A Fool for God
Our world today puts a great emphasis on the accumulation of material possessions, but society generally forgets about becoming rich in the eyes of God. Like the rich man in the parable, we fall into many of the same follies which he encountered. Some of us are preoccupied with our possessions. Others find security in self-sufficiency… in not being dependent upon others. Still others are consumed with the accumulation of wealth. And many of us have, at different times, practiced the hedonism of the rich fool… eating, drinking and making merry. We often forget our responsibility to use our abundance for the welfare of those who are less fortunate. It is easy to forget that God is the source of all we have and, in our attachment to the things of this world, we lose our focus on the one thing that is really important, and that is our relationship with God.
The theologian Peter Rhea Jones uses the provocative term "practical atheism" or what I would call “de facto atheism” to explain this rich man’s approach to his life. This fool may have said that he always believed in God, but when it came to living his life… dealing with his possessions… or planning his future… he lived as if there were no God. (Pasue) We need to ask ourselves what difference our faith in God makes in the practical matters of life or the reality of the legacy that we leave behind. Are we only invested in the things of this world or will our obituary speak of the faith that we say is important in our lives? Faith, while not visible, must be practiced…and its manifestations are clearly evident to all. How do we live our faith such that there is some tangible evidence of it for others to see when we have gone?
Alfred Nobel, the famous Swedish scientist and in his day one of the richest men in the world, was born in 1833. From his earliest days it was evident to everyone that Alfred was a gifted young man. By the time he was fifteen, he could read, write, and speak four languages besides his native Swedish. When he was sixteen, he left Sweden to look for educational opportunities abroad. He first went to Paris and then across the Atlantic to the United States, where he spent four years studying science and engineering. With his education complete, Nobel returned to his native land and began to tinker around in his laboratory. In the 1860s, he began to conduct experiments with nitroglycerin, a highly volatile and unstable substance. One of his experiments resulted in an explosion which killed his younger brother. It only made him more determined to find a functional use for nitroglycerin. That discovery came about quite accidentally. One day in his workshop, he noticed that some of the nitroglycerin had leeched into some packing material. Nobel discovered that this combination had all the energy capacity and blasting potential of nitroglycerin, but it was stable and thus could be better controlled. This substance, for which Alfred Nobel secured the patents, was dynamite.
The uses of dynamite throughout the world made Alfred Nobel a rich and famous man overnight. While many of its uses were for construction and mining, dynamite was most often used in bombs… projectiles… and other weapons of war. In the following years, Nobel gained great notoriety… along with great wealth… for his invention. One day, he picked up the morning newspaper and read the headline: "Dynamite King Dies." While obviously an error, Nobel was curious of what others would say of him after his death, so he read the article. Among the dates and achievements of his life, he read a description which labeled him as the "merchant of death." That phrase disturbed the scientist greatly and, in the years that followed, Alfred Nobel worked to correct that view of himself. Today, very few people remember how Alfred Nobel made his fortune. What they do remember is that he left his vast fortune in trust to a committee which each year selects people who, in theory and practice, had made positive contributions to the furthering of humankind. Thus, beginning in 1901 and continuing to the present day, Nobel Prizes have been awarded in the areas of physics, chemistry, literature, medicine, economics, and, of course, the coveted Nobel Peace Prize.
My challenge to you this week is to write your own obituary, using only data that others can gather about you after your death. After all, that is usually how obituaries are written… for very few people write their own obituaries. When you are finished, ask yourself these questions: Are you satisfied with the view that the world has of you and your life? Does your faith in God reveal itself anywhere in your life beyond your membership in this congregation? As someone once said, “If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” Or have you lived your life as a “practical atheist”… a “de facto atheist”… as if God did not… does not… exist?
As I watch the people in northern Pakistan gather their belongings and move to higher ground to escape the flooding… as I watch the people in California evacuate the areas plagued by forest fires… I ask myself what I would take from my home if I could only take what would fit in my car… or what I could carry on my back. What do these people take with them… and what do they leave behind? What is important to us… and do those things give tangible witness to our faith in God? How do we set our priorities between the world and God? When time does not permit our attention to both realms, which one wins out? Do we demonstrate good judgment and wisdom with such decisions or are we the rich fool who forgets God and loses all?
In Jesus’ day, wealth was a sign of God's goodness and blessing. The Pharisees took great pride in material possessions, often quoting Deuteronomy 28 where God provided material blessings for obedience. For many Jews, possessions were viewed as a sign of God's pleasure. The concern here is not in the possessions themselves, but the motivations of the heart. In Jesus’ parable, tearing down old grain bins to build new ones was not a sin. The problem in the story is not the size of the harvest, but the man’s decision to gather all of it in and store it for his own use. The thought of giving any portion of it to persons in need never crosses his mind. The rich fool did not realize that, in reality, he did not "own" anything. All he had, even his life, was on loan and could be called back at any time.
God has given each of us great gifts… our lives… our possessions… our families… our community. And all of it with the power to distract us from God and that which God has called us to do. Where do we choose to focus our attention… and have we left God on the sidelines? Are we the “practical atheists”… the “de facto atheists”… that Jones described? Do we profess our faith… only to set God aside in our daily lives when God’s call on us gets in the way? When others read your obituary, will they see your faith reflected in your life… or will your life be filled with the things of this world… and not rich in the eyes of God? These are questions that are before us this week. I know I have spent a lot of time thinking about them already. Amen.
Luke 12:13-21