Encounter the Truth

Jonathan Griffiths: I know that money is tight for many of the present time. Finances are a struggle, and the season interest rates are high. The economy's not as good as it was. But even so, even as we might need to be praying for a provision and waiting on the Lord for provision as he promises to provide, let me ask you, do you know contentment? Are you content with what the Lord has given to you?

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Encounter the Truth with Jonathan Griffiths. I'm Steve Hiller. Glad you're with us. Jonathan, that's really a probing question. Are we content with what the Lord has given to us? Now, I would imagine some might be able to say yes. Others would say, I don't know how it can be, Jonathan, because it's so little. Are you telling me that I can be content when God has only given a little?

Jonathan Griffiths: Well, I think the only way we'll ever learn contentment in such a materialistic society is if we look to the Lord and find our hope in him and place our trust in him and have our delight in him above all the other things. You know, we we really need to understand who the Lord is and what he's done for us in Christ, that he's come and lived and died in our place, that we might have the forgiveness of sins and the hope of eternal life. We need to understand how very gracious and kind he is, how very wonderful and glorious he is, and we really need to love him and prize him.

And I think if our if our hearts are set on him rather than things of this world, we can learn contentment with our material circumstances, whatever those may be. But but otherwise, I think it's very very hard if our sights are set on this world only. I don't think we'll ever be content with whatever we have.

Steve Hiller: Well, today we're going to continue to look at cash and covetousness. Join us in the book of Luke. We're in chapter 12, focusing on verses 13 to 21. Here is Jonathan.

Jonathan Griffiths: The land of a rich man produced plentifully. The farmland around here and these is really good, by the way, really fertile. He thought to himself, what shall I do? For I have nowhere to store my crops. And he said, I will do this. I will tear down my barns and build larger ones. And there I will store all my grain and my goods, and I will say to my soul, soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, be merry. You see, that man is living the dream as far as our community is concerned.

He's not spending it all. That's the interesting thing. No, no, he is storing it all. He's cautious. He's careful, just like the people of our city. He is stashing it all away so that he knows he will be safe. You see, he believes that life consists of the abundance of his possessions. He feels that his soul will be secure if he has lots of wealth socked away, and he has managed it. He has achieved it. He's done it. He has arrived. He's living the dream. Now, friends, is that not our culture? Is that not our context, our environment?

Is that not our default way of thinking? Is that not the idol of so many of our hearts, material security and safety for many years? And so what do we do? We attempt to accumulate, and some will be more effective at it than others. But certainly that is the drive and that is the desire of so many. But if that's what's driving us, and if that is the great thing that we long for, if that's how we measure our lives by the abundance of our possession, if we're just storing up wealth, Jesus has a warning for us.

Here's the warning. God will require our lives of us. It will all come to an end. And as we stand before him at the judgment and give an account of our lives, our accumulated wealth, well, it will be worth precisely nothing to us. And so Jesus says, and he leaves us with this verse 21, so is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. It's foolishness. It's folly. It's of no value. If all we are doing is laying up treasure for ourselves and we are not rich toward God. Jesus is urging us to ensure that we are instead being rich toward God in the way in which we live.

The alternative to storing up the wealth, to being covetous of what we do not yet have, the alternative is instead to be rich toward God. That's what the parable is calling us to do. It is to invest ourselves in something else, to prize something else, to live for something else. And that something else is God himself. Be rich toward God. But what does that mean in practicality? I mean, it sounds good. It it sounds right. It sounds appropriate. We listen as believers and we think, yes, I want to be rich toward God. But what is the outworking of all this?

What are we to do? Well, we've got the principle. We've heard the parable, and now we need to turn to the practicalities, the practicalities. Let me suggest four fairly brief lines of practical application from all of this. Four practical ways to ensure that we are rich toward God. Here's the first one. First, remember the Lord's judgment. Remember the Lord's judgment. You see, this whole section rings with reminders of the fact that God will judge the people of this world, and we ourselves will have to give an account to him of how we've lived. We've seen it here in the first three sections of chapter 12, as I mentioned.

Right before this parable, Jesus has emphasized the importance of being willing to own his name before others because if we will own Jesus before others in this life, he will acknowledge us before the angels of God, and we will know ultimate forgiveness. The judgment is in view there. But having heard that, having been told that the ultimate importance of publicly naming the name of Christ before others, this man in the crowd, he ignores all that Jesus has just been saying, right? He's he's not interested in that. And he turns immediately to what's really on his heart, the issue of his inheritance, the money that he wants from his brother.

So he's not interested in the judgment. He's not interested in living for Jesus and acknowledging Jesus before others. He just wants his money. He's storing up treasure rather than being rich toward God. And and the contrast there, it's very striking. The challenge is right at the surface there. We don't have to look for it. Do I Do I care more about ensuring that I belong to Jesus Christ and I'm ready for the judgment because I've sought refuge in him, or do I instead care more about ensuring that lots of money belongs to me in the here and now in this world?

Now, if I've got the judgment in view all the time, my main concern is how I relate to Jesus. My central concern is that I am honoring Jesus, that I belong to Jesus, that I will be in good standing with Jesus even before the angels of God and on the final day. Now now the rich man in the parable, he wasn't giving any thought to that final day when he would meet his maker. He was satisfied in his soul with the abundance of his possessions. But the day it came upon him suddenly, he was totally unprepared.

Spurgeon once asked, does the world satisfy thee? If so, then thou hast thy reward and thy portion in this life. He goes on, make much of it for you shall know no other joy. That the truth. That's a stark reality. If we are satisfied in the things of this world, if we have forgotten the judgment, then no joy awaits us beyond the grave. Friends, if you and I made a point of remembering each day that we will give an account before God, that we will stand before his throne, that we will appear before the judgment seat of Christ, if we remembered that each day, really remembered it, we would live differently, wouldn't we?

We would invest differently. And I tell you one thing we would not do. We would not spend our energy and our time hoarding wealth that cannot last and that will be of no value on the final day. If you are poor in this world, but you know and love Jesus Christ, if your trust is in him and his salvation, if that's you, then you have riches toward God that the wealthiest unbeliever does not possess. He or she may own houses and lands and stocks and shares, wealth that you could barely count and never use. And you, by contrast, may have more or less nothing to your name.

But when it comes to the judgment, his riches will be worthless and yours will be of inestimable value. His will mean nothing, and yours will mean everything. I wonder if you believe that. And I wonder if I do too. I wonder if you and I live as though that were true. Remember the Lord's judgment next. Be content with the Lord's provision. Be content. The man in the crowd was unhappy with the fact that his brother had inherited more than him, it seems. Maybe his brother was the older brother, and the bulk of the estate or all of the estate had gone to him.

And Jesus called that out as covetousness, greed. That's where the discussion started. That's the root of the issue, wanting more and more. And the rich man, he wanted more and more and more. He couldn't store all this wealth to keep. He just had to figure out how to do that because he wasn't going to let any of it go. But it it did him no good. Laying up treasure on earth won't do us good in the long run. It's it's worthless. And the alternative to covetousness is contentment. And the Bible calls us again and again and again in different ways and at different times to learn contentment.

It's a big theme of scripture. I love the prayer of Proverbs chapter 30 verses 8 and 9. Maybe you know it. It's so good. It's worth fixing in your mind. It's actually worth memorizing. Proverbs 30 verses 8 and 9. The writer asks this of the Lord. It's actually a petition to the Lord. He says, give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.

Give me neither poverty nor riches. Isn't that an interesting prayer? Isn't that a wise prayer from the book of Proverbs, the book of wisdom? See, you and I, what would we be inclined to pray for? If we were really being honest about it, what would we like to pray for? Riches. But the writer, inspired by the spirit of God, he is wise enough to know that riches bring danger, even the danger of denying the Lord out of a sense of self-sufficiency, saying to our soul like the rich fool that we are full and secure in our riches.

But the way of wisdom, what is it? It is to pray for sufficient provision. And in that then to be content. The same truth is underlined and developed in Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 5 where the writer says this, Hebrews 13 5, keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have for he has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we can confidently say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what can men do to me. Keep your life free from the love of money.

Be content with what you have. Why? I mean, why? I mean, people aren't content. People love money. Why should we be different? Because the Lord has promised to his people that he will never leave us. Now that's being rich toward God, isn't it? That's trusting in him. That's delighting in him. That's finding our security and our satisfaction and our all and all in him.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Encounter the Truth with Jonathan Griffiths and a message called Cash and Covetousness. It's part of our series Cash, Christ and the Kingdom. Today looking at Luke chapter 12 verses 13 to 21. Hope you'll stay with us because we'll get back to this message in just a moment. But we'd like to extend a special invitation to all our listeners in the greater Toronto area. On Monday evening, October 19th, Jonathan will be hosting a special event for listeners at Tyndale University in Toronto. You can get more information at our website encounterthetruth.org. Enjoy a warm evening of fellowship with other Encounter the Truth listeners.

Get encouragement your walk with Christ and learn more about the reach and impact of the ministry. That's Monday evening, October 19th at Tyndale University in Toronto. Again, get all the details and register at encounterthetruth.org. Let's get back to the message. Again, here is Jonathan.

Jonathan Griffiths: Now I I know that money is tight for many of the present time. Finances are a struggle in the season. Interest rates are high. The economy's not as good as it was. I I'm aware of that. But even so, even as we might need to be praying for a provision and waiting on the Lord for provision as he promises to provide, let me ask you, do you know contentment? Yeah, in material terms, do you know contentment? Are you content with such things as you have with what the Lord has given to you? And if not, then the follow-up question, is there a place in your heart where covetousness has taken hold, where greed has taken root, where you long for things that you do not have, where you want more and more and more and more?

Is there some heart work that you need to do, that I need to do before the Lord? Some things you need to think through, pray through, repent of, address? Be content with the Lord's provision next. Share with the Lord's people. Think of that rich man in the parable. His income, it just kept coming in. It it kept coming. The land was prosperous. The farm was successful, fantastic. That in itself wasn't a problem. That's a great thing. But the problem came with his response to blessing and abundance. The problem came with his desire to keep more to sort of stock up the wealth, to hoard it.

That was a problem. He was laying up treasure for himself. Well, what was the alternative to that? What was he to do? Well, put simply, wasn't it to give some of it away, to give a lot of it away, to give it away to address the needs of the family of God? I mean, that's so simple. That's not rocket science. That's obvious. You know, if you have abundant wealth and your brother or sister is in need, you do something about that. If you're a believer, you do something about that. You know, the Lord cares about the needs of his children and he expects that within his family there will be practical care.

There has to be. If one has too much and another has too little, there is a solution right there. You know, Jesus will talk more about meeting the needs of others in Luke, and we're going to talk more about that as we go through, but it's so obvious, it's so important. Augustine commented on this rich man that, and I quote, he did not realize that the bellies of the poor are much safer store rooms than his barns. Isn't that good? In the end, the barns were not safe. He thought it was safe. It wasn't safe because the hoarded wealth of this man was a big problem at the judgment day.

It became his liability. This remembering of the needs of others is something actually I see happening here in our fellowship in various ways, not least through our our benevolent work and our benevolent fund where those who have extra can give and those who are in need can discreetly make an approach. And it's so good, it's so right. It's happening week by week all through the year. But what's happening in the heart and life of that greedy man, the storing up of an overabundance? That's so wrong. Share with the Lord's people. Remember the Lord's judgment. Be content with the Lord's provision.

Share with the Lord's people. And finally, as as we close, invest in the Lord's work. See, this rich man, he needed to put his money to good use. He needed to lay it at the Lord's feet, to invest in the work of the Kingdom, to get on board with God's agenda in the world. That's being rich toward God in this situation. That was the That was the obvious thing to do, but his heart it wasn't it wasn't there. That that wasn't even on the radar for him. No thought of it. Now you and I, if we're gospel people, we know God's agenda in the world.

We know what he 's interested in doing. He wants the good news of his son, the gospel of his salvation to go out to the very ends of the earth. He wants the Great Commission to be fulfilled. And we know the need is great. I mean, look out at our culture. Consider how lost people are without Christ. I mean, we see it all around us. We know. Consider how many have never heard, how many walk in darkness, how many in our community know nothing of Jesus and his salvation. I mean, the generation coming up know nothing.

You'd say the name of Jesus, they won't know who he is. And then we think of the billions of people in our world who are totally unreached, no access to the gospel. Of the 8 billion people living in the world today, an estimated 3.4 billion are part of an unreached people group, people who have little or no access to the gospel at all, as we are hearing about earlier. And and you and I know if we are converted, if we understand the gospel, we know that eternity is at stake in these things. The gospel, we know it's a matter of life and death.

There's so much ministry to be done. There's no limits, no end of work that needs to be done to pursue God's agenda in the world, God's own mission. But here's the simple reality, and we might we might like to pretend that this we're not so, but it is the reality. All of this takes money. Takes money. God has called us to live and to serve in the real world where there is a real economy, where it takes money to support gospel workers, money to buy equipment, money to produce books and resources, money to get the message out on media, money to do the work.

And if God's money, which has been entrusted to his people, is being stored up in ever increasing barns or stock brokerage accounts or pieces of real estate or vaults or Bitcoin or whatever. If God's money is being hoarded rather than released, less work is going to get done. Fewer people are going to get reached. That's the simple reality. Consider again the language Jesus uses in summarizing the lesson of the parable. In verse 21, he wants us to be rich toward God. That language is very practical when it comes to our money. We can't avoid that.

It means getting really serious about our giving, serious in such a way that the rest of our financial life is actually shaped around the Lord and our giving to him. And you know, that might sound burdensome. Maybe it sounds burdensome. But you know what, it's actually a gift from the Lord to us that he calls us to do that. It's actually the Lord's kindness to us that he allows us to participate in his work in this way. I mean, God is God. He doesn't actually need anything from you, and he doesn't need anything from me.

This isn't about God needing something from us. All that we have is his anyway, but he invites us to participate because he knows that it will be good for us. We will all of us tend toward idolizing things and idolizing wealth. We will tend toward the covetousness of which Jesus speaks here. We will all be tempted toward greed. And having the opportunity to give toward the work of the gospel, being called upon and challenged by the word of God to do that, it is actually for our good. It's a gift to us. Before we ever think of the usefulness of our money for any gospel project, the first benefit is actually to us as the giver.

Those who have been serious about giving, you already know that. It's a gift to us. And here's why regular giving, it is actually our first line of defense against the idolatry of money and the idolatry of wealth, against covetousness, against becoming the rich fool. Every week or month when the check is written, when the automatic withdrawal goes out, each time that happens, it's a little inoculation against idolizing money and things. It's a little shot in the arm. It's telling our heart that the Lord means more, that the gospel matters more, that the things of this earth are temporary and passing away and the things of God are eternal and of true value and we are helped and we are guarded personally as we give.

Friend, let me ask you in all seriousness, are you rich toward God? Would your bank account confirm the truth of your answer? Only you know. The Lord knows. See, on one level this is not complicated. If you're not serious about giving your money to the Lord and his work, and everyone's ability to give is different, this is going to look different for each of us. But if you're not serious about it in your situation and you don't prioritize it, the answer the answer to the question is pretty obvious. And this parable of the rich fool is the very wake-up call you might need.

I'm trusting and praying that for some among us this is going to be the year when you get serious, really serious about giving. When this becomes a core part of your Christian discipleship, and I'll tell you if if if that happens, you're never going to look back. You'll you'll take a special delight in participating in what God is doing. You'll never regret, never regret open-handed and generous giving to the Lord and to his work. It is only a blessing. It is never a loss in your life. If this is you, if this is your need and your time to make that real change, to learn that grace, to get serious about financial participation in the Lord's work, let me urge you.

Don't let the moment pass. Spend time with the Lord on this and pray over this. Let me encourage you. Let let me encourage all of us as a church family. Let's buck the cultural trend in our place to store up wealth, to hoard riches for our retirement fund. And let's instead learn the grace of giving, seek with the spirit's help to be rich toward God. What's it going to mean for you to do that? What changes are going to be needed? What do you have to go home and pray through and work through, perhaps with your spouse and your family to reset your heart and your financial agenda in the days that are to come?

Steve Hiller: Jonathan Griffiths here on Encounter the Truth wrapping up our message Cash and Covetousness. And if you missed any part of today's broadcast or you just want to go back and listen again, you can do that at our website encounterthetruth.org. Well, Encounter the Truth is a listener supported ministry. That's exactly what it sounds like. It is your giving, your generosity that allows us to continue to bring you Jonathan's teaching each day. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to say thank you by sending you a book entitled Gentle and Lowly.

It's written by Dane Ortlund. And Jonathan, why did you pick this book?

Jonathan Griffiths: Well, Steve, I picked it because I loved it and because I found it so personally helpful. And it's a book I want every Christian to read. And I've been encouraging our friends and family to read it. Uh it's it's a delightful book that really looks at the heart of God for sinners and sufferers as the subtitle says. And and and it means what it says. Dane Ortlund in this delightful study really looks at God's disposition toward us and the way in which he has acted toward us in Christ. And it it busts some myths. I think we can feel that God's disposition toward us is harsh, unyielding, distant.

And Dane shows us that through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, God has come to us in grace and mercy and kindness. And he loves us deeply and and he's not looking to catch us out. He's looking to pour out his grace in our lives, and we need to hear that. We need to hear it again and again. We need to be taught that. We need to be reminded of it. We need to believe it, and we need to live it. And this beautifully written study is such a help in doing that very thing.

And I hope everyone listening will get hold of a copy, will read it, and will be helped by it as I have been personally.

Steve Hiller: Well, we'd love to send you a copy of this book Gentle and Lowly is our way of saying thank you for your support this month. You can give online when you come to encounterthetruth.org or call 1 833 99 Truth. That's 1 833 998 7884 or encounterthetruth.org. You can also write us at Encounter the Truth, PO Box 5513, Ottawa, Ontario K2C 3M1. Or in the US at Encounter the Truth, 215 North Arlington Heights Road, Suite 102, Arlington Heights, Illinois 60004. For Jonathan Griffiths and our producer Mark Bratta, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening, and I hope you'll join us next time.