Luke #52 Parable The Mini Storage Unit

INTRODUCTION Luke 12:13-21.

I titled this lesson, the Parable of the Mini Storage Unit.

Let me share a little bit about the mini storage industry.

The first self storage facility was built in London in 1850, it was simply a large warehouse.

The concept did not catch on in America until 1891 when the Bekin brothers offered self storage as part of their moving business.

They were the first company that offered to move families from place to place.

But really the self storage concept as we know it did not take off until 1964 when in Texas the first mini storage facility was built with individual overhead door providing access to the unit.

The original cost was about 15 cents per square foot.

Today the cost is anywhere between $1 and $4 per square foot depending on location and the quality of services offered.

Today, the mini storage industry is a 44.3 Billion $ industry.

There are more than 52,300 storage facilities nation wide, that is over 1000 facilities per state.

There is 2.1 billion square feet of space dedicated to this purpose.

And somewhere between 12 and 15 % of the population utilize one of these spaces.

Believe it or not, the Bible speaks to this issue.

THE UNFOLDING STORY

Read Luke 12:13-21.

Jesus was a teacher of God’s word, and a big part of that included ethics and morality.

The Jewish moral law clearly laid out how we are to live in harmony with one another.

The moral law of course could be summed up in two succinct statements, Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself.

Do these two, and you will fulfill the whole law.

That was really the message Jesus preached.

Some hear that statement and ask, do you mean that Jesus taught works?

Yes and no.

He taught works in such a way as to prove to the people you can never keep the law.

The logical response to the demands of the law as Jesus proclaimed it should have been, but that is perfection, and I am unable to attain perfection.

At that point, a person is ready to hear the gospel.

As long as a person believes they can keep the law, then they have no need of the gospel or a Savior.

But in large part, the people were not hearing the real intent of His words.

They were so self righteous, they continued to argue, I have kept the law.

But they did recognize, that power of Jesus’ teaching.

Nobody had ever taught like this man.

So it was natural that when they had moral issues, they would ask Jesus for a solution.

Which brings us to the man in our story.

Apparently dad had died, and the older brother who would have had power of attorney over the estate, would not share the estate with his brother.

Typically in that culture, the first born got a double portion when compared to the other brothers.

So if there were only two brothers, which is unlikely, the inheritance would be divided by three.

The young brother would get one portion.

The older brother, a double portion.

Now if there were 5 brothers, you divide the inheritance by 6, 4 brothers get 1/6, and the eldest gets twice that, or 1/3.

So this younger brother wants his share, which in some ways is a legitimate claim.

Jesus’ response is striking.

First, I am not your judge, so why do you come to Me?

This is in keeping with the purpose the Father established for the Son.

Folks, Jesus was not out there doing His own thing.

He came to do the will of His Father, nothing more and nothing less.

And that purpose was to present Himself as their Messiah, show them His power that proved He was Messiah, and to die for the sins of the world.

He did not come to eliminate disease as some say today.

He did not come to eliminate poverty as some claim today.

He did not come to set right all the wrongs in the world in a temporal way.

He came to die for sin, so that we might have life and have it most abundantly.

Therefore, He is not going to get bogged down in family squabbles, and become an arbiter of right and wrong.

Second, we see Jesus doing what Jesus does best, turning the conversation around to focus on the real issue of life, sin.

So Jesus warns this man, be on your guard against every form of greed.

Watch out is also translated Beware, the Greek word behind this simply means take special notice, be very concerned.

Implied is, this is dangerous.

Be on your guard means to take special care to protect yourself.

Because, greed can infect us all.

Greed comes in a variety of forms apparently.

I had to do some research on this, and it comes from a non biblical source, but certainly makes sense.

I discovered at least 4 types of greed, can you name any?

Hoarding

Overspending

Comparing

Entitlement.

As I thought about these, my conclusion is that these actions sort of define Biblical greed.

In our story today, we see the greed of entitlement.

I am entitled to my inheritance, and I want it.

This kind of took me by surprise.

Because I have been there.

But the point Jesus is making is not that the man shouldn’t want what is rightfully his, but that the desire doesn’t become sinful.

This illustrates how when we focus on one issue, we can completely lose sight of more important ones.

Tell of yesterday at Farmers Market

LIFE IS MORE THAN YOUR POSSESSIONS

Jesus introduces this concept with a question.

Does a man’s life consist only of His possessions?

This reflects what Jesus knows to be true of the human condition, we love stuff.

In fact, for many in America, which just happens to be the most materialistic culture in all of human history, the motto of life is……

He who dies with the most toys wins.

It would be really hard for anybody to convince me that our culture is not inundated with this view.

Look at the houses we build now, 3,000 to 4,000 square feet is the norm now.

100 years ago, it was very common to raise 3 or 4 kids in a two bedroom house.

One elderly gentlemen who was about 90 at the time, told me that in the winter, he, his wife, and all 4 kids slept in the same bed just to stay warm.

But they only had two bedrooms.

In addition, look at our garages.

Again, 100 years ago, most homes didn’t have a garage, of course their were fewer cars.

But now the trend is, to build large homes with three and four car garages, when there are only two cars and two people living in the house.

Why, we need the garage to store all our stuff.

And we need attic space, to store more stuff.

And then, when we run out of all of that, we rent a mini storage unit.

I think our culture may have a problem with greed.

Folks, the point is this, your life and mine, is not in our possessions.

It is also not in our work.

In fact, when we stand before Jesus Christ, and He begins to pass out that a boys, and crowns, the rewards will be based upon one criteria and one criteria only, what did you do for the Kingdom?

As I look around this room, I see a room full of servants.

What you do for Jesus Christ, in the pre school, in the classroom, in ministry, whether it be bunk bed, worship, or benevolence, is of far greater value than all the money you have earned and all the stuff you own.

What is the legacy that you are leaving behind?

You will die, and so will I?

If I were to preach your funeral, what can I say about your life that would bring glory to God, that is the real question.

That is what Jesus is most concerned about.

It isn’t that an inheritance is a bad thing, but when you obsess about, then it become greed, then it is sin.

Am I correct in my assessment?

Let’s look at the parable Jesus told and find out.

THE PARABLE

A farmer was very successful, so much so that his barns couldn’t contain and store all that he had produced.

So he built a bigger barns.

I have witnessed this in real time.

A friend was an auctioneer, and he hired me to help on a large farm auction.

Two brothers were raised and live their entire lives on the farm they never married.

When we got there the day before to set up, there were 5 barns of almost identical dimensions, all lined up in a nice neat row.

We opened the first barn, and you couldn’t even walk in, it was stuffed to the brim, and so too were the next three.

Only the fifth was really accessible.

Our task was to get every thing out of the barns and laid out on tables for auction,

A lot of the stuff was just thrown into 5 gallon buckets and you bid on the entire bucket.

But here is the deal, there were a lot of antique tools.

But bet we found a dozen of each kind of wrench, hammer and farm tool in each of the 5 barns.

When they could find it, because it was buried in the mess, they simply bought another one.

Do you know why we were auctioning all that stuff off?

Both brothers were dead, they had died.

And guess what, they didn’t take one earthly possession with them.

And neither will you, and neither will I.

And that is the very parable Jesus told.

The man had amassed a lot of wealth in the form of food.

He could afford to retire and live a life of ease.

But before he could enjoy the fruit of his labor, God took him out of this world.

You fool!

Those are strong words.

He was a fool because he devoted his life to himself, to selfish desires, to laying up for himself, treasure on earth.

And now fool, where is your stuff?

It belongs to someone else.

Now I do not believe Jesus is saying we shouldn’t have any stuff.

But I do believe the warning is real, there is a great temptation that plagues us all to devote our lives to stuff.

And if that is the case, it is idolatry.

To love stuff so much, that you devote your life to gaining more and more, that is idolatry.

It is not a sin to have a car.

It is not a sin to have a nice house.

But it is sin when those things dominate your heart, and your desires.

I go to India, and every time I come home feeling guilty.

There are brothers and sisters over there living in poverty.

And we live in luxury, all of us.

There are pastors over there living in squalor, and we have an abundance.

Do you get my point?

What is our passion?

Is it for our own selfish desires?

Or are we kingdom minded?

Look at verse 21, the man who is self absorbed on his own wealth, is not rich toward God.

Jesus has taught this before.

In Matthew 6:19-21

Matthew 6:19–21 LSB

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

Jesus puts a whole different spin on stuff here.

Stuff is temporary because moth and rust destroy, thieves steal, and I would add in our day, things just wear out quickly.

Don’t focus your life on earthly things.

But rather, store up treasure in heaven.

How do you do that?

I already answered that in part.

When one of those ladies in the preschool devotes her sole attention to one little boy who is on the spectrum, and she does so for the love of the child and the call of God on her life, that is treasure.

When you sit down with a child and help them to learn God’s word, that is treasure.

When you share the gospel and have the privilege of seeing God grant repentance and the new birth, that is treasure.

When you exalt Christ in any way, that is treasure.

When you contribute to missions, that is treasure.

That and so much more is kingdom work.

Kingdom work produces kingdom treasure.

That and so much more is how we become rich toward God.

CONCLUSION

There are some really important principles here that we should really take to heart.

First, life is more than our possessions.

We aren’t taking any of it with us.

40 years from now, someone else will have all your stuff, most probably.

And alot of it will probably go in the trash.

Second, our his highest pursuit should be the glory of God.

The Puritans had it right when they wrote the Westminster confession, the first article reads, The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

We should focus on enjoying God, our Savior, more than stuff.

Third, we are all going to stand before our Savior and give an account.

Jesus told another story to illustrate this, it was about all those who stood before Him in judgment.

He then describes a group of people who did a lot of kind things in the world, and said, you did it unto Me.

They responded, when did we do it to YOU?

They are puzzled, because they knew, they had never seen Jesus, and that is us.

I have never seen Jesus in person, never fed or clothed Him.

But then Jesus said, Matt 25:40

Matthew 25:40 LSB

“And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

We are all going to stand before Christ, and be rewarded.

Now don’t focus on the reward, that could turn to idolatry, but focus on honoring Christ.

And you will hear these words, Well done, you were a good and faithful servant.

For Jesus to say that to me, is worth more than all the treasures of this world, and I hope it is to you too,

Friends, we were not saved just to punch our ticket to heaven.

Christ saved us, and leaves us here for a time, so that we can serve Him

There is no higher calling in life than to serve Him.

You don’t have to be in full time ministry, you don’t have to be a teacher.

You can serve Christ in hundreds of ways.

Basically anything you do that supports and contributes to Kingdom work and ministry, is serving Christ.

When we stand before Christ, only two things will matter, did you love Him and did you serve Him.

And really, the two go hand in hand.

The bottom line is that we have a choice,

We can be foolish and waste our lives on stuff.

Or we can be wise, and pour out our life in service to Him.

Where are you on the scale, and where do you want to be?