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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
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