Luke 12:16-21   

 One of the things about being off work on holiday for a couple of weeks is that it gives you time to think – perhaps too much time. And one of the things I thought about during those spare moments is the whole matter/issue of success.   

 I wonder if you would consider that your life has been successful. Some people have said so often that they are successful, that it never crosses their mind to doubt it. Others have been put down so often that they would never dream of thinking that they actually were successful. Success is a really hard thing to define, isn’t it? What would you judge success by? Money, work/occupation, family or all of these put together?   

 Well, let’s have a look at the story that Jesus talked about; a man who I think everyone would have thought of as very successful. God, on the other hand, had other ideas.  

 “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 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.”’ Luke 12:16-19   

 He’s an interesting man and the story is a cautionary one. It says to us; take care, life isn’t always the way it seems. I think the man made two fundamental mistakes.  

 

• The first mistake was: ‘the fool has said in his heart, there is no God.’ God’s judgement on the man was just that…

what a fool you are! We hardly know anything about this man. We don’t know:

• whether he was good or bad,
• if he was a faithful husband or a womaniser,
• if he was a good father or a child beater
• if he was bone-lazy,

All we know is that he was not rich towards God and that’s what tipped the balance.   If you’d met him in the street and asked him if he believed in God, he might well have said ‘yes’. But, in day-to-day living, he went on as if God was not there.  He was the centre of his own life, he consults himself about the decisions of life, he’s in charge, listen to him!   

   “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. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’  Luke 12:18-19   

 It’s a common mistake to live as if God isn’t there and it’s foolish as well – because God has shown Himself.  

 →When Jesus and His disciples crossed the Galilee and a furious storm came up as Jesus slept in the boat, the disciples were in despair of their lives. One of them shook Jesus to wake Him up saying, “Don’t You care if we all perish?” Mark 4:38. Jesus stood up and commanded the wind to stop. The disciples were amazed and asked, “Who is this man that even the wind and the waves obey Him?”    

 →Then there was the time when Jairus’ daughter died – Jesus takes her by the hand and says, “Little girl, I say to you arise” and she did! “When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother. Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. “Stop wailing,” Jesus said. “She is not dead but asleep.” They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. But he took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up!” Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. Luke 8:49-55   

 →The son of the widow of Nain was in his coffin. They had finished the service and were taking him out to bury him. Jesus stopped the procession; “Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her.  When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.” Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!”  The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother” Luke 7:11-15   

 When I started in ministry, the church I was at in Durban was right next to an old age home in downtown Durban. I must have conducted 10-15 funerals a year for nearly seven years! But it never occurred to me to bang on the casket and say, “Young man, I say to you, arise!” I knew nothing would happen apart from the fact that I would add more trauma to those who were mourning. I’m not the Lord of life and death – I cannot call the dead to life, I’m NOT God! 

 A centurion had a slave who was sick. He sent a message to Jesus and asked Him to come and heal the servant. Jesus agreed and set off to the house. But before He got there, the centurion sent a message to Jesus saying:

               “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be  healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”  When Jesus  heard it, He marvelled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!  Matthew 8:8-11

Jesus healed the centurion’s servant even though He wasn’t near the man.  We’ve heard many of these stories right from Sunday School and to this day. It wasn’t until I reached young adulthood that I realised how very impressive each of these incidents really were. Jesus says the reason He is able to do these miracles is because He is God! God in the flesh. 

 We know that God is there because of Jesus. If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus. Little wonder then that God says to the rich man, ‘what a fool you are.’ Not only did God show Himself to us in the person of Jesus, but He showed us exactly the kind of person He is, and how much He loves us. He allowed Jesus to die in our place and take the punishment our sins deserved. For years and years, I knew that Jesus had died on the cross, but I didn’t know that it had everything to do with me. I didn’t know that it was so that I could be forgiven and I thought, like many others think, that if you live a good life, everything would be O.K.  I was completely mistaken. I, like the man in our story, was a fool. I was careless about God and I needed to be forgiven. Thank God that Jesus loved me and gave His life for me. Thank God, He is kind and loving. However, any gift, no matter how freely and graciously given has to be received. 

  When a man cannot be pardoned. 

 God is gracious, but He will not force the acceptance of His grace upon men. In 1829, George Wilson, in Pennsylvania was sentenced to be hanged by a United States Court for robbery and murder. President Andrew Jackson pardoned him, but this was refused, and Wilson insisted that it was not a pardon unless he accepted it. That was a point of law never before raised, and the President called the Supreme Court to decide. Chief Justice John Marshall gave the following decision: “A pardon is a paper, the value of which depends upon its acceptance by the person implicated. It is hardly to be supposed that one under sentence of death would refuse to accept a pardon, but if it is refused, it is no pardon. George Wilson must be hanged!”. And he was hanged. Provisionally, the gospel of Christ which is the power of God unto salvation is for every one irrespective of what he may be or what he may have hone. Potentially, it is only to “everyone that believeth.” – Sunday School Times.  

 Little wonder that God says to this man, ‘what a fool you are!’ This man was rich – very rich indeed in everything except the only thing that really mattered. He was not rich towards God! This is a cautionary lesson. It’s designed to make us to sit up and take notice.  

 

• This brings us to the second fatal mistake.

He lived as though there was no judgement day. He doesn’t seem to have given much thought to his death. He’d made provision for his life BUT not for life after death. Although he has ‘much goods laid up for many years’, he doesn’t have any years left to enjoy them. 

   ^“But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then who’s will those things be which you have provided?’  “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” Luke 12:20-21 

 This man plunged into an eternity totally unprepared. 

 ‘The Citizen’ newspaper ran the following report: 

  “Pretoria Shop Owner Dies. 

  The owner of a butchery in Michael Brink Street in Pretoria died in a local hospital on Tuesday night, after being shot in the chest by a man who had tried to rob his business. The police said the attacker entered the shop about 5.20pm and locked the owner and two employees in the freezer. He shot the owner and pulled an employee out to open the safe, but to no avail, escaping empty-handed.”     

 That’s all – a few lines in the middle of the newspaper! What a tragedy – and the attacker left with nothing. The shop owner didn’t know that this day he would be hurled into eternity – it was probably the last thing on his mind when he left for work that day not thinking that before the day was over, he would be in the presence of his maker! Its so hard for us to come to terms with the fact that we are not immortal, that we too will die. 

 There are two indisputable facts of life:

1. All of us will die one day – of that there is no doubt. It was John Heywood who said that death is the most democratic of all experiences.
2. None of us knows when this will happen. The fact is that the young as well as the old die!

Given this, what do you think the wise person should do? This man’s mistakes were very serious. They cost him a place in heaven in eternity. This is meant to be a warning – did you hear what Jesus said? “So, it is with everyone who is not rich towards God!”   

 If as you’ve read this study, you’ve said to yourself; “that’s me! I’m not really rich towards God – then today is a good day to rectify this. If this is how you feel, wont you pray this prayer with me;   

 Dear Heavenly Father, I have been living as if You were not there. 

 I have not had You at the centre of my life. 

 Please help me to change. 

 Dear Lord Jesus, thank You for dying for me, 

 Please forgive me. 

 Take over the running of my life and make me rich towards You. 

 Amen.   

 Peter Wessels, Minister 

 St Olav Church