Sermon - 10 after Pentecost "God will provide on the journey"

Sermon – 10th after Pentecost
Luke 12:13-21
August 1, 2010
Journey with Jesus sermon series part 6
“God will provide on the journey”

Can money buy you happiness? Can money promise you security?
We read in the news a lot about greed being at the root of the financial crisis and the food crisis.
We hear about credit default swaps and questionable investing practices. We hear about big bonuses and golden parachutes.
Why do they do it? Because the most important thing is the bottom line or profit.
We can point the finger at Wall Street bankers, but isn’t it deeper than that? I think it has to do with the values of society. We have a culture in the US where we’re told that your worth, your happiness, your comfort and your security is tied to how much wealth you can accumulate.
As much as we know you can’t buy happiness and fulfillment, we hear that in society repeatedly.
What if the financial crisis was an opportunity to re-evaluate these values?

In our reading from Ecclesiastes the author is wrestling with this very issue. He is on a quest for fulfillment. He said to himself (2:1) “come now, I will make a test of pleasure; enjoy yourself.” He had it all…He tried to cheer his body with wine; he made great works, houses and vineyards, he had gardens and parks, fruit trees, pools, servants, herds and flocks more than anyone!, silver and gold, treasure of kings; singers, concubines; “10Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. 11Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and again, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.”
Everything under the sun is meaningless!
He tried and tried to bring himself fulfillment, and he couldn’t do it.
But when we read on, the author comes to the conclusion that everything is meaningless without God:
“24 There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in their toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God; 25for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?”
“12I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; 13moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil. 14I know that whatever God does endures for ever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has done this, so that all should stand in awe before him. 15That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already is; and God seeks out what has gone by.”

In our Gospel reading from Luke, Jesus tells a parable about a man who is blessed with a plentiful harvest, and builds bigger siloes to keep it all in. The man is focused on himself and he’s talking to himself, and like the author of Ecclesiastes, he is seeking his fulfillment and security in the material.
His wealth has become a god that he believes can provide him security.
And this is what Jesus warns about wealth: it is seductive and makes us believe that it holds our welfare and security.
Jesus says: "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions."

Finally, God calls out to the man and says “FOR WHAT?! Now you’re going to die…And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?”
Sometimes we need the voice of God to come into our lives in the same way
To remind us that our happiness and security lies only in God.
Jesus is saying that there is a difference between storing up treasures for yourself and being rich towards God. A difference between putting one’s faith in money and putting one’s faith in God.
He was concerned with his bottom line; but didn’t acknowledge that God is his bottom line. He was trying to fill his siloes with the material; but he should have been filling them with the spiritual. Storing it for himself go to waste; rather than utilizing it to the betterment of the community.

We continue on this series in our Journey with Jesus. We find that greed can be a roadblock on the journey.
Remember God has promised to provide through for the disciples through the hospitality of others. How can we rely on the provision of God?
God is the creator and sustainer of all. We are told that “The LAND of a rich man produced abundance.” This abundant crop would have been miraculous because we’re not talking about fertile land in Palestine. God had provided for this man, but instead of using it to glorify God and help others, he hoarded it. He though it was his when it is really God’s.

This is stewardship, remembering that all we have comes from God and trusting that God will provide. Nothing we have is ours – it’s all God’s. And outlook is going to make us live differently and really be “rich towards God.”
Instead of looking at what we deserve, we understand how much we didn’t deserve anything that God has given us, the unmerited grace in our own lives.
Let’s invest in an economy that will never fail, the economy/kingdom of God
Only by preparing treasures in heaven; only by investing in the kingdom of God; are we going to find REAL fulfillment, happiness, worth, and security. Amen.