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WHOSE IS IT ANYWAY?
February 10, 2008 Jay Davis Robison LUKE 12:13-31
Have I got a stock tip for you
For 6 yrs running, voted Most Innovative among Fortune mag’s
Most Admired Companies revenues of over $100 billion
7th largest company on fortune 500 but announced $618 M loss
It collapsed shares went from $80 to less an $1
Enron publicity machine hid poor business practices\accounting
conned unknowing employees, & investors of their money.
Lives were shattered because $$ powerful thing
Most of the world’s major religions and philosophies talk of $$
Native American "Miserable as we seem in thy eyes, we consider
ourselves much happier than thou, in this, that we are very content
with the little that we have." (Micmac chief)
Buddhist Whoever overcomes his selfish cravings, his sorrows fall
away like drops of water from a lotus flower. (Dhammapada, 336)
Ancient Greek "Nothing in Excess." (Inscribed at Oracle of Delphi)
Hindu "That person who lives completely free from desires, without
longing… attains peace." (Bhagavad-Gita, II.71)
Islamic "Poverty is my pride." (Muhammad)
Jewish "Give me neither poverty nor riches." (Proverbs 30:8)
Taoist "He who knows he has enough is rich." (Tao Te Ching)
Jesus spent much of his time teaching about possessions
Luke 12 Jesus teaching several thousand people when one asks
1. Jesus will you REFEREE FOR ME?
Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." Vs 13 TNIV
Now as pastor deal with families after death
Often there is a battle over $$ and possessions
Issue here not moral but the real issue here was GREED
Jesus recognized here question was not fairness but greed
Responds Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed;
life does not consist in an abundance of possessions. Vs 15 TNIV
Most of us have our needs covered
Principle: Possessions DO NOT = LIFE life no defined by what have
Found in life when have something new feel on top of world at 1st
New shirt crisp smells new feel confident look now stain at lunch
New car drive smiling soon cost $$ or someone w\newer faster car
New house, well something went wrong and I had to fix it
Any new material possession wears out and if try to fill
Crying of our heart for significance when in US know
get something else but even that cannot fill us Jesus points to
2. The sin of AFFLUENZA
Affluenza is a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition
PBS special called it a dysfunctional relationship with $$ & wealth
Show said includes inability to delay gratification & face frustration
false sense of entitlement, loss future motivation self-absorbed,
workaholic rampant materialism & consumerism
People in all economic levels buy into belief $$ solves all problems.
Far from guaranteeing happiness, can destroy happiness,
or at least exacerbate existing problems.
Symptoms: DEBT, because happiness found in stuff
DOGGED PURSUIT OF MORE, next whatever
ACHE FOR MEANING, is heart of issue
FAMILIES SHATTERED, when all falls apart
By age 20, average American has seen one million commercials.
How much do you think million messages are balanced by messages
from the Bible like we’re hearing this morning?
Avg hour-long TV show has 20 min of commercials so watch 2 hrs,
indulge in affluenza must look at self not others.
Possessions do not mean affluenza attitude is difference.
To prove a point Jesus tells a story about a farmer
Now before we rant and rave on this guy
We’d want this farmer IN OUR CHURCH
He worked hard for all he had, not a big spender, not a thief
He’d been successful at financial planning
He did not obtain his money by unethical means.
He doesn’t seem to be a guy who’d take advantage of his friends
He wasn’t a loan shark or a shady lawyer or a dishonest merchant.
If he ever tried to hurt anyone, Jesus doesn’t mention it.
After all farming tough then as it is now to much rain or not enough
Guy wasn’t lazy & this one year he had a bumper crop of lifetime
Problems in the parable
Jesus is not condemning man for working hard & being successful.
Problem is not his outward success. Problem was in his heart.
And that’s what makes this story so tricky—& so universally true. This isn’t a parable about the dangers of being rich and successful. This is a parable the dangers of having the wrong kind of heart.
We may not all be rich, but all can have wrong heart 4 problems
HE DIDN’T GIVE GOD CREDIT FOR WHAT GOD HAD DONE
Jesus spoke of a man who rich, who’d honestly earned what he had. No problem but man saying to himself look what I have done
A lot of I me and my in there. Where was God in this picture?
God blessed him with a good crop free of blight and disease
farmer not giving God any credit for these things he had done.
GOD WAS LEFT OUT OF HIS PLANS
Farmer “what shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?”
I’ll pull down my barns and build bigger ones it was a prudent idea.
Problem is that he doesn’t acknowledge God as giver of barn
And no idea of what God would want him to do with crop
In all his plans, he has left God out.
HE SPENT HIS RESOURCES ONLY ON HIMSELF
I say to myself you’ve got is made eat, drink and be merry.
Bible does not discourage us from looking into the future, but as we
make our plans, in business, in relationships, or personal lives,
must do so from the perspective that ultimately God is in charge.
With this in mind, we plan with a humble heart, knowing
that God is with us…to help us and to strengthen us in all we do.
THE PRECIOUS TREASURE WENT TO THE WRONG PLACE
Man had big plans “God said ‘Fool! This night your soul will be
demanded of you; then what good will all do you?
In Bible, a fool is one who leaves God out of any consideration.
Psalm 14:1 “ The fool has said in his heart there is no God.”
This man living planning and enjoying as if no God
Biggest loss not the crop but the soul, you & I are spiritual beings
Made for relationship with God, w\out that we are fools
Understand this, nothing wrong with being successful, having things
Nothing wrong with planning God expects those things
How we think about our possessions that makes the difference.
And this is a struggle for all of us need to re-evaluate
Why so important? Result of affluenza
Charles Swindoll imagine shipwrecked man on a life raft in middle
of the ocean. His terrible thirst impels him to drink the salt water,
but it only makes him thirstier. Causes him to drink even more,
which makes him thirstier still. He consumes more & more of the salty water…until paradoxically, he becomes dehydrated & dies.
3. We are STEWARDS not OWNERS
Throughout the Bible over and over again told stewards not owners
Steward someone who takes care of something for someone else
God has given all we have to us trusting we’ll do it right
When you reap the harvest of your land, you will not reap to the
very edges of the field, nor will you gather the gleanings of the
harvest; nor will you strip your vineyard bare, nor pick up the
fallen grapes. You will leave them for the poor and the stranger.
I am Yahweh your God. (Leviticus 19:9-10 NJB)
Point was to share w\all members of the community.
Leaving the outside edges allowed those traveling to collect
w\enough food from the edges of the fields. While at the same time, it was allowing farmer to keep the rich part of his harvest.
We can DEPEND ON GOD
Our giving to God is based on the trust we have in God’s word
and God’s promises.
If we do not trust God, we will not be stewards he asks.
To make it clear, apply truths to life
Then He said to His disciples, “Therefore I say to you, do
not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the
body, what you will put on. 23 Life is more than food, and
the body is more than clothing Vs 22-23 NKJV
Message says far more to inner life than food
Look at birds carefree in the care of God Vs 28
Not foolish Norman and Melissa Cameron stopped making
payments on their Hartford, CN, house, Mortgage Association
began foreclosure proceedings. Camerons contacted Assn. Said
God told them stop making mortgage payments we wanted to be
free of this $54,000 debt, “Therefore, we asked God in the name
of Jesus Christ. He heard & freed us from this mortgage bondage.
Loan responded they will continue with the foreclosure until
they, too, are contacted by God.
We have to plan we have always in planning look to God first
Vs 29 don’t be so preoccupied with getting so you can respond
To God’s giving
Steep yourself in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Don’t be afraid of missing out. You’re my dearest friends! The Father wants to give you the very kingdom
Vs 31 Message
In my experience many believers, pass test of persecution,
But not the test of prosperity, takes faith to have a lot
And keep treasure in right place.
Watchman Nee we approach God like little children with open hands, begging for gifts. Because he is a good God, he fills our hands w\good things—life, health, friends, money, success, recognition, challenge, marriage, children, a nice home, a good job, all the things we can count when we count our blessings. So like children, we rejoice in what we have received & run around comparing what we have w\each other. When our hands are finally full, God says, “My child, I long to have fellowship with you. Reach out your hand & take my hand. But we can’t do it because our hands are full. “God, we can’t,” we cry. “Put those things aside and take my hand,” “No, we can’t. It’s too hard to put them down.” “But I am the one who gave them to you in the first place.” “O God, what you have asked for is too hard. Please don’t ask us to put these things aside.” And God answers quietly, “You must.”
The issue here is one of faith. Will we trust in God to provide? [Show dollar bill]. What does it say on our money? It says, “In God we trust.” Do you realize this dollar bill is really only worth the paper it is printed on and the ink it is printed with? It used to be that we had gold to back up all of our currency, but we have long since printed currency which surpasses our national treasury. Now it is only by the faith of the people that it is worth anything.
the average American……spends $1,350 per year for soda, …spends ~$1,100 per year for coffee and tea …spends ~$3,500 per year for beer, wine, and alcohol …give ~$14 per year to the hungry and homeless
Last week we looked at the world situation, and some of the numbers, like:
28 % of children in developing countries under age 5 are underweight because of malnourishment, An infant born in a developing nation is 10 times more likely to die at birth than in a developed nation. A mother is 32 times more likely to die during child birth in a developing nation. More than half the world’s children are suffering the effects of poverty, war and HIV/AIDS. UNICEF Annual Report, 2004
Global orphan population is projected to reach 106 million by 2010
• 15 million U.S. children live in poverty…
• 12 million U.S. children go to bed hungry every night…
• 7 million U.S. children are homeless…
• 4½ million U.S. children lack adequate medical treatment.
Mercedes fund giving so others can receive
Being a good steward
Hold Lightly what you value greatly
