Transcript

You are God alone. It’s a great doctrinal truth because he is holy and he is the only one who is truly holy which means that in every respect, in the ways that we are like God, he’s made us like him, yet he is immeasurably superior to us. His holiness also means that he has so many, many attributes and characteristics that are radically different than anything we can grasp or understand, like his eternality or the fact that he is spirit and on and on you could go. So, when we worship God, listen church, when we worship God, we want to make sure we’re worshiping one that is radically different than us. He can’t just be a bigger form than us. That’s why I love the preaching of the word. It makes me wrestle with the truth that God is shocking at times. He does things I didn’t expect him to do. He draws conclusions contrary to our worldly, rational conclusions. Why? Because he’s God alone. We believe, we preach, we hold to the onlyness of God. There is none other like him.

So, we come in here taking deep pleasure in him but taking deep pleasure in him as he’s revealed himself to be, not according to our subjective conclusions about how we think he ought to be. It’s an infinite treasure. Every week, as a pastor, I go back to an indefinite storehouse of delightful treasures and bring some out for the children to enjoy that week, the great truths of God and about God. Then when we get to heaven, we’ll have perfect minds, perfect ears, perfect eyes, perfect hearts, to begin the eternal process of taking in the every increasing, infinite, eternal pleasures of God and we get to begin it now. I’m not in any way shape or fashion trying to make our God relevant or fit in or attractive to this world. I will preach a gospel that will transform men’s hearts and then calls them to begin to be attracted to this God, but only in that order.

Well, that’s not your sermon, that’s just what the song stirred in me. Luke 12, would you go there? We’re preaching through the gospel of Luke and we have an interesting episode in our Lord’s earthly ministry that teaches us powerful and important truths about covetousness. That’s the title of the sermon: Covetousness. Luke 12, beginning in verse 13,

“ 13 Someone in the crowd said to Him, ‘Teacher , tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’ 14 But He said to him, ‘ Man , who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?’ 15 Then He said to them, ‘ 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 .’ 16 And He told them a parable , saying , ‘The land of a rich man was very productive . 17 And he began reasoning to himself , saying , “What shall I do , since I have no place to store my crops ?”’ 18 Then he said , ‘This is what I will do : I will tear down my barns and build larger ones , and there I will store all my grain and my goods . 19 And I will say to my soul , “Soul , you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease , eat , drink and be merry .”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘You fool ! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared ?’ 21 So is the man who stores up treasure for himself , and is not rich toward God .”

This text has many narratives, doesn’t lend itself very greatly to outlining but I do want to make two major divisions in the text. First of all, notice there is a public exhortation. You could even amplify that out and say there’s a public rebuke in correction but we’ll leave it unto the broad term of exhortation. Jesus is ministering and Luke records that someone just bursts out among the crowd, kind of commandeered the meeting, if you would, sort of took over and said, “Teacher, Master,” speaking to Jesus, “make my brother, if you will, properly and justly divide the inheritance so that I may have my part.” Let me say this: this man who rudely, presumptuously burst onto the scene and wants Jesus to fix this inequity among the family, may have had just cause but it is not a significant or urgent cause compared to the ministry of our Lord and that’s the key here to the comparison. I mean, Jesus is here for heavenly and eternal matters and this guy all he can think about is an earthly injustice.

So, an exhortation for us from God’s word: too many in our churches today sit under our ministries and have very little or no spiritual or heavy mindedness. I mean, man, you mention finances or worldly treasure and worldly power and they’ll get up on the edge of their seat, “Well, how’s the finances?” I mean, they’re all about that but they are disinterested in the more important spiritual matters of men’s sin and the just wrath of God and the holy justice of God being laid on his Son and Christ’s vicarious atonement and the full deliverance and redemption from sin through the atonement and the merits of Jesus Christ. Those things they are just not concerned about.

There is a warning here. As we see this man in the midst of the Son of God who is on a redemptive mission to save men’s souls including this man’s soul, yet he’s not at all concerned about spiritual things, about eternal matters and we must warn ourselves that if we love this world and love the things of this world and become materialistic and covetous, we will experience, listen to me: we will experience a hardening in our souls against the truth so that we would literally walk into a church and think what’s really important is, “Am I gonna get what my Daddy left me?” I’m not saying that’s unimportant, it’s just not to be compared to what Christ was about. He had no right commandeering the meeting of Christ’s teaching over his family dispute. This man can’t see the forest for the trees. He would gladly dismiss the person and the preaching of Christ and eternal values that Christ would present and clutch to the dirt clods of this earth as his treasure. His carnal heart and rude interruption deserve a stern rebuke and he’s going to get one. This man rightly esteems that Christ is a wise and righteous judge but at the same time, he loves the world and he would like to drag Jesus down to deal with that level of things.

Now, look at verse 14, if you will. This guy has come up in the crowd and said, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance.” And then in verse 14, “ But Jesus said to him, ‘ Man , who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?’” I struggled with that for a moment, then just the lights came on. The point, again, is that Jesus is saying, “Don’t you understand? My heavenly Father sent me here for a much higher calling than to settle family disputes.” The heavenly Father sent his Son, the Lord Jesus, to be a Redeemer from sin, not a judge in civil matters. Now, it is true, the word of God gives us provision for these things. God has given government and given the church to help resolve disputes and injustices. We’ve worked very hard at Grace Life Church to disciple ourselves and hold ourselves accountable that we’re going to occasionally sin against each other, we’re going to offend each other and we’re going to have some conflict but we will resolve them biblically.

So, God has a provision for that but Christ, at this point during his earthly ministry as he’s headed to the cross, cannot forsake the role his heavenly Father has given him to be involved in lesser matters. One of the great challenges in churches today is to stop being concerned about lesser things, though they’re not totally unimportant but lesser things, and to keep the church’s heart focused, mission, finances, etc. on the main thing.

Here’s an application for pastors: there is a warning to ministers particularly, of course, those who are called to minister the word of God that they must guard their time and their energies and not be taken up in lesser affairs that can be helped or resolved by others. We see this spelled out very clearly in Acts 6 as the early church is getting going and some of the widows are being denied the distribution of the food. Now, I say widow ladies who can’t care for themselves are not eating, that’s pretty serious, however, the preaching pastor said, “We cannot,” notice, “We cannot.” Look at it in Acts 6, “We cannot stop our work of studying and preaching the word to take care of this need. Appoint some deacons who will make sure that these ladies are taken care of and we will keep our energies and our interests on the all-important ministry of the word of God.” By the way, if you feed all the widows in all the world all the time, you will not save one of them by feeding them. Only the ministry of the word will save their eternal souls. That’s the point Jesus is making here.

Now, there’s another aspect that I think comes out to us here and that’s for the church, or professing Christians in general, and that is the church must remember that our influence is immense but our influence is indirect as far as civil justice and social concerns go. We have an indirect influence. Here’s what I mean by that: we are not primarily in this world as God’s church to end social injustice and we’re certainly not about the task of trying to cure societies ills by external laws or external policies, though certainly as Christians we favor some and want to be in support of good laws and good policies to bring justice in the land. But, however, that is not our primary ministry. The liberal Christian, the liberal church, the liberal theologian, in line always with the liberal politician, community organizers, social workers or whoever they may be, when they go about their work, whether it be the priest or the pastor in a pulpit somewhere or the lowest level social worker who is worldly minded, they’re all about fixing the external injustices they see in culture. Why is it that that’s all that they’re about? Listen, that’s all that they are about because that’s all they have. Not being regenerate of the Spirit, not grasping the weightier, more essential matters of man’s sinful soul needing a redeemer from heaven for eternal life, then they just fall to the base level of being concerned about affairs in the world.

The church’s primary ministry is the gospel preached in the power of the Spirit. This will transform the heart of men in the culture and then transform the culture. But the force of external laws alone, or external policies alone, can never truly change society because external laws never can change the heart of men. So, our primary task, church, is not to be about social injustice but to be about the gospel that changes men and then will change the culture. I’ve said it many times before, but just take the Southern Baptist Convention 40,000+ Southern Baptist churches, if all 40,000+ Southern Baptist churches genuinely tried to walk in loving, compassionate, biblical accountability, had true meaningful membership and exercised true biblical discipline for unrepented of sin, we would do more good for this culture than nominating or electing the most conservative man possible to public office. But see, we have an affect on culture but it’s indirect because we’re about changing men’s hearts that will then change the culture.

Let’s read verse 15 and I’ll comment on that. He’s already rebuked this man publicly and said, “Who appointed me judge or arbitrator over you? Why are you bringing up something that is of very small concern compared to my ministry of redeeming men’s souls?” Then he deepens the rebuke and, “ Then He said to them, ‘ Beware , and be on your guard against every form of greed ,’” that’s the same idea of being a coveter, very form of greed, “for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions .’” Again, this fellow comes up to Jesus and he wants to use the Lord’s wisdom and the Lord’s power to get what he wants out of his brother. Now, when you become a Christian, you don’t come to Jesus to fix what you want. You come to Jesus to join up with his cause, not him to walk into your life and be a higher form of a psychologist to help you through your problems. No, you sign up to be in on his cause.

So, Christ here does use his wisdom and his power on this man but he uses his wisdom and power to get out of this man what was poisonous to his soul, not to get into this man the wealth that this man felt like he justly deserved from his brother. This man came wanting a physical inheritance and the Lord gives him a public rebuke about covetousness. The Lord did not send him away without help; the Lord gave him a precious gift: the truth. Have you found out in life that no matter how sweet and kind and gentle and longsuffering you can be, some men, some ladies, some people, when you tell them the truth from Scripture, they just don’t appreciate it?

I’ve had people before, I spend a lot of time counseling pastors and I have them talk about the opposition to truth being brought to bear in the church which is the most absurd thing imaginable for the church is not about truth but anyway, pastors have incredible difficulties trying to shepherd a church back to functioning in biblical truth and they’ll think, “Well, I’m just going to be patient and longsuffering and meek and humble,” and without exception, almost without exception, they come back and say, “It didn’t change a thing. They still don’t have an appetite for truth.” Listen to me: your sweetness doesn’t transform men’s hearts. You’re kindness can’t transform the heart. Your humility can’t transform the heart. Only God’s truth changes the heart.

So, this man gets a public rebuke. How would you have like to have been there and been the guy that gets this? So much for the meek and lowly Jesus that’s always compassionate and worried about your feelings. He stands this guy up as a living sermon illustration and rebukes him in front of everybody. Sometimes that’s the appropriate thing to do. There is a real application here for us and that is that sometimes somebody needs to be held up as an example for the rest to learn from. This man was this living sermon illustration for Jesus; he’s exposed before the whole crowd. What you’ve got to understand here: this was not some fellow over in the corner who is struggling with carnality in his heart and he’s wrestling and he’s praying quietly, trying to find victory or trying to find the Lord’s will. No, this man is boisterous, proud, presumptuous and loud and Jesus says, “Okay, perfect sermon illustration. Let’s talk about covetousness because that’s your real problem. Yes, while your brother may owe you the inheritance, your real heart is consumed with material things, not with the kingdom of God and of heavenly things.”

So, here we have the Lord showing us that church pastors must not shrink back from using public sin and public folly of those who are proud and rebellious as a teaching illustration to others but we would caution ourselves that when we come to those places where there must be some public exposure and public censure, that we must do it with a broken heart that hopes for the restoration of the sinner and never a mean-spirited pounding of one into the dirt.

So, this public exposure and public rebuke is the most loving thing that Jesus could’ve done for this man just as when the steps of church discipline require a public exposure and rebuke, that’s the most loving thing that can be done for a person. I get so tickled when people ask, “Well, what would Jesus do? You don’t know what Jesus would do.” Hey, I know exactly what Jesus would do. Are you listening? In every case here’s exactly what Jesus would do: he’d do what the word says. If the word said it’s time for public rebuke, that’s what Jesus would do. If the word said it’s time to be compassionate and longsuffering and confidential and, by the way, we keep things confidential in the body until we just absolutely cannot, but when it’s time, Jesus does what’s right, not what you think he’d do because very often our inclinations don’t line up very closely with Scripture, at least mine don’t and Scripture has to help me and correct me like it’s helped me and corrected me preparing this message for you today.

In verse 15, Jesus is giving this warning. He said to them, “ Beware , and be on your guard against every form of greed .” In other words, don’t be like this fellow who just shouted out in front of everybody and just incriminated himself in front of everyone. “Beware against every form of greed.” So, the Lord is not just talking to this one man, he’s using this one man’s sin as a foundation, if you will, or as an occasion to tell all of them to beware of this.

The word “beware” there our Lord uses is a word that literally means “to keep watch by night.” It means to have an unslumbering diligence. In other words, your heart is so prone, your heart is so bent, I’m talking about your unredeemed humanity that you’re going to keep until you’re glorified, it’s so bent toward covetousness, you need an unslumbering diligence to keep it from capturing you and holding you in a stronghold. That’s your own heart.

He warns here that there is a deadly consequence of someone who gives himself over to covetousness. Listen, someone who warns you of a deadly consequence that lies ahead does you a far greater service than if they made you wealthy. He wants the Lord to somehow increase his wealth, “Make my brother give me the money that’s coming to me.” Jesus said, “I’ve got something far better for you. Let’s deal with the sin in your heart or you’re going to be judged forever in hell for it.” That’s, in effect, what the Lord is doing.

So, the Lord just continues to pour out wisdom here on this issue. Verse 15, the middle part there, “for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” Not even when you have an abundance does your life consist of that. This might be a good time to pause and just say, okay, let’s define covetousness. What does it mean to covet? It’s kind of a broad word but basically it’s the lust to have more. Now, there’s nothing wrong with desiring more but when it gets over into a passionate lust, lust has the idea of it begins to control you, it begins to use you, if you will. It begins to be a stronghold: you’ve got to have more, you’ve got to have more, you’ve got to have more. And covetousness often includes, “I’ve got to have more even if it means it comes at the expense of others.” By the way, it may be, “I want what you’ve got,” or “I’ll run over somebody, I’ll ignore somebody, I’ll be rude to somebody, I’ll be unjust to somebody because I want that.” That’s covetousness.

It’s the absence of contentment. Blessed is the man who has a great drive, who’s very industrious, who’s got real initiative, a real work ethic, to build a company, to build an empire, even. That’s wonderful and good but blessed is that man who also has a part of his heart that says, “But this is not my joy. This is not my contentment. This is not my happiness.” Then he’s not controlled by covetousness if he has both in his heart.

Jesus said in verse 15, again, “Not even when one has an abundance, does his life consist of these possessions.” Life means his satisfaction, his joy, his restfulness is not found in the fact that he has possessions. Someone said, “How poor a rich man may be, but how rich a poor man may be.” When you set your heart on this world and live for this world, the reward of that is not contentment but discontentment. This pursuit always leads to further sin, the dominoes begin to fall. You just have too much of a love for the world and then covetousness gets in the heart. “I’ve got to have more and I’ve got to have more.” Then envyings and jealousies and strife and factions and anger and it just goes on and on and on. So many heartaches come into the life.

Let me ask you: wicked King Ahab with his wife, Jezebel, had everything as king and queen in the land yet Ahab lusted in covetousness for Naboth’s vineyard and they had Naboth, poor, lowly Naboth murdered so he could get the vineyard. Just a piece of property he had to have. Let me ask you something: where is Ahab today? Let me ask you something: Achan. God said, “Keep all the spoils of battle dedicated and sanctified to the Lord.” No one is to personally take any of them and Achan goes and secretly hides some of the things in his tent that he took from the spoil. As a matter of fact, there was so much it shouldn’t matter and God killed Achan. Where is Achan today as a result of his covetousness? Ananias and Sapphira kept back some of the wealth they claimed they had given to God’s church and lied about it, proposing they gave everything. I do not think there was anything wrong with that about keeping some of it back, but it was a covetous heart that wanted more than they should rightfully keep and to misuse their gift to bring glory to themselves, lying about it to others. Where are Ananias and Sapphira? Simon the Magician sees the apostles laying hands on people and sees the power of the Holy Spirit so Simon the Magician says, “Let me buy this gift because this could advance me. This could make me wealthy.” He didn’t say that, but that’s what he’s about. “I will gain through having this ability to give people the Holy Spirit of God.” Peter said, “May you perish with your money.”

The Bible says in Psalm 37:16, “Better is the little of the righteous than the abundance of many wicked.” You know, some are made covetous by riches. They get some riches and it gets them but no one is ever made truly rich by covetousness. It never happens. Earthly riches actually testify against themselves. Earthly riches allow moth to eat them and rust to ruin them and thieves come in and steal them, all witnessing against them that they are not genuine, they are not a life-giving source. The blessed eternal fruit of Christ does not flourish from earthly roots. Earthly riches have no lasting value and no permanence; they flee away. Ecclesiastes 5:10 reminds us, “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money nor he who loves abundance with this income. This, too, is vanity.”

Now, let me ask you today, think about some of the great people of history: Where is Alexander the Great today? What is Alexander the Great doing with his power? What is Caesar today doing with his great honor? What is Plato today doing with his great knowledge? What is Jezebel today doing with her cosmetics and her beautiful flowing robes? What is Ahab today doing with Naboth’s vineyard? Where did their covetousness get them? What the Lord is trying to teach here today is that God is your life, not goods. Only Christ in the heart can master covetousness.

Well, that’s a public exhortation, now he gives a practical illustration. He gives this parable and we’re quite familiar with this parable, we’ve known it since we were little children, most of us. He begins in verse 16 talking about the parable of a rich man who had very productive land and the man says, “Man, what am I going to do with all my stuff. It’s just incredible how I’ve been blessed here.” And he said, “I’m just going to tear down my old barns and I’m going to build bigger barns and I’m just going to say to my soul, ‘Eat, drink and be merry.’ I’ve just got it made.” Then God says, “You fool. This very night your soul is required of you.” First of all, this man is a blessed man. God had blessed him. By the way, let’s be balanced, God blesses some with abundance. It’s kind of funny to me dealing with even church leaders through the years, they seem to believe that God has his children in poverty often or going through dire straits because that causes them to draw near to the Lord but the Bible equally teaches that God also blesses some with abundance. Deuteronomy 30:9, “ Then the L ORD your God will prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the produce of your ground, for the L ORD will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers.” God’s promise to Israel: “I want to bless you materially and abundantly and I plan to do it.” But Isaiah 5:8 gives a balancing truth, “Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field, Until there is no more room, So that you have to live alone in the midst of the land!” In other words, though God does abundantly bless, be guarded, be careful. Wrestle in your heart that you’re not just hoarding up, hoarding up, hoarding up to yourself.

Now, this parable: he’s a man who’s been blessed by God. The Bible says he’s a rich man. There is no rebuke here for laziness; there is no rebuke of him for his lack of industry or lack of vision. Those are good things. Proverbs 10:4 says, “The hand of the diligent makes rich.” I’ve run into people who have always critical things to say about someone who has gained wealth, more wealth than they have. “Well, those people must not be as spiritual as I am because they have more stuff.” No, could be they’ve been more diligent than you have. They worked harder and you could be lazy. So, they are more spiritual than you.

So, the Lord doesn’t rebuke him for these things but what comes out of this parable is that this man has discontent. He’s actually got anxiety. He has so much stuff; he’s done so well. He doesn’t know what to do. How is he going to take care of all this stuff for himself? Isn’t it interesting: material gain without a real and vibrant faith always leads to discontent. This man in the parable the Lord just gave them, has no concept of the truth that he is but a steward of another’s property, that’s God’s property. Of course, this man’s sin, listen now: this man’s sin was not in the possession of wealth but in the fact that he placed wealth in the possession. It’s not in the possession of wealth but that his wealth was in the fact that he had great possessions.

There is a real key phrase, a really exposing key phrase that comes out all the way through but we see it beginning in verse 17, “ And he began reasoning to himself , saying , ‘What shall I do , since I have no place to store,” here it is, “my crops ?” He didn’t say God is owning things that were under his stewardship, “my crops.”

Verse 18, “ This is what I will do .” He makes these bold plans. “This is what I’m gonna do, I will tear down my barns and build larger ones , and there I’m gonna store all this stuff.” He makes all these plans without consulting God. He leaves out the one person, the one infinite person who can guarantee success and that’s God. “ I will tear down. I will build bigger barns. I will store my crops and goods in there.” This man begins, he continues and he ends in himself and he forgets that he can’t possibly use all of this stuff for himself and he forgets that none of it is going to last for eternity. Psalm 49:11 tells us, “ Their inner thought is that their houses are forever And their dwelling places to all generations ; They have called their lands after their own names .”

This man’s life is full of concern; he’s full of anxiety; he doesn’t know what he’s going to do with all his possessions. Now, let me tell you what he’s missing: you can’t get more simple and to the point than James 4:13-15. Are you advancing your business? Are you advancing your life? Are you wanting to get ahead? Are you wanting to do better? That’s good. Good. The last thing we need is more lazy Baptists who think they’re spiritual. Go for it! Get ahead! Get a raise! Build a company! Go for it! But do it with the Spirit. “ Come now , you who say , ‘ Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city , and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit .’ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow . You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away . Instead , you ought to say , ‘ If the Lord wills , we will live and also do this or that.’” Do you see the beautiful balance in man’s heart here?

But this man in the parable is not happy; he’s not content where he is. He doesn’t say, “Lord, I’m going to go for it. I’m going to build bigger barns and I’m going to advance this thing but, God, this is not my joy. This is not my treasure. You’re my treasure.” That’s not what he’s saying. This man cast all of his hope in a sinking ship. Isn’t it interesting how the truly covetous man, he’s unhappy in this life. He can’t get contentment because he’s got to keep going and gaining and possessing and gaining and possessing and gaining and possessing. He’s unhappy in this life and he’s going to be unhappy in the life to come. Interesting.

He says in verse 18, he continues that personal pronoun, “ This is what I will do : I will tear down my barns and build larger ones , and there I will store all my grain and my goods.” His thought never goes to the God that sent the rain. His thought never goes to the God that made the sun shine. His thought never goes to the God that gave him temperate weather that caused his crops to prosper. When he talks about the goods and the crops the Lord has blessed him with, unfortunately, these things are not just his possessions, they were his treasure. They were not just things the Lord had blessed him with, they were his hope. That’s covetousness.

Hosea 2:8 reminds us, “ For she does not know that it was I who gave her the grain , the new wine and the oil , And lavished on her silver and gold , Which they used for Baal .” You say, “Well, we’re not taking our wealth and building some pagan idol temple like an offer to Baal.” No, you’re doing the exact same thing when you spend your wealth for yourself with no thought to giving God credit or glory. That’s idol worship. It’s the same thing. It’s building a golden altar to Baal.

Look at verse 19, Jesus continues the parable. The man’s got all this stuff; he’s built all these barns and now he says in verse 19, “ And I will say to my soul , ‘Soul , you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease , eat , drink and be merry .’” What a warning this is not to be like this man who spoke lies to himself. Remember, you’ve got to keep working at stopping listening to yourself and start talking to yourself.

Well, this man is listening and talking to himself but he’s listening and talking to himself in lies. He should have reached out and grabbed the truth. Speak truth to yourself, not lies. Here’s the lie: I’ve got it made. I’ve done well. And probably he was a very hard worker and a very skilled visionary for his enterprise and that’s good but the lie he believes is this: that he’s got it made; that this is going to work; this is going to last; this is going to get me through. Can he control the moth who can eat up his garments? Can he control the rust? Can he control thieves that might break in? Can he control weather? God can send one lightning storm and burn every barn to the ground. Can he control his health? The doctor can say, “It’s cancer. You’ve got a month.” Over.

His heart had effectively shut God out from all of his plans. He said, “I’ll say this to my soul.” How deceived. Now, think about it: his soul, that’s not the word for body, it’s the word for soul, the deeper part of man’s heart. He thinks he’s doing his soul good when, in fact, he cannot even guarantee his body will be here tomorrow, much less his eternal soul. You see, only Christ can give you what you can have and hold forever.

He says to himself, “Take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.” The word “merry” there has the idea of sensual pleasures. Everything this man did, listen to me now: everything this man did terminated in himself. Let me ask you: whether you’re on a limited, more or less, fixed income, have you had the heart attitude that, “Lord, yeah, I want to do good for my kids. I want to do good for my wife. I want to be comfortable in retirement.” Nothing wrong with that, I’m not saying that’s wrong at all but does it terminate in you? Are you the end or would you say, “But Lord, at the end of the day, I want you to be glorified. I want you to be magnified. That’s the end of why I have the stuff I have.”

All this man’s wealth terminated in himself. Now, I’m convinced this man is not condemned for seeking pleasure. Listen to me now: he’s not condemned for seeking pleasure and I don’t think the Scriptures ever tell us that we should not be seeking pleasure, but we should be seeking pleasure in God, not in self and not in things. God didn’t say, “Eat, drink and be merry.” God says, “Deny yourself.” God says, “Doctor yourself.” Why would God say “deny yourself” and “doctor yourself”? Because living for self is going to destroy you and dishonor him. So he’s saying, basically, “Help yourself to the infinite pleasures of the true treasure of the universe, me, God.” Seek pleasure but seek it in God.”

Here’s what we’ll find: when we find pleasure in God, then our soul will find true pleasure in this life but always in that order. All of a sudden, your house and your cars and your toys or whatever you have that you feel like the Lord’s allowed you to have, all of a sudden they give a true pleasure and they don’t become a burden because God is your full and true treasure. He only can let you enjoy things after you have him first place.

Now look at verse 20, what a powerful conclusion to this illustration, to this parable, “But God said to him, ‘You fool ! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared ?’” Listen to this: while this man is delighting in his pleasures, God is planning his death. God may be planning your death right now. It might be this afternoon. It might be tomorrow. It might be a month from now. As a matter of fact, if God is sovereign, and certainly he is, he is planning your death. He knows how you’re going to end. This man foolishly, callously, brazenly, in hardness, had no thought of God and was delighting in his wealth and God was planning his death.

The Lord in this parable uses the phrase for this man “you fool.” You fool. The infallible judge renders the verdict that cuts through the false façade. The world says this man was wise. The world said that this man had it made. The world said this man really achieved. And God said this man was a fool. A fool. He was a fool for forgetting the giver. Over and over, my crops, my barns, my goods, I will do this. He’s a fool for making his aim the wrong aim. His aim was himself, not God and God’s glory. He’s a fool because he was thinking that earthly wealth is sufficient for body and soul for eternity. He was a fool for forgetting that death can beckon at any moment.

Let me say something to you, this is an admonition as your pastor: worldly men tend to think, “Here’s the stuff I’m going to leave for some good cause.” Spiritual men send it on ahead before they die. Did you hear that? That’s not an absolute. I don’t mean that you can take this as one of the ten commandments but generally speaking, worldly men think in terms of, “I’m gonna get, get, get, get. I’m going to enjoy it to the full but I’ll leave some for a good cause.” Spiritual men think, “I’m going to invest it now for a good cause.” Every generation should support the work of God in the earth. It’s a wonderful blessing. “I plan on leaving some,” what if I don’t have anything left? “I plan on leaving some for the Lord’s work after I’m gone, but I hope I’ve lived a life of generously sending it on ahead while I’m alive.” Let me challenge you to not let covetousness interrupt the giving God’s instructing you to do now.

“This very night, your soul is required of you,” is what Jesus said to the man in this parable. Now, this is not a gracious request; this is a forced arrest. This is not a ship in the harbor that says in the morning, “We’ll take up anchor and depart.” No, this is a ship broken from its moorings, driven by the winds of God’s wrath and appointed justice. When the righteous dies, it’s a sweet retiring. It’s a time of immediate peace and comfort. When Stephen was stoned, the Bible says, he fell asleep. But when the wicked die, it’s the beginning of a terrible night. The rich fool quickly learns that he has deluded himself in his security. He thought his riches would provide this, but instantly leaving his wealth, he stands before God in judgment. Now, think about it: he’s lost his name, whatever fame he had as an accomplished, powerful, wealthy man and there it’s gone. He’s lost his soul. He’s lost his wealth. He’s lost the world he loved. And he loses heaven. Fool. Fool.

Jesus said in verse 21, “ So is the man who stores up treasure for himself , and is not rich toward God.” In other words, he was not God-ward in his gaining and possessing of wealth. He gained worldly treasure but he lost them, he lost his soul and he loses God. When you connect your being to perishable things, you will perish with them. Here’s the truth about being rich: it’s God that makes the man rich. To become rich, you must possess God. He’s the source of true riches.

Now, to be sure, earthly riches are not sin but it’s interesting as we look at the Scriptures: earthly riches did not harm Abraham, an immensely wealthy man. Earthly riches did not harm Jacob. Earthly riches did not harm David or Daniel or Joseph because they had God first. The true riches are God’s love and true faith that abides in the heart. A believing beggar dies and he goes to his wealth. A worldly wealthy man dies and he goes to his poverty.

Quickly, some conclusions for practical application. Conclusion 1: this is simple, just a simple test to see where we are with covetousness. Where Jeff Noblit is with covetousness. Where you are with covetousness. First of all, 2 Corinthians 9:5, Paul is raising an offering among the church at Corinth and he says, “I’m not just going to announce the offering, we’re going to really work this thing and I’m going to send some guys to go on up ahead to arrange.” It’s the idea that there’s going to be a real campaign and strategy to get this offering ready. Why? Last phrase, “So that the same would be ready as a bountiful gift and not affected by covetousness.” So, Paul says, “Even the church and church members are very prone to have covetousness rise back up in their souls and I’ve got to send some ministers ahead of me before I come and get the gift to make sure you don’t let covetousness affect what you’re planning to give for the Lord’s work.” There’s a strong parallel in Christianity between giving and, of course, covetousness.

1. Do you give faithfully? Do you give faithfully? I mean, do you return tithes faithfully to the Lord’s work? Or are you a swing giver? One week you’ll give a tithe and the next week, “Well, I had this and this,” and you give a lot less. Then you kind of get back to the tithe and then you go back away from it. Then you’ll give once and then you go back and you just swing back and forth. That’s a very sure sign that you’ve allowed covetousness to reign in your heart.

2. Do you miss church to earn more? I want to be balanced here: Scripture teaches and understand, first of all, some of you work for other people and they require you to work on Sunday, I’m not talking about that. But if you own your own business and you do your own thing, I want you to wrestle with that some. I don’t want you to just be at peace with, “Hey, I can make another $10,000 if I do this on Sunday.” Now, you may have to do that from time to time, I understand that, but let me challenge you, have some times when it could go good if you go on Sunday but you say, “I don’t need to be gone, I’m going to church and God you have to bless my business.” Amen? Sometimes. Wrestle with it. Don’t just give in to it.

3. Do you rejoice when others prosper? That’s a real test. A man with covetousness in his heart always is judging and critical and, “They must not be walking with God. They’re not sacrificial like I am. They live too high.” Look, the Bible says the Lord blesses. By the way, the Lord takes away too and you should be able to rejoice when a brother or sister does well materially. Amen? If you don’t have covetousness ruling in your heart.

4. Have you ever given sacrificially? I mean in American terms of sacrifice? The Bible says that those who compare themselves with themselves are not wise. It’s interesting how many people talk about, “Well, we’re really sacrificial.” Well, you’re not sacrificial compared to the brothers and sisters in India. There is always somebody you can compare yourself with and you’re not doing so good. But have you ever just decided, “I want to do something for God, for God’s work, for God’s church, for missions, that costs me something.”

2 Samuel 24:24, pestilence has been in the land because of sin and in grace, God stays the pestilence before it reaches Jerusalem and God says to David, “Go to the threshing floor of Araunah and build an altar to me to glorify me for having the grace and the mercy to stay the plague and not completely devour you guys.” David goes to the threshing floor of Araunah and says, “Araunah, God said to build an altar here to honor him for his grace and mercy towards us.” And Araunah said, “King David, look, you can have the threshing floor. You can have my oxen to sacrifice. You can have the wood that was used for the burnt offering. You can have it all.” David said, “Oh no, no, no. Listen to me, I’m going to buy every bit of it from you because I will not offer to the Lord my God that which costs me nothing.”

That’s what I’m saying: has there been a season, has there been a time, when you gave when it costs something from this world? Maybe you had to drive a car with 150,000 miles versus getting a new one. I don’t know what it is and I don’t want to be subjectedly getting into what you ought to be doing, but have you ever given sacrificially? I don’t know your heart, but could it be because you hold things of the world in covetousness too tightly?

There was a man who was on an old steam passenger ship back when that was the only way to cross the Atlantic. He was a thief. He had amassed quite a bag of coins and treasure and he was being found out about so he tied it around his neck and he jumped into the ocean and the weight of his treasure plunged him to ruin and drowned him in the ocean. That’s what Jesus is saying: you live for this world, you make your values in this world and you’re not spiritually and heavenly minded and that’s not your purpose, you’re just like the thief who wraps the treasure around his neck and jumps into avoid detection. You plunge yourself to ruin.

Maybe these sermons don’t end very happy. I mean, the last thing Jesus says here is that this man is a fool and so are you if you’re not rich toward God. I say this to you often, but let me ask you: are you in the fight? Are you in the fight against the covetousness of your heart? For many of you this day, you need to draw a line in the sand and say, “God, because you’re first and because your word is clear, I’m going to faithfully return the tithe to God’s church.” Listen: returning the tithe, we don’t give to God’s works because there’s need. Did you hear that? You don’t give to God’s work because there’s need, you give to God’s work because it’s right to do it because there’s a nerve inside of you that’s right in the center of your soul and your heart. That nerve runs right into the center of your heart and that nerve runs down through your chest, through your abdomen, goes across your hip and connects to your billfold. God knows that. He designed it that way and when you have faithfully returned tithes and offerings, not a swinger, “I’ll swing it in there when I’ve had a good week and then I’ll swing back.” No, when you are faithful and it does something spiritually to your heart that we need as Christians. It’s not about, “Well, what’s the need?” No, no, no, it’s about you needing the exercise of giving. As Paul said to the church at Corinth, “And not affected by covetousness.” Now, this has spoken to Jeff Noblit this week and I promise you, I faithfully return tithes and offerings but it has spoken to me because it’s bigger than just the money on the check, it’s the heart.

One other final thing, I’ve said this to you before: it helps me in this pilgrimage. Pam and I decided several years ago that we would try to fund our retirement in real estate so the bank and I own some real estate. But sometimes I forget that it really doesn’t belong to the bank or to me, it belongs to God and I have to discipline myself and say, “God, you’re my treasure. You’re my joy.” Here’s what I’d ask you to pray for your pastor: pray that I will grow old effective for God. I would like to pay my bills and have adequate medical care, but that’d be nice, but pray that I would grow old effective for God. Whether or not I can pay my bills and have good medical care, you’ll answer for at the judgment bar of God for that. Amen. You will. But I need to keep striving to make sure I am usable by God.

So, I have to say, “God, I just want to be effective for you. You’re my joy. This farm is yours. This house is yours. The tractor is yours. The weeder is yours. It’s yours.” Do you know what I find? I find great joy in that stuff when I don’t own it. Now, I need that exercise regularly. Are you exercising your heart that way? God may not be prospering some of you like he wants to because he can’t give it to you because right now he can’t get it through you because of covetousness.

Let’s bow together in prayer.