Luke 12:13-21

13 Someone in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” 14 But He said to him, “Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15 Then He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” 16 And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. 17 “And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ 18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 ‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ 21 “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

Paul warns us in 1 Timothy 6 that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.  In reality, the heart of man is full of all sorts of sin, and loving money is one that grows naturally in the soil of our souls.  It is important to note that having money is not what is evil.  Loving money is what leads to evil.  There are two kinds of “money related” evils that we see in this passage.  The first is one the springs from poverty or a desire to have what one does not have.  The second springs from prosperity and the pride or self-sufficiency that can come from having an abundance.  Both poverty and prosperity can stimulate the love of money in our hearts and can lead us down a very dangerous road.

BEWARE OF GREED: Jesus warns His hearers to beware of greed because of the request of a man in the crowd who asked Jesus to require his brother to divide an inheritance with him.  This is a case of dissatisfaction over something that the person desires but does not have.  It is the love of money that springs from poverty.  In Jewish culture it was traditional for the eldest son to receive a double portion of an inheritance from the father.  However, in some cases, the father would pass all the inheritance to the eldest son which seems to be the case in our text.  One brother has received all the inheritance, but the other feels slighted.  This, very likely, has caused a significant strain in the relationship between the two brothers.  Jesus refuses to get involved in this family dispute.  Instead, he warns them man to beware of the great that is clearly eating away at his heart.  He urges the man to realize that there are more important things in life than the size of the bank account.  No amount of money is worth breaking the relationship that he should be enjoying with his brother.  We would all agree that money is less important than relationships; yet so many relationships are ruined over money.  This is why Jesus warns us to make sure we protect our hearts from all forms of greed.  Jealousy can destroy relationships so quickly, we must protect our hearts from this kind of evil.

BEWARE OF GAIN: The second danger associated with the love of money stems from the opposite end of the spectrum.  Jesus warns His hearers to beware of gain.  He tells a parable of a man who experienced great gain from his crops.  His increase was so large that he had no place to store the over abundance of his possessions.  This wealthy man stops to ponder what he should do.  It is a good thing to stop and think about a course of action before launching into a new venture.  Unfortunately, this man’s thought process led him to believe he should build larger storage facilities, so he could accumulate more wealth for himself.  One must wonder if the thought of giving his excess grain away to the poor people who surrounded him ever crossed his mind.  Instead of considering how he could help others, his only thought was to increase his own wealth and then to eat, drink and try to find joy in his own self-attained comforts.  This man’s wealth did not stimulate gratitude towards God or generosity towards others.  His heart was full of pride and his self-sufficient attitude became a stumbling block in his life.  God calls this man a fool because that very night he died, and all his wealth was left behind and could do nothing to contribute to his eternal well-being.  When the Lord blesses us with wealth, we must be faithful to consider how we might use that wealth to serve the Lord and others.

APPLICATION: Guard our hearts from the sins of greed and jealousy that so naturally sprout up in our hearts.  We all tend to focus more on what we don’t have than being grateful for the many things we do have.  Be careful to look for pride in our hearts because of our possessions.  Pride is one of the hardest things for us to see in our own lives.  Very few of us see ourselves as being rich, but the reality is that if you are reading this you have a computer, electricity in your home and more than likely have food in your refrigerator; which by world standards makes you rich.  Be generous in helping others instead of focusing on how you can amass more wealth.