Wasted Profit
- Rev. Jerry Lepasana
- May 1, 2005
- Series: Life's Too Short
WASTED PROFIT
Luke 12:13-21
- Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."
- Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?"
- Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
- And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop.
- He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'
- "Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.
- And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry."
- "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
- "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."
The word “Profit” is use in the business world to mean that which is left when the transaction is over. For any business person, nothing is more important than to make sure he or she will make some profits. More often, life has been compared to a business transaction. In fact, even in the Bible, you have the apostle Paul sharing the same perception. He declared, – “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21).” Very clearly, he has made a choice to live for Christ because of the guarantee that it will be profitable.
Consider the last two verses of our text. Notice the question Jesus had asked in verse 20, “Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” Then, consider the conclusion in verse 21, “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God." These statements summarize the failure of the rich fool as a business man to seek for the greater profits. Yes, he made some profits, but those were all temporary. When he died, he lost everything. He was rich on earth, but was poor in the sight of God.
Is it possible that some of us are making the same mistake? In light with eternity, are you living your life to gain some profits? Allow me to bring to your attention some responsibilities we all need to understand so we can be assured of eternal profits:
I ACQUIRE THE RIGHT PERSPECTIVE:
One of our real problems in this life is our inability to perceive what is real and valuable. The rich fool spent his life in the pursuit of earthly riches without understanding the perspective that Jesus shared:
"Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possession.”
The apostle Paul shares the perspective of the Lord Jesus as seen in his words in 2 Corinthians 4:18:
“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
In the Old Testament, we have Esau, one of the sons of Isaac, who suffered the tragedy of losing God’s spiritual blessings because of his wrong perspective.
Esau, being Isaac’s eldest son enjoyed the spiritual blessing of the firstborn. He could look forward to special spiritual position someday within his family because God made a covenant with His grandfather Abraham to bless all the nations of the earth through his family. He was a legitimate heir of this covenant. However, one day he came home from his hunting hungry and found his brother Jacob with a newly cooked meal. Jacob seeing the hunger of his brother seized the opportunity and proposed a simple trade – Esau’s birthright for his hot meal. Esau willingly agreed to exchange his spiritual blessings for temporal gratification (Genesis 25:27-34). Esau’s failure to value the spiritual and eternal had cost him greatly.
Likewise, during the time of Jeremiah the prophet, God had expressed his personal disappointment to his own people because of their poor substitution.
"My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”
This morning, it is highly possible that we are cheating ourselves of great blessings because of our false perspectives. I hope we are not exchanging the spiritual blessings for the material ones, or the lasting blessings for the temporary ones.
II ACCEPT THE RIGHT PRIORITIES:
If we intend to have great eternal profits, we need to determine where we need to invest. The Bible is very clear concerning the fact that not everything will endure forever. The questions we need to ask are, “What will last? What is permanent and abiding?” To answers come from three specific Biblical references:
- He also says, "In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
- They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment.
The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever."
- Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
- For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world.
- The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
I believe that if we are really interested in investing in eternity, we need to prioritize our investments in the work of God, the word of God, and those people who do the will of God. These are the things that are permanent and abiding.
The apostle Peter warned that the day of the Lord is ordained to come like a thief in the night. And when it comes, everything that is visible on this planet earth will melt with fervent heat.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.
WE ALL NEED TO LIVE FOR THE WORLD THAT IS COMING, NOT FOR THE WORLD THAT IS GOING.
Only one life, T’will soon be past;
Only what’s done for Christ will last.
III ACHIEVE THE RIGHT PROMINENCE AND PROMOTION:
Inherent in the pursuit of material wealth is the desire for prominence and promotion. However, since material riches are temporary, the prominence and promotions that go with them are temporal as well.
The Bible contains several accounts of promotions which resulted in prominence. Genesis records the remarkable story of Joseph, who advanced from being a prisoner in Egypt to the second-in-command under Pharaoh as a result of his good work. The Lord Jesus gave the parable of the talents which establishes the principle for prominence and promotions in God’s economy.
- The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.'
- "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
In the words of the master, the ultimate basis for prominence and promotion is the performance of faithfulness. Despite the fact that the master gave unequal amount of talents for the servants, both the servant who received the five talents and two talents were commended and rewarded on the basis of their faithfulness in using their talents. So, it’s not really on the quantity of accomplishments, but in the quality of how we accomplish them. On the contrary, the last servant who hid his one talent can be likened to the rich fool in our text, who hoarded and saved everything for himself, rather than use what he has received for the honor and glory of the Master .
There is a reward that awaits Christ’s faithful servants. And this reward is the eternal prominence of eternal intimacy with him. What joy! The eternal reward is not rest but responsibility as we work with Christ in unimaginably vast new spiritual enterprises. The apostle Peter understood how exciting this event will be.
- Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall,
- and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Are you expecting a rich welcome when life is over? Are you conscious of really investing for eternity? Are you living your life just for the “here and now” or are you living for eternity? The martyred missionary Jim Elliott wisely said:
"He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep for that which he cannot lose."