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Yes, God's blessing.
Father our God, we now pray for help as we have this, uh, time before us. We think of this, uh, precious word, Father, thou has given us. We think of the, uh, the words of our Lord Jesus, The Lord Jesus, we see these words on the pages. We just pray that these words that were said so long ago, Lord Jesus, that would be in our hearts even this morning, that we would get the sense we would be bringing in our hearts these eternal words. Lord Jesus, we're thankful for the open scriptures. We pray for the Holy Spirit to help us. In thy name we pray, Lord Jesus, Amen. Amen.
Luke chapter 12, verse 14.
And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or divider over you? And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully.
And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do? Because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do, I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, Thou hast much goods laid up for many years, Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then those who then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?
So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life what you shall eat, neither for the body what you shall put on. The life is more than me, and the body is more than raiment.
Consider the Ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which neither have storehouse nor barn, and God feedeth them. How much more are ye better than the fowls? And which of you was taking thought can add to his stature? 1 cubit. If he then are not able to do that thing which is least, why take Ethan? For the rest, consider the lilies, how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothes the grass, which is today in the field, and tomorrow is cast into the oven.
How much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?
And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be of doubtful mind, for all these things do the nations of the world seek after. And your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But rather seek ye the Kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little clock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom, so that ye have. And give alms. Provide yourselves bags with wax not old a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approaches, neither moth corrupteth.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning, and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord when he returns from the wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto Him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching. Verily I say unto you, that He shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meet, and will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find themselves, blessed are those servants.
And this know that if the good men of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not have suffered his house to be broken through.
Be therefore ready also, for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not.
Well, we've entered in on a new portion here within the chapter.
Umm, prior to this, we've had, umm, the Lord really is in this chapter, uh, giving things, uh, principles to his disciples to, uh, allow them to, to serve him in a, in a fuller and, and freer way. And so he brings before them some things that they need to be free from. And, uh, we've already noticed a couple of them, one being, uh, they need to be free from hypocrisy. We have that in our first meeting and that was taken up in verses 1:00 to 3:00 and from verses 4:00 to 12:00, we needed to be free from the fear of man because that ultimately will paralyze us when it comes to.
Our service, uh, for Christ. And now as we embark on this new portion here within the chapter, uh, from verses 13 to 21, it's really touching on, uh, the need to be free from covetousness. And I think, uh, before we embark on this, uh, little section, it's probably good to define really what is covetousness. There's a lot of kids here and I know you've heard the word, but you may not understand what it means. And it really is unbridled lust or desire. So it's really.
00:05:31
You know, the last part of things might be that, that the evil side, that, uh, our natural hearts would go after, uh, evil thoughts and evil, evil things. Uh, but we may also want what has not been given to us by God and we desire those things. And that's covetousness as well. And both are wrong, isn't it? And so these are, these are things we need to be free from. We, we ought to judge that spirit.
Of covetousness in our lives, if it's there, if it's in our hearts, you know, it's, uh, I think of the 10 commandments and it's the last commandment, isn't it? Thou shalt not covet. And you know, you might say, well, I don't steal and you know, I'm so I'm not a thief. And you know, I, I don't murder and I don't do this and that. But there's one thing that slays every one of us, and that's covetousness because it's built right within. It's that desire to have what is not ours, or it's lusting after evil things.
That our natural hearts and our evil nature would, would go after. And so it's good to be free from this. And you know, we live in a world in which, uh, covetousness rules, especially this part of the, the world is, you know, we, we live in, in a very materialistic society. Uh, we are a very wealthy people in comparison to the rest of the world. And so we might, umm, fall prey to this maybe.
A little bit more, umm, than others just given where we live because there's that spirit of wanting to keep up with the Joneses. You know, my neighbors got the nice big fancy truck. So I'm, I'm lusting after that. I want that or I need the big, big, you know, two-story house or what have you. And, uh, and, and ultimately this will, uh, be a distraction and it's, it's not right.
I like that definition you give, that it is desiring what the Lord has not given to me.
And whether it's a good thing or a bad thing, very often when we hear something like this, we automatically default to, well, what's, what's the exception? So I'll ask the question in case someone's already thinking about it. There is at least one scripture that tells us to covet, covet earnestly the best gifts. Can you help us with that?
Well, I and I, I'm open for a correction or somebody maybe can add to this, but I've understood that to be, uh, desiring for the church those gifts that would, would, uh, be for its, its edification, uh, uh, that will build up the, the Saints of God in their most holy faith. And so, umm, that would be a right thing to desire. It's for the good of others.
And not for the good of ourselves necessarily. Is that correct? Yes. And it's, and it's to a, as you say, it's too, it's collective. It's a collective desire. And it's not for something that the Lord has not given. The Lord has given gift. And, and we should have, we should desire to see that gift developed and and used among us. And so we are rightly to desire earnestly the best gifts. I believe that that is the way the new translation puts it.
But it's a bit of a digression. Covetousness in our chapters, we've said, is to desire what the Lord has not given to us.
And it may be a good thing, it may be, it may be something that is a right and appropriate desire, but it's not the Lord's time yet.
And for us to pursue something that the Lord has clearly, uh, not given to us would be, uh, a manifestation of covetousness working under the surface.
I don't want to detract from what has been said, but I'd like to, uh, focus this in on this 13th verse. This 13th verse says one of the companies said unto him, Master, speak unto my brother that he divide the inheritance with me. And so on the face of it, you could say, well, what's wrong with that? An inheritance is something that is, is ours, right?
00:10:11
And if his brother was?
Withholding.
The portion that was due to this person that asked about it, you, you could say, well, what's wrong with that?
It it's his, it rightly belongs to him. So why is this listed here?
We need to understand the time that we live in.
And, uh, you know, there's going to be a time when the Lord is going to come and he will set things right on this earth. But when he came the first time, that was not why he came to this earth. He came to accomplish the work on the cross. He came to seek souls here. It has to do with earthly possessions. And as you said, this man's question might have been completely right, but the Lord said, I'm not going to go into that at this time, but He does use it.
As he does so often a question, not by directly answering it, but by bringing something out that would help us. And we've said several times since we started this chapter, Luke is a book of moral order. And so we see all these things and it's it's moral things that will help us in this world. I mean, the world doesn't really bring in our Christian position here, but if we connect it with what we have here, we're a heavenly people. This has to do with wanting things on the earth down here. And that's not what the Lord came for.
You know, we follow a rejected Christ who didn't even have a place to lay his head. And so, umm, you know, we'll see even later when we get into the parable, what the man desired were bad things. He just wanted to enjoy the fruit of his labor. But for us to take our ease down here in this world, we're on the wrong track. And so when the Lord comes back and he establishes the Kingdom, it will reign in righteousness. This brother not dividing the inheritance, that was unrighteous. And when the Lord reigned, that's not gonna be the case. Everything will be right.
But that's not, umm, the time that we live in now. And so we've seen in the previous chapter the fear of man, the persecution. We live in a time where that which is connected with the Lord is not liked in this world. There's persecution. So it tells us to live by faith. And it would be unintelligent as those that belong to Christ to seek for greater things, more things down here. You know, prosperity on earth was something that was connected.
With the Old Testament, with the times and when the people of Israel were under the law. But it's not like that now. It's not like that the Lord and his wisdom might see fit to give the Christian many things because he knows he can trust them with it. That's not the question. But it's here to look after more, to want more, and that's not a right desire as we've been talking about.
The world today measures success by by what you have and, uh.
And for the Christian, as you've been pointing out, Mark, uh, that's not God's way of measuring success.
Umm, you know, so we need to, it says here, take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesses. That's a, a worldly, a fleshly, umm, umm, vantage point of success. You've got all this material wealth, while you must be successful and I suppose in an earthly sense.
You are, but when it comes to the Christian, God does not measure your success by what you have. And it's really Judaism at the end of the day, right? As you've already pointed out, brother Mark, so and I, and I just say this because I, I, I think we need to, umm, umm, be reminded that, umm, you know, sometimes, and I don't want to make, uh, anybody an offender for a word. And I know I've, I've used it myself, but sometimes we say that, well, such and such has such a good job or a nice property or whatever, The Lord's really blessed them.
Well, let's be careful because that might plant the seed in our head thinking that, well, I guess my material wealth down here is God's approval on my life. Not so. That's Judaism, that's not Christianity. So, you know, let's just keep that in mind as we move through this life that God does not measure. Again, I've repeated it already, but God does not measure our success by what we have.
00:15:03
Not at all. So I want to expound on that just a little bit. And the reason I asked the question is because.
As you were saying, Brother Josh, God's economy is different than our economy.
So if we turn back to Matthew chapter 5.
We read about that economy.
Verse 40 If a man sue the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also, and whosoever will compel thee to go a mile.
Go with him twain, give to him that asketh to thee, and to him that would borrow of thee. Turn thou not away ye have heard. It hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love thine enemy, and bless them that curse you, and do good to them that hate you, And pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be the children of your Father, which is in heaven for you maketh the sun to rise on the evil and the good.
And send it rain on the just and the unjust and so on. And so sometimes we have a a mixed up idea of what is right. And here I believe that the reason the Lord said to this man, he said unto him, man, who made me a judge or divider over you?
On one sense, you could say that that inheritance was his and and rightfully.
Belong to you, but to him. But in God's economy it's different.
So naturally speaking in the, especially in this country we live in, we think we have all these rights and, and we think we deserve this or that or the other thing in in God's economy, it's completely the opposite.
And we're told that if somebody says, well, I want your shirt.
Or your coat, you take off your shirt as well and give it to them. And that is a completely different concept.
And way of thinking then we're accustomed to in this world and really what I believe the Lord is bringing before us here is is we don't have any rights. I'd like to read that verse verse.
15 in the new translation, because I think it's interesting it it actually gives a little bit different flavor. It says and he said unto them, take heed and keep yourselves from.
All covetousness, for it is not because a man is in abundance that his life is in his possessions. So often in this world we have our lives wrapped around our possessions and we hold them tightly. And it doesn't mean that we have to be in abundance. It doesn't mean that we have to be well off to covet things and and to hold on to them in a way that is not right.
We should, as someone else has said, we should hold everything that we have in an open hand. And the reason for that is the Lord may choose to take away, but He may choose to put something else in there as well. And if we hold it as being the Lords, then He can do with it whatsoever He pleases and it's going to be a blind benefit and a blessing. If we hold on to it tightly, it's going to hurt us when it, when He takes it away, He is fully able to take it away from us.
And we're not going to have the capacity to receive when he wants to give us something else. We have to recognize. And I want to make this really, really clear to you children. The word of God that we hold in our our laps gives us a completely different standard than what this world has. And so this man is he said, well, speak to my brother that he divided the inheritance. He didn't get the concept.
That the Lord was trying to get across that the Lord can take care of that. And it's interesting. I've had to speak a little bit with some of my coworkers about inheritance. And it's really, really interesting, especially in this world in which we live, that inheritance generally brings out the absolute worst in light of covetousness in families. So generally speaking, there's someone that's called an executor.
00:20:03
And that person is supposed to divvy out the inheritance according to whatever is written in the will. But what you find, generally speaking, is a family that is going on very happily together. It gets to an inheritance and all of a sudden there's all kinds of fights and squabbling and, well, I want that piece of furniture and I want that, this or that, something else. It really brings out our hearts.
And really that's the the focus of this portion here is this man, he wanted something.
Umm and and the Lord was really speaking to His heart, and we have to recognize that our hearts are exactly the same.
I think that's right. So the Lord says go directly to the heart of the matter in this. And I think that's instructive for us because we are, we are oftentimes placed in a position where somebody comes to us with a grievance and they ask us to take a position in support of their grievance. And, and that's something that that really is a source of potentially a lot of issues. I, I'll give you an example. I had a, a friend from college come to me.
With some grievances about her marriage.
And I'm convinced that she was looking for validation for a divorce. And, and I recall that moment and thinking of this verse and what the Lord did he, he dealt with the person in front of him and went to the heart of the matter with that person in front of him. And So what was my response to deal with the person in front of me and deal with her heart and never addressed the issue with her husband.
Although I think she was right, but the issue was with her heart and, and what the Lord's desire was for her. And I applied the Scripture in that, in that context. And, and the, the wonderful thing is, is that, that marriage is still intact and much stronger, uh, than before. And I think this, this scripture is coming to us in the context of a family dispute and often times in assemblies.
Things are brought forward in the context of a family dispute.
And things are taking to brothers and sisters.
And, and we're being asked to make a judgment.
On a family dispute.
And the temptation is to make a judgment on what is right and what is wrong and to take sides.
And then what happens is that the vision in a family comes out to be a division in assembly, and then that spreads to the next assembly because everybody wants to take aside for what is right. But if we resist that temptation and just deal with the brother or the sister that's in front of us and deal with the heart of the matter with that individual and not be be dragged into a dispute within a family, I think we can restore a lot of happiness and tranquility to assemblies and to families.
The issues that we see here in this chapter are a matter of perspective and the perspective of this individual that's speaking to the Lord is earthly. And as Christians it's been brought out that our perspective should be heaven. And in Ephesians chapter one we clearly see where our perspective and where our position lies as Christians. In Ephesians chapter one and verse three, it says blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ? That's where that is where our inheritance is. It's in heavenly places and it's spiritual things. It doesn't have to do with the things of this earth Josh brought out. We need to be really careful about Speaking of material things as blessings. I've heard it even stated to the extent that we shouldn't, we shouldn't even refer to them as blessings, but temporal mercies. Because a car is, is really a temporal mercy that gives us things.
Capability of moving from one place to another, it's not necessarily a blessing for a Christian. Our blessings are heavenly things in heavenly places. And so when we get our focus off of our heavenly blessings, Steve made the statement that we don't have any right. And I get what he was saying. But brother, we do have rights, but they're just not earthly rights. They're not right here on this earth. We are the sons of God. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God.
00:25:08
We have tremendous rights, but they're not in this scene. They're in a heavenly scene. And so that's where the focus should be. And to just put it in perspective and another place in the New Testament, it says that covetousness, which is idolatry. Well, why is it idolatry? Because the tendency is to take our focus off of Christ in heavenly things, in our heavenly position and refocus them on things on this earth, and we lose the blessing of our heavenly position.
I think just to to balance this out a little bit, we're not suggesting by any means that people would Christians with wealth and material possessions are.
Umm, uh, in the wrong or anything like that. I mean, though that's all given by God, It may have already been mentioned here. Umm, but I think, I think let's, let's just stress that, but it's, it's a matter of the heart, isn't it? It's a matter of the heart. And that's where it all begins. Is, you know, our brother Aaron was bringing out here and I just like, would like to, to read a, a, a passage that I think illustrates the kind of what we're talking about, uh, in principle as to how covetousness.
Will hinder a Christian. Now this man, not suggesting he was a Christian, but it illustrates how this, uh, covetous spirit can really, uh, umm, uh, be a stumbling block in the life. So if you turn to Matthew 19, uh, we're all familiar with this passage and I, you know, we, we've talked already about the heart going to the heart of the matter. And boy, uh, our Lord Jesus sure knows how to do that.
So in Matthew 19 verse 16. And behold, one came and said unto him, Good master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why call Islami good? There is none good but one, that is God. But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. And he saith unto him, which Jesus saith, Thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness. Honor thy father and thy mother, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth, what lack I yet notice? This Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me. And when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. The Lord Jesus knew exactly what he was doing. He put his finger right on the heart of that man's.
Problem and he didn't come out and say thou shalt not covet, but he he alluded to it in what he he he said to this man, OK, well go sell everything that you have give to the poor and come follow me and you'll have treasure in heaven couldn't do it. A man walked away sorrowful. He had great possessions and the Lord Jesus exposed his heart to him and to to show him that your problem is covetousness and that man as far as we know, did not end up following the Lord and I think there's some practical ramifications here for us that.
We can be caught up in the spirit of things, lusting, desiring those things that are not ours, that have not been given to us by God.
Ultimately hindering us, it'll hinder us in our path of service for Christ. It'll take away from that redirect our thoughts from heavenly heavenly things from Christ in heaven, as you're saying, brother Tim, and redirecting our thoughts onto what is on this earth and our and then all of a sudden we we become involved in an earthly pursuit and not a heavenly 1.
I'd like to give an illustration on exactly what we're talking about for the sake of the kids to help you understand this concept.
Probably many here have read the book Where the Red Fern Grows. We had to read it when I was a kid in school. And there's an illustration about what we're talking about in that book. OK, They were trying to train a couple of dogs to hunt raccoons, and in order to do that, they needed to secure a raccoon for the purpose of training the stock. And so the grandpa in the book knew exactly how to catch the raccoon.
And what he did is he took a log, a hollow log, and he drove nails into the log in a circle and created a, a, a small hole within the, the circle of nails that were all pointed in. And then he just took a shiny silver trinket and he put it inside the hollow log. And they went and put the log out in the woods. And sure enough, a raccoon came and looked in the log out of curiosity and saw the shiny little trinket and reached in and it was enough room for him to reach his, his hand.
00:30:13
Into the hole and grasp the trinket. But once he had the trinket in his hand and his paw, he couldn't retract his paw from the loft and he was stuck. All he needed to do to regain his liberty was to let go of the trinket and he could walk away. But because of the nature of the raccoon, he would not let go of the trinket. And therefore they were able to just walk up and secure the raccoon for the purpose of their training. And brethren, that's the same thing with the covetousness.
This enemy of our souls sews these trinkets out there, these earthly things that have really no value in anything.
And we grasp a hold of them and we lose our liberty and Christ, we lose our that heavenly blessing that we have been given that we've just been talking about over this little trinket. And if we would just let go of the trinket, we would have the ability to regain that liberty.
So Tim, you pointed out it's a matter of perspective. What are we looking at? Are we looking at eternal things? Are we looking at temporal things? And it's a question too of priority. And when I take the temporal things, the earthly things, the trinkets, and I make that my priorities. And that's when it becomes when covetousness is looked at in the, in the characteristic of idolatry, I've taken, I've taken something that I can't hold on to.
And I made it more important than the eternal spiritual blessing that I cannot lose that I have in Christ. And that has become a motivation for me, for the things that I do and what I think about and what I care about most. That's idolatry.
And in this case of this young man that that Josh was reading about here in Matthew, it goes back to it we were just talking about in that illustration. It says that in verse 21 Jesus said unto him, if thou wilt be perfect going so all the Taha to release the trinket.
And go and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come upon me. And this man chose rather than.
Umm enjoying that treasure in heaven to hold on, to grasp a hold of those earthly things. And he lost. God bless him.
Notice men to ask the question. He didn't get the answer that he was looking for. And I think that the disciples were probably pretty shocked with the answer that the Lord gave to because they were still full of Judaistic ideas. They still thought till the very end that the Lord would establish the Kingdom and here was a chance to show what he was going to do. And I think now that we're at the end of the Christian time.
A lot of those Judaistic ideas have come in, and you see that when you sometimes drive down the street, there's a big beautiful church, and the next one is a little bigger and a little more beautiful. And so there's the same ideas going on in Christianity, like the ideas the disciples at this time entertained. They thought the Lord is going to set up the Kingdom and we're going to have a high position with him and we're secure. They have earthly thoughts.
And a lot of Christianity Today have earthly thoughts and so.
This was like I said, I think this was like, whoa, this is not what we are expecting. And I think a lot of Christians that they would really understand what this is about. This is not what they would expect. A lot of Christians think that we need to improve this world and get it better for, to make it ready for the Lord, the only one that can set things straight as the Lord himself. And so, umm, you know, like Tim has been talking about, it's, it's important as something we need to remind ourselves of the whole time.
To let go of things down here because they're just the hindrance. And in first Timothy chapter 6, it speaks about godliness with contentment being great game and speaks of umm, having food and raiment. Let us therewith be content. Then a couple of verses later that they that will be rich in this world fall into many full temptations and hurtfulness and all that kind of stuff. Later in the chapter it speaks of those that are rich and it doesn't say anything bad about them. It just tells them make sure you use what you have in the right way.
That it's the desire to want more down here than we have. We can't want more.
00:35:00
Of our blessings because you read the verse we've been blessed with all spiritual blessings. We can't remember we happen. We need to wanna enjoy them more and blessings you know, if you really want our day. It's spiritual things. It's not something you can hold with your hands something you can smell or see has nothing to do with census. That was Judaism, Christianity. The heavenly thing is by faith and so those are the true riches. The day that will be rich will fall into snares. It's those that don't discern what true riches are that get their eyes of their heavenly blessings.
Be occupied with earthly things and so the disciples needed to hear this and they weren't really ready yet to take it in mainly because they didn't have the Holy Spirit yet. But those things, you know, it said that they would remember those things that the Lord spoke when the Holy Spirit comes. Now we if we belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, each one here we are indwelt with the Holy Spirit. So the things that are being said and that we read, we have the capacity to take him in to understand them. And now we need to make him good in our lives and really work that out practically. And it's hard like Josh was mentioning.
We live in a society, that's all what it's about. That's all what it's about. And so we do get caught up by the things that we see around us. So we need to come back on a daily basis to the Word of God and be reminded of what we are really here for. It's not for the newest car, but it's to be a furthering or or carrying on the testimony that the Lord Jesus showed when He was on earth. And when we think about it, He could have had everything on the earth, but He really had nothing. Show me a penny.
But he was occupied with his father's business. And if we do that too, then we lay up real treasure and have the real riches, not trinkets.
The true riches are apparent to faith, and only faith, because they're unseen, like you say. And you know what's interesting? That was always the case.
It was always the case, even in Judaism. Hebrews 11 teaches us that those who have faith they valued was to come.
What they couldn't see more than what they could see, more than even the the promise that was given, they realized by faith that it went beyond what this life has offered. And how much more for us in Christianity we're told that we're blessed, as has already been quoted, with all spiritual blessing and other translation gives with every spiritual blessing. Not a single one has been withheld. He is abounded toward us in all wisdom and intelligence.
Imagine that the Old Testament Saints couldn't have said that. God has told us all his heart and all His counsel what He's going to do and how He's going to glorify His Son. He's entrusted that. He's confided that in US as friends. What rich blessing we have so much more important than the things that would hinder us from enjoying it.
So brother Mark, you said you think live within the vicinity of the two richest people in the world. And, uh, it's good to, uh, just be reminded that every Christian, uh, everyone of us sitting here today as an individual are far more wealthy, infinitely more wealthy than the Bill Gates of the world or what have you, the Steve Jobs and all those.
Wealthy, wealthy guys, so much wealth that they just are giving away billions of dollars because they don't know what to do with it. Well, guess what? You're far infinitely more wealthy than all of those guys put together.
We're we're, we're blessed with, as you say, every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. We couldn't be more blessed. We've got everything. You've given us everything. It's amazing.
And not only that.
But the sun, the stars, the moon, this planet, Earth, the inheritance.
There's coming a day when the Lord Jesus comes back to assume what is called the inheritance. Every created thing.
He's purchased it with his blood.
And guess what? He's going to share that with us as well. We're joint heirs with Christ, so we have every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. But.
We are. We're also going to share the material creation with him. It's part of our inheritance as well.
There's an example of of one that that came to an appreciation of of what he had outside of his inheritance, and that is in the finisher. Mephibosheth was a man that was given a place at the King's table as one of the King's sons, and then there was a period of time in which the king was displaced.
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From his throne and the servant of Mephibosheth, his name was Ziba, slandered Mephibosheth before the people and the king. And, uh, when David came back, Mephibosheth had missed his place at the King's table to the point, umm, where he hadn't washed himself. He, he had been in a place of taking that same rejection, even though he was lame on his feet, couldn't follow after the king.
Umm, so it's the, uh, the king came back, David came back and Zyva came and, and umm, slandered Mephibosheth. And the question was asked, you know what, what, what will happen with the fibre shifts inheritance? And then the fibership still valued that relationship with the king and his position there that he was like, I don't care about the inheritance, just let him take it off.
Let's either have everything. It's enough that the king has returned in peace, and that is a man that had experienced what it was to have a much greater blessing than that earthly blessing that he had been righteously given and was unrighteously taken away. But it didn't mean anything to him compared to what he had in his relationship with David.
The perfect contrast to the rich young ruler that Brother Josh brought before us.
To him, the the those things that he was holding onto with a tight hand were more important.
And to this man in our chapter, he wanted to divide the inheritance. Give me what's mine.
And and the person that he speaks to, he he does it without the appropriate reverence. Master, do this.
A real warning sign there. His desire eclipsed propriety.
So in verse 16 we have a parable about a rich man and his farm did really well says that his.
The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully.
We're going to be tested in the things that we're Speaking of.
And so this, this rich man, he was tested. I believe the Lord allowed his his property to flourish and his his ground brought forth plentifully so that his heart would be exposed. And so we as only the Lord can do, we get an opportunity to see into this man's heart that says he thought within himself.
What am I going to do? I have all this increase.
And we find out that his thoughts didn't go very far beyond himself. They stayed on himself. And as a result?
God says, thou fool.
And so I want to make this really practical for us, because each one of us are tested every single day of our lives on this very subject. What are we going to do with the things that the Lord has given us, whether they be material possessions, whether they be the talents the Lord has given us, whether it just be our time?
Because young people and children.
Time is one of the most important resources that the Lord has given each one of us.
It's something that we can't quantify. We don't know how much time we have here. This rich man, it said that very night or this very day, thy soul, this night, thy soul shall be required of thee. And so his time was up.
And the Lord gives us this question, Whose then shall be all these things that you've stored up for yourself?
We don't know how much time we have, even though it's the one of the most important resources we have. We only are given right now, today.
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And so the question for us is, how are we going to use our time and the resources that the Lord has given to us?
To be for the Lord's glory and honor instead of like this rich man who was only thinking of himself.
And I have to hang my head and and say I don't use my time.
Like I should for the Lord's glory all the time.
This is something that each one of us is tested on every single day of our lives. What are we going to do with our time and our resources that the Lord has given to us?
Are we going to use them for him, or are we going to use them for ourselves and in so much as we use them for ourselves?
This statement that the Lord gives applies to us, thou fool.
It's interesting, Steve, in connection with this terrible, or maybe I'm the only one because it it ends with thou fool and him going into perdition. We like immediately think that was a bad guy. But really that's not what he's talking about. This is, you know, if you want to paraphrase it, somebody that worked hard and done well. What does he want to do? He wants to slow down a little bit, enjoy some good food and as we would say, we may have some fun.
He didn't say I'm gonna go steal, I'm gonna go murder people. There's nothing bad. But what was the problem? As he said, he didn't look beyond himself. He didn't look beyond this earth, what he could see. And that's the problem. And so again, we, we just keep referring to that. But we live in a society that's exactly what this is, the American dream, pretty much. He's made it and now he's gonna enjoy it. And that's what people wanna do. But they only live for the Earth. They only live for this world. And that's very short sighted. And umm, you know, we can, we can understand how people of the world think that way.
Because a lot of people just have no thoughts of God. But if we are, Christians are infected by that too. That's very sad because we are losing out. You know, we know we're not gonna end up in a lost eternity, but we might live our lives like this person, have the same thoughts because that's what we see our neighbors do and lose out on so much, not just down here, but also when it comes to a reward because we reflect on the Lord and a future day. And so, you know, don't think of this guy or the one that Josh read about. They were not bad guys. They were actually good guys if you look at it from a natural point of view.
But that's not good enough if you're if your gaze doesn't go.
Up to heaven, you know, you think of lot 2. What did he see? He saw the well watered plains and it says he looked up. But he didn't look high enough as we often say and he lost out in life. What a sad life. Lost life is when you consider it what it could have been. We had just looked up a little higher like Abraham did and he chose to live up on the mountain. Symbolic of being close to God. What a difference. So here we have exactly the same. This man was just occupied with things down here.
Throughout South or he lost out on his goal too. But we as Christians can lose out on a fruitful life for Christ here. And really, that's the only happy life. We're not going to be happier by achieving the American dream on the country.
No, I was thinking of that verse in Acts. It's interesting. It's not recorded in the in the four Gospels at all, but it's recorded in Acts and it says that the Lord Jesus said that it is more blessed to give than to receive.
And so happiness, brethren, I would suggest is, is, is, and, and really happy, blessed to be blessed means to be happy. And if we want to be happy Christians, the material wealth that God has given us or whatever he has entrusted to us, be it our time, our money, our, you know, resources and so on. Umm, I think that we need to be willing to be using, use that for God's glory. And, uh.
And, uh, we can do that in so many ways.
It's just not, uh, you know, helping somebody out financially could be opening your home, you know, it could be spending some time with somebody in need, uh, all these things. And there is a happiness that comes along with that. The Lord Jesus, his life.
Was think of this he never did one thing to please himself, not one. And I have to lay my hand on my own heart and say boy that puts me to shame because how often, how unlike him I am in so many aspects of my life shouldn't be the case. And how often I do things for my own selfish.
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Means, but you know, so we're you know, when we speak of of covetousness and so on, desiring those things that we don't have.
And so on what let's, let's flip that around now and, and, and the things that we do have, let's make sure we're using it for the Lord.
And we do tend to be in the ditch on one side or the other. Umm, I know a lot of people when they talk about money, when people talk about money and they're, and they say, well, I, I'm going to be safe. This is the love of money. It's the root of all evil, not money. But they say, well, I'm going to be safe. I'm not going to have anything. And I.
Brethren that are poor on that, that's who they are. It's not what God's given them. They decided they're going to be poor. They don't get up and go to work and they don't save their money and they're poor. That's not God's choice, that's theirs. And you know, Satan, the enemy of our souls wants to kill and steal and destroy and everything that God has given us is good. You think of food. Food is wonderful. God wants us to enjoy it in moderation. But what the devil wants us to do is lose. They enjoy all. You know, if I eat too much, then I'm going to be overweight and.
You know, and so we're kind of like, food is our enemy. I've been that way in my life.
Fruit is my enemy and I had to realize I had to adjust my own mind. This is a gift from God. He wants me to enjoy every single bite. That's why that's how we made it. The same thing true in intimacy. Intimacy between a man and his wife is wonderful in its place. And the devil, his whole object and the culture we live in is to destroy that, to just make us to where we're just like, you know, it's been so misused and so twisted and distorted. Well, you know, I'm just, you know, it'll be better if I don't. And that's not what we're to do.
The Lord told the parable of the talent and he said it's not OK to just say OK, I'm just gonna just do nothing and then I'll be safe. That doesn't work.
The the serving that buried his gift, the Lord said, you wicked servant, that's the servant that got in trouble. The Lord wants us. He's entrusted all this to us. He wants us to use it for him like our brother just said. And dear ones, that answer to this is Mark mentioned it. The antidote to this is in first Timothy 66.
Godliness with contentment is great gain, as Steve mentioned, to hold everything with an open hand. And we live in a world where we have to have a house. Where I live, I would die if I didn't have a House of some sort. It gets cold enough, I would die. It's not a choice. People in LA, maybe you could just pitch a tent, but you have to have some kind of a structure to survive. OK, So these things have a practical need in our lives. They have to fit in. We can't just say no, you know?
This, and I'm not picking on what people said about earthly blessings and heavenly deal because that's important. But if you go later on in the chapter, and I know that kind of goes with other things, but I think it fits with this too. It says in verse six, uh, 31, but rather seek the Kingdom of God In Matthew 633, it says seek ye first, the primary aim, the very first thing that we do and all these things shall be added unto you. Does God want us to have a place to live? Yes. Does he want us to have food? Yes. Does he want us to have clothes? Yes.
He wants us to have nice things, but he wants us.
To be in communion with himself, that we would take everything from his hand, that there would be nothing that we own that comes between US and him. Because then that becomes idolatry. That becomes what we look to what we, what we think about. No, he, it needs to be our line with him. And the Lord will test this. As our dear beloved brother said, he allows things to come in our life so we can judge what's in our own heart and say, Lord, that's wrong. I don't want that. I want you. And then we have that beautiful pathway where what he's given us, we can enjoy. We can.
He's given us all the things richly to enjoy.
I don't wanna.
'Cause confusion that.
We've mentioned retirement and, and the American dream is to retire and, and put our feet up or, or go do this or that or the other thing and, and.
Have a life of ease and and I think that this portion here is warning against that does that mean that we shouldn't?
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Prepare for a time when we maybe don't have the capability to work like we are currently working. No, there needs to be a balance there, but the the balance is laying up treasure in heaven and that's what we have in verse 21. So.
Is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God? And so that really needs to be our focus in young people.
I want to make this immensely practical.
This world holds all kinds of shiny things out there for us to become an object for us. And most of the people I, I work with, they are working really hard so that they can retire someday and and have a life of, of ease or do whatever they want and they are really, really concerned about their retirement.
And I know that the society, the the young people.
The attitude of the age, uh, most young people actually don't care about retirement right now. The people that, uh, my organization are in interviewing and hiring, they're not worried about retirement. They, they want their pleasure now. And it's really been interesting to see a change in my career.
Umm, of the people that we interview coming out of college and it used to be that they were really concerned about the retirement benefits and now they're just, they're concerned about how much time off they're going to have.
Uh, and both of them are wrong.
The Lord has given us resources and talents, and we are to use them for His honor and glory. And really, quite frankly, there is never a point in time that we should retire, scripturally speaking. It may be that what we do or what we're engaged in is different. It may be that the Lord allows us to have more time to spend for His honor and glory. There's always a need.
Dear young people, I want to encourage you if you have the opportunity or make the opportunity, go serve the Lord in some way, shape or form. You know, there's a whole lot of need up at BTP for people to put labels on boxes, to get in the mail, to send literature around the world so that it can be a blessing to the salvation of souls and and the distribution of godly ministry.
It can be as simple as.
It has being willing to spend your large day afternoon, uh, stapling papers together so that, uh, one of the laboring brethren that travels around have pamphlets to give out to school children. It's being willing to spend the energy that we have for the honor and glory of the Lord. It might be going and sitting with someone who's older.
And just picking up the word of God and reading it to them because they can't read it for themselves anymore. There's so many things. And sometimes this is a burden on my heart. Sometimes I think as young people, we look at, at Jim Highland or we look at, at somebody else who is way down the road and we, we say, there's no way that I can ever be used of the Lord in that capacity. And that's the wrong perspective. The Lord wants us to do whatever he's put right in front of us. And he wants us to be willing to have our hearts open and our eyes open and say.
If it's if it's serving some coffee at all day meeting, that's what the Lord has for me to do and I'm gonna do it for him. If it's doing my school work every single day so that some day down the road I can have a job and provide for my family, the Lord's gonna bless that. There's so many things that he put puts before our hearts. And I want to encourage you children, be willing to be used by the Lord.
He's going to bless you immensely, and that's what it means to lay up treasure in heaven.
I know my brethren here will readily.
Recognize it if I were to say that brother Vern puts a little more bluntly that Scripture does not allow for retirement, that brother is retired from his secular career. But I don't suppose there are very many here who would say they haven't benefited from him since the time he retired or before because he's been active in seeking to serve the Lord and the Lord's people. And we're thankful for our older brethren and and I was thinking as you were speaking, Steve, about the.
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The order that the Lord set up with the Levites in the Old Testament, and in one place you read that they serve from 30 to 50 years old.
That a time when they started in age and an age where they, I don't know if I would rightly use the word retired, but in age where that service was terminated or changed to a different kind of service. And then another place you read that, that they're 20 years old when they start into this. And, and the way I understand it is it was something of an apprenticeship and you have, you have 20 to 30 years old roughly where you're, you're learning.
And here's a question. Who are they learning from? I mean, the ones who are from 30 to 50, they're busy, their hands are full, they're working.
Well, there are those who are 50 and a little older, and they can come alongside a younger one who's 20 to 30 and say, you see how that brother's working over there? You see what he's doing, You see how he's covering those those holy things. Here's why. And here's the reason that they do it the way they do it. And here are the principles. And they're arming this brother so that when he gets to 30 years old, he's ready and capable.
To, to commence his time of service as a Levite. And so I think in that sense, you know, there's, there's retirement from our secular career, but for what purpose? So that we can serve in a different capacity. We can do a job that we're suited to do, having outlived our usefulness and what we were doing before perhaps.
You know, I maybe I don't have the same strength as when I was younger, but I've learned a lot and I need to pass it on to somebody. So we should value spending time with our elder brethren.
And sisters whose responsibility it is to teach us and to prepare us so that we can serve.
Was it not, was it not Joshua who spent time with Moses? I find that so beautiful. And that for me is a real example of what you're saying, brother Steve, to, uh, spend time with your older brother, uh, Joshua. You look at how he was used of the Lord later on in his life after Moses.
Departed from this scene, but he, he spent time with Moses and this young man and heard what this this man of God had to say and what he did. And there is a lot of value for you young people and children to frankly us middle-aged adults to spend time with our older brethren, hear what they have to say. They've been through the path of faith and have have walked it for many years. And there is incredible wisdom there.
We need to value that and.
Treasure that. So I just encourage each one of us to not just dismiss them as being, well, not serviceable. Oh no, they are incredibly valuable and God puts a lot of stock into, uh, can I say an older St. of God and would have us to, uh, to, uh, to listen and to, to be with them, I suppose.
That when the Lord said to Joshua, as I was with Moses my servant, so will I be with thee.
If Joshua hadn't spent that time with Moses, it might not have meant as much as it must have meant to hear from the mouth of God that as I was with Moses, so will I be with Thee.
He saw how Moses went on, and he walked with him and and learned from him.
Unfortunately, our time is gone. Can I just share one more bird? Umm James 127 says pure religion. Another rendering is true religion, an undefiled before God and the Father exists to visit the fatherless and the widows and their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world. Like Josh shared, the older ones have a lot of wisdom and experience in the past away and if we.
Share our time with them, we can learn a lot.
There's a practical aspect to this as well. This this man that we read about here has.
Had the intention of taking his ease.
You know, in my line of work, I come into contact with a, a wide variation of people in society. And a lot of people in society are, we've been talking about take this exact fact in life. They, they work hard and then they take their ease and you know what, their body breaks down, they become old and disabled and, and they're no longer capable of enjoying life.
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What did it say of Moses? Moses worked up until the very end of his life and it says.
That as I was not dim nor his natural force abated. Now granted, the Lord was giving him that strength, but it was because he was purposing to serve the Lord right up until the very end. Look at Ernie Monk. This Batman is in his 80s at least and he's relatively healthy and energetic and totally opposite picture of the majority of the people that I hauled to the hospital in an ambulance that are 20 or 30 years his senior or his junior. But it's all because.
His purpose is, is to be used of the Lord in a, in a practical way, in a lot of sense, he goes around and helps people with carpentry work and also a system like Steve was talking about in teaching some of the younger ones, some of, uh, the words thing. But so there's a practical element, a practical consequence to these two different perspectives of things as well.
And we're lower down Noah's car park. That was our makers, our sustain.
Lord, we had taken up this portion that speaks of covetousness and desiring possessions in this scene. Or help us to desire thee.
Foremost and primarily that we would desire the blessers above, the blessing that we would want what you want for us, not a penny more and not a penny less that we would want.
Thy presence in our lives that we would not go a step ahead of the year behind the.
What do we think of how these things are so real? Is our brother shared? Those that will be rich pierced themselves through with many sorrows. For these things are for real. And you love us, and you want us to have a blessed path, and so you care enough to tell.
Tell us how to live. And so, Lord, for the youngest one here to the oldest one here, we just pray for help for that sincere desire.
For thee to know thee.
To have what thou dost have for us, think of that promise. Delight thyself and the Lord. He will give thee the desires of thy heart. We pray for safety and blessing on this day as we go and play.
Thank you for all those that labor ceaselessly and just pray for a special portion for them.
Lord, we just thank Thee for this opportunity to be together is truly a foretaste of glory that's come before us. So we pray this for Thy glory and honor in Jesus mighty name, Amen.