Luke 12:13-34, 41-48
13 Then someone called from the crowd, "Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me."
14 Jesus replied, " Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that? "
15 Then he said, " Beware! Don’t be greedy for what you don’t have. Real life is not measured by how much we own. "
16[And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. [yielded plentifully-NKJV]
17He thought to himself, ’What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
18"Then he said, ’This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.
19And I’ll say to myself, "[Self,] You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." ’
20"But God said to him, ’You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’]
21 " Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God. "
22 Then turning to his disciples, Jesus said, " So I tell you, don’t worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food to eat or clothes to wear.
23 For life consists of far more than food and clothing.
24 Look at the ravens. They don’t need to plant or harvest or put food in barns because God feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than any birds!
25 [Can any of you add a [foot] to his height by worrying?]
26 And if worry can’t do little things like that, what’s the use of worrying over bigger things?
27 " Look at the lilies and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are.
28 And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won’t he more surely care for you? You have so little faith!
29 And don’t worry about food—what to eat and drink. Don’t worry whether God will provide it for you.
30 [Only people who don’t know God are always worrying about such things], but your Father already knows your needs.
31 [But seek God’s kingdom, and all the other things you need will be given to you.]
32 " So don’t be afraid, little flock. For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom.
33 " Sell what you have and give to those in need. This will store up treasure for you in heaven! And the purses of heaven have no holes in them. Your treasure will be safe—no thief can steal it and no moth can destroy it.
34 [For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.]
48 "Much is required from those to whom much is given, and much more is required from those to whom much more is given."
[compiled from the following:
New Living Translation, New International Version, The Holman Christian Standard Bible, The Contemporary English Version, New Century Version]
Mine, Mine, Mine!
November 17, 2002
Text: Luke 12:13-34, 48 Read: vss 13-23
Introduction: Bumper Sticker: "I owe, I owe. It’s off to work I go."
Difficulty of "keeping up"
Feeling cheated
1. Situation
Background: cultural/ historical
at issue: wanting more (greed)
2. Parable (summary & commentary)
The fool’s little world is summarized by two words: "more? and "me.?
A little over a decade ago before the Enron debacle, insider-trading arrests were the biggest business news. A man named Dennis Levine disclosed how he and his famous partner Ivan Boesky traded illegally with the information they had as insiders, buying and then selling stocks of companies in soon-to-be-announced announced mergers.
Levine later explained to Fortune magazine (5/21/90) in an exclusive interview: "People always ask, ‘Why would somebody who’s making over $1 million a year start trading on inside information??At each new levels of success I set higher goals, imprisoning myself in a cycle from which I saw no escape. If I was making $100,000 a year, I thought, I can make $200,000. And if I make $1 million, I can make $3 million."
The first folly of greed is a craving, an ambition, and a demand for more and more things, goods, and property- more than what we need. It has been said, "Money is a good servant, but a bad master." Greedy person can never have enough of physical or material things. They think of making more money, creating more wealth, and becoming more prosperous. They dream of money in their sleep, bring up money in their conversation, and believe that money talks, money makes money, and money makes the devil his employee. The void in their heart becomes a hole and, if unchecked, a crater. Note that the rich man was already a well-off landowner before the land yielded its crop.
[Http://www.sermoncentral.com. Much Ado About Nothing by Victor Yap.]
Solon
[Http://www.auburn.edu/~downejm/sp/alpecon.html. Http://www.usask.ca/antharch/cnea/Depttrans/S/Solon.html. Http://www.usask.ca/antharch/cnea/CourseNotes/SolonNotes.html#frg6ref2.]
Solon-6th Century BC
-Athenian statesman
-commissioned to draft new constitution
-determined first the problem with old system
*Koros–Hybris–Ate
When blessing come (wealth) Koros-satiety (full in excess)
Hybris-violent arrogance
Ate-state of making violent mistakes
Ill-CEO scandals
Ill-Titanic, boats left half full
3. Lesson
A. Wealth Is Allocated By God
Fertile Ground vs 16
False to assume we control it
vss 24-28 24 "Look at the ravens. They don’t need to plant or harvest or put food in barns because God feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than any birds!
25 [Can any of you add a [foot] to his height by worrying?]
26 And if worry can’t do little things like that, what’s the use of worrying over bigger things?
27 " Look at the lilies and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are.
28 And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won’t he more surely care for you? You have so little faith!"
At issue the big question "why do some get rich, but others don’t?"
Ill-TV adds, infomercials-schemes to get rich
Q-Have you ever seen a bird work? What about a flower?
B. To not recognize this, to not trust (ie. to fear), is to lack faith
vss 28b-30a 28b "You have so little faith!
29 don’t worry about food—what to eat and drink. Don’t worry whether God will provide it for you.
30 [Only people who don’t know God are always worrying about such things]"
Draws contrast-obedient people trust;
people who don’t know God don’t trust.
As Christians we need to lead by confidence
C. Not worrying about non-essentials–to be freed from anxiety–enables us to focus on what’s really important
vs 31a 31 "But seek God’s kingdom"
How much time do we waste in vain pursuits rather than in Kingdom affairs?
D. God, as our heavenly Father, will take care of the essentials
vss 30b-32 30b "your Father already knows your needs.
31 [But seek God’s kingdom, and all the other things you need will be given to you.]
32 "So don’t be afraid, little flock. For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom."
As parents we wouldn’t send our child out unprotected, hungry, naked, in need
-Matthew 7:9-11
If we who are evil care so much for our children, how much more will our Heavenly Father care for us?
E. Stewardship is not about how well I manage my possessions (wealth) for my own benefit, but rather how well I have used it to advance the Kingdom.
False lessons of the past; sermons about how to manage resources for our benefit, but not for God’s Kingdom
-True stewardship is about managing for God’s Kingdom
vss 33-34 33 " Sell what you have and give to those in need. This will store up treasure for you in heaven! And the purses of heaven have no holes in them. Your treasure will be safe—no thief can steal it and no moth can destroy it.
34 [For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.]"
Ill-Valerie example
Finds coins and first designates them as Emery’s or Jeremy’s.
Puts herself last.
Ill-We typically get our paycheck/ pension and first designate: rent/mortgage, utilities, vehicle(s), insurance, et.
-what comes next after these is tithes
-when someone comes to us in need we say we have no money
Q-what gave us these bills in the first place? Our greed.
We need food, clothing, shelter, and in America with urban sprawl, we need a vehicle, but we determine the size of home, the quality of the house, the luxury of the vehicle.
-Imagine how much could be saved if we would merely adjust our thermostat a few degrees and merely added a few layers in the winter and fans in the summer? We wouldn’t be as comfortable, but we could probably save $10 to $50 per month. For merely $10 per month you can feed a child through a Nazarene sponsorship program. But it’s much easier to live comfortably at home miles away from some starving child in a country you’ve probably never even heard of. It’s much easier to spend 50¢ a day for a can of coke to satisfy our thirst than it is to spend 33¢ a day to feed someone in need.
Conclusion: 48 "Much is required from those to whom much is given, and much more is required from those to whom much more is given."
