Bigger Barns
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13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
14 Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15 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.”
16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
18 “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. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
20 “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?’
21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
The background for our story this morning is an incident that occurred in Galilee as Jesus was teaching a large crowd. A young man called out from the crowd: "Rabbi, tell my brother to divide the inheritance of our father." In Jewish law at the death of a father, the elder son would receive 2/3 of the inheritance, and the young son 1/3. The younger brother thinks it is unfair. Nothing will divide siblings more than dividing up family possessions.
[Dave shouts – ‘Help’]
Drama: KB & Dave talk about Bigger Barns
Jesus wouldn’t get involved in this family squabble. But he was more concerned about the young man wanting ££ & stuff, things of this world. JC said: Beware of greed, for the important things of life is not about what you have. A person's life is much more than their wealth and possessions.
[Dave – “down here – I want out”]
Jesus then told a parable – a story. There was once a man who had done so well on his farm that his barns could not hold all of his crops.
[Dave: Help] – KB [Did you hear something? What was it, who was it? Oh Dave I forgot about you.
Did you want to be involved this morning Dave?
What do you know about farming Dave?
Dave: Tractors! I’d love to drive a tractor, load up all that grain and put it in the barn.
KB: And what would you do when your barn is full?
Dave: Build another one!
KB: And what would you do when that barn is full?
Dave: Build another one!
KB: What, a bigger one
Dave: Yea, fill it up with all that golden grain. Lovely stuff!
KB: But Dave, You are just like the man in this parable that Jesus told.
Dave: Really?
KB: He was doing so well with his farming and his crops that he just kept loading up his tractor and built bigger barns for all his stuff and then he could have an easy life just living off all his stuff. He didn’t need to work at all.
Dave: What’s wrong with that?
KB: Well, for one thing, he was being very greedy – just thinking about himself.
Dave: I suppose he was
KB: And another thing.
Dave: What?
KB: Only God knows how long we will live for.
Dave: Ahh, so he had all that stuff, and then he died. That’s sad.
KB: The saddest thing was that he could have done something very different.
Dave: Like what?
KB: What do you think he could have done?
Dave: He could have shared what he had with others
KB: Yes, he could, and hungry people would have been fed. Instead, he built bigger barns. So he could put his feet up, enjoy life, live for himself.
Dave: Jesus said he was a fool. Why was he foolish?
KB: This parable is about what is important in life, rather than money and stuff and wealth.
He may have had full barns, but an empty heart.
He made plans for his crops but didn’t think about God’s plans for his life.
He was foolish because he worshipped himself and not God (what life was all about).
He was a fool because he forgot our time on earth is not forever.
Dave: And we can't take anything with us!
KB: No we can’t, so the parable is not really about what the man does, but why he does it.
Dave: What do you mean?
KB: Well notice how he talks to himself about himself - I will do this, I will do that, my crops, my barns, my grain, my goods myself. He’s obsessed with himself. No thoughts of providing for others’ needs. No thanks to God for all the blessings he has received. He had missed the whole point of living – we worship and glorify God & enjoy God & we build treasures in heaven and God blesses us in many, many ways.
Dave: I know a song about that.
KB: Great, what is it called.
Dave: I will worship
Dave: Shall we all sing it, Yea but I’ll start off and you can join in later.
KB: OK let’s hear it.
Dave sings: I will Worship…..
That’s a special song and a good response to your bigger barns. Bigger Barns meant that he had no room for God in his life.
I could ask what are your bigger barns? Maybe the Holy Spirit can put his finger on something you need to pray about today.
The devil wants us to have bigger things that take over from God in our lives. It could be a bigger house, a bigger holiday, bigger leisure and pleasure time. Bigger time on your phone! Bigger time on computer games. Jesus said- Be careful not to fall into the selfishness of greed – believing that more of anything will make us happier – that’s a Lie – be on your guard against greed. Jesus says, be on your guard against all kinds of selfish greed. Greed is a deadly sin.
7 deadly sins Pride. Greed. Anger. Envy. Lust. Gluttony. Sloth
Instead of bigger barns let us make God bigger in our lives. Magnify God in your life means putting God first. To Magnify the Lord is to change from worshipping yourself to worshipping God, from being greedy to being generous. From Selfish to selfless. Change from planning for your future to giving others a future. From Independence v God dependence.
The man interrupted Jesus – he wanted a share in his earthly inheritance but Jesus came that we might have an eternal inheritance. Don’t be foolish like the farmer in this story – Wanting Bigger barns or bigger anything. Let us desire more of God in our lives. Don’t be foolish like the farmer in this story – Jesus is the only one we can trust with our future – let us be rich towards Jesus.
Ps 34:3 – O Magnify the Lord with me, let us exalt his name together.
I Will Worship
I will give, you all my worship, I will give, you all my praise
You alone, I long to worship, You alone, are worthy of my praise
I will worship, With all of my heart
I will praise you, With all of my strength
I will seek you – I will seek you
All of my days – All of my days
I will follow – I will follow
all of your ways – all your ways
I will give you, all my worship
I will give you, all my praise
You alone, I long to worship
You alone, are worthy of my praise
You are worthy of my praise
I will bow down – I will bow down
And hail you as king – Hail you as King
I will serve you – I will serve you
I will give you everything – I will give you everything
I will lift up – I will lift up
My eyes to your throne – My eyes to your throne
I will trust you – I will trust you
I will trust you alone – I will trust you alone
I will give you all my worship
I will give you all my praise
You alone I long to worship
You alone are worthy of my praise
I will give you all my worship
I will give you all my praise
You alone I long to worship
You alone are worthy of my praise
