Preparing for the Next Life
Luke 12:13-21
Happy Memorial weekend.
I heard about a youth retreat
where the speaker had preached about the end times. During the afternoon free time, one of the
kids had fallen asleep, and the other kids decided to stage a rapture (when
Christians are taken to heaven at Christ’s return). So they dropped their things on the floor, their
clothes and shoes were left as if they were lifted into the air, and they all
disappeared. The poor kid awoke and was
completely freaked out! Can you imagine
if you really thought that the rapture had happened and you were left behind.
I don’t know what your
feelings or thoughts are on the second coming of Christ, but it is a huge theme
in Luke 12. I’d like to study this
Parable of the Rich Fool (2 parts), and today, I’d like to study it in the
context of this chapter about the end times: that Christ is coming
back, there will be a day of reckoning.
And before that day comes, things are going to get tough, really
tough. There will be persecution.
1-3
Jesus had been
condemning the Pharisees for their hypocrisy, and he warns his disciples to
guard themselves against hypocrisy. A day
is coming when everything will be exposed.
What was hidden will be made known.
4-7 Don’t
be afraid of men, fear God. Men can only
kill the body. God can kill the body and
send someone to hell (Day of Judgment).
But this God cares for his children.
8-10 Acknowledge
Jesus, He will acknowledge you. Disown
Him, he will disown you (on the Day of Judgment).
11-12 Persecution
will come (end times), but the Holy Spirit will give you what to say
13-21 The rich
fool was caught off guard. He had stored
up things for himself but was not rich toward God.
22-34 Don’t
worry, your Father takes care of you. He
has given you the Kingdom. Store you
treasures in heaven.
35-48 Always be
ready, like servants waiting for their master’s return, or a homeowner prepared
for a coming thief. You never know when
Christ will return. And when He returns,
you want to be found faithfully serving Him.
Those who have been entrusted with much, much will be required. Don’t be caught off guard.
49-53 Jesus is
eagerly waiting for a fire, baptism. He
brings not peace but division.
There
is coming a time of persecution, suffering, and troubles for his followers.
54-59
Jesus warns the
crowd, (1) learn how to interpret the times, the end is near, (2) get right
with God while you still have a chance (for the Day of Judgment is coming).
Jesus is urging his followers to live in the realty of
the end times: difficult times are coming, but we must be faithful and ready
for His return. What will happen
tomorrow is to shape what we do today.
In this context, the Rich Fool is a negative example,
the fool who was not ready, who was
caught off guard, who was not prepared to meet God. He failed to live in light of Christ’s return,
particularly in how he managed his money.
Then the following section, 22-34, is the positive
side: Jesus instructs us to not worry about material possessions, to trust our
heavenly Father, to seek His kingdom, to store our riches in heaven, not on
earth. Living in the light of Christ’s
return means trusting the Father, seeking
God’s kingdom, storing our treasures in heaven not on earth.
1. Jesus
emphasizes a different perspective: Live like He’s coming back.
Jesus is not just telling us, FYI, I’m coming back and
will bring a day of judgment. He is
telling us to have this perspective,
to live accordingly, to be prepared for that day. Jesus isn’t just telling us what to do, he is
telling us how to think.
In Ro 12:2, we are transformed by the renewing of our
minds.
We study and meditate that our minds would see things
the way the Bible sees things.
Please
notice with me how much this perspective is emphasized (Matthew 24-25):
Signs
of the End of the Age (24:1-34)
there
will be famines, earthquakes, persecution, false prophets
No
one knows when, it’ll seem like just another day (35-51)
therefore
keep watch; like a homeowner prepared for the thief
(like
Homeland Security prepared for the terrorist attack)
Parable
of the 10 Virgins (25:1-13)
5 were wise and had oil for their lamps, 5 were
foolish and had only their lamps
The contrast is not between those who were waiting and
those who were not; all were waiting, all had lamps. The contrast is between those who were
prepared for a long wait and those who were not prepared to wait as long.
The wise one is waiting and will keep waiting for
Christ’s return, no matter how long he takes.
Those unprepared for a long wait are shut out of the wedding banquet.
Parable of the Talents
5 talents, 2 talents, 1 talent given to three
servants.
“After a long time” the master returned to settle
accounts.
5-talents servant produces 5 more, 2-talents servant
produced 2 more.
But the 1-talent servant didn’t do anything. The servant who has not been serving his
master’s interest, what he has is taken away and he is cast out into the
darkness to weep and gnash his teeth.
Parable of the Sheep and the Goats
also speaks of that day of reckoning
(25:31) “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and
all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. . . he
will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from
the goats.”
Jesus asks, “What have you done for me?” “Whatever you did (or didn’t do) for the
least of these brothers of mine, you did (or didn’t do) for me.” Day of reckoning.
I
want us to hear the loud and clear voice of Scripture, to see how much space is
given, to feel the emphasis. Luke 12 and
Matthew 24-25 shows we are to live like He’s coming back, to prepare for the Day
of Judgment, to be found faithful at His return, to know that we will give an
account of how we’ve used our talents, our money, and our lives.
But
I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every
careless word they have spoken. (Matthew
12:36)
So
then, each of us will give an account of himself to God. (Romans 14:12)
Nothing
in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid
bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:13)
How much do we think about that coming day? How much do we think about the fact that we
will given an account of our lives, that everything will be laid bare? How much does that coming day change our
decisions, lifestyle, spending habits? Don’t
be like the rich fool who wasn’t prepared.
What if we each day we read Rev 22, “Behold, I am
coming soon! My reward is with me, and I
will give to everyone according to what he has done”. . . Come, Lord Jesus.
I must confess that I don’t naturally think about
Christ’s return. My mind doesn’t
naturally turn there. But this is the
mindset Christ would have for us. We can
grow together. “He’s coming!”
In a sense, it is a sign of being a child of
God that you think about His return. In
Jesus’ parables, to be unprepared for that day, to not vigilantly wait for His
return is to eventually be weeping and gnashing their teeth out in the
darkness.
In
particular, we want to spend our money
like He’s coming back
The parable of the rich fool is an example of someone
who is not waiting for Christ’s return.
And this was shown in how he managed his money. How we spend/save our money is to show that
we’re waiting for His return.
His failure/foolishness is not that he was blatantly
rebellious, malicious, or wicked. He was
just building up his investment portfolio, his retirement fund. He was merely handled his money thinking only
of this life.
Jesus gives us the explanation/meaning: this is how it
will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward
God.
God will examine our checkbooks, bank accounts, credit
card statement and ask, Is this person rich toward himself or rich toward Me?
Does this checkbook look like she’s living for this
life or for the next life?
Does this credit card record show that we’re storing
our treasures on earth or in heaven?
Before 1986, you could simply list your dependents on
their IRS forms. But after 1986, you had
to indicate the SSN of each dependent, and suddenly, 7 million kids disappeared
in America, and $3 billion in tax revenues were generated.
It is said that in the “wages, salaries, tips” section
of tax forms, only 1% under-represent their income. Why?
Because employers file a W-2 to the IRS with your wages indicated.
But in the “nonfarm proprietor income,” the
self-employed small business owner or restaurant owner, or dry-cleaner owner,
it is estimated that 57% of the income goes unreported, an estimated $67
billion. Why? Because there are no W-2’s. The owner has to self-report his profits and
income.
I don’t know if any of us have ever been audited by
the IRS, but I’ll tell you this, you will be audited one day, not by the IRS,
but by God. There is nothing hidden that
will not be revealed. He’s not looking
to see if you paid your taxes, but if you’ve been waiting for Him: How much do we spend on ourselves? How much are we rich toward God?
To be explicit, to spend like He’s coming back means we
spend less on ourselves: fewer purchases, modest purchases. Our $40, $60, $80, $100,000 wasn’t meant to
be all spend on ourselves. We would
choose to live below our means.
We are rich toward God. We give: giving
to the poor, giving to Kingdom ministries, giving to gospel works.
2. Jesus points
to the deeper problem: a wrong view of life.
This story begins with a guy asking Jesus to get his
brother to divide the inheritance with him.
Jesus says, “That’s not my job.” But then Jesus says, “Watch out for all kinds
of greed. Man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions”
(v. 15).
People are greedy because they think life is about
getting money, possessions, and all the pleasure that money can get you. Life is about wealth, power, image,
reputation, “financial freedom.” Life is
about comfort that money can bring.
Life is about getting as much as you can.
For some, this view of life is clearly evident. It’s an addiction: we’re never
satisified. We always want something
more, there’s always something you want to buy, some trip you want to take,
some restaurant you want to try, some home improvement project to do, some
upgrade, some investment, some gadget.
There’s always something. As
quickly as the money comes, you have plans for where it will go. Happiness is found in that next pay raise,
next purchase.
A few verses later, Jesus says, “Therefore I tell you,
do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you
will wear. Life is more than food, and
the body more than clothes.” (vv. 22-23)
That’s not what life is about. Don’t spend your life greedy for more
material things, or worried about material things. That would be a waste of life.
It’s like buying a plasma TV to watch VHS tapes, using
your down comforter to wash your car, buying your Play Station 3 to play
tetris/minesweep. It’s not a good use of
your life. Material things are not worth
spending your life on. Don’t belittle
your life. You are more than a
consumer—you were made in the image of God.
This
life is to prepare for the next life.
We’re
to use what we have today to prepare for tomorrow.
This life is just a short, temporary, 50, 70, 90-year
phase that has huge and direct implications for how our billion, trillion,
zillion year eternities will be spent.
[visual]
We take this
life too seriously and eternity too lightly, and Jesus is urging us to take this life more lightly and eternity
more seriously.
Jim
Elliot: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot
lose.”
Use
this life to prepare for the next life.
We’re to have an eternal perspective.
And it is out of that view of life that we then
eagerly await His return, we prepare for that Day of Reckoning. We store our treasures in heaven not on
earth.
1.) Our
earthly struggles should be kept in the context of our eternal destinies.
Last 2 weeks P. Young spoke to a lot of us who’ve been
going through the struggles of waiting.
Trouble is normal in this life, trouble is normal for the followers of
Jesus. If this life is all there is,
then we should panic, dismay, fret. The
problems are all consuming, because this is all we have.
As difficult as our problems may be, let me encourage
us that we have more than just this life.
If you look at Paul, his eyes were not in the troubles of today, but the
riches, glory, hope of tomorrow.
These troubles may very well help us prepare for the
life to come. It is often those who
suffer who most eagerly await, prepare for the next life. Those who are too comfortable often think
very little of the life to come, and in the end, like the rich fool, they are
caught off guard and cosmically bankrupt.
2.) Prepare
for the next life by growing in your love for God.
In the end, that’s what it’s all about, to love the
Lord you God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. To love Him much today prepares you to enjoy
Him much tomorrow.
Don’t let your money and things numb your heart for
God. Rather, use your money to be more invested in the things of God. “For where you treasure is, there your heart
will be also.” (12:34). Use your money to grow in love for God.
If you don’t know Christ, the first step is you need
to get right with God. You need to be
forgiven, adopted, embraced as His child.
He offers love and forgiveness, if we would trust Him, love Him, follow
Him.
3.) Parents,
let’s prepare our children.
We understand that we need to prepare our kids for
life. We want to give them all the
advantages we can to succeed, to enjoy life’s pleasures, to have a rich life.
But that would be too small. We need to prepare our kids for the next
life. We need to show them how to love
God. We need to show them how to be rich
toward God with their money. We need to
tell them that one day, we’re going to go to our real home, and that’s the day
we’re living for.
We want to spend our money in light of the fact that
He’s coming back and we will give an account of our money. We don’t want to spend all our money on
ourselves. We want to be rich toward
God.
But the deeper issue is a view of life. Life is not about getting as much as we can. This life is about preparing for the next
life. We take this life too seriously
and we take eternity too lightly. So
“give you what you cannot keep to gain what you cannot lose.” Use this life to prepare for the next life.
3. Jesus has
given us the Kingdom.
We
don’t have time to develop this, but the next section, vv. 13-21, compliment
this parable of the rich fool. To keep
it simple, Jesus is assuring His followers that we have a God who cares for us,
who feeds and clothes us. V. 32, “Do not
be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the
kingdom.”
The posture of the Christian is not poverty but
wealth. We are not ascetics as much as
we are billionaires. We have treasures
beyond imagination.
This is the gospel dynamic. We already have, Christ has already richly provided,
and He calls us to treasure the riches not of this life but of the life to
come.
According to Forbes (March 2007), Bill Gates is worth
$56 billion, making him the richest person in the world every year for the past
13 years.
If he spent a million dollars/day (and didn’t earn any
more), it would take him 153 years to spend all his money.
If he had it in dollar bills and stacked it, it would
be 3781 miles high. That stack of bills
could go from NY to San Francisco, and then still another 1200 miles into the
Pacific Ocean.
If I told you that Bill Gates has given you his
estate, how would that impact you?
If I told you that your heavenly Father has given you
the Kingdom, what would change?
It is in that wealth and freedom that Jesus calls us
to use this earthly money for eternal things, to use this life to prepare for
the next life.
“These teachings on stewardship must be understood in
light of the coming of the kingdom and in the sharing of its blessings.”
(Stein, 357).
God has given us far more than silver or gold. He has been pleased to give you the kingdom!