Greed and Treasure | Sunday, March 14, 2021

Hey there, Cross Connection! It is good to see you all. Pastor Mark, down there on the bay, I hope you're having a beautiful sunny day. For the rest of us, wherever we are, we're going to be opening up the Bible to Luke chapter 12. Some of you might be thinking, "Hey, wait, didn't you just preach last week?" Yes, I did, and this is part two of that message. Last week's message dealt mostly with hypocrisy and humility. Today, we're going to talk about greed and treasure. So, if that isn't a thrilling combination of topics that we rarely feel convicted about—greed and treasure—let's pray and get started.

Heavenly Father, we pray that you would bless us today, Lord Jesus. Fill us with your Holy Spirit and give us wisdom and discernment. As we approach this text, we pray that you would be glorified in it and that you would minister to your people today. Jesus, we pray these things in your name. Amen.

All right, we are in Luke chapter 12. Where we left off last week, Jesus was speaking to a large multitude of people, and he was addressing the Pharisees quite sternly about hypocrisy. Then, he turned his attention to everyone else in the crowd and began discussing the danger of hypocrisy for each one of us. We talked about walking in humility as the antidote to hypocrisy because we all know that, in some ways, we are hypocritical, and that should produce humility in our lives.

While he was speaking, we will pick up in verse 13. Someone from the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." There's always one, right? Jesus was addressing this entire crowd, discussing blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, talking about persecution, and explaining that the Holy Spirit would teach them what must be said. Then, someone in the crowd yells out, expressing that he doesn't feel treated fairly by his brother regarding the inheritance.

There always seems to be that one person at any gathering. Well, here’s the guy, and he’s yelling about his inheritance. I don’t think he gets the response he was expecting because Jesus replies to him in verse 14, "Friend, who appointed me judge or arbitrator over you?"

He then told them to watch out and be on guard against all greed because one's life is not in the abundance of his possessions. This was probably not the man's first attempt to resolve the issue to his own satisfaction, and I don't think he got the response he wanted from Jesus. Jesus cautions everybody in the crowd to watch out and be on guard against all greed. The man was probably thinking, "I'm not being greedy; I'm just trying to get what I deserve." However, Jesus points out that one's life is not in the abundance of his possessions, and that's something that should resonate with all of us.

He goes on in verse 16 and says, "Then he told them a parable." He said a rich man's land was very productive, and he thought to himself, "What should I do since I don't have anywhere to store my crops?" He decided, "I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones. I will store all of my grain and my goods there, and then I'll say to myself, 'Self, you have many goods stored up for many years. Take it easy, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.'"

Let's look at that a little bit. Jesus is telling them a parable, which is a story meant to illustrate a greater principle. The rich man's land was productive, and I don't know how much credit the man can take for that. He ends up with the problem of not having anywhere to store his crops. He has such an abundance that he doesn't even know where to put it all. Then he has the idea, "I know what I'll do. I will tear down the barns that I have and build bigger barns so I can hold more stuff." At the end of it all, he can look at himself and say, "You have enough stored up for many years. Take it easy, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself."

In effect, what he has done is insulate himself from having to have any faith whatsoever. He thinks, "I have everything I need stored up. I have this, I have that." He has all these ways to insulate himself from having to have faith.

However, verse 20 says, "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life is demanded of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?'" This raises the question not only of whose they will be but also of whose they were in the first place, because God was the one who gave him those things. God is the one who provides.

Who owns these things? God is ultimately in control of what we do anyway. Here He is saying, "Well, whose will they be, rich man, when they're all gone?" In verse 21, He states, "That's how it is with one who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God." The key phrase here is "towards God" at the end of that verse. The abundance was not wrong, but the heart was wrong. God provided the abundance either directly or through the talents and abilities given to the rich man. You might even say the talent was on loan from God, but the issue was the direction of his heart.

We see here that those rich people need to make sure they're storing up all their treasures in heaven. The focus here is on those rich people, right? Unfortunately for us, or fortunately either way, "rich" is kind of a sliding scale. When I was young, being rich meant having a nice car or making twelve dollars an hour. Now we're in a nationwide debate about having a minimum wage of fifteen dollars an hour, and to a lot of places, that's considered super rich.

To us, it seems like it doesn't really matter because there's always someone richer than we are. I may have eight million dollars, but that guy over there has twenty million, and another has a billion. I don't see myself as rich; they're the rich ones. We always find an easy way to place the label of "rich" on someone else. Those people who have more than us are the rich people, and that's who God is talking about.

Stay with me here. In verse 22, He said to His disciples, "Therefore I tell you, don't worry about your life, what you're going to eat, or your body, what you're going to wear." He moves from the rich to anyone who eats food and wears clothes. This is a bit more widespread in our minds, right? While many of us are watching this at home, probably in our pajamas, we're still wearing something. The alternative thought is just not worth bearing.

So there they are, and Jesus brings it up to anyone who eats food and wears clothes. This is a more widespread application, but He says, "Don't worry about what you're going to eat or what you're going to wear." That sounds easy, right? Like, I'm not going to worry about what I'm going to eat or what I'm going to wear. I don't know about you guys, but I start thinking about dinner.

From probably about breakfast, I wonder what we're going to have for dinner tonight. I ask my wife, "What are we eating tonight?" She'll say something like, "Oh, my wife made a fantastic pork stew last night, and it was so good." I knew it was going to be good because it was going in the crock pot in the morning. You start to smell it, and when you get home after work, the smell has permeated the house. It's just delightful.

Jesus here says, "I don't want you to worry about that. Don't worry about what you're going to eat and don't worry about what you're going to wear." This can sound easy, but at other times, it feels a little hard not to worry about those things. We don't really worry about eating, right? We handle hunger just fine. It's not like we see anything in the Bible about people making really bad decisions out of hunger, do we?

Oh, wait. If we look at Genesis chapter 25, verses 29 and on, it says, "Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field exhausted and said to Jacob, 'Let me eat some of that red stuff because I am exhausted.'" This is why he was also named Edom. Jacob replied, "Well, first, sell me your birthright." There's a good interchange, right? "I'm so hungry, give me some food; sell me your birthright." What?

In verse 32, Esau says, "I'm about to die. What good is a birthright to me?" He was so hungry that he felt he was going to die. Have you ever felt that way? Do you ever get those hangry moments where your hunger starts to affect your attitude? Then Jesus says, "Don't worry about that."

So anyway, Jacob says, "Well, you swear to me about the birthright." Esau swore to Jacob and sold his birthright, his inheritance, for a pot of lentil stew and some bread. It says that Esau despised his birthright. Sounds like somebody might have needed a Snickers, but it says Esau despised his birthright.

What do you think it means for us when Jesus says, "I don't want you to worry about these things"? Don't worry about what you're going to eat or what you're going to wear, and yet we still worry about those things. What does that mean? Are we despising our birthright? It's a thought to ponder, something to think about.

Jumping back into Luke, it says, "For life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing." Life is much more than we generally think.

We have a tendency to minimize what life actually is. We think about dinner, TV, work, and school, and we miss the grandeur of what we're actually involved in. We have been placed here directly by God with a mission to seek and to save, to show the glory of God, and to join the mission of the cross by living in a way that shows the world who Jesus is. Each one of us is an agent on a mission behind enemy lines, tasked with rescuing the people around us.

Jesus points out that we often get sidetracked by the rations we eat and the uniforms we wear. He gives a couple of examples of what we should be paying attention to instead. He says, "Consider the ravens. They don't sow, they don't reap, they don't have a storeroom or a barn, and yet God feeds them. Are you worth more than birds?" This is a rhetorical question because, yes, in fact, you are worth more to God than a bird. In case you didn't know, Jesus didn't die for birds; He died for you. You were worth that price. Therefore, we are worth infinitely more than birds.

Then He asks in verse 25, "Can any of you add one moment to your life by worrying?" If you're not able to do even a little thing, why do you worry about the rest? We can't even extend our lives by one moment, no matter how hard we try. Yet, we sometimes get consumed with worry about things that we can't change. Worry is Satan's way of having us cripple ourselves in areas that he couldn't. Let me say that again: worry is Satan's way of having us cripple ourselves in areas that he couldn't cripple us. Worry just eats us up.

The response we tend to give when we're told that we shouldn't worry is something along the lines of, "Well, I can't just live with my head in the sand. I have to be informed. I have to know these things." Can't you just hear the serpent whispering, "Did God really say not to worry?" It's shades of the Garden of Eden all over again. God never meant for us to be consumed by what we have no control over.

There was a children's video we had about the Garden of Eden, and it was phenomenal. It contained one of the most profound moments I think I've ever heard about the story of the fall of man. In it, the narrator, who is voicing God, says to Adam and Eve, "I never gave you the burden..."

Of understanding, the only burden I gave you was obedience. So often, we feel like we have to understand everything. If we don't understand it, then it becomes consuming, and we feel the need to know. Sometimes, we just have to be still and know that God is God and we are not. We have to rest in Him.

Worry eats up our time and our patience. It keeps us on the sidelines and prevents us from engaging in the battle that God has placed us here to fight. Jesus tells us again in verse 27, "Consider how the wildflowers grow. They didn't labor, they didn't spin, they didn't make thread. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these." If that's how God clothes the grass, which is in the field today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, how much more will He do for you, O you of little faith?

There is a certain time of year when, if you go up to Daly Ranch, you will see some grass or shrubs turn a beautiful purple color. It's a short time of year, but when you go up there, the waves of the hills are glorious purple, bright, and fragrant. You look at that and think, "Man, this is just beautiful." If God can do that for a plant that is here today and gone tomorrow, what will He do for us?

Yet, so often, rather than trust Him, we spend our time worrying about other things. We focus on this or that, wondering how we will navigate certain situations or what we will do next. Christian, stop. Trust God. Take a deep breath. He is in control. He is not going to leave you or forsake you. He promises these things, and we see the crux here: worry is a side effect of a lack of faith, with some attitude thrown in for good measure.

Jesus goes on in verse 29 and says, "Don't strive for what you should eat and what you should drink, and don't be anxious. For the Gentile world eagerly seeks all these things, and your Father knows that you need them." God knows you need them. So, Jesus says, don't strive and don't be anxious.

Okay, well, that's super simple, right? I'm going to tell you here: don't be anxious and don't strive. Don't worry. Don't be fearful. No problem. It's kind of like the thing where you say, "Don't think of a pink elephant," and you're like, "Oh, I can't think of anything but a pink elephant."

But you see, God knows us. Just like when Moses was explaining to God that he couldn't possibly talk to the Pharaoh because he doesn't speak well, God's response was, "Who made your mouth?" You see, God understands us better than we understand ourselves. After all, He made us. Knowing that we would worry about not worrying, He gave us something else to focus on.

In verse 31, it says, "But seek His kingdom, and these things will be provided for you." Here's the focus: we seek God's kingdom. We work towards God's kingdom. We long for God's kingdom, and we spread God's kingdom through our efforts along with Him. That's the thing that we need to focus on. Take our worries and divert them over to seeking His kingdom.

So when you start to feel yourself worrying, here are a couple of questions to ask yourself. First of all, what would most glorify God in my situation? What would bring God the most glory in the situation that I'm in right now, the one I'm worrying about? Another question is, what opportunity do I have to expand the kingdom of God here? If we focus on those things, we can go from worrying about them to seeking first the kingdom of God, realizing that God is going to take care of us.

God loves you so much. He's not going to leave you. He's not going to forsake you, and He's not going to destroy you. Trust Him. Yes, times will be difficult. That's okay. Difficult times make strong people. God will provide for you.

Then Jesus says in verse 32, "Don't be afraid, little flock, because your Father delights to give you the kingdom." God doesn't just begrudgingly give us the kingdom; it says He delights to give it to us. He's excited about it. He wants to. He's like a parent on Christmas, waiting for your kids to open up your presents, and you're so excited because they're going to open something you got for them. You know they're going to love it. That's what God's heart is for us.

Why do we worry about things if God is so excited to give us what we need? We worry because, like children, we have such a limited perspective. So, He gives us something else to think about: Seek first the kingdom of God.

In verse 33, it says to sell your possessions and give to the poor. Make money bags for yourselves that won't grow old, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

You see, it's not about not working; it's about working for what matters. It's not about the job you do; it's about the kingdom. It's about why you do the job you do. It's about why you're a teacher, why you're a parent, or why you're in business. It's about why you're there. Remember, Jesus placed you there to expand the kingdom of God.

At the end of verse 34, it reiterates, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. We sometimes look at this and get it completely backwards. We think that wherever our heart is, that's where our treasure will be. But that's not what the verse says. It clearly states, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

It's all about what you make your treasure. Whatever you treasure the most in this world will be where your heart longs to be. If your treasure is wealth, then that's where your heart will be, and that will lead you astray because what we are supposed to be seeking is the kingdom of God. However, if I make my treasure God's kingdom, then that's where my heart will be. That's where my focus will be, and that's where my thoughts will be. That is where God will delight in giving me the kingdom.

Now, does that mean I'm going to be super wealthy? Probably not. I don't think God would trust me with that. But if I make the kingdom of God my goal, then I know He will delight in working with me in that area. It's all about what you make your treasure.

Is your treasure going to be something that dies with you, or will it be something that decay cannot touch, that thieves can't steal, and that will last for eternity? This year, I became a grandfather for the first time, and it gave me what I call grandpa perspective.

All of a sudden, what I measure in my life changed. It was no longer just the immediacy of my own children; now it became about what I can do for my grandchild. What can I do that’s going to make a difference in my grandchild's grandchildren's lives? What am I going to do that will make a difference in generations?

I can tell you that the thing that will make a difference in those generations is if I can instill the message in my children and in my children's children, and they can instill it in their children's children. If I seek first the kingdom of God, He will add everything else to that. That will make the difference.

There's a quote that I love from a Quaker seminary professor named David Elton Trueblood. He said, "A man has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of life when he plants shade trees under which he knows full well he will never sit." Think about that. We start to figure out the meaning of life when we begin to plant trees whose shade we will never sit in. When we start setting things up for our children's children and their children and their children, we are seeking first the kingdom of God.

We are adding them, God willing, to something that will never decay. We are adding them to the kingdom of God. We are doing everything we can, and we trust God for the rest, but those are the treasures that are important.

So the final question I have for you today to think about is: Will you choose a treasure that will last beyond you? What a tragedy it would be if, on the day that we are called home, everything we worked for ends and people fight over it in probate. What a blessing it would be instead if our legacy is a family that loves Jesus, that raises a family that loves Jesus, that raises a family that loves Jesus. One day, we all get to gather there in heaven, and we have our treasure with us still.

Let's work towards that day, Cross Connection. Let's pray. Dear Jesus, Lord, I pray that you would help me to make You my treasure, to make Your kingdom...

My treasure, Lord God, I pray that I would be able to focus there. Lord, I pray this for this church and for anyone who happens to see or hear this message. Father God, help all of us to step away from worrying and instead focus on the treasure of Your kingdom, Lord Jesus.

Where we fall short, Lord, I pray that You would forgive us, remind us, and redirect us back to You. Most of all, Jesus, You are such a wonderful treasure. Thank You for Your grace, for Your love, and for Your sacrifice on our behalf. Lord Jesus, be glorified in Your church. Thank You for being a treasure that will never fade and that will linger and last for eternity.

Jesus, we pray these things in Your name. Amen. God bless you all.