The Jesus Stories • The Story of the Rich Fool

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Well, good morning. If you've got your

bibles, and I hope you do, I want to invite you to join me in Luke, chapter

twelve. As

you turn there, we are going to be taking the Lord's supper here

at the end of the, There we

go. Y'all probably liked it better when I was

in the dark, let's be honest, right? We'll, be taking the Lord's

supper together at the end of the service, and so

hopefully you grabbed one of these from our greeters as you came in the Lord's

supper cups. if you did not, this would be a

wonderful time to go and get one of those. if you're

here today, and you're a follower of Jesus

Christ, you know that he is your lord and

savior, you are invited to participate with

us whether you are a part of this church or

not, whether you're a part of our denomination or not.

And so we want to invite you. Like I said, we'll give more

specific instructions at the very end of the

service. I do want to thank Leslie and the team for leading

today, as Berger is away for the next

couple of days, getting some rest and

relaxation in, and doing that. And so thank you.

Wonderful, job of y'all, leading, us,

in worship this morning.

It's not every Sunday that I get to start

off my message with a quote from Mark

Twain. But as I was reading in one of

my commentaries this week for this passage in Luke

twelve, this was a quote that one of the theologians

used as an introduction into this passage.

Mark. Civilization

as this. A

limitless multiplication

of unnecessary

necessities.

A limitless

multiplication of

unnecessary

necessities. Mark

Twain, who lived long ago,

defined civilization in a way

that I feel defines where we live

and how we live today.

Limitless multiplication

of, unnecessary

necessities. The things

that we think that we have to

have in order to

survive. Later this afternoon, my family and I are

going to have the opportunity to get away for a few days. We'll be

back next Sunday to, get off and go to the beach together.

and one of the things that I love about the beach that we go to

is there is nothing there. There's

nothing there. There's very few people.

There's very few restaurants. There's very few

stores. There's nothing there so we can get

away and just disconnect and come

together and spend time together as a family.

Somebody asked me earlier this week if it was like, edisto. I

was like, no, no, no. Edisto's too busy, right? So if

you know that, then you know, if you're like, man, Edisto is

edeslow for a reason. But that's too fast paced

for us. All right? Now, that's the opposite

of where I grew up, going to the beach.

Every summer, my mom, my dad, my sister, and I would load

up and make what seemed like the

forever trip, three and a half hours across

the state of South Carolina to wonderful

myrtle beach, south Carolina. And

some of you still go there, and you love it. You love all

the people, all the places, all the restaurant, all, ah,

953,000 putt putt

locations that you can go to.

You love wings. You love eagles. You love the

beach USA shop of whatever it is.

And that's how I grew up, and I understand it.

It's not how I choose to relax now, but I understand

where you're at. And I remember every night

we stayed at. We stayed at the beachcomber hotel was on

the south end of Myrtle beach, and it had all of the shops

around it. And as a little kid, we'd go out to

eat, to, some buffet, eat way too much,

walk around the pavilion, and then we would walk around

shops, and as a little

kid, I'd go in,

and I'd say, I'd find that t shirt, you

know, that new raft, the new

snorkel set, you know, whatever it was.

And I'd say, mom, I want this.

She was like, well, it's okay that you want it, but

no, right?

And then I found that over the course of

wandering around the store, as there's now somehow a

dead shark floating in a paperweight,

that I've determined that this is what my

life has been missing and is now

required that I obtain this.

I would not go to my mom and say, mom,

I want this. What would I

say? I need it.

I need it. And you know what?

That didn't work either. Right? That didn't work

either. She still had the same answer, which

was, no, you don't

need that. You shouldn't want that. That's a

waste of money. But we live

in a time of limitless

multiplication, of

unnecessary necessities.

I remember the first time when I was a little boy,

when Big Macs were still served in styrofoam

cartons, and we went to McDonald's, and

you get a Big Mac meal for $2.99.

We're going through the drive through. And

I saw words on the drive through

menu that I didn't know existed.

And I found out, y'all know I love McDonald's way too much.

That for $0.39 more,

I could do something called super

size. And

I thought, there is no better way in this

world to spend $0.39 than

supersizing a Big Mac meal. You

know, before they put calories on a menu.

Not that it really slows me down today. Much more, right?

And so my fries went from like this to like this.

My drink went from like this to like this.

Then about a year later, they came

out with the 99 cent

Big Mac kicker. I was in middle

school. Now I could get a big Mac meal.

I can supersize it for thirty nine cents. And for only

$0.99 more, I could get a

second Big Mac. That was a

wonderful summer, right? That was it.

We live in a world

that says that's not enough.

Supersize. Now, you go

to chick fil a, you go to wherever. You go to Burger King. You

go wherever and you order your meal. And then there's. Would

you like the add on? Would you like the add on? Would you like the

add on? What you were coming to get is not enough.

So would you like to add on these things as you go through

that? And then, if you care, with one of these

wonderful devices in your pocket, you

know, the day that your

phone is paid for

is the day that your phone stops

working, is the day that they tell

you when you want them to fix this phone

that you just got done paying for how to fix

it. But instead they say, I'm sorry,

sir, you need to what?

Upgrade. Upgrade, right. That's it.

That's the world that we live in.

We live in a time of

limitless multiplication, of

unnecessary necessities.

No one needs to supersize at

McDonald's. No one needs to add

on at chick fil a. An apple,

as much as I love them, needs to develop a phone that

doesn't require me and all three members of my

family to upgrade. We have

hit a point in life where what we

have is not enough. And what we long for,

what we need, what we want from the depth

of our soul, is more. But you

know what? It's not just mark

Twain's culture that thought that.

It's not just our culture that thinks

that. It's the culture that Jesus lived in as

well, where this

mindset of longing for

and desiring for more is there so in Luke twelve

as we look at the parable of the rich

fool?

Here's the context of how it

starts. It says,

someone in the crowd said to

him, teacher,

tell my brother to divide

the inheritance with me.

But he being Jesus, said to him,

man, who made me a judge

or arbitrator over you?

And he said to them, take

care and be on your

guard against all

covetousness, for one's

life does not consist

in the abundance of possessions.

Let's pause there for a minute.

Jesus here is acknowledging

that in his world as well,

that people are saying, no, no, no. What

does it mean to get more?

And Jesus here deals with

the heart of the want.

In, my notes here, I wrote something incorrect I want to share.

I said, jesus is asked a question here.

And as I was standing up here, I realized, no, Jesus was never asked a

question. Jesus was given an

expectation. I never went to my

mom and said, will you buy this for me? I went to my mom and

said, I want this. I need this.

A man comes to Jesus

viewing Jesus as a rabbi,

and it was not uncommon for rabbis

to be asked to render

judgment on ethical or even legal

matters. People would come when there was disputes

and the rabbis judgment, while

not truly legally, what was

needed to be imposed within that context, it

was. But it's very obvious that this man comes

with an expectation. This man comes

with a, with a statement of what he expects

Jesus to do, of what he is

determined is right. Tell my brother

we don't know older brother, we don't know younger brother,

we don't know half brother, we don't know anything in this

context. But Jesus, as a rabbi,

tell my brother to divide

the inheritance with me. We don't know in half, we don't know in a

third. We don't know what the stipulation

here is of this man's expectation,

but he's very clear.

Jesus, tell my brother to

give me mine.

And Jesus

challenges. Jesus

pushes back. And instead

of giving a ruling on

the matter at hand, he

challenges this man's

motivation. Warren Weirsby says

this. He says the issue this man faces

is his desire for

Jesus, is that Jesus

would serve him, not save him.

This man doesn't come to Jesus

to know more about what he's teaching.

This man comes to Jesus

saying, this is what you're going to give me.

This is how you're going to render in my

favor.

And Jesus doesn't do

that. And what Jesus does is he's going to

talk about it. He's going to tell the parable that we're going to read here in just a

moment. But Jesus is going to deal with the sin of coveting.

She's going to deal with the sin of coveting. So what is

coveting? Right. It's in the Ten

Commandments. It made the top ten. All

right. It's important. Exodus

2017 says, you shall not covet your neighbor's

house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife

or his male servant or his female servant or

his ox or his donkey or anything that

is your neighbor's.

May the top ten. It's there.

It's an expectation. It's a

standard that God had given to the

Israelites as his people in that

moment. And then Jesus here

challenged, challenges this man and

warns him about having a

disposition, a, bent toward the

sin of coveting. So what does that

actually mean? You shall not

covet your neighbor's house. What

does that mean? Should you not like it? Should

you not want it? Should you not look

at it and say, man, I really like how theirs is set up better than ours,

and we'd be more efficient if that was there. I really like that they're on

this side of the street versus this side of the street. I really like what they did with this.

Like, what does it mean? What does coveting mean?

Well, covet carries the root.

And when you look at this definition, the root to delight

in, it's a very

specific type of

wanting that carries more

than, like, oh, man. Like, let me see

that Bible that you've got. I'm looking for a new Bible, man. I'd like to

have the one that you have. Where'd you get that at?

Right. It's different than that. And it

carries with us this root to

delight in it. It's more than lacking. It's more

than wanting. Think, of it this way. When it

comes to things, that are not yours,

a good description is the lust

of. It's

beyond a feeling. It's a

lusting for something

that someone else has.

So we see in this passage, it's their house,

it's their spouse, it's

their workers,

it's the equipment that they have,

and then it's anything that's there

to guard your heart. You see, the issue

with coveting, I believe, is that when

we look at the cycle of what coveting creates, coveting leads to

greed. Greed leads to idolatry.

Coveting says, I desire what I should

have. Greed says

what I desire. I should have more of

idolatry. Says, I love and

find purpose in all that I have.

It defines me. And God

doesn't want our hearts to be the hearts that

covet. What God wants for

us is to have hearts that are

content. Hearts that are content.

In one Timothy six, six through ten, there's

a verse that we'll get to in this passage that is

a verse that I'm, Like. I hear it all the

time. Misquoted. And

when it is misquoted, it does not carry the

meaning that God has determined

and set for us. So let's look at the whole piece.

One Timothy 6610.

But godliness with contentment is great

gain. Great gain.

For we brought nothing into the world,

and we cannot take anything out of the

world. But if we have food and

clothing with these, we

will be content. But

those who desire to be rich

fall into temptation, into a

snare, into many senseless

and harmful desires that

plunge people into ruin

and destruction. And then this first part of verse ten. It's

what we misquote all the time. For

the love of money is a

root of all

kinds of evils. It

is through this craving that some have

wandered away from the faith and pierced

themselves with many pangs. Let's look at that first part, verse

ten. It's not money.

It's the love of money.

It's the idol of money. It's the

coveting of money. It's the condition and the

desire of the heart

that is not the root

of all kinds of evils, but

it's a root of all

kinds of evils. I think

oftentimes we look at that which we don't

have, and we look at those who have it, and we'll

talk about this at the end. And

we want to make ourselves feel better about where we are

about. So we say it's, you know, money is the root

of all evil,

but it's not money.

I know godly men and

women who have millions,

and we'll talk about how they live with

that. And I know godly men

and women who are getting by.

It's not the object. It's

the heart of what we see.

And so what we can draw from this is that

contentment will bring us to satisfaction.

And what satisfaction actually brings us to is

gratitude. That when we're content and where

we are in life, of what is there, that what we find

in our contentment is the satisfaction of the

soul. We find the peace within the

soul. So then what it leads to within the

satisfaction of the soul is the gratitude.

So simply put, when I see this? Spiritually, what

contentment looks at and says is, man,

I am good. I am

good. I know that God is in

control, and my faith, my

hope, my trust is in him. and so where

I am in my life,

I'm good. I'm good,

which leads to satisfaction.

And when we understand biblical

satisfaction, it's more.

It's more than I'm good.

It's, I'm blessed. I'm

blessed. And now, blessing is not

defined the way the world defines

blessing, by all of the possessions

that I have. Blessing is

now defined by the relationship that I have and

the standing that I have with my creator and savior.

So I move contentment to

satisfaction. And in that, what

comes from me is gratitude.

Is gratitude. And so I

thank the one who has blessed

me. I thank the one

who has saved me. So this

is the background of setting up of what

Jesus is going to build from. But as we talked about. As

we looked at. As we looked at parables,

parables is the story that comes alongside

something somebody says, something that somebody asks, something

that someone thinks sparks a teachable moment

for Jesus. And so Jesus sometimes, like

he did today, directly addresses

it and then goes into a story.

Goes into a story. So what I want us to look

at here is the pursuit of

satisfaction. The pursuit of

satisfaction, right? Because I believe

whether you're a follower of Jesus or not, like, what we all want

is we all just want that feeling of

satisfied, being satisfied. But the question

is, how do we pursue that? How do

we pursue that? I'm sure this man thought, if I gain my

inheritance of what I believe is rightfully mine, then I'll

be satisfied. But there's the

heart that Jesus wants to address. And so verse

16 through 19, we see the

parable. And he told them a

parable saying, the land of

a rich man produced plentifully. And he

thought to himself, what shall I

do? For I have nowhere to store my

crops. And he said, I will do

this. I will tear down my barns

and build larger ones. And there I

will store all my grain and my

goods, and I will say to my

soul. Soul, you have ample

goods laid up for many years.

Relax, eat, drink, be

merry. And this is the story that

Jesus tells. And it's the parable

that is known as the parable of the rich fool, which

seems to be in conflict

with one another, like, those who are rich, we think, well,

they're not foolish. You can't be foolish and

be rich. But Jesus, in talking about,

in the scope of eternity, looks at that

and says, no, no, no. What we're going to find here,

what we see is that in this, his

richness is going to define his

foolishness. And you can be

poor and still live in the

foolishness of this individual.

But two things that we notice about this man. Number one,

nowhere in here, in this parable that Jesus

tells, does he show evidence of a relationship with

God. He doesn't thank God for his excess of

crops. He doesn't seek God's will for what

he needs to do with the excess of crops. So he

is wise in his own mind and he is

determined to do what he is determined to

do. So that's one, nothing that shows evidence of a

relationship with God. The second thing is he does not

show any thought concerning anyone else

other than himself. There's

nothing that we find within this passage of

scripture where the thought

goes through his mind of what I can

do with this, to bless

or help someone else.

So what I want us to get is, it's not a

sin to have excess.

It's not a sin to have

plenty. It's not a

sin to have done financially.

Well, I don't want you to sit here and hear

this and think that there's this attack,

on individuals, whether it's an

inheritance, whether it's earned, whether how,

and you came to this, as long as it's not

sinful means to obtain it. That is wrong with

you. Having plenty, having excess or having

wealth. Back to second, back. First Timothy six,

the love of money. Right. This is what we're dealing

with. However, in this man's excess of

plenty, who does he consider he considers

himself. And so coveting is

not about the things. It's not about

the grain, it's not about the goods. What Jesus

is addressing here is his heart.

His heart. He's going to get condemnation

from God here in just a moment.

And his condemnation does

not come as a result of

having plenty.

His condemnation comes

when he finds his

satisfaction in the things. Look at this

soul. You have ample goods laid up for

many years. Relax, eat, drink,

be merry.

Caution is most of the

times when people receive

the excess, they

believe that the excess

is the blessing of God.

And I'm not saying that excess isn't,

but it's not the

blessing of God,

because what we see here is his greed,

and we see his incompatibility

with the will of God, and

that's it. Where is your heart?

We talked about that. Coveting can lead to greed,

and greed can lead to

idolatry. That's the warning, I

think, for the wealthy. But let's say you're not

wealthy. Let's look at how this is a heart issue, right?

It can be a heart issue because coveting can lead

to something else called bitterness.

And then bitterness can lead to hatred.

Coveting says, I

desire, I lust for what I

should have. And then

when I look around and see that I don't, it leads to

bitterness. And bitterness says, what I

desire to have, I don't, but others

do. And who are they?

And then that bitterness turns to hatred.

Since I don't have what

I desire, what I lust for,

what I feel I should have, I then hate

those who do. And in my

perception, I hate the God who gives it to them.

And so we see this cycle,

and Jesus is

impressing on him.

in this parable is

it's not just about what you have

today. It's not just

about what you're doing in this moment.

But are you thinking about your

tomorrow? The man says that

his soul, his

soul is good to relax,

eat, drink,

be merry.

Not bad, right? Not bad.

This is a common phrase that would have been used

during the time of Christ. But it's not the

whole phrase. It's not the whole

phrase. This man leaves out

something that then Jesus addresses

the common phrase. The full phrase that you would have seen or heard

during the time of Christ is we. We eat

and we drink, for tomorrow

we die. Now, remember, this is

a story that Jesus is telling. This is not an actual

event. So Jesus has intentionally left that part

of the phrase off as he tells.

And here's Jesus's point of what we're gonna see that he's going

to address with him in this moment.

Jesus point is this, is that the man is living for

the lust and the desires and the coveting of the

moment, and is put no thought,

no thought into the matter of

eternity. My barns

are good. My account

is full.

But what happens when you die? Tomorrow

you got your inheritance.

But what happens

when you die? I heard someone

say one time that when we think about it

so many times, those things we cling to and those things that we

value and those things that we long for,

to have and to possess and to hold on, that when we

die, they become somebody's yard sale.

But that's what we hold is the most important.

Jesus says this verse 20 and

21. But God said to him,

fool,

this night your soul is

required of you in the

things you have prepared.

Whose will they be? So

is the one who lays up treasure

for himself and

is not rich toward God.

Jesus says in culmination of this

parable,

great, great. That you're

overflowing. But guess what's going to

happen tonight? You're going to

die. You're going to die.

And with every corner of your heart,

you've been foolish and you've been

selfish and you've been greedy.

And it's not works based salvation that we're

teaching. That's not what Jesus is teaching here

either. But in that what

you haven't been is someone

who has surrendered and responded

to the Lord

in all of this. Come.

this man in the parable thought it was all for

him. He said, my crops. He said, my

barn. He said, my goods. He said, my

soul. But Jesus

says that this

is what's going to be required of,

you.

The man's problem was not.

Was not that he

had treasures and

riches.

So many men and

women fund and

support through their gifts and their

talents and their offerings, the work

and ministry of God.

Some do it more and number

wise than others

because of where they're at and their

blessing that's been given and entrusted to

them. It's not about

the number. It's about

the heart. Whether it's the

widow

or whether it's the wealthy.

It's the rich heart toward God.

And so my challenge for us, my

question for you this morning is this.

Are you being rich toward God?

Let me just tell you that God is

rich to you

in what we can offer. God

would not fill up a

.001%

of this cup compared to what he's

given for us. I heard somebody say,

the gift that we can give God is the slow drip that

comes out of our shower. And what God

gives us is the overpouring of Niagara

Falls.

Are you being enriched toward God?

What does that mean? What does that look like?

Close with these three things challenge us all.

Number one, are you sacrificial in your offering?

Are you sacrificial in your offering

of taking what the Lord has given

you and in turn giving back

to him? Number two,

are you living generously to

others? It was common during the time of

Christ when some had

plenty. Just like today,

there would be others that have few.

And the expectation in

the people and in the culture, in the

civilization that should have been largely

based in God's word

is as I have, what is

my neighbor lacking?

And when we take the teachings of Jesus,

it's what do I have? And not just the neighbor that

I like. It's what

do I have? And even the neighbor that

I don't like, that doesn't like

me. And I'm being

generous. And

I want to say this. I don't think we think about this when

we talk about the richness of

God and being rich toward

him. It does mean

sacrificial in, offering. It does mean giving to

others. but it also means

trusting Christ for everything.

For it all.

I want to close with this. I've

been told and taught and

heard and try to live my life

in a phrase, one I want to challenge you with,

that is open handed.

Open handed. And to live

open handedly to God.

Because do you know what it means to live open handedly?

It means, Lord, what I have

is here. And I

oh, it's not this. It's

definitely not this. It's this.

And so, Lord, what I have,

what is mine, it's not mine, Lord, it's

yours. Do with it. Use it. Whether it's. It's

the money and my account, whether it's the car that I drive, where it's

the home that I live in, whether it's the education that you give

me, whether it's the shirt off my back, whether there's the food on my

plate or whatever I have, Lord, I want to live open

handed to you, Lord. I want to live open handed to others.

But then there's, there's another aspect of living

open handedly with God. And you know what that is?

It's God. I'm now I'm ready to receive,

Lord. Whatever you have for me. Whatever you think I

need, Lord, whatever you want to put on my plate, Lord, whatever

you desire for me, Lord, I'm not getting to choose.

I'm not the little snot nosed kid that I was

running around the store saying, mommy, mommy, mommy, I need, I need, I need, I want,

I want. I want. God, I'm the faithful son or daughter

of the God that holds my hands out and says, whatever

you give me, Lord, I'm going to take it, and I'm going to use it for

your name and for your kingdom and for your renown, Lord. And

you're going to work in me and use me. And so, Lord, to live open

handedly with you is such a huge blessing, because

God, what we can give and what we can see, you

use. But, Lord, in that, as we live open

handedly, God, we receive what you give

us,

and what we receive.

What we receive.

Far out

is what we get. What

we get. What we

receive is so much

greater than what we give.

Live. M not with

things stored up in barns,

say, and look at what's mine.

Live with everything before the

Lord God. this is yours.

What do you have for me? Let's pray.

God, I thank you so much for your word.

Lord, I thank you for your Jesus, your

bluntness in this moment. Lord, I thank you

for your bluntness with me. Lord, I

thank you for your bluntness with our

church. Lord, may we

be men and women of all that we have that would

live open handedly to you,

saying, God, take. Take

all. Take my time, take my talent,

take my tithe,

take the things that you've entrusted me with,

that you've given me, Lord, and use

it for your kingdom and give me a heart

through it. A celebration of

joy as the king of kings and the Lord

of lords is working and moving. God. And thank

you so much for inviting us.

Inviting us

and to be a part God. May we

also live open handed,

ready to receive.

Ready to receive what you have for us,

God. And sometimes those things come

like a pretty package on Christmas morning

that we're ready to tear into

that when we see it, Lord, we. We shout with

great joy. But

sometimes, Lord, when you give us,

you give us things to work us,

to challenge us,

to sharpen us,

Lord, we're not excited to get them,

but, Lord, let us look at them. That

everything, everything that comes from you, Lord,

it is good, it is useful,

and it is needed

to make us into

the sons and daughters of God that you've called us to

be.

And I thank you. The ultimate gift,

the gift of where this begins

is found in salvation,

and not salvation that comes and says, God, look how

good I am. This is what I

deserve. But salvation

that comes when we say, look how

good Jesus is. Look how perfect he

is. And I am not.

But I find forgiveness for

my soul in him, and him

alone. God, as we prepare to

take the Lord's supper together, together,

or would you bring each of us to the point of

conviction and repentance where we need to be?

We are ready to acknowledge the ultimate gift that Christ

gave for us, his life on the cross.

So in Jesus. And we pray. Amen.

Thanks again for listening, and be sure to check back

next week for another episode. In the meantime,

you can visit us at, willowridgechurch.org or

by searching for Willowridge Church on Facebook,

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