Glynlea Grace United Methodist Chruch

Scripture

Luke 12:15-21

And he said to them, "Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." ¹⁶ And he told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; ¹⁷ and he thought to himself, `What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' <sup>18</sup> And he said, `I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.' ²⁰ But God said to him, `Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' ²¹ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

  Core Idea, Challenge & Summary

Core Idea: Wealth is a means, not an end

Summary: When we die, we’ll take nothing with us.  We entered this world naked and penniless and we’ll leave it naked and penniless. So, why acquire wealth? We certainly don’t need it when we die.

We acquire wealth as a means to spread God’s love. That should be the primary way Christians use wealth. Yes, we take care of our necessities and provide for our families but the rest should be used primarily to spread God’s kingdom on earth. After all, our wealth is a blessing from God and God expects us to use it for His purposes.

Jesus told a parable about a man who acquired much wealth. The man died suddenly and his wealth was wasted. When we answer to Jesus, we don’t want to tell Him that we wasted the wealth He entrusted us with. We want to tell him we used it responsibly and in a way that did the most good.

So, now is the time to take a look at how we use our wealth. This includes our money, possessions and other assets such as wills, life insurance and retirement funds. Does your handling of wealth reflect a view of wealth as a means to expand God’s love?  

The Sermon

I. Introduction: Many people ask me questions about what happens to us when we die

     A. I don’t understand all the details about what happens when we die

• I can tell you that hell is bad and we all deserve it but I can’t tell you all the details about hell
• I can tell you that heaven is incredibly awesome and we all can obtain it through faith in Jesus but I can’t tell you all the details about heaven
• I can only tell you what is revealed in Scripture. I can help you understand what is revealed in Scripture but I can’t go beyond that.
• So, I have a lot of questions concerning life after death. There is, however, one thing that is clear….

     B. When we die, we take nothing with us.

• We came into this world naked and penniless and we’ll leave it naked and penniless
• It doesn’t matter how big our checking account is or how nice our house is, they don’t go with us when we die.
• So, why acquire wealth? What is the purpose of acquiring wealth?
• The parable spoken by Jesus in Luke 12:15-21 addresses this question.

II. The parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:15-21)

     A. The parable is about having the right attitude towards wealth

• Luke 12:15: “Take heed, and beware of all covetousness (or greed); for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions”
• Greed is idolatry: Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness (or greed), which is idolatry. (Colossians 3:5, emphasis added) 
• Idolatry is desiring something more than God. It’s depending on something else, rather than God, for your peace and joy. It’s putting something else above God. Do we put the acquisition of money above God? If so, we commit idolatry.
• This is not to say wealth is bad. Wealth is neither good nor bad. It’s our attitude towards wealth that makes it good or bad.
• So, Jesus is talking about idolatry: Do we view wealth as an idol or as a means to expand God’s love throughout the world?
• To drive this point home, Jesus tells a parable

     B. The parable (Luke 12:16-21) told in a modern setting

• There was a wall street trader. He bought and sold stocks and bonds for a living. His whole life revolved around the acquisition of money. That’s all he cared about.
• One year, he made some unusually good sales and purchases and became a billionaire.
• He thought, wow!!!! What am I going to do with my money? I don’t want to lose any of it. It’s my security. I know, I’ll put it in a Money Market Savings account and buy some CDs. It’ll be safe and slowly grow. NO ONE WILL TOUCH THIS MONEY!!!!! I’ll live on easy street for the rest of my life!!!!!
• Then, one day, while relaxing at his Olympic size pool, he had a heart attack. God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” (Luke 12:20)

• “So is he who lays up treasure for himself”:  We are not to acquire wealth for ourselves
• “…and is not rich towards God”: We acquire wealth to serve God. To expand God’s kingdom on earth. To spread God’s love. This is the primary purpose for acquiring wealth

III. We acquire wealth in order to expand God’s kingdom and spread God’s love

• Wesley was concerned about how additional wealth would affect Christian character – He published many sermons on the use of money.
• Earn as much as you can, 2) save as much as you can, 3) So you can give as much as you can (It’s the third point that makes this Christian advice.)
• John Wesley goes on to explain that you use your wealth to provide for your family and business necessities then use what’s left over to help spread God’s kingdom[1]

• Learn how to budget, save money and stay out of debt. (Less debt = more freedom to use wealth to spread God’s love)
• Take a personal finance course such as Dave Ramsey’s “Financial Peace University” (www.daveramsey.com) or Crown Financial (www.crown.org)

IV. Conclusion

     A. This is the third sermon in the “Taking a Life Audit” series

• 1^st Sermon: I challenged you to ask: “Do I give all my best to God or just my 2^nd hand junk?”
• 2^nd sermon: I challenged you to ask: “Is there some aspect of my life where I do not honor God?”
• Now I challenge you to look at how you deal with wealth and ask: “Do I acquire wealth solely for myself or do I acquire wealth to help expand God’s kingdom?”

[1] John Wesley’s Sermons: An Anthology, Ed. Albert Outler & Richard Heitzenrater (Nashville, TN Abingdon Press  1984) Pages 347-357