Bigger barns (Lk. 12:13–21)

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.(Luke 12:21)

This parable has quite a sharp message for us as individuals. We know how much value we place in material goods. Having a spare 32-pack of toilet paper in the cupboard gives us a sense of security. You never know when panic-buying will set in again…

There is plenty that Jesus has to say about greed of the individual here, but we’re going to focus on what it means for us as a church, as a community of Christian people. We’re holding a Vision Workshop this weekend where we will consider who we are and what God has blessed us with, so let’s see what Jesus says to us in that context.

The abundant harvest

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.’ (Lk. 12:16–17)

Jesus uses the metaphor of a harvest when he speaks about the mission of the church. As he is sending out the seventy-two, he says: “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Lk. 10:2)

The harvest has been plentiful in Mount Gambier for generations. Ever since our first worship service out the back of the Federal Hotel in 1862, we have always had a critical mass of members. We’ve always had enough people to get buildings built and operate as any congregation does with its worship services, groups, and ministries. To maintain such a level of activity for 160 years is very, very uncommon among churches today.

We are also a wealthy congregation in terms of property, assets, and of course, money. We’ve been blessed with generous members over the years who have given their time, money, and energy to build this place into what it is today. We have access to more than just a church building and hall, which is all most congregations have.

We have a paid staff person, and have had more than one at times, which is incredibly rare in our church, but we’ve had the means to do that.

God has blessed us with plenty as a congregation over many, many years. But is that really the harvest that Jesus is speaking about?

Jesus talks about a harvest being plentiful as he sends people out to reap it. So, it seems that there are two sides to the harvest in the church: those already harvested and those ready to be harvested.

If you’re sitting here, you’ve been harvested. You’re a crop that has been plucked out of the field and into God’s stockpile. But there is also a field out there that is ready to be harvested. This is a town of 30,000 people. Well over half of them don’t affiliate with a church. There are probably many more who said they are Christian without having an active faith. That’s the harvest field. We, who have been harvested, are the ones Jesus sends back out to gather more.

The man in our parable has harvested everything from his fields, though. The problem is that he doesn’t have enough shed space to store it all. Not a bad problem to have if you’re a farmer I suppose.

Do churches have the same problem at times? In today’s world, it’s more common to have too much shed space than to be short of it. Membership is shrinking, churches are closing or joining up with other small places. The main problem we have is empty pews.

Not us. Any time we worship more than 100 people, we have trouble fitting everyone in. We’ve even gotten to the point of installing a screen and sound in the foyer because there isn’t enough space inside. I wonder whether we face the same problem as the man with the abundant harvest. And we know what he did next…

The man’s decision

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.’ (Lk. 12:18)

It seems like a reasonable decision, doesn’t it? He uses his common sense and ensures that he has enough storage space. He can store what he has harvested until it’s time to sell. He can then put that money away and save it for a lean year to come, which will inevitably come around one day.

I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” (Lk. 12:19)

This is where things start to change. This is where we can see his intention behind his bigger barns. His motive is selfish. He takes advantage of his good harvest and enjoys the safety net he now has. He may well have had a family to provide for, in which case we could cut him some slack, but they aren’t mentioned. The only speaking this man does is with himself.

In 1982, St Martin’s built a bigger barn. When the school was first established, our ministry reach was stretched far wider than it had ever been. Our capacity for harvesting the crop was far greater. Our potential for sharing the gospel with our town and region multiplied instantly. Interestingly, when we built our bigger barn, we didn’t tear down the old one. We just built in a different place.

Many wonderful things have happened in our school, now college. We’ll hear stories from its forty years on the anniversary which is coming up soon. The motive of St Martin’s in establishing a school was in the right place, I believe. We weren’t in it to make money or boost our numbers for the sake of it. The intention was not so that we could have plenty in the bank and have the luxury of eating, drinking, and being merry.

The motive was to share the gospel with our community, and it has achieved that. Sure, it’s changed a lot in those 40 years and expanded to almost 800 students, becoming a very different beast, but the gospel foundation is still very much there. So long as we all remember that, we’ll be in the right place.

The stark reminder

The man in the parable did not have the right motives. He didn’t build bigger barns to have more capacity to serve others, or to be a better farmer. He did it for his own sense of security and comfort.

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.” (Lk. 12:20–21)

This takes us back to our greed as individuals. You can’t take any of it with you when you die. If anything, you’ll cause more problems for your children, who are the ones who have to go sorting through your shed after you’re gone and dividing the inheritance. This whole parable came from someone asking Jesus to tell his brother to play nice with the father’s will.

What did Jesus say in response to this man’s request? “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” (Lk. 12:15)

The message is clear for us as individuals—don’t put your trust and self-worth in possessions or wealth but focus on God and who he says you are. In your baptism, you have all the riches of heaven given to you. Those riches aren’t only something we have access to when we die—we live in them now. Our identity in Christ and the salvation he gives us is what truly matters.

The point here is not to sell everything we have because possessions are wrong. People who have nothing can also place too much value in the possessions they don’t have, feeling hopeless and worthless. The point is that worldly wealth does not save us. Therefore, we should be wise with it, being good stewards of the things God has given us, but not for our own benefit only. Sure, enjoy your life and go on a nice holiday, but remember to serve others with those things too.

What does that mean for us as a church? It means we, too, are to be stewards of what God has blessed us with—our buildings, our property, our money, our members, our school, our kindy, even our liturgy.

But we don’t maintain our buildings for our own security or comfort. We don’t manage our finances carefully because it makes us feel better about ourselves. We don’t consider our strategic direction to make ourselves feel more intelligent. We don’t do all of this only for ourselves.

We do it so that St Martin’s is a place where people who are lost can come to be found.
…where people have their sins forgiven week after week.
…where the gospel of Jesus is offered in a way that people can understand.
…where the riches of heaven are given, freeing people from greed and shame.
…where people are equipped and empowered to go out and reap the harvest.

Let’s pray that St Martin’s would be a place like that.