Luke 12:13-21
13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” 14 But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15 And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” 16 Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17 And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ 18 Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20 But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”
Because of my education in business, I don't consider myself the most brilliant investor, but I know enough to be dangerous. Because I know enough to be dangerous, I stay away from certain things people sell, pretending to be investments. One of which has been cryptocurrency.
Investors tout cryptocurrency as the currency of the future and are lining up to invest now before they become more valuable. But there is a problem: cryptocurrency is highly speculative. Just like real currencies, cryptocurrencies generate no cash flow, so for you to profit, someone must pay more for the currency than you did. This is what's called "the greater fool" theory of investment.
We cannot put our money into things that won't last; we have to put money into something that will help the greater good.
Jesus talked about money a lot in the Bible, but we don't talk about it a lot in church. 11 out of 40 of Jesus' parables mentioned money. In the Gospel, according to Luke, money is mentioned an average of once every seven verses. I recall many people getting worked up about Creflo Dollar and his comments on tithing recently; I did not participate in much of the back, and forth because I knew a hard fact, most people don't tithe. The average giver in the church gives somewhere around 2 percent to 2.5 percent of their income.
Tithing Statistics
• 5% of churchgoers tithe (Church Development).
• 1.5 million people tithe out of the 247 million U.S. citizens identifying as Christians (Sharefaith).
• 77% of tithers give more than 10% (Health Research Funding).
• If every Christian tithed 10%, faith organizations would have an extra $139 billion yearly (Health Research Funding).
• The giving preferences of those who tithe are almost evenly split between eGiving (27%) and traditional giving (28%) (Vanco Churchgoer Giving Study).
Average Giving Per Person in church
• The average weekly giving amount per churchgoer is $17 per week (Health Research Funding).
• That's $73.67 a month per giver.
• That's $884 a year per giver.
• U.S. Christians collectively make $5.2 trillion annually—nearly half the world's total Christian income (Health Research Funding).
https://www.vancopayments.com/egiving/church-giving-statistics-tithing?fbclid=IwAR0Ptlftjf0p2FsSYQ00VNtR02jrn5lmmLtUWMD-Cdb4KY5ogOZ0K03FJME
Jesus has been preaching to the crowd in Luke chapter 12, and a young man comes up wanting Jesus to resolve a dispute between the young man and his brother. Resolving disputes was common in the Bible; Moses did it, and there is also a book called Judges. The Book of Deuteronomy 21 tells us how the sons are supposed to divide an inheritance, and it seems like the young man in front of Jesus did not get his fair share. Jesus doesn't make a judgment or rule but instead takes the time to teach the people not about money but priorities.
The rich fool in the parable had a preoccupation with possessions, put too much security in self-sufficiency, and was under the grasp of Greed. The rich fool thought he knew the future; he thought they would only get better because things were good now. Other people have this same thought. A large corporation turns a profit this year; they expect even more profit next year; if they don't get the increased profit the following year, someone is getting fired. We always expect tomorrow to be greater than yesterday, and so did the rich fool in the parable.
Jesus was not anti-rich; he was anti-greed. "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions" (v. 15). The first warning, "Take care," is a Greek word meaning "to see," as in to understand and comprehend. Jesus is saying, "You don't get it! Open your eyes and guard against Greed in all its forms." Security was important in ancient times when thievery was common and easier than today with all our hi-tech protection options. "Peer into the darkness; make sure no one is lurking in an alley with a baseball bat. Keep your wits about you. Do not let Greed grab you by the throat and rob you of your life."
This is Jesus' meaning: Greed is a detour that quickly becomes a one-way street to a dead-end road. There's no cul-de-sac; you can't turn around. Once greedy, always greedy. This is the dark, dirty little secret about avarice: Once it's grabbed you, it's got you, and you're hooked. You will always be unhappy; what you have will never be enough. No wonder Jesus says, "For one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions" (v. 15).
The alternative to Greed is generosity — like the widow whom Jesus and the disciples watched as she donated the temple. She taught the disciples that generosity is more than an amount — it's an attitude. It's measured not by how much we give but by how much it costs us. "Truly I tell you," Jesus said, "this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, has put in all she had to live on" (Luke 21:3-4).
Jesus doesn't pull any punches; the word used for a fool in the text not only means without reason, senseless, foolish, or inconsiderate. The word for fool is closely related to the word which refers to the diaphragm and midriff and the breathing process — inhaling and exhaling. It's as though Jesus is saying to the fool: "You big bag of wind! You're partying like there's no tomorrow when in fact, for you, there's no tonight. This very night, your soul is required of you. It's over."
Luke 12:13–21 invites us to place our trust in something more durable than the volatile fluctuations of a global economy. Instead of banking on more and larger storage barns, God invites all into the eternal economy of Christ's grace and mercy. That is good news in every season of the year.
Being rich and possessing an abundance of belongings isn't the problem. Forgetting God - forgetting to get down on your knees and thank God, the giver of life and all things - is the problem. Jesus notes the irony. The man thinks he is the creator of his wealth. Jesus says, "Not so." It was the land that produced the abundant crop. The rich man had little to do with it. God gave him his blessings!
Being rich toward God entails using resources to benefit one's neighbor in need, as the Samaritan did (10:25–37). Being rich toward God includes intentionally listening to Jesus' word, as Mary did (10:38–42). Being rich toward God consists of prayerfully trusting that God will provide for the needs of life (11:1–13; 12:22–31). Being rich toward God involves giving alms to establish a lasting treasure in heaven (12:32–34).
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