Parable of the rich fool

Introduction

Fires, floods, hurricanes, tornado's, typhoons: Many of these things cause man to look at their life, their possessions and that possessions can be lost in just a moment.

In Lk12:15-17 (turn there, insert here) - we may loose everything we have, but still live, and with Jesus we can still have hope.

I read somewhere “Almost everything you have can be taken away from you; only that which is within you is secure.”

Decisions we all make them, well some are deciding not to do something and that is a decision. In our parable, or in this real life story before us today we see the main character makes a decision a poor or a foolish decision. Yep, Jesus calls the man a fool (v.20). He was a fool not for making a decision, but for not having learned what life is all about.

Only God can give real peace, real contentment, not in the things we have but in the person Jesus Christ.

This parable look at the insight on what is really important.

Background:

After a crowd of thousands (12:1)

After teaching of beware of the leaven of the Pharisees (12:2-5)

And of God’s care for man more than the sparrows (12:6-7)

His call to confess Him or else (12:8-9)

Then a word of encouragement about words the Holy Spirit gives in situations (12:11-12)

We then get to our parable. And in the way it is written it can be a teaching a real question, a real man, a real dilemma, but the message does not change.

Let us now look at the passage together.

turn to read Lk12:13-21

Luke 12:13–21 NASB95

13 Someone in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” 14 But He said to him, “Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15 Then He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” 16 And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. 17 “And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ 18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 ‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.” ’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ 21 “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

Ask the usual questions

Why did the man ask the question? We do not know. Jesus does not get involved in the brotherly dispute (see his response again read v.14) but never missing an opportunity to teach, teaches this lesson.

We can draw an assumption that it was the older brother not dividing with the younger brother in a fair way as he saw it, but that is just that, an assumption not clearly stated in the scripture.

The rich man must be a hard working man, whose hard work produced a good crop. He was a planner (had barn for crop) and then made a plan (where he made the wrong choice) to build a bigger barn.

The rich man did have a defect, it was about “him.” you can see he used personal pronoun “I” at least ten times in this parable. He was overly concerned with his own welfare with no mention of the needs or welfare of others.

This man trusted in his riches, that he could take ease, eat, drink and be merry after this.

We know what Paul had to say about money and the love of it, is this what this man had? Could be

* Insert look up 1Tim6:10

1 Timothy 6:10 NASB95

10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Examining the text:

This parable differs from most others for it is specific “a certain man,” it noted.

Staying with the theme of Luke-12, where Jesus had previously addressed the “yeast of the Pharisee’s” (Lk12:1) many would struggle with that in the aspect that they look at yeast, leaven would have to do with something fermenting and was oftentimes related to sin and Jesus is using this against the Pharisee’s. Jesus used it to show the hypocrisy of the Pharisee’s. Here we see the rich man who is called a fool, so going from the hypocrisy to the foolishness of decisions at times, wrong decisions when should know better.

We see, as mentioned, he must have worked hard, had a “bumper” crop and needed a place to store the crop. So, he came up with expansion plans, growth plans, yet the Lord calls him a fool (defined as foolish or ignorant).

Marshall in his commentary wrote, this one is a little long so please bear with me. “The man who is not rich in regard to God is indeed poor, no matter how big his bank balance. He is, therefore, in the last analysis a fool, a godless and hence a senseless man. He has, as he thought, prepared for his own comfort, but has not prepared for his ultimate destiny.”

In short, he was a fool for he made the wrong kind of decision, a temporal one, vs. an eternal one, storing up treasures in heaven.

Question: How could this man store up treasures in heaven?

Purpose and Application:

First reason for the parable is to answer the question (Lk12:13)

* Purpose was a give a warning of the dangers of money, possessions (Lk12:15)

(Transition) there are some applications as Womack lists for this passage.

Life consists of more than the possessions we have.

You know the phrase “money cannot buy you love, cannot buy you happiness.” and that is true, a casual look at the world around us and you can see that wealth in and of itself does not make happy. Using wealth for the glory of God can bring much joy and contentment.

Paul taught about learning to be content (turn to Php4:11-13

Philippians 4:11–13 NASB95

11 Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. 12 I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. 13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

The rich man stored his riches in the wrong place

There is nothing wrong with riches, Jesus did not condemn, or call him a fool for having riches. Jesus had already taught on what true riches are and where they should be stored. (turn to Mt6:19-21

Matthew 6:19–21 NASB95

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

There are other examples, teachings of Jesus about true riches, some of which we have already covered in the parables and will not rehash today.

The wrong in being wealthy is not the possession of the riches; but, it is what these riches can do to us, they can take our eyes off of Jesus and put our trust, faith in what we do, what we have and not what He has given us and entrusted us with.

This rich man in his expansion planning, left God out.

He may be a hard working man, consider himself a righteous man. but in this story, this parable he is self-centered. It leads us to draw the conclusion that God did not take primary position in his life.

Keep possessions in the proper place, priority, do not loose God as the priority and that any, all possessions you have are a gift from God even if by the labor of your hand, and are to be used for His glory. For, you cannot take your possessions with you.

Learning to live the parable:

Womack entitled this chapter, this parable “What life’s all about.” Jesus gives some simple things we can put into practice in our daily lives.

First, in our search for happiness, success, contentment, we often look in the wrong places. This man looked to his possessions. Maybe you do not look at them, but you put your spouse, your children, your career, before God. They all all good and fine, but they do not bring lasting, everlasting happiness and success for these things can all be taken away.

In the midst of successful ongoing life, death is still forthcoming at unknown date, time. Consider (turn to Jm5:14

James 5:14 NASB95

14 Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;

Next, Jesus did not interfere with the culture, but Jesus impacted the culture by His teaching, by His living. Cultures are changed by the Christian who lives with Christ as the priority. Changing culture, Jesus impacted how women were treated; Christians impacted hospitality (hospitals); etc. . .

Finally, have you ever heard of a family that fights over an estate of someone? This started with two brothers, it was causing division between them. So, Womack inputs that we should not live our lives working for what may cause hatred and division when we are gone.

In closing, possessions are not bad, riches are not bad when you have the right priorities, God first! How you use your possessions and how you treat others is what matters. In this case we see the brother dividing with the brother (fighting); and the selfish, fools of a rich man. May we learn from this parable.

(Prayer) (Close)