CWC - Pentecost 11 - Gospel Lesson - KBKuschel
Luke 12:13-21
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 he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” 16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 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 my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain 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 whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
What do you want more than anything else?
IA1 Jesus had just finished teaching the people about hypocrisy, God’s care for people, our need to tell others about Him, and the Holy Spirit’s help in giving us the right gifts at the right time. One person in the crowd concluded that Jesus was an expert in all areas of life. 13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
2 What was the problem? Maybe he was a younger brother and the older brother who was in charge of distributing the inheritance refused to give him his part. Maybe he was dissatisfied with the Old Testament law’s distribution system. In that system the older brother got a double portion of the inheritance to help him maintain the farm or vineyard. Everybody else got one portion.
3 14 Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” What did Jesus see as the underlying problem behind this request? Greed.
B1 In the Lord’s Prayer Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us today our daily bread.” We were reminded by Martin Luther that the concept “daily bread” includes “everything that we need for our bodily well being.” How can Jesus teach us to ask Him for daily bread and also teach us that greed is a sin because life does not consist in the abundance of possessions?
2 The first thing we need to remember is that possessions are not sinful. Through His created universe God gives us everything that we need for our bodily well-being. If God created the production mechanisms for the things we need for our bodily well-being, and if God is therefore the source of these things, then these things are not sinful. Notice Jesus never says in the words before us today that possessions are sinful.
C1 But greed is. Greed is an attitude. Can somebody give me a definition of greed? Dictionary says: “Excessive desire for getting or having.” “Desire for more than one needs or deserves.” Greed is a symptom of a spiritual problem. Anybody know what the spiritual problem is? The spiritual problem is that the greedy person believes that he or she must take care of him or herself. Greed is fueled by a lack of trust that God will keep His promises to use the created world around us to provide us with the things that we need.
2 What is the opposite of greed? Contentment. Thankfulness. God blesses some people in this world with lots of possessions and others with very few possessions. People in either situation can be filled with thankfulness to the LORD for what the LORD has given them. People in either situation in life can be content with the amount of possessions the LORD has given them. Or, people in either situation in life can have an excessive desire to have more than one needs. Human life is supported by our possessions. Jesus teaches us to ask the LORD to bless us with those possessions. But greed is sin.
15 Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.
IIA1 Next Jesus told a little story. “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 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 my surplus grain. God was blessing this person with an abundance of possessions.
2 What was the man’s attitude? “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” What did this man think the purpose of his possessions was? To indulge himself. To do whatever he wanted. Totally selfish approach to life.
B1 For what purpose does God give us our possessions? “Love your neighbor as yourself”(Matt 22:39). We are to work hard, earn money, manage it well so that we have the food, clothing, shelter, education, and instruction in God’s word, which we need for the well-being of our bodies and our souls. If we fail to love ourselves, act to take care of ourselves, we are telling God that His gift of our bodies and lives are not valuable enough to spend any effort on maintaining. We are to use our possessions to take care of ourselves. Not indulge ourselves. 2 For what purpose does God give us our possessions? “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”(ITim 5:8) If God has given us people who are dependent on us, we are to use our possessions to provide them with food, clothing, shelter, education, and instruction in God’s word which they need for the well-being of their bodies and their souls. To love others. Not to indulge ourselves.
3 For what purpose does God give us our possessions? “Love your neighbor as yourself”(Matt 22:39). If people are not capable of providing themselves with food, clothing, shelter, education, and instruction in God’s word, which they need for the well-being of their bodies and our souls, God wants us to shoulder that responsibility. That is loving others. Not indulging ourselves.
4 For what purpose does God give us our possessions? “Love your neighbor as yourself”(Matt 22:39). If you really want to benefit your neighbor, you tell your neighbor about Jesus. The Holy Spirit uses that to bring people to trust that Jesus died to wash away their sins, lived to cover them with His holiness and rose so that they might live forever. When we use a percentage of our money to get the Gospel of Jesus Christ to others, we are using our money to love those people. Not to indulge ourselves.
5 For what purpose does God give us our possessions? “If you owe taxes, pay taxes.” (Rom 13:7) When our possessions are used to support the government, which provides people with peace and safety, we are using our possessions to love others. Not to indulge ourselves.
C1 Look around when you get home. You have your storage spaces full. The basement is full. The attic is full. The garage is full. The closets are full. God is blessing us with an abundance of possessions. What do we do? I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones
2 Nothing wrong so far. But remember we are discussing attitudes here. Attitude #1. “The more possessions I have the more freedom I have to indulge myself in personally satisfying non-necessities of life.” “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” Attitude #2. “The more possessions I have the more people I can benefit.” Life does not consist in personal gratification.
IIIA1 God responded. ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ Then Jesus’ comment after the little story. 21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” Evidently the man in the little story was not rich toward God.
2 Why does God call this very successful man a fool? Because this man stored up things for himself. But since human life is not permanent, the things would go to somebody else. Because the man focused totally on impermanent things for himself, he had no time for a relationship with God. He was not rich toward God.
B1 What does being rich toward God mean? It means that our lives are filled up with God’s salvation. God’s rescue of us from the guilt of our sins. Jesus took our sins to the cross, shed His blood. Washes them away. That means we are rescued from death and hell as punishment for our sins.
2 What does being rich toward God mean? It means that our lives are filled up with God’s holiness. Jesus lived in this world, really God and really human, and never sinned. He covers us with His holiness. We are holy in God’s sight. Qualified to be members of God’s family. The Holy Spirit motivates us with the Gospel to reflect the holiness of Jesus with which we are covered. Completely opposite of the selfishness we produce on our own.
3 What does being rich toward God mean? It means that our lives are filled up with God’s gift of eternal life. Life that doesn’t stop. Jesus rose from the dead so that He might give us a relationship with God that never ends. The problem with the rich man in Jesus’ story was he focused on the wrong things. He focused on what was temporary.
4 In this world we get possessions by working hard for them. We earn them. That could make us rich. We don’t become rich toward God by working hard or earning God’s riches. We can’t. We are not perfect as God demands. So, God gives us salvation because of Jesus’ death. He gives us holiness because of Jesus’ life. He gives us eternal life because of Jesus’ resurrection. God gives us what is necessary to make us rich toward Him.
C1 Being rich toward God is totally separate from having an abundance of possessions. There are four possible combinations. A person can be rich toward God and have abundant possessions. A person can be rich toward God and not have abundant possessions. A person can be poor toward God and have abundant possessions. A person can be poor toward God and not have abundant possessions. Being rich toward God is not mutually exclusive of having abundant possessions or vice versa.
2 Remember it is all about attitude and focus. When the Holy Spirit has led us to set our hearts on things above, then our goal in life is to be rich toward God. It doesn’t matter whether we have abundant possessions or not. Life consists of being rich toward God.