There are some passages in the Bible I really don't like and Luke 12:13-21 is one of them. In part I know it's because of some odd memories that are associates with it. The first time I preached on this text I was in Seminary and I remember getting up to preach and seeing two of my Greek professors in the congregation. To make it worse, they weren't seated next to each other so I was always looking at one of them which made the whole experience rather intimidating.

To add to it, the way I structure my sermon that day involved comparing the rich fool to my grandfather. I noted that externally, they looked rather similar and kept asking what prevented my grandfather from being a fool. Given that my grandpa has since died, this passage brings back memories and stirs up sadness at the thought of loss.

My Lutheran sensibilities are also attacked by this passage because there isn't any good news in it. I've been trained to think in terms of Law and Gospel so when I come across a passage like this one, where there is no Gospel, something deep within begins to uncomfortably twist and churn.

But my greatest opposition to these verses from God's Word is that the Law that's right there on the surface, a word of judgment against consumerism and materialism, speaks directly to me, after all, I love stuff and constantly find myself looking for more. Be it my love of the latest technology or the longing for a porch or balcony so I have a place to barbecue, I, like the rich fool in Jesus' parable, want stuff.

I'm sure I'm not alone in this, in fact, I'm guessing that these verses get right into the face of most Americans. After all, we, as a nation, make up just over 4% of the world's population but consume more resources than anybody else. We actually have so much stuff here that many of our poor are financially better off than billions of other people throughout the world.

So, given how direct this word of Law from Jesus speaks to you and I, I thought I'd go somewhat practical in my blog and offer three tips on how to heed Jesus' words and "be on your guard against all covetousness."

Two of these lessons come directly from the life of the rich fool, the first becoming clear when we look at who he spoke with while deciding what he was going to do. The first person singular pronoun 'I' appears six times in the six verse parable. To our American ears this might not seem unusual, but in the culture of the day, this would have been unheard of and considered shameful as decisions were to be made in community. This didn't happen in a cult sense where decisions were made for you, rather, others served as a sounding board and could offer a different perspective. It's the same concept that you find in our culture blog of the week, The Elemental Community.

With this in mind, how do you be on your guard and remain faithful over foolish? Ask yourself how you go about making your decisions ... is it an entirely individual endeavor or do you bounce your ideas off of others (of course, who those others are also makes a huge difference)?

The second lesson we learn from the fool's life comes in how he viewed the crops. Jesus opens the parable pointing out that it was the ground that produced the exceptional crop that added the already rich man's abundance and instantly he refers to the produce as his. In his mind, they are something that is earned and the one who provided the soil, the rain, the sun, and the seeds isn't part of the equation.

This is radically different from a Biblical perspective which declares that all things belong to God and we are the stewards or caretakers of them. This would mean the roof on over our head, the clothes on our backs, the food in our stomachs, and even the money in our bank accounts ultimately belong to God and he has given them to us to use for the common good.

Regular rituals, be it prayers before meals, writing out a check for a weekly offering, or thanking God for life itself as you wake up each morning can help keep this second point in mind, as can major event rituals such as the blessing of a new home.

Of course, when you're constantly trying to bounce ideas off of others and hoping you can discern what is right or continually reminding yourself that everything you have is from God and he's called you to use it properly, it becomes easy to find yourself bogged down in debates over what would be faithful and what would be foolish which of course, in and of itself, is also foolish. It's into this paralyzing dilemma where Martin Luther's words to Philipp Melanchthon come to the rescue ... "sin boldly".

Luther's point was that we can't avoid sin in this life so, rather than find ourselves disabled in our attempts to always do right, we should move forward in life as best as we can, doing what we believe to be the best thing, and trust that when we fail, Christ's grace is always sufficient and that we are forgiven.

So, how do you life a life that's faithful rather than foolish? Hear the voice of your Christian community, recognize where your blessings come from, and sin boldly but trust in Christ more boldly.