People Jesus Met Part 24

You know I think most of us here know the plot of Charles Dickens' famous 1843 story, A Christmas Carol. Of course it's the story of a sad, greedy old miser named Ebenezer Scrooge who finally learns the joy of using his money to benefit others. Well, as we open the pages of the Bible today we're going to meet another greedy man.

This man never learned the lesson that Ebenezer Scrooge learned. The Bible calls him the rich fool. Now remember we're in a series entitled People Jesus Met and today Jesus meets a man in the crowd and tells him the story of the rich fool. The story of the rich fool is a story about the dangers of greed which threatens to rob us of reward in heaven and puts us in a position where we force Almighty God to call us a fool. So we want to go back and look and see what Jesus said 2,000 years ago and then you know what we're going to do.

We're going to bring all of that forward and we're going to ask the question, well, what difference does that make for me? So our passage today is Luke chapter 12 and we begin at verse 13. The Bible says, Now in Jesus' day it was common for people to ask prominent rabbis to settle legal cases between them and someone else but Jesus totally rebuffs this guy. Verse 14, Then Jesus said to him, Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter for you? You say, wow, Jesus is kind of gruff with this guy, isn't he?

Well, yeah, and there was a reason. You see, in ancient Israel the inheritance laws were very definitive and clear. The oldest brother served as the executor of the estate. The oldest brother received two-thirds of the estate and the final one-third of the estate was split evenly among the other brothers and sisters.

So what we have here in Luke chapter 12 is one of the younger brothers asking Jesus to put pressure on his older brother to give him more of the estate than he was legally entitled to. Now we should stop and ask the question, well, hadn't this younger brother already gotten some of the money from his dad's estate? Well, the answer is yes. And wasn't that found money? I mean, wasn't it more money than he had before?

Well, yes. And so shouldn't he have been grateful for whatever he got? I mean, it was more than he had.

Well, the answer is yes. But this man wasn't grateful. Indeed, he wanted more. He was greedy. So why did Jesus rebuff this man the way that he did? Well, very simply because, look here, this man wasn't coming to Jesus asking for justice. He was coming to Jesus asking him to endorse his greed. Now, do we all see this?

Yes. Because that's the secret to the rest of the passage. Now, verse 15, then Jesus said to the crowd, watch out, be on your guard against every form of greed, for a person's life does not consist of the abundance of their possessions. Jesus said, guard yourselves against the extreme love of money. Guard yourself against being Ebenezer Scrooge. Why, Jesus says? Well, because life doesn't consist of just the abundance of the stuff you got.

Or to put it another way, a fruitful, rewarding life does not automatically result simply from hoarding and having a lot of money. I don't know if you guys have ever heard of William Post. His nickname was Bud. But Bud won the 1988 Pennsylvania lottery and chose to take all of his winnings in cash. The winnings totaled $16.2 million. Well, the truth is that after he won all that money, Post went on to experience a series of tragedies in his life, including a divorce, a bankruptcy, if you can believe that, and his brother hiring a contract murderer to kill him so that his brother could get some of the money. In an interview years later in USA Today, Bud Post said, and I quote, he said, I was much happier when I was broke, end of quote. Well, Time Magazine recently did a study that found, quoting now from Time, that a millionaire is no more likely to be happy than someone who's earning one twentieth as much.

The point is, if you're miserable with a little, you're going to be miserable with a lot. And this is exactly what Jesus is trying to impress upon the crowd, that money itself does not equate to true riches. It's what we do with the money that can produce true riches. And to drive this point home, Jesus now tells the crowd a little story. And here's where we meet our friend, the rich fool. Verse 16.

Then Jesus told the crowd this story. He said the land of a certain rich man produced a bumper crop. And he thought to himself, what shall I do now since I have no place to store all these crops? Now, please notice that when the story begins, this man, this main character in the story, is already filthy rich. I mean, his barns are already stuffed to overflowing, and suddenly his land produces another huge crop. And so he has a dilemma. His dilemma is, what do I do with all this new wealth, all this surplus wealth?

Well, you know, the Bible told him what to do with it. Deuteronomy chapter 15, verse 11, says there will always be poor people in the land. Therefore, God says, I command you to be open handed towards the poor and needy.

Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart. And if you do, God says, the Lord, your God, will bless you in all you put your hand to. Hey, this man had a great opportunity staring him right in the face. I mean, he had the chance to give all this surplus grain away. He had the chance to show love and compassion to needy people and poor people all around him. And he had the chance to use his money to earn God's favor and God's blessing on his life.

But what did he do? Well, verse 18 says, then the rich man said, this is what I'll do. I'll tear down my present barns and I'll build bigger barns. And there I'll store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to my soul, soul, you have many goods laid up for years to come. Take life easy. Eat, drink, and be merry.

Hey, instead of using his wealth to bless the lives of others and using it to gain God's favor and God's blessing, instead he decided to hide it all away and hoard it for himself. You say, well, not long. Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.

Stop. Let me see if I understand here. Are you saying here that it's wrong to save for a rainy day? Or are you saying here that it's wrong to plan for retirement? Are you saying here it's wrong to keep something back in reserve in case you need it?

No, absolutely not. But, folks, would you please notice the rich man already had all of this. He was already so filthy rich he didn't even have any place to put his new wealth. See, friends, the issue here was not one of good financial planning.

The issue here was one of greed, pure and simple. Verse 20, but God said to him, you fool this very night. Your soul is required of you and now who will get all that you've prepared for yourself?

Jesus concludes by saying, verse 21, and this is how it will be. God will call anybody a fool who lays up treasure for himself but is not rich towards God. See, this rich man had made every provision for this life but he'd made no provision at all for eternity. And one night when it came his time to go and rather suddenly, I might add, the point is he had nothing in his heavenly portfolio.

His bank account with God read zero and that's precisely why Jesus called him a fool. Now, that's as far as we want to go in our passage because it's time now for us to ask our question. And you know our question and on all of our campuses we want you involved in this so here we go nice and loud.

Come on now, one, two, three. So what? Yeah, you say, Lon, so what?

See, I understand what you're saying but I really don't see how this necessarily relates to me. What's the so what here? Well, friends, the so what here, Jesus gives it to us.

We don't even have to try to figure it out. Jesus said, verse 21, what did he say? Jesus said, this is how it will be with anyone who lays up treasure for himself but is not rich towards God. Jesus says God's going to call him or her a fool too. Now, I don't know about you folks but in my thinking it is no small thing to have Almighty God of the universe call you a fool. I mean as a follower of Christ this is certainly not how I want God to greet me when I show up into heaven. You know, hey, Lon, welcome to heaven, you fool.

No, that's not how I want this to happen and I don't really think that's how you want God to greet you when you get to heaven. So let's ask a question and that question is what exactly did this rich man do that was so wrong that it caused God to call him a fool? Well, Jesus answered the question, what did he say in verse 21? He said the rich man laid up treasure for himself but he was not rich towards God. And that leads us to a second question which is what exactly does it really mean when the Bible talks about being rich towards God?

Well, let's talk about that. The Bible teaches, my friends, that every follower of Jesus Christ, every true follower of Christ has a bank account in heaven. The Bible teaches that the day you and I gave our life to Christ God opened up for us a heavenly bank account in the pearly gate savings and loan or something akin to that. And the Bible teaches that while we're here on earth God has given us the opportunity to make deposits into that account, to transfer funds into that account, funds that will be waiting for us when we arrive in heaven and funds on the basis of which, 1 Corinthians 3.14, God will dispense rewards when we get to heaven.

Listen to the Bible reiterate this over and over. Matthew chapter 6 verse 19, Jesus said, do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but rather, Jesus says, store up for yourselves, what's the next three words, say it, treasure in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. Matthew 19.21, Jesus told the rich young ruler, go sell all you have and give it to the poor and you shall have, what's the next three words, treasure in heaven.

Jesus said, Luke chapter 12 verse 33, when we give to the Lord, we provide ourselves with purses that will not wear out, what are the next three words, treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted. Folks, the point is that the more treasure we deposit in our heavenly bank account while we're here on earth, the richer towards God we will be when we arrive in heaven. You say, all right, Lon, I got that, got it, but it leads me to a third question and my third question is exactly how do I do this, exactly how do I make these deposits and transfer these funds? I mean, I don't have any deposit slips.

I mean, how exactly do I do that? And that's a great question. And what did Jesus just tell us in the three verses that we read about treasure in heaven? He said that every time we use our funds here on earth in a way that honors God, in a way that advances the work in the kingdom of God on earth, we are transferring that amount of funds into our heavenly bank account. We are storing up in that amount treasure in heaven and becoming rich towards God by that amount. Now, look here, of course, acts of service for the Lord Jesus also go into this account.

When we teach Sunday school, when we lead a Bible study, when we serve in access ministry, when we lead a small group, when we volunteer for turkey outreach, when we serve as an usher or whatever, when we do it for the Lord, those things go in the account too. But Jesus isn't talking in this particular passage about converting our acts of service into heavenly treasure. He's talking here about converting our earthly monetary funds into treasure in heaven.

So let's stay on point. And when the Bible talks about that, the Bible tells us three ways that we can use our earthly funds, our finances, to transfer and make them deposits in heaven. Number one, by giving to our local church. Acts 4, verse 35. The Bible says that the early followers of Christ brought money and laid it at the apostles' feet.

Why? Because they were the leaders of the early church in Jerusalem. And it was distributed as people had need.

That was the first way they did it. There's a second way to transfer funds, and that is by giving to missionaries and missionary organizations. Paul wrote to Philippians and said, after I had preached the gospel to you, when I left Philippi, you sent me financial aid again and again when I was in need. Now watch what he says in verse 17. He says, it's not that I'm seeking your gifts, but I'm excited. Look what he says here about what is going to be credited to your account in heaven. He says, all of that money you've sent to support the work of the gospel, that's money that's going into your heavenly bank account. And Paul says, that's what excites me. And finally, the third way that we can make these transfers is by giving to individuals in need in Jesus' name.

Don't forget that. The Bible refers to this Matthew chapter 6 as almsgiving. And it tells about an example in the early church where the church did this.

People did this, Acts 11, 29. There was a great famine and the believers in Antioch, each according to their financial ability, provided help for the poor believers living in Jerusalem, sending this relief by the hand of the United Way. Is that what that says?

No. Sending this relief by the hand of the World Health Organization. Doesn't say that either. Sending this relief by the hand of the Red Cross.

Doesn't say that. Sending this relief by the hands of Barnabas and Paul, two of the pastors at that church. Would you notice that when the church in Antioch decided to help people in need, they made sure they did it by means of a vehicle where Jesus got the credit and the name of Jesus was exalted in how they did it. Now listen, I'm not saying the Red Cross doesn't do some great things. And I'm not saying you shouldn't give to the Red Cross. I'm just saying that giving to a secular organization like the Red Cross doesn't lay up treasure in heaven for you because that money is not distributed in the name of Jesus and for the fame of Jesus. So these are our three options for transferring funds, number one, by giving to our local church ministry, number two, by giving to missionaries and missionary organizations, and number three, by giving to people in need using a vehicle that exalts the name of Jesus Christ. Now I want to stop for a moment and just share my personal opinion with you.

I personally believe and I structure my giving accordingly that the vast majority of our giving should be to the local church that we're attending. You say, well, of course you believe that. What are you kidding? You're the pastor of a local church. Of course you believe that. No, no, no. Look here.

No, no, no. In the years before I was ever a pastor of a church when I worked for a missionary organization, Brenda and I, even in those years, still gave the overwhelming majority of our giving not to that missionary organization but to the local church that we were attending. And I'll tell you why I believe this, three reasons. Number one, because the local church is the primary instrument of God that the New Testament tells us about and therefore I believe that as a Christian I have the duty to support a local church above everything else. Number two, because a good local church will be using the money we give it to address all three options for biblical giving. In other words, a good church will be using some of the money we give for local church ministry, some of the money we give for missionaries and missions organizations, and some of the money we give to help poor and needy people in the name of Christ.

So with one gift you cover all three areas. And finally, the reason I believe this is because giving to a good local church ensures maximum accountability over how that money is going to be spent. I mean most local churches are like McLean Bible Church. We have a group of godly elders who scrupulously watch over how the money is spent at this church. We give a financial report to our congregation every quarter at our congregational meeting. We take our budget and lay it before the congregation every year in December and it has to be approved. We can't spend a dime without congregational approval and we do a complete and thorough audit every year of this church that anybody who wants can have a copy of. Hey, be careful where you give your money that there's real accountability that is being used for the things that you gave it for. And in this regard I warn you about giving to televangelists because most of these guys have absolutely no accountability over how the money is spent that's given to them and you have no knowledge whatsoever of where your money is going.

So let's summarize. What have we learned so far today? Well, number one, we've learned that Jesus tells us in the Bible to make sure we're using our money here on earth in such a way that when our soul is required of us, we will be rich towards God. And second, we do this, Jesus tells us in the Bible, not by hoarding our funds in greediness but by using them for the advancement of the kingdom of God and the work of God. And how do we do that?

By giving to our local church, by giving to missionaries, and by giving to people in need in Jesus' name. You know, every three or four years we do our footsteps of Moses' trip through Egypt and one of the highlights, for me anyway, is going to the Antiquities Museum in Cairo. This place is just phenomenal. And the most phenomenal display in the museum, without a doubt, are the treasures of King Tut. Now, King Tut, or really his full name was King Tut Ankh Amun, as a Pharaoh, was buried with all of his loot. You know, the Pharaohs believed that they needed everything that they had on earth here materially for the afterlife. And so when they buried them, they put all that stuff in there, tables and chairs and you name it, they put it all in there. Well, King Tut died in 1325 B.C. and 3,000 years later when Howard Carter found his tomb in 1922 and opened it up, guess what? Guess what was inside? Well, every single piece of loot that King Tut put in there was still there 3,000 years later when Tut went into eternity, folks. Not one bed, not one chair, not one nothing went with him.

And you know why? Because the Bible says, 1 Timothy 6, 7, for we brought nothing into the world and it is certain that we will take nothing out of the world. Friends, the Bible tells us the only thing you and I will ever take out of this world are the deposits that we've transferred into our heavenly bank account by the way we spend our money and the way we serve Christ with our life, those are the only things we'll take out of this world and on the basis of those things, God will reward us in heaven. And this is why the church that fails to challenge you as a follower of Jesus Christ to give sacrificially to the Lord while you're here on earth, to give generously to the Lord while you're here on earth, that church is doing you a huge disservice. And this is why, as your pastor, I am not the least bit ashamed to urge you to give liberally to the work of God here on earth.

You say, Lon, you're right. You are shameless. All right. I accept that criticism.

It's okay. And let me tell you why I'm shameless about encouraging you to do that. It's because I know I'm doing you a favor. It's because I know that when you get to heaven and you're standing before Almighty God and some little CPA angel flies up with a green visor and bifocals and reads you your financial statement in heaven, friends, I know you're going to look back and you're going to thank me and you're going to thank this church that we kept encouraging you not to hoard everything you had in greed but to actually transfer funds and to keep swelling your heavenly bank account and become richer towards God.

You say, but Lon, the problem is I can't give like some people can give. I mean, they can lay up treasure in heaven at a rate that I can never lay it up. Whoa, wait a minute. Wait a minute, friends. That's not how God's actuarial tables work at all.

First Corinthians 16 to the Bible says given proportion to how the Lord has prospered. What's the next word? You. Not somebody else.

You. Friends, listen, if God has prospered you a little and you give liberally out of that little, God will reward you to the exact same degree as someone whom he's prospered much and they give liberally out of that much. It doesn't make one bit of difference what somebody else gives. Remember the story of the widow and the two minds?

You remember that? And Jesus said that little widow who gave two little tiny pennies gave more in my sight than all these rich people. Why? Because she was giving out a little and was being more liberal with a little than these other guys were being with a lot. Friends, it's not about the portion we give or the amount we give. It's about the proportion we give. So don't you worry one bit what anybody else gives.

That's not going to make one bit of difference. Folks, you just worry about what God's given you and what you're going to do with you. God will deal with you as you. You say, all right, Solon, what are you really telling me here today? Are you really telling me that I should go sell my vacation home and sell my boat and sell my classic cars and sell my jewelry or whatever, and I should give all that money to the Lord?

Is that what you're telling me today? Friends, listen, I'm not telling you anything about what you ought to do with your personal holdings. I'm just telling you what the Lord Jesus Christ told all of us today.

And what he told us is don't be like the rich fool. Don't make every provision financially for this life and make no provision financially for eternity. Now, what each one of us does with that, well, that's your business.

I mean, you do what you want to do with that. But let me say one thing in closing, and that is I don't know if it's possible to have regrets in heaven. But if it is, I strongly suspect that one of the greatest regrets most of us are going to have is that we transferred so little into our heavenly bank account while we were here and we kept so much of it here on earth and used it on ourselves.

At least I worry about that with me. I worry about my greed, and I'm constantly asking myself the question, OK, Lon, how much of this do you really want to keep here and use for you? And how much of this do you really want to transfer so that when you get to heaven, those funds are there waiting for you? And I'm telling you, friends, that kind of question for every one of us as sinful, greedy human beings is a tough question because we're all like the rich fool in our flesh.

We all want to keep it all for us. But Jesus said, don't be a fool. Be smart.

Listen to what I'm telling you. Because when you get to heaven, what you really want God to say to you is welcome to heaven, you smart person. That's what you really want him to say. And this is how we get him to say that.

It's something worth thinking about, folks. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, you know how uncomfortable it is for preachers to talk about money. And we all know here how sensitive people are about the church talking about money.

I understand this. But, Lord, I haven't asked anybody for a dime today. That's not what this was about. What today was about is biblical instruction. What today was about was biblical teaching. Today was all about the Lord Jesus Christ telling us how to use our finances here on earth so that when our soul is required of us, we will not be poor towards God. And we won't put you in the position, Lord, where you have to call us a fool. Now, Lord, take the word of God today and apply it to our heart with great power. Cause us to ask ourselves some searching questions. And, Lord Jesus, cause us to answer those questions in a way that one day you will look at us and say, You know what? You were not a fool. You were smart because you responded to what I told you to do in the word of God. Lord, change our lives cause we were here today. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. That's what these people said. Amen. .