Picture This Week 5: The Parable of the Rich Fool

¹³ Someone in 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 arbitrator over you?” ¹⁵ And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” ¹⁶ And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, ¹⁷ and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ ¹⁸ 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. ¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ ²⁰ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ ²¹ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Luke 12:13-21

As we continue looking at the parables of Jesus, this week we hear from Pastor Ken from Blantyre Baptist Church as he shares more insight from the story of the rich fool. Jesus cautions us to “Take care and to be on guard against all forms of greediness, acquisitive behavior. We are not to devote our lives to gathering and accumulation of wealth. It is in human nature to lose sight when we are blessed with wealth, instead of using it to further the Will of God,we are so focused on managing and increasing our possessions. 

We are not blessed by God to keep all our possessions to ourselves, we are blessed to be a blessing in our lives to others and to build the Kingdom of God. This life we treasure so much is going to be demanded at some point and we are going to have to account for it. Let us involve God in our lives and how we use our resources. We are not guaranteed tomorrow but that should not stop us from making plans, God should be at the center of those plans.

1. Is there any area of your life where you feel like you are putting “things” above God?
2. What steps do you need to take this week to live more like Christ this week?

Catch up on earlier Picture This sermons: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4