1. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. This is the final Sunday in our focus on Empowered by Grace to Tithe. The text for our message from God’s Word
today is from Luke 12:13-21: Especially
verse 21 which reads, “This is how it
will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward
God.” The message is entitled, “How to be Rich Toward God,” dear
brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. Jack Benny, a comedian from the past, used to joke
about his stinginess. In one of his
routines a mugger holds him up, shoves a gun into his back, and shouts: “Your
money or your life!” (there is
silence) The mugger repeats his
line. (there is more silence) Repeats again! Jack finally blurts out: “I’m
thinking it over” This line is funny because it contains so much truth. We can become so attached to money and
material things…wanting more… bigger…fancier…that it seems as important as our
very lives!
3. In our text from Luke 12, a man asks Jesus to command
his brother to divide the family inheritance with him. Jesus ignores the argument and instead uses
this situation to teach a vital lesson on the subject of greed. “Watch
out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist
in the abundance of his possessions.” Jesus
goes on to tell the story of a successful and wealthy farmer. His fields produce abundant crops. He knows how to strike the most profitable
deals. He loves his work and everything
he does seems to turn to gold!
Unfortunately, this farmer considered doing bigger and bigger deals a
more valuable use of his time than seeking God!
This is an easy pattern to fall into, isn’t it?
4. The farmer’s fields continue to produce very well! Eventually, he has to tear down his barns and
build bigger ones to hold all his grain and goods! Bursting with pride, the farmer
exclaims, “I’ve got tons of money in the bank; my future is secure; now I’ll eat,
drink and be merry!” Then God
said, “You fool!” This is
shocking! A fool? At his funeral, everyone said, “He was a genius, a smart business man, a
wise investor!” Notice that the
world looks at things in a much different way than God does. Our Lord goes on to say, “You fool! This very night your
life will be demanded from you!”
5. The question, then, is what good did his barn full of
grains and goods do him then? The farmer
invested all his energy in storing up mountains of riches, but he invested
nothing in what mattered most, and he stood before God empty-handed. Jesus concludes, “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself
but is not rich toward God.”
6. So here’s what’s important: we need to be rich toward
God! What does that mean? It means to invest our lives in a
relationship with God! We spend so much
time and money investing in education, work, friends, families, pleasures, and
we may be rich in these things, but are we rich toward God? Jesus taught, “Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven…” (Matthew 6:20). As followers of Jesus we need to learn to
invest our lives in loving God and meeting the needs of others. After all, he who dies with the most toys
still dies. And so the parable of the
rich man, so focused on the stuff of this age and gathering it in, that he was
a fool. He forgot all about the truth
Job spoke in the Old Testament, “Naked I
came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return.” (Job 1:21). We can carry none of the stuff we call
our own with us out of this world. But,
every last one of us is headed out of it, daily drawing closer to the Day of
Judgment. If we aren’t fools, but wise,
we’ll remember the lasting treasures.
The deeds done in faith and love that will accompany us on that day.
7. An important way for us to be rich toward God is
through our faithful giving. Giving one
tenth or tithing was the amount given in the Old and New Testaments. But, because of the freedom Jesus won for us
through His perfect life and death on the cross, we’re no longer bound to
Ceremonial Laws. We aren’t commanded to
tithe, but, just as Jesus encouraged the Pharisees to continue their tithing
(Matthew 23:23), we’re encouraged to use the tithe as the “training wheels” for
our giving. The amount we give is less
important than our attitude toward giving.
God is honored even if we give less than the tithe when we give our
gifts cheerfully. Within the principle of tithing are giving principles found
in Scripture that help us to be RICH TOWARD GOD.
8. We are rich toward God when we give to God first. Exodus 23:19 says: “Bring
the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your
God.” In a non-agricultural society,
rather than bringing in our crops, we give from the firstfruits of our income. Our greediness can cause us to spend all of
our income, but not have any left over to give.
Budget the money to give to extend God’s Kingdom FIRST. How much should be budgeted? For an answer to that question, we should understand
that the tithe acts as a guide. Many
Christians see tithing as a healthy goal.
In 1 Corinthians 16:2 the Apostle Paul wrote: “On the
first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in
keeping with his income . . .”
9. We are rich toward God when we give generously. 2 Corinthians 9:11 says: “You
will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion,
and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.” And, in Ephesians 4:28 Paul wrote: “He…
must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have
something to share with those in need!”
The reason you have what you have is not to experience a higher standard
of living, not to buy a bigger house, but to give generously! When we get a raise, we normally think, “Now
I can afford that 50” TV.” We ought to
think differently! A raise, now I can give
more! We need to think as disciples and
ask ourselves, “How do I honor God by my
lifestyle and my giving? How can I be
rich toward God?” Now the Bible does want us to plan wisely for the future
and also enjoy the pleasures of life that God has given to us. I Timothy 6:17, 18 says: “Command
those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their
hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, Who richly
provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous
and willing to share.” We are to
enjoy the pleasures of life as gifts from God and be generous in giving.
10. We are rich toward God when we give cheerfully, “…for God loves a cheerful giver” (2
Corinthians 9:7). The church should
never make people feel guilty about giving. We give under God’s grace. When we generously give our firstfruits to
God cheerfully, we become rich toward God. God is pleased when we give our
gifts from loving and thankful hearts.
11. Very few of us give as generously as we should. I know
I don’t. Very few of us obey God in any
area as we should: Bible study, prayer, spiritual gifts, loving others – I
don’t do any of that very well, but God still loves me. Even if you didn’t give a cent, God wouldn’t
love you any less. Christ died for all
our sins, including our lack of generous giving! The Bible says, “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still
sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
Christ effected the redemption of all mankind in that act of sacrifice. Therefore, we now count ourselves “dead to sin but alive to God in Christ
Jesus” (Romans 6:11), and the Holy Spirit working through Word and
Sacrament, continues His work of sanctifying us.
12. We can be generous with our earthly treasures, for in
Jesus we’ve learned that we have a Heavenly Father who clothes us, feeds us,
shelters us, and keeps us. To focus on
stuff is to serve up the liturgy of worry, constant fretting over what we’re
bound to lose. Instead of such liturgy,
our Lord invites us into His liturgy of thanksgiving. Our Heavenly Father clothes us not just with
earthly garments, but He wraps us in the garment of His Son Jesus’ holiness
when we were baptized into Jesus and so received the robe of His righteousness. We have a Heavenly Father who feeds us not
just earthly food, but who has provided a banquet table for us to feast from,
giving us His Son’s true body and blood, forgiveness of our sins, and life
eternal. We have a Father in Heaven who
delights to give to us a Kingdom.
13. So our Lord invites us to toss the fear
overboard. To dare to be kind, giving
and cheerful. We’ve got God’s Kingdom as
our greatest possession, and death can’t take it from us. As we understand more what God’s done for us
in Jesus, as we see the love of God shown to us by the death of His Son, as we
see that Jesus gave Himself, we’re prompted by the Holy Spirit to respond by sharing
the resources that God’s given us to meet those in need. We give because it’s an expression of the
depth of our relationship with God, our maturity as disciples, our
understanding of what’s really important in life. It’s becoming rich toward God! May the power of the Holy Spirit work in us
so can be rich toward God. Please pray
with me: Dear Heavenly Father, for the sake of our Savior, Jesus Christ, grant
us true wisdom that while it is still day we may gather in the true riches that
do not fade away when the sun of this life goes down. Let us, in Your Holy Word, find the pardon in
the blood of Your Son for all that we have done wrong, comfort in every trial,
strength for any battle, and the sure hope that after the night of death there
will be the eternal day of bliss with you in heaven. In Jesus’ name we ask it. Amen.
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