The Sorrowful Rich Man

Mark 10:17-22.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, February 23, 2020.

We spend much of our days trying to impact our experience in this life.  However, the most important question begins with this.  What is next?  What is going to happen after I leave this life?  We know what materialism says about this; nothing happens.  Yet, God tells us that this life is only a prelude to eternity.

In our passage today, a deeper question is asked.  It accepts that there is something after this life, and it can be either good or bad, a spiritual life or spiritual death.  That deeper question is, what must I do to have eternal life?  Jesus came and showed us exactly what we must do to have eternal life.  We no longer need to be confused on this issue.

If this seems to be nonsense to you then I ask you to at least hear this sermon out, so you will at least know what God’s Word really says on this issue.

A question for Jesus

The story before us happens quite quickly.  A man shows up with a question for Jesus, but we need to look at who he is before we get into the question that he had for Jesus.

He is a rich young ruler within Israel who is troubled by a question.  The Gospel of Mark makes it clear at the end that he has “great possessions,” that is; he is rich.  Matthew 19:20 adds the fact that he is young, and Luke 18:18 tells us that he is a ruler (Greek- Archon).  This word for ruler is a general one.  It is used of Nicodemus, who is called a ruler of the Jews.  This seems to be a higher station and most likely refers to a position within the Sanhedrin, similar to a Supreme Court for Israel.  This term is also used for someone who is a ruler of a synagogue, which would be a much lower position.  It is unclear the level of his position, but his youth would make it unlikely that he is on the Sanhedrin.  Most likely, he has inherited much of his possessions, and perhaps his position as a ruler.

Even more important, the young man is troubled.  A question has been burning in his heart and mind that he has been unable to shake.  So, he catches Jesus as he is headed out of town going out on the road.  He runs to catch up to Jesus.  He doesn’t want to miss this opportunity, and yet, most likely waited for Jesus to leave town so that he could have a little more privacy at his question.  We should also notice that he kneels before Jesus.  This demonstrates the humility that the young man has and his high estimation of Jesus.

Now, we can look at his question.  What must I do to inherit eternal life?  His question is not about this life.  He has had it great in this life with his riches and power.  His question is about what’s next.  He knows that the righteous will be given eternal life by God.  He wonders how he can ensure that he will have eternal life on the other side.

According to the religious teachers of his day, he shouldn’t be concerned at all.  He is an Israelite, and thus, part of God’s people.  He is also an Israelite who observes the Law of Moses.  On top of this, he is rich, which was seen as a sure sign of God’s blessing and acceptance, in those days.  If he questioned a rabbi of his day, he would be told that he has eternal life of course.  Why would he doubt?  And yet, he is.  He feels that something is missing.  He feels like something could be wrong.  What is it?

I believe that he was under the conviction of the Holy Spirit.  God’s Spirit is always dealing with mankind, whether as one who belongs to God, or as one who does not believe in Him.  God’s Spirit was convicting him that something wasn’t quite right, that he was missing something important.  We will put this on pause for a minute because he had addressed Jesus as “good teacher,” and Jesus deals with this first.

Jesus asks him why he calls Jesus good.  He then states that only God is good.  It is easy to just take this as a matter of fact.  Some would point out that these words mean that Jesus clearly did not think he was good, nor divine.  However, Jesus is not denying his goodness.  Rather, he is making the young man think deeper.  The young man’s ideas about goodness go to the heart of his question.  In fact, Matthew 19:16 adds a more specific detail to the question.  “What good thing must I do to inherit eternal life?”  The young man is looking for that one action that is so good that it merits eternal life without question.  Thus, Jesus makes him think about his definition of good.  It cannot be found in the literature of the time that anyone would have addressed a rabbi with the adjective good.  Its use implies inherent goodness and even sinlessness.  Yes, some men are good in comparison to others, but something deeper is being pointed out here by Jesus.  The man is unwittingly correct that Jesus is good, but not because of his powers of deduction.  He is using an improper understanding of good.

Though Jesus does not spell out the logic that his statement leads to, it is not hard to follow.  If only God is good, then the best of us will always fall short to some degree.  It is impossible for a man who is not good to do an action that would be good enough.  It would always be a fallen person trying to do a good thing and falling short.  Of course, something within us all protests that surely being a good person is enough.  And, that is the problem.  The revelation of Jesus and his apostles is that there really is no good work that a person can do to inherit eternal life.  Don’t get me wrong.  Good works are important, but they can’t guarantee eternal life.

Jesus then tells him to follow the commandments, clearly speaking of the Law of Moses and especially the 10 commandments.  Six of them are listed.  Don’t commit adultery, murder, theft, bearing false witness, defrauding others, and do honor your parents.  The man responds that he has done all these things since his youth.  In other words, I’ve done those things and I still do not have a peace about my eternal future.

We should note that Jesus has listed the commands that have to do with our relationship with other people, commands 5 through 10.  However, he has left out commands 1-4, which have to do with our relationship with God.  Most likely, he has left these commands out in order to highlight where the problem is.  He is doing well in how he treats others.  No doubt, he does fail even here in light of the way Jesus interprets these commands in his Sermon on the Mount.  There, Jesus states that it is not good enough to refrain from doing these bad things.  If we harbor them as thoughts and desires within us then we are still breaking them.  The main problem is between him and God.  The Spirit of God is calling him into an intimate relationship rather than just satisfying his duties.

The problem in first century Israel is not that people were obeying the Law of Moses.  They were under a covenant with God and therefore they should be obeying these commands.  The problem was that, in doing the commands, things and duties had become the focus rather than a loving relationship with God.  The doing of things had come to be seen as the way to get close to God, instead of the truth that it should be the other way around.  I cannot do anything good enough to have a relationship with God, who is the source of eternal life, but a relationship with God can help me to do good things.  Another way to say it is this.  We do not do good things to obtain, or merit, salvation.  We do good things because we are in relationship with the one who has saved us.  Good works are the fruit of a relationship with God, not the means of obtaining it.

We are told that, as he pours out his heart, Jesus looks upon him and loves him.  Here is a man who is doing as best he can to obey God.  He is trying to respond to the conviction of the Holy Spirit that something is missing.  He is humble and open to what Jesus has to say.  He is close to eternal life because he is close to having a relationship with God through Jesus.  God is answering the question of his heart.  What a lovely thing for God, to see a troubled man kneeling before him asking for help.  I know that some who are not Christians despise such an image, but know this today.  God will not despise the humble, and He will give them grace.  However, the proud and unrepentant will find Him quite difficult to face.  The young man is doing what pleases the Lord, and so should we every day.

Jesus tells the young man that he lacks one thing.  With all of his possessions, he could not see that he was lacking one thing, and that was a living relationship with the God of his fathers.  Jesus is going to tell him exactly what to do in order to have eternal life.  Though it may seem complicated, it is as simple as telling him to quit trying to obey his way (or the way he had been taught) into eternal life, and start embracing the One who is eternal life.  Stop seeing eternal life as something separate from God that we can obtain without having to really deal with Him.  Instead, see it as the inseparable character and power of the One who calls us into relationship with Him.  Ask yourself today.  Have I been stuck doing things for God’s approval without actually having a relationship with Him? 

It is interesting that Jesus turns around and gives the young man 5 commands for him to obey that are not actually part of the 10 commandments.  They are: Go your way, Sell what you have, Give to the poor, Come taking up your cross, and Follow me.  If we are in the mode of thinking about good works then we will hone in one the selling of everything.  However, the main point of these commands is to remove the things that keep us from going after God.  To follow Jesus is to follow God.  Let’s look at each of these commands, and make no mistake, they are commands.

Jesus tells him to go his way.  There was something particular that the young man needed to deal with and he needed to do it by himself, though the Spirit of God could help him if he would ask for help.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer said in his book The Cost of Discipleship that, if we obey the Lord in every way except the one that he is commanding us right now then we are not obeying the Lord.  We cannot point to all the other ways we are obeying in the face of the one thing the Lord tells us to do.  We simply must do it.  He must go to deal with it.  He cannot leap-frog over it and follow Jesus without being disobedient.

The next command is to sell all that you have.  Possessions and wealth are in between him and God.  They were holding him back spiritually.  There is no verse in the Bible that commands us to sell everything.  In fact, this verse does not intend to teach that all Christians for the rest of time must sell all their possessions.  Jesus gives him the one drastic action that would cure him of his problem.  It is similar to the earlier drastic action that Jesus spoke of when he mentioned cutting off your hand to avoid Gehenna (Mark 9:43).  As I said when we looked at that passage, it is not our hands that lead us into sin.  It is the stronghold of sinful desires within us that lead us into sin.  He had a sinful attachment to the great amount of possessions in his life, and therefore, he needed to sell them all, not because it is sinful to have possessions, but because possessions were stirring up sin within him.  Yes, the Bible doesn’t say you must sell your possessions to make heaven, but it does tell us that this particular man did need to sell his possession to make heaven.  Even then, it wouldn’t be the selling of them that would merit eternal life.  Rather, the selling of them would free him to enter into relationship with the Lord of Life Himself.  He was trying to serve two masters, but wealth had his heart, not God.  He needed to divorce himself from his current love, and pursue God. 

This begs the question.  What might be in my way? If you have tried being a Christian, but found it to be missing something, then hear the Spirit of Christ calling to you today.  You too have things in your life that have your heart so much that you are unable to enter into a real relationship with Christ.  Let the Holy Spirit put His finger on it right now.  Hear Him telling you to go and do that drastic action that will set you free to follow Jesus.  He will never tell you to do a sinful thing.  Rather, it will always be something that our flesh will protest by saying, “but there is no verse that says I can’t have this!”

Next, Jesus tells him to give to the poor.  Just as elsewhere, giving to the poor is synonymous to putting treasure in heaven.  Giving and helping people who cannot pay you back is true spirituality and will be rewarded by God Himself.  It is not based upon the amount, but upon the intent and sacrifice.  By the way, this is not a commentary on a proper economic system.  Jesus did not ask this of everyone who believed on him, but he did this man.  We should all help the poor, but we are not all called to sell all our possessions (unless they have our hearts).  The key is understanding what is getting in the way of my relationship with God.

Next, Jesus tells him to come back to him taking up a cross.  Once we have removed the idols that we have in our heart, we are now ready to come to Jesus.  Yet, even then, we must approach with the right attitude.  Picking up your cross is the readiness to suffer in whatever ways you have to suffer in order to follow Jesus.  I must be ready to die to more things that may crop up later between me and Jesus.  Don’t bother coming to Jesus if you are not also packing your own cross.  If you think that following Jesus will obtain you riches and power then you might as well turn around right now.  If you truly follow Jesus then you will find the many things of this world to which you must die in order to keep up with him.

If you have done the previous four commands then you are now ready to actually follow Jesus.  Following Jesus requires a surrendered life.  Lord, I don’t have to know the way, just lead me one step at a time.  The Spirit of God will always give us direction, but we are not always quick to follow.  Eternal life is not as simple as being nice to others.  And yet, it is as simple as following Jesus.  It isn’t easy to follow the one who calls us to die to those things that keep us from following him.

This is not what the young man wanted to hear, which is proof positive that Jesus had put his finger exactly on his problem.  It says that he left sorrowful.  He approached Jesus in a more promising manner than Nicodemus did, who came by night.  Yet, he left saddened by the answer.   Whatever became of him?  We do not know.

The greater question is what will become of you, or me?  Do I have eternal life?  In John 17:3, Jesus says, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”  He does not just mean to know about him, but to actually experience a relationship with him, like the disciples who followed him did. 

How can you have eternal life?  Instead of offering God your good works and hoping that they will be acceptable to merit it, humble yourself and die to those things of this world that are getting in the way of following him.  Jesus is eternal life, and all who connect to him by putting their faith in him will have eternal life.  Let the Spirit of God lead you to cast aside your fears and doubts, and step into a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ!

Sorrowful Rich Man Audio

Have You Counted the Cost?

Today we will look at Luke 14:25-35.

At this point in Luke 14, Jesus has left the home of the leading Pharisee with whom he had a Sabbath meal.  Although multitudes are following him, Jesus takes time to make it clear what it really takes to become his disciple.  Just being in the crowd was not enough to make someone a disciple.  Jesus was headed somewhere that their flesh would not want to go.  Only a strong submission to the leadership of Jesus could carry a person through the challenging times ahead.  The same is true today.  Have you sat down and figured out what it may cost you to remain faithful to Jesus and who He truly is?

Our Primary Relationship

Who is the most important person in your life?  It can change depending upon your age and experience.  However, Jesus puts the challenge to those following him.  If you want to be my disciple then I must be the primary relationship of your life.  You see, up to now Jesus has been a bit of a novelty.  People would go out to see him because it was interesting.  Others went out because the hoped to be healed.  But no one understood that to follow him would require them to put their life on the line.  The discipleship of these people would not last past the cross if Jesus doesn’t begin to open their eyes to what it means to follow him.

Thus, Jesus walks through those most important relationships that we tend to have: parents, a spouse, children, siblings, and even our self.  No matter how we prioritize those relationships in our life, Jesus must now move to the top- that is if we think about it in authoritarian terms.  If we think about it in foundational terms then he must become the foundational relationship of our life.  Now, lest we protest to greatly, it is good to notice that following Jesus will enable us to love each of these relationships in truth.  Without Christ we find difficulty in sacrificially loving one another.  But with Christ, our relationship with Him is threatened when we do not lay our life down for each other.  Staying with Christ becomes more important than getting what we want out of our relationships.

Yet, Jesus uses the word “hate.”  How can this be that we should hate our parents?  Elsewhere he tells them to love their enemies.  Now, we can write Jesus off as a teacher of contradictions, or we can lean in and try to understand what he is talking about.  Clearly there is some shock value to this statement.  The crowd is following Jesus without thought to what it will cost to follow Him absolutely.  Thus he shocks them out of their lethargy. 

However, Jesus is not using hate in the sense of anger, detest, and desire to tear down.  There is a cultural usage of this term that we do not have here in the United States of America.  When hate is used in the context of choosing one thing over another, it rarely means the kind of hate that we think of.  Let’s go to an example that is found in Genesis 29:31.  Here Jacob has been tricked into marrying Leah and her sister Rachel.  Jacob only wanted to marry Rachel, but her father manipulated him into marrying Leah too.  The Bible tells us that, “When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb.”  Most modern translations will moderate this word to “unloved.”  Now it is clear that Jacob didn’t hate Leah in any active way.  In fact they would have children.  We would not have used the word “hate” in this context.  But, if someone followed Jesus at the expense of their family, many would be left shaking their head wondering what the person was thinking.  Perhaps to best understand this use is to see it from the view point of the person not being picked.  When you are not chosen, you don’t simply feel unloved.  In a sense, you feel rejected and hated.  Jesus is not calling his disciples to quit loving their friends and families.  But if they had to choose between a relationship with Jesus or with anyone on that list, they must choose Jesus.

Jesus then brings up the image of the cross.  The disciples of Jesus must follow him by carrying a cross.  This image is intended to point out our readiness and determination to die in order to follow Jesus.  The cross represents all the things I am going to have to die to in order to be a disciple of Jesus.  Jesus himself had a choice.  He could follow the plan of the people to make him king and conquer the Romans.  Or, he could follow the plan of his Father.  He had a choice to make.  To many of the Jews, his choice was a rejection of them.  But in reality Jesus loved them and wanted them to all become his disciples.  However, he could not reject his Father.  Thus we will find ourselves in situations where Jesus wants us to do one thing, but our family may want us to do another.  We must be willing to sacrifice everything in order to have Jesus.  This may sound hard, but it is the teaching of Jesus.

Now, we do not all lose the same things in following Jesus.  In fact, many families have been saved and have had long traditions of serving Jesus.  Thus there was never a choice to be made between Jesus and family.  However, some have had to.  When it comes to relationships, the disciple of Jesus is to love everyone, even his enemies.  Yet, sometimes those we are in relationship do not like our relationship with Jesus.  If they ever lay down an ultimatum and require us to choose then we must choose Jesus.  We see this with the apostles in the book of Acts.  They were pulled in before the authorities and told to stop preaching about Jesus.  These guys were not trying to be rebels against the government, but they were trying to follow Jesus.  Thus they say, “You must judge whether in God’s eyes it is right to listen to you and not to God.  We cannot promise to stop proclaiming what we have seen and heard.”  Jesus had commanded them to preach the good news about what he had done and accomplished.  But the legal authorities were commanding them to disobey Jesus.  Thus the response is that they will not make such a promise.  However, later when they are apprehended they submit to the persecution and even loss of their lives because these are the very things Jesus promised them would be.  So it is not that I will have to choose between relationships, but I must have decided already in my heart that Jesus is Lord and Master.  Jesus doesn’t want to rid you of any relationships with people.  But he does want to rid us of our relationship with sin in our life.  Thus the disciple is a person who allows the Lord to prune their life in order to become more fruitful for God.

We Must Count The Cost

Starting in verse 28 Jesus gives two illustrations of counting the cost.  Following Jesus is costly and a wise man will sit down and think it through first.  Can I pay such a price?  The first illustration is building a tower.  To begin such a project and then fall short would cost a person financially and socially.  I would be wiped out financially and people would mock me and lack any trust in my future endeavors.  Now this is a good illustration because God wants to build in us the character and person of Jesus Christ.  He wants to make us be like Jesus.  That kind of work will cost us in a lot of different ways.

Likewise, he uses the illustration of going to war.  It would be foolish to persist in a war that you cannot win.  Rather, you would stop and seek terms of surrender.  This is also a good illustration because we are in a battle.  The devil does not want anyone becoming like Jesus.  He works day and night to trap people in bondages that keep them from seeing Christ and especially becoming like him.  So here Jesus puts his terms on the table.  He will not settle for anything but the primary place in your life.  He will not share your allegiance with the devil.

It is possible that you could lose everything in this world to follow Christ.  Of course the odds go up or down depending on where you live.  At this point in America the odds are not very high that you will lose everything.  But, they are increasing every day.  In fact, this has been the normal in many countries of the world.  Even historically it was the norm in Europe.  That is why our ancestors left Europe seeking the New World.  They were fleeing tyranny in order to be free to serve Jesus.  They had to be willing to let go of their denominations, their relatives, even their nation in order to have Jesus.  Yet, today the New World has become the Old World once again.  To where will we flee?  At some point it is time to stop running and simply stand no matter what comes.  Jesus and I must stand as one regardless of the ultimatums the world may hurl at us.

To Become Like Him

Jesus ends this section with the imagery of salt.  His disciples would be the salt of the world.  Salt affects whatever it touches because of its nature.  If we follow Jesus he intends to change our nature to where we will affect the world around us.  Like salt, our commitment to living out the godly life of Jesus will slow down the moral decay of the world around us.  Also like salt, our faith in Jesus makes us desirable to God.  In and of ourselves we are like bland food that few want to eat.  But with Jesus we become tastier, not just to God, but some people in life are drawn by the “flavor” of a person following Jesus- the sacrificial life.

Jesus lays down the gauntlet with this crowd.  You either move forward and become like Jesus, or you shrink back and fall away as salt that has lost its saltiness.  I doubt you have ever bought salt from the store only to find it useless.  But this was not rare in the days of Jesus.  Such salt is useless and thrown away.  When the Spirit of God takes up residence within us and makes us over to be like Jesus, we become spiritually “salty.”  Many people like the idea of following Jesus, but the reality causes them to shrink back.  At this point some completely fall away.  However, others simply redefine Jesus to fit what they now believe.  Later they may step further back away from the True Jesus and yet redefine him again.  All along they tell themselves that they are disciples of Jesus, yet they have never died to anything in order to follow him.  How about it, have you counted the cost?  Do so today and choose to follow Jesus no matter what.

counted cost audio

When Your Time is Up

Today we are going to be in Luke 12:13-21.

Our time is up for 2014 and 2015 is soon to begin.  We cannot go back and change what we said, did, or accomplished this previous year.  The New Year reminds us that we are mortal and we are now one year older.  How many years do I have left?  Am I living in such a way as to bring judgment or grace upon me when I stand before God?  These are some heavy questions that we may tend to avoid.  However, it is imperative that we deal with them now while we have time, rather than waiting and being caught off-guard.  The Bible tells us that “it is appointed to men to die and then the judgment.”  Instead of seeing these things as dark and foreboding, we can look at them as powerful understanding of what is to come.  When you know what is coming in advance, you can make preparations now that will help you be successful when they come.  That is the wonderful thing about the present.  Even though your past is “etched in stone,” the present allows you to affect the future that those past decisions are taking you towards.  We can make course corrections and thereby overcome things that we cannot change.

A Person’s Life Is Not In The Abundance of Possessions

In verses 12-15 Jesus is interrupted by a man who wants Jesus to do something for him.  Jesus then turns to his disciples and teaches them because the man is an illustration of an important principle.  Life cannot be found in the abundance of possessions.

Now this man addresses Jesus as “teacher.”  Thus he approaches Jesus as a disciple.  However, there is no sense of wanting to learn in his request.  He simply wants Jesus to do something for him.  So is he a disciple or is he only a manipulator trying to get something out of Jesus?  Jesus exposes his true motivation: covetousness.  This man wants what his brother has and is hoping Jesus will get it for him.  Now notice the response of Jesus.  He calls him “man.”  This is quite different then the “my friends” he used with his disciples back in vs. 4.  This is a more curt and formal address.  Jesus clarifies that he is not really the man’s teacher and the man is not really his disciple.  Jesus was merely a means to an end for this guy and do not be deceived, God will not be mocked and used by us for fleshly means.

Now the man’s issue has to do with an inheritance.  He wants Jesus to make his brother divide the inheritance with him.  Now it makes sense to come to Jesus to settle an issue of justice.  The Scriptures said that the Messiah would rule with perfect justice and would cause righteousness to shine.  He would be the ultimate arbiter of mankind.  Yet, we are not given enough information about this particular situation to judge the merits of this man’s appeal.  Was his brother being wicked and squeezing him out of his proper inheritance?  Or was this man wicked and trying to get more than his proper share?  Or were they both wicked and covetous?  Regardless, one thing is true, Jesus does care about justice.  He does not reject this man’s appeal because he doesn’t care.  Even if this man’s cause was just, Jesus recognizes that something deadly has happened in his heart.  He has been overcome with having what his brother has.  Much covetousness lies behind the talk of justice.  Christ cares too much about this man’s soul to prostitute justice for the sake of his flesh.  Is it possible that getting justice might be the last thing we need spiritually?  Jesus essentially tells the man that his problem is not his brother, but his own heart.  He has become greedy and is coveting.  To give him what he wants would only make his spiritual situation worse.

In verse 14 Jesus asks him, “who made me judge over your case?”  Legally no one had.  Thus Jesus points out that the man is only seeking leverage over his brother.  Had his case been heard by the authorities and denied?  We are not told.  But there is far more to this story then is made evident by the man’s appeal.  Why come to Jesus and not the proper authorities? 

Jesus may also be reminding those who are listening of the situation of Moses.  When Moses first decided to do something about the plight of his people, he ended up killing an Egyptian taskmaster who was harshly whipping an Israelite.  Later he sees too Hebrews fighting and tries to get them to quit quarreling.  One of the men responds, “who made you ruler and judge over us?”  As much as people want justice and cry out for it, when God does supply the man to get it for us, we complain.  Justice is a double edged sword.  It not only cuts those who have treated us unjustly, but it cuts us as well.  Thus as Messiah, God had made Jesus judge over all mankind.  In fact we see this in 2 Timothy 4:1, “I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His Kingdom…”

The real issue here is the man’s relationship to Jesus.  If Jesus really were his master and judge, then the man would have left everything in order to follow him and know true justice.  From the point of becoming his disciple and following, the only purposes and intention that would matter would be those of Jesus.  Thus we see the problem of my agenda versus the agenda of God.  God’s agenda is generally not the same as ours even when we claim to want the same thing as him.  Our understanding of justice is not always just.  We live in a world that loves to co-opt the person and message of Jesus for its own understanding and intention.  Yet, in the end they will not follow Jesus as Lord.  Check your own heart and see if there are desires and agenda items that are more important to you then having Jesus as your Lord because this will reveal your true relationship with Jesus.  He is either Lord of all or not Lord at all.

Jesus then turns to his disciples and warns them to watch and guard against coveting.  Our sinful nature will seek to suck life out of material things instead of turning to God from whom all life flows.  Our life is in the words of Christ to us, not in what Christ says to our brother.  Even if the entire world turns against Jesus and you are left alone, his words to you can supply life to you, if you believe.  “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”  All else is peripheral and often detrimental.  When we covet we want to have more, especially that which belongs to another.  In Colossians 3:5 we are told that coveting is idolatry.  This man looks to the inheritance that his brother has as more important than God.  He is not really interested in justice, but in satisfying a craving for more possessions and wealth.  Jesus says to watch and guard against such sins.  But what are we guarding?  We are guarding our hearts from being infected by such sin.  This man was being swallowed up in sin.

The Parable of The Rich Fool

In verses 16-21, Jesus tells a parable to his disciples to slam home the main issue here, this man’s soul is in jeopardy and he is being foolish.  When you look at the man in the parable you will notice that his thoughts are all centered on himself.  If you count the personal pronouns he uses you will get the picture.  Also note that there is no mention of God in all of his thinking.  It is irrelevant if he goes to synagogue every week and prays loudly in front of everyone.  We see here in the private counsels of his own heart that God has no place.

In the parable the man has bumper crops to the point that he has a “problem” of figuring out what to do with the excess or overflow.  Instead of asking why has God blessed him and figuring out what God’s purpose is, his solution is to build bigger barns and amass the increase for himself.  Even though he doesn’t need more, he heaps it up.  Today we would call this hoarding.  Now here is a problem.  It is one thing when Jesus calls us out on our hoarding.  We know that he has no ulterior motive.  But, often those who point out the sin of hoarding only want to have what they have.  We see a big pile of money or possessions and the wickedness of our heart covets it.  This reminds me of the movie that just came out, The Hobbit.  In it we see how the amassed gold and riches ate into the heart of all who saw it and obtained it.  So we will be judged on both accounts: a greedy amassing for self and a greed desire to take from others.

In verse 19 we notice that his soul is at ease.  Godly people in every generation have spoken of the need for a holy discomfort with our life and the world around us.  When Christ is our focus then this world causes us trouble and discomfort at least.  Too often Christians stop at being uneasy about the world, yet refuse to walk with the Lord seriously enough to become uncomfortable with their own sin.  Our rest is to be found in trusting Jesus and His teachings.  This man is trying to find rest in material abundance outside of Christ.  We need to refresh ourselves in Him and rest, but we should never rest in being vigilant over our soul against sin.

Similar to the handwriting on the wall before Belshazzar, a message from God comes to the man.  He is about to die and he has been judged as a fool by God.  He is a fool because he focused his life on what couldn't save him, nor could go with him.  He lived without a sense of accountability to God.  This life is a gift and how we go about living it determines our judgment.  Will you live for the Lord Jesus or will you continue as master?  His judgment comes without warning and the man will die that very night.  Although some of us are given fair warning that our time is coming, many will go into eternity without the ability to "make quick amends."  We need to live so that nothing is left undone between us and the Lord.  

In Matthew 19:21 Jesus says to the rich young man, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come follow me."  This idea of putting treasure in heaven by helping others is explained there.  Here the phrase is called, "being rich toward God."  It is interesting that it clearly means to help people, but the emphasis is on God.  When we help others simply because it makes us feel good, we need to be careful.  This is not what saves us.  In fact such giving often cuts God out of the picture.  It is purely about bringing pleasure to one's self.  But, when God becomes the Lord of all our possessions and money, we will truly become a free person.  We are free to bless others as he enables and directs.  You are under no compulsion by the people who covet your money and hold the words of Jesus over your head.  Their greed will continue to destroy them unless they repent.  But you are free to give and help under the compulsion of the Spirit of God.  Lest this seem like a cop-out, know this: you will give account to God for all you have done or not done on this earth and He is not mocked.  James lays out a warning for those who either have riches or desire to get them.  James 5:1-7  , "Come now you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you!  Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.  Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire.  You have heaped up treasure in the last days.  Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.  You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.  You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.  Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord."

Time is up audio

Hearing God’s Word

Have you ever been given something that was very important to the person who gave it to you?  When I was about 13 years old my grandmother let me borrow a book that was very important to her.  It was an historical look at Russia’s last Emperor, Nikolay, and the brutal murder of his family at the hands of the communist Bolsheviks when they took over.  She had wrapped it up in a small white garbage bag so that it wouldn’t get wet.  I took it to my house and began reading it.  However, one day it went missing.  I looked everywhere and could not find it.  At that point, I had that sinking feeling you get when you know you have to face the music.  I never knew what happened to that book.  But, I learned a lesson about how to take care of those things that are valuable to another. 

Two weeks ago we looked at the Parable of the Soils, which pointed out that we need to take care how we receive God’s Word.  God’s Word is precious to Him, not just because it is His, but also because of what it can do for us.  We can be guilty at times of flippantly receiving something that is incredible important to God.  In today’s passage we will see this again with another parable and a visit from the family of Jesus.  Let’s look at Luke 8:16-21.

Parable of the Lamp

In verses 16-18 Jesus tells a parable that is very simple.  It is a picture of what it is like to receive the Word of God.  In the previous parable God’s Word is likened to a seed being broadcast onto soil.  Here God’s Word is likened to the lighting of a lamp in a room.  Now the lamps of those days would be oil lamps that would have a hole or a narrowing on one side and they usually had a wick.  Thus, just as God casts out seed, so here, God is the one who lights the lamp.  He does this by giving Truth to us.

Now a lamp needs oil in it in order to sustain a flame.  Throughout Scripture oil is a type of the Holy Spirit.  Now God is always working through His Spirit to prepare hearts to receive the Truth of God. In this sense God is supplying oil.  However if we do not retain this supply it will never fill us up in order to sustain a light.  Thus we need the Truth of God and the help of the Holy Spirit to ignite a light within us.  This will enable us to “see” the reality of life all around us.

Once a flame has begun, the light will immediately fill the room.  Light by its nature spreads out as far as it can.  Thus our life and its sphere of influence is like the room that the lamp is in.  We will not only be able to see better for ourselves, but anyone who intersects our life can benefit from this Truth of God burning in our life.

Now Jesus points out that the light is not lit in order to be hidden.  God has a purpose in putting this light in our life.  It is meant to reveal and make things known to us and those who are around us.  It is revelation by nature.  It is not enough to have good feelings towards God inside us.  When His light is operating in us, it is intended to be acted upon and thus give light to others.  If we fail to express God’s Truth in our life then we are contending with the very purpose of God.  Thus Jesus warns in verse 17, “For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be know and come to light.”  What God gives to me in secret devotion should be revealed by me in my life.  But, if not, then the day will come when it will be revealed against me at the judgment seat of Christ.

In both parables we notice this; if the Word is not taken care of it will be squelched or lost.  Here we must keep the oil level high enough, monitor the wick, and protect the flame.  If we do this then we will bear fruit by patiently guarding and nurturing the light of God’s Word in our life.  However, if not, even what light we have received will be lost.  How do I receive God’s Word?  It is an extremely valuable thing.  Without proper value, we will find ourselves losing the light that God intends us to have.

My Relationship To Jesus…

Now at this point word comes to Jesus that His mother and brothers are outside.  Although this seems to be an interruption, it ends up emphasizing the point that Jesus is making about what He is teaching them.  Luke most likely shares this in order to strengthen the point of our need to properly hear the Word.  Family is one of the closest relationships we can have.  Yet, the brothers of Jesus did not believe in Him.  This lack of believe and the strange things that Jesus was doing no doubt enabled them to stir up maternal fears in Mary.  “He’s crazy.  He’s going to get himself killed.  Why doesn’t he settle down and marry a good Jewish woman and start a family?”  In another place we are told that his family tried to even make him come home at one point.  Now, the point of this story is not that Jesus wouldn’t see his family.  No doubt, he did after he made his point.  But it presented a perfect time to emphasize what he had just been teaching.

Jesus basically says that those who hear the Word of God and do it are his mother and brother, i.e. family.  Thus our closeness to Jesus first depends upon hearing the word of God.  To be close to Jesus is to first be close to the Word of God.  We cannot divide it into parts we like and parts we don’t.  Neither can we make distinctions like only reading the words of Jesus as opposed to the apostles.  Some even try to go through the words of Jesus and determine what they think he really said.  This is not being in relationship with Jesus.  This is trying to manipulate the Word of God to our own thinking.  If I want to be close to Jesus then I need to receive all of God’s Word.

Yet, I must also put it into practice.  How I receive the Word is just as important as having it, if not more.   When we act upon the Truth its power is unleashed in our life and makes a difference for us and for those around us.  Now it would be easy to make this about simple obedience.  However, the relationship of a mother and brother are not those who must obey us.  Rather, this is about love.  Even if I don’t love what Jesus is saying, my love for him can help me to do the right thing anyways.  “Nevertheless, because You ask us to, we will throw our nets out again.”

In 2 Thessalonians 2:10 we are told that people perish because they refused to receive a love of the Truth.  Everyday God is trying to give us Truth and a love for it.  The problem is not on His end.  It is on ours.  This is a difficult Truth that many who have been inundated with God’s Word have never truly known Him because they refused to embrace it in their life.  Yet, many who have had precious little Truth embraced it whole heartedly.  May God help us to be that light which he has made us to be in this nation and this generation.