The Abundant Life

What is the abundant life?
Read Luke12:13-32

I want to begin with a story about priorities, about what matters most. There was a fisherman sitting beside his boat, playing with his young son. It was the middle of the day, and they’re just playing around, having a good time. A man walks by, sees them playing in the middle of the day, and he’s bothered this. He considers himself industrious and is bothered to see this fisherman isn’t out on the water catching fish. Time is money, after all. And here’s this fisherman burning up daylight playing with his son. So, he walks up and says, “Why aren’t you out fishing?” The fisherman replies, “Well, I’ve caught enough fish for one day.” The man replies, “Okay, but why not catch some more?” The fisherman replies, “What would I do with them?” This reply annoys him. So, with some condescension in his voice he explains, “You could sell them to earn more money. With that money you could buy a bigger boat, go out in deeper, catch even more fish. You sell those, buy a couple more boats, hire some help and before you know it you could have a whole fleet of boats. Then you would be a wealthy entrepreneur and not a simple fisherman” The fisherman thought about it for a moment and then asked, “What would I do then?” The man replied, “Well, then you could really enjoy life.” The fisherman looked at his young son and then looked back at the man and asked, “What do you think I am doing right now?”

Priorities. What matters most in life? This passage from Luke speaks to what really matters. Our Lord said he came into this world so that we would have life and have life abundantly (John 10:10). But what does that mean? What is the abundant life? This passage helps us think about that question. In the first part, vss. 12-21, Jesus teaches us what the abundant life is not. In vs. 15 he says, “…life does not consist in an abundance of things-possessions.” So, the 1^st part-what the abundant life is not. In the second part of this passage, vss. 22-31, Jesus teaches us what the abundant life does consist in. In vs. 31 he says, strive for God’s kingdom and everything else will be given to you. So, that’s the key to the abundant life-priorities-seeking God’s kingdom, God’s ways first. And then in vs. 32 he says: Don’t be afraid, it pleases God to give you the kingdom. So, the life seek is something we strive for, but ultimately it is given to us.

In the first part, the part about what the abundant life is not, Jesus warns us that we should be on our guard against all kinds of greed. It may be tempting to think that greed is only a problem for those who have a lot of stuff, or a lot of money. But, unfortunately for us, greed is an equal opportunity offender. So, what is greed? Greed is an inordinate desire for more than we need. By “inordinate desire” I mean a desire that is out of place, not fitting, not good. We all know the experience of wanting more than we need. Every time I sit down to a plate of really, really good food (a heaping plate of crawfish etouffee, perhaps), I am tempted to eat more than I need.

Now, if I end up eating more than I need, which has happened more than I would like to admit, that’s certainly not the worst thing in the world, but the seed of greed is found in that desire for more. If that seed, that inordinate desire, is given free reign and grows to maturity it becomes something like the man we see in the parable Jesus gives us. This man has a bumper crop and is trying to decide what to do with all this surplus grain. One of the interesting things about this parable is what Jesus says right before it in vs. 2, “Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known.” And then, in this parable, he uncovers for us the secret thoughts of greed. In a way, he gives us the psychology behind greed.

We’re told he’s a wealthy land owner who has a bumper crop. He has so much grain that he has no place to store it. He thinks to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” Then he says, “I will do this…” Let’s stop there. Notice who is not involved in his decision-making process. He has this problem and who does he seek for guidance? Does he ask God for guidance? No. He asks himself. And, there’s our first hint of a problem.

Anyone who knows that all we are and all that we have is a gift from God also understands that when it comes to big decisions, small decisions, any decisions-the first One you go to for guidance is the one who gave it to you: God. “God, what would you have me do with this bumper crop with which you have blessed me?” Now, if the fear is that God might say, “How about sharing some of it,” then yeah, don’t pray because God is probably going to say just that-share some of it. So, the first clue we get that there’s a problem is that this individual doesn’t even consider God’s guidance, which means he’s not in touch with the fact that his possessions and even his very life are gifts from God.

The next thing to notice is how many times he says words like “I’ or “my.” “I will pull down my barns and build larger ones…I will store all my grain and my goods.” He is clearly ego-centric (“I” centered), self-seeking, self-serving. His thoughts are all about himself and what is his. And then, this is the oddest part of his thinking, he begins to speak to his own soul! He says, “And I will say to my soul…” Notice how he even treats his soul as his own possession, “I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’” This poor soul is so narcissistic that he has now morphed into two people! On the one hand, he is the one who speaks to himself and offers guidance to himself. On the other hand, he is also the one who listens and heeds his own counsel. This poor soul has it bad. So, Jesus uncovers his secret thoughts and reveals to us that he takes no thought for God. And, he takes no thought for others. It never occurs to him since he has so much that maybe there is someone who might need his help.

It’s important to point out, this man’s sin is not that he is being prudent with the resources he has at his disposal. The problem here is not that he has wisely saved for a rainy day. When Joseph was the overseer of the grain in Egypt. God reveals to Joseph (through a dream given to Pharaoh) that he should store grain for the upcoming years of famine (Genesis 41). Joseph does just what this man did. Except, Joseph didn’t store all that grain for himself, he stored it for future hungry people. My point being, over and over in the scriptures we find people who are wise and prudent with resources. In the Book of Proverbs, we are instructed to be prudent and wise, even with resources and possessions. These are good things. And being wise and prudent is not the problem with this man with big barns.

This man’s sin is that he simply doesn’t care for anyone except himself. He doesn’t care enough to think of God, much less think of others. He’s not rich towards God, and therefore is not generous towards God’s creatures. His only concern is “Now that my life is secure, I can eat, drink, and be merry.” Notice, he is under the illusion that by securing all the food he needs he has secured life. And then, when he says he can now “eat, drink, and be merry” he doesn’t even finish the saying, which gives us another clue to his mindset. The whole saying is, ‘Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die” (Ecclesiastes 8:15; 1 Corinthians 15:32).  Not only has he forgotten God and others, he is so self-consumed that he has forgotten his own mortality. So, that’s a picture of the life that is not abundant, in spite of having an abundance of resources.

Let’s look at the second part and what the abundant life does consist in. Notice how Jesus begins the second part. He begins in vs.22 with, “Therefore…” In other words, what he about to say is in response to the parable he just gave. “Therefore, don’t worry about your life.” So, is that it? Don’t worry about your life? That’s the path to abundant life, just don’t worry about it? Well, not quite. What he says is, don’t worry about the physical things you need to live. Don’t worry about the basic necessities of life: food, drink, clothing. Okay, but don’t we need them to survive? How are we supposed to not worry about them? There is another word here that Jesus uses in the place of the word “worry.” He doesn’t just say don’t worry about these things. He says, don’t strive for these things. That word “strive” gives us the nuance we need to make sense of what Jesus is saying.

When we strive for something, all that we are is aimed at acquiring the object of ours striving. Paul’s image of the runner, running a race is helpful here. The runner is striving for the goal, for the prize. Everything the runner is doing is aimed at the goal. That’s what striving looks like. If our main focus in life is the “things” of life-things we all need no doubt, but nonetheless, things. Then people become a means to that end. As Augustine put it: instead of loving people and using things, we begin to use people and love things. People become a means to acquiring the things we want. And ultimately people become objects who are either in the way or on the way. So, we ant avoid loving things and using people. What we want is to enjoy and use thing, but to love people. And perhaps, to use things in loving people. The man with big barns, had he thought to love people, might have used his grain to love those who had no grain (To read Augustine on love and things see here).

Jesus says life is more to life than things. We have to have things to live, and God has given us things to enjoy. It’s not a sin to enjoy things. But if enjoying things becomes that for which I strive, then I am in trouble. It’s not a sin to be prudent and save and use money wisely. But if I do so only to benefit myself or my own, then I am in trouble. It really is about priorities. Jesus says: Don’t strive for the things of this world, strive for God’s kingdom. What does it mean to strive for the kingdom? Without going to far afield, striving for the kingdom, at the very least, means loving God and loving people. If we do that, if we put the kingdom and God’s ways first, then everything else will fall into its proper place.

So, he says strive first for the kingdom-but then he says, “Don’t be afraid, God cares for you and God will give you the kingdom.” Strive for the kingdom-work at it, but understand, when it’s all said and done it’s a gift. It’s a gift. That simple fact is so powerful, so easy to understand, and yet so elusive when it comes to the way we treat both things and people, including our own selves. It’s a gift, all of it. That’s what makes the abundant life possible-it’s all a gift from God: this life is a gift. This world and everything in it are gifts. Our time in this world-a gift. And when our time is done and we enter into the Presence shining like the Son, that too will be a gift.

Jesus says to us: Don’t be afraid to seek the things of God, first. Don’t be afraid, because it is God’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom. In other words: have faith, God is gracious.