Luke 12:16-21

Luke chapter 12, I want to read verses 16 through 21 for our text and study this morning. And he spake a parable under them, saying the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, what shall I do? Because I have no room where to bestow my fruits. And he said, this will I will pull down my barns and build granaries, or excuse me, and build greater, and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease, eat. drink and be merry. But God said unto him, thou full, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. And then whose shall these things be, which thou hast provided. So is he that layeth up treasure to himself, and is not rich toward God. May God bless to us, His sacred and holy word this morning. Years ago, radio personality, Paul Harvey, once told a story about how an Eskimo kills a wolf. The story has some grisliness to it, but it really relates to this issue of covetousness. The Eskimo will take his knife and begin coating it with animal blood. And the blade gets coated with the blood and then he lets it freeze. Then he puts another layer of animal blood on and lets it freeze. And another and another until you can’t see the blade. It’s like a popsicle on the stick of the pop-sicle with all this frozen blood around it. Then the blade is stuck with the blade side up from the ground, in the ground. And the wolf with his keen scent picks up the scent, picks up the scent of blood and goes and begins to lick this frozen popsicle knife, so to speak. But as it licks, it gets more greed and keeps licking and licking and licking, and licking. until the keen edge of the knife shows up, but he doesn’t notice that. Before long, he’s licking his own blood. And before you know it, he’s dead. He kills himself in that manner. And this is how it is when you think about covetousness. Coveness kills you as you pursue it. Man is like the wolf, and that he’s never satisfied. life. There’s always a craving for more, and then more. This is often the course of a man’s undoing as well. The problem with the world wing is that he’s not, as we see in the last verse that I read this morning, he’s not rich toward God. Covetousness places all your desires on the material things of this life. Now we saw last week that Jesus has been teaching the people about the things of God. And here we find that a man rudely interrupts him and wants him to split the inheritance, his brother to split the inheritance that he got from his father. Now the brother must have been the firstborn who gets a double inheritance. And he said, you know, that didn’t seem equitable enough to him. He thought it should be a 50-50 split. And he thought, I guess, if Jesus made the decision that his brother would listen. Well, Jesus discerns, however, that this man’s real problem is covetousness. And he rebukes the man’s covetousness as we studied in our last study. But Jesus doesn’t stop there. He gives us a parable. that we may ponder with regard to covetousness here in our text. Jesus is not a civil magistrate and he’s not going to enter into this situation. There are courts of law who can settle this matter. He’s a preacher of the gospel. That’s his primary goal is the preach. And so that is what he plans to do. But this man is a preacher. is covetous that he’s talking to. An ardent desire for more, especially what somebody else has. If all you focus upon in this life is earthly gain or possessions, and friends, you’re not rich toward God, that’s a serious defect in your person. A spirit of covetousness is an indication that your heart isn’t right with God. In order to drive home this truth, Christ puts forth this parable that we’re looking at. And we’re going to look at the first part of it here in verses 16 to 21. Let me begin by saying this. You should carefully ponder the parable, the rich full. Here’s the rich man’s problem, verses 16 and 17. And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully, and he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do? Because I have no room where to bestow my fruits. There was a rich man whose fields brought forth such a bumper crop that even though he was rich and he had barns and things of this nature, they weren’t big enough to hold the produce that was produced that year. Perhaps like Isaac, he planted one year in the land of Egypt and received a hundredfold. That’s a lot when you think about it. Now it’s evident from the text that the man had well. health before he ran into this banana crop. But it just goes to show you that you can be wealthy and still be covetous. He was already a rich man. Jesus doesn’t condemn him for being rich. He gained his new wealth by honest work, planning the land and farming it, and through that hard labor he was able to produce. and his servants, no doubt. A good crop that year. Obviously, though, covetousness is something that plagues the whole society. Not just the poor who covet with the rich half. With the rich, you want more and more and more. So the rich man’s problem is, what am I going to do with all this abundance? His solution is found in 8 versus 18 and 19. And he said, this will I do, I will pull down my box. and build greater. There will I bestow my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, soul, thou as much goods laid up for many years, take thy knees, eat, drink, and be married. So his solution was, tear down his present barns and granaries, his silos, and build bigger ones. It will hold more. food. Big builder, better barnhouses is what he needed. Now this is going to require quite an outlay of money to do this. But he has the money, and he knows the crops there, so he can gain a lot of money from it. There’s plenty of income. And he looks at this and thinks, you know, even though I may live a long time, this is such an abundance. I’m not going to have to work anymore. I’m going to retire. And then he says, I’ll live a life of ease. Take my rest. I’ll eat, I’ll drink, I’ll be merry, and I’ll have a good old time the rest of my life. No more intense labor. No more being out there under the heat of the sun. No more struggle to plow the fields. So, yeah, I just seemingly guaranteed happy future. He could live a life of his life of his. he’s no longer any cares to worry about. Everything’s going to be taking care of. This is going to be great. Life was good. Now, we will consider what happened to this man next week, Lord willing. But that’s how he’s thinking. So you ponder the parable here of the rich man when two things stand up. He has a problem. It’s a good problem. I got too much food, too much production. And his solution is, well, build bigger and retire. Have a good time. Now, let me just stop at this point and say this. You should consider the ways of the covenous from this passage of scripture. Let’s just look at this from the perspective of, what are the things that would be the traits of someone who is covetous? In the first, First is this. You don’t realize God has prospered you. You don’t realize that. The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. Why did it bring forth plentifully? The man should have considered that. You know, one of the dangers of being covetous is you forget where your abundance comes from. The fruitfulness of the ground is due to God’s good. a gift. He sends the sunshine. He sends the rain. He causes the crops the flourish. He caused this abundance. You remember the years of plenty that God gave Egypt. Told Joseph, I’m going to give seven years of plenty in the land and that the ground brought forth in abundance, so much so that Joseph was putting grain away to where he couldn’t count it anymore. But then the next seven years, God sent leanness. And they didn’t have any crops grow. God controlled that situation. Not Joseph, not the farmer and so forth. When Isaac’s crop produced a hundredfold in one year, the Bible tells us why. Because the Lord blessed him, it says, in the book of God warned the Israelites about who provides wealth for them. He told them not to say in their heart my power, the might of my hand, have gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God, for it is he that giveth the power to get wealth. Deuteronomy 1817 and verse 18. Don’t you think you did it? I did it. don’t forget that. Scripture declares the Lord makeeth poor and he maketh rich. 1st Samuel 2.7. Covetous people are so focused on their abundance, they forget this truth. When God is not in your thoughts and you don’t see his hand. You don’t see him working. You’re so focused on other things. You think it’s your wisdom. skill alone, which has enabled you to be successful and to accumulate wealth, it is not so. So you are unthankful. You fail to realize every daily provision you enjoy, whether it be food, whether it be clothing, whether it be shelter, are divine gifts. You know, God’s law required every year that they would bring a tithe of their crop production. Why? It was a recognition that God had made those crops grow. You’ve got to honor me because I gave you that. Isn’t tithing really come, doesn’t it really come down to that? That whatever we make in this life or whatever we accumulate, it comes from God. And we recognize that when we bring him a gift on Sunday. And we give it back to him. Now sadly, you can focus solely upon the maimmon. and not on God. And that’s what happens. You don’t realize God has prospered you. That’s step one. Here’s a second thing. You think your possessions are your own. Verse 17. And he thought within himself, what shall I do? Because I have no room where to bestow my fruits. Verse 17 and 18, he says, my fruits and my goods. this man seems to take pleasure in emphasizing these things are his. Now you may think your possessions are exclusively your own. But if you look at the Bible carefully and you study it, you begin to realize that you are just the steward of God’s good gifts and that you are held accountable for what you do with them. They’re his. He entrust them to you. Now that puts a new spin on things. God lends these possessions to you and I as human beings. For all things they are his to do as he pleases. He expects a proper and good use of these gifts that he has provided you. And there will be a counting one day when you will stand before him and he’ll say, well, what did you do with the talent I gave you? What’d you do with that? How’d you use it? What did you produce with it? In chapter one of the book of Hosea, the minor prophet, the prophet is commanded by God to take a wife of Hortems, and she is unfaithful to Hosea, and she runs away. Now what happens to a woman who lives this kind of life where she jumps from one man to another? Well, her life goes downhill. In contemporary terms, if I can put it this way, you could say that she will be living with a man to start out with, with a provider with a Cadillac and a mint coat. And, of course, after a year after that, maybe her first lover has grown tired of her, and she’s a bit jaded, and so he dumps her. She’s next living with a man who can only provide a Ford and a leather coat. She’s lost a little bit. Eventually, she’s going to be without a car and seeking something from goodwill or a second-hand store as a coat to wear during a winter. That’s sort of what happened to Gomer, Josea’s wife, except where we find that he finds her at the slave market. She went to downhill as far as you can go. She had to sell herself out as a slave to survive. Now, God, says, Gomer portrays the unfaithfulness of Israel. Jehovah is the husband of Israel. She went after another lover, bail, or one of the other gods. God is the one of providing great abundance for her, but she didn’t see all the things she enjoyed as coming from him. She was unfaithful to the Lord and turned to Bail, as I said. And God, and God, severely chastened her. Notice how God puts this in chapter 2, verses 8 and 9 of Josea. For she did not know that I gave her corn and wine and oil and multiplied her silver and gold. She didn’t know that. She forgot that. Therefore, I will return and take away my corn, the time thereof, in the time they’re up, and we’ll receive my wool and my flax given to cover to our nakedness. Okay. You don’t appreciate the abundance you have? I will take it back. It’s mine anyhow. Is that what God says, Stuart? Isn’t that what we’ve been talking about this morning? God calls these gifts his. They’re not yours, Israel. And you’ve been a poor steward of what I’ve given you. A covenant person doesn’t think about stewardship, doesn’t think about accountability. You think only in terms of my fruits, my goods, what I got. But remember, these goods are not really yours. You’re simply overseeing them for the Lord. So you think your possessions are your own. The third thing is this. You make plans for your abundance, without God. I verse 18. And he said, this will I do. I will pull down my barns and build greater. And there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. My friends, a covetous person makes grand plans for his goods absolutely without reservation. Notice how many times he says, I will, or will in these verses. I’m going to do it. I’m going to carry out my purpose. This will I do, he says. But he doesn’t add what James says we must add if the Lord will. For you ought to say if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. But now you rejoice in your boastings. All such rejoicing is evil. James 5. 15 and 60. You know, you’re both, I’m going to do this. I’m going to do it. Really? You think you’re going to do it, huh? We’ll see about that. The folly of this is borne out in the parable, because this poor fool never gets to do as he planned. He dies. That very night. God takes his life. So, he doesn’t get to do what he thinks he’s going to be able to do. And forget about the retirement. Forget about all those good years he’s going to have to eat, drink, and be married. That’s gone. The covetous person plots and schemes to gain more and more. He makes special plans to do this or that in order to sustain his wealth and to enjoy his wealth. But you are not an independent creature. You can’t just do as you please. You live and you move, and you have your being in God. You can do nothing if God doesn’t allow you to do it. And God laughs at the puny plans of man of what he’s going to do. Really? That’s what you’re going to do, huh? You make these grand plans like this man, perhaps, but God thwart you. It is an affront to him if you ignore his will in the manner. The heart of the covetous never consults God. It never enters his or her mind to sink guidance from above regarding what to do. Never enters his mind. I can take care. I’m wise enough to take care of this myself. So you make these plans for your abundance, that you make it without God. Another mark is this. You don’t consider sharing your abundance. When you come across the words bestow, you think of that scripture in 1 Corinthians 13 I will bestow all my goods to feed the poor. Is that where he’s going to bestow his goods? Is he thinking about, well, maybe somebody else needs something? I have all this abundance to me, but I should help somebody. No, he bestows everything to his barns. It’s all about him. It’s all about maintaining his wealth. Zakeas, the wealthy tax collector upon coming to know the Lord declared, behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. That shows a change of heart from a man that was covetous. Tax collectors would always pad the taxes that they could get extra income. I wonder they were hated. They were the low lives of society among the Jews. This man could have chosen to share some of his abundant increase. Surely there are people that he could have helped. but instead of thinking of others, he selfishly bestows his fruits and goods, his vananza crop to his barns. No one else is going to get them. No one else is going to use it. He shut these potential alms up in his storehouse. It evidently never ended his mind that maybe God gave him abundance to share with somebody else. What about the fatherless? What about the widows? What about some of the poor? What about the house of God? And his tie? No, the covenant person wards it all for himself and he never thinks of his neighbor, does he? There’s no interest in the rich man to distribute any of his wealth. He never heeds Paul’s admonition to lay up in store for himself a foundation against the time to come. and 1 Timothy 6, 17 through 19 by looking out for the interest of honors. You see, how much Christian mindset is different from that of the world. A covetous person is greedy. Sharing is a dirty word. Years ago, one of the richest man in the world, in the world, oil tycoon, Paul Getty, was being interviewed in London and the reporter asked him, if you tally it up all your holdings and everything, would you say you had a billion dollars? Getty pondered a little bit and thought and paced a little bit and finally said, yeah, I think I could say I have a billion dollars, but he said, a billion dollars don’t go as far today as it used to. What does that mean? Well, you know, it’s not really enough. A billion Lord isn’t really enough for me. I got to keep an eye I got to make more. And so the covetous man never is satisfied that he has enough so he clings ever so tightly to what he does. So you don’t consider sharing your abundance. The fifth thing I suggest you is this. You use your abundance solely to satisfy yourself. The latter part of verse 19, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. Now, it’s really foolish for anyone to use his abundance just to eat and drink and to be married. Man was made by God for a much higher purpose than that. Man was made for the purpose of glorifying God and having fellowship with God. Happiness in life. involves a right relationship with the Lord God. You think you’re going to be married, everything’s going to be great, just because you have an abundance? It’d be better for you to be poor, but have a right relationship with God for his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. But the natural man, the unregenerate man, presumes the mundane things of this life. He can’t get above it. He can’t get above it. He can’t get above the material things. of this life. He can’t think in terms of having a wonderful relationship with his creator. So his soul never is going to be truly satisfied in this situation. The covetous person is preoccupied with indulging the flesh. You pamper yourself with every earthly luxury, every whim must be pursued, and you never think that you’ve been put into this position to serve God in your own. generation. For the covetous man’s God is his belly, the Bible says. By that, Paul meant his appetites, his desires, the appetites of the flesh occupy all his attention. But where does that leave his soul? Again, we’ll have to consider that next week when we see the end of the story. But you should consider the ways here of the covenous. You don’t realize God has prospered you. You think your possessions are all your own. You make plans for your abundance without God. You don’t consider sharing your abundance. You are confident. Your goods are safe for years to come, and you use your abundance solely to satisfy yourself. There it is. That’s a covetous man. Paul Hawes Harvey’s story about the greedy wolf and how he ends up killing himself, shows us what covetousness is. is like. Got to have more. You got to have more. got to have more. And it kills you. Jesus warned you here, beware of covetousness. And the parable, the richful, demonstrates the ways of the covetous. And we need to consider that carefully. Bless we get caught up in these very things. Let’s close.