Don’t Eat Drink and Be Merry, and Forget God!

Don’t Eat Drink and Be Merry, and Forget God!                    by Kelly Durant  11-30-14

Luke 12:16-21

16 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:

17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?

18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.

19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then

whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

2. In Caracas, Venezuela, I had a frightful experience one time in our apartment on the 4^th floor. We started smelling smoke and we thought maybe someone was burning trash in the neighborhood next door, but it got worse and we decided to open the door and take a look and when we did the entire hallway was full of dark thick smoke! It was so thick, you could not see the stairs, and for sure we were not going to go on the elevator from the 4^th floor! We put wet rags on the bottom of the door and prayed!

I thanked God that at least the kitchen window did not have bars on it so we could jump out but I thought I could throw out my kids one by one if need be! I thought it better to have a broken bone and yet survive, than to die by being burnt up! It turned out to be a car that was on fire and the firemen arrived on time to control it!

Later they said that if the fire in that car in the lower garage would have spread to all the cars then there would have been no chance to save the building! It was a sobering experience and once again we were brought face to face with the reality we could all die at any moment. In life I think everyone experiences many close calls and each time it makes you reevaluate what you value. God has allowed me to be scared and intimidated many times and I get His message; honor me, thank me, and love me for my mercy on you! Any one of us could die at any time!

3. No one talks about it, but many immigrants worldwide die every year, in the ocean on rafts, in the desert dehydrated walking to the border, and from premature stresses and illnesses. The recent past years have been difficult ones for the hundreds of thousands deported every year. Deportations have been the highest ever in the past decade and it is true, some people invite pain on their selves by getting into unplanned danger. My wife and I were involved in the middle of the lives of suffering families in the past and we have seen firsthand the pain of parents and children that had to split up. People deported form any country usually lose all they have worked for, which may include a car and a few thousand dollars worth of furniture which gets left behind for another person nearby who appropriates it. There is so much unseen suffering in our communities that no one talks or hears about, but how are the rest of the people responding?

The majority of the people are living like there is no tomorrow partying and living wild! Stand by the Costco front door sometime and see how many thousands of dollar’s worth of liquor is sold per hour! Go to the beaches and see how many people are eating, drinking, and being merry. In other stores on any given day you can see shoppers with flatbed carts full of cases of beer! And ironically almost no food! One might conclude from the affluence of the clubs and restaurants that life and the night life in this country is crazy and nothing but a big party! But being reminded of reality of all the suffering and death happening daily, one should conclude that life is not as secure as we think!

4. So what do we have in society at large? Few people seeking to live holy lives, attending a church, or living ready to die and face God! Bad behavior, debauchery, and living as if there is no judgment tomorrow is our reality in this life and this goes on despite many warnings!

The scripture today addresses how wrong it is for any of us to think that there is no need for concern of tomorrow and no consequence for our actions! Some people get a little prosperity, a little apartment, a car, or a few electronic toys, and they think they have arrived on top of the mountain! They can now be proud because they are invincible! There is nothing uglier than knowing a person who grew up poor but then later obtained wealth and became cold to the needs of the poor. Comparing ourselves to others in the U.S.A. may make one appear very modest or very rich (depends how your see it), but compared to other countries most all of us here would be considered very rich! The issue illustrated here is more about the attitude of the heart towards God than the prosperity. Prosperity can deceive and badly influence the pride of the heart to over indulge!

What did the scripture say about this man who got a little prosperity and was now rich? He got greedy and wanted even more! When he was advancing, when God was good to Him, what became his attitude? Did he go to the temple and thank God for his prosperity and become generous with the poor? No! He became more and more selfish! He wanted to build bigger barns! And what provoked God’s wrath on his life? What caused God to decide to not only let Him loose everything but cut his life short? His pride in forgetting that it was God who gave Him life and all his blessings in the first place!

5. Read verse 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

He had a heart that only could think about him self, no one else! He wanted to enjoy life without the bother of seeking or thanking God who gave him his life and his prosperity!

He had no fear of God, but imagine now he has to face God; now he is in the predicament of having lost it all and losing his soul go to hell as a punishment for dishonoring God!

This is a wake up call and everyone one of us should have a sense of urgency; we are in a crisis in this nation and in this community! God is allowing tragedy, persecution, and suffering in all the diverse communities to sober people up so they will stop all their selfishness and foolish living, and for their lack of living thankful lives in obedience to God. Sadly, when in judgment they will realize how they did nothing with good intentions offending God and others!

6. People who never let their heart be converted to be like the heart of Jesus, people who never want to hear and learn the Word of God to practice it, people who could come to church to worship but instead mock the people in the church, who reject Biblical thinking and view all things from their carnal, selfish, corrupted by the world mindset are potential ones to lose all. The ‘I got to take care of myself cause nobody else will’ attitude,  puts people in spiritual danger and they are exposed to God’s wrath the same as like the man in these verses.

Where else does it mention in the scriptures about the sin of being shallow with God? Or another way to look at it, how does God deal with people who live life as if they are the almighty powerful ones, calling the shots and in control? People who want their selves to appear to be a great somebody by intimidating other people? People who believe that because they have a little more than others, they have the right to judge and mock and put down others? What happens when even in the churches some people put others down? Words of pride bring on serious consequences!

7. Luke 12:45-47

45 But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;

46 The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.

47 And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.

Always there will be people in the world and in the church who are drunk on their own pride of self-accomplishment despite all the horrible suffering of those of their own community around them! They are as the blind who do not see! Why is it some people, and include yourself if it applies, always having their minds on their own self-interests and they do not have the capacity to have compassion on others and love as Jesus did? Some people always tear down and attack others in order to make their selves look good but pride, things, and a greedy attitude destroys! Sin brings on death and suffering!  

8. In the church, in our Corps, what happens concerning attitude? Some people benefit from our love, God’s love and mercy, yet some people have been known to say offensive and ugly things about our church members. Why?

People who forget God may be allowing their own death at any time due to an unrepentant heart! They lie to themselves that they will always be on top and they also lie to their selves that people in the church are bad as they are in order to justify why they will not seek God desperately as they should.  

People who criticize compassionate Christians, who hurt others with their words are like the ones in the verse 45 who attack and beat up others. And where do these people who do the works of unbelievers spend eternity? In the lake of fire! Not because God wants that for them, but because they don’t want to be with Him.

9. Not everyone who comes to church should think that they will go to heaven. Death can come any day! Only those who repent and honor God and do his will will go! Only those who show love and compassion to others, only those who consider the poor and suffering, only those who sacrifice their pride and forgive and do the works that Jesus did will make it to heaven! Believing in Jesus’ death and resurrection is by faith only, but if you believe your lifestyle will reflect it! No person can think they are a real Christian and then live and speak in an unholy way! The pride of wealth, of boasting, of thinking you are superior, of putting others down is very offensive to God and judgment often comes quickly for these offenses.  Our mouths should not be used for our own self glory but for the glory of God!

Matt 12:36-37

36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

Who wants to change in how they live enjoying too much of a good time thinking it is forever without ever thinking of thanking God? Who wants to call their family and friends and warn them, telling them that they could lose everything today? Every day is a new chance to get right with God! The final reality is God is angry with those who become greedy and insult Him and others by overconfidence and pride!

Help me warn the community! Help me wake people up that an early death could happen as it has befallen thousands in Miami and around the world. The wrong attitude, the wrong words could cause anyone to lose all in shame, so we must urgently examine ourselves to be sure we pleasing God in our love and service living a holy life!