Being Rich In God - The Parable Of The Rich Fool Series

Dr. Bradford Reaves

CrossWay Christian Fellowship

Hagerstown, MD

www.mycrossway.org

We come now to our second parable in our study of the parables of Jesus. And I chose to make this the 2nd of our study, after our study of the Soils, because they really go hand in hand. In your life, this world and our eternity will be at odds with each other, preparing us for our life to come. But the Bible makes it clear: what we do here on earth will have tremendous bearing on our eternal life.

Context is important. It is good for to remind you of what was going on in the ministry of Jesus. If you think back to the Sermon on the Mount, much of what Jesus was preaching about was countering the false propaganda fed by the Pharisees and Scribes. The crowds described in verse 1 that are following Jesus are huge. Some are looking for Jesus to be their Messiah, some are looking for a revolutionary, some are looking for miracles, and some are hungry to learn what Jesus is talking about with the approaching Kingdom of God.

There is a portion of these crowds that Luke identifies as disciples. The word used to describe these people or matethes, which simply means “learners.” These are distinct from the 12 disciples who followed closely after Jesus. But these are people who are trying to arrive at a conclusion. And this is who Jesus directs this parable And much of his teaching toward.

Much of what we find in Jesus’ teaching is a warning. Often we find Jesus using the word “beware” as we find in verse 1 where he says “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.” Beware of false religion and false teachers.

This morning, we look again at a similar warning from Jesus where he says in verse 15, “Beware of the greed that is in your heart.” I think Jesus is zeroing in on the things that will blacken and damn your soul. The one is in the spiritual realm. The other is focused on the material realm. Wealth, possessions, covetousness, and materialism (or the pursuit thereof) will steal your soul from God just as quickly as false religion.

What is interesting is how closely both of these realms collide with each other. Where you find false teaching and false teachers, you find it exorbitant greed. If you want to look at whether someone is a false teacher, all you have to do is follow the money. Luke 16:14: “The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him.”

And so in this morning's passage, Jesus really lays it out: You are going to be a person who invests your treasure for yourself, or you will be rich in God by laying up treasure in heaven. But it is objectively impossible for both. And we live in a world, especially here in the West, that is abhorrently greedy. Staggering amounts of wealth and materialism surround us. We are consumers being consumed by our consumption.

The Setup

Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14 But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15 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 his possessions.” (Luke 12:13–15)

Whenever I study a passage in the Bible, I always look at context first. This is fundamental to good inductive Bible study. And so before Jesus tells us the parable of the rich fool, we find an unusual situation. Remember, Jesus is teaching the crowds, and he's been teaching about the distinction of living in the Kingdom of God. When suddenly, out of the crowd comes a voice who seems to blurt out, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” (v.13 ).

Now, we don't know much about this man, but he's not that hard to figure out. He is the quintessential materialist. He has no interest in the spiritual things at all. He has no interest in what Jesus is talking about as far as the Kingdom of Heaven goes. He just wants to get to Jesus to settle his own greed.

In fact, notice that he doesn't even ask Jesus for advice. Rather, he's giving Jesus a command, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family and heritage. Here we have a man who simply wants to wield Jesus's power to get his own way. He represents the people who see God as a convenience for themselves. That is, they have no interest in the Kingdom. They have no interest in honoring God. Their only interest is the benefits they can receive.