Live for What Lasts
Teaching Notes
"My great concern for you in life is not that you will fail,
but that you will succeed in doing the wrong thing."
-Howard Hendricks
What if you succeed at something that ultimately doesn’t matter?
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; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
Luke 12:13-15
There is MORE to life than having MORE in life.
The Lie: Having MORE is the key to life, happiness, and security.
The paradox of our times:
- More CONNECTED, yet more LONELY.
- More EFFICIENT, yet more EXHAUSTED.
- More EXPERIENCES, yet less PURPOSE.
- More STUFF, yet less CONTENTMENT.
And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 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 my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain 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 whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
Luke 12:16-21
Why does God call him a fool?
- The rich fool never saw beyond HIMSELF.
“What shall I do?” “This is what I’ll do.” “I will tear down…”
“I will store…” “I’ll say to myself…”
Life is all about ME.
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
Psalm 14:1
The fool LIVES as if there is no GOD.
- The rich fool never saw beyond this WORLD.
And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
Now is all that MATTERS.
“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?’
- Life is FRAGILE.
- Life is FLEETING.
- Life is a GIFT.
There’s more to life than the HERE & NOW.
“What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?”
Mark 8:36
To be rich toward God is to live for GOD, for OTHERS, and for ETERNITY.
MISPLACED priorities lead to MISSPENT lives.
Will you leverage what God has entrusted to you for what will last for eternity?