1. Our missions conference will begin next Sunday, and I would like our church to be prepared. There are many reasons more money is not going to missions, and one of them is covetousness.
2. We find many warnings against covetousness in the Bible, and many come directly from the Lord Jesus Himself (Luke 12:15).
3. Our Lord spoke often about stewardship and the danger of covetousness. The Pharisees, who were covetous, resented His preaching and were openly hostile to Him (cf. Luke 16:13-16).
4. This ought to be a warning to us. We do not want to be identified in any way with the religious hypocrites who had our Lord crucified!
5. Covetousness is a dangerous sin. The tenth commandment, so often ignored, says, "Thou shalt not covet" (Exodus 20:17).
6. The Israelites were badly defeated at Ai because of the covetousness of Achan. For his sin Achan and his family were executed.
7. In Colossians 3:5, the apostle Paul says covetousness is idolatry.
8. This morning I would like to deal with the subject of covetousness, and we will consider our Lord's parable of the rich fool, which illustrates our Lord's warning against the sin of covetousness.
9. First we will look at the conversation which preceded his parable.

I. THE SPIRIT OF COVETOUSNESS

1. The spirit of covetousness was manifested when one of the men listening to our Lord's discourse asked Him to intervene in a family dispute over an inheritance (12:13).
2. We are not told if this man was in the right or not. But that is really not the issue here. While his claim may have been right, the spirit behind it was wrong.
3. A man may be a member of a good church; he may be a good family man; he may be a moral man; etc. But if he is covetous, he is in trouble with the Lord.
4. Right before the man's interruption, our Lord had said, "For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say" (Luke 12:12).
5. It is obvious the Holy Spirit did not direct this man to interrupt our Lord, and our Lord refused to interpose in the matter (12:12-15).
6. The man addressed our Lord as "Master" (12:13), but our Lord really wasn't his Master. This happens all the time. Many people say the Lord Jesus Christ is their Master but in reality He is not.
7. Jesus said in Luke 6:46, "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?"
8. Therefore our Lord refused the man's request. Our Lord disapproved of his attempt to turn a Biblical discourse into a worldly discussion.
9. I am constantly getting phone calls and letters from worldly people -- bankers and insurance salesmen and business people who want to use our church to get customers and make money.
10. I always respond the same way: our church is here to preach the Gospel, and win souls, and teach the Bible. That is our only "business."
11. Our Lord said in Luke 12:15, "Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth."
12. "Take heed, and beware of covetousness." Our country is being destroyed by covetousness. The other day two teenage boys (15 and 17-year-old brothers) in New Jersey killed a 12-year-old girl for her bicycle. They coveted her bike and killed her for it!
13. In I Kings 21, we read that King Ahab coveted the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. When Naboth refused to give up his vineyard, Ahab had him killed. So the spirit of covetousness can lead to other sins.
14. Exodus 20:17 says, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife... nor any thing that is thy neighbor's."
15. Not only is our country being destroyed by covetousness, it is strangling many churches as well. Christians get caught up in mindless consumerism, and the rat race and the mad rush for more things, bigger things, better things, shinier things, etc.
16. Constantly grasping for more and more. Our Lord said, "Take heed, and beware of covetousness" (Luke 12:15). Worldly possessions can never satisfy the soul.
17. Our Lord said in Mark 4:19 that "the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful."
18. When a man gets caught up in covetousness, he lives his life on a low plane spiritually. He has no appetite for the things of God because he has been deceived by the deceitfulness of riches.

II. THE DEVELOPMENT OF COVETOUSNESS

1. Covetousness, like most sins, develops slowly. Our Lord called the rich man a "fool" in verse 20, but he wasn't always so foolish.
2. The rich man in our Lord's parable may have started out well. He probably had many good qualities -- he was industrious, hard-working, and enterprising.
3. Proverbs 14:23 says, "In all labour there is profit," but we need to be careful about making an idol out of money. First Timothy 6:10 says, "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."
4. John Wesley preached a sermon entitled, "The Use of Money." In this sermon he advocated the following principles:

1. Earn as much as you can.
2. Save as much as you can.
3. Give as much as you can.

5. Wesley also said that when a person's standard of living increases, his standard of giving should increase as well. Wesley himself lived on about 28 pounds a year (the equivalent of USA $45, but this 300 years ago) was when he was a student at Oxford. He continued to live on that amount for the rest of his life -- he lived simply; he ate simply; and he dressed simply, etc.
6. There is no suggestion in our Lord's parable that the rich man accumulated his wealth dishonestly. It is not a sin to gain wealth; it is a sin to hoard wealth (12:16-18).
7. The rich man was wondering what to do with all his goods (12:17).
8. He would not have to wonder if he had taken the time to pray. He wondered what to do but he never asked the Lord about it. Psalm 10:4 says, "God is not in all his thoughts."
9. Covetousness crowds out God, crowds out prayer, crowds out church, and crowds out the Bible.
10. The rich man would not have to wonder if he were following Biblical principles. Proverbs 19:17 says, "He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again."
11. Our Lord said, "Give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven" (Mark 10:21; cf. Luke 6:38; Acts 20:35; II Cor. 9:6, 7).
12. Matthew Henry says when we give our money away, the LORD pays us back "in temporal, spiritual, and eternal blessings."
13. The rich man was not thinking about spiritual or eternal blessings. He was thinking only about earthly comforts (Luke 12:19).
14. He said in Luke 12:19, "I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." He was following the philosophy of Epicurus, the Greek philosopher -- "eat, drink, and be merry."
15. The rich man mistook body for soul (12:19). Our Lord said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4).
16. Our Lord said, "Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" (Matthew 6:25).
17. Covetousness had made the rich man completely self-centered. Notice the repetition -- "I...I...I...I.." (Luke 12:17-19).
18. When a man thinks only about his own well-being, he has fallen into the snare of the devil (cf. Isaiah 14:12-15).
19. When a man only thinks of himself -- I, I, I, me, me, me -- he is heading for trouble. He has shut himself off from God and from his fellow man.
20. When General William Booth was old and sick and dying he was invited to address a large convention of Salvation Army workers. His poor health made it impossible for him to attend, and so he sent a greeting instead. His telegram contained only one word: "Others."
21. The rich man not only mistook body for soul, he mistook self for God. Self was sitting on the throne in his life, not God. Second Timothy 3:2 says, "For men shall be lovers of their own selves."
22. And he not only mistook body for soul, and mistook self for God, he also mistook time for eternity (12:19). He thought he had "many years" (12:19) to enjoy his wealth, but God said, "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?"
23. Foolish people think only of worldly pleasures and never consider the brevity of life. Like King Belshazzar, who "made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand" (Daniel 5:1).
24. But when he saw the writing on the wall, his "countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another" (Daniel 5:6).
25. Daniel was called for, and Daniel made known to him the interpretation: "God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians" (Daniel 5:26-28).
26. Then the foolish king made a proclamation that Daniel should be the third ruler in the kingdom. But as the king was making this proclamation, the Medes and Persians were entering the city and would soon storm the palace and take his kingdom from him.
27. Daniel 5:30 and 31 says, "In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old."
28. Like foolish King Belshazzar, the rich fool thought he had plenty of time left to enjoy life. But that wasn't the case (Luke 12:20, 21; cf. James 4:13-17).

III. THE PENALTY FOR COVETOUSNESS

1. The rich man thought he was smart, but God said, "Thou fool" (12:20).
2. When Abner died, King David lamented over his death, and said, "Died Abner as a fool dieth?" (II Samuel 3:33).
3. Many men die as fools!
4. It is foolish to fix one's affection wholly on worldly things, material things, and temporal things.
5. Materialism is the notion that accumulating worldly possessions will bring joy and happiness.
6. I heard a story about a very wealthy man who had a simple-minded servant. One day the wealthy man handed his servant a painted stick and said, "Carry this stick until you find a man more foolish than yourself, then give him the stick."
7. The servant took the stick, and every now and then he would consider giving it to some stranger he would meet, but upon better knowledge of the person, he would decide to hold on to it.
8. After many years had passed by, the wealthy man lay dying, and he sent for the servant. On his death bed, the wealthy man said, "I want to say good-bye. I am going on a journey to a faraway land and I shall not return."
9. The servant said, "Have you sent all your wealth ahead of you so that when you come to this faraway land you can continue to live in luxury?"
10. "No, that will not be possible," the wealthy man replied. "When I get there I will be as poor as a pauper."
11. The servant then asked, "How long have you known about this journey?" The wealthy man said, "Since I was a young boy I have known about it."
12. "And you have made no provision? You have not sent any of your treasure into that land whither you travel?"
13. "None whatsoever," was the wealthy man's reply.
14. Then the servant took the stick and gave it back to his master, and said, "Take back the stick, for of all the fools that I have ever met, no man has equaled you."
15. Our Lord said, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matthew 6:19-21).
16. Our Lord called the rich man a fool because he laid up treasures on earth, and not in heaven (cf. Luke 12:20, 21).
17. He died unexpectedly and unprepared. Like Hamlet's father he was cut off even in the blossoms of his sin, No reckoning made, but sent to his account With all his imperfections on his head.
18. The great preacher W.B. Riley had an unsaved relative. He tried to talk the man about salvation but the man kept brushing him off. He told Dr. Riley he would get right with God five minutes before he died.
19. But God did not give the man five minutes and he died without Christ and went straight to hell.

CONCLUSION:

1. The parable of the rich fool in Luke 12 is very sad but there is another story of a rich fool that is even sadder.
2. And it is not a parable (Luke 16:19-31).