In over 20 years of pastoral ministry, no one has ever entered my study to confess their sin of greed or covetousness. They’ve confessed other sins, but not that one. Is that true of your ministry too? If it is true of your ministry context, then preaching Jesus’ teaching in Luke 12:13-21 is extremely important.

In verse 15 Jesus commands, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness…” He follows that up with a frightening parable. I realized that if I was going to be faithful to this Text, I needed to do what God was doing. God was putting the fear of God in us.

Last week I had the privilege of conducting a preaching workshop at Lancaster Bible College. One of the segments included observations about how Jonathan Edwards motivated his listeners to apply the Scriptures by moving back and forth between fear and love (fear of God and love for God). Jesus clearly employs a scare tactic (you might decide that term needs an adjustment) when He says in v. 20, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you…”

I doubt that many, if any, of our parishioners realize the power and presence of this sin. But I know you won’t let them remain in that condition for long. Sooner or later, you’ll preach a Text and/or topic that will provide an opportunity to guard them against this rarely confessed sin.

Preach well for the reputation of Christ in the Church and in the world.

This post was originally published on March 13, 2014.