Pentecost 8 Sermon: Barn Raising
Preached on Luke 12:13–21
8th Sunday After Pentecost — Proper 13C
4 August AD 2019
Title: Click to hear the MP3 of Barn Raising.
Summary: Why don’t you build a bigger barn? Expand your portfolio? Add a second home to your holdings? Or a third? Why not, indeed? It makes all kinds of sense in the way the world thinks.
But it doesn’t make God’s kind of sense. Jesus cautions that the only treasure truly worth hoarding is our salvation. When God requires our souls of us, faith in Christ is the only thing that will tip the balance sheets in our favor.
Our worry shouldn’t be gathering earthly treasures into the barns of this life — not when we are the treasure that God desires to keep forevermore. When He invests in us, He pours so much wealth into us that we can either grasp it and let it corrupt us or we can let it flow through into love for others. Thus, we are “rich toward God” when we are rich toward those in need who surround us through our days on earth.
Text: Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: 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 ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’
“But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’
“So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” Luke 12:13–21
Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Barn Raising.
NB: A few people have had problems trying to play the inline audio with Windows Media Player. If this occurs, you can either change to QuickTime or another default browser player, copy and paste the link directly into a selected player, or download it to your computer, where it seems to work regardless of which player. Several folks have suggested VLC Player from VideoLAN.
Other Readings: Psalm 100; Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14, 2:18-26; Colossians 3:1-11
8th Sunday After Pentecost — Proper 13C
4 August AD 2019
Title: Click to hear the MP3 of Barn Raising.
Summary: Why don’t you build a bigger barn? Expand your portfolio? Add a second home to your holdings? Or a third? Why not, indeed? It makes all kinds of sense in the way the world thinks.But it doesn’t make God’s kind of sense. Jesus cautions that the only treasure truly worth hoarding is our salvation. When God requires our souls of us, faith in Christ is the only thing that will tip the balance sheets in our favor.
Our worry shouldn’t be gathering earthly treasures into the barns of this life — not when we are the treasure that God desires to keep forevermore. When He invests in us, He pours so much wealth into us that we can either grasp it and let it corrupt us or we can let it flow through into love for others. Thus, we are “rich toward God” when we are rich toward those in need who surround us through our days on earth.
Text: Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: 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 ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’
“But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’
“So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” Luke 12:13–21
Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Barn Raising.
NB: A few people have had problems trying to play the inline audio with Windows Media Player. If this occurs, you can either change to QuickTime or another default browser player, copy and paste the link directly into a selected player, or download it to your computer, where it seems to work regardless of which player. Several folks have suggested VLC Player from VideoLAN.
Other Readings: Psalm 100; Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14, 2:18-26; Colossians 3:1-11
Labels: eternal life, Gospel, luke 12, parable, pentecost 8, proper 13, rich fool, rich man, series c, treasure
posted by Xrysostom | 10:00
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