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Sermon from Sunday February 20, 2022 Covetousness vs Confidence Luke 12:13-34
Stand with us this morning, if you would, for the reading of God's Word. We're going to be reading Luke chapter 12 verse 13 through verse 34 in your hearing this morning. These are the words of the living God.
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 a judge or 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 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, 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? So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. And he said to his disciples, Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.
For life is more than food and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens. They neither sow nor reap. They have neither storehouse nor barn. And yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds?
And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If you then are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow.
They neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown in the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith?
And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things. Your Father knows that you have need of them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.
Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with money bags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Our Heavenly Father, as we come to your throne at this moment, I come thankful for the privilege of being able to come under your throne in prayer.
Lord, I understand that this is a blood-bought privilege that we have as children of God to approach under your throne, to seek you, that we may find mercy and grace to help us in our time of need. And today, God, I would simply ask this.
This would be my request. This is my supplication, Lord. Show us Christ in your word. As we read through your word, we pray that we would understand and that we would realize that we are hearing the words of the living God.
And in knowing that, being reminded what we have elsewhere in the scriptures, that your word is quick and powerful, and your word is sharper than any two-edged sword. Lord, cut our hearts to the quick today.
Show us your grace and your mercy and your truth, that we may live lives acceptable in your sight. For it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen.
You may be seated.
You are taking notes today and you want to put a heading on your notes. We are going to be, in this text, we are going to be looking at covetousness versus confidence. Covetousness versus confidence. We see this term of covetousness come up in the text.
I noticed in the teenagers' class, this was in their text this morning. But when we are speaking today, we want to be reminded, it's kind of a general statement, a kind of an introductory statement, that covetousness is a sin against a holy God.
Some might say we ought to focus on the big sins. Well, my friend, sin is sin and it is that for which Christ died. Covetousness being one of those sins. Covetousness is a sin against a holy God. Versus, what we are going to see in the text as well, versus confidence in the faithful provision of our Heavenly Father.
We are going to see this contrasted covetousness being a sin against the holy God versus confidence in the faithful provision of our Heavenly Father. In verse 13 -21, as a general breakdown, we'll see that Jesus denounces the sin of covetousness.
That's in verses 13 -21. In verses 22 -34, we are going to see how Jesus promotes confidence in our Heavenly Father to provide for His children. There is a very real difference. As it has ever been between the lost and the saved.
There is a marked difference between those who have been born again by the grace of God and those who are outside of the grace of God. So we'll see Jesus denouncing the sin of covetousness and we'll see Jesus promoting confidence in our Heavenly Father.
So here, beginning in the text, beginning in verse 13, just verse 13 and 14 to start with, let's remember what's taking place here. In chapter 12, thus far, we see Jesus in verses 1 -3 reminding those that He's speaking to, the crowd that is gathered, matter of fact, it's such a big crowd that they're stepping and trampling on one another.
Jesus reminds them that there is nothing done in secret that will not be made revealed by the light. God knows the hearts and the minds of men and women. He knows the hearts and the minds of boys and girls.
There is nothing secret from God. In verse 4 -7, we hear Jesus teaching His disciples, teaching His people in that crowd, not to fear man, but to fear God. For He says, do not fear man whom after he is killed can do nothing but I say unto you, fear him whom after he is killed has power to cast both soul and body into hell.
And then in verse 8 -12, we hear and we read Christ reminding and reminding His congregation that is standing there before Him that this group of people of the danger of the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
For He says the sins committed against the Son of Man will be forgiven but he who sins against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. It is an eternal sin. And so in light of all that, that brings us to where we are right now in verse 13.
And the Scripture is so vivid here. Someone in the crowd said to Him, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. But Jesus said to him, Man, who made me an arbitrator over you? So it's very important that we get a little bit of context here.
What's taking place? What's going on? But if you're taking notes, what Jesus is going to do here, He's going to address the greed of this individual. He's going to address the greed of this individual, the covetous heart of this individual.
And he's going to show him the one who asked him to arbitrate his property that he has a much greater need than for Jesus Christ to divide land between him and his brother.
He's going to see this.
John Gill, in his commentary on this verse, said this,. The reason why Christ avoided meddling with it was not because it is unlawful for Christians to concern themselves in arbitrations about civil affairs and in making up family differences, which is very commendable.
But lest, Gill said, but lest by such a step, he should give occasion to them to conclude he was a temporal king, whereas his kingdom is not of this world. Gill goes on to say in a much more specific, giving sense of this text,.
He said this,.
We often read in the Jewish writings of brethren dividing their substance left by their parents. So it is said, brethren that divide a field give two corners to the poor. If they return and become partners, they give but one.
Where there were but two brethren, as here, Gill states, the one was called the firstborn and the other, simple, having no title or character and concerning dividing inheritances, there are the following rules.
The firstborn takes a double portion of his father's goods, as is stated in Deuteronomy 21, 17. Now, I did want to touch on this because, again, we want to have full context of what's going on, the understanding of the people at that time, what's being said to them, and the importance and the significance of what Jesus states.
So if we look at Deuteronomy chapter 21, verses 15 through 17, this is what the word of God says. If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him children, and if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved, then on the day when he assigns his possessions as an inheritance to his sons, he may not treat the son of the loved as the firstborn in preference to the son of the unloved, who is the firstborn, but he shall acknowledge the firstborn, which is the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the firstfruits of his strength.
The right of the firstborn is his. And so there we see the issue very likely may have been an issue of a younger brother wanting something and approaching Jesus in a way and in a manner in which he's wanting to use Jesus to his advantage.
Now we see this much in the church today. We hear this in much preaching and teaching that you hear today. It's important for us to remember this, that Christ's kingdom is not of this world. He wasn't coming to be a political potentate.
He was coming as King of Kings. He came as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And so this is yet another example of how Jesus continually points people to the law and the prophets.
It's amazing.
It was amazing to me as I studied through this and every single time that I read it, and when I say amazing, church, let me clarify here. When I say amazing, I'm not talking about amazing in the sense of what it is when we consider God's mercy and grace to us as his people.
I'm talking about it's amazing at how stupid people can be. It's amazing at how selfish individuals can be. It's amazing how covetousness, the covetousness of men and women, the wickedness of our hearts comes out at what may seem to be the most opportune times in our lives when are the very times that we ought to be dying to our sin and living unto Christ Jesus our Lord.
So consider that just moments before this man asked this question, literally, likely seconds before, before this man asked this worldly question that Jesus had just spoken on the very spiritual, on the very weighty matter, on the very weighty issue of men and women committing the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
So naturally, in the mind of the worldly man, his idea was this, how can I use Jesus to my advantage? Thankfully, our Creator, thankfully our Maker, thankfully the God that made the heavens and the earth is not so easily sidetracked as most of us are and he plainly and he clearly addresses the bigger issue here.
The bigger issue here. Now, in a sermon that Parris Reid had preached, it has to be around the 70s or 80s from 10 shekels and a shirt, he does a fantastic job of describing the spirit of the age, which again, which was nearly 50, probably 50 years ago when this sermon was preached, but he does a fantastic job and it is still the spirit of the age that permeates the world in which we live today.
He said this, the philosophy of the day became humanism and he said you could define humanism this way, humanism is a philosophical statement that declares the end of all being is the happiness of man.
The reason for existence is man's happiness. Now, according to humanism, salvation is simply a matter of getting all the happiness you can out of life. This is what we hear most times today. When you hear a quote unquote so-called gospel presentation, it's simply so that the hearer can be happy.
Listen, happiness is a byproduct of salvation. It's a result of salvation. But we don't need salvation so that we can be happy. We need salvation so that we can be holy before God. And by the way, our holiness that is accounted to us doesn't even belong to us.
We have nothing in and of ourselves. He goes on to say this. Reedhead goes on to say this, so this became the effect of humanism that the end of all being is the happiness of man. He said John Dewey then, an American philosopher who influenced education, was able to persuade the educators that there were no absolute standards.
Does this sound familiar? Fifty years ago. No, it doesn't sound familiar to you, sir, because you're blessed to have a mama and a daddy who teach you God's truth. So he goes on to say this. Dewey said children shouldn't be brought to any particular standard, that the end of education was simply to allow the child to express himself and to expand on what he is and find his happiness in being what he wants to be.
Do you see why we need to be faithful to the word of God? Fifty years ago, this was the issue. In 2022, this is still the issue. And the words of the living God are the only answer. We have a faithful and true rock in which we can stand in the word of God.
Parris Reedhead goes on to say, so what was the result? We had cultural lawlessness, which every man could do, but it seemed right in his own eyes, and we had no God to rule over us. He said the Bible had been discounted and disallowed and disproved, according to what they said.
God had been dethroned.
He didn't exist.
He had no personal relationship to individuals. Jesus Christ was either a myth or just a man, so they taught, and therefore the whole end of being was happiness. The individual would establish the standards of his happiness, and the individual would interpret it.
He goes on to say the liberal says that the end of religion is to make man happy while he's alive. But Reedhead went on to include his own group of people. He said, and the fundamentalist says, that the end of religion is to make man happy when he dies.
So the liberals teach that the goal is to be happy while you live. The fundamentalist took the approach that the goal of man is to be happy.
When we die.
But remember, the standard is not happiness. The standard is the holiness of God, without which the Bible tells us that no man shall see God. But again, he said, the end of all religion, it was proclaimed, was the happiness of man, and whereas the liberal says, by social change and political order, we're going to do away with funds, we're going to do away with alcoholism and dope addiction and poverty, and we're going to make heaven on earth, and we're going to make you happy while you're alive, is what the liberal stated.
We don't know anything about after that, they said, but we want you to be happy while you're alive. And then, Reedhead said, the fundamentalists along the same line are now tuning in along this same wavelength of humanism until we find it something like this.
He said, it boils down to this, accept Jesus so you can go to heaven. You don't want to go to that old, filthy, nasty, burning hell when there's a beautiful heaven up there. Now, come to Jesus so you can go to heaven.
And the appeal, Reedhead said, could be as much to selfishness, to covetousness, as a couple of men sitting in a coffee shop deciding that they're going to rob a bank to get something for nothing. There's a way that you can get an invitation to sinners that just sounds for all the world like a plot to take up a filling station proprietor's Saturday night earnings without working for them.
The gospel should not be presented in a cheap way. The gospel costs God's dear son his life, for which he gave freely for our sins. But this man asked this worldly question, divide this inheritance, Jesus said, who made me an arbitrator over you?
And then in verse 15 he addresses the bigger issue. So what is the bigger issue here? The bigger issue is this. The bigger issue is this, is that mankind has a propensity for greed and is often taken captive by that sin.
Mankind has a propensity for greed and is often taken captive by that sin. But we read the words of our Lord here. What does Christ say? He says, take care and be on guard. Beware and be on guard. The Greek word used for those terms there, take care and be on guard, has a very, very strong meaning.
It means to observe for oneself. It means to be aware that there is something to escape. It means to avoid.
It means to shun.
It means to flee from. It means to guard oneself against for your own safety's sake, so as not to violate God's commandments. This is the large meaning of that phrase that's used there. So when Jesus said, be on guard, take care, be on guard against all covetousness, he is meaning all forms of covetousness.
Now, covetousness by definition is literally, according to the text of Scripture, it's a desire to have more. It's being unsatisfied. It's a desire to have more than you have because you feel like you should have more.
And it's always used in a negative sense. For example, in Exodus 20, verse 17, we have the commandments listed out, and we have this commandment, you shall not covet your neighbor's house, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor's.
And then to the New Testament, in Mark 7, verse 20 through 22, Jesus states, what comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, this is where sin comes from, from within, out of the heart of man comes evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery.
Oh, and it says covetousness, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. These are heinous sins in which we, as God's people, ought to be on guard against. Now, sin will creep up on you.
What did the Apostle Peter say? Be on guard, for your adversary, the devil, roams about as a roaring lion.
Seeking whom he may devour.
Now, what's important to understand and know is that the lion doesn't roar before he gets you, he roars after he gets you. The devil is sneaky, right? He will use and tempt those things that are near and dear to your heart.
But I want to remind you that according to the Word of God, that sin, what the Apostle Paul told the Roman church, sin shall not have dominion over you. For you are not under the law,.
But you are under sin,.
If so be that you have the Spirit of Christ. And if you are saved by the Holy Spirit who has regenerated you, has birthed you anew, has made you a new creature, he's given you the power to resist sin.
Now, will you do sin? Because you will still sin, by the way. We're not preaching sinless perfection. There is no such thing as sinless perfection. Even after you're saved, you will still sin. But thanks be unto God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The penalty of sin has been taken upon our Lord Jesus Christ when He died on the cross at Calvary, when He died taking our place. So, moving forward, notice what He says in verse 16. And He told them a parable saved, and He shared this parable with them.
The land of the rich man produced plentifully. And He thought to Himself, What shall I do? For I have nowhere to store my cross. And He said, I will do this. I will tear down my barns, and I will build bigger ones, and I will store all my grain and goods, and I will say to my soul, Notice the words that Christ uses here concerning this rich man.
This rich man says,.
I will say to my soul, So you have ample goods laid up for many years. Just relax, just eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him,.
You're a fool.
For this night, your soul will be required of you. Jesus teaches throughout the Gospels that a man ought to consider his life, that it is but a vapor. It is here today, and it is gone tomorrow. And I would ask you to be reminded of what Jesus asked.
What will it profit you if you gain the entire world, and yet you lose your own soul? It does not matter how much happiness. It does not matter how much joy that you have in this world. What matters is this.
When you die,.
Will you go to heaven,.
Or will you go to hell?
And the only way.
That you will go to heaven is by believing in the only begotten Son of God, who suffered and bled and died and hung on that cross, who took on Him the wrath of God in our place, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
Beware of covetousness. Beware of covetousness. And then in verse 21, notice how Jesus turns everything right here, and He uses this phrase here, so is the one who lays up for treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.
This is an example given to this man who asked this question so this man can understand the greater need. The greater need is the salvation of the soul. The greater need is not so that we can have everything that we want.
Listen, having stuff is nice. It is not a sin to have stuff. It is not a sin to like having stuff. But it is a sin when you love that stuff more than you love the Lord your God.
Jesus says,.
So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. I'll ask you this question to consider. Are you rich toward God? Are you a spiritual pauper? Are you broke as Job's turkey, as the old saying goes, when it comes to spiritual things?
Or are you rich toward God?
Have you been born again?
Do you know that you are a child of the King of kings.
And the Lord of lords?
And that it's all right because for He said in my father's mansions to prepare a place for you that where I am, there you may be also. Thomas said, Lord, how can we know the way and how can we get there?
Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the lie. You might be wondering to yourself today, how can I be made rich unto God? I would say this. I would say this.
Repent of your sin.
Confess and cast your sin before the throne of God. Believe on Jesus Christ today and you will be saved. You will have riches that nothing can ever compare to. Jesus turns here in verse 22. He said to his disciples, therefore I tell you.
So he addresses the issue of this man. He looks to his disciples and he says, therefore I tell you, do not be anxious. Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, about your body, nor about what you will put on, for life is more than food.
What a statement here. Life is more than food and the body is more than clothing. And then he said, consider the ravens. They neither sow, they don't reap, yet they don't have a storehouse and they don't have a barn, but guess what?
God feeds them. If your backyard or front yard is overrun with birds and they just keep getting fatter and fatter and fatter and messing up everything, look to them as an example, friends. If God takes care of the birds, he will take care of his children.
For you are of more value than any bird.
You were created in a way that is unique and special that will never die. That will never, never die. And he said, which of you, verse 25, which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life?
Oh, listen, how we fret. How we worry. How am I going to accomplish this? How am I going to accomplish that? We can't add an hour. We can't add a minute in another place. Jesus said that no man could add a single cubit to his stature.
It's 18 inches. That's a long way to go. Listen, but we cannot even add a second two hours. Matter of fact, worry and concern and fret decreases our life to some extent. So Jesus said, if you cannot do a small thing such as that, why are you anxious about the rest?
And then in verse 27, Jesus says, consider the lilies, how they grow, how they neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you that even King Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. There's that old song, consider the lilies.
They don't toil nor spin, but there's not a king with more splendor than them. Consider the sparrow. He doesn't plant nor sow, but he's fed by the master who watches him grow. I remember my mama singing this when I was little.
We have a heavenly father with eyes full of mercy and a heart full is bowed low. Consider the lilies and then you will know. And then that last part of that song says, may I introduce you to this friend of mine who hangs out the stars and who tells the sun when to shine.
He kisses the flowers each morning with dew, but he's not too busy to care about you. Oh friends, consider the lilies. Jesus said in verse 28, but if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you?
Oh, you of little faith.
This is not a rebuke to the unbeliever here. This is a rebuke to the believer. Listen, God has proven himself over and over time and time again. You can take it to the bank as they say, our God is faithful.
And he said, do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried for all the nations of the world seek after these things. Christians, we are in the world, but we are not of this world.
We are not called to love the things of this world. We are called to love God. And my friend, God cares for his own. All these things, the kingdoms of the world seek after, the nations of the world seek after, but your father knows that you have need of these things.
But he said, instead, instead of fret, instead of worry, instead of anxiety, instead of covetousness, continually wanting more, because really that's what that turns into. Anxiety turns into covetousness.
But he said, instead, seek his kingdom. Oh, Christian, I encourage you. I exhort you this week, seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and he will provide the things that are necessary for you today.
And then he says this, fear not little flock. What a word of encouragement. Fear not little flock. My friend, Christ in the scriptures is referred to as the good shepherd. He is the shepherd of the sheep.
We are in our shepherd little flock,.
For that is the word of the living God.
Fear not little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure.
To give you the kingdom.
Sell your possessions and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with money bags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.
Now, it's very easy for someone to take this and to say, so we should all sell and give up everything that we have. No, what he's saying here quite clearly from the larger context of this text is this.
Do not hold, do not cling fast to the things of this world for your happiness. Jesus Christ, seek him and seek his righteousness, for he states in closing this, for where your treasure is, that's right, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Where is your treasure? Where is your gaze? Where is your focus? In closing, I'll quote the best advice that I can give you. Seeing that we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, God every way did the sin that does so easily beset us, patience that is set before us,.
Looking unto Jesus,.
Who himself is minister of our affairs this morning, if you would.