Drifting toward Idolatry

Jesu Juva
St. Luke 12:13-21
August 4, 2019
Proper 13C

Dear Saints of Our Savior~

Jesus said, “One’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

I’ve lived in this neighborhood long enough that I can remember a day when many of you lost a fair share of your possessions. Nine summers ago, late one afternoon, it began to rain hard and it didn’t stop for hours. Over seven inches of rain fell that day. No one died in those flood waters, but . . . .property and possessions were ruined. Stuff that was securely stowed in basements—that same stuff had to be piled high at the curb—soggy, and moldy and ruined. After the storm there wasn’t a street without ruined possessions piled high, headed for the garbage dump.

On the one hand, it was just stuff, right? But our lives often become intertwined with our possessions. Much of our stuff is invested with meaning and emotion: a wedding dress, a photo album, love letters from long ago. It’s painful—it hurts—to lose those kinds of possessions. They are, in a sense, reminders of God’s goodness and mercy. But that is all they are, just reminders. Those things themselves have nothing to do with who you are in Jesus Christ. Your God treasures you and loves you no matter how much or how little you have. You are a child of God, holy and dearly loved, come hell or high water.

But possessions can also be perilous. There is always the temptation to draw our meaning and security and identity from the stuff around us, rather than from the God who created us, redeemed us, and makes us holy. And when this happens—when our deepest sense of identity comes from the material things around us—the problem runs far deeper than simple greed. Greed, we learned from Colossians today, is really idolatry—having another god.

The drift toward idolatry always happens slowly and gradually. Nobody wakes up in the morning and says, “I think I’m going to start committing idolatry today. Starting today, I’m going to draw my security, my identity and my very life from the people and possessions around me.” Of course, that’s not the way it happens. But how does it happen? How do greed and idolatry take over?

The parable we heard from Jesus today is a case study on greed and the drift toward idolatry. It’s often called the parable of the rich fool; but I think that title makes it far too easy to dismiss the main character as someone that most of us could never identify with. I think he’s not so different from us. For instance, please notice that the rich man got rich, not through scheming or stealing or gambling. No, Jesus reports that the man was a farmer, and that his land produced a good crop—a bumper harvest. It was God who provided the seeds, the sun, the soil and the rain. It was God who gave the growth. It was God who gave the man his wealth.

Do you believe that about your wealth and your possessions? Do you believe that it is God who has placed these things into your hands? Or perhaps it’s not so black and white? Perhaps your possessions and wealth are 50 percent your accomplishment and 50 percent God’s gift. Or is it 70-30 or 80-20? Is all that you have a gift from God? Or would you be more inclined to say, “I worked for it. I earned it. I bought it. It’s mine?” How you view your possessions reveals a lot about your spiritual health.

As for the man in the parable, we don’t know exactly how he viewed his spectacular harvest. His plan to build bigger barns was a

sensible thing to do. Without barns to store it, his crop would just pile up on the ground and eventually become rotten. Nor do I think we can find fault with the man’s decision to “take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” Those words don’t sound much different from what King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes about how “a man can do nothing better than eat, drink and find satisfaction in his work.” There’s no crime in enjoying God’s good gifts. Would you honestly have done anything differently if you had been in this man’s shoes?

Then why—why does God eventually call the man a “fool?” How was it that this man quietly, slowly, almost imperceptibly drifted into idolatry? How did this farmer become a fool? What kept him from being “rich toward God?” Well, judging from the words of the parable, perhaps the man started to drift when he called the crops “my” crops. Perhaps he drifted a little further when he called the barns “my” barns. Perhaps he drifted further still when he called the grain and the goods “my” grain and “my” goods. And at one point the man refers to his very soul as “my” soul. It’s just a tiny, two-letter word—a possessive pronoun that can’t even stand alone. But how you use your possessive pronouns can make all the difference between being wise—or being a faithless fool. Perhaps the road to idolatry is paved—not so much with money—but with all the wrong possessive pronouns.

There’s only one remedy for those who have drifted into idolatry—those who sinfully refuse to see God as the giver of every good and perfect gift. The remedy we need to reverse course is contentment. “Godliness with contentment is great gain,” the Scriptures say (1 Tim. 6:6). I love the way old King Solomon describes contentment in today’s reading from Ecclesiastes: “There is nothing better for a person than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without Him, who can find enjoyment?” Being satisfied with what we have—being content with what God so graciously gives us—that itself is a gift from God. This is the gift of contentment. This is the remedy for idolatry. Do you have this gift?

There was one man who was perfectly content—a man who found perfect fulfillment in the work He was given to do. His work, He said, was to do the will of the Father. And the work He did, He did for you and for your salvation. As a true man like you, Jesus toiled and labored under the same hot sun that shines down on us in these dog days of summer. With all knowledge, wisdom and skill Jesus set out to do the work appointed for Him. His work reached its climax on Good Friday. It was a labor of pain and grief. And all that Jesus accomplished at that placed called “Golgotha”—the forgiveness of sins, opening the kingdom of heaven to all believers—these precious gifts Jesus gives away—gives away to those who follow Him in faith. You didn’t work for it. You didn’t earn it. You don’t even deserve it. And that’s why we call it “grace.” (Amazing grace!)

In your baptism Jesus filled the empty void inside you—that same empty void that always wants to name and claim everything as “my” and “mine.” Jesus has filled that void with His Holy Spirit, who daily and richly forgives you all of your sins. And in place of those sins, Jesus gives you His perfect record of obedience. His perfect work record belongs to you, and your future is now tied to Jesus. “You died,” Paul wrote, “and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” In that resurrection promise you have contentment. You don’t have to run on empty. You don’t have to run the rat race for more and better and bigger. You can be content with what you have because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Heb. 13:5).

What does this mean? It mean that your life, as you now live it, is not a matter of building bigger barns to store and accumulate more and more so that someday you can be content and secure. It means that today—regardless of your circumstances—regardless of your inventory—today you can live secure and content in Jesus. It means living by faith in the Son of God who loves you and laid down His life to save you.

So let it begin today. Let someone else chase after the wind. A person’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. Watch out when you find yourself attaching the word “my” and “mine” to the people and things of this world. Rather, count the blessings God so richly gives. Rejoice in your work. And you will learn to enjoy life through God’s gift of contentment.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.