Scripture: Luke 12:13-21 and Colossians 3:1-17
Title: Just Thinking Like Jesus
Proposition: In answering the young man's question concerning his inheritance Jesus focuses on two deep truths: 1. Who we are is more important that what we possess 2. We are to worship the Creator and not the Creation
INTRO:
Grace and peace from God our Father and from His Son Jesus Christ who came to take away the sin of the world.
Our passage this morning focuses on a conversation that occurres between Jesus and a young man who is up in arms about his inheritance. From what Luke shares we can quickly surmise that there must have been some heated disagreement concerning the distribution of some money/possessions going on between two certain brothers after the death of their parents (verse 13).
It is safe to assume that the man who is asking Jesus the question felt like he was being taken advantage. He believed that his brother was taking more than he was allowed or else the young man wanted Jesus to step in and change the current inheritance rules towards his favor. In either case it appears that the younger brother was unhappy with the whole situation and felt like he was being cheated by his sibling.
As Americans, we live in a secular society in which disagreements and situations like this are usually handled by lawyers, courts and judges. For example, if you have a disagreement concerning a matter over an estate or probate and you feel like you are being cheated then you are encouraged to retain the services of a Probate Litigation Lawyer. Then, if your lawyer or legal team cannot settle the matter in a reasonable fashion, the matter then goes to a court of law where a judge and/or juror will finally decide the case.
However, in Jesus' time, at least among the more orthodox Jews, it was believed that such cases should be settled by the members of the Jewish clergy. Ancient Israel had been founded on the principles of a theocratic government. That means that they had a "form of government in which God (or other deity) is recognized as the king or supreme ruler, and his/her laws are taken as the law book of the kingdom." Ancient Jews believed that the LORD and His Laws should form as the foundation of God's People. We see those laws spelled out in various areas of the Torah2. The Levites, priests and later on the rabbis were seen as God's agents on earth. If one had a problem or an issue they did not go to a secular lawyer, court or judge, instead, they would either go to the Temple or they would consult a renowned Levite, priest or rabbi. Whatever these religious men would say would hold more power and authority than any secular lawyer, judge or court.
Today, we see this type of theocratic government still being used in places like the Holy See of Rome, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Tibet. While there are secular laws in each place, Holy Law is seen to supersede secular law. The greatest example of a theocratic government of course is seen in Iran (ancient Persia) where the highest political and religious ruler is the Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei. The Ayatollah's interpretation of Sharia Law (law according to Allah) triumph's any secular law. The Ayatollah is seen as Allah's representative here on earth and his word is final.
We know from reading the Old Testament that there were some regulations already in place that controlled such cases as this young man brought to Jesus (Numbers 27:1-11; Deut. 21:15-17). This was not the first time family members had hassled over some furniture and some dishes. However, it seems that this particular man was hoping that Jesus would use his rabbinical authority to either challenge those rules or supersede them with his own ruling. He was appealing to Jesus in his capacity as a rabbi to end the dispute and settle the difference between him and his brother. He was hoping that Jesus would of course rule in his favor and in the end he would end up with more bits and pieces.
I believed Jesus surprised him with his attitude. Jesus declined the invitation to be a referee. Jesus did not want to get into a hassle involving the distribution of furniture, dishes, silverware, house, land and money. Jesus refused to be drawn into choosing sides especially when he began to smell the aroma of covetousness, greed and materialism.
It is here that we get to the heart of our passage. Before Jesus shares with us the parable of the Rich Fool, he makes a blanket statement that everyone hearing him and reading this story later was suppose to hear and heed. Jesus issues a stern warning not to allow covetousness, materialism and greed to come in and destroy their lives. He tells everyone that they must "be on guard" when it comes to the constant temptation of covetousness, materialism and greed. Unchecked these three things will destroy our lives, our relationship with others and most importantly our relationship with the LORD God Almighty. They have the ability to cast our souls in Hell. In the young man's case we just read about those three things were already destroying the relationship between him and his brother.
Covetousness, materialism and greed have been and will always be constant threats to all of us who want to live holy lives. They are excellent tools that the Devil uses to enslave our souls. Covetousness of course is such a dangerous threat that we see that the LORD included it in His Ten Commandments.
"You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything else that is your neighbor's." (Exodus 20:17)
Covetousness and its offspring called materialism and greed became part of the messages of the Prophets Micah (Micah chapter 2) and Malachi (chapter 3) in the Old Testament. Both prophets of God believed that the sin of covetousness would lead to the downfall of the nation of Israel. They did their best to warn their people but in the end the people of God allowed covetousness, greed and materialism to take over their hearts and lives. And by doing so they hastened the downfall of their nation.
In reading Paul's letters to the Early Church we might be amazed at the amount of time he spends teaching and preaching on these same subjects. Paul understood all too well the dangers of covetousness, materialism and greed. He sends great warnings about each of them to the disciples of Jesus in Rome, Colossae and Ephesians (Romans 1:29; Colossians 3:5; Ephesians 5:5).
All of this tells us that the temptation to covet, the temptation to become greedy and to focus on materialism is both timeless and universal. Coveting is one of those temptations that we all have to constantly be on guard.
Why? Why do we have to be careful? What's the big deal? The Bible tells us that covetousness has the demonic ability to destroy our relationship with one another and our relationship with the LORD. All one has to do is to remember the story of Cain and Abel. Cain coveted Abel's relationship with the LORD. He coveted the offerings that Abel gave before the LORD. He allowed his coveting to lead him to anger which led to murder. More than once Jesus reminded his listeners in the New Testament of the danger of allowing money, possessions and things to get between them and the LORD. (Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13)
There's an old, old, old story, widely traveled, about a hermit who stumbled onto a cave in which he discovered an enormous treasure. The hermit, being old and wise, realized what he had discovered and immediately took to his heels and ran from the cave as fast as he could. But as he was running, he came upon three outlaws who stopped him and inquired why he was running so fast. "I'm fleeing the Devil!" he said. Curious, they said, "Show us." Protesting all the way, he took them to the cave where he had found the enormous treasure. "Here," said the hermit, "is death which was running after me." Well, the three thought the old man was demented and quickly got rid of him. Rejoicing in their new-found treasure, they determined that one of them should go and bring back some supplies in case someone else might happen on their treasure. One volunteered, thinking to himself that while in town he would poison the food and kill his buddies and have the treasure all to himself. However, while he was away, the other two were thinking similar thoughts as well! They plotted to kill their buddy as soon as he returned and divide the spoils between them. Instead of it being a three way split it would be a two-way split with each man getting a little more. Upon returning they ambushed their friend and murdered him. Rejoicing over their success, they settled down to eat the food their friend had brought them. But as they soon discovered their banquet turned out to be a funeral feast. Their friend had the last laugh as the poison he had laced their food hit their stomachs. All three men left the treasure as they found it. All three died because of the sin of covetousness, materialism and greed. The hermit had been right - the sin of covetousness lurks everywhere and in the end it brings only broken promises and death.1
Jesus warns this young man by sharing with him two key eternal truths. It is these two key truths that I would like for us to look at this morning. For if we can keep these two key truths in front of us at all times then we will never find ourselves being overtaken and enslaved by the temptation of covetousness, materialism and greed.
I. The first truth we find in verse 15 right before Jesus shares the Parable of the Rich Fool
"A MAN'S LIFE DOES NOT CONSIST IN THE ABUNDANCE OF HIS POSSESSIONS"
In other words, Jesus wants all of us to know that what we have is not who we are. Did you get that? What you have is not who you are. That means as followers of Jesus we are not defined by our possessions nor are we to define others by their possessions - whether we or they have a lot of possessions or no possessions.
When you really study the whole life of Jesus, you realize that Jesus was a social revolutionary. Jesus loved to shake up society and its rules. For example, when Jesus healed the sick he did more than merely take away a person's pain and suffering. He healed those who society had or was being to marginalize or cast away. He healed them bringing them back into the flow of society.
In Matthew chapter five we see Jesus blessing people whom society at that time considered to be unblessed and unblessable. Who looks up to the poor in heart, those who are mourning or those who are being persecuted? Well, Jesus does! And he did even more as we see that Jesus uplifted children and blessed them when most of society saw them only as liabilities. Many didn't want anything to do with children because they were afraid it would cost them more than they thought children were worth.
The Gospels tell us that Jesus constantly reached out to women whom society viewed as outcasts or pariah. Jesus sits by them near water wells, allows them to wash his feet and rescues them from those who wanted to abuse and/or murder them. Jesus welcomed all those who society saw as sinners, outcasts, thieves and trouble makers.
Story after story we see that Jesus seemed to love it when he upset all the apple carts of his society. He didn't care if you possessed great power, great wealth or great position. He didn't care if you were a part of the Holy Club or the lowest member of the Sinner Club. Jesus simply came to redeem, renew and restore everyone into the image of God.
He wanted people to know that what they possessed is not who they were. He wanted people to understand that their truth worth in life was not what was on their financial balance sheet. People were to be seen more than the amount of wealth they either possessed or did not possess. People were to be more than the power, beauty, intelligence or social graces that society had placed on them. Jesus wanted people to know that they were more than the physical - they were spiritual beings.
He expressively punctuates this reality in Luke 21:1-4 where we find the story of Jesus with the Poor Widow. All around them were people of great power, position and wealth. They all had come to the Temple to put in their great offerings. People would watch as they dropped coin after coin after coin calling attention to themselves. With each ring of the coins as they hit the bottom of the box the people standing around would be impressed.
Everyone that is except Jesus. Jesus was only impressed when he heard the clunk of two small copper coins. Coins whose net value today would be about 1-2 dollars. Jesus wasn't impressed with the amount of the offering but with the spirit of the widow. To Jesus the spiritual aspects of a person will always triumph the physical.
In Jesus' world (which is the only world that truly matters) it is not the amount of possessions or power or position that we appear to possess that is important. The story of Joseph in the book of Genesis shows us that in a matter of moments we can both lose and then regain our power, our position and even our possessions. What is important to Jesus is our hearts, our minds and our souls. While others were impressed with the amount of coinage the rich people were giving, Jesus was looking at the heart of the widow and to Jesus she was the greatest giver that day. To Jesus - SPIRIT always triumphs PHYSICAL.
I wish we could testify that after 2,000 years of studying, preaching and sharing the message of Jesus that the Church of Jesus and the world at large no longer has a problem with covetousness, materialism or greed. But sadly, that is not the case. Even after all we have learned from Jesus, we still tend to judge people by what they have and not who they are. We still tend to judge people according to their material worth and not their spiritual worth. We even tend to believe the people who have the most are somehow superior to those who have very little or nothing.
We need to tattoo Jesus' words across our hearts and our minds - "A man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." We need to take these words to heart for they will help us to stay clear of greed, materialism and covetousness.
II. Secondly, Jesus reminds of a 2nd great eternal truth - We are to love the Creator and not the Creation
This Rich Man that Jesus speaks of in his parable does not appear to be an evil person. There is nothing in the story that tells us that the man either stole the land or mistreated his workers. There is nothing concerning any criminal activity or sinful actions at all.
Instead, we read how the man was successful (verse 16) , diligent (verse 17) and a careful planner (verses 18-19). We read how this man was blessed by the soil (16). We read how the LORD provided him with a bountiful harvest. The sun, the water, the soil and the seed have all come together to give him a crop beyond his imagination.
So, why then does the LORD call this man a fool? Why does the LORD call him a fool when all the while the LORD has blessed him beyond measure?
I believe that Lord tells us that this man is a fool because
HE HAS CHOSEN TO WORSHIP THE CREATION RATHER THAN THE CREATOR
+He has chosen to live completely for himself and to himself
+He has chosen to decide what he needs to do by talking only to himself and planning by himself - everything is inward
+He has chosen to congratulate himself for all his good fortunes
+He has chosen to focus on the things of creation rather than on His creator
Jesus wants us to understand that the Devil is very crafty. If the Devil can get us to focus on the things of this earth or on ourselves then he will be able to take our hearts and minds off of the things of the LORD. At that point we are only a few steps away from being enslaved by sin. This is why Paul is careful in teaching the Colossians to think God's way. He tells them in chapter three - "Since you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God." Paul wants them to focus on God and not all the stuff that is around them. He knows if they focus on what is around them they too will fall into the sins of covetousness, materialism and greed.
Now, we know this morning that the LORD doesn't want us to be poverty stricken. If that was what the LORD wanted then in a few days and months without rain everyone on the planet would be poverty stricken. And if that is what we think this passage teaches then we have missed its central message.
Jesus doesn't want us to fall into the temptation of living a life in which our possessions end up dictating our lives and becoming our god. Jesus doesn't want our possessions to cause us to live a life of anxiety. He doesn't want the things of the world to enslave us. And he certainly doesn't want us to gain the whole world and lose our salvation.
Jesus doesn't want us to become over concerned with ourselves and our own needs. He doesn't want us to believe that everything must revolve around us and our wants, wishes and self-perceived needs. He doesn't want us to fall victim to thinking that it is all about what we have or don't have and he doesn't want us to fall victim to an earthly mentality.
This man begin to think that life was all about him and his earthly needs. Notice how many times in these few verses we find the word "I"
I do I have I'll do I will I will I'll say
At least six times and if we include the other times he refers to himself we have eight times in three verses that this man focuses on himself. That is exactly what covetousness, materialism and greed will do to us - it will cause us to turn inward and focus only on ourselves. It will cause us to be more concerned that others are taking care of us than we are taking care of others. It will cause us to be more concerned that we are being loved than we are loving others.
This man because of this one crop also decided that he would change his whole life. He would tear down barns, he would build newer ones and would then spend the rest of his life living off of this one crop. He would dismiss his workers ( he wouldn't need them anymore) and enjoy what life could bring him.
Immediately we may say what is wrong with that? That sounds like the American dream. That sounds like the life.
What is wrong with that is that this man's focus was no longer on depending on the LORD. He would depend solely on what he possessed.
What is wrong with that is his focus was no longer in helping out others. His focus was inward and selfish.
What is wrong with that is his focus became only what this he could get, enjoy and live on.
What is wrong with that is this man whom the Bible calls a Fool placed his goods and his needs above the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY. He no longer needed God, after all he had his riches. Who needs God when life is abundantly good?
What is wrong with that is the man totally disregarding the needs of others.
I believe that what Jesus wants to remind us in this passage is that when God blesses us:
+We are to abundantly praise the LORD - we are to lift up our hands, our hearts and our spirits in praise. We are to surrender everything to the LORD!
+We are to watch out for covetousness, materialism and greed coming through the back door
+We are to use what the LORD gives us to not simply over meet our needs but to co-partner with Him to meet the needs of others. We are to understand that we are responsible for others welfare as Christ followers.
The LORD didn't give the man extra nor does He give us extra for us to store it up and become a hoarder. The Lord gave him and us extra at times so that we can in turn give to others who are in need. The Rich Man's barns were already big enough. His life was already satisfying. It was time for him to share and give to others. It was time for him to be rich in the LORD and co-partner with God in transforming the world.
This morning, Jesus challenges us to be rich towards God which means that we are to respond to our blessings and to this life by living in a way which pleases the LORD. It doesn't mean that we can not have things. This man was greatly blessed by the LORD. It does mean that things should not have us. It does mean that we shouldn't worship creation over the Creator.
It does mean that we are not to allow things to pile up. It does mean that we are to not allow things to just be for our personal use only. It does mean that our things should not rob God nor should they rob us of time with God. If we are not careful our possessions rob us of peace of mind and they rob us of time with the LORD. We are too busy enjoying all the pleasures they bring that we forget to worship, read our Bibles or spend time in prayer. When we do that we are in the wrong and we are sinning.
Once again this morning Jesus leaves us a little unsettled. I believe that Jesus wants us to struggle with this passage. He seeks for us to have to come to Him with our thoughts and feelings concerning our riches, possessions, power and positions.
He wants us to struggle with the issues of generosity verses hoarding. He wants us to struggle with what we should have verses what we should give.
No human being can tell someone else what they should be giving or how much they should be giving. In order to know that we must go to the LORD - we must go to the LORD with obedient hearts and listening ears.
We do know that the tithe is the floor to what we should return to the LORD but the tithe is never to be what we give to others. If we believe that by tithing we are in fact giving to others then according to the Bible all we are doing is robbing God. The tithe is the LORD's. Giving to others and meeting the need of others goes beyond God's tithe. Giving to others is when we give out of our increase to meet the needs of others. That is when we are co-partnering with the LORD in transforming the lives of others.
That was what the LORD was wanting from the Rich Man. He had a chance to be such a blessing to others. It's what Jesus was trying to teach the young man at the beginning of our passage. He like the Rich Man was only focusing on what He could possess. They both saw their worth in material possessions than in spiritual possessions. They both wanted to worship things of this world than have their minds and hearts on heavenly things.
Jesus tried to teach this young man the dangers of covetousness, materialism and greed.
Jesus tried to teach him that who we are is far more important than what we possess or don't possess.
Jesus tried to teach him that true living is worshiping the Creator and not the creation.
Jesus wants us to learn these truth as well today:
1. "A MAN'S LIFE DOES NOT CONSIST IN THE ABUNDANCE OF HIS POSSESSIONS"
2. WE ARE TO WORSHIP OUR CREATOR AND NOT CREATION
This is the message of the LORD today for God's People. Praise be to the LORD!
1 Story adapted from (http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1324&context=lts_fac_pubs)
2 The majority of these laws can be found in the book of Exodus and Leviticus. Also in the 613 Laws or Commandments. You can find these laws spelled out here - http://www.jewfaq.org/613.htm
