#110 Lu. 12:13-21 THE PARABLE OF THE RICH FOOL Introduction: Our text today contains The Parable of Rich Fool. This parable tells about a man who was obsessed with his earthly possessions. He valued his earthly possessions more than he did his eternal soul. Luke is the only Scripture writer who records this parable. But the rich man in the parable is not the only man in our text who is obsessed with material possessions. Luke tells about another man who was likewise, obsessed with the material possessions of life. In his case, he was obsessed by an inheritance from his earthly father. It was this man who prompted Jesus to give The Parable of The Rich Fool. I. The man who was obsessed by his earthly inheritance V. 13, "And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me." The expression "one of the company" in this verse led me at first to conclude that this man was one of the company of disciples. However, upon closer examination, I learned that the Greek word which here is translated "company" means "crowd or multitude." Luke was not saying that the man was one of the disciples, but rather he was one of the great crowd of people who had gathered to see and hear Jesus. This man stepped forth out of the crowd and approached Jesus with a question. He asked Jesus to help him settle a controversy he was having with his brother over the family inheritance. He said, "...Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me." Under Jewish law, at the death of the father, the oldest son in the family was required to assume the responsibilities of the deceased father. In order to compensate him for this added responsibility, he would receive a double portion of the family inheritance. That is, he was to receive twice as much as any other child. The remainder was to be divided equally between the other children. According to what the man told Jesus, it seems that in his case, the older brother had cut him out completely from the family inheritance. You will note that he did not ask that Jesus see he get his fair share of the inheritance. Rather he asked that Jesus would persuade his brother to divide the inheritance with him. Up to this point, he had not received anything and apparently he thought that his brother had no intention of giving him anything. We are made to wonder why he would come to Jesus instead of going to court. The answer is that he recognized Jesus as a man of influence and persuasion. He thought that anyone with as much influence over people as Jesus had just might be able to persuade his brother to divide the inheritance. Jesus declined to intervene in this dispute. V. 14, "And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?" Jesus did not challenge the man's right's in the case. Jesus did not refuse to intervene on the grounds that He thought the man's claim was unjust. As far as I can tell from the Scripture, the man had a legitimate claim to his portion of the family estate and had every right to expect to get it. Rather Jesus declined to get involved because God the Father had not sent Him to the world to become a part of the civil government. The time will come when He will, indeed, be sent to take a position in earthly government. When He returns to this world He will be crowned as "KINGS AND LORD OF LORD'S." He will be the very highest ruler in all the world. He will be KING over all the nations of the world. But during His forst coming it was not the will of God the Father for Jesus to take any governmental office such as a judge in a civil case. He would not take even a lower governmental position such as being a judge in civil cases. On His first mission Jesus was sent to the cross to pay the redemption price for the souls of men. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin and the blood of the sacrificial animals could not take away sin. Only the blood of Jesus could save man from his sins and keep him out of the fires of hell. For that reason, Jesus refused to take any part in the settlement of that family estate. God had already set up men in governmental positions whose duty it was to hear such cases as this man had brought to Jesus. Let him carry the case to the civil authorities and let the civil judge hear his case. II. The warning Jesus gave about covetousness I said earlier that Jesus did not accuse the man of having an unjust claim. But He did accuse the man of having a wrong attitude about the material things of this world. V. 15, "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." Note that expression, "...he said unto them..." Jesus not only called attention to the man, himself, that his motive was wrong, but Jesus used this as an opportunity to teach a lesson to the whole multitude who was gathered there. The man's cause involving his brother was just, but his motive was wrong. One may have a just cause legally, and yet his motive can be wrong. This man's motive was wrong. Jesus said, "...Take heed, and beware of covetousness..." This man had more than a legal problem with his brother. He had a spiritual problem with God. He had allowed his heart to become obsessed with earthly possessions. He could not help but be aware of the earthly possessions that his father had accumulated. He could not help but be aware of the fact that a goodly portion of those things would one day belong to him. Then when his father died and his brother was dragging his heels in dividing the estate and perhaps intended to cut him out from his inheritance entirely, he became overly concerned about getting his share. He was overly concerned about getting the things which he wanted and which he thought were due to him. Let me insert a thought right here. There is no telling how many families have become divided over a family inheritance. It doesn't have to be a big inheritance. Even this man did not tell us how much he thought was coming to him. It is a tragedy that a family can be torn asunder over a few little items. The anger, lthe hurt and the bitterness can be just as great over little things as over big things. The problem is not merely the dividing of the family estate. The greater problem is the covetousness that is in the hearts of the family members. Jesus said, "Beware of covetousness." Covetousness, as we have already seen both from the case in this text and from real life about us, can divide family members. Covetousness can cause a man to cheat and steal. Apparently, even the other brother in this text had a bad case of covetousness also. If he had not been so covetous and kept more than was rightly due him, the problem between the brothers would never have arisen. Covetousness after the material things of this world can cause one to commit a crime. It can cause him to commit a crime that will send him to prison. Covetousness after the material things of life can cause one to commit murder. Covetous is no small sin. It is a grave sin that brings grave consequences. III. The rich man in the parable But the most deadly thing about becoming obsessed with material things is that it can prevent one from being saved and going to heaven. That is chiefly what Jesus was warning about in our text. Listen to the parable that He gave. V. 16-20, "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 whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?" This poor rich man was very much concerned about plowing the fields at just the right time, sowing the seed in just the right manner and in just the right places, using just the right amount of fertilizer, and doing all the right things that would give him the best chance for a good crop. He was very much concerned about getting the crop harvested. When it was ready to be harvested, it was ready. Without delay he would get the laborers into the fields and get the harvest in the barns. Then, too, he was very concerned about having enough storage space in his barns for the crop that he had harvested. When he saw that his storage space in the barns was running out, he immediately laid plans for replacing the old barns with bigger and better barns. He was very much concerned about his own personal enjoyment of all his abundant material possessions. He said, "I'll be able to live in ease and luxury all the rest of my life. I'll use all my great wealth to satisfy my every desire. I'll be extra good to myself. I'll bask in the great abundance of my wealth." But the sad thing is that he had become so obsessed in his desire to get worldly possessions that he neglected the most important thing of all. He neglected to get prepared for eternity. He neglected to repent of his sins. He neglected to trust in the Christ to save his soul. If he was at all aware of his need of salvation, he made the deadly mistake of thinking that he had plenty of time. He, perhaps, intended to get right with God some day, but he thought there would be plenty of opportunity to do so later. Then suddenly he was snatched out of this world and into the other world. "...But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?" He was snatched away from his farm. He was snatched away from his barns even before he got a chance to build the bigger ones. He was snatched away from all his great wealth. He left it all behind for somebody else to enjoy. He left it all behind, in all probability, for his children to fight over and become divided over. We are not told in the Scripture how he died. Somebody has suggested that perhaps somebody might have murdered him in order to steal some of his wealth, and, if so, they would enjoy at least part of his wealth. But the tragedy is that he had worked so hard all his life to accumulate the things of this world and he was suddenly taken away from it all. The wealth that he had labored to provide was left for somebody else to enjoy and he went out into the fires of hell to suffer forever and ever. What a tragic, tragic mistake! IV. A warning for us all But that man is not the only person to make such a mistake. V. 21, "So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." People right here in East Texas are doing the same thing. Some of the people right here are very much absorbed in accumulating all they can of this world's goods. They want all the land they can get. They want all the oil and minerals they can get. They want all the salary they can get. They want all the profit from sales that they can get. They want all the stocks and bonds and shares that they can get. They want all the diamonds, all the gold, and all the silver they can get. They want big automobiles. They want big homes. They want all of everything they can get. They want, they want, they want and they want. There is not end to their desire to get. Some will do all manner of evil in order to get. They will lie in order to get. They will steal in order to get. They will play the lottery in order to get. They will sell drugs in order to get. They will get involved in prostitution and all sort of criminal activities in order to get. But the most dangerous thing of all is that many people neglect the salvation of the soul in order to get material things. They fail to turn to God. They fail to repent of their sin toward God. They fail to trust in the Christ of God in order to be saved. Suddenly, one of these days, these people will make a sudden departure from their homes. They will leave all their wealth behind. They will leave their earthly bodies behind to be buried. They will wake up in the fires of hell and it will be everlastingly too late to cry out for mercy. Even the saved person can make the mistake of being obsessed with gaining material riches in this life. There is no danger that he is going to lose his salvation and therefore there is no danger that he is going to hell. But there is the danger that he will waste his life in doing things that will rob him of service to God. Therefore it will rob him of rewards in heaven. Some day soon he will leave his possessions behind and go out into eternity. It is far better to lay up treasure in heaven where neither moth nor rust doeth corrupt and where theives do not break through and steal. Conclusion: I am calling on each and every one of you who are not prepared to go out into eternity to turn to God today and get ready for eternity. I am calling on you turn your attention away from the things of this world and to turn your attention to God and the things of the next world. Come and confess to God your guilt of sin. Come and call on the Lord Jesus Christ and trust Him to save your soul. I am also calling upon each of you who are saved to take a lesson from this text. I thank God that you have not made the same mistake that the men in our text have made, but I want to point out to you that covetousness is dangerous even for us who are saved. I am calling upon every Christian here to dedicate himself to a life of worship and service to Almighty God. I am calling you to be rich toward God in spiritual things. I will guarantee that you will never come out on the short end of the stick by seeking spiritual riches over material riches.