Lots of people in today’s world are concerned about money. You may also be concerned. It is estimated that money (the love of it, the lack of it) is the primary cause of forty percent of the marriages that fail. Colleges report that students are forsaking the study of Liberal Arts for courses in accounting, engineering, law and business because these fields pay better. Newspapers devote entire sections to the subject of money.
Many people think about money to the point of desperation. If the stock market goes down precipitously they can’t sleep at night. People tend to worry when they have too much month left over at the end of their money. A mail carrier tells of greeting a four-year-old boy who stood in front of his family’s mailbox, and would not budge. With his feet spread wide and his arms folded, he said to the mail carrier firmly, “My mom said she can’t take any more bills.”
All of us are concerned in one way or another about money – and Jesus knew that! It is why He had so much to say on the subject. Money is mentioned in the Bible in 1,539 passages; praying is mentioned in 523 passages. This doesn’t mean that money is more important than prayer. It simply recognizes the fact that money is an important part of our lives – food, clothes, home, transportation, communication, recreation, and other things are purchased with money.
Jesus, in one of His stories, tells us about a rich man whose land was so productive that he did not know what to do with the surplus. He resolved his problem this way: “I will pull down my barns and build bigger barns; and there I will store all of my grain and my goods. Then I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry’” (Matthew 12:13-21). You likely know the end of the story: God called him a “fool.”
Notice that God called him a “fool” – not a sinner, not a reprobate, not a sorry good-for-nothing-so-and-so” – but a “fool!” If you were to call someone a “fool”, that wouldn’t necessarily make it so. But, you can count on the fact that if God calls someone a fool, he (or she) is a fool! Let us examine four reasons why God would call this man a fool:
First of all, he very likely paid a high price, physically, emotionally and spiritually to gain his wealth. People have sacrificed their marriage, their relationship with their children, their involvement in their church, and their reputation in the community in order to spend all their time grabbing for as many almighty dollars as they can grab.
Second, like so many others then and now, he very likely put off living until it was too late. That well-known trilogy is so appropriate here: making a living, making a killing, and then making a life. It is so easy at first to be satisfied with just making a living. But as the income rises, so do our perceived needs (a bigger house, a more luxurious car, a better school for the children, etc. ad infinitum). Then as the income increases even more, it becomes easy to cut corners here and there, and put off real living until later. Later sometimes never comes. There are three reasons the rich man in the story Jesus told put off living until it was too late: he was greedy, he spent his money selfishly, and he placed more value on money than on persons. It is a mistake made by millions of people today.
Third, he never understood how to get real joy out of his wealth. Those who hoard their money and spend it selfishly have no real joy; those who invest it in the work of God’s kingdom and in other ways to serve the needs of others experience lasting joy. That which you invest in accomplishing selfish goals will be left behind when you die; that which you give to glorify God and to meet the needs of others is in the bank of heaven and will be one of the prime reasons Jesus will one day say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of eternal life.”
Fourth, he did not take into consideration his accountability to God. All that we have is a gift from God, and we are stewards of it. One day we will give an account of our stewardship. The man Jesus mentions in Matthew 12 didn’t realize that. God called him a fool. Please don’t make the same mistake he made!
The Paper Pulpit 
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