Barriers to Joy Pt 2: The Lie We Believe

Father, we have gathered this morning because we want to behold wonderful things from your word. We do not have the wisdom that we need to live this life. We do not have the power or the faith that we need to live this life. And so we gather every Sunday, not simply because it's what we do, we gather every Sunday because we are desperate to hear from you.

We are desperate to be filled with your Spirit. We are desperate to have you empower us to live the kind of life that you are calling each one of us to live. And so we pray that during these next moments, you would fill us with your spirit. You would fill us with faith.

You would fill us with wisdom that we might live the joyful life that you are calling each one of us to live. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Well, friends, as we've said, the primary goal of the next couple of years is to help everybody become a more joyful follower of Jesus.

But as we talked about last week, there are barriers that are standing in the way of our joy as Christians. And last week we talked about that first barrier, the fear that we harbor. We are afraid that if we live a generous life, as God talks about in the scriptures, that we are not going to have enough money to take care of ourselves.

Ourselves or to take care of the people that we love. And we saw through Hebrews 13:5 that that is not true because God promises that He will never leave us or forsake us. And because that's true, we can keep our lives free from the love of money and we can be content with what we have.

Joyful generosity can replace fear in our lives. And today, we're going to consider a second barrier to joy, which is the lie we believe. The lie we believe. And that lie is that life consists in the abundance of our possessions. That's the lie that we're told: that life consists in the abundance of our possessions.

In other words, the more money we spend on ourselves, the more stuff that we own, the more joyful we're going to be. The lie is that a good life, a meaningful life, a life worth living, is a life that is characterized by the pursuit of more money, more possessions, more experiences.

Now, King Solomon lived that life. We've looked at him several times over the past few weeks. He was one of the richest people who ever lived. Solomon lived in absolute splendor. Like billionaires today, he could buy anything that was for sale. Well, what did he have to say in the end?

Take a look on the screen at Ecclesiastes chapter 5. He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income. This also is vanity. When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes?

Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much. But the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep. Friends, look at those words inspired by the Holy Spirit. He who loves money will not be satisfied with money. Somewhere in our heads and our hearts, we know that that's true.

But many of us, perhaps even most of us in the room today, still find ourselves tempted to believe the lie that more money, more stuff, more income will lead to a happier, more joyful life. And so today, we're going to look at one of Jesus' most famous parables, the parable of the rich fool in Luke chapter 12.

And Jesus is going to teach us how to break through this second barrier, this lie that we believe that life consists in the abundance of our possessions. Here's what Jesus is going to teach us: Be on your guard, believe the truth, become rich toward God. Be on your guard, believe the truth, become rich toward God.

Let's consider that first point: be on your guard. Look at Luke 12, 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 or 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.

Now, at the beginning of this chapter, we learn that a crowd of thousands of people has come together to hear Jesus teach. So many people that they were trampling on each other. This is an enormous crowd. And Jesus is teaching all kinds of things. He's teaching about the fear of the Lord and blasphemy.

Against the Holy Spirit and the persecution that's going to come if you follow him. And in the middle of that teaching, in the middle of thousands of people, this dude yells out, teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. Just imagine the look on people's faces, like someone passed gas in an elevator.

Like, how does Jesus respond? As he always does, kindly, gently, patiently, but firmly. Jesus came full of grace and truth. He says, Man, who appointed me a judge or arbitrator over you? In other words, my friend, you misunderstand why I came. I did not come to settle family disputes about money.

But Jesus, in his perfect wisdom, is going to use this moment as a teaching opportunity. I want you to look at what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 12. He said, For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

Now, not everything that's in our hearts comes out of our mouths, thank God. But what Jesus does say is that everything that comes out of our mouth originates in our heart. What was in this man's heart? What would possess him to interrupt Jesus, who is teaching thousands of people on eternal matters, and demand that he settle this family dispute about money?

Well, we couldn't possibly know because we cannot see into the human heart. But Jesus can, and Jesus did. Look at verse 15 again. He said to them, Take care and be on your guard against all covetousness. Now, what is covetousness? Covetousness is a strong desire to possess something that may or may not belong to someone else.

It's a strong desire to possess something that may or may not belong to someone else. That Greek word can also be translated greediness. Coveting is forbidden in the 10th commandment. Look on the screen at Exodus 20. God says, you shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.

Paul in the New Testament actually says that coveting is a form of idolatry. Look at Colossians. He says, put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. So coveting is sinful. It is a form of idolatry. So why do we do it?

Well, ordinarily, coveting is a form of envy or pride. You see, envy says, you have it, and I want it. I want your house, your spouse, your stuff. Pride says, you don't have it, so I want it. I want a better house, a better spouse, better stuff than you have.

Whether out of envy or pride, we covet. We want something that we don't have. Well, why do we want things that we don't have? We learned last week in Hebrews 13, 5, the answer to that question. Look what it says. Keep your life free from love of money and be content with what you have.

So why do we covet? We follow this rabbit trail all the way down. Why do we covet? We covet because we're not content with what we have. And when we're not content with what we have, we look at what other people have or don't have, and that leads us into the temptation toward envy or pride.

And then when envy or pride take over, we begin to covet, to want something that we don't have. Okay, well, what do we do about that? Every one of us has coveted before. We've coveted out of pride or envy because we're not content with what we have. Well, look at verse 15 again.

Jesus says, take care and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. Jesus says, take care. Other translations say, watch out. Watch out. Be on your guard against all covetousness. Well, friends, here's an uncomfortable question for us: Is it possible that greed, that covetousness, has snuck into our lives because we weren't watching out?

We weren't on guard against all forms of covetousness. Look what the late pastor Tim Keller had to say about this. As a pastor, I've had people come to me to confess that they struggle with almost every kind of sin. Almost. I cannot recall anyone ever coming to me and saying, I spend too much money on myself.

I think my greedy lust for money is harming my family, my soul, and people around me. Greed hides itself from the victim. Friends, Keller is right. We need to watch out. We need to be on guard against all covetousness because greed hides itself from us. Nobody thinks they're rich.

Nobody Thinks they're greedy, because everybody knows somebody who is richer and greedier than them. We tend to judge our own holiness in relation to other people instead of in relation to God's perfect standard in His Word. So, how do we do it? How do we guard ourselves against all covetousness?

Well, through the parable that He's going to tell, Jesus teaches us to believe the truth. Believe the truth. Let's look at verse 16. And He told them the 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 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. Is required of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be? In this parable, this rich man's land yields a bountiful harvest, a bumper crop, and he asks an appropriate question: What am I going to do with all this?

That's the obvious question to ask in that situation. He's not going to leave them out to rot. Well, what are his options? Well, he could sell the crops, he'd make himself a nice profit, he would help people that need food. He could sell the crops at a discount or even at cost.

So he wouldn't make any money in that case, but he wouldn't lose any money either. He would help people that way. Or he could give them away. He could bear the cost. He could pay the cost of the planting and the growing and the harvesting and give them to people in need.

He has all of these options before him that all involve other people and helping them in some way. But he's not thinking of other people at all. Ten times in this brief parable, he uses the word I or my. He's only thinking of himself, his future. His needs, his wants.

And his thinking is based on wrong presuppositions, just like the man who demanded of Jesus, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. What are those wrong presuppositions? Life is long, and life is about stuff. First, the rich man in the parable wrongly assumed that life is long.

Now, plenty of people live long lives. That was true even 2,000 years ago. And certainly today in America, the vast majority of people live long lives. Statistics will show that most Americans are going to make it to 75 or 80 years old. But because early deaths pull down those averages, if you make it to 65, you are very likely to live to 85 or 90.

But not one of us is promised another day on this earth. Just last weekend, a college student at the University of Iowa dropped dead on the football field from heat stroke. A few years ago, two friends. Of ours from college were coming home from a date, and somebody who was in a street race ran them over.

They left behind four kids. A couple of decades ago, one of my best friends and college roommates, his brother died of cancer in college. And as we remembered, 25 years ago, 3,000 people were killed by terrorists on an ordinary Tuesday morning. Nobody has promised another day. This is what Scripture says in James chapter 4.

Come now, you who say, today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit. Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

This rich man was thinking, I'm going to have decades more to enjoy all of these things, and that's what life is really about. And he didn't even make it to the next morning. The rich man in the parable wrongly believed that life is long. Second, the rich man wrongly believed that life is about stuff.

We might think when you read the parable, you know, the guy's only problem is that he died. If he had gone on living, he had it made. Well, friends, that's exactly what he thought. He told himself, you've got ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, be merry.

And that might make sense if this life is all that there is. If there is no God, if there is no eternity, if there is no heaven or hell, this life is all there is, it might make sense to acquire as many possessions as possible and enjoy them for as long as possible.

But if that works, how come so many wealthy people are miserable, unhappy, unfulfilled? If that works, how come the suicide rate between the poor and the wealthy is nearly identical in our country? Again, look at Ecclesiastes chapter 5. He who loves money. Will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income.

This also is vanity. The rich man in the parable wrongly believed that life is about stuff. Now, I wonder if you noticed how the rich man referred to himself in the parable. Take a look again at verse 19. And I will say to my soul, soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years.

If you're not reading in the ESV, your translation might say, self, myself. That is not what the Greek says. That Greek word is suké, it's soul. It doesn't mean self or myself. I don't know why a lot of the English translations did that. He calls himself soul. And that is fascinating.

Because by calling himself soul, he is proving that he knows he's not just a body. He's not just a brain on a stick. He knows that this life is not all that there is. And yet, he is living that way. He is not living in light of what he knows.

His theology is not having an impact on him. Lifestyle. And isn't that true for so many of us? We could sit down and pass a theology test with flying colors. We might say that we believe in heaven, but we live as though this life is all there is.

This is every country song that's ever been written. I believe in heaven, but what matters is trucks and girls and money and stuff. Theology has no impact on how we're living our lives, if that's the case. Friends, we need to be on guard against all covetousness, and we do that by believing the truth that life is short and life is not about stuff.

Biblical faith does not mean that we merely think the right thoughts. Biblical faith means that we live the right life because we think the right thoughts. And that leads us to Jesus' third and final point. Become rich toward God. Look at this final verse here, verse 21. Jesus, in concluding the parable, says, So is the one who lays up treasure for Himself and is not rich toward God.

In the parable, Jesus calls the rich man, or we should say God calls the rich man a fool. Now, in Scripture, a fool is more than a person who makes a foolish decision. We all make foolish decisions from time to time. That's not biblically what a fool is.

Biblically, a fool is a person who lives a foolish life, whose entire life is based and lived on wrong beliefs. And here in verse 21, that's what Jesus is teaching. The rich man was a fool. And friends, we are living like fools if we are living as though life is long and life is about stuff.

That's what Jesus is saying here. So is the one a fool who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. So what does it mean to be rich toward God? Well, in this verse, Jesus contrasts laying up treasure for yourself and being rich toward God.

That's the contrast that he makes right here. But when Jesus says laying up treasure for yourself, he means laying up treasure for yourself on earth. Okay, Matthew 6, when Jesus teaches in the Sermon on the Mount, he clarifies what he means by this phrase. Look at what he says.

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

You see, the problem is not laying up treasures for ourselves. God is not against self-interest. The problem is laying up treasure for ourself here, on earth, in this life. That's Jesus' point here in Luke 12. Being rich toward God means laying up for ourselves treasure in heaven rather than on earth.

Because wherever our treasure is, that's where our heart is going to be. That's what it means to be rich toward God. Storing up treasure in heaven means that the affections of our hearts are drawn upward to God and to the things of God. Rather than downward to earth and to the things of earth.

Because our hearts follow our treasure, and our treasures follow our hearts. So, how do we become rich toward God? How do we do that? How do we store up treasure in heaven? Well, simply, we invest in the things of God. We invest in the worship of God, in the will of God, and in the people of God.

First, we invest in the worship of God. And what I mean by that is, we give our time and our resources to facilitate our worship as believers in Jesus and to help other people come to know and worship Jesus as well. Look on the screen at Acts 4.

Now, the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power, the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.

Look at the Great Commission, Matthew 20. 8 verse 19. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. So, one way that we store up treasure in heaven and become rich toward God is we invest in the worship of God.

We make sure that we can worship God together in the ways that He has commanded, and we spend money to reach those who do not yet know or worship Jesus. We invest in the worship of God. Second, we invest in the will of God. And what I mean by that is we give our time and our resources to help further the sanctification of believers.

In other words, helping us become more like Jesus and to care for people like orphans and widows. Look on the screen, 1 Thessalonians 4. For this is the will of God, your sanctification. That is your Christ-likeness, your holiness. So straightforward. There's only a few texts like this in the Bible where it says, this is my will for you.

You never have to pray and ask God, Do you want me to be a holy person? Yes, he does. This is his will for you. Look at James 1. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

I love that verse because it pairs together keeping yourself unstained from the world, in other words, your sanctification, your holiness, and it pairs that with real action toward the needy, orphans and widows. So, one way we become rich toward God is by investing in the will of God, seeing each other become more Christ-like, and then ministering to those who are poor and destitute and in need.

And then, third, we invest in the people of God. We invest in the people of God. What I mean by that is, we give our time and our resources to support the poor and needy among us. We give our time and our resources to support pastors and missionaries and Christian workers who are doing good gospel work.

Look again on the screen at Acts chapter 2. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. The early church was so generous with each other that just a couple of chapters later, they could say there weren't any poor or needy among them because people that had extra were selling it in order to take care of others.

This is not a communist system, as sometimes is charged. This was free and voluntary. They didn't share everything. There was still private ownership. People made personal decisions to sell and to give generously. That's so much better than any kind of a coerced system, whether it's in the church or in communism.

Because that's not a matter of the heart. That's a matter of law. Okay, look at Galatians 6. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. And so, friends, we become rich toward God by investing in the people of God, making sure that the people of God are cared for, that there are no needy among us, that pastors and missionaries and people doing good Christian work, whether they are doing that vocationally or as volunteers, that they have the resources that they need to take the gospel to people who need to hear it.

And oftentimes, people won't hear the gospel until they've had their needs met, which is why Jesus so often heals before he reveals himself as the Messiah. So, how do we become rich toward God? We invest in the things of God, the worship of God, the will of God, and the people of God.

As we invest our treasure in the things of God, our hearts will follow because our hearts always follow our treasure, and our treasure follows our hearts. That is how we become rich toward God. Brothers and sisters, many of us have believed the lie that this life consists in the abundance of our possessions.

And believing that lie is a major barrier to experiencing the joy that Jesus wants us to experience. This past week, I was meditating on Luke 15 and the parable of the prodigal son. Many of you are familiar with that parable. A father has two sons. The younger son demands his share of the inheritance early.

He essentially tells his father, I wish you were dead. I just want the money that's coming to me. So he gets his inheritance early. He squanders it all. He becomes destitute and desperate. He goes home and confesses his sin to his dad, and he's going to ask for a job on the family farm.

But the father interrupts him. He receives him back as a son. And he puts a robe on him. He puts a ring on his finger. He puts shoes on his feet. And then he goes and he kisses him. The fattened calf for him and begins to celebrate. Well, the older brother is livid.

He won't come into the house to celebrate, and so the father goes out to him to ask him to come inside. And I want you to look at what happens in this interaction. Luke 15, his father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command.

Yet you never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him. And he said to him, Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.

It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this brother of yours was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found. You know, I've always read that parable and focused on the older brother's self-righteousness. You know, he's upset because his dad showed grace and mercy to his younger brother, and his younger brother lived a sinful and rebellious.

Rebellious life, and he's always done the right thing, and that's not fair. And I think that's a huge part of what's going on here, no doubt. But it hit me as I was reading this last week: do you notice what the older brother is focused on when he rebukes his dad?

He said, You've never given me a young goat. My brother devoured your property. You killed the fattened calf for him. And his dad can see that. He can see that he's focused on stuff. And so he tells him, Son, all that is mine is yours. And it hit me that part of his outrage is that when his dad put that robe and that ring and those shoes on his younger brother, that was his inheritance.

That was his stuff. His younger brother had already spent all of his inheritance, so where was that coming from? That was all going to be his. But now his younger brother's getting it. And he's so blinded by his greed and covetousness that he cannot celebrate the fact that his younger brother was dead and is alive again.

He was lost and is found. And, friends, what I want you to consider today is that this same thing is true for so many of us. Greed hides itself from the victim. And I think there are many of us Christians who are blinded to the fact that we have right theology, just like the rich man in the parable, or right behavior, just like the older brother in Luke 15, and yet covetousness has made its way into our life.

Greed has made its way into our life. And so, brothers and sisters, life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions. And if we live as though it does, we are robbing ourselves of the joy that Jesus wants us to have through living a generous life. If you are not yet a Christian, Jesus wants you to know what you already suspect: that there is more to life than money and stuff.

Life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions, not this one and not the life to come. You are not just a body, you are a body with a soul, and you are going to spend eternity somewhere in heaven or in hell. And to spend eternity in heaven, you have to become rich toward God, and that begins with faith in Jesus Christ.

Look on the screen at 2 Corinthians 8. Paul says, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you, by his poverty, might become rich. Friend, there is nothing worse that could happen to you in this life than for you to be materially rich and spiritually bankrupt.

You are not promised another day on this earth. You may not have the rest of this semester or the rest of your college experience or until after you get married and have kids to get right with God. But you have this morning. You have now. So don't put it off.

Christ, who was infinitely rich, gave all of it up. He emptied himself and made himself nothing to live a perfect life of obedience in your place. He went to the cross where you should have gone, and he died. He was buried and he rose from the grave so that you, through faith in him, could inherit all of the riches that he promises.

Heavenly riches, true riches that will last for eternity, that no one can take away. And so, friend, if you have not done so, today is the day. This morning is the morning that you need to turn from your sin and you need to put your faith in Jesus.

He is our only hope in this life and in the life to come to be truly rich. Let's pray. Father, as I pray, I'm struck by Jesus' words to Peter. When he said, Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you like wheat. Lord, I want to pray for all of the children and the middle and high school students and college students and adults who are in the midst of a spiritual war for their soul.

These people that Satan wants to sift like wheat. I pray that this morning they would turn from their sin and receive Christ by faith. That they would go from spiritually bankrupt to spiritually rich this morning through faith in Jesus Christ. God, we pray for many to turn this morning to Jesus in saving faith.

And God, I pray for all of us who are already following Jesus. Lord, it is impossible to think that we could grow up in America, live in America. Do everything that we do in America and not have any covetousness, any greed slip into our lives. We're all dealing with it.

Because at some level, we have all believed the lie that life does consist in the abundance of possessions. It may not be tons of possessions, we may not need a mansion or a private jet or anything like that, but we may just need some new things every so often.

We just may need a little more money for the things that we want. We don't want it all. We just want the same or better as what our roommates and friends and co-workers and neighbors have. So, Lord, we pray this morning that you would show us where we've not been on guard against all covetousness.

And we pray that we would believe the truth and become rich toward you instead. Help us. We can't do it alone. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.