Treasure riches that bring eternal life.

 

Sermon for Pentecost 8, August 3, 2025

Grace, mercy, and peace be yours, forever, from God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Luke 12:13-21  ¹³Someone from the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”  ¹⁴But Jesus said to him, “Man, who appointed me to be a judge or an arbitrator over you?”  ¹⁵Then he said to them, “Watch out and be on guard against all greed, because a man’s life is not measured by how many possessions he has.”  ¹⁶He told them a parable: “The land of a certain rich man produced very well.  ¹⁷He was thinking to himself, ‘What will I do, because I do not have anywhere to store my crops?’  ¹⁸He said, ‘This is what I will do.  I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and goods.  ¹⁹And I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods stored up for many years.  Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry.”’  ²⁰“But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your soul will be demanded from you.  Now who will get what you have prepared?’  ²¹“That is how it will be for anyone who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. (EHV)

Treasure riches that bring eternal life.

Dear fellow redeemed,

            You hear the refrain almost everywhere these days: “Pay us what you owe us.”  “The wealthy should pay their fair share.”  The super rich own too much of the world’s resources.  I don’t get paid enough to put up with this stuff.  Always, we are told, somebody else should be giving me more.

Maybe you and I, also, fall into that trap at times.  The truly defiant sometimes imagine that God doesn’t know what He is doing if He doesn’t give us as much as the next guy.  The reality is that it is awfully easy for all of us to struggle with covetousness.  Maybe our neighbor always seems to have newer toys than we can afford.  Maybe his yields always sound bigger than what we can grow.  Maybe he times the market better than we ever do.  Maybe we didn’t inherit a big stake in the family business, or maybe we just made some mistakes or bad decisions, but why do we always seem to come out on the short end? 

Don’t misunderstand, pastors can be just as guilty of coveting as anyone else.  Maybe it is when pews we preach over remain empty Sunday after Sunday.  Maybe the hurting person just doesn’t think to call us when they need to hear comforting words.  Maybe we would like to change the world with our words.  It is easy to misplace our focus from trusting in our Savior to trusting in ourselves, or in our pile of possessions, or in public reputation. 

As Jesus was instructing the disciples who followed Him, a foolish man in the crowd took the opportunity to interrupt Jesus and demand a favor.  The man said, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”  Now, Luke doesn’t elaborate on the situation, so we have no way of knowing exactly what the circumstances were.  Obviously, it didn’t matter.  Perhaps the brother was unwilling to share any of the inheritance.  Greed may have taken a hold on him, too.  Or perhaps this man was simply unsatisfied with the common share.  If he was the younger brother, he was, at most, entitled to only a third of the property according to standard practices of the day.  He maybe thought that unfair.  If so, he would fit in well with our times as someone expecting more than he deserved.

Regardless of the situation, that man had completely misread Jesus’ purpose in life.  Jesus later made it clear that He didn’t come to judge the world nor to rule over petty disputes or even to set up a kingdom of power on earth. 

Jesus came into our world on a mission to save souls, not by making people rich and comfortable, but by proclaiming truth according to God’s will and plan, by living in perfect obedience to His Father’s will on our behalf, so that we are counted righteous, and by giving His life into suffering and death so that the sins of the world, yours and mine included, are covered.  In that plan of proclaiming salvation for sinners, Jesus teaches us here to Treasure riches that bring eternal life.

Jesus said to him, “Man, who appointed me to be a judge or an arbitrator over you?”  Then he said to them, “Watch out and be on guard against all greed, because a man’s life is not measured by how many possessions he has.”  This man who came asking Jesus for a favor may have been influenced by other rabbis who did position themselves as rulers.  We remember that Moses, also, way back in Irael’s history served as a judge to resolve disputes in the daily lives of God’s people.  Yet, the appropriate resources had been long established if that man’s brother was doing something illegal or unethical.  More likely, the petitioner simply wasn’t content with his rightful share.  Regardless, Jesus makes it clear that He will not intervene in the trivial.  Each of us should be content with whatever we earn, inherit, or are given. 

That’s not to say that we should never pray for God to help us in these earthly things.  Indeed, we are encouraged by Jesus to bring every need to our heavenly Father, but when we pray, we are also to trust God to give us exactly what He wants us to have, just what He knows is best for us.

At that point, Jesus told the parable of the foolish rich man.  Now, we need to mention that the man hadn’t done anything unethical to achieve his great wealth, so what is his true fault?  His entire focus was on his earthly wealth and pleasure.  While finally receiving an immense bounty far above what his fields normally produced, the rich man decided to live hedonistically on that great wealth.  Taking that great gift of God, the man wanted only to party and have a good time until it was all gone. 

Now again, it is not wrong to have a party, nor to eat or drink according to need.  What the man lacked was faith and thanksgiving toward God.  He had no concern for his neighbor or whether he could help less fortunate individuals.  With no concern for his real future, or for anyone else, the rich man intended to enjoy this life as long as he could.  Sadly, in his case, that turned out to be a very short time.  Before he was even able to build the large barns or begin that incredible harvest, God called his soul from this life.  The man’s time of grace ended, for “God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your soul will be demanded from you.  Now who will get what you have prepared?’”

In our first reading this morning, King Solomon looked at life in this world and how so often we pursue wealth and riches and an easy path through life.  Yet, he found all of that is meaningless if we don’t know the God who gives life everlasting to those who believe in Him.  Here, Jesus says, “That is how it will be for anyone who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”  Without a focus on our Savior and thankfulness in our hearts for all God has given us through Jesus, life on earth has no meaning and no ultimate pleasure.  It is all a glittery mirage without the grace and mercy which God grants to us through Jesus.  Therefore, it is incumbent upon all people to Treasure riches that bring eternal life.

So, what does all this mean for you and me?  Does it mean we must give away all our riches and live as a destitute pauper?  Does it mean that we are required by God to share and share alike as the communist might imagine?  Do we sin if we build bigger bins or store up wealth for retirement?  Actually, it is not necessarily those things that convict us.  It is the motivation of the heart that defines our standing before God, and our attitude toward God’s grace that determines our eternal happiness and joy.

The goal of our lives is to be rich toward God.  Now, that primarily includes repentance for our sins, and humble submission to the commands our God has put over the whole world.  It means being thankful to God for all His blessings to us and living that thankfulness in the due course of our lives.  It means keeping our focus on our Savior, who gave His life so that we might live and never die, the Savior who lived perfect obedience and generosity on our behalf.  

It has been said that you will never outgive the Giver, meaning that when God gave His dear Son into the service of saving people from condemnation in hell, He did so out of pure loving kindness.  We did nothing to earn or deserve the forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with our Creator.  Yet, only because of His pure generosity and love, God gave His son, Jesus, into this world to redeem all people stuck under the curse of the law which is everlasting separation from God.  Then, by the power of the Holy Spirit in Word and Sacrament, God restored life to us through faith in Jesus.  This faith is granted to us as the Holy Spirit restored life in us and brought us to believe in the Son of God, connecting us with His life and death through Baptism so that all the treasures of heaven are now ours.

Hundreds of years before Jesus entered this world as an infant, God foretold what He would do to bring us back together with Him in Spirit and truth, for He promised, “I will sprinkle purifying water on you, and you will be clean.  I will cleanse you from all your impurity and from all your filthy idols.  Then I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit inside you.” (Ezekiel 36:25-26)  We see that forgiveness and salvation isn’t something we can earn or deserve, yet God in His great mercy made us alive through faith, just as David rejoiced, “As distant as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our rebellious acts from us.” (Psalm 103:12)  Therefore, because of what Jesus has done for us, God now claims us as His own through the faith He gives us and welcomes us into His presence to enjoy peace and harmony with Him forever.

Therefore, regardless of the wealth we might have here on earth, or the lack thereof, nor any fame, power, or lowly estate, we are truly wealthy when we have Jesus in our lives.  First, we are connected with Jesus through Baptism.  Thus, Paul explains, “If we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united with him in the likeness of his resurrection.” (Romans 6:5)  For that reason, we have the sure expectation of rising from the dead on the last day purified and glorified to live forever in heaven.  Likewise, we have Jesus’ promise that our heavenly Father is looking after us and providing all we need for body and life.  He said, “Look at the birds of the air.  They do not sow or reap or gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not worth much more than they?” (Matthew 6:26)  Certainly, we are to the God who gave His own beloved Son to save us.

Dear friends, everything in this world is passing away.  Yet, through faith in Christ Jesus, we have forgiveness of all sin, harmony and peace with God, the comfort of the Holy Spirit, and the sure and certain hope of life everlasting in the mansions of heaven.  Therefore, go about your work and daily life enjoying the goods and the work God gives you, but especially, Treasure the riches that bring you eternal life.  Amen.

Now to the King eternal, to the immortal, invisible, only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.  Amen.