THE MAN GOD CALLED A FOOL

The Man God Called A Fool

Luke 12:13-20

Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest.  He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ’“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

     I have to tell you something.  I have read this passage many times, and it has rarely impacted me as it did these last few days.  As a matter of fact, for Jesus to tell a story (where God called a man a fool) really caught me off guard.  My Mother use to share a quote from Jesus, when trying to teach us to watch carefully how we chose our words.  “Don’t call someone fool or you will be in danger of hell fire.”  So being someone who always wanted fire insurance so as not to go to hell, I NEVER called ANYONE a “fool.”

     Now, as a teen, my vocabulary (away from my parents) was not the most pure a person could possess.  This was true even though my Dad taught that, if we children did not have a way to express ourselves without cursing, then we were demonstrating how small a vocabulary was ours. And he would then make it clear that the ignorance for such limited articulation was clearly demonstrated in our stunted verbalizations or lack thereof.  In a nutshell, he was clear:   A person who needed to curse was not very bright and was putting  stupidity on display; needless while around my Mom and Dad, I was a verbally a sainted young man, but when away from them … well I would have made a good drunken Sailor.  Sorry Sailors.  Yet I promise you.  I did not ever think of calling a person a “fool” for the reasons stated above.  I could have been 10,000 miles away from my parents and my nonuse of using “fool,” in my name calling, was always on display… publically or private.  After all “fool” to Jesus was a ‘four letter word.’

    I guess that mere humans, like me, are not qualified to use this word??? However, The Creator found times when it was appropriate.  In one of the Psalms it is recorded, “The fool has said in his heart there is no God.”  Fool--in this case-- could just as easily be translated as “insane.”  “The insane man has said in his heart there is no God.”  The Creator also describes the person in this passage written above as if he were insane or a fool as well.  Why?  What did this man do that was so… well… foolish?  What did he do that demonstrated his insanity?  Let’s check it out and see.

     It looks like he was concerned about one thing… barns. Huh? Actually he was concerned about deconstruction of barns and reconstruction of bigger barns and not much else.  He had his eyes fixed on acquiring wealth.  It was almost like a god to him.  It was a god to him.  He spoke nothing of his wife.  He never mentioned his children, and if he had a family or friends, he clearly had no time for either. It seems his wealth consumed him.  His getting more power consumed him.  Oh he could relate to people because he was definitely and astute business man, especially in the area of agribusiness.  Hopefully you notice something else:  He did not seem to think about there being a God or a day when he would face God.  He did not seem to speak of helping others in need… though there were clearly people in need in those days.   One thing is for certain; he was not the least bit concerned that one day he was going to die.  Now I have experienced a number of heart episodes, and I am grateful for each day that God gives me, and I tell my Lord so every morning.  I treasure today because it IS the ONLY DAY we are guaranteed on this earth. Not this man. He was not the least bit interested; it seems to me, that the wick of his candle of life was getting very short.

        I have heard it said many times, “Insanity is doing the same dysfunctional thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”  This guy clearly demonstrated the psychological malady of being insane.  Over and over again he filled up the barns, he made the money and power, and he tore down the barns. Then he built bigger barns. He continually kept making more stuff for himself…repeatedly. He kept living as if there is not God every single day of his life.  He never mentioned his loved ones every single day he lived.  He did not help others.  He simply wanted for himself what he wanted, got it for himself and kept repeating the cycle, unafraid of any chance of dying, but about to die VERY soon.  Guess we could call him insane.  Given what is in this paragraph he also seems to be a narcissist.

    Don’t get me wrong.  Having wealth is not, in and of itself unholy, ungodly or sinful in any way.  In Deuteronomy, we are told, “God gives you power to get wealth.” BUT he finishes by saying, “to establish His covenant.”  God gives the wealth and we receive it, and enjoy it, but we also pass if forward.  We have the wealth of love to give to our families, children and our grandchildren.  We may gain financial wealth, but we are not to just keep making more for the sake of making more.  Oh, we might make more, and that is okay; however, we would do well to ask God almighty how he would have us use the wealth he has loaned us.  The point is whatever wealth we have; we have it “on loan from God.”  Say what????

     Notice what happened to the insane man who seemed to abandon friends, family, and children. Notice what happened to this man who was all about making sure he had a bunch of stuff, but he did not care for others.  Notice what happened to the narcissist (who was his own god), but who feared not God nor realized he would hear from God someday.  Notice what happened to this man who kept living out his cycle of life every twenty four hours a day doing the same old same old just to keep own doing the same old same old.  GOD CALLED HIM UP!  GOD TOOK HIM BY SURPRISE!  Yup! This insane man or fool lost it all in a nanosecond:

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

     I do not think God said this with great joy.  I kind of think God was both angry and broken hearted… kind of like when someone you love deeply hurts you, and you have to do something to hold them accountable.  You still love them; yet, you are so VERY angry with them.  And your heart is so broken because you have loved them so much.  You wanted them to be okay.  You wanted to forgive them and they would have none of it.

     All through life we make choices about what to do with all the things that are put on loan to us from God.  The most important thing God loans us is not our wealth. The most important thing God loans us is NOT the stuff, whether we have a lot or a little.  The most important thing God wants for us to have is eternal life, through Jesus Christ, that we share with those we love.  Watch out that “stuff” doesn’t take the wrong place in your value system.  Watch out that you don’t let it… OR YOU… become your own greedy god.

Don’t Be A Fool.  Don’t Be Insane.
Such Fools and Insane Persons Have…
A Surprisingly Short Life Expectancy…
Meaning Shorter Than They Thought…

Instead…

Be Blessed Today
Especially 2day.

Surrender To Christ.
Turn From What Is Hurting You and Will Hurt you.

God Is Calling

SoJourner.