Untitled Sermon

Christian, I see you are still not getting it let me tell you story:

Men who trap animals in Africa for zoos in America say that one of the hardest animals to catch is the ringtailed monkey. For the Zulus of that continent, however, it's simple. They've been catching this agile little animal with ease for years. The method the Zulus use is based on knowledge of the animal. Their trap is nothing more than a melon growing on a vine. The seeds of this melon are a favorite of the monkey. Knowing this, the Zulus simply cut a hole in the melon, just large enough for the monkey to insert his hand to reach the seeds inside. The monkey will stick his hand in, grab as many seeds as he can, then start to withdraw it. This he cannot do. His fist is now larger than the hole. The monkey will pull and tug, screech and fight the melon for hours. But he can't get free of the trap unless he gives up the seeds, which he refuses to do. Meanwhile, the Zulus sneak up and nab him.

Greed is a trap keeping from your in Christ. Jesus himself was about the perils of greed. Things, posssessons, or money is not true security and/or life’s fulfillment. Jesus illustratrates this point in the parable of the rich fool found in Luke 12:13-21. Let’s read it together….

In our story, while Jesus was teaching he gets rudely interrupted. A man wanted Jesus to settle a despute between him and his brother. This man wanted Jesus to tell his brother that he should divide his inheritance with him. Understanding the culture context. We can safely assume this was the young brother. The older brother was given a double portion of the inheritance his father left to him. (Deut 21:7) It seems like this brother wanted some of the cut. It was not uncommon for people to ask a rabbi to help settle family disputes. But Jesus declinced to get involved. I want to point something out to you. Some people have bad theology. Jesus is not a genie in a bottle. At our disposal to give us what we want when we want it. Jesus tells this man what he really needs. He tells him in v. 14, Jesus replied, “Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?”[1] 15 Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” [2] He lies the lesson on greed.

Take this lesson know, Jesus uses a parable which is an extended metaphor used to persuade. It was a message that could not be conveyed any other way. Using a parable Jesus tells him this story. There was a rich man who had a fertile and productive farm and produced fine crops. In other words he was making money hand over fist. He had so much he didn’t know what to do. Healthy production can lead to prosperity. God doenst have problem with this in your life but the problem is what it can do to you. Look what it does to the rich man in our story. One day, he says to himself what I am going to do with all these crops? I don’t have any room to put it. I want to pause her and point out who is he talking to. The bible tells us he tells himself. We have to be careful what we tell ourselves not only when things are bad but when this are going fine and dandy. We can inflate our own ego.

The language in verses 17–19 reveals an ingrained selfishness. In the Greek the personal pronoun “my” occurs four times and “I” eight times. He was completely self-absorbed. That is

This man is build his financial portfolio without any financial advise. Look what he says in v. 19. He seems to have it all figure out. He says, I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. then I will have enough room to store all my wheat and other goods. this was a good plan. But he have to remember alll good plans are not necessarily God’s plan. Yes this rich man was fortunate to be able to expand his property in order manage his wealth. One thing I notice with the rich man he had not plans to give any of his resources away. He plan to keep it all. It is this type of selfish that can lead to some awful things in life. When I think about greed I lead to one of my favorite all time movies, paid in full which is a story of 3 young drug dealers from Harlem. One scene that sticks out to me was when Rico dead set having more money that he killed Mitch and took his ransom money he was carrying to free his little brother from his captors. This was low. Greed make you act out of character. We see in this next verse how greed effects character. His wealth lead him to indulge. Look at the text. I will sit back and say to myself, my friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy. Eat drink and be Merry. Turn up time!! He has arrived. He was completely in control. This was