranteed in terms of the earthly wealth we accumulate. While it may be good for now, it will perish. It does not last!

But there are two eternal gifts we do get to take with us. Our relationship with Jesus, … and our character. Both of these are blessings from God’s goodness. They are formed and shaped by our experiences in each of our unique journeys through life. So, what does this look like?

Our relationship with Jesus is how we respond to God’s goodness in our lives.

The wonder of his love is that in Jesus he has done for us what we could never have done for ourselves. He has ‘set us free, so that we may live free.’ We are not bound by the law. We are released from being possessed by our possessions. We are slaves to nothing and no-one. We are no longer held captive to the darkness of our old sinful nature. We are forgiven. Rescued from ourselves. A new creation. Put right with God. Destined for eternal glory. All through faith. Not because of our goodness. Only through God’s grace. So, we can live life with joyful confidence. And face death without fear. The verse from the old hymn ‘Rock of ages’ says it all: “nothing in our hands we bring, simply to your cross we cling.” (LH: 330)

Our character is how we respond to the things that happen to us in life.

In seeing the hand of God’s presence and blessing in the good times in life. Our spirit of thankfulness for this. Then, our ability to bounce back from pain and suffering. From grief and loss. Our not being defeated by sadness. Our becoming more like Jesus as we walk with him. Embracing and living out the gifts of his Spirit –

‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control’ (Galatians 6:23)

So, you are not possessed by your possessions. You are God’s people, living in grace.