INTRO: Thought: How many possessions does a man need?
Tolstoy writes a story about a man who lived in Russia who worked for and finally accumulated 1300 acres. His passion was to accumulate land. A stranger came by one day and told him about land in the East where you could have what you could walk around.
So the man set out to discover this. He looked a long time until he finally found the place and he met with the tribal chief. The chief told him it was true. You would give him 1,000 rubles and you can have as much land as you can walk. Run, because you must make it back to the chief before the sun sets or you lose everything.
So early the next morning Bahome got up, met the chief before sunrise, and gave him the money. He started running with his shovel right as the sun came up. He ran and walked. Just as he thought about turning, he got to the top of a hill and saw a beautiful stream and determined he needed that. So he went farther until he knew he needed to turn so he dug out some dirt to make a hole to show a boundary. Then he turned with sweat poring down his brow. He tried to quicken his pace because he thought he maybe went too far. As he ran he noticed it was late in the day. On and on he went until he couldn’t take anymore so he stopped, dug another hole, and turned again. Feeling his heart pounding, his ears plugged, his lungs burning, he kept up his pace. To his horror he noticed the sun was close to setting so he pushed himself all the harder until he could see the chief watching from a distance and cheering him on.
The sun went down when he only had a few hundred yards left so he stopped in frustration but he could see the chief still cheering him on. He suddenly realized the chief was on a hill, the sun hadn’t set yet for him. Bahome took off in a dead heat sprint with everything he had left.
Just as the sun was setting Bahome dived to touch the cap where the money was placed. The chief laughed and said what a fine piece of property. The men rolled Bahome over to congratulate him only to discover he was dead.
All the land that Bahome ended with was a piece of property 6’ x 3’—enough land to bury his body.
Question: How many possessions does one need?
Review: We’ve been going through a series called "The Beauty and the Beast." Simply, money can either be a beauty that we can serve or a beast that will control us.
-In order to defeat the beast we’ve been looking at some fairy tales or myths that can so easily enslave us if we believe in them.
1St Fairy Tale: "More will be enough." Somehow if I can get more it will bring happiness into my home.
2nd Fairy Tale: "Character does not matter." This is the idea that the use of money has nothing to do with character.
TS: The 3rd fairy tale we will look at: "Possessions are powerless."
Thought: Some folks might have thought, as I’ve been preaching through this series, ’Oh, come on, Pastor,
money is just a piece of paper I use to buy and sell goods. Money is not a monster.’
I would say you need to be aware that within our money there can either be a beauty or a beast.
Example: For those of us who are parents, we know the difficulty task when children are scared of the "monster" under the bed or in the closet. You get up to show them no one is there, tuck them in again, and they are still afraid. I say it is a far more difficult task to teach people a monster does exist in our money. Unless we acknowledge the beast and take steps against it, we can end up like the man we will look at today.
TITLE: Beauty and the Beast – Part 3
TEXT: Luke 12:13-21
Time and time again Jesus taught possessions are powerful; they are not powerless. Possessions have a power to make a bid for our hearts, wooing us, tantalizing us, beckoning us; all the while we’re being drawn into its web. Unless we are aware that possessions are powerful, we can become like the man in this parable.
I. Background. Jesus was ministering with his disciples and a man in the crowd interrupted him to ask him to solve a family problem. Rabbis were expected to help settle family matters.
A. Why didn’t Jesus get involved? Because he knew that no answer he could give would solve the real problem. That problem was covetousness in the hearts of the two brothers.
1. As long as both men were greedy, no settlement would be satisfactory. What they needed was a heart change.
-Like too many people today, they wanted Jesus to serve them but not to save them.
TS: Jesus tells a parable.
II. Parable of the rich fool.
A. God blesses (v. 16). The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop.
1. It was God who gave the increase. God blessed him.
2. Question: What did this man want to do with the increase God gave him? Pour it back into his operation.
-We need to understand that this man was rich. He was not a poor man trying to make a living—he was rich.
B. This man saw his wealth as an opportunity to please himself. (There are 11 personal pronouns in the story.)
1. V. 19b, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy, eat, drink, and be merry."
-This is the American Dream. Jesus says, "You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you."
-The man lived without God and died without God.
2. Jesus gives us a warning: This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself and is not rich toward God.
TS: Let me speak about how the money beast attacks us.
III. How the money beast works.
A. The money beast wants to dominate us with empty promises. It makes promises it cannot keep.
1. The illusion this man had was to build bigger and get more so he could take life easy.
-Isn’t that the American Dream—work in the salt mine, put away, save enough and you can enjoy life. The more you make, the easier life will be.
2. Why are we so susceptible to these empty promises?
-We are creatures of worship. We are created to worship and money is an attractive thing on the outside.
3. You think possessions are powerless—then why do so many people tie their net worth to their self worth?
Truth: Jesus says (v.15c), "A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
B. The money beast also blinds us to the liabilities of wealth.
1. The text tells us this man was rich. But I’ll bet if you asked him, he wouldn’t think he was rich. (That’s why he felt he needed more.)
2. If I were to ask you if you are rich (speaking about money), probably not one of us would say we are.
-But from the world standpoint, all of us are when we realize our garbage disposals eat better than 30% of the world does.
-We are rich from a biblical perspective (we have food, clothing, and shelter).
Examples: $450 billion is spent on groceries.
$670 billion is spent on legalized gambling.
-We have money enough to spend foolishly.
3. Do you realize wealth can choke out the word of God if unchecked? (Proverbs 30:8-9, Matthew 13:22)
-The parable of the sower. Matthew 13:22c, "But the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it [the word], making it unfruitful."
4. Wealth, according to Paul, can give us a false sense of security. Just like the rich fool Jesus tells about, he was building bigger and feeling secure but in reality his life was coming to a close.
-Jesus did not see this farmer enjoying life. He saw him facing death.
5. Think about the liabilities of wealth.
-The more you make—the longer hours you put in, the more responsibility—more money; but more hours away from family and things of God.
-This is why Jesus spoke more about money and possessions than about heaven and hell combined.
-Throughout the entire Bible, there are 500 verses on prayer and faith and 2000 verses dealing with money and possessions.
Truth: Money always has the potential of being a spiritual liability.
a. If I do word association—I say money or possessions, what comes to your mind? Fun, entertainment, easy street, throw in whatever group—you have a spiritual indicator (spiritual health).
-Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Russia’s most famous dissident who spent time in the Russian Gulag and found God there, writes: "We always pay dearly for chasing after what is cheap, no exceptions."
In Conclusion:
Money and possessions are powerful. We as Christians need to keep them in the proper perspective so they don’t choke out our spiritual life or shipwreck our faith as the Bible warns.
-I challenge you to have the Spirit of God to shine in your heart and reveal to you what you care more about. Is it money or God, what do you actions show, what do your words tell you, what does your imagination dream about, what do you think about?
-Friends, it’s a subtle beast that will rule your life if you’re not careful.
-A way to help keep the beast at bay is by giving (being generous). [Take second offering.]
