13Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."
14Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" 15Then 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."
16And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17He 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. 19And 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." (NIV)
MAIN IDEAS FROM THIS TEXT
A. Jesus will not accommodate Himself to our desires.
13Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." 14Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?"
Disputes between family members were normally settled by rabbis, and because Jesus could, in a sense, be addressed as a rabbi (Mk 9:5, 11:21), the man in the crowd took advantage of this fact. However, this man did not want Jesus to mediate between him and his brother so much as he wanted Jesus to side with him.
But Jesus did not come to earth to settle earthly disputes, or to necessarily take on any “role” that we want Him to. He came the first time to seek and save what was lost (Lk 19:10) and He is coming a second time to judge the world (Ac 17:30-31). Anyone who doesn’t understand the “big picture” of Jesus’ mission does not know Him, or at least not as he or she should.
B. Jesus’ disciples must always guard themselves from believing that possessions are what make their lives worth living, and that they should therefore seek more and more of them.
15Then 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."
Discussion Question 1: What does a man’s life consist of? Read Ac 17:24-28; Jn 17:3; 1 Co 10:31.
Discussion Question 2: Our Lord instructs us to guards against “all kinds of greed.” What other kinds of greed might be included in this statement, besides the obvious ones (i.e. money and possessions)?
C. Greed is found in us when we view what we possess as ultimately ours, rather than as God’s gift.
16And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'
This is not to say that we can’t view our possessions, or the fruit of our labour, as ours in any sense; rather, we need to remember that “the earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it” (Ps 24: 1) and that we will have to give an account to Him for what He has entrusted to us (Mt 25:14-28; Rom 14:12).
”Someone has said we should consider not how much of our own money we will give to God’s work, but how much of God’s money we should keep for ourselves.” (Vaughan Roberts, Life’s Big Questions, p. 94)
D. Greed is found in us when we keep all that we possess for ourselves.
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.
Keeping all, for ourselves, of what God has entrusted to us is stealing from Him (Mal 3:6-10).
Looked at another way, this is a prime example of the sin of omission (i.e. knowing what one ought to do and not doing it, James 4:17). It is the failure to give of one’s resources to God by meeting the needs of others. This work involves, first, taking care of one’s family (1 Ti 5:8); then giving to the church (2 Co 8:7; 1 Co 16:1-4) - particularly those in need (1 Jn 3:16-18; Jas 2:15-17) - and giving to the poor and helpless in our culture or around the world (Matt 6:2-4; Gal 2:9-10).
E. Greed is found in us when we put our complete trust in what we possess.
Greed is idolatry (Col 3:5), because the person who has it is finding his life in possessions rather than in God. Just as surely as “those who worship idols will become like them” (Ps 115:4-8), a lust for more things will lead to a delusional state of mind that is not in accord with reality (Pr 18:11; Rev 3:17).
F. God ultimately owns not only all we possess, but our very souls as well.
20"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you.
We cannot escape standing before God when we die (Heb 9:27). Therefore, to face God and present him with a wealth-trusting life is to invite His judgment: the greedy will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Co 6:9-10), but will receive God’s wrath (Col 3:5-6).
G. Possessions are never permanently ours, so it is futile to believe otherwise.
Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
”But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.” (1 Ti 6:7)
H. The antidote to accumulating riches for ourselves is accumulating riches for God.
21"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."
"Rich toward God” = rich in spiritual things. It includes, among other things, the following:
- Being rich in faith (Jas 2:5).
- Being rich in good deeds, especially generosity (1 Ti 6:17-19).
- Meditating on “the coming ages” when God will bestow “the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:7).
Discussion Question 3: In his book called An Introduction to Biblical Ethics, Robertson McQuilkin says, “…the Bible treats covetousness so ruthlessly, and (yet) we (North) American Christians domesticate this sin as a house pet.”
a) What do you think he means?
b) Do you agree? Why or why not?
IN CLOSING, A SCRIPTURE PASSAGE FOR OUR MEDITATION:
But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this grace of giving….For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. (2 Co 8:7,9)
