{"id":114,"date":"2010-08-08T09:00:17","date_gmt":"2010-08-08T16:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/?p=114"},"modified":"2017-03-29T10:09:03","modified_gmt":"2017-03-29T17:09:03","slug":"watch-out-dear-christian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/2010\/08\/08\/watch-out-dear-christian\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch out, dear Christian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luke 12: 13-21<\/strong><\/p>\n

13 Someone in the crowd said to him, \u201cTeacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.\u201d 14 Jesus replied, \u201cMan, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?\u201d\u00a0 15 Then he said to them, \u201cWatch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man\u2019s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.\u201d<\/p>\n

16 And he told them this parable: \u201cThe ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop.\u00a0 17 He thought to himself, \u2018What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.\u2019<\/p>\n

18 \u201cThen he said, \u2018This is what I\u2019ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.\u00a0 19 And I\u2019ll say to myself, \u201cYou have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.\u201d \u2019 20 \u201cBut God said to him, \u2018You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?\u2019<\/p>\n

21 \u201cThis is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is a time when many people are struggling.\u00a0 The financial engine of our country is sputtering.\u00a0 As a result, people are losing their jobs, their homes.\u00a0 Many are struggling just to get by including some of us.\u00a0 And who knows when things will turn around.<\/p>\n

So it might seem strange that your pastor picked this text to preach on.\u00a0 It might seem out of place in such a time as this to sound the warning that it does.<\/p>\n

But it’s not.\u00a0 What Jesus warns about is not so much a problem of how much we have.\u00a0 Rather what he warns us about is a heart problem.\u00a0 What value, what place do we give to the stuff in our lives.\u00a0 Is money, and the stuff it buys where we put our hope \u00a0for happiness and the good life?\u00a0 That’s a heart problem that doesn’t require you to be rich.\u00a0 So our Savior’s warning is for us all.\u00a0\u00a0 Watch out!<\/p>\n

Watch out, dear Christian<\/strong><\/p>\n

Picture this scene. Luke tells us a crowd of many thousands had gathered to see and hear Jesus., so many that they were trampling on one another.\u00a0 Here is the one who gave sight to the blind, fed thousands with a few fish and loaves of bread.\u00a0 Here is the one that pointed\u00a0 them to the kingdom of God.<\/p>\n

It’s obvious that in such a crowd not everyone could get near him to hear him and certainly not talk with him.\u00a0 But for one man that opportunity comes.\u00a0 Think about it.\u00a0 If that was you, what would you ask of Jesus?\u00a0 \u00a0What would you ask him to explain or do?\u00a0 Now he stands before you.<\/p>\n

But what does this man ask of him?\u00a0 Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.<\/span> Here stands the one who would lay down his life for us all, the Son of God.\u00a0 He comes with the words of eternal life.\u00a0\u00a0 But this man tries to enlist Jesus to help him get a bigger slice of the family pie.\u00a0 It’s a window into his heart.<\/p>\n

What does Jesus see when he looks there?\u00a0 It’s pretty obvious. He turns to the crowd and says:\u00a0 Watch out!\u00a0 Be on your guard against all kinds of greed<\/span>. (15)\u00a0 In other words, greed is something you and I need to beware of.\u00a0 It is something that lives inside each of us. It’s part of our sinful nature that we need to watch out for.<\/p>\n

I call it the grab of greed<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0 For what is greed.\u00a0 It’s a selfish desire to grab all I can for me.\u00a0 But what happens when we act on that greed, when we start grabbing up every bit of time, attention, all the money or stuff we can get our hands on. What happens in that grab of greed?\u00a0 People get left out.\u00a0 People get hurt.\u00a0 You heard what James wrote to the rich:\u00a0 You have hoarded wealth in the last days…You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence<\/span> while ignoring and taking advantage of others.\u00a0 (5:3,6)<\/p>\n

But greed doesn’t just hurt others.\u00a0 It hurts us as well.\u00a0 You see, greed grabs hold of something else.\u00a0 It grabs our hearts and puts something else in God’s place.\u00a0 That’s why Paul wrote to the Colossians 3 Put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature:<\/span> One thing he lists is this: \u00a0greed<\/span>, which he calls idolatry<\/span>.\u00a0 For greed grabs your heart and puts something else in the place of God.<\/p>\n

Here Jesus is talking about stuff. About houses and cars and gadgets and bank accounts.\u00a0 If only I can get this. If only I can get more of that.\u00a0 Stuff we might set our hearts on.\u00a0 Watch out Jesus says.\u00a0 Watch out for that grab of greed.\u00a0 A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions<\/span>. \u00a0So watch out, dear Christian.\u00a0 because that’s where the world points you.<\/p>\n

I just Googled a man’s name and got his obituary.\u00a0 I served him as pastor down in New Mexico. He had come to this country from Denmark with just a few dollars in his pocket.\u00a0 He worked hard and through the years became a leading land developer in Arizona and New Mexico.\u00a0 At one point he had a business jet, was friends with our Senator and had a place in Maui.\u00a0 Then something happened where he lost it all, the saving and loan debacle.\u00a0 This rich, powerful man was reduced to bankruptcy.\u00a0\u00a0 It broke his heart and almost took his life.\u00a0 But it also did something else. The Lord used it to teach him what he says here. A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead this same one points us in an entirely different direction that the world calls foolishness.\u00a0 He says to us:\u00a0 I have come that they might have life and have it to the full<\/span>.\u00a0 He says to us:\u00a0 I am the way, the truth and the life<\/span>.\u00a0 And yes we agree.\u00a0 We say yes Jesus.\u00a0 I believe life, real life is found in you.\u00a0 But how easily our hearts are distracted and led astray.\u00a0 So watch out<\/strong>.\u00a0 It so easy to let ourselves sink down into that cozy chair of wealth<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Jesus told them this parable:\u00a0 The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop.\u00a0 He thought to himself, What shall I do.\u00a0 I have no place to store my crops<\/span>.\u00a0 Think about the man’s question.\u00a0 What shall I do?\u00a0 He was blessed by the Lord.\u00a0 But not a word of thanksgiving to the Lord for his rich blessing.\u00a0 He’s too comfortable into that cozy chair of wealth<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

18<\/sup><\/span><\/strong> And he said, \u2018I will do this:\u00a0 I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19<\/sup><\/strong> And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.\u2019<\/span> He slouched down into that cozy chair and thought to himself. With all this stuff, I’ve got it made.\u00a0 I’m set for life.<\/p>\n

But was he really?\u00a0 Are you?\u00a0 Jesus tells another parable about the sower and the seed.\u00a0 The seed of course is the Word of God and the soil is men’s hearts. He speaks of some seed that landed amongst thorns.\u00a0 That seed begins to grow but gets choked out by the thorns.\u00a0 Then he tells us what those thorns represent.\u00a0 One thing is this.\u00a0 The deceitfulness of wealth.<\/span><\/p>\n

There \u00a0is a proverb I like to quote. Give me neither poverty nor riches.\u00a0 Give me only my daily bread<\/span>.\u00a0 Then the writer explains.\u00a0 Otherwise I may have too much and disown you and say Who is the Lord?<\/span> That’s the deceitfulness of wealth.<\/em> It can make you think what this rich man did.\u00a0 I have all I need. I’m set for life.\u00a0 And it might seem so sitting in that cozy chair of wealth.<\/strong> It’s might seem so until it’s too late.\u00a0 So watch out<\/strong>.\u00a0 Don’t\u00a0 be deceived.\u00a0 Don’t be like this man who overlooked what we really need from Jesus.\u00a0 Forgiveness for our sins, peace with God and life, life that does not end at the grave, but life with Him.<\/p>\n

There was a time in our country called the Gold rush.\u00a0 People came from all over our land to prospect for gold.\u00a0 Many came to California to places like Nevada City. They were looking for treasure that would make them rich.\u00a0 And some found it. But some found something else.\u00a0 A mineral called pyrite. It looks like gold.\u00a0 It glitters like gold.\u00a0 It got some very excited to think they would now be rich with gold.\u00a0 But when they brought it in they suddenly found it was worthless.\u00a0 They got fooled.\u00a0 And so pyrite came to be called,\u00a0 fool’s gold<\/strong>.\u00a0 Well here you might say that Jesus warns us in this parable to watch out. Watch out for what I call fool’s gold<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

He said to himself, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.\u2019<\/span> 20<\/sup><\/span><\/strong> But God said to him, \u2018Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?<\/span>\u2019\u00a0 In one moment all the things that he had treasured in this life became worthless, all the things he depended upon could do him no good.\u00a0 They were fool’s gold<\/strong>. For when this short life comes to an end and we face eternity, the stuff that we get so worked up about will do us no good.<\/p>\n

There is only thing that will have any value and that it this.\u00a0 Our relationship with God.\u00a0 Are we rich toward God? \u00a0This man was not.\u00a0 His heart had no place for the Lord, only himself and his stuff, fool’s gold. <\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>Well what about you?\u00a0 You know the grace of our Lord Jesus that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became <\/strong>poor<\/em>.\u00a0 Bearing our sins, he became the poorest, most despised person on earth as he suffered and died for you.\u00a0 He became poor that you might become rich.\u00a0 Rich in God’s love, rich in his forgiveness and rich in the sure hope of the resurrection. <\/strong>He became poor that you now can enjoy a rich relationship with God.<\/p>\n

So watch out, Jesus says to us. You have a treasure.\u00a0 Keep Him in your heart. Then you won’t leave this world empty, but blessed.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Luke 12: 13-21 13 Someone in the crowd said to him, \u201cTeacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.\u201d 14 Jesus replied, \u201cMan, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?\u201d\u00a0 15 Then he said to them, \u201cWatch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man\u2019s life does not consist in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":853,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114\/revisions\/853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}