Life Is More: The Rich Fool | Part 1

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

Today we are kicking off a brand new series called Life is More.

Go ahead and say it to your neighbor, Life is More.

It's the surprising paradox to abundant living.

The surprising paradox to abundant living.

Now here's the interesting part.

When we think about paradox, the paradox of our day and age in which we find ourselves in.

Think about this.

Why does it feel like the more we get, the less we have of what really matters most?

I mean, we have we have more money in America than we've ever had, and yet we have more or less peace and more anxiety.

We have faster technology, and yet we have less patience as a people.

We have more things, and yet somehow in that we enjoy them less.

We're more connected than we have ever been in human history, and yet at the same time we have an epidemic of loneliness.

We're more lonely and isolated than we've ever been.

We live hustling, striving, working, and yet we have less time.

Ever striving.

But rarely, if ever arriving.

We live overworked, anxiety-soaked lives.

And it leaves us empty, doesn't it?

And then yearning with this question, is this really all there is to life?

We want to ask and answer this question over the course of our series.

How do you end up with more of what really matters in life?

How do we end up with more of what really matters in life?

Jesus may have asked it this way to us.

He would say, How do you take hold of life that's like truly life?

Where we're not just going through the motions, we're we're we're we're living, we're all living and breathing, but we're actually fully alive.

You know, uh in the Gospel of Luke, we find this incredible account, and as we're gonna read it, you'll see it's as if it could have been pulled right from our times, maybe directly from your lives.

It's so incredibly applicable to our day in Silicon Valley.

And Jesus confronts or gets confronted with this situation, and then he tells this parable that begins to unpack how do we experience the more we were made for, and what are the things that actually cause us to miss out on that very thing.

And so if you got your Bibles, would you open up to the Gospel of Luke?

The Gospel of Luke, chapter 12, verse 13.

Luke 12:13

Uh and in it begins this way.

Someone in the crowd said to him, now, by the way, there's about multiple thousands of people following Jesus, so this is a big crowd at this moment.

Someone in the crowd said to him, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.

Hey, my brother, our parents passed away, we're supposed to share this.

Now, this is such a common thing, and we see it all the time, and it happens in our day, and it happened in their day.

There's something about money that causes, uh, it just causes this, you know, mess in relationships.

It can just really mess them up, can't it?

You know, um I know of uh a friend, um, he was the executor of his parents' will.

When his parents passed away, um, he wanted to keep their childhood home.

You know, it's what they all grew up with, but his siblings wanted to sell it, and and he kind of delayed that for a while.

There was a downturn in the economy when they finally sold it.

They lost uh several hundred thousand dollars, and guess what?

His brother sued him for it.

They're no longer on speaking terms.

What is it about our money and our possessions?

There's something there that it can even divide blood of people that you say you love, no, you do love, but something you love more that somehow it gets in the way.

And I could tell you, after 20 plus years of being a pastor, I've seen that story played out in so many different ways, not just with siblings, but business partners, friends, and the like.

Someone, you know, teacher, tell us to divide the inheritance.

Jesus replied, Man, I don't know if he said it that way.

I gave a little, man, uh, who appointed me judge or arbiter between you?

Now notice this.

Then he said to them, and here's so important, watch out, watch out, be on your guard against all kinds of greed.

Uh, or yeah, be on your guard against all kinds of greed.

Now this is amazing.

Now pay attention to this.

He's gonna say, watch out or beware.

Notice this.

Uh watch out means to be vigilant, to take careful notice, to pay attention.

It's the picture, if you've been to one of those big um water parks.

Remember Raging Waters when that existed last year?

Um and I remember when we took our kids uh years ago and the lifeguards, they would do this head up and down and then go back and forth.

Head up and down and go back and forth.

They had a system and a plan that they were trained to keep themselves vigilant and to see and keep their attention focused because someone who drowns is the silent killer, and the minute their head goes underwater, there's so much activity, there's so much noise, it's easy to miss, and your eyes get so you know accustomed to all that you're seeing.

You you often, you know, you you just won't see it.

And so they have a training to keep their heads up and down to keep them engaged.

That's this word, watch out.

Watch out, be on your guard.

Like, take careful attention to what?

All kinds of greed.

Greed.

Go ahead and just say to your neighbor, are you a greedy?

I'm just kidding.

No, that's that's not what we're gonna do.

But we don't talk about it today.

Oh, some of you did it anyways.

Okay, okay.

We don't talk about greed, do we?

Because none of us would ever say, maybe one of us would ever say we're greedy.

No, I'm frugal.

I'm wise, I'm shrewd.

I've been smart with my money.

I am not greedy.

And it's it here's Jesus saying, we gotta watch out because it's a silent killer.

You can't notice it, you often don't see it, and if your head is not engaged, if your eyes aren't attentive, it will take hold of you and you won't even know it has a hold of you.

That's what he's saying.

Well, what is greed?

He's gonna say it this way.

Uh be on your guard against all kinds of greed.

Why?

Because life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.

Life.

That living, that life that's truly life.

What matters most?

What matters most isn't the abundance of our possession.

Life is not found in our possessions, right?

And we get this, we know this, and life is more than our possessions.

Well, Jesus defines greed this way: it's when life, life that's truly life, consists in the abundance of possession.

Life that's truly life, like when you've made it, when you finally made it, is when you finally own a home in the Silicon Valley.

When you made it, when you truly made it.

It's once you've gotten your degree and now you're in that job, you're upwardly mobile.

Life, truly life, is like when I'm finally able to retire early, when I'm able to drive just the right car, when I'm wearing just the right things and the watch that makes me, that makes everyone else know I'm a somebody.

Life that's truly life.

Greed is this is found in the abundance of your possessions.

Just having more is what constitutes life.

Now, interestingly enough, you can be poor and greedy.

Because it's not about how much you have, it's about how much you want to have.

Life consisting in the abundance of our possession.

It goes this way.

If I had blank, then I'd be happy.

If I had blank, then I'd be happy.

If I drove that car, if I dated that person, if I if I had that job, if my bank account had X amount of zeros in it, then I'd be happy.

Today, we the way we talk about it, well, we don't talk about it, but but the way we define it is not greed, but materialism.

Materialism is money and possessions are the keys to life, happiness, and security.

Money and possessions, what you have are the keys to life, that's truly life.

Happiness, like, you know, I can only be truly happy if I'm able to travel, if I'm able to retire young, if I'm able to drive this, if I'm able to have so many days off.

But ultimately, what we want is security.

Right?

Ultimately, what we want is safety.

And we believe, and here's what Jesus is talking about, we believe security, safety, financial freedom is found in how much money we have in our bank accounts.

And if I only get X, then I'll be safe and secure.

Now, here's what's fascinating is materialism ultimately feeds into consumerism because human nature, the way we're designed, is the more we acquire, the more we desire.

The more we acquire, you just go like, well, if some's good, some's good.

If some is good, more is better.

It was like me last night with my kids' Halloween candy.

If some is good, more is better.

My wife has the bowl out.

I'm like, why is the bowl out?

Well, I took one.

It was tasty.

But it didn't quite satisfy, so I decided maybe I'll have one more.

And then one more.

And then I did the walk of shame back to my bedroom.

Materialism gives way to consumerism.

Consumerism says this the more you consume, the happier you'll be.

Our economy is built on consumerism to say that you are less than, you will never be more than until you get this and you have to consume this.

And as you consume it, and the more you consume, the happier you will be.

And Jesus is saying, watch out, be on your guard, get your head up and down like this, to make sure you're aware of the deceptiveness of greed, materialism, consumerism.

Why?

Because there's more to life than having more in life.

Because there's more to life, and you know this.

We know this.

There's more to life than having more in life.

And yet, isn't it true?

Most of us live our lives as if if we just got more, we would have the life.

And we wonder why are we so tired?

So anxious, ever striving, and yet never arriving.

Well, Jesus then tells a parable to drive this point home, and he says this the ground of a certain rich man.

Can anyone raise their hand if they're rich today?

Okay, isn't that interesting?

None of us think we're rich.

None of us do.

And you know how we define rich?

As whoever is ahead of us, regardless of where you're at on the scale of richness and poverty.

It's just the person ahead of you.

Uh, in fact, you know, I have a friend, uh, he doesn't live in the area, doesn't go to this church.

It'd be awesome if he tied to the church, that'd be another whole nother story.

But but he's super wealthy.

He has three homes.

And you know what he talks about?

How poor he is compared to his friends that own, you know, jets and you know, have private islands that they travel to.

Because there always is somebody ahead of us that we can compare to and realize, well, I'm not really rich, they're rich.

Biblically, and Jesus would define rich as having more than you need.

So, just technically, globally, in reality, Silicon Valley, I know we live in a very, very expensive place and it's a challenge.

But the vast majority of us at Awakening have more than we need.

If you are able to drive a car, if you're able to get that morning coffee at five dollars a pop, if you're paying for the Netflix accounts, or you're borrowing your parents' Netflix account, if you took a warm shower today, if you went through your fridge and you threw out the arugula or what once was arugula that smells so bad because it went bad in your fridge, and you just have food that you store that's extra that eventually you don't get to, and you just throw out your rich.

See, we're all rich.

Many of us are rich.

The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest.

He thought to himself, what shall I do?

I have no place to store my crops.

Now, what he does is what every smart, shrewd, we would call him wise.

Wise, wealthy person would do.

Then he said, This is what I'll do.

I'll tear down my barns, build bigger ones, and there I'll store up my surplus grain, and I'll say to myself, you have plenty.

You have plenty of grain laid up for many years.

Take life easy, eat, drink, and be merry.

This is a first century way of building his investment portfolio.

If Jesus was going to teach this uh parable to us today in Silicon Valley, he said, a certain wealthy young man or just a Silicon Valley woman who came to the valley to get rich got in on the ground floor of a startup and it went public, and now all of a sudden, his percentage, he got paid out, she got paid out.

What are you gonna do with all this?

I mean, that was the dream.

That was the goal.

That's why we got here, it came here in the first place.

Isn't the goal to retire young?

Travel the world, have enough in the bank account so that whether the economy's up or down, you don't worry or fret.

See, what we think of as wise, listen to what God says.

But God said to him, you fool, that's strong, God.

You fool.

This very night your life will be demanded from you.

Then who will get what you've prepared for yourself?

You're foolish.

Why?

Because you never know the time, the hour, how much life you have.

And this very night your life will be demanded, required.

In fact, it's an accounting term here.

It's that your life has been on loan, it's been a gift to you, and now it's time to return it back.

Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?

Now, Jesus is helping us with something that's incredibly important.

All of us, all of us are stewards and not owners.

Every single one of us at some point, sometime, will give all that we make and earned away.

Some will give it freely, and others will give it forcefully, because you cannot take what you make.

You know, ask the accountant of the billionaire after he died or she died.

How much did she take with her?

None of it.

Because you all leave it behind.

And then Jesus pulls it all together.

This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves, but is not rich towards God.

Who stores up things that his life is all about fundamentally for me, my comfort, my reality, and is not rich towards God.

And I want you to notice the problem isn't the abundant harvest.

The problem is our response to the abundant harvest.

One day we'll all give an account.

What did we where did it all go?

What did I spend it on?

And what has been accomplished for eternity through my use of finances.

And here's what Jesus is drawing our attention to.

That life is more than the here and now.

That life, your life, my life, is more than just this present moment.

Dallas Willard, he sums up what the scripture teaches about the soul.

And through the context, when we're reading the word life, it's actually the Greek word for our soul, the immaterial part of our soul.

You are a never-ceasing spiritual being with an eternal destiny in God's great universe.

That's true of you.

You are more than a body.

And you'll last longer than just this moment.

You are a never-ceasing spiritual being with an eternal destiny in God's great universe.

And the question is, is will what you do with your time here on earth invest in the internal reality that you will step in and I will step in.

See, what we have to remember if we're gonna live for more is that life is more than just here and now.

And greed, materialism, says now is all that matters.

Greed gets our eyes focused and going, like, you know what?

I I'm I'm not quite keeping up.

I don't have the jet yet.

Life is more.

Life is more than just the here and now.

I want to draw uh just two lessons from the rich fool.

And the reason is as we read this, and the reality is, is it is so easy to be wise in the world's eyes and yet live anxiety-soaked, unfulfilled lives that are stressed out to the paradox of this age.

Or we can step into the paradox of abundant living, which is radically different, counterintuitive, counter-cultural.

The rich fool, two lessons from the rich fool, the rich fool never saw beyond himself.

It's all about me and it's all for me.

It's all about me and it's all for me.

No parable of Jesus uses more personal pronouns than this one.

Did you notice that?

I say to myself, it's all about me.

And we live in a society that's all about the individual.

It elevates your individuality, and it's all about you and all for you, and you gotta make sure and get yours.

And Jesus would say, That's the path of the rich fool.

A fool, by the way, is one who lives as if there is no God.

Bible.

A fool is one who lives as if there is no God.

Now notice, it's not one who believes there is no God.

See, I think today in the church we have plenty of us who live as if there is no God.

You sing the songs, you come and do the thing.

But the reality is, is so many of us have confused our net worth for our self-worth.

And this upwardly mobile, just trying to make it.

And we get caught up into uh the the whole sweeping and culture, especially of Silicon Valley.

Success at any cost.

And a fool is just lives.

Or my life, does my life reflect that I am an image-bearer of the God most high, that I'm actually a never-ceasing spiritual being with an eternal destiny in God's grand universe.

And so I'm gonna leverage this space and this time for all of eternity.

And my is my life reflecting that reality?

The fool uh never saw beyond himself, and then the fool never sees and saw beyond this world.

Now is all that matters.

YOLO.

I know it's dated, but whatever.

You only live once.

Now think about this.

You only live once, and so our conclusion is this live it up.

Live with no regrets by doing things that later you'll regret.

Man, you just gotta go out there.

And it's this hedonistic, it's what he said eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow will die.

And if there is no God, then absolutely, but if there is one.

And if we will give an account, and if you are more than just a body, but you are a soul, a never-ceasing spiritual being, then maybe you should take into account that reality that this world is not all that there is.

Jesus would say it this way: what good is it for someone to gain the whole world and yet forfeit their soul?

And his conclusion, remember?

This will be how it is for whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich towards God.

Jesus is uncomfortably clear on this subject.

When it comes to our possessions and our finances, did you know that 15% of all of his recorded words are around possessions and our finances?

Did you know he talked more about our possessions and our finances than he did heaven and hell combined?

And it's not because he needs your money, wants your money, it's because he wants something so much bigger for you.

He knows the chief competitor for your heart is your money.

He wants your heart.

He knows the chief thing that will rob you of the more and the life you were created for, that will draw you into a life of never-ceasing striving and never yet arriving is greed.

And so Jesus, Jesus says, be rich towards God.

Be rich towards God.

The more we're made for is when we begin to understand how do I become rich towards God?

How do we become rich towards God?

Well, it's a lifestyle of generosity.

A lifestyle of generosity is how we invest eternally.

A lifestyle.

It's not just like you did it once.

Because I think almost every single person is like, I'm generous.

Yeah.

I gave like 20 bucks to that person on the corner.

I'm generous.

And when we think of ourselves as generous, we point back to that one time we were generous.

A lifestyle of generosity.

A lifestyle of generosity is something that you consistently do.

It's a habit, it's a part of you.

Like um, like if I was to say, I'm an athlete, but I never work out, would I be really an athlete?

No.

But we do that with generosity.

Well, I'm generous, but we're never actually consistently generous.

Consistently, systematically, like there's a plan.

There's a plan in place.

It's significant.

A lifestyle of generosity is how we invest eternally.

In fact, Jesus would say, don't store up for your treasure, uh, store your treasure here on earth where moth and vermin destroy, but store up your treasure in heaven.

Like how you live today matters.

How you live, yellow, you only live once.

So let's begin to think about that.

And our present activity on this planet actually has an effect and impact in eternity.

And that we leverage today for eternity, and then we begin to understand that all of I, all that I have is God, has been given to me by God, and so I'm simply a steward here now, and so Jesus, what do you have me do?

I'm entrusted with your good gifts.

You've given me the thoughts, you've given me the skills, you've placed me here, and eventually I'm gonna give it away, anyways, to somebody else.

So, how can I leverage?

How can I steward it for you?

A lifestyle of generosity is how we invest eternally.

Uh, Randy Alcorn uh wrote this our use of money and possessions is a decisive statement of our eternal values.

What we do with our money loudly affirms which kingdom we belong to.

And what's fascinating?

Generosity.

Generosity is the antidote to greed.

You want to break greed's grip of your heart?

That materialistic consumer mentality that we all get caught up in.

We all do.

Generosity is that antidote.

In fact, next week we're going to talk about this.

Generosity is actually the pathway.

It's actually the pathway for what experiencing, uh enjoying what God has provided.

Like if you really want to enjoy, you instead of going like, how do I, how come I have so much and yet don't enjoy it?

He's like, generosity is that pathway.

And we'll discover that next week.

Let me just give you some stacked uh statistics on generosity.

Did you know 44.8% of all Americans do not give anything away?

In the church, you're like, I think that's better.

Uh 38% of Christians in America don't give anything away.

Pretty close.

13.9% of Americans give less than 2% of their income, and only 2.7% give 10% of their income away.

Uh millennials, I won't say how many we have in the house, but we reach a lot of millennials, Gen Zers.

Millennials report to giving less than$50 annually, even though charitable giving ranks as a high priority.

Well, how's the church doing?

How are Christians doing?

Nationwide, Christians today give 2.5% of their income.

For comparison, during the Great Depression, that number was 3.3%.

We are less generous today than those who were going through the Great Depression in the church.

Only 5% of church members give regularly.

And there's this myth that we buy into, well, you know what?

When I get more, then I'll give more.

You know, I just don't have enough right now.

And actually, the opposite is true.

Uh, the more you make, the less generous you become statistically.

Households that make more than 75,000 are the least charitable than making under that.

And we become less generous.

A lifestyle of generosity is how we invest internally.

So, application, what do we do?

How do we begin to change this?

How do we begin to live into the more?

Simply what we have to do is reverse the order.

Reverse the order of how we're living.

The normative way that we live today is we consume what you make.

And in America, the average American lives on 110% of what they bring in.

That's why we're in so much consumer debt.

Consume what you make, save if you can, and give if there's anything left over.

Well, of course there's nothing left over because we're living on more than what's coming in.

A generous lifestyle reverses the order.

Give to God first.

Give to God first.

Then I'm gonna make this decision up front when the paycheck comes in, not at the end of the month, at the beginning, I'm gonna give to you first.

I'm gonna have a system for it.

You know, we talk about it like a tithe.

The Old Testament talks about a tithe, this giving a tenth of all that you have.

Most people are living way beyond their means.

They can't start with a tithe.

Start with 1%.

Start with 2%.

Start somewhere where you're gonna say, I'm gonna give 1%, 2% back to you, God.

Tithing, by the way, trains our heart to trust God.

When we give last, it does not take faith.

When we give first, it takes faith.

We're trusting God.

And we're saying, God, we believe that we can't outgive you and that you're gonna take care of us.

In fact, this is such a big deal.

The Bible actually invites us to test him.

Look at Malachi, it invites us to test him, bring the whole tithe in.

Luke 6 talks about like God will generously give back, like he wants to provide.

He just doesn't want our stuff to have a chokehold on our lives.

He wants to provide for you.

But as long as we're holding tightly to our things, he can't provide for you.

They have a tight hold on you.

Give to God first.

We decided this as a church.

Uh we said at the very beginning, we're gonna give at least 10% of what comes in outside the doors of a church.

And when we started awakening 11 years ago, I remember we had an accountant helping us.

She came out of the um uh the tech world, just incredibly helpful in so many ways.

But I remember what she said.

She's like, Ryan, you can't do that.

You're planning a church with a bunch of college students.

There's no way you I don't even know if this is gonna work, anyways, because college students don't make any money, you know?

And you if it's a startup, and so you gotta put all your money into your thing and go back.

We started with 10%.

We have watched God provide year over year, every single year over the last 11 years, we've given at least 10%.

At one point, we gave 26% away that came in outside the doors to local and global.

This last year is a little over 11%,$261,000 outside the doors of our church, because we made that decision that we're gonna give first and then switch it, save second, and then live on the rest.

Give first, save second, and then live on the rest.

Now, here's what's amazing.

Here's what's so incredible when you make that decision and then you get a step into the more you're made for.

Like when we started here at Del Mar, we said this is more than a place to meet, but a people to love, and how do we leverage what God has given us to bless this community?

I mean, every single uh week we bring coffee and donuts to the teachers just to say we love you.

We throw them a party.

What's gonna happen this month is students who cannot afford to apply for college, they can't pay the fee.

We as a church are gonna come alongside them and pay the fee.

It's gonna be around$10,000 helping like a ton of students apply for colleges.

What's happening in December is we do a giving tree.

A number of years later, teachers said, Hey, there's some students in need.

They will not have a Christmas.

Would you guys be willing to come alongside and help?

We said, absolutely.

And so teachers nominate students here at this school, we get their names, we're gonna come alongside, and we're gonna provide them with a Christmas that they otherwise would not have, and we're able to step into really big needs as well.

I remember one year uh there was uh a student who lived in a house that did not have electricity for the entire year because they couldn't afford the bill and their back payment and all that.

We came in, we not only paid their back payment bill, but we paid six months in advance all of their so that they could have light and electricity and heat.

I remember a student who uh her um uh her she had braces on, and because they couldn't afford to finish the payment to the orthodontists, the orthodontists would not take the braces off.

So for months and months, her teeth are beginning to hurt in such a way she's just in incredible pain because they can't afford to take the braces off.

And so we came alongside and said we're gonna pay for that so she could take her braces off.

A single mom.

That the tires on her car, they went out, she couldn't drive it anymore, so she couldn't go to work, and we as a church were able to be able to come alongside and put brand new tires on her car.

I can tell you story after story after story.

I mean, just a couple weeks ago, Church of the Chimes came to us and said, Hey, there's a gal who uh she's gonna get evicted, and she's connected both at awakening and here, single mom, uh, and so could we come alongside?

Because the payment feels really big, and we partnered together to help keep her in her home.

Like, those are things you never regret.

It's the more we're made for.

Gosh, man, I really regret that candy last night.

And and how much of it do we like just think about all the crap we buy?

The Amazon orders and the different things that are coming in.

And I'm not saying that all that's bad, it's not, but but there's so much that you look back and like, yeah, I shouldn't have gotten that.

But when you give generously, you invest eternally, and you get to be a part of what God is doing right now on this planet, and it's amazing.

And unfortunately, unfortunately, if statistics are true for us in this room, far more of us feel generous than actually are generous.

Far more of us feel generous than have a lifestyle of generosity.

And unfortunately, Jesus would call us the ritual.

The ritual.

And so for you.

As we close.

Would you take Jesus at his word?

Would you begin to take a step of generosity this week?

And I don't know what it is.

Some of you give so generously, it's amazing.

And many of us, we need to take a next step.

Maybe it's choosing a percentage.

Because it forces you to adjust how you live.

But then you get to be a part of what God's doing in your life and the lives of people around you.

Heavenly Father, I pray for my friends and pray for us as a church.

That you would make us a generous church.

A people of contagious, extravagant generosity.

And because we have such an extravagantly generous God who gave his only son, that we might have life.

And so may we just simply become more like you and step into the more that you have for us.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

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