Less is More: Because Enough is Never Enough

We are not designed for a life of non-stop crises. When life comes at us as a series of non-stop, high-priority demands, we respond to the stress by shutting down. We become reactive, responding to either the most recent demand, or the one which makes us feel the best. American consumerism overwhelms us with its non-stop demands (Buy now!) challenges to our vanity (Be the first!) and appeals to our guilt (If you really love them ...). We have lost our capacity to say, "No," to the non-essentials.

Luke 12:13-21 (contrast this with Luke 12:32-34)

Commentary

This story is so typical of Jesus. The issue taken to Jesus—an appeal for an ethical ruling involving a 3rd party—is not addressed by Jesus. Rather he goes after the plaintiff and the plaintiff’s underlying spiritual condition. When we have a problem,

how frequently do we blame something else, and

how frequently do we blame ourselves?

The anonymous person in crowd is complaining about his brother, but Jesus says, in effect, "You can deal with your problem with your brother after you deal with the problem in your own heart."

v15 Brian McLaren says this is the defining verse for 21st Century American culture.

v16 Note that the rich man has no role in producing the crop. It is a blessing from God, something that the ground does on its own.

v17 Strangely, it never occurs to the rich man to give his surplus away, or even to sell it. His every thought is for himself. His concern is not for what he needs—he is, after all, already rich—but rather how best to hoard this windfall for later.

v19 A better translation of v19 is:

And I will say to my soul: Soul, you have plenty of good things stored up for plenty of years. Rest! Eat! Drink! Be merry!

Three words of note here:

soul (psyche): the innermost being (sometimes translated "self" or "person"); hence v19 denotes a private reflection revealing a spiritual flaw (the repetition of the word twice in the verse when it might have been rephrased differently emphasizes that this is a window into the inner person).

plenty (polus): the rich man has made a judgment that he has a sufficiency; by making this judgment, he sets himself up as lord of his own life (specifically he is neither trusting God to provide nor seeking God’s guidance for what to do with his bounty).

rest (anapauo): (sometimes translated "refresh") this is the only instance of the word in the NT where God is NOT the source of rest or the direct agent through whom rest comes (Matt. 11:28; Matt. 26:45; Mark 6:31; Mark 14:41; 1 Cor. 16:18; 2 Cor. 7:13; Philemon 7, 20; 1 Peter 4:14; Rev. 6:11; Rev. 14:13). Seeking to find rest in anything apart from God is idolatry, pure & simple.

v21 "rich toward God" is better translated as either "rich in God" or "generous to God." Each better describes a life oriented around God. In the NT, earthly possessions are always an offering which you lay up in service to your god: yourself, your family, your church, or something else (e.g. Matt. 6:19,20; Romans 2:5;1 Cor. 16:2; James 5:3). The rich man has laid his treasure on the altar to himself. There is always an accounting for how we spend what God has given us.

Application

Enough is never enough. Best guess is that the rich man’s barns were already big enough for more than he needed; however, he (like us) wanted just a little bit more. We continually lie to ourselves, claiming that, "Really, I just need a bit more ..." But our hunger never ends. Our words reveal our orientation: we continually try to gratify ourselves and find comfort (rest) in our own indulgence. In the story, God demands the man’s life; but what if the man had been given one more year, what would have happened? If he had another bumper crop, would he have said, "I have enough," or would he have built even bigger barns?

We’re approaching the season of excess & runaway consumerism. Over the next 3 months, think on this:

your loved ones, family, and friends don’t need your money or your stuff ...

they need a relationship with Jesus & a relationship with you.

The holidays leave us dissatisfied, because we seek to be rich in stuff instead of being rich in God. We seek comfort from stuff, but God has wired us to find comfort in relationships—with him first and foremost and with each other. Seeking comfort from earthly goods is idolatry and will never satisfy ... when are we going to repent of it and seek another way?

The holidays leave us dissatisfied, because we seek to use the stuff to supply something that is missing in the relationship. We buy stuff, because we think the stuff is a quantifiable expression of our love; the more we buy, the logic goes, the more we love. We buy stuff, because we feel guilty about what is wrong in the relationship. Money and material gifts cannot heal what is wrong with a relationship ... when are we going to repent of it and seek another way?

The tip-off that our materialist approach to the holidays is sick and wrong comes in the mail in January in the form of bills we cannot immediately pay. Every year I hear stories of people that cannot pay their oil bills, cannot buy food, cannot tithe, etc. because of their credit card bills. Yet we repeatedly do the same thing year after year ... are you ready to seek another way?

The tip-off that our materialist approach to the holidays is sick and wrong is evident every year when we have to rearrange our old stuff to make room for our new stuff. In doing so, we make a prophet out of George Carlin, who quips, "A house is just a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get more stuff." We are dangerously like the rich man in today’s story ... are you ready to seek another way?

Points to Ponder

You have something more precious than money and stuff: time. Money and material goods can be replaced; time can never be replaced. Once spent, time is gone. Time is the much more valuable gift to give those you love. Curiously, time together is probably the thing most missing and most needed in your relationships with the ones you love.

Are you ready to try making relationships (with Jesus, with loved ones) the priority this year over stuff? The lie is that the treasure is the stuff; you know the truth: the treasure comes through the time spent with those you love.

Make a list of those you love. What would happen if you gave them a relational gift (e.g. time, understanding, or comfort) instead of a material gift? What fears come up for you? These fears hold you in bondage. What has more power in your life, the fears or a God who says, "Behold, I make all things new!" (Rev 21:5)?

At the end of it all, there is still one person you must deal with: yourself. Nothing in your life is going to change is you do not face the fears, hungers, and anxieties which drive you to try to spend your way to happiness. I ask you to look at your relationship with God:

There is no material gift you can give to God which will make him love you more, and

There is no material gift God can give to you which will make you love him more.

Look at the rich man in today’s story: if material blessings could make somebody love God, that man would have been first in line to love God. Our love of God comes through relational gifts—forgiveness, understanding, comfort, solidarity, etc.—not material gifts. Since we are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27) why would we think that our love for one another could be any different?