Stewardship Series

SERMON BRIEF

Date Written: February 2003

Date Preached: February 5, 2003

Church: BBC (PM) Wednesday

FOUNDATIONAL ELEMENTS

Series: What the Bible Says…

Title: About Stewardship

Text: Luke 12:13-34

Introduction:

There is possibly nothing more sensitive to each one of us than to speak about our finances. Many of us are willing to speak about just about anything in the world, but NOT the money in our lives.

Especially when someone begins to question us about our money and/or our possessions… we can become very defensive. But when we look at the teachings of Jesus we find that many of His parables were teachings about stewardship of our possessions.

Jesus knows the joy that does await the believer who obtains a level of commitment where they completely surrender all they have to God… including the stewardship of all their possessions. Read Passage here!

In our passage tonight, we find one of Jesus’ most clear teachings on stewardship. Jesus begins by using a parable to illustrate a truth that He desired to implant in their hearts.

This particular story was based around 2 brothers and an incident that arose between them. When we look at the story it seems to indicate that the father of these 2 brothers had died.

Evidently there was one brother who was NOT happy with how the estate of their father had been allocated. He called on Jesus to intervene and “FORCE” his brother to share the wealth equally with him.

But I want us to take note of what v.16 brings to light… “…He said unto THEM…” Now there is no doubt that all the followers of Jesus were listening to Jesus, but in staying with the story… that is NOT who the Bible is indicating that Jesus is speaking to. Jesus is speaking to both of the brothers.

The 1st thing Jesus said was that these 2 brothers must, “…take heed,and beware of covetousness, for a man’s life consists not in the abundance of things he possesses…”

Then after He had said that we know He had the attention of the feuding brothers. It was then that Jesus begins to relate a story about the rich man. Tradition has it that this rich man was an unbeliever, someone who worshiped possessions.

But I am sure that there are many Christians or people who proclaim Christianity that are spiritually immature, and very materialistic that could fit this mold as well.

In looking at tonight’s passage I can see that we can learn 3 simple yet very powerful lessons as it pertains to stewardship for the believer.

The 1st lesson we should learn from this passage tonight is the danger of a false sense of security in our possessions.

In this passage we find a man who has become very successful in what he does. He was a farmer whose crops were plentiful. He possibly lived in a very large home and enjoyed a lavish lifestyle.

He had a bumper crop and with that success came the false sense that b/c of his financial gain that the pressure was off and all was well in his life. Looking at what this man was looking at, I can see that happening in many lives of believers today… we rationalize that it is so GOOD to be rich.

However, we find Jesus saying that one of the most difficult things in life is for a rich man to keep his riches and God in the proper perspective.

In Matt 13:22 Jesus spoke of the ‘deceitfulness of riches’ Wealth can and will ultimately give us a false sense of security. It can mislead us and make us think that we are more important than we really are.

We then begin to look to our wealth for answers instead of going to God. Our riches become much more important than our relationship with God.

So the conclusion we can come to on this particular point is that when we rely on ANYTHING other than God for a sense of security… we are going to fail.

The 2nd lesson that I can see that we must learn from this passage is that in this parable from Jesus we can find the folly of planning without consulting God.

Smack dab in the middle of his pride and false sense of security, this farmer who had pushed God aside, made some rather lofty plans.

In spite of how wealthy this man was, he was prudent and very practical minded. He was insuring against all contingencies he could think of. His plans did not just include the present, but the distant future as well.

This drove him to seek after more and more. To hoard more and more for himself. So we find him making these elaborate plans to enjoy the wealth he had ‘worked’ so hard to earn.