Latest / Fairview Presbyterian Church (PCA) Sermons / What God Has in Store for You (Luke 12:13-21)- Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple

Transcript

What God Has in Store for You (Luke 12:13-21)- Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple · Fairview Presbyterian Church (PCA) Sermons

0:01
Amen. And let's take our Bibles now and open
0:05
them to Luke. Luke chapter 12. We're going to
0:15
look at verses 13 through 34. I initially had
0:19
12 or 21 rather. But I think we need to see.
0:28
This parable that we're gonna look at we need
0:30
to see it in its context We need to see the teaching
0:33
that follows the parable now what we're doing
0:37
today is Looking at just one parable we finished
0:43
our series through the book of Jonah Lord willing
0:47
we're gonna start our new series on the miracles
0:50
of Jesus But today we just look at this one parable
0:55
and and there's a good reason for that Typically,
1:00
each November, this church has a sermon on stewardship.
1:05
And I know how I used to hear that when I was
1:09
a boy growing up in church. The preacher would
1:12
say, I'm going to preach on money today. And
1:16
I would groan. I hope that you're not groaning
1:20
with this today. Because we must recognize that
1:23
what we have comes from God. And what we have,
1:28
we should use to glorify God. And what we have,
1:32
we should use to help others. And so let this
1:36
be encouraging to you to use the wealth that
1:41
God gives to you for kingdom purposes. And we
1:45
can do this whether we find ourselves with a
1:49
lot of wealth or just a little. We can do this
1:52
whether we are children who might have a piggy
1:56
bank. or whether we're adults who have saved
1:59
for years. And so listen to this text. This is
2:02
Luke 12, 13 through 34. Someone in the crowd
2:09
said to him, him being Jesus, teacher, tell my
2:15
brother to divide the inheritance with me. But
2:19
he said to him, man, who made me a judge or arbitrator
2:23
over you? And he said to them, take care. and
2:26
be on your guard against all covetousness, for
2:31
one's life does not consist in the abundance
2:34
of his possessions." And he told them a parable
2:37
saying, the land of a rich man produced plentifully.
2:42
And he thought to himself, what shall I do? For
2:46
I have nowhere to store my crops. And he said,
2:48
I will do this. I will tear down my barns and
2:52
build larger ones. And there, I will store all
2:56
my grain and my goods and I will say to my soul,
2:59
soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years,
3:02
relax, eat, drink, be merry. But God said to
3:06
him, fool. This night, your soul is required
3:11
of you and the things you have prepared, whose
3:15
will they be? So is the one who lays up treasure
3:19
for himself and is not rich towards God. And
3:23
he said to his disciples, therefore, I tell you,
3:27
do not be anxious about your life, what you will
3:30
eat, nor about your body, what you'll put on.
3:33
For life is more than food, and the body more
3:36
than clothing. Consider the ravens. They neither
3:39
sow nor reap. They have neither storehouse nor
3:43
barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more
3:47
value are you than the birds? And which of you
3:51
by being anxious can add a single hour to his
3:54
span of life? If then you are not able to do
3:57
as small a thing as that, why are you anxious
4:00
about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they
4:03
grow. They neither toil nor spin, yet I tell
4:07
you even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed
4:12
like one of these. But if God so closed the grass
4:16
which is alive in the field today and tomorrow
4:18
is thrown into the oven, how much more will He
4:22
clothe you, O you of little faith? And do not
4:26
seek what you are to eat or what you are to drink,
4:28
nor be worried for all the nations of the world.
4:31
Seek after these things. And your Father knows
4:34
that you need them. Instead, seek His kingdom,
4:38
and these things will be added to you. Fear not,
4:42
little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure
4:45
to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions
4:49
and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with
4:52
money bags that do not grow old, with a treasure
4:56
in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief
4:59
approaches and no moth destroys. For where your
5:03
treasure is, there will your heart be also. Let's
5:09
pray. Father we thank you for this text And we
5:17
thank you for this parable and we remember why
5:20
the parables were written They were written to
5:24
edify and so Lord I ask that as we study this
5:28
parable and the teaching that follows Lord that
5:31
we would really truly take it to heart and Serve
5:34
you with everything we've got these things we
5:38
pray in Christ's name Amen I was in a worship
5:45
service in Bulgaria in a small village. A few
5:51
of you have been to this village before. This
5:53
was years ago. We're having a worship service
5:57
and we had our typical time of singing. We had
6:02
our time of prayer. We had our time of reading
6:05
scripture and explaining of scripture. And then
6:07
it kind of turned into a bit of a Q &A. And one
6:11
of the young gypsy men asked me, He said, you
6:17
are rich. Why are you here? I don't remember
6:24
my entire response to the young man, but I said,
6:28
I'm not rich. I'm not rich. I was wrong. We are
6:36
rich. We are richly blessed. Indeed, In this
6:42
sanctuary, we have different levels of people
6:44
where you are with finances and things, but we
6:47
can all say because we are here, we are richly
6:52
blessed by knowing Jesus. But we also have received
6:56
from the very hand of God everything we have.
6:59
You're wearing clothes today. You drove or somebody
7:02
drove you here today. Most of us will go home
7:05
today and eat lunch, right? We are indeed blessed.
7:13
And so, when a young gypsy man who has spent
7:18
his entire life in despicable conditions, in
7:22
orphanages, living on the street, when that young
7:25
man says to you, you are rich, you say yes, but
7:29
you also point him to Luke chapter 12 verse 21
7:33
and say yes, we must though be rich towards God.
7:39
And that's what we're talking about today, being
7:42
rich towards God. You see the setting for this
7:46
parable, don't you? You see what led to it. There
7:50
is this man in the crowd. It sounds like he interrupts
7:54
Jesus. Can you imagine interrupting the greatest
7:57
teacher of all time to talk about this situation?
8:02
Can it not wait, right? Jesus has more patience
8:05
than I do. This man says tell my brother to divide
8:09
the inheritance with me Now this this isn't entirely
8:14
uncommon rabbis in Jesus's day some of them would
8:18
have definitely done this but Jesus does not
8:20
and The reason is because this Jesus has a mission
8:24
to do and he's sticking with his mission and
8:27
you can see verse 15 Kind of tells us the lesson
8:30
here Be on your guard against all covetousness
8:36
For one's life does not consist in the abundance
8:40
of his possessions. The abundance of possessions,
8:45
of riches, of treasures is not what life is all
8:49
about. It's not. And so today, if you find yourself
8:54
in love with your stuff, if you find yourself
8:57
in love with your bank account, if you find yourself
9:00
in love with your credit cards or your home or
9:02
your boat or whatever it may be, This parable
9:06
is for you, and this parable is for me. We need
9:11
to see what all of this means. Where is Jesus
9:15
going with all of this? And so he helps us. And
9:20
he does so with the help of a parable. And so
9:24
he tells this story, and initially the parable
9:27
begins in this way that we might say, This is
9:30
a good problem to have. You've got all of this
9:33
grain, all of these crops. It's abundant. You
9:35
don't know what to do with it. This is what we
9:38
call a good problem. You've all heard people
9:41
say that before. Well, that's a good problem.
9:43
Notice it's always the case the person who says
9:46
this is a good problem to have is not the one
9:48
who has to solve it. Kind of like when you have
9:51
a fall festival and you have more show up than
9:53
you think and so you have to do a rescue mission
9:55
for more hot dogs, right? It's a good problem
9:58
to have. This man is blessed, right? But notice
10:04
the wording of it. Does Jesus attribute the all
10:11
of the wealth, all of the grain, all of the abundance?
10:14
Does he attribute it to the man? Does the man
10:17
have a green thumb? No. Jesus attributes it to
10:21
the land. The land does this. The land produces
10:25
this. The prosperity then is from God. who made
10:29
the land and who made the crops. This man is
10:34
quickly falling into a very serious error that
10:39
wealth can trap us. Wealth can trap us into only
10:46
thinking about ourselves. Wealth can trap us
10:50
into materialism. Wealth can trap us to thinking
10:54
that we're the ones who are bringing about all
10:58
of the good things in our lives. Wealth, if we're
11:02
not careful, has us just thinking about wealth
11:06
and not other people. Now I can feel it welling
11:12
up inside a little bit, and maybe you can too.
11:16
As people in the West, people who have money,
11:19
many of us, We want to come quickly to the defense
11:25
of our wealth, don't we? It seems that any time
11:28
someone preaches or teaches on wealth, somebody
11:31
has to say, wait a second, wealth isn't wrong.
11:35
And that's true. It is true. Money, having money
11:40
is not wrong. We can see that. to at least two
11:45
of the Ten Commandments have to do with wealth.
11:48
You're not supposed to steal people's things,
11:51
and you're not supposed to covet those things.
11:53
So surely it's okay to have wealth, but why is
11:57
it that our first, the first thing that we do
12:00
when we talk about wealth is to come to the defense
12:03
of it? Sometimes when we do that, I wonder, are
12:10
we loving our stuff more than we're loving other
12:13
people? Are we loving our stuff more than we're
12:16
loving God? How much do we really need? How much
12:21
time do we spend thinking about our stuff rather
12:28
than spending our time striving for the kingdom
12:32
of God? You're probably like me in that you have
12:36
ordered something online before from a website.
12:39
And in order to get that special deal of 15 %
12:43
off, you give them your text, your phone number,
12:46
your email address, and then you proceed to get
12:48
blown up by all those texts and emails forever,
12:52
right? These companies are very good at these
12:55
things, right? They kind of feed upon us in our
13:00
need for more. We ought to be using what we have
13:06
to serve God. and to serve his kingdom. And we
13:10
should also recognize how scripture shows us
13:13
the many times that people have been ruined by
13:18
their love of money. You remember Solomon. Solomon
13:23
had a lot, right? And it got to him. He wasn't
13:27
guarded against these things. You might remember
13:30
Ananias in Sapphira from Acts chapter five, right?
13:35
Who. kept back some of their proceeds and essentially
13:38
lied to the Holy Spirit. The problem is the heart.
13:44
Maybe the rich young ruler of Luke 18, whose
13:47
chief obstruction to following Christ was his
13:49
stuff. He had made all of his things and his
13:53
wealth into an idol. And that's what this man
13:58
is doing within this parable. This man thinks
14:01
to himself, What am I to do? And there's nothing
14:05
wrong with that. At least to begin, we might
14:08
say the man is showing some wisdom here. He's
14:11
thinking what to do. But one of the first problems
14:15
that I see from this man is he doesn't acknowledge
14:18
God in the parable, does he? He does not acknowledge
14:22
God with this incredible harvest, right? And
14:28
so he thinks to himself, what am I to do now?
14:32
I'm very thankful that he thought this to himself
14:35
and didn't say it out loud. Can you imagine saying
14:39
that out loud around other people who might not
14:42
have quite the harvest that you do? They would
14:45
not have liked him very much. And so he thinks
14:47
to himself, what am I to do? And without consulting
14:51
God, he makes a decision. I need bigger barns.
14:56
I need bigger barns. And part of that sounds
15:00
wise, too. It sounds like he's planning for the
15:04
future, but in reality, he's not even planning
15:09
for that very night. Wisdom should have had him
15:14
consulting the Lord, but he doesn't, and he's
15:17
also not concerned for the well -being of others.
15:22
There's nothing to suggest in the parable that
15:25
he's going to build these bigger barns in order
15:27
to store food for other people, because look
15:30
at verse 19. And I will say to my soul, soul,
15:35
you have ample goods laid up for many years,
15:38
relax, eat, drink, and be merry. He wants the
15:45
good life. He thinks he has the good life, right?
15:51
But remember the purpose of this parable, that
15:55
we would not covet, that we would not be greedy.
15:59
that we would not hoard things for ourselves.
16:02
Sometimes we do that with our wealth. Rather
16:05
than using it for kingdom purposes, we keep it
16:08
for ourselves. We don't look out for the needs
16:11
of other people. God though gives us so that
16:15
we can provide for others. And so this is what
16:19
a Christian should do. We must look out for other
16:22
people. And what a great thing it is within this
16:25
church that we do things. where we do look out
16:28
for other people. We've got the Operation Christmas
16:30
Child Boxes. We've got the Deacon's Fund, which
16:33
provides for these things. We care for one another
16:37
with what we have. But this man, he has no interest
16:42
in doing that. And part of his problem is he
16:45
makes a very serious assumption. Notice what
16:49
he wants to do with this incredible harvest.
16:53
He wants to put his feet up and enjoy it. And
16:56
it says he wants to enjoy it for many years.
16:59
And so this man makes a dangerous assumption.
17:03
He assumes that he will always have his wealth.
17:07
And he assumes that not only will he always have
17:11
it, but he's going to live a very, very, very
17:13
long time to enjoy it. But friends, this is the
17:18
reality of our wealth. It's fleeting. The writer
17:24
of Ecclesiastes says here, it's vanity. Let me
17:29
read to you from Ecclesiastes chapter two, 18
17:34
through 19. The writer says, I hated all my toil
17:42
in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I
17:45
must leave it to the man who will come after
17:48
me. And who knows whether he will be wise or
17:51
a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which
17:55
I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This
17:59
also is vanity. The writer of Ecclesiastes, he
18:05
gets it. Later on, he's going to say that wealth
18:08
doesn't satisfy. But the man in the parable,
18:12
what he is doing is he's thinking it will satisfy.
18:14
And in doing so, he's breaking the first commandment.
18:18
He is making his money, his wealth, this harvest
18:21
into an idol. Friends, when wealth becomes the
18:26
thing that we think the most about, when we elevate
18:30
our gifts over the giver, we are making idols
18:34
out of our stuff. This is delusional to think
18:41
that our things will truly satisfy us. Just ask
18:47
somebody who has ever lost it all. If you know
18:50
anybody who's ever made a very bad investment
18:53
or maybe they've been through some sort of tragedy
18:56
or loss and they have lost so much, they will
18:59
tell you, guard against these things because
19:04
they will not satisfy. If wealth is your God,
19:09
it will lead to your destruction. This is the
19:14
truth that Paul talks about within 1 Timothy.
19:19
If you will, go to 1 Timothy chapter 6. And no
19:25
doubt you've heard part of this before. This
19:28
is important. I would tell you to put a bookmark
19:32
here or underline it, highlight it, maybe all
19:36
of it at one time. 1 Timothy chapter 6, I'm going
19:41
to read verses 9 and 10. But those who desire
19:48
to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare,
19:53
into many senseless and harmful desires that
19:58
plunge people into ruin and destruction. For
20:01
the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.
20:07
It is through this craving that some have wandered
20:10
away from the faith and pierced themselves with
20:14
many You cannot love God and money. If you love
20:24
your money, you are making an idol out of it.
20:28
And the Bible would call that foolish. This is
20:31
how Jesus refers to this man of this parable.
20:35
Look in verse 20. God says to him, fool, this
20:42
night your soul is required of you. and the things
20:46
you have prepared, whose will they be? The Bible
20:50
doesn't throw around the word fool all the time.
20:53
It's very intentional about this word. You see
20:56
it in Psalm 14 about one who doesn't believe
20:59
in God. To not believe in God is foolish. And
21:04
this man is acting the fool. He may say he believes
21:08
in God, but his God is his wealth. His God may
21:12
be his stomach. And it's foolish to be more concerned
21:15
with the treasures of this life than eternal
21:19
life. And so this man, he thinks he will live
21:24
forever enjoying his wealth, but this is very
21:27
clear. This night, your soul is required of you,
21:33
it says. And we know this from the book of James,
21:37
chapter four. We are not promised a single day,
21:40
are we? You are not promised a single day. And
21:45
so do not put off knowing God until a later time.
21:50
Don't wait until the crops run out. Don't wait
21:54
until the good times become bad. Don't wait until
21:58
the wine goes dry. Don't wait. You must believe
22:03
in Jesus Christ to be saved and to receive ultimate
22:06
blessing. If you think that you are happy now
22:10
with the things that you have, friends, Jesus
22:14
is preparing a place for you that you cannot
22:19
believe. Do you know what God has in store for
22:24
you? When we give all of our attention to treasures
22:30
in the here and now, we neglect what's in the
22:33
storehouses of God. Listen to what Jesus says
22:36
here. What will it profit a man if he gains the
22:40
whole world and forfeits his soul or what shall
22:44
a man give in return for his soul? Look at verse
22:49
32 Fear not little flock for it is your father's
22:58
good pleasure to give you the kingdom It's the
23:04
Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
23:09
Are you worried about small things all the while
23:13
God is giving the kingdom? This indeed is foolish.
23:21
I like how Psalm 84 puts this. This is what we
23:29
have to look forward to. This is who we ought
23:31
to be. For a day in your courts is better than
23:34
a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper
23:38
in the house of my God than dwell in the tents
23:41
of wickedness. For the Lord God is a son in shield.
23:45
The Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing
23:48
does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.
23:51
O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts
23:54
in you. Will God hold back anything? That He
23:59
has promised for us. No, of course not. And what
24:02
is the kingdom of God but the King? Jesus. And
24:10
you, by your union with Christ, you are joint
24:13
heirs in the kingdom. Why does God love us like
24:20
this? Why does He care for us like this? Go back.
24:28
into our chapter and look at verse 24. Consider
24:36
the ravens. They neither sow nor reap. They have
24:41
neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds
24:45
them. Of how much more value are you than the
24:50
birds? God values you, Christian. God loves you.
24:57
And so do you know him? Do you know God through
25:00
Christ? If tonight were to be your last, would
25:03
you walk through those eternal doors into his
25:07
blessed presence? Would you go to the place that
25:10
Jesus calls paradise? Are you rich towards God?
25:17
Do you know Jesus? And if you know Jesus, what
25:20
are you doing about it? We just celebrated Reformation.
25:26
day, week, month, whatever I want to call it
25:28
recently. And I went over some of the characters
25:31
of the Reformation. And one of them really shows
25:35
what it means to be rich towards God and to lay
25:38
up our treasures in heaven. His name was Peter
25:40
Waldo. Some of you will remember me talking about
25:43
Waldo. Peter Waldo lived in France in the end
25:49
of the 1100s into the 1200s. And Waldo was very
25:53
wealthy. wealthy, but he heard someone speak
25:58
on this passage, either this passage or Matthew
26:02
19 about giving our treasures away to people
26:07
who need them, about being rich towards God,
26:10
and it impacted Waldo. And so what Waldo did
26:13
was he gave away his wealth to people who were
26:17
in need. But he also did something very special
26:21
with some of that wealth. He gave it to some
26:24
scholars to translate the Bible into the common
26:29
language of the people. He gave up his wealth
26:34
so others would hear and know who Jesus is. Friends,
26:39
that's how to be rich towards God. That's how
26:42
to lay up your treasures in heaven. Because the
26:46
reality is that even for this man in this parable,
26:53
He did have a place to put all of his grain.
26:57
He did have a place to put all of this food.
27:00
I like how Church Father Ambrose put it. Oh,
27:03
foolish friend, he says, referring to this man,
27:06
you have room, you have barns, the cupboards
27:10
of the needy, the house of the widow, the mouth
27:15
of the orphan. There were places to put all of
27:21
this. and there are places for us to put what
27:25
we have into the hands of people who need it.
27:29
God has given you the kingdom and he is at work
27:33
in your lives conforming you more and more into
27:37
the image of Jesus that you would serve him with
27:42
everything that you have, that you would be rich
27:45
towards God and acknowledge that everything that
27:48
you do have is from God's providential hand.
27:51
And so what you do have is not really yours.
27:55
And so use what you have to serve other people.
27:59
Invest in the kingdom. And how interesting that
28:03
is. To be rich then is to give. To be rich is
28:10
to give. That's the exact opposite of the rich
28:14
fool. And so friends, give to God with joy. Give
28:20
in your tithes and your offerings. Support kingdom
28:23
work by providing for missionaries. Give your
28:27
time in investing in the lives of others. Give
28:31
your talents recognizing where they come from.
28:35
Give yourselves to the kingdom of God because
28:39
God has given you his kingdom in Christ Jesus.