Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for
this Sabbath morning, for this time that we can
be together. We thank you for showers of blessing.
We know that the rain that falls helps things
to grow. And we know that the Holy Spirit falling
in our life helps us to grow spiritually to be
more and more like you. Be with us as we open
up your word this morning. In your name we pray.
Amen. So the year was 1996. A new invention,
a new medication, a new miracle drug was going
to be released to help people, especially those
who had debilitating pain and illnesses. And
the company Purdue Pharma said, you know what,
we've got this new wonder drug that's going to
make all the difference, OxyContin. And they
told doctors, they even rewarded doctors, if
you give this out, the more you give out, the
more you'll get a little kickback. You'll get
a little reward if you prescribe this medication.
And there's good news because this medication,
this painkiller, it's not addictive. That's what
they told doctors. And that's what the doctors
told patients. And that's what they prescribed
pill after pill. And soon, well, Well, Doc, that's
not quite enough. I'm still hurting. Well, let's
give you a little higher dose because there's
good news. This isn't addictive. But the reality
was it's extremely addictive. And I imagine that
many of you know, like I know, people who got
caught up in this so -called opioid epidemic,
which led to more and more people being addicted.
dying of overdoses, especially in the area of
the Appalachian area, Kentucky, West Virginia,
Virginia, and that region of our country. But
even here in North Georgia, we know that there
are many people, and I would be shocked if you
don't know of at least one person or one family
that was affected in some way by this so -called
wonder drug. preying on people's needs of pain
relief and medical relief, and yet it was twisted
to cause something much worse. It was sacrificing
others for the almighty dollar. We might refer
to that as greed, as the Sackler family was leading
the Purdue Pharma in a greedy incident. We know
of stories of greed in Scripture. The rich young
ruler, we'll come back to him a little bit later.
But if you just look up that word greed, what
does that word mean? Now, if you look it up in
Merriam -Webster dictionary, greed is a selfish
and excessive desire for more of something than
is needed, more of something usually referring
to money. That's what greed is. You want more
than is needed. It's an excessive desire. Or
if you look it up in dictionary .com, it says
it's an excessive or rapacious desire, especially
for wealth or possessions. And I'll be honest,
when I looked up that definition, I had to look
up another definition because I wasn't sure what
that rapacious word meant. And if you look that
up, that means it is inordinately. greedy, predatory,
extortionate, excessively greedy, wanting more
and more and more. We're going to turn today
to Luke chapter 12. We had our scripture reading
today from Luke chapter 12, and we're going to
look at that story as we continue our series
on the parables. I think this is the third parable
we've gotten to. But in Luke chapter 12, verse
1, it says there was a great multitude that had
gathered together. As Jesus was teaching, as
he was preaching, the people wanted to come to
be by him. And it even says in verse 1 that they
trampled together. There were so many people
gathered in that place to hear him that they
began to trample each other. And as Jesus is
teaching them, one of these people from the crowd
shouted out and asked him a question. And we
see that in verse 13. We start in verse 13. It
says, Now, in the Bible, in the Old Testament,
it specifically talks about passing on property
and wealth from the head of the household to
the next generation. And the firstborn son, had
the best position you could have because he got
a double portion of the inheritance. And then
the rest of the property, the rest of the value,
was divided among the remaining siblings, at
least the remaining sons. And so we don't know
this whole story, but maybe somebody was not
acting the way that they should in some way or
the other. And so the voice says, tell my brother
to divide this inheritance with me. And Jesus
is like, you know, I'm not the probate. I'm not
the judge in this matter. I'm not the one to
worry about that. But then he begins to give
some instruction in verse 15. Notice what he
says. He said to them, take heed and beware of
covetousness. Covetousness. Now, some versions
there say, beware of all covetousness. Beware
of all greed, all kinds of greed, some versions
will say. So what does that mean, all covetousness,
all types of greed? What are some types of greed?
Well, the one that generally pops to mind first
would be that greed over money or wealth, some
way in that area of greed. But there's also,
you know, some might be greedy for fame. I want
to be important. I want to be more important
than somebody else. I want to have more friends
than other people. I want people to notice me.
I want to have more authority over the people
I work with or the family members, whatever it
might be. I want people to recognize who I am
or appreciate what I do. And the key here is
the excess because, you know, we need money.
We need... different things. But the key here,
like we read in those definitions, the key is
the excessive greed, the excessive coveting of
what others may have. In fact, if you turn over
to Colossians, we're going to come right back
to Luke chapter 12. But in Colossians chapter
3, Paul gives us another definition. Colossians
3 verse 5. Paul is talking about some of the
different sins in our life. And he says, therefore,
put to death your members which are on the earth.
And he begins to list off some things. Fornication,
uncleanness, passion, evil desire. And then he
says, and covetousness, which is, what is that?
Idolatry. We usually think of idolatry as bowing
down before an image or a golden calf or something
like this. But Paul says, no, idolatry can be,
covetousness can be this. Greed can be putting
anything before God. That can even mean putting
ourself before God. So we need to beware of this
covetousness, which is idolatry. So with that
in mind, let's come back to Luke chapter 12.
Because Jesus says, take heed and beware of all
covetousness or all kinds of greed. And then
notice what Jesus says. As he goes on in verse
15, he says, For one's life does not consist
in the abundance of the things they possess.
He or she possesses. One's life does not consist
in the abundance of the things that you possess.
That's pretty fascinating. Because in our society
today, it seems like everywhere we look, Every
advertisement, every billboard, every commercial
we may see is trying to tell you and to tell
me that you need something else. You need something
that you don't have. You need the newest or the
thing that's new and improved or the latest.
Or if you just have this thing, it will make
you smart. It will make you pretty. It will make
you popular. It will make you important. If only
you had that item, then your life would be changed
and it would be changed for the better. But Jesus
says life is more than the things that we have.
Life does not consist in how much we have. Life
is so much more than that. And then Jesus begins
to tell a parable to them. Jesus begins to share.
And the subtitle in my Bible says the parable.
And so one of those things, one of those descriptors
might be good. We probably would all wish we
had a little more financially. So sure, rich
sounds good, but fool, that is not a good descriptor
there. But he goes on and it says, Remember,
this is in the context of one's life does not
consist in what you have. And it says, Yielded
plentifully. Now what yielded plentifully here?
The ground. So I know many of you have gardens
or farms that you're working on and you prepare
the soil. We've talked about that the last couple
weeks. And you put the seeds in and you fertilize
and you may water it. But it says the ground
of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And
so as we're looking at this story, let's remember
that it's the ground that's yielding. It's the
ground that's doing the work, right? It's God
that makes something grow. You can prepare the
environment. You can get rid of the weeds and
the rocks. You can make sure that the soil has
the right fertilizer and enough water. But you're
not making the seed grow. That happens naturally.
That's God doing that through the things in the
ground. And it says the ground is yielding forth.
And we need to remember that even our ability
to work, to have a job, to have a garden or a
farm or whatever it might be, that's not from
us. All of that is from God. Notice in the Old
Testament, Deuteronomy chapter 8, it reminds
us that All of this capability, all of this knowledge
that you might have, all of this skill that you
might have in your job, it comes from God. Deuteronomy
8, verse 18, it says, You shall remember the
Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the
power to get wealth. Even the capability or the
ability that we may have to have a job, to hold
a job, That comes from God. That he may establish
his covenant which he swore to your fathers as
it is this day. That wisdom you have, that skill
you have, that ability you have to gain wealth,
that comes from God. And so this rich fool, it
says the ground yielded plentifully. And it's
the ground that is doing the work. And so he's
got all these crops. And we go back to chapter
12, and we pick up the story, the next verse,
in verse 17. It says, He thought within himself,
saying, What shall I do, since I have no room
to store my crops? I've got too much. I've got
the ground yielded all these crops, and I've
got too much of it. I don't have enough room.
Have you ever said in your life, in your world,
in your house, we've got too much of this? Have
you or someone you love ever looked in a closet
full of clothes and ever said, I just have nothing
to wear? You've got all of this. You've got too
much. And yet, it's not enough. Something else
is needed. And that's what he says. What can
I do? I've got no room. And he comes up with
a solution. So he said, I will do this. I will
pull down my barns and build greater barns. I'm
going to build bigger barns. And there I will
store all my crops and my goods. I've got too
much stuff. What shall I do? I don't have enough
room to store it all. So let me tear down the
rooms that I have and let me build bigger rooms.
I don't have enough room, so I'm going to make
more room. Now, I imagine that many of you are
like most of society, and no matter how much
room you have in your house, you're going to
fill it up. You slowly expand. Maybe you move
to a bigger house, and it's not going to be long
before you have filled up that space, and maybe
you've filled up more. You've filled up an attic
or a crawl space, or that guest bedroom is just
full of things, or that second... Garage just
has lots of things in it. And you can drive around
almost any community, including this one, and
like, oh, there's a new building being built.
Is it going to be a new restaurant? Oh, maybe
a new office? There's a good chance it's going
to be some storage units. You can drive anywhere,
and our landscape is littered with storage units.
So here's an idea. I'm just going to throw this
out. If you don't have enough room for your stuff,
the solution may not be to have more room. It
may be to have less stuff. Most of the time don't
need storage units. Sometimes we do, but maybe
we need less stuff. And if you don't have need
of something, I guarantee there's people not
far from you that probably do need the things
that you have. So that was his solution. I'm
going to tear down my barns and I'm going to
build bigger barns. But look at verse 19. He
says, I will say to my soul. And notice as we
hear him having this self -talk that he likes
to talk about himself. I'm going to do this.
I have too much stuff. I don't have enough room.
So he says, I will say to my soul. Soul, you
have many goods laid up for many years. Take
your ease, eat, drink, and be merry. I don't
need to do anything else. I have enough. I don't
need to count on God. I don't need to depend
on the things that God gives me. I don't even
need to work anymore. And yet, that's not how
God has created us, is it? God created us for
a day of rest. Praise the Lord for that. But
if we have a day of rest, That also means we
have days of work. It says six days you shall
labor and do all your work. But we're grateful
we have the seventh day as the Sabbath of the
Lord your God. And so yes, we appreciate a day
of rest, but what are we resting from? This gentleman
didn't... have a need of working anymore. He
didn't have a need of depending on God. And so
his vision was skewed because he was only thinking
of himself. And notice verse 20. It goes on.
But God said to him, fool. I don't think you
ever want God to say that to you. God said to
him, fool, this night your soul will be required
of you. Then whose will those things be which
you have provided? God says, okay, this is the
end of your life. This is the day that you die.
What then? This isn't what the sermon's about,
but I'll just throw it out there. Everybody should
have a will of some kind to determine what's
going to happen with your stuff, but that's not
really what this is about. But it says, when
you die, what then? Notice it goes on in verse
21. So is he who lays up treasure for himself.
and is not rich toward God. Instead of depending
and counting on the things that we have built
up, on our bank accounts, on our storage units,
we need to make sure that we are laying up treasure
in heaven, that we are putting the most important
thing, and we are being rich towards God and
not towards ourself. There's a story about Sam.
Sam had left. Ohio. It was 100 years ago or more.
And he was headed towards California because
he heard that in California there was a gold
rush going on. So probably 1850s or so, 1849.
And he made his way across the United States
in that era, maybe on a wagon. The railroad didn't
make it all the way across. Across the plains.
across the Rockies, the heat of the desert, the
cold of the mountains, and finally he made his
way to the gold fields of California, and he
was able to stake his claim in a particular place.
And as he was panning for gold, he was so excited
because he found a nugget, a gold nugget. This
is what I left home for. This is what I went
through all those trials for. This is what it's
all about. I have found this. piece of gold,
and he went to his friend, the neighbor who was
a much more experienced miner, and he showed
him, look, I found gold. And his friend Thomas
said, that's, sorry, that's not gold. That's
fool's gold. That's a metal called pyrite. It's
shiny. It looks like gold. It's got some value
in the industrial world today, but it's not.
What you were looking for. It's not what you
were seeking. So we have to ask ourselves, what
are we seeking after? Are we seeking something
that glitters? Something that's shiny? I think
it's Shakespeare who said, all that glitters
is not gold. We need to make sure that we're
not seeking after gold. Fool's gold, because
life does not consist in the abundance of things.
So what could be a remedy for our personal greed
that we might have, our personal covetousness
as we are seeking things for ourselves? Well,
right here in this chapter, we can go down to
verse 31. Luke 12, verse 31, it says, but seek
the kingdom of God. In Matthew, it says, seek
first the kingdom of God. and all these things
shall be added to you. So what can we do? We
can make sure that we are seeking God's kingdom.
And God's going to provide those other things,
because believe it or not, we do have need of
things. We need to have financial means. We need
food. We need shelter. We need to care for family.
We need all of these things. But the greed comes
in the excess, the putting it first in your life.
And so I want you to think about your life plan.
What is your life plan for the next month, the
next year, the next five years? Is your life
plan all about bank accounts and success and
business plans? Or does it begin with seeking
God every day? Yeah, make those plans for business.
Make those plans for your job, what you're doing.
But first and foremost, make sure that you are
seeking God, that you are seeking His kingdom
and allowing God to direct your path and show
you where you should go. So first we need to
be seeking God's kingdom. And then as we're doing
that, we can make sure that we are serving. others.
It's not just about you. It's not just about
me. And verse 33 kind of hints at that. It says,
sell what you have and give alms. Now what is
alms? Alms is about giving to the poor, help
providing for those in need, giving to somebody
else so we can be serving others. And this echoes
a little bit, we mentioned it earlier, that rich
young ruler. You remember that story when a young,
important, wealthy person came to Jesus? Turn
over to Luke chapter 18, we're going to look
at that real quickly. Luke chapter 18 and verse
20. Luke 18 and verse 20. This young man said,
what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And
Jesus said in verse 20, you know the commandments.
What shall I do to inherit eternal life? Do not
commit adultery. Do not murder. Do not steal.
Do not bear false witness. Honor your father
and mother. Jesus listed off some of the commandments.
He didn't list all of them. He didn't say, thou
shalt not covet. That's one of them. And perhaps
the challenge with this young man. And the young
man's like, I've done all those things. I've
done that. Yay, I've checked those boxes. And
then notice what Jesus said in verse 22. He said
to him, you still lack one thing. Sell all you
have and distribute to the poor and you will
have treasure in heaven and come and follow me.
Now, as far as I know, this is the only person.
that I recognize in Scripture that Jesus instructed
and told to sell all that you have. This is the
only person Jesus told that to. So we need to
be careful and not say, well, Jesus is telling
me or telling you to sell everything. Maybe he
is. I don't know. If you feel God's telling you
that, well, that's between you and God. But maybe
God is telling you that we need to make sure
that we are serving. other people, that we are
helping those that are in need, that we are caring
about other people. If you lack that same thing,
maybe Jesus is saying it to you. Most of us aren't
going to sell all that we have, but all of us
can serve somebody else. That's what the early
church did. That's what they did in the book
of Acts. We studied Acts last year, but if you
look at Acts chapter 2, we'll just remind ourselves,
Acts chapter 2 and And verse 44, this is right
after that day of Pentecost when 3 ,000 were
baptized. It said, now all who believed were
together and had all things in common and sold
their possessions and good and divided them among
all as anyone had need. The early church did
that. They did the same thing in chapter 4. Barnabas
did the same thing. Maybe God isn't calling you
and me to sell all that we have. but can we open
our eyes to the people in need around us to help
them, to serve them as we are seeking first the
kingdom of God so we can seek and we can serve.
And then perhaps another way to make sure that
we are overcoming this greed that we might have
is to store our treasure in the right place.
Back to Luke chapter 12. And verse 33, sell what
you have and give alms. Provide yourselves money
bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the
heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches
nor moth destroys, where the stock market doesn't
matter, where tariffs don't matter, but store
all of that in heaven. It says in verse 34, for
where your treasure is, there your heart will
also be. That's where we want our treasure to
be. We want our heart to be stored in heaven.
We want our treasure to be stored in heaven.
Yes, we need to care for ourself. Yes, we need
to care for our family. But let's also seek to
let our heart be broken for those around us,
for those who are in situations that breaks the
heart of God, as those are in need. We can see
that and we can help other people because life
does not consist in the amount of things that
we possess. So let's make sure we are seeking
God. We are serving God and we are storing our
treasure where it matters most. I want to tell
you a story about San May, San May Ver. This
happened back in about 2015. He was going through
the internet. looking at different domain names,
you know, internet sites. And he saw there was
a site that was available for sale. And he placed
it in his little cart there online, and he made
the purchase for $12. He bought the domain name.
And it just so happened it was the domain name
google .com. One of the most valuable and the
biggest websites in the world somehow. That had
come available for sale on this domain site,
and he purchased it for $12 and basically got
access to the webmaster -type things. He got
all that. What did he do with it? Now, he could
have redirected it to a different site. He could
have sold it back to Google for lots and lots
of money, but he didn't do that. He had worked
at Google a few years. before that, and he knew
the person to contact, and he contacted the person
and said, hey, I think there's been a mistake,
and the site was returned to Google. Now Google
wanted to reward him. They wanted to give him
money. Apparently they do that. If you find some
loophole in their website and let them know,
they'll fund a little bit. And so they wanted
to give him a reward, kind of a strange amount,
$6 ,600. dollars and 13 cents. Any ideas why
it might be that? I see Kevin laughing over here.
What? If you squint your eyes just right and
turn the three around, that kind of spells Google.
So they wanted to give him $6 ,000 in reward.
But San May said, you know what? I don't want
that money. Instead, I want you to donate that
money. And there was an educational foundation
which funded about 1 ,200 schools in India to
provide education to young people in India. And
he said, why don't you donate it to this foundation
which funds education in India? And when Google
heard that that was his plan, they actually doubled
the amount. So $12 ,000 was donated to this foundation
to educate young people in poor, rural India.
Sanmei had the opportunity to be greedy, to ask
for more, to try to get something for himself,
to try to get something of value for himself.
But instead, he used his opportunity to help
somebody else. What do we do with our opportunity?
Are we seeking first God's kingdom? Are we seeking
to find ways that we can serve others around
us? Are we making sure that we are storing up
our treasure in heaven? I hope that will be the
desire for you this week to seek first God's
kingdom. Let's bow our heads. Dear God, thank
you for this promise, a reminder that the things
we have, the possessions, the ability to work,
it's not our own. It's yours. And Lord, help
us in all that we do to put you first, to seek
you, to seek your desire. Help us to find ways
that we can serve somebody else. And help us
to store up our treasure in heaven as we live
our life for you and find ways to help others.
Be with each one of us here this week. May we
live our life in a way that reflects your love
and glory to someone else. In your name we pray.