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Happy ThanksLiving 3: SHARE Mount Pisgah 10/8/06
Luke 12.13-21 Allen R. Hunt (with thanks to Alcorn, Coy, Stanley, and Warren)
I. Statute of limitations has run out now
Our friend, Katie, was 14 – she and mom visiting with us for week in summer
So I thought I would do her a favor – her father had passed away, good friend of mine
My girls were 12 and 14 – preparing SarahAnn to learn to drive – whenever at my in-laws’ house – in country – we let them drive on the driveway by the pasture – get comfortable behind the wheel with me coaching them
SarahAnn went – did great
So I offered to let Katie do it also - she never driven a car at all
So she sat down – and I walked her through the basics of our 1997 Honda van
She nodded her understanding – brakes, gas, wheel – let idle, go slowly, maintain control
Ready? OK
She put it into Drive, let foot off brake, and idled forward – wasn’t turning the wheel, drifting left, so I told her to hold it more tightly, still she didn’t do it, we were heading into the ditch, so I told her to put her foot on the brake to stop our idling – and before I knew it, floored the gas – everything went slow motion – and next thing I do we were going 25 or 30 mph straight into a tree – air bags activated, smoke everywhere, radiator spewing, I was in shock, and Katie was in tears
I can tell this story now because a few years later, Katie is 17, proud graduate of driving school not run by me and life is good
Totalled – van was totaled – totaled so much that when I began dealing with the insurance company – rep said, “I have to refer you to the Total Loss Department”

That is exactly what happened to this fellow – the rich man in the parable
Luke 12.13-21 (please have on screen here)
Preparing to build bigger barns for all his stuff – but he dies
Arrives before God – with absolutely nothing to show for his life
1) Eternal Disaster: Total Loss Department
He had everything, died, and found himself before God with nothing – God who calls him a ‘fool’ – a fool because rich man never asked right question – never thought the right thought
The rich man appears before God empty-handed (Luke 12.20)

II. Spent two weeks beginning this series
First week – WOW – Americans are wealthiest people in the world – yet cannot manage what we have – spend more than we make – give between 2 and 3% of what we have to help other people – Christians look just like the rest of the country – in fact, Methodists look worse than rest of country – give only 2% of our income – we learned that it all belongs to God – and we answer for what we do with what we have
Second – STRUGGLE – Bob and Sheri honestly shared their story of credit card debt, failure to pay attention to what they were doing and stress in their marriage – looked at debt as greatest obstacle we have to being who God wants us to be financially - shrewd

This week – deal with the rich man who died and appeared before God empty-handed
Because he never asked the right question – question you and I need to ask
“Why do I have extra?” Why do I have more than I need, why do I have so much?
The rich man never asked that – and had to appear as a fool before God
Because the rich man thought like the world thinks
2) The World’s Way: Focus on what you don’t have
Focus: Why don’t I have more?
Focus on what we don’t have – I have this and I want more
Why don’t I have what my neighbor has, want big like him, want new like her, want fancy like them – why don’t I have more?

Rich man worked hard – rich – model for us all – shrewd
Goal = Work to get more – Forbes 400 – now have to be worth a billion to get on list
Sadly, I missed it one more year – but People says I have a good shot at 50 Most Beautiful list as consolation
Produces a good crop – not average – but good – plenty – he has extra, more than he needs – and he never asks, “Why do I have extra?”
Has so much he cannot use it all – in fact, so wealthy that he has barns and silos and storage that are already full – nowhere to put his extra
And he makes this key mistake – he thinks the extra is for him
Never asks, “Why do I have more than I need?” – assumes it is for him – he has extra, so better hang on to it just in case all the other extra goes bad or runs out – he has extra extra and assumes it is all for him
World’s way of thinking – what I have is for me, it is mine
“What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops. This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns, and there I will store all my grains and my goods.
Poor little rich man – nowhere to store all that he has – I feel bad for him
But that is what happens when we focus on what we do not have
Result = Greed (Eccles. 5.10-15; Luke 12.16-19)
Greed is when there is never enough – greed is when we always want more – greed is when I think my extra is for me
That’s the thing about greed – easy to spot in somebody but not easy to spot in the mirror

III. But this is exactly what we do, isn’t it?
We are wealthiest people in the world- with only a few exceptions – wealthiest area of wealthiest country in the world
Some of you feel guilt about that – push it to back of minds
Most others feel enormous financial pressure – because we allow our lifestyles to always be just one step ahead of our incomes – we spend more than we make, we buy things because we want to rather than because we need them – income chasing lifestyle
But simple truth is we have more than we need – if we were to ratchet down our lifestyles one notch or two – we would eliminate the pressure of the mortgage that stretched us or the car that we weren’t quite ready to buy but we did
We would see that we have extra
But instead we have allowed our wants to become needs – just like the Gintys who had a house twice as large as they needed and never realized it until 1) they sold it and downsized and discovered who needs all this stuff we have and 2) visited victims of Katrina who had nothing – and Gintys said, “Whoa – we are way out of line. We have allowed our lifestyle to outpace our income – always chasing more”

3) God’s Way: Be Rich toward God (Mt. 6.20; Lk 12.21, 33; Phlp. 3.20; Heb 11.13-16, 25-26; 2Pt. 3.13)
Rich man never asked this question – he was rich, he was shrewd, he was smart – model
But never asked the right question
Focus: Why do I have extra?
So when he died, you know who got all his wealth, his barns, his crops, his land?
Somebody else
Not because he was generous, not because he used his stuff wisely, not because he made a difference in the world – but because he was DEAD
Because he always assumed – MY extra is for ME

He dies – and God says, “You fool…this is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”
Aha moment – God is happy for us to have stuff
In fact, He gives it to us – He is the source – it all belongs to Him
But He gives it to us not for ourselves – but to be rich toward Him – a few verses later
v.33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.
Goal: Treasure in heaven

Rich man could have avoided the total loss department – had everything, then had nothing – appeared before God empty-handed – called a fool
IF he had just understood this: Our faithfulness with what we have ensures treasures in heaven
Like the Fed Ex guys I told you about 3 weeks ago – it is not our stuff – we relocate what God gives us to where God wants it
Bible does not give us much more than that about what the treasure in heaven will be like – but Jesus says it over and over again
You are working toward treasures in heaven – that will last forever
And the rich man who had everything now and assumed it was all for him, ended up foolish and empty-handed
So if you want to be stupid – assume all your stuff is for you
Why do I have more than I need? It’s for me because God just likes me
No – why I have extra – so that I will share
4) God’s Solution: SHARE (Mal. 3.10; Luke 6.38; Acts 20.35; 2 Cor. 8.14-15; 9.10-11)

IV. So ask yourself – what if I lived this way?
What if I asked in my finances- what does God want?
Most of us in this room have been without at some point in our lives – job was lost and we were stretched, in school and had very little, divorce emptied us
And what did we do? We prayed – God, I need your help. Please provide a way
So turn it around – most of us today are not in want – most of us have lifestyles that are just a little ahead of our incomes and never feel like we have enough because our wants have become our needs
What if we were to ask the question the rich man never did:
Since I have extra, what does God want me to do with it?

My friends, David and Darlene – realize they have more than they need – realize they are not the source – all belongs to God
So made a covenant – we are going to spend some of this abundance we have on us
When we do, we will give twice what we spend on us to ministries that God guides us too
So when they redid their kitchen – cost $5000, they gave $10,000 to ministries
Children have homes, kids are able to go to school, ministry thrives
We will enjoy what God gives us but we will SHARE

Best illustration – chocolate chip cookies – anyone like these? Come on up
I have two – I know you like them – sure hope God brings you one somehow
I am saving mine for later
Everyone in the congregation is thinking SHARE – why are you so selfish, Allen?
Parents – one of first words you teach your children on playground when they have cookies and someone else does not – SHARE

Imagine how our Heavenly Father feels – do you think he sees what you have? Do you think he sees those who have little or nothing? Do you think he sees those who are struggling in life because they do not know Jesus Christ?
What does He say? SHARE
Why do you have extra? SHARE Why do you have more than you need? SHARE

Please, Christians, understand what the rich man did not
Giving breaks the power of greed in your life – sets you free

Bible’s method: % Giving
I learned this early on – didn’t really believe it until met Anita – she was adamant
Set a % - so we set 10 – worked our way up to 20 - % doesn’t matter so much as the fact that we set a specific amount and lived by it
Most folks never do that – give a little here and there – Katrina hits and we write a check; Ellie visits and we write a check – but we are giving leftovers- our lifestyle is not impacted one bit
It is not giving unless your lifestyle is impacted

God wants to rearrange our lives – He wants all of us
He wants to rearrange our priorities – so that we will spend less funding our own Kingdom and more funding His
So we can avoid the Total Loss Department
5) Why? Because God has been Rich Toward Me (John 3.16; Phlp. 2.5-11)
Cross, Son, greatest gift
Jesus emptied Himself – He died – God gave His Son – for you
God could have kept Jesus with and in Himself – but He gave
That is your gift today – the greatest gift of all
6) God’s Gift of Communion