Bible Reading:
Luke chapter 12 verses 16 to 21

Ignoring God

Did you ever do something for someone and have them just ignore you. You thought lots about what you wanted to do for them. You went to lots of trouble to actually do it and then they just ignored you. They obviously liked what you did, you can tell from their reaction - but they just do not want to know you.

It really hurts when people do that to us.

The farmer in the parable that The Lord Jesus told in Luke chapter 12 verses 16 to 21 had a very casual attitude to God even though God had given Him very many good things in his life.

On the surface the farmer seemed to be doing very well. His situation might seem quite an attractive one. He was successful in his business. In those days being a successful farmer was a big thing. If we want stuff today we just go to the shop and buy it. In those days, for most people, if they wanted to eat they had to grow food. If the crops failed they had to beg for food or be hungry and might risk starvation.

Life was very difficult. People had to work the land. They had to break up the soil, ploughing it with hand ploughs drawn by oxen. It must have been very hard work. Then they'd sow the seed. They'd have to keep the birds off so they'd not steal it. They'd need rain and sunshine to help it grow. They'd hope enemies wouldn't come and sow weeds in it. They'd hope locusts wouldn't come and eat all the crops they'd planted. They'd hope storms wouldn't come at harvest time and ruin the crop. They'd hope enemies wouldn't come after harvest and steal the crops they'd harvested. They'd hope they could store it properly to last until the next harvest so they could eat through the year.

The farmer in the story did really well. He was so successful with his crops that his barns were not big enough to hold it all. He might seem to have been a very fortunate man, someone very favoured by God because we know that everything good that any of us receive is a gift from God.

Indeed the man was very favoured. "The goodness of God leads us to repentance." God gives much to people in this life whether they acknowledge Him or not. The Lord Jesus told His disciples to be kind to everyone - even to those who were unkind back. Matthew 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

The farmer had done very well for himself and he congratulated himself on his success. He looked forward to early retirement - he had done so well. All he had to do was build barns big enough to store all his wealth and then he'd be set up for the rest of his life. This is all he thought about. He thought he had it made after all his years of hard work on the farm he could now put his feet up and relax. He thought he'd indulge himself. He thought life would be a party from that point on. He settled down with his plans for a comfortable retirement. He spent time thinking about it. He spent time planning. He thought life was going to be so good. He thought that all the crops he had stashed away would guarantee his comfort for the rest of his life. You can picture him rubbing his hands together, a big happy grin on his face as he thought about what a good time the wealth he had got for himself would provide.

In a way his wealth was a comfort for the rest of his life - just not in the way he planned.

The farmer thought he was prepared for many years of living a comfortable life of eating, drinking and being merry - he probably was.

He was not prepared for what actually happened to him.

Luke 12v20 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? God addressed the man as a fool - a very solemn thing. Our assessment of the man from the account given of him up to that point might have been quite a good assessment. The man had been a good and successful farmer. His great wealth showed how successful he had been. But God saw that he was a fool.

Why is it such a solemn thing when God says someone is a fool? It is solemn because the Bible tells us what a fool is like. The Bible explains the thoughts and attitudes of fools. Psalms 14:1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. Fools say in their heart that there is no God. They might not say it out loud. They say it in their heart. The way they think says there is no God. Psalms 10:4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts. They have no thoughts of God. They have no affection for God, no love for Him. In their hearts, the centre of their ways they disregard God as if He does not exist. God says such people are fools.

This is why they are fools.

Everyone, whether they acknowledge God or not, will one day meet Him and stand before Him and have to explain how they have lived their life. The rich farmer, in the middle of all his comfortable dreams about a lifelong party, was called to stand before God to give an account of his life. His life came to an end and he died that very night. He'd expected to live on for years. He wasn't ill that he knew of. We are not told how he died but die he did. In Gods sovereign will the man died and he wasn't ready. He wasn't at all prepared. He'd thought he'd live on for years but he was wrong.

To arrive to stand before God unprepared is the most terrible thing imaginable. When the realisation dawned on that man that he'd spent all his life building up his farming business and ignoring God he must have been struck speechless. He had nothing to say in his defence. He'd ignored the God who had given him so much and now he had no excuse as he stood there in front of The God he had ignored.

All of us will, one day, stand where that rich farmer stood. How many of us will be prepared?

How can we get to be prepared if we are not prepared already?

We must stop being foolish like the farmer. We must not say in our hearts that there is no God. We must find out what God is like and what He says. We must be obedient to what God says. We must find out the way God says we must be prepared to meet Him. When we try and go our own way our actions declare that we do not believe in God - just like the rich farmer - he went his own way.

The only kind of people God welcomes into His presence are those who He sees have never ignored Him. They must be people who God sees have always loved and obeyed Him.

So that counts out everyone in the whole world - except one. There is noone but The Lord Jesus who ever lived their whole life without ignoring, disobeying and rejecting God one way or another. This is what The Bible tells us very clearly.

The One Person Who really lived perfectly before God, The Lord Jesus, has opened the way for God to see people as perfect so that He welcomes them into His presence.

When such people arrive before God on His throne of Judgement they can be welcomed and accepted because of what The Lord Jesus has done and finished on their behalf.

Such people are no different in themselves from any other people. They have all broken Gods laws, ignored Him and made Him angry BUT they have been shown what they are really like and that they were going the wrong way and they have asked for forgiveness and have turned away from the wrong way they lived - all by Gods power. God sees these people as perfect because they are covered by the perfect life The Lord Jesus lived. The Bible talks about a "Robe of Righteousness". This is given to all who ask for it.

This is the preparation we all need to make if we are to be welcomed by God.
Maybe the farmer was not told how to prepare - but everyone here tonight has been told. We each must ask God to free us from bad ways and to cover us with Jesus' righteousness.

This is the only way to prepare to stand before God and be welcome there.