True Wealth in Contentment

Luke 12:13-34

The Parable of the Rich Fool

13 Then one from the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."

14 But He said to him, "Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?" 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."

16 Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. 17 And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?' 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. 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."' 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?'

21 "So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

Do Not Worry

22 Then He said to His disciples, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on. 23 Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? 25 And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 26 If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?

29 "And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. 30 For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. 31 But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.

32 "Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

True wealth is found in contentment with all God gives us and not on what we want or even dare demand from Him.  God is our good, good Father who knows exactly what we require and lavishes it upon us in the grace of His goodness to meet our needs.  The rich foolish man in this parable demanded the judge to have his brother hand over what he claimed was his instead of being content with his own inheritance.  The judge here echoes what God would tell the man, that he should beware of covetousness (Exodus 20:17, Romans 7:7) as the word of the LORD had previously outlawed.  To desire what we want beyond what we need is to deny the goodness of God’s grace and watchcare for our lives.  In James 4:2-3 we see that such desire run amok of trust in God to satisfy the passing pleasures of sin (Hebrews 11:25) only causes violence and hate.  What we possess in the material realm is not our true riches or what our life is valued by as the world would have us believe.  Our treasures are in Christand His kingdom (Matthew 6:19-20) because what we posses beyond our souls is seen in what we covet (Matthew 6:21) that fills our heart’s desires.  How far better it is to desire the will of the Lord (1 John 2:17) instead of other temporal desires (1 John 2:15-16) to only temporarily satisfy our tainted wills from the Fall in Eden garden!  Jesus told the parable of a man unsatisfied with the plenty he already had and how he built bigger barns to fill with what only would turn to dust and rust.  He lived for pleasure and boasted in all these transitory possessions while missing the true riches possessed in God alone.  His motto became “take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry!”  When his life ended that night after he bragged these words the Lord pointed out that someone else would have them instead (Ecclesiastes 5:15) after his death, so the lesson was to ask ourselves why we would pursue the temporal over the eternal.  We should be rich toward God in how we live and to what purpose with what desires.  Should we choose living for ourselves and all we can gather, or for Him who gives us everything beyond (Ephesians 3:20-21) what we can ever imagine?  Jesus then turned to speak directly to His followers about what we all should be concerned with in life.  He told them never to worry about the necessities of life because our existence is far more than food and clothing; we should focus on and pursue the kingdom of God, knowing and trusting Him to provide our daily bread (Exodus 16:18) instead of hoarding extra manna (Exodus 16:19-20) for ourselves that only rots away anyway.  This was to test their faith in God’s goodness of provision and not their own work to gather their needs as we read in Deuteronomy 8:16-17 as He tests our hearts to see who is loyally dependent on Him (2 Chronicles 16:9).  Why be anxious for what we do not have when we can be ecstatically happy with all He daily provides?  The same Creator God who feeds the birds and clothes the flowers does so for us far more because we are created in His image for His glory, honor, and pleasure of praise.  The lesson then is to pursue the kingdom of God as Paul described in Philippians 3:13-14 and not piling up and hoarding what does not last.  We are to walk by this faith that trust and is content in Him and what He chooses to provide.  Nothing more.  As He concluded, where our valuables are is the display of where our hearts lie.  True wealth then is in this contentment.