The Parable Of The Successful Fool

I wonder whether you feel successful in life right now. Some of us will - for example, we got the university or college place we wanted. But some of us won't - in some way life feels second best. Paul Getty, the American oil billionaire, was once asked, 'What's your formula for success?' He said, 'Get up early, work late and strike oil.' Which isn't much help for students since at least two of those things are pretty much beyond their capabilities. But forget your formula for success. First you've got to know what you think success is. We know what it takes to be a success at little parts of life. For example, to be a successful student, you have to pass exams. To be a successful football team, you have to be able to beat Charlton Athletic. But what does it take to be a success at life as a whole? Well, let me run past you again that reading from Luke 12.16 onwards:

And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, `What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' Then he said, `This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, 'You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.

Now if you asked anyone today, 'Was this guy a success?' they'd have said, 'Yes.' He's done everything our society trains us to do. He's earned his money. He's invested in property. He's got his pension; and now he can take early retirement, v19:

You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.

And along the way he'll have got his GCSE's, to get his A-levels, to get to university, to get qualified, to get the job, to pay off the debt he wouldn't have had if he hadn't gone to university - but also to get the house, to get together with someone, to settle down and have the children, the people carrier and the dog. If anyone is a success in the eyes of our society, it's this guy in Jesus' story. But, v20:

Godsaid to him, `You fool!

Which doesn't mean, 'Stupid'. You have to be very bright to be as successful as this guy. It doesn't mean this guy hasn't thought about life. What it means is that he's left out of his thinking the one reality with which all our thinking about life should begin. God. In fact, Jesus says this guy made two basic mistakes in life:

He lived as if there was no God, and He lived as if there was no eternity.

First, HE LIVED AS IF THERE WAS NO GOD Look at what Jesus says about him in v21:

This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich towards God.

Ie, he put himself at the centre of life and treated God as if he wasn't there. He's forgotten that Someone actually gave him his life, his abilities and his opportunities. Which is a thoroughly 21st century mindset: living as if there was no God, and as if my life was my own to do with as I please. And Jesus says: not true. And we know it's not true because God has shown himself in this person Jesus Christ. That's the unique claim that Christianity makes. That this person Jesus Christ, who really lived 2000 years ago, was God's Son become human - to re-establish relations between God and us. And the evidence for that is in the four Gospel records - Matthew Mark Luke and John.

A friend has a similar job to mine down under in Sydney. So it's basically the same work but warmer. They did a questionnaire with hundreds of students. And one question was; 'Have you read one of the four Gospels since becoming an adult?' Only 6% said, 'Yes'. But the evidence is there in those four Gospels that Jesus really was God's Son become human. That's what he claimed. But it's what he did to back up that claim which led people like Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to trust him. Eg, Luke 8 records how Jesus and his disciples got caught in a storm at sea. And Luke writes, 'He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters: the storm subsided and all was calm.' (Luke 8.22-25) Just like you'd tell an over-excited dog to get down and sit. Luke 7 records how a widow's only son had died. The funeral procession was on its way to the grave. And Luke writes, 'Jesus went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, 'Young man, I say to you get up!' The dead man sat up and began to talk and Jesus gave him back to his mother.' (Luke 7.11-17) End of funeral.

But the end of the four Gospels has the biggest piece of evidence to back up Jesus' claim to be God. That's the claim that finally got him executed for blasphemy - ie, taking on his own lips what only God has the right to say. Those who rejected his claim to be God crucified him. And under normal circumstances, the argument would have ended there. People don't tend to answer back once you've killed them. But these were not normal circumstances. Three days later, the eye-witnesses tell us that Jesus' grave was empty and he was seen alive from the dead (see Luke 24)

Now I know many here have come to trust that evidence and gone on to trust Jesus Christ personally as God of their lives - not just reached a conclusion about Jesus, but entered a relationship with him. But if you're still thinking, can I ask: what do you make of that evidence? That's the evidence you need to put your mind to. Unless of course you've got enough faith to believe it's all untrue without even looking at the evidence. Jesus Christ is how we know God is there. And it's a basic mistake in life to live as if he wasn't.

I don't know how well you get on with your parents when you're at home. I remember in my 3rd year at university, I did the unthinkable: I took some work home with me to do in the Easter holiday, because a cloud called finals was looming on the horizon. Anyway, I planned this incredibly disciplined routine, and on the first day, I got up really early - I mean, before lunch time - raced downstairs for a quick bowl of cereal, then went straight back up to my room and buried myself in the books. About midday there was a knock on my door. It was Dad. And, as P.G. Wodehouse would say, he was looking if not disgruntled, not exactly gruntled. And he said, 'Look. You come back here. You stay under our roof. You eat our food. You use our phone. You borrow our car. And you don't even bother to say, 'Good morning'.'

Well, multiply up the offence that Dad felt a few billion times, and you begin to get some idea how God feels about the way we live in his world as if he wasn't there and as if it was all here for us to do with as we please. All here for our convenience, to pursue our own personal agendas, whatever they may be. That was this guys' first mistake. And it may be yours right now. He lived as if there was no God. But then there was his second mistake:


Secondly, HE LIVED AS IF THERE WAS NO ETERNITY

Ie, he lived as if there was no life beyond this life. He lived purely for the here and now. Basically, he worked in order to spend and save. That was his life, so that finally he could say to himself, v19:

You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.

And at that point, as far as he's concerned, he's got everything there is to get. He's reached materialist 'heaven'. Materialism is the belief that the material world is all there is. There's no life beyond death. So for the materialist, 'heaven' - or the ultimate experience - has to be found this side of death. So, for example, retirement is portrayed as heaven - the ultimate, pampered rest. Holidays are portrayed as heaven - you look at the Bahamas brochure with the idyllic beach and what's the cover-line? 'Come to Paradise'. Sex is portrayed as heaven. I saw on the cover of one of those so-called 'family magazines' at the supermarket check-out the words, 'Divine Sex'. It's the ultimate experience you've got to have. And our very own Eldon Square has been advertised as, 'Shoppers' Heaven.'

Materialism believes that this world is all there is. And 'heaven' is those moments of ultimate experience - from the ultimate holiday, to the ultimate night in bed. That's what this guy in Jesus' story believed. And if death was really the end, what he did was absolutely logical, absolutely the right approach to life. Even the Bible says that. The apostle Paul, playing devil's advocate, wrote this:

If the dead are not raised [ie, if this life is all there is], let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. (1 Corinthians 15.32)

But the dead are raised. Death is not the end of any one of us. Which is why in Jesus' story, v20:

God said to him, `You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you.

Like one of those slips you get from the library when you've kept a book out too long. Our lives are not our own. And one day God will call in the loan. This man lived as if there was no eternity. And once again, Jesus says: not true. Jesus said there's life beyond death. And more important, Jesus showed there's life beyond death.

I remember seeing some TV footage once of a dam being demolished. It was very remote, so they could just blow it up full without the ensuing flood mattering. So just picture it. On one side there's a huge body of water; on the other, just air. And in between there's a dam wall. And all it took was a tiny explosive part way up the face of the wall. Just enough to crack it. And out came a little jet of water, and then a kind of waterfall as the crack opened, and then suddenly the whole thing gave way. One single, first drop of water pulled all the rest through after it.

And it's like that with Jesus' resurrection from the dead. Picture another dam. On one side is the human race. On the other side is God. And between us is the wall of death, or separation from God, which we deserve for living without reference to God. And Jesus came from God's side, to be born human on our side and then to die on the cross to take on himself that separation from which we deserve. And then he was raised from the dead - he passed through the wall back to the side he came from. That means there is life beyond death. And it also means, like it or not, we will be raised beyond death ourselves. Just like that single, first drop of water pulls all the others after it, Jesus Christ will pull all of us through, and we will stand before him one day as our Judge.

So the question Jesus constantly faced people with was this. Which side of eternity will you experience? With God or without? Heaven or hell? What Jesus said was this. If in this life we've said to God, 'I don't want you as the centre of my life; I want to be the centre myself,' then God will give us what we want. He'll give us life without him, this side of death and after. And though God does not want it to come to that with any of us, if that's what we want, that's what he'll give. And that was this guy's second mistake. And it may be yours right now. He lived as if there was no eternity. He succeeded in getting most of the things this world has to offer. But if eternity is real, the world is not enough. As Jesus said:

What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mark 8:36-37)

I wonder if you remember any Skoda jokes from the days before Volkswagen turned their fortunes round. Eg, 'What do you call a Skoda with twin exhausts?' - A wheel barrow. 'Why do Skodas have heated rear windows?' - To keep your hands warm while you're pushing. My favourite was the one about the guy who goes into a garage and says, 'Can I have a petrol cap for my Skoda?' The bloke at the desk thinks for a moment and then says, 'OK. That sounds like a fair exchange.' What this man in the parable did was not a fair exchange. He had a nice house a nice pension and a nice retirement. But he didn't have God in his life either side of death. He lived as if there was no God and he lived as if there was no eternity. And at the end of the day, God said to him, 'You fool.'

Now I realise this isn't feel-good freshers' week stuff. It's a bit like the road-signs on the A68 driving out into the country from Newcastle. I often head out for a walk in the hills. And there are those signs, '17 fatal accidents in 3 years.' You drive another few miles, and there's another one, '17 fatal accidents in 3 years.' A few miles on, there's another one. Now you could say they're bad taste. And they spoil the carefree day-off feeling. But I take it they're warnings for my good. To stop me pursuing a course of action where I could end up losing badly.

And you might think that flagging up this parable in freshers' week is bad taste. It's a bit of a lead balloon to drop into a fairly care-free atmosphere. In fact it's a lead balloon to drop at any time. But I take it that Jesus dropped it as a loving warning for our good. Because whatever stage we're at in life - and it only gets faster and busier with less time to think why you're living - it's dead easy to make the same basic mistakes. To live as if there was no God and no eternity. And to end up losing badly. But Jesus didn't just come to warn us against that mistake. He came to save us from having already made it. Because we've all made it. We were born making it. We've all offended God by living as if he wasn't there. And Jesus came to die on the cross to take on himself the judgement for that which we deserve. So that we can be forgiven. And start life over again with God in his rightful place - with forgiveness to cover all our future mistakes, too.

Well, I wonder what you make of all that? You may be saying to yourself, 'I believe this already. It's nothing new, really.' But the Christian life is largely revision. We need the constant reinforcement of the truths of the gospel which first brought us to know the Lord. Because we live in a society completely geared to living as if there was no God and no eternity. We live in a society which is educating us and training us and media-conditioning us, in Jesus' word, to be fools. Highly qualified, highly paid, highly over-worked fools. And we need the reinforcement of the Bible, and of meeting other Christians around the Bible, to keep our bearings set on Jesus and eternity.

But you may be saying, 'I'm really not sure whether any of this is true.' If that's you, can I encourage you to be one of the 6% who look at the evidence about Jesus before making up your mind? Do take away a copy of Luke's Gospel from the Welcome Desk. And do keep coming along - these Sunday services can be an easy, anonymous way of hearing more and weighing it up. Or you may be saying, 'I'll think about this later. I haven't got the time right now.' - 'This is my GCSE/A-level year,' or, 'I just want to have a good time first, then I'll come back to it,' or, 'You don't realise how busy my job is… my family life is…' Well, can I say if you come back to it, you'll look back and say to yourself that every day spent living for yourself and not for God was really wasted time. And can I also say that's a big 'if'. The more time we spend living for ourselves and not God, the easier it becomes not to come back to it.

My brother doesn't believe these things, and the last conversation I had with him - after a family funeral - he said, 'I'll think about it later.' And then he looked at me and said, 'But I won't, will I?' And I didn't say anything because it didn't need saying. And can I also say, despite Louis Armstrong, that we haven't got all the time in the world. The guy in Jesus' story says, 'You have plenty of good things laid up for many years.' But God says to him, 'This very night your life will be demanded from you.' I hope we all have loads more time. But I have to say: we may not.

The summer before last, two twins studying at Newcastle headed off for the university holiday. This time last year, only one of them came back. But you may be saying, 'I know this is true. And I understand enough of what it would involve to turn to Jesus Christ, and have him as God of my life, and follow him publicly. What I need now is to do that. Or perhaps to underline definitely a response you've made tentatively in the past. If that's you, and you want help to take that step, you could take a copy of this booklet, Why Jesus?, from the Welcome Desk. It explains what it is to be and to become a Christian.

But you may want to make that response to Christ now. So I'm going to end with a prayer. Let me tell you what I'll say so you can weigh up whether you'd want to echo it:

Lord Jesus Christ, I am guilty of living as I please, as if you were not there. Thank you for dying for me to take upon yourself the judgement I deserve. Please forgive me, have me back, and help me to live for you as my God from now on. Amen.

If you've prayed that prayer and meant it, it has been answered. Jesus once promised, 'Whoever comes to me I will never drive away.' (John 6.37) And if you've come to him just now, or in the past, you can put your name to that promise. And if you've done it just now, the best thing I can encourage you to do is to tell someone else who's a Christian ,and ask them to suggest how you can get going in this new life with Christ.