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Sermon: On Guard Against Covetousness

Sermon: On Guard Against Covetousness

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 Text: Luke 12:13-21Liturgical Date: Pentecost 8 Proper 13 CCalendar Date: August 3, 2025Preacher: Rev. Dr. Christopher D. JacksonLocation: Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church in Door CountySaint Peter’s Lutheran Church serves Sturgeon Bay and other locations around Door County. The following transcript was produced with the assistance of AI. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Back, when I was five years old, I made my dad so proud. My dad is, also an ordained minister, and, uh, he asked me, “Chris, what did Jesus do for you?” And I said, “Jesus died on the cross to take away my sins.” And, oh, I think my mom had to sew a few buttons back on his shirt ‘cause it swelled up so big, his chest did. He was so proud that his five-year-old could give that answer. And then I just quickly pricked a hole in that swelling chest when I said, “Jesus should give them back.” Introduction to Covetousness Jesus said, “Beware of all covetousness,” or in some translations, “Beware against every form of covetousness.” And that’s our theme for today. We’re gonna be talking about three forms of covetousness. We could probably talk about many more, but we’re gonna talk about three forms of covetousness. First of all, jealousy. Second of all, misuse of earthly wealth, and then finally, hanging on to our sins. The Parable and Jealousy Christ preaches this parable today in response to a man who said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Now, that might seem a little confusing to us. Aren’t inheritances normally divided? But this wasn’t the case in the time and place of Christ. It seems to be the idea that they wanted to preserve farms and industries in whole. In other words, they didn’t wanna divide up one farm into smaller farms and therefore compromise the entire operation. Or they didn’t wanna divide up one cattle operation or one sheep operation into multiple flocks or herds because that would weaken the whole. And so the idea was to keep these sorts of assets together in order to keep the whole operation strong. And we still see that, by the way, in various places around the world. So inheritance was different than what we might expect. Essentially, what they would do is they would pass on the bulk of the inheritance to the eldest son. And it seems to be the case that one of the younger siblings of this eldest son wasn’t particularly happy with this, and so he sought relief from Jesus: “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” I actually wonder if the brother was sitting there glaring at his own brother at that time. I think it’s very much possible. But Jesus refuses to get into the middle of this argument. And really, why? Because this was a form of covetousness that this brother was showing. “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house.” With these words, God instructed us not to have undue desire for the possessions of somebody else, but rather to be content with the possessions and the material abundance the Lord has given us. And this is the first form of covetousness that Jesus summons us against. God calls us to rejoice with those who rejoice. And so, if the Lord has blessed somebody else in a way that He has not blessed us, that’s not a reason for weeping and gnashing our teeth and being jealous and angry and bitter. Rather, that’s a cause for us Christians to rejoice. I praise the Lord that the Lord has blessed you in this way. This is part of God’s wisdom. He created this world with differences baked into it. It’s not just some formless blob where everything is the same. And who would wanna live in a world like that? But the Lord has blessed us each in our own way. To some, He has given business acumen; to another, He has given artistic skill. Uh, to one, He’s given the ability to speak and the ability to teach; to another, He’s granted the ability to work with the hands. And even as the Lord has gifted us differently in all these ways, also the Lord gives us different gifts materially, and that’s a cause to rejoice. Certainly, we are also called to weep with those who weep, and so therefore we show sympathy with those who have less than us. We’re gonna get to that in the next point. But as Christians, we’re called to rejoice in the blessings the Lord has granted others, whether that’s material or relationally, which gets to the Tenth Commandment: “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, or his manservant, or maidservant, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” Back when I served in the suburbs in Lexington, Kentucky, that part about your ox or donkey was metaphorical here. That’s literal with a point. No matter what, it’s the same. The Lord grants us different relationships as well. He has granted some to have families, others to be single. He has granted some to have many friends, some to have a select group of friends. ...
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