THE FOLLY OF COVETOUSNESS

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on January 6, 2021 under AM Bible Study |

AM Bible Study Group: January 6, 2021 from Luke 12:13-21

Theme: It is foolish to lay up treasure for ourselves without becoming rich toward God.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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This morning, we come to a passage in the Gospel of Luke in which our Lord gives us a very serious warning. In it, He tells us to “take heed” and to “beware” of something that is rarely thought of as a sin—and yet that is, in actuality, a very deceitful sin that has the potential of leading those who commit it into eternal loss.

He says in Luke 12:15, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”

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“Covetousness” is a sin that we don’t think much about in our culture today. That may be because, nowadays, we hardly ever say that we ‘covet’ something. It’s thought of as an ‘old-fashioned’ word. But it’s something that—as it’s described to us in the last of the Ten Commandments—is very much tied up with the things of this earth that we deal with every day. In Exodus 20:17, God Himself said,

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s” (Exodus 20:17).

To ‘covet’ is not the same thing as to ‘steal’. In stealing, someone takes possession of something that does not belong to them without the consent of the owner. It’s a sin of evil action. But in coveting, someone commits a sin of evil desire. In it, someone wants and longs for something that does not belong to them—something that God, in His wise providence, had given to belong to someone else. It’s a sin committed on the inside. To even ‘want’ something that is not ours is a sin before God; and it has the potential of leading to other sins of action, such as theft or adultery.

It’s interesting that it’s the last of the Ten Commandments; because for most of us who think that we are safe because (as we suppose) we haven’t committed the other nine, this tenth one surprises us and unexpectedly condemns us—showing itself to be a dangerous sin that is very subtle and secret in terms of its presence in us. That was the case for the apostle Paul. When he was writing in Romans 7 about the way that the law of God exposes our sin to us and makes us aware of its presence in us, he used himself as an example … and the specific example of himself that he pointed to was with regard to the sin of coveting. He wrote;

For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire (Romans 7:7b-8a).

In our passage this morning in Luke 12, we’re told about an encounter that our Lord had with a man who was manifesting the sin of covetousness. Jesus used it as an opportunity to warn His followers of the danger of this sin. And before we explore this passage, I believe that it’s important to notice what He said at the end of this passage. That’s where we see where the real problem with it all lies.

In Luke 12:21, Jesus said, “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” That’s the real issue. And this is important to note; because our Lord’s words were not a condemnation of the idea of possessing things. It’s not—as it is sometimes portrayed—a passage that condemns the rich, or the whole idea of having material prosperity, or of enjoying the things God has given us. Rather, it’s about seeking to be rich in things without being rich in God. It’s about believing that life consists in the abundance of possessions and not in a relationship with God through faith in His Son.

As this passage shows us, the sin of covetousness is dangerous because it’s foolish to seek to lay up treasure for ourselves without becoming rich toward God.

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Now; let’s look at this passage together. In Luke 12, we had been reading about how our Lord had spoken to the crowds that had gathered around Him. He had been warning them about the dangers of religious hypocrisy. And then, in verse 13, the story seems to be suddenly interrupted by a man shouting from the crowd.

Then one from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me” (Luke 12:13).

We don’t know who this man was; but from what he said, we can tell a little bit about his story. He apparently had a family dispute with his brother. For some reason, his brother—who was perhaps older and may have been the executor of their father’s estate—was choosing not to give to the man what the man thought he deserved. The man’s complaint may have been a legitimate one. But rather than go through the proper channels, he sought to have this great Teacher and Prophet and Miracle Worker named Jesus settle the matter for him. He wanted Jesus to use His authority and simply command his brother to give him what he thought he had coming to him.

And just think of the picture this presents to us. Here was a man who was hearing the Son of God, in human flesh, as He speaks the truth from God the Father; and yet, this man’s great concern was not to hear from God, but rather that he get a share of a material inheritance. What a picture this is of the dreadful power of covetousness!

And it is extremely instructive to us that Jesus refused to do what the man asked. In verse 14, we read;

But He said to him, “Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” (v. 14).

It seems to me that Jesus—the Son of God—put this man in his proper place by calling him “Man”. How dare this man forget his mere ‘man-ishness’, and make such ‘man-ish’ demands of the Son of God! Many times, we try to make the Lord Jesus Christ into the Advocate for our earthly cause or the Defender of what we think are our material rights. But the Son of God will not be used by us in that way. There are human judges that we can turn to, and there are human arbitrators that we can call upon in earthly civil disputes; but our Lord will not allow Himself to be made into any of those things for us. His concern when He came into this world was to seek and to save that which was lost—to give His life a ransom for many. We should always beware of making our crucified Savior out to be the earthly Sponsor of our self-focused and temporal causes.

And it was then that the Lord did more than just tell the man ‘no’. We’re told that He turned to the listening crowd;

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” (v. 15).

Dear brothers and sisters; covetousness is a very dangerous thing. It can deceive us into thinking that we are fighting for justice when—in reality—we’re fighting for our own evil desires. If you will think for a moment about it, you’ll realize that many of the social, political, and civil troubles that currently dominate the news actually spring from covetousness. It’s not just me that is saying that, by the way. It’s the word of God. Pastor James wrote about it in James 4:1-5; when he said;

Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”? (James 4:1-5).

Yes; there are great injustices that are done in this world. And when they are genuinely present, yes, it’s our moral duty to do what we can—in the reverent fear of God—to correct them. But let’s beware of the deceitful power of covetousness to make us think that we are fighting a battle for justice when—in reality—we’re actually giving ourselves over to envy and jealousy; and are committing the sin of wanting what God has not given to us, but has providentially given to someone else.

May the Holy Spirit help us to know the difference!

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Now; to illustrate the subtle and dangerous power of the sin of covetousness, our Lord told a parable. Verse 16 says;

Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully (v. 16).

Note that the plentiful yield itself was not what made the man a rich man. We’re told that he was rich already—and that his land yielded a rich harvest and made him richer. There was no wrong in his having been a wealthy man. Many of the great heroes of the faith in the Bible were wealthy. And it certainly wasn’t wrong that the ground yielded abundantly. That’s a blessing from God who alone gives the fruit of the harvest.

But wrong began to show itself in verses 17-18 when—rather than thank God for the harvest or talk to God about what he should do with it all—the man began to talk to himself. It doesn’t seem that God was in his thoughts about the matter at all. Jesus said;

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” (vv. 17-18).

It’s not wrong of course to seek to store up the things that God has given us. When that’s done in reverence and thankfulness before God, that may be simply a matter of good and wise stewardship of the things that God has entrusted to us. But this man seems to have been doing this for the wrong reason. He was building up his treasure on earth for his own comfort and pleasure, and without regard to God. Jesus warned elsewhere—in the Sermon on The Mount;

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

We should remember that, in Colossians 3:5, ‘covetousness’ is equated with ‘idolatry’. Now, we don’t know this for sure; but it may be that the man in the crowd, that had demanded that Jesus become his Advocate, was really enjoying the parable so far. It might have sounded like something that he would have wished he could do. If he had been given the share of the inheritance that he felt he deserved, then perhaps he could have been well on his way to building his own barns and storehouses. And it may even be that he really liked what the Lord said that the rich man said to himself next;

“‘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”’” (v. 19).

But what a blow it must have been to hear what the Lord Jesus said next;

“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?’” (v. 20).

The wealthy man in the parable didn’t reckon God in his plans at all. He invested everything in what he could store up in barns and warehouses; but he didn’t take care of his own soul. And suddenly—unexpectedly—God required his soul of him. In other words, he died and left it all. And now, other people would fight over the inheritance. God called the successful, prosperous, wealthy man ‘a fool’ because of his wrong priorities. He coveted wealth and built his treasure upon things that he could not keep. He lost everything—including his soul.

And our Lord teaches us the main point of it all when He said—in verse 21;

“So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (v. 21).

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Covetousness is a sin that—in our materialistic focused culture—is rarely condemned or even thought about. It’s almost respected in some ways. But as our Lord shows us, it’s a terribly deceitful and destructive sin that finds ways to sneak into our own hearts and turn us from the God who made us.

And what’s the opposite of ‘covetousness’? The Bible tells us that its opposite is ‘contentment’ Rather than desiring what God has given to someone else, we should instead reverently accept and be thankfully satisfied with whatever it is that God has given us. Our lack of ‘contentment’ then can be an indication to us of the presence of covetousness in our hearts.

As Paul put it in 1 Timothy 6;

Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows (1 Timothy 6:6-10).

Now; I’m guilty of this sin. And perhaps like me, you’ll have to admit that you’re guilty too. But let’s ask God to help us to repent of it. Let’s ask Him to help us to grow in genuine contentment and sincere thankfulness to Him. Let’s ask God to help us not to seek our ‘life’ in ‘things’—even in an abundance of things. Let’s ask Him to help us cease from looking enviously on what He has given to someone else, and instead to enjoy and use the things God sees fit to give us. Let’s ask Him to help us not to build our treasure in those things but rather in the Giver of all good.

And on that day when our soul finally becomes required of us by God, we can then go happily to where our true treasure is stored.

EA