And amen. Amen. Can we praise the Lord? For what he's done in Mike and Carol's and their life. I do want to say this, though, man, that is the call of the gospel.
And you heard him say it time and time again. He said, why not? Why not? Why not go?
So for every single person in here, if you're a believer, you should know this. If you're believing this your first time, I'm grateful. to be the one to tell you this. That we should not look at our life and say, why would God call me to do X, Y, Z? We would say, why wouldn't He?
Why wouldn't I go? And I don't know, it might not be going international, it might not be going across the world right now, but there is something, some step for every single person to take. And it just deeply impacted by that. My name is Daniel Thompson. I am the college and Clifton Road campus pastor.
Grateful to be here today and be able to preach.
Now, one of the things I'm excited about preaching this weekend is that most of our college students are back. Most of them are coming back and they're getting the rhythm. Classes start this week. Our college launch is next Tuesday, the 26th. We've been blown away by what God has done.
We had less than 100 a little over a year ago, and we had 600 students at Easter. It's been absolutely incredible. And we're expecting for more. And we want more and more students to come because there are more and more students who don't know the gospel and that are being sold a lie. And we want to make sure that we wake them up to the truth that Christ is King and He is worthy of their praise and worthy of their life.
But that's been going on really in Mercio as a whole, and specifically in students and kids. I mean, we've just seen incredible things happening.
Next weekend is a massive weekend in the lives of our student ministry and our kids' ministry. Back to school weekend, it's really our fall kickoff as a church. Students kick off next Sunday night on the 24th. If you're a high school or middle school student, You need to be there. If you are the parent of a high school or middle school student, you need to get them there.
If they're like, mom, dad, I'll be uncomfortable. You say, awesome, see you later. And you get them out there. And I'm grateful, I really am, that my parents did not let me decide what was best for my life all the time. Because even as an adult, I don't know what's best for my life.
15, 20 years ago, I definitely didn't know what was best for my life. And so, my prayer for you, parents, got one. My prayer for you, parents. Is put your kids in a place that they would thrive to become the person that God has called them to be, not be the person that the world is telling them they ought to be. And so, this is a good weekend to do that.
I mean, if you're coming around, next weekend is our back to school weekend. We have our grow series kicking off in Acts 2. We're going to go through something we call the Acts 2 flywheel. It's what we see in Scripture as a process and the way in which Christians can grow individually and in the corporate body. We gather together, we group together, we give of our time, talent, and treasure, and we go with the gospel.
And you need to come, you need to bring a friend, you need to bring a family member, you need to bring someone, and you need to sign up to serve if you call Mercy Hill Home. You need to do that. Not, hey, there's a cool opportunity. You need to. You need to do that.
I need to be here. And you're like, all right, dude, we get it. We're here this week. We're going to be here next week. That's fine.
I understand it. Why are you belaboring the point? Because the truth is, I feel this in my bones. I've seen it play out in my own life. I've seen it play out in the life of others.
Many people state that Jesus is the main thing and then schedule their lives like he's not. They say Jesus King. But I'll fit them in where I can. And my prayer for me, my prayer for you, and my prayer for the people that you invite next week, that would not be their story. That would not be your story.
That would not be my story. That we would be sitting at Christmas. Looking at your Christmas tree with white lights, not colorful ones, and I will die on that hill. It white lights Christmas tree. Take it to the bank.
And you'd be sitting there looking at that and you would say two things. Jesus was my focus. And I could not have imagined what he did in and through me. That is what my prayer is for every single person that comes to Mercy Hill. Is that we would go do that, but we have to understand that does not happen by accident.
You will not stumble your way into holiness. It is a decision to put him first. And then trust that he will do what he said he is going to do, and what he's done in your life, what he's done in my life, what he's done in the lives of saints for thousands of years. And we lay our life on that claim. That's my call to you this fall.
We're going to be today, though, before we jump into a new series, we're going to be finishing up our series in Luke.
So, if you have a copy of Scripture, we're going to be in Luke chapter 12. I want to encourage you to open your Bible, pull out your phone. If not, it'll be on the screen. We'll be in Luke 12, chap verses 13 through 21. We're finishing up our series, Walking with Jesus, Luke 12, 13 through 21.
I'm going to read it, and then we'll get rolling for the day. Starting in verse 13, someone in the crowd said to him, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. But he said to him, Man, who made me judge and arbitrator over you? And he said to them, Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. And he told them a parable, saying, The rich man the land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, What shall I do?
for I have nowhere to store my crops. And he said, I will do this. I will tear down my barns and build larger ones. And there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years.
Relax, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him, fool, this night your life is required of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?
So is the one who lays up for himself. Treasure for himself and is not rich towards God. But in this series, we've really been looking. and what it looked like to follow Jesus during his earthly ministry. And then we're asking the question, what does that look like now that he is not here bodily?
What is it like for us to follow Jesus? And I'm going to confess something to you before I really get into the meat of the text. As Pastor Andrew and other pastors have preached this over the past few weeks, man, a conviction has fallen on me. Especially last week with the sermon on prayer and different things like that. And a truth kind of rose up out of my life for more of my Christian life than I care to admit.
I had confused walking with Jesus with affirming the things and the way Jesus walked. I had said, well, I agree with everything Scripture says that Jesus did and who he would, who he was, and I would agree that everything he was calling his followers to be, and I would even tell other followers of Jesus that that is true and that's how we ought to live. And to me, that was following Jesus. But what I've come to realize by the grace of God is that. In this series, one truth is kind of pointed out at me.
It's that agreeing with Jesus isn't the goal. Submitting to him is. That even saying, yes, this Bible is true, if you look at this thing and agree with it, but do not let it lord over your life, man, we're missing something. And that has been the way I followed Christ for a long time. And I know some people in here, you are there, you have been there, and if you're out of there, hopefully you can say with me, man, praise God for bringing me to a place where I do want to submit to Scripture and to submit to His authority.
But if you're not there and you're like, I don't understand that, what I'm telling you is there's always going to be a struggle to submission when agreement is the goal for you. To agree with scripture, if that's the finish line. It is always going to be a struggle when you and Scripture disagree on who wins. And my call to you today is that we would all, man, fall back under that. Because 1 John 2:6 says this: whoever says he abides in him ought to what?
Walk as he walks. Not agree with what he agrees with. Not affirm what he affirms, but to walk as he walks. And today's scripture falls right in line with that. Many people, my fear is that some people...
Will hear this and be like agreed And they will walk out and think that's the end room. The goal is to submit your life to it. That's different. It's harder. But Christ says count the cost.
And so what I won't do is I won't water this down so that you think it feels a little bit better. Or that I think it feels a little bit better. 'Cause if I had to read this and study for it and it had to hurt me, Here we are. That's what we're going to do today. But let me give you a little bit of encouragement.
There has never been a person to follow Jesus perfectly. There has never been a person to follow Christ and not fall flat on your face. But what Proverbs 24 tells us is this. Is that the righteous man falls seven times and does what? Rises again.
that you get back up. Falling down is not an excuse to stay down. Stumbling, sinning is not an excuse not to repent. It doesn't say the righteous person never falls. It says their falling doesn't stop them from getting back up.
I have a two-and-a-half-year-old. If you were in here before the service, or you've ever seen her around, especially at the Clifton Road campus, you've seen her going crazy. She is in the open up the pantry door phase of her life and can grab snacks. And we don't have the knobs where you can put the fake knob over it. We got the handle.
So she can get in there whenever she wants. And it's constantly, right before dinner, she's grabbing snacks, muffins, cookie, anything she can get. And I'm like, no, no, no, you can't have it right now. And she'll be standing there, and I'll be holding the door, trying not to let her in. And I'm like, look at me.
Look at me and she's like yeah yeah yeah and she's staring in the pantry Just staring at it. And I'm like, it will ruin your dinner. You won't eat. It's where we are right now. It's a little sensitive.
She won't eat dinner. But the problem is, sometimes what I have to do is I have to get down on my knees, parents, if you've been there, you know this. And you sometimes have to physically grab their face and turn it to you and say, look at me. And then sometimes even their eyes are still looking over. You have to grab their face and say, look at me.
That won't fulfill you. There's dinner coming. And what my hope is today is that this sermon Is that for some of you, God is trying to grab your face, saying, look at me. The world is promising you things that you will be hungry again. There are things that will make you feel good in a moment that will leave you lasting.
You won't want more. You'll need more constantly. You won't want Christ. And so, my prayer is like he's done for me so many times, that he would grab your face and say, Look at me, child. Look at me.
And that's what my prayer as we go in today. And we read the passage a few minutes ago. And it's a challenging one, but if we can understand what he's getting at, what he's really saying. It can be truly life-changing for you as an individual and us as a church. And so I pray that we would be wise and sharp people and hear it, and it would fall on good soil.
Let me go ahead and give you the big idea, and then we'll start walking through this passage. What you've done with your treasure reveals what you've done with your heart. What you've done with your treasure reveals what you've done with your heart. Now, I know when I read this passage, some of you went here like, oh, goodness, a sermon on money. Oh, not another one.
I know that. I know others of you had this experience. You invite a friend or a family member time and time again, and they say, no, no, no, no, no. And they finally say yes, and you're over the moon. And you walk in, and some dude that has a receding hairline opens it and reads something about money, and you're like, Dear Lord, please.
That's what some of you are experiencing right now.
Well, let me give you a little bit of good news. And let me give you a little different perspective. I have people all the time saying, you know, God, church just after my money. Let me rephrase that. In this passage, Jesus, he's not mainly after your money.
He wants all of you. He wants the parts you don't want to give. He wants the parts you don't even think you know about. He wants the parts that you think no one else knows about. He wants all of it.
Man, you can't give my money. Don't talk about that. That's asking too much. No, it's asking far too little. It's asking far too little.
Romans 12 doesn't say present your money as a living sacrifice. What does it say? Present yourself, your life. as a living sacrifice.
So if you're here today, hear one thing. He wants every part of your life. Not just the ones you want to give, not just the ones you're comfortable with. High school, college student, I know everyone tells you that for the next couple years, it is all about you. That is a lie.
He wants your life. That's what we're going to see today. Man, one truth I want to point out is this, that Jesus cares less about what you have and he cares more about what has you. He cares less about what you have because he understands whatever has you. Right?
Controls what you have. But if he has you, everything else kind of works itself out. That's what we're going to see. We're going to see that he does care about what you have. He talks a lot about possessions and treasure and money, but not because he needs it.
He's the God of the universe. In him and through him and to him are all things. Everything was created by the word of his power. He doesn't talk about it because he needs what you have. He just doesn't want what you have to have you.
And he is desperate for your affection. And he wants it. Because he lived and died for you.
So as we'll see today. What you do with your possession reveals what has you. It reveals what has a grip on your heart.
So, we're going to walk through this passage. I'm going to stop along the way. I'm going to give some context and really bring out some truths that I don't want us to miss today. Let's start in verse 13.
Some of the crowd said to him, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. But he said to him, Man, Who made me judge and arbitrator over you? I mean, you see that if you look back in your copy of Scripture in the beginning of chapter 12, this multitude, this thousands of people have gathered around Jesus. He's just performed miracles. He got in this debate with the Pharisees, which always seems to be fun for people that are around.
They like that. And there's thousands of people around him. Gathered. But he doesn't address the crowd, it says he turns and addresses his disciples, his followers. And that's when he tells this story.
But as he's in the midst of doing some teaching at the beginning of chapter 12, he's doing teaching, and this man interrupts and says, Hey, hey, Jesus, would you tell my brother to give me my portion of the inheritance? If you look right before this, it seems really out of place. He's not talking about money. This guy just kind of interjects money. It feels really weird.
Well, let me help you out a little bit. If you read the Gospel of Luke, or if you read any of the Gospels, you will find kind of what I mentioned earlier: that Jesus talks about or uses money as an illustration a lot. Like a lot, a lot. 16 of his thirty-eight parables involve money. Either as the root of it or a picture of something else.
The only thing he talked about more was the kingdom of God. and his reign and rule and judgment in that kingdom. You know, I grew up in a church, not with chairs. I grew up in a church with pews. If you're young and don't know what those are, those are like one long chair.
And you sit. And I'm the youngest, so I was the troublemaker in church.
So I sat in between my parents. They sat on both sides of me. And my dad and my mom sat here. And I did what any good kid that grew up in church with, I drew pictures on the give envelopes. And I did all that, and I was not paying attention.
But I do remember as I got older, I became aware of what the pastor was saying. And I found something kind of funny, and people, you guys probably do this too. Anytime there was a sermon on husbands loving your wife and really leading and being the man that you ought to be, my mom seemed to always want to thump my dad when that sermon was going on. I don't really understand that. And then when there would be a sermon on wives respecting and thinking, you know, and vice versa, my dad would cough and kind of elbow my mom a little bit.
I didn't understand this little game they had going on. But I did know that when they, anytime the pastor preached a sermon on children, you know, obey your parents, I just got mean elbowed right in the ribs. And I don't, man, some of you experienced that. If you haven't experienced that, you may have experienced this. That you've heard a sermon, you've probably been in a sermon and been like, oh, I wish so-and-so was here to hear this.
Oh man, what I wouldn't give for them to be here and hear this. That's what's happening right now. Jesus has talked about money so much that this dude is standing there, hearing him talk, and he hears a little break in the conversation. He's like, Jesus. Tell them what you said about the people that don't give.
Listen up. Listen up. Tell them what you said about the people that don't give. And he's waiting for Jesus to side with him, so he's like, you know, bring me my money. That's what he's wanting for.
But look what Jesus says. He says, Who made me judge over you? What he's saying is, I did not come to solve your little civil disputes. There are judges, there are Pharisees who the system has set up to solve those things. And you see, these people have heard Jesus talk time and time again.
He's talked a million times. They've heard a million sermons. They've been to Mercy all the time. They've been to 100 other churches. They've heard sermons and they've missed it.
They have missed it. They've heard when he's preaching about freedom and love and joy and satisfaction, and they're like, I want that. But what this man has done, what all of us do from time to time, and I'm praying against today. is that many people want a Jesus who rescues, but not a Jesus who reigns. They wanted Jesus who would get them out of their situation.
But you say surrender your life, and they're like, I don't want that, Jesus. They want a Jesus who cures all the ailments in life. And like you get that if you get King Jesus like I don't want that king And then we have the audacity to be shocked when he's not showing up in the way we want him to, when we've boxed him out of every area until something goes horribly wrong. And then we're like, Jesus, you turn your back on me. And all the while you've been walking in the opposite direction.
And in Matthew 15, Jesus quotes Isaiah and he says, They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Man, I'm guilty of this. I've heard sermons that I affirm. I've sang songs and lifted hands, and my heart has been miles away. I've said with my words one thing, and my life I've said another.
Man, I've lived this way, I've wanted rescue. And I have not wanted the reign of Christ in my life. This usually happens at the end of a sermon, but I'm going to go and say it now because this is the truth we need to know. For the believer, we are repenting people. If this is you today, if this is me, it was me when I was reading this, it was me when I was writing this.
There are times, time and time and again, that I want the rescue, I want the good that comes of Christ, but I don't want him to do it all. I want him to help my life, but I don't want him to change it. And as Christians, we need to repent right now in the middle of a sermon. You don't need to wait till the end. You don't have to come to the front.
You can sit there. You don't got to close your eyes. You can say, Christ, have mercy on me. Change me. Move now.
He does not need an altar call to move in your heart. He does not need an imitation or a song. He can do it in a blue chair. He can do it at a can. He can do whatever he wants to.
And so do it now. And to the unbeliever. Wanting a Jesus who rescues but doesn't reign is foolish. He won't settle for second place. But a Jesus who reigns always rescues.
Maybe not in the way that you thought? Maybe not on the timeline you thought or think you should, but always in the exact way that you need. Always in the way that you need. But this man's question reveals so much about the human heart. If you aren't careful, we can think we own our possessions when they actually own us.
We can think we own the things in our life when they just have your heart. When I have every part of you. But now look at the warning Jesus gives as a response. Verse 15. And he said to them, Take care and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.
And he told them a parable, saying, The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, What shall I do? For I have nowhere to store my crops. And he said, I will do this. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones. And there I will store my grain and all my goods.
And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him, Fool. This night your soul is required of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?
There is a lot here. But let's let's take it and let's unpack it a little bit. Jesus warns them to be on guard against covetousness. The idea that you want something that you don't have and someone else does, i.e., being a three-year-old. My child, if you have children, you know this.
They always want what the other one has, and when they get it, what? They don't want it anymore. That's pretty much childhood one-on-one. That's what covetousness is: desire for a possession that you don't have and someone else does. And he says, those things, your life does not consist in the abundance of those things.
There's things you don't have. Let's be very careful. This parable is not a demonstration or a picture of what coveting looks like. It is a warning against where it'll take you. It is a warning of the finish line of it.
It says, There's a rich man who has this field that produces a lot. His job makes a lot of money. Whatever you need to do, insert yourself, understand what this is saying. And he says. What am I going to do?
I'm going to do all this excess. I got nowhere to put it.
Some of you are like, brother, that ain't me. I ain't got a lot of excess money floating around that I don't know where to put. Give me the sermon on bills, diapers, mortgages. I'm locked in. But don't, don't.
I'm not the guy with excess that's just floating around everywhere. Or maybe you're thinking, well, but if I had more, I'd sure give more. And I'm sure that I get it. There's probably not very many people here who are just like, I just don't know what to do with my money, man. Lord, you're blessing me too much.
And they're mad about it. I know that. But some of you are, and that's okay. But some of you aren't. But let's think about it for a second.
Jesus is talking to his disciples. If you know anything about the Bible, They did not have a lot of money. They did not have a possession, almost to their name. And if we follow scripture and church history, Pretty much most of them died pretty brutally with absolutely nothing.
So either He's telling them a story that applies to them in no way. Or we're missing something. I I'm gonna guess on the ladder. That we're missing something.
So how does this apply? Here's what he's saying. To the disciples, to the crowd, to those rich, to those poor, he's saying, if you constantly desire more material things in this life, then you'll never have enough. If you constantly want more and more and more things in this life, you will never ever be satisfied with them. We see it play out in parables in scripture: the rich-rung ruler.
He comes to Jesus and says, What must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus says, sell everything you have. And he doesn't just walk away and reject it. What does it say? He walks away sad because it had him.
It had him.
Now we hear it. You know, and and and cultural theologians like Madonna. She says we're living in a material world and I'm just a material girl.
Sorry, that song's been in my brain. It's Pastor Andrew's ringtone. It's just constantly, it's just there. You know, but but you get the point. We see it everywhere.
We we live in a world. We live in a world that says if you get more, you'll be happy. We live in a world that says that, but we see in the world and we see in Scripture. that the accumulation of things can never bring satisfaction. It can never satisfy your soul.
And studies have shown time and time again that the more and more wealth a person will give, the less and less percentage of that wealth they will give. Why is that? Is it because people with money are just the worst? No. It is not that the God in the world has just chosen to give people that are horrible humans a lot of money.
That's not what it is. They're people, they're not worse than you or I. It's because if you don't watch out and you aren't careful, as our possessions increase, so does our desire for more. As our possessions increase, so does our desire for more.
So why does Jesus talk and warn his disciples, who seemingly have little and will ever have little their whole life? He's God, he knows what they have and he knows what they will be. Why is he telling them this? Because later in Luke 16 he says this. The one who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much.
And one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.
So if you're sitting there and you're saying, well, it's hard for me to give because I have a lot, or you're like, man, I would definitely give more if I had a lot, but I just can't give right now. No, you wouldn't. Because it is your heart. Our hearts are drowned far from Him. Our hearts are prone to wander, not our wallets.
Our wallets just follow our hearts. And so you're like, man, why are you talking about money so much? I don't care about that. I care about your heart. And that's what he's getting at.
He's putting his finger on their life and saying, there, it has you and I want you. That's what he's getting at. Man, it's not about equal gifts. It's about equal sacrifice. God wants all of us to lay ourselves down before him.
That's why the church and the Bible talks about tithing, not because it's mandated by Jesus here. We see in the Old Testament with Abraham, it's not about how much you give, it's about how much of your life does he have. How much of your life is the flag of Christ painted on and stuck in? Or is it like Jesus, you get this Sunday morning and maybe a group's night and maybe a mission trip a year? Or is it all of it?
And if you're not a believer, if you are, giving a tenth or a tithe won't earn you a single thing before God. He actually preaches against this. Right before this, I mentioned he was arguing with some Pharisees and kind of railing against them. He says to them, It's one of the few times Jesus has an exclamation point besides something he says. He says, Woe to you, Pharisees!
You tie the mint and you tie the herbs, but you do what? You neglect justice and love of God. You neglect those things. See, God doesn't need your money. He wants your heart.
If you're a believer, you ought to give, but not out of a compulsion. Not because you think it's going to externally earn you some sort of righteousness, but because he has your heart. What we see in Scripture today is this. You can give without following Jesus. But you cannot follow Jesus outgiving.
You can't do it. He won't let it happen. Not because he needs your money. God has saved people with people with zero dollars. Go talk to them.
It doesn't matter. But the point is, he understands the one thing in this world that the enemy wants to use to grab at you is money. And your wealth, and the things, and the status. You heard it from Mike and Carroll before the service. It's just hard to get rid of them.
It's just hard to let them go. Make no mistake, giving today will in no way earn you favor with God. It won't make you right with Him. But if you have found favor with God in Christ, to the believer, if you have thrown your eternal life at the foot of the cross, if you've staked your eternity on an empty grave, how could you look at His generosity and say, I'm not going to obey the commands to be generous in response? Let it not be true of us.
But notice I didn't say tithe in response, I said generosity. For some of you, you're a believer. And you give nothing. You need to give something, put a dollar in their plate. Feel the hurt and ask God to shape you.
Awesome. For others of you, you give a little bit, whatever's left over. Man, you need to set aside that tense. and feel it and say, God, there's something in me that doesn't like it. Help me.
For others of you, you see the tides as the finish line. I give my ten percent, get off my back. And as I was reading this, I've been every single one of those. I've been the person, well, I can be a Christian and not give. I've been the person that says, well, I give some, I'm better than most.
Well, I got to my tithes. Most people don't even get close to that. And as I was looking, I'm like, why would I think those things? And I realized that I was asking myself this wrong question over and over again. And I want to say it because I think some people might be thinking it constantly in your life.
And I think it is one of the tools of the devil to stop you from growing. Once you're saved, he can't take you away, but he can stop you from moving the mission forward. He can distract you and it's this question. What is the least I can do and be okay with God? Man, we can't be true of us.
And the God who has given everything to us, thinking back over myself over the years, how could I have ever asked that question? I would never do that in any other area. In my marriage, I'm not like, well, as long as it's not full-blown adultery, then I'm good. I've never heard a parent be like, yeah, my kids in school, as long as they're not last, they're fine. I've never heard a parent say that.
I've never heard anyone with any other area say, what's the least I can do and be okay? But for some reason, with the God of the universe who has lavished love upon you and been generous with his son, not even holding back that which he holds most dear. And we don't trust him. We're like, no, it's mine. And we don't trust him.
Man, I've been there. But that's the problem that Jesus is trying to get the disciples to see. If we desire more and more possessions, there will never be enough. And if we don't fight as believers, it will always come down to a competition for our affection between the world and God. It always will.
Man, some of you are there now. I feel there are areas of my life where I'm there now. Where it's hard to just be like, man, but Lord, I want that thing more than you sometimes. I don't necessarily like that I like that that's how it is, but I'm there.
So God, you've got to help me. But he continues saying And verse 18. And he said, I will do this. I will tear down my barns and build larger ones. And there I will store all my grain and my goods, and I will say to my soul, Soul, You have ample goods laid up for many years.
Relax, eat, drink, and be merry. Really quickly, I do want to address this: this is not a condemnation on saving money or having money. You may have gotten to this point and be like, dude. I got like $12 in my bank account. Gotta get rid of it.
You know, like, that's not what this is. All right, that's not the point of this. Proverbs 6. And the scripture tells us that the ant is wise to store things because the harvest is now and the drought is later. You know, Proverbs 21 says, Precious treasure and oil are in the house of a wise man, and a fool devours all that he has.
Proverbs 13 says, A wise and good man gives an inheritance to his children, his children's children.
So we know that God and Christ is not against money, he's not against saving, but it seems like. He's given this parable to his disciples that he's calling someone a fool who is seemingly saving money.
So, how do we square those things? What I'm going to tell you is that Jesus isn't against saving, he's against hoarding. He's against hoarding your wealth. What's the difference? How can you tell?
Well, here's the thing a lot of us don't like. You can never look at someone's life and tell what they should or should not be doing with their money. I have, there's no way I can look at you and say, well, you're not giving enough, or you're saving too much, or you're doing. I can't. You really doesn't look that different on the outside sometimes.
But look what he says here. He says, I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones. And then verse 19. And I will say to my soul, Saul, You have ample goods laid up for many years. Eat.
drink, relax, and be merry. And saving and hoarding they look very, very different to the outside, so how do we know? And you have to ask yourself this question every day. Every day of your life. is this Who do I trust to provide for me?
Who do I trust to provide for me? If I'm a believer. And I'm like, man, I'm a Christian, I understand all that, but man, I got a retirement. God says I want to save money, so I've got to do it because I don't know that He'll actually do it. Man, we don't know, we can't test God, I don't know if He'll actually provide.
So I need to save, say, save, and have all these things so that one day I can be okay. And that's hoarding. Or to the person that's like. Man, I want to leave something for my children, but I also want to have enough to be generous. And I want to fight, I want to stretch myself in generosity, but I also want to be smart with it.
Man, do you see the difference? Man, who do you trust? Are you trusting God providing you and being wise with what He's given you? Or are you terrified that he might not come through? I mean that question.
We'll answer it. This man, he trusted himself. He was the satisfier of his own soul. His possessions reigned in his heart. His wealth brought him comfort.
So his saving wasn't for God's glory or God's mission. It was for his comfort. And that's what Jesus is pointing at and saying, this is what happens if you don't address, guard, and fight against the covetous nature of our hearts. It's one of the reasons Jesus talks about generosity with possessions and why he commands it of believers. Because it's not only a response towards God's generosity towards us, it's also a safeguard against the thought that I can provide for myself.
You know, in worship, you've probably seen people lifting up their hands, or worship leaders will say, Everyone, put your hands out, lift your hands up, do something, right? We do those things. It's not just because it looks cooler, it makes the worship set more fun or anything of that nature. What it does is it puts our body in a place that should represent what our hearts are doing. That, God, you have all of me.
That you have every part of me. It is something that is a response to God's goodness and what he's done in Christ and a call to our heart to follow that thing. Why do you think when we pass the generosity buckets, we say, let's continue doing what? Worshiping through our giving. It is a response to what God has done.
It's also a safeguard.
So, ask yourself the question: who do I trust to provide for me? Is it my efforts? Is it my ability, my skill? Or do I trust the one who has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he knows what's best for me, he loves me? And he pursues me even when I don't pursue him.
And what a shame it would be to say, God, I trust you from my eternity, wholeheartedly. But I don't trust you'll be good on this side of it. Man, that is the life that I've lived. That is the life that some of us live today. But Jesus shows us why it's foolish to trust yourself.
or the possession of this life. Look at verse 20. But God said to him, Fool, thou This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?
So, why is trusting yourself? Why is trusting what this world has to offer? Why is it foolish? Because you aren't sovereign.
So what do we have to do? We have to trust the one who is actually in control of your life. We have this thought that we can control it all. We can control some day-to-day decisions, some small things, but we don't get to control when we begin and when we end. We don't get to say when our last day will be.
We're not sovereign over that part of our life.
So, trust the one who can require your life of you. The gospel truth is this: we deserve a traitor's end. That every single day the God who created you has beckoned you to come to him. And time and time again, myself, we all do it. We say, I will sit on the throne in my own heart.
And we run in the complete opposite direction. And instead of saying, I've tried to be generous, now I'm withholding with you, he was generous with his son. And Christ did not come just to bring condemnation, he did not come just to call out sin, he came to be a propitiation, an atoning sacrifice for your sin and rebellion against God.
So that every single time we weren't generous and that we're greedy with God and that we're greedy with each other and that we aren't kind towards one another and all these things we rebel against him, he goes to the cross. And when God vindicates his sacrifice and raises him up on the third day, Christ is not like, see what you missed out on? I'm God.
Now you don't get all of me. He says, come to me. Come to me. He is still generous towards you. Even though some of us in here today, myself too, there's parts of your heart that are still greedy.
There's parts of your life that are off-limits to him. He says, come to me. He says, come. And he offers you the reward of Christ's sonship. Adoption, being a son or daughter of the king.
This is what Jesus is warning. This is why he's warning us. Man, covetousness has a way of making us believe that Jesus doesn't have enough to offer you. That he doesn't have what's best for you and mine? That he won't provide.
And what they want to tell you is: see, he's got to prove it again. But the gospel doesn't say, see, he'll show up one day. The gospel says he's already done it. And because he's already done it, you can lay your life at his feet. That's what he's warning his disciples of.
That's what he's warning us of. If you want to walk with Jesus, trust that he has provided for you on the cross for your eternity, that he will provide for you in this life, and be generous as a response to his generosity and a safeguard against your covetous heart. And a safeguard against it, by way of application, I'm going to say this: lay up treasure in heaven and be rich towards God. Every single person hearing this today. You will be in one of two camps.
You will either lay up treasure in heaven and be rich towards God, or you will lay up treasure for yourself and not be rich towards God. He says it right here in verse 21.
So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God. That is everybody. And you get a choice today on which way you're going to walk. He talks about money a good bit. Why?
Why? Because it gets the heart of something. It gets to the heart at what it means to walk with him. to follow him. When Jesus asked, What are the greatest commandments?
What does he say? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and then what? Love your neighbor as yourself. It is very hard. to love God with all of yourself.
when you love what the world has to offer you more. It's hard. How do you love God with all of you, with everything in you, when you love this thing more? You can't.
So he puts his finger on it. And he says, I want you. Man, how do you love people? How do you love people when it's only in word and not in deed? when it's just a sentiment.
And we say, we love to say, myself include, we love to say we love hurting lost people, then we insulate ourselves from them. Man, he talks about money a lot. Because he wants our hearts. I mean, in the video before the sermon, Carol mentioned that it was giving and generosity and going on a goateeing trip and those things that God used to open her hands more and more and say yes. These are a means that God uses to get us to where He wants us to go.
Generosity and giving, it pushes us to look to God as our provider and to look after others as He has looked for us. It's been true since the beginning. This is not a new thing with Jesus. In Exodus 33, this is what happens. Moses and the Israelites are on the edge of the promised land, and God is fed up.
He says, fine, you can have everything you've wanted. He's looking at you today and he's saying, you can have every single thing you've ever wanted in your life: all the money, all the fame, the house, all of it. You can have the promised land. But I won't go with you. And it says the Israelites were mourning.
No, no, we don't want that. We don't want that. What do we have to do? And God says, he looks at them. What does he say?
He doesn't say do anything other than this. Take off your ornaments. Lay off your ornaments. The things that you think make you something before me, the things that make you think you have any worth, that people look at and say, Well, there's something, they made something of themselves. Lay it off and fall down at my feet.
And I will be your God, and you will be my people. But for every single time we didn't do that, what happened? Christ came and he took off his glory. He took off everything he had that actually made him worthy. And he paid the penalty for you and me, the unworthy, so that we could be brought in.
And that he could look at us as righteous. Man, how can we not respond? with a whole life just thrown at his feet. And you will never regret being generous to what God has given you. How do we lay up treasure in heaven?
What's going to be in heaven? God and people. God and his people. Pact of school weekends next weekend. Serve.
Bring a friend. Lay your life down for others. How do we reach towards God? Man, give today. Give something.
Take a step. If you're an unbeliever in the room, you're like, I don't know what to do. That's fine. Would you commit to coming back? We say, God, you can have mine next week.
But if you're a believer, do something. If it's coming down front and you need to point at something in your life and say, God, if I'm bringing it to this altar, you've got to kill it because I love it too much to kill it. And that's what gotta happen for you today. And I'll end with this. Illustration I share with college students quite a bit.
There was a man, you may have seen some old like The picture videos where it's like kind of flashy of the man that used to walk across the tightrope on Niagara Falls. His name was Charles Blondin, and he would do things like riding a unicycle or frying an egg or all these weird things. It's insane. Dumbest thing in the world. Don't like it.
But anyway, he would do it. And one day he's standing on the edge of Niagara Falls and he's looking out at a crowd. And he says, who thinks I can push this wheelbarrow across the tightrope? And everybody's countlight. Yeah, we got yeah, you can do it, bud, good job.
This man in the front. Is overly enthusiastic. He's like, yes, you can. And Charles Blonden looks back at him and says, All right, get in. What do you think the man did?
He got real quiet. He got real quiet real quick. But Charles Blunden's manager He was like I'll get in because he had seen him do it over and over and over again And so he gets in and he walks across the tightrope and he walks back and everyone cheers and it's great. That is what God is doing for you today. He is saying Who thinks I can do it?
Who thinks I can use generosity to shape you, to protect you, to move the mission forward? Who thinks I will provide for you? And we're so prone to be like, yes, God. And He's like, get in. And we get quiet.
You get a choice. Are you the man who says yes and does it get in? Or are you like his manager that says, I've seen you do it time and time again? I've seen what you've done in scripture. I've seen what you've done in my life.
I'll get in. Man, some of you did to come down front and you say, God, help me. Lay it all down. I'm terrified to do it. Grab the person beside you, stand and say, help me.
If they won't do it, we got new friends.
Somebody. Take a step. If it's in your seat. If it's in the car on the way home. I don't know what it is.
What is God putting his thumb on saying, it's mine? If it's your life for the first time, unbeliever. Give it to him. Let's pray. Lord.
I gotta ask. That today we would lay our lives down at your feet, Jesus. That God, we would understand it's not this, you want this part of our life that we don't want you to get, it's not that. It's that you want every single thing. We don't realize that apart from you, we are dead.
And all the things we think we're collecting, they're just dead men's toys. And so, God, what you want us to do is make us alive in Christ.
So, Lord, if we've been made alive, let us respond with laying it all down. And God, I pray that some people will come to saving knowledge. of the truth of the life, death, and resurrection and reign. of your son Christ. Lord, do what only you can do.
In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Yeah.
