I'm excited to be in God’s Word. If you would, turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 12, we'll study verses 13 through 21 this morning. As we begin our time, I'll read the passage, and then I'll ask for God’s help. Luke chapter 12, starting in verse 13: “And someone from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But He (that is Jesus) said to him, “Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?” Then He (Jesus) said to them (the crowd), “Watch out 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.” And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ 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. 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.”’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you prepared?’ So is the one who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
Would you pray with me? [Prayer] Heavenly Father, this morning as we open Your Word and as we hear the teaching of Your Son, Who was God, very God come in the flesh, we ask that Your Spirit would help Your people to hear Your Word with hearts that respond to Your Word. I ask God that You would give me clarity as I speak. God, I pray that anything that I would say that wouldn't be from You would fall to the ground and that Your people would be fed by You this morning. We ask all of these things, God, for Your glory and for the honor of Your Son. We pray this in His name, amen. [End]
Fast fashion. The Oxford Dictionary defines fast fashion as inexpensive clothing produced rapidly by mass market retailers in response to the latest trends. And 50 to 100 years ago, people didn't have as many clothing items in their closets as we do today. But now, today, fast fashion rapidly mass produces the latest fashion trends at low costs. The clothes aren't high quality, they're not made to last, but it works. And it works because greed dominates the world that we live in. The reason fast fashion works is because there's this insatiable desire for more that dominates our world. People want the latest trends. They don't want last season's colors. They don't want last season's fits. They don't want last season's styles. And that insatiable desire for more is every bit as constant as the changing of the seasons or the changing of the latest fashion trends. And what's more, that kind of greed is generally tolerated in society. It's socially acceptable, that kind of greed. It's rarely seen as a problem, and if it is seen as a problem, it's seen as a problem through the lens of environmental sustainability or cheap labor exploitation. But the world doesn't have the same view of greed that God does. Listen to what Paul says to believers in Colossians 3: 5 and 6. “Consider the members of your earthly body as dead to sexual immorality, impurity, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. On account of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience.” In other words, Paul says that greed, this desire for more, it amounts to worshiping something other than God. And it's deserving of God’s wrath. Greed isn't to be tolerated. Greed isn't merely a matter of sustainability or exploitation. Greed is a matter of heaven and hell. And within this book, specifically, within Luke's gospel, you know, as you've been studying it, that Luke 1:1 through 4 shows that Luke, this physician, he carefully investigated everything with attention to detail before compiling this very orderly gospel account so that his friend Theophilus would have certainty about the things that he had been taught. And as we study this passage this morning, Luke records these events in Jesus’ ministry so that we would have certainty about the eternal consequence of greed. Just as Paul said in Ephesians 5:5, “this you know with certainty, that no one sexually immoral or impure or greedy, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” Our passage this morning gives us certainty about the eternal consequence of greed and it also gives us certainty about true riches. As we study this passage this morning, we'll look at it in three sections. First, in verses 13 through 14, we'll see “the interruption.” And then in verse 15, we'll see “the instruction.” And then verses 16 through 21, we'll see “the illustration.” So look with me in your Bibles, starting at verse 13, and we'll see “the interruption.”
And it's important to know as we turn there, the context of our passage. Jesus has just been speaking with His disciples about what it means to follow Him. In Luke 11:37 and 38, a Pharisee invites Jesus to have lunch with Him. And you know how Jesus rolls. Jesus goes to have lunch with the Pharisee and the other scholars of the law. And Jesus causes some trouble at lunch. He rebukes the Pharisees for their hypocrisy. He rebukes the Pharisees for their self-righteousness. And Luke 12:1 tells us that as He’s leaving that lunch, so many thousands had gathered together that they were trampling on one another. And Jesus began to teach His disciples.
From there He goes on to teach them about matters of life and death, heaven and hell. If we look at Luke 12, two through three, He warns His disciples about the false religion of the Pharisees. In Luke 12, four through five, He admonishes them to fear God rather than man. He says, “fear the One Who after He has killed has authority to cast into hell.” And then in Luke 12, eight through twelve, He warns His disciples that the one who denies the Son, the one who blasphemes the Holy Spirit, will be denied by the Son and will not receive the forgiveness of his sins.
So, I want you to imagine, I want you to imagine being there that day. As Jesus leaves His lunch with the Pharisees, you're among a crowd of thousands of people trampling one another. People are kind of shoving and elbowing to get as close as they can to see Jesus and to hear Jesus, and you're there, and you're hearing Him teach His disciples as you stand by. He’s teaching them about matters of heaven and hell, life and death, denying Him or confessing Him. That's where our passage starts. It's that very moment in which we see the interruption of verse 13. “And someone from the crowd said to Him, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.”
Now we don't know much about this man from the crowd. We don't know his name, we don't know where he's from, we don't know his occupation. All we know is that while he was listening to Jesus teach that day, and Jesus, He was on one that day. While they were listening to Him teach, while this man was listening to Him teach, he had something more important on his mind. He was thinking about his inheritance. This man who interrupted Jesus was thoughtless about his soul. And thoughtlessness about your soul is a dangerous thing.
J.C. Ryle, in his excellent short work called “Thoughts for Young Men,” says this, “one of the simplest reasons thousands of souls are cast away forever is that they simply will not consider, will not look forward, will not look around them, will not reflect on the end of their present course and the sure consequences of their present ways, and awake at last to find they are damned for want of thinking.” And so, this morning, I wanna ask you, what's on your mind? Well, what's on your mind this morning as we open God’s Word, as we hear Jesus? Are you hearing Jesus speak from God’s Word with your heart and your soul? Or are you like this man who, though close enough to hear Jesus speak directly to him, was too preoccupied with the things of this world, too preoccupied with his inheritance to hear what Jesus had to say about his soul?
As it is with this man in verse 13, so it is also with his family feud over inheritance. We don't know much about it. All we know is that it involves his brother, but notice the way this man speaks to Jesus and what he says to Him in verse 13, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” He doesn't say, “Jesus, I'm in a bit of a tricky situation here with my brother over the family inheritance. What would You do if You were in my shoes?” He doesn't say, “Jesus, my brother and I are at odds over our inheritance. Is there any way that You’d be willing to sit down with us over lunch and help us, just help us work through this thing?” That's not what he says. He doesn't ask Jesus for help. He doesn't ask Jesus for advice. Instead, he actually tells Jesus what to do. This man, while Jesus is teaching about heaven and hell, he demands that Jesus do what he wants Him to do. And so this man's interruption, it oozes greed, doesn't it?
R.C. Chapman was a 19th century English pastor. Charles Spurgeon called R.C. Chapman, “the saintliest man I ever knew.” Listen to what one of R.C. Chapman's traveling companions said of him. He told this story. “On our arrival in Seville, we were surrounded by a crowd, and a man demanded money to cover our luggage at the hostel. This was provided for in the funds already paid, so I stoutly resisted the imposition. In the midst of the altercation, I felt a hand gently tapping me on my shoulder, And as I turned, Mr. Chapman said, ‘pay the man the money.’ ‘Hotly,’ I replied, ‘Indeed, Mr. Chapman, I shall not. Here is your purse, and you can do as you like, but I won't be taken in like that.’ Never shall I forget the scene which followed. Quickly taking from his purse the amount demanded, Mr. Chapman took the man's hand in his. And as he placed the money in it, He told him he was quite aware that it was an imposition, but he had come to his country to tell the glad tidings of salvation, that God so loved the World that He gave His only begotten Son. The money must have burned in that man's hand as he stood there and listened to the gospel story.” How you handle your money, and how you handle your possessions, how you think about money, is a great litmus test for the condition of your soul. It's like a spiritual barometer. And R.C. Chapman was being cheated that day. He was being cheated, and he knew it. But his response to being cheated showed that he was the furthest thing from greedy.
Now, we don't know for sure about the man who interrupted Jesus. He may have been being cheated. He certainly thought he was being cheated. But the way he responds, what he says, it reveals the greed behind this interruption. And Jesus recognizes that. Jesus knows exactly what this man's up to. And that's why He replies in verse 14 in a very direct and abrupt way. In verse 14, Jesus says to him, “man, who appointed Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” Jesus is saying, “man, Hey mister, what makes you think that's any of My business?”
Now, this might sound funny because we know that Jesus in one sense is the Judge of all the Earth. John 5.22 says “that the Father handed all judgment over to the Son.” We read in Acts 10:42 and in Acts 17:31, that Jesus will judge the world in righteousness. Jesus will judge the living and the dead. But here, Jesus is saying He didn't come down from heaven in His first coming to sort out family feuds. He didn't come to adjudicate earthly disputes. In this very gospel, in Luke 1:77, we read that Jesus came to bring the “knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of sins.” In Luke 19:10, Jesus says of Himself, “the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” And so, when this man asks Him this, Jesus is saying, that's not what I came to do. That's not what I’m here for. This man interrupted Jesus, not because he cared about heaven and hell, not because he cared about his own soul. He interrupted Jesus because he was greedy and he wanted Jesus to help him get stuff, but he was talking to the wrong Guy. Leon Morris put it this way. “He didn't come,” Jesus that is, “to bring stuff to men. He came to bring men to God.”
And so, this morning, as we hear from Jesus in God’s Word, we ought to hear Him with an urgency about our souls. We ought to hear Him the way Peter spoke to Him, “Lord, You have the words of eternal life. Where else would we go, Lord?” And because Jesus came to proclaim the good news of eternal life, and because Jesus came to accomplish salvation, He sees this man's interruption as an opportunity for instruction.
And that's what we see in verse 15. Look with me then at verse 15, at “the instruction.” “Then He said to them, watch out 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.” Notice who Jesus is talking to now in verse 15. In verse 14, He’s talking to the man who interrupted Him. Now in verse 15, He’s talking to them. He’s talking to that big crowd of people who are trampling one another in verse one of this chapter. And like a good professor or like a good teacher who takes the one student's question and improves it for the good of the whole class, Jesus takes this man's interruption and He improves it for the good of that entire crowd. He speaks to them timeless truth that was applicable to every one of them, and it's every bit as applicable to us this morning. And His instruction to them begins with a warning against greed, a warning against this insatiable desire to have more, a warning against a heart that is never satisfied, never content. And notice how He starts that warning in verse 15. He begins by saying, “watch out.” And the basic idea of this is visual sight, but here it's being used to speak of a careful watch, a careful oversight. And then after that, He adds the words, “be on your guard.” This is used in Luke 2:8 for shepherds who are guarding their flocks. It's used in Luke 8:29 to describe how the demoniac was kept under guard by chains and by shackles. It's used in Luke 11:21 when Jesus uses the metaphor of a strong man who's fully armed, guarding his own house. And in Acts 12, it's used of the 16 soldiers who guarded Peter when he was arrested. This is the word that Jesus is using when He says, “be on your guard.” And He even adds, “watch out, be on your guard against every form of greed.”
Sometimes we're prone to think that when Jesus says this, “watch out, be on your guard against every form of greed.” He’s talking to the multimillionaires. He’s talking to CEOs. He’s talking to business moguls. But here, Jesus’ point is that greed comes in many shapes and sizes. You need to be on your guard against every form of greed. For Adam and Eve, more was the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. For David, more was another man's wife. For Solomon, more was 13 years building his own house, but only seven years building the temple. For Solomon, more was 300 concubines and 700 wives. Greed comes in many forms, many shapes, many sizes. Only you this morning know what more is in your heart. But Jesus warns you and I against every form of greed, any form of greed. “Watch out, be on your guard.”
Jesus is saying, be like a watchman in a lookout tower when it comes to greed. You're looking out for the very first signs of any greed. And what does a watchman do whenever he sees a sign of potential danger? He treats it with urgency. He responds immediately. It's an immediate response to stave off this attack. And so, Jesus says that we need to recognize greed, any form of greed, and urgently guard against it, urgently protect ourselves from it. I wonder if that's how you think about and treat greed in your own life. Jesus that day was letting everyone in the crowd know that greed is not something to play with. Greed is not something to be treated lightly. And if that crowd of thousands of people in an agrarian society in first century Israel needed to hear about the danger of greed, how much more do we need to hear about the danger of greed?
The world that we live in constantly feeds us the message more, more, more. Well, what do you need? The world says you need a better job, you need better clothes, you need a better car, you need a higher net worth. The world says that greed is the way forward. And quite frankly, this morning, there are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people in this city who are living for a better job, who are living for a better car, who are living for a better house, who are living for a better net worth. And what Jesus is warning this morning says to you is, don't swim with the tide. Don't swim with the tide this morning. Don't swim with the tide when it comes to greed. Make no mistake, they're gonna look at you funny, but don't swim with the tide, Christian. And as we read the rest of verse 15, Jesus gives us the reason not to swim with the tide, the reason to watch out, the reason to be on your guard against every form of greed.
Notice in verse 15, He says, “for,’ in the middle of the verse, or because, “Not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” This sounds like something straight out of the book of Proverbs. This is the wisdom that undergirds the warning. It's a simple statement, but it's profound in its meaning. When Jesus says “life” here, life does not consist of his possessions, He’s not talking about breath, He’s not talking about your heartbeat, He’s not talking about biological life, He’s talking about satisfying, abundant, fulfilling life. And He says it doesn't consist of your possessions even when you have an abundance.
Jesus is echoing what Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 2:4 through 11. And I'll summarize it for you. Solomon was the wealthiest and the wisest man in his time. Solomon had the nicest home in Highland Park. Solomon's estate was like a combination of Napa Valley and the most beautiful botanic garden that you can imagine. He didn't go to the farmer's market. He had the farmer's market in his backyard. He didn't visit national parks. His house was like a national park. He ate grass-fed lamb for lunch, and after lunch, his servant would come by and say, Solomon, the queen of Sheba's here, and she's got a truck of gold and silver for you. And whenever dinnertime rolled around, his chef would cook up for him some sort of Hebrew wagyu, and he would sit and have dinner while Taylor Swift, or maybe for you guys, George Strait, was performing a private concert for him. He was great. He increased more than any before him in Jerusalem, but check this out. Check out Solomon's Yelp review of all of that. Ecclesiastes 2:11, he says, “all was vanity and a striving after wind.”
This man was the wisest and the wealthiest man. You don't have to be the wisest and the wealthiest man. He tried it and listen what he said. “All was vanity and a striving after wind.” That's why he said in Ecclesiastes 5:10, “he who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its produce.” And that's what Jesus means when He says"', “not even when a man has an abundance, does his life consist of his possessions.” And friends, we know this wisdom from Jesus is simple and clear, but greed and riches and worldly desires have a way of deceiving us.
Listen to what Jesus says in the parable of the soils in Mark 4:19, “And there are others who are those being sown among the thorns. These are the ones who heard the word, but the worries of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desire for anything else enter in and choke the word and it becomes unfruitful.” In other words, there's a possibility that you hear the Word and you agree with the Word, but there's this deception, there's this deceptive element of riches and of the desire for anything besides God, anything else. That's why Paul told Timothy in first Timothy 6, “to tell the rich in this world not to set their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but to store up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.” In other words, riches are gonna tell you that they're life indeed. Possessions are gonna tell you that they're life indeed. Desires for things other than God will tell you, I am life indeed. That's what happened to this man who interrupted Jesus. His inheritance was telling him, you can't have life without me. His inheritance was telling him, “I am the one thing you need to have life the way you're meant to have it. You need me, I'll solve all your problems.” And Jesus is saying, “don't believe it for a second.” Jesus is saying, “watch out, be on your guard.”
Jesus saw this man's interruption as an opportunity for instruction. And that instruction was a warning that came from wisdom. But thus far, His instruction has been stated in the negative. He said, “watch out, be on your guard against greed.” He said, “not even when you have an abundance does his life consist of possessions.” And at this point, if we're tracking with Jesus, we might say, “okay, Jesus, I know what life doesn't consist of. I know what to watch out for. I know what to avoid. I know what life is not all about. But what does life consist of? What should I pursue? What is life all about?” And in verses 16 through 21, Jesus answers that question the way every master teacher does. He uses an illustration.
In verses 16 through 21, Jesus uses an illustration. It's a parable. It's an everyday story that communicates eternal truth. And He uses it to drive home and to add weight to and to make crystal clear for us what are true riches and what are not. Look with me then at “the illustration” starting in verses 16 and 17. “And He told them a parable saying, ‘The land of a rich man was very productive. And he began reasoning to himself saying, what shall I do since I have no place to store my crops?’”
This man, this rich man, he was already rich. And then what happened was at a point in time, his land that he used for farming became unusually productive, especially productive. And that caused a problem for this man. He had such an abundant harvest that he couldn't store all of it. He couldn't contain all of it. He didn't know what to do with it. There are worse problems to have.
But let's see his solution to that problem starting in verse 18. He's confronted with this problem and then he said, “this is what I will do. I will tear down my barns and I'll build larger ones and there I will store all my grain and all my goods. And I will say to my soul, you know what? Now that I've stored up all my grain, and now that I've put it away for the future, I'll say to my soul, soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” This man had a problem of abundance, a problem of prosperity. And his solution was to build more storage, so that the fruit that came from this bumper crop would satisfy his soul for years to come. He thought that if he stored it all up, he would be satisfied, he would have the life he always wanted. That's what he means when he says, “soul, take your ease. Eat whatever you want, drink whatever you want, and be merry for years to come.”
Now, what would the world say about this guy? They would say, this guy's a genius. Look at this guy. He's got it all figured out. This guy's got the American dream. He worked hard, he had a successful career, he saved his money, and now he gets to sit back, relax, and enjoy the work of his hands for many years to come. Though the world would tell you, be like that man. But what does God have to say about this man?
Look at verse 20. It begins with the word “but,” Iin other words, hold your horses. In other words, don't get too excited at home, folks. Jesus is throwing a yellow flag on the play here and He’s saying, God shows up and He doesn't show up to congratulate this man and say, congratulations, man, you've made it. I'm so happy for you. He doesn't show up and look at this man's estate and say, I love what you've done with the place. God shows up and He says to this man who we would think is so much what we ought to be, “you fool, you fool. This very night, your soul is required of you. And now who will own what you prepared?”
That's what God says to the man who had the American dream. That's what God says to the man who made the life he wanted for himself. Why does God call this man a fool? He calls this man a fool because he didn't recognize the brevity of life. He assumed he had many years to come, many years to enjoy all the fruits of his work. But God said, “this very night, your soul is required of you.” God calls him a fool because he was ignorant of God’s judgment. His soul was required of him. He was gonna die in answer to God. And he didn't fear the One Who is able to kill and then to cast into hell. He didn't live in light of Ecclesiastes 11:9 where Solomon says, “walk in the ways of your heart, follow the sight of your eyes, yet know that God will bring you into judgment for all these things.” This man was a fool because he didn't recognize the brevity of life. He was ignorant of God’s judgment. He didn't acknowledge and thank God.
Is anyone here a farmer? If you're a farmer, you understand that you can work as hard as you want, but if God doesn't give you the kind of weather you need, the rain you need, and the sun you need, you will never have a bumper crop like this man had. That's why in Deuteronomy 8, Moses said to the Israelites, “God let you be hungry, and He fed you with manna in the wilderness, so you would not say something so crazy as, my power and the might of my hands made me this wealth.” Instead, Moses told the Israelites, “You should remember Yahweh your God, for it is He Who gives you the power to make wealth.” This man didn't understand that, that's why he was a fool. He didn't understand the wisdom of verse 15. He thought that because he had an abundance, his life consisted in his possessions.
The man who interrupted Jesus and the rich fool in this parable, they remind me of a story from John Bunyan's, “Pilgrim's Progress.” Later in the book, Christian's wife, Christiana, and their four kids are in Interpreter's house. And Interpreter is showing them things that had been so impactful to Christian on his journey. And so Interpreter shows them a man with a muck rake in his hand. It's a mud rake. And this man could only look down. He has his rake and he only looks down. He's raking through the mud on the ground, trying to collect sticks and pieces of straw, trying to collect dust. And while he's doing that, while he's raking through the mud, there's a man right above him, holding a celestial crown. But this man was so preoccupied in the pursuit, in the search for straw, the search for sticks, the search for dust, that he had no regard for the crown that was right in front of him, that the crown that was being offered to him, if he would simply exchange the sticks and the straw and the dust and the rake for the crown.
And after seeing that man, Christiana says to Interpreter, “I think I understand the meaning of this. This is a figure of a man of the world, is it not?” And Interpreter says to her, “thou hast said the right. His muck rake shows his carnal mind. His regard for gathering sticks and straw and dust rather than heeding the offer of the celestial crown is to show that heaven is but a fable to the men of this world. Things here are counted the only things substantial. And the way he only looked downwards shows you the power of earthly things when sought to carry men's hearts away from God.”
The rich fool built bigger barns to store all his grain, but he was actually just raking through the mud. He was actually just looking for sticks and straw and dust. And he was ignorant of the celestial crown. Think of the words of Jesus in Mark 8:36 and 37. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? He had barns full of grain and barns full of crops, but he lost his soul. When that day came, he couldn't exchange grain and crops for his soul.
And so, returning to verse 20, what would become of all that he had stored up for himself in the second half of verse 20? Well, Solomon answers it in Ecclesiastes 2:18 and 19. He says, “whenever you die, you leave all of it to your son or the one who comes after you.” And you don't know whether that man's gonna be a fool or he's gonna be wise. But one thing you do know, everything that you worked for and everything that you thought so carefully about, he's gonna do with it whatever he wants. Verse 20, who will own what you prepared? Someone else will. Nothing this man collected while raking through the mud could go with him when he died. And nothing this man collected while raking through the mud could change the fact that death was gonna knock on his door and it wouldn't consult his schedule first.
And so Jesus then in verse 21 applies this parable to us. “So is the one who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” He condemns the one who stores up treasure for himself as if his life consisted of possessions and is not rich toward God. He condemns the one who spends their life raking through the mud for straw and sticks and dust and doesn't see the crown. And it's important to note that Jesus says, “who stores up treasure and is not rich toward God.”
In verse 19, this man said to himself, “I'm gonna eat, drink and be merry.” And I want you to know that eat, drink, and be merry, depending on what you mean by it. Solomon uses it in Ecclesiastes, and there's nothing wrong with the way Solomon uses it. In fact, look, this afternoon, this evening, I plan to eat, drink, and be merry. I'm gonna try to have some good barbecue here in Texas, and you know what? I might even watch the Nuggets versus Thunder game four. That'll be quite merry. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that. That's not the problem. The Bible tells us that, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil,” not money is the root of all evil. Here, Jesus is saying, “so is the one who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
So, what does it mean to be rich toward God? It's to be the opposite of the rich fool. It's to be the opposite of the man who interrupted Jesus. It's the opposite of thinking that the object and the goal and the purpose of this life is to accumulate and enjoy possessions. What does it mean to be rich toward God? To be rich toward God is to know God by faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. To be rich toward God is to have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. To know the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. To have an inheritance that is incorruptible and undefiled and unfading. To be a joint heir with Christ. To know the love of God that nothing can separate you from. To know that Christ became poor for you so that through His poverty you might become spiritually rich. That's what it is to be rich toward God.
And what is it to have true life? What does true life consist of if it doesn't consist of your possessions? What is the true object and the true end that you were made for? “This is eternal life, to know the only true God and Jesus Christ Whom He has sent,” John 17:3. To have true life, what life consists of is to believe in the Good Shepherd Who laid down His life so that His sheep might have life and life abundant. To have life is to have Jesus Himself, what John 6:27 describes as the food that endures to eternal life, to eat His flesh and drink His blood so that you never hunger and you never thirst.
After Jesus spoke to the rich young ruler in Luke 18, Peter said to Jesus, Jesus, we've left all that is our own and we've followed You. In other words, Jesus, we have nothing left. What is there for us? And Jesus said to Peter, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this life and in the age to come eternal life.” I want you to understand it's not that possessions and wealth are satisfaction now. It's not that possessions and wealth are life now, but knowing God in Christ is life when you die. No, Jesus said, there's no one who leaves that stuff behind and comes to Me and doesn't have many times more now. That's true riches. That's true life.
And how does that become yours? You see, true riches are the kind of riches that a person receives when they turn from their life of sin and they turn from trusting in wealth and they turn from trusting in self and they turn to God by faith in Christ. They trust in Jesus Who lived a sinless life, Who died a substitutionary death, absorbing God’s wrath on the cross for the sins of His people and rose victorious from the grave. That's how this life, that's how these riches can be yours this morning. And when you receive these true riches, this true life through faith and repentance, the God-shaped hole in your heart is filled. And you know something of what Augustine meant when he said, “oh Lord, our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You.”
Your soul could be required of you this very night. Have you thought about that? Are you prepared for that? Are you rich toward God? Or are you still raking through the mud, searching for straw and sticks and dust? You might ask, well, what about the rich of this world? What about those who are rich in this world? Is God saying that you can't be rich in the world and rich toward God. No, He’s not saying that. But Jesus does say, “it's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to be saved.” And He also says after that, “the things that are impossible with people are possible with God.” God saves rich people.
I'll never forget the day that I met a rich farmer, kind of like the man in this parable. His name was George Jackson. And from the mid-1950s until going to be with the Lord in November of 2024m at age 88, George Jackson grew apple pears. It's a funny word, apple pears, but it's true. He grew stone fruit, plums, peaches, pluots. He even grew cattle and turkeys. And much like the rich man in this parable, God blessed the work of George Jackson's hand. He made him extremely prosperous, extremely wealthy. And George Jackson used his wealth that God had provided for him to provide scholarships for seminary students. And I was one such student.
In October 2023, just a year before George died, the Master's Seminary arranged for George to meet some of the students he sponsored. And I remember a lot of things from that lunch. I remember a lot of things from that day. I came home with probably three bags full of these delicious plums. Emily, I'm sure, remembers. But there's something else I remember, something else that stood out to me. And it was a moment when this 87-year-old man, this farmer, looked out at a room of men like myself, who were training to preach the gospel, and he looked at us and he said, “you're the reason I get up and go to work every day at age 87. Thank you. You've given me a reason to live and a reason to work, even in my old age.”
George Jackson was a rich man. He had treasure on earth, but more importantly, he was rich toward God. This is what Paul meant when he told Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:17 through 19, “command those who are rich in this present age, not to be haughty or to set their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy, to be rich in good works, generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed." This is what it means to be a rich man who is rich toward God. You have that which is life indeed.
Friends, it doesn't matter if you're poor or if you're rich in this world. Whether you're poor or whether you're rich, if you don't watch out, if you're not on your guard, greed will be your destruction. But the things that are impossible with man are possible with God. He saves sinners like you and me from lives of idolatry, from lives of greed, from lives that are simply seeking after straw and sticks and dust. And so whether you're rich or whether you're poor, a celestial crown is offered to you this morning if you would trade all of it. Trade your trust in yourself, trade your trust in your riches, trade your sin and turn toward God. Turn toward God in faith in His Son and true riches will be yours. Eternal life, life abundant. The food that endures to eternal life. Many times more in this life, and in the age to come eternal life, it'll all be yours. because of the work of Jesus Christ. Pray with me.
[Prayer] Heavenly Father, we thank You again for Your Word. We thank You that You sent Your Son to seek and to save the lost, to bring the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of sins. And God, we thank You that as believers, we have had our hearts changed and our eyes opened to see true riches and to see the folly of greed. And yet we know, God, that those of us who are in Christ, we still need to put on and put off. This kind of greed is something that shouldn't even be named among us, and we need Your help to fight it. God, would You transform and renew these people by Your Word so that they would see Your promises as so much greater than greed, so much greater than wealth, so much greater than possessions of this world. And God, would Your Spirit convict and would Your Spirit save any here who are still raking through the mud? Who haven't seen the brevity of life, the reality of Your judgment, You as their Creator, and You as the only source of life. We ask all of these things in the name of Jesus and for His glory.
