Rich Towards God Series

JUST JESUS: CHAPTER BY CHAPTER THRU LUKE

Rich Towards God

LUKE 12:13-31

#justJesus

INTRODUCTION 1… Urban Legends of Theology (Wittmer) Quote, page 138

Kristian and I get together for lunch each week and we use a book to discuss. The current book we are reading is called “Urban Legends of Theology: 40 Common Misconceptions by Michael Wittmer (2023). In the chapter we read this past week (number 23) he says this:

“Most people seem to manage the stress and demands of life most of the time. They may not enjoy their work, families, or what’s for dinner, but the more or less muddle through. As long as their teams are competitive and win a championship once in their lifetime (I’m looking at you Cleveland), they find enough joy to keep going. Life is not great, but it’s okay. They don’t have time for church. Their weekends are already full of travel, sports, binge watching television, and checking updates on their phone. They are comfortable as they coast into hell.”

That paragraph stuck out to me probably because I was reading over and praying through Luke 12 and in the middle of chapter 12 Jesus says some letters in red that related to what I read in our book earlier in the week. Dr Wittmer says that the stuff of life and the material wealth that we have makes us comfortable and satisfied and sometimes complacent. At least, that is how I read it. The stuff around us at times gets in the way of what really matters. Jesus says that in Luke 12. As we read Luke 12, keep one question in mind:

QUESTION: What do you desire?

READ LUKE 12:13-21 (ESV)

13 Someone in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14 But He said to him, “Man, who made Me a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15 And He said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 16 And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

22 And He said to His disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 26 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith! 29 And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. 30 For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

QUESTION: What do you desire?

DESIRE

If you took a child, even a very young child, into the mythical place that used to exist called Toys R Us or even to the toy aisle of a department store, you will not have to teach the child what to do. It is human nature that a child feels there is no higher calling than desire. What does that tell us? It is as if self or greed or the desire for ‘stuff’ comes naturally. The want for more or better or bigger or more sophisticated comes naturally. Our society has become a vast supermarket where we are trained in desire and we can see that in the many commercials and ads we see regularly. We live in a world of manufactured need. Advertising creates, molds, and kindles desire. Not knowing what there is that's worth wanting, we become pliable victims of advertising's training in want of everything or anything that sounds good.