Week 26 "Rich Towards God"

There is no video clip this week.

Text: This week we’re covering Luke 12:13-21 dealing with Jesus’ response to a man’s demand that he support his inheritance claim against his brother. Jesus used this as an opportunity to talk about greed and covetousness. As was his custom, he used a parable to drive his point home.

Other passages to read: We encourage you to read "horizontally" in these passages that are parallel to our text from Luke. In this case, there are none…but there are topically related verses:

•          Inheritance guidelines: Numbers 27:1-11; 36:7-9; Deut. 21:16-17
•          Warning against covetousness: 1 Timothy 6:6-11; Hebrews 13:5
•          “Eat, drink, and be merry”: Isaiah 22:13; 1 Cor. 15:32
•          “Treasure towards God”: Matthew 6:19-21; Luke 12:34
•          Other Old Testament passages reflected in this teaching are Prov. 27:1; Psalm 49:16-17; Isaiah 5:8; Eccles. 2:24; 5:10-12; 11:8; Prov. 18:1; Jeremiah 17:11
•          Other New Testament verses are Matthew 16:26; Luke 16:19-31; James 4:13-14

Points to ponder: In your study this week, you might want to think about one of these questions:

• We have seen that Jesus was very concerned about social justice issues, so why does he seem so disconnected from this man’s request?
• Why did Jesus tell this parable? Doesn’t it seem like he is going off on a tangent?
• How do you reconcile this parable’s teaching with that of the Talents or Minas where the servants are rewarded for bringing in a profit? Should we be collectors or givers?
• What are the two great principles that stand out in this section? How are they connected?

We try to answer these questions on the Jesus4Everyone blog in the next week’s post (so you have time to think about them!).

Questions to ask ourselves: The following questions are intended to help us move towards greater application of what we learn about Jesus…

• What “just causes” are we a part of? Are we open to receiving correction or have we become as Bailey says, “a tyranny unto ourselves?”
• To what extent is Jesus a part of our personal decision-making process?
• When I pray, are my requests centered on God and his plan or upon asking God to bless my own ideas?
• What is it that we treasure most? How can we tell?

Pastor Randy’s Sermon Notes:  "Rich towards God" (Luke 12:13-34)

1.    How to recognize greed:  All kinds

(v.15) “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed

• Gloating or conspicuous consumption (v.19)
• Worry and resentment (v.23)
• False Trust; where money is your security and it is what you look to in order to be attractive and impressive. (v. 24, 27)
• If you are run off of your feet trying to get it. (v. 30)
• If you cannot give and share generously (v.33) 

2.    How to be rich towards God: Inner Wealth and Heavenly Wealth.

·         Inner Wealth: Receive Radical Grace

You are God’s Treasured Possession:

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God….” (1 Peter 2:9)

God gave you His ultimate treasure:

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”  (2 Corinthians 8:9)

• Heavenly Wealth: Practice Regular, Radical Giving (v. 32-34)

“But just as you excel in everything — in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us — see that you also excel in this grace of giving. I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others.” (2 Corinthians 8:7-8)

Commentary Quote:

“In Jesus’ parable to the crowds, God labels a rich landowner as a ‘fool’—that is, a person whose practices deny God; indeed, the principal deficiency of the wealthy farmer is his failure to account for God in his plans. In light of this, Jesus’ instructions to his disciples are appropriately theocentric [God centered].” (Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke, 487)

The Parable of the Rich Fool

7-Point Prophetic Rhetorical Template (Bailey)

This pericope utilizes the seven-step prophetic rhetorical template moving toward the climax in the center. The following outline is from Kenneth E. Bailey’s Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, pages 298-308. The comments are mine unless specifically noted.

1 & 7 = General Principle

   2 & 6 = Goods Given or Left

     3 & 5 = Dialogue with self

        4 = The Soliloquy in the center is used 5x Luke 11, 15, 16, 20

0. SETTING (v. 13-14)

It would have been normal for people to bring their requests for justice to the Rabbi. Here the man’s shouted question is not a plea for Jesus to make a just decision but a demand that Jesus give him what he wanted from his brother. Jesus would have no part of this as it was contrary to his calling as both Bailey and Morris note:

 “Jesus is a reconciler of people, not a divider. He wants to bring people together, not finalize separations…He was concerned to heal relationships between people, and out of that healing they could deal with issues that divided them.” (Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, 300,302)

“Man, is far from cordial…He came to bring people to God, not to bring property to people. In this situation he was concerned with the attitudes of those involved, not with who got what.” (Morris, Luke, 232)

1. GENERAL PRINCIPLE (v. 15)

This principle is more than a reminder to casual watchfulness, but a warning to put forth a serious proactive and protracted effort to guard ourselves against becoming materialistic. It is like actively preparing the fort for an anticipated attack and then keeping it ready. One of the ways we can do this is to remember this principle that Jesus shares—the weight, or worth, of our life, is not measured in the number of our toys. Contrary to the bumper sticker, the one who dies with the most toys doesn’t win, as this parable makes clear.

   2. GOODS GIVEN (v. 16a)

The farmer’s super-abundant bounty was not a result of his actions…it was a gift of God. It is folly to presume that God’s blessings are a result of our own awesomeness or are for our personal enjoyment. Often the greatest test of spiritual maturity is not how we handle poverty but how we handle riches.

      3. DIALOGUE WITH SELF (v. 16b-17)

             (My Crop, Not Stored)

Here we see a tragic sequence of “I (8x in the Greek) will…” and “my” (4x) statements. The problem is that God is not even a small part of his decision-making process.

“In the Middle East, village people make decisions about important topics after long discussions with their friends…Everybody’s business is everybody’s business. Even trivial decisions are made after hours of discussion with family and friends. But this man appears to have no friends. He lives in isolation from the human family around him, and with an important decision to make the only person with whom he can have a dialogue is himself.” (Bailey, 303)

         4. SOLUTION (?) (v. 18)

               (More Storage)

The solution he comes up with is a pretty crummy one. Why would he presume that the abundance was merely for his own enjoyment? What God gives us, he gives us to share his blessing with others.

“He did not realize that the bellies of the poor were much safer storerooms than his barns.” —St. Augustine

      5. DIALOGUE WITH SELF (v. 19)

                  (My Crop Stored)

Do we include God in our internal dialogue? Can we be content with material abundance alone? I hope not! We were made for relationships with God and fellow human beings.

It has been pointed out that there is a word-play in Greek at this point between the word translated “merry” which is euphainō (related to expanding the diaphragm) and the word translated fool in the next verse. Here the picture is of taking a big breath and letting it out in a sigh.

   6. GOODS LEFT (v. 20)

God calls this man a fool “a-phron” (a person with no diaphragm left to expand). In other words, they are fully satisfied with something less than God. A fool is one who doesn’t take God into consideration as Green points out,

“This farmer has sought to secure himself and his future without reference to God. This is the force of the label given him by God, “fool,” used in the LXX to signify a person who rebels against God or whose practices deny God…” (Green, Luke, 491)

7. GENERAL PRINCIPLE (v. 21)

This principle hints at v. 34 “Where your treasure is…there your heart is.”

“The Outcome of this parable, as to the utter uncertainty of life, and the consequent folly of being so careful for this world while neglectful of God, led Him to make warning application to His … disciples (in Luke 12:22-34). Only here the negative injunction that preceded the parable, ‘beware of covetousness,’ is, when addressed to ‘the disciples,’ carried back to its positive underlying principle: to dismiss all anxiety, even for the necessaries of life, learning from the birds and the flowers to have absolute faith and trust in God, and to labor for only one thing—the Kingdom of God.” (Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, 624)

Previously on “Ponderables: Last week’s post asks the following questions…which we will answer together…

• In the parallel passage in Matthew 12 and Mark 3, this episode is cast in terms of the unforgivable sin. What is it about this “blasphemy of the Holy Spirit” that makes it unforgivable? Last week’s commentary quote from David Gooding gives away the answer. Here it is again, “God’s finger was touching them; God was speaking to them. What they had just witnessed was a direct, unambiguous, demonstration of the Holy Spirit. Now they must make life’s ultimate judgment, and they were at the point of making a decision that once deliberately made would be irreversible and would make deliverance forever impossible. Reject the Holy Spirit, call Ultimate Good evil, call Truth himself …a lie, and God himself has no further evidence left, nothing further to say… God himself is reduced to silence.” (David Gooding, According to Luke, IVP 1987, 223-224., quoted in Hughes 1/426) The point is that the Holy Spirit is who convicts us of sin and illuminates our hearts to receive the gospel. If we reject that work as somehow evil then how could we ever be saved? Dying in that condition of persistent rejection seals the deal. God will honor our decision to live without him by allowing us to die without him.

• What are some things we can learn about demons (v. 24-26)? About Jesus’ power?   Jesus is seen to be the “stronger man” who comes and disarms the “strong man”/Satan and turns all that he had trusted in against him. Jesus is the one who has all power over demonic forces, at his word they have to leave. Now, if we were to turn this passage into a text on demonology I suppose that there are a number of things we could learn: they can leave or be cast out of a person (or nation?), they prefer to inhabit a person, there can be more than one demon in one person, and these demons are unclean or evil. However, I don’t think this passage intends to be an exhaustive treatment of demonology. This segues into the next question.

• What is Jesus’ main focus in these verses (v.14-36)? Is it simply to defend his deliverance ministry, to give tips on exorcism, to speak of the future of a nation that rejected him, or perhaps to challenge people to keep his words in their hearts? A combination of these? Or is it a collection of unrelated ideas? I am usually looking for the combo plate when it comes to Biblical interpretation as I think our little boxes sometimes leave out much of what God is saying in a given passage. Is Jesus defending what Green calls his “ministry of release”? Absolutely. Is that his main point? No. Jesus is also not giving tips on exorcism, though we get some insight into the need to be filled not just clean and empty. The main emphasis is that people would hear his words, keep (guard) them, and let them have their full effect on their lives. If they choose to reject the ministry of the Holy Spirit who is convicting them of sin and calling them to put their trust in Jesus' righteousness then what hope for salvation remains? Jesus’ message is also a not-so-subtle warning to the nation of Israel of what would happen to them following their rejection of the Messiah. They would have no strength to keep out the spiritual wickedness that would come upon them. The decision was theirs and God would honor it.