Guard Against Greed

Tabernacle Baptist Church Stewardship Month Series:

Found Faithful

"Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching.”

Thesis: True believers in Christ (stewards) labor diligently and faithfully as they anxiously anticipate Christ’s coming.

Guard Against Greed

Luke 12:13-21

Introduction: Have you ever thought "If only I had a million dollars"?  Maybe you're like some who have actually sat down and daydreamed about what you would do with such an enormous sum.  Some, I imagine, would go crazy right away with such money.  Others would pay off their bills and then go crazy with the rest.  Still others would probably be more conservative and pay off their present needs and save up for future needs.  If you're more like the latter do you truly believe that "saving for a rainy day" would actually protect from that rainy day?  My point is this, would you find complete security in your finances or goods and therefore turn your attention away from God, the Great Provider and Sustainer of man?  Our lesson today deals with such an individual who in the abundance of his goods sought security only to be surprised at how little his goods did for him after all.

Thesis: True believers in Christ endeavor to obtain eternal things rather than trust in temporal "securities".

Though present physical needs have their place, the priority for the believer must be in the eternal, not the temporal. (V.13-15)

In the Scripture reading for today a man approached Christ concerning an issue that he had with his brother.  Christ uses this opportunity to shift the attention for just a moment to the crowd.  This man from amongst the crowd desired for Christ to intercede between his brother and him on a legal matter regarding an inheritance.  In such a matter the division of an inheritance usually falls 1/3 to the younger and 2/3 to the older.  It is interesting to note that out of all of the times that someone outside of Christ's Disciples comes to Christ they usually come on the grounds to 1) challenge His teaching 2) learn from Him 3) see what He can do 4) or to be healed.  This man came to Christ to settle a legal dispute.  Christ's answer to him demonstrates the man's misunderstanding of his priorities.  If this man truly would've understood Christ's position not just in terms of earthly authority but Supreme Sovereign Who is able to save man from his sin He would've approached Christ concerning different matters.  How often do we approach Christ with trivial things rather than spiritual?  That is not to say that there are some things that seem trivial after their completion but at the time seem bigger than anything we've ever known.  Let us for an exercise examine what we ask for in prayer and understand its eternal value (if there is any).  After doing so let us look at what Christ Himself said that we ought to ask for (Matthew 6:9-13).  Christ tells us that we ought to pray for our daily temporal needs, guidance away from temptations, and deliverance from evil (or the evil one).  The emphasis in the Lord's prayer even when it comes down to our needs focuses back on the spiritual for Christ mentions daily physical needs once and spiritual needs twice.  Today in your prayer to the Lord have you placed your spiritual growth priorities over that of your temporal physical priorities?  Please don't misunderstand me, I am not saying that the physical temporal priorities don't have their place.  We as believers in Christ must get our priorities back on track in order to please the Lord and be considered faithful stewards.

Next let's analyze Christ's response He directed not just to the man but also to the crowd.  He opens His instruction with "Take heed" or "Be on guard".  The phrase comes from a Greek word meaning at its most basic level "to see".  Christ warns the crowd to be on the lookout or to be vigilant.  Christ's warns us to be vigilant and to beware of covetousness.  The term beware can also mean to guard however the term has in mind protection from an outside source which would damage the purity of goods.  The term covetousness means "having or showing a great desire to possess something, typically something belonging to someone else".  This mindset is damaging for Christ instructs us in Hebrews 13:5 that we should "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."  In other words, because Christ will never leave us alone we must find our desire and sufficiency in Christ rather than turning to the hoarding of this world's material goods which cannot provide us with the same sort of satisfaction that our Savior can.  Believers in Christ must be vigilant to guard themselves against the impurity of covetousness.  Christ justifies His instruction with the phrase "for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth."  Man must not preoccupy his life with abundant material things or man does not find meaning for his life in the obtaining of abundant physical gain.  I recently shared an article about a man with a 1 billion dollar home.  Though that home may be the grandest of its kind such a material possession does not define that man's life because what good will it do for him once he's gone?

Though abundant possessions may provide security for the moment, believers must look to God for their complete security.

Our Savior uses this as a transition into further illustration of His point concerning man and temporal goods.  He tells the parable of a man rich in goods but lacking in spiritual gain.  This man finds a problem one day, he has too many goods.  Could you imagine having that problem?  Maybe you're like me and tend to throw things out in your home before they accumulate too much.  Or maybe you're like others who have the packrat mentality and just want to store and store.  All those possessions become stockpiled and in our day and age we can usually find somewhere to put them.  Needless to say the man in the parable had a lot of things and needs somewhere to store them because his storage at the time was insufficient so he decided to build bigger storage for his items.  The rich man's next remark is subtly proud, but nonetheless proud.  In looking at all of his goods he says to himself, "You know what, you've done alright for yourself.  Look at all of these goods.  You've got so many goods for years to come and you don't have to worry about a thing.  Sit back, take it easy, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself."  This man looked to his possessions for his security.  He saw at that he had and thought everything is going to be great because I have all of this stuff to get me through.  Aren't there others like that in our day and age?  They look at their retirement and say "Man, I can't wait to retire because I've got all of this money saved up and I'll be just fine."  They look to their savings as their security for the "good life".  Now please don't misunderstand me.  I'm not advocating prudent saving, for one must look to prepare for the future as best as they can but one cannot find their utmost security in their physical goods.

The point of Christ's teaching is this: a preoccupation with gaining temporal physical security leaves one foolishly bankrupt towards God.  That very night of the day in which that rich man thought those things to himself about his goods God removed him from his physical goods and took him into eternity.  The man proudly reflected on all of his accomplishments and put his confidence in the durability of those goods to sustain him for years to come but such actions and thoughts would be short-lived because the One Who is in control over death required his life that very night.  This man boasted in his goods that brought him nothing in the end for he did not have a chance to utilize them for their worth in this life.  What is our attitude towards the material goods of this world?  Do we share the mindset of this "worldly" man whose goods did him nothing in the end?  God called this man a fool.  The American Heritage College Dictionary defines a fool as "one who is deficient in judgment, sense, or understanding. One who acts unwisely on a given occasion."  This man certainly acted in a way in which he was lacking in judgment.  His response to life was one of merely material value whereas we know according to God's Word that the spiritual/eternal is the world of value.  Do our actions demonstrate a preoccupation with the goods of this life and would hurt us in the end because we did not prepare for the next?

Though physical possessions are enticing for the moment, believers must endeavor to be rich towards God.

Christ closes this parable with a comparison.  Those who act like this man are not rich towards God.  Rather than focusing on the negative, let's consider from last week's lesson how we can be rich towards God.  The negative is a preoccupation with this world's goods, the positive is a preoccupation with the eternal/spiritual.  We demonstrate a preoccupation with the the eternal spiritual when we 1) obey God (John 14:15) 2)become preoccupied with the things that please God(preaching the Gospel, teaching others in Christ to grow to become more like Christ [Discipleship], studying God's Word for ourselves, praying, contributing to our local church [time, monies, strength]).

Notice also that Christ said so is the person who lays up treasure for himself.  At the root of this sin of covetousness is a preoccupation with self.  One has put their needs, wants, and desires over their relationship with God which has suffered in the end.  Have we put ourselves over our relationship with God?  If so, we must repent of that sin right away and seek to be reconciled to our God.

Conclusion:    Well, another lesson has come and gone and we've considered the price of being covetous and the necessity of being on our guard against its destructive nature.  Let us learn well from the follies of this rich man in Christ's parable.  Such preoccupations with this world's goods leave us destitute before God.  We must prepare for the day that we are to meet God face to face and account for our lives and our service to Him.  This first means accepting Christ as Savior and repenting of sins, if we have missed this initial step we have missed it all.  For those who are believers in Christ we must look to Him for strength and grace to guard against the destructive nature of all sorts of greed which could spring up in our live in the midst of this materialistically driven society.