Being Rich towards God

Sermon preached at St Michael’s, Baddesley Clinton at 9.45am Holy Communion (BCP).
Sunday 1st August 2010 – Trinity 9 – Proper 13
Adapted versions of this sermon were preached at St Mary's, Lapworth at 8.30am and 11am.

Readings: Col 3: 1-11 Luke 12: 13-21


If we wanted to retell the parable of today’s gospel in a more contemporary setting and with a sharper cutting edge we might say something like this.
There was once a man who owned a business in the city. And the business did well and generated plenty of cash. And the man said to himself, “What should I do, I have got more money than I can spend,” then he said, “I’ll do this, I’ll sell my house in the city and buy a bigger one just outside the city. I’ll store up my money in my house, because house prices always rise, and quite soon I shall be able to retire. I’ll be able to relax, eat drink and take lots of holidays. But they day before he retired God said to him, “You fool! This very night you life is being demanded of you, and all this wealth you have accumulated, what good will that do you?
We are all familiar with that great tragedy of people who die either just before or just after they retire. We often think, they have worked so hard, and really deserve a good retirement, and yet it seems that God has other plans for them. And I have to say that very often this particular tragedy does seem to affect people with a particular role in serving the community; clergy. school teachers, politicians. But hopefully, if they have served the community well, if they have managed to focus their lives on the benefit of others, then they will be well prepared for the kingdom of heaven, well prepared to serve and be served in the heavenly realm. And if this is the case, who are we to think that an earthly retirement might be better for them than the heavenly blessings.
But what about the man in our story, who has not thought about serving other people? In fact the story does not even mention a wife and family so it does seem that he thinks only of himself, of his own wealth, or his own desire to relax, eat drink and be merry as the parable says. Well God’s words to him are, “You fool!” – “You have invested all your energy in earthly wealth, and tonight I am transferring you to the heavenly realm where you have invested nothing.” – “You fool”.
The man in our story is a bit like the arrogant management consultant who transferred all his personal wealth into Railtrack shares, just before they spectacularly lost all their value in 2001. He put all his eggs in one basket, and the basket collapsed. The man in our story put all his resources into earthly wealth and then died. But, as Jesus said, “a man’s life does not consist of the abundance of his processions.” Jesus ends the parable by saying, “so it is for those who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich towards God.” Elsewhere in the gospels Jesus says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steel, but store up for yourselves treasurers in heaven where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steel, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matt 6: 19-21).
We got exactly the same message from St Paul in our epistle reading today, “…seek the things that are above…set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things of that are on earth…”
So how do we, “seek the things that are above?” How do we make sure that we are rich towards God? How do we build up treasure in heaven? How do we invest in our eternal future, remembering that our 70 or 80 years on earth is quite short compared to the eternity for which we are created? How do we invest in assets that will pass the ultimate “stress test” of death?
Well, paradoxically, we do it by thinking not of ourselves, but of others. We do it by following the two great commandments: love of God and love of neighbour. We try to live each moment, each day, attentive to what God wants from us in the moment and that day. And typically, what God wants from us, becomes clear from the people around us. He wants us to be attentive to them, to help them, to serve them, to take them forward on their journey towards God. It is as though the wealth that we create in other people is the wealth that endures to eternity. The dynamic of heavenly wealth is a dynamic of giving, not a dynamic of accumulating.
So what about our worldly wealth? How should we think about that? Well first of all, let’s give thanks to God for it, because any wealth that we have has come to us through God’s good gift. We may have worked hard for it, but without the grace of God we would have nothing. Secondly, let’s remember that we can’t take it with us. When we die we lose it all, so the protection and security that it affords us is limited; we must enter the kingdom of heaven without it. So this means that we should use our wealth wisely and prudently, while we are on earth, in order to build up treasurers in heaven. We should be generous in giving and investing; generous, not reckless. We should seek to use our giving and investing to build relationships of trust. We want to build up other people, build up other organisations in a sustainable way. Now it has to be said that in the current environment this is very hard. Even the banks appear hardly worthy of our trust. But let’s hold the resources that we have before God, and pray for the grace to use them well. Let’s be good stewards of the gifts that God has given us, seeking to invest in others wherever we can; build relationships, build trust, find prudent ways of giving, live for God, live for others. These are the ways to build up treasure in heaven. Amen.