Parable of The Rich Fool NEW
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Introduction
Introduction
Today I want to ask you a question
How much is too much?
That is a question you need to ponder on.
How much is too much?
Do you have too much of anything?
The World tells us to keep accumuluating stuff.
We can get into the rat race of trying to keep with the Joneses or look better than them.
But how much is too much.
I don’t know about you but I know I can be guilty of accumulating too much stuff at times
I am sure all of us today - we are guilty of accumulting a lot of stuff
Some of you are probably guilty of accumulating tools
Especially the men who might be listening
I have a friend he always buying tools
He has lots of tools
He may never even use most of the tools he has but his justifcation is yuh never know when it will come in handy.
Some of you ladies listening to me probably have lots of shoes
You probably have a shoe for each outfit
Now I am not telling anyone to sell your shoes or give it away or sell your tools and give it away
But it leads us back to the same question
How much is too much?
For me throughout the year I know I have accumulated a lot of gadgets and tech tools but when I look back - cant remember the last time I ever pick up some of those things or even know where in the house they are located
But throughout the years it all adds how
How much is too much?
For some people it is books - accumulating books and never reading it
The Books are just there to make people think you smart but if you never reading it then it’s best you sell it or give it away......
All of us are guilty of accumulating too much stuff and what does the Bible have to say about that
Hoarders is an American reality television series that debuted on A&E. The show depicts the real-life struggles and treatment of people who suffer from compulsive hoarding disorder.
It is now a disorder.
Compulsive hoarding, also known as hoarding disorder, is a mental disorder characterised by accumulation of possessions due to excessive acquisition of or difficulty discarding them, regardless of their actual value, leading to clinically significant distress or impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other important areas of functioning.
Excessive acquisition is characterized by repetitive urges or behaviours related to amassing or buying items. Difficulty discarding possessions is characterized by a perceived need to save items and distress associated with discarding them.
Accumulation of possessions results in living spaces becoming cluttered to the point that their use or safety is compromised.
So as you can see this is now a disorder.
There is this show on Netflix - Tidying Up with Marie Kondo - if you watch that you will see how attached people are to their things and wont sell it or thrash it
That’s not my field but I am sure Diandra can speak a lot about that.....
The truth is how much is too much
God is not against us having things but he is against things having us
Many times when we look at society our possessions can indeed possess us
We love money to the point it becomes an idol.
We love cars to the point it become an idol
We love gadgets to the point it becomes an idol....
I am sure that all of us listening here tonight has a lot of junk stuff that you have which isnt really junk but it can be useful to someone else but we just holding on to it
Sometimes it seems we have bought in to the lie that the world says
Whoever has the most toys wins.....
I believe that one of the biggest questions we need to answer is not how much stuff we have but why do we have so much stuff?
Why are we accumulating so much possessions
For a lot of people - we want to be better than everyone else
We want to look good
If that is your reason for accumulating things then your heart is in the wrong place
The rich business man was horrified to find the fisherman lying beside his boat,
“Why aren’t you out fishing?” asked the industrialist.
“Because I have caught enough fish for the day.”
“Why don’t you catch some more?”
“What would I do with them?”
“You could earn more money. Then you could have a motor fitted to your boat to go into deeper waters and catch more fish. Then you would have enough money to buy more nylon nets. These would bring you more fish and more money. Soon you would have enough money to own two boats…maybe even a fleet of boats. Then you would be a rich man like me.”
“What would I do then?”
“Then you could sit back and enjoy life.”
“What do you think I am doing right now?”
How much is too much?
FOR THAT Business man nothing is ever enough
He always thinking of making more
Danny was sharing on Elon Musk recently
Man is the richest man in the world but hear is the the thing
For people like them - it is never enough
He have to think of even more ways to make money in order to keep that status of richest man in the World
Because someone may over take him and he can’t have that
In this scripture we are about to read Jesus teaches a Parable for people who may only be concerned about stuff
He speaks to people like the rich Business man who was looking down on the poor fisherman
Scripture
Scripture
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 And he told them this parable: “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.”
Stop Being Greedy
Stop Being Greedy
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.”
Picture this Sceneario
Jesus is in the middle of preaching a sermon and giving warnings to his disciples and followers - and then a man will cut him in the middle of his sermon and say Teacher my brother dont want to give me part of the inheritance - please fix that for me......
Not only was this fella greedy but he was also rude....
How would you interrupt Jesus in the middle of his sermon
That’s like on a Sunday - Pastor Sanjay is preaching and then someone just runs up to the pulpit to ask Sanjay to solve their issue about who should get what inheritance
Now someone who is greedy doesnt care how rude they are
All they can think about is gimme, gimme, gimme.
I must admit and it is sad to say but this gimme, gimme, mentality is prevalent today and especially among us who are East Indians
We see it all over facebook
Where brother and sister fighting for the house and someone made a recording of it
People cursing and fighting their own mother and siblings to get what they want
THERE IS A SAYING THAT WHERE THERE IS A WILL THERE IS A WAY BUT WHERE THERE IS A WILL THERE IS A WAR I WOULD SAY
Greediness
Fight down
When Jesus speaks of greed here, he is not necessarily talking about people who greedy and want to eat out all the food but he is talking about people who obsessed with possessions and material things
'Cause we are living in a material world
And I am a material girl - Madonna
Jesus is saying we need to be on our guard lest we become greedy
If we are not careful we can find ourselves focusing on minor stuff
Things that have no heavenly value.
You are a very poor person if all you have is earthly wealth.
When it comes to the 10 commandments we hardly ever hear people talk about the sin of coveting.
It is the last commandment and it is one people struggle with a whole lot
Covetousness is an unquenchable thirst for getting more and more of something we think we need in order to be truly satisfied. It may be a thirst for money or the things that money can buy, or even a thirst for position and power. Jesus made it clear that true life does not depend on an abundance of possessions. He did not deny that we have certain basic needs (Matt. 6:32; 1 Tim. 6:17). He only affirmed that we will not make life richer by acquiring more of these things.
Some people that is all they live for but Jesus says that is not what life is about.
Life is more than money. Money is good, money is important but life is more than money.
We need to stop being greedy.
The Bible says we are foolish if all we have is earthly wealth and not a rich relationship with God.
We need to stop being so greedy
Money cannot bring satisfaction.
It is like the man who said “Last month my aunt died and left me $25000.
Last week my brother died and left me $38000.
I am so depressed.
His good friend said ‘Why are you depressed?”
He said “Because this week, nobody died.”
Stop Thinking Only About Yourself
Stop Thinking Only About Yourself
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.
Stress on I
Notice the emphasis on “I” and “my” as he reasons with himself. He did not understand that his prosperity was a gift from God. He forgot that he was a steward and thought that he owned it all.
Now we see in this parable that this man had an idea of storing up more and more for himself
Now this man realised that his business was going good
All was going well
His crops were growing and they were multiplying and it was growing at such a fast rate that he didnt have enough storage space to store all his crops
With this excess he had - this man reminded me of scrooge Mc Duck from Ducktales
This man wanted to keep everything for himself
He didn’t evne think of selling some or even giving away some to those who may have need
This man was only thinking of himself
This man was stingy and mingy as we say nowadays
He was selfish
Only concerned about himself
Prayer that is consistent with true faith will not make selfish requests.
Kurt A. Richardson
You see many times we as Christians as well can become selfish and even in our praying all our prayers that we pray is all about us and nobody else
Is like God give me a raise in salary, give me a better car, give me a better job,
Make me better than everyone else
If all we ever pray for is just for ourselves and our own families I would like to say that we are just as selfish as this rich man
There is nothing wrong with you wanting more money and a better job etc but how about we also pray for our neighbor who is lacking basic necessities
There is nothing wrong bsaically with this man wanting to store and save up for the future but the issue is this man didnt think of anyone else but himself.
I have heard countless stories of kids who will disown their siblings over material things
It is sad how selfish people can be at times and even us if we are not careful can fall into this same trap of only thinking about ourselves
Now if are a person who God has blessed with riches here is what he says in the scriptures
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.
Don’t be arrogant because you are wealthy
Sister Hannipha was saying Sunday we are all equal in this church.
Wealth can be here today and gone tomorrow.
Just think of Covid.
Trust God with what you have and also be rich in your works and be willing to share what you have
You are blessed to be a blessing to others
We need to learn to love people and use things instead of using people and loving things.
Start Being Rich Towards God
Start Being Rich Towards God
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.”
Now notice in this scripture we see that this man stored up all these things for himself and had no thought about God
now hear is the thing
Some of you might be thinking - man I not no rich person this thing have nothing to do with me
Some might say Brian you sharing this with the wrong crowd
Maybe share it with people who going Faith Center and them mega churches
We are Barrackponians
We poor
We not rich
We have no rich people in our congregations
Go and share this sermon with the 1 percent
The truth is though
There is something in this for everyone irregardless of the size of our bank accounts
We can make idols over the blessings God has placed in our lives
I have seen God blessed people who grew up in povery and not working
The minute they got a job man you cant see them again
They want nothing to do with God or church no more
And I am not talking about any million dollar job eh
I am talking about an average job but from the moment they get a taste of money they gone with the wind
I remember hearing Brother Danny sharing his expereince of helping a man get a job and he said that was a wrong decision he made by helping that man because of what happened after
Are we being rich towards God?
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
God goes on to say, “your soul is required of you.” The word “required” has the idea of paying back a loan. This emphasizes the idea that the man was just a steward of his stuff and not the owner.
Then God says, “now who will own what you have prepared?”
Don’t put your emphasis on material possessions because they don’t last. Like the guy who was walking back from the funeral and someone asked him, “How much did the guy leave behind?” And the man smartly replied, “Everything.”
Everything we have we do not own
God is the true owner of it
Many times we think it is I who get these things
It is God’s hand on your life that got your those things
I rmember hearing Pastor Mario a time saying it have people who are faithful to God only because they scared if they stop being faithful then he will remove his hand of blessing on them
If that is you today - your heart is in the wrong place
What Jesus has done for you cannot compare to any blessing you may have materially.
Luke Jesus Tells the Parable of the Rich Fool / 12:13–21 / 140
never put your hope and pride in real estate, insurance, or mutual funds. God should be your security and joy.
Conclusion
Conclusion
The rich man made at least four mistakes:
1. The rich man made the mistake of thinking he was the owner of his stuff when he was just a steward. We are just stewards of our stuff.
2. He was worried about the present and forgot about eternity.
3. He was concerned only for the physical and forgot about spiritual things.
4. He treasured stuff more than people. He lived an isolated life
This parable tells us how to define life. Most people define life in terms of material possessions, physical fitness or the future. This parable speaks loudly to our generation. Have you been defining life in your career, your house, your stock portfolio, in terms of what you can do physically, or the assumption that you will live much longer?
What is going to happen when you lose one or more of those things? What happens when you get laid off? What happens when the stock market crashes? What happens when you get some disease which takes away your physical ability.
What happens when you find out you only have six months to live? If you define life in these things, you will be devastated.
Having possessions is not wrong, it is putting your security in them that is wrong. The rich man is not condemned for being rich. He is condemned for being self-centered, for not using his surplus to help others, for leaving God out of his life.
What part does God play in your life today?
Is he Lord of your life or is he someone that you use in order to become healthy, wealthy and wise ?
One day you will stand before God and have to give an account for your life and everything that was entrusted to you.
What would you say?
What would God say?
Would he proud of what you did with your money?
Would he proud of what you did with your possessions?
Or would he say you had misplaced priorities.
We are now in the Christmas Season and this is a time of a lot of spending on various different things
We can only spend on ourselves or we can choose to spend on others as well.
May we all not only focus on those who are related to us but even those who may be unrelated and underprivileged.
I would just like to end with this story
There was this man who was a very rich and busy business man and he went up to his son and asked him what he wanted him to buy him for Christmas
His son thought about it a moment and said I want either a basketball or a football.
The dad said ok but which one do you want more - the basketball or the football
The boy paused a moment and then he said - well it depends......
The Dad says “ well depends on what”
The son said - “Well if next year you happen to have time on your hands I would like to get the basketball so both of us can shoot some hoops together right home - hoowever Dad if you’re gonna be super busy as usual I would like to get the football so I can take that ball on evenings and go in the ground and play football with my friends....
The Father realised that his son wasn’t so much interested in the gift - he was more interested in the giver.....
For Christmas that year it was the oddest sight
A grown man and a little boy embracing and shedding tears of joy over a dumb old basketball
I don’t care how much gifts God has blessed you with in life
I don’t care how much material things you own
May we always long for the giver over the gifts
Tonight may all of us remember that all we have and all we own belongs to God and no matter how successful we ever become, no matter how big our barns become - may we never ever ever ever forget that the giver who is God is more important than the gifts and may we all be good and proper stewards of what is entrusted to us.