Luke 12:15-31 "THE RICH FARMER'S FOUR BIG MISTAKES" THANKSGIVING DAY

Luke 12:15-21 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, and 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.”

Theme: THE RICH FARMER’S FOUR BIG MISTAKES
I) In planning for himself, he forgot his neighbor
II) In reckoning his goods, he forgot the Giver
III) In providing for his body, he forgot his soul
IV) In counting on time, he forgot eternity

Dear fellow redeemed in Christ Jesus,
“Relax, eat, drink, be merry!” There in only a few words, the Rich Man in our parable has pretty much summarized this American holiday of Thanksgiving, hasn’t he? When we think of Thanksgiving these are memories that come to mind first, aren’t they? We certainly think of eating - the turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberries and pies. Drinking is usually involved too - cider for the kids and some wine for the grown ups. Be merry - yes, there is usually much merriment as families gather together and enjoy each others company. And relaxing? What is Thanksgiving without that post turkey nap. About the only thing that the rich man didn’t mention in our parable is the football game!

Isn’t it interesting that when we think of Thanksgiving THESE are some of the first things that come to mind? “Relax, eat, drink, be merry?” Rather, why isn’t going to the LORD’s house the first thing we think about? Why isn’t praising God for the many undeserved blessings He has showered on us, the main association we have with Thanksgiving? Why are so many churches across our nation dark and empty on Thanksgiving Day?

In our text Jesus is not speaking against relaxing, eating, drinking, and being merry. In and of itself there is nothing wrong or sinful with that part of our Thanksgiving tradition. Nor is Jesus condemning riches and wealth, in and of itself. We know many of God’s people in the Bible were quite wealthy - Abraham, Job, and King Solomon, to name a few. What Jesus is addressing is the attitude of the heart about these things. The Rich Man in our parable thought his life consisted in the abundance of his possessions. He had fallen into the idolatry of covetousness - the sinful desire of “stuff.” Covetousness which, as it so often does, gives way to forgetfulness. Let us therefore on this Thanksgiving Day seek to learn from the four big mistakes of the rich farmer. May God help us to listen to His Word and apply it to our lives. Blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it! Amen.

IN PLANNING FOR HIMSELF, HE FORGOT HIS NEIGHBOR
As Jesus wishes to teach us about how dangerous covetousness is, He gives us the lesson of the rich farmer. Jesus says that his land produced plentiful. It was a good year - no it was a great year for the rich farmer. It was such a good year that this rich man did not have enough space to store all of his crops. “What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?” he asked himself. What a blessed problem to have!

What a bountiful year! More than enough to continue his rich way of life and then some! What should he do? If he were to ask you what to do, what would you recommend? Well, here is the solution he came up with, “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.” This seems to make great business sense, doesn’t it? Tear down those store barns to make space for bigger ones.

Once his barns are torn and bigger ones built then he will have it made! “I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” Take it easy! You’ve earned it! You’ve worked hard now its time to enjoy the fruit of your labors!

So what is the mistake this rich farmer made? The heart of the rich farmer’s problem WAS his heart - the attitude of his heart about all that he had. We see the sinful attitude of his heart in the first person pronoun that is repeated again and again. Look at the number of times the rich farmer uses the word “I” in verses 17-19. I counted six times. “I...I...I...me...me...me...” This rich man thought his life was all about the abundance of his possessions. And now that he had an abundance of his possessions he thought he had the life.

The first big mistake this rich man made is that in planning for himself he forgot about his neighbor. He had all this wealth and the only thing he thought about was himself. This is a surefire symptom of covetousness. Never once did he think about sharing his bounty with those in need. Never once did he consider those whose barns were empty and whose cupboards were bare.

Paul writes to the Romans that the entire second table of the Law, that is the 4th through the 10th Commandment, are “all summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Rom 13:9-10) The only love the rich man had was for himself - he forgot about his neighbor. He loved only himself and his possessions.

Imaging for a moment if this had been the thought process of the Son of God. “I am the Son of God. I have all power in heaven and on earth. I can make riches. And yet there are sinners condemned to hell for what they themselves did. What shall I do? I shall stay in heaven and let them reap the eternal reward for their disobedience. I’ll relax and be merry in heaven for eternity.” Thanks be to Jesus that this is NOT what He did. No, rather in love He gave all that up, became one of us, took on the form of a servant, and died the death of a criminal. All so that we could share in what He had from eternity - the joys of heaven as a gift of His grace. Thanks be to Jesus that He did not forget about us!

Hymn 430:6

IN RECKONING HIS GOODS, HE FORGOT THE GIVER
One of my top five favorite movies of all time is a Civil War era movie called “Shenandoah,” staring Jimmy Steward. In the movie, Jimmy Steward’s character, Charlie Anderson, is a proud, wealthy farmer that doesn’t want to get wrapped up in the Civil War - which is going on in the back yard of his Shenandoah, Virgina farm. Much less does Charlie Anderson want his 6 strong boys to get involved in the war. To understand the pride of this man, one need only listen to the table prayer he would say before every meal - “Lord, we cleared this land. We plowed it, sowed it, and harvest it. We cooked the harvest. It wouldn't be here and we wouldn't be eating it if we hadn't done it all ourselves. We worked dog-bone hard for every crumb and morsel, but we thank you Lord just the same for the food we're about to eat, Amen.”

Charlie Anderson had the same problem that the rich farmer in our text had, didn’t he? In reckoning or assessing his goods, he forgot the Giver. He forgot that without God giving the sunshine, the rain, the soil, and the seed - he would have nothing. No seed to sow and no harvest to reap. He forgot that God causes the rain to fall and the sun to shine on the just and on the unjust. This mistake is often made in times of prosperity. When things are difficult it causes us to get on our knees and turn to the LORD in prayer. However, when things are going well and our cupboards are full we tend to forget to give thanks to the Giver.

God knew this would be the case for so many. That is why He warned the Children of Israel not to forget Him when they entered the promised land. This is also why Agur wrote in Proverbs 30, “Give me neither poverty nor riches -- Feed me with the food allotted to me; Lest I be full and deny You, And say, "Who is the LORD?" Or lest I be poor and steal, And profane the name of my God.” (Prov 30:8-9)

So have we forgotten the Giver of every good and perfect gift? Of course not, we think. After all here we are - in church - on Thanksgiving to give thanks to God! But how many times have we sat down for a meal and behaved no different than a hog at the feed trough. After all the hog doesn’t thank God for the meal he is about to eat. How many times have we looked at our paycheck and reckoned it all for ourselves without giving a thought to giving back to the LORD who gave us the ability to work and a job to work at? How often do we forget the Giver with our offerings? How often do we only give God what is leftover after we have gotten everything we want? May God forgive us for our selfishness in reckoning for ourselves and forgetting the Giver of every good and perfect gift.

Hymn 430:7
IN PROVIDING FOR HIS BODY, HE FORGOT HIS SOUL
The third mistake this rich farmer made was that in providing for his body, he forgot his soul. This is a most costly mistake. He thought his life consisted in the abundance of his possessions. And now, having an abundance of possessions he thought he had the life. His neighbors probably thought he had the life too. “Look at those big barns and all that grain. That rich farmer has the life!” Externally, everything was looking up for this farmer. But internally, his soul was lifeless. Jesus was not ruling in his heart, but he was his own god and his possessions were his god.

Jesus said, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Mk 8:36) What does it matter if my barns and bank account are full, but I have no faith in Jesus Christ? If I attain the American dream, but have no Savior - what does it matter in the end? Jesus emphasized this same point to Martha when she was mad that she was getting dinner ready while Mary was sitting at Jesus feet to hear His word. "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her." (Lk 10:41-42) Martha was consumed with earthly matters, Mary was consumed with spiritual matters. Martha was attending to the needs of the body, Mary was attending to the needs of her soul. And which one is more important? The needs of the soul.

Jesus, His Word, and His Sacrament are that one thing that is needful - that good part that cannot be taken away from us. The one thing that cannot be stolen from us and that does not rust and decay. Only Jesus can remove sin from our hearts. Only Jesus can give us a right relationship with God. Only Jesus can give us the treasures of heaven. While we do need to provide for the needs of our body, we dare not forget the needs of our soul! May God help us to always to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness!

Hymn 430:8
IN COUNTING ON TIME, HE FORGOT ETERNITY
“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?” As the rich farmer surveyed his wealth he thought he had it made. He thought he could take an early retirement and not have to worry about working ever again. He thought he had the rest of his life planned out for him. What he forgot is that his time on this earth is not in his hands. And in this parable, God told him that very evening his life would come to an end. Then who would all those riches belong to? In counting on time, he forgot about eternity. Death came upon him as a thief in the night and all his possessions could do nothing to help him.

We easily fall into the same trap, don’t we. Especially when life is going good. We plan on working until we are in our 50's or 60's, retire, and live out our days on this earth until we are 80 or 90. We easily forget about eternity. If things in life are going well, we may even begin to think like this rich farmer and think THIS is heaven on earth. We go so far as to think that our time is in our hands, rather than our time of grace on this earth being in God’s hands. As James writes, Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that." (James 4:13-15)

We did not chose when our lives would begin and we dare chose when our lives will end. We must leave these things in the wise hands and direction of our heavenly Father. What we dare not do is forget about eternity. Rather than forgetting let us heed the words of the Apostle Paul to the Colossians, “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” (Col 3:1-4) In our baptisms and by faith the Holy Spirit as united us with Christ. His righteousness becomes our own. His death becomes our death to sin. His life becomes our life. Therefore if we are united with Christ by faith, let us keep our hearts and minds focused on those things which are above.

May we all take this warning of Jesus to be on guard against covetousness, lest we make the mistakes of the rich farmer in thinking that our life consists in the abundance of our earthly possessions. Rather than seeking to store up treasures for ourselves, let us, by the work of the Holy Spirit, to be rich toward God. To seek first His kingdom in our lives. To set our minds on things above. To not forget our neighbor, not forget the Giver of every good and perfect gift, not forget about the needs of our souls, and not forget about eternity. On this Thanksgiving Day and always, may we bless the LORD in all that we say and do! In Jesus name, Amen.