Build For The Future
Notes
Transcript
And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
1. The Parable of the Rich Fool.
Jesus said beware of covetousness (greed).
Life is not measured by how much you own. Life is not based upon materialistic pursuits, it’s not based upon how successful you are in the corporate world. Jesus is life, true success is based upon the foundation of having a true relationship with Jesus.
The Apostle John in his epistle wrote these words:
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
The things of this world are passing away:
Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
Houses, cars, money, bank accounts, material things, even you yourself, your body is going to pass away. But while all those things pass, one thing that we can count on that will never pass, that will never fade is the word of the Lord!
Jesus tells of a parable of a rich fool, he was very industrious, he had fertile farm land that produced fine crops. Of course, he grew crops and sold those crops for money. His land was so fertile and he was so industrious that he began to run out of room to store his crops. Jesus says in verse 18 that the man decided to tear down his barns and build bigger ones to have room to store all of his wheat and other goods. His plan was to accumulate wealth and then sit back and enjoy life and eat, drink, and be merry.
He had all this excess but wasn’t being a blessing to others. He had all this excess but wouldn’t share it with others because he was just concerned about himself, as long as I have, doesn’t matter if others have. We too, if we are not careful we can adopt the same mindset.
Paul said:
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
Here it is we have salvation and we won’t share, here it is God has made away and we won’t tell it, God has healed our bodies and delivered us out of a world of sin, and we won’t share the goods with one others!
This man was industrious he was building but he was building the wrong way. Soon or a later those crops were going to deteriorate, the barns that he tore down and made bigger barns would fade away, matter of fact, someone else was getting ready to take possession of what he built.
God said “THOU FOOL, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.” He did all of this physical and materialistic building, but he did not build anything spiritually! He laid up earthly treasures for himself Jesus said, but he was not rich toward God! Physical and materialistic things are not going to last.....but when you build spiritual things, those are things that are eternal!
Thoughts:
We are mandated throughout scripture to build for the future. The building for the future that the scriptures suggest is the building of spiritual treasures:
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
We must make sure that we are vigilant, sober, and aware of the times in which we live in, lest we get caught outside the will of God when Christ comes back to rapture his church.
Yes, we must be vigilant:
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
We must be sober:
But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.
Don’t get drunk with the cares of this life, don’t get bogged down with the day to day hassles and the grind of life that you forget your place in God! Saints of God we have a mission.....and that mission is to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have a mission and that mission is to prepare ourselves for the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
It’s good to have money, it’s good to have cars, it’s good to have houses, it’s good to have money in the bank......it’s good to build financial stability, it’s good to build our families, and our neighborhoods, and our cities, BUT WHATEVER YOU DO......DON’T GET SO DRUNK WITH THIS WORLD, DON’T GET SO CAUGHT UP IN THE GRIND THAT YOU FORGET TO BUILD YOUR SPIRITUAL TREASURES!
What are the spiritual treasures that we build?
Well, Isaiah said:
And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure.
If we are going to build anything, we have to build like Jude suggested:
But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
Then Paul says:
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
There are three things that will last forever: faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of them is love. When you love you fulfill all the requirements of the law. Love is God’s greatest and first commandment, we must love God with all of our heart, all of our mind, all of our strengthen....we have to work on loving God and when we love God, we will love others!
Ending scripture:
Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
Our investments are in the kingdom of God. Please understand, we are not preaching that you can’t have materialistic possessions, but don’t allow those things to get you off track and take your focus off of God. What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? Stay focused, stay sober, watch and pray. Jesus said:
Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
Build a sound future for yourself in the things of God, build treasures in heaven where the moth and the cankerworm can’t destroy it.
