Sermons & Studies
Darryl Matthews4/6/2003
Whose will they be? ....Questions on the road
Text: Luke 12:13-21
Introduction
- The God that has saved us and keeps us from day-to-day is a very
giving God. From the dawn of creation, God has been in the gracious
giving business:
- In Genesis 1 we see that God created the heavens and the earth
and then went ahead and stocked the earth with fruits, vegetables,
animals, seasons, sunshine, rain and everything that man and woman
would need to survive on the planet.
- Later on in Genesis we see where God bequeathed to Abraham all
the land of Canaan and promised to make Abraham a nation with
descendants as many as the stars of the sky or the sand on the
beach.
- In Exodus we see God giving to an oppressed Israel, a deliverer
in the form of Moses who lead them out of bondage with many signs and
wonders.
- In 1 Samuel, we see God moving in the life of a young woman named
Hannah to give her a son named Samuel who would anoint the first king
of Israel–Saul–and subsequently Saul’s successor, King David.
- In the gospels, we see God in the flesh in Jesus Christ, walking
and talking among us. Giving healing to those who were sick, giving
life to those who were dead (both spiritually and physically) and
ultimately giving His life so we might receive the FREE gift of
salvation.
- Yes, when you look over the landscape of the scriptures, the
record shows that God is indeed a giving God. God is not stingy with
God’s blessings or resources.
- On the contrary, the humankind has to struggle with how to handle
material things all the time and how to keep things in perspective.
- Sometimes laws are passed which grant better tax benefits that
are more favorable to the rich than those on the margins of society.
- In our celebrity driven culture, there are times when we spend
exorbitant amounts of money in a overindulgent manner:
- The Academy Awards is a case where the ladies spend thousands of
dollars for dresses that have probably less than $200 worth of
material and are decked out in jewelry worth thousands of dollars
too.
- Companies many times are not so much concerned about making a
good quality product for the consumer but will adjust the books in
order to make the bottom look good and keep the stock price at a
certain level.
- Illustration: BERG/FCI pulling in orders from other months in
order to make the current month’s bookings look good.
- Families are sometimes arguing about who gets the possessions of
a recently passed loved one even before the deceased in the grave.
- In this story before us today, Jesus encounters just such a
situation between two brothers.
- The one comes to Jesus and asks Jesus to instruct the other
brother to divide an inheritance with him.
- Jesus warns his hearers that we are made up of more than just the
sum of our possessions and goes on to tell the parable of The Rich
Fool.
- A man was blessed with a very bountiful crop.
- He pondered what to do with all of the harvest he had
accumulated.
- He decided that he would tear down his barns and begin a new
construction project for larger granaries.
- Because he had so much, he felt that he could sit back and just
enjoy life for the rest of his days off the interest his harvest
produced.
- Little did he know that his soul was required that evening.
- And Jesus asks the question in v. 20, ". . . whose shall
those things be?"
- There are some lessons to be learned by us as we examine the life
of this man. First . . .
Our Sufficiency Must Be In God
- The problem with this man is that he had become too self-
sufficient and such people are prone to rely more on themselves than
on God or anyone else.
- How can you tell if you are self-sufficient? Look at the
language that this man uses throughout the parable:
- v. 17, "What shall I do?
I have no place to store my crops."
- v. 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."
- v. 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."
- The language of self-sufficiency is "me, myself and
I." This man expressed no dependence upon anyone but himself in
considering what course of action his life should take.
- And we have to be careful of that in the United States. We have
been blessed with so much that it is easy to be deluded into the idea
that we control our own destiny:
- We are free to travel anywhere we please in this country with a
variety of transportation options.
- We can go to a Safeway or a Foodland and fill up a whole grocery
cart full of meats, produce, dairy and junk food products.
- There are numerous education opportunities that one can pursue in
this land and a variety of ways to pay for education through grants,
loans and scholarships.
- We can pick and choose what career we want to pursue in our life
and work our way up the corporate ladder over time.
- We have so much discretionary time on our hands in this country
to pursue such leisure activities as bowling, golfing, SCUBA diving,
attending the symphony or opera, or some UH sporting event.
- But we need to understand that ALL of those things are available
because God has provided a way for them to happen.
- Remember that God is the owner and creator of all of the
resources that exist on the planet. Psalms 24:1 (NIV), "The
earth is the LORD’S, and everything in it, the world, and all who
live in it;"
- Because Jesus purchased or redeemed our lives at Calvary, we are
no longer free to pick and choose the direction of our lives.
- That’s what this man did in the parable. He thought he directed
the affairs of his life.
- But note the words of Paul in Galatians 2:20 (NIV), "I have
been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in
me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me."
- And since our lives are in Christ, we are not suppose to be
operating under our own agendas and abilities but by the power and
direction of Almighty God.
- All of our plans for living should be run by God first since God
is the one who knows what lies down the road ahead of us.
- James 4:13-15 (NIV), "13Now listen, you who say,
"Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year
there, carry on business and make money." 14Why, you
do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You
are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
15Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord’s
will, we will live and do this or that."
- Our passions and desires are to take on a new tone. We are to
have a heavenly agenda.
- Colossians 3:1-3 (NIV), "1Since, then, you have
been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where
Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds
on things above, not on earthly things. 3For you died, and
your life is now hidden with Christ in God."
- Matt 16:24 (NIV), "If anyone would
come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and
follow me." Jesus said that we are to follow not
set the course.
- So for the believer, our sufficiency is to be and can be found in
Christ. Jesus made it very plain to his disciples and us when he
said, "5"I am the vine;
you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will
bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing" (John
15:5, NIV)
- So as you look over your agenda for this coming week, is there
more "I" and "my" in the plan than
"God" in the plan. Our agendas can falter but God’s
purposes and plans will not fail.
Our Blessings Are Not To Be Hoarded
- The very wealthy man in using the "me, myself and I"
language thought about no one else in what he had been blessed to
have. He had been blessed with a harvest large enough for him to
retire on and yet what where his thoughts?
- Was it to set up a food bank to help those who didn’t have enough
to eat? Not quite.
- Was it to establish a foundation where housing could be built for
the homeless? Not exactly.
- Was it to create a scholarship so deserving young people of
Jerusalem could get a better education? No way.
- v. 19b, ". . . Take life easy; eat,
drink and be merry." He didn’t even have thoughts of
having a party and inviting his neighbors over. He kept all of the
blessings to himself.
- And we have to be careful that we don’t do the same thing. In a
land in which there is such wealth, there is such a wide gap between
the haves and the have-nots.
- We have star athletes that can command salaries up to $250
million (Alex Rodriguez over 10 years) and yet we have teachers who
have to struggle to make ends meet and to have adequate supplies in
the classrooms for their students.
- We have movie stars that can command $20 million a picture and
yet police officers and fire fighters make only a few coins compared
to the stars and they are called upon to protect and save our lives
respectively.
- As I mentioned earlier, we serve a God who gives good gifts to
the just and the unjust. But we in the household of faith are called
upon to be a sharing people:
- Starting first with the sharing of our faith and the good news
with family and friends. Some have remarked to me that they don’t
feel comfortable inviting their friends to FCCC. Well, if that is
the case, please tell me what we need to do so you would feel
comfortable inviting them.
- We are called upon by the Master to share our resources with
others in Matthew 25:35,
- To share food with those who are hungry.
- To share clothing with those who have none.
- To share our time by visiting those who are sick and in the
hospital.
- To share the blessings of our homes with those who make need our
hospitality sometimes. Paul echoes that sentiment in Romans 12:13
(NIV), "13Share with God’s people who are in need.
Practice hospitality."
- Our fellowship has a long tradition of sharing our financial
resources with missionaries all over the world and that is most
commendable.
- God blesses us so that we can be a blessing to other people. We
are not a people who only take and take and take and never give. If
you are like the rich man in the parable, then you will find that
your life might consist of a lot of things but come up empty in the
end.
- Jesus said in John 10:10, ". . .
I
have come that they may have life, and have it to the
full." That is why we conclude our time together today
with the point
Our Living Is Not To Be One Dimensional
- Jesus notes the outset of our text in v. 15, ". . .
a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his
possessions."
- To be totally wrapped up in how much you can obtain in this
lifetime is to live a one dimensional life. Our time on this earth
is but of a few days and despite all the workout routines and plastic
surgery or Oil of Olays, we will have to breathe our last one day
unless Jesus returns first.
- The rich man in our text focused exclusively on the earthly plane
and that was his downfall. It wasn’t the fact that he was rich but
that his riches was all he knew. God has used plenty of wealthy
people throughout time:
- Abraham was very well off when he was called to leave Ur and go
to Canaan.
- Moses knew what it was like to dine in the finest places in Egypt
but understood that riches without God is not true riches at all.
- Hebrews 11:25-26 (NIV), "5He chose to be
mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the
pleasures of sin for a short time. 26He regarded disgrace
for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of
Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward."
- The record in Acts says that Barnabas was a man who owned
property but sold it so the early church could get started (Acts
4:37).
- Joseph of Arimathea was a secret disciple of means who made his
burial place available for Jesus after the crucifixion in John 19.
- Whether you are a person of means or not, the main thing we have
to grasp is that our living is not to be just on a earthly plane.
Colossians 3:2 (NIV), "2Set your minds on things
above, not on earthly things."
- Where is your mind most of the time? Focused on a heavenly plane
or an earthly plane?
- Do you not even think about going to Discipleship Hour on
Sundays?
- Do you ever think about being a part of Bible Study during the
week or attending prayer meeting?
- Paul gives us some pointers as to how to elevate our thinking in
v. 5 of that same chapter, "5Put to death, therefore,
whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity,
lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry."
- James 4:7 (NIV), "7Submit yourselves, then, to
God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."
- We should live in the daily presence of God. None of us know the
day or the hour that we will be called from labor to reward and when
that time comes, we will be translated from this earthly realm to
another realm as Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 5:1,
"1Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is
destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven,
not built by human hands."
- We are currently residents of this realm but earth is not our
final destination. We are headed to another destination.
- A place where many of our parents and family members have gone
ahead of us to meet us there.
- A place where there will be no more weeping and no more tears.
- A place where sickness and death can no longer assault our loved
ones and take them away from us.
- A place where there will be no more haves and have-nots.
- Jesus calls us not to be sojourners in the temporary land but to
keep our eyes locked on our eternal destination.
