One day a pastor was preaching to his congregation, when he was interrupted by someone in the back.  “Hey, Preacher, my brother just won the lottery.  Now he’s rich.  Tell him he should share his good luck with me,” he demanded. The pastor was shocked.  Not only was the timing and the context inappropriate for such a question, but the naked greed that lay behind the person’s demand was way over the top.  But the pastor recognized an opportunity when he saw it, so he laid aside his sermon and addressed both the person and the larger issue.  It was something that couldn’t be ignored.

This was the very situation in which Jesus found himself.  He was teaching on another topic altogether when a question about inheritance interrupted him. In those days the inheritance was not divided, but went to the oldest son, so this was likely a younger son, asking for– no; demanding– his fair share.  But Jesus did not get side-tracked by an issue of law or fairness.  Instead, he zeroed in on greed itself, the elephant in the room.  He told a parable which showed that they’d missed the point entirely.  “Get rich towards God!” he concluded.  Today, he might have phrased it differently:  “Get your heads out of the sand– the suffocating sand of greed.   Get a life!”

Think about it.  Greed is a problem that keeps inserting itself at totally inappropriate times.  It is so prevalent that we sometimes don’t even notice its obnoxious presence.  At Schipol Airport in Amsterdam, through which we used to pass twice a year, we saw signs everywhere: not “bye‑bye,” but “buy; buy!”  That’s what drives our economy, after all.

So Jesus warned against greed in all its forms, and my friends, it comes in many flavors.  I have a friend whose mother loves to sew.  Every time she goes out she picks up a little more fabric.  Now I can identify with that.  I love to quilt, I love fabrics. I once had a coffee mug showing a woman sitting on a pile of fabric, bemoaning, “So much fabric; so little time.”  But my friend’s mother kinda went crazy over fabrics.  After some years she filled up all the cupboards in her house, and had to go out to rent a storage unit to keep just her fabric– because she didn’t want her husband to know!  True story.  And is she so different from the rest of us?  What is your greed of choice?  Food?  Clothing?  A better house, or a vacation place?  Cars?  Electronic gadgets?  I’m afraid we are all guilty.

When you think about it, Jesus' word to his First Century disciples is relevant and radical even in the Twenty‑First Century: "A man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions," he said.  Oh, really!  This runs contrary to the way our society thinks and values and lives. In many and various ways, we are taught from childhood that:

* The rich are more successful than the poor.

* The wealthy are more important than the poor.

* Well‑to‑do people are more sought after to serve on civic boards and commissions, since they bring status, money, and hopefully ideas.

Success in our culture is measured largely in terms of quantity – quantity of degrees, wealth, salary, perks, possessions, publications. We are ambitious, we are trained by our society to want more, to strive for more. 

But, my friends, Jesus is telling us that there is no satisfaction to a life governed by the word “more.”  “More” is a goal that can never be attained, a desire that can never be satisfied.  A farmer once went on a land-buying binge such that his friends asked, “What do you want to do? Own the whole world?”  To which he replied, “No; just everything next to me.”  The Teacher of Ecclesiastes was right: a life defined by wealth is finally meaningless.  Such a life puts you on the wrong track, and finally it literally gets you no where.

Well, but wait a minute, you might say. Let’s get real.  Was the farmer in the parable wrong for growing a good crop?  And shouldn’t we save for a rainy day?  Shouldn’t we plan ahead for our retirement?

Of course.  It’s not things, but greed that is the problem.  After all, God is the Creator.  He’s the one who has given us so many good gifts, including families that need to be sheltered, fed and clothed.  He gives us the raw materials with which to care for ourselves and our world; He gives us intellect and creativity to use those resources to go even beyond our necessities to make and do many wonderful and beautiful things.  Are these things bad in themselves? Of course not.  God looked at his creation and said that it was good.

But so often, instead of loving people and using things we end up loving things and using people.  The problem is the tendency to grab it all for ourselves, it’s a turning inward– and that’s when life gets twisted and unhealthy.  As Jesus pointed out, life is much more than properties and portfolios.  The challenge is to look outward and upward rather than merely inward and to ourselves.

There’s an old fable about a miserable rich man who went to visit a rabbi. The rabbi took the rich man by the hand and led him to a window. "Look out there," he said. The rich man looked into the street. "What do you see?" asked the rabbi. "I see men, women, and children," answered the rich man. Again the rabbi took him by the hand and this time led him to a mirror. "Now what do you see?" "Now I see myself," the rich man replied. Then the rabbi said, "Behold, in the window there is glass, and in the mirror there is glass. But the glass of the mirror is covered with a little silver, and as soon as silver is added you cease to see others, but you see only yourself.”

Greed keeps us looking inward.  But Jesus directs our lives outward and upwards.  Jesus told his disciples to be rich towards God, that is, to trust God.  “But,” you may ask, “in practical terms, just what does this mean?  What will it do for me?”  What it will do for you, my friend, is nothing short of freeing you up for greater things.  Freeing you from worry that just makes your thoughts go around in circles.  Freeing you to become what God intends for you in this world.  It means you can get a life.  Trusting God means you can be bold with your life, free to risk, free to do things others can only dream of.

Life is so unpredictable.  We need someone to trust.  Science uses the letter K to denote a number of fixed value in a given situation or equation. In a world where hurricanes level entire cities, bridges crumble and fall for no apparent reason, gas prices soar and war devastates multitudes, we all yearn for our own K, something of fixed value.

There is one constant in whom we can trust. Our K is our Kurios, the Greek word for Lord, the One in whom we can trust. Our constant is not situational, but the One who is the same yesterday, today and forever. Our Lord is not an variable part in an equation, but the One who never changes.

Being rich towards God is like standing on a firm rock and reaching for the sky.  That firm rock will not shake or tremble; it will not betray you but give you firm footing.  Being rich towards God is knowing that He will care for you, that He keeps His promises, and will never fail you or leave you alone.  And we know that because of Jesus, who was not forsaken in the grave, but was raised to life.  There’s a God you can depend on!  And depending on Him, you can get a life.

A couple of weeks ago a missionary family came to St Tim’s, and sang at the first two services.  I want to tell you about them.  Two years ago they felt God calling them to do music ministry overseas, and the ELCA’s Department for Global Mission sent them to Makumira, but not as salaried missionaries, just as volunteers.  So the family decided: we can do that.  They began to make preparations, and as they took their first hesitant steps, God led them on in ways they never imagined.  Although they had volunteered for just one year, and had gotten support for only that one year, they sold their house and their cars, trusting that God was leading them into a ministry that would require several years in Africa.  I wish I had time to tell you the various miracles that led them to a house, a car, provision for the family, and now– this year– a salaried position for the next few years.  They did not hoard what they had, but instead trusted God– and now they have a life and a ministry that goes beyond their wildest dreams.  Those of you who heard them sing got a taste of what they are now contributing to the first-ever Bachelor of Music degree  offered in Tanzania.  They got a life!

And ultimately, when we come face to face with death, no amount of riches or possessions will matter, but only God’s promises.  Once in Africa we had a car accident, in which our Land Rover whipped around 180 degrees, and then rolled on 3 sides.  Our children were in the back with the luggage; the car was not equipped with seat belts.  When I looked at my daughter my heart nearly stopped, because she was lying on her head with her feet above her– I thought she had broken her neck.  When we finally all got out of the car and assessed our situation, except for some cuts, bumps and bruises– we were all ok.  No one had a broken neck.  No one had a broken bone of any kind, and we were all still alive.  You know what?  The car didn’t matter; our goods didn’t matter; nothing mattered except that we were still together.  We joined hands in a circle and thanked God for sparing us.   I can tell you right now, when you are faced with death, your possessions are like nothing– like those bubbles that simply vanish.  They just don’t matter.  And what if we had lost a child in that accident?  Then what?  Then the one thing that would matter to us would be God’s promise of eternal life that is ours through Christ.  That’s what it means to be rich in God– to be sure that we stand firm on the promises of God.

Here is the question before you this morning: do you have a life?  In order to answer that, you need to examine where you put your trust.  If, like the rich man in the parable, you have put your trust in your wealth, it will someday all vanish away like a bubble.  But if, like our missionary friends, you have put your trust in God– then, you have freedom to do something more than just make money; you have the freedom to follow God where He leads you– and you have His promise of eternal life.  In short, my friends, you will have a life!  Amen.