Read Luke 12:13–34
Questions from the Scripture text: What does the man in Luke 12:13 want Jesus to do? What does Jesus ask him (Luke 12:14)? Of what does He tell them to beware (Luke 12:15)? Why? What then does He speak to them in Luke 12:16? Who is its main character? What does his ground do? What problem does this present in Luke 12:17? What does he decide to do in Luke 12:18? To whom does he speak in Luke 12:19? Of what does he inform his soul? What does he command his soul? Who speaks to him in Luke 12:20? What does He call him? What will be required of him when? What problem does this pose? Who is like that rich man—what two things are true of him (Luke 12:21)? To whom does He speak in Luke 12:22? What does He tell them not to do? About what? Why (Luke 12:23)? What should they consider (Luke 12:24)? What don’t ravens do? Who feeds them? About what comparison does He ask? What does He ask in Luke 12:25? What does He ask in Luke 12:26? What are they to consider in Luke 12:27? Who clothes them (Luke 12:28)? What does Jesus ask in verse 28? What does He call them? What does He tell them not to do in Luke 12:29? Not to have? Who seek them (Luke 12:30)? Who knows about the needs? What, then, are they to seek (Luke 12:31)? What will happen? What else are they not to do (Luke 12:32)? What does Jesus call God here? What well-pleases Him? What should they do (Luke 12:33)? What will this provide for them? Where? With what advantages? What will also be there (Luke 12:34)?
Covetousness deceives us in many ways (Luke 12:15). Jesus’s answer to the man in Luke 12:13 exposes what was really behind his (possibly right) inheritance claim: the desire to possess an abundance of things, which is the path to destruction and perdition (cf. 1 Timothy 6:9–10).
The rich man in Luke 12:16-20 is a fool, because he sees enjoying himself as his primary purpose and the storing up of wealth as the way to achieve it. But his covetousness has deceived him into forgetting that he actually exists for God and that our souls will long outlive anything we store up in this world.
The poor (or middle class) also reveal that they are making the same mistake, whenever they worry about earthly provision. Food and clothing are actually basic necessities (cf. 1 Timothy 6:6–8). But to worry about them is to forget that God exists, that He cares about us as a Father.
If it is the Father’s pleasure to give us the kingdom (Luke 12:32), then don’t we know that it is also His pleasure to take care of everything that is needful as He does so (Luke 12:31)? The reason that the charitable act in Luke 12:33 provides “money bags in the heavens” is not that it is a meritorious work, but rather that it is a work that flows from a heart that is freed to that giving by the certainty that my Father will still take care of me.
If He is my Treasure, then my heart will be freed from the deceitfulness of covetousness to serve Him (Luke 12:34). Is your heart freed by trust in Him?
What earthly possessions are precious to you? What are you trying to accumulate? What are you worried about in the near/longer future? How do each of these threaten to keep you earthly-minded?
Suggested songs: ARP100 “All Earth with Joy” or TPH532 “Be Still, My Soul”
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