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0:45It was graduation weekend in Aggie Land, and so for all of y'all who walked the stage and got your diploma, congratulations. We're excited for you. We're thankful for you. And anyone here who is visiting either for graduation or for Mother's Day, we welcome you. I'm glad that you've chosen to worship with us here this morning. And I encourage you, if you can, to join us again when Pastor Tom is back. As Matt said, he's traveling in Turkey right now, the country, not the poultry. And he'll be back in a few weeks. So let's read our text this morning, Luke chapter 12, verses 13 through 21.

1:29So Jesus is. Teaching, picking up in verse 13, someone in the crowd said to him, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. But he said to him, Man, who made me a judge and an arbitrator over you? And he said to them, Take care and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. And he told them a parable, saying, The land of a rich man produced plentifully. And he thought to himself, What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops? And he said, I will do this. I will tear down my barns and build larger ones. And there I will store all my grain and all my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, be merry. But God said to him, You fool, this night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? So it is for the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.

2:40Says the word of the Lord. Today we are looking at a parable, commonly called the parable of the rich fool. And that's not a bad title. It might be the title in your Bible. Because just as we read, Jesus gives this man two descriptors. He was rich, and he was a fool. Fool. But it's also a little bit of a misleading title. Because only one of those descriptors is true, and the other is kind of half-true. You see, in verse 16, the man is described as having material wealth. He has a bountiful harvest. He's already rich. But just a few verses later, in verse 21, Jesus says that this man is the very picture of a man who is not rich, not rich towards God. So Jesus is describing a paradigm shift. He's calling into question how we think about true riches.

3:39Let's see if y'all can finish this phrase from Ben Franklin. Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. Very good. You know, we know this because it's part of our cultural mantra, is it not? The pinnacle of human experience is to be healthy, wealthy, and wise, right? That's what we hear. If you don't believe me, just walk into a bookstore and look for all the New York Times bestsellers. I guarantee you that most of those books on that shelf will claim to have the answer to at least one or more of those categories. But here, in the book of Luke, Jesus doesn't give us a seven-step plan to be healthy, wealthy, and wise. Instead, he gives us a story of a man who is dying, who is spiritually poor. And who is foolish?

4:32But that's not even the worst part. The worst part is this man thinks he is rich. He thinks he is secure. He thinks that he's financially savvy. But then God pays this man a visit, right? Just when he's at this pinnacle of human experience. And what does God tell him? Does he say, Good job, well done, good and faithful servant? What does God say? You fool. Not exactly a bestseller kind of ending. So why does Jesus tell this story? What's the occasion for telling this parable? Well, naturally, I read it as a warning, and it is. Jesus makes the exhortation very clear: take care, beware of covetousness. We'll explore that further. But I think, in general, I read this and I think, I don't want to be this guy. I don't want to get what this guy got. The message from the Lord, I don't want to be, you fool.

5:33I don't want to be surrounded by the best-selling books in our culture, consumed by chasing this American idea of materialism and early retirement, only to learn at the end of my life that I totally missed the boat on what it means to be truly rich. I don't want to be the fool that wastes his life on vanity and chaff and has no part in the kingdom of heaven. And I think for all of us deep down, whether you're a Christian or not, I think we all know that there's got to be more to this life than just healthy, wealthy, and wise. So today, my goal is simple. I want to identify who is the rich fool. What were his thoughts? What was his heart?

6:22I want to identify him so that I can flee from that. This is a sermon about repentance. Jesus described a man who is blinded by sin and folly, and he warns his disciples about the consequences of following in that path. But as we'll see, Jesus also provides an alternative. This morning, I'd like to look at three descriptions of the rich fool that are spelled out in this parable. Descriptions that I hope will help us to recognize the folly in our own lives and spur us to greater wisdom and to greater obedience. Here are the three descriptions. They're kind of long, so I'll pause so you can write them down. Number one, the fool is unconcerned with heavenly things.

7:09The fool is unconcerned with heavenly things. Number two, the fool is always craving, but is never satisfied. Always craving, but never satisfied. And number three, the fool believes that he is the master of his soul. Fool believes he's the master of his soul. So let's begin with the first description of the fool. The fool is unconcerned with heavenly things. Just like many other parables in the Gospels, there's a little bit of literary context to consider. In this case, Jesus tells this parable in response to a question from the crowd. It's actually more like a demand than a question. You can see this in verse 13. We start, someone in the crowd said to Jesus, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. This is the occasion for the parable. I want us to consider this bold questioner for a moment. We don't know his name. We don't know his backstory. This is the only time that he appears in the Gospels. But we do know a little bit about what's going on around the question, what's going on in the setting that the question is asked. If you go back to the beginning of Luke chapter 12, you'll see that Luke gives us a little textual note. Luke is really good about doing this. And in that note, this is Luke 12, 1, he says that Jesus is teaching to so many thousands. That's what my ESV says.

8:46And that word, so many thousands, in the Greek is the word myriad. If you've been paying attention in our study of Revelations, you might remember that myriad means 10,000. That's a lot of people. A lot of people are crazy. Crowding around to hear Jesus. And Luke mentions, too, that these people are trampling one another to try and get close enough to hear Jesus. So you can picture this isn't a gathering of peace, it's a gathering of chaos. Imagine how hard it would be for one man to get close enough just to be heard by Jesus. So this man, it probably took him hours. He probably had bumps and scrapes and bruises from squeezing through so many people just to get close enough to ask this question. And the amazing thing is, is that he makes it, he gets there. He gets a face-to-face with Jesus Christ, the very words of eternal life. And what does he ask him?

9:42Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. You can just picture Peter in the background just doing a face palm like, ah, really? Really? And just to be clear, at this point, Jesus is not talking about money. That's not the topic of his teaching. He's talking about the Holy Spirit. He's talking about the assurance of salvation. He's talking about heavenly things. This question would be considered out of the blue. And to be honest, if I were in Jesus' shoes, I would have just completely ignored him. I would have just gone right on. I would have told, I don't know, disciple Philip, hey, go take care of this guy.

10:30But Jesus doesn't. Jesus stops. He sees in this man something that the crowd needs to be warned against. And I think, I really do believe, as an act of genuine compassion for this man's soul, he takes the time not to address the question, but to address the man's real need. This man really needed help, just not the help he thought he needed. Read verse 14. Jesus responds, Man, who made me a judge and arbitrator over you? I find this to be a little bit of an interesting response. Today, where would we go if you had a disagreement with a family member or with a neighbor? You probably start by hiring a lawyer, right? We have courts, we have litigation, we have a process for these kinds of disputes. But in that day and age, the system was set up a little bit differently. In that culture, people would take family disputes not to a civil court, but to a local rabbi. They were supposed to be the wise, impartial mediators who could discern right from wrong. But there's a problem with that system. The problem is not all rabbis agree on what is right and wrong. So if you had a dispute and you wanted a favorable judgment, what would you have to do? Well, you could fix the system by just finding a rabbi that already agreed with your position. Maybe one that owed you a little money, maybe one that owed you a couple of favors. It's not exactly a fool-proof system, but it was a common way of settling disputes back then. So, with that in mind, consider again just how much effort this questioner put into finding Jesus and getting this question out there. And notice, too, that he addresses him as teacher. That's the word rabbi. What do you think he's trying to do?

12:29I think this man had identified his arbitrator. I think this man probably thinks that Jesus is going to rule in his favor. And he's got good reason to think that. In Luke, Jesus is already on the record teaching about money and generosity and fairness and living in the kingdom of heaven. And this man had probably heard these things. He probably knew that Jesus didn't put a lot of weight on having riches. So he thinks, if I can just get him to tell my brother these things, maybe my problems will go away.

13:04So why does Jesus rebuke him? What was this man's big mistake? See, the questioner's mistake was that he was seeking a material solution to a spiritual problem. He was seeking a material judgment from a spiritual judge. This man thought his inheritance, or more specifically, his brother, was the problem. Tells him, sorry, that's not my department. And here's the point: Jesus is not a fixer, that's not his purpose on earth. He's not a means to a better life, he is the life. Remember what Jesus told the woman at the well in John chapter 4. He said, Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water that I give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. And here's the point: material problems come back. It doesn't matter how much water you drink, you're going to be thirsty again. You need living water. Jesus could have solved this man's family dispute on the spot. He could have done it. But what do you think would happen to that man next?

14:26Unless this man realizes that he has a spiritual need, his material needs would keep happening again and again and again. He'll never be satisfied. It's not his inheritance or his brother that needs to be fixed. It's his heart. And the good news is, that is Jesus' department. Jesus responded, Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you? I know this is a rhetorical question. And it even sounds at first like Jesus is denying his identity as a judge. But let's answer the question. The truth is that Jesus did come to judge. He did come to divide, but not because of some broken judicial system at place in the time. Who made him a judge and an arbitrator over you? John 5 gives us the answer. The Father has given the Son authority to judge, to judge between the living and the dead.

15:34Jesus is not in the business of dividing inheritances. He's here to divide souls. He's here to call sinners to follow him. But this man was so concerned about the status of his wealth that he was utterly blind to the fact that he was perishing. Do you see why this is foolishness? Do you see the missed opportunity? He was right there in front of Jesus. I think it's real easy for us to criticize this unnamed questioner. And I hope you do see that he was in error. But let's not be too quick to let ourselves off the hook. Are you more concerned with your material possessions than with your spiritual standing? For God. Let me make this a little bit practical. Have you ever been listening to a sermon and thought to yourself, ah, I wish so-and-so were here to hear this. They really need this one. Yeah. Maybe today, oh, I'm glad mom's here. I hope she's paying attention to this inheritance stuff, if you know what I mean.

16:50But maybe on a more serious note, have you ever used God's word just so that you can win an argument, just so that you can get what you want? I'm not saying that we can't or shouldn't apply God's word to personal situations, but be wary of your heart. Don't come to Jesus as a means to an end. Don't come to Jesus to justify your position or your wealth or your status. He's not that kind of judge. Come to Jesus because you recognize, like Peter did, that you alone have the words of eternal life. Where else can we go?

17:31See, the fool is unconcerned with any of those things. If we see Jesus only as a fixer of material problems, then we're going to miss what he really came here to do. And today, you're sitting in a good church. You've made it close. You've gone through the crowd. You're almost there. Don't waste this opportunity to meet the real Jesus. Don't be a fool. Let's move on to the Second description of the fool. The fool is always craving, but never satisfied.

18:08Let's look back at our text at verses 15 through 18. And Jesus said to them, Take care, be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. And he told them a parable, saying, The land of a rich man produced plentifully. And he thought to himself, What shall I do? For I have nowhere to store my crops. And he said, I will do this. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my grain and my goods.

18:43So, in answering this brash question from the crowd, Jesus tells the story of another man. Notice the shift in pronouns. Jesus is not just addressing him, the one man. He's now addressing them, the crowd. This tells us that this parable is intended for everyone. Jesus identifies the real problem here. It's not money or family or drama. It's sin. He says, be on your guard against all what? Covetousness. That's the issue here. And the imperative is clear: be on your guard. Sin is a beast. It's crouching at the door, and only a fool.

19:30Thinks that he can control it. And I find it interesting that instead of just pivoting to a lesson on covetousness, Jesus uses an illustration. Remember that parables in scripture use an earthly reality to point to a spiritual reality. And the parable might be about farming or a beggar lying at the gate or a wayward son, something that the audience can relate to, but it always points to something heavenly, something the audience can't relate to. And that's why Jesus says in the book of Matthew that parables are intended to reveal spiritual truths to some and conceal spiritual truths from others. But either way, the focus is always on the spiritual truth. It goes farther and deeper than the material world in which the parable is set. And I point that out to emphasize one thing.

20:28This isn't a parable about construction. It's not a parable about farming or harvesting. And that may seem obvious to you, but maybe this next one isn't. This isn't a parable about managing money. At least that's not the main point of the parable. When I would read this or listen to this, I used to assume that it was just about money because, I mean, to be honest, the man's possessions do play a prominent feature. But remember, Jesus is talking to the crowd at this point. He's talking to his disciples at this point. These aren't rich people. They don't need help managing their money. They don't have money. So what is the point? Well, look at what Jesus says in verse 16. Take care and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. Don't miss this. Jesus is telling a parable about life. It's about how to live. It's about the health of your soul. The warning, take care, is not just a warning to rich people. It is, but only because it's a warning to all people. There's not a single person in the crowd listening to Jesus that day who couldn't learn from this parable. You're not rich, that may be, but do you have a soul? Are you living right now? This parable is for you. Why? Because regardless of one's bank account, everybody has the capacity for sin. Regardless of one's education, everyone has the capacity for foolishness. It's not about how much money you have, it's about your heart. It's about your heart's capacity to sin and rebel against God. So let's talk about this specific sin that Jesus calls out. What is covetousness? There's an English phrase. We don't use very often, but I think it captures this idea of biblical covetousness really well, and that phrase is insatiable desire.

22:40Covetousness carries the idea of being always hungry, but never full. It's the man who can't be satisfied. Many of us know a passage from 1 Timothy where Paul describes the root of all evil, right? And he's careful. He says the love of money is the root of all evil. And what does he say about the evil it produces? He said, It's a craving through which some have wandered away from the faith and have done what? Pierced themselves with many pangs. That's what coveting does to you. Just like hunger pangs in your belly, covetousness is a pang in your soul. It can't be soothed. It needs more, and it produces evil.

23:33You see this behavior in the rich fool. This man is already well off. We know he's already rich. He's got more than enough to meet his basic needs. And even so, the Lord blesses him with a bountiful harvest. But despite this man's previous wealth, despite the fact that agriculture is so utterly dependent on things outside of his control, there's not even a hint that this man is not able to do that. Considered his harvest to be anything other than his own just rewards. He talks about my crops, my grain, my goods, me, me, me.

24:11He could have thought to give some of his harvest to the destitute or for kingdom work, but on the contrary, his plan is to store it up for himself. The motivations of his heart are clear. What I have is not good enough. I need more. I find it interesting that this man is having this conversation with himself. He doesn't turn to godly counsel. He doesn't turn to any counsel. He doesn't have a friend or a family member in sight. This man is alone.

24:50This reminded me of a study going on at Harvard right now, which is the longest-running study on happiness. It's been tracking people for over 90 years, a variety of people, asking them questions about their life, their career, their income, all to determine whether or not they feel satisfied. And do you know what the overwhelming consensus is so far? Remember, this is from Harvard. This isn't a Christian study. What would you guess? It's the greatest indicator of happiness. It's not money.

25:26The happiest folks in this study were those who had good. Relationships. These were the folks that loved well, and they were well-loved. Kind of makes you wish the folks at Harvard would read their Bibles a little bit more. They saved a lot of effort. This rich man has no one to turn to, probably because he never took time to invest in others. Probably because, like the questioner, he saw people as a means to an end, not as an opportunity to give and to serve and to show them love like Christ loves us.

26:03This is the effect that covetousness has on your soul. It promises security and fulfillment, but in the end, it makes you empty. It leaves you utterly alone. Don't be a fool. Life does not consist of one's possessions. Your goods, your crops, your house, your 401k, these things will never satisfy you. Anyone that tells you differently is lying. And I'll make one more point about covetousness. Not only is it foolish, but it is incompatible with following Christ.

26:41Twice in the New Testament, Paul explicitly calls covetousness idolatry. For those of you taking notes, that's Ephesians 5:5 and Colossians 3:5. Paul says explicitly, covetousness, which is idolatry. Seems kind of like an odd thing to say, don't you think? Well, let's unpack this. Think with me. What is an idol? An idol is taking something created and is promoting it to the place of creator in your life. You're telling that thing, I am because I am who I am because you made me so. I exist for your glory.

27:22Idolatry is just materialism in the extreme. And Paul says, on account of covetousness, which is idolatry, the wrath of God is coming. You see, possessions have a way of competing with our affections. Sorry, rather, competing with God for our affections. And God doesn't take kindly to rivals. That makes sense, right? Jesus says himself, you can't serve two masters. You'll either love one and hate the other. But you get to choose. Your allegiance will always default to the real Lord of your life. And likewise, only one Lord can capture the desires of your heart.

28:11Matthew 16 says, Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? You see, covetousness convinces us to sell our souls for very little. Friends, It might be money, it might be beauty or status or power. You can fill the blank with your own insatiable desire. But either in life or in death, these idols will always leave you. Don't invest your soul in these things. That's foolish.

28:50But Jesus, Jesus is faithful and true. Hebrews 13, verses 5 through 6 says, Keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have. For he has said, I will never leave you or forsake you. So we can confidently say, The Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me? You notice how the writer of Hebrews is arguing this passage. Why should we be free from the love of money? Because you can't love Christ with all of your heart, soul, and mind if you love money too.

29:30But if we have Christ, we don't need anything else because he will never leave us or forsake us. Talk about a guarantee. Paul says, I count everything else rubbish for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ. Does that describe the state of your heart? If not, then you too perhaps need to heed the warning of Christ. Take care. Be on your guard against all covetousness. Don't be a fool. Give your soul to the master who can truly satisfy.

30:08We'll move on to the third point. Third description of the fool is a man who believes that he is the master of his own soul. You might say this another way. I am the captain of my fate. You might have heard that before. Let's look again at our text. This is verse 18 through 21. And the rich man said, I will do this. I will tear down my barns and build larger ones. And there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, be merry. But God said to him, Fool, this night your soul is required of you.

30:59And these things that you have prepared, whose will they be? So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God. In these verses, we get a little more insight into the thought process of the rich man, into his philosophy of living, if you will. First of all, the rich man doesn't want to build more barns for his grain. He wants to tear down his barns and build bigger barns for his grain. I find that interesting. Why is that?

31:30Maybe he just wants the biggest barn on the block. Maybe he's coveting reputation as well as possessions. Just food for thought. No pun intended. Regardless of the reason for the bigger barns, in his soul, this man clearly takes pleasure in the thought of having many goods stored up, in the thought of having these big barns full of his grain, able to eat, drink, and relax. So he's talking to himself. He's talking to his soul. He says, soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Take a load off. Eat, drink, be merry. Have you any of you ever talked to your soul like this? Maybe not consciously, right? But I think we all have some form of an inner dialogue running in our heads. I certainly do. And I think this is what Jesus is talking about here. He's giving us a little picture into the conversations we have with ourselves all the time. So I just want to ask you the question: what does your inner dialogue sound like? What truths are you telling yourself over and over and over again?

32:41David is another man who talks to his soul. He says in many Psalms, Psalm 130 as an example, Bless the Lord, O my soul, all that is within me. But unlike David, who is soothing and counseling his soul with the doctrine of God's word, the rich Fool is counseling his soul with the doctrine of materialism. What does he say to comfort his restless soul? He says, relax, eat, drink, be merry. You have many goods laid up for many years.

33:17Eat, drink, and be merry. That's actually a popular phrase in the Greco-Roman world. And it describes a specific worldview of materialism that was popular at the time. And wouldn't you know, it's still popular today. It's called hedonism. It's this love of pleasure. What is hedonism? Well, it's a system that's based on getting what makes you happiest. In other words, if I have the choice between A and B, the hedonist would say that the right choice, the moral choice, according to this worldview, is to do the one that brings you the most pleasure. So, in the context of this parable, the hedonist coming into a large sum of money, maybe a good harvest or a family inheritance, what would they do? What is the moral choice for the hedonists? Well, they would say that it is good and right and ethical to spend that money on what makes you happy.

34:16Do you want to reveal the idol of a hedonist? Just let him win the lottery. Those idols will come out real quick. And we get a small picture of that in this parable. What is the rich man? Fool's idol specifically. We get that. He wants security. He wants the pleasure of knowing that he doesn't have to work and toil anymore. He wants to enjoy the fruit of his harvest without worrying about the cost. Now, is that so bad? That doesn't sound evil. Well, let's examine that for a little bit. Ecclesiastes 2:24 says that there is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God. Well, that verse kind of seems like God is signing off on this whole eating and drinking business, right? And some people will stop there and they'll say, see, God wants us to pursue pleasure. Well, let's just keep reading. A couple more verses in Ecclesiastes.

35:20For apart from God, who can eat and drink or have enjoyment in anything? For to the one who pleases him, God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy. But to the sinner, he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to the one who pleases God. This is also vanity and a striving after wind. You see, the writer of Ecclesiastes is clear. There's a distinction, a distinction between those who eat and drink and enjoy, who have already found their true pleasure in God, and those that are chasing a true pleasure that they will never have.

36:01Pleasure apart from God is vanity. It's a striving after the wind. If you pursue pleasure over pursuing God, then you will end up with neither. Why can't pleasure ultimately satisfy? Well, the parable of the rich fool tells us: Because we all die, we all work and toil and sweat in the dust, only to return to the dust. Ecclesiastes picks up on that too. The hedonist deceives himself by saying, Don't worry, dear soul of mine. I'm going to take care of you. I can arrange your happiness. I am your master. My friends, do you see that this is foolishness? You're running an equation without all the variables. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, if the dead are not raised, then let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. But in Christ, we have hope.

37:02If this life is all that we get, then we of all people are most to be pitied. Because if this life is all we get, then hedonism makes a lot of sense. Knock yourself out. But when we recognize that there is life after death, that changes the equation. Look down at Luke 12. You've still got your Bibles open there to verse 29. It's not part of our passage, but it follows our passage. Jesus elaborates on this teaching. He says, Do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. Instead, seek his kingdom. And guess what? These things will be added to you as well. What a bargain. Doesn't that sound like a wiser way to live your life?

37:58See, God tells the rich fool, this very night your soul is required of you. Talk about feeling helpless. No amount of material wealth, no bigger barn will let this man live even just one more day. I wonder how the man felt. If only he had been warned before it was too late. Luckily, for the people in the crowd listening to this parable, this is their warning. Take heed. Don't wait. You can either surrender your soul to Christ or toil and struggle over your soul's happiness, only to lose it at the end. Everybody on earth will either give their soul to God willingly or their soul will be required of them unwillingly. It's your choice. We bow the knee to God and say, Thy will be done. Or God gives us over to our sin and says, fine. Your will be done and see where that leads you.

39:03My friends, I plead with you. Don't wait until it's too late. Please. Jesus isn't after your money. This isn't a sermon about money. Jesus is after your soul. And guess what? In him, you will find security. You will find peace. You will find abundant life. So what are you going to do? What choice are you going to make? The fool believes that he's the master of his own soul. Please, don't be a fool. So I asked a couple of questions at the beginning. I asked, who is the rich fool? And I asked, how do you and I, how do we flee from this folly? How do we make sure that we are not like this, that we don't get a similar visitation from God on our deathbed?

40:04Well, we can start by recognizing and examining these tendencies, these descriptions in our own heart. We have studied that the fool is one who is unconcerned with heavenly realities. The fool is always craving, but never satisfied. The fool is deceived in thinking that he is the master of his own soul. Do any of these descriptions fit you? Remember that your possessions are not what's at stake. It's not the main issue. But they may be a symptom of the main issue. Does the number in your bank account, does that number make you anxious?

40:50Or maybe it makes you overconfident? How much time do you spend thinking about the material rather than the eternal? Do you find yourself always wanting more? Always wanting bigger, better than what God has already given you? Do you buy into the culture's lie that you are the captain of your fate? If so, then heed the warning of Christ. Take care. Be on your guard against all covetousness, because your life does not consist in the abundance of your possessions. What's the alternative? What does life consist of? If not in our possessions, then what? Then who?

41:43Jesus concludes the parable, verse 21, by saying, This fool, this man, so is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. That's the alternative. Rich towards God. What does that look like? 1 Timothy 6, 17 through 19 gives us a pretty good description of being rich towards God, of practically what does that look like? And I'll read it for you today. 1 Timothy 6, 17 through 19 says, To the rich I say, do not be haughty, nor set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. You are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, and to be ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

42:47You see, God doesn't care about the number in your bank account. That's not being rich towards God. Being rich towards God is taking hold of that which is truly life. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus talks about emptying yourself so that God can fill you with Himself, with the Holy Spirit. See, all other philosophies, including hedonism, say, store up your works. Store up your possessions. Come to me rich. But that's lunacy. No one can achieve that. Christ says, Come to me empty, and I will fill you up.

43:44My daughter, Ellie, she's named after Jim and Elizabeth Elliott. And many of you know their story. They were missionaries in Ecuador, and Jim was martyred on the mission field. Before he died, Jim wrote this in his journal. It's short, but I want it to sink in. He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep in order to gain what he cannot lose. That's the picture of a man who is rich towards God. Is that the mantra of your life? Or is the mantra of your life to be healthy, wealthy, and wise? Now, if this idea seems foreign to you, because it is foreign to most of the world, then consider yourself warned. Don't wait until it's too late to repent of covetousness and to run to Jesus. Take hold of the eternal life that only He can offer. Don't be a fool. Run to Jesus today. Let's pray.

44:58Heavenly Father. Thank you for this opportunity to study your word, Father. Thank you in your sovereignty and your kindness that you give us a warning. Father, I know I need it. So I pray, Lord, that we would heed the words of our Messiah, that we would flee from sin, that we would recognize sin and repent and turn to Jesus. Give us the strength to answer that calling. Thank you for our mothers today, Lord. Thank you for the sacrifices they make each and every day.

45:41Thank you for Pastor Tom. I pray that you keep him safe on his travels. Thank you for everyone here, Lord. Pray that you bless them the rest of their day. In Jesus' name, amen. Would you please stand?