Luke 12:13-21 & 1 Samuel 25:10-11
1 August 2010
West Fort Hood Community Chapel
U.S. Army Chaplain (MAJ) Ken Harris
Fort Hood Texas
BIG IDEA: Believers should avoid pressure and spiritual distractions coming from their Peers and Pop Culture to become materialistic because it leads to death.
REFERENCES: Luke 12:13-21 (NIV) The Parable of The Greedy Farmer; 1 Samuel 25:2-17 NIV (The story of Nabal & Abigail); 1 Samuel 25:10-11 NIV (Nabal answered David's servants, "Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?”); 1 Timothy 6:6-10 NIV (But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs); James 1:9-11 MSG (When down-and-outers get a break, cheer! And when the arrogant rich are brought down to size, cheer! Prosperity is as short-lived as a wildflower, so don't ever count on it. You know that as soon as the sun rises, pouring down its scorching heat, the flower withers. Its petals wilt and, before you know it, that beautiful face is a barren stem. Well, that's a picture of the "prosperous life." At the very moment everyone is looking on in admiration, it fades away to nothing.); Luke 16:1-15 (NIV) The Parable of the Shrewd Manger; Luke 16:19-31 (NIV) The Parable of The Rich Man and Lazarus – is another place where Luke addresses the disease of “possessionitis”; Deuteronomy 21:15-17 (NIV) The rights of the First-born;
I. ANNOUNCE THE PERICOPE: Luke 12:13-21 & 1 Samuel 25:10-11
II. READ THE PERICOPE: Luke 12:13-21 (NIV) & 1 Samuel 25:10-11 (NIV)
III. READ THE TEXT: Luke 12:15 (NIV) Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
&
1 Samuel 25:10-11 (NIV) Nabal answered David's servants, "Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?"
IV. PURPOSE: The purpose of this sermon is to motivate the hearers to avoid pressure from Peers and Pop Culture - to become materialistic - by placing more Trust in God.
V. SERMONIC THEME: “The Greedy Farmer”
INTRODUCTION:
My brothers and sisters our Old Testament reading in Hosea 11:1-7 and our New Testament reading in Colossians 3:1-11 reminds us all that while God is bent on helping us, many of us are bent on giving in to Peer Pressure and Chasing after Pop Culture Material Things.
For instance, in our culture (today) many of us are guilty and bent on shopping at Forever 21 and chasing after things like BMWs, Mercedes, i-Phones, Blackberries, Polo-Ralph Lauren Shirts, Abercrombie and Fitch T-shirts, and Lady Gaga’s Telephone Videos.
Quite frankly, many of us in the church today, like many un-churched, have possession-ni-tis.
We have to have THINGS! Therefore, I submit to you today that We – as a Body of Believers - need to do better. We need to avoid pressure which comes from our Peers and Pop Culture to become materialistic; and Place more Trust in God.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS ******
MOVE 1: One of the ICONS in POP Culture (today), or Post Modernism, is Madonna. In her song “Material Girl”, Madonna sings the following lyrics:
a. Some boys kiss me, some boys hug me.
I think they’re o.k.
If they don’t give me proper credit, I just walk away.
b. They can beg and they can plead
But they can’t see the light, that’s right
Cause the boy with the cold hard cash
Is always Mister Right, cause we are
c. (Chorus)
living in a material world
And I am a material girl
You know that we are living in a material world
And I am a material girl
d. Like many of our children, many parents have also bought into Possession-ni-tis.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS ******
MOVE 2: Today, the Good Book declares that Greed and the pursuit of Possessions constitute one of the greatest obstacles to spiritual growth.
a. We can have things; but things should NOT have us.
b. We shouldn’t place more focus on shopping and getting Rich than sharing God’s Work, giving of our Time and Talents, and congregating with other believers.
c. For who can ever forget the passage in 1 Timothy 6:6-10 (NIV) which says, “… godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs”.
d. Now, you may recall, in the Book of 1 Samuel 25:2-17 (NIV), there is a story about couple named of Nabal & Abigail.
****** TAKE 5 BEATS ******
MOVE 3: The Good Book says David moved to the Desert of Maon and found himself in dire circumstances.
a. But he thought about a certain named Nabal, who was extremely wealthy. In fact, the Good Book says Nabal had 1,000 goats and 3,000 sheep.
b. Appealing to his past protective attitude toward Nabal - David asked him for provisions to sustain him and his men in the wilderness.
c. But, in spite of all David and his men had done for Nabal, he with utter contempt, refused to help.
d. Needless to say this angered David so much that he took about 400 men with him to take by force what he wanted from Nabal.
e. In fact, had not been for the intervention of Abigail, Nabal’s Wife, Nabal would have been destroyed by David.
f. The Good Book says, in 1 Samuel 15, that Abigail learned about Nabal’s foolish reply from one of her servants and she avoided the disaster by privately meeting David’s requirement.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS ******
MOVE 4: The Bible says that David honored her request for “mercy”. When Abigail returned home, she found her husband drunk and “partying like a Rock-Star”.
a. So, she waited until he was sober, the next day, and shared with him all that had happen.
b. The Good book says that the thought of David and his warriors charging towards him – caused his to have a “heart attack and die”.
c. In our text, this morning, we find the Parable of Greedy Farmer who like Nabal was also foolish because he placed more focus on his possessions’ and pursuing after things that he forgot about God .
d. For in our New Testament Text, today, we find our Savior – Jesus Christ – teaching his disciples to watch-out and protect themselves against all kinds of greed.
e. In fact, the Good Book says, some wanted Jesus to instruct his brother to divide up their inheritance and give to him what he was rightfully due in an equitable manner.
f. Jesus took this opportunity to teach us all that in spite of what Pop Culture says “life does not consist of having lots of things and many possessions.
****** TAKE 5 BEATS ******
MOVE 5: Life as a believer is more important than material things.
a. To explain this teaching, Jesus told a parable about a Greedy Farmer who had Possession-nitis because he was set on building bigger and bigger barns to store all his grain and goods.
b. He had an attitude that an easy life would follow his possessions; because he would have everything he could possibly want or need.
c. God’s response was this man was (like Nabal) Foolish because he didn’t include God in his plans. And when he died his goods could do nothing for him.
d. His possessions simply became someone’s else’s.
****** TAKE 5 BEATS *****
CELEBRATION:
