Dr Paul Allen

Church of Saint-Eutrope in Clermont-Ferrand, stained glasses (Puy-de-Dôme, France Translations in other languages are welcome. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Author John Piper. Our affluent culture looks for ease in everything. Comfort is prized more than anything else. In his book, The Challenge of Affluence, Professor Avner Offer makes the observation that moral prudence is required in order to build up affluence and wealth. However, affluence gives rise to temptation. Temptation, if not morally recognized and resisted, gives rise to indulgence . Indulgence eats up wealth. Hence, the “rewards of affluence produce the disorders of affluence.” ( Finish the Mission , 79) The rewards of affluence produce the disorders of affluence. Isn’t that the lesson of Jesus ’s parable of the rich fool who built bigger barns (Luke 12:13–21)? The disorders of affluence can be very, very serious. Which means we live in a dangerous place. It isn’t that affluence is evil. It is the way our sinfu...

Church of Saint-Eutrope in Clermont-Ferrand, stained glasses (Puy-de-Dôme, France Translations in other languages are welcome. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits ?" ( Luke 12:16-17 ) God called this rich man, "Thou fool" ( Luke 12:20 ) because, rich as he was in his own eyes, he was "not rich toward God" ( v. 21 ). Instead of choosing to bestow his goods on others in need or on any kind of ministry for God, he decided to build more barns and "there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods" ( v. 18 ). The barns did not need them, however, and neither did the rich fool , for he died the very night on which he made this selfish decision. The intensity of his self-centered nature is pointed up by the fact that he used personal pronouns (I, my) n...

Church of Saint-Eutrope in Clermont-Ferrand, stained glasses (Puy-de-Dôme, France Translations in other languages are welcome. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits ?" ( Luke 12:16-17 ) God called this rich man, "Thou fool" ( Luke 12:20 ) because, rich as he was in his own eyes, he was "not rich toward God" ( v. 21 ). Instead of choosing to bestow his goods on others in need or on any kind of ministry for God, he decided to build more barns and "there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods" ( v. 18 ). The barns did not need them, however, and neither did the rich fool , for he died the very night on which he made this selfish decision. The intensity of his self-centered nature is pointed up by the fact that he used personal pronouns (I, my) n...