Kingdom Principles- Part 1

Introduction- Luke 12:13-21

Today we will begin a series of messages from Luke 12 where Jesus instructed His disciples regarding their thinking.

This entire passage is devoted to challenging the world’s thinking and philosophy and replacing it with a philosophy that is focused on eternity and upon the Kingdom of God rather than the kingdoms of this world.

It is obvious that throughout this passage Jesus is directing His disciples to reconsider how they think about the world.

Several weeks ago we looked at the opening section of this chapter and considered Jesus’ challenge to His disciples to beware the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy.

Today we will see another warning from the Lord Jesus to His disciples—here He warns them to “beware covetousness.”

This warning is delivered in response to a man who approached Jesus demanding that He would speak to his brother and force him to dive his inheritance with him.

A Pressing Dilemma (Vs. 13-14)

This passage opens with a man approaching Jesus demanding that He would help him with what he viewed to be a pressing need.

The man asks Jesus to speak to his brother who he believe has unjustly withheld from him a portion of their inheritance.

He presses Jesus to instruct his brother to divide the inheritance with him—apparently the brother had either refused to divide the inheritance as was customary or had from the brother’s point of view divided it unfairly.

This man obviously believed that a word from Jesus would affect his brother and would cause him to behave differently in the circumstances.

Jesus responds rather harshly to the man and essentially questions why it is that he should become involved in their situation.

Jesus obviously saw no reason to intervene in their circumstances and believed that this was a matter which they and the civil authorities could decide.

It also becomes evident by what follows this interaction that Jesus knew that the man’s motives were not pure.

It seems that this man may have been demanding more than his fair share and it is evident that he was convinced that his life would be improved dramatically by receiving a greater portion of the inheritance.

A Stern Warning (Vs. 15)

This leads Jesus to issue a stern warning to the larger audience to “beware of covetousness.”

He issues the warning with reference to the man’s plea because he first calls the audience to take heed—instructing them to take note of what they had just witnessed in this interaction.

His warning to His followers was obviously driven by what had just taken place.

It is important that we first clearly define what covetousness is—it refers to a sense of greed and a desperate desire for more than what one has.

Webster defines it as “A strong or inordinate desire of obtaining and possessing some supposed good; usually in a bad sense, and applied to an inordinate desire of wealth or avarice.”

The Lord here warns His followers to beware such an attitude in their own lives.

There is no denying that covetousness is a pervasive problem in the world today and is found even in the lives of many believers.

The individual who initially approached Jesus displays this attitude as he pleads with Jesus to force his brother to give him a greater portion of the inheritance.

There are many today who also display this attitude by the way in which they live their lives—always longing for greater wealth under the impression that having more would drastically improve their lives.

Many of us may even have allowed this sinful attitude to creep into our own lives—there are many professed believers who live their lives in the pursuit of securing more wealth so that they can have the life that they have always wanted.

Often we even justify this attitude convincing ourselves that we just want to give our children a better life or that we only want to provide a better standard of living to our spouse, when in reality we simply believe that having more will improve our lives.

After issuing the warning, Jesus makes a declarative statement that we should give careful consideration.

Jesus states that “a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.”

The point that Jesus is making here is that our lives are not better because we have more things or more wealth laid up in store.

So many in this world believe that they would be happier if they could only earn or have more and yet the reality is that having more does not actually improve our lives.

There are many people who live very meaningful and fulfilling lives even though they have very little in the way of physical possessions.

It is not the things we possess that give to our lives value and meaning.

There are so many in the world today who have so much and who yet cannot find fulfilment in their lives.

These individuals endlessly pursue more wealth and more stuff and yet find their lives just as empty and meaningless as before.

At this point Jesus offers an illustration which serves to prove His point, and which also clarifies what we should actually be concerned with.

An Effective Illustration (Vs. 16-21)

Jesus now speaks a parable to His audience which involves a wealthy man whose fields produced a bountiful harvest.

The rich man sees the bounty of his harvest and then begins to reason within himself what he ought to do with it.

Initially there is a problem in the fact that he does not presently have room enough to store such a bountiful harvest.

He decides that the appropriate response would be to tear down his existing barns in order to build even greater ones where he will be able to store away the fruits of his harvest and his goods for the future.

He then concludes that with such a bountiful harvest and such a wonderful plan for storing it up for the future he will have much laid up for many years and will not have to worry about providing for himself in the years to come.

He decides that all that is left now is to take it easy and to “eat, drink, and be merry.”

He is convinced that he now has all that will be needed for many years to come and that he will not need any longer to toil and labor to provide for himself.

Yet God now considers the man and his circumstances and declares him to be a fool—because he is blissfully unaware that his life is about to be over in an instant.

This then leads to a simple question “whose shall these things be, which thou hast provided?”

The rich man believes that he will now finally be in a position to spend the rest of his life in security enjoying the fruits of his labors when in reality his life will soon be over and all that he has worked for will soon belong to someone else.

Though this man had all that he could want, it could not actually give him life, and in the end all that he had labored for would quickly be passed to another.

This is the point which Jesus is emphasizing here—a man may strive after that which he believes will bring security and satisfaction, but in the end he will find that all his possessions will simply be left for another to enjoy.

It is foolish to spend our lives in the pursuit of possessions and wealth, because these things can never bring true and lasting satisfaction.

Jesus points out that he is a fool who lays up treasure for himself but who is not rich toward God.

It is evident in this parable that the rich man never once stopped to consider that it was God who had given him such a bountiful harvest.

Never once did he entertain the thought of seeking God’s will as to what he should do with such a bountiful harvest.

Could it be that God blessed the man so that he could then in turn be a blessing to others in meeting their needs?

It is of far greater importance that you and I would consider what is required to be rich toward God than that we would give ourselves to the pursuit of the riches this world has to offer.

One who is rich toward God is one who looks at the world with eternity in view and who understands that all that he has comes from God and it is He who has the right to direct our use of the resources that He has entrusted to our care.

We ought each to ask ourselves a simple question in relation to this striking parable—if it were the case that this night our soul was to be required of us, would we be content with how we have spent our lives?

How many of us would be declared fools for having devoted so much of our time, energy, and attention to hoarding up wealth that would then belong to another?

How much better it would be if we should be poor by this world’s standards, and yet rich toward God, having lived in a manner so as to maximize our eternal reward through serving God and ministering to others!