Sermon Preached By: Dr. Larry Corbett, Pinnacle’s former senior pastor
Date: Aug. 5, 2007
Scripture: Luke 12: 13–21
Sermon Title:

“Storing It All Up”

Perhaps it’s the subconscious mind of the minister at work this week with this lectionary scripture reading for when one moves from one house to another it is absolutely amazing all the “stuff” that one collects over the years. One of my favorite monologues by George Carlin is entitled “Stuff”… and it is really very funny.

“A house is just a pile of stuff with a cover on it. You can see it when you’re taking off in an airplane. You look down; you see everybody’s got a little pile of stuff. All the little piles of stuff. And when you leave your house, you gotta lock it up. Wouldn’t want somebody to come by and take your stuff. They always take the good stuff. They never bother with all the junk you’ve saved, just the good stuff. All they want is the shiny stuff. That’s what your house is – a place for your stuff while you go out and get more stuff.” (George Carlin on Stuff, internet) He goes on talking about the stuff we put into suitcases when we go on vacation.

The parable of the rich fool is about our stuff, and appears only in the gospel of Luke. It is interesting that Jesus develops the parable around the word “fool.” Fool and foolish used frequently in the book of Proverbs:

A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing personal opinion. (Proverbs 18: 2)

Foolish children are a grief to their father and bitterness to her who bore them. (Proverbs 17:25)

The one who begets a fool gets trouble; the parent of a fool has no joy. (Proverbs 17:21)

So Luke sets up this parable in the context of a set of sayings and parables about the foolishness of possessions, or stuff, and storing it up in barns.

Why do we store up so much stuff? A good therapist and the parable suggest that the desire to accumulate stuff is based on a desire for security from the vicissitudes of life. When do we have enough? When we feel safe, secure, and comfortable.

In the last couple of years a retired physician, member of this congregation, and I have had a continuing conversation over the question, “What is enough?” or “When is enough, enough?”

The two of us recall our child hood homes, perhaps 1500 square feet, with one bathroom with two adults and three kids, where we learned to share, organize our time, and sneak into the bathroom before a brother early in the morning, and got along pretty well. Both of us had forced air heating in the house over coal furnaces in the winter, no air conditioning for the dog days of summer, but there was an attic fan to draw air through the house to help us sleep at night. And amazingly, we survived! And, we felt safe, secure, and comfortable. Now, both of us now live in much larger, beautiful homes, and I’m about to move into a church manse that has more square feet than our present home. WHAT IS ENOUGH?

A colleague in ministry has observed that he’s never seen a family destroyed by issues related to homosexuality. It could happen, of course. I’ve listened to family members and gay persons express profound pain around the subject. But what I’ve seen more than anything through the years are marriages ruined, and families devastated by nothing more than accumulation of stuff, or greed – which is manifest in working too many hours, buying too much, or getting too deep in debt. You want to save the American family, do something about greed, and storing up stuff. Greedy persons all too often turn away from responsibility for the larger community by hoarding… stuff.

And goodness, the stock market last week brought it all to our attention with a double drop in three days – the stock market is the stuff of our 21st century barns. The Dow Jones Average, Standard and Poor, Nasdaq. I know people who check the market multiple times daily even getting up in the middle of the night to check their portfolios. There is so much blatant stuff and materialism in our life.

It’s easy for me or any other preacher to throw guilt, and many of you have learned to duck it pretty well if I do. But I have tried not to throw guilt in thirty nine years of ministry, and I told a couple of friends this week that one of the biggest challenges for Pinnacle in the next couple of years will be to find a Presbyterian minister who is comfortable around affluence. I don’t know many ministers who are. When a minister only throws guilt at middle class and affluent people one misses a wonderful opportunity to engage gifted people to use their stuff for the grace of God, and be blessed by being a blessing for others. It’s a wonderful blessing to see others benefit from your gifts.

Many of us live with a tension between the gospel, and the covenant community, and the pressure of profit driven choices of the world around us.

When I look at this parable at first pass it is pretty clear. “You fool! This very night (an accounting of your life) is being demanded of you.” It’s setting up a fair amount of guilt. But when you step back from it and listen to it in the larger context in Luke, it is not a vindictive condemnation of the wealthy but a pastoral word directed to persons of means, and with a pay–off for the poor.

Luke doesn’t want to see people condemned. Luke was a physician, a pastor, a person with a heart, and like all good pastors he wants people to grow in faith, and be a blessing for others. Luke uses the acid picture of the barn builder falling under judgment as a message to people of means. “If you don’t use your wealth in a way that God wants, you will hear the sovereign judge of heaven and earth say to you, ‘This very night your life is being demanded of you.’ But if you witness faithfully with your financial resources in the community and thus to the reign of God, you will experience continuous providence and become a part of the movement toward that great reign.” Far from beating up on the wealthy, Luke wants to help them.

Here’s how it can help.

Sharing material goods provides God a way to care for the poor. Such sharing embodies the concept of a covenantal community. It demonstrates the concern of God for all in the community to be blessed. Frankly, it helps awaken the poor to the fact that God cares for them.

In our formative years together here we have always attempted to give at least a tithe of our income to others. Of course, this beautiful campus with its stunning presence – the chapel, the Memorial Garden, classrooms, and this canyon of faith sanctuary convey an image of material wealth and that all we care about is our stuff – our material buildings. Folks in the neighborhood don’t see the hours and days of time many of you have given to building Habitat houses; or preparing and serving food at Andre house, or traveling to Mexico and providing educational assistance with Border Links, or Fair trade coffee. The neighborhood doesn’t often see the multitude of ways that many of you have given of yourselves volunteering in all sorts of non–profit agencies to be a blessing to the poor.

And I know, some may say that building a house or serving a meal or providing a back pack doesn’t bring about the systemic changes in society that are necessary to end homelessness and poverty. But friends, there are folks in this congregation who are literally in the planning stages of dreams of how Pinnacle Presbyterian Church can help to bring a systemic end to homelessness in Maricopa County.

And secondly, sharing material resources in a covenantal community helps persons of means avoid greed in yet another way. It helps us to focus wider than ourselves. When I see myself as the center of my world, I often think only in terms of myself and my desires and pleasures. And if I’m honest, having experienced a relatively modest childhood, I never have enough. I always can find one more shirt on sale or yet another coffee mug… and in the past few days I’ve given away sacks of both. How do we ever accumulate so much stuff?

The truth of the matter is that our barns are big enough already. And we are looking everywhere for yet another “Wow” experience.

“Wow, what a beautiful home!”

“Wow, what a great investment!”

I have a theory that people are flocking to theaters today to see more and more movies with all the special effects, not unlike the most recent Harry Potter movie, but all the more extremely violent ones as well. Crowds and crowds of people nationwide peered into the sky a few weeks ago at Fourth of July fireworks to say, “Wow! That was awesome.” Folks are looking for a “Wow” experience, when the real “Wow” is when a person does a simple good deed for another, reaching out to help another, and gives of oneself.

I watched a child from a very wealthy community recently help an elderly woman weed her rose bed and yard. He spent nearly three hours on a muggy day working at this task. She was stunned at this simple gift of “doing for another.” And the child felt really good (blessed) at the accomplishment.

When you give to others you will often find that you feel more blessed yourself as you observe the increase in blessing among others…and that’s the real “Wow!” not the hoarding of our stuff.

I have used two primary resources in this sermon: Biblical Preaching Journal, Summer, 2007, and Pulpit Resource, July/September 2007.