1 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:46,400 All right, my name is Eric, one of the pastors here. 2 00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:50,000 If I haven't met you yet, glad to have you here, as well as 3 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:52,280 everyone who is regularly here with us. 4 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:56,640 And we are in the book of Matthew, as we have been for 5 00:00:56,640 --> 00:01:00,360 quite a while. And we're in the Sermon on the 6 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:07,520 Mount, and we're in chapter 6, and we'll be in verses 19 7 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:11,760 through 24. So let me read those to you. 8 00:01:12,960 --> 00:01:17,440 It says, Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, 9 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:19,880 where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and 10 00:01:19,880 --> 00:01:21,880 steal. But lay up for yourselves 11 00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:25,840 treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy, 12 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:28,360 and where thieves do not break and steal. 13 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:33,240 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 14 00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:37,160 The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your 15 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:38,520 whole body will be full of light. 16 00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:40,920 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of 17 00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:43,840 darkness. If then the light in you is 18 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:46,240 darkness, how great is the darkness? 19 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:50,720 No one can serve 2 masters, for he will either hate the one and 20 00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:53,840 love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise 21 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:59,040 the other. You cannot serve God and money. 22 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:08,000 Today I've titled this message Treasuring Christ because in the 23 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:11,520 world there's this problem with materialism. 24 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:19,720 Materialism is really idolatry or a love of possessions over 25 00:02:19,920 --> 00:02:23,960 loving God. And that is normal, a normal 26 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:26,880 thing out there in the world, especially people that don't 27 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:30,280 believe in God or follow God's laws or ways. 28 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:32,800 Who else would they worship other than themselves and the 29 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:38,960 things that they can acquire? But it's also a problem in the 30 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:42,680 Christian Church and, and in context of the Sermon on the 31 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:44,800 Mount. Again, Jesus is teaching his 32 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:49,680 disciples about what to do, what not to do, what it looks like to 33 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:52,400 live in this new Kingdom that he is. 34 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:57,240 He is starting when he touched down on earth 2000 years ago. 35 00:02:57,400 --> 00:03:01,040 And this is still for us today, how to be good disciples, good 36 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:06,680 Christians. And if you are a Christian, this 37 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:10,280 stuff will work out in you and, and through the preaching and 38 00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:13,360 the reading and the hearing of God's word, we will be 39 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:18,560 sanctified or, or that word just means to be made more holy, to 40 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:23,840 become more like Christ, to sin less and to obey God more. 41 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:26,400 That is what God is doing in our hearts. 42 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:30,600 And but it does happen through understanding his words. 43 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:37,680 And so the main idea I want us to get today is this, that the 44 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:42,200 obsession with having possessions leads to depression 45 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:46,200 and idolatry. When Jesus holds the highest 46 00:03:46,200 --> 00:03:51,320 value in your heart, materialism won't have control over you and 47 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:56,240 generosity will lead to having true treasure. 48 00:03:57,360 --> 00:04:01,720 So we are going to talk about treasuring Christ, not the 49 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:04,960 things that we possess here on earth. 50 00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:10,960 And that leads to so many wonderful blessings and rewards 51 00:04:11,240 --> 00:04:17,200 both now and in eternity. In John MacArthur's book 52 00:04:17,519 --> 00:04:21,560 Overcoming Materialism, he offers this analysis about kind 53 00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:26,400 of the way in which the world and and even Christians deal 54 00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:31,720 with having possessions, and he calls it things, just having 55 00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:34,840 things. And he goes like this. 56 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:39,600 Mr. and Missus Thing are a very pleasant and successful couple. 57 00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:43,080 At least that's the verdict of most people who tend to measure 58 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:48,120 success with a thingometer. When the thingometer is put to 59 00:04:48,120 --> 00:04:50,840 work in the life of Mr. and Missus Thing, the result is 60 00:04:50,840 --> 00:04:53,880 startling. There he is, sitting down on a 61 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:58,000 luxurious and very expensive thing, almost hidden by a large 62 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:02,240 number of other things. Things to sit on, things to sit 63 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:05,920 at, things to cook on, things to eat from, all shining and new 64 00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:08,680 things. Things, things, things to clean 65 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:11,720 with, and things to wash with, and things to clean, and things 66 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:15,360 to wash, and things to amuse, and things to give pleasure, and 67 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:17,280 things to watch, and things to play. 68 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:20,880 Things for the long hot summer, and things for the short cold 69 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:22,960 winter. Things for the big thing in 70 00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:25,880 which they live. And things for the garden and 71 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:28,480 things for the lounge and things for the kitchen and things for 72 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:30,440 the bedroom. And things on four wheels and 73 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:34,520 things on two wheels and things to put on top of the four thing 74 00:05:34,520 --> 00:05:37,360 with four wheels and things to pull behind the four wheels. 75 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:41,720 Things to add to the interior of the thing on four wheels. 76 00:05:41,920 --> 00:05:46,280 Things, things, things. And there in the middle are Mr. 77 00:05:46,280 --> 00:05:49,320 and Missus things, smiling and pleased, pink with things, 78 00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:53,040 thinking of more things to add to their things, secure in their 79 00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:55,960 castle of things. Well, Mr. Thing, I have some bad 80 00:05:55,960 --> 00:05:58,360 news for you. Oh, you say you can't hear me 81 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:00,000 because of the things are in the way. 82 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:03,600 Well, I just want you to know that your things can't last. 83 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:07,920 They're going to pass. There's going to be an end to 84 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:10,640 them. Oh, maybe an error in judgement, 85 00:06:10,640 --> 00:06:13,080 maybe a temporary loss of concentration. 86 00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:16,040 Or maybe you'll just pass them off to the second hand thing 87 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:18,600 dealer. Or maybe they'll wind up a mass 88 00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:22,120 of mangled metal between and being towed off to the thing 89 00:06:22,120 --> 00:06:24,520 yard. And what about all the things in 90 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:26,520 your house? Well, it's time for bed. 91 00:06:26,520 --> 00:06:29,880 Put out the cat, make sure you lock the door and hope something 92 00:06:29,880 --> 00:06:32,920 taker doesn't come and take your things. 93 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:38,080 Doesn't that describe most of our lives, if we're being 94 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:41,320 honest? All the things that we think 95 00:06:41,320 --> 00:06:46,120 about that we want or taking care of the things that we have 96 00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:50,960 takes up probably, if we're honest, too much of our time in 97 00:06:50,960 --> 00:06:54,240 life. And I believe that Jesus is 98 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:58,800 helping us today understand how to put those things in proper 99 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:02,520 priority if we're going to worship him properly. 100 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:06,800 So got three points for us today actually with a closing point as 101 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:08,360 well. And my first point is this. 102 00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:14,360 There is more value in eternal things than temporary things. 103 00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:22,760 It's better to work for rewards in heaven that last forever than 104 00:07:22,760 --> 00:07:28,280 to save up money for possessions here on earth that will wear out 105 00:07:28,280 --> 00:07:34,920 and we can't take them with us. So going to the context of this 106 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:39,200 passage again, Jesus has been talking about what it looks like 107 00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:45,920 to be a hypocrite and receiving praise from people for looking 108 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:49,160 righteous, but having the wrong heart or the wrong heart 109 00:07:49,160 --> 00:07:51,720 motives. And Jesus is now going to 110 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:56,000 motivate us out, out of becoming or not being that Christian 111 00:07:56,000 --> 00:08:00,640 hypocrite, but now continuing to live for him and to put him 112 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:04,200 first and to give him the proper glory that is due. 113 00:08:05,640 --> 00:08:10,680 And there's a way to to give it all all you've got for heaven. 114 00:08:10,920 --> 00:08:13,840 And that's what Jesus is going to get into here. 115 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:17,080 Rather than being duped by the world or held back by from the 116 00:08:17,080 --> 00:08:23,600 world or being kind of a, a defeated Christian that is 117 00:08:24,120 --> 00:08:28,400 consumed with or overpowered by, you know, all the cares of this 118 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:31,160 life. Jesus has something for us 119 00:08:31,160 --> 00:08:32,640 today. And so we'll get into the first 120 00:08:32,640 --> 00:08:34,600 couple verses. He says do not lay up for 121 00:08:34,600 --> 00:08:38,880 yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and 122 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:42,919 where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves 123 00:08:42,919 --> 00:08:46,520 treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy, 124 00:08:47,160 --> 00:08:51,040 and where thieves do not break in and steal. 125 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:54,640 So what's he saying here? Lay up? 126 00:08:54,640 --> 00:08:56,400 That means to save, right? Don't. 127 00:08:56,680 --> 00:09:03,520 Don't save up treasure on earth where it's not going to last. 128 00:09:03,520 --> 00:09:05,640 And I know we all know this, right? 129 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:10,160 Everything that we have seems to wear out and we spend a lot of 130 00:09:10,160 --> 00:09:13,320 our time fixing things. It's so weird over the last 131 00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:16,800 month, like random things have been going out in my house. 132 00:09:16,800 --> 00:09:19,960 Like we had our, our water heater go out, you know, and 133 00:09:19,960 --> 00:09:25,400 then we had just different, different things around the yard 134 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:28,880 and, and leaks in the house and the windows bugs getting in. 135 00:09:28,920 --> 00:09:31,240 I mean, things are, it's just, you're constantly trying to 136 00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:35,200 protect the things that you own and cars breaking down and 137 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:37,160 always needing gas and maintenance. 138 00:09:38,480 --> 00:09:40,760 We know that things don't last forever. 139 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:44,400 Even our own bodies, they're wearing out and they're not 140 00:09:44,400 --> 00:09:47,760 going to last forever. And, and, and, and if we think 141 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:51,120 about that, it just brings a little bit of depression, if 142 00:09:51,120 --> 00:09:54,480 we're honest, right? Like, why does nothing work the 143 00:09:54,480 --> 00:09:56,760 way it's supposed to? Why is my body not working the 144 00:09:56,760 --> 00:10:00,160 way it's supposed to? That's the, the essence of what 145 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:03,200 Jesus is reminding us is remember, there's a, there's a 146 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:06,200 curse on this, this earth and this world. 147 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:10,760 This is not our home. We are supposed to be living for 148 00:10:10,760 --> 00:10:13,600 eternity. And we get so stuck in the 149 00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:18,080 temporary. And so we want to save up 150 00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:22,520 treasures around us and accumulate things to make us 151 00:10:22,520 --> 00:10:27,280 feel safe. That word treasure there is 152 00:10:27,280 --> 00:10:32,760 talking about possessions like a store room, a a treasury in the 153 00:10:32,760 --> 00:10:35,840 Old Testament. And in this word was used 154 00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:38,320 talking about the, the treasuries in the House of the 155 00:10:38,320 --> 00:10:43,080 Lord, the cups and the, the Shields and the, all of the, 156 00:10:43,400 --> 00:10:48,360 the, the holy furniture in the temple. 157 00:10:50,480 --> 00:10:53,960 It's talking about gold and silver marble. 158 00:10:54,520 --> 00:10:59,520 Joseph used this word when he was given second in command over 159 00:10:59,520 --> 00:11:04,000 Egypt and he managed the, the storehouses of, of food and the 160 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:09,440 treasury in Egypt. And that's what Jesus is saying. 161 00:11:09,440 --> 00:11:16,160 Don't have storehouses and and treasury so concerned about this 162 00:11:16,160 --> 00:11:19,520 life that you spend too much time on that and not not enough 163 00:11:19,520 --> 00:11:22,640 time on your eternal life. When I think about these 164 00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:26,680 storehouses, I think about the movie Aladdin, the first, the 165 00:11:26,680 --> 00:11:31,840 first cartoon, you know, when he's they, they find that 166 00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:35,040 little, you know, they're going through all that gold and rubies 167 00:11:35,040 --> 00:11:38,800 and everything and finally find the lamp and he rubs the lamp 168 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:41,440 and he gets those 3 wishes. And everybody always wants to be 169 00:11:41,440 --> 00:11:44,240 rich, right? When they get 3, which 3 wishes 170 00:11:44,240 --> 00:11:50,600 and or I think of, you know, pirate treasure, how how people 171 00:11:50,600 --> 00:11:54,080 get so consumed. Their whole life is spent on 172 00:11:54,080 --> 00:11:59,880 hunting treasure. We went to Treasure Coast a 173 00:11:59,880 --> 00:12:04,000 while ago on a vacation and we went on a tour of all the 174 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:06,760 different shipwrecks that had happened on this beach. 175 00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:10,480 And, and after we went through this presentation and walked 176 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:14,320 around and saw all these like valuable pieces of metal and 177 00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:19,160 things and read about it the rest of our vacation, it was 178 00:12:19,160 --> 00:12:21,720 like some kind of weird trance came over us. 179 00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:25,240 And now we spent like all this time on the beach looking at 180 00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:28,280 every Pebble and rock, thinking we were going to get rich, you 181 00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:34,160 know, And we even, we even brought a bunch of worthless 182 00:12:34,160 --> 00:12:38,840 rocks home that looked like, like rusting coins, you know, I 183 00:12:38,840 --> 00:12:40,120 don't know if you've ever done that. 184 00:12:40,560 --> 00:12:43,080 Or the Lord of the Rings. I think of The Lord of the Rings 185 00:12:43,080 --> 00:12:46,840 and Smeagol, you know, when he finally is, he's so obsessed 186 00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:51,720 with my precious, you know, and it turns him into this weird 187 00:12:51,720 --> 00:12:57,000 little ugly creature because he's consumed, almost possessed 188 00:12:57,640 --> 00:13:01,120 at getting this treasure. That's like us, right? 189 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:06,040 When we get so consumed with that next thing that we want to 190 00:13:06,040 --> 00:13:10,920 buy that, that, that it turns into this obsession. 191 00:13:11,720 --> 00:13:14,960 Now what can these things be? You know, home, right? 192 00:13:14,960 --> 00:13:18,880 Right now, it's very hard to afford a house. 193 00:13:18,880 --> 00:13:22,480 And I know for especially for the younger generation looking 194 00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:25,280 at buying and they're looking at all of, you know, the older 195 00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:28,040 generations and they're mad at mad at us. 196 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:30,240 You know, I guess I can put myself in the older generation. 197 00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:33,200 You know, the younger people like you guys have it so easy. 198 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:36,840 You bought it a great time and now we can't afford and I 199 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:42,280 honestly, I, I mean, don't blame us, but yes, I, I feel for you. 200 00:13:42,360 --> 00:13:46,800 You know, I feel for you that it's the economy and inflation 201 00:13:46,800 --> 00:13:50,640 and the price of houses. And so I can understand the 202 00:13:50,640 --> 00:13:54,640 concern of, of will you ever be able to afford a home? 203 00:13:55,240 --> 00:14:00,960 Hopefully we can right those wrongs in our country or cars, 204 00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:02,840 right. I don't know if people still 205 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:06,320 like cars anymore and trucks, but I'm sure you do. 206 00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:10,120 How big of a truck can you get? You know, that shows how manly 207 00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:13,320 you are, right? Or how nice of a van can you 208 00:14:13,320 --> 00:14:15,840 have, right? Shows how great of a family, 209 00:14:16,120 --> 00:14:22,240 family person you are, right? Toys and clothes and all of 210 00:14:22,240 --> 00:14:24,160 these things. You know, our neighbors get the 211 00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:26,760 new side by side now. We're like, man, I wish I could 212 00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:29,240 have one of those. Like our lives would change. 213 00:14:29,240 --> 00:14:33,160 We would have so much joy and fun if we could just have what 214 00:14:33,160 --> 00:14:39,520 they have or think about this. This is one that popped up in my 215 00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:40,920 mind as I was preparing for this. 216 00:14:40,920 --> 00:14:46,720 The idea of retirement, right. You know, it's something that 217 00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:49,320 just has to be talked about it here in America. 218 00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:54,280 There are more millionaires than anywhere else in the world 219 00:14:55,480 --> 00:15:02,480 because of four O 1 KS and Iras and, and the dream that is sold 220 00:15:02,480 --> 00:15:07,320 to us that one day you're going to be able to quit work and just 221 00:15:07,320 --> 00:15:11,280 live it up, you know, travelling the world with your, with your 222 00:15:11,280 --> 00:15:14,160 spouse, right. And maybe that's your dream. 223 00:15:14,160 --> 00:15:17,680 And of course I, I've told my wife that like, I hope one day 224 00:15:17,680 --> 00:15:20,040 we get to go see the world right. 225 00:15:21,920 --> 00:15:26,760 But and you know, the problem is, is that first of all, I 226 00:15:26,760 --> 00:15:32,000 don't think while we might get to to change occupations and we 227 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:35,480 may not have to, you know, work in the same capacity that we had 228 00:15:35,480 --> 00:15:40,320 to, if we're smart with our money, I don't think we're ever 229 00:15:40,320 --> 00:15:45,040 supposed to stop working. In fact, you know, my wife was 230 00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:48,960 reminding me of a study recently that's been done, you know, in 231 00:15:48,960 --> 00:15:52,160 retirement, when people just up and quit their job and then have 232 00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:56,320 no plan, no purpose, no work that they're doing it, it, it, 233 00:15:56,360 --> 00:16:00,920 it actually becomes depressing and it might end your life 234 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:04,920 earlier because you wake up and, and you don't quite have the 235 00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:08,480 same purpose, the same prestige, the same title that you worked 236 00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:15,960 so hard for in your life. And so when we think about 237 00:16:15,960 --> 00:16:19,200 retirement, I think this challenges us to think about it 238 00:16:19,200 --> 00:16:22,440 maybe in a deeper way. How can God use me? 239 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:25,880 In fact, I often tell people and, and actually, you know, 240 00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:28,640 we're so blessed with many people at our church that are 241 00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:31,920 probably near that age or, or maybe even already tired. 242 00:16:31,920 --> 00:16:34,080 And, and I've been in ministry for a while. 243 00:16:34,080 --> 00:16:38,400 And some of the the sweetest, greatest servant hearted people 244 00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:41,760 that I've ever served alongside are people that are retired. 245 00:16:41,760 --> 00:16:47,080 And they've, they've said, look, I don't have to, you know, 246 00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:49,080 provide the same way I had to before. 247 00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:54,120 And I want to give my time, my talent, my treasure to more to 248 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:58,920 the Kingdom than I could before. And, and certainly when I think 249 00:16:58,920 --> 00:17:02,400 about that, I think of Psalm 7118. 250 00:17:02,400 --> 00:17:06,040 So even to old age and Gray hairs, Oh God, do not forsake me 251 00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:10,520 until I proclaim your might to another generation, Your power 252 00:17:11,160 --> 00:17:17,079 to all those who come. I think we need to think about 253 00:17:17,079 --> 00:17:22,240 this as we're thinking about our investments or our long term 254 00:17:22,520 --> 00:17:26,359 strategy to survive to the end of this life till till we till 255 00:17:26,359 --> 00:17:29,880 we get to the next one. And I'm not saying it's wrong to 256 00:17:29,880 --> 00:17:32,440 save up. Of course, the Bible has a lot 257 00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:35,200 to say. It does not say that poverty is 258 00:17:35,440 --> 00:17:38,120 a virtue, right? That you should just become 259 00:17:38,120 --> 00:17:40,600 poor. No, it it, you know the Proverbs 260 00:17:40,600 --> 00:17:42,720 6/6. I love this about the Ant. 261 00:17:43,720 --> 00:17:47,320 We can learn from an Ant. Oh Sluggard, consider her ways 262 00:17:47,320 --> 00:17:50,920 and be wise without having any chief officer or ruler. 263 00:17:51,320 --> 00:17:54,280 She prepares her bread in the summer summer and gathers her 264 00:17:54,280 --> 00:17:57,880 food and harvest. We can learn that the even the 265 00:17:57,880 --> 00:18:03,240 Ant saves up and is wise for survival. 266 00:18:05,680 --> 00:18:11,560 But we must not get caught up in the worldly idea of the, you 267 00:18:11,560 --> 00:18:15,280 know, travel the world, never have to work ever and a day in 268 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:21,200 our life again. And God wants us to store up 269 00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:23,480 treasures in heaven. And I'm going to get to that, 270 00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:26,360 you know, towards the end. I want to keep walking through 271 00:18:26,360 --> 00:18:32,040 this passage, though, where it says moth and rust destroy. 272 00:18:32,040 --> 00:18:38,320 Now the the moths again, just getting into the visual 273 00:18:39,600 --> 00:18:42,720 analogies or illustrations that Jesus is using here. 274 00:18:43,560 --> 00:18:47,760 In the ancient times, you know, fabrics were one of the great 275 00:18:47,760 --> 00:18:52,920 sources of wealth and and and treasure in the ancient Middle 276 00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:56,800 East. And actually in Joshua 721, you 277 00:18:56,800 --> 00:19:02,160 know, one of the things that caused him, he got caught after 278 00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:05,600 breaking a command of gods. They went and Joshua, the whole 279 00:19:05,600 --> 00:19:08,240 book is about going in and taking over the promised land. 280 00:19:08,240 --> 00:19:12,640 But they were there were Babylonian and and secular 281 00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:15,400 nations that needed to be taken out or destroyed so that they 282 00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:17,680 could have their land. And a man named Aiken. 283 00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:21,920 Aiken, you know, found a beautiful cloak from Shinar and 284 00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:26,760 some silver and gold and hid it in his tent and eventually was 285 00:19:26,760 --> 00:19:31,520 found out because the sin in the camp that he brought into the 286 00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:35,800 camp ended up kind of hindering all of the nation of Israel in 287 00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:41,080 their wars, his greed for possessions. 288 00:19:42,280 --> 00:19:48,520 Moths get into fabric. By the way, I didn't really know 289 00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:53,040 this I but the larvae, the way they, they plant their larvae 290 00:19:53,040 --> 00:19:57,160 to, to, to eventually, you know, turn into a moth. 291 00:19:57,160 --> 00:20:00,400 Or is that they, they, they like to be in like cotton or 292 00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:05,680 different fabrics And they as it's making that little cocoon 293 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:09,480 it, it's eating away the material at the same time. 294 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:13,680 So it's really just talking about how, how the earth and, 295 00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:19,320 and, and nature and animals really just wear away or eat 296 00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:22,880 away at things that are valuable to us. 297 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:29,400 And in fact, recently we had mice like infesting our home. 298 00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:34,360 And it was like I, I had had this panic because I had caught 299 00:20:34,360 --> 00:20:36,280 too. And they just kept coming, you 300 00:20:36,280 --> 00:20:40,320 know, I at first I was catching them and throwing them out some 301 00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:44,640 idea, you know, and so eventually got some traps and it 302 00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:47,400 was, they were in between the two levels of our house, you 303 00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:51,840 know, And so I got up in this bathroom vent and I'm, I'm 304 00:20:51,840 --> 00:20:55,560 putting up traps and like, it's like, I mean, we're getting up 305 00:20:55,560 --> 00:20:59,960 to 4-5 and I'm thinking, how many of these do we have in 306 00:20:59,960 --> 00:21:02,600 there? And I'm thinking we got to sell 307 00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:07,000 this house. But, but I got to be honest with 308 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:09,320 the sellers. There's a mouse infestation. 309 00:21:09,320 --> 00:21:13,120 I mean, we're ruined, you know, all my equity's gone. 310 00:21:13,120 --> 00:21:14,920 You know, I'm thinking all that type of stuff, right? 311 00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:20,160 And we can't. This is just how the world 312 00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:23,040 works. We've got to be aware of it. 313 00:21:23,040 --> 00:21:27,400 Rust, again, the literal word for that word used there is 314 00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:30,720 eating or consuming. It refers to the process of 315 00:21:30,720 --> 00:21:35,040 deterioration and metal caused by oxidation or chemical action. 316 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:41,400 But it can also refer to again, vermin eating valuable food 317 00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:46,880 stores and and again, coins in metal in that day eventually 318 00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:50,680 rusted away. And then there's the thieves. 319 00:21:51,280 --> 00:21:53,560 Obviously we know what a thief is. 320 00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:57,240 Thief is, is someone who uses stealth or slyness to steal 321 00:21:57,240 --> 00:22:02,200 property or wealth. And certainly we have those. 322 00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:07,160 I remember, you know, when we lived in Ogden, we had our cars 323 00:22:07,320 --> 00:22:09,600 regularly broken into on the street. 324 00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:15,640 And thankfully we didn't have, we weren't, we didn't have a lot 325 00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:17,800 of money. And so they didn't really steal 326 00:22:17,800 --> 00:22:20,000 a whole lot. In fact, one time this is really 327 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:25,400 cool. Apparently this car thief was 328 00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:28,200 was all throughout these different cars in the 329 00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:31,040 neighborhood and he must have been stealing change out of the 330 00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:34,440 ashtray. So we had this bag of coins and 331 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:40,720 and we wake up and our car doors open and the whole car had been 332 00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:44,000 rummaged through. And this car was like a 1990 333 00:22:44,600 --> 00:22:47,800 something Nissan Sentra, you know, faded. 334 00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:51,240 And I was like, yeah, there's nothing valuable in there, but 335 00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:53,040 we find this bag of coins in there. 336 00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:59,600 And so it was really a gift. He, he gave us a gift, gave it 337 00:22:59,600 --> 00:23:02,680 to one of my kids, you know, said go, go have a heyday. 338 00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:09,040 You know, it was a blessing, but think about all the other 339 00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:13,080 thieves in our lives, the other, you know, scammers. 340 00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:16,560 Oh man, how many scammer calls do we get nowadays? 341 00:23:16,560 --> 00:23:21,400 Or, or investors, people who want to invest our money as we 342 00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:25,320 think about our four O 1 KS and our our wealth and and and 343 00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:30,080 hiring somebody to help us with that, Can we really trust them? 344 00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:32,880 Sometimes that's the thought in my mind or, you know, the 345 00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:37,800 different scams out there with, you know, big, big drug 346 00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:41,360 companies and taxes and inflation. 347 00:23:41,360 --> 00:23:44,920 And you've heard that that saying this is Hwy. robbery. 348 00:23:45,360 --> 00:23:48,600 You know, you go into you go into the store and things are 349 00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:52,520 just costing so much more money. It's like this is I'm being 350 00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:55,600 robbed by you. But I guess I need this, you 351 00:23:55,600 --> 00:24:03,680 know, so maybe, maybe some of us might say, Oh, I'm doing fine, 352 00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:06,760 you know, and I'm, I'm, I'm doing OK. 353 00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:09,640 And, and you might get some success, success in the world's 354 00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:11,200 eyes. Maybe your stuff isn't wearing 355 00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:13,880 away or you're taking really good care of everything and 356 00:24:13,880 --> 00:24:17,800 you're maintaining everything. But it might feel a little 357 00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:21,560 humbling when we all get to the gates of heaven and we have that 358 00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:25,680 first glimpse of all the things that flashed before us, all the 359 00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:28,720 things that we had done for the Lord in our lives, you know, 360 00:24:29,800 --> 00:24:33,080 compared to all the things that we had done for our possessions 361 00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:39,840 and maintaining those. You see 40 times Jesus in the 362 00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:42,760 New Testament mentions this word rewards. 363 00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:45,000 And that's just Jesus all throughout the New Testament. 364 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:48,120 There's, there's this reward thing talked about in the New 365 00:24:48,120 --> 00:24:50,960 Testament, there are rewards. And all throughout the Sermon on 366 00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:53,440 the Mount, we've heard him talk about your, the tone, the 367 00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:55,240 hypocrites. You will, you'll lose your 368 00:24:55,240 --> 00:24:57,880 reward if you do it hypocritically. 369 00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:02,560 Well, there are rewards. There are treasures the Bible 370 00:25:02,560 --> 00:25:05,080 talks about. There are five different crowns, 371 00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:09,600 things that we are working for here on earth. 372 00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:13,240 Now, don't get that confused. We're saved by faith alone, not 373 00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:17,240 by working. But there is a concept in the 374 00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:20,160 New Testament but that that some of the things that he's 375 00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:24,920 empowering us to do are earning us eternal rewards in heaven. 376 00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:31,120 And so we should think about that if we really want to be a 377 00:25:31,120 --> 00:25:35,400 good saver, rather than saving up the things that we have on 378 00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:40,320 earth, we should start thinking about our four O 1K spiritual 379 00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:44,920 4O1K, our spiritual IRA, our spiritual savings. 380 00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:50,200 What will that look like? And my next point then is this. 381 00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:56,080 Whatever has the most worth in our lives to us gets our 382 00:25:56,440 --> 00:25:58,760 worship. Jesus goes on to say for where 383 00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:03,040 your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 384 00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:11,160 Whatever is a treasure to you and you place your value in your 385 00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:14,800 heart is going to be close to that at all times. 386 00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:19,920 And your heart, remember your heart is is your mind, your will 387 00:26:19,920 --> 00:26:22,160 and your emotions. It's not the thing that just 388 00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:26,360 pumps blood, but when the Bible uses the word heart, it's the, 389 00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:29,680 the mind, the will and the the emotions. 390 00:26:30,120 --> 00:26:34,720 And when you have something of high value, you are constantly 391 00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:37,720 thinking about it. It brings you feelings. 392 00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:42,560 It helps it, it, it, it, it influences the way you make 393 00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:44,800 decisions about life. And these things that we 394 00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:47,960 treasure determine the course of our lives. 395 00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:50,040 That's what Jesus is saying here. 396 00:26:51,720 --> 00:26:55,480 And so you've heard this phrase. Put your heart into it, right? 397 00:26:55,600 --> 00:26:58,880 Well, we will put our heart into the things that matter most. 398 00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:03,880 I know the, the, the ability of humans like we can do some great 399 00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:07,400 things, some amazing things. God has God has gifted us with 400 00:27:07,400 --> 00:27:12,120 just natural abilities to, to work hard and to be successful 401 00:27:12,120 --> 00:27:15,920 and to accomplish goals in life. And, and we can really put our 402 00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:18,440 heart into something. And that's what Jesus is saying. 403 00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:22,000 You really value something. You can and you will put your 404 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:26,160 heart, but make sure that that what you put your heart into or 405 00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:29,720 what you value, what is the highest worth of your life is 406 00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:32,120 the right thing or the right person. 407 00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:37,880 Because thinking of planning for or spending considerable amounts 408 00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:42,160 of time of of physical and emotional energy towards these 409 00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:46,520 things. Anything other than God can be 410 00:27:46,520 --> 00:27:50,560 idolatry. Remember the greatest commands. 411 00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:53,160 Deuteronomy 65. You shall love the Lord your God 412 00:27:53,160 --> 00:27:56,680 with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. 413 00:27:56,760 --> 00:27:59,800 Jesus again reiterates, saying that those are the greatest 414 00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:01,360 commands. And then to love your neighbors 415 00:28:01,360 --> 00:28:04,880 yourself. So we are supposed to love the 416 00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:11,040 Lord God with all of our heart, to treasure God. 417 00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:15,560 He is of the highest worth. In fact, let me just tell you 418 00:28:16,120 --> 00:28:18,040 where the word worship comes from. 419 00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:22,720 The word worship comes from the word worth ship. 420 00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:26,840 So when you think about worship, it's not oh, this is just music. 421 00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:34,640 No, my worship is is praising and honoring and living for and 422 00:28:34,800 --> 00:28:41,840 and thinking of in the utmost regard because God is worthy, He 423 00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:45,640 is worth it and he has the highest worth as being the 424 00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:49,840 creator of all things, the owner of all things, the sovereign 425 00:28:49,840 --> 00:28:55,640 ruler and king of all things. He is the most valuable being. 426 00:28:56,360 --> 00:29:00,120 He is worthy. He is has the highest worth and 427 00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:03,080 deserves our worship because of that. 428 00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:09,080 Again. Well I'm going to jump to verse 429 00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:10,760 24 because it fits right in this. 430 00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:13,520 No one can serve 2 masters for either. 431 00:29:13,520 --> 00:29:15,920 He will hate the one, love the other. 432 00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:19,360 He will be devoted to the one and despise the other. 433 00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:27,880 You cannot serve God and money. You cannot literally have two 434 00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:32,680 things in your life that are of the of equal value and priority. 435 00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:37,360 You just can't. We talked about this a few maybe 436 00:29:37,360 --> 00:29:40,520 a month ago about this idea in the Christian's life ordered 437 00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:48,080 loves and that we have to order our or prioritize our love that 438 00:29:48,080 --> 00:29:50,280 we give away. Now we're supposed to love 439 00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:54,400 everybody, even including our enemy, but but first and 440 00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:58,560 foremost, love God. Then if you're married, your 441 00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:04,680 spouse, if you have kids, your kids, love your church family, 442 00:30:05,480 --> 00:30:09,200 love your city, your neighborhood, your state, your 443 00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:13,000 nation, and then everyone else, the whole world. 444 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:19,200 And and so when he says you can't have two masters, you 445 00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:22,560 can't have two that are in the same position and money should 446 00:30:22,560 --> 00:30:25,840 not be high up on the list at all. 447 00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:29,400 In fact, the Bible says the love of money is the root of all 448 00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:33,920 kinds of evil, and so it's not. He's not saying you have to hate 449 00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:37,120 money either though. It's saying you love it less. 450 00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:41,680 You value money less than all the other things and the people 451 00:30:41,680 --> 00:30:45,920 that you're supposed to love. 1st and importantly, first and 452 00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:49,440 foremost, God is your Lord, your Master. 453 00:30:51,960 --> 00:30:56,840 Don't you know it's not just all about Him being our master and 454 00:30:56,840 --> 00:31:00,360 we're his slaves? But don't you know, Christian, 455 00:31:00,880 --> 00:31:05,080 that he loves you like a valuable treasure? 456 00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:12,640 You are a valuable treasure to God, the most valuable being in 457 00:31:12,640 --> 00:31:16,720 all of the universe. He calls us his treasured 458 00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:22,360 possession out of all of his creation in Deuteronomy 76. 459 00:31:22,360 --> 00:31:24,640 I want you to see this, for you are people holy to the Lord your 460 00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:26,720 God. The Lord your God has chosen you 461 00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:30,480 to be a people for his treasured possession out of all the 462 00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:32,680 peoples who are on the face of the earth. 463 00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:36,640 If you are a child of God, if you are a believer, you are a 464 00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:39,880 treasure, the highest treasure to him. 465 00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:44,400 Then you might say, well, that's talking, yeah, about the nation 466 00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:47,960 of Israel. But then, you know, Jesus goes 467 00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:52,400 on and in the New Testament and says similar and the same 468 00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:55,440 things, that we are a treasured possession. 469 00:31:55,440 --> 00:32:01,120 In fact, Peter says we're, you know, a holy nation, a royal 470 00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:04,520 priesthood, a people of his own possession. 471 00:32:04,600 --> 00:32:09,480 He set us apart. He's making us even more. 472 00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:13,280 He made us valuable by the death of his son, and now he's made us 473 00:32:13,280 --> 00:32:16,240 his children. And you know how valuable your 474 00:32:16,240 --> 00:32:20,800 children are to you, right? And God looks at every one of 475 00:32:20,800 --> 00:32:25,600 his sons and daughters and says, man, they are so valuable for me 476 00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:32,160 to me enough to die for, enough to send my my one and only son 477 00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:36,560 to be the sacrifice. I treasure you that much. 478 00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:41,480 This blew my mind as I was studying about this in, in, in 479 00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:44,480 Matthew 1344, There's this short little parable. 480 00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:48,920 The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field which 481 00:32:48,920 --> 00:32:52,280 a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and 482 00:32:52,280 --> 00:32:54,720 sells all that he has and buys that field. 483 00:32:54,880 --> 00:32:58,560 And at first glance, and in many interpretations, you know, one 484 00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:02,960 can say, you can say that this is talking about you value 485 00:33:03,800 --> 00:33:07,480 Christ and the Kingdom and his words so much that you're 486 00:33:07,480 --> 00:33:11,760 willing to give up everything and to go put put it all on 487 00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:14,720 Jesus, right? Like I am going to not put my 488 00:33:14,720 --> 00:33:20,400 trust in my hope in and and anything in the world, I am 489 00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:23,560 willing to sacrifice it all for Christ. 490 00:33:23,800 --> 00:33:26,600 And that would be a right interpretation of this passage. 491 00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:32,440 But you can look at this another way, that this is actually 492 00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:40,080 talking about us being that treasure hidden in a field and 493 00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:49,680 the man is Christ and this man Christ, God said, I love this 494 00:33:49,680 --> 00:33:54,240 people so much. The Father says, I love these 495 00:33:54,240 --> 00:34:00,000 people so much. They are so valuable to me that 496 00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:03,080 I'm going to go give it all. I'm going to sell it all. 497 00:34:03,080 --> 00:34:08,719 I'm going to give away even the life of my son for this treasure 498 00:34:08,840 --> 00:34:14,639 that I found in the field. And I thought, wow, isn't that 499 00:34:14,639 --> 00:34:18,800 true though, right? Because we don't find him, He 500 00:34:18,800 --> 00:34:25,280 finds us. We were bought with a price and 501 00:34:25,280 --> 00:34:27,360 we have a wonderful master who loves us. 502 00:34:27,920 --> 00:34:33,199 He gave it all in the person of Jesus. 503 00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:37,600 He died on the cross, and that purchased us away from our 504 00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:41,520 slavery to sin so that now we could come and be sons and 505 00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:48,760 daughters of God. And so why would we want to now 506 00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:54,520 put ourselves back into slavery to possessions and materialism 507 00:34:54,719 --> 00:34:59,000 and just wanting things and idolatry of thinking that that 508 00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:01,840 next thing is going to make me happy. 509 00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:03,920 We're always thinking that, right? 510 00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:06,680 Like we're not content in this life. 511 00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:10,320 And we're always thinking, I need that next car or that these 512 00:35:10,320 --> 00:35:16,160 clothes or this new toy or this new thing to just solve my 513 00:35:16,160 --> 00:35:19,960 problems or to take my mind off of my troubles. 514 00:35:19,960 --> 00:35:25,880 And we forget that we've been purchased and redeemed and 515 00:35:25,880 --> 00:35:29,600 bought by our Lord, and if we would just go to Him and seek 516 00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:33,640 the heavenly treasures that He has, a whole store room and a 517 00:35:33,640 --> 00:35:38,360 storehouse full to just shower upon us of His grace and His 518 00:35:38,360 --> 00:35:43,280 love and His mercy. I don't know about you, but God 519 00:35:43,600 --> 00:35:47,560 answers my prayers on a regular basis. 520 00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:52,960 But it does require going to Him in prayer and talking to Him and 521 00:35:52,960 --> 00:35:59,120 relying on him, keeping in relationship with him to see his 522 00:35:59,120 --> 00:36:08,320 work in your life. So I want to move on to my third 523 00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:14,640 and final point, which is how to have a healthy view then of 524 00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:19,240 earthly possessions. Because we got to have things, 525 00:36:19,480 --> 00:36:21,240 you know, we've got to have a car. 526 00:36:21,320 --> 00:36:24,440 Your car got you here and thank God you're wearing clothes. 527 00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:29,240 You know, we've got we've got to feed our families, you know, we 528 00:36:29,240 --> 00:36:35,320 got to have cookware. We've got to have things OK, but 529 00:36:35,320 --> 00:36:39,680 we can have a healthy view of these things, not have them be 530 00:36:39,680 --> 00:36:42,560 our gods or our masters or our idols. 531 00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:49,160 And in fact, I believe Jesus tells us that we can, we can 532 00:36:49,160 --> 00:36:55,000 fight this depression that we have of discontentment and and 533 00:36:55,000 --> 00:37:00,680 selfishness with generosity and accepting our life 534 00:37:00,680 --> 00:37:04,760 circumstances. In fact, I love in the book of 535 00:37:04,840 --> 00:37:06,960 Ecclesiastes the wisest man on earth. 536 00:37:06,960 --> 00:37:10,720 Solomon, you know, he said this. He says in chapter 5, verse 18, 537 00:37:10,720 --> 00:37:13,720 Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and 538 00:37:13,720 --> 00:37:17,440 drink and find enjoyment and all the toil with which one toils 539 00:37:17,440 --> 00:37:20,760 under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him 540 00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:27,120 for this is his lot. We've got to find enjoyment in 541 00:37:27,120 --> 00:37:32,080 the work that we're doing now. We've got to find enjoyment in 542 00:37:32,080 --> 00:37:33,760 the possessions that we have now. 543 00:37:33,880 --> 00:37:38,480 We've got to find enjoyment in the things that God has already 544 00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:46,000 given us, take care of those things to the glory of God, have 545 00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:49,720 a a general acceptance again of our life circumstances. 546 00:37:53,440 --> 00:37:59,440 I was talking to someone who's very dear to me, who, you know, 547 00:38:00,720 --> 00:38:06,000 knows some, some kids at a school that are transgender. 548 00:38:06,000 --> 00:38:10,480 And this conversation, we were talking about how he says that 549 00:38:10,480 --> 00:38:14,240 they, they literally hate being in their own body. 550 00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:19,840 They literally believe and have these feelings that they're 551 00:38:19,840 --> 00:38:21,880 disgusting. They don't like it and they want 552 00:38:21,880 --> 00:38:25,640 to be someone else. They want to, they want to have 553 00:38:25,760 --> 00:38:29,960 an identity of someone else other than what was given to 554 00:38:29,960 --> 00:38:32,400 them. And you can, you can just really 555 00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:35,400 look at that and say first you can have compassion. 556 00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:40,440 But then you can say, yeah, I could see why you would be sad. 557 00:38:40,680 --> 00:38:43,520 I could see why you would be depressed, why you wouldn't be 558 00:38:43,640 --> 00:38:47,560 happy in life. If you can't just accept the lot 559 00:38:47,560 --> 00:38:53,640 in life that you were given. If you can't accept the family 560 00:38:53,640 --> 00:38:57,000 that you have, the name that you have, the gender that you have, 561 00:38:57,000 --> 00:39:00,320 and you think that you need something else to fulfill some 562 00:39:00,320 --> 00:39:04,960 desire or thought in your mind, then of course you're just going 563 00:39:04,960 --> 00:39:09,720 to be miserable. And so part of this, this whole 564 00:39:09,720 --> 00:39:12,200 thing about even our possessions, and I know that 565 00:39:12,200 --> 00:39:15,640 that's, that's a, that's an analogy outside of this, but it 566 00:39:15,640 --> 00:39:19,680 really goes to the general idea that if we can't be happy or 567 00:39:19,680 --> 00:39:23,880 accept the things and what we have and who we are, and we're 568 00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:28,520 constantly wanting new status, new identity from a new position 569 00:39:28,720 --> 00:39:31,480 because we're not happy in the place where we're at. 570 00:39:31,480 --> 00:39:33,440 I mean, we are going to be depressed. 571 00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:39,600 Let's go on. In this passage, he says the eye 572 00:39:39,600 --> 00:39:42,600 is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your 573 00:39:42,600 --> 00:39:43,960 whole body will be full of light. 574 00:39:43,960 --> 00:39:46,520 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of 575 00:39:46,520 --> 00:39:49,880 darkness. But if then the light in you is 576 00:39:49,880 --> 00:39:51,720 darkness, how great is the darkness? 577 00:39:51,720 --> 00:39:55,200 Now, at first this is like some kind of a little bit hard to 578 00:39:55,200 --> 00:40:02,280 interpret parable in a sense. And So what is this saying? 579 00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:06,920 Well, the eye here represented is what you focus on and it's 580 00:40:06,920 --> 00:40:10,280 the it's the lamp. It's it's the window to the 581 00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:16,000 heart, the what you look out at with desire or want. 582 00:40:16,920 --> 00:40:20,880 It's the window to seeing what your heart really wants, right? 583 00:40:20,880 --> 00:40:24,840 And So what you take in with your eyes and what you focus on 584 00:40:26,360 --> 00:40:29,280 kind of informs your heart to what to want. 585 00:40:29,360 --> 00:40:35,080 OK, Like in Psalm 119, heart and I are very close used close 586 00:40:35,080 --> 00:40:38,120 together. 36 it says incline my heart to your testimonies and 587 00:40:38,120 --> 00:40:40,760 not to selfish gain. Turn my eyes from looking at 588 00:40:40,760 --> 00:40:43,760 worthless things and give me life in your ways. 589 00:40:45,760 --> 00:40:50,640 It's the gate of the heart the the mind of or the the the the 590 00:40:50,640 --> 00:40:53,840 mind's eye. It's the the knowledge that 591 00:40:53,840 --> 00:40:57,680 informs our mind will and emotions right. 592 00:40:57,680 --> 00:41:03,360 So if you have a healthy eye, then right, The healthy eye 593 00:41:03,760 --> 00:41:07,760 would be AI that is full of light, full of and light and 594 00:41:07,760 --> 00:41:12,080 darkness here are often always used in the Bible as good and 595 00:41:12,080 --> 00:41:21,080 evil, truth and sinfulness. And so if we have a a healthy 596 00:41:21,080 --> 00:41:26,920 eye, then it will inform our hearts of the the righteous 597 00:41:26,920 --> 00:41:30,200 things, the good things, our bodies will be healthy, will be 598 00:41:30,200 --> 00:41:32,880 whole. And that word healthy actually 599 00:41:32,880 --> 00:41:39,160 there in the Greek means to be sincere, healthy or generous, 600 00:41:39,720 --> 00:41:42,360 which is interesting if you think about that. 601 00:41:42,520 --> 00:41:50,080 If you have a healthy eye or if your eye is is not all about 602 00:41:50,080 --> 00:41:53,880 materialism and possessions and consuming rather that it's more 603 00:41:53,880 --> 00:41:56,480 generous. Like I don't need, I can give. 604 00:41:56,720 --> 00:42:00,680 If you have more of a generous eye, then your body will be 605 00:42:00,680 --> 00:42:05,480 filled with light or goodness or truth, like you will be a whole 606 00:42:05,480 --> 00:42:09,880 and healthy person. In the contrast, then you can 607 00:42:09,880 --> 00:42:13,520 figure out if you have a lustful eye. 608 00:42:13,520 --> 00:42:16,880 And the word lust isn't just about sexual desire. 609 00:42:16,880 --> 00:42:20,560 It's also about physical things. Just looking at things out there 610 00:42:20,560 --> 00:42:22,880 in the world and and wanting them. 611 00:42:23,320 --> 00:42:31,560 In fact, in first John 215 and 16 in the CSB, I'll read, I'll 612 00:42:31,560 --> 00:42:34,800 read ESV and 15, it says do not love the world or the things in 613 00:42:34,800 --> 00:42:36,760 the world. If anyone loves the world, the 614 00:42:36,760 --> 00:42:38,160 love of the Father is not in him. 615 00:42:38,440 --> 00:42:42,080 And then it says for everything in the world, the lust of the 616 00:42:42,080 --> 00:42:45,880 flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one's possessions 617 00:42:46,160 --> 00:42:49,760 is not from the Father, but it's from the world. 618 00:42:50,800 --> 00:42:56,880 So there's a lust that comes from the eye that is evil, 619 00:42:56,880 --> 00:43:00,120 wicked, selfish instead of generous. 620 00:43:00,120 --> 00:43:05,720 It's a selfish eye that informs the heart and then makes the 621 00:43:05,720 --> 00:43:09,760 body sick or the soul the being sick, Right. 622 00:43:09,760 --> 00:43:15,640 So the point of this then is if you want to have a healthy view 623 00:43:15,880 --> 00:43:23,200 of possessions, then we are to be first and foremost informed 624 00:43:23,200 --> 00:43:26,640 where these possessions came from, who owns them, and 625 00:43:26,640 --> 00:43:29,320 therefore what am I supposed to do with them? 626 00:43:30,960 --> 00:43:35,440 I love this job. 1/21 it says naked I came from my mother's 627 00:43:35,440 --> 00:43:38,440 womb and naked shall I return. The Lord gave and the Lord is 628 00:43:38,440 --> 00:43:40,280 taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord, 629 00:43:40,520 --> 00:43:45,360 He, he can't take any with anything with him when he goes. 630 00:43:45,640 --> 00:43:49,200 And it's God who's the giver of every good and perfect gift. 631 00:43:50,320 --> 00:43:53,520 Everything comes from the Lord, because God owns everything. 632 00:43:53,520 --> 00:43:57,200 Psalm 5010 for every beast of the forest is mine, and the 633 00:43:57,200 --> 00:44:00,560 cattle on 1000 hills is mine. He owns everything, all the 634 00:44:00,560 --> 00:44:02,400 silver and the gold, the Bible says. 635 00:44:03,440 --> 00:44:07,600 And so if God owns everything and we get to have some things, 636 00:44:07,680 --> 00:44:11,240 although it seems like we worked for them, God ultimately gives 637 00:44:11,240 --> 00:44:14,920 us the ability to get them. So therefore we are the 638 00:44:14,920 --> 00:44:17,360 managers, and He's the owner of everything. 639 00:44:21,240 --> 00:44:24,320 And if we're to be good managers of the things that God has given 640 00:44:24,320 --> 00:44:29,400 us, then we ought to not have the lustful eyes of selfishness 641 00:44:29,440 --> 00:44:34,080 to store up for ourselves, but instead look at our things as 642 00:44:34,080 --> 00:44:38,960 temporary, not that valuable. And actually, I could give some 643 00:44:38,960 --> 00:44:50,640 of this stuff away. So money again, is a tool. 644 00:44:51,440 --> 00:44:53,560 It's not bad. It's a neutral thing. 645 00:44:53,560 --> 00:44:57,120 You know, everybody often misquotes what First Timothy 6 646 00:44:57,120 --> 00:45:00,480 says about the money is the root of evil. 647 00:45:00,480 --> 00:45:04,040 Well, it says the love of money is the root of all kinds of 648 00:45:04,040 --> 00:45:06,080 evil. It is through this craving that 649 00:45:06,080 --> 00:45:09,120 some have wandered away from the faith and Pierce themselves with 650 00:45:09,120 --> 00:45:11,760 many pains. Again, Jesus is saying to his 651 00:45:11,760 --> 00:45:17,040 disciples look to, to to to remain faith. 652 00:45:17,440 --> 00:45:21,560 Christian, get caught up with what the world is doing with 653 00:45:21,680 --> 00:45:26,040 materialism and amassing for yourself, gaining possessions 654 00:45:26,160 --> 00:45:30,560 and storing up for yourselves only treasures on heaven, in 655 00:45:30,560 --> 00:45:33,280 heaven or on earth and not in heaven. 656 00:45:36,760 --> 00:45:40,720 But it's not saying that money in in itself is is evil. 657 00:45:40,720 --> 00:45:45,000 It can be used for good money is a tool. 658 00:45:45,000 --> 00:45:49,800 And so I want to close with this how, how to store up treasures 659 00:45:49,800 --> 00:45:54,320 in heaven while on earth. Matthew, in Matthew 25, there's 660 00:45:54,320 --> 00:45:57,520 the parable of the talents. And, and each one of them, 661 00:45:57,520 --> 00:46:01,120 there's three guys, they each get a sum, you know, 15 and 10 662 00:46:01,120 --> 00:46:09,800 and, and, and, and two of them go and invest and they get 2 663 00:46:09,800 --> 00:46:13,240 fold from their investment. You know, God comes and rewards 664 00:46:13,240 --> 00:46:18,160 them for investing their talent, which is a form of money back 665 00:46:18,160 --> 00:46:22,040 then. And then what the one said, you 666 00:46:22,040 --> 00:46:24,880 know what, he went and buried it and didn't, he didn't do 667 00:46:24,880 --> 00:46:27,320 anything with it. And so God comes and asks what 668 00:46:27,320 --> 00:46:30,960 you do with what I gave you. These other two went and took 669 00:46:30,960 --> 00:46:36,520 what I gave them and doubled it. They, they, they invested it. 670 00:46:36,520 --> 00:46:40,760 Well, they used it the way in which I wanted them to use it. 671 00:46:41,680 --> 00:46:45,680 And this one guy says, well, you know, I didn't want to mess 672 00:46:45,680 --> 00:46:50,720 things up. I knew that you, you know, in, 673 00:46:50,720 --> 00:46:53,920 in lack of a better term, I knew that, that you would want 674 00:46:53,920 --> 00:46:55,880 something, want what you gave me back. 675 00:46:55,880 --> 00:46:58,680 And so I went and buried it and here it is for you. 676 00:46:58,680 --> 00:47:02,640 And he says, you wicked servant, I gave you this and you did 677 00:47:02,640 --> 00:47:07,240 nothing with it. And it says that he's, you know, 678 00:47:07,240 --> 00:47:10,000 cast in doubt or darkness where there's weeping and gnashing of 679 00:47:10,000 --> 00:47:14,400 teeth or cut in place, cut in pieces and put in the place of 680 00:47:14,400 --> 00:47:18,560 hypocrites. Like he didn't use what God gave 681 00:47:18,560 --> 00:47:23,480 him as a tool to worship and glorify God. 682 00:47:24,080 --> 00:47:26,640 And that's what we need to use our money for. 683 00:47:28,520 --> 00:47:31,000 And now I'm not saying that to scare the Christians in the 684 00:47:31,000 --> 00:47:33,480 room. Like if you, if you, you know, 685 00:47:33,480 --> 00:47:36,040 don't use all the stuff for the glory of God, you're, you're 686 00:47:36,040 --> 00:47:38,120 going to be in that place. You're going to hell. 687 00:47:38,120 --> 00:47:41,440 No, that's not what I'm saying. If you're a Christian, God will 688 00:47:41,440 --> 00:47:45,880 work this out in your life as much as you even fight him on 689 00:47:45,880 --> 00:47:47,960 it. He will be working this out in 690 00:47:47,960 --> 00:47:50,160 your heart. It will bother you. 691 00:47:50,280 --> 00:47:52,040 You'll be at war with him in this. 692 00:47:52,200 --> 00:47:54,760 You'll be like, you know, when you want to give something away, 693 00:47:54,760 --> 00:47:58,200 but you hold with the clutch in your fist, you're like, yeah, 694 00:47:58,200 --> 00:47:59,920 sure, here, I want to give this away. 695 00:48:00,440 --> 00:48:02,360 You know, God will work this out. 696 00:48:02,360 --> 00:48:06,440 That's what the whole Sermon on the Mount is, is helping us 697 00:48:06,440 --> 00:48:09,040 understand. True believers will be like 698 00:48:09,040 --> 00:48:11,800 this. Not perfectly, but we need to 699 00:48:11,800 --> 00:48:15,840 hear this in order to inform our wills and our hearts to align 700 00:48:15,840 --> 00:48:17,240 with God's will. Right. 701 00:48:17,240 --> 00:48:23,880 So money's a tool and we use it. We use our tools like time, 702 00:48:23,880 --> 00:48:30,960 talent and treasure to work for Jesus and so I've just got three 703 00:48:30,960 --> 00:48:34,760 quick things how to store up treasures in heaven time. 704 00:48:35,600 --> 00:48:39,360 We can give our time, right? Bible study, prayer, worship. 705 00:48:39,560 --> 00:48:43,280 This is discipleship. We're storing up treasure in 706 00:48:43,280 --> 00:48:47,680 heaven when, when we're meeting with another person, when we're 707 00:48:47,680 --> 00:48:50,600 reading scripture with another person, when we're studying the 708 00:48:50,600 --> 00:48:53,440 Bible with a group of people. And, and you might have a little 709 00:48:53,440 --> 00:48:56,400 bit more knowledge than they do. And you're, you're storing in 710 00:48:56,400 --> 00:49:01,720 their souls, which will eventually be rewarded one day 711 00:49:01,720 --> 00:49:03,360 in heaven. And that might just be being 712 00:49:03,400 --> 00:49:06,560 able to see them in heaven one day because you shared the 713 00:49:06,560 --> 00:49:10,640 gospel, you prayed for them, you taught them how to worship 714 00:49:11,640 --> 00:49:15,800 discipleship. And let me say this, parents, 715 00:49:16,640 --> 00:49:22,760 men, specifically spiritual leaders, we need to be focused 716 00:49:22,760 --> 00:49:27,120 on doing this because often times in our world, men are 717 00:49:27,120 --> 00:49:30,720 like, oh, I got a job. That's I'm the provider of my 718 00:49:30,720 --> 00:49:35,280 family and that's all I have time to do that I have to focus 719 00:49:35,280 --> 00:49:37,800 on. And so I'm doing my part. 720 00:49:38,800 --> 00:49:42,800 Well, here's what psychologist James Dobson. 721 00:49:43,080 --> 00:49:46,360 He's is so concerned about the recovery of the leadership of 722 00:49:46,360 --> 00:49:50,000 husbands at home that he calls it America's greatest need. 723 00:49:50,200 --> 00:49:54,360 A Christian man is obligated to lead his family to the best of 724 00:49:54,360 --> 00:49:56,840 his ability. If his family has purchased too 725 00:49:56,840 --> 00:50:01,720 many items on credit, then the financial crunch is ultimately 726 00:50:01,720 --> 00:50:04,800 his fault. If the family never reads the 727 00:50:04,800 --> 00:50:08,440 Bible or seldom goes to church on Sunday, God holds the man to 728 00:50:08,440 --> 00:50:10,040 blame. If the children are 729 00:50:10,040 --> 00:50:13,120 disrespectful and disobedient, the primary responsibility, a 730 00:50:13,120 --> 00:50:15,960 lot relies with the father, not his wife. 731 00:50:16,680 --> 00:50:21,520 In my view, America's greatest need is for husbands to begin 732 00:50:21,520 --> 00:50:25,280 guiding their families rather than pouring every physical and 733 00:50:25,280 --> 00:50:28,960 emotional resource into the mere acquisition of money. 734 00:50:31,000 --> 00:50:38,040 If, if we've amassed a great bit of wealth to leave behind to our 735 00:50:38,040 --> 00:50:45,320 kids in the future, but we have not stored up or invested in the 736 00:50:45,320 --> 00:50:48,000 heavenly things, in the spiritual things, in the truth 737 00:50:48,000 --> 00:50:50,320 of God in their lives, we've failed. 738 00:50:54,840 --> 00:51:00,120 And again, I know, I know some of us, all of us who have 739 00:51:00,120 --> 00:51:04,720 children, have children that are walking wayward or not close to 740 00:51:04,720 --> 00:51:06,720 the Lord or as close as we want them to. 741 00:51:07,080 --> 00:51:10,640 And we can't take all the responsibility that their 742 00:51:10,640 --> 00:51:13,240 direction is our fault. I want you to say that. 743 00:51:13,280 --> 00:51:17,160 I want you to know that. But while we have them in our 744 00:51:17,160 --> 00:51:21,480 home now, you cannot make up for the sins that you did in the 745 00:51:21,480 --> 00:51:23,360 past. Just receive forgiveness and 746 00:51:23,360 --> 00:51:27,280 grace for that. But right now is the time to 747 00:51:27,280 --> 00:51:32,880 start talent. We can give away our talents, 748 00:51:32,880 --> 00:51:36,880 right? That means serving, serving in 749 00:51:36,880 --> 00:51:40,080 and for the church, using your abilities to advance the 750 00:51:40,080 --> 00:51:43,520 Kingdom, right? We've got, you know, church 751 00:51:43,520 --> 00:51:48,040 takes a lot of people to do. In fact, we have 73 volunteers. 752 00:51:48,040 --> 00:51:50,600 Can you believe that? Thank you, by the way, to all 753 00:51:50,600 --> 00:51:56,600 our volunteers at this church, 73 individual people that serve 754 00:51:56,600 --> 00:52:00,240 here at our church. And we need more all the time. 755 00:52:01,240 --> 00:52:05,480 So, you know, we've got Sunday teams, you know, the hospitality 756 00:52:05,480 --> 00:52:09,440 team, we've got food every every week that people provide and 757 00:52:09,440 --> 00:52:11,360 bring in that we can have fellowship. 758 00:52:11,360 --> 00:52:16,040 We need more people to serve our kids and kids church set up and 759 00:52:16,040 --> 00:52:21,000 tear down music, youth group greeting. 760 00:52:21,000 --> 00:52:26,120 I mean, I could go on and on, but you know, there's also you 761 00:52:26,120 --> 00:52:29,240 got skills from your job again, talents that translate to 762 00:52:29,240 --> 00:52:32,160 helping further the Kingdom, whatever that looks like. 763 00:52:32,760 --> 00:52:38,800 You're a politician, you know, start fighting for morality, you 764 00:52:38,800 --> 00:52:44,000 know, if you're have your electrician and eventually we 765 00:52:44,000 --> 00:52:46,600 get to the place where God gives us a building, we're going to 766 00:52:46,600 --> 00:52:48,400 need that. We're going to need people who 767 00:52:48,400 --> 00:52:50,840 have special skills. I mean, there's there's ways to 768 00:52:50,840 --> 00:52:54,120 do that to the glory of God, to store up treasures for heaven, 769 00:52:54,280 --> 00:52:59,280 hard work. And lastly, treasure giving 770 00:52:59,760 --> 00:53:03,480 regularly, sacrificially and deliberately. 771 00:53:03,840 --> 00:53:09,000 That's what the Bible says that a Christian should do, giving to 772 00:53:09,000 --> 00:53:12,080 the financial needs of the church and those inside the 773 00:53:12,080 --> 00:53:16,640 church who have needs. And so I'll end with this. 774 00:53:16,640 --> 00:53:23,440 Remember, our worth or our value is not in what we own. 775 00:53:25,080 --> 00:53:30,000 Our value and worth comes from the most worthy God who 776 00:53:30,000 --> 00:53:33,400 purchased us by dying on the cross. 777 00:53:33,960 --> 00:53:37,560 Do not find your value and worth and your title, your position 778 00:53:37,560 --> 00:53:40,920 and all the things that you own. Find it in Jesus Christ. 779 00:53:41,440 --> 00:53:44,840 And when you get to heaven, you have all the riches and the 780 00:53:44,840 --> 00:53:47,240 heritance that you could ever dream of. 781 00:53:47,880 --> 00:53:51,800 And most importantly, we will get to see him and have him face 782 00:53:51,800 --> 00:53:53,640 to face. Let's pray. 783 00:53:55,040 --> 00:54:03,960 Father, thank you, Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, help us to walk in 784 00:54:03,960 --> 00:54:07,760 the words that we've just heard and read today. 785 00:54:08,960 --> 00:54:14,440 Thank you for loving us so much even when we were yet sinners. 786 00:54:14,440 --> 00:54:17,280 We weren't worthy, we weren't worth anything. 787 00:54:17,280 --> 00:54:22,080 The value we had lost our value in the fall because of sin and 788 00:54:22,800 --> 00:54:28,440 in your eyes it would be just to condemn us to eternal 789 00:54:28,800 --> 00:54:33,160 destruction. But yet you valued us by your 790 00:54:33,160 --> 00:54:36,360 grace, so much so that you sent your Son to come and die for us. 791 00:54:36,920 --> 00:54:41,080 Help us then to honor you and to love you back Lord, with the 792 00:54:41,080 --> 00:54:45,560 things that you've given us. Father, and forgive us for all 793 00:54:45,560 --> 00:54:47,760 the times that we have failed and will fail. 794 00:54:47,960 --> 00:54:49,760 We pray that in Jesus name, Amen.