Luke 12:13-34 | Parables in Practice

Listen to this week’s sermon, Parables In Practice preached by Pastor Jason Dunn from Luke 12:13-34.

Transcript

Rev. Benjamin Kandt 0:06

Hello everyone. This is Pastor Benjamin. You're listening to Sermon Audio from New City, Orlando. At New City, we long to see our Father answer the Lord's Prayer. For more resources, visit our website at Newcity Orlando.com.

Luke 12 Reading On Wealth

Nadia Chong 0:20

Join me in this prayer of illumination. Give us understanding that we may keep your law and observe it with our whole hearts. Lead us in the path of your commandments, for ye delight in it. Turn our eyes from looking at worthless things and give us life in your ways through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Today's scripture reading is going to be from Luke twelve. It's a long one, so stand if you can. Someone in the crowd said to him, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. But he said to them, Man who made me a judge and arbitrator over you. And he said to them, Take care and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. And he told them a parable saying, The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops? And he said, I will do this. I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods, and I will say to my soul, Soul, have you ample goods laid up for many years? Relax, eat, drink, be merry. But God said to him, Fool, this night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? So is this the one who lays up treasure for himself and that is not rich toward God? And he said to his disciples, Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on, for life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens, they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do a small thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow, they neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today and tomorrow is thrown up into the oven, how much more will he clothe you? O you of little faith, and do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried, for all the nations of the world will seek after these things, and your father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. Fear not, little flock. It is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with money bags and do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. This is God's word.

Rev. Benjamin Kandt 3:26

Thanks be to God.

Coveting Exposed Beneath The Money Question

Why More Money Never Feels Enough

Anxiety As A Symptom Not A Cause

Jesus Retrains Attention Toward God

Pastor Jason Dunn 3:33

This morning, I am one of the pastors here at New City. Now, one of the most challenging things about being human is that our attention is limited. It's in fact maybe one of the most precious things that we have, the most precious resource that we have. You can really only focus one thing at a time. There is really no neutrality or this myth of multitasking with our attention. Either you aim at one thing with your attention or you aim at another. We all know this to be true because we have this thing that seeks our attention all the time in our pockets. And you know that you can't look at the phone and also be engaged in conversation with somebody across from the table. You have to choose. But before I go on and get all abstract about and existential about our attention, I want to tell you a story. Now, I love riding my bike. You know what 40-year-old doesn't love riding his bike? Some of you guys have some of those cool, fancy electric bikes, which is cool. I haven't quite made it that far. But I don't get to ride it as much, but sometimes I get to ride my bike to work. Actually, Ben, who's not here this morning, we both get to ride our bikes to work. It's a single-speed, fixed gear bike and so much fun. Uh, he does it for fun, and I kind of do it for exercise. But anyway, you know what it's like when you're on a bike with like really thin tires. You're going down the sidewalk and you're hitting driveway after driveway after driveway after driveway. And I'm like, man, I'm meant to be over here in the roadway. But I have this big fear of Orlando traffic. Like, I can't get out there, I'm gonna get hit. So, but then sometimes I get enough courage, enough boldness, and I'm like, well, I'm gonna head that way. So, what do I do? I fix my eyes towards the roadway, and I try to make a determination whether or not I can get into the roadway without being hit or not. And so I did this one time. I looked back because I was on a sidewalk across from the lane I needed to be in to be uh roadworthy, going with traffic on my bike. And all of a sudden I looked back and smack, I hit a concrete telephone pole going about 20 miles an hour. And the next thing I knew, I was on the ground, I couldn't breathe because the impact I had had knocked the wind out of myself. And uh somehow, by God's grace, I missed my head. I wasn't wearing a helmet that day, and my shoulder and and the bike did not fare so well. Now I'd love to kind of tell you the end of that story, but that's a different sermon on the power of shame. But what happened? The fancy psychological and behavioral concept is called target fixation. I focused my attention on where I wanted to go even for a moment, and that drifted me far enough that I would hit an immovable concrete structure. Now, this is what I want you guys to hear. Our attention directs our affections. Our attention directs our affections. What you aim at, you will get. In today's parable, Jesus shows us that we build our lives, we build our lives based on what we pay attention to. Jesus wants us to know the importance of where we focus our attention. And what the problem is, is that sin hijacks our attention. Sin takes our attention and malforms our aims. Sin takes our attention and leads us, if you think about the parable, to foolishness, and you think about the narrative after the parable, to anxiety. We often, when our attention is misguided or directed in something different, our affections directed at something that we shouldn't be directed towards, we often hit an immovable force and crash. So the question for us today is who or what has your attention? And what does that produce inside of you? Peace and security, or anxiety and fear? We'll explore those questions through these points: the problem of anxiety, the principle of attention, and the pleasure of the Father. If you have a Bible or device or a bulletin, turn with me to Luke chapter 12, starting in verse 13. Someone in the crowd said to him, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. Well, what's going on here? Jesus, as he often does, is teaching his disciples, but there's others, those are around him. And someone raises their hand to ask him and calls him a teacher and says, Hey, I have a question. And what was it about? It was a family dispute. And what was the family dispute about? Money. And it's usually right, family disputes could be about a lot of different things. It's relationally in the end, but sometimes there's always this thing about money. And the problem was probably a younger brother complaining about his older brother who is controlling the assets or controlling the family estate. And did Jesus get sucked into the family squabble? No. Look at verse 14 with me. And he said to him, Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you? And then in this next statement, Jesus goes below the question that this man is asking. He goes deeper. Verse 15, and he said to them, Take care and be on your guard against all covetousness. For one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. Jesus uses this moment to actually expose this man's heart, the heart that has a tendency to bend in on itself. Jesus uses the moment to expose what grabs our attentions and our hearts. Jesus actually gives us two commands here, and this is a warning. These two commands are a warning. He says, take care. And the second command is be on guard. The Greek word here for take care has this broader, wider meaning. It means of considering, seeing, watching. Some translations actually take this Greek word and they translate it, watch out. Take care, see what is really there. This is attention language. Look what's really going on. Be alert. And what does Jesus want us to see? What does he want us to watch out for? Jesus wants us to watch out for the problem of coveting. Coveting grabs our attention by our misseeing, misseeing possessions as life, misseeing abundance as security, misseeing surplus as salvation, misseeing that our hearts aren't actually as healthy as they are. And the second imperative, be on guard. It's an echo from the garden, protect and keep the garden where they're to keep and protect the garden from the evil one. They were to do the good work that God had asked them to do. And Jesus is here saying, protect and keep on guard from the evil of coveting. So what is coveting? Coveting is the state of desiring to have more than one's due. Augustine says, covetousness is an appetite on anyone's part for more than enough. Coveting is to want what you don't have. This is probably true of the man who interrupted Jesus with his question, with the family dispute. He was asking for more than his due. He was asking for what he didn't or could not have. And coveting, it puts us on a posture of always saying, Mine. Look down with me as I read verses 17 through 19 with a little emphasis. And he told them a parable. By the way, I don't, I just real quick aside as I continue to read, is who who actually created the wealth that this man had? It's the land that created the wealth. God is the one who gives wealth. But let me keep reading. Verse 17, and he thought to himself, What shall I do? For I have nowhere to store my crops. And he said, I will do this, I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods, and I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, and be merry. Anyone who's been around a toddler recently knows what it's like. My toy, my plate, my bottle, even if it isn't theirs, they still say, mine, mine, mine. It's this automatic state of our hearts. There's an insatiability with our hearts. And just a real quick aside here, I want to say something because there is something here to say about self-talk. Jesus is portraying this rich man, this farmer, as someone who is engaging in self-talk. And that self-talk, I think, led to a lie. The lie is that it's all about me. Eat, drink, and be merry. The lie is that the life is all about my comfort, my security. And so now I wonder, just for this little aside, what is your self-talk telling you? Is your self-talk telling you lies or life? The truth of who God is? Are we speaking lies to ourselves or are we speaking the truth of God? As Steve Brown would say, you think about that. Okay, the point is this: we have a coveting problem, which is actually the cause of our anxiety problem. It's one of the big ten, right? Coveting. Francis Schaefer says that the tenth commandment is about covetousness and is entirely inward. Coveting is the reverse side, he goes on to say, coveting is the reverse side of the law of love. Coveting does not move us outward, but coveting moves us inward. Look at the end of verse 15. For one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. Jesus then here ties coveting to not just generally what we want, something we don't have, but he ties coveting specifically to money, to possessions, to wealth. So what is unique about possessions, money, and wealth? Why is Jesus tying coveting to money? I think it's because we believe money will bring us security, satisfaction, and significance. We believe that money actually will solve all our problems and that our future, if we had enough money, will be secure. But do you guys think that's true? Does money bring more peace? Does money bring more security and less anxiety? The Financial Services in Power did a financial happiness survey in 2022 asking the question exactly how much more money do you think you need to be happy? Now they it was, I think, a pretty well-done survey. They surveyed about 2,000 people. And in the survey, most people said it would take a pretty significant pay bump to achieve happiness, to achieve contentment, and be free from the anxiety about wealth. 70% of the respondents strongly agreed with this statement. Having more money would solve most of my problems. But here's the fascinating thing about that survey was that true that was the answer was true, and people could relate to that answer no matter where they were on the income bracket, across all income brackets. It didn't matter how rich or how much wealth you had or how little wealth you had, you always wanted more money. And this was even true for very, very wealthy people. A 2018 study asked millionaires to rate their happiness on a scale from one to 10. And if they didn't say 10, they were asked to predict how much more money would they need just to move one point higher. Slightly, over half of those with a net worth of $10 million or more said that their wealth would need to increase by at least 50%. That's at least $5 million more dollars to move just one point on the happiness scale. Apparently, wealth does not bring happiness, no matter how rich you are. Listen to Paul, how he talks about it to Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 6, starting in verse 9. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money, and that's important, it's the love of money. Money necessarily wealth or possessions isn't bad, but the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. What is Jesus belaboring? What is Paul belaboring? They're warning us about the problem of coveting money. Coveting seeks possessions, it claims them as mine, mine, mine, my barns, my food, my wealth, my money. But they are not equated with true living, they do not bring true happiness. Jesus purposely also, here in this passage, after the parable in the narrative section, he ties coveting to anxiety. Look down with me in verse 22 and 23. And he said to his disciples, so he's purposely training his disciples, right? There may be a larger crowd, but he is disciple making his disciples, training them. And he says, Therefore, therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious. And you always have to ask, what is that therefore, therefore, right? And so he's Jesus is tying here in the gospel of Luke. Luke is writing this in tying Jesus' words from the parable of the rich fool to this narrative about do not be anxious. Coveting and anxiety actually are married bed fellows. Coveting leads to anxiety. And anxiety, what is it? It is it's actually an effect, it's not the cause. It's best understood as a psychological equivalent of a fever. Now, fevers they can indicate a common cold, or fevers can sometimes indicate something way deeper problems, like cancer. And the problem of anxiety in our lives reveals deeper problems. And here in this passage, the connection between anxiety and coveting. Wealth does not relieve our anxiety because we are not in control. Our souls will be required of us. Look at what he with verse 25 through 26. And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Possessions are not the antidote to our problem of anxiety and coveting. So here are some diagnostic questions to get you going to be thinking about this problem of anxiety in your life, and if it's leading to exposing the deep problem of coveting. Why do we want what we want, what we do not have? Why do we think we need always more? And in case you're trying to understand the anxiety part, here are why do we experience emotional anxiety? Here are actually this is the question I want to ask is when do you tend to experience anxiety? And then I want to tell you this is what anxiety looks like in a person. Here's the emotional symptoms. So we think about this. When do you experience these symptoms? Feelings of apprehension or dread. Check. Feeling tense. That happens for me. Restlessness or irritability. Always thinking about the worst case scenario. You know the feeling. The mind is circling, the heart is racing and tightening, and your future is shrinking down to what you think you might lose. That's anxiety. Well, Jesus isn't only trying to give us a warning about anxiety and about coveting, but he's trying to teach us the principle of our attention. And this leads me to my second point, the principle of our attention. Simply put, attention directs affections. Now, we've already talked about this from a foundational point in verse 15 when I talked about the two words, take care and be on guard against all covetousness. Those were imperatives, were attention language. Jesus does not only tell us both not to just don't be anxious, just to stop worrying. He actually retrains our attention. Jesus redirects our attention, and you can see that through the actual verbs of the narrative section after the parable. Look with me in the following verses. Verse 24, consider the ravens. Verse 27, consider the lilies. Verse 29, do not seek like the nations do. Verse 31, instead seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. All of this is attention language. Jesus is trying to retrain your attention. Jesus knows that where our attention is, our hearts will be led. Your attention directs your affections. If your attention is on your possessions, you'll be led to anxiety. If your attention is on God and his kingdom, you'll be led to peace and love. You'll be rich toward God. The rich fool had his attention, his heart, his affections on his treasure. Jesus is calling us to have our attention on God and his kingdom. Look down with me at verse 21, the end of the parable section. Jesus says, So to the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. There's no neutrality in that statement. You are either laying for yourself up treasures here on earth or you're laying up for yourself treasures in heaven, riches toward God. Well, how are we doing with that? Anybody in the room experiencing anxiety or the deeper problem of coveting? No matter how much we try to keep our focus and our attention on God, we fail at doing so. And this language of attention and focus, it reminds me actually of the Grand Canyon. And have you guys ever been to the Grand Canyon? I haven't been since I was a little kid, probably a teenager actually. But this is just the most beautiful landscape that God has created. He's created a lot of beautiful landscapes. But the Grand Canyon is majestic, it's beautiful, it's awe-inspiring, but it's dangerous. So much so that they have put guardrails up where a lot of tourists go, they'll put guardrails up along the edge to keep from tourists falling in. The problem is that our personal judgment cannot always be trusted. We may be, our attention may get distracted and we may fall over the cliff. Our attention can be misdirected. So, in the same way that we can be distracted by the Grand Canyon and all its beauty, we can be distracted by the many beautiful things here on earth that God has given us. They are not bad in themselves, but if they pull our full attention or if they order our loves in such a way where God is not first, they will become dangers to us. So we need guardrails in our lives to remind us what our true treasure is. So who or what are the guardrails in your life? For me, the guardrails are the people that I serve with, the staff at New City, the elders of our session, uh, my wife. They help me keep my focus, my attention on God. They help me to take care and be on guard. They help me to move outward, not inward. And so I would invite you all you need guardrails, you need community around you to help you to take care and be on guard, to help you not fall over the cliff that's coming. And this leads me to my third and final point: the pleasure of the Father. Turn with me to verse 32. Fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. This is one of the sweetest verses in this whole passage. Jesus has warned us about covenant, he has exposed our heart of anxiety, he has retrained our attention, and now he tells us why the anxious heart can rest. Verse 32, fear not, it is your father's good pleasure to give. It is his joy, he is joy-filled by giving. Jesus does not only tell us what God does, he gives, but he tells us who God is like in this verse. Why can the anxious heart rest? Because the father is not stingy, but he is joy-filled. Why can the covetous heart loosen its grip on his possessions and wealth? Because the father is not withholding life from us. Why can the disciples seek the kingdom first? Because it is being given by a pleased father to the needy children. Jesus prepares us for this language. If you look at verse 24, of how much more value are you than the birds? And verse 28, of how much more will he clothe you than the lilies of the field? Beloved, the Father wants to give to you. And this is why verse 33 makes sense. If you look at verse 33, it says, Sell your possessions and give to the needy. Notice the order. Jesus says that the Father gives, verse 32, and then we respond with a richness toward God, verse 21, but by selling our possessions and giving to the needy, verse 33. Paul says something similar in 1 Timothy chapter 6, a little bit later than I read earlier, just 6 verses 17 through 19. That God richly provides us with everything to enjoy. Therefore, his people are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. Things and possessions are not made to hold our attention and affections. They are meant and made to be enjoyed and shared in good works. As David Platt has said, when you get to heaven, Jesus will never ask you why you didn't collect more things here on earth. So because the Father gives, you don't have to treat money like your Savior anymore. Because the Father gives, you do not have to make possessions carry the weight of your identity anymore. Because the Father gives, you do not have to build bigger barns to secure a future that the Father has already secured in Jesus. A richness to God is a movement outward toward God in gratitude and toward our neighbor in love. This is storing up treasures in heaven. Well, I want to quick tell a story about C.T. Stud. And uh when I preached Romans a few years ago, I mentioned, I think I mentioned one of the Cambridge seven, and this is number two. I'm gonna make it through all seven, but these are these are men who were uh from elite backgrounds in England in the 19th century. They had all, they had all this wealth, they had all this status. And C. T. Studd actually, he was this phenomenal athlete. But they all the Cambridge Seven, they gave all those things up in order to go overseas and preach Christ. And and C. T. Studd in particular, he wrote this beautiful poem. I don't have time to read the whole poem, but this one line it speaks so loudly. He says, only one life twill soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. What C.T. Studd, this wealthy man, knew, who had all the comforts in this world, he understood what his true treasure was. He gave up the comforts of this world and gave his attention and his affections toward God and his kingdom. Our passage ends with this searching diagnostic line in verse 34. Look with me. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The heart follows the treasure. Your attention directs your affections. And where did Jesus' heart lead him? Where did Jesus' attention lead him? Jesus didn't take on the role of the judge or arbitrator when he came, he took on the role of a servant. His attention, his affections were to do the will of the Father, to seek his kingdom. And the will of the Father was to give us a crucified Savior. He is the one who is freely given to us by faith by the Father. And Jesus himself freely gives himself to the needy. Jesus himself is the inheritance that is talked about in the beginning of our passage. And he claims us. He claims us as his. Abraham Kuiper says, There's not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry, mine. While it's improper of toddlers and even adults to claim everything is mine, mine, mine, this is a proper response for the king and the judge of this world, and he claims us as mine. Look to him, put your attention on him, the founder and the perfecter of your faith. Let us pray. Father, we are grateful for your love for us in this, that you have given your son the true inheritance to ransom a people to be your sheep by his blood. And you tell us, Father, to fear not. Jesus, you are the one who sought the kingdom to the point of death, and you have purchased us in your own blood. We are not our own. Spirit, fill us with peace and joy and move us towards storing up treasures in heaven. We give you the glory. Amen.