Retirement
Luke 12:20, “ But God said unto him, Thou fool, cthis night †dthy soul shall be required of thee: then ewhose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?" [1]
I. Fool
A. Silly
B. Stupid
II. Fortune
A. Stuff
B. Security
III. Forfeit
A. Surprise
B. Surrender
Introduction: There is an old movie that comes on reruns that made fun of people who work in large companies. It is called “Office Space.” The main character feels trapped in his life. His neighbor asked what he would like to do if he could do anything. He said that he wanted to do nothing, absolutely nothing.
He was so unhappy that he went to a Psychiatrist and was hypnotized into believing that life can be what he wants it to be if he only stands up for himself. In the middle of the hypnosis the Psychiatrist died and the fellow was stuck under the spell.
The neighbor in the apartment complex was a blue collar worker. He didn’t really understand his neighbor’s problem because it seems that it didn’t take much to satisfy him.
The place where the dissatisfied neighbor worked was later burned down. At the end of the movie the two neighbors are working for a cleanup crew and both seem satisfied. It is a strange movie but for those who have worked in an office in a cubicle alongside people you might not ever know, it is not that farfetched.
Have you ever found yourself in a place in life that you were ready for something else? Many people dream of retirement years when they can do nothing but sit back and live off all of their hard work. What is retirement anyway?
A few weeks ago we had a message from Luke 12:13-21. Jesus was speaking to a large crowd of people. In that message we considered what each of those people might have expected from Jesus. The question still stands. What do you expect to receive from coming to Jesus?
One shouted that his brother was unfair in the way he divided an inheritance. To paraphrase; Jesus replied that He didn’t come to referee our disputes. We should not covet what others have. We shouldn’t think that we are defined by what we can hold in our hands.
Then Jesus spoke a parable about a rich man. The KJV says that Jesus often spoke in parables. A closer translation refers to these examples that Jesus used as similes. Jesus would use a similar circumstance to help the listener understand His imbedded truth. The example may or may not draw a parallel to an actual person or event. Was there really a guy who tore down his barns to build more and died in the process? Who knows? God knows! I don’t.
That part doesn’t matter. What matters is what I do with the lesson given. We work and we work so that we can one day reach the point of not doing that anymore. Maybe I should have said that’s what I did. I can’t really speak for anyone else.
One day there will be a reckoning. If you have not reached a decision point in your life to either keep on believing in yourself or trusting in something beyond yourself, you will. God allows us to go on believing and working towards our goal. That is true for some of us. Others of us seem to reach that place of decision early only to turn away. Still others of us make a decision to follow but from a distance until he takes us by the hand. Where are you?
Scripture: Today’s focal text is Luke 12:20.
Prayer: Let us pray. Be seated.
Message: The title of the message today is retirement. Think about what that word retirement means to you as we consider true retirement. Is it the end of something or the beginning?
Take a note for later or look back if you will to Matthew 5:22. Jesus equates calling someone a fool as the same as murder. “But I say unto you, That bwhosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, ||Raca, shall be in danger of cthe council: but whosoever shall say, Thou dfool, shall be in danger of ehell fire.” [2]
In our focal text God called this rich man a fool! Keep in mind that this is a parable. But what that guy did must have been something really silly for God to have called him a fool. Stupid is another word not used much in the Bible but it is there. If God says that I am stupid, I am stupid. There is no disputing that.
What was so stupid about building another storage building to store up food and other stuff? Let’s go back. Follow along as we hear starting at verse sixteen through eighteen. The guy had already built some barns or at least he had some that someone else might have built. He apparently had more than one barn. God didn’t end the fellow because of the barns that he already had.
Back to verse sixteen, God had been too good to the guy. He had too much stuff. The more stuff we have it seems the more stuff we expect. That seems to be the American way. An old friend of mine used to say, “He who dies with the most toys wins.”
Many of the Proverbs were written by Solomon who is supposed to have been the wisest man of his time. Proverbs thirty was supposedly written by Agur. Proverbs 30:1 says, “aThe words of Agur the son of Jakeh, even bthe prophecy: the man spake unto Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and Ucal,” [3]
This is what Agur spoke in Proverbs 30:7, “Two things have I required of thee;†Deny me them not rbefore I die:8 Remove far from me vanity and lies: Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with food †convenient for me:9 sLest I be full, and †deny thee, And say, Who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor, and steal, And ttake the name of my God in vain.” [4]
Is it a sin to be fortunate? What is a fortune anyhow? Jesus said in verse fifteen that a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of things. A fortunate life doesn’t mean a life filled with stuff which you have accumulated so that you can expect to live in security later on. The only security that we have is our hope in Jesus and that is secured. He secured that with His sweat; with His blood, with His tears. We have a fortune! He is preparing a mansion for us.
The fortune for us is not on those things which we are accumulating here and now. He wants us to live and enjoy what we have whether it is health or sickness. The true contentment of this life is the knowledge that no matter what we endure He is alongside us. He watches and He waits until we are ready to come to Him. Isn’t it amazing that we have a fortune waiting for us to accept if we would only ask? Are you ready? What are we waiting for?
And there it is! This day! Retirement! What day? I don’t know what day and neither does anybody else know what day. Whatever day that God decides; it is that day your soul will be taken to another place. That day we will retire from this life’s burdens. In this simile God called it this day. We don’t know when God’s “this day” is. We only know that it is His day. His choice.
On that day we will forfeit all that we think that we have done here by ourselves. We will leave it all behind. It will not be a surprise to God when we surrender all of our worldly accomplishments and leave this place. Even Jesus said that when He walked this life that only The Father knows the time. We all have an appointed time. And we didn’t set it. Trust Him? What else can we do? How freeing it is to trust and obey? Is there any other way? Let us pray.
Prayer:
Invitation: If you truly trust Jesus with your life then you are already retired. You are retired from the worry of what will happen next. He has it. A good friend of mine gave me a thing to put on the license plate holder. It says “God is my co-pilot.” The “co” part is marked through so it reads, God is my pilot.
Everybody knows that I love to climb in that airplane and leave this planet for a while every now and then. God is always the pilot. Daddy used to laugh about my love for motorcycles. He said I’d be fine until I got to the place that I thought I’d mastered the thing. I wonder what dad would say about flying airplanes…
The rich man with the barns thought he had the tiger by the tail and now he was ready for retirement so that he could get lazy. He was not ready to give up and let God. Even after all that he had received he was not ready to admit that it was always God.
That will run out one day. It has run out for me many times. Each time I think I have finally surrendered I learn that there is something that I am holding onto. Have you finally surrendered? If you haven’t surrendered everything He will allow you more tests until your do. That’s OK. It’s a blessing because each time He takes you through the test you are getting closer to Him. Don’t fight the tests. Remind me of that later. I will need to be reminded again.
Have you anything that you are hanging onto that you think is totally under your control? Do you really want to see God laugh? Tell Him that you’ve got this. Even Jesus surrendered for His cousin John to baptize Him. Jesus didn’t need to do that. When He did though, God The Father spoke and the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus in the form of a dove. That is important! The three members of the Triune Godhead were there. Give it to Jesus and He will give you more than you will ever imagine.
The altar is open and I am here to listen. You decide as we sing…
c Jer. 17:11. James 4:14.
† Gr. do they require thy soul. As Job 18:18. & 34:20. Matt. 24:26. ch. 6:38. & 16:4. & 17:21, 23. ver. 48, &c.
d Job 27:8. Ps. 52:7.
e See Ps. 39:6.
[1] The Holy Bible: King James Version (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Lk 12:20). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
b 1 John 3:15.
|| [That is, Vain fellow, 2 Sam. 6:20]. See Judg. 9:4. Comp. James 2:20.
c ch. 10:17. & 26:59. Mark 13:9. & 14:55. & 15:1. Luke 22:66. John 11:47. Acts 4:15 & 5:21, 27, 34, 41. & 6:12, 15. & 22:30. & 23:1, 6, 15, 20, 28. & 24:20. So 2 Macc. 14:5 (Gk.).
d Comp. ch. 7:26 (Gk.). & 23:17, 19. & 25:2, 3, 8 (Gk.).
e ver. 29, 30. ch. 10:28. & 18:9. & 23:15, 33. Mark 9:43, 45, 47. Luke 12:5. James 3:6.
[2] The Holy Bible: King James Version (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Mt 5:22). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
a See ch. 10:1.
b ch. 31:1. Heb. as Isai. 13:1. & 14:28, &c. See 2 Kin. 9:25.
[3] The Holy Bible: King James Version (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Pr 30). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
† Heb. withhold not from me. Gen. 30:2.
r Gen. 45:28.
† Heb. of my allowance. ch. 31:15. Comp. Job 23:12. Matt. 6:11.
s See Deut. 8:14. So Deut. 31:20. & 32:15. Neh. 9:25, 26. ver. 22.
† Heb. belie thee. See Josh. 24:27.
t Comp. ch. 29:24.
[4] The Holy Bible: King James Version (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Pr 30:7–9). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
