Sermon Tone Analysis

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I want to draw your attention this morning to the parable of the rich fool.
A parable, that as I said earlier, I think is very contemporary to many of the problems and things that people may be experiencing today in the downturn, (or at least the perceived downturn) in the economy that has occurred over the last several months.
It's really an opportunity for us to examine our own lives, our own hearts, to see how the events of the world, of the American economy…how we measure to that, how we've been effected by that, if at all, and how it has changed the way that we view things.
I believe, as we look at this text today in Luke, chapter 12, that we'll see not only an event and a parable dealing with the crowd that Jesus encountered at that time in Luke, but also one that examines our own hearts and really the crowd that is the American society as well.
Jesus is speaking and one in the crowd comes to Him and asks Him to settle an issue.
It was common for rabbis to be arbitrators, to be judges, on certain issues, and so this man comes to Jesus and sees Jesus as a rabbi and wants Him to settle an issue that he has.
Really, Jesus is able to look beyond the immediate question and to see the heart of the individual asking that question, and really our hearts as well.
In Luke, chapter 12, and in the thirteenth verse, /"Then one from the crowd said to Him, 'Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.'
But He said to him, 'Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?'"/ Now a couple of things to just notice immediately: First of all, the man does call Jesus 'teacher,' but look at Jesus' response.
He said, /"Who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?"/
Now it's kind of hard to tell in the English because you is both singular and plural in the English, but in the original language the 'you' here is plural.
He is speaking to both of the brothers.
He is speaking to their situation together, and He is saying, "Who made me a judge over both of you?"
What Jesus is saying is that He is not going to answer.
He is not going to help them out because any answer that He gave in the dividing of their inheritance would not solve the real problem.
As we discover, the real problem that both of these brothers had was covetousness of their heart.
No matter how you divide the spoils of the inheritance, it would never be enough for a covetous heart because a covetous heart always covets more.
You know the old story of J.D. Rockefeller when he was just a multi-millionaire, and they asked him, "How much money do you need?"
And he would always answer, "One more million."
"One more million."
And that is true in all of our hearts, no matter what we think.
We might think, "If I won the lottery…" We might think, "If I just had so much…" But I can already assure you that it would never be enough.
That these who have a covetous heart, when you have a covetous heart you always covet, and you always want more.
So Jesus doesn't answer.
He doesn't divide that because dividing the inheritance 50/50, 60/40, whatever it would be, would never solve the problem that they had.
So He addresses the real problem that they were both greedy and that their greatest need was to have their hearts changed.
So Jesus goes on to give a principle in verse 15. /"He said to them, 'Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.'"/
Now right here, right in the midst of the flow of all of this, is a powerful, life-changing principle.
What Jesus says here is a statement that everyone in here will 'amen' and no one in here will fully follow…that everyone in here will on Sunday agree, but it will be the rare person on Monday who lives this way.
What Jesus is telling us is not an idealism.
It's not an impossibility.
He is giving us a clue to life.
In all that we work for, and all that we accumulate, and all that we struggle is to have life.
Jesus said (remember), "I came that they might have abundant life."
He is telling us here where abundant life is not found.
Listen to the principle: Abundance is not found in the accumulation of possessions.
He says it does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.
My friends, that goes against everything that our society has devolved to.
It goes against everything that our work ethic has turned into.
We measure happiness by possessions.
We measure more happiness by more possessions.
We think that the accumulation of things is what it's all about, even though knowing that it never brings happiness.
What will bring happiness is…a little bit more.
One more million.
One more car.
One more bigger house.
The American dream has changed today from everyone owning a home to everyone owning a home big enough to keep all of my stuff in.
When we get more stuff, we suddenly deserve a bigger home.
We get more vehicles, we need a bigger garage.
We are always after bigger.
We are always after more because the covetousness of our heart is far more powerful than the fifteenth verse of this chapter in Luke…than the words of Jesus who is speaking to you this morning in 2009.
He's not telling you to be a monk.
He's not telling you to be impoverished.
But He's telling us something…if only our hearts would hear it…that happiness and abundant living is not found in possessions.
It's not found in owning things.
So Jesus speaks a parable to these two who are so covetous of wanting to make sure they had their fair share and knowing all the while that they deserved more than the other brother…in thinking that they have every right to a larger claim that has created whatever the conflict is that brings this one to Him.
Jesus speaks a parable.
He speaks a parable really to every one of us.
He spoke a parable to them in verse 16, saying, /"The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully..."/ Now, right here there is a lot to look at.
In order, in fact, to understand at all what Jesus is saying, I think we have to understand this little introductory sentence.
Notice, if you will, He says, /"…the ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully."/
Before we go any further, we need to realize that the man in this parable is already rich.
He is a great land owner.
By the course of the parable, we understand his wealth comes from his crops.
That's where he gets his money…very common thing to do.
His ground must be good productive ground to begin with because it has made him rich.
He is a rich farmer.
He is a wealthy farmer.
And this year, this harvest season, in the introductory sentence here, he has an abundant harvest.
It yields plentifully.
You go down to verse 17, /"And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?'"/
Now first of all, he was a rich man.
That means he already had good storage facilities.
He had storage facilities that far exceeded what the poor farmer would have.
A poor farmer might be able to store his grain in the little shed that he shared with his animals.
But now here's a man who is rich, so he already has good storage facilities.
This is what he does for a living.
Now he's asking himself a question, "What shall I do since I have no room to store my crops?"
That indicates to me that he has filled up every storage bin that he has, and he built enough now, to supply him at least for a whole season.
He built enough so that in a good year, even in a semi-good year he would have enough to survive.
Do you understand this…what's going on?
Here is a man who has had more than abundance.
He doesn't even have to completely fill his bins up.
Any good business man would have built a little bit more to handle a little bit extra.
Now this man has had such a bountiful crop that every storage facility he has is filled and he still has more…more that won't fit into that storage facility.
His yield is enough to fill up everything he has and he is yielding more than he needed…really more than he anticipated.
Now is the guy who has gotten a bonus for this year.
This is the one who has gotten a windfall in his harvest this year.
What we see with this man is really what happens to everyone of us if we're not thinking godly thoughts, if we're not following the principle that Jesus just laid out in verse 15, and that is this fear that, "I have to hang on to this abundance."
This fear that, "I have to build a bigger barn."
This fear that, "It may not repeat itself."
So in verse 18, He says, /"I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods."/
Now listen, this man is instantly afraid that he will never have more crops.
Now that happens to everyone.
You get a windfall, you might get an inheritance, you might get an extra bonus, you might make an extra-good sale and the fear that grips you is, "This may never happen again.
This has come to me and I have to put it up.
I've got to put it in a sock.
I have to put it in a bank account.
I have to store it somewhere.
I better go out, and now while I have this extra money I better buy that boat because I may not have that money anymore."
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