According to Jesus, our attitude toward money and possessions can cause us to live and die a fool. Find out how you can avoid making those deadly mistakes in this message.
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How To Live And Die A Fool
Luke 12:13-21
In Luke 12:20 we have one of the very few times in Scripture we find God calling a person a fool. That causes me to pause and ask the question, “Why did God consider this man a fool?” The only assessment that is absolutely true is that of God Almighty’s. When God calls a man a fool, you can be very sure that he is a fool. But why was the man in Jesu1s’ parable a fool? Well, let’s work our way through this passage. In verse 13-14 we have the occasion for Christ’s teaching. In verse 15 we have the substance of Christ’s teaching. Then in verses 16-21 we have the illustration of Jesus’ teaching.
First, let’s take a look at The Occasion of Christ’s Teaching. “Someone in the crowd said to Him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’” Here we have an interruption by someone in the crowd, and this interruption is hard to fathom. This guy just blurts out something completely out of sync with what Jesus has been teaching. Jesus has been teaching on the most important matters in all of life. He has been warning His disciples in the presence of this enormous multitude to beware of hypocrisy. He has been urging them not to fear man, but rather to fear God who after He has killed can cast into hell. He has been exhorting these disciples not to deny Him before their persecutors, but rather to confess Him, and the Son of Man will confess them before the angels of God. He has been teaching about the one sin that will never be forgiven, either in this age or the age to come. Jesus has been teaching on the reality of the Final Judgment, Heaven, Hell, salvation and damnation. And all of a sudden, this guy interrupts Jesus by telling Him to tell His brother to divide the family inheritance with him. Jesus has been preaching on the most sublime of all spiritual realities, and this guy interrupts Him to demand that Jesus get his earthly inheritance for him. Do you see the disconnect here? Jesus is focused on the great spiritual truths of eternity, and this guy only wants to get a few more dollars he can spend during his brief time on the earth. Now, it was natural in that day to seek out a rabbi to ask him to arbitrate a dispute over an inheritance. The rabbis were the experts in Jewish Law concerning things like inheritances. They were known for their just and mature character and wisdom.
However, notice how Christ responds, “Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?” Jesus used the expression, “Man”. This expression was not rude, but it was somewhat cool and distant. It was like saying, “Sir.” This man had not even asked Jesus if He would help in the dispute. He was demanding that Jesus get involved. Jesus responded by telling him that was not His place. Jesus didn’t come into the world to get enmeshed in materialistic disputes. The will of the Father was for Him to minister to the spiritual needs of sinful men, not grant their materialistic desires.
Then in verse 15, we have The Substance of Christ’s Teaching. “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” This is the second time in this chapter Jesus has told His disciples to beware. In verse 1 He told them to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” Now He is telling them to beware of every form of greed. Either this man, or his brother, or both, were greedy. Jesus is using this situation as an object lesson. His disciples must beware and be on their guard that they did not get sucked into the same situation. When Jesus told them to beware and to be on their guard, He was indicating that greed is an insidious enemy that must be watched out for, because it has the capacity to lure us into its grip while we are unaware of what is going on. Think about it – how many times in your life have you ever heard someone confess to you that they are greedy? I have heard people confess they have lied, stole, cheated, committed adultery, lusted, and disobeyed their parents. But I don’t think I have ever heard someone confess that they were covetous. Why is that? Because no one thinks they are! That’s how insidious this sin is. It blinds you to the very sin you are becoming engrossed in.
Jesus goes on to give the reason why they must beware and on their guard against greed. It is because a person’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. That was the lie that this man had believed. He really believed that if he just got his piece of that family inheritance, he would really live. He thought he would really be living if he just had more money and more stuff. But Jesus would say, “No, real life is not found in money or possessions. It is found in God. Only God has the ability to give you abundant life.” So, here is the substance of Jesus’ teaching. Beware and be on your guard against greed. Don’t swallow the lie that more money and things will bring you real life. It’s a lie from the pit of hell. But how many people have fallen for that lie? Millions and millions of people believe that lie. That’s why they work so hard to accumulate more stuff. And yes, that new car or house or computer or smartphone is nice for a while. But in the end, you find yourself empty, because the only one who can ever truly give you real life is God Himself.
Now, let’s look at The Illustration of Christ’s Teaching. This comes to us in the form of a parable in verses 16-21. The parable is very simple. A rich man had some very productive land. However, he had a problem. His land was producing so many crops, that his barns couldn’t store them all. What should he do? How could he solve his problem? Then he got a brilliant idea. He would tear down his barns and build bigger ones. As soon as that was done, he would congratulate himself on the fact that he had enough wealth to give him ease and comfort and pleasure for many more years to come. He would spend out his many remaining years with rest, relaxation, and partying. If he were living today, he would retire, go from one vacation to another, and enjoy the best food and drink he could find. However God said to him, “You fool! This very night I am going to require your soul. Then you must stand before Me to be judged and sent to your eternal destination. When you have died, all your riches and barns filled with crops will become the property of someone else. Then Jesus winds up the entire teaching with these words, “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
Now that we have seen the Occasion, Substance and Illustration of Jesus’ teaching on greed, let’s zero in on why God called him a fool. I want to point out 4 ways we can live and die a fool.
1. Think Only Of Your Earthly Life
This becomes apparent when you examine his thinking. God was not in all his thoughts. This man never considered God, or his own mortality, or heaven or hell, or the judgment to come. This is all the more strange when you see that he knew he had a soul. However, knowing he had a soul did not cause him to truly value his soul or prepare his soul for eternity. This man needed to hear Jesus’ words in Matthew 16:26, “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” This man never gave any anxious thought or lost any sleep over the eternal destiny of his soul. He was fixated and riveted upon his earthly life alone.
Notice his words in verse 19, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come.” This man was banking on the many years to come that he would enjoy life and relaxation and partying, but gave no thought to the salvation of his soul, and the judgment and to heaven and hell.
My friends, does this describe you? Even though you call yourself a Christian, how much time and attention do you honestly give to your eternal future? How much energy do you give to preparing for the world to come? In this respect we can live as practical atheists. Yes, we may say we believe in God, but our lives will prove whether we do or not. If you can go throughout life thinking about and fixating upon what you will eat, what you will drink, and what clothes you will wear, you are no different than a lost person. Do you find yourself thinking about your video games or TV shows or work or vacations or family responsibilities, but rarely if ever think of God and His salvation through Jesus Christ? It doesn’t matter whether you call yourself a Christian or not. You are like the man in this parable. One day God is going to require your soul. He’s going to put an end to your earthly life, and you will be utterly unprepared! Don’t bank on the fact that you have many years to come to enjoy the good things of this life. Set about in earnest to get right with God and walk with Him in fellowship every day of your life! My friends, don’t live and die a fool by thinking only of your earthly life.
2. Believe Your Riches Will Bring You Rest
In verse 19 this man says, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.” He thought that he would get to the place where he could finally rest and relax and just enjoy life. However, that doesn’t work for two reasons. First, because the covetous man never has enough to be able to relax and rest. If you ask a covetous person how much they need to be happy, they’ll tell you, “just a little more.” The sin of greed is linked to discontentment. This person never has enough. He is never truly content. He believes his riches will bring him rest, but they never will, because he never has enough riches to rest. Secondly, his riches won’t bring him rest, because instead of bringing peace of mind, they only bring anxiety and care. Before you invested in stocks, you never thought about the stock market. Now, you’ve got to check to see how they are doing every day so that you can move them around if necessary. Before you bought that new car you had time to play with your kids on Saturday. Now you find yourself washing and waxing it every week. You bought your camper trailer so that you could relax in it. However, you find yourself taking the time you would be resting, working on it, and fixing it, and taking it into the repair shop, and cleaning it, and maintaining it. More possessions usually don’t reduce stress and anxiety. They usually heighten it.
Friends, if you live thinking you just need a little more money or a few more possessions so that you can relax and enjoy life, you’re a fool. You will never have enough money or possessions to satisfy, and you’ll never be able to rest and enjoy life. The man with true wisdom is the one who doesn’t need more money or possessions to enjoy all that God has given him. He is happy and content right now with whatever the Lord has blessed him with. He realizes that more possessions often bring more stress than peace, so he does not spend his life seeking to acquire more. Friends, don’t live and die a fool by believing more riches will bring you rest.
3. Consume All Your Riches On Yourself
In verse 21 Jesus says, “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” This man stored up treasure for himself, for himself, for himself, with never a thought of God! Jesus said in Mt. 6:19, “Do not store up treasures for yourself on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.” However, this man had done the exact opposite of what Jesus commanded. You see this so clearly in the parable. This man said “I” six times, and said “my” five times. He was fixated on himself and his stuff. He refers to “my crops, my barns, my grain, my goods, and my soul.” He had not learned the lesson that these were really God’s crops, barns, grains, goods, and soul. Because he was self-centered, self-focused, and self-preoccupied, he thought of his possessions only in terms of what they could do for him.
When he considered his problem of not having barns big enough to store his crops, he never once considered taking all the excess crops that he couldn’t fit into his barns, and giving them away to the poor, to the widows and orphans. He never considered selling them and taking the proceeds and giving it to the Lord’s work. He was infatuated only with himself.
My friends, you will never grow in spiritual maturity until you truly believe that you don’t own a thing. You are just the Lord’s money manager. Either you are a righteous and faithful money manager, or you are an unrighteous and wicked money manager. Everything you have, has been loaned to you from the Lord, and one day you will have to give an account for what you did with it. You need to understand and believe Psalm 24:1, “The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it.” In fact, it would be good for all of us to stop using the word “my”. Instead, we should say “the Lord’s”. The question you need to ask yourself is not “What do I want to do with this money?” but “What does the Lord want me to do with this money?” If it was mine, I could do with it whatever I wanted. However, it’s not!
This comes into play whenever we get a raise. Immediately we start thinking about how we will spend that extra amount on ourselves. We automatically think that a pay increase means an increase in our standard of living. However, we ought to be thinking that a pay increase means an increase in our standard of giving. Did the Lord give you that extra money every month so that you could blow it on more video games, or go out to more restaurants, or indulge yourself just a little more? We know our Lord’s passion. It is that we get His gospel to every corner of this globe. Our Lord’s will is that we invest His money in accomplishing His purpose of reaching every tribe, tongue, people and nation with the gospel.
Folks, if we go around spending money on whatever we want, without consulting the Lord, we are unfaithful stewards. All of us will give an account to God one day on how we managed His money. My exhortation to you is to start faithfully giving to God a portion of your income. The Lord graciously allows us to take a portion of His money to live on. However, make sure that you are not taking all of God’s money and spending it on yourselves. If you aren’t giving anything to the Lord, repent. That is sin. There isn’t a single person here, I don’t care who you are, who can’t give something of what he has to the Lord. If you are unsure where to start, I would encourage you to begin at 10% and work up from there. As the Lord prospers you, raise that to 15 or 20 or 25 or 30%. Whenever the Lord prospers you, raise your standard of giving. If we make 60 or 80 or 100k a year, and don’t give anything to the work of the Lord, we are going to have a lot to answer for in the day of judgment. Saints, let’s determine that we will be faithful money managers of the Lord’s wealth. Don’t live and die a fool by consuming all your riches on yourself.
4. Make Earthly Riches Your Treasure
In verse 21 Jesus says, “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” This man was not rich toward God. In other words, God was not his treasure. What was this man’s treasure? What did he value the most? It was his crops, grains and goods. He valued them because he believed they would give him rest, comfort and pleasure. This man lived and died a fool because he made earthly possessions his treasure.
Money, in and of itself, is just pieces of metal (coins) and pieces of paper (bills). The only reason these pieces of metal and paper have any value is because we have decided in our culture that they function as currency. They represent a certain level of value. We can exchange them for things that we value. The way a Christian spends his money is important, because it shows what he values. It reveals what his treasure is. Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” We can know right now what our heart is set on very easily. All you have to do is take a look at where you are spending your money. That’s what your heart is set on. We can say all we want that we have a passion for missions and local evangelism and church planting, but if we are spending more on eating out and Starbucks than we are on missions, those are just empty words. The truth is, we value our fleshly desires more than we value the salvation of souls.
Did you know that a person can’t enter God’s kingdom unless He values Christ above everything else in life? Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field which a man found and hid, and then for joy over his discovery, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Did you see what happens to everyone who enters the kingdom? He sees Christ as more valuable than everything else in his life, so that he is willing to part with it if only he can have Christ (Mt.13:44). Paul puts it this way in Phil. 3:8, “I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.”
Now, what did this man’s life reveal about what he treasured? He treasured his stuff, because he believed his stuff would give him rest and pleasure. Ultimately what he valued above all things was himself, his comfort, and his pleasure. That’s probably why Paul says in Colossians 3 that covetousness is idolatry. The person who always wants more is revealing that they worship themselves.
Friends, what does God value above all things? He values Himself above all things! That’s why over and over and over in the Bible He tells us that He is doing this thing or that thing for His own glory, or for His own sake. Now, if we are going to properly represent God to this world, what must we value above all things? We must value God and His glory above all. If we do value God and His glory above all things, what will we spend our money on? Those things that exalt God and bring Him glory – foreign missions, local evangelism, and church planting.
So, my question to you is, what are you showing a watching world that you really value? Do you value all the same things that they do? Your fun and entertainment and comfort and leisure and fleshly pleasures? Or, are you showing them a radically different value system where God and His glory is what your heart is set upon the most? Folks, don’t live and die a fool by making earthly riches your treasure.
Conclusion
My goal this morning has been to challenge you to manage your money and possessions in such a way that you won’t live and die a fool. Instead, you will live and die as one who is truly wise. Therefore, I exhort you
- Don’t think only of your earthly life – instead consider God and death and eternity and judgment!
- Don’t believe riches will bring you rest – instead believe that a relationship with God through Christ will bring you true rest!
- Don’t consume all your riches on yourself – instead invest them in the work of God!
- Don’t make earthly riches your treasure – instead make God your treasure! Let’s pray.
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