Fools Rush In Where Angels Fear To Tread.
“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
When does a man become a Fool? He becomes a fool when he measure success by his possessions He becomes a fool when he can’t see past his nose. He becomes a fool when he’ slow to think and quick to act. The Rich farmer in Luke Chapter 12 did all of these things. But nowhere did Jesus say he was a fool because he was rich.
We Are Fools When We Make Plans But Leave God Out. (Verses 17-18)
“And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ “So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.”
There was nothing wrong with his desire to build more barns that was both wise and prudent. The problem lays in the fact that there is no thought of sharing. This man had “I” problems. He used the pronoun “I” five times and “my” four times. Notice how he says my crops, my barns, my goods. He is confused between ownership and stewardship. He forgot that he was not the owner but only the possessor, the steward. All that had belonged to God. So it is with us, It is not ours to own it is ours on loan.
We Are Fools When We Make Plans But Leave God Out And…
We Are Fools When We Live Only For the Moment. (v. 19)
“‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”‘
In this verse although he addresses himself as “soul” it is the physical life that he is really concerned about.
This man thought he had it made. He did it all his way, He would have many years to enjoy the fruit of his labor. But all of this is based on his assumption that he could control his future like the he controlled the crops of his field. He envisioned the future as continually expanding and under his control. But nothing could be further from the truth.
James 4: 13-16 speaks to just such an attitude when he says, “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.”
The Bible does not discourage us from looking to the future with great expectation. However, as we make our plans, whether in business, in relationships or in our personal lives, we are to do so from the perspective that ultimately God is in charge. Humility was not one of this man’s strong points.
We Are Fools When We Live Only For the Moment And…
We Are Fools When We Store Our Treasure In The Wrong Places. (v. 20) “But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?”
According to Scripture a fool is a man who leaves God out of any consideration. This man was probably not an out-and-out atheist but he lived and breathed as one. He lived his life as if God did not exist. He did not see the good hand of God in his blessings so naturally he saw no reason to praise him. Fools leave God out of their lives.
George W. Truett, a well-known pastor, was invited to dinner in the home of a very wealthy man in Texas. After the meal, the host led him to a place where they could get a good view of the surrounding area. Pointing to the oil wells punctuating the landscape, he boasted, “Twenty-five years ago I had nothing. Now, as far as you can see, it’s all mine.” Looking in the opposite direction at his sprawling fields of grain, he said, “That’s all mine.” Turning east toward huge herds of cattle, he bragged, “They’re all mine.” Then pointing to the west and a beautiful forest, he exclaimed, “That too is all mine.”
He paused, expecting Dr. Truett to compliment him on his great success. Truett, however, placing one hand on the man’s shoulder and pointing heaven-ward with the other, simply said, “How much do you have in that direction?” The man hung his head and confessed, “I never thought of that”
To be a fool is to have missed the main purpose of life itself. Jesus says, “this very night your soul will be demanded of you.” The one-tw0- punch line here is the rest of verse 20;
“Then whose will those things be which you have provided?”
Solomon was a king-philosopher and who died with more toys than most people ever touched with their hands, but at the end of his life and he looked at all that stuff he said:
“For though I do my work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, I must leave everything I gain to people who haven’t worked to earn it. This is not only foolish but highly unfair. So what do people get for all their hard work? Their days of labor are filled with pain and grief; even at night they cannot rest. It is all utterly meaningless.” (Eccles. 2:21-23. ~ New Living Translation)
He died with the most toys but did not win because he left them all to his worthless son Rehoboam who used them and abused them for his own selfish pleasure.
As missionary and martyr Jim Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”
We Are Fools When We Store Our Treasure In The Wrong Places.
Without God, “What fools we mortals be.”
Pastor Bryant