Luke 12:13-21

Luke chapter 12. I mean reading with verse 13. We’ll read through verse 21. And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. And he said unto him, man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? and he said unto them, take he, and beware of covetousness, for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. 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. 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. And I will say to my soul, soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be married. The God said unto him, thou fool. This night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided. So is he that layeth up treasure for himself. and is not rich toward God. God blessed to us, is sacred and holy word this morning. In North Africa, the natives have an unusual way of capturing monkeys. They take a gourd. They bore a hole into it, empty it out, and put nuts in it, tie it to a tree limb, and leave it out overnight. And the monkeys smell the nuts, the food. They come and reach into the gourd to get the nuts and they get a fist full of them. But when they make their fist, they can’t get their hand out of the gourd. Because they make the hold just right, so he can get his hand in, but if he grabs something, he can’t get it out. And the monkey is silly enough. and greedy enough, evidently, that he won’t let go. So he doesn’t let go with the nuts in order to get his hand out. And so he stays all night trying to get his hand out of the gourd. And they capture him in the morning. And I told you that story, because it reminds me of the problem of covetousness. And our desire to have more and cling to it, but it becomes our undoing. in the end. Human beings are a lot like monkeys in that regard. Jesus uses here the parable of the rich fool to address the topic of covetousness. Christ has spoken of the danger of being covetous and the fact of having a burning desire for more and more of seeking solely to satisfy yourself, of desperately clinging to your possession. regardless of the cost. The rich fool here was quite prosperous. And so he had much abundance. And that became a problem for him. What am I going to do with all this? And so he decides he’s going to store it. Build, tear down his barn, build bigger barns. Store all that this produce that has come up. And that’s what he does. And we talk. We talked last week about the different marks of a covetous person, and we see them here in his life. You don’t realize that it’s God that has prospered you. You think your possessions are 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. And so we want to talk this morning about the conclusion here of this parable, and that’s not being rich toward God. So let me talk about how to be a fool this morning. You are a fool if you think your life consists of the things that you possess. Verse 15. He said, take heed and beware of covetousness for a man’s life consistent not in the abundance of things which he possesses. This rich man actually thought evidently that this was true. His whole life was wrapped around his possessions. He thought his life consisted solely of the abundance which he had acquired, and this is why he’s called a fool. Foolishness in Scripture is a spiritual fault. The fool is the person who says, at least in his heart, not outwardly, at least in his heart, there is no God, and he lives as if there is no God. He’s never, God’s never considered, his word is never consulted, his will is never sought. In Scripture, a fool is not. someone who is mentally deficient, therefore, isn’t capable of thinking properly. That’s not what a fool is. But in scripture, foolishness flows from a corrupted and depraved heart. It is a deliberate, conscious, willful sin where you purposely ignore God. And when God is eliminated, you become obsessed. stand with possessions, what gives you pleasure, what promises you the best life possible. This rich fool spoke as of his field, his farm, his harvest, his harvest, his barns, or graterns. He pout up his goods higher and higher. So he hoarded, and he saved until he could hardly see over the top of his possessions. His whole life revolved around his possessions. They were everything to him. Are you a person who thinks that happiness is associated with wealth or riches? In acquiring cars or houses, or lands or a stock portfolio or a company? Is that really where happiness is to be found? This is why people go astray here. Is this what your life is all about? Is your existence on earth reduced to this that all that counts is the wealth or material things that you possess. On October 19, 1987, so-called Black Monday, the New York Stock Exchange lost 23% of its value in one day. A week or so later, a man, Arthur Kane, walked into an office in Miami, pulled out a 357 magnum from his briefcase, killed the man, manager, named a stockbroker, and then killed himself. The market crashed had wiped out his multi-million-dollar portfolio in stock, which had been built up by clever speculation, but largely with borrowed funds. When Wall Street plunged, it imploded both the underpinnings of Kane’s opulent life. style and quite clearly the very fabric of his being. It was everything to him and he lost everything. And one day, is abundance all you have to live for? And if you lost it, would you be like Arthur Kane? So you are a fool if you think your life consists of the things you possess. Second, you’re a fool if you seek to satisfy your soul with earthly things. Notice verse 19. And I will say to my soul, soul, as much goods laid up for many years, take nine E’s, eat, drink, and be married. There’s kind of an irony in that statement, because your soul doesn’t eat or drink. It can’t, your soul can’t partake of the material things of this life. Now, if he had said, my body, if you talked about his body here, we could understand it. But he’s a soul here. Your soul, however, is capable of being dragged down to the base service of your bodily pleasures. But the soul is capable of being dragged down of being made alive by the spirit of life, God and reaching such heights that you can have fellowship with the Lord God. Man’s chief duty is to love and serve the Lord. And in this relationship, man finds satisfaction for his soul. The point is that the rich man sought inner satisfaction with earthly goods. Soul take thine ease. Soul find my… Find satisfaction in eating and drinking and merriment. But your soul is spiritual in nature. What can it benefit from these things? You can’t find satisfaction in material things that are connected with this earth. Your body can be satisfied with drinking wine or eating roast beef with mashed potatoes and gravy, that your soul can’t. The misery of your soul can’t. The misery of your soul can’t. soul cannot be removed by taking of carnal foods in earthly pleasures. For your soul to be at ease. It has to be at peace with God. There’s no ease. There’s no comfort in you being alienated from God. Not for the soul. The fact of the matter is most people aren’t willing to taste and see that the Lord is good. Have you? when we read the book of Ecclesiastes, we’ve been going through it. Hopefully tonight we’ll finish it. Solomon had the time and the money to explore everything under the sun. Every pleasure, every work. He tries everything, and he says it’s all vanity. I didn’t find any satisfaction in all these things. What did he find satisfaction? Knowing God. And that’s the only thing that will give you satisfaction. And really, that is really the thrust of the book. You can try all these things, but there’s only one place for satisfaction, and that is what the Lord called. So you are full if you seek satisfaction for your soul with early things. You are full if you do not prepare for eternity. Verse 20, The God said on him, thou full, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. then who shall those things be which thou hast provided? Boy, is appointed under men once to die. And when God makes an appointment, that’s set in stone. God gives you so many days. And it’s set in his purpose. How long you’re going to live and you’re not going to live one moment longer than that. you can live your life without preparing for death and its aftermath, but if you do, you are a fool, he says. Thou fool. That’s God’s assessment. That’s not my assessment. That’s what God says. As you go year after year in this life, you think, well, it’s always going to continue. It’s always going to continue on. So many people, used to even think about that. They don’t want to talk about it. They don’t want to talk about it. They don’t want to even ponder it. This rich, full thought, he had plenty of time left to live. He says, I’ve laid up all this stuff for many years. I’m good to go for a long time. Ah, but God’s God’s assessment was this is the last day you’ve got on earth. I’m taking your soul. You’re not going to live any longer. This is it. He had no idea. He had no time left. He had no idea that all the sand had run out of the hourglass that God had given him. It’s all, it’s over. death comes with such a powerful force. It cannot be successfully resisted. Your soul is required. Required. Well, you may be lowed to die. I’m sorry that God’s will is going to be carried out. You can struggle. You can do everything you can to keep yourself alive. But when the time is up, your time is up. And God sends his angel or angels and your soul was separated from the body and you’re brought to face God to give an account as we’ve studied. in Ecclesiastes, the dust or the body returned to the earth as it was because God created you from the earth, the dust or the ground. But the soul, your spirit or your soul shall return to God who gave it. Ah, you’re going to have to give an account. Notice how death often comes with surprise. Unexpected. He never gave a thought that he was going to die. Not tonight. Not this day. Why, look at everything’s good. Everything’s going to be great for the future. This night, thy soul shall be required. My friends, while you sleep, you never know. God may come. God may take you. Let me snatch away. When you die, you have to leave everything you possess behind. Then who will these things be? You can’t take anything with you. He couldn’t take anything. of the goods he had. Here you are. You’ve labored. You’ve toiled. You’ve piled up all these material possessions. And then you die. And you can’t keep them. You know, the ancient Egyptians often buried their pharaohs in these huge pyramids. And they had in them treasure chambers or wealth chambers, if you would. And they would pile up all their wealth and all the best things they had so that they could take it with them in their afterlife. People think sometimes that they, somehow or other they can take it with them, but they can’t. Now these people, these pharaohs put up, you know, they’ve made all kinds of booby traps and things for keeping thieves away from stealing their wealth. But the thieves were pretty sharp and they figured out eventually how to get to it. A lot of these people, A lot of these pyramids were raided of their treasures by thieves that got in there and figured out how to circumvent the booby traps and get the goods. So the grave robbers managed to steal the treasure. You can’t take it with you. Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return it to there. You cannot take it with you. You start out naked and you leave naked. What good can these earthly possessions do for your soul in the world to come? Preparing for eternity means taking this into account. What will I need when I have to face God? What is important when it comes to that time when I must meet God? To prepare to meet your God. Then what? What do you really need? Just weeks before he was to collect a $1.5 million inheritance, a construction worker in New Zealand died when a wall fell on. The backhoe operator people said was, I had taken shelter when a windstorm had come up behind a wall. And the wall collapsed. and he died. It was impossible to do anything about it to prevent it from taking place. His time on earth was up. Eternal misery awaits you. If you fail to prepare to meet God, you’d be a fool. So here’s how to be a fool. Think that your life can assist as of the things that you possess. Think that you can satisfy your soul with early things and fail to prepare for eternity. How to avoid? being a fool. Let’s talk about that. One, be on your guard against covetousness. Verse 15. Beware of covetousness. I read a story about a colony of eagles that made its home along the shores of the Chautauqua lake for many years. This man was looking out over the lake and he saw this eagle. that was flying and he was watching this eagle as it gracefully soared over the lake. Then all of a sudden the eagle darted down toward the water and it suddenly crashed into the water and with its talons it grabbed hold of a mus colluge was two feet long or more in length and weighed about ten pounds. It was a big fish. And there was this, you know, clash and splattering about of fins and feathers, but slowly the eagle rose in the air with its captive dangling and wiggling from its talents. When it got to a height of a thousand feet, all of a sudden it began to drop. And you could see the eagle just descend and as it descended, it became faster and faster in its descent until it crashed into the water. Later they found the eagle and the fish both dead. It seems that the eagle’s talons had gone into the fish, his flesh, and even though it was too heavy for it to lift much, you know, too far, he couldn’t let go. He couldn’t let go, and therefore it killed. my friends, a lot of people, with regard to the possessions in this life, cannot let go. They have their talents into them. They won’t let it go at all. And it kills them. It destroys them, as I mentioned. Christ gives you a warning here about greed, be on your guard, lest to love for it, be the undoing of your soul. Are you consumed with a desire for, you know, bigger house, a bigger house, a bigger, paycheck, an expensive luxury car, an exotic vacation. Now, these things are not evil in and of themselves. They could be a blessing, but they could be a snare. You’ve got to have a right perspective on things in this life. Sadly, these things can become the chief desire of your life, something which draws your heart away from the Lord Jesus Christ. Covetousness is. is in its basic form, as we’ve said in the past, a discontentment with God’s providence, because you think you deserve better or more. So avoid being a fool. You must keep a careful check on your spirit. Godliness with contentment is great gain. That’s what counts. Secondly, make sure you’re rich toward God. Look at verse 21. So is he that layeth up treasure to himself and is not rich toward God. Being rich toward God is living the opposite of the materialism of the rich full. In other words, thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their corn and their wine increase, Psalm 4.7. That’s what David said. My relationship with God is better than the abundance of the fields. The rich fool didn’t think that way, but David did. Your soul cannot eat bread or drink wine. However, through faith in Christ’s blood and righteousness, your soul can find peace and fellowship with God, and that’s what counts in this life. You’ll find that there is a meat to eat that the world knows not off. And that’s doing the will of God, having fellowship with the Lord God, living not by physical bread alone, but every word that precedeth out of the mouth of God as Jesus taught. It’s not enough to feed your belly if you’re not rich toward God it’s the undoing of your life. We ought to desire to sincere milk of the word that we may grow thereby. You drink when your soul is brought to the fountain of living waters, which is God himself. You drink from Christ’s living waters and your soul will never thirst again. As the heart panteth after the water brook, so panteth my soul after thee, the psalmist said in Psalm 42. being rich toward God involves laying up spiritual treasure in heaven. It means being rich in the things of God. Rich in faith. Rich in good works. Rich in the fruits of righteousness. Rich in the graces of the spirit. This is what it means to be rich toward God. To hunger and thirst not for material food but for righteousness and if you taste of God you’re going to find that it is good and satisfying. The unbeliever no matter how rich and material things is bankrupt toward God you may acquire all kinds of things related to this life and yet nothing is laid up as a treasure in heaven. In the end, the parable of the full raises this question, where is my treasure? For what are you living in this life? Do you seek to be rich toward God? Is that something you never even think about? Have it ever crossed your mind that I need to be rich toward God? You know, monkeys in North Africa are caught by gourds with a hole just large enough to slip their hand and grab hold of those nuts and they won’t let go and they get captured. We need to learn to live this life as Christians with a loose hand that we can let go of material things. There are times we have to just let go of material things. Be ready to part with things so don’t cling so tightly to it. It’s not something you can keep. It’s not something that’s going to satisfy your soul. We appreciate the possessions we have. We thank God for what he’s provided for us. And he’s often richly provides for us. But the Lord gives him sometimes he takes away. And we have to be willing to say blessed it be the name of the Lord either way. Focus on laying up treasure in heaven being rich toward God. That’s your top priority in life. Because there’s going to day coming, sure shooting. There’s a day coming on the sand of your hour glass is going to be emptied out. And you’re going to have to face God. Let’s be prepared for that day. Let’s not be a fool like this man. Let’s close with the word of prayer tonight.