Sermon Tone Analysis

Have you ever heard the phrase “more money, more problems”?

The idea is that when we don’t have much money we think that a little more money will solve all of our problems.

But in reality it only adds to our problems.

I’ve wondered if “mo money, mo problems” was first uttered by the rich guy in .

Here he has a great crop but it’s so good that his barns cannot contain them.

So this great blessing turns into more work because his solution is to just build bigger barns.

Blessings in the hands of covetous people just creates more problems.

“Mo money, mo problems”.

In verse 19 this guy says to himself…and notice where he is at in this parable…he’s looking forward.

He’s staring at the abundance of his crop and he’s thinking about building these bigger barns and what those big barns will accomplish for him.

He pops his knuckles and here is what he says in verse 19, “And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry”.

And isn’t that what we all want?

Relax.

Rest.

Enjoy.

Be Merry.

Be at peace.

Be filled with joy to the max.

And this guy thinks that his new barns will accomplish this for him.

He’ll be able to retire, put his feet up, and just live out the rest of his days in happiness.

Now before we critique this guy let’s see if there is any commonality.

See if this scenario is familiar.

“How you being doing?

Oh, I’m super busy, man.”

He struts a little, puffs out his chest, trying to display his badge of honor—you know the badge—it’s the one that says Mr. Super Busy.

Let’s imagine that you saw me in Wal-Mart and asked how I was doing.

And I said, “I’m doing really great.

I’m actually relaxing.

I’m not taking work home with me.

I’m enjoying my family.

I’m not busy at all.

I’ve got a perfect amount of time to accomplish the things that I need to accomplish and I’m not adding any more.

I’m not busy in the least”.

What would be your response?

You sluggard.

Why aren’t you busy?

Everybody is busy.

Busy busy dreadfully busy, you’ve no idea what I have to do.

Why is this?

We say that we want rest, we want to enjoy things, and yet we are dreadfully busy because we are tearing down barns and building barns.

Our whole way of thinking is perilously close to the way that this rich fool is thinking.

Rest comes from stuff.

You don’t get rest until you get bigger barns.

If we work really hard and build these bigger barns then maybe…oh blessed day…maybe then we’ll be able to rest.

And so we run ourselves practically insane trying to build these bigger barns.

Jesus is not exalting laziness in this parable.

The problem of the rich fool is found in verse 15 and 21.

This guy is trying to find rest/life/happiness/joy in the abundance of his possessions.

But Jesus says that such a one is a fool who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.

And if you keep reading you’ll notice that just after this parable Jesus turns to his disciples and says, “Therefore”…in other words the way you apply this parable, is to “not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.”

How can I not be anxious, man?

You see my to do list.

You see all the stuff going on in my life.

But listen to …one of my favorite verses…”Fear not, little flock for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

Give you the kingdom.

What’s that?

That’s rest.

That’s shalom.

That’s all that stuff you are longing for.

That’s the heavenly city.

The kingdom unshaken in Hebrews.

That’s the rest that we’ll read of in in just a moment.

And so the question sitting over this text is are you going to trust in God’s provision…you going to strive to enter into that kingdom that the Father delights to give you...or you going to keep striving for bigger barns.

Where are you going to pursue your rest?

The wilderness generation is still the image on the mind of the author of Hebrews.

It still informs this passage.

And so before we see our text we need to rewind a bit and go back to where we will see this same question…where you going to find your rest?

The people of Israel are given manna—bread from heaven—as a test.

Will they trust in God’s provision or will they spend time seeking their own kingdom.

Part of that manna test you see in , “Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD” and then again in verse 26, “Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none”.

This is the first time in the Bible that we see the word Sabbath.

It’s a word that essentially means “to cease”.

They were to cease their gathering.

They were to rest on the seventh day.

If you rewind a bit and go back to you’ll see this same thing.

The people of Israel are given manna—bread from heaven—as a test.

Will they trust in God’s provision or will they spend time seeking their own kingdom.

Part of that manna test you see in , “Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD” and then again in verse 26, “Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none”.

This is the first time in the Bible that we see the word Sabbath.

It’s a word that essentially means “to cease”.

They were to cease their gathering.

They were to rest on the seventh day.

This illustration becomes even more explicit in when God gives his law to the people of Israel.

This rhythm of doing life had become part of the Israelites existence as they gathered a double portion of manna on the sixth day but rested from their work on the seventh day.

Here the Lord makes it an explicit commandment and notice that in verse 11 he makes mention of .

What is doing is interpreting .

God entered rest on the seventh day and therefore his people should imitate this rest.

Two things are happening here.

First, God is inviting people to enter into his rest.

That thing that all of humanity desires—peace, rest, joy, etc.—is found in the Lord.

And here the Israelites are being called to enter into the rest of God.

Secondly, the way in which they’ll enter that rest is by trusting in the Lord’s provision for them.

You can’t rest on the seventh day if you can’t trust.

You won’t sleep at night if you aren’t convinced that manna will come in the morning.

This is being sewn into the fabric of what it means to be a follower of the Lord.

Will they rest in God’s provision or will they build bigger barns and try to find rest?

This question becomes huge when the Israelites are staring at the Promised Land—the land of rest.

They have witnessed his mighty hand in rescuing them from the Egyptians but now the people in the land are huge and fear inducing.

This is what we saw last week with and .

They failed to enter rest because of unbelief.