First Reading: Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-26
2Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
12I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 14I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.
18I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, 19and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. 20So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, 21because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. 22What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? 23For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity. 24There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, 25for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? 26For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
Psalm 100
1Be joyful in the Lord, all you lands; serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with a song. 2Know this: The Lord himself is God; he himself has made us, and we are his; we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. 3Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise; give thanks to him and call up- on his Name. 4For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his faithfulness endures from age to age.
Second Reading: Colossians 3:1-11
1If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
Gospel: Luke 12:13-21
13Someone in the crowd said to {Jesus}, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 16And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18And 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. 19And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ 20But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
Whose Then Will They Be?
Comedian Jack Benny, from TV’s Golden age, had a skit which illustrated how we place money ahead of everything. He’s walking down the street when suddenly he’s approached by an armed robber, “Your money or your life!” There’s a long pause. Jack does nothing. The robber impatiently queried, “Well?” Jack replied, “Don’t rush me, I’m thinking it over.” On the surface, our readings for today seem to denounce wealth, but the allure of wealth is only a small part of what’s being taught today. Our readings are much more; they’re a teaching against greed, covetousness, idolatry, and of storing our treasures in the wrong place.
The background for our Gospel reading for this morning is an incident that occurred in Galilee as Jesus was teaching a large crowd. A young man called out from the crowd, “Rabbi, tell my brother to divide the inheritance of our father.” Jewish law clearly prescribed that at the death of a father, the elder son, in this case, would receive 2/3 of the inheritance, and the young son received 1/3.
The man who called out was obviously the younger son who was complaining about the inherent unfairness of it all. He felt he deserved more. His greed and covetousness overrode what should have been gratitude for receiving something he hadn’t worked for. We’ve all known people like this. And if we’re to be honest, we must acknowledge that nothing divides families more than dividing up an estate. The same was true then, and the same is true now. But Jesus, knowing the cause of the problem, refused to get involved in a family squabble.
Jesus was, however, was more concerned with the larger implications of the preoccupation with acquiring the things of this world. He said: “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” There are two important words in this passage that I want to highlight, and we’ll come back to them in a minute. The first is pleh-on-ex-ee’-ah, translated here as greed or covetousness, and the other word is ho-rah’-o, translated here as watch out, or be on guard against. As I said, we’ll come back to these in a few minutes. Jesus then illustrated His point by telling a story.
There was once a man who had a bumper crop year. In today’s investment language, the man had successfully played the commodities market and scored big. He was so successful in fact, his barns couldn’t hold all his harvest. His solution was to tear down his barns and build bigger and better barns. Then, with his financial future secure, he believed he could sit back and truly enjoy life. His philosophy was: eat, drink, and be merry. Others will see me as a huge success when they see my new barns filled to the rafters with grain.
Truth be told, if this were a story of someone we know, we would find ourselves a bit envious of this man. He would be seen as a financially successful man, someone we would consider as savvy and wise. Yet, Jesus concluded the story by saying that this man was a fool. Why a fool? The natural question many would ask is, what did this man do wrong? Why such a strong rebuke? To answer that question we must first understand that this is more than a parable about money. It’s a parable about values and what’s important in life. Jesus called the man a fool because he had full barns, but an empty heart. He was rich in man’s eyes, but he was poor in God’s eyes. Therefore, the important question we need to be asking ourselves is, are we rich in God’s eyes?
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” From our early Primary School lessons, we’ve all heard these famous words, “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” since it’s a foundational phrase from the United States Declaration of Independence, representing the essential human rights that governments are created to protect. But what do they mean for the average citizen of this country?
For most people, these words are about pursuing the “American Dream.” Freedom to do as we want, within reason of course. To worship without fear of reprisal from the government. To be protected from unfair laws, the right to due process, and the right to privacy. And all this is good. But for far too many, the “American Dream” is about wealth, since wealth is seen as the ability to buy the freedoms we seek. Now before I go any further, this isn’t intended to be a sermon that decries wealth. I believe I’ve said this enough times from this pulpit before that wealth, when used for the glory of God, isn’t a bad thing. Wealth is sinful when we make it our god, and it becomes our focus in life. But as I’ve said, wealth is but one of the focuses of our readings, we need to see that too often wealth brings with it further sins.
It’s hard to deny that three of the four readings for today warn against the alures of wealth. In our Old Testament, Epistle, and Gospel readings there is one word that seems to jump out at the reader, covetousness or greed, depending on the translation you’re reading. In the case of our Epistle and Gospel readings, the same Greek word is used, pleh-on-ex-ee’-ah. I mentioned this word a few moments ago. I’m not sure why the English translators used the word greed or covetousness, maybe it’s because the more appropriate word avarice, isn’t used much these days. However, avarice is a much better word to use: Avarice means, “an extreme greed or desire for wealth, material gain, or any other form of possessions often in an excessive and unsatisfactory manner.” Another source defined avarice as, “reprehensible acquisitiveness; insatiable desire for possessions.”
When you consider the definition of covetousness, covetousness can be experienced in varying degrees from mild to severe, but avarice, which is what’s being warned against in our readings, is the kind of greed that is consuming. As we were talking about this passage on the Monday Zoom call, one of the pastors shared the story about a family member that demonstrated what Jesus and Paul are warning against. This family member was so focused on their investments that all they did was read and study stock prospectuses from various companies. He did this at the expense of his friends and family and when he passed, they said he had stacks and stacks of these prospectuses all over the house. But at his funeral, there were very few who came to grieve his passing.
It’s sad when you think about it. To be so consumed with the bottom line that you’re willing to forego the very reasons for obtaining wealth. But for many people, this is the case. They’re so focused on the bottom line that they fail to enjoy even a small amount of what they accumulate. This brings me to the title of this sermon, “Whose then will it be?” Think about that question for a moment. Whose then will it be?
Once we breathe our last, who will enjoy the fruit of our labor, and will they even want our treasurers? For many this is a difficult question to even consider. This I believe is what king Solomon was pondering when he penned the passages in our Ecclesiastes reading. Vanity of vanities…all is vanity. On the surface this sounds like words of despair, but we need to dig deeper.
As we’ve learned over the years, Solomon was very wealthy and very wise, and his words sound more like hopelessness than words of wisdom. But, when you first consider that he begins this passage with “I the Preacher”, then we see that this is intended to be words of instruction. Solomon is trying to convey to his hearers that he has a lesson to teach. Solomon wants to share the information he’s learned from his observations. Next, we can learn some insights by looking at the original Hebrew. The word vanity, or ha-bel, is given as a warning. A better translation might be futile, or the phrase, “a waste of time.” Solomon is warning against the uselessness of chasing after the temporal and fleeting things of this world over pursuing the things of God. Remember my original question, “are we rich in God’s eyes?”
Solomon, starting in verse 18 gets right to the point: “I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool?” Wise or a fool, makes you wonder if Jesus was thinking of Solomon’s words as He told the parable in our Gospel lesson. Solomon continued, “Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.” Solomon realized that all the things that he had worked so hard for and accumulated would one day be left to those who came after him. And because he was a man that pondered the questions of life deeply, he came to realize that power, prestige, wealth, and the accumulation of things, simply for the sake of acquiring them, was a waste of time, resources, and energy. As we were discussing this passage on Monday, I started thinking about certain things that I’ve accumulated over the years.
On the top of the bookshelves in the parsonage office are two boxes of awards that I received for various reasons while I was in the military. If I were to display all these plaques and awards, they would fill a wall in the parsonage. Now, when I look at these awards, I receive satisfaction from the recognition of my efforts at the various basses where I was assigned. And there’s nothing wrong with this, as Solomon put it, enjoyment “from all my labors.” The question is, what do my kids think of all these awards? And then I thought about all the decorations that adorn the walls of the house.
Terry and I receive a great deal of joy in looking at them, in recalling the memories of the locations where we purchased them, and of the good times we had while on vacation. Again, there’s nothing wrong with these reminders or the memories. But it still begs the question, what will those who come after me think? As for the various plaques and awards, other than the value of the basic materials, or possibly resale on a website like eBay, the value to others is pretty small. When it comes to the various pictures and wall hangings, unless you find someone who wants them to decorate their vacation home, again, the value is a fraction of their original cost. So, the question I keep asking myself is, whose will it be. Another question is, what will happen when Terry and I eventually move? Will we even have room for all this in our new home?
Once we move, will we have enough room to store all our treasurers, or will we have to pay for a storage unit? In the language of the parable of the Rich fool, will I need to tare down my barns to build bigger barns? On Tuesday, as we were discussing our Gospel reading, the question was asked, why did the Rich fool need to tear down the smaller barns to build bigger barns? Wouldn’t it have been cheaper to simply build another smaller barn? After some discussion, a follow up question was asked, why do we build bigger? Often the answer is pride.
Building bigger means people notice, because bigger also normally means nicer, more ornate. Why do we build bigger homes, drive bigger cars? In many cases it’s to get noticed. We want people to notice what we have. We want people to look at what surrounds us and envy us. Again, there’s nothing wrong with having nice things so long as those things don’t become an idol in our lives or a stumbling block to others. Solomon warned us about this in verse 26: “For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God.” We talked about the sin of pride a few weeks ago, that “pride goes before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). But there’s something else in our readings that we’re being warned against, covetousness.
Are we accumulating because we’re guilty of violating the 9th and 10th Commandments? Are we building bigger because we see what others have and want more? St. Paul addresses this in our Epistle reading when he said that we are to, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry (vs. 5). I’ve talked about idolatry in the past, anytime we put more importance on the things of this world instead of God, we’ve made these things into idols. Making things into idols is what Jesus and St. Paul is warning against.
Earlier I mentioned a second word I wanted you to remember, ho-rah’-o, translated here as watch out, or be on guard against. We must be constantly on guard about letting the things of this world overshadow the importance of storing up our treasures in heaven. In His sermon on the mount Jesus was clear when He said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. [Instead] store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21). And a few verses later Jesus taught, “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (vs. 33). These passages force us to ask, where are our treasures being stored?
St. Paul instructs the Colossians in the same way when he wrote, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory (Colossians 3:1-4). This morning I’ve asked a lot of questions, all of which are important for us to be asking: are we rich in God’s eyes, whose then will it be, and finally, where are our treasures being stored?
Our readings for today are far too often interpreted as passages against wealth, but boiling them down to this means we miss the much bigger message being offered here. Wealth is simply one aspect of the bigger problem of pride, avarice, greed, and idolatry. These, along with the associated sins, are what Solomon, Paul, and Jesus are warning against.
Are we guilty of setting the value of our own worth in the abundance of our possessions? Or do we place the value of our lives in what we’ve stored in heaven, where our eternal treasurer is. What are the things we seek? The things of this world or do we “seek the things that are above?” St. Paul’s instruction for us today is one we need to take to heart, “seek the things that are above, where Christ is.” When we seek the things that are above, then Jesus’ words will take on a new meaning, “seek first [God’s] kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Amen