Blessed, Not Condemned — At First
Jesus tells a short, pointed parable: a rich man's land produces so plentifully he has nowhere to store the harvest. Notice what this situation is, at the start — not a warning sign, but a blessing. He's rich, he owns land, and he's had at least one season, maybe many, of remarkable yield. That's the same kind of abundance we see in the disciples' nets bursting with fish, or the seed in the parable of the sower multiplying thirtyfold, sixtyfold, a hundredfold. Scripture doesn't treat riches as inherently negative. Paul tells Timothy to instruct the rich "not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy" (1 Timothy 6:17). Every good gift comes from the Father of lights — including this man's harvest.
The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, "What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?" Luke 12:16-17
So Jesus is about to come down hard on this man, but not because he's rich. The difference between a fool and a faithful believer was never about how much they possess. It's about how they view what they possess.
Nine Times in Two Sentences
Look at what the man actually does with his abundance: "I will tear down my barns and build larger ones... I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry." It's almost comical how Jesus frames this — the man uses "I" or "my" or "me" nine different times in two short sentences. He doesn't seek advice from God. He doesn't even seek advice from another person. He seeks advice from his own soul.
And notice exactly what he believes money is for: once you've stored up enough, you relax, eat, drink, and be merry. In his worldview, the purpose of money is to make yourself comfortable and happy. That's worth pausing on and searching our own hearts for. Why do you think you have money? What do you believe it's for? This man's answer was simple: it's for me.
But God said to him, "Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?" Luke 12:20
Jesus introduced him as a rich man. God renames him a rich fool. And God's question is the one we're actually meant to sit with: whose money is this, anyway? It's a bit like watching a family get too competitive playing Monopoly — the dad gloating as he piles up his stack of colored bills — and wanting to remind him, gently, that all of it goes back in the box at the end. None of it was ever really his to keep. That's what God is doing to this man. At the end, you don't get to keep the money. It's all coming back to him anyway. It was always his.
Owner or Steward?
Jesus draws the point home: "So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God" (v.21). The primary heart orientation we need, when it comes to giving to the local church, is this: it all belongs to God — our money, our bodies, everything. Paul says it plainly in 1 Corinthians 4: "Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy." We don't own anything. It was God's before we had it, it will be God's when we're gone, and it's still God's right now, in the middle.
This doesn't mean we're called to be destitute — Scripture has plenty to say about working, providing for our families, managing debt wisely. The rich fool's mistake wasn't that he provided for himself. It was that his heart orientation was ownership rather than stewardship. He viewed everything he had as being for him.
What Actually Happens When You Give
What happens, practically, when we give to the local church? God uses those gifts to advance the gospel — to fund preaching, teaching, corporate worship, and the training of everyone in the church, young to old. Scripture is clear that those who shepherd a congregation should be financially supported by it: "Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches" (Galatians 6:6); elders are "worth double honor" (1 Timothy 5:17-18); "a laborer deserves his wages" (Luke 10:7). Ministry happens at the local church through the generosity of God's stewards. That's you.
Giving is also an eternal investment. Just a few verses after our text, Jesus says: "Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Luke 12:33-34). Couples who give invest in their marriage through the teaching they sit under. Parents who give invest in their children's counter-cultural formation. Singles who give invest in relationships built through ministry and service. When you give, you're testing your own faith — do you actually believe in heaven and eternal reward, or not? That belief is what makes an investment in heaven make any sense at all.
What happens, practically, when we give to the local church?
Giving Changes Your Heart
Giving is also an act of worship. "No one may come into the presence of Yahweh without an offering" (Deuteronomy 16:16). David refused to "offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God which cost me nothing" (2 Samuel 24:24). Paul describes the Philippians' gift as "a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God" (Philippians 4:18). And this act of worship produces joy — Paul rejoices over the Philippians' gift, and 2 Corinthians 9:7 says God loves a cheerful giver.
You invest in the things you love. Invest in the kingdom of God, and you fall more in love with the King.
Giving also suppresses greed. "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" is both a test of your heart and the remedy for it. I've heard this over and over from people who begin giving regularly: something almost magical happens. You stop being so anxious about money. It's not enough to just know intellectually that it's all God's; you have to act, the way James says a hearer of the word who doesn't do it is like a man who looks in a mirror and immediately forgets what he saw. Acting is what moves the truth from your head into your heart.
Four Principles for How to Give
We're not under an Old Testament law that specifies an exact amount. But Scripture gives us patterns worth testing our own giving against — not to produce guilt, but as an encouragement, or an invitation to change.
First, the first fruits principle. We give from the first and best of what we earn, not from whatever's left over at the end of the month. "Honor the Lord with your wealth, and with the firstfruits of all your produce" (Proverbs 3:9-10). A tenth of your income is a good biblical starting place for those who've never given before — not a rule, but a pattern, since the New Testament actually calls us higher than 10%, toward sacrificial giving.
Second, the sacrificial giving principle. Jesus watched the rich throw in large sums at the temple treasury, but praised a poor widow's two small copper coins above all of it — "she, out of her poverty, put in everything, all she had to live on" (Mark 12:41-44). Giving that costs you nothing isn't a sacrifice. If it doesn't hurt at all, ask whether it's really giving.
Third, the scheduled and unscheduled principle. Plan a regular, weekly rhythm of giving ("on the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside," 1 Corinthians 16:2), and also plan ahead so you have resources ready when an unscheduled need arises — "if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?" (1 John 3:17).
Fourth, and most important, the purity principle. A Christian should never give because they feel coerced. Give joyfully, as an act of worship, not for the praise of others. A pure-hearted, rightly motivated gift matters more than the amount, the frequency, or the method.
Are You Living Like an Owner, or a Steward?
The rich fool stored up treasure for himself. The wise believer stores up treasure toward God. One dies clinging to his barns — or, in modern terms, his bank account. The other dies rich toward God.
One day, every one of us will stand before the Lord. On that day it won't matter how large our accounts were. It will only matter whether we were rich toward him. Everything you have right now belongs to him. He gave it, he sustains it, and one day he will ask how you used it. If you've been faithful in giving, keep going; your labor is not in vain, and your Father sees. If you haven't, this isn't a moment for shame. It's a moment for obedience. Don't wait for someday. Start now, start cheerfully, and trust your Father to take care of you.