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Today is actually the third part of a three-part series. We're wrapping it up today, entitled A Better Question, and if you've been tracking along with us, what we've said in this series is, we're in the month of January, and the month of January is generally a month when we hopefully look in the mirror and think, hey, what can I do to make myself better, we essentially focus on this question, what should I do about me, what should I do about me, how can I make myself slimmer and smarter, stronger, healthier, wealthier, and as I've said, you should address all of those things, you need to be healthier, you need to have good financial habits, if you're, you know, get that degree, break that habit, get out of debt, get out of that relationship, you know.
Whatever you need to do, those are all important things, but in this series, I've suggested that there's actually a better question than what should I do about me, and this question, as you've seen, if you've focus, if you've been tracking along with us, this question shifts our focus from what should I do about me to what needs to be done around me, it shifts the focus from what do I need to do about me to what needs to be done around me, what needs to be done in the world, what needs to be done in my community, what needs to be done in someone else's world, and our better question is, this question, what breaks your heart, what breaks your heart, you're like me, you're bothered by a lot of things, you're irritated by a lot of things maybe locally, culturally, nationally, maybe even internationally.
There's some things in the world and you look at them and you say, that shouldn't be, I wish there wasn't that in the world, but the question we're asking in this series is, there are a lot of things that irritate us and get on our nerves, but is there one thing, is there one thing that bothers you more than other things, is there something that kind of moves you beyond irritating and concerning to, hey, something needs to be done about that, and if that's the case, you should pay attention to that, and I wanna reiterate something I've said both times we've talked about this, even if the thing that breaks your heart is beyond your control, it's beyond your ability to change or beyond your ability to solve.
You should pay attention to that, and as we're gonna see today, you should look for a way to give a piece of your life away to that issue, you should look for a way to give a piece of your resources or a piece of your time away to that issue, not because you can solve it, it's probably too big for you to solve, but there's something so valuable about allowing a broken heart to lead us to the place where we give a portion of our lives away, but if nothing bothers you, be honest, if nothing bothers you that doesn't benefit you, and here's what I mean by that, if the only things that bother you are things that would benefit you if they were solved.
If the only thing that bothers you is how inflation impacts you, if the only thing that bothers you is your high electric bill, if you think about the things that bother you, if all the things that bother you rattle you, you know, grab your emotions, if they are all things that come back to you, in other words, if those things were solved, you would be better off, but not necessarily anybody else, I mean, maybe in some sort of secondary sense, but the reason these things bother you is because of how they impact you, if nothing bothers you that doesn't benefit you, that should bother you.
And here's why, because you're in a danger zone, and you probably don't know it, you're actually on the verge, and here's what we're gonna unpack today, you're actually on the verge of falling for an insidious lie, a lie that you will eventually see for what it is, because over time and with age, we eventually, this all comes clear, but if you don't see it in time, and if you don't catch this in time, you have the potential to waste your most valuable asset, something that's running out even as I talk, you have the potential of wasting a large portion of your life, because this lie that we're gonna talk about, and Jesus is gonna go right at it in just a minute, this lie that we're talking about has the potential to reduce you.
But here's the reason you should take this seriously and should pay attention, whether you're a religious person or not, a Christian person or not, this goes outside the bounds of all of this, this is just kind of a life thing, this lie has the potential to cheat you out of your brief opportunity to live a meaning-filled life, it has the potential to cheat you out of your brief opportunity to live a meaning-filled, purpose-filled life, so this is so important, Jesus thought it was, here's what happened, Luke brings this narrative to us, and if you are new to the Bible study or new to Christianity or just examining it, here's something to note, Luke was a first century doctor who sort of became a historian, super smart guy, who was a Jesus follower.
And decided that somebody needed to put together an orderly account of the life and teaching of Jesus, so he interviewed everybody he could find who had anything to do with Jesus, he wasn't one of Jesus' disciples, and he interviewed them, he knew Peter, he knew John, he knew James, the brother of Jesus, and he puts together this orderly account, and in that orderly account we find this very unique interchange between Jesus and a crowd, but I want you to pay close attention to the opening statement of this story, because this is not how you picture Jesus, ready, here's what Luke says happened, a crowd of many thousands had gathered so that they were trampling on one another, that's not what you picture.
When we picture Jesus, we picture Jesus, he's kind of isolated, he's got a long white robe, he's got this peaceful look on his face, piercing blue eyes, he's walking along with a couple of people, with some people following him, just a little healing there and a little healing, not the picture, everywhere Jesus went, read it for yourself in the Gospels, crowds upon crowds, and the crowds were crazy, they were trampling one another, why, trying to get to Jesus, imagine strangers constantly touching you, imagine everywhere you went there were strangers who just, they just want a piece of you, they just want to touch you, welcome to the daily life of Jesus so here is Jesus all these crowd they're trampling.
They're looking to be healed, they're bringing their sick, they want a miracle, they wanna be close, they wanna see him, and he can't move any faster than the crowd because, again, everybody's walking. And then in the midst of this chaos, Luke tells us that someone in the crowd, we never get the person's name, and I don't even know that Jesus was able to make eye contact with this person, there were so many people, someone in the crowd shouts out, teacher, just out of the blue, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. I mean, I was like, what? I mean, why are we talking about that? Because, I mean, I hate this guy couldn't get this resolved, and hey, maybe this guy can help.
Teacher, you know, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. A reasonable request, but this was not Jesus' agenda. And Jesus paused, stopped, and yelled back, and replied to the man, hey, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you, between the two of you? In other words, hey, who said I'm the mediator? I'm not gonna get involved in your family issue. I mean, why are you choosing me? And then Jesus does what Jesus does. Jesus sees an opening, an opportunity, a teachable moment, and he takes hold of something woven into this question, and he turns the corner and changes the subject to address something he wanted to talk about that fit his agenda.
So apparently he stops, has everybody sit down, and he begins to teach. And here's what he said, this is so great. Then he said to them, watch out, be on your guard against all kinds of greed. Of course, the guy who asked the question is like, greed, why are we talking about greed? I just want what's fair. I just want what's coming to me. Jesus smiles, watch out, be on your guard against all kinds of greed. Now, I love this Greek term. The Greek term for greed is pleonexia. Pleonexia, pleonexia.
Pleonexia sounds like a disease, doesn't it? Ma'am, I don't know how to tell you this, but you have pleonexia. Oh no, my mom had that and her mom had that. Oh, can you see it? Yes, yes, you have pleonexia. We got something for that, but you know, it's actually a disease. That's why I like this Greek word. It's the disease of insatiableness. It's the disease of never enoughness for meanness. Never enoughness for meanness is the disease of, since they have one, I should have one too. It's the disease of mine looks older than theirs and I think I should get a new one to match theirs. It's the disease of discontentment.
It's the disease of always looking around and everything that you have, it just doesn't seem to be what it used to be. And there can't there just isn't ever enough to come your way to fill that insatiable bucket of getting whatever need that is met. It's a disease. And Jesus says, Jesus says, you gotta watch out for it. And he asked them, he says, you gotta watch out, be on your guard. So I'm gonna ask you the question, the answer is no. So don't pretend like you're better than you are. The answer is no, but I'm gonna ask it anyway. Then I'm gonna tell you why. Are you on your guard against pleonexia? Are you on the lookout for pleonexia?
Are you watching out daily for greed and pleonexia? And the answer is no. And here's why the answer is no. Because we aren't on our guard against things that we don't perceive as a threat. We don't live our lives on guard against things that we don't perceive as a threat. You wear sunscreen during the week. You don't walk around bear spray, right? Unless you're on a trail and there's a sign that says there are bears and it's like, honey, we need to get some bear spray. As soon as you're aware of a threat, we go on our guard. But we don't live our lives looking out for, or being on guard against things that we don't perceive as an actual threat.
And Jesus says that I should be, and that you should be on guard against never enoughness, pleonexia, greed, to which we're all, you're all thinking the same thing. Wait, greed? I mean, I have issues, but I, here's his point. He says, because pleonexia is sinister and it's subtle. It wears multiple disguises. It disguises itself as a virtue. I'm responsible. I'm careful. I manage my things well. I have nice things I'm just trying to take care. No, no, no, don't touch my nice things. So I have plexiglass all over all my stuff. You can look, but you can't touch. I'm just careful. I'm responsible. I'm a good steward. I'm taking care of my family. It disguises itself as a virtue.
It hides behind things like this. I work hard. I earned this. I'm entitled. Hey, Jesus, tell my brother to split the thing up fairly. I need to get what's coming to me. And you can't see it in the mirror. So we don't see it as a threat. Besides, I'm gonna push back on Jesus for just a minute. Besides Jesus. Okay, greed, pleonexia, whatever. That's interesting. But what's the threat? Why do I need to be on guard against that? So I'm greedy. So what, I got my stuff. I don't really care what people think. So why is the, why should I fear pleonexia? Why should I fear greed? Why should I be on guard against it? You know, you gotta give me some more information. Jesus what's at stake? And Jesus is about to say, let me tell you what's at stake.
Your life is at stake. What makes life really life is at stake. What makes life really worth living is at stake. And you don't realize it. But that's what is at stake. Because greed in all of its subtle forms has the potential to rob your life of meaning. Wait a minute. How in the world can greed rob my life of meaning? You ready for this? If you have to leave early, here's the bottom line. Because pleonexia or greed ensures we are always an end and never a means. If you're never a means, you'll never experience meaning. Greed, it's all coming to me for me. It's my stuff. I don't care what you think. Greed ensures we are always an end, never a means.
And you can't experience meaningful until you are willing to be a means. Then Jesus continues with his teaching and he gives them a maxim or a truism or a principle or a saying. Here’s what he says. He says, come on, life.
Life does not consist in an abundance possessions, in other words, at no point do you equate the value of your life with what you own, to which you would say... And I would say, Well, of course we don't. And Jesus is like, Yeah, but watch the way you live, and watch the way you respond, and look at how you guard your time and guard your assets, and guard and guard and guard, you're watching out, you're guarding all the wrong things for all the wrong reasons, because at the end of the day, what you own doesn't equal the value of your life regardless of the amount.
Right? life and stuff, they're two completely different categories, pleonexia, all the subtle forms of greed fools us into thinking the opposite is true, so we live our actual lives, even though we know what Jesus said is true, we live our actual lives as if life does consist in an abundance of possessions, but I'm gonna push back one more time. Okay, good point, Jesus.
Gotcha, but so what? So what? What is so dangerous about that, you haven't convinced me that this is something I need be on the look out for, I'm just not feeling the tension, and Jesus will read our minds and would read the minds of his audience. [chuckle] Good question. And so, do you know what Jesus does? Jesus launches into one of his famous stories, he launches into a parable, Let me tell you what this illustrates first, the point of the parable, to make sure you stay on track to this, 'cause he kinda goes all over the place, the point is to illustrate the meaning depleting. This is very important, he's about to illustrate through this parable, the meaning depleting power of pleonexia, in other words, put it this way, it's the power of greed, the power of greed to rob you while it enriches you. This is why it's so subtle. He's about to warn us against the power of greed that actually robs us while it enriches us. So, here's the story, He says the ground of a rich man yielded an abundant harvest. So, the rich get richer even in the first century, that's what exactly what this means.
Somebody who already had extra, just got extra, extra, and this man thought to himself, my goodness, look at this abundance crop, I'm already rich, I already have more than I need, but now I've got extra, extra. And he thought to himself, What am I gonna do? It wasn't apparent to him what he should do, what should I do with all my extra. He saw this as a problem he had to solve, it was actually an opportunity and he missed it. He didn't see it that way, and the reason he didn't see it as an opportunity, pleonexia, greed, but he didn't know, he just thought he had a problem, I've got extra, extra, what do I do with my extra extra. I don't have any place. Oh my goodness, I have no place to store my crops. Now, I was tempted at this point in the sermon to talk about our closets and our addicts and our basements, when I'm not gonna in your special storage unit and you had to bu... I'm not gonna do that, okay? That's way too personal.
Anyway, I wish that I do, I have no place to store my crops. And here's the assumption, this is important, the assumption was, since it came to me, it's for me, we call this around here, the consumption assumption. The consumption assumption is, if it comes my way, it's obviously for my consumption, And then he said, Ah, I got it, I know what I'll do. I'm gonna tear down my barns, my perfectly good barns, and I'm gonna build bigger ones. And there I will store my surplus grain, I'm gonna save it now to consume it later, because if it comes to me, obviously, it's for me, and there it is, a really bad case, a pleonexia.
He was an end, not a means to an end. He was the end, not a means to an end. If it came to him, it was for him, and then he says, 'cause he can't see this in the mirror, none of us can, he said, and then I'll say to myself, self, you have plenty of grain. Here it is, here's the other trap. Right here in the parable, Jesus is brilliant. You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. There's a lie. Since I have a lot of grain, I've got a lot of life. Since I have so much provision, I must have enough time to use up the provision. Stuff equals life and stuff equals time, I've got all the time in the world, 'cause I've got all the stuff in the world. And then I'll say to myself, Take life easy. Just Take life easy, eat, drink, and be merry. And, Jesus’s audience had one thing in common with us. They were envious. I mean, wouldn’t that be great? To just wake up everyday with… [ he says a bunch]… do whatever you want to. But, this is a parable, which means Jesus has a point to make, and the point he's about to make goes right to the heart of the meaning, depleting, deception of greed. Greed will fill our schedule, it will fill our ego, it will fill up our relationship buckets, might even fill up our bank accounts, and while it's filling all of those things up, it can rob us all at the same time. and Jesus is illustrating this through the parable, here's a guy who felt full, but he was empty because he missed the opportunity of a lifetime, and Jesus says, at this point in the story, 'cause remember it's a made up story, Jesus introduces God into the story, and he says, As happy as this guy was about his future and as secure as he felt about his future, he said, But God said to him, because in a parable, anything can happen, right? God said to the rich man, you fool.
And everybody in Jesus audience is like, fool, I would love to be that fool. What do you mean? He's a full. How could he be a fool? He was actually wise, he was responsible, he was smart enough to be wealthy, and now he got wealthier, how can you be a fool... I mean, he was wise, he's not a fool and Jesus says, no. And here's why Jesus says, no. And this is for you and this is for me. Because the man in the parable made the mistake of presuming on the future. You know what that means? It means, I've got so much stuff, I must have so much time. To presume on the future is to assume time that you don't know you have. To presume on the future is to assume opportunity that you may never get, is to assume opportunities to do good things, later, you know, once I'm an adult, once I get to my 30s, once I'm 40, once we get the kids out of the house, once we get everybody graduating, once we pay off our debt, once we, once we, once we... Then I'm gonna take care of that opportunity to do something beyond myself, and Jesus says, You fool...
You don't know what the future holds. You don't have any guarantees. You don't even know what this day holds. He was a fool not because of what he owned, he was a fool because he was owned by what he owned, and he wasn't on guard against the subtle realities, the subtleness, pleonexia. But God said to him, You fool. This very night, your life will be demanded from you. [laughter] Wait, wait, that's not possible. Have you seen how much grain I have? Have you not seen how much I have yet to consume, I have so much stuff. Doesn't more stuff equals more life?
No, of course it doesn't. You fool, you fool. God said to him, you fool, is very not your life will be demanded from you. And then Jesus presses in with this amazing question, then who... Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself? Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself? And it's like, I know the answer to that. Someone else, but not because he was generous, because he was dead. And then the punchline or the punch in the gut line for me, and the punch in the gut line for us, Jesus gives us the punch line, this is the wake-up call.
This is why, this is why you've gotta discover something outside of you that breaks your heart, this is why you can't be consumed with ease, this why we can't get locked into the consumption assumption, and it's so easy for us because of where we live and what we have in the era of human history that we live in. This is why you've gotta find a way to devote at least a piece of yourself to something beyond you. Otherwise, we fall into this trap and then Jesus leaves the parable, this is important, 'cause that's the end of the parable, he pulls out of the parable and now he addresses us directly and he addresses his audience directly, here's what he says, this is so convicting and inspiring, if we take it the right way, he says this.
This is how it will be. To which you're like, wait, wait, wait. What is this? Oh, oh, lemme find it for you, Jesus would say, this is total loss. Total loss is how it will be, he lost his life, he lost his stuff and he lost his opportunity, he lost everything, it was a... There's nothing to show for him, because it was all about him. There was nothing to show for him because it was all about him, because he wasn't on guard against pleonexia. He lost everything. This is how it will be, this is where we come in for whoever, I'm a whoever, you're whoever, this is how it will be for whoever stores up things for themselves, to be consumed on themselves, that plan to consume everything that comes their way, this is how it will be for people who are tricked.
This is how it will be for whoever stores up things for themselves, and then he gives the other opportunity but is not rich toward God. Now, this phrase, rich toward God shows up in other places in the gospels, and when you put them all together, it's very evident what Jesus is talking about when he uses the phrase rich toward God, to be rich toward God isn't about giving things to God, God doesn't need your things, that God doesn't need our stuff, God doesn't need anything. God is immaterial. God is spirit. Jesus said, so this isn't about giving gifts to God, you know what this means? To be rich towards God is to do for others what God has done for you. To do for others what God has done for you. Specifically, to do for others what God through Christ has done for you. That when you had a need, he met it, when you need forgiveness, He gave it. We needed a peace with God, he provided it. He says, now, I don't need you to give me anything back, I want you to essentially pay it forward, I want you to do for others in whatever way you can, as a reflection of your gratitude for what I've done for you, Jesus says, this is how you be rich toward God.
But if you're not careful, greed will rob you off that opportunity. 'Cause greed is a thief, here's why. Greed promises more, but always leaves you with less in the end. Less of what matters. So, circling all the way back around. Here is the code, here is the password, we're gonna crack the code, we're gonna unpack what it means to have a meaningful life. And it's very, very simple. I've said it several times. It's become a means to an end that doesn't end with you, that's it. It's become a means to an end that doesn't end with you. That's what makes something meaningful. You think about a pen that you write with when it runs out of ink, it can't do what I was meant to do, it becomes meaningless. You are the same way, and I in the same way, and Jesus, because He loves you, is warning us not to allow that to happen and inviting us into a meaningful, purposeful life, he said, but in order to do that, you have to be intentional, and you have to find a way, even if it's a small way, to be a means to an end that doesn't end with you, that's what meaning means, that's how something becomes meaningful, that's where purpose is found, that's where happiness is found, that's where joy is found, and that's the invitation to all of us. That's what makes something meaningful.
So, again, to go back to Jesus words, Be on your guard against pleonexia. It is subtle, it is taking root in all of our lives in some form we are not even aware of, and we don't know it because it's so difficult to find. And Jesus through this parable and through this teaching says, I've told you what to do, you've gotta find a way to be a means to an end that doesn't end with you, don't be greedy with your life.
Don't be greedy with your time. don't be greedy with the influence you have, don't be greedy with the connections you've made, don't be greedy with your education, don't be greedy with your experience, choose something that doesn't benefit you and commit some of you to it.
So, one last time, what breaks your heart? What breaks your heart? What needs to change? Carve off a piece of you and invest it in that, and if nothing breaks your heart, just choose something quick, your time's running out. No matter how old you are
Because in the end, the value of your life, the value of my life will be determined and celebrated by how much of it was actually given away. It's in the end that we understand the power of becoming a means to an end that doesn't point back to us. So, what breaks your heart? And if nothing breaks your heart, find something, invest in it, and don't succumb to pleonexia.
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