July 27, 2025
Luke 12:13-21
Introduction
Recently I was talking to an old friend from seminary. We hadn’t talked in quite some time, so we were doing the usual catching up about all that was happening in each other’s lives. I shared with him reports of my daughter and son, how old they were, how smart and talented and amazing they are… most of the time.
Told him how things here at the church we’re going well, that we are doing good ministry, the congregation is doing great work, and after being here more than 15 years, we still get along great and love one another…most of the time.
But the main reason for this call was to check in on how he and his wife were doing because I heard his wife’s ongoing health issues had begun to deteriorate more rapidly. He was honest and straightforward about what was happening, the fears, frustrations, worry, the challenges and struggles, the sadness—all of which were heartbreaking. But then he said something rather striking and profound. He said, “That’s how life goes sometimes. It ebbs and flows away. Still though, I am grateful for the color God puts back into my life.”
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When life ebbs away, there is usually something at the root of it, causing life to ebb away, recede, diminish. For my friend, it is a terrible situation of which he has no control—and yet, he still sees the color God blesses him with.
Sometimes we experience that ebbing away in our relationships—spouse, children, friends, even God. Sometimes it’s as the absence of meaning, purpose, or direction in our life. Maybe we feel it in regard to ourselves when we are not living the life we want to live. Maybe it’s an absence of enthusiasm and vitality, and we’re just going through the motions, and our life is on autopilot. Or we’re feeling trapped in the life we’ve created, and we finally have what we always wanted, only to find we don’t really want what we have.
Whatever the situation and circumstances, we all have felt life ebbing and flowing away. And whatever the situation and circumstances are…they are always demanding.
Move 1
As I read our text for today, I can’t help but wonder if life “ebbing away” is what is happening to the rich farmer in Jesus’ parable, and if so, it is because he is storing-up and storing-up and storing-up without any attention to, or awareness of, what really gives life.
The great danger and tragedy of an ebbing away life is that it reaches a tipping point— a point beyond which we have lost all control, any ability to see God’s blessings, and what is causing life to ebb away is overwhelmingly demanding.
Jesus understood this to be a real challenge in the lives of many people, and it’s at the heart of this parable, even when he says the challenging words, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you.”
Now some will hear these words as God demanding the man’s life. But that’s not what the text says. It says, “Your life is being demanded of you.” And as I read this part of our text, I can’t help but wonder…What if God is not the one making a demand on the man? What if the demanding of the man’s life is neither God’s judgment nor punishment? What if God is simply naming what happens when we store up and store up and store up without any attention to, or awareness of, what really gives life.
And when I put all of this in perspective—along with a critical point, I’ll share in a second—I have to ask, what if the stored-up grain and goods are what’s demanding the man’s life? Here’s why I ask this… When translated from its original Greek the text reads “is being demanded.” But just as with any translated text, there can be other ways the same message can be translated—which is the case here. And a more literal translation of this same text reads “they are demanding.” Use such a translation, and our text gets more pointed, saying, “You fool! This very night they are demanding your life from you.”
Meaning, all the grains and goods the rich man has stored up, have been, and are continuing, to demand his life. “They”, the stored-up goods, are demanding his life, but as good as they may be, still don’t offer and color to his life, but instead are causing his life to ebb away.
Move 2
What we store up demands and takes our life. And it doesn’t matter what it is. It could be material goods— the way our home looks from the road or the way it looks when guests come. It could be the way we look, and the way our family looks to everyone else. But it’s not just material goods we store up. We store up anger, grudges, resentment. We store up guilt or regrets; pride or arrogance; the need for approval, attention, or recognition. We store up perfectionism, the need to be right, the need to have the final word. We store up criticism, condemnation, or judgment of others or ourselves; or power, position, or control. We store up fear, worry, anxiety. The list goes on and on.
Whatever we store up for ourselves eventually demands our life— it takes our life emotionally, spiritually, and sometimes physically. Think about a time you stored up anger or resentment and the way it began to eat away at your life. Think about a time when you stored up judgment or condemnation of yourself or another and how it stole your life. Think about the way stored-up fear or worry takes away your life.
If our life is ebbing away, if we feel our life is without color, maybe it’s time to look at what we are storing up. And even if we don’t feel our life is ebbing away, maybe it’s still time to look at what we are storing up. I believe this is important to do as individuals, but it’s also important to do as a church, as a community, and even as a nation.
As a church, what are we storing up? Is what we are storing up causing our life to ebb away? Is it bringing color to our life and the lives of others? “This very night your life is being demanded of you.”
As a community, what are we storing up? Is what we are storing up causing our life to ebb away? Is it bringing color to our life and the lives of others? “This very night your life is being demanded of you.”
When I look at the cultural environment of our country today, I am afraid our life as a nation is ebbing away—tribalism, white supremacy, lack of decency in our conversations, deepening divisions and ongoing accusations—none of it is bringing color into our lives or the lives of others. So, what is? “This very night your life is being demanded of you.”
Move 3
What is demanding your life today? Is it adding color? Or is it making your life ebb away? That’s what our text for today implores us to wrestle with, and I hope it’s the questions you will take with you today. What is demanding your life today? Is it adding color? Or is it making your life ebb away?
We were not created to live storing-up lives or be storing-up kind of people. That simply is not the way or teaching of Jesus. Remember how Jesus taught us to pray last week, saying, “Give us each day our daily bread.” Jesus doesn’t say to pray for bread for a week, or a month, or a lifetime. Jesus says pray for bread for a day. In the wilderness Exodus, the Israelites were to gather only enough manna for one day. They were not to store up for the next day.
Storing-up is about more than just quantity. Storing-up is a way of being, a way of living only for ourselves, a way of distancing and cutting off from others. When we store up, life becomes all about us.
Listen to the man’s conversation with himself. Eleven times he uses the words I or my. There is no mention of care or concern for anyone but himself. His storing up has blinded him to what really matters and what life really consists of—awareness of others, care for those who need cared for, compassion for those who are pushed to the margins, openness and love of our neighbors.
The man’s life does not consist of any of these ways of life Jesus calls us to live. And as a result, his life is ebbing away, his life is without color, because the parts of his life he is storing up…they are demanding, and he can see nothing else other than their demands.
Conclusion
A life of faith does not consist of what we store up. The parts of life that hold the deepest meaning, that give value, purpose, and color— love, compassion, mercy, forgiveness, justice, grace—cannot be stored up. They can only be given away. That’s what we see in the life of Jesus. No one and no thing demanded or took his life because it was not a stored-up life. It was a life given to others, for others that was constantly and consistently being given to others as a blessing so their life could stop ebbing away and find color again.
And that is the blessing that comes back to us. When we live lives that are not about storing-up, but rather lives that give to others, a blessing; their life, and our life, will never ebb away, and will always be filled with color.
So back to that critical piece we need to wrestle with… What is demanding your life today? Is it adding color? Or is it making your life ebb away? Amen.
Pastoral Prayer, July 27, 2025
Gracious and loving God, all our blessings come from your hand, and we cannot offer enough thanks for the abundance that comes from you—for all that gives life meaning and color and purpose. And yet, we admit that too often there is a preoccupation with earthly possessions, a focus on chasing treasures we wish to store up— even though they are treasures that never satisfy and are always temporary.
Forgive us, we ask, for the greed and self-centeredness we allow to displace our eyes of faith. Forgive us for focusing on ourselves while neglecting the needs of others.
But we ask for more than just forgiveness. We ask that you open our eyes to the color you put into life all around us, showing us the true value and abundance that never has to be stored because there is no end to your blessings.
Help us release the life robbing grip of all that makes demands on us that is not of you or from you. Enliven our hearts with the Holy Spirit, revealing to us at all times that the sharing of your blessings is how we bring color to our church, community, nation and world—and that it is with those immense blessings of color that life is abundant and full, and keeps life from ever ebbing and flowing away.
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And holy God, we add to our prayers today the community of Lorain, Ohio, its police department, two officers still fighting for life, and most especially, we lift to you the family and friends of officer Phillip Wagner, who died because of a horrific and cowardly shooting.
We can’t even imagine the horror of such a heinous act of violence, yet we know your Holy Spirit can bring to the Lorain community, its officers, the wounded, and the lost, a peace that passes all understanding. We know you, and you alone, offer a faithful way through the dimmest of valleys.
So we pray the blessings and gifts of guidance, comfort, presence, and peace, are felt in great abundance by all who are touched by this unthinkable atrocity.
Hear now, we ask, the prayers we have in our hearts, needing to be lifted to you in this time of Holy Silence.
We pray all this in the name of Jesus, who came not to be served but to serve, and who taught us to pray, saying, “Our…”