12:16,17
Jesus then, as He often did, tells a parable to illustrate the matter and drive the point home. A rich farmer has an abundant harvest and wonders what to do with his crop. This presented him with a problem for he had nowhere to store the crops. Now the problem is not that he is rich, nor that he has had a rich harvest, it is going to be his reaction and his attitude that is the problem. God may give us success in various forms, whether it be financial, academic or even in the church. Both success and failure have a habit of showing up what is really in our hearts, for good or ill.
12:18,19
The man’s reaction was to build bigger barns, to find more space to store the wealth for himself. Then he would sit back and relax, take early retirement! He would “eat, drink and be merry”. Now this “plan” is going to run into a serious problem which we’ll look at in the next verse, but let’s consider how it relates to Jesus’ earlier words that “life does not consist in an abundance of possessions”. This man would be wasting his life, devaluing his life even. Now there is nothing wrong with having some times of “rest and relaxation”, the danger is if we make an idol out of them, just as it is equally dangerous if we make an idol out of work or ministry. He could have been doing something useful with his life, serving God and blessing others.
12:20,21
It isn’t just the man’s attitude that is wrong, his whole worldview is wrong. He thinks that he is in control, that he can now be secure, but he is not in control, God is in control. Moreover, at some point God will take our life. Now this same error is made by many, especially the secularist or atheist. The atheist might object that God hasn’t provided enough evidence, but every single one of us knows that one day we will die. We also know that while we may hope to, and probably will, live a fairly long life, there are no guarantees. And when we die, all our plans and wealth come to nought.
Notice that at the end it is not the wealth itself that is the problem, but the man’s attitude and actions. We need to be rich towards God, and that includes being generous towards the poor. If you have read much at all of my blogs you will know that I do not have much time for so-called prosperity teaching, but the other extreme is equally wrong. God gives us good things, and He enables us to make wealth. If He gives these gifts to us we should be grateful, use them, and use them well, using them for His glory and for the good of others.
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