What happens when we free ourselves from the weight of our possessions? In this insightful episode, learn about the burdens that come with accumulating material wealth and how Jesus’ teachings urge us to seek a more meaningful existence. As we navigate through tales of simplicity and spiritual readiness, we uncover the importance of prioritizing faith and embracing life’s true essence.
The CEM Network is pleased to present Ronald L. Dart and Born to Win.
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Imagine for a moment that you and your family go out to dinner and a movie tonight, and when you come home and drive up in front of the house, the house is not there. It’s burned to the ground, crisp, toast, a few burnt two-by-fours here and there, and there’s a fireplace standing up against the moonlit sky, and that’s it. Everything’s gone. Now, that would be a tragedy. It would be horrible. And you and your family go find your motel somewhere and you’d cry a little bit and sit and stare at each other. But assuming your house is properly insured, right up to market value and replacement value, have you ever thought about how free you would be the next morning? The insurance will pay off the mortgage, so on the first of the month, you’ve got cash in hand and you do not have to write a check for your mortgage. You don’t have to clean out the garage Sunday like you’d plan to do. You don’t have to worry about fertilizing the yard, or you don’t have to worry about ironing the clothes that backed up on you last week. The list of repairs you had to do around the house, well, that burned up with the house, so you can forget about that. You can forget about going out and buying some storage space because of all the extra stuff that had built up in your garage over time you couldn’t even get around and couldn’t keep straight. You know, we rarely consider what a burden our things can become, our stuff, all the stuff that crams up our garage and our closets and our storage space and our lives. We don’t realize how complicated our possessions make our lives. There was a day when one of the crowd that was around Jesus came to him and said, Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me. That’s a strange thing to ask of Jesus, but we learn that oftentimes rabbis in those days were asked to judge between people on different things. But Jesus was having none of it. He said, this is in Luke 12, by the way, verse 14. He said to the man, man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? And he said to the whole crowd, take heed and beware of covetousness. For a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses. Now, when I read that passage, I can’t help thinking back to a simpler time when my wife and I were newly married and as poor as church mice. We rented a three-room apartment. No, not three-bedroom, three rooms. It had a kitchen, had a bed-sitting room combined, and a bathroom. with a shower stall that was just concrete and had no tile on it. We rode the bus everywhere we went, and we were as happy as a young couple could be. I remember finally buying a second-hand motor scooter. It was a Cushman with kind of a tattered seat on it and rusted out here and there. But it ran, and it got us where we wanted to go, and I still remember one night riding home from a movie, my bride behind me and both of us singing, “‘Hi, Lily, hi, Lily, hi, lo,’ at the top of our lungs over the putter of the motor scooter.” and people looking at us as we rode by thinking we were just a little bit nuts, but we were in love, and we had a life. We had something far more important than cars and houses and clothes and possessions and all that stuff. We had a life. We’ve managed since then to accumulate 45 years’ worth of stuff, which has made our life a lot more complicated, but I can’t honestly tell you it has given us any more of a life than we had when we had next to nothing. If we had to start all over again, with nothing except the two of us, we would have no less a life than we have right now. Jesus was right. A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things that he possesses. And he went on to say to these people gathered around, he said, with a parable, the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. And he thought inside himself saying, now, what am I going to do? I don’t have room to bestow all my fruits. I got too much stuff here. I don’t know what to do with all my stuff. I kind of identify with that. Last time I looked in the storage room in my garage, I thought one of these days I’m going to have to get in here and get some of that stuff out of here and maybe give it away and I even caught myself thinking about getting a storage room outside. This guy says, what am I going to do about this? I don’t have any room for all this stuff. And he said, I know what I’ll do. I’ll pull down my barns and build greater. And I’ll put all my fruits and my goods in all these things. And I will say to my soul, soul, you have much goods laid up for many years. Take your ease. Eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him, You fool, this night your life shall be required of you. And then whose shall these things be that you have stored up? So is he that lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. Now, I don’t think Jesus meant to say that God killed the poor sap because of the fact that he had said to himself, I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger barns. I don’t think that his success was the reason God did him in. I don’t even think God killed him because he was not rich toward God. I think what he meant was that man’s time to die was coming naturally that night. And what good were all of his possessions after that? The purpose of the parable is to underline the difference between things and life. They’re not the same. In the modern world, it seems to me to be increasingly difficult for some people to understand that things are not life and life is not things, and to be able to think in terms of, let’s say, putting a little pack on your back and heading up the Appalachian Trail and learning how to live without all your things. Well, what do you tell someone who is obsessed with things? There’s a phrase in the vernacular today that I kind of like. It’s actually based on the teachings of Jesus. What you tell that guy is, hey, man, get a life. And Jesus said to his disciples, he said, I say unto you, take no thought for your life. What you shall eat, neither for the body or what you shall put on. I want you to realize, first of all, that early on in this thing, he’s talking to the crowd when he makes that earlier statement. Now he turns and speaks to his disciples. There has been a subtle shift here. And he’s telling these men, I don’t want you to have to take any thought for your life, what you shall eat, neither for the body, what you shall put on. The life is more than food, and the body is more than clothes. Look at the ravens. They don’t sow. They don’t reap. They have no storehouse. They have no barn. And God feeds them. How much better are you than fowls? Now, one of the things to understand about this is that Jesus wants this particular group of men to be free of care completely. The reason is because they’re going to be on the road. They’ll be going from town to town, from house to house. They’ll be talking to people, preaching to people, explaining the gospel of the kingdom of God. He doesn’t want them looking over their shoulders all the time and wondering what’s going on at home, what’s happening to my investments. The truth is that a man with a family does have to take some thought for clothes that are going to keep his children warm. He does have to plan ahead and see to it there’s going to be food on the table to feed his wife and his children. That’s a responsibility. But these men in this time and this place, Jesus wanted them totally unencumbered. Now, I don’t think that means that you and I can dismiss all this. Because in this, I think, are some very important teachings that tell us what we should do and how we should think about life and how we should think about possessions. He said to his disciples, which of you, with taking thought, can add one cubit to his stature? Go ahead. Try it. Stand yourself up against the wall. It’s real straight. Put a mark above your head and then concentrate on being taller and just see how much difference it makes. Now, if you can’t do that, what are you worried about the rest of it for? Consider the lilies, how they grow. They don’t work. They don’t spin. And look, Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now, if God will clothe the grass, which is today in the field and tomorrow is cast into the oven, why won’t you trust him to take care of you, O ye of little faith? It’s funny how often Jesus told his disciples that, O ye of little faith. And here they were with Jesus himself all the time, day and night, most of the time. And he keeps telling them, oh, ye of little faith. I guess maybe we don’t have to be quite so guilty about the lack of faith we have from time to time. We probably think that if we were with Jesus and we were around him all the time that we’d have more faith. Well, we probably would. But more still might not be very much. He goes on to tell these men, he says, don’t seek what you shall eat or what you shall drink, and don’t be of doubtful mind. All these things the nations of the world seek after. Your father knows you have need of these things. You seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. You just keep your focus right. You keep the things that are really important before your eyes. Don’t worry. The rest of this stuff will follow right along. Fear not, little flock. It’s your father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Now, there’s one thing I think we should always try to remember when we’re reading through something like this in the Bible. is that here sits Jesus on a rock on a hillside somewhere, and gathered around him are his disciples. You’ve got to remember who he’s talking to all the time, because if you lose track of who he’s talking to, you may not get the sense of the message and how it might apply to you. For indeed, some of the things that he is saying to these men are said to full-time religious workers who are in the field serving Jesus Christ in the first century in a very different time, in a very different place. And you’ve also got to bear in mind that later on, Jesus, when he sends out a group of men, will tell them, take money, get yourself ready, be prepared, because you’re going to go out as sheep among wolves. So these instructions, they have a message for life, but they are also pretty specific to the time and the place in which they were living and working. Fear not, little flock, he said. It’s your father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Go sell what you have and give alms and provide yourself bags that don’t wax old. Now you see what I mean about knowing who he’s talking to? We’re not required to go out and sell everything we have and give alms to the poor with it. That’s an instruction for his disciples at that time. They needed to be unencumbered for the work that they were doing. And yet at the same time, he says that in the process of doing this, you provide yourself with bags that don’t wax old and a treasure in heaven that doesn’t fail, where no thief can approach, no moth can corrupt. And then he reminds them, where your treasure is, that’s where your heart is. He continued to say, let your loins be girded about and your lights be burning. In other words, keep your clothes on in the evening and keep your lights on. Work on into the evening. And you yourselves be like men that wait for their Lord when he will return from the wedding, so that when he comes and knocks, they may open to him immediately. This is a mandate to his working disciples that they work hard, they work into the night, that they be ready all the time. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he comes, shall find watching. Verily I say unto you that he shall gird himself and make them sit down to meet and will come and serve them. There’s a big blessing ahead for those of God’s servants who really keep their nose to the grindstone and work hard. And if he shall come in the second watch or come in the third watch and find them so, blessed are those servants. It doesn’t make any difference if it’s all night long you stay up and you stay ready. Know this. If the good man of the house had known in what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. You be ready, for the Son of Man comes at an hour when you think not. Now that’s a sobering thought. I’ve heard so many people talk about when they think the Lord’s coming back. Well, here’s one clue. If you think he’s coming back next year, you pretty well have established he’s not. Then Peter said to him, Lord, are you speaking this parable to us? Are you saying this to everybody? And the Lord said, Who is that faithful and wise servant whom the Lord shall make ruler over his household to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant whom the Lord, when he comes, shall find so doing. Of a truth I say to you, he’ll make him ruler over all that he has. In other words, anyone who is a steward of God, a servant of Christ, this is for them. And if that servant shall say in his heart, Well, my Lord delays his coming. He’s going to take a long time. And begins to beat the men servants and the maidens. And to eat and drink and be drunken. The Lord of that servant will come in a day when he isn’t looking for him. And an hour when he’s not expecting him. And will cut him asunder. And he will appoint him as portion with the unbelievers. You just got to be ready all the time. Jesus will say more on that, and I’ll come back to it after these words.
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Could Jesus Christ return tonight? Well, he could if he wanted to, but aren’t there things that have to happen first? If you would like to know what these things are, request the free program, Could Christ Return Tonight? Write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. Or call toll free 1-888-BIBLE-44. And tell us the call letters of this radio station.
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Jesus continued with a warning here that I think is applicable to any man, any woman, any time, any place. He said, For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required. And to whom men have committed much, of him will they ask a whole lot more. Now that’s really fascinating, that passage, because it tells you some very important things. One, it tells you that just because you are ignorant of the law does not mean you’re going to get off when you break it. You break it, it’s going to hurt. However, it says that if you know better and do it, the punishment is going to be a great deal more severe. That’s logical. It makes sense. It makes sense in this world, and obviously it also made a whole lot of sense to Jesus. He said, I am come to send fire on the earth, and I wish it were already kindled, but I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished. This is an interesting insight into this man. this man of few words, this man of God, this son of God, when people look at him and they think as though he walked through life leading a charmed life all the way, that he tossed off trials and tribulations with great ease as though there were no problem to him at all, they forget about the Garden of Gethsemane. They forget about the agony. They forget about the sweat like great drops of blood. And they forget that all through Jesus’ life, he knew what lay at the end of his ministry. And he says, I wish it was over. I wish it was done. I have to go through this baptism by fire. And until it’s all over with, I’m under a great deal of stress. It’s kind of hard to think of him that way, isn’t it? He went on to say, do you suppose I’m come to give peace on earth? We love to sing about that at Christmas time. But he said, I tell you, no, but rather division. For from henceforth, there should be five in one house divided, three against two and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, the son against the father, the mother against the daughter, the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against the daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. What’s he talking about? Well, what he’s talking about is that in that world at that time, that whenever someone accepted Jesus, his message, his messiahship, that it was not at all uncommon for his family to reject him, for him to actually be thrown out of the house, for his father to turn against him, for his mother to turn against him, for a mother who had accepted Jesus Christ to have her own children turn against her. Seems terrible, doesn’t it? And one really wonders how in that world and how in our world religion can divide between family members, the very closest of family members, people who love one another, and how even husbands and wives who loved one another so much as newlyweds can come to a bitter separation over a matter of religion. It happens. And, of course, Jesus said it will happen. He also said to the people, when you see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway you say, there’s going to be a shower. And you’re right. And when you see the south wind blow, you say, boy, it’s going to get hot. Down there, of course, the south wind was coming up from Egypt. You say it’s going to get hot, and sure enough, it does. You hypocrites, you can discern the face of the sky and the earth. How come you can’t discern this time? And so we might sit here ourselves and say, and if Jesus were walking your streets, if he was on your nightly television talk show, and he looked into the camera and he said to you hypocrites, You know all about the weather. You can give me all the stuff about the weather. You know whether it’s going to rain tonight. You know what percentage of chance it’s going to rain tonight. How come you can’t look at the political scene in this country and know where you’re going? How come you can’t look at your public schools and read the signs of the times and know what destruction they are wreaking on the future lives of your own children? How come you can’t see these things? Yea, he says, and why even of yourselves do you not judge what is right? The answer is you really don’t know the difference between right and wrong anymore. And when you go with your adversary to the magistrate, as you’re in the way, I’ll tell you, you give diligence to settle with him out of court, lest he hail you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer cast you into prison. I tell you, you won’t get out until you’ve paid the last mite. What he’s saying is these tough times that we’re in, you’d better get this thing settled as quick as you can out of court. Don’t look at me and expect me to get you out.
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I’ll be back with more of the words of Jesus right after this. For a free copy of this radio program that you can share with friends and others, write or call this week only and request the program titled The Words of Jesus, number 17. Write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. Or call toll free 1-888-BIBLE44. And tell us the call letters of this radio station.
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When tragedy strikes your life does it mean you’re a bad person? I can imagine some of the thoughts that went through people’s minds as a result of some kid walking into a school and shooting up a classroom, or the kids who gave a false alarm on the fire system when some of the children and teachers ran outside, they opened fire on them. I can imagine the community or perhaps some of the people who knew some of the people saying, well, God’s judgment came upon them for whatever reason he think they thought it did. When tragedy strikes your life, does it mean you’re bad? No, not at all. But you know, this was a common belief in Jesus’ day. If your life was working, well, it was because God was pleased with you. If tragedy struck, well, he must be under a curse. It was a pretty common way of looking at things at the time. But Jesus didn’t want to let that stand. In Luke 13 and verse 1, he says this. There were some present at that season that told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. In other words, they were offering sacrifices and had killed the animals and the blood was there. And along come Pilate and killed them. And their blood ran in among the blood of their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said, do you suppose these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans because they suffered such things? There’s a tendency perhaps to say, boy, that terrible thing happened to them. It wouldn’t happen to me because I’ve got God’s blessing. I have God’s protection. God’s keeping these things from happening to me. Jesus puts the question to them. Do you think they were sinners above all other people like them because this happened to them? I tell you, no. But except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. He didn’t say that the Galileans were innocent. In fact, he seems to imply nobody is. Because he comes back and says, unless you repent, the same things, or the same sort of thing, is going to happen to you. Or those 18 upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them. One day it just collapsed on them, and a whole bunch of them died. Do you think they were sinners above everyone who was living in Jerusalem at the time? And that’s why God got them. I tell you, no. But unless you repent, you’re going to die too. He spoke also this parable. A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came and he looked for fruit on it, and he didn’t find any. He said to the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, I’ve come here three years looking for fruit on this fig tree, and I haven’t found any. Cut it down. What’s it standing here cumbering the ground for? And he answered him and said, Lord, let it alone this year also till I dig about it and fertilize it. And if it bear fruit well, and maybe after that, we can cut it down. What’s that saying to me? What’s it saying to you? Well, the first thing it says is that God expects to find some fruit in our lives. He gives us blessings. He gives us a chance to occupy a space of his ground, as it were. And he expects something out of us. And when he comes… He doesn’t just come once and find no fruit and get disappointed. He comes twice, and there’s still nothing there. Well, he’s still giving us room. But there comes a point in time where we’ve had our chance. And he said, cut it down. But what’s interesting is that one more or less in the position of Jesus to the Father says, look, let’s give him a break. Let me dig around it and fertilize it. Now, how’s that going to work in your life? Well, we all know what fertilizer is. And the implication is that we’re going to get all of our roots dug up a little bit. And we’re going to get some fertilizer thrown on us. And then we’ve got a chance to turn some things around. It comes right after the warning about tragedies that says, no, these people are no worse than anybody else. And the tragedies that strike your life do not mean that you’re a bad person any worse than anybody else. But I will tell you this. They may well be a warning from God. They may well be chastisement from God. They may well be a kind of a digging up of the dirt around your feet, a throwing of a little fertilizer into your life to give you a chance to bear some fruit, to produce some results, and to be a different person for God. The same day, Jesus went out and sat by the seaside, and there were a lot of people gathered around. So he got into a ship, and he sat down there, and they pushed it off to the shore. And this way he could speak to them from the boat, and people could spread up and down and hear him much better across the water. He spoke many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow.” And when he sowed, he said, Some seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them up. Some fell on stony places where they had no earth, and forthwith they sprung up because there was no depth there. But when the sun came up, they were scorched, and because they hadn’t got a good root system, they just withered away. And some of the seed fell among thorns, and the thorns sprung up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good ground and brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.” He who has ears to hear, let him hear. And the disciples said to Jesus, Why are you speaking to these people in parables? Now why would they ask that? Isn’t a parable a little story that Jesus uses to make his meaning clear? No, it’s not. But that story will have to wait until next time. Until then, I’m Ronald Dart, and you were born to win.
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The Born to Win radio program with Ronald L. Dart is sponsored by Christian Educational Ministries and made possible by donations from listeners like you. If you can help, please send your donation to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. You may call us at 1-877-7000. 888-BIBLE44 and visit us online at borntowin.net.
SPEAKER 01 :
Christian Educational Ministries is happy to announce a new full-color Born to Win monthly newsletter with articles and free offers from Ronald L. Dart. Call us today at 1-888-BIBLE44 to sign up or visit us at borntowin.net.
