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August 05, 2007

August 5: Risk Your Riches!

Luke 12:13-21 Risk Your Riches!!

If ever there was a film version of Jesus’ story of the rich fool, it is Orson Welles’ movie Citizen Kane. Charles Foster Kane and the rich fool both value all the wrong things in life. If you‘ve never seen the movie, Citizen Kane, it’s considered by many as one of the great American films. Citizen Kane is the story of a young boy sent away from his wealthy, unhealthy family. Throughout his life, Kane continues to destroy relationship after relationship with people and tries to fill the void with possessions purchased during his travels throughout Europe and abroad. His palatial residence became so stuffed with paintings and statues that new acquisitions had to be stored in the cavernous basement.

Growing more cynical and ruthless as he aged, Kane lost all his friends along the way, finally living like a recluse in the vast expanse of his estate. He dies alone, except for a hired nurse. After his death, we are taken to his basement where the surplus purchases are stacked high with many still in the original shipping crates. We see that workers are busy sorting out the valuable from the worthless. All the unused art objects, bought and stored away by the man who had everything and yet nothing, declare what a rich fool was Charles Foster Kane.

ME: Before we dismiss this story as a warning for the rich, let me tell you that this parable always makes me feel somewhat uncomfortable. It never fails that I realize how often I fall short when it comes to where my focus is—on God or on my worldly possession. I wonder if God is chuckling to himself as I prepare for this Sunday’s sermon Friday afternoon. Why? Because that same morning I was commenting to my running partner about the various sizes of the houses we ran past, particularly the small and the large.

Then the conversation eventually goes to my house and how I wish it was larger. It’s a song that I periodically sing over and over, especially as I go to other people’s homes and see how they’ve updated or renovated their home. I dream about moving to a new, larger house…
It’s not like we need any more room to live. We each office out of the house, we have a wonderful guest room with bath next to it and a large master bedroom suite on the second floor.

I make the excuse that I need more room to entertain, which we don’t do too often and when we do, we seem to have enough room. Maybe the reason I’d like a bigger house is so I could “go shopping for more stuff!!” We have everything we need and more but struggle with this need to focus on and accumulate stuff. I get tired of the stuff I have and need to replace it with new stuff. o our home has turned from a place to live and raise a family to a place to store and exhibit our stuff.

I stand before you as your “spiritual leader” and I’m struggling with the fact that our beautiful bungalow is not enough. Never mind that it’s my first house. Never mind that before I married Mark I was moving from apartment to apartment and wondered if I’ve ever own a house. Never mind that many people around the world live in boxes, tin houses or thatch huts, or whose houses were destroyed in Katrina, fire, or flood. What is it about accumulating stuff that it’s never enough that becomes a preoccupation, a priority over other things… (Pause)

WE: Jesus spoke about money and possessions more than any other subject in the Bible. I’m hoping that I am not alone in my preoccupation with possessions. What do you talk about with friends? When you find yourself with time on your hands do you do what so many American’s do with their free time—do you go shopping? Are you a yard sale person who looks in the paper the day before, marking all the ones you want to hit, getting there early and waiting in line? I have a couple friends who like thrift stores—there’s something about finding a bargain...

Maybe you are a collector. What do you collect? Music, memorabilia, antiques, model cars/trains, books? What’s material possession has got your attention right now. Some of you have young children so you probably don’t have the time you used to have to go shopping. Do you miss it, pine away for it, and go overboard for your children to ease the pain of not having time to shop for yourself?

It’s not the size of our barn/house, but our preoccupation with our possessions. And our possessions consist of our homes, cars, clothing or toys—adult or children’s. They include our checking account, saving account, retirement account, stocks, bonds, and CD’s. All possessions—all material stuff that we can’t take with us. All material stuff that might not mean much to those we leave behind…

How many of you have had to go through a loved one’s home after their death? It’s a big, difficult job, made more difficult by all the possessions we accumulate over the years. One pastor writes that his sermon on this scripture text was going to be, “My Life in a Garbage Bag.” He shared his experience of going through his father’s house after his death. This pastor gave some furniture to Goodwill, some to the church and rented a 10x5 storage unit for furniture he is keeping for his two sons. They gave a number of items to the church rummage sale and clothes to a homeless shelter.

They only kept a few things for themselves, but there were a number of things he didn’t know what to do with so he put them in garbage bags—approximately 50 bags total.
The items in the bags where things that his dad treasured, that his dad kept, but that upon his father’s death they ended up in garbage bags because the son couldn’t or wouldn’t keep his father’s treasures. I’ve counseled a few elderly persons, two single women come to mind. One of their biggest fears was that their entire household would be put thrown out after their death. And I am sorry to say, both of them were quite accurate in their assessment of their material possessions, much of it ended up in garbage bags. “One’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”

GOD: Jesus tells the story of the rich man consumed by his wealth and possessions to an anonymous man who asks Jesus to arbitrate an inheritance dispute. The request is not out of the ordinary. This man assumed Jesus was a rabbi with considerable authority. And in Jesus’ time, rabbis were supposed to settle legal disputes. The anonymous man was probably hoping for some free legal advice or maybe even better, that Jesus would take his side against his brother in their inheritance dispute.

Jesus’ response is to offer a story that might help his listeners to change their outlook on life. His story is one that could be seen as a way to encourage our cultivation of relationships over coveting and controlling possessions. The rich famer is Jesus’ parable not only wants an abundance of the good things in life; even more deeply he wants the security that such things appear to provide. He want s a good portfolio and the prospects of a long, worry-free retirement. He thinks that by storing up his assets he can secure himself against whatever comes his way. What he fails to recognize is that nothing can secure him against the dead certainty of his own mortality.

Why are we so anxious and compulsively driven to engage in this ultimate futile and deadly game of materialistic security? Part of the answer may be the more insecure we feel, the more inclined we are to fill the void in our hearts with stuff in our homes. If When are we unable to trust in God for our wellbeing, we feel the need to trust ourselves that much more.

To depend on the invisible, hidden reality of God does not mean we throw caution to the wind and fly exclusively by the seat of our pants. All of us have to be attentive to our external needs, the material necessities of life. What Jesus is telling us that we must continue to evaluate and realigning our priorities and our blessings. Our relationship with God and the people in our lives must be our number ONE priority. When we do this, it is easier to be good stewards of the blessings we have been given.

Put another way, if we are wise and not foolish, our major investments will be in building honest, loving relationships with one another. The rest will fall into place.

What happens for most of us is that the more successful we are, the more we tend to give ourselves the credit for our successes and riches. We forget that everything we have is a gift from God. We forget that our material lives should be put to the service of our spiritual lives. And our spiritual lives consist of being in relationship with others, even at the expense of the family inheritance. We are not made to live in isolation from one another.

The way we move beyond our isolation is to share what we have with each other. The rich man was consumed with keeping all his crops for himself. We do that too. We need to be in control. We are afraid to trust anyone but ourselves, so we horde what we have. We depend only on ourselves. God wants us to trust him. We take a leap of faith to trust him when we give away what we are most afraid to share.

The other side of the coin is not that we horde what we have. We become mistaken and think we have nothing to share. I believe each of us is rich in something and thus we have something to give back to the people in our lives.

But sharing is risky. It’s easier to not open ourselves up to share. It’s easier to write a check rather than share something of ourselves with others. We’re much more comfortable at a distance with people than sharing our riches. When I say riches, I think of having an excess of something.

What would our world, our lives look like if we were willing to take a risk and share from our riches. For example, we all know people who seem to have more than their fair share of death in their lives. There are many ways people can respond to tragedy. One way is to become bitter and angry. Another way to respond is to see God’s presence in their lives, even in the midst of tragedy.

We all know people who have endured tragedy and their faith is stronger than ever. They are grateful that they are not alone. I’m not saying they don’t struggle—we all struggle to understand God’s will and why things happen in our lives. But some people are really good at seeing God’s handiwork in the middle of tough stuff that helps them get through the day.

I would say that a person like that had riches to share. Riches in the area of faith and trust. When a tragedy happens like the Minnesota bridge collapse, what if people with riches in faith and trust shared their experience, strength, and hope with the victims of this event. I think of the recent rapes in the Lakewood area. If you were a rape victim, and found yourself living again, you’ve got something to share with someone else. It’s taking the risk to be vulnerable with someone else who is in pain and saying, “I’ve struggled in my life with tragedy.” Can I walk with you during this difficult time in your life? It’s about listening so someone share their pain and questions without having to fix them, tell them how to feel, or give them easy, pat answers, for there aren’t any!!

Our children are part of our riches. Do you see them as a gift or a burden?

Can you see yourself as rich with something to share? It’s about getting out of our own way. Stop focusing on ourselves. A social worker named Florence Ferrier tells this story.

“I went to visit a large family in severe financial distress after a series of misfortunes. The help they received was not adequate, yet they managed their meager income with ingenuity—and without complaint. One day I visited the Sheldons in the ramshackle rented house they lived in at the edge of the woods. Despite a painful physical handicap, Mr. Sheldon (John) had shot and butchered a bear which strayed into their yard once too often. The meat had been processed into all the big canning jars they could find or swap for. There would be meat in their diet even during the dead of winter when their fuel costs were high.

Mr. Sheldon offered me a jar of bear meat. I hesitated to accept it, but the giver met my unspoken resistance firmly. “Now you just have to take this. We want you to have it. We don’t have much, that’s a fact; but we ain’t poor!” I couldn’t resist asking, “What’s the difference?” His answer proved unforgettable.

“When you can give something away, even when you don’t have much, then you ain’t poor. When you don’t easily give something away, even if you got more’n you need,
then you’re poor, whether you know it or not.”

Jesus knew about God and it was from those riches that he shared. Jesus reminded all who would listen that our abundance comes from God, it is not exclusively ours but is meant to be shared. And the amazing thing is that when we share what we have, we receive back 10 fold and we experience a spiritual gift that the material gift could never have given us.

We do not have to end up like the rich fool or Citizen Kane. Every day, every minute, we are invited by God to make a change from selfish, self-seeking ways to the abundant living in God. This morning are you poor in all your possessions or risking your riches? God invites us to look inside our heart and seek a change--a change that God is able and willing to do.

Posted by vickie at 10:00 AM