Luke The Orderly Account of Truth - Don't Be a Barn Builder - Luke 12:13-21

Welcome to the Roots Comunity Church. I'm very glad to

have you here. We are in a series called Luke

The Orderly Account of Truth, where we see Luke provide

a careful and examination through Eyewitz, his testimony and investigation

about Jesus, his life, his ministery, his death, his resurrection.

How many of you were here last week, so a

lot of you saw me as a blubbering fool up

here just crying my heart out. Well, if you came

to see that again, jokes on you, because that never happens.

It never happens. It happens all the time. I cry

a lot. I get it from my dad. I remember

as a kid watching him preach. He would always preach

about martyrdom and specifically the updates from Voice of the Martyrs. Great,

great institution you should look into. But every time he

would come and give an update, he would cry his

eyes out, and as kids, would just sink lower in

a chairs like, oh Dad, don't And now here I

am doing the same thing, probably worse the crying. I'm

trying to get better at preaching, but the crying is

definitely worse than he would. Last week, we looked at

the beginning of Luke chapter twelve, where we saw Jesus

give a warning to his followers to be on guard

against the yeast of the Pharisees. How many of you

all got tired of me saying the word to yeast

last week? Yeah? It trust me. It was hard for

me to say that many times. I only got a

few more. But he warned his followers not to allow

the teachings or the examples set by the Pharisees into

their lives, because it spreads and infects them like yeast

goes through doe, and it leads them to sin. And

even though the Pharisees held the Jewish people accountable to

their extra biblical teachings and their customs through their status

of self righteousness, Jesus warns them not to follow the

Pharisees out of fear. He warns them, do not be

afraid of those who kill the body and after that

can do no more. And instead he tells them to

fear God. Fear him who, after the body has been killed,

has authority to throw you into hell. And he gives

his followers words of comfort that every believer can rejoice

and trust in, saying, are not five sparrows sold for

two pennies, yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed,

the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't

be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows. So

he instructs his followers to fear God because the fear

or the reverence of God keeps us in step with

the Holy Spirit and produces good yeast. And as believers

in the one and only Savior of Jesus Christ, we

don't need to fear God for what he can do

because we are saved from God's wrath by the blood

of his son Jesus, that he sh on the cross

for us. So we are to fear God, but we

don't have to be afraid. In our text today, Jesus

finishes warning his followers about the yeast of the Pharisees,

and then a man out of nowhere speaks up and

wants Jesus to settle a dispute over an inheritance between

himself and his brother. And just like last week where

Jesus gives a warning about the dangers of hypocrisy and

bad yeas of the Pharisees, today we'll see him give

a warning about the dangers of greed and materialism. And

just like the teachings and examples of false doctrines, false teachings,

teachings of the world, the precious of the world, how

they can infect us like yeas through dough, greed materialism

is just as destructive. If you're taking notes. My sermon

today is titled don't be a barn builder. Now, if

you are a farmer and you want to build a barn,

you should do that. But that is not what this means.

It'll make sense later. If you have a Bible, or

if you need a Bible, we have some at the

connectable out past the doors. That is yours to keep.

Turn with me to Luke, chapter twelve, verse thirteen. I'm

going to read through verse twenty one, and then I'll pray,

and then we'll get into it. Someone in the crowd

said to him, 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.

Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions. And

he told them this parable the ground of a certain

rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 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.

Will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and

there I will store my surplus grain. And I'll say

to myself, you have plenty of grain 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 whoever stores up things to themselves

but is not rich Toward God, Lord Jesus, I pray

as we go through your word, I pray that it

would change us. Lord, humble our hearts, especially as we

are dealing with greed and how destructive greed can be

in our lives. Humble us, Lord, help us to submit

to the truth of your word as it changes us,

as it sanctifies us and makes us more like you.

Lord Lord, help me as I preach your word, humble

my heart, because it is all about you. We give

you this time. We thank you that we can be

here together to praise your name, to learn more about

you through your word, that we can grow closer as

a body of believers, or bless us time together, and

may you get the glory in your name. We pray Amen.

Before I get into I wanna share a little story

that's gonna connect with today's sermon. My wife, Lindsay and

I have one child, June, who's a great kid. For

the most part. We call her uh our sour patch

kid because at first she's sour and then a second

later she is as sweet as can be. She's like

sixty percent sweet, forty percent sour, and one hundred percent tird.

Now I was homeschooled, but trust me, the math adds

up in her case. Anyway. This year, June has made

friends with a lot of the kids in the neighborhood,

and for the most part, they get along really well.

But like most kids, they butt heads. From time to time.

They have fights or disagreements, usually from a miscommunication. Because

they're kids, they're still learning. A lot of the time,

it's because they don't like what the other is doing.

And when these disagreements happen, they always play out the

exact same way. One moment they're playing outside peacely but loudly,

and the next moment June runs in the house crying

hysterically because someone said something to upset her, or someone

played with the toy the wrong way, or someone isn't

sharing it, said, et cetera, filling the blank. But no

matter the cause of the problem, their quest to her

mother and I is always the same. Just come and

talk to them, Just solve my problem. And while June

is she is sometimes justified in her being upset. She

never asks for advice on what to do. She just

wants her mother and I to settle the matter in

her favor. And she's a kid, okay, And we're all

guilty of that w In our text today, something similar

happens to Jesus as he's speaking in Luke twelve, verse

thirteen through fourteen. Someone in the crowd said to him, Teacher,

tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. Jesus replied,

man or Bruh, who appointed me a judge or an

arbiter between you? And this as a reminder, Jesus is

telling his followers the dangers of following the teachings and

examples of the pharisees he didn't. He barely finishes speaking

when this man just chimes in and says, Hey, my

brother is being dumb. You tell him to split the

inheritance with me. Tell him to It's not a request,

he tells Jesus, tell his brother to split the inheritance.

He's not seeking advice, he's not seeking counsel. He just

wants Jesus to resolve the matter in his favor. He's

being greedy, but Jesus ain't having it. He responds man.

And I had to look this up because I thought

this was a weird response from Jesus. But the word

man here is translated from an unsympathetic term to address

a stranger, so in our language would typically translate to

mister or bruh. If you're in twenty twenty four, he says, mister,

who appointed me a judge or arbiter between you and

your brother? Now you may be thinking, wait, isn't Jesus

the judge? And if you thought that, yes, you're absolutely right.

Look at John five twenty twenty five, twenty two versus

through twenty twenty three. Moreover, the father judges no one

but has entrusted all judgment to the son, that all

may honor the son just as they honor the father.

Whoever does not honor the son does not honor the

Father who sent him. All spiritual judgment has been granted

to God the Son, by God the Father. Now, this

man isn't asking to judge his soul, and he likely

wouldn't want that anyway. This man is asking Jesus to

be a judge in a matter of material possessions, and

that's not what Jesus came to do. So when Jesus responds,

who made me a judge or an arbitar between you?

We have to remember that he didn't come. He didn't

come to settle or judge these kinds of mundane and

earthly matters. He came for a far more significant and

eternal purpose. As Leo On Morris put it in his

commentary on Luke, Jesus came to bring men to God,

not to bring property to men. He wasn't there to

settle this kind of squabble between brothers. Now, whenever our

daughter June comes to Lindsay and I with a matter

that she wants us to resolve, and as long as

it's not a true emergency, or something that we need

to get involved in. We always have the same approach

that we try to we're still working on our patients.

Our approach is always we comfort her and we give

her sound wisdom and advice on how she should resolve

the matter. And while Jesus denies the man's demand to

resolve the matter in his favor, Jesus uses this moment

to show the man and everyone around him the dangers

of greed. In verse fifteen, then he said to them,

remember this. He said to them, watch out, be on

your guard against all kinds of greed. Life does not

consist in an abundance of possessions. First off, I love

that Jesus doesn't pull the man aside to warn him

about his greed. The them and this verse is the

thousands of people already gathered around him. The previous verses

who read last week said they were literally trampling over

each other to hear what Jesus had to say, So

he's not speaking to the man only he uses this

opportunity to say to the thousands of people around them,

watch out, because Jesus knows that every single person there

could probably hear this warning. The second thing I love

about Jesus's warning is the sense of urgency he places

on it. He doesn't pull the man aside and gently

remind him, Hey, you know, I think you really need

to be careful about what you want in life. You're

sounding a little greedy and it might cause you some trouble.

Just the thought take it or leave it. He doesn't

say that. He says to everyone there, watch out. If

you see someone about to be hit by a bus.

You don't just stand there. I hope you don't just

stand there and say, Hey, there's a moving vehicle about

to strike you. You should probably move if you want to.

You urgently shout watch out, there's a bus about to

run you over. So my next point is this treat

greed like the bus about to run you over. Greed

like the bus about to run you over. That's the

kind of urgency that Jesus is putting behind his warning.

It's the kind of urgency we need to have with

recognizing and stopping our own greed. We need to have

a sense of urgency of the dangers of greed and

beyond guard against it, like Jesus warns, because greed causes

more harm than we think. The Bible is full of

examples of how greed brings harm and destruction to our lives.

A couple examples. It was because of greed that Aiken

in the time of Joshua took for himself items that

were devoted to God, which brought God's judgment on Israel.

Israel has sinned. This is God speaking. They have violated

my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have

taken in some of the devoted things. They have stolen,

they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions.

That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies.

They turn their backs and run because they have been

made liable to destruction. I will not be with you

anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.

Greed brings destruction. This is one of my favorite examples.

Anonius and his wife who lied about their income from

a property they sold, and they were struck dead his

acts five Now, a man named Anonius, together with his

wife Sapharah, also sold a piece of property with his

wife's full knowledge. He kept back the part of the

money for himself, but brought the rest and put it

at the apostles feet. Then Peter said Anonius, How is

it that Satan has filled your heart? Has so filled

your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit

and have kept for yourself some of the money you

received from the land. Didn't it belong to you before

it was sold? And after it was sold? Wasn't the money? Uh?

Excuse me, I lost my play. This wasn't the money

at your disposal? What made you think of doing such

a thing. You have not lied just to human beings,

but to God. When Anonius heard this, he fell down

and died, and great fear seized over seized all who

heard what had happened. Then some young men came forward,

wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.

About three hours later, his wife came in, not knowing

what had happened. Peter asked her, tell me, is this

the price you and Anonius got for the land? Yes?

She said, that is the price. Peter said to her,

how could you conspire to test the spirit of the Lord? Listen,

the feet of the men who buried your husband are

at the door, and they will carry you out also.

At that moment, she fell down at his feet and died.

Then the young men came in and came in, and,

finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside

her husband. Greed brings destruction. We need to have a

sense of urgency about it. It was out of greed

that Judas is Scariot betrayed our Lord Jesus for thirty

pieces of silver in Matthew twenty six. Then one of

the twelve, the one called Judas is Scariot, went to

the chief priest and asked, what are you willing to

give me if I deliver him over to you? So

they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. From

then on, Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

Story finishes in verse four seven. While while he was

still speaking, while Jesus was still speaking Judas, one of

the twelve arrived. With him was a large crowd armed

with sores and clubs, sent from the chief priests and

the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had arranged

for a signal with them, the one I kiss is

the man arrest him. Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, greetings, Rabbi,

and kissed him. Jesus replied, do what you came for, friend,

And then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him.

Greed brings destruction. Do you see how dangerous greed is?

And this isn't even close to all the examples you'll

find in scripture about how much harm mankind brings upon

themselves out of our greed. So we need to have

a sense of urgency not only in identifying it, but

in expelling it from our lives, and not only to

avoid the destruction it brings, but also if we're not careful,

our money and our possessions can quickly become what we

look to for security. It can quickly become what we

look to for our joy or fulfillment. Jesus continues and

addresses the crowd around him in verse sixteen, and he

told them this parable the ground of a certain rich

man yielded an abundant harvest. 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 my surplus grain. And I'll say to myself,

you have plenty of grain laid up for your many years.

Take life easy, Eat drink and be merry. The man

in this parable has what you would call a good problem.

His fields produced an excess of crops, so much so

that he has to build. No, he doesn't have to

build barnes. He chose to build bigger barns. He looked

at the abundance of all he had and saw his

ticket to an easy life. He looked at his abundance

of things and saw security, He saw fulfillment, He saw joy. Now,

I want to be clear. The Bible does not forbid

the possessions that we have. He does not forbid the

money that we have. He doesn't forbid the possession of things.

The Bible forbids the love of them. One Timothy six

Paul writes, for the love of money is the root

of all kinds of evil. Some people eager for money

have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

It's not our possessions or our money that are the

root of all kinds of evil. It's our love of them.

Because when we love our possessions, when we love our

money instead of loving God, we make those possessions and

our money the source of our joy. We make those

possessions and our money the source of our security. We

make them the source of the fulfillment we have out

of life, fulfillment that we have in ourselves. Paul continues

in verse seventeen on Timothy six, command those who are

rich in this present world not to be arrogant, nor

to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain,

but to put their hope in God, who rich He

provides with us us with everything for our enjoyment. Command

them to do good, to be rich in good deeds,

and to be generous and willing to share in this.

In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves

as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that

they may so that they may take hold of the

life that is truly life. When the man in Jesus's

parable chose to build bigger barns for his stuff, his

abundance of grain, he chose his possessions over God for

his joy fulfillment and security. But according to this text

in on Timothy, there was a much better option he

could have chose. Did you see what it was? I'm

literally asking, did you see what it was? What sharing?

He could have given it away. He could have been generous.

I asked June a question related to this, just to

see if she would get it, and even eight year

olds understand it. I asked her, June, we have some

cats at our house. So I asked, June, pretend you

had two cats, they were all your own cats, and

those two cats had babies, like hundreds of babies, so

many babies, it filled your house. What would you do?

And it was a risky question for me to asked,

because I didn't want to play it ideas into her head. Thankfully,

she responded with, oh, I'd give them away because cats

make people happy. Those are her words, not mine. I

would give them away. Even eight year olds understand it.

The abundance this man had was not the issue. The

abundance of what he had was not the issue. The

issue was his reliance on the gift instead of God

who gave him the gift. The things and the money

we have are not inherently bad. They're not inherently bad

in and of themselves. In and of themselves, they're not

the issue. The issue is when we place our reliance

on the gift instead of the God who gives the gift.

Are you following our possessions, our money. They're God's gift

to us and are given for our enjoyment. Like Paul

said in for Timothy, They're given for our enjoyment and

for our generosity. Instead of building up treasure on earth,

we're supposed to build up treasure in heaven by doing good,

by being rich in good deeds, by being generous and

willing to share. So my next point is, don't build

bigger barns, give greater gifts. Don't build bigger barns, give

greater gifts. And I don't mean that in the sense

that you should give more to get more. That is

a prosperity gospel that you will never hear that we will.

That is a prosperity gospel gospel that we will never

teach here. Just to be clear, what I do mean

is that we are given gifts for our enjoyment, and

we are given those gifts to be generous with them.

We don't give more to get more. We give more

to get more, to give more. Because tewod Corinthians nine,

you will be enriched in every way so that you

can be generous on every occasion, and through us, your

generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. We get to

be generous. We get to take care of the poor

and needy. We get to help our brothers and sisters

in need. We get to give, which honors God. It

honors God for all that he has given us, all

that He is graciously and mercifully given to us. When

we give, the question should never be how much money

should I give away? The question should be how would

God have me use his money? How would God have

me use his money? Because I hate to break it

to you, none of it is yours. Don't build bigger barns,

give greater gifts. Don't build bigger barns, because this is

what happens Verse twenty. 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 whoever stores of

things for themselves but is not rich toward God. Everything

that the man in Jesus parable had gained, all the

abundance of things that God had given him, was gone.

In one night's sleep. He died and couldn't use any

of it. I don't know the preachers, but he famously said,

that's why you never see a U haul on the

back of a hearse. We don't take anything with us.

And that's the reality of seeking joy and security and

fulfillment in earthly treasure, when that is the source of

your joy, When that is the source of your security

or fulfillment. Are the possessions and the money you have,

that's how quickly they disappear, It all fades away. In

Proverbs twenty three, verse four through five, do not wear

yourself out to get rich. Do not trust your own cleverness.

Cast but a glance at riches and they are gone,

for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to

the sky like an eagle. And then the preacher whites

and ecclesiastes, whoever loses money never has whoever loves money

never has enough. Whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with

their income. This too, is meaningless to get the band

to come up. God's word today has made it very

clear for us that we should not be greedy, that

we shouldn't hoard our wealth or our abundance of things,

whatever that thing is for you, because our greed brings destruction,

like in the story you saw with Aiken or Anonius

or Judas, and our greed makes us reliant on things

that simply don't last, like Proverbs and Ecclesiastes tell us

our reliance on things that fly off like an eagle

just sprout wings and flyaway, things that are ultimately meaningless

because they're not eternal. By looking to our money or

our things as the source of our joy, we make

them idols, and we worship the created thing instead of

the creator that made it, the creator who is the

only one worthy of our worship. Instead of building bigger barns,

we need to be grateful for all that He's given

us Ephesians five three through four. 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. Nor should there be

any obscenity, foolish talk, or coarse joking, which are out

of place. But rather thanksgiving. Instead of building bigger barns

to accumulate more and more things, we need to be

content with all that God has given us. Going back

to first Timothy again. But godliness with contentment is great gain.

Godliness with contentment is great gain, For we brought nothing

into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.

But if we have food and clothing, we will be

content with that. Those who want to get rich fall

into temptation and a trap, and into many foolish and

harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For

the love of money is a root of all kinds

of evil. Some people eager for money have wandered from

the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. Instead of

building bigger barns to store up treasure on earth, we

must do good work, be generous, and store up treasure

in heaven. Matthew six nineteen Jesus said, do not store

up for yourselves treasure on earth, where moths and vermin destroy,

and where thieves break in and steal. But store up

for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do

not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

For where your treasure is there, your heart will be also.

So we need to look into ourselves and ask the question,

what do I treasure? What do my actions? My thoughts

reveal that my treasure is the treasure that you store

up in heaven. The treasure that's everlasting is the joy

of our loving heavenly Father, who is pleased with our

obedient general and reliance on him in all things. That's

the treasure we store up for ourselves. And I can't

think of a better reason to be obedient with my

money and my possessions. I can't think of a better

reason than to bring joy to my heavenly Father,