Track one. Who made me a judge? Turn your Bibles, if you would, to Luke in chapter 12. And you've got to help me with a little question that I have for you. What is it that connects covetousness and conflict? Or is there any connection? And what verse of Scripture would help you to understand that? Well, it's not in Luke, although Luke will help us in some ways. It's James chapter 4. From whence comes wars and fighting amongst us? It's always for the same reason. Anytime you see two people who can't get along, or two groups of people who can't get along, James tells us the answer is always the same. It's covetousness. It's envy. I want something you got, or you have something I want, or whatever it is. And pretty soon we're in conflict. And tonight we have a parable that's going to help us to understand the connection between conflict and covetousness. And we're going to study a parable from this Jerusalem document. And as you study this Jerusalem document, Luke chapter 9 through Luke chapter 19, basically, you understand the Jewish chasmic structure. And in Luke chapter 12, there's going to be a parable that most of us think is a parable about covetousness. And it is, except It is also a parable that's in the context of conflict. Have you ever tried to resolve conflict between two people? What happened? It's kind of like trying to take two cats that are fighting and separate them, right? And when it's all done, you're scratched, blood all over you, and they're both your enemies. And I used to try to resolve conflict between two people. I used to think that was my job. But I like Luke chapter 12. Because it helps me understand a little bit about that truth. You may hiss and boo or whatever you want to react as I read this account is if you were living in that day and it will begin in verse 13. Then one from the crowd said to him, teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. But he said to a man who made me a judge in an arbitrator over you. And he said to them, take heed. And beware of covetousness for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses. Then he spoke a parable to them, saying the ground of a certain rich man, you did plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, what shall I do since I have no room to store my crops? And he said, I would do this. I will pull down my barns and build greater. And there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, and enjoy life. But God said to him, you fool, this night your soul will be required of you. Then whose will those things be which you have provided? So is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God. Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Father, we do pray that you'd help us to just allow this truth to infiltrate our lives. There's so many things going on in these stories. context that we need to be real careful to catch it all. And so we want to do that tonight. We pray that your spirit would help us in that. We pray it in Jesus name. Amen. Don't you just love it when you teach something? Whether it's Sunday school or a morning message or whatever it is you're teaching, maybe it's your kids, and you just get through the whole thing that you're teaching. And when you get all done with it, somebody comes up to you and says something that tells you it just went like right over their heads. I remember once I was teaching in Rochester and I was talking about the reality that as brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, the word of God says this, that if you're a brother offender, if you have offended a brother, you don't tell other people about it. You've got to go to that person and handle it in a very private manner. It's inappropriate to come to the pastor and say, you know, I have a problem with so-and-so. It's inappropriate to go to your wife and say, I've got a problem with so-and-so. It's inappropriate to go to a deacon. It's inappropriate to go to anybody. You're supposed to go to that person and keep it private. If you can't go to the person, then you've got to forgive them anyway. I got down to the whole sermon. I'm standing in the back, shaking hands, and someone comes up to me and you know what they said? I said, Pastor, could you help me out? I have a problem with a brother. It's like, whoa, what planet were you from? Where were you when I was preaching? Well, I used to think that was just my problem. I'd preach and then somebody would say something after the service that says they didn't understand a word I was trying to say. Or maybe I just wasn't saying it well. But I now recognize that's not only my problem. That was the problem of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you read Luke chapter 12 in the first 12 verses, he is talking to the crowd infiltrated by some Pharisees, and he's talking about hypocrisy and Phariseeism, and he's basically saying, now, don't fear those who have power to take your life. Don't be afraid of those kinds of people. What you should fear is God. You should allow God to be the central focus of your life. God should be everything to you. He should be the most important thing in your life. And don't worry about people and events and things that are around you and things that really don't matter for all of eternity. Don't worry about all those things. Later on, at the end of this chapter, he's going to say, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. So the whole context that he's teaching is this. You should not fear or worry about the things of this world. You should fear and be very focused in on your God. And he gets done with that in verse 12. And some guy comes walking up to him and said, Well, what did he say? He says something that says he never caught a word the Lord Jesus Christ was talking about. He says this in verse 13, then one from the crowd. And by the way, you understand it in the parables and often in the Gospels, the Lord Jesus Christ just says this in one. We don't know if he's Jew or Gentile. We assume a lot of things. We don't know his name. We don't know anything about it. And he always does that. Why does Jesus Christ not identify who the person is? Well, we've been smart enough to figure out that Jesus Christ is a very effective teacher. And when he says, then one from the crowd, whenever he does that, I know who he's talking about. Don't you? Could be anyone from the crowd. He's probably talking about me. He wants me to say, you know, I wonder if he's talking about me. I wonder if this is a story about me. Now, our tendency is to say, I know how this relates to my neighbor, my wife or my kids or my whatever. But Christ wants us to say that might be me that he's talking about. So someone from the crowd and we don't know who it is because it could have been Richard Van Heukel except I didn't live there. He comes up to Jesus and he says, teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. What is wrong with that picture? What is wrong with a person whose father has died and what is the focus of his attention now is the inheritance. What is wrong with a guy like that? You recognize that what he is saying in his request is this. My dad died. And I think my brother got too much. Now, the Old Testament law had some instruction for how you divide inheritance. Even then, there were times when there were gray areas and things that were not understood. And so they would often call a rabbi or teacher. Now, the rabbis were supposed to know the law. And therefore, when you had a question about the law, you went to the rabbis. And since they know the law and they were the interpreters of the law, they had an authority about them. And if they said this is the way the law would interpret it, then you would expect that you would do it. And so he comes to Jesus. He says, Rabbi or teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. It's been said that whenever there's an inheritance, 99% of the people become wolves. That's why we have wills. So we know the kids will fight over it. You might say, well, this young guy has a legitimate problem. But notice the way he words it. He says, you go tell my brother to give me my money. Don't you love it when people say, I need you to help me in a conflict resolution situation. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to go tell the other guy exactly what I've already determined you should do. You're the rabbi. You're the pastor. You're the deacon. You're the dad. You're the Sunday school teacher. You have the authority. Now go tell him what I've already determined that you should do. And you recognize immediately that this person has a problem. not by asking the question, by telling the Lord Jesus Christ, the rabbi, what to do, he's way out of line. So what do you think Jesus is going to do? By the way, in this whole situation, you and I can learn some principles about conflict resolution. When people come to you and ask you to solve a conflict resolution, often they've already determined what you're supposed to do. Very seldom do they come and say, could you give us some advice? We're having a problem here. We will do whatever you tell us to do. You're the rabbi. You're the Sunday school teacher. You're the dad. Whatever you tell us to do, dad, we will do it. Now, when the kids come to you, they've already made up their mind. They've already determined what you're supposed to do. And often the cries for intervention are not cries for intervention. They are cries that say, you do what I tell you to do. So how do you handle that? And what would you do? I'll tell you what's natural to do. Anytime somebody comes to you with a conflict resolution, you say, you know, I have to get in this. I mean, after all, they asked me. I'm the rabbi. I'm the teacher. I'm the pastor. I'm the deacon. I'm the dad. I'm the mom. And besides, this is a serious problem. If we are believers in Jesus Christ, both Old Testament and New Testament saints have always recognized that it's a very serious thing when brothers and sisters are in conflict. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for the brethren to dwell in unity. That is so important to God's people, that whenever we see two brothers who are in conflict, We recognize something has to be done that is not appropriate for God's people. Remember the days of Abraham and Lot. When they were in conflict, they did whatever it took to settle that. Brothers don't fight. And so we say, you know, he called me rabbi. And this is a serious problem, and I think I can help. And so our natural response might be this, and this is what I used to get trapped in. I used to say, you know, I think you're right. The story you just told me sounds real good to me. I'll go tell your brother exactly what you just told me to say. Now, I only did that once. I'm not that dumb. You know, I only had to do it once and I figured out, you know, he trapped me. But sometimes we naturally relate to the person who has come to us and we say, OK, I'll help you out. And we believe every word they say. And before we check out the other side, we have been trapped and we have guaranteed that we will solve their problem. We have inherited the problem. Now, some of us are smart enough to say, I'm not going to listen to you and just take every word you say. I know there's two sides to every coin, but I will do this. I will help you solve the problem. I will go talk to the other person to hear their side of the story, then I will be the judge and arbitrator of this whole thing, and I will help out the situation. And so it's very natural, if we're not careful, to say, I have a moral responsibility because they asked me to do this, and I'm smart enough not to side with them while hearing the whole story, but I will accept the problem. It is now my problem. And when they walk out of my office, I have a big problem. I have to solve a conflict between two people. And already I should know he didn't ask for mediation. He asked for intervention. He didn't ask me for advice. He told me exactly what to do. Now, Jesus is much smarter than most of us. And this passage of Scripture helps us to understand exactly how to confront people who come to us with conflict problems and tell us what to do about it. He says this in verse 14, he said to the man, man, you got to catch that. That is a Jewish way of saying, you know, man, it's totally impersonal. He didn't say brother. He didn't say friend. He didn't say John. He said, man, he just distanced himself from him as far as he could. And he says, man, I'm pulling away from you. Who made me a judge and an arbitrator amongst you? Why do you think I have to do what you just told me to do? Jesus Christ was smart enough to say, I don't have any responsibility in this. You have a problem. You're going to download it on me and I'm not taking it. And some of us are smart enough after a period of time to know that that's the answer we give to people who come and ask for us to help them with problems. I don't have any responsibility when you've already made up your mind, you already know what's supposed to be doing. You're not asking for advice. You're not asking me to help. You're telling me what to do. I don't have any responsibility for this problem. Who made me the judge and the arbitrator amongst us? Now, you might wonder why Jesus said that. It may be some have suggested he said that because he was afraid to intrude in the rabbi's realm. I don't think that's why he said that. Some have said he said that because he said, you know, I'm above that. I don't deal with inheritance problems. You know, I came to preach the kingdom of God. I don't think that's why Jesus said that. I think Jesus said that. Because of what he says here. Who made me the judge? And the arbitrator between you A judge is one who decides. An arbitrator is one who divides. He says, what you're really asking me to do is to split your family. I refuse to do it. You and I recognize that the second lesson we learn here is not only that the cries are often not for mediation, they're for intervention. We also recognize the cries often have no goal for reconciliation. This young man did not come to Jesus because he said, my brother and I have a difference and I know the priority in God's program is that we get back together. He didn't want reconciliation with his brother. His cry was not for what God wanted. His cry was a selfish cry. And Jesus said, I will not split a family that is far more important than whether you get your inheritance or not. One of the things that's important in this whole situation is when it's all done, we will never know if this young man had a legitimate cry. It may be his case is a legitimate case. It may be that his brother stole it all. But that's not the issue here. And Christ knows that's not the issue. So the second thing we learn here is that this cry is not a cry for reconciliation. It is a cry that demands justice in a selfish way. And Jesus has correctly understood that. And Jesus said, I'm not going to divide families. That's not what I'm about. Now, you might think Jesus is a wimp. I mean, if you're strong, I mean, that's kind of when somebody asked me to do something, I don't want to look weak, you know. And you ask me to do something, I feel like I have a responsibility to prove that I'm a man enough to handle this, so I'm going to take this situation on. And now Jesus said, who made me the judge and arbitrator? You might think Jesus is a wimp. He said, I'm afraid to take on the case. I'm afraid to get in the middle. I just, I'm just going to wimp out on this thing. If you think that, then you have to read the next verse. You recognize Jesus is not a wimp. Jesus takes the hard course in this. He has already analyzed the situation by the very statement of this young man. He knows exactly what the problem is. So rather than giving this young man what he wants, which is what we are naturally going to do, he said, I'm going to tell you what your real problem is. He is not a wimp, he looks this man right in the eye. And he said, I'm going to tell you what your problem is. But as he does it, as you'll notice in verse 15, he said to them, it was to him in verse 14, to them in verse 15. So he's broadened it out. The whole crowd is listening. And it may be because he knows this young man's not going to listen anyway. This guy's too hard in what he's trying to do. But it may just be that he wants the whole crowd to learn from this situation. He wants you and me to learn from this situation. What is this young man's problem? If justice was served, would he be OK? Would the problem be solved? If he got his rightful inheritance, would the problem just disappear? Is that the problem? Jesus said, that's not your problem. Here is your problem. Verse 15, take heed. Watch out and beware, be on guard of covetousness. Why? For one's life does not consist in the abundance of things he possesses. He says, here's the real problem. And Jesus is very effective. I think to some extent he is turning to the crowds to soften the blow to the individual. And I know that that's true for all of us. It's easier for me to preach to a crowd than to look you in the eye personally and say, you have a problem. Because when I preach the crowd, you don't know if I'm talking to you or not specifically, you might think it's the guy next to you. And Jesus softens the blow he has as his desire that this young man would respond correctly. And so instead of hitting him between the eyes, he talks to the crowd in general. He said, now, here's the problem. The problem is covetousness. Now, you understand what that word means. It's a word that means, well, it describes what happens when you're out in the ocean, shipwrecked, no water. And all around you is water, except you have no water. Now, I've never been in that situation, but they tell me that if you're in that situation, that you just develop a thirst. And if you do take any water, the salt water, it'll only make you have a greater thirst. So which will make you have more water, which will create a greater thirst. And this is a word that simply says you have a thirst for more and for more and for more. And the more you get, the thirstier you get, the more you have, the more you want. It's an insatiable greed. It's an insatiable desire. That's what covetousness is in this passage. He says, and to the crowd with the young man listening, the problem is not justice. I could meet out justice or somebody could meet out justice here, but that is not the problem. Your problem is really covetousness. In fact, he is saying this, you know, young man, if you were not covetous, if you are not greedy, there would be no problems and the brethren would be able to live in unity and peace. The reason. That we should not be covetous, greedy, self-centered is given there in verse 15 as well. For one's life does not consist in the abundance of things he possesses. When you really think about it, he says, you got to look at the big picture. Your life does not consist in what you have, your cars and your houses and your inheritance and all those kinds of things. So why have you made that such an important priority in your life that you are willing to split your family over it? You are willing to lose a brother over this. You are willing to have your brother angry with you the rest of your life. You're willing to do that. What is there about earthly possessions that would possess you to the point that you would split your family? Life isn't about earthly possessions. Life isn't about what you have. So don't be covetous. And you recognize that the third element in this conflict resolution is to recognize that the cries that come to us need to be analyzed for what is the real problem. You see, they come to us and they say, you know, you got to go talk to so-and-so because, you know, they just burned me somehow. You guys sit there and say, that's not the problem. I know it's not the problem. What's the real problem? What's the real problem in their heart that causes them to have that attitude towards that brother? And then be smart enough to be able to get it out and verbalize it. So they recognize what their problem is. Now, this young man, and he's spoken in general to the crowds, and he said, now here's what the problem is. Here's what we can learn about this. It's not justice. It's really just covetousness. The young man apparently is not getting it. So, he says, I'm going to just tell a story. Jesus often does that. You know how you effectively and courageously really get into the heart of somebody? You remember Nathan had to confront David one day and David had been guilty of adultery and murder and all that stuff. So he didn't walk up to David and say, David, you know, you're guilty of murder and adultery and you're just a bum. You know what David would have done? He probably would have done what most of us do. We just defend ourselves, blame shift and everything else. No, Nathan is smart enough. When he has to confront David, he tells him a story. that David gets hooked on and David is condemning this rotten person. And then when it's all done, Nathan says to him, you're the man. And Christ is like that. And when there is conflict, sometimes it's tough to look a guy in the eye because he's not going to take it. He doesn't grab it. He doesn't understand it. So it'd be nice if we were smart enough to tell a story and they get all wrapped up in the story and they start to condemn this person that's in the story. And then when the story is all done, you've twisted it all around and you've just told them their own story. I'm not real good at that. I sure wish I was smarter at that. Here's how Christ did it. He spoke a parable to them, saying the ground of a certain man you did plentifully. You may react to that, by the way. How would you react to that? What if today I just said I won the Powerball? No, I better not do that. But what if I did? What would you say? Congratulations. Thank you. What if somebody does really well? How do you react? What do you do? What do you say? You don't know what to say, do you? The ground of a certain man. You get it? It was the ground of a certain man. You farmers ought to understand this. Who gets the credit here? Who is responsible for this abundant crop? When the ground of a certain man produces more than he ever dreamt of. You and I should have said, praise the Lord. The Lord is good. The Lord gives people ground and moisture and he gives them all this kind of stuff so that they have more than they need. The Lord is great and greatly to be praised. That's what we should have been saying when he said the ground of a certain man produced abundantly. We're kind of surprised because that's not the reaction of this man. We are told in verse 17, and this man thought within himself, saying, well, what should he have thought? What if this week God gave you more than you could ever dream of, more than you need? What should you do? What should be your reaction? Especially if you recognize you didn't really do it. When you recognize it was God who gave you that. It was God who gave you more than you need. What should be your thoughts? Well, they should not be the thoughts that this man has. He says this in verse 17. What shall I do? I have no room to store my crops. It's a legitimate question. Why did God give me all this stuff? Why did God give me all these crops? And He's not saying it that way, is He? Because He hasn't recognized God in it. But that's the way we should say it. Why did God give me so much? What did God have in His plan for me? Why did He want me to have more than enough bread? Why did He want me to have all this stuff? But He's not saying that. He's saying it this way. What shall I do? I have more than I need. So He said, verse 18, I will do this. I will pull down my barns and build greater. And there I will store all of my crops and my goods. Here's my plan. I'm going to store it up. I'm going to hoard it up. That's a great thing. God gave me all this stuff because he wants me to build bigger barns. He wants me to store it up. And then he says this and the purpose of it all in verse 19, and I will say to my soul, soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink and enjoy life. He says, you know, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to take what I have. I'm going to stock it up. I'm going to kick off my shoes and I'm going to enjoy life. Now, if you were this covetous man listening to the story in a Jewish setting, you know this guy's wrong. You know this guy has all the wrong attitudes about earthly possessions. He has all the wrong attitudes about where they come from and what you're supposed to do with it. You know from the Old Testament law that when God gives you more than you need, He gave you more than you need because He wants you to help others out. He gave you more than your need, not so that you could sit with your shoes off and relax and enjoy the rest of your life and vegetate the rest of your life. He gave you more than your need because he figured you were smart enough to be his steward and distribute it into his program the way he wants it done. That's why he gave you more than you need. And this guy doesn't have a clue. He is self-centered. And when this story is told, this covetous man should have been reacting that way. He should have been recognizing the danger of covetousness. He should have been recognizing what happens to a person who just thinks about himself and thinks about his goods. And when he gets more, he kicks off his shoes and says, this is an all right thing for me. Now, there's a play on words that you may or may not pick up in verse 19 and then in verse 20. Verse 19 says, I will say to my soul, soul, and that word is like euphoria. It's a Greek word that if I spelled it out for you, it's euphoria. And it means, euphoria, if you take the U, which means good and well, euphoria is like a diaphragm, that which is the key to your life, and that's why it's translated soul or life. But it means, you know, oh, you know, that is that which is the key to my life. That which is my soul, that which is my satisfaction, that which is my euphoria. Euphoria. Here's what I'm going to do. So he's thinking about euphoria, and then Christ picks up on that little phrase euphoria and takes the little u off, which is a preposition and puts a little a in front of it instead of the EU. And that word is fool or stupid. He is saying, oh, sower, oh, satisfaction, satisfaction, just sit back and enjoy life. And Jesus says, you stupid fool. And if you heard it in Greek, those words sound almost alike, just a little letter different. Christ said, you thought that this would bring euphoria. What you did did not bring euphoria. You are a fool. Now, why is he a fool? What would be wrong if God gives you a lot more than you need to build bigger barns and store it all up? You got more feed than you need for your cows for the year. You got more than you need for what you're trying to do that year. What would be wrong with that? Why is that so foolish? Well, here's why. Verse 20. This night, your soul will be required of you. Then whose will those things be which you have provided? Now, God wants us to save, and we understand that. But there's a difference between saving and hoarding, isn't there? There's a difference about planning for the future and living in a self-centered, pleasure-seeking way. And this one had jumped the line. He was on the wrong side of the line. God said, you are a fool because you do not understand something. You have failed to recognize. I just listed a bunch of them here. You can take them or leave them. He failed to recognize that God was the source of all that he had. Eight times he's going to say in that section, I, and four times he says my. They are my goods, my goods. I did this. I did this. I will. I, I, I. He has no concept that God was the one who gave it all to him. He failed to recognize that the purpose was First of all, to glorify God. And he should have been giving credit to God. He should have somehow said, God, you are great. I planted enough crops so that I would have enough for my cattle. And you gave me more than I needed. And I praise you for it. But there's no praise. There's no glory to God in anything that he says. For all purposes, when you read this account, he is an atheist. And the tragedy is sometimes you and I are practical atheists. The words that we say indicate we do not recognize God is out there. He should have given God the credit. He failed to realize that God must have given him all this extra for a reason. And the reasons are given in Scripture. He's given it to him to him so that he could he could further his God's program. He was God's steward. That's why God gives it to us. Could he have handled it correctly? But no, he did not recognize that at all. He failed to realize he's a fool because he failed to realize that all of those goods were not going to bring him joy. And there's a lot of people who walk through this world and think, you know, if only I had more stuff, I would be happier. I would have joy. They live in that realm of foolishness that says goods bring joy. Goods bring joy. Joy is something different than that. He failed to recognize he wasn't going to live forever. In fact, God stepped in in his life right that day and said, tonight, it's all over. You stocked up, but I can take it all away. And we have met people who have stocked up and stocked up and planned and planned for themselves. And then God just takes their life. Somebody else is going to get it anyway. God gave it to them for various reasons. And God can take it away from them as quick as he gets it. And he failed, he was a fool because he failed to recognize he was a steward of God's goods. He was accountable to God for what he did with them. He had made all of his plans on his own, and yet all of his goals were his own. And God says, you are a fool. The euphoria has not brought euphoria. It has brought aphoria. It has made you a fool in this world. And when you look at that, you recognize, as you think of all the concept of conflict resolution and these cries that come in this particular case, Christ, if you just look at it on the conflict side, if you're one where someone says, help me with my brother, only they tell you what to do, you have to recognize that the cries that they give to you may require some very creative way to convict them of their problem. We do not know what happened to this covetous man. We would like to believe that the story Jesus Christ told convicted his heart and says, I'm that man. I'm the guy who thinks that if I had more and more and more and more and more, I can do with it what I want. And that's what I live for. But we do not know that because the story is not to tell us what happened to that young man. It's a story for you and me. What is going to happen to you and me when we hear about the foolishness of thinking goods is going to bring joy and we can live without God? Christ brings it all to a conclusion in verse 21. He says, so is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God. Which is the point of the host's chapter 12. Don't fear the things of this world. You better fear God. Don't focus in on the things of this world. You better focus in on God. Don't worry about life's events and life's things. You better be worried about what God wants you to do with your life. You better seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all of these things will be added unto you. And his point comes to that conclusion. And you recognize when you put that all together, He has brought together a situation of conflict. But the conflict is really not based upon injustice. The conflict would never have happened if there was not covetousness. If someone wasn't just a little bit selfish and wanted something for themselves. When you're done with that count, there's so many things that it seems to me we learn. First of all, Whenever you see two people in conflict, there's probably, according to James, somebody who's just a little bit envious, who's a little bit covetous. He just wants something that he doesn't have. That's why James says, you have not because you ask not. If you really want something, why don't you ask God for it? Why do you fight with your brother over it? If God has given to your brother some really great things, why do you envy him and why do you want it? Why do you have conflict with him? Let him have it. Ask God for it. You have not because you ask not. You say, but I did ask God and you didn't give it to me. He says, well, you asked and you don't have because you ask for the wrong things. You are not willing to accept the reality that I gave to you exactly what was right for you. And I gave to your brother what was right for him. If you want something, don't fight with your brother, just ask me, God says, and then be willing to accept what I give you. And if I give it to you, take it. And if I don't give it to you, say, God doesn't want me to have that. My brother has all of those things, but I don't because God doesn't want me to have it. It helps me to learn some of these lessons about handling it when people are in conflict and they come to me or they come to you and, you know, they got something about some brother somewhere and they want you to enter into the fray. Beware of cries when they are not cries for mediation. They are not cries for advice. They are not people who say, I'll do whatever you tell me to do. You and I should be smart enough to say, God didn't give me the charge to divide families and I don't have to settle it. We should recognize that often those cries we have to beware if they have no goal of reconciliation, they only want justice. We ought to be smart enough to recognize if the cry comes, and if there is a cry just for justice, not reconciliation, the problem is not justice. It may be covetousness. It may be greed. It may be a thousand other things, but it is not justice. That is not the problem. So we have to know that. We have to analyze that and then carefully say, now, how, God, could I help this person to see their real problem? How can I help them to see that even if justice were meted out, they'd be an ordinary person? Help them to see that their problem is they are greedy and covetous and envious. You and I have learned a lot tonight about covetousness and what it does to relationships. We learned a lot about peaceful coexistence. That one of the most important things in the program of God is that the brothers live in unity. And there's a lot of other things we just let go. They're not worth fighting over. And we don't stand up for justice and we don't stand up for rights when it divides families. We just let it go. God can take care of that. And we learn a lot about preconceived ideas of what justice is. God help us to be people who can see through this parable and through this account by the Lord Jesus Christ the importance of just letting God be God. And we fear him more than we fear or worry about the world around us.