Is it sinful to build new barns?

When I was a young teenager, I began to work summers for a contractor who built (mostly, but not only) residential homes. I persevered in the trade and became a master carpenter (that is mainly a union term, but we were not union). Sometimes we built new barns, and so this question is close to home. We never thought we were sinning building new barns. No, I do not think we were. However, could building new barns be sinful, and if so, when?

Barns filled with plenty and the need of more storage space might be a sign of God’s blessing: Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine (Proverbs 3:9-10). On the other hand, a rich and thoughtless fool brought the building of new barns into the realm of the sinful. See Luke 12:16-21.

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

The Thoughtless Fool

Learn ye of a man now dead—
What he did not think about,
Why he did not think ahead,
And how it all turned out.

Yes, building new barns can be sinful. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin (Romans 14:23).

When it is with the self-conception that ignores God’s power, providence, and governance.

The life and breath of all mankind is in the Lord’s hand (Job 12:10). The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein (Psalm 24:1). He that built all things is God (Hebrews 3:4). He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust (Matthew 5:45). God gives seed to the sower, and bread to the eater (Isaiah 55:10). A life lived without faith toward God and without recognition of God’s power, providence, and governance in all things is a life lived in sin. The experience of the rich and thoughtless fool demonstrates one who “thought within himself” and did not think about God in all his ways. See also Deuteronomy 8:18; Judges 17:6b; Psalm 10:4; 2 Corinthians 5:7; and 2 Corinthians 10:12.

When it is with the self-glorification that rests in one’s own accomplishments.

No flesh should glory in God’s presence (1 Corinthians 1:29). Yet man by nature praises the work of his own hands, and is snared in the work of his own hands (Psalm 9:16). Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall (Proverbs 16:18). That the rich man would pull down his old barns, and build greater barns – rather than keep the old barns and build more as needed – suggests a pride that looked not only inward, but also outward to show the world, “Look at me. Look what I have done.” Yet his pride caused him to dwell careless, at ease, to see life going forward as only the enjoyment of his success. See Job 4:19-20; Ezekiel 16:49-50; Amos 6:1; Zephaniah 2:15; Matthew 24:37-39; and 1 John 2:16.

When it is with the self-deception that disdains the eternal perspective.

The rich fool viewed the rest of life as a constant source of pleasure, in which he had much goods laid up for many years, could concentrate on “taking it easy,” – in order to “eat, drink, and be merry.” However, he had not taken all into account. The things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18). He had ignored his appointment with the inevitable (Hebrews 9:27). He had not prepared to meet his God (Amos 4:12). Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? See Ecclesiastes 5:15; Isaiah 40:6-8; Matthew 6:219ff; Romans 14:11-12; Colossians 3:2; 1 Timothy 6:6-10; and 1 John 2:15-17.

2 Kings 6:27 …If the Lord do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress?

John 3:15 that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Sad Statement by Darwin

The following quotation is from taken The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, edited by his son Francis Darwin:

“Believing as I do that man in the distant future will be a far more perfect creature than he is now, it is an intolerable thought that he and all other sentient beings are doomed to complete annihilation after such long-continued progress. To those who fully admit the immortality of the human soul, the destruction of our world will not appear so dreadful.”

I do not have much to say about this. I read this and thought, how sad! As a humanist and naturalist, Darwin believed the sun would eventually grow too cold to sustain life on the earth, and that mankind would be annihilated. He was proud of man’s progress and found the loss of it intolerable. He seems that he wished he could believe at least in the immortality of the soul.

The Son of God and Saviour of mankind said:

I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: (John 11:25).

The Final Deliverance

2 Timothy 4:6-18

As Paul closes his epistle to Timothy, he charges him before God to preach the word and fulfill the ministry to which he is called. Paul then reflects on his own ministry that is soon coming to a close.

In his reflections, Paul declares a satisfied end and a sublime expectation. He sees his own activities as a good fight, a finished course, and a kept faith. He had “kept back nothing...taught…publickly, and from house to house…testifying…repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ…” and had “not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.” (Cf. Acts 20:20-27.) He knew his labor was not in vain in the Lord (1 Corinthians 15:58) and had a hope founded on the resurrected Lord whom he preached (1 Corinthians 15:19-20). A crown of righteousness awaits him, and he has no regrets (v. 8). “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21.)

In his reflections, Paul interjects disheartening incidents and day-to-day activities. Though the apostle sees his expected end just over the horizon, he will continue to “finish the course” until its conclusion. He desires a visit from Timothy, with Mark, in his lonesome estate. Only Luke of his co-laborers is currently present, and even one of them, Demas, has left the faith to fulfill his love for the world. He asked Timothy to bring simple items, inquiring after a cloke and some reading materials. Paul cites Alexander the coppersmith as an opposer of the truth and warns against him.

In his reflections, Paul concludes the surety of God’s deliverance (who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us; 2 Corinthians 1:10). God had stood with him (against Alexander, for example), and he will continue to stand with him. Paul trusts God’s deliverance and preservation. The final deliverance may look like the defeat of death to the world – but the final deliverance will be the best!

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? … thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Don’t stand around my grave and cry

“Don’t stand around my grave and cry” by Don Fortner

1. When I have breathed my final breath
      And dropped this robe of flesh in death,
    When my appointed work is done
      And my allotted time is gone,
    Don’t stand around my grave and cry –
      I’ll not be there; I did not die.

2. My Savior came to call me home,
      And I with Him to heav’n have gone!
    Now I am free from sin and pain,
      And with the glorified I reign!
    Don’t stand around my grave and cry –
      I’m glorified! I did not die!

3. Seated with Jesus on His throne,
      Glorified by what He has done,
    I am a trophy of His grace;
      Rejoicing, I behold His face.
    Don’t stand around my grave and cry –
       I am with Christ! I did not die!

4. My body lies beneath the clay
      Until the resurrection day;
    In that day when Christ comes again,
      Body and soul unite again!
    Don’t stand around my grave and cry –
      Rejoice with me! I did not die!

The Valley of the Shadow

It is appointed unto men once to die. But before we meet that appointment we may on numerous occasions walk through valleys where death casts its foreboding shadow. King David, after he had served his nation 40 years, became sick and died. Many times before death his eyes caught a view of the shadow death cast.

Psalm 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Death due to unintended consequences
David was made to mourn deaths of those from outside his inner circles -- death that had resulted from his actions and decisions. What misery of mind to acknowledge the unintended consequences to the priest Abiathar, "I knew it that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul: I have occasioned the death of all the persons of thy father's house (1 Samuel 22:22)." Uzzah's death before the ark at first angered David. Then he realized his complicity in the matter by not transporting the ark properly (Cf. 2 Samuel 6:8; 1 Chron. 15:2). 

The death of friends and family
The hurt of the death of friends and family is a profoundly deep wound not soon healed. The Bible tells the tale of several such gut-wrenching moments in David's life. The death of his close friend and confidant Jonathan touched him profoundly -- "How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places. I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan." The loss of his sons, a baby, Amnon -- especially Absalom  -- was a special burden. "And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!" The mournful song of regret pours forth from his tongue in deep anguish.

The imminent death of one's self
From shepherd to soldier to king, David had not a few run-ins with the shadow of death. Out in the wilds herding and defending his father's sheep, he neared the paw of the lion and the bear, and was delivered. 1 Samuel 17:37 "David said moreover, The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine." As a youth in the shadow of a giant who had been a soldier from his youth, David stared into death's shadow and was again delivered. David as soldier in Saul's army conquered the foe time and again. As a fugitive from Saul's regime, as a kingly leader of his armies, as an Absalomic exile from his own throne, and as a scofflaw of the 7th and 8th commandments, David knew the meaning of imminent death and saw the long shadow of its approach, only to see God turn it aside. 1 Samuel 20:3 "And David sware moreover, and said, Thy father certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thine eyes; and he saith, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved: but truly as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death."

Yes, it is appointed unto men once to die. As far as we know, at any given moment, there is but one step between us and death. But if God be with us, there is no cause to fear. Death is the door by which we exit this world and enter the next. 

Psalm 56:11 In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain!