Bible Study / Luke 12

Get Started:
1. Do you plan on retiring some day? What do you plan to do when you retire?

Go Deeper:
2. In a previous Bible study, we studied the Lord’s Prayer. What difference in attitude do you notice between the prayer for “our daily bread” and the man’s attitude in Luke 12:19?

• I suppose you no longer need to pray for daily bread if you have “plenty of good things laid up for many years.”

3. In Luke 12:15, Jesus uses the phrases “watch out!” and “be on your guard.” Is greed something that attacks you from without or within? How can you be on your guard against the sin of greed?

4. Jesus refers to “all kinds” of greed in this passage. Is there more than one kind of greed?

• Greed is not reserved for money only. A person can be greedy for material possessions, talents, abilities, compliments, looks, power, food, knowledge, etc.

5. The man’s life was demanded from him in verse 20. Who demanded it? Why is the man called a fool by God?

6. Read Luke 16:11-13 and Luke 12:21. Is it possible to do both store up for yourself and be rich toward God?

7. Read Luke 12:20 and Ecclesiastes 2:18-19. What is the common concern that is in view in these two passages? Read Luke 12:21. What is the remedy for the concern?

• There seems to be a question in both passages about who gets the wealth that was stored up and how will that person use it? Let’s not forget that the passing on of this wealth comes rather suddenly and unexpectedly.
• It appears that the remedy is to be “rich toward God.” While we don’t know for sure who ends up with what we have stored up for ourselves and how it will be used, we do know for sure that God is always faithful and that He is no fool!

8. What does it mean to be rich toward God? What practical steps would you suggest to someone who wants to take being rich toward God seriously?

• The worldly view of riches has to do with how much a person can accumulate for himself. What God gives a person is stored up for personal use.
• God’s view of riches has to do with how much a person gives away. What God gives a person is given back to Him for His purposes.

Put it into practice:
1) Are you particularly vulnerable to a certain kind of greed? Pray about this.
2) Do you have the desire to be rich toward God but are unsure where or how to begin? Pray about this.


Quote Of The Week:
I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare.
In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charitable expenditures excludes them.
--C.S. Lewis