Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, Sunday, May 1, 2022

Downsizing the Stuff of Our Lives.

Today, Duncan Crook is standing in for Pastor Michael.  Duncan gives a wonderful story of taking care of his father as he was aging and how his dad had hoarded away quite a few items.  Items that meant something to him but the next generation wasn’t perhaps so sure and was tasked with cleaning it up.  

And therein lies Duncan’s message today:  Things are either given away or taken away, and the biblical guidance is we should know what is valuable and set our minds on things above, not on earthly things.   Sooner or later we all lose control over things in our lives and it’s best to come to terms with that and not let things become idols.

Be on your guard against greed and realize it’s not all about possessions.  

(CSB Baker Illustrated Bible Study Notes) 12:13–21. The next section is on possessions (12:13–34). First, Jesus warns against greed (12:13–15). A man wants Jesus to arbitrate in an inheritance dispute between his brother and himself (12:13). This would be typical work for a rabbi. But Jesus refuses, insisting that this is not his role (12:14). In 12:15 he warns of the root problem: greed. A greedy person thinks that the good life is found in things, but this is a distorted perspective.

This discussion leads Jesus to relate the parable of the rich fool (12:16–21). The problem with the rich fool is not that he has bumper crops or that he decides to build more storage space (12:16–18). The problem is that he invests his entire life in his possessions (cf. 12:15). He draws all his security from his material goods (12:19) and fails to reckon with God. He is living as if he will never die and has forgotten the importance of spiritual riches (12:20–21). Such a shortsighted investment in temporal things is foolishness indeed.

Verses can be found today in Luke 12: 13-21  and Ecclesiastes 2: 18-19.

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.