The Story of a Fool

By Cal Cook

I though I would share with you a Bible Study I lead at the Kiwanis Manor this week. 

Luke 12:13-21

"Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?"

The only true and pure judge refuses to judge…why? Doesn’t scripture say that Jesus will be our judge?

Acts 10:42 And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.

This is certainly true, yet Acts 10 comes after the death and resurrection, Here in Luke, Jesus still had all righteousness to fulfill. He came in the flesh as our savior not our Judge. The day is coming when He will return with power and judge all but not yet.

Even though Jesus would not set in official judgment at that time, He could read the heart of the man and his brother. Apparently the issue was not about right and wrong but about greed and coveting! It’s like both men were being unreasonable…that’s how fights happen isn’t it? It always takes two to fight.

Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

Not just beware or know this but watch out AND be on guard!

Effort is required, great effort, because greed is insidious, it creeps in slowly when you’re not looking. It has a way of affecting you even when you don’t know it!

It may even have a greater hold on those who are lacking than those who have plenty. My wife and I both grew up in working poor families…both lived in house trailers. When we were married and moved away from home we both had a desire to do better for ourselves and our children. That desire caused us to want to accumulate things, because things are a sign of wealth. We wanted our kids to have lots of things, so we would buy them way more than what they needed…especially at Christmas! The tree was overflowing with presents everywhere…our oldest son (who is 22) still has a science kit he never even opened from when he was 10!

Greed affects us all, even when we think we just love our children…

Life is not measured by how much you own.                          …nor is love.

And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop.

Notice it wasn’t ‘a certain man’ or just a man, or even a farmer…but a certain ‘rich’ man.

This isn’t a story of a poor man finally making good, but of a rich man getting even richer!

The rich man produced a good crop, yes it does take planning and effort to produce…yet who makes things grow? Who makes the rain fall and the sun shine? Who created that miracle of life even in plants?

He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'

So this rich man was given excess, so much so that he couldn’t even store it all…what to do?

He could have sold the excess, but crops sold at harvest time don’t bring as much profit as crops sold at other times…greed?

He could have made an offering to the Lord with the excess or given it to the poor as an offering to the Lord…yet what gain to him…greed?

Notice that nowhere in the parable is the man thankful for this abundance given to him…

"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '

So here is where the parable goes a little over the top to make a point…or does it?

The man doesn’t build more barns…he tears down what he has and builds bigger barns! It seems a little crazy until we look in the mirror! The bigger house, the nicer car, the bigger boat, more pairs of shoes more clothes, more things to place around your house…sound familiar. Our society especially in the west has been dominated with this concept of ‘keeping up with the Jones’. Even churches were doing it in times of plenty. Is it any coincidence that almost every church has additions built in the 1950s? Now maybe they needed those additions…maybe. Or maybe what was going on in their home lives just spilled over into their church lives.

When times are good we always seem to find new things that we never had before that we somehow now ‘need.’ I never needed a brand-new 4-wheel drive pickup truck until I had a lot of extra money! I never needed a pool in the backyard until I could afford one…I never needed a big screen TV until the idea wasn’t out of the range of acceptable…are you with me?

Then I’ll eat drink and be merry…why did he need bigger barns to do that? Wasn’t he already rich? Don’t you only need food and drink to ‘eat drink and be merry?’Isn’t the merry part free? Some told a parable once that had a huge impact on me.

A fisherman was lying under a tree in front of a harbor resting and taking it easy while all of the other fishermen were out working in the hot sun. When a rich man came along and asked the one resting, “Why are lying around doing nothing you should be out working like everyone else?” The fisherman replied, “I already caught what I need for the day.” To which the rich man responded, “Then you should go back out and catch even more!” “Why should I do that?” the fisherman responded. The rich man said, “Well then you will have enough to buy another boat and catch even more fish, and have even more to buy another boat and have men working for you and then you can sit back and relax and take it easy like me!” To which the fisherman responded, “Isn’t that what I’m already doing?”

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’ ²¹ “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”

Notice the juxtaposition here…not just ‘a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth’ but also ‘but not have a rich relationship with God.’ Sometimes we in the Church have a tendency (especially lately) to imply that wealth is sin. As if hard work and the rewards that come with it are somehow not what God desires? That is not what the Bible teaches…in fact it’s just the opposite!

2 Thessalonians 3:10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."

Verse after verse could be sited, from the O.T. and N.T. The problem is not that the man was rich; the problem is not that he had a bumper crop and was made even richer. The problem was that the man’s primary focus was on himself and his comfort. The problem was that the man did not have a rich relationship with God!

The greatest thing of all costs you nothing!