Luke 12: 13-34
Escaping the Peril of Greed

by Gary DeLashmutt

Introduction

LAST TIME, Jesus delivered a warning against hypocrisy (review). NOW, he delivers another warning against another spiritual peril . . .

Read 12:13-14. To the man’s request, Jesus refuses to act in a capacity for which he had no legal authority. But he goes beyond this refusal to deliver a warning to this man. He sensed in the man’s request a dangerous mentality—read 12:15.

Profile of a fool – Reject materialism (12:13-21)

Read 12:16-19. This is a description of the American Dream! This man was evidently hard working and honest—there is no evidence that he broke the law, evading taxes, etc. He was a shrewd investor; he retired early, etc. Such people are regularly and highly commended by our society. They write best-selling books, give expensive seminars that are packed out, held up as models of what makes America great, get buildings named after them, etc.

Yet Jesus calls this man a “fool” (read 12:20a)!! What a shocking assessment! What could possibly possess Jesus to render such a severe verdict? Before we go any farther, I want make sure you don’t tune out the rest of this teaching because you think Jesus is saying something he isn’t.

It is not intrinsically wrong to have a good job, or to advance in your career and income.
It is not intrinsically wrong to own material goods and enjoy them.
It is not intrinsically wrong to save some money for rainy days, college, retirement, etc.

Nevertheless, this man was a fool. His outlook on life and his priorities were so badly skewed that he deserved this label, just as many people do today. Here is Jesus’ profile of a fool.

“I am the sole owner of my life and possessions. When the Bible uses this term, it refers to people who are practical atheists—that God doesn’t exist, or that his existence has no practical authority over their lives. This man may have gone to synagogue and Temple occasionally, but he lived as an owner rather than as a steward (“I;” “my” in 12:17-19).
He chose his goals and spent his time independently from God’s direction.
He used his wealth for himself rather than using it for God’s priorities.
He lived as though he would not render account to God for the way he spent his life
“My material riches will make me safe and secure.” But in fact they made him neither (read 12:20b). They could not prevent him from dying, he could not take them with him into the next life (NO TRAILER HITCHES ON HEARSES; “HOW MUCH DID HE LEAVE?” “WHY, ALL OF IT, OF COURSE.”), and they provided him no security at all in life’s most important matter: God’s judgment of his eternal soul.
“I don’t have time to pursue spiritual things.” What would you call someone who squandered their time in recreational drugs and flunked out of school? He used his time to accumulate temporal trinkets instead of eternal wealth. As a result, he was a fundamental failure in the most important purpose of life—to be rich toward God (read 12:15b, 21).

We call this way of life materialism. Materialism is a world-view that defines identity, fulfillment, security and success in terms of temporal things. Before you assure your self that you are unaffected by materialism, consider these questions:

What are your dreams & aspirations? Are they dominated by career, possessions, and money? Do you have trouble thinking of any other alternatives?
Who do you admire most? Why?Is it because they have the most money and toys?
What kind of advice do you seek about important financial decisions? Do you only ask financial counselors—or do you also ask family members and spiritual mentors?
How do you habitually spend disposable time & money? These are two of the truest tests of what we value.
How much debt do you have for non-necessary acquisitions? Your answer to this question may indicate that you can be content with what you have materially—or that you are seeking fulfillment from things.
How do you view retirement?This man viewed it as a well-deserved time to focus on selfish enjoyment. How about you?
Who can say he is free from materialism? All of us struggle with it to some degree, and many of us are substantially in bondage to it.
Many of us have been sacrificed on the altar of materialism as children by parents who pursued this way of life, and vowed we would never make money and career more important than our children—yet we find ourselves moving down the same path as parents. Many of us have embraced this way of life for years and know first-hand the emptiness and misery it produces—yet find ourselves trapped like a rat in a maze.
Jesus rejects this way of life, and he calls on you to reject it (12:15; 1 Tim. 6:9, 11)—this is the first step in escaping the peril of greed.

But if you try to beat materialism only by rejecting it, you will fail. It is too pervasive and subtle—and unless you replace it with another way of life, you will be drawn back into it. In 12:22-34, Jesus paints a portrait of this way of life. It consists of two non-detachable parts . . .

Learn to trust God for your material needs (12:22-30)

Read 12:22. “For this reason . . .” If you pursue materialism, you will have material anxiety. The two go together, and there is no inverse relationship between the amount of money you have and the amount you worry. Those who have very little money can be free of anxiety, while those who have tons of money can be enslaved by material anxiety.

This is where the rubber meets the road in trusting God. A lot of us talk about how we trust God, but if we can’t trust him here, we do really not trust him.

Jesus gives several reasons why we can trust God in this area:

Read v. 23. Since God’s purpose for our lives is more than physical existence, he will provide us with the basics of life needed to fulfill that purpose.
Read vs 24, 27, 28. If God provides for lesser members of his creation, he will certainly provide for his own children. The point is not that the birds don’t work (they are plenty busy), but that they don’t worry (“I may lose my job, the banks may close, the economy may go south, inflation may eat up my retirement account, etc.”).
Read vs 25-26. Anxiety doesn’t accomplish anything constructive, so why waste your time worrying? Anxiety can’t lengthen our lives by even a little bit—but it can shorten our lives by a lot.
Read v. 30. Anxiety is understandable for those who don’t belong to God—but not for those who are his children. This leads to the next point . . .

What action steps can we take to trust God in this way?

Become God’s child by receiving Christ. This is the first step. You can’t really trust God in this area until you’ve trusted him to be forgiven and reconciled to him through Christ (GOSPEL).
Don’t rationalize material anxiety; judge it as unbelief. Ask God to sensitize you to this, monitor your thought-life, and nip it in the bud instead of allowing it to grow.
Recall God’s promises & past record of material faithfulness, & thank him for this. This is a definite choice, often against your current thoughts and feelings.
Ask him to meet your present material needs with the above attitude.

But this is not enough. Unless you do something else, you will be drawn back into material anxiety, and ultimately back into a materialistic way of life. This is the expulsive power of a new affection . . .

Pursue God’s kingdom (12:31-34)

Read v. 31. This doesn’t mean spend your whole life trying to get into God’s kingdom, because 12:32 says God gladly gives it to those who trust Christ. It means to make God’s kingdom the #1 priority in your life, to put the same kind of intensity and creativity and commitment that materialists put into amassing material wealth (12:29 “seek”) into advancing God’s purpose on earth and representing him accurately. The rest of the New Testament elaborates on what this involves.

Invest your time in God’s kingdom.

Learning God’s Word.
Spending time with God in prayer.
Building healthy Christ-centered relationships with other Christians.
Befriending people who don’t know God and helping them come to Christ.
Helping Christians grow in Christ—including finding your unique role.
If you don’t get involved in spiritual growth and ministry enough to reach your affections, you will be seduced back into materialism. You may think you can stay spiritually unhealthy without being seduced, but you are mistaken. The stimulation vacuum must be filled by something, and if you don’t fill it with God’s way of life, you will fill it with the other way of life.

Invest your money in God’s kingdom (12: 33).

Read v. 33. This is really another area of serving others, but Jesus singles it out for special emphasis. Read v. 34. Where we invest our money is both a reliable indicator of your true priorities, and it reinforces your attachment to those priorities in this life.
The idea here is not taking a vow of poverty and divesting yourself of all personal property. It is living a simple life and giving away the excess. Don’t hoard it—let it go, give it away to those who need it! If you keep it, it will corrupt you and seduce you back into materialism. If you let it go, it will increase your trust in God’s faithfulness and you joy in this life and reward in the next life.
This means giving regularly and sacrificially to support your local church, help the poor, and spread the gospel to unreached peoples. And it means giving beyond this when extra money is available. ALSO: hospitality, travel to fields, etc.

Conclusion