Our scripture reading this evening, the passage that David's going to come and speak to us from is Luke chapter 12, verses 13 to 21.
Someone in the crowd said to him, teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.
But he said to him, man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?
And he said to them, take care and be on your guard against all covetousness.
For one's life does not consist in the abundance of one's possessions.
And he told them a parable saying, the land of a rich man produced plentifully.
And he thought to himself, what shall I do?
For I have nowhere to store my crops.
And he said, I'll do this.
I'll tear down my barns and build larger ones.
And there I will store all my grain and all 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, fool, this night your soul is required of you.
And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?
So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God.
Amen.
This is God's holy word.
Amen.
Well, we turn this evening to Luke chapter 12 and verses 13 through 21 to those verses
that Chris read for us a moment or two ago.
There's an old saying that goes, where there is a will, there is a quarrel.
And certainly where inheritance is concerned, many of us know that family disputes are not unknown.
Sometimes the squabble over who gets what can be undignified, sometimes ugly.
It seems that in some circumstances, greed, covetousness has the capacity to cut through family relationships
like a hot knife through butter.
And here in Luke chapter 12, we are introduced to a man who it appears was in the midst of just such a family dispute.
In order to find some kind of acceptable solution to his quarrel, he decides to ask Jesus to sort it out.
Accommodators ask the question, why does he ask Jesus?
Why does he bring this problem to him?
Perhaps it was because he saw Jesus as a rabbi, and that's how he addresses him here, his teacher.
But, of course, there were no secular courts or judges in those days.
That's what people did.
They took their disputes to a rabbi or teacher.
And yet I think there's more to it than just that.
If you look or read through the Gospel of Luke,
I think you would be astonished at the frequency of occasions
where Jesus is found speaking about possessions and wealth.
Jesus was someone who spoke a great deal about the subject of money.
It was a repeated emphasis of his teaching ministry.
And I think in Luke's Gospel in particular,
we find Jesus speaking about money and riches time and time again.
He speaks relentlessly about these issues related to stewardship and material wealth.
Eleven of Jesus' 39 parables are directly about money and wealth.
And I think that may be part of the reason that this man brought his question and request to Jesus.
Someone in the crowd said to him, verse 13,
Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.
What is this man saying?
Well, he's saying to Jesus,
Jesus, please help my brother with this.
Talk to my brother.
Sort him out on this matter.
All your talk about money, generosity, and wealth, Jesus,
I've got the very person you need to speak to.
My brother really needs to hear this.
Tell him to share the inheritance with me.
And Jesus' reply makes it clear he has absolutely no interest in being an arbiter between this man and his brother.
Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter over you?
And Jesus categorically refuses to rule to make any kind of judgment on this issue.
He makes it clear that he's not prepared to be used in this way.
This man effectively was trying to manipulate Jesus to get what he wanted.
Lots of people approach Jesus in this kind of way.
As if he can be used to further our own goals and ambitions.
If he can be used to serve us rather than we serve him.
Yes, you know, I'm interested in the Christian faith.
But Jesus, tell my boss to give me a raise.
Sort out that person who's giving me grief.
Attend to the needs of my family.
Yes, Jesus, I'm thinking of following you.
But do this first for me.
Tell this to happen or that to happen.
But friends, Jesus does not come to fit in or to endorse our agendas.
He comes to bring an entirely new agenda altogether.
He doesn't come to fit in with us and our goals.
He comes that we might place our lives in his hands.
And this man, as I said, was using Jesus.
Or seeking to use Jesus rather than serve him.
And so Jesus gives him short shrift in verse 15.
He said to them,
Take care.
Be on your guard against all covetousness.
For one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.
And Jesus here lays bare the root of the matter.
He is warning us here about the danger of a covetous heart.
And thinking that money and wealth will really satisfy us.
Jesus wants us to understand that nothing in this world, nor everything in this world,
can ever fill the eternity-shaped needs of the human heart.
In the simplest of terms, human beings are made for fellowship with God.
Therefore, nothing else will truly satisfy us.
Augustine's famous words,
You have made us for yourself,
and our hearts are restless until they find rest in you.
Here is the great diagnostic word of our Savior.
Life is not measured by barns, by bank balances, or by the size of one's estate.
Life, real life, the life that matters, is something far deeper than that.
It is the life of the soul before God.
And covetousness is its mortal enemy.
For covetousness is idolatry.
It's the heart saying to material things,
You are my God.
In you will I trust.
And by you I will be satisfied.
And so in order to drive his point home,
Jesus goes on to tell this famous story, parable,
about a certain rich man.
It's a graphic warning about allowing covetousness, greed, and material idolatry
to blind us to what is really important in this life.
Let's look a little more closely at this man in Jesus' warning parable.
Three things.
First thing is this.
Look at the success he enjoyed in verses 16 through 17.
The man in Jesus' story enjoyed great success.
He was wealthy.
He was affluent.
He was prosperous.
Not only was he a great landowner,
but it transpires that his land produced a bumper crop.
He told them a parable saying,
The land of a rich man produced plentifully.
A wealthy man who's farming business,
a tremendous success.
Left with a huge surplus.
What a nice problem to have.
And the big question he faced was this.
What will I do with all of this?
How is he going to use this great wealth,
this great blessing that he had received?
How would he cope with this great success?
Success.
Now, I suppose most of us here would disown the title,
wealthy or rich, successful perhaps.
We might point others to our bank statement,
our overdraft.
We might claim poverty.
We might point to other people who have bigger houses
or bigger cars, better jobs, higher incomes,
and say, well, those are the rich and successful people.
But the reality I think we need to face
is that we are materially rich people.
We live in a wealthy and affluent society.
Our society's existence is rooted in wealth creation
and the power to spend.
At the very heart of the life of our cities and towns
are the shopping centers and retail parks.
One social commentator calls cathedrals and temples
of this worldly significance.
The spirit of our consumer age,
summed up by the bumper sticker,
Veni, Vidi, Visa.
I came, I saw, I shopped.
Geographically and historically,
we're amongst the richest human beings
that have ever lived.
Here in the West, we've witnessed a staggering
increase in wealth and prosperity
over the past 80 years or so.
Maybe some here,
I'm not going to point them out,
who might recall rationing during
and just after the Second World War.
I'm not included in that group,
I'm pleased to say.
But I can't remember my granddad telling me
how he was a young boy in Nottingham,
probably before the First World War,
second youngest of 13.
He went to school without any shoes.
So poor.
And today, in comparison with so much of the world,
we are wealthy people.
In comparison with our forebears,
we live lives of incredible luxury.
We have more food than we can eat.
We have more clothes than we can wear.
Our wealth opens up for us
a vast array of choice,
choices beyond most people in this world.
Choices that can keep us
from using our resources
in a way that is honoring
and pleasing to God.
And so Jesus' words here
about the dangers inherent in wealth,
riches, material success,
are directly applicable to us.
Jesus' story of the rich man is our story.
And it's a warning not just to other people,
to Richard Branson or Bill Gates,
but to us.
In our materially wealthy and affluent society,
the grave spiritual danger exists
that money and possessions and things
become our gods,
absorbing our devotion,
sucking from us time, effort, energy.
We think we possess them,
but in reality,
they possess and own us.
The real test of where
our allegiance and loyalty lies
is revealed in what we do
with what God has given to us.
It's not a sin to be rich,
not a sin to be wealthy
or materially successful.
The big question is how we are using
our wealth.
What are we doing with the resources
that God has given us?
What did this man do?
That brings us to the second thing here
I want you to notice.
From the success he enjoyed
to the selfishness he displayed
in verses 17 through 19.
Faced with the problem,
inverted commas,
of what to do with this bumper crop,
we're told of his plans.
He thought to himself,
what shall I do?
For I have nowhere to store my crops.
And he said,
I will do this.
I will tear down my barns
and build larger ones.
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, and be merry.
Now, you can't help but notice
that these three short verses
are shot through
with personal pronouns.
Here was a man who thought
of himself,
of his own happiness and ease.
God, other people, the poor,
simply didn't enter into any of his plans.
Didn't enter the equation.
He talks only about my crops,
my barns,
my grain,
my goods.
No concern or responsibility
for anyone else
but himself is revealed.
And his big mistake
is that he does not understand
that his wealth and possessions
are merely on loan.
These things are a gift from God.
Yes, this man may have plowed
the fields and scattered,
but it was God who sent the sun and rain,
and it's God who had blessed him
with this bumper crop.
But he fails to see
that he is but a steward
of what God has given him.
His whole existence
is centered on himself
and the horizons of this life.
And that is the power
of money and wealth.
It is a dangerous thing.
It's an old fable
about a rich man
who went to visit a rabbi,
and the rabbi took the rich man
by the hand.
He led him to the window.
He said,
Look out there.
He said,
A rich man looked out
into the street.
The rabbi said,
What do you see?
The man said,
Oh, I see men and women
and children.
The rabbi took him by the hand
and he led him to a mirror.
Now what do you see?
Now I see myself,
the man replied.
The rabbi said,
Behold,
In the window there is glass,
and in the mirror there is glass.
The glass of the mirror
is covered with a little silver,
and no sooner is the silver added
than you cease to see others
and see only yourself.
And that is the danger
of money and wealth
and material things.
They become for us
a rival God,
an idol,
a means by which
we serve not God
or other people,
but we simply serve ourselves.
It's one of the ways,
isn't it,
that money is portrayed
in the New Testament.
Elsewhere,
Jesus says,
You can't serve
both God and mammon.
Money.
We live in a society
where mammon rules.
Money, riches,
and wealth
are seen as the ultimate good,
the ultimate goal.
Call us to worship.
Mammon calls us
to bring our tithes
and our offerings
and to surrender
our lives to Him,
to believe His promises.
And as we become more
wrapped up in ourselves,
we give little thought
to others.
And yes,
this kind of selfishness
that we see
in our own culture
can be cloaked
in very religious
and spiritual terms.
The prosperity gospel,
for example,
has many devotees,
those who believe
that it's not only
a blessing to be rich,
but conversely,
it's a sin to be poor.
You know,
the song that they sing,
O Lord,
won't you buy me
a Mercedes Benz?
Just be thankful
I haven't tried to sing that.
That attempt
to establish
a connection
between material wealth
and God's blessing
is one that I think
is offensive,
biblically speaking,
indefensible.
Because the so-called
prosperity gospel
is nothing short
of idolatry.
It is the worship,
not of the God
and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ,
but mammon itself.
Because real men
and women of God
do not pray
for a Mercedes Benz.
Apologies to any of you
who are driving
a Mercedes Benz tonight.
They pray for endurance.
Real men and women
of God
do not seek
a life of opulent luxury.
They seek a life
of holiness.
Real men and women
of God
do not make it
their ambition
to look like millionaires.
They make it
their ambition
to look like Jesus.
Real men and women
of God
do not lay up
for themselves
treasure on earth.
Instead,
they store up
treasure in heaven.
How we give
towards God
and towards others
is a test
of what is in our hearts,
a measure
of who or what
is important
or significant
in our lives.
And our giving
and our relationship
to money
are in a strange way
at the heart
of Christian life,
the life
of discipleship.
I think that's why
Jesus spoke about it
so often.
It's a reality check
on the depth
of our faith in God,
our love for God
and for others.
How do we use
what God
has given to us?
Is generosity
our habit
or does compassion
take a backseat
to our own
selfish desires?
The success
he enjoyed,
the selfishness
he displayed,
and then thirdly here,
the shock
he received
in verses 20
and 21
because Jesus'
story comes
to this dramatic,
sudden,
shocking conclusion.
and you'll notice
this great contrast
between what the rich man
says to himself
and what God
says to the rich man.
The comparison
is stark,
long,
drawn-out
statement
of the man
with all his
elaborate plans
and projects
and then the short,
piercing clarity
of God's Word.
God said to him,
fool,
this night
your soul
is required of you.
The things you have prepared,
whose will they be?
so is the one
who lays up treasure
for himself
and is not rich
towards God.
Notice the language here.
Not you will die,
but your soul
is required of you.
The soul is on loan
from God
and the loan
is now being called in.
It's time to settle
accounts with God.
And all his
carefully laid plans
collapse
in a moment.
His bigger barns
will never be built.
His precious goods
will pass to others.
The soul that he tried
to soothe
and satisfy
with material comforts
now stands naked
before the judge
of all the earth,
his folly exposed
for all to see.
What was it
that made this man
such a fool?
Of course,
as many of you know,
fooling the Bible
doesn't mean to say
that someone is stupid
or intellectually challenged.
It relates to someone
who's out of touch
with the reality
that is out of touch
with the reality of God.
Here is the person
who ignores God,
who rejects God,
who said in his heart,
there is no God.
And it's an outlook
that rejects
and ignores God
because money
has made this man
a fool,
blinding him
to what was really,
really important.
He was a fool
because for all his wealth,
all his material success,
he wasn't the master
of his own life.
God cancels
all his schemes
at a stroke.
Tonight,
your soul is required
of you.
The madness
of materialism,
we cannot take it
with us.
This man saved
and lived,
worked out
all his priorities
as if this life
was all that there is.
Stored up everything,
thought he would be happy.
I'm sure he was.
God says to him,
you fool,
now who will get
what you have prepared
for yourself?
All that he had trusted in,
all that he had invested
his life in,
all of it disappeared
at a stroke.
And friends,
that's what money
and material wealth can do.
It can suck us in
and blind us
to the great realities
of heaven and hell.
Because the money
we spend
in ourselves
cannot go with us.
Paul tells Timothy,
1 Timothy 6-7,
we brought nothing
into this world
and we cannot
take anything
out of the world.
How much did he leave,
people ask?
The answer must be,
he left it all.
The old hymn,
Guide Me,
O Thou Great Jehovah,
was once printed
with a mistake
in one of the lines.
the misprint read,
Land my safe
on Canaan's side.
Friends,
that's one prayer
that will never
be granted.
I received a letter
a few years ago
from a colleague
who told me
of a family friend,
phoned him
from England
asking if he could go
and speak to her brother.
He was a very
successful eye surgeon.
I'm just going to read
the words that he
wrote in his letter.
She explained
that he was recently
discovered with an
extensive malignancy
in his liver,
was on his way
from London
to Houston
for treatment.
She was deeply
distressed
about his health
and in particular
his spiritual state.
I agreed,
I took a New Testament,
I went to his
temporary U.S. residence.
As I knocked
and entered the apartment,
he was clearly
distraught,
demoralized
by his terminal illness.
As I entered,
he broke down,
he began to cry,
I sat next to him,
I put my arm around him,
I asked if I could pray.
Afterward,
he explained
what was troubling him most
was the wicked irony
of this turn of events.
He'd spent the best years
of his life
working and saving
and at the pinnacle
of his career
when he was preparing
to enjoy the fruits
of his labor,
the shocking discovery
of cancer
had ruined
all his plans.
I found it so difficult
to comfort him.
His mind was absorbed
in the thought
of the deceitfulness
of the world
which had played
a prank of fate
upon him.
I was reminded
of the words
of the Persian poet
Hafez,
do not expect faithfulness
from this world.
She is the bride
of a thousand husbands.
It's in our nature
to shatter our dreams.
James the Apostle
advised,
now listen,
you who say today
or tomorrow
we will go to this
or that city,
spend a year there,
carry on business
and make money.
Why?
You do not even know
what will happen tomorrow.
What is your life?
You're a mist
that appears
for a little while
and then vanishes.
Wise are those
who beat the world
at its own deceptive game.
They give rather than grab,
lay down rather than take up.
They do not believe
its lies
are not led astray
by its allurement
of mirage upon mirage.
Blessed are those
who act before
they are robbed
of all they have.
They invest
what they can
while they can
where no thief
can reach,
especially the greatest
of all bandits,
death itself.
This dear man
was caught off guard
because he had not prepared
for the inevitable.
Beside comforting him
and feeling sad for him,
there was very little
I could do
other than earnestly
plead with him
in this trying hour
of his life
while there was still time
to flee into the arms of God.
Seek the Lord
while he may be found.
Call upon him
while he is near.
The striking thing
about the man
in Jesus' parable
was that according
to the values
and perspective
of our world,
he was no fool.
In fact,
he was very wise
and very prudent.
But what Jesus
is telling us here
is something
absolutely revolutionary
because it's the very opposite
of what our culture
and society
screams at us
day in and day out.
The world says
store up,
accumulate,
look after number one.
Jesus says
empty your barns,
give it away,
look out for others.
The world tells us
that to be someone
you have to grab
for all you can get.
Jesus says
to find yourself,
you must lose yourself.
The world says
be assertive,
push yourself forward.
Jesus says
to obtain real honor,
you must humble yourself.
The world says
indulge yourself,
satisfy your desires.
Jesus says
to find real joy,
you must repent
and believe the gospel.
The world says
push your way
to the top of the tree.
Jesus says
to exercise real power,
you must be a servant.
The world says
accumulate,
grab,
store it up for yourself.
Jesus says
to have real riches,
you must give.
Empty your barns
and follow me.
And that's the way
the gospel works.
Jesus came
with all his
spiritual riches.
He gave them away.
Remember Paul's words
to Corinthians 8,
9,
you know the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
though he was rich,
yet for your sakes
became poor,
that you through
his poverty
might become rich.
Jesus Christ
gave up everything
that we might enjoy
the wealth
and riches
of a relationship
with God.
And the world says,
Jesus,
you're a fool.
But in the foolishness
of the cross,
Jesus conquered
through losing.
He gained
through giving.
He received honor
and glory
through shame
and through disgrace.
Jesus' life,
death,
and resurrection
proved the very truth
of what he is saying here.
He had no money.
He had no earthly power.
He had no home,
no publicity,
no advertising,
no big organization
behind him.
And yet he became
the most influential man
to ever walk this earth.
What are you going to do
with Jesus tonight?
I don't know if you know
the story about
the junior devils
having their final exam
before a senior devil.
And the great question
was this,
what are you going to say
to human beings?
What will you whisper
into their minds
to divert them
from faith
in Jesus Christ?
The first devil said,
I plan, sir,
to tell them
there is no God.
The devil master said,
they will not believe you.
Their work tells them
that every single human being,
no matter how he disguises it,
knows deep down
there is a God.
The second one came in
and he said,
we've heard one answer.
What is your answer?
He said,
I'm going to tell them
that there is no judgment.
The senior devil said,
we've tried that many a time,
but we know that we can
never silence
the guilty consciences
that remind them,
that break into their
settled lives
to disturb them
and tell them
that there is a judgment.
It won't work.
The third junior devil came in.
The master devil said to him,
have you got a better plan
than to tell them
there is no God
or tell them
there is no judgment?
And this one said,
sir,
I plan to tell them
there is no hurry.
And that,
the master said,
will work.
There is no hurry.
Take your time.
No need for urgency.
Friend,
do not delay.
Do not put off
giving your life
to Jesus Christ
because none of us
are promised tomorrow.
one day your soul
will be required of you.
One day you will see
and understand
the deceitfulness
of this life.
This life that can never
satisfy the human soul.
And you will see it
in heaven
or you will see it
in what the Bible
calls hell.
Yes,
Jesus Christ spoke
a great deal
about money
and wealth
and possessions,
not because he wanted it
for himself.
Jesus doesn't want
your money.
He wants far more
than that.
He wants your whole life.
His astonishing claim
is that you are
only truly rich
when he is most valued,
when he is Lord,
when he is master.
Because then money
and possessions
and things
begin to lose
their powerful grip
on our hearts.
They lose their hold
on our lives.
For Jesus says,
when I come into your life,
I'll set you free.
Give your life away to me
and you will have
real life,
eternal life.
The missionary martyr
Jim Elliot once wrote,
he is no fool
who gives
what he cannot keep
to gain
what he cannot lose.
Give your life,
your soul
to Jesus Christ
this evening.
And so be able
to declare
with the hymn writer,
riches I heed not,
nor man's empty praise,
thou mine inheritance,
now and always,
thou and thou only,
first in my heart,
high King of heaven,
my treasure,
thou art.
let's pray together.
God, our Father,
we pray that you would
keep us from being
blinded and deceived
by the lies of this world
that make us think
that this world
is everything,
that money and possessions,
while good things,
are not everything.
you are everything.
Help us to
give our lives
to you
through our Lord
Jesus Christ.
Help us to enjoy
a true inheritance
and real riches,
not in ourselves,
but in him.
Lord, help us
to live for you,
to use what you have
given us
to honor you,
to serve you,
and to serve others.
Help us to love you
and to love our neighbor
as ourselves.
And so live faithfully
as your disciples
in this world.
We pray it in Jesus' name.
Amen.