When we allow money to drive our decisions and actions, there will never be enough. We will always want more. Luke is challenging us to reframe our conversations about stewardship by recognizing that it is not about deprivation or rigid discipline. It is the Spirit-enabled practice of trusting God’s abundance enough to resist greed, fear, and anxiety so that we may faithfully steward God’s gifts for the common good.
July 12, 2026
Hope in Bloom
“Self-control as Responsible Stewardship”
Luke 12:13-34
Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl
Self-control as Responsible Stewardship Luke 12:13-34
This Sunday, we wrap up our conversation with the Fruit of the Spirit by exploring self-control as responsible stewardship. My guess is that Paul purposely put this one last on his list because he knew no one wanted to talk about it. He knew that we had all been told that we are to never talk about money and politics. And that is exactly what self-control as responsible stewardship is…money and politics. Because when we talk about self-control as responsible stewardship, we move the conversation beyond my wants and needs to our wants and needs. We move the conversation to include how my choices, our choices, affect others. Which is politics.
When we talk about self-control as responsible stewardship, we begin reframing the narrative, shifting away from unfettered consumerism which drives our world and puts a price on everything and everyone to a narrative which invites us to honor and appreciate all that God has entrusted to us for the building up of God’s Beloved Community here on Earth for all people, which is money. Thankfully Paul knew that we could not fully open ourselves to God’s Spirit in our midst, a Spirit which moves us towards healing, wholeness and inclusion, Paul knew we could not fully open ourselves to God’s Spirit in our midst unless we talked about money and politics. Paul knew that for us as disciples of Christ to expand our capacity for radical hospitality and social justice, we needed to have an honest conversation about what owns us in regard to our possessions, to our time, to our talent. Paul knew that for us to become the people God calls us to be, people of love and grace, people of compassion and justice, we needed to have a conversation about what defines security in our lives. Is it fear, anxiety or worries about scarcity or do we trust in God’s abundance?
To help us begin this conversation, we turn to the Parable of the Rich Fool, Luke 12:13-34.
Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God. ”He said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food and the body more than clothing.
Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life? If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, you of little faith! And do not keep seeking what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. For it is the nations of the world that seek all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.
This verse comes right before the parable of the Rich Fool. Jesus offers these words as his response to the person’s request that Jesus become involved in a family inheritance matter. Now let me say, it was not unusual for people to reach out to their leaders, especially rabbis, to help them arbitrate matters within their community. So, the person’s question is not the problem. It is the intent behind the question which is the problem. Because there were all sorts of laws, just as there are still today, all sorts of laws which would deal with issues of inheritance. Jesus knew that. The person who asked the question knew that. The crowd gathered around Jesus and the disciples knew that. What the person and the crowd didn’t know or expect was that the person’s request would be followed up by parable, a parable told to the crowd as a way to redirect the conversation to expose a deeper issue, a parable which points out our reliance on wealth and how it distracts us from the Beloved Community in our midst. What the person, what the crowd did not expect was a conversation about money and politics to come from Jesus.
But as readers who are familiar with the Gospel of Luke, we shouldn’t be surprised. After all, Luke is the Gospel which deals the most with issues of money and politics. Luke is usually the first one to point our attention to the margins, to see, truly see the people who have been forgotten or ignored for far too long. Luke is usually the first Gospel to say that the poor not only have a place at God’s Table. He stresses that they belong at God’s Table. Luke is usually the first Gospel to point out that the Kingdom of God does not play by our rules of power and might. Rather it flips our understanding of class, society mores, wealth, and power on its head. So, we should not be surprised that Luke has Jesus bring to us the Parable of the Rich Fool.
Which in reading through the first time, our immediate reaction is that we don’t see anything out of place really. The man planned for the future. The man saved for a rainy day. That’s just good financial advice. That’s just sound stewardship. Even Luke with all his conversations about money and politics would agree with those statements. Yet we know Luke usually doesn’t mince words. He called the man a fool for a reason. So let’s take a second look at this parable.
And what we discover is that Luke calls this man a fool because this man believes only he can secure his future. Notice the man’s conversation. He only consults with himself. He has isolated himself from others. He is so wrapped up in the “me, myself, and I” narrative that he doesn’t seem to care about anything or anyone else.
And in doing so, he has forgotten that he is connected to the world around him which includes the land and his community. Luke calls the man a fool because it was good farming practices, good weather, and probably most important…sheer luck, that the land produced an abundance. Yet he doesn’t thank God for the abundance. The man doesn’t remember from whom all his blessings flow. He doesn’t acknowledge that all he did was plant the seed. It was God who made the seed grow.
Luke also calls the man foolish because not only has he forgotten his connection the land, he has also forgotten that he is connected to the wider community. He tears down his barns to build bigger ones to store the abundance yet there is no way this man could have used all of that grain by himself before it went to waste. Yes, save some for a rainy day, yes, plan for the future but don’t hoard all the resources. There were workers who helped the man prepare the field for planting. There were workers who helped the man plant the seeds. There were workers who helped the man harvest the crop. Despite what the man told himself or believed, there was no way this man pulled himself up from his bootstraps and got to the place of abundant harvest all by himself.
That type of mentality is the exact opposite of what we mean when we talk about self-control as responsible stewardship. It is not about what I own. Rather it is about what owns me. It is not just personal restraint or avoiding bad habits or exercising discipline. It is also about faithfully managing all that God entrusts to us—our resources, relationships, time, influence, and the earth itself—for the flourishing of all. It is about knowing that my choices, our choices, affect others. It is about moving away from unfettered consumerism and being good stewards of the gifts God has given us.
Or let me say it this way…yesterday, I had a fascinating conversation with some friends about money and church. And she said as soon as a church starts having a conversation about a building campaign, she loses interest in the church. She said, and I quote…I don’t come to church to support a mortgage. I come to worship Jesus. Then she said something even more fascinating. She said, “I know it takes money to be the church, but it always worries me when it begins to define the church.”
In other words, our Truth as disciples of Christ is that we are called to practice an understanding that where and what we invest in shapes who we become. I don’t have it all figured out but what I do know is that as disciples of Christ, Jesus calls us to live our lives by compassion not accumulation, through trust, not fear, by knowing there is more than enough rather than embracing a mentality of scarcity. I don’t have it figured out just yet, but what I do know is that we are called to become people whose treasure is found in God’s Beloved Community where generosity overcomes greed, trust overcomes fear, and self-control becomes a joyful expression of faithful stewardship for the sake of the whole community. May it be so. Amen.
See also: Theology Tuesday for Sunday, July 12, 2026 – Self-control as Responsible Stewardship Luke 12:13-34.
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