Living Stones – Thursday, March 1, 2018
Children property
Luke 12:15
Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.
In Guyana, there is a concept called ‘children-property,’ or in the vernacular, ‘chirren-property.’ A piece of property comes to be described as children-property when a parent dies intestate and their children are locked in a fight for control of the property.
This is usually mentioned when a question is asked about the state of the property especially if it is observed to be deteriorating. The explanation usually is that it is children-property. When you hear that, you know that the sibling feuds over the property are yet unresolved and so the property has fallen into disrepair. Another context for this is if an attempt is being made to purchase a piece of property and the owners cannot seem to arrive at a decision to sell or at what price.
Division of property after the death of someone, or after divorce is, more often than not, a very difficult and painful process. The pain from this process can sometimes be greater than the actual pain of losing someone.
The property battles of families are often a function of greed, in part at least, and a function of the tendency, we all have, to want to accumulate material things because in them we see security, power, and victory.
Jesus met a young man in a story recorded in Luke 12:13-21. The young man had a serious domestic problem. Clearly, someone, probably his father, had died and he and his brother were locked in the dispute over the division of property. The brother might have also been present because he asked Jesus to tell his brother to “to divide the inheritance” with him.
The Jewish laws on inheritance and division of property were very clear, but law has never stopped property disputes because, as we have already observed, these disputes stem from attitudes and emotions that cannot be covered by law. In this case, the law would have required that the older brother receive twice the value that was to be given to the younger brother, Deuteronomy 21:17.
Jesus responded to this young man but stayed clear of the family dispute and the law. Jesus wanted to teach a fundamental principle about things and their accumulation because, at the core of these disputes, are a condition of the heart that must be addressed first.
Pointing out that He had no juridical authority in the matter, even though the Jews of that time usually took such disputes to the Rabbis, He challenged the young man to reassess how he viewed his life, and what were the things that gave him real worth and value. The reason this young man was unhappy with his portion of the inheritance was not legal, it was moral.
Way back in the ten commandments, which we could argue was legal code, God had warned against covetousness. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.” Exodus 20:17.
Covetousness, wrote Francis Schaeffer, “is entirely inward, and it applies to all other commandments. Coveting is the reverse side of the law of love.” According to Schaeffer, this goes to the condition of the heart. It is our desire to have what someone else has and to envy them for their gifts, possessions, or even place of leadership. Schaeffer argued that “we break this last commandment, not to covet before we break any of the others. “
Jesus tells this young man that he has to have an appropriate value system. That his life must not be measured by the “abundance of the things he possesses” because such a yardstick would force him to covet. To covet is to break the moral law of God.
Covetousness is at the core of the break down of most human relationships whether those are family relationships, friendships, business relationships, or relationships in church. The base sinful human drive to have more than the other person and to, if necessary, see them stripped of their possessions, position, or power in order for us to feel good about ourselves is what causes the breakdown.
Jesus goes on to tell a story about a man who was blessed with an abundant harvest and was so consumed with his expansion that he even forgot God. On the face of it, this story seems to have strayed away from Jesus’ point about covetousness, however, when examined again it is entirely about covetousness. It is about a man who, so consumed with possessions and the value that he thinks it would give him over others, that he speaks only to himself and flies in the face of God. He is not even thankful to God but covets God’s power for himself.
Jesus ends by telling the young man that ultimately, destruction is ahead for him who covets and places material possessions above relationships including our relationship with God. “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” Luke 12:21.
There was another young man that Jesus met, he too had a value system that, though he served God, he could not see value outside of his possessions. He is well known as the Rich Young Ruler, being very wealthy he left in a very sorrowful state because Jesus challenged him to “Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” Luke 18:22.
It is possible for us to find ourselves thinking that we are worshipping God, but we are really serving ourselves. We are pursuing our own things in which we hope to find value, worth and security. Covetousness taints our relationship with others, including family, and blinds us even to our need for a right relationship with God.
Think on these things:
- What things are of the greatest value to you?
- Have you had any relationships that have ended over covetousness on your part or that of the other person?
- How have material things affected relationships in your family?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that we would not covet.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex