Lesson brought to you by: Brother Petras
Jesus taught great moral truths by using great human tragedies. One such episode is His parable of the rich fool in (Luke 12:16-21), Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’
“So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”. Like many of us, this man nobly earned an honest living through hard work and toil, but unfortunately, like many of us, he failed to realize that God was the source of his blessings (Acts 14:15-17 ) and saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” Like many of us, this man was not openly involved in immoral or unholy conduct, but unfortunately, like many of us, he failed to realize that God expects not only abstinence from evil but active involvement in doing good (Romans 2:6-7) who “will render to each one according to his deeds”: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality. Yes, like many of us, this man enjoyed an abundance of wealth in this life, but who, like too many of us, failed to use his great physical means for great spiritual gain. Thankfully, the Savior uses this story to teach us wise lessons from a foolish man. What do we learn from this parable?
Give Glory To God
First, we learn the importance of giving God the due glory for our physical blessings.
The man greedily harvested his abundance without recognizing God as the ultimate source of “every good and perfect gift” (James 1:17) Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. He was too concerned about where he would put his goods. This attitude led him to a disposition of selfish thinking and spiritual inactivity. A similar episode is seen in Daniel 5 when king Belshazzar failed to glorify God for his great kingdom. For this failure he was found spiritually wanting (Daniel 5:27) You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting. James warns about those who live presumptuously before the God of heaven and then go so far as to make further plans for prosperity saying, “we will go . . . we will continue . . . we will profit” (James 4:13, 16) Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. He explains that we are to view our physical increase in light of God’s will saying, “If the Lord wills” we shall do this or that (James 4:15) Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” In the parable of the rich fool the man failed to give the glory to God by using his physical goods in spiritual service.
Use What God Has Given You To Gain Spiritual Increase
Secondly, in the parable, we learn that God views our lives in terms of spiritual increase, not physical increase.
The Lord promises to give good gifts to His children (Matthew 7:11) If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!. However, the Lord expects much more from those who have been greatly blessed (Luke 12:48) But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more. The five-talent man of Matthew 25 was not rewarded because he had many talents, but because he used them to God’s glory. The one-talent man was considered “wicked and lazy” because he failed to produce the increase possible through the talent that was given him (Matthew 25:26), “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. In the same way, the “Rich Fool” had not used his goods for growth and they would eventually waste away in His “bigger barns” (Luke 12:18) So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. If he would have given them to the poor, the Lord would have given him more (Luke 6:38) Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” This is the increase that God desires in each one of us. Let us learn this “wise lesson”, and not waste our opportunities for spiritual growth.
Thirdly and most importantly, we learn of the grievous sin of covetousness.
The Lord began the lesson with the admonition to “beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses” (Luke 12:15) And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” This is the main failure in the parable of the rich fool. He was guilty of what may be the worst form of covetousness – he coveted his own goods! Instead of using them to relieve the hunger of the needy, to clothe the bodies of the poor, and to comfort the sick (Matthew 25:42-43) for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ he hoarded his goods to himself and sought to take his own comfort (Luke 12:19) And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” The Lord correctly designates him as a “fool” (Luke 12:20) But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ His goods may have comforted his physical life, but his misuse of them proved his perdition in the afterlife. So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God (Luke 12:21).
Conclusion
In the parable of the rich fool we can learn these wise lessons from the foolish man, but what is more important is applying these lessons to our everyday lives. Like the Lord said, “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them” (John 13:17). James states, “to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (James 4:17).
Remember 5 steps of salvation
1) Hear the word; (Romans 10:17) “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
2) Believe with all your heart; (Hebrews 11:6) “ But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
3) Repent of your sins (Acts 17:30) ”Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,”
4) Confess Jesus as the Son of God (Matt. 10:32-33) “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.”
5) Be Baptized for the remission of your sins (Mark 16:15,16) ”And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”
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