Rich Toward God | Store Up

We are in our second to last week. We've been

in three weeks so far in this sermon series,

Stored Up, where we're looking at our treasures,

gospel treasures in our life, recognizing flat

out that the Bible talks about money. Churches

should talk about money. Now, do churches do

it in inappropriate ways? Absolutely they do.

But what does it mean to be a good steward of

the resources, time, talents, treasures, we hear

that all the time, that Christ gives us? And

we are in our fourth week. We'll finish it up

next week, which is crazy to think that's already

Labor Day weekend. Where did August go? But then

we're going to start up that second week in September.

We're going to be in the book of Acts. It is

a text I've really never preached before in a

kind of expository way, earth, wind, and fire.

We're going to dive in to that. The sermon discussion

group will start back up. And yeah, like I said,

all the other ministries will as well. So I'm

excited about that. But we're going to kind of

come to another kind of, not roadblock, but just

kind of a yield sign in Luke chapter 12 about

Luke 12 · chapter mention

money, about resources. I chose the title Rich

Toward God because that is not something we think

about a lot. We want God's riches to be lavished

upon us, which isn't always money. But how do

we return that into a life that is... The perspective

is that we are rich, right? And not by the world's

standards, but by biblical standards. And how

can we give back? How can we be rich towards

God? Well, we're going to start by defining what

that looks like in Luke 12, verses 13 through

Luke 12:13–21

21. So again, we use the ESV here, but feel free,

if you have your Bible, to pull it out or your

Bible app to follow along. Luke chapter 12, starting

Luke 12 · chapter mention

with verse 13. Someone in the crowd said to him,

him being Jesus, And he said to them, And he

told them a parable saying, And he thought to

himself, what shall I do? For I have nowhere

to store my crops. And he said, I will do this.

I will tear down my barns and build a larger

one. And there I will store all my grain and

my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, you

have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax,

eat, drink, be merry. But God said to him, fool,

this night your soul is required of you and the

things you have prepared. Whose will they be?

So is the one who lays up treasure for himself

and is not rich towards God. Some strong language

that we see. When God calls somebody a fool,

I don't know about you, I don't want to be on

the receiving end of it, though I have been a

lot in my life. That is probably not a good place

to be. But it starts with a man and his inheritance.

And it's one thing that seminary does not prepare

you for, spoiler alert, Evan, how to sit and

be a conflict mediator when it comes to a family

executing a will. I have absolutely no expertise

in it. I have the Bible. I have some... pastoral

counseling classes under me, some experience

in clinical pastoral education. I can sit with

someone dying of cancer and hopefully bring them

comfort with just the power of presence and a

good Lord's Day one. But you bring Lord's Day

one up in a family battle about money, it doesn't

work. They don't want to hear it. Because they

come to the table with what kind of mentality?

If you've ever been in that room where someone

is executing a will, hopefully a lawyer, and

hopefully it's spelled out. I have a great couple

lawyers that would be good for that. Shameless

plug. But how many have ever sat at that table?

Only a couple of you. And it can get awkward.

If you don't have someone that knows what they're

doing, it can get awkward. I know families that

now for... 10 years have not spoken to each other

because of inheritances. And what they thought

or demanded or had created in their mind, what

they were going to get and what the deceased

didn't give them. And it's so sad to watch. It's

so sad to see. You know, you might be like, oh,

I'd want to be a fly on the wall for that conversation.

No, you don't. It's not fun. Because when someone's

life is laid out to just What's on a sheet of

paper or what's in a ledger or bank account or

whatever? It's a real awkward conversation. But

I have watched families tear each other apart.

They eat their own. And I find it interesting

that in this passage where we're being called

to be rich toward God starts with a man and his

inheritance. The passage begins with a man interrupting

Jesus. If you would have read a little bit before,

he actually interrupts Jesus. And it's interesting.

He says, teacher, tell my brother to divide the

inheritance with me. At this point, I feel comfortable

saying that. That's like one of you asking me

to tell your sibling to split an inheritance.

What am I going to say? No. Give it all to the

legacy fund and then just run away. Right? That's

probably what I would do. Like, no, your heart's

earning a good place. Give it to the legacy fund.

But this isn't unusual back then. Rabbis were

often asked to settle disputes because rabbis

had made themselves very important in the life

of a community. Not just the religious side,

temple, teaching, all of that, but in all of

the other things. They were in bed with Rome.

There was a corruption going on there, but rabbis

were often asked to settle disputes. I'm asked

to settle disputes, but I try not to touch inheritance

conversations with a 10 -foot pole. If you're

going in disputing, how many people think it's

going to end well? I don't have to call any of

you fools because you kind of picked it up in

context. But the request is telling this man,

or the request that this man is asking and kind

of demanding Jesus to do, it's not about justice,

it's not about being fair, but it's about getting

his stuff. He wants his stuff. We don't really

know where the inheritance comes from. We don't

really know the size of it, though it sounds

like it's pretty hefty. But Jesus refuses to

play arbiter for the property. I love this. I

think it's great. Instead, Jesus uses this as

a teaching moment. Only Jesus could do this.

Because I tried this week to put myself in that

situation with one of the families I had to deal

with this about 10 years ago in Crown Point.

And what if, you know, they're all coming demanding,

they all have lawyered up. If you have to lawyer

up against a brother or a sister, that usually

doesn't start well, right? So everyone has their

lawyers and I come in. I was like, do I wear

a clerical collar to try to like be intimidating?

I didn't. Like, what if I try to go, guys, you're

all fools, but let me teach you that the Lord

is your shepherd and you shall not want. Nope.

I just kind of sat there. And I was just kind

of like, the only thing I really offered to that

is, just remember, this is your brother, this

is your sister. You have Jesus in you. They have

Jesus in you. You guys can work this out. Unfortunately,

it didn't really go, right? Because I'm not Jesus.

I'm fallible man. But I love that Jesus refuses

because he seizes this moment to expose the deeper

problem, and this is the problem that a lot of

us deal with today, and it's why I put it forth

in five sermons, greed. Ugh, ugly word, greed.

Greed, in a simple Pastor Jim definition, which

is very simple, is desiring more than you have.

Right? You may argue with me on the definition.

I'm not going to get into the linguistics of

it. But for the purpose of our discussion today,

Jesus is going to call out greed. He says, take

care and be on your guard against all covetedness.

Now, where do we hear that word, thou shall not

covet? In the Ten Commandments. We're going to

read them next week. Do you not think I'm going

to center on that one for this sermon series?

You better believe it. Be on your guard against

all covetousness for one's life does not consist

in the abundance of possessions. So the question

today behind the text is very simple yet profound.

Friend, what are you living for today? Are you

living for bigger barns? Are you living for a

bigger God? Just let that hang for a minute.

I keep looking over there at Jesse who actually

has barns. And so I'm like, okay, I'm sorry.

This one's, I guess, straight for you. But understand,

that's a question for all of us no matter what

we're going through. Whether it's a problem in

a marriage, problem in relationships, problem

in a family, issues on your sports team, in school

already, whatever it is. Are you wanting bigger

barns so you can house all your stuff for it?

Or are you looking for a bigger God to intervene?

Because I guarantee you one's always available.

And it's not the barns. So Jesus, in perfect

Jesus fashion, goes to teach. The parable of

the rich fool. So verse 17, it's not going to

be on the slide because I want you to just hear

me read it. But the parable of the rich fool

is so, I think it's so apropos for our time in

2025 as it was in this moment. What Jesus calls

out first is the language of self in verse 17

through 19 of chapter 12. So 17 through 19 says

this. And he thought to himself, what shall I

do for I have nowhere to store my crops? And

he said, I will do. I love he's having like a

conversation with himself and I totally do this

in the car by myself. I will do this. I will

tear down my barns and build a bigger one. And

there I will store all my grain and my goods.

And I will say to my soul, soul, you have ample

goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink,

be merry. I may have just given an exercise you

do with yourself. That you give yourself some

kind of self -affirmation or self -talk. Not

a bad thing, right? But the whole plan, he is

telling to himself. This is the language of self.

The man in Jesus' parable has a problem. Too

many crops. A good problem, right? But notice

the way he says it. What shall I do? For I have

nowhere to store my crops. I will do this. I

will store up. I will say to my soul. In just

three verses, he refers to himself more than

ten times. Friend, his wealth is not the issue.

It's his worship. He is putting himself first

in all things. He's not thanking God. He's not

serving others. He's not thinking eternally.

His eyes are on himself. This is what St. Augustine...

Calls the homo incurvasus ense that the human

heart is curved toward itself. We have a word

for that in our reform lingo. It is called total

depravity. That we are bent towards ourselves

in all things. We all do it. So I think he's

got to change the language. Have you ever done

that in your prayers? Where all of a sudden you're

praying and then you kind of punk yourself out

and go, man, I sound selfish. All I'm doing is

praying for all my wants to make sure my bank

account looks good, to make sure I get this or

that or the other. And it's okay to pray those

things, but it's not okay to exalt that over

others. Because we immediately in verse 20 get

God's verdict. But God says to him, fool. Probably

shows we shouldn't do it. This night your soul

is required of you and the things you have prepared,

whose will they be? The word, the Greek word

for required here is actually a commercial term.

It's fascinating. As if God is calling in a loan

from this guy. Maybe you've gotten that call

from a debt collector. Maybe you've gotten that

call or a reminder on your phone. Your mortgage

just went out. And I don't know how many people

go, yay. Right? That doesn't feel good. I remember

when I was at Crossroads, total rabbit trail,

but I was at Crossroads Community Church in Aurora

where I was a college young adult teaching pastor.

And this is a while now. There was hot debate

in the elders room and in the staff of whether

we should go to online giving. And we had an

older pastor, the founding pastor, Ed Doble,

great guy, love him to death. He was really against

it because he had more of that old school mentality.

And he says, and Jesse, you're going to appreciate

this. He goes, I just, I love the pain of, he

said it that way, of writing that check and putting

it in that plate. Yeah, you get it. You're laughing

over there. Calm down. And it was just so funny.

And then we had our youth pastor goes, Ed. The

younger families are going to feel the same pain

when they see the notification that the money

just went out of their account. I thought I was

going to get a bigger laugh than that, but that's

okay. It was definitely more of a realization

of why we want to give. There's a struggle. We

need to give it. Yet the Bible says that he wants

joyful givers. Though we may feel that pain and

though it may be a sacrifice, it's still about

God and not about us. But God's calling in alone,

it seems. Your life, your breath, your very soul.

He's reminding the guy, it has never been yours.

This week, when I got to that. One thing we try

to take ownership of in our life is our life.

But friend, that was given to you. You didn't

do anything to earn that life. You didn't do

anything to create that life. You were born.

Not because you picked a number and it was your

turn. No. God gave you that life. Your life has

been given to you. It was never yours. Your life

is on loan from God. Some of you don't like that.

Some of you are really uncomfortable. They're

like, ooh, Jim, I don't know. Think about it.

What Jesus is saying, the verdict God has for

this guy is none of this has been yours. And

guess what? Your inheritances, they're not on

you either. You didn't earn those. The joke in

the family on the wealth side, that's my mom's

side, is my papa, God bless him, he worked for

Juul and Produce for like 40 years, you know,

and always did these little things. financially

to let his grandkids know that he's got their

back. And I remember I was talking to my cousin

Mark, you know, we would get like in eighth grade,

he would, our whole entire year, all of that

year for us, he would put dimes in a jar for

that whole year. And then however many dimes

were in there, then, you know, you would think

he would just give it to us. He wrapped it in

like a foot of masking tape and gave it to us

when we turned 13. These are just my funny little

quirky things that my papa did. But we all loved

that kind of mentality. And then I remember when

we got to college, whenever we saw him, he would

always get these little envelopes. And he would

just, not flashy, not showy. When he'd hug us,

he'd just slip it in our pocket. Or when he shook

our hand, he'd put it in there like he was making

a drug deal. And just on there, it just said,

a little help. And I remember one of the first

times my cousin Mark, who's a year younger than

me, got it. He called me, and he said, so what

is Papa trying to do? And I go, well, read it.

It's just a little help. It's just a little encouragement

along the way. And Mark goes, does he not realize

college is expensive? Because he would put like

$19 in there. He'd put like $32, just a little

something. But I remember as Papa was dying,

I asked him why he did it. And he just said,

I just want you guys to receive blessing. Learn

to receive blessing. Because guess what? That's

$19 you didn't have the day before. Whew. Man.

And what a jerk am I that I wish he put $1 ,900

in there. Right? Which, yeah, that would have

been better. But that's because I'm thinking

of self and not receiving the blessing. The tragedy.

of this man is not that he was wealthy, but that

he was unprepared to receive that he is not his

own. Right? Evan just said it up from the stage

20 minutes ago. We are not our own, but we belong

to somebody else. We belong to God. He was unprepared.

He spent his life preparing for himself, not

for eternity. Okay, pastor, here comes the stewardship

side, blah, blah, blah, blah. We're not even

going to get there. We're going to get to the

morale next, verse 21. So is the one who lays

up treasure for himself and is not rich toward

God. The key phrase, rich toward God, this is

the only time this phrase appears in Scripture.

It means a life orientated towards generosity,

dependence, worship, and eternal investment.

Friends, the world has the opposites ready to

go and wants you to live that way. Wants you

to be more of a miser and be greedy. Wants to

be independent, not dependent. Would rather worship

something else, yourself, besides God. And don't

care about eternity, care about the here and

now. Which is why money, finances, times, talents,

treasures, even from the Ten Commandments through

Jesus, the completion of those. Right? That he

doubles down on them with the way he says love

God and love people. It's all about stewardship

and it's all about idolatry. Heidelberg Catechism

110 warns not only against theft, but also against

greed, waste, and hoarding. Instead, it calls

us to work faithfully so that we may give to

those in need. Our deacons do a wonderful job

of this, and I've been having a conversation

with one of them about kind of where we're at

with the money we set aside for mental health.

And it's a wonderful conversation, and our deacons

are so generous when it comes to people that

need it because it's a crisis, really, in our

culture. And you may not believe in it, and that's

your prerogative, but I do and our church does

because it's about perspective, and I think meeting

that need is part of benevolence. The problem

here, though, isn't possessions. It's possessions

without perspective. Man, am I preaching at myself.

You guys don't even need to be here for this.

You're not? Don't leave. That's weird. But understand,

I need this. That there are times I look at my

possessions, our possessions as a family, without

eternal perspective. And we've never missed a

meal. Our cars run. Right? We've always been

clothed. Our basic needs are met. And the Belgic

Confession reminds me, and it may remind you

today, that good works are not the fruit of faith.

It's not the root. Sorry, that reminds us that

good works are the fruit of faith. It's not the

root of faith. To be rich toward God is to live

by grace and respond with what? Gratitude for

that grace. John Calvin puts it this way. We

should not merely bury the gifts of God, but

make them bear fruit. Make them bear fruit. How

are you bearing fruit? How to be rich toward

God? As we start landing the plane this morning,

being rich toward God is more than just simply

avoiding greed, but it's an intentional way of

living. You see, Jesus does something. He doubles

down by contrasting the fool who lays up treasures

for himself with the wise disciple who lays up

treasures in heaven. So let's look at some practicality

this morning. How do we actually do this? First,

we need to guard against greed daily. Greed is

rarely obvious. It often hides behind languages

like responsibility, security, investment. Just

a little more. Jesus says, be on your guard,

friends, which implies that greed is always crouching

at your door. We resist greed by confessing it,

naming it, and inviting God to search our heart.

Second, that we should see life as a stewardship,

not ownership. The rich fool forgot that his

very soul was required of him by God. Everything

we have, our days, our money, our home, even

our talents, are loans from the Lord. To be rich

toward God means asking, how would the true owner

want me to use this gift? Have you ever been

given a gift? And you're like, how do I put this

into practice? I remember, go back to my papa.

One of the things my papa wanted to do, he was

a car guy, right? He always wanted to pass down

his cars. and it never really became any kind

of like inheritance issue or anything like that.

It just seemed at the right time, the right grandkid

needed a car, and when he went through his cars,

he did that, right? And I was blessed to have,

at a very young age, a Chrysler 300M. This thing

was half a boat. The only unfortunate thing was,

I love my papa, but he had just souped this thing

up. How do I say this delicately? I can't, so

I'm not going to say it. But it was like super

tinted windows, chrome, beautiful chrome hubcaps,

had a chrome extender on the exhaust pipe, right?

That was about this big. And that's not exaggeration.

It was about that. You don't know. But after

the third time of me singeing the hair off my

leg, I ripped it off, right? And for the first

six months. Whenever, my papa always wanted me

to pick him up and drive him around, like go

to White Castles with this car, right? It's the

only car I've ever had with leather interior

and a sound system that was worth something.

And he goes, let's go to White Castles. And I

was like, how does this work? Like, I didn't

even want to park it in the driveway. But I just

remember for six months, he yelled at me because

I closed the door too hard. Because he told me,

oh, these are the special heavy doors, and you

don't need to, that's going to hurt. And you

just endure it. But I had this blessing and I

felt like I needed to live it out in a certain

way for him to be a good steward of it. But that's

really what the Lord is saying to us. To be rich

toward God means asking, how would the true owner

of my life want me to use my life? That might

be a perspective shift for you. You may have

never thought about that. If your life is not

your own but God's, How do you think God wants

you to use it? Well, third, prioritize eternal

investments. As my barn owners in the congregation

know, earthly barns rot. They fall apart. They

blow away. But guess what? Eternal investments

do not. Every dollar invested in gospel work,

every hour spent discipling someone, every act

of mercy done in Jesus' name is a deposit into

a treasure where we learned two weeks ago no

moth and no rust will ever destroy. So how else

do we live it out? Practice radical generosity.

Generosity is not measured. It's not measured

by how much you give. but how much you keep.

The widow gave her two coins, we see in Luke

21. Gave more than all the wealthy donors because

of her faith. To be rich toward God means living

with hands open because your heart is already

secured by Christ. And you know that you know

that you know you can't take it with you. Fifth,

live with an eternal perspective. Psalm 90 teaches

us to number our days. And I so, even though

I'm not rich, I'm not rich, but I'm a fool. But

the rich fool had plans for what? Decades. But

no thought about eternity. That's painfully laughable.

Being rich toward God means remembering that

today could be the day your soul is required

of you. So how would you live differently if

we actually believed that? Starting today. Today.

Because we also look to Christ. The riches of

God given to us in the person of Jesus. If the

rich fool hoarded, Jesus emptied. He shows us

what it means to truly be rich toward God. The

life of Jesus is the one that we should model

because we claim Christian, little Christ, and

here are ways Jesus did that first. He emptied

himself of heavenly wealth. 2 Corinthians 8,

9. He was rich, yet for your sake he became poor,

so that you by his poverty might become rich.

Christ set aside treasures of heaven to enter

our poverty. Not for his sake, but for ours.

Jesus gave rather than stored. While the fool

built bigger barns, Jesus built a bigger family.

How do I know? We're all in it. He invested not

in silos of grain, but in disciples, in healings,

in relationships that would last into eternity.

His wealth was people reconciled to God. Third,

Jesus' death purchased true treasure. Because

on the cross, Jesus gave something for his wealth

that none of us ever have. He gave everything,

his body, his blood, his life. He died with no

possessions, no savings, no inheritance but his

people. In doing so, he secured us an inheritance

of eternal life. As Romans says, making us heirs,

sons and daughters of the king. Fourth, and this

is one we can do right now today. Jesus invites

us into his riches. To be rich toward God is

not about what you give up. It's about what you

gain in him. Union with Christ makes us heirs

to his kingdom. And some of you, you want that

now. We don't get that now. Thy kingdom come,

thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Not our kingdoms, not our will, but it's on earth

as it is in heaven. What we see lit dimly in

a mirror, we will one day see face to face. So

how are we investing in that? How are we showing

the world our union is with Christ, which makes

us heirs to his kingdom, not to stand over people,

but to come from underneath and serve them and

love them because we're co -owners of his promises

and partakers of his joy. The rich fool clung

to his barns, friends, and he lost his soul.

Jesus gave up everything. and gain to people

for his own possessions. I don't know about you,

but last week we talked about kingdom economics.

That's what this is. And that's the gospel. You

probably have someone in your life that is fretting

and worrying and losing sleep and all of these

things about their financial situation, their

relationship situation, all of the things. Friend,

we can offer something much better. It's not

answers always to those earthly problems, but

it's an eternal perspective of the cross. That

that person has been forgiven. That if they profess

that Jesus is Lord, believe in their heart that

God raised him from the dead, they will be saved,

not from their earthly problems. When you're

saved, guess what? You still pay your mortgage.

You still have your credit card debt. You're

still trying to figure some of it out. But your

perspective shifts to the cross of Christ. to

the glory of heaven. So when I pray, Lord, let

us shine lights into dark places, this is one

of them. And friend, I need to look at my mirror

first because I get freaked out about this stuff.

And I need to find that perspective. And God

tends to give that to me in her, in Carrie. She

tells me very nicely sometimes that I have my

perspectives off. But guess what? Sometimes she

has to put it right here. If you don't have people

like that in your life, get them. If you're the

one that always just brings down the golf foursome

you do every week or the coffee you have or whatever

it is because you're worried about all the worldly

things, what if your soul is required of you

tonight? All the things don't matter. Get yourself

that kingdom perspective, and if you have it,

give it. To others.