Luke 12:13-21 (New International Version)
The Parable of the Rich Fool
13Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."14Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" 15Then 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."
16And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'
18"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." '
20"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
21"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."
Cooking
One thing I enjoy doing is cooking – and you all know how important it is to organise time when it comes to cooking. Today, for example was roast pork, there is no point what so ever in putting the carrots on before the potatoes or putting the stuffing in before the meat. Its all about seeing what takes the longest and giving emphasis to the important bits.
Having the right priorities is extremely important –
what should I do now?,
what should I be doing tomorrow?
What do I need to buy?
What should I be saving for?
In our homes there are some tasks which are priority some days whilst other days they do not take priority as something more important has taken priority.
Each one of us lives with having to balance priorities –
Family life,
Time spent at work,
finances, Saving and spending,
time on Holiday,
We Balance priorities by the way we
organise our time,
our money,
our relationships.
In this evenings Gospel Reading Jesus is warning someone in the crowd that has been following him about his priorities – Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.
When we watch TV, there are always people trying to sell us the
latest,
fastest,
most up-to-date thing.
Walk down the high street and windows are crying out to us you need what we can sell you. In our consumer society today we can have anything we want, and we can get it quicker than ever before.
Jesus’ words are eternal in this regard – Humanity has always been trying to grasp what it doesn’t yet have.
So, if life is not all about the abundance of possessions what is it about? The parable demands us to ask this question with what God Said “ You fool! This very night your life is being taken from you.”
What is life about? – It’s a huge question and one that I am not going to cover in a short address but having said that, over the last few evenings we have been looking through previous stories in Luke’s Gospel which point to some facets which need to be included in our answer.
Firstly we looked at the good Samaritan. The parable which was the response to the question what must I do to inherit eternal life – Love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength and love your neighbour as yourself. With the definition of neighbour being expounded beyond the traditional boundaries.
Then we looked at Mary and Martha, and the idea of sitting at Jesus feet, as mary displayed before doing. The Idea of setting aside a time when we could be alone with God, of building the relationship with Him
Last week we looked at the whole issue of prayer, as depicted in response to disciples asking Jesus to teach them to pray.
None of these things are popular priorities in todays world of making money, of consumerism and capitalism. Helping an outsider, giving money to an inn keeper to pay for treatment, spending time to listen to Jesus intently – time could be better spent, then taking time to pray … its not a constructive use of time and resources people may tell us.
Christianity, living for Christ, is the radical alternative to the consumerism and individualism which we see in our world today. As people build up bigger and bigger storage barns, give their time and talents to make more and more profits.
What Christianity offers and points to a different way of life, a life concerened with the other, a life lived towards God – It gives life meaning now and also has the promise of Eternal life.
Our priorities are things which we need to sort out – we need to sort between things that will last and things that won’t
How much time are we investing in our relationship with Christ, are we reading the Bible daily? Are we praying? (Not as a guilt trip - but as we would invest our time spending with a friend). Do we know the full riches of prayer and Bible study, do we need to put things in place to get to know him better?
We are members of families, of friendship groups – Are we spending quality time with them. In society today relationships are being broken as people make wrong decisions about their work and their home life. What priority do we give our family and our friends?
We all do have resources: time, money, physical things and talents how we go about investing those may have eternal consequences.
As members of the Kingdom of God – we are responsible to the King for our use of the resources granted to us – what we do with them is up to us.
But we must remember we will be called ultimately to account for the decisions we have made. Which is a sobering thought – but it is also, if we turn it round an extremely liberating thing – God has given us so much, he has lavished his grace upon us – therefore we have the joy to share those riches with others wherever they may be.
It is my prayer that we all learn how to use what we have been given to the Glory of God and the fulfilment of his purposes.
I would like to conclude by asking us all 3 simple questions
Firstly, what am I doing?
Secondly, What should I be doing?
And Finally what would God want me to be doing?
Those three, if all the answers are the same then we are in a place of surrender to God
If they are out of kilter then we need to ask how can I change something to make the 3 line up so that your priorities and Gods do match.
Amen
1 comment:
In response to your post on consumerism :
Industrial Society Destroys Mind and Environment.
Industrial Society is destroying necessary things [Animals, Trees, Air, Water and Land] for making unnecessary things [consumer goods].
"Growth Rate" - "Economy Rate" - "GDP"
These are figures of "Ecocide".
These are figures of "crimes against Nature".
These are figures of "destruction of Ecosystems".
These are figures of "Insanity, Abnormality and Criminality".
Chief Seattle of the Indian Tribe had warned the destroyers of ecosystems way back in 1854 :
Only after the last tree has been cut down,
Only after the last river has been poisoned,
Only after the last fish has been caught,
Only then will you realize that you cannot eat money.
Industrial Society has been spreading blatant lies over the years.
"Green Industry", "Green Technology", "Ethical Consumerism", "Sustainable Development".
These are contradictory terms – these are oxymorons.
Industrialization can never be green – it is impossible.
You cannot save a person after you have killed him.
You cannot save ecosystems after you have killed them for making consumer goods.
When we make consumer goods we kill Animals, Trees, Air, Water and Land - directly or indirectly.
Industrial Society destroys ecosystems - all Industrial Societies destroy ecosystems.
It hardly matters whether it is "Capitalist Industrial Society" - "Communist Industrial Society" - or "Socialist Industrial Society".
Industrial Society destroys ecosystems at every stage of its functioning - when consumer goods are produced - when consumer goods are used - when consumer goods are discarded/ recycled.
Raw material for industry is obtained by cutting up Forests. It is extracted by mining/ digging up the earth. It comes by destroying/ killing Trees, Animals and Land.
Industries/ Factories use Water. The water that comes out of Factories is contaminated with hundreds of toxic chemicals. What to speak of Rivers - entire Oceans have been polluted. Industry kills Water.
Industries/ Factories burn millions of tonnes of fuel - and when raw material is melted/ heated up, hundreds of toxic chemicals are released into the atmosphere. Industry kills Air.
Industrial Society has covered millions of square miles of land with cement and concrete. Industry kills Land.
When consumer goods are discarded/ thrown away in landfills it again leads to destruction of ecosystems.
When consumer goods are recycled, hundreds of toxic chemicals are released into air, water and land.
Consumer goods are sold/ marketed through a network of millions of kilometers of rail / road network and shipping routes which causes destruction of all ecosystems that come in the way.
We have limited resources/ ecosystems on earth which is just 40,000 km in circumference.
If we destroy ecosystems for fewer things [food, clothing, shelter] the ecosystems will last longer.
If we destroy ecosystems for more things [consumer goods] the ecosystems will finish much sooner.
The fewer things we make the more sustainable we are.
This is common sense - plain common sense - which the so called smart, intelligent, advanced, civilized and developed Industrial Society does not possess.
The collapse has already happened for millions of other species – most of them have been decimated.
Very soon it will be the turn of man to go.
sushil_yadav
Industrial Society Destroys Mind and Environment
Industrial Society Destroys Mind and Environment
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