we use money and possessions are at the heart of being a disciple of Jesus. There is a deep
spiritual reality to them. Coming into relationship with Jesus changes your relationship to money
and possessions. And we're doing this series at a time when we're not seeking to raise funds
for anything in particular. It's just all about doing heart work. That's what it is.
And so we're not looking at specific application except to go away and search your hearts and ask
yourself, what is it that I truly value in life? And so we're winding up our series in Luke 12 and
this parable of the rich fool. Jesus' statement, verse 15. If you've got your Bibles open, come with
me on this. You can also get it out on the St. Paul's app. You'll find the sermon outline there
in the Bible passage as well. Jesus' statement, verse 15, couldn't be any clearer in terms of
perspective on this issue. He says, watch out. Watch out. Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.
Greed is a spiritual problem. It's a chronic spiritual sickness. It's linked to money,
but money doesn't cause it. And you see that because earlier in the Bible, you've got people
like Abraham and Job and David who are fabulously wealthy, but do not have money sickness.
It's also possible to have money sickness, but in fact have very little money. Rich people may not
have it and poor people may have it. The sickness is money centrality. It's a materialism. So I've got
three points that I want to look at today. And the first one is watch out for money blindness.
What sets off this whole teaching on money with Jesus and money and greed is because of this
interaction that Jesus has with this bloke in verse 13. It says,
It's most likely that the older brother in this case has inherited the entire estate from the parents
and he's not wanting to share it. It's probably not the first time that money's caused an issue
when it comes to inheritance, all sorts of family feuds. And so he wants Jesus to make
his older brother pay up as if Jesus is an estate's lawyer. And Jesus refuses, not because it isn't right
that this issue needs to be settled fairly and through the courts if necessary, but because it isn't his mission.
It's not my focus is what he's getting at.
But then Jesus launches into what is a much deeper issue to deal with.
He sees that there is a heart issue that needs addressing. And you see that because he closes off
this section at the end about where your treasure of your heart is. This family is being torn apart by greed.
His statement in verse 15 is him pinpointing the key issue that needs to be addressed.
It's greed. And he issues a clear warning. He says,
Watch out!
It's like
there's an assumption that's behind this warning.
And the assumption is you can't see the danger. You can't see it.
If you were about to back your car into someone else's car out here in the car park,
and it's in full view, other people are walking by and you see you're just getting closer and
closer and closer. At some point, hopefully, someone will call out, look out!
It's because they're working on the assumption that you haven't seen the car.
Money dis-eases us. It has a power to fool us. And a great deal of the power that money has over us
is it blinds us to the power that it has over us. Blindness to the sickness of money is part of the sickness of money.
Greed is a sin that blinds you to its presence.
Nobody who is greedy thinks they are greedy.
And nowhere in the New Testament do you have Jesus saying,
Watch out!
For all kinds of adultery.
Now, it's not because adultery is any less sinful and destructive.
It's because we're blind to greed in a materialism in a way that we're not blind to adultery.
Greed is more deceptive.
Jesus doesn't say, Watch out!
You might be committing adultery and not know it.
Of course you know you are.
No one thinks greed is their problem.
But if we take the text of the Bible seriously,
then the first thing we should do this morning
is work on the assumption that we are blind.
Now, I'm not saying it's necessarily true for you.
I'm saying that the only way to give any credence to what the Bible says
is always be checking for it.
Always looking over your shoulder, looking for it.
Ask yourself questions about it all the time.
Do you really, really, really need more?
Sex might have slain its thousands,
but money has slain its tens of thousands.
I've been involved in Christian ministry for over 25 years now,
and I cannot seriously think of anyone
who has ever come to me in that time
to confess they've got a problem with greed and materialism.
In one of the wealthiest countries of the world,
at the time of our greatest wealth,
can't think of anyone
who has ever come to me and talked to me about that issue.
Everything else, virtually,
but not that one.
That's why we have to watch for it.
Secondly, how do we diagnose this money sickness?
What is it, this money sickness, that we're blind to?
Put simply, greed is where money, possessions, wealth,
is just too important to us.
That's basically what it is.
Too central to us.
The issue is, how do we know when we've crossed the line?
There must be a line somewhere.
So how do we know when we've crossed that line?
And it is an issue for us.
Well, Jesus gives us, in this text,
a number of guideposts to help us diagnose
whether we have succumbed to money sickness.
First guidepost is in verse 19,
where the rich fool says,
What he's doing in that moment
is he's boasting in his wealth
and his security
and, if you like, his retirement.
He's boasting in it.
He's boasting in his possessions
and what he has
and feeling comfortable with his security.
Maybe that's you.
Another guidepost is worry.
It's interesting that right after
the parable of the rich fool,
we have this whole section about worrying.
And Jesus makes the issue clear in verse 29.
Do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink.
Do not worry about it.
If we worry about money,
worry about our livelihood
and food and clothing
and living standards,
then we have fixated our heart
on material things
just like the rich fool.
Now, it's possible to have money
but not to have the sickness.
But it's also possible to have the sickness
but hardly any money.
Worry.
Boasting worry.
Third side post is in verse 15
where Jesus says,
Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.
Now, he's helping us see here
that greed doesn't look the same
for every person.
Greed is different.
It has different forms and varieties.
For some, their greed is revealed
in the spending on clothes and cars
and travel and renovations and entertainment.
Money itself, as we know,
is just simply paper
or whatever it is that they make it out of nowadays,
some plasticky stuff.
And metal.
The value that money has for us
is that we take these bits of paper and metal
and we exchange it for what we truly value.
That's the value we have.
And when we spend
and keep on spending on possessions,
then we are looking to those things
that we truly value
to get that sense of desirability
and acceptability and lovability
and awe and experiences
rather than looking to God
and the knowledge of God
and the love of God
for our sense of wealth,
worth and significance.
And so the passage says,
consider the wildflowers.
God is the one who adorns them,
not money.
And as he adorns them
with wonder and awe and beauty,
so he is the source of those things for us
because we are much more valuable than they.
But there are those
who look at people spending money
on clothes and homes and cars
and travel and entertainment
and they just sneer at those people
and go,
well, there's the greedy ones.
They think these people
are just so greedy
and so materialistic.
And sometimes these people
are proud that they've been wearing
and repairing the same pair
of underpants for 10 years
and they reuse their tea bags
and they don't own a mobile phone
and they're just so frugal.
I'm not greedy.
The ones who are spending money,
the greedy ones,
instead what they're doing
is putting it all away
in retirement funds
and savings and investments
or for a rainy day.
Jesus says,
that's just a different kind of greed.
Just a different kind.
There's all kinds of greeds.
If we find it very hard
to give money away
but very easy to save it,
then our bank balance
is our source of security.
We are looking to our bank
to give us control
in a very, very chaotic
and unpredictable world
rather than God.
The rich fool here
stored up his wealth
and stored it up
more and more and more
for the sake of his security.
And the point of this story
about the rich fool
is it's an illusion.
Money cannot give you security.
It can't stop tragedy.
It can't stop broken relationships.
It can't stop your life
and it can't even stop financial ruin.
It's an illusion.
Money can't give you security
but God can.
Consider the ravens.
They don't have money
to give them security
but they are well cared for
and fed by God
day in and day out.
So greed is where we get
beauty and acceptance
and security and identity
from great clothes,
houses, experiences,
instead of God.
It's where we get control
because of great investments
instead of God.
Just different kinds of greed.
And the fourth guidepost
is verse 30.
For the pagan world
runs after all such things.
What this means is
the running after them
is a sense of being driven.
I'm driven to get these things.
It may result in overworking,
driving yourself and others
around you into the ground
to get it.
Money sickness is where
we resent people who've got it,
worrying about not having it,
running off our feet
in order to get it.
It's where we look to money
to give us what only God
can give us.
And when we see these signs,
it's obvious,
really,
that a lot of us
have got money sickness.
If you think it's now possible
that you've got at least,
you know,
you're not in your hospital bed,
but you've got money sickness,
then Jesus is suggesting
that your problem
and my problem
is a lot more
than just a
not feeling great today.
It's a much deeper issue
than that.
We are blind
to how big
this issue is.
So how do we recover from it?
I've got two ways
that we recover from it.
The first solution
is to have a radical experience
of the grace of God
in the Lord Jesus.
Hopefully,
you've picked that up
in the last number of weeks.
We have constantly heard
that the gospel
is the solution.
Jesus himself
is the solution to this.
And we need to,
as I said last week,
keep driving,
driving it in
again and again,
driving the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ
into our hearts
again and again.
It's no different today.
We have to keep coming back
to God's grace
to us in Jesus
and savoring his gospel
to us again
and again
and again.
And can I say,
sorry,
translators,
you may have been
sitting in church
for 30 years
but you have not
been driving
the gospel
of God's grace
into your heart.
Just gathering,
doing your thing,
giving 10%,
just settled with that.
You need to have
a fresh experience
of God's grace.
We need to see Jesus,
what he's done
for us on the cross
again
and again
until he becomes
our greatest treasure.
We need to preach
the gospel to ourselves
every single day.
And God's grace to us
is again here
in this passage.
Notice that Jesus
doesn't say here,
as he did
with the rich young ruler,
that if you sell
all your possessions,
give them to the poor,
then God will forgive
your sins
and let you
into his kingdom.
He doesn't say that.
What he says
is in verse 32,
do not be afraid,
little flock.
I love it
when he says that.
Do not be afraid
because he knows
that he says
don't trust money,
trust me instead
with everything in life.
Our first instinct
is
fear.
fear is the response.
He says,
do not be afraid,
little flock,
for your father
has been pleased
to give you the kingdom.
Sell your possessions
and give to the poor,
provide purses
for yourselves
that will not wear out,
a treasure in heaven
that will never fail,
where no thief
comes near
and no moth
destroys.
The order
is crucial.
The little flock
have been given
the kingdom
apart from
any effort
on their behalf.
When we see
that we start,
when we see that,
when we see
that we have it first,
we start to become
free to give
in radical ways.
And Jesus says
a similar thing
in verse 21.
This is how
it will be
with whoever
stores up things
for themselves
but is not
rich towards God.
Rich toward God
means
counting God
of greater worth
than anything
in this world.
Rich toward God
means using
earthly riches
to show
him,
the world,
our own hearts,
how much
we value God.
And this is what
the prosperous farmer
failed to do.
And the result is
God calls him
a fool
and he lost
his soul.
A fool.
Jesus considers
money hazardous.
It lures us
out of love
for God.
It lures us
away from
treasuring Jesus
above everything else.
The issue here
isn't that this
man,
this rich fool's
land was
prosperous.
It's just
that God
ceased to be
his supreme
treasure.
Anyone who
stores up
things
rather than
giving it away,
they do it
because they're
not rich
towards God.
It's a lack
of inner
wealth.
If you
worry about
money,
you're resentful
towards those
who have
money,
running after
money,
hoarding it.
It's simply
because Jesus
says you're
not rich
towards God.
There is a
lack of
inner wealth.
What I mean
by this is
basically what
1 Peter 2
verse 9
says,
but you
are a
chosen people
a royal
priesthood,
a holy
nation,
God's
special
possession,
which literally
means in the
original language,
you are God's
treasure.
What do you get
the person who
has everything?
everything?
What sort of
gift would
cause the
person with
billions and
billions of
dollars to
go,
wow?
Well,
that's God's
question.
What do you
give him
who's got
everything?
literally,
absolutely,
everything is
his.
What do you
give him?
Peter is
saying here
that with
everything he
possesses,
his people,
his disciples,
the ones who
trusted the
Lord Jesus
Christ,
are his
greatest
treasure.
That's what
it's saying.
God
treasures
us.
That is a
life-transforming
truth.
It's a
life-transforming
truth that's
confirmed in
2 Corinthians
chapter 8
verses 7
and 9.
See that you
excel in the
grace of giving,
for you know
the grace of
our Lord Jesus
Christ, that
though he was
rich, yet for
your sake he
became poor,
so that you
through his
poverty might
become rich.
Paul doesn't
say that if
you give your
wealth away to
God, God
will give you
eternal wealth.
He says that
you will never
be free,
never be free
of eternal
treasure,
sorry, of
earthly treasure
until we see
that God has
given us eternal
treasure as a
free gift.
His eternal
treasure is
Jesus.
And when he
came to
earth, Jesus
quite literally
lived in
poverty.
He said he
didn't even have
a place to
lay his head
as a grown
man.
And this is
just a small
glimpse, just a
small glimpse of
the much, much,
much deeper
poverty that he
endured on the
cross for us.
He did
exactly what he
is asking us
to do here
at the end
of Luke 12.
He's already
gone before us
and done it.
He's fulfilled
it for us.
He is the
richest one.
He lost
everything for
the poorest
ones.
He did it to
pay for our
sins on the
cross.
And the
inner wealth
comes to
us when we
know that we
have been
treasured
by the
treasure
worthy.
He was
willing to
give up and
pay anything
to treasure
us.
Every single
one of us
sitting in this
room right now
as everyone
who's outside
this room
has something
that they
treasure at the
center of their
heart.
Every single
one of us
there is
something that
we treasure
that we
look to
consistently
for our
security,
for our
approval,
for our
significance.
The way you
know it's
there and
what it is
specifically
is when
someone
challenges it
in your
heart,
it will
result in
anger.
You'll
want to
defend your
treasure.
Every single
one of us
has those
treasures that
will demand
us.
We will
surrender
for it.
This
treasure
drives us
to run
after it
consistently.
In fact,
we will
die in
order.
In fact,
that's what
it calls
us to
do.
It runs
us into
the ground
and requires
of us to
die for
it.
And Jesus
is the only
treasure who
dies to
purchase us.
The treasures
of our
heart drive
us to
surrender and
sacrifice
absolutely
everything in
order to
achieve it.
And yet
Jesus is the
only one who
dies so
that we
might be
his treasure.
See that
he has
treasured
you.
See how
he has
treasured
you.
And then
you'll be
free from
money,
blindness,
and sickness.
You need a
radical experience
of God's
grace.
You also,
there's one
more thing
to add
here.
It's also
crucial to
be a
member of
a radically
grace-changed
community.
See this
back in
verse 32.
Have a look
at this.
Do not
be afraid,
little
flock,
for your
father has
been pleased
to give
you the
kingdom.
This is
in a
moment of
fear and
worry which
strikes it
whenever we
think about
money and
stuff and
handing over
to God
instead.
This verse
is such a
tender verse.
God knows
that we are
scared to
trust him.
We're scared
to live like
this, too
scared to
step out and
trust him and
to give our
money away.
He calls us
not to be
afraid and
to remember
that we get
to call God
our father and
we are his
little flock.
But notice
that this
promise here,
this promise
to give the
kingdom is a
plural promise.
Little
flock.
For those of
us who are
Westerners,
Christians think
so much as
individuals,
that's not
what's happening
here.
There's a
place in
Mark chapter
10 where
Jesus spells
it out just
a little bit
more detail
for us what
he's referring
to here.
The rich
young ruler
walks away
too afraid to
trust Jesus
with his
wealth.
And at that
point,
his disciple
Peter pipes
up and he
says,
we've left
everything to
follow you.
And then
Jesus says,
no one
who has
left home
or brothers
or sisters
or mother
or father
or children
or fields
for me
and the
gospel
will fail
to receive
a hundred
times as
much in
his present
age.
homes,
brothers,
sisters,
mothers,
children and
fields along
with persecutions
and in the
age to
come eternal
life.
What's
getting at
there,
what's
referring to
here in
God providing
for our
needs is
that in
the Christian
community you
get a new
family,
you get new
relationships,
you get eternal
relationships.
We will
love each
other forever.
Forever.
If you're
struggling to
love me
now,
you won't
in heaven.
Isn't that
good news
for me?
But there's
also a
tendency I
think to
forget the
bit in
this passage
in Mark
10 about
the fields
and the
homes.
Try to
explain that
away a
little bit.
But in
Mark 10
and Luke
12,
along with
the new
community of
relationships,
comes
homes and
fields.
And we
must not
read these
terms any
differently than
we read the
brothers, the
sisters, the
mothers and the
children in this
passage.
You can't read
any differently.
That would be a
major error in
biblical
interpretation.
Jesus' view
is that in the
new community of
grace,
we not only
share and
engage with
one another's
families,
but we
also share
and engage
in one
another's
homes and
possessions.
You see
this in the
book of Acts
in the early
church.
And the
reason
Christians in
Mark 10
and Luke
12 are
free to
give away
money when
needs are
evident is
because it
is an
assumption in
those passages
that they're
part of a
community
that will
do for
them as
they do
for others.
That's the
assumption in
those passages.
That's the
assumption of
the new
community.
We need
to be a
community
that is
so humbled
our pride
that we are
willing to
let people
know when
we've got a
need.
And we
need to be a
community where
the grace of
God has so
transformed us
that our
money sickness
is disappearing.
A community
that gives,
shares,
receives.
We have a
long way to
go before we
really become
this kind of
grace-filled
little flock.
But the
point here
for us
today is
get a
vision for
using your
wealth.
with
eternity in
mind.
To be a
community of
love and
sharing in
such a way
that we
reveal that
Jesus truly
is our
greatest
treasure.
And the
solution to
that is
keep looking
to Jesus,
our great
treasure.
love and
love.
The heavenly
vision is
a hymn that
was written
in 1922 by
Helen Lamelle.
It's more
widely known by
the first line
of its chorus
and it sums up the thrust of this whole series on wealth in purpose, wealth with purpose.
Wealth, possessions, money and riches with eternity in mind.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Look full in his wonderful face
and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.
One of the things we get to do this morning
to remind ourselves of God's grace to us in the Lord Jesus
is to share in the Lord's Supper together.
I think it's a great way to focus again that Jesus is our greatest treasure.
We have these two elements.
Let's see if I can navigate this.
We have these two elements.