Rich Toward God - Pastor Tom Loghry
Pastor Tom cover’s Jesus’s answer to brothers having a disagreement over their inheritance, highlighting the importance of where we put our focus.
Transcript:
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 arbitor between you? Then he said to him, Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed. Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions. Amen.
When I was 14 years old, I had different priorities in life. If I had any free time, you would probably find me on the computer, uh, playing one of my favorite games, uh, RuneScape. And, uh, and you can tell, see I'm a little bit dated, cause that's kind of the logo, they call it old school now, cause that's, I played the old version.
They have a new version of RuneScape now that they have out there. So, but I played the old school version. Um, I'd spend hours playing that game. In part because you needed hours to play it right. RuneScape invites you into a medieval world, uh, alongside thousands of other players. And talk with each other, fight each other, and trade with each other.
Every player wanted to have their computer character suited up in the best armor. And to accomplish that, you needed a trade. You needed a way to make RuneScape money to buy your gear. Now, my trade was woodcutting. Um, and see, I didn't tell Sara all about this when I first met her, because otherwise she wouldn't have, we just celebrated 11 years, um, I don't think she would have married me. I was a bit of a geek, you know? I liked my So, I liked my RuneScape, and I was a woodcutter on RuneScape. And I'd think of nothing of sitting at the computer for an hour just chopping down trees. After a while, I was doing pretty well for myself in the game. I had decent armor, I could cut any kind of wood, and I could hold my own against a number of players in the, in the game, in battle.
I had made it. But my progress on RuneScape didn't really mean anything in the real world. I was still the same 14 year old trying to navigate high school. And, uh, that's part, that's a picture from the game. And this is a picture, oh, I guess I didn't make that. I was going to share you a picture of myself when I was in high school.
And, uh, I probably better not. I was, I was the king of a spirit week. I went all out. Um, so, uh, I had my awkward moments in high school. Uh, but apart from the entertainment value that RuneScape provided, my progress on RuneScape didn't add up to anything. I still had to make something of my life. Now, I wouldn't be too hard on myself or any teen.
It's good to have fun when you're a kid. And I certainly don't have any time these days for, for the, for a game like RuneScape, but I use myself as an analogy to provoke you to consider, are you seeking progress, finding security in things that don't mean anything in the big scheme of things? In today's parable we find Jesus warning us against empty pursuits. So we look first at those opening verses that Ernie read in Luke 12, verses 13 through 15.
It begins with someone from the crowd coming to Jesus and calling upon him to adjudicate a matter between him and his brother. He says, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. So, I mean, this is kind of like a civil case. You know, maybe some of you have watched Judge Judy before. Well, this guy is coming to Jesus.
He wants to be Judge Jesus and settle this matter between him and his brother. And, uh, it's interesting that the case that he's bringing is something that the Bible tells us. does offer commentary about, in the Old Testament, Numbers 27: 36, and also in Deuteronomy 31, they have laws prescribing how inheritance should be divided among children.
Now, when Jesus hears this appeal, this request, he turns to him and refuses him. He says, Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you? Now, so, those words, judge or an arbiter between you, as I read it, it seems as though maybe Jesus is hearkening back to, uh, the words that were spoken to Moses in Exodus 2, when he was rebuffed for trying to adjudicate a matter between two Hebrews who were fighting.
In Exodus 2, it says, the next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting, and he asked the one, the wrong, why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew? And the man said, who made you ruler and judge over us? So it seems like maybe Jesus is making that appeal, that connection back to Moses there. But here, he's saying, I'm not going to come between this matter, between the two of you.
Now, the reason for this is that Jesus wants to direct this man's attention to something that is of greater concern. Which is this, in verse 15, he says, watch out for Be on your guard against all kinds of greed. Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions. Jesus was able to read between the lines.
He could see what was really at the heart of the matter here, which was that these brothers were fighting because they thought that these material possessions were kind of the end all, be all. Such that they were at odds with each other, family, at odds with each other. Um, now greed is a very sort of sneaky sin because it can manifest itself in all kinds of ways.
It can manifest itself in the form of those who would be eager to spend their money and acquire many things, maybe even rack up debt in the process. That's a, that's a form of greed. Greed could also manifest itself in, in the form of someone who's very frugal. And is just saving their money, hoarding up.
Maybe they don't buy anything nice, but they're just, they're gathering money. The one finds comfort in the abundance of possession. The other finds comfort in security in knowing their bank account is full. But both find root in greed. And this idea that life does consist in an abundance of possessions.
And the, and the thing that's also very sneaky about greed, I think, is that sometimes it doesn't just appear all at once. Um, You might think of yourself as like, well, you know, I just want enough to get by. It's like, it's not like I want ten million dollars or something like that. Or, you know, I don't want a huge mansion.
I might just want a little bit of a nicer house. But that's the way that greed can sometimes work, is that it can work incrementally. I just want a little bit more, and a little bit more. And you're always just kind of chasing that carrot across your life, right? Just a little bit more and then I'll have it.
I'll have the fullness of life. Now that's precisely what Jesus is denying here. Jesus is saying, life does not consist in you getting that thing, getting those things. But again, because, it's because these brothers believe this, that there is this division and drama between them. And it's no surprise that very often we do see that unfortunately happen among families when someone passes away in the family, maybe they did have a lot to pass on to their family, all of a sudden all kinds of discord erupts in the family about who's going to get what. And the reason why is because various members of that family believe that life consists in these things in the abundance of possessions. They treat it as though it's a matter of life or death that they have to get that thing.
Now, Jesus intends to hammer home his point here by using a parable. And it's a parable of a rich farmer who just had a great harvest. So we continue on in verse 16. It says, 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 many years. Take life easy, eat, drink, and be merry. And we'll stop there for now. So this, so this farmer, his harvest was so good that he's led to this thought of, well, what am I going to do?
I have all this extra crop, and I have nowhere to put it. And he comes to this idea that what he's going to do is tear down his barns and build bigger ones to store the surplus grain. Now, There's not anything necessarily wrong with this idea. We see in the story of Joseph, back in Genesis 41, about how he built barns and saved up food for those lean years that God had revealed to him were to come to Egypt.
He had seven years of abundance, and then seven lean years in which they would need to tap into those storehouses. So it's not necessarily problematic, although we could also say, why not, instead of having to build bigger barns, why don't you share what God has blessed you with, with others? Why don't you give away some of it if you can't store it all and keep it all to yourself?
So that, that could be something that's problematic here, just this idea of not resorting to just being generous. But the main problem is that stands out here is his attitude, which it becomes clear in verse 19, where he says, and I'll say to myself, you have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy, eat, drink, and be married.
So what's, what's problematic about this attitude? What, what does it reveal? Well, the first thing that it reveals is this, is it reveals that this man thinks that He knows the future. He knows, oh, wow. If you could get me back to that slide, it just did something weird. It jumped all over the place. Um, The first thing that it reveals is that this man thinks that he's God.
That he knows the future. That he knows what's to come. And the reality is, is that none of us know that. We find this testified to in Proverbs and also in James. Proverbs 27: 1, it says, Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring. And in James 4, it says, Now listen you who say today or tomorrow we will go to this city, or to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money, while you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.
What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while. And then it vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, if it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that. Now, if you've been in the church for a while, maybe some of you have heard some people say, maybe you've heard me say, you know, Lord willing, we're going to do this or that.
And I don't know about the rest of those who may say that, I always do that in order to try to even consciously for myself and to signal to others that I'm not saying that I can predict the future. I'm not saying that I'm going to lay these plans and it's going to play out perfectly. If God has taught me anything since entering into adulthood over the past like 12 years or so, um, is that I can make all the plans in the world and God will have different plans.
Um,
We just don't know what's gonna happen. Because we're finite human beings. And so it's, it's good to make that confession. But it's not so much a matter of saying, Lord willing, as though it's a legalistic thing, as though you have to say that every time you're making plans for the future. The main concern here is the attitude.
You could, you could say that and not actually believe that. You could say, Lord willing, but actually I do think these things are gonna happen. The main thing is, is that, are you approaching the future with that sort of humility that I really don't know what tomorrow is going to bring. I'm gonna try to be faithful what I, with what I have, but I'm not gonna suppose that I can foretell what is to come.
So that's one problem here. This guy thinks he's gonna build up these barns. He's gonna lay away this grain for the future, and he's not gonna have to worry about anything else for the rest of his life. That's the first problem. The second problem. Is that he's trusting in an empty promise. He's trusting in these material goods that he can't take with him in death.
The reality is, is that all of us are gonna die. And we can't take our material goods with us. The psalmist writes in Psalm 49, 16 through 20, Do not be overawed when others grow rich, when the splendor of their houses increases. For they will take nothing with them when they die. Their splendor will not descend with them.
Though while they live they count themselves blessed, and people praise you when you prosper, they will join those who have gone before them, who will never again see the light of life. People who have wealth but lack understanding are like the beasts that perish. You know, I think in America we especially become obsessed with those that are materially wealthy and are well off, and are living, you know, the good life now. But the psalmist puts it all in perspective. They're going to die, like everyone else. Death is the all time equalizer. All of us are going to die. And it doesn't matter whether you're rich or poor, you're all the same in the grave. And if you die merely wealthy, Lacking an understanding, lacking a relationship with God, then you're really, in the end, going to perish like a beast.
A glorious beast who had all this wealth, but a beast in the end. Because you didn't really know what was most important in life. You were just living for your pleasure, for your immediate satisfaction. Kind of hand in hand with this is the reality is that, so we can't take our material possessions with us when we die, and we also don't have any control over them once we die.
Um, Solomon points this out in Ecclesiastes 2, verses 18 through 21. He says, I hated all the things I toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish. Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil, into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun.
This too is meaningless. So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless, and a great misfortune.
I think, especially, especially perhaps in this age of technology when we can preserve some of our thinking and our ideas more readily, we do kind of build up this sense of being able to have control beyond death. It's starting to get creepy in terms of what they're talking about with artificial intelligence and people preserving their consciousness in a digital form and all that.
And I don't know where that's going to go. But I think it just falls in line with this idea of trying to maintain our presence beyond death. But the thing that, the thing is, is that's impossible. Once we're gone, we're gone. And everything that we've poured our lives into, all our blood, sweat, and tears, someone else is gonna get it.
And who knows what they're gonna do with it, you know? They might put dents and scratches over the things that we shined up and made the best of.
So that's the second problem. The third problem is that this man is fixing his eyes on human hopes instead of the hope that is found only in God. Now, the Apostle Paul kind of picks up on this, and you'll notice a similar language between Paul's words here and the words that are used in this parable. Where the man says, I'm going to basically sit back, eat, drink, relax.
In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul is talking about the reality of the resurrection. And he's talking about everything that he has gone through for the sake of the gospel. But, he says, if I've gone through all those things without the hope of the gospel, then he comes to this conclusion. He says, if I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, that is, without the hope of the resurrection, of a future life that is to come, what have I gained?
If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. So, if there is no God, if there is no resurrection, then Paul's saying, yeah, it probably would make sense to lead the hedonistic life, just seeking immediate pleasures, because there's nothing else to be had. Now that's really honestly a pretty depressing state of affairs.
You might have some immediate satisfaction in the moment, but you always have looming before your eyes that prospect of death. That everything you did in this life really just collapses into dust. But if God does exist, if Jesus Christ is who he said he is, if he did rise from the dead, rise from the dead, and if that possibility is available to us as we put our trust in Him, then there's something more that can be gained. Something that is far greater than whatever this world is offering us immediately today. You see, what the world is offering us today is almost like a fast food sort of satisfaction. There's a certain pleasure in fast food. But how much greater is waiting?
And be able to go to that five star restaurant where you've got the steak tips and all the delicious food. I'm going to get hungry here, but it's so much, it's so much better than the fast food. But we get sucked into the immediacy of what this world has to offer when there's so much more that God wants to give us if we turn to Christ.
Jesus talks about this in, in Matthew 6. Matthew 6, verses 19 through 21. It says, Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moths and vermin destroy and where thieves break and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in the heaven where moths and vermin do not destroy and where thieves do not break and steal.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. You see, If we want to know where we're really investing ourselves, where our treasure is, all we have to do is follow our heart. Where's our desires pointed? Where, what are we always obsessing about? And the reality is, is that living in this world, our, our lives, our hearts are very much drawn towards focusing on the abundance of material possessions, because we want the security that we think that they offer. But God offers us so much better security. This is one of my favorite verses in all the scriptures. Hebrews 13: 5. It says, Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have. Because God has said, Never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you. I've got that promise written right in front of my desk. Never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you. I encourage you to meditate on that. When you're going through the week, and you've got, the anxieties are rising, your worries are coming upon you, remember this. This is a promise from God to you.
Never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you. Keep your eyes on Him. Don't put your eyes on these other things. Those other things, they will leave you. The material possessions, they will leave you. They will fail you. They will forsake you. God won't. The fourth problem. The fourth problem with this fellow is that he is focused on trying to possess material goods, rather than the goods of godliness. Now, I want to make a quick clarification here, because I think sometimes we think of godliness as, you know, just doing good things, and doing good works, and godliness certainly consists of those things. But godliness goes hand in hand with our relationship with God. That as we grow in godliness, we're, we're living in harmony with God.
So I don't want you to think it's anything other than a relationship with God. But if we are in true relational harmony with God, that's going to shape the way that you live. So Paul says this in first Timothy 6:6-11, but 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'll be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation in 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 pierce themselves with many griefs, but you man of God, flee from all this and pursue righteousness, godliness.
Faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. Now notice there, Paul's not saying that money is evil, but he's saying that money is a root of all kinds of evil, as people love and pursue that, rather than godliness. Rather than, as he breaks it down, righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. Think of all the things that you've done.
And I've done, I've done things too, so I'm not saying like this is a you thing. This is an us thing. Think about all the things we have done to try to get ahead in life by the measures of this world. Have we put forth such effort in trying to grow in godliness? Have we put in half the effort into trying to grow in godliness as we've put into trying to make it in this world?
Godliness is the far better thing. And everything else, as far as this world's possessions, what Paul says, he reiterates everything the scripture says. You come into this world basically naked. You're not taking anything out of it. If you got food and clothing, you're content with that. And you're living under this promise that we heard in Hebrews.
That God will never leave us or forsake us. He's going to take care of us. And we are liberated and freed to pursue godliness, walking with God. So in summary, we've got these four problems here. That this man, who's a mere human, he doesn't know the future, but he's acting as though he does. He knows everything that's to come.
That's the first problem. The second problem is that material wealth is an empty promise. We can't take it with us when we die. We can't control any of it after we die. The third problem being that we're leaning on something less than God. God will never leave us or forsake us. These things cannot support us in the end.
And fourth is seeking contentment in goods rather than godliness. Now, all of this is especially revealed when we die. When the parable takes its turn in verse 20, God speaks up here. It says, 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?
And Jesus says, This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves, but is not rich toward God.
The reality is, you do not know if tonight will be your last night. You don't. Tonight could be the night when all your pursuits come to an end. When all those plans that you've been thinking about will evaporate into thin air. And at that moment, you will be exposed. Your life will either be found to be rich toward God, or rich in fantasies.
You will either have all the things that last for eternity, or only the preoccupations of this world. The RuneScape Mirage. In which all your progress really brings you nowhere that means anything. Life is filled with sacrifice. Heck, I even sacrificed time to that video game.
What are your sacrifices given toward? What have you been sacrificing for more money, more things, more comforts? What would you sacrifice for more of God? Think of everything that you sacrifice for worldly gain. Now realize you will not keep any of it. God only calls you to sacrifice temporary things that will not last.
To stop scratching and clawing them from your brother's hands. To stop putting your hope. In barns, or bank accounts, or anything else you would make your security other than God. Jim Elliott, a missionary who serves in the 50s, or 40s and 50s. He was a missionary to the Aka Indians in South America, and he died at the age of 28.
Died trying to bring them the gospel. And he put it like this, he said that he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
Hold nothing back from God. Keep up nothing in place of him. Open your hands ready to exchange earthly goods for every everlasting good that is to be found in God. Let us pray.
Dear Father,
we thank you for sending your Son, Jesus Christ.
He sobers us. He speaks the truth that we need to hear.
Father, we confess that we have so often thrown our lives after things that will not matter in the end.
Father, we recognize that it's necessary for us to work and to provide for our families, and that these are good things to do. Father, we confess that sometimes our hearts have gone wild. Pursuing things that will not last. We confess, Father, that sometimes we've lived as though we know the future. And that we can secure our future with the abundance of possessions.
Father, we lay these things down now. To place our trust only in You. Father, help us to be content with what we have. And give us, Father, a burning desire to grow in godliness. To grow in our knowledge of you. And that, as things come up, Father, as we face anxieties and worries, Father, I pray that you would turn our eyes to you.
And that we would hear your promise in our ears. That you will never leave us. Amen. And you will never forsake us. Help us grow towards you, Father, and live our lives pursuing you. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.
Hey there, Pastor Tom here. I hope you enjoyed this sermon I offered to Rockland Community Church. Rockland Community Church is located at 212 Rockland Road in North Scituate, Rhode Island, just around the bend from the Scituate Public High School. We invite you to join us in person or virtually this Sunday as we continue our series on the Parables of Jesus. It's our joy to welcome you into our community.
Intro/Outro Song
Title: River Meditation
Artist: Jason Shaw
Source:http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/Audionautix_Acoustic/RIVER_MEDITATION___________2-58
License:(CC BY 3.0 US)