When we are born we are given a name. It’s how people identify us. But as we grow older, we start trying to make a name for ourselves. We seek to have the world see us in a certain way.

Henri Nouwen, who was a professor and priest, said that the world tempts us with three lies. The world tells you that your identity is based on what you do, what you have, and what others think of you. Phrased another way they are: I am what I do. I am what I have. I am what others think of me. This Naming Rights series that we are in is structured around those three lies. Pastor Ben kicked off the series last week by focusing on the fact that we can’t earn our identity by what we do, but it must be received from God. Today, I’m going to focus on ‘I am what I have’ – which is the lie that tells us that our worth is defined by the possessions we accumulate. And then next week Pastor Ben is going to teach on ‘I am what other people think of me’ – which is the one I struggle with the most.

Before we get into today’s topic, let me give you a framework that has been helpful to me. What's amazing about Nouwen's insights about how we are tempted to build our identity is that it’s a pattern found throughout the Scriptures and in other Christian thought throughout the centuries. Take a look.

This is how many theologians have aligned this triad. Rather than I am what I do, have, or what others think of me, the Apostle John calls these temptations ‘the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life’. (1 John 2:16) We see something similar in Genesis 3 when Eve is tempted by the serpent to eat from the forbidden tree. She saw that the fruit ‘was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom’. (Genesis 3:6) Thomas Keating is not in the Bible – he also was a priest. But I like his framework because he writes about how these good and necessary things – affection and esteem, safety and security, and power and control – can actually end up becoming ultimate things that rob us of our life with God. But they too align with the three lies. And then lastly, you have the temptations of Jesus, which also fit with Nouwen’s framework.

Two out of Jesus’ three temptations were prefaced with, “If you are the Son of God…” prove it. That’s what the world is asking us to do. “If you are somebody, prove it.” And one way that it tries to get us to do that is with our possessions – with what we have. Let's turn to Luke 12 to see someone who fully believed this lie; and to see what it cost them. This is the Parable of the Rich Fool.

Luke 12:13-21

13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

14 Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

In a Tim Keller message, after reading that passage he said, “This is God’s Word… unfortunately.” It’s unfortunate because what Jesus is calling out is actually the way that most of us approach money and possessions. And Jesus calls it greed. And this is one of the ways that the lie ‘I am what I have’ shows up.

As Jesus is teaching his disciples about being fearless witnesses, there’s thousands of people crowding around. One man yells from the crowd, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” (v.13) Now maybe Jesus got annoyed by the interruption. But the response doesn’t seem to match the request. Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” Keep in mind that the man isn’t really doing anything out of the ordinary here. It was common in those times for rabbis to serve as mediators in these types of disputes – this is probably why the man calls him ‘Teacher,’ which is another word for rabbi. But then Jesus said to them (now Jesus is speaking to the whole crowd), “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” This man is likely thinking, 'I’m not being greedy; my brother’s being greedy. I’m just asking you to help him.' But Jesus flips it on this guy and in essence says, 'Forget about your brother. You need help. Greed has captured your heart.'

Greed has a sneaky way of concealing itself. Here in San Francisco, our greed is very subtle — it’s not as flashy as say Miami or L.A. or even New York. Our acceptable symbols of success, for the most part, are low-key. Except for this one:

We like to be more subtle. But nevertheless, it’s there. Now, we can easily hide behind the fact that we live in an expensive city. That’s why we can’t be more generous. That’s why we need a higher salary and more equity. And so on and so forth. It’s expensive here! But I wonder if Jesus is like, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed…”

Keller used to say that greed is the one sin nobody thinks they have. He would say that if you announced a sermon series on lust or anger, that people would show up already convicted. But if you announce a sermon on greed, people won’t come because they assume it's for someone else — namely, someone richer than they are. Everyone compares themselves to someone who has more than they do. And when they do that, they conclude that they don’t have a problem. And here in San Francisco, all of us know someone richer than us. So we’re fine; they’re the problem; they're the greedy ones; they’re the ones that deal with this – not us.

And we can definitely say that about the main character in the parable. Verse 16 says that this man was already rich… and he was getting richer – his ground… yielded an abundant harvest. And not only is he getting richer; but the biggest problem is that he’s thinking only about himself. Just look at it. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ 18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ (Luke 12:17-19) Now this is what most of us think about when we think of greed – someone who has a lot already, gets more, and then stores it all for themselves.

But hear me, greed is not always about wealth – it’s not always about having more. I was reminded of that this past month. Our car was totaled because of a car accident that I was in. And in the days after, the nagging fear that kept coming up for me was that this was going to be financially debilitating to our family. But that didn’t make sense – we have insurance and an emergency fund for moments like this. So I’m like, 'Where is that fear coming from?' And as I studied more for this message, here’s what struck me: Greed is not only about grasping for more; but it’s also about holding tightly to what we have because we fear losing it. Greed is about finding more safety in money than we do in Jesus. Listen, the accident is going to cost me something. We had to get a replacement car. I’m definitely going to pay more in insurance. Financially, I’m going to take a hit. But here’s what it doesn’t have to cost me: my confidence that I’m going to be more than okay. My insurance premium doesn’t determine that. Jesus does.

Some of us have very little and we are holding it like this (clenched fist). Others of us have a lot and we are still grasping for more. Let me tell you that one is not better than the other. Here’s a paraphrase that I came across of a book that Richard Foster wrote on money. Hoarding and greed are two expressions of the same root: the idol of security. The ‘aggressive acquirer’ and the ‘fearful hoarder’ are both trying to achieve through wealth what only God can give – safety, permanence, and control over the future.

One translation of Jesus’ response in verse 15 is “Don’t be greedy. Owning a lot of things won’t make your life safe.” (Luke 12:15 CEV) Greed tells you the lie that if you can keep what you have and just get a little more, you will be okay; you will have enough; you will be safe. But do you know what Jesus tells you? In the section right after the parable of the rich fool, Jesus continues to talk to the crowd about money and possessions. Go read it. He tells them, Don’t worry about what you will eat or wear. God will take care of you. If he does it for the birds in the air and the flowers in the field, he will do it for you. Listen, if Jesus is who he says he is, you’re already safe. You already have enough. As the psalmist says in Psalm 23 (v.1): The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

If that’s true, then how do we counter this desire to make a name for ourselves through what we have? How do we counter that appetite of greed that is within all of us?

For starters, in verse 21 Jesus implies that we counter greed by being rich towards God. To be rich towards God means to be generous.

GENEROSITY

In the parable of the rich fool Jesus doesn’t condemn the man because he was rich; he condemned for how he handled his riches. Jesus is teaching that we need to go from living like this – constantly grasping or holding tightly – to open-handed. Zaccheus, in the Bible, is a great example. He was known as a rich and greedy man. But the moment he encountered Jesus he decided to give half of his wealth to the poor and to repay four times the amount of anyone he cheated. In the eyes of Jesus, in that moment, he was being rich towards God.

Generosity doesn’t come naturally to me. But here are a few Biblical reminders that have helped me in this area. I think of Abraham; of the fact that God blessed him in order for him to be a blessing. (Genesis 12:2) I think of how Paul on one occasion depicts money as seed. As much as I enjoy eating seeds, I’m not meant to eat all of it; I should sow it, too. I’m reminded at times that God has given me talents. I’m not called to bury my talents; but to invest and multiply them.

Church, we need to realize that what God gives us is not just for us. The world will tell you to keep it all for yourself. It will say that’s the wise thing to do. But what’s interesting is that God calls the man in the parable a fool for doing that very thing. It’s funny, people in our congregation have told me that when they’ve shared with their financial advisors what they want to give to Epic or to other causes the advisor looks at them like, 'Are you sure?' The world doesn’t get this because to them it’s all about more and bigger.

The second way that we counter the lie ‘I am what I have’ is through CONTENTMENT.

The Apostle Paul wrote: But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. (1 Timothy 6:6-8) If we could only be content with food and clothing! It might seem far-fetched; but it’s possible to grow in contentment. Paul said elsewhere, I have learned to be content regardless of the circumstances – whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. (Philippians 4:11-12) Contentment is about not finding your satisfaction in your circumstances.

And the last remedy that I want to suggest to you is PRAYER.

I find that prayer is best when I’m able to express my desires to God, but surrender them at the same time. This is what Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane: 'Father, this is what I want. But not my will, but your will be done.' I believe we need to give up our desire for safety and security. I don’t believe we need to live recklessly. But we just need to remember that we are already in his safe hands. The way I have leaned into that is with a prayer from Thomas Keating. This is called The Welcoming Prayer.

The Welcoming Prayer

Welcome, welcome, welcome.

I welcome everything that comes to me today

because I know it is for my healing.

I welcome all thoughts, feelings, emotions, persons,

situations, and conditions.

I let go of my desire for power and control.

I let go of my desire for affection, esteem,

approval, and pleasure.

I let go of my desire for survival and security.

I let go of my desire to change any situation,

condition, person, or myself.

I open to the love and presence of God

and God's action and grace within me.

That’s my ultimate hope today – that you will open yourself up to God. I resisted giving you those three things of generosity, contentment, and prayer because I know that it can put the focus on ‘this is how you fight greed’ – it can easily sound like ‘try harder.’ But what I most want you to hear is that you need to rest in who you already are in Christ. When you do that, greed loses its grip.

The Rich Fool spent his whole life trying to answer the question “Am I enough?” with barns. But Jesus answered it on the cross. You don't have to earn what's already been given.

We are going to pray. If this lie – I am what I have – has had a grip on you, and you want to exchange it for the security you already have in Jesus, know that that is true whether you come up for prayer or not. But we are here to receive you and pray with you.