Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

We’re in the middle of a summer-long series called Stories. We’re spending the summer listening to some of the best stories Jesus ever told. Jesus’ favorite teaching tool was the story. It seems like every time Jesus wanted to teach His followers an important truth, He used a story. And these stories, or parables, still do the same thing for us today. They teach us the truth of God in a unique and very practical way.

This week, our story is the parable of the rich fool. We’re in Luke 12 today. Let’s pray and then we’re going to get after it.

Instead of jumping right into the story today, it’s really important that we explore what happened beforehand. Luke 12, beginning in verse 13. “Someone in the crowd said to [Jesus], "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."

Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?"

Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." (Luke 12:13-15, NIV)

The whole scene starts with a crowd that had gathered around Jesus to listen to Him teach. This happened a lot during Jesus’ ministry. He was a big draw wherever he went.

While Jesus was teaching, a man in the crowd yells out to Him. "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." (Luke 12:13, NIV)

Nothing can divide a family faster than a fight over an inheritance. I’ve seen it play out in a lot of families, and it can be devastating. Maybe you’ve been personally involved in a fight like this. You know how bad it can get.

So this man is obviously in a bad situation. We have no reason not to give this man the benefit of the doubt and believe that he was in the right. Apparently his brother was trying to cheat him out of what was rightfully his.

So he approaches Jesus and asks him to resolve the situation. In this society, rabbis often served as mediators in this kind of dispute, so this man obviously viewed Jesus as a leader of the Jewish community. But he still missed the bigger picture of who Jesus was.

He viewed Jesus as a rabbi. He referred to him as, “Teacher.” Not “Lord.” Not “Master.” Just “Teacher.”

This man was in the presence of Jesus Christ. He could have had a life-changing, eternity-altering experience with the Son of God. But he didn’t have a right perspective on who Jesus was. And when you don’t have a right perspective of Jesus, you lose perspective on everything else.

He was face-to-face with the Son of God, but all he saw in Jesus was an advocate to help him get his money.

In verse 14, “Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" (Luke 12:14, NIV)

He simply wasn’t going to get involved in this family squabble. Jesus does not exist to help us get our way. He is not some genie in a bottle to grant us whatever we wish for.

Now, before we’re too hard on this man, it does seem like he had a legitimate complaint. If his brother was truly trying to push this guy out of his share of their father’s estate, then that was not right. It was not fair.

But here’s a hard truth about Jesus…Jesus’ primary concern isn’t whether or not everything is fair in our lives. I know that’s tough for us to swallow, but Jesus’ mission is not to make sure that everything is fair.

He is concerned about His glory. He is concerned about His Kingdom. He is concerned about people coming to know Him and entering into eternal life.

Jesus promised that He would be faithful to us, but He never promised that our lives would be fair. And before we follow the lead of this guy in the crowd and start whining to Jesus about how unfair something is, we need to stop and remember who we’re talking to. Do you think the cross was fair? Was it fair that Jesus had to die to pay the price for your sin? Just a little perspective for us to keep in mind.

So instead of focusing in on trying to make things fair for this man in the crowd, Jesus uses the opportunity to tell a story that has far greater implications for the man’s life…and for our lives, too.

In verse 15, he prefaces the story by saying, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (Luke 12:15, NIV)

Jesus warns us to be on our guard against greed. “Be on your guard” is a call for constant vigilance. Greed worms its way into our lives with great subtlety. We learn to rationalize or justify greed instead of guarding against it.

In fact, Jesus said to, “Be on you guard against all kinds of greed.” Greed can take all kinds of different forms and it affects all kinds of different people. You don’t have to be rich to be greedy.

When someone who is able to work is convinced that the government owes them a living, that’s greed.

When someone believes that they deserve special attention and the rules don’t apply to them, that’s greed.

When someone believes that their church exists to cater to them, that’s greed.

When someone expects other people to drop whatever they’re doing and turn their world upside down just because they walked in the room, that’s greed.

Obviously, greed is often connected with money. But it is actually a condition of the heart, not just the wallet. It is a heart issue that can reach its tentacles into every corner of our lives. We’ll go deeper into that as we go through our story.

Jesus reminds us that, “a man’s life does not consist in abundance of possessions.” What you have does not determine who you are. As Dave Ramsey says, money just makes you more of who you already are. If you are a jerk when you’re poor, then if you become rich, you’ll just become a colossal jerk. If you are generous when you have little, you will have the opportunity to bless even more people when you have much.

To be honest, I don’t care about your money, or your house, or your car, or your clothes. I just don’t. Your stuff doesn’t impress me. More importantly, your stuff doesn’t impress Jesus. What you have does not determine who you are.

And, as He always seemed to do, Jesus saw his conversation with this man as an opportunity to tell a story. So let’s get into it.

Starting in verse 16, Luke writes “And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'

"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '

"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'

"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God." (Luke 12:13-21, NIV)

As we explore the story, we need to notice this right upfront. The man in the story was not condemned for being rich. His problem wasn’t the fact that he had too much money. His problem was that money had too much of him.

Jesus opens the story by saying, “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’” (Luke 12:16-17, NIV)

This farmer has a great year. His fields produce so much that he doesn’t know what to do with it all. He asks himself, “What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.”

This guy has a great harvest. His fields have produced more crops than he ever dreamed possible. But did you see what happened?

Instead of thanking God for the great harvest, he stresses out. Instead of seeing his crop as an opportunity to bless other people, he worries.

Matthew Henry said, “The more men have, the more perplexity they have with it.”

Wealth is a guaranteed source of stress if the focus is on me. If I am all about making money to hoard for myself, the money I desire isn’t going to bring me peace. It’s going to bring me stress. Sounds backwards, but it’s true. If the goal of your life is making and then hoarding money, you might as well settle in for a very stressful life.

The man in our story worries and agonizes over how he is going to keep all his wealth. Finally he comes up with a plan.

Pick it up in verse 18. "Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." ' (Luke 12:18-19, NIV)

“This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.”

His plan to build bigger barns would have a two-pronged effect.

First of all, it would allow him to effectively hoard all his possessions for himself.

Secondly, it would cause his neighbors to “ooh and ahh” at his big, fancy, new barns. They couldn’t help but notice how wealthy he was.

This plan would be a two-for-one-special for him. It would allow him to be selfish AND to showboat in front of everyone.

After he devised this plan, the man was excited because now he could, “take life easy; eat, drink, and be merry.”

He thought that his accumulation of wealth would bring peace and contentment. But, like so many other things in the Kingdom of God, the Lord takes that conventional wisdom and turns it upside down.

In the book of 1 John, the Bible says, “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”

God has called us, as His people, to live lives that are driven by generosity. The question is never, “What can I get?” It is always, “What can I give?” But now, watch what John writes in the very next verse.

“This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.” (1 John 3:17-20, NIV)

The way we can experience peace…the way that our hearts can truly be at rest…is when we live a lifestyle of generosity. Like we talked about earlier, if you want to live a stress-filled life with no peace, focus on hoarding your money. You think that selfishness will allow you to have no worries…to live a life of peace. But actually, selfishness and peace never coexist. Generosity is the key to peace.

John tells us that we know the love of God is in us when we turn that love around and extend it someone else. And the most practical, tangible way to do that is by being generous with the blessings you have been given.

The man in the parable wasn’t condemned because he was rich. He had been blessed by God, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. You should never feel guilty if God has blessed you with money or material things.

But here’s what the man in the story missed…he was blessed so he could be a blessing.

Whenever God blesses you, it is done with the expectation that you will turn it around. You are blessed so you can be a blessing.

If you ignore that fact, things start to fall apart. Maybe you start to feel guilty about the blessings you have. Your own heart starts condemning you, like John talked about.

If you stay on that road, the pursuit of stuff will eclipse the pursuit of God. And then, you find yourself in the same boat as the man in the parable.

Look at verse 20 in our story. The man has just decided to build bigger barns, keep all his wealth, and settle in to enjoy the good life. "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' (Luke 12:20, NIV)

This man died that night, right after he hatched his plan to build bigger barns and stash all his possessions for himself. At that point, none of his plans and dreams mattered anymore. In fact, he never even got to enjoy the fortune that he accumulated.

Then Jesus ends his story with this very sobering thought. “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God." (Luke 12:21, NIV)

This is the linchpin of Jesus’ story…this man was making arrangements to store up all his blessings for himself. In this short story, the man uses the pronouns “I” or “my” eleven times. No other parable contains so many “I” and “my” words. The man kept talking about, “my crops . . . my barns . . . my grain . . . my goods . . . myself.” It’s not hard to see where his heart was.

And there is the real issue. The issue isn’t about money or wealth. It’s about our hearts. You can be a poor person, and still be rich toward God. You can be a rich person, and still be rich toward God. It’s not a financial issue. It’s a heart issue.

A few verses later in Luke 12, Jesus reminds us, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Luke 12:34, NIV)

This is one of the most powerful, and yet most practical, things that Jesus ever taught. It’s short enough to be a tweet on Twitter, and yet it has the power to reveal who we are at our core.

Most of us claim to love God, but, according to Jesus, a cursory glance at our checkbook will reveal if that is actually true or not. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

As you think through your household budget, how much of it is being stored up for you? How much of it is set aside to benefit and bless you? How much of it is set aside strictly for the benefit of others?

What sacrifices do you need to make so you can be a blessing to others? Make no mistake about it…you will have to make some sacrifices.

You might not get to build that bigger barn. You might have to drive that old car a few more years. You might have to scale back the big vacation you’re planning. Whatever the sacrifice is, you will have to be content to live on less so you can give more.

But there is something to notice about the man in our story. This man’s current barns were plenty big enough. Jesus calls him a rich man, even before he has this great harvest. He had been blessed above and beyond. He could have still lived quite comfortably, and still been a blessing to others.

The same is true for many of us. A lot of us have been blessed above and beyond. Our barns are plenty big enough. We could be generous and still have a lifestyle that is the envy of most people on this planet.

But greed clouds our judgment. Greed and contentment cannot coexist. Instead of seeing how much we’ve been blessed and being content, greed can take over with an insatiable thirst for more. Instead of building a life of generosity, we’re always looking to build a bigger barn.

In Ephesians 5, the Bible says, “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people.” (Ephesians 5:3, NIV)

The more I thought about this verse this week, the more uncomfortable I became. Does it bother you that God lumps greed and sexual sin together? Given the choice of which one is worse, I would say that sexual sin is definitely worse. That is definitely the more serious offense.

But God lumps them together like they’re equals. And He says that there shouldn’t even be a hint of them in our lives. There shouldn’t even be a hint of sexual sin…and there shouldn’t even be a hint of greed in our lives.

Why? Because this verse says that “these are improper for God’s holy people.”

The word “holy” means “set apart.” And there is the key to this whole thing. We are constantly bombarded with the American mindset that greed is good. Building the bigger barn is the American way.

The only way we can live a generous, God-honoring life is to be different…to be set apart. It comes down to a conscious decision of the will. A conscious decision to buck against the cultural mantra of greed and do it different.

But to do that, we’ve got to tune out the noise and listen for the voice of our Father.

This week I was working on my sermon at a local restaurant. There was a mother and her 16-year-old daughter sitting in the booth next to me. After their lunch, they hugged and the daughter left.

All of a sudden, I was startled when the mother started yelling at her daughter. The mother was still in the restaurant. The daughter was in her car. So there was no way that daughter was going to hear mom yelling, but that didn’t stop mom from yelling.

See, the daughter was backing out of her parking spot, but she didn’t see that she was heading right toward another car. Her mom started frantically yelling, “Stop! Stop! Stop!”

But her daughter obviously couldn’t hear her and CRASH! Right into the other car.

I really felt bad for both of them. I felt bad for the daughter because I know what it feels like to have an accident right after you get your license. It’s not fun.

But I felt even worse for the mom. All she wanted to do was keep her daughter safe. All she wanted was for her daughter to hear her voice so she could avoid the danger that was coming. But obviously that didn’t happen.

We have to understand that when our Heavenly Father tells us to stop, He has a good reason. He’s trying to keep us from wrecking our lives.

It can be hard to hear his voice over all the other noise that we’re surrounded with. But if we listen to His Word, He will speak to us.

We live in a “bigger barn” culture. Greed is the norm. But if you listen, the voice of our Father is saying, “Stop! Stop! Stop! You’re heading for a crash!”

A life committed to building the bigger barn is going to be stressful. It’s going to steal your joy. It’s going to rob you of peace. But worst of all, it’s going to take you away from Jesus.

There’s a passage in Deuteronomy 8 that really ought to mess you up. It definitely rocks me.

Check this out. Starting in verse 10: “When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day.

Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God…

You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth…” (Deuteronomy 8:10-14a, 17-18a, NIV)

This is why, when it comes to selfishness and greed, our Heavenly Father keeps saying, “Stop! Stop! Stop!” Because he knows where greed leads. It leads us to forget about Him completely. And once that happens, everything in our lives…everything in our eternity will all fall apart.

But on the other hand, we are drawn closer to God through generosity. We are never more like God than when we give, so living generously just naturally pulls us closer to Him.

And if it ever gets really hard to be a generous giver, just take a minute to remember how much God has given you. He loved you enough to give you His Son. He gave His life for yours and for mine. We give, because we have been given so much.

Mike Edmisten

Tags: generosity, giving, greed, Luke 12, money, Parable of the Rich Fool, parables, selfishness, Stories