I WANT MORE

Introduction

-{Luke 12}

-Leo Tolstoy once wrote a story about a successful peasant farmer who was not satisfied with his lot in life. He wanted more of everything. One day he received a novel offer. For only 1000 rubles, he could buy all the land that he could walk around in a day. The only catch in the deal was that he had to be back at his starting point by sundown. Early the next morning he started out walking at a fast pace. By midday he was very tired, but he kept going, covering more and more ground. Well into the afternoon he realized that his greed had taken him far from the starting point. He quickened his pace and as the sun began to sink low in the sky, he began to run, knowing that if he did not make it back by sundown the opportunity to become an even bigger landholder would be lost. As the sun began to sink below the horizon he came within sight of the finish line. Gasping for breath, his heart pounding, he called upon every bit of strength left in his body and staggered across the line just before the sun disappeared. He immediately collapsed, blood streaming from his mouth. In a few minutes he was dead. Afterwards, his servants dug a grave. It was not much over six feet long and three feet wide. The title of Tolstoy's story was: How Much Land Does a Man Need?

-In the story, the man’s greed for more ended in him having even less than what he had before and cost him his life. No one would ever admit that they are that greedy, and yet in our search for the American dream and being caught up in our American sensibilities, we are never satisfied with what we have, WE ALWAYS WANT MORE.

-But just as the man’s greed in the story came at a great cost, so too our greed and covetousness can come at a great cost, because it can cost us our very soul—if not for eternity, then at the very least it costs us our identity and true calling.

~That which we pursue with all our might is that which we deem to be of ultimate value, and unfortunately even we Christians can get caught up in the pursuit of the earthly, while the heavenly is left at the backburner.

-In the passage and parable that we are looking at today, Jesus warned against the spiritual dangers of greed and covetousness. What it teach us is that having a great concern over our earthly and material wealth (that is, the desire for always wanting more) can adversely affect our spiritual well-being.

-May the Holy Spirit reveal to us all our true attitudes toward material goods, and may he lead us to invest in what is of ultimate value.

READ Luke 12:13-21

-I want to quickly consider the passage itself, and then draw some conclusions for our own lives. First, lets talk about:

1) The principle Jesus explains

-To give us a little bit of context, Jesus had been teaching about the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, the need to fear God, our value in the eyes of God, and the necessity for faith in Christ. It had been a very deep, spiritual time of learning.

-In the midst of all these important truths, some guy interrupts and demands that Jesus help him in a dispute he has with his brother over money. Maybe he didn’t think he got a fair share or what, but considering what Jesus had just been teaching, the question was highly inappropriate.

~Have you ever had that friend who completely dampens the mood of whatever’s going on because they will blurt out a statement or question that is inappropriate for the context for what’s going on. You know, like you’re at a funeral and they ask about what’s for lunch or something weird like that.

-Here Jesus is giving eternal truths and the Word of life, and all he cares about is his money. This shows exactly where his heart is—he doesn’t care about eternity and he doesn’t care about his own soul; all he wants is his comfort and ease in the here and now.

-Jesus responds that these temporary, earthy matters are of no concern to Him, and they should not be the ultimate concern of His disciples. And then Jesus gives the important principle:

GUARD YOURSELF AGAINST SUCH COVETOUSNESS BECAUSE ONE’S TRUE LIFE DOESN’T CONSIST IN THE ABUNDANCE OF YOUR POSSESSIONS

-Your purpose and value and meaning in life does not hinge on what you own while on this earth, therefore these ought not to be the center of your pursuits.

-Now, Jesus is not saying wealth in itself is wrong. Jesus is not saying that it is wrong to save up for your care later in life. What He is saying is that your time and efforts and resources ought not to be spent trying to gain more and more and more and more earthly possessions.

-Greed happens when enough isn’t enough; when it isn’t sufficient having sufficiency. That shows where your heart truly lies. You can talk the big spiritual talk, and do some good here and there, but when your focus is on gaining more and more, then you are spiritually deficient.

~So, to make his point, Jesus tells a story. So secondly today, let’s consider:

2) The parable Jesus expresses

-To emphasize this important spiritual principle, Jesus gives a parable. There was a rich man who had a lot of fields that produced an abundance of crops.

~Now, there is nothing wrong with our endeavors being successful and producing much. Jesus was not trying to tell them to have farm fields that failed or produced little. He wasn’t making a comment on something good happening in whatever field of work or life endeavor we happen to be on. Jesus is not against success.

~The principle comes in with what the man does in response to the success that his fields produced.

-Jesus continues to tell us that what the man’s fields produced were too much for even him to handle. He had barns to store things, but they weren’t big enough to store the over-abundance that he enjoyed.

-So, the man says to himself, “Self, what are you going to do with all this stuff? It’s too much even for you. I know, I’ll just build bigger barns so I can collect for myself even more stuff.”

-Therein lies the greed. He was already rich, and he already had more than enough to make his life comfortable. And so, when he got even more wealth than he could handle, he decided he would do what he had to do to keep hoarding for himself this wealth. He decided that in his over-abundance he would invest it in making even more for himself. The man said I WANT MORE!

-The man in the parable had the mindset that was completely set on making an earthly empire for himself so that he could just keep getting more and more and more. He wanted the life of ease and luxury, and he would do whatever needed to be done to make that happen. But something happened…

~God came to him and said that the man was going to die. It is interesting the way that it is put—in the ESV it says that YOUR SOUL WILL BE REQUIRED OF YOU. It literally means YOUR SOUL IS GOING TO BE DEMANDED BACK.

~What this is telling me is that God is the creator and giver of the soul, of the life. God gifts our lives to us. But there will come a time when God will demand our life back. And we are going to have to give an account for what we did with the life that God gifted to us.

-And God already has made the judgment on the rich man—he is going to die, and then what is going to happen to all the stuff that he accumulated. God is telling the man in the parable, and is telling us, that old cliché: you literally cannot take it with you. And that is even found in the Bible:

For when he dies he will carry nothing away; his glory will not go down after him. (Psalm 49:17 ESV)

~So, why invest so much in what you cannot keep? And this then leads:

3) The point Jesus emphasizes

-Herein lies the sobering lesson:

~what happened to the rich man in the parable is what is going to happen to everybody that takes on the same attitude and worldview of the rich man. If you invest your life, your time, your resources, in just gaining more and more and more on this earth for your own ease and comfort, you too will be considered a fool and you will lose your soul.

~If you invest only in the temporary, the earthly, the worldly, and not in the things of God, the things of eternity, the things of heaven, the things that matter most, you are going to lose everything.

~All this earthly stuff, you are going to lose, and if you haven’t made an investment into eternity, if you haven’t taken care of your soul like you do your portfolio, then you are really going to lose out.

-Jesus says to be rich toward God. He doesn’t say you can’t be rich in this world. But he warns about being so concerned with being rich in this world that you miss out on being rich toward God, and when your soul, your life, is required of you, are you ready to face God?

~Of course, then the question is, how can you be rich toward God. So, these are the quick conclusion I was talking about:

How can we be rich toward God?

(a) Invest in your spiritual life

-First and foremost, make sure that you have taken God’s path to heaven, which is found only in Jesus Christ. There is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved, and so you need to trust Jesus for salvation from your sin.

-But the investment doesn’t stop there. Invest your time and life in the spiritual disciplines so as to grow closer to God and to grow more in holiness and piety.

~The more you’re in Scripture and in prayer you find out what living for eternity really means, and you will direct the efforts of your life toward that purpose.

~But it takes time and effort on your part. Being a spectator or onlooker or bystander at church services is not a good enough investment. If you aren’t discipling yourself and being discipled and doing what you need to do to grow, you are investing in the wrong things.

(b) Trust God for your provision

-A lot of the reason that we spend so much time and effort in building our earthly empire is that we think we have to provide for ourselves and the future generations, but we do it out of fear because we really don’t think God can or will give us what we need.

~Not that we would ever say that out loud, but our action and attitudes speak volumes.

~And Jesus knows that this is a major reason for greed, so He continues His lesson in the following verses

READ LUKE 12:22-31

(c) Be a blessing to others

-The man in the parable could have taken care of so many poor people and fulfilled so many needs that were out there in the world. But instead of being generous toward other people, he hoarded everything for himself.

-But Jesus tells us to do whatever we need to do to take care of the needs of others. Listen to what Jesus further says in our chapter:

READ LUKE 12:32-34

-When you give generously to those who are in need, you are investing in spiritual treasure that could never be taken from you. Your earthly stuff is temporary and can be easily taken from you. That which you do in the name of Christ for the Kingdom can never be taken from you.

-Paul tells us:

They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share (1 Timothy 6:18 ESV)

(d) Support the ministry of the church

-When you invest in your local church you are investing in the ministry and mission of Christ as we advance the Great Commission here and abroad.

~COVID has put a hiccup in many plans, and it has hurt churches financially as well. If we are to move forward, we need others to join us in this investment for eternity.

(e) Find supreme value in Jesus above earthly goods

-We will place our time and treasure where we find the most value, and so I pray that we find our ultimate value in Jesus Christ. May we take Paul’s words seriously when he said:

“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8 ESV)

Conclusion

-Let me conclude with this story:

I remember this cartoon from a long time ago, but I don’t remember where I saw it. But in this cartoon there was a dog who was carrying a bone as he crossed a bridge. He looked into the water and saw his own reflection. He took this to be another dog and another bone. He desperately wanted the other bone so he dropped the one he had to scare the “other dog.” Of course there was no other dog and no other bone and he lost the one he had into the water. Such is the nature of human greed. In the effort to get what we want, we frequently lose what we have.

~That might be our eternal soul or it might be eternal reward, but greed never gains, it only loses.

-True life is not found in how many toys you have. True life is found in Christ. If you need to have an attitude adjustment about that, come to the altar and pray. If you need to begin your investment in eternity by coming to Christ, come forward and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ…