Beware of Covetousness.

(Luke 12:13-22)

What would you say characterizes the days we live in? It doesn't take much to think of some things that represent how people feel and act today. Casual attitude to sex, stealing, lying, dishonest even permeates the political world these days.

However, I'd like to make a suggestion about something that Jesus said we should be aware of. It’s probably not the first thing that pops into your head but I believe it characterizes our countries today and to some extent, even our churches.

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; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” 16 Then he told them this parable:

(Luke 12: 13-16a)

“The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 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 my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain 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 whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

(Like 12: 16b-21)

The structure of this passage is rather simple. It begins with this guy asking the Lord to divide the inheritance between him and his brother. The Lord gives a reply which is rather curt and then he tells him aa parable.

So, let's begin with this man, assumed to be quite young, who comes to the teacher and says. "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."

Now, that sort of a problem would usually be covered by the Mosaic law, and beyond that, the rabbis were the ones appointed to decide how to apply the law.

Perhaps this fellow came to Christ because he himself was a teacher or rabbi.

So, t

This bears a little explanation as to what's going on here, but we don't know anything other than what is said here.

What we do know beyond this is that in that day in Israel, the older brother got a double portion of the inheritance. So, I'll call this fellow the younger brother. That’s very likely the case, though I don't know that for sure.

At any rate, the older brother got a double inheritance because it was his responsibility to meet the needs of the widowed mother and any unmarried sisters. So, he got a double portion that would enable him to take care of those members of the wider family.

Perhaps what is happening here is the other brother is saying he got so much more, so ask him to divide the inheritance with me. Of course, it's possible that there wasn't any division at all. At any rate, this much is clear: he is not satisfied with his portion of the inheritance, either he got none less than the other brother, or maybe he got none, or even he got his and he has spent it all. At any rate, on this day, he is not satisfied.

The other little observation that we can make, which is very important, regardless of what he got, he wanted more. That is at the bottom of this question, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me," meaning, "I want more than I got." Whether he got half or nothing, or his brother got a double portion is immaterial because the real issue, as far as he is concerned, is, "I want more than I got." So, note that.

It's important to understand what happens next. Jesus said to him, "Man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?" The word that he addresses him with is, frankly, a little bit of a severe address. He says to him, "I'm not your judge, and I'm not your arbitrator." The difference between these two things is the judge is one who interprets the law, and the arbitrator is one who saw to it that the law said was carried out.

At any rate, what Jesus is saying is, "I am not your judge. I am not your arbitrator." All you must do is look at why Jesus came. He didn't come to be a judge; he didn't come to be an arbitrator. He came to be a saviour, a teacher, and an example. It wasn't his purpose in coming to make decisions like this.

Now, having said that, the text then says in verse 15, "And he said to them." Immediately, the question is, who was them? Well, I'm going to suggest that it's the crowd. That's based on the fact that in verse 14, he said, "Then one from the crowd." Verse 14 says that he said, "Man," that's singular, so the "them" in verse 15 no doubt means he's speaking to the crowd.

So, one member of the crowd asked the question, and Jesus uses that as an opportunity to teach the whole crowd.

And here's what he says: " Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions."

Jesus turns to the crowd and says, "The real problem here and the lesson to be learned has to do with covetousness. Beware, there's a danger in thinking this way." And then he explains, "For life does not consist in the amount of things one possesses."

So, the greedy/covetous person apparently is one who thinks that life consists of the amount of money or stuffy ou possess.

So, Jesus is not so much concerned with the amount of the inheritance between these two brothers as he is concerning the attitude of at least the one brother toward material things and life. This guy is of the opinion that life is all about the amount of stuff that you possess.

Mark Twain defines civilization as a limitless multiplication of unnecessary things.

It was true then and it is still true today. We say, "We want more; I need that; I must have that." The problem is it doesn't satisfy.

Another proverb I read said, "Money is like seawater. The more a person drinks, the thirstier he becomes until it kills him." So, Jesus is saying if you've got that attitude, beware, because life doesn't consist of massing a great amount of stuff, materialism, or money, or things.

People it seem have an alomost unquenchable thirst for getting more and more believing we need it in order to be truly satisfied. It may be a thirst for money or things that money can buy or even a thirst for position and power.

I submit to you that this just maybe one of the sins that is characteristic of our age. We all just think if I could get a bit more.

Some think If I could just win the lottery, I'd be happier. This type of thinking so permeates our society and culture. Call it materialism, call it consumerism, but we just want to consume more, thinking that that's somehow necessary for a happy and satisfied life.

This really comes across when you watch television. The commercials that seem to convey the idea that if you just had this, you would be happier. If you had my product, you would be more satisfied in life. This is what Jesus is talking about. He is saying beware of this type of covetousness thinking that if you just had more, you would be happier or satisfied.

In order to drive this truth home, Jesus tells a parable. It begins in verse 16.

“The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

(Like 12: 16b-21)

Now, note that this man in our parable is already rich. He's already got plenty. He's a successful farmer, with successful crop yields. He was a hardworking guy who n No doubt he had a fertile field. The point is he's already rich, and he's going to get more.

So, he thinks within himself, saying, "What shall I do since I have no room to store my crops?" The man has a problem. He's got more than plenty, and his problem is he doesn't know where to put it. Already, he's already rich, his barns are already full, no place to put his bumper crop. So, he thinks to himself, and he comes up with an idea. He will pull down my barns and build bigger ones to store all my crops and my goods, and I will say to myself I have set enough aside for many years I can now take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.'"

Notice, he's going to pull down his barn(s), plural, already full and he's going to have to tear them down and build bigger barns, that's his plan.

Notice the element of selfishness in this passage “I have no room to store my crops." So, he says he will pull down his barns and build bigger. The end result of which is he thinks he can then just take it easy, eat, drink, and be merry.'"

Almost every word coming out of his mouth has to do with him. It's all about him. He is an incredibly selfish, self-centered person. He only thinks about himself; he doesn't think about others. There's no thought of using the money to the glory of God or the good of others; he only thinks of himself and his own pleasure. He was not even concerned about a fuller life for himself; he was only concerned with self-indulgence. He laid up treasure for himself, believing that real happiness was in material possessions. He believed his possessions would provide all he needed to be happy.

Jesus is using this story to teach that life does not consist in the abundance of things a person possesses. And then he tells the story of a man who's already rich, and he says the ability to have even more is going to make me happy.

Well, then we're told in verse 20, "But God calls him a “fool” and says, “This night your soul will be required of you; then Then who will get all this stuff you have hoarded for yourself.

Now what I think is interesting about this is I would imagine most of the people in the crowd would initially been envious of this guy, they envied his full barns and his bumper crop and the fact that he had to tear down those barns and build bigger, the person that they thought was rich and had it all and was happy. Jesus was saying that, “he was a fool”.

But here's what he said: "You're a fool because this night your life is required of you. He's a fool because he had no anticipation of the fact that he might die one day, perhaps the very night his plan was hatched.

So, God said, 'You're a fool.' And as for all those material possessions, God asks a question: this night your soul is required of you, then who’s will those things be which you have provided?

In the final analysis, this rich man was a poor man. He really, in the end, didn't even have life; he was materially rich but spiritually bankrupt.

Somebody has suggested he was a fool because he tried to satisfy himself with things, deceived himself into thinking he owned the things he possessed, and because of that he didn't make adequate provision for eternity.

So God asked the penetrating question: "What happenes to your possessions—when you die?"

This rich farmer had lived his life without thinking about others, as I demonstrated a moment ago. He only thought about himself and accumulated his wealth solely for himself. In the end, all of his possessions were given through inheritance to others,the very thing he didn't think about while he was alive.

He probably hadn't even made a will, and for certain, he did not take any of his possessions with him. The a Spanish proverb says, "There are no pockets in a burial shroud." Like everyone who has ever walked this earth, He didn't take it with him; he left it to somebody else. And isn't that what happens to all the material things we have?

They either wear out before we die, or they belong to somebody else after we die.

This parable should remind us that God is really the owner of all things, and we merely have the use of them for a little while.

The man in the story thought that material things could make him happy. But Jesus ends by saying, "He who lays up treasure for himself is not rich."

The Lord pointed out throughout the passage that he thought about himself, and that implies and illustrates that he didn't think of other people. But Jesus gets to the bottom of the issue by saying he was rich in terms of material things but not rich toward God.

Those who live for material possessions, who spend solely on their own pleasure, may be rich in terms of this world but are poor in their relationship with God.

What does it mean to be rich toward God? For one thing, it means living in close relationship with Him and faithfully serving Him. It is spiritual enrichment, not personal enjoyment, that is really the issue of life.

This man was rich materially; he had full barns, but he did not have faith. He had wealth but not love. He had possessions but not joy. He had an abundance of things, but he didn't have a relationship with God.

Let me tell you just how serious this is. In Colossians chapter 3, the apostle Paul makes a statement that is, frankly, a little shocking. He says,

“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.”

Now, in the first place, notice that in the list of sexual immorality, he lists ‘greed. Isn't that interesting? But then he defines it, saying it is idolatry.

That takes us all the way back to the original statement in verse 15: "Beware of greed", that is, thinking that life consists of the abundance of things you possess. Idolatry is putting possessions in place of God and faith. No wonder Jesus says, "Beware."

So let me sum it up, and let's ponder this for a bit.

The sum is simple: beware of greed, thinking that the abundance of things you possess will make you happy instead of having a relationship with God.

I said we need to process a little bit because it would be easy to think that the Lord was condemning being rich or condemning possessing a lot of worldly goods. That's not true. The Lord is not condemning being rich.

Paul addresses that issue in 1 Timothy chapter 6. He says,

"Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they may be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life,"

(1 Timothy 6: 17-19)

Notice, Paul is addressing people who are rich in this present age. In 1 Timothy 6:17, he is talking about people who are materially wealthy. And then he says this, " 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"

In fact, he says, "Do not trust in uncertain riches but in the living God." Then he says this, "Who gives us richly all things to enjoy."

So, Christ is not condemning having a lot of wealth. In fact, in the Old Testament, Abraham was wealthy, Solomon was wealthy, and in the New Testament, Barnabas was wealthy. That's not the problem. The problem is that you be arrogant, that you trust it for your security instead of the living God.

So, he is saying, enjoy it, just make sure you trust the Lord. In fact he adds, “Do good, be rich in good works, be willing to share, don't be selfish, give some of it away. And by doing that, you will store for yourself treasure in heaven."

So, I want to clarify, the Lord is not condemning the possession of worldly goods as such. There is nothing wrong with being rich. The pint here is the Lord is condemning an attitude. The issue here is not the amount of money you have; it's the attitude that you have toward it.

Rich people can be covetous, and so can poor people because it's an attitude of wanting more, thinking that more will make you happy. May I repeat that? What the Lord is condemning is greed and covetousness, thinking that if I had more, it will make me happy.

In this parable Jesus told shows the folly of materialism in light of the brevity and uncertainty of life. Life is not worth living if it is based upon owning material things and ignoring God.

No one can enjoy happiness, security, rest in their soul, or find peace or true meaning in life in just material possessions. "Man shall not live by bread alone," That's what Jesus is condemning, thinking that more will make you happy.

There are perils to prosperity. Wealth can choke out the word of God. It can create the trap. It can give you a false sense of security. So, the Lord is condemning an attitude of covetousness, thinking if I just had more, I would be satisfied.

The point here is that life should consists in relationships to God and to others. Therefore, trust that what I've done is make abundantly clear that just having an abundance of things does not make you happy, satisfied, or fulfilled.

Conclusion: Jesus asks us to always remember that life does not consist in the abundance of things you possess; life consists of a good and and rich relationship with God.