Luke 12:13-21
August 3, 2025
There is a story of a passenger train that was rushing along the tracks one day at a pretty good speed. Apparently several people on board were a little concerned, because the train did not appear to even slow down at the crossings and curves in the tracks. A man, who was riding the train on his way to see some family members, walked up to the engineer, grabbed him by the arm and told him that he needed to slow down. However, as soon as he said that, he noticed that the engineer was unconscious. The engineer had suffered a heart attack and died instantly, but his fingers were still clutching the wide-open throttle. Fortunately, the train was brought under control and a disaster was averted. Just imagine a train with hundreds of people on board unaware of any danger as the train moves along at a pretty good speed without a live person running it.
I don’t know if that story is true, but I think many people are living their lives that way. They have the love and forgiveness of Jesus right before them, but they are too busy to pay attention, they are moving too fast to even notice, and they are focused only on themselves. In fact, as I was traveling with our high school students a few weeks ago to the National Youth Gathering, these are the kind of signs that I saw all around the airport. The focus on “serving yourself” really stuck with me, because it appears that’s the kind of world we live in today. We have become a self serving society. The more greedy, craving, or needy our consumption has become, the less effort there seems to be to serve anyone or anything except ourselves.
In our Gospel lesson for today Jesus encounters a man who’s focused only on himself. I’m guessing that the man may not have been listening very carefully to Jesus’ teachings, because in the verses leading up to our text Jesus tells a crowd of people not to worry about things or the stuff you have, because if sparrows have a place to sleep and can find food, how much more will
God provide for all his people. But as soon as He says that a man in the crowd shouts out, “Tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But just like Jesus did not get involved between Martha and Mary, when Martha demanded that Jesus tell her sister Mary to get back in the kitchen and help her with the cooking (a story that we heard here a few weeks ago), Jesus does not get involved in this dispute between two brothers. Instead, since the brother was complaining about money or possessions, Jesus uses this opportunity to talk about values, and the foolishness of our self-serving nature.
In particular, Jesus says, “Let me tell you a story about a rich man who owned some land that produced a tremendous amount of crops. This man was so successful in growing crops on his land that his barns were not large enough to hold all of his crops. He wondered what he was going to do. Where was he going to store all of his produce? His solution: Tear down his barns and build bigger ones. That makes sense, doesn’t it? Then, with his financial security in hand, he could sit back and truly enjoy life. His philosophy was eat, drink, and enjoy.”
But instead of commending this man for his financial success, as we might have done, Jesus concludes the story by calling this man a fool. Therefore, the question before us this morning is: What did the man do wrong? I mean, he wasn’t evil. He did not do anything illegal. Nor was he careless with the blessings God had given to him. But to understand what the man did wrong, we must first realize that this parable is not about money. It is a parable about values and what is important in life. So with that in mind I would like to suggest 3 things this man did that were absolutely foolish.
First, He left God out of his gratitude. The man talked about his crops, his barns, his goods, his planning, and his work, but he never mentioned God. Notice in just two verses, 17-18, the man uses the word, “I” or “my” nine times. “And he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and
build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.” God was in that man’s life, but he did not even know it. God was in his fields, his crops, and in his wealth – remember he was already rich; God was everywhere except in the man’s gratitude. The man thought he was the only one involved in producing that great harvest. Do we ever act like that fool? While we may speak of my house, my car, my grades, or my promotion, we must never forget that these things all come from God. Even if we have worked hard to get them, it is God who gave us the energy and the intelligence to accomplish what we have and what we have done. But when we forget that, we think that these blessings belong to us and can be used in any way we see fit.
Someone once told me, “It is not how much of my possessions I use for God, rather it is how much of God’s possessions I keep for myself.” How much of God’s possessions do you keep for yourself – 90%, 95%, 98%? Jesus calls this rich man a “fool” not because he’s wealthy. There’s nothing wrong with wealth. Poverty is not a requirement or guarantee of heaven. Jesus calls him a fool because of his attitude toward wealth. He wanted to take care of himself first, he wanted to serve himself first, and did not even think of others – namely God. When our love for others diminishes, I believe that’s a clear sign that our love for God is fading as well.
The second thing the rich man did that was foolish was: he left other people out of his possessions. As the man considered what to do with his surplus crops, he seems to come to a logical conclusion – build bigger barns. That makes sense, more storage, right? If there is one business that has been thriving for years in our community it is the “Self-Storage” industry. I am amazed at how many “Self-Storage” facilities we have here in the Clayton area. We have so much stuff, our homes are not large enough to hold all of it.
While building new barns would solve the storage problem, the fact is the rich man already had storage available: in the mouths of needy people. But this rich man doesn’t appear to even
consider sharing his wealth. He doesn’t seem to voice any concern about his community and those who are in need, because he believed that all of those blessings, were for him.
We can easily act like this foolish man, as well, in our obsession with material things. It is very easy for us to become content with food, clothes, nice surroundings, and all the gadgets of convenience that make life easy. Again, these things are not bad, but they can easily isolate us from what is happening around us and they can blind us to other people’s needs.
The rich man’s plans for his good fortune are entirely directed toward himself. He intends only to eat, drink, and relax, and assumes that because of his great prosperity he’ll be able to keep up this self-serving behavior for many years. This leads us to the third foolish thing the rich man did: He left eternity out of his plans. He did not even consider that all of his crops and stuff could be taken away in an instant. He planned for the probable, “If I build bigger barns, then I’ll be able to store up food for many years and retire early;” but he neglected the inevitable when God said, “Tonight, your life is being taken from you,” not many years from now, but tonight.
A wise pastor told me many years ago as I graduated from Seminary: “Remember when you step into the pulpit on Sunday and preach the Word of God, someone may be hearing it for the first time; and someone may be hearing it for the last time.” In my years of ministry many times I have known or seen someone in the church one Sunday only to be in the cemetery before the next Sunday. How many times have we carefully planned for next week, but have been careless about eternity?
Our Lord Jesus did not delay in bringing us the kingdom of His love. We have His love and forgiveness right now, and through faith in Him we have all the wealth of eternal life waiting for us. While we may be busy, tired, or struggling these days, it is time for us to stop being self-serving individuals and to start sharing the riches God gives to us with a lost and waiting world.
