Rich Towards God

Luke 12:13-21

Be rich! Be blessed!

This was a common phrase uttered on Korean entertainment shows few years back. No one is going to get offended by this. People are pleased. Who’s going to object when someone wishing for my success and richness?

If there is any amongst us who do not want to be rich, please raise your hands.

I bet no one. We all want to be rich and we imagine what it will be like to be rich. And we work hard to be richer. Sometimes, and only sometimes, we might buy a lottery tickets. We imagine how our lives might be better if we can make just few hundred dollars more per month. If so, our lives will be more comfortable, and we feel like we can do good works even more. We, of course, do not desire to be super rich, but just enough rich to have life that is little bit more comfortable than right now.

But when you look at the Bible, it often talks of rich people in negative way. In the story of the rich and Lazarus, Lazarus goes to heaven after he dies, and the rich ends up in burning hell. The rich young ruler came to Jesus and asked how he can gain eternal life. But after hearing Jesus, the Bible records that he went away grieved. At this, Jesus says “It is easier for a camel to go through an eye of a needle than for a rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

Do you still want to be rich?

Of course, it is not saying all rich people cannot go to heaven. There are rich people who lived the life God wanted and entered God’s kingdom. Abraham is one example, and so is Boaz. We can safely assume that Nicodemus went to heaven as well. What is different about these rich people that they were able to get into the kingdom that is harder to get into than for a camel to go through an eye of a needle? Let’s ponder together.

In today’s text, Jesus told a parable of the rich person. This rich person had a great harvest. He gathered so much crop that he did not have any room to store them. So he decided to make his storage house bigger, and put all his grain there, so that he can peacefully rest, eat, drink, and enjoy his life. But God sees this person as a fool, because he is going to die that particular night, so that he will not be able to enjoy any of this riches.

What good is it to earn several million or tens of millions of dollars, if you can’t even use it once. There is no reason to earn a lot, if you can’t enjoy it.

But why did Jesus tell this parable? It is because a man came and said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” He is not asking Jesus to be a mediator, but rather telling Jesus to be on his side. He wants Jesus to convince his brother to give him his share of inheritance.

We do not know the reason behind this request. We don’t know the background story or context. The Pentateuch provides a guide for dividing up inheritance, and many people went to Rabbi to have the matter settled, which is why he might have come to Jesus. We don’t know whether the brother took all of it, or he just wants to take inheritance and take off. But once thing we do know is that their relationship is probably soured.

Jesus does not listen to the request. He, in fact, seems to go on tangent. But, in actuality, Jesus is teaching him exact lesson he needs by saying, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Man’s life, or its worth, does not consist in the abundance of his possession.

Isn’t this different from what his world promotes? This world teaches us that our values and worth are determined by what we have and possess. This bag, this watch, this jewelry, this car, etc. These determine our status and value in the society, and this world is trying to sell us these things. In places like Wall Street, New York, how one deals with another changes depending on the suit or the watch someone wears. Some even says that they can determine whether this person is worth dealing with by the feel of the business card handed to them.

But we know that none of these things truly satisfies us. Whether it is money or power, once you have some of it, you want more and you will never be truly satisfied. So we try to get more and more, and soon enough we become its slaves.

Then how should we live? Jesus, in verse 21 says, “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.” In other words, Jesus is saying that we should not store up things for ourselves, but be rich toward God. What does this life look like? How can I, not store up things for myself, and be rich toward God? What does this mean?

It is living the life God wants and spending our wealth in the manner God desires. What is that life? It is the one that looks after the poor.

Deuteronomy 15:11 – “There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore, I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.”

Jeremiah 22:3 – “Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.”

Matthew 25:40 – “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

Mark 10:21 – “One thing you lack. Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

James 1:27 – “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

To live this way, you need to have these two attitude. First, loving God more than anything. Second, that I am a steward of God.

First, one needs to love God more than anything. But the wealth tends to drive us away from God and presents itself as an idol. Let’s look at the story of a young rich ruler told in Matthew 19 and Mark 10. This ruler comes and asks Jesus what he must do to gain eternal life. Jesus tells him to keep the commandments. He asks, which ones? Jesus answers with the list of commandments on the second tablet. The rich young ruler answers proudly, yet humbly. “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?”

Jesus answers him. Mark 10:21-22 “Jesus looked at him and loved him. ‘One thing you lack,’ he said. ‘God, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’ At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.”

This young man was a remarkable man. He was rich, and he kept all the commandments. He even possessed humbleness. He knew he lacked something, and asked Jesus what that was. But when he was told to sell everything and give it to the poor, he went away sad (actually better term is “grieved”), because he had great wealth. This young man, who had pride in the fact that he kept all God’s law, could not even keep the first commandment. If he truly loved God, more than those wealth, how would the story have changed?

Dear friends, what do you still hold on to that you cannot let go of? If God tells you to give them up, sell it, throw it away, can you do that?

Secondly, we need to have a mindset of a steward. The rich, in today’s parable, thinks everything is his. “My barns, my grain, my good, my soul…” Nothing is his. It’s all entrusted by God to us. Our wealth, our health, our knowledge, our children, and even our time have been granted by God. They are all God’s and we are just stewards of him.

Stewards manage the master’s wealth for the sake of the master. But one cannot use it for his or her personal gain. If one uses it for his own gain, then it is a highway robbery.

How are we really? Who is the master of this church? Jesus Christ. What about this building? What about our homes? Our times? Our children?

I pray that we will all be good stewards of whatever God allows us to have.

But we also know that this type of motivation and determination hard to live up to. We don’t change, unless we know why God called us.

God called us as his stewards, not because we were better than the rich man of this story or the rich young ruler. It is because the one who called us to be rich toward God and to sell everything to give it to the poor, first demonstrated how to live that way with his life.

He was the only one worthy of all the riches. The world is his. But he sold off everything to give to us, who are spiritually poor. He even sold off his own life to bring us to him. The one who said to spend wealth for the poor, spent all that he has for spiritually bankrupt person.

And he made us his stewards. Can we love and live for him? I pray that we will all become rich toward our amazing and loving God.