Jesus, has just shook up the man who interrupted him back in verse 13 and has just destroyed the notion that the American dream is consistent with His Word and His will. (See last 2 posts)He knows, how susceptible we are to greed, covetousness, wealth, and material gain, so he concludes his discourse with a warning in verse 21. So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. Who is the rich fool? He is everyone who stores up treasure for himself AND is not rich towards God.

Are we laying up treasure for ourselves? Let us all be honest, myself first. For the most part, we are consumers being consumed by our consumption. We have so many possessions, that we are possessed by our possessions. Garages are for storing now days, not for parking. There are storage buildings by the 1000's on Highway 49. What is in there? Stuff! And people are paying monthly for storage buildings that house what they are likely still paying for and that they obviously don't need because they can't even get to it to use it. Eccl 5:10-12 warns, "He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep."

It is not about storing up treasure…that is not the major issue. The major issue is being rich towards God. I want to throw a warning at you. Many of you who read this blog will be working through a "Freed up Financial Living Course" on Wednesday nights if you go to Cleary. Others follow financial guru's like Dave Ramsey or Crown Financial ministries. How desperately we need to get out of debt, and stay out of debt. But, beware lest you get out of debt and stay out of debt to become a rich fool who stores up more and more riches on this earth and fails to invest more and more in the Kingdom. You see, this is why we offer financial direction, and this is why we should seek it: not so that we can live more comfortably and enjoy the American dream, but so that we may invest more in the Kingdom of God and if you are not doing that, you are missing the whole point. You are just becoming a rich fool.

Let us be rich towards God…lay up treasure in heaven, where it really matters. What should rise in our lives is not our standard of living, but our standard of giving. John Wesley said, Gain all you can…Save all you can…give all you can. He was one of the wealthiest men in England, yet though he made as much as 1400 pounds a year, he lived on 28-30 pounds a year, the same amount he lived on as a teacher. Wesley was giving away 98% of his income and living on only 2%! When he died he left 6 pound notes, 6 silver spoons, a handful of books, a Geneva gown that he preached in all over England and uh one more thing….the Methodist church! He could have died as rich as a TV preacher…but he built orphanages, printed Bibles, sent missionaries, compiled the Methodist hymn book and he died worth about 30 dollars on earth, but what treasure he had stored up in heaven!

Matt 6:19-21 Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

1 Tim 6:6-8 Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content

Next time we are going to step away from the parables in Luke to take a look a the crucifixion. Until then...