The Good Life?

~ Luke 12:13-21
November 22, 2015 ~ New City Church of Calgary ~ Pastor John Ferguson
The other day, my wife and I were reflecting on the number of moves we have made over the years, and as I
thought about each one of them, I remember asking the question that you have probably asked when you have
made a move: How did we get so much junk?
Question: Why is my life stuffed with stuff?
We are going to look at a passage in which Jesus address this issue head on. And the reason Jesus does this
is because he knows one of the greatest competitors to a relationship with God is our relationship to things.
As we hear what Jesus says, were going to find ourselves facing a very uncomfortable question, Do my
possessions possess me? The reason that question is uncomfortable is because it gets to the heart of how we
answer the question, What is my vision of the good life?
The Good Life? ~ Luke 12:13-21
If you are new to Christianity, you going to learn that Jesus will challenge your understanding of the good life.
If youre not new to Christianity, you going to see Jesus challenging your understanding of the good life.
Lets just acknowledge that were uncomfortable with being challenged, especially about how we live our lives.
But Jesus thinks the message he has to proclaim is so important that hes willing to risk a little bit of awkwardness if that means that we can gain something of immense value to our lives in return.
Context: Jesus was just discussing the cost of discipleshipnamely that following Jesus might cost us everything. Hes talking about weighty issues like eternal life. But there was a man in the crowd who couldnt even
hear him because he was preoccupied something else that seemed far more important. So he interrupts him
13 Someone in the crowd said to him, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. 14
But he said to him, Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?
Jesus was insisting that there is a greater gain then getting an inheritance and a greater loss than losing
it (DG Miller, qtd in Ryken 658).
15 And he said to them, Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for ones life does
not consist in the abundance of his possessions.
1. NIV: Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.
Take care = to see clearly, to discern rightly.
Be on your guard = there is something you should watch out for (a clear and present danger).
Covetousness / Greed = the desire to have more and more. It says, if only I could have x, Id be happy.
2. Jesus audience: mostly poor Jews trying to eek out a living. IF they needed to hear this warning, how
much more so do we need to hear this warning. Jesus warning is really a warning for all of us.
According to the worldwealthcalculator.org, if you make $33,500 a year, you are among the richest 5% in
the world. There are 6.2 billion people less wealthy than you.

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 To take Jesus seriously, we should respond by saying, I must continually guard myself against greed b/c
I am prone to thinking that life consists in the abundance of possessions. Possessions are always trying
to possess us because we believe that life consists in the abundance of possessions. We love money!
Eccles. 5:10, He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his
income.
16 And he told them a parable, saying, The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought
to himself, What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops? 18 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.
1. Note all the personal references: What shall I do? My barnsmy grainmy goods. Greek pronoun
my occurs 4x and I 8x. Completely self-absorbed in this thoughts about his life and about his stuff.
2. Never once does he stop to ponder his wealth as a blessing from God. Instead of talking to God about
what to do with this bumper crop, he just talks to himself. And of course, when we are the centre of the
universe, God gets crowded out. We live for ourselves (cf. 2 Cor. 5:15).
Dt. 8:11, Take care lest you forget the Lord your Godlest, when you have eaten and are full and have
built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is
multiplied and that all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord
your God. Beware lest you say in your heart, My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this
wealth. You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth.
3. The Clear & Present Danger: To have our eyes focused on things, to have our hearts set on more stuff,
keeps us from thinking about the things that matter most. It gives us a false sense of security.
19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be
merry.
1. In his mind, he had arrived. He was living the good life. Life = stuff.
But he was doing exactly what Jesus warned his disciples not to do: he centred his life on his stuff
believing that life consisted in the abundance of things.
2. Notice who is front & centre in his thoughts. Notice WHO is missing.
Ps. 10:4, In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.
Ps. 14:1, The fool says in his heart, There is no God.
20 But God said to him, Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward
God.
1. This man who thought that life consisted in the abundance of stuff wanted to keep it all for himself, but now
must leave it all behind. No matter how rich we are, we all die poor b/c we cant take it with us.
Ryken: The man thought he had a storage problem, but what he really had was a spiritual problem.
Matthew 16:26 (NIV), What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?
2. Living for himself he was materially very rich, yet he was spiritually impoverished before God. The one who
dies with the most toys.still dies.
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3. Required is a Greek word commonly used for by a banker who calls in a loan. His life is now due.
Not only was this mans possessions not his own, but even his life was not his own. It was on loan to him
by God. And now God is calling this steward to account for how he invested his wealth and his life.
Question: Are you like this man? Do you believe the good life is about stuffing your life with stuff? How
much time did you spend this week thinking about your stuff, getting more stuff, dreaming about more
stuff, building bigger barns for your stuff as opposed to thinking about and pursuing God? Seriously, how
much of your life this past week was consumed with the thought, How can I get more of God in my life?

Why does Luke record this account in his historical biography of Jesus?
Covetousness / greed is foolish b/c it stuffs life with stuff. Greed is foolish because it fills your barns with stuff
instead of filling your barns with God.
Lifethe good lifeis found in a rich relationship with God through Jesus Christ. He is more satisfying than
anything this world has to offer. Life does not consist in the abundance of things, but in the abundance of God.
Bottom Line: My soul is more important than my stuff.
The ultimate proof? Jesus did not die for your stuff, but for your soul.
2 Corinthians 8:9, You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your
sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.
Tim Keller, When you see him dying to make you his treasure, that will make him yours. Money will
cease to be the currency of your significance and security, and you will want to bless others with what
you have. To the degree you grasp the gospel, money will have no dominion over you.
Illustration: In John Grishams The Testament, You worship money. Youre part of a culture where everything is
measured by money. Its a religion.
Luke 16:13, No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he
will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
Application: Choose your definition of the good life.
What difference would it make if you really believed that life does not consist of the abundance of possessions,
but in the abundance of God? What if you really lived like your soul is more important than your stuff?
Can you imagine what it would be like if the consuming passion of Calgary was not the worship of money,
but the worship of King Jesus? What if instead of living for the abundance of possessions, our city lived for
the abundance of God?
What if Christians really took this teaching to heart and demonstrated to this city a different way of being
human? What if instead of serving money and using others, our lives were so transformed by the Gospel of
Jesus that we used money to serve others?
What if those around us could sense from us that a life stuffed with God was valuable and more prized and
more satisfying that a life stuffed with stuff?
NCC, may you be a people who really lives the good life
not by pursuing the abundance of possessions, but the abundance of the life of God.
May you truly be a people that is rich towards God.
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