The Man Who Interrupted Jesus- A Sermon On Greed And Generosity

• The Man Who Interrupted Jesus.

• I like Generous People- they are fun to be around- getting gifts, getting meals paid for

• Do you know what I love even more? Being the one giving gifts, paying for meals, doing nice things for people

• Crystal and I went out to lunch this week……

• Have you ever been interrupted? Its annoying- if you’re in the middle of a thought or in the middle of sentence and some interrupts you, it bugs

• People do it to me all the time- I’ll be talking with someone and they’ll come straight up and ask me a question in mid-sentence

• My kids are notorious for it- I try to get them to stand there and wait for their time to talk, but they wont do it

• Why shouldn’t we interrupt? Its rude and it makes us look foolish

• I got some encouragement this week- A scripture where a guy interrupts Jesus

• Yes- Jesus was talking and a guy butts in and wants to ask Jesus a question-

• But the condition of this Guys heart is laid bare and Jesus has the remedy for him

• I want to look at this story and talk about this guy- and why its important for us to pay attention to him and what we can learn from him

• I’m sure that 2000 years ago when this guy interrupted Jesus, he wasn’t thinking- hey, maybe I can make it in the bible!

• Its like one of those guys that jumps in on the news camera!

• This weeks sermon- The man who interrupted Jesus, why it matters, and what we should do

• READ-Luke Chapter 12

• Here’s what interesting-

1. His condition, or desire is so strong he doesn’t care that he is interrupting

2. His argument is with his BROTHER- someone with whom he should be loving towards

3. He expects Jesus to fix the problem- this happens so much- God, fix it!

4. Somehow, he feels as though life is unfair, so much so that what someone else has, which he doesn’t have, in some way is affecting his ability to live his life effectively

5. He was so passionate about his fear of not getting what he thought was ‘due him’ that he was willing to interrupt Jesus and ask him to get between him and his brother in regards to an inheritance (I know someone who when their sister was on their deathbed they wouldn’t talk because of an inheritance problem)

6. The problem with this guy wasn’t his inheritance the problem was his heart- he was greedy!

• So here’s what Jesus says to him

• Its not my problem- its your problem pal

• He says-You don’t have a God problem you have a heart problem

• Many many time people want to put their problems on God that in some way God has forsaken them, or that God has punished them and the problem in their own heart and their own issue

• This man’s issue was not the inheritance, it wasn’t God it was HIM

• It was his HEART- do you get that?

• He operated from fear- I wont get what I think is mine

• He operated from greed- My brother will get more than me

• He operated from lack of trust- This wont work out- my brother wont change his mind

• So much so that he called out Jesus and said- YOU NEED TO FIX THIS PROBLEM!!!

• Jesus says one sentence about to this guy- its your problem, not mine

• Did you get that? Jesus didn’t help the guys immediate situation

• He didn’t jump into his problem

• He didn’t come into rescue him

• He could have said, ‘see me after service and we’ll get with you and your brother’

• He would say to the brother- “hey, you’re being kind of greedy here, you should share with your brother, I’m God and all, so I think you should do it”

• Interesting point- Jesus expected this guy to deal with this personal problem in a spiritual way

• In verse READ vs 12:4-7 Jesus just got done telling them to not be afraid and this guy is AFRAID!!!

• He wasn’t going to get in the middle of it.

• Ilust- sometimes we expect God to handle our physical circumstance when we have a spiritual problem

• God cares more about your spiritual problems than your physical problems- he cares, but the heart is what matters!

• and then he turns to his disciples and uses him as a sermon example

• Watch what you do and say! You could be a sermon Example

• Then Jesus turns to his disciples and says, lets pick on this guy who just illustrating a perspective on life with his disciples