Luke 12:13-16
Life Is Not Things
The verses that we are studying tonight come out of a true-life
situation as Jesus taught.
Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem—for the last time. He might have
been taking the long way to get there as the trip will go from Luke
9 to Luke 19.
\\#12:1\\ Jesus had a great crowd around Him but was "first of all"
teaching the disciples.
\\#12:13\\ At some point a man stepped out of the crowd to ask that
Jesus settle a family feud.
\\#12:14\\ Jesus declined—or at the least—the Bible gives no
record that Jesus helped to resolve the conflict..
1. Jesus’ decline should not be confused with the assumption that
Jesus did not care.
2. If the younger brother was accurately describing the
situation, then the older brother was transgressing the law
and God would care about that.
3. However, Jesus’ purpose in coming on that trip was to our
world was not to judge sinners. He will do that, but that
was not His purpose on that trip.
4. Rather, one of Jesus’ purposes on that trip was to help
mankind see and understand the importance of the spiritual
over the carnal.
Jesus will use this opportunity to teach this and other truths to His
disciples. Prepare yourself, some would call this meddling. All of
the teaching seems to fall in one large category found in verse 15.
Luke 12:15 …a man’s life consisteth not in the
abundance of the things which he possesseth.
I. \\#12:16-21\\ Jesus gave a parable to shew the foolishness of
measuring life by things.
A. A man is described. It could be any man, woman, or child.
1. \\#16\\ The text says that he was a "rich" man.
a. Note: Our and God’s definition of "rich" are
different.
b. There is nothing wrong with being rich, but there are
dangers to it.
2. \\#16-18\\ The text described him as "blessed."
a. \\#16\\ His ground brought forth plenty.
b. \\#18\\ His barns were already full.
c. \\#18\\ He was about to pull down those barns and
build bigger barns.
3. \\#16-18\\ industrious
a. This man was not afraid of work.
b. He was a planner.
c. He seemed to be a sound business man with a good head
on his shoulders.
4. There is nothing to indicate that the man was in anyway
immoral or unethical.
B. But God added one more word to describe him - \\#20\\ FOOL
1. He was not a fool for being rich, blessed, or industrious.
These are all qualities that if used appropriately make
a better person.
2. He was a fool because he was about to meet God and for
that, he had no provisions!
3. As wealthy and prosperous as this man was, God declared
him to be a foolish person.
4. I take it to mean that God also considered his life to be
wasted.
a. It has dawned on me that most of us have less respect
for a person who will not work and even less for a
person who soaks the system because he is lazy.
b. At best, we consider that a wasted life.
c. I would say that is what God calls the life of the
most successful business person who does not make
provision for eternity.
II. \\#16-21\\ Lessons implied from this parable.
A. You can’t take your possession with you.
1. I don’t know that anyone needs a parable to teach us this
truth, but Jesus made it clear in the parable that taking
goods with us is not an option.
Luke 12:20 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?
2. By the way, leaving it here is not always a good option
either.
a. Remember, it was the accumulated wealth of the man’s
parents that had caused the younger brother to need
Jesus to begin with.
b. While wealth left to your children can be a blessing,
for many it is a source of division and hurt.
B. You can’t control when your life will be over. If we could,
this man and everyone else would say, "Not today!"
C. You don’t even know when your life will be over.
1. Most likely the foolish rich man would not have been
building had he known his day of death was at hand.
2. No one knows with any certainty when death will come until
death comes.
III. \\#22-40\\ Lessons clearly taught to the disciples after this
parable.
A. Notice that Jesus turned again to teaching the disciples:
Luke 12:22 And he said unto his disciples….
1. I do not want to minimize our responsiblity to what Jesus
said, but we do need to remember where Jesus was—
traveling to Jerusalem for the last time—and what Jesus
was doing-—teaching His disciples.
2. You and I can and should take heed to what Jesus said,
but all of what Jesus was teaching did not directly
pertain to us.
(a) Some of what He said will be directed primarily to
the Apostles (i.e. \\#33\\).
(b) Some of what He said will be directed at the Jewish
nation (i.e. \\#43-48\\)
B. Do not be concerned about this life.
Luke 12:22 And he said unto his disciples,
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for
your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the
body, what ye shall put on.
1. The disciples were being commanded to take NO thought for
their life.
a. When God sais NO THOUGHT, I believe God meant NO
THOUGHT.
b. God commanded the disciples to not let their life or
their life needs influence them in any manner.
c. They were to be 100% lead and supplied for by the
Holy Ghost.
2. Does that have application for us as well?
a. YES. We should also be completely spirit controlled
and motivated.
b. But the Bible also tells us to take care of the
earthly business to which He has entrusted us.
Pro 21:5 The thoughts of the diligent tend only
to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty
only to want.
Pr 27:23 Be thou diligent to know the state of
thy flocks, and look well to thy herds.
1Th 4:11 And that ye study to be quiet, and to
do your own business, and to work with your own
hands, as we commanded you;
Lu 19:23 Wherefore then gavest not thou my money
into the bank, that at my coming I might have
required mine own with usury?
3. Even so, the text is teaching that we can easily give life
too much thought.
4. Two thoughts:
a. Anything that takes our mind off of Jesus and His
will for our life is a distraction.
(1) Not all distractions are sinful but all
distractions are distractions.
(2) Like in sports, many lose focus of the game.
(a) Every years, the off-field antics of some
both in college and professional sports
hurt them.
(b) And every year some player with great
ability gets benched, side-lined, or
dropped from the sport altogether.
(3) I’m afraid that many on God’s team have also
benched themselves by getting too distracted.
(4) Keep the focus on Jesus.
(b) "Life" has not started yet and won’t until we die.
(1) Life starts when we die.
(2) Like a baby in the womb who thinks this is all
there is, so life for both the saved and the
lost starts when we exit this place.
Jesus is not finished yet. We will continue this section next week.
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