TRUE OWNERSHIP
Text: Luke 12:13-21
This morning we begin a journey.
A journey that will take us in the direction of TRUE NORTH as we travel together over the next few weeks seeking God’s truth.
Our journey begins this morning by thinking about TRUE OWNERSHIP.
What comes to your mind when you hear the words TRUE OWNERSHIP?
Do you think about “who really owns things?”
Perhaps when you hear the words
TRUE OWNERSHIP
you might even think about, “where things COME FROM.”
Do you ever stop and really think about where things come from?
Let’s take a look.
PLAY MOVIE CLIP
Where do things come from
Milk comes from cows
Pearls come from Oysters
Babies come from the Stork (Right Jake)
I recently heard about an expectant mother who was rushed to the hospital upon arriving at the hospital to give birth the stress was too much and the woman fainted.
The woman didn’t immediately come to…
…and the doctor decided to go ahead with the delivery.
Even after twins (a boy and a girl had been safely delivered) the woman still did not come recover from her fainting.
Eventually After a short while she came to and was conscious alert and fine.
Immediately she noticed that she was no longer pregnant.
The doctor explained to her that she had been out of it for a while and that she had now had two beautiful twins… a boy and a girl.
The doctor said and because you were not conscious and your husband is overseas we took the liberty of letting your brother name the two children.
“Oh no”
thought the mother…”not my brother he is a nutcase”
She swallowed hard and asked the doctor
“So what did my brother name the children?”
“Well” said the doctor “he named your daughter, Denise”
The mother thought to herself “REALLY that is a beautiful name, I am quite shocked that he came up with such a fine name.”
“and what did he name the boy?” asked the mother.
To which the doctor said “He named your son Denephew”
Where do things come from?
Our text today as we think about TRUE OWNERSHIP is in LK chapter 12 but we would do well to remember what God’s word says to us in James chapter one …there it tells us where everything good comes from.
We are told in James 1:7 that
7 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights…
When we think about that verse it reminds us of the origin of all good things.
All good things come from God.
And If all good things come from God shouldn’t we agree that everything good that we have is because of God’s good grace toward us.
In LK chapter 12 Jesus was teaching to an immense crowd of people.
As a matter of fact so many had gathered to hear his teaching that the Bible says they were trampling on one another.
It must have looked a lot like our modern shopping centers on the day after Thanksgiving.
Just packs of people conglomerated together that day.
They were not there to shop or spend but they had gathered to hear the spiritual message that Christ was bringing to those who would hear and receive it.
Jesus had spoke that day on a number of hot topics.
In verse 1 He warned against hypocrisy (12:1),
In verses 2-3 we find that Jesus had spoken about the coming one day of God’s judgement and how everything will be revealed.
Jesus then spoke to other things such as a place called hell and the fact that some people can really end up there.
He spoke of the empowerment of God’s Holy Spirit in verse 12and how it teaches us what to say.
Then after Jesus has spoken about all these very important things a voice comes forth out of the crowd that makes a strange request.
A man speaks up and asks something sort of odd.
Let’s take a look at verse 13 and follow along with me as I read.
13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher,… tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
14 Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?”
15 Then Jesus (spoke to the crowd saying), “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop.
17 He 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.
19 And I’ll say to myself, “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 “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”
How does Jesus respond to this man’s somewhat rude and awkward request?
Jesus takes this man’s self focused request and transforms it into an important teaching moment for everyone.
The man’s request to Jesus was this
He said “tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
The man was captured by self-interest.
Jesus had just been talking about God and His Kingdom and yet the man’s request seems to indicate that he was either disinterested in everything Jesus had just said or that he was asleep while Jesus was speaking.
The focus of the man’s request was found at the end of his words.. …the last word of verse 13 if you notice the word there it is “ME.”
The man was asking Jesus to help HIM improve HIS assets when all the while what the man really needed Jesus to bring to help him discover a right attitude.
Now…..Attitude is all about the heart.
That is why Jesus said where your treasure is… there your heart will be also.
What is the treasure you want Christ to bring to you?
Is it Right Assets or Right Attitude.
Two men walk into a church one Sunday morning… one man has 10 dollars to his name the other has 10,000 dollars in each of his 5 savings accounts.
Here is the question…
“Which man can accomplish more for Christ and the Lord’s church?”
My answer to you is …
It depends ….
It depends on what….Assets?
NO!
It depends on Attitude!
The dividing line between God’s using you to accomplish great and wonderful things will be determined ALWAYS by your attitude not your assets.
How you perceive True Ownership comes down to Your Attitude and Not Your Assets.
A man’s potential for God and His Kingdom is not found in what he has but in who he is through Christ.
Consider the focus of this man’s attitude that day as Jesus taught the masses of people…
The man did not say
“Jesus tell my brother to give me the inheritance that I might feed the poor.”
He did not say
“Jesus ask my brother to give me the inheritance that those who are cold can have shelter or blankets.”
The focus seems to be upon his own personal gain.
Jesus responds by telling a story about a man who has a blessed crop already but then decides to build bigger barns.
In Jesus’ parable about the man who builds bigger barns…
Where is the farmer’s focus?
Does he want to build bigger barns for the poor?
Does he want to build bigger barns for the needs of others?
Or…. is it for soley his own benefit.
What did the man say in verse 19?
19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
We should ask God to bring to us blessings so that we may bless others and bless God….not so that are barns can be full for our selves….
Now let’s think about that man in verse 13 again…
The man in verse 13 who asked Jesus to side with him against his brother for the inheritance seems to be saying ….”give me what’s mine”
Can any of us truly ever say…Give me what’s mine?
Nothing is ours… my friends… it is all God’s!
He is simply allowing us to be in charge of all that He chooses to entrust us with.
And He is taking careful notice of how we are using what He blesses us with.
Is God pleased with my stewardship of all that He has been bringing to me?
It depends on your attitude and not your assets.
If you attitude… is right …. toward God and others then your assets will simply fall right into line with where they should be.
Whether or not you’ll be a blessing to God and others with all that He is bringing to your life depends on your attitude… and not your assets.
The next thing we need to understand is that True Ownership is understood when we balance our needs verses our greeds and the balance is accomplished through our FAITH.
Let’s ponder for a moment this morning the question:
Why do people let their assets control their attitude instead of letting a Christ lead attitude control their assets?
It is often an issue of faith or something also known as BELIEVING.
Hebrews chapter 11 and verse one says
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
It means that even though you can’t
see it,
taste it
touch it
or even smell it…
you still believe that God is in control of it and that God is going to take care of it.
That is faith….
The measure of your faith will determine if your life is driven by greed or driven by a belief that you can trust God for your needs.
I have six mouths to feed in my house…seven if you count the dog.
I don’t have a large bank account that have security in to help me in case God forbid I would find myself unemployed tomorrow.
But what I do have is the faith and knowledge that I serve a God is not only able but who has promised to meet all of my needs.
The great thing I have…. is not lots of money….
but it is the security of knowing that no matter what tomorrow brings I am God’s child and He is going to provide for all my NEEDS.
I know that God has sustained me and provided for every need my family and I have ever had.
I think David makes that sort of a statement in the 37th Psalm where David said
25 I was young and now I am old,
yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken
or their children begging bread.
True Ownership is understood when we balance our needs verses our greeds and the balance is accomplished through our FAITH.
It’s all about believing and trusting God.
If we bring the faith that God gives to us and believe that God will take care of us…then we will trust God for our needs and we won’t get caught up in greed.
Jesus said in verse 14 “be on your guard against all kinds of greed”
People often become greedy because they lack believing that God will give them everything they need.
How many of us have ever used the excuse…
“well I would give money more faithfully to God, but then I might not be able to make ends meet.”
If you have ever said that you are probably not alone.
But if you have said that here is what you really really need to know.
YOU are never ever the one who makes ends meet.
You ultimately are never the one who makes sure that there is food on the table or a roof over your head and a shirt on your back. That is not ultimately not your responsibility.
Your responsibility is to believe and trust God and faithfully live for Christ and GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF YOUR NEEDS as you faithfully live for Him.
God will make sure to provide for all your needs.
Not your greeds but your needs.
Perhaps the man who spoke up in verse 12 really thought that he needed that inheritance money to survive…his flaw then still would have been not trusting God to provide for His needs.
Remember that God owns everything….!
That is the foundational truth of True Ownership.
God owns it all.
Don’t you think that if God owns it all that He is going to take care of His children?
Don’t let a lack of BELIEVING…a lack of faith lure you into the poison of greed…trust Christ live faithfully for Him and He will meet your every need.
If you are truly trusting God with genuine faith you will find your needs met….
and greed will not be a problem for you.
A third and final piece for us to fit together in the puzzle of TRUE OWNERSHIP is this….
Correct understanding of true ownership means the difference between living for the TEMPORAL and living for THE ETERNAL.
Correct Understanding of TRUE OWNERSHIP means the difference between living for the TEMPORAL or the ETERNAL.
When Jesus taught through that parable of the man who would build bigger barns Jesus made a clear point of saying DON’T LIVE FOR THE TEMPORAL LIVE FOR THE ETERNAL!
Look again at verse 18
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.
19 And I’ll say to myself, “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?’
The thing that we can notice in verse 19 is that this man was planning for the temporal future not the eternal future.
He thought he had many years ahead of him to eat, and drink, and take life easy. Jesus said however that in that very night his life would halt.
How do you and I know when our life is going to come to a halt?
When is your life going end?
10 years from now?
10 months from now?
The truth is it could be less than even 10 seconds from now.
What will they say about you at your funeral?
Will they say
“yea, he sure left a lot of stuff here in earth.”
“He left a lot of seed in the barn.”
OR
Will people say that yours was a life that was sending it on ahead….
That you were storing your treasure up in heaven because you had an attitude that lead you to faithfully use all your assets in a way that pleased God.
You know the saying is absolutely true.
You can’t take it with you but you can send it on ahead.
I want to encourage you take every asset that God gives to you and be storing treasures up in heaven by investing today in that which will make a difference into eternity.
I have never seen a hearse pulling a Uhaul trailer behind it.
You can’t take it with you but there sure a whole lot of people missing the blessing of investing in God’s Kingdom because they are living as though they could take their earthly treasure with them.
How do you and I determine if we are just storing up treasures on earth or if we are really sending them on ahead to heaven?
The answer to that is simple just look at LK 12:21 and you will find the answer. Jesus said
21 “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”
Are your rich toward God. Remember that after all …He owns everything.
The Decision we must each make is are we going to live as though God really does own everything or will continue to live…. as though we do.
That is the decision of surrendering to God’s TOTAL OWNERSHIP.
Part of the inspiration\for this sermon came from reading the book The 33 Laws of Stewardship. Some of the content may mirror comments from that book.
