Don’t Be A Fool Series #5

Don't Be a Fool With Your Wealth!
Luke 12:13-21

This is a hard subject to preach on. I don’t ever want to be one of those preachers who can admonish you — who can proclaim the word of God to you in a way that confronts idols in your life — or be a preacher who can talk about something from up here in a way that makes you think that I’ve got everything under control — when I am (or have been) just as foolish about that area of teaching in my own life.

So tonight we are continuing in this series called: “Don’t Be A Fool” and we have been unpacking areas that the Bible tells us that we can either exhibit our God-given wisdom, or we can go into the ditch of foolishness, which time and again leads us away from God and into sin.

So far in the series, we’ve talked about foolishness in our words, foolishness in the realm of sex, and foolishness in who or what or when we listen. Tonight we are talking foolishness with our wealth, we’re unpacking how not to be a fool – or how to STOP BEING A FOOL with your money. And the reason this is so hard for me is that I have got to tell you from the get go; I have been and many times I still am a FOOL with my money.

Even after I came to faith, I was unaware of many of the teachings about money that the Scriptures provide us with and I led myself (and as the leader of my family, I have led us) into ill-thought out debt; into wasteful discretionary spending; and there have been times — in my life as a Christian — that my checkbook would not have corresponded with the generous spirit that we are all called to have if we are Christ followers.

I don’t think I’m the only one. I don’t think that I’m the only one who’s been a fool with his or her money, but before we get to you and all those people “out there”, let’s look and see what God has to say…

We’re going to start in Luke 12:13. And I know we’ve been starting in Proverbs and then leading out to Jesus later in the messages. But this is an area where Jesus specifically hits the fools in the crowd (you and me) with some Gospel, so we are starting and ending with Him. Amen?

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; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
16 And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 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 all my grain and my goods. 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." '
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 anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."

Let’s Pray and then we’ll unpack the text…

First off, Let’s deal with the occasion for this teaching that we just read from Jesus. None of us want to be an object lesson of foolishness. None of us want to be the person that someone points to and says, “Look at him, kids. Don’t grow up to be like that guy.”

Now the guy in the beginning of our passage tonight is an object lesson of foolishness that has been preserved for 20 centuries. At least the they didn’t use his name.

Anyway, if you look at the verses leading up to this passage, Jesus is teaching the people these profound truths about their relationship with God and these things about the Holy Spirit – not to blaspheme the Holy Spirit, and to depend on the Holy Spirit to give us the right words when we are put in a place where we have to defend ourselves for our faith.

All these big topics are rolling out and then this guy just stops the flow with some off the wall request that has nothing to do with anything that Jesus is talking about. It’s like this kid says, “Yes, yes, kingdom, kingdom, now can you just wait a minute and deal with what is important to me?”

Now, we can read this and see this guy as a kind of fool that we would never be. But SO MANY TIMES, this is us – this is who we are.

How many times does God want to impress something important on our hearts, but we aren’t even listening because we want Him on board with OUR plans and OUR agendas.

Not you? Just think about the Lord’s Prayer. The pattern that Jesus gave us, when He said pray like this.

How many times do we skip the pattern of the Lord’s Prayer, the pattern that begins: Father, may your name be seen as Holy by the way I live my life to reflect you…Please show me how I can be a part of your kingdom mission…Father, show me areas of my life in which I am not conforming to Your perfect will and through a heart of repentance and faith, give me victory over that sin for your glory…
And THEN, AFTER SUBMITTING TO HIS WILL in those areas, praying: Lord, give me what I need for today. Father, continue to bless me and my family with our daily provision of food, shelter, clothing, companionship, mercy and grace…

Instead of that pattern that Jesus laid out for us, how many times do we go to pray – usually while doing something else — and just dive right into the gimme, gimmes focused on our wants more than our needs?

Jesus would say it much more lovingly than I will, but we need to hear, stop talking and open your ears Fool, being a Christian means dying to our agenda and Our missions and getting plugged in to be a part of God’s Kingdom Mission.

With that in mind, with a eye on what came before in the text and with an eye on our own hearts, look again starting in verse 13.

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?"

Of course Jesus will come back as the Judge, but at the time of His earthly ministry in the flesh, He was not there to handle family disputes.

But again He did take this to be a teachable moment. Dads and future dads in the crowd, don’t miss teachable moments when you can bring Gospel truths into everyday relevance for your kids and the kids they hang out with. God calls you to man up and pastor your family well. No matter what has happened and no matter what opportunities you may have missed in the past, start today and use your time for Kingdom building in the people closest to you.

If you don’t have any kids, maybe God will call you to be a Big Brother.
Let’s see how Jesus uses this interruption:

15 Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

Jesus sees into the hearts of all of us. This kid interrupted with a plea for justice, but Jesus shows that the real motivation greed, or some translations say covetousness – wanting what someone else has.

16 And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 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 all MY grain and MY goods. 19 And I'll say to MY self, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '

A sure sign that we are not on track with God and that we are foolishly following our real treasure of stuff can be seen when we display a desire to hoard everything we have.

We will not have a heart of generosity that reflects God’s generosity to us. We will not testify with our lives and our actions to the fact that while we were spiritually impoverished, spiritually dead, God generously gave His greatest treasure, His Son Jesus Christ, so that – as He became poor for us – we were able to share in the rich inheritance of eternal life with God in Heaven.

Look at the man’s heart: MY crops, MY barns, MY grains, MY goods…

And does he offer up prayers of thanksgiving to God?
Does he pray for God's wisdom to know what God would have him do with this abundance?

No, just like us so many times, he doesn’t even acknowledge God when things are going well. Instead, he comes up with a plan that allows him to soak up his riches in slovenly selfishness.

And this guy thinks that this is an awesome way to use what he has received.

I don’t know about you but I have been in this situation at a smaller level throughout my adult life.

I’ve never had so much that I didn’t need to work. But, with each new promotion, with each new job that paid more money, with each annual raise, with each debt that has been paid off that allowed for more discretionary spending…

Did I ask God, what can I do for the Kingdom with this extra money Lord? What can I do that will honor you?

Now, I don’t want to paint a totally horrible picture, we have been generous in the past to a homeless shelter that we support, and we do give 10% off the top of all of our income to the local church.

But honestly, the shelter giving is sporadic and the tithe can really become a motion that we go through, a box that we check off on our churchy checklist.

There is still a ton of instances that we don’t ask, “Is this the wisest way in which we could be spending God’s money?”

It’s all His.

Now at this point, I know what you might be thinking, maybe I’m saying we should all wear raggedy clothes, eat canned beans and crackers for every meal and forgo the niceties in life like air conditioning and running water.

That’s not what I’m saying. God has nothing against with you having money or having nice stuff.

But, if the majority of your thoughts, actions and prayers go into holing onto that money and that stuff or accumulating MORE of that money and that stuff, then friends, you are a fool.

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?' (See Ecclesiastes 2:18-19)
21 "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."

Now, I am going to use scripture to unpack verse 21 in a minute, but before that let’s skip down to verse 29 where wraps up this section of teaching about our wealth and our heart treasures. If you don’t walk away from here with anything I tell you then at least walk away with this next passage in your heart.

...29 And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30 For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
32 "Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Don’t be a fool with your wealth. Wealth is defined differently for each of us and the definition tends to change as our circumstances change.

When I was a teenager working at a Chi-chi’s for next to no money, I used to dream about the kind of money that I make now. I thought, If I had that kind of money, I’d be stress free!

Later, I allowed my standard of living to surpass my income and we are in the process of paying down more debt than I care to look at, all because of that past foolishness. And the stress of this income level has surpassed any stress that I had as a teen.

The stress isn’t greater now because of the wealth that God has blessed us with, it is greater because I have been a FOOL with that wealth.

And listen, foolishness with your wealth may wear a different mask than everyone else’s. For you it may be throwing money at the next trinket and the next and the next. Or may be for you it is trips you can’t afford, or spoiling your kids to your own financial hurt.

But, maybe your foolishness doesn’t put you in the poorhouse like it has for some of us.

Maybe your is a foolishness that the world calls wise. Maybe, like the man in the parable, you are saving and saving and being very responsible for retirement or your kid’s college funs, etc.

If that “responsible” money and wealth management is your reason in which you cannot be “rich toward God” as verse 21 says, then you too are a fool.

Now we’re almost done, let’s unpack how to be rich toward God. If you remember, in the Sermon on the Mount series, we taught on a similar passage and I took you to another New Testament book to show hat being rich toward God or “storing up treasures in Heaven” really looks like.

Keep your finger in Luke 12 and turn ahead to 1 Timothy 6:17-19 where Paul explains to the young church leader how to address the issue:

17 Command those who are rich

(UNPACK:By "rich", all of us can be included in this command)

(17 Command those who are rich) in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

The Bible says, the wise path that we should walk to avoid foolishness with our materials, with our money, with our stuff, is to get out of self and do good, be rich in good deeds and BE GENEROUS and WILLING TO SHARE.

And one last point, a point that I will continue banging into our heads for as long as you let me preach.

We do this because of who we are God’s children. We aren’t doing this for a favorable response to God. We are doing it because of what He has already done and has promised to do. A promise He made before we were ever inclined in our hearts to obey Him.

Before the COMMANDS of 1 Tim. 6:18, we see the reason in verse 17:

…put their (OUR) hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

And back to Luke 12, in verses 30-32 Jesus reminds us who we are in relationship to the God of the universe:

… your Father knows that you need them (things to eat and drink…). 31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
32 "Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.

If you are His then that truth is for you. Your FATHER has been pleased to give you the kingdom, that is everything – EVERYTHING.

EVERYTHING, once it is washed clean of the sin and the brokenness will be yours and mine to enjoy. We are co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17).

So I am pleading with you and you can remind me of this when you see me acting the fool, please don’t let go of the treasure of the Kingdom for the fading, rusting, deteriorating, not-long satisfying stuff of this present age.

You are a child of God if you are in Christ, There is so much more in store for you.

Let’s pray…