Sermon Series: “The Gospel and the Parable”

Sermon 5: “What Legacy Are You Leaving

Behind?”

Luke 12:13-21

Jacob Anderson

July 5, 2026

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We live in a culture where people want, and we are told that this feeling of wanting is ok, we should embrace it.

 

Three of the ten commandments speak directly to an uncontrollable desire to want something.

 

Do not commit adultery – that is desiring someone else’s spouse.

 

Do not steal – that is desiring something and taking it without paying for it.

 

Do not covet – that is desiring something your neighbor has.

 

The most dangerous desire of all is money. Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

 

Luke 12:13 “Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’”

 

This man saw Jesus as a teacher with a lot of authority, so he wanted Jesus to make a pronouncement in his favor.

 

How many of you have heard of the prayer of Jabez? I Chronicles 4:10 “Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request.”

 

Many people believe if you pray this prayer, you can actually receive whatever you want.

 

Here are a couple of books written, using the prayer of Jabez as a formula for blessing.

“Prayer of Jabez and The Free Life Hack for Miracles”.

“The Prayer of Jabez: Breaking Through to the Blessed Life”

 

Money has been an issue in every generation including ours, but what does Jesus tell this man who only had money on his mind?

 

 

 

 

Luke 12:14 – 15 “But Jesus replied, ‘Man, who appointed Me judge or arbitrator over you?’ Then He said to them, ‘Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.’”

 

Your life and who you have nothing to do with what possessions you have; too often we identify ourselves and others by what we wear, by what we drive, or by where we live.

 

Luke 12:16 – 17 “And He told them a parable, saying, ‘The land of a rich man was very productive. And he began reasoning to himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’”

 

What is the first mistake this man makes?

 

Jesus says “He began reasoning with himself.” First, he doesn’t seek advice from someone else, he counsels himself.

 

The farmer doesn’t seek outside advice, which means he probably doesn’t value the opinion of anyone else.

 

This man is the epitome of selfish greed.

 

Luke 12:18 – 19 “Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.’”

 

He says “I will do”, “I will tear down”, “I will store”, and finally “I will say”. He also says “my barns”, “my grain”, “my goods”, and “my soul”. This man is so focused on himself and what he can do to make himself richer that he’s unaware of anyone around him.

 

Daniel 4:30 “The king reflected and said, ‘Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?”

 

Daniel 4:31 – 32 “While the word was in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared: sovereignty has been removed from you, and you will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling place will be with the beasts of the field. You will be given grass to eat like cattle, and seven periods of time will pass over you until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes.”

 

 

 

Like the rich man and like Nebuchadnezzar, we think we have what we have because we made it happen, when in reality everything we have is a gift from God.

 

 

Our culture tells us we need to focus on storing up for retirement. We need to put our money in a 401K, a mutual fund, or a retirement fund.

 

Luke 12:20 – 21 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ ‘So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

 

One commentator said, “A fool is a man whose decisions about the present do not take into consideration the possibilities of the future.”

 

James 4:13 – 14 “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.’ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.”

 

In this parable, this man stores all this grain up for himself and then dies the very next day.

 

How much better would his legacy have been if he had chosen to give the excess grain to the homeless and the hungry.

 

If he had kept his old barns, stored what grain he could, gave away the excess grain to those in need, and spent the money he used to build his new barns to help those in need, he would have stored up for himself treasures in heaven.

 

In this parable we have a thesis and we have an antithesis.

 

The thesis of this parable is in verse 18 and 19.

 

The thesis is storing up for yourself goods, so that you can be comfortable, and so you can eat, drink, and be merry.

 

The antithesis in this parable is in verse 21 “Be rich toward God.”

 

The theme of this parable for me is all about “Legacy”. What kind of legacy are we leaving behind for the next generation?

 

Where is your legacy going to be found? If it’s found in God and in His promise to always meet your needs, then you won’t find security in how much money you make or in how much money you have in our bank account.

 

I Timothy 6:9 – 10 “Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

 

Mark 4:19 “but the cares of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”

 

Commentator Malcolm Tolbert once wrote, “The parable of the rich fool is one of the most pungent paragraphs in the Word of God, because the philosophy of the world today is ‘Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die.’ The Lord said, ‘That’s the problem, that’s what makes a man a fool.’ If you live just for yourself, you are a fool.”

 

As Christians we need to be different than the world, we need to be giving, caring, and willing to sacrifice to see the kingdom of God grow.

 

The legacy we need to leave behind, shouldn’t be a legacy of stored up wealth, but rather a legacy of self-sacrifice, so when people look back on our life, they see the love of God and not the love of money.