Bible Studies
Are You Ready?
Series: Additional StudiesStealing Biscuits (Lk. 12:13-40)
Introduction:
1. Many thousands of people had gathered together to the point that they were stepping on one another (Lk. 12:1) 2. One man in the crowd appealed to Jesus and said, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” 3. Perhaps you have found yourself in a similar situation. A friend of mine had lost his last parent. He said, “After the funeral I just got in the car and left. I knew there was going to be a fight over what was left. I did not want to be a part of it.” 4. Jesus uses just such an occasion to drive home four very important points.Discussion:
I. Be on guard against every form of greed (13-15).A. It should be evident that the man’s request is fair and reasonable.
1. Laws regarding inheritances trace back to early times of Biblical history.
a. The first-born son held the right of a double-portion of his father’s goods (Deut. 21:17).
b. Esau, in Gen. 25:29-34, traded his birth-right for food.
c. If the double portion rule follows in the N.T. the prodigal son, as the younger of the two, received only one-third of the estate (Lk. 15:12).
2. In Rome the will was a public document, guarded by law, and formalized in law with set forms of language. See Oxford Classical Dictionary (454, 445).
3. Biblical history and Roman history indicates that the man’s request is reasonable.
4. Jesus does not discredit the legitimacy of the man’s request he only questions “Who appointed me a judge or arbitrator over you?”
B. We might observe the unusualness of the man’s request.
1. His appeal to Jesus was unusual. He must have recognized Jesus as having some “authority.”
2. He presented his request amongst a crowd. It must have been a matter of high emotional intensity for him.
C. Jesus uses the situation to warn against greed.
1. Is he accusing the man of being greedy? Maybe he is only implying that the man’s brother is greedy. Was his brother in the crowd? Did his brother regard Jesus as an (a moral) authority?
2. When Jesus addresses “them” is this the two brothers or the crowd generally?
3. The warning is the same: Be on your guard against greed.
a. Greed is defined as “a selfish and excessive desire for more of something than is needed (appropriate w.g.)” (Merriam-Webster). “Covetousness” is a synonym.
b. Jesus indicates there are various forms of greed.
1) One might be greedy for money, items of family inheritance, land, etc. Ex. 20:17 says, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
2) Various addictions are greed oriented.
3) Israel was greedy for food different from the manna that God gave them in the wilderness (Num. 11:4).
4) We can be greedy for recognition, greedy for powerfulness, greedy for pleasure (ease), greedy for relationship.
5) Greed can be prompted by feelings of inadequacy, fear, loneliness.
II. Be careful not to store up treasure for yourself and not be rich toward God (16-21).A. This section is actually an elaboration on the previous point.
B. Notice the difference between storing up treasure for yourself and being rich toward God.
1. Both involve benefits for you. Jesus is not saying you need to be poor in order to be rich toward God.
2. The contrast is not between being poor and being rich. The contrast is between storing up treasure for yourself and being rich toward God.
3. It is a question of where your priorities are. Really it is a contrast between physical things and spiritual things. Are you so focused on the things of this life that you neglect your relationship with God? What’s important to you?
C. The man in the parable has missed the point of life. “Not even when a man has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions” (15). The man who dies with the most possessions not only does not win, he doesn’t know how to score. The object is not to gather the ball to yourself, but to use it to advance the kingdom. If your objective is to hoard the ball you cannot win. Use the illustration of basketball team who ran the shot clock out repeatedly during the first quarter. They had possession of the ball but they were not scoring.
III. Do not worry about your life, but seek His kingdom (22-34).A. Worry about the things of this life, what we will eat, what we will put on, is prompted by fear (32).
1. But if our Father has chosen gladly to give us the kingdom why would we allow the less important things to concern us?
2. I laugh when I read this. If God has given you the kingdom why are you worried about what you are going to eat and what you are going to put on? Do you think Bill Gates buys a used car? Do you think Barak Obama worries about where his next meal is coming from? Do you think Mitt Romney buys his clothes at Good Will?
3. Your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom. He gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him (Lk. 11:9-13). He has given you His Son (Rom. 8:32). Where is our faith?
4. Peter said, “We have left everything and followed You.” Jesus said, “You will receive a hundred times as much” (Mk. 10:28ff).
5. There is no reason for fear in light of our faith in God as a good Father gladly giving to us. “Your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things” (Matt. 6:32).
B. It is the kingdom that is important. We need to seek it.
1. There is no need for covetousness when you have the kingdom.
2. Therefore you can sell your possessions and give to charity. No need to be a hoarder.
3. We are often like orphan children who have been hungry, but have been adopted into a wealthy family. We still want to hide biscuits in our pockets.
4. We do not have to be afraid. We do not have to seek what the orphan people of the world seek. Our Father owns the kingdom and He gladly gives to us. There are plenty of biscuits! The feast is lavish. No need for greediness. No need for stealing. No need for controlling the family inheritance.
IV. Be dressed in readiness for the coming of the Master (35-40).A. The ESV says, “Stay dressed for action.”
1. Comes from the Greek “perizonnumi” meaning “to gird.”
2. The imagery is from the long garments worn in the east and carries the idea of gathering up the garment so that it would not hinder movement.
3. The Israelites as they ate the Passover were to be ready for their journey (Ex. 12:11).
Cf. My dad’s expression: “Get your readys on.”
B. When you are dressed in readiness for the coming of the Master there is no interest in hoarding the things of this life. When you are leaving here to enter the home of the Master, there is no need for baggage. Leave it!
C. When you enter the promised land there will be houses that you did not build. There will be vineyards that you did not plant. It is a land flowing with milk and honey. All you need now is just enough for the journey.
D. The imagery is that of a table prepared (37).
1. The slaves will be served by the Master.
2. He will have us recline at the table.
3. He will come and wait on us.
E. Be ready (v. 40).
Conclusion:
1. “Tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me,” has lost all significance in light of the inheritance we will receive from our Father. 2. Israel was promised an inheritance in Canaan. They murmured and complained on their journey. They even hoarded the manna and the quail that God gave them. Stealing biscuits they were. 3. We are promised an inheritance in the kingdom of God. We murmur and complain on the journey. We hoard the things that God has given us to make the journey. Like orphan children we are stealing biscuits when our Father has given us the kingdom.
