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Lesson 57 |
Lesson Subject: Two Kinds of Treasure
Lesson Plan
Lesson Setting
Time: Probably January, A.D. 30.
Place: Perea, east of the Jordan. Jesus slowly moving
southward toward Jerusalem.
Why this man appealed to Jesus.
On what principles did Jesus refuse to interfere?
Covetousness.
This rich man's use of his wealth.
Rich toward God.
Treasure in heaven.
Seeking first the kingdom of God.
The heart and the treasure.
v 13 ... "And one of the company," one of the multitude. "Not a disciple, but somebody who wished to make use of the influence of Jesus to improve his own worldly condition" (New Century Bible).
v 13 ... "said unto Him." Apparently interrupting Jesus during His discourse to the multitude. During the discourse he was thinking only of himself. He saw that Jesus was wise, a preacher of righteousness, and one who cared for the needs of the people. If Jesus was the Messiah, whose kingdom was righteousness, He was just the One to right the wrong. Moreover Jesus had shown so much fairness and boldness in denouncing the sins of the Pharisees and prominent men that He seemed just the person to rebuke his brother.
v 13 ... "Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me." Edersheim points out that according to "the civil law of the Jews, the eldest brother received a double portion (twice the share of the other sons, Deut. 21:17) of the inheritance, burdened with the obligation of supporting his mother and unmarried sisters." "This man was probably one of the younger brothers, who had been defrauded out of his portion, and was anxious to gain possession of it. That he felt himself wronged, is evident, and the outburst is true to nature. It weakens the lesson of the incident to suppose that envy, or a desire for more than his legal share, was the motive. The man was full of his earthly wrongs, while the Lord had been talking of heavenly things. He was not a hypocrite, probably was not conscious of the incongruity of his demand" (Dr. J.P. Sanders). "He does not ask Jesus to arbitrate between him and his brother, but to give a decision against his brother. There is no evidence that his brother consented to arbitration. The man grasped at any means of obtaining what he desired, invading Christ's time, and trying to impose upon his brother an extraneous authority" (Int. Crit. Com.). If Jesus was the Messiah, the King of the Jews, what more fitting than that He should thus inaugurate His reign of righteousness, and show that He was King indeed?
Christ's Answer
v 14 ... "Man, who made me judge or a divider over
you?" The judge is the one who "decides the right or equity
of the case;" the divider is the one who carries out the
decision of the judge (Exp. Gk. Test.). Both could perhaps
dwell in the same person. "Jesus' reply was, 'That lies
outside My province -- come and listen to Me, and I will
do for you the service which God has appointed Me to do.'
It was a noble piece of work which the interrupter asked the
prophet of Nazareth to perform. An injustice had been
perpetrated, and what is nobler in this world than the
redressing of a wrong. But it was not Christ's work, and
therefore He would not do it" (Dr. J.P. Sanders).
Why did Jesus refuse to decide this case? On what principles? After all, Jesus was continually helping people.
In general it would have injured the young man more than it would have helped him. And it would have undermined the essential principles of His kingdom by means of which onlyall such difficulties could be settled in the best way.
How this applies to our modern times
These principles should be constantly applied in Bible school classes. By teaching and practice, every boy and girl should be trained to love and obey these principles.
A warning against covetousness naturally followed this incident. Taking the case before the multitude Jesus uses it as a warning, emphasizing it by repetition ...
v 15 ... "Take heed and beware of." The R.V. translate, "Keep yourself from all covetousness," i.e., all kinds and degrees of covetousness.
Covetousness
For instance, it is not coveting to desire a house. However, it would be to desire it so much as to deprive our neighbor of it, or to gain it by wrongdoing or neglect of duty.
Covetousness is one source of many sins and wrongs and disasters of the soul. "The love of money is a root of all evil." Not money, but the love of money. Every sin is caused by desire. When desire is so strong that we are willing to gain something at the cost of wronging others, and at the cost of spiritual life, then it becomes a fountain from whence flows many sins. Its very nature is so insidious that it can easily creep unnoticed into an unguarded life.
Illustration
An eminent Roman Catholic priest left on record this striking
statement, "I have had many people resort to me for confession.
The confession of every sin that I have ever known or heard of,
and of sins so foul that I never dreamed of, has been poured
into my ear; but no one has ever confessed to me the sin of
covetousness" (Francis Xavier).
"Only one man has ever expressed to me the fear that he might become covetous; and it is a suggestive fact that he was the most generous man I have ever known" (Billy Graham).
v 15 ... "for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." Life means, not mere existence, but all that makes living blessed in the present time and forever more, all its possibilities of joy, usefulness, character, all that we mean by heaven, and its fullness of life. These things do not depend on the abundance of things we possess. They are not, nor can they ever be, measured by riches or possessions of any kind. Paul in his letter to Timothy states the case clearly, "They that will be rich (making that their object and purpose) fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 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.
"But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight, lay hold on eternal life."
Perhaps it will help to consider the two kinds of treasures:
Material Possessions:
Property, food, homes, business, money, recreations, the
advantage which money can bring, and civilization can bestow
Spiritual Possession:
Character, clean conscience, righteousness, godliness, virtues,
brotherly love, service of others, the kingdom of heaven, and
all the qualities of character that make that kingdom what
it is.
We have been told about a very skillful maker of violins, who loved his work so much that he would not sell them, so they might go forth and charm the world with their exquisite sound of music. Instead the violin maker kept them all hanging in his shop, playing them himself from time to time. Possessions are not meant to be only for the owner, but are intended to make the widow's heart sing for joy and to send out the music of the Gospel for all to hear.
v 16 ... "The ground of a certain rich man." This man is represented as rich, not because successful covetousness is worse than unsuccessful covetousness, but because the rich are more exposed to this sin, and to show that even if one gains all that his covetousness desires, still it is folly.
v 16 ... "brought forth plentifully." His sin was not dishonesty, though we do not know how he acquired his land. The great harvests were innocent gains. His sin was in greedy and selfish use of the gains. The man was successful, as the world considers success.
v 17 ... "And he thought within himself." "He dialogued with himself. Here the curtain is drawn back, admitting us into the inner council chamber of a worldling's heart" (Dr. J.P. Sanders).
v 17 ... "What shall I do?" A common perplexity of the wealthy. He did not know how to invest his surplus. He does not seem to have thought of using it for God and humanity.
v 17 ... "no room where to bestow my fruits." He looked everywhere for a place to lay up his treasures, except heaven. As Joe Nisbet often said, "He could have bestowed his wealth in the bosom of the poor, the home of the widow, the mouths of children."
v 18 ... "I will pull down my barns." He was planning for a long life, and larger worldly resources. In modern times the parable would have spoken of investments, trusts, bonds, stocks, and real estate.
v 19 ... "I will say to my soul." His conscious self, the seat of activity, desires, enjoyment, including his higher nature. He was feeding his own soul on husks.
v 19 ... "much goods laid up for many years." He counted on a long life, and imagined that his "much goods" could satisfy his soul.
v 19 ... "take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." "More energetically in the four words of the original: rest, eat, drink, enjoy" (Farrar). Such was his conception of life! What is your conception?
v 20 ... "But God said." By Whom his days were counted. In contrast with what the man had said, having no power at all over the length of his life.
v 20 ... "Thou fool." Literally, senseless, unthinking one. So different from what the shrewd man thought of himself.
v 20 ... "this night." Instead of his proposed "many years."
v 20 ... "thy soul shall be required of thee." Greek, they are demanding back from thee thy soul. His time for repentance is past, and God's messengers are already charged to summon him to an accounting.
v 20... "then whose shall these things be?" It would make little difference to him whose they were, since they were not his, and could no longer minister to his pleasure.
v 21 ... "So is he," not wise, but a miserable failure, transforming the possible riches of heaven into coals of fire.
v 21 ... "layeth up treasure for himself." Not in heaven, not in humanity, not in character.
Extraordinary mistakes of this man
Illustration
The late Dr. Fred B. Walker once asked in a sermon, "Does a
man need much land?" He then told the story of a man who
gained more land than he could walk or run across in one day
from sunrise to sunset. He started slowly, increasing his
pace as he went along, struggling harder, running faster and
faster till just before he reached the other end of the
property he fell dead, ending up needing only six feet by
two for burial.
Rich in those things loved by God. Rich in those things bringing us nearer to God. Rich in love, character, good works, deeds of kindness, labors and gifts for the salvation of men; or rather the character formed by them, which follow us into the unseen world (Rev. 14:13), not subject to the process of decay.
Christians are:
God wants His children to be rich in the real and enduring kind of riches, the riches of the soul.
God wants His children to be rich in His love and care now, here on earth, every day; rich in being "children of God; and if children then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together" (Rom. 8:17). This refers to the blessedness of heaven, all its rewards and its glories. All the spiritual things that make heaven what it is, such as the treasures of character, spiritual thoughts, good deeds, blessed work done, souls made better, faith, love, peace, godliness, brotherly kindness, honesty, meekness, and all the fruits of the spirit. These cannot be taken away because they are a part of our spiritual being; we take them with us wherever we go both in this world and in eternity.
These are riches which even children can gain if they desire.
There is a story of the Athenian Crates that he threw all his gold into the sea saying, "I destroy you lest you destroy me." How vastly better and more Christian if any modern imitator of the Athenian should throw his gold into the church of our Lord and all its work to spread and teach the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Gospel. Then he would truly be rich, instead of living spiritually poor on earth, being poor toward God in the hereafter.
Examples:
During a 'Campaign for Christ' in Europe, preached by Dr. Fred
B. Walker, a wealthy man plainly heard the Gospel call of
Jesus Christ. The new born Christian's change of character
was so astounding the newspaper ran an article titled, "Why I
am Glad I Stopped Getting Rich." In the article, the man was
asked, "Did he deliberately give up making money, planning to
use your energy for a better purpose?"
The article continued, "This is exactly what has occurred. This rich man seems glad that he has stopped getting rich deliberately; and says that he now sees the 'impoverishment of the pursuit of riches.'" The article further stated that the changed rich man now believed there was no safety, peace, joy or eternal efficiency in any career except that of a life serving Jesus. His life and money was now going be used in the propagation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He did not close down all his business interests. To the contrary, he maintained them, utilizing and sharing the returns freely in the furtherance of the Gospel of Christ. Up to his death, and through his will even beyond his death, he counted his entire income (above a certain moderate amount used for living expenses) as the Lord's. While living, he gave two months of every year to direct supervision of his various businesses, and ten months directing the expenditure of large sums of his wealth in mission fields, helping the poor and taking care of widows and orphans.
This is not the only example of a rich person taking a stand for Jesus. Several years ago a successful banker and broker in New York was led to believe that the Lord wanted him to continue in business, acquiring a sufficient income to live on, and then to devote his money and time teaching others about Jesus. This he did, and prior to his death he had given away over a hundred million dollars to the church of our Lord, to hospitals, to helping the poor and caring for widows and orphans. What unsearchable spiritual riches Christ offers those who will simply take Him at His Word!
An application from the former Dean of Pepperdine University, Dr. J.P. Sanders, to his Bible class students:
I have been trying to show you what a splendid thing it is; what a reasonable thing it is; what a happy thing it is; but beyond all these reasons, I have been trying to show you that it is a thing that must be done, because we are commanded to do it by our Captain. One of the finest and most rewarding things about a Christian is this: always listening to God; always seeking His commands. Consider for instance His command to seek first the Kingdom of God. Have we done it?
Students often appear to have as their first goal in life only a good time; enjoying life to the fullest and experience every possible thing first. Then, maybe at a later time, seeking after the things of God. Too often we put the Kingdom of God last. It is so selfish for us to take all the good gifts that God has given us, giving Him nothing in return except maybe a wasted life.
God wants your young life, not only your young soul. It is for active service soldiers are drilled, trained and armed. I will end class today with this thought, praying that you will seriously consider it.
Before coming to class tomorrow, before going to sleep tonight, before chapel in the morning, before seeing your girlfriend or boyfriend this afternoon, before your next date, resolve that with God's help you are going to seek first the Kingdom of God. Perhaps some here are deserters; beginning once before to serve Christ, but now deserted. Think about coming back. Others have never enlisted. Will you think about doing that? You are old enough to decide. And the grandest moment of your life is that moment when you decide to 'Seek First the Kingdom of God...'
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