-
Reading Deuteronomy 8v7-18;Luke12v16-30
-
The Land
-
The Lord your God has put you in a
good land – a land with streams and pools of water, a land where
water is piped into every house, a land with wheat and oats, and
endless supplies of fresh produce on the high street, a land where
work is readily available and well paid, a land where food is not
scarce and you will lack nothing.
When you have eaten and are
satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land He has given
you. Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to
observe his commands, his laws and his decrees.
Otherwise, when you eat and are
satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your
bank balance and pension pot grow large and your silver and gold
increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become
proud and you will forget the LORD your God.
You may say to yourself, “My power
and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.”.
But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the
ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he
swore to your forefathers, as it is today.
If you ever forget the LORD your God
and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify
against you today that you will surely be destroyed.
-
Consequences
If you didn’t recognise the last
verse, that’s because it wasn’t part of the reading. We must
always remember that there are consequences to our actions, or our
inactions.
-
Bible is Clear
The Bible is very clear about the
important thing in our lives, and we find similar ideas in the New
Testament reading as well.
-
A certain Rich Man
A certain rich man has completely
forgotten about God, his only concern is to ensure that his excellent
crops are not wasted, so that he can still get the profit from them.
-
Butter mountain – Food waste
A few years ago I would have been
talking about the butter mountain and the wine lake, both of which
resulted from abundant production, and were caused by greed, just
like the rich man’s barn extensions.
Today I would talk about food waste,
in particular irregularly shaped vegetable that are deemed
unsaleable. Everything has its price, so this again has its root in
greed. (Pardon the pun!)
-
No Profit for the Rich Man
The rich man will not get his excess
profit because his life is about to come to an end. Grains and
barns, gold and silver, investments and pension plans do not follow
us into the next life - “you can’t take it with you”. So
someone else will get it, and who can tell whether they will put it
to good use or not.
-
Audley End
We recently visited Audley End, the
history of the house shows that one generation does not necessarily
have the same abilities and preferences as the next. There is a long
history of development and neglect.
-
Rich towards God
In verse 21 we see why the rich man
will not benefit from his plans – because he is not rich towards
God. In Exodus 23:19 the Israelites are told “Bring the best of
the first fruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God.”
Proverbs 3:9-10:
Honour
the Lord with your wealth.
Give him the first share of all your
crops.
Then your storerooms will be so full they can’t hold
everything. Your huge jars will spill over with fresh wine.
This is a way of acknowledging that
the harvest belongs to the Lord, it is part of His provision for us.
A bumper harvest ought to equal and even greater offering than usual,
because we still only need the same amount as we have always needed.
-
Our ‘Harvest’
These days we don’t really have a
harvest – sure we see the crops being cut in the fields, but at a
personal level the only harvest I see is the tomatoes, beans,
beetroot, potatoes and, this year, two cucumbers, that I grow in the
garden. If I had to survive on that I would have starved long ago.
-
My ‘harvest’
My ‘harvest’ arrives in my bank
account each month and it is from there that I have the opportunity
to remember the Lord and all that He has done for me. There’s a
savings campaign on the TV at the moment which highlights the fact
that it is easier to save if you do it on payday. Well that’s true
of showing our thankfulness to the Lord for all of his amazing
provision for us too. Take it out on payday and pay it to where ever
it has to go. OR Put it in the envelopes, or use a standing order or
two.
-
Back to the rich man
If the rich man had done that, he
might have survived long enough to enjoy a healthy retirement!
-
On the bread line
The hearers of Jesus’s story were
mainly ordinary people. Verse 1 of the chapter says a crowd of many
thousands had gathered. Most of them would have existed day-to-day,
hand-to-mouth, the sort of people our politicians now call ‘the
just about managing’. I’d imagine they thought the rich man got
what he deserved. The last part of our gospel reading is aimed
directly at them. Yes, it says he spoke to his disciples, but the
crowd hadn’t dispersed, so they would have heard too, at least some
of them.
-
Don’t Worry
Having recognised what God has done
for us and given him the first fruits, we should then not worry too
much about what is left. This might be seen as a bit of a sideswipe
at the Pharisees who loved to dress up in fancy costumes [I’m in
robes!], but it has a message to us too. Jesus is saying that what
we wear and what we eat are not the be all and end all of life.
While we are worrying about these things, life is happening, maybe
passing us by.
-
Extending Life
We cannot add a single hour to our
lives by worrying – indeed worrying is much more likely to shorten
our life than extend it.
-
Pagans
The pagan world worries about these
things – look at the world around us – fashion is out of control,
cloths are thrown away after a single wearing. It really doesn’t
matter if we are seen in the same dress or suit multiple times. When
we visit restaurants, or when we are out shopping, we should not
spend ages debating what we are to eat and drink. The phrase for
worry here means more literally ‘be up in the air about’.
-
Kingdom of God
Instead our focus – the thing which
draws our attention and our worrying should be the kingdom of God.
-
Ravens
Jesus picks on the ravens as an
example – God looks after them – a bird considered unclean, even
though they make no effort at all – they don’t sow or reap, they
don’t store grain in barns, but God feeds them.
How much more valuable are you, a
clean human being, than an unclean raven.
-
Lilies
The lilies – a bright, somewhat
over the top bloom they are a very pretty flower, and some are very
ornate. The designs are subtler and more attractive that the best
that designer fashion has to offer. God did that!
God made us to, so why should we
worry about what we look like.
-
Seek the Kingdom
If we go off the end of the reading a
little we get Jesus’ alternative. Seek God’s kingdom and
everything you have been worrying about will be given to you.
No comments:
Post a Comment