Parables: The Parable of the Rich Fool Study Guide

This past weekend, we continued our “Parables” series as special guest Alan Platt returned to Calvary to share from the Parable of the Rich Fool. In this message, we explored three amazing things we can experience in Christ, we discovered the life-changing gift of contentment, and we learned why we shouldn’t place our value in stuff.

Watch the video below to see a few highlights from the teaching and share it with your friends via social media. To watch the message in its entirety, click here.


For the Note Takers

The Greatest Freedom Is to be Able to Appreciate Without Coveting: Contentment makes a poor man rich; discontentment makes a rich man poor. We spend an absurd amount of time  acquiring, moving, storing, and insuring stuff! So often, instead of making our stuff work for us, we end up working for our stuff; instead of our stuff serving us, we serve our stuff. We buy things we don’t need, often with money we don’t have, to impress people we don’t even like.

Two Primary Myths About Stuff

  1. More stuff will make you happy: Often people feel the illusion of a happy moment when they get more stuff—a brief moment of exhilaration. The reason for this “happy” moment is not because we got what we wanted, but because for a brief moment in time, we stopped wanting, and thus we experience a moment of happiness. Sadly, it doesn’t last very long and we immediately go back to wanting. And even worse, now we want even more. Nothing we get will ever be enough. This creates an obsession with stuff, which reveals a false identity and an internal discontentment. Interestingly, many times you don’t need to add more things to your life; instead you need to give some up!
  2. More stuff gives you more security: Proverbs 18:11 (MSG) says, “The rich think their wealth protects them; they imagine themselves safe behind it.” To address this, Jesus shares a parable that we call the Parable of the Rich Fool. What we discover through this parable is that those who lay up treasures for themselves on earth, who put their trust in their resources and their stuff, who place their security in earthly things, are not rich toward God. Jesus is challenging us to shift our appetite.

Five Tips to Live By

  • See God as your source
  • Live within your means
  • Get out of debt
  • Bless God’s work
  • Create a giving culture

Three Things We Have in Christ

  1. Identity: We are complete in Christ, accepted, secure, and significant in the eyes of the Father. And it is the Father who defines our identity. He has called us sons and daughters, He has adopted us. Sadly, many Christians walk around living with an orphan spirit; they’ve traded their sonship for an orphan lifestyle.
  2. Intimacy: The reward of Christianity is not heaven, but a restored intimacy with the Father. Heaven promises the full experience of this relationship!
  3. Sufficiency: Because of this restored union between us and the Father through Jesus Christ, we always have abundance for every good work.

Quote to Remember: Not knowing who you are will make you chase after stuff to try to fill the void of the false self.—Pastor Alan Platt


QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

As you think about this weekend’s teaching, here are a few questions to reflect on and consider on your own, with your family, or in your group.

1. What are the primary myths about stuff? 

2. How have you seen these myths about stuff impact your life and your relationship with the Lord?  

3. What does it look like to have God as your source? How would that change the way you view your life and the way you live your life? 

4. Where do you place your identity? 


VISION 2023: GET IN THE STORY!

Imagine a city filled with the hope of Jesus . . . Imagine schools, businesses, neighborhoods, families, entire communities walking with Jesus, loving one another, living generously, and radiating the truth of the gospel. Imagine South Florida full of people who are connected to God, one another, and to those in need! That’s what Vision 2023 is all about! It’s a city-changing, five-year vision to make 60,000 new, passionate, fully-devoted disciples by 2023.

We believe as God’s people saturate the region with the gospel, generosity grows, stronger families are formed, the elderly are cared for, orphans, addicts, and widows find lasting hope, and true social changes happens.

Do you want to see South Florida changed for Christ? Click here to get in the story today!


A LOOK AHEAD

Do you have a divine burden for something the Lord has put on your heart? In week three of our sanctuary class series, Pastor Doug will explore how our burdens, passions, and gifts can be used by God to impact the world and change lives.

This weekend is Mother’s Day! We hope you’ll join us for a very special family service as Pastor Doug honors and shares a powerful word for all the moms, grandmothers, and spiritual moms at our church.

If you don’t have Mother’s Day plans just yet, reserve a table for your family at The Grill for our annual Mother’s Day Brunch! Enjoy a delicious selection of entrees and breakfast specialties, carving stations, a Japanese sushi station, an elaborate dessert display, fresh fruit displays, roses for Mom and Grandma, and more. Brunch hours are from 10am until 3pm, so even if you don’t attend the Fort Lauderdale campus, you can still make it out.

About the Author

Danny Saavedra

Danny Saavedra is a licensed minister who has served on staff at Calvary since 2012, managing the Calvary Devotional and digital discipleship resources. He has a Master of Arts in Pastoral Counseling and Master of Divinity in Pastoral Ministry from Liberty Theological Seminary. His wife Stephanie, son Jude, and daughter Zoe share a love of Star Wars, good food, having friends over for dinner, and studying the Word together as a family.