OUTWARD!

Last Sunday, I preached on Jesus’ Parable of the Rich Fool in Luke 12—the guy who was lost in the delusion of his dreams of plenty and prosperity when God jolted him out of his fiction and fancy reminding him, starkly, “Tonight, I’m taking your soul!” What a story!

One of the things that jumps out at you when you read the Parable is the number of first-person pronouns—the I’s and the me’s and the mine’s.

And he [the Rich Fool]
began reasoning to himself, saying,
“What shall I do, since I have
no place to store my crops?”
Then he said, “This is what I will do:
I will tear down my barns
and build larger ones,
and there I will store all my grain
and my goods.
And I will say to my soul,
‘Soul, you have many goods laid up
for many years to come;
take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.’”
Luke 12:17–19

This was a dude who was consumed with himself. He talks to himself, he plans with himself, he congratulates himself, he indulges himself, he is gratified with himself. “Hey, who needs others, anyway?” Self-focused, self-oriented, self-conceited, and … self-deceived. The “I,” and “me,” and “mine,” as the Beatles sang ….

All thru’ the day:
I me mine, I me mine, I me mine.
All I can hear:
I me mine, I me mine, I me mine.
Even those tears:
I me mine, I me mine, I me mine.
Ev’ryone’s saying it,
Flowing more freely than wine,
All thru’ your life:
I me mine.
George Harrison, 1970

But that Rich Fool—surely he didn’t plough by himself? He didn’t sow by himself and reap by himself, did he? And was he planning on constructing those huge storehouses single-handedly, without any help? Insensible to everyone else but I, me, and mine. He wasn’t looking outward.

But God said to him, “You fool!
This very night your soul is required of you;
and now who will own
what you have prepared?”
Luke 12:20

The irony: All that he claimed was his—the I’s and the me’s and the mine’s—now by default they were going to belong to someone else!

And Christ adds ….

“So is the man who stores up
treasure for himself,
and is not rich toward God."
Luke 12:21

Not looking outward. Christ’s subsequent commentary explains part of what it means to be “rich toward God”:

“Sell your possessions and give to charity;
make yourselves …
an unfailing treasure in heaven ….”
Luke 12:33

Look outward.

Average giving in American churches is apparently 3% of income. Recent studies have shown that committed American Christians make $2.5 trillion in income each year. Now if they gave just 10% (while not a New Testament mandate, it’s a reasonable enough number), that would be $250 billion! $250 billion! Just a thousandth of that would sponsor 150,000 indigenous missionaries in closed countries; a hundredth of that would triple the current funding of Bible translation and printing.

We must look outward. Even in—and perhaps, especially in—these days of financial crisis. Economy in the worst downturn in the last two decades. Banks failing. Workers losing jobs. Homeowners losing homes. Yes, we must look outward—it is a spiritual issue.

… where your treasure is,
there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:21

And a matter for joyful obedience.

God loves a cheerful giver.
2 Corinthians 9:7

Does our giving show that we believe our money belongs to God? It’s all His anyway, isn’t it? Look outward!