“Then He said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.’”
Luke 12:15 (NIV)
Jesus talked alot about the danger of greed, of materialism. And how we can be blind to money’s control over us. Jesus tells us to: Watch out! Be on your guard. About what? All kinds of greed. That’s another way of saying: Chasing more.
In Luke 12:15-21, Jesus tells a parable to help us understand how to put money in its place.
“Then He said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.’ And He told them this parable: ‘The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest.’ He thought to Himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain.’ And I’ll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ ‘This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God’”
Luke 12:15-21 (NIV)
Here was the problem: The problem was not his wealth or bigger barns–the problem was his chasing money and his trusting in money to do what only God can do. And here is the big takeaway–our money plan has to help us be rich toward God.
WHAT CHASING MORE DOES TO YOU
You might be like I am–when it comes to chasing more–I have no problem recognizing it in other people. Are you like that? I can name several people I know in that category. But I have a harder time seeing it in my own life. All this comes from comparison when we see others that have more than we do.
Here’s what chasing more does to you:
It makes your self-worth based on possessions.
“Then He said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.’”
Luke 12:15 (NIV)
Life does not consist–if I feel better about myself with more rather than less–then I’m acting like life is measured by what I have. If I think this–I have the wrong scorecard. Here’s how you know if you are making your self-worth based on possessions–Do you feel intimidated in the presence of someone wealthy or successful? That can also turn into arrogance if you are with someone who is less wealthy or successful than you. Either way that is a sign that you are chasing more.
It makes your security based on your net worth.
“And I’ll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
Luke 12:19 (NIV)
The rich man likes to talk to himself. His goal? To eat, drink, and be merry and take life easy somewhere. In other words, he is saying: I can sleep better at night because of the size of my bank accounts.
“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’”
Luke 12:20 (NIV)
Is Jesus saying God is going to take him out for expanding his business? That’s not the point. The point is that you and I are a fool if we are living for just today, but really give no thought about being rich toward God and making money our security.
You think your stuff is “your stuff”.
And He told them this parable: ‘The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain.’ And I’ll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ Luke 12:16-19 (NIV). What produced all this rich man’s abundance? The land. He is taking credit. We are all mere caretakers of what God has given us. You may be smart in all sorts of ways–but who gave you the brain to figure it all out? This is like the athlete who talks about their workout plan being the whole key to their success. The truth is: We could all do the workout, eat their diet, but we’re still not playing in the NBA. Because they started out with something that was a blessing from God.
Everything we have comes from God. We can abuse it, waste it–but ultimately our stuff is not our stuff. You and I are caretakers.
BE RICH TOWARD GOD
“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”
1 Timothy 6:17-19(NIV)
Lead with generosity.
To lead with generosity with our time, energy, our talents, and our money.
Make Jesus your treasure.
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” 1
Peter 2:9 (NIV)
Christians are God’s treasure. That’s pretty amazing.
If someone is a multi-billionaire, what do you get them? The person who has everything–what do you get them? But here’s God, who literally has everything. All the stars, the galaxies, the universe is His. And with all that, God treasures us. And what we have to see is that God has given you His ultimate treasure–what is it? Jesus.
He was willing to give up everything for you. He was willing to pay anything for you. You have been treasured–if you know that–then money will just be money. It won’t be security. It won’t be your self-worth. It will just be money.
See what Jesus has done for you. Every one of us has got something that we treasure at the center of our hearts. Something that is your security, that is your self-worth. Make Jesus your treasure–then you’ll be free from greed, materialism and money will be–just money.
