WWUTT 2401 The Parable of the Rich Young Fool (Luke 12:13-21)

Jesus tells a parable about a rich young fool who stores up all of his treasures for himself. And he's even ready to kick back and eat, drink, and be merry, but his life is going to be required of him before he knows it, when we understand the text.

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When We Understand the Text is an online ministry dedicated to teaching the Word of God in context, promoting sound doctrine while exposing the faulty.

Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Reading the Parable of the Rich Fool in Luke 12

Thank you, Becky. Here in the Gospel of Luke, we've been in chapter 12, and today we come to the parable of the rich fool. There's a man who asks something of Jesus, and Jesus replies with this particular parable.

So let's read it here. Luke 12, verses 13 to 21, hear the word of the Lord. Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance.

With me.

But Jesus 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, 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?

So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. Now if you'll remember back to the introduction to the Gospel of Luke, this has been many weeks now, so I don't expect you to remember that.

But we went over some reoccurring themes in the Gospel of Luke. And Luke spends more time than Matthew, Mark, or John warning the audience of the deceitfulness of riches. Why? What's the danger there with riches?

Well, of course, a person can put their trust in that instead of in God. They store up treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, just as Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, instead of storing up treasure in that place where moth and rust cannot destroy, and that is in the kingdom of God above.

And then there's also this danger of the deceitfulness of riches choking out the seat of the Gospel. Or even the effort to labor and spread the Gospel. If a person is clinging too tightly to the stuff of this world, then they won't be as eager or zealous for the Gospel and sharing it with others so that they may turn to Jesus Christ and be saved.

A person has found themselves too comfortable in the world. So what urgency is there for me to tell others about the impending judgment that is to come? That everyone is under this judgment unless they turn to the Lord Jesus Christ and are.

Saved.

A person has no urgency in this sense because they have become lazy, they've become complacent, and again, they've become relaxed in the world, not seeking after those things that God has charged us with doing, but instead doing as this rich fool in this parable of sitting back and eating and drinking and being merry.

So these are among the dangers that Jesus, Luke, the writer of the Gospel, but of course Jesus within the Gospel, warns people of not to put their trust in riches. Now because Luke places such an emphasis on that, because this theme comes up so many times over the course of this Gospel, then it has taken some to say that it's a sin to be rich at all.

And you'll hear this from especially those on the more liberal side of things. We shouldn't have riches of any kind, that Jesus was even something of a communist of his day or a socialist willing to spread the wealth around a little bit, and that's not the message of the Gospel of Luke at all.

So some have taken that angle since Luke places such an emphasis on this lesson, to not trust in riches. Of course, you know, the encounter of Jesus with the rich young ruler. We've read it already in Matthew and Mark.

It's going to come up in Luke as well, but not until chapter 18. And this is a man who has put his trust in all of his possessions, everything that he has acquired. And not only that, but even his own goodness.

He comes to Jesus saying, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus says to him, you know, the commandments, the rich young ruler says, yeah, I've kept all those commandments. So I guess I'm good.

I'm getting into the kingdom of God. And Jesus says to him, I hold this against you. Go and sell all that you have, give it to the poor and then come follow me and you will have treasure in heaven. And the rich young ruler walks away sad because he had many great possessions.

And so people take that encounter and will say, see, Jesus told him to give all of his stuff away. So you have to be willing to give all your stuff away. And again, that's not the lesson. That was a challenge that Jesus gave to this particular man.

Do you need to give all your stuff away? You might. That's going to be between you and God. But it doesn't mean that because of that encounter, that narrative is normative. Now it is incumbent upon everybody to give up all that they have and follow Jesus.

And as long as you still have possessions and riches, then you don't really obey Jesus like you say that you should. The people that will try to guilt you into that are those that still hold on to their riches and their possessions.

They just think you should be the one to give it away because you're a follower of Jesus. But it's not about living in poverty. The Christian life is not about living in poverty. We've been going through Proverbs as well on Friday, and I've taught through Proverbs on this broadcast before.

But in the Proverbs, it says that a wise person labors and makes a profit and will therefore invest the money in a wise way. So that's a person who handles his money wisely. But we still must beware not to put our trust and our hope in the deceitfulness of riches.

And that's a lesson that comes up not only in Luke, but in other places in the New Testament as well. And we'll get to that here as we go. So let's come back to this parable, verse 13. Someone in the crowd said to him, now remember the way that we started chapter 12, it said in verse one, in the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first.

So last week, we addressed those lessons that Jesus gave to his disciples, and they specifically pertained to the disciples trusting in Christ and having the Holy Spirit with them to guide them in what it is that they are to say in the respective situations that they're going to be put into as apostles of Jesus Christ.

So, going out with the gospel and sharing it with the world, you're going to be hated.

For it.

You're going to be persecuted. The one who acknowledges me before men, I will acknowledge before my father in heaven. My father loves you. He is with you. The Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.

Even when you're on the slab, when you're on the spot right there, and you are expected to make some statement concerning these things that have been taught by Jesus, or even making a declaration of knowing that Jesus is the son of God, the Holy Spirit will be with you to teach you what you ought to say.

So the disciples' confidence in those moments would still be in God, not in themselves and not in their own ability to respond in a wise way. So Jesus has had instructions for his disciples thus far. Here we've got a reaction from somebody in the crowd.

So someone in the crowd said to him, teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance.

With me.

And we get the impression that this man's heart was not right in this request because of the way that Jesus responds to him. He said, man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you? And then said to them, said to the crowd, take care and be on your guard against all covetousness.

So it appears as if the attitude of this man's heart is coveting. He is not simply asking that Jesus would divide this up fairly. Come be an arbitrator between us so that I will, I will get the inheritance that is due.

To me.

Tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. Rather, this man coveted something that his brother had. And so Jesus is not getting involved in this situation. It's basically the response that he gives when he says, man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?

Now, Jesus is, of course, judge of all. And as he said at the end of the Gospel of Matthew, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. So Christ is the judge over all. And he certainly has the authority and the power to make a judgment in this particular.

Case.

Why is it that Jesus responds like this and says, who made me a judge or arbitrator over.

You?

I think there are two potential responses here. Either one could apply. Either one may be correct. Number one, it could be the same kind of response that Jesus has for the rich young ruler. When we get to this later on in Luke 18, remember that the rich young ruler comes to Jesus and says teacher or says to him, rather good teacher, what must I do to have eternal life?

And Jesus responds to him. Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. And this is not Jesus saying is some skeptics will claim that he isn't really a good person. I'm not God. So why are you calling me good?

That's what some skeptics will interpret Jesus words as meaning. But this is Jesus rather challenging this man's heart as he does through that entire encounter. When he says, why do you call me good? He's putting on the rich young ruler to recognize who he really is.

Do you recognize me as the son of God? If not, then why are you calling me good for no one is good, but God alone. That's the challenge that Jesus gives to the rich young ruler. And so it could be that same kind of response here.

The man in the crowd doesn't really see Jesus as judge, as Lord overall. So man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you? Why are you even coming and asking me this? What is it that you believe about me?

That makes you think that I should be making this determination between you and your brother. So that's the first possible reason for Jesus response here. The second one is that this is not why Jesus came.

So he's not here to become like in the position of a judge in the city gates or someone that is of the Sanhedrin that would be making these determinations and these judgments in these civil sorts of matters among the citizens of the people of Israel.

That's not what Jesus came for. And so his response in that way, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you is simply to say on some level that the man may not understand is that this is not my mission.

It's not why I'm here. And the man doesn't really listen to what Jesus is teaching and what he is saying. If this is what that man thinks that Jesus is here for. And so Jesus says in verse 15, and he's addressing all the crowd now here, take care and be on your guard against all covetousness for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.

Now there are other passages in scripture that some may use to say that we should not have riches, that it's actually a sin to be rich. If it's a sin to be rich, then where's the line? Like when I get to this dollar amount, I'm still righteous.

But once I cross that dollar amount, now I'm sinning. That's a way that you can respond to somebody who says being rich is a sin. The Bible says being rich is a sin.

Oh yeah.

Where does it say that? They may quote to you. First Timothy 610 money is the root of all evil, and that's probably the way that they'll quote it when it actually says the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.

Paul goes on in that chapter to say, this is still first Timothy six, verse 17. Remember that Timothy has been sent to Ephesus to be an overseer there in that church. And so as he is pastoring the church in Ephesus, Paul tells him this, as for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.

Don't put your hope on the uncertainty of riches. Put your hope in God anywhere in that did Paul say that it's a sin for them to be rich and they need to get rid of all their riches. If they want to enter the kingdom of God, it's not what he said.

Just charge them not to be proud and don't set their hope on the uncertainty of riches. What are they to do instead? Verse 18 they are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share the storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that, which is truly life.

That's the instruction that Paul has there for Timothy. Not that it's a sin to be rich, not that the rich in your church need to get rid of all their possessions, but they need to have such a light grasp on those possessions that they're ready and willing to be generous and share with anyone who is in need and being rich in these good works, they store up for themselves even greater treasure, not on earth, but in the kingdom of God that awaits them.

And so here in Luke, as Jesus is giving this warning to the crowd to not put their hope in the, uh, in, in the uncertainty of riches or in the abundance of his possessions, he says, don't hope in these things and then gives them this parable, 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. So now his output has exceeded what he has prepared for. He does have barns built, so he's at least that wise, but not barns that are big enough to store everything that he has brought in.

He needs bigger barns. So he says, I know 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 that might be a wise thing to do. You certainly don't want all those grain and goods to go to waste.

But of course, he could also be generous with these things. He could store up for himself just what he needs. And then with the rest, with the excess, he's willing to share it, pass it on to somebody else, bless someone else with this, that God has given to me.

The land of a rich man produced plentifully. How did that land produce plentifully? Because God blessed him with that plenty. But instead of honoring God and giving away that plenty to those who did not have, he is storing up all of it for himself.

I'm going to build more barns. I'm going to build larger ones, store all my grain and my goods. In verse 19, I will say to my soul, soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. So relax. No need to work that hard anymore.

Eat, drink and be merry. Live for the moment. Kick back and relax and party. But God said to him in verse 20, fool, this night your soul is required of you and the things you have prepared. Whose will they be?

It's kind of like the old saying that you've never seen a U-Haul trailer on the back of a hearse, the stuff that you have stored up for yourself on earth, you don't get to take it with you. Even all the things that we prepare for our bodies at the time of burial, you know, bury me with my father's watch or put this suit on me.

This is the suit that I want to wear when I get buried, whatever it might happen to be. There's there's always those little trinkets and things like that we want to be buried with. Or somebody will say somebody will put in their will, make sure that I'm buried in this whenever you put my body into the ground.

But you don't get to take any of that stuff with you, especially if it's something that may have a certain value here on earth. Why would you put it in your coffin, hand it to somebody in your family that it may benefit?

So anyway, all that to say, you won't see someone bring a moving truck into a graveyard, unloading all their possessions into their grave. All this stuff is is going with me. What you have here on earth you have for a limited amount of time, and when you die, where does it go?

And this man in this parable has stored up everything that he has for himself. No intention of sharing it with anybody. You have ample goods laid up for many years. So let's party, let's kick back, not even have to work anymore.

Let us just enjoy ourselves. But just as soon as that man has made that decision to keep all this stuff for himself and just live off of the excess to benefit himself, God says you're going to die tonight.

Your soul will be required of you this night. All these things you've stored up for yourself. Where are they going to go now? What's going to happen to them? Reminds me also of the warning that James gives.

James 4, 13. Come now, you who say today or tomorrow, we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit. Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life?

For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

Whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it for him, it is sin. And then at the start of chapter five, James goes on. Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.

Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days.

Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you. And the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence.

You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you. So this wealthy person who took advantage of others in order to make himself rich.

Yeah.

Don't think that we here in the United States haven't done things like that. There are certainly rich business owners who have taken their businesses overseas because they can pay less for the labor and they really abuse that labor.

And they're not subject to the labor laws that are here in the United States of America. And for basically pennies on the dollar, they make these expensive phones, expensive clothes, and then bring them back to the United States and sell them at top dollar.

And these rich bigwigs make all kinds of money. We reap the benefits of that as well, because we get cheaper gadgets that we can use to make our lives more comfortable. And in the meantime, those who do not have as much suffer.

You may think that just because you're middle class, that I don't have to be as worried about this parable that Jesus gives to this rich fool. I'm not that rich. I live paycheck to paycheck. So what do I have to worry about?

But we, too, even among middle class, can become extremely content and relaxed and trust in the uncertainty of riches. And we have no urgency or zealousness for the gospel. We don't understand the hour.

We don't recognize what time it is that the judgment of God will soon come. And we need to be out there sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with those who are perishing. So that they would turn from their sin to the Lord Jesus Christ and live, they, too, would turn from the trust that they place on the stuff of this world or their condition or whatever else, which is not going to last because judgment is at hand, so that they would hear the good news of Jesus Christ who forgives sin, who makes us right with God and in him.

We have riches and abundance beyond anything this world could offer. We have peace with God and everlasting life with Jesus Christ, our Lord. Put your trust in Christ in all things. Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we've read here, and I pray that we would indeed be more generous with that which you have blessed us with.

How can we use what you have given to us to glorify you, to benefit someone else? What sort of understanding do we need to have of the gospel and we need to be out there spreading the gospel? Our lives could end in a moment.

We have no idea when our life will be up or what may happen to us. It could be today. It could be next year. It could be decades from now. But we don't know. We don't know when our soul will be required of us.

Are we laying up treasure for ourselves or are we being rich toward God? And so, Lord, work these things out in our lives and teach us to be open to how we treat those things that we have and the kind of urgency that we need to place on sharing the gospel.

Do we have our priorities in the right place? Help us to keep our eyes on Jesus. Work these things out in our hearts and minds in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Application: Generosity, Urgency, and Being Rich Toward God

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Hughes.

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