1 00:00:00,920 --> 00:00:07,120 Matthew 6 verse 19 Don't store up yourselves treasures on 2 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:10,880 earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break 3 00:00:10,880 --> 00:00:15,400 in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, 4 00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:18,840 where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves 5 00:00:18,840 --> 00:00:22,800 don't break in and steal. For where your treasure is, 6 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:26,080 there your heart will be also. See. 7 00:00:26,080 --> 00:00:28,200 The light is the lamp of the body. 8 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:32,000 If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of 9 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:35,800 light. But if your eye is bad, your 10 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:38,520 whole body will be full of darkness. 11 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:44,600 So if the light within you is darkness, how deep is that 12 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:49,200 darkness? No one can serve 2 masters, 13 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:53,520 since either he will hate 1 and love the other, or he will be 14 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:55,640 devoted to 1 and despise the other. 15 00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:59,680 You cannot serve both God and. Money. 16 00:01:04,080 --> 00:01:11,480 My phone is a little bit older. I recently have been having some 17 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:14,960 trouble with it. Some friends have very politely 18 00:01:14,960 --> 00:01:17,800 and persistently let me know that some of their texts haven't 19 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:21,560 been coming through to me, and I think part of it is due to the 20 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:24,240 age of it. This is what you call a pre 21 00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:31,480 pandemic phone all the way from 2019 and having a phone this old 22 00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:35,280 I have found is just completely socially unacceptable. 23 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:39,360 Evidently, OK, I mean, I, I pull this thing out in front of my 24 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:43,080 friends and I might as well have just like pulled out a Rotary 25 00:01:43,080 --> 00:01:45,760 phone, you know what I mean? Like they look at me like I'm 26 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:50,320 some sort of something, OK. And so I got to be honest. 27 00:01:50,320 --> 00:01:53,960 So as it's been acting up, I've been, I've been sort of doing a 28 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:57,960 little bit of, of the research on buying a new phone, right? 29 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:01,520 And you know, my plan has the free upgrade and all of that. 30 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:05,080 But I've, I've started to notice, I've gotten sucked into 31 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:09,039 the marketing campaigns that are out there with technology. 32 00:02:09,039 --> 00:02:10,280 Do you guys know what I'm talking about? 33 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:15,000 Every year it starts up, there's a new phone and a new product 34 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:18,520 promising, you know, the the latest and greatest features, 35 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:21,440 right? The new phones have AI that will 36 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:24,640 literally make all of your life better, evidently. 37 00:02:24,640 --> 00:02:28,560 OK, it's turns out that the new phones have like 10 different 38 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:31,000 cameras and all of the features and all of that. 39 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:34,080 And even though my phone's been acting up, I'm the type of guy 40 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:37,440 or I like to I like to fix the things in my life that are 41 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:39,360 broken and not just replace them, you know? 42 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:42,560 And so I did a little work. I did some backup, I did a 43 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:45,480 factory reset and it and it's working again. 44 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:48,320 It's functioning. Yes, we can clap for that. 45 00:02:48,320 --> 00:02:52,240 OK, I heard some collective moans from my friends out in the 46 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:56,880 audience, which is fine, right? But I gotta be honest, right? 47 00:02:56,880 --> 00:03:00,720 Like like the, the new phone is still calling my name, you know 48 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:03,760 what I mean? Like the advertising's been 49 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:05,360 working. I've been researching the latest 50 00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:09,320 and greatest and I've seen all the features and I kind of, I 51 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:11,480 kind of want a new phone. But here's the problem. 52 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:15,560 The old phone still works. You know what I mean? 53 00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:19,360 The old pre pandemic phone is still functioning. 54 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:21,360 Well, at least now it now it's functioning OK. 55 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:25,920 And the question is, what do we do with that? 56 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:30,240 What do we do with our culture that is constantly trying to 57 00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:33,600 sell us on the latest and greatest all the time? 58 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:38,120 There was one study that showed that we are exposed to somewhere 59 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:43,000 between 4008 thousand advertisements every day, 60 00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:45,400 everyday, right? You may think that's 61 00:03:45,400 --> 00:03:49,280 astronomical 4000, but maybe if you factor in every single logo 62 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:52,360 you see during the day, every emblem on a car you see every ad 63 00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:55,960 while you're scrolling, that number is tremendous. 64 00:03:56,080 --> 00:03:59,480 We are constantly being sold on the latest and greatest in the 65 00:03:59,480 --> 00:04:02,640 next. It's consumerism at its finest. 66 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:08,200 And my question today is how do we know if we're just justifying 67 00:04:08,200 --> 00:04:12,240 the next purchase, not because we need it, but because we want 68 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:14,640 it? You ever felt that tension? 69 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:19,680 And how do we know if we're being sucked into the pole of 70 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:24,200 materialism of accumulating more and more and more? 71 00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:27,440 And beyond that, how do we know if we're being sucked into the 72 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:32,000 the allure and the enticement of wealth or what Jesus called 73 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:35,720 mammon? We're going to discuss this 74 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:39,520 today as we continue on in our sermon series called Wisdom In 75 00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:42,640 the Desert. And we're taking the season of 76 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:46,360 Lent, which is traditionally the 40 days leading up to Easter. 77 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:49,920 And we're intentionally taking some time to to strip back to 78 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:52,440 practice spiritual disciplines like prayer and fasting. 79 00:04:52,440 --> 00:04:56,160 And our sermon series is an examination of the desert 80 00:04:56,160 --> 00:04:58,880 fathers and mothers. They were this sort of like 81 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:02,880 radical group of early Christians who escaped their 82 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:06,840 culture and went off into the wilderness in order to truly 83 00:05:06,840 --> 00:05:09,840 seek Jesus, in order to truly find him. 84 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:13,320 They were escaping the materialism of their age, the 85 00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:16,200 corruption and the church and politics, and they went off into 86 00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:19,440 the desert to do spiritual warfare and to choose a 87 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:22,640 different lifestyle. So we're kind of looking at 88 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:25,000 this, this radical group of Christians and saying, is there 89 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:29,240 any ancient wisdom, any truth that we can embrace for 90 00:05:29,240 --> 00:05:33,000 ourselves today? And one thing about the desert 91 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:35,520 fathers and mothers that they all shared this very common 92 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:40,040 trait, which was this, they actively and very intentionally 93 00:05:40,120 --> 00:05:43,000 rejected the pull of materialism. 94 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:47,320 And they did that by embracing what was called an ascetic 95 00:05:47,320 --> 00:05:51,720 lifestyle, that basically a a lifestyle of self denial, of 96 00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:55,120 renunciation. They were renouncing the way of 97 00:05:55,120 --> 00:05:57,720 the world and their culture and materialism, consumerism. 98 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:01,200 And they chose a different way. Now, they took it to some pretty 99 00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:04,480 crazy extremes. I mean, they went without 100 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:06,200 luxuries, they went without clothes. 101 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:08,880 Sometimes they went without sleep, they went without food. 102 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:11,440 It was radical. Sometimes they even were 103 00:06:11,440 --> 00:06:15,280 training one another to go without praise, as in like, 104 00:06:15,280 --> 00:06:18,880 don't let people compliment you or praise you because it does 105 00:06:18,880 --> 00:06:21,640 something to the soul and it's radical. 106 00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:25,200 Their way of life, and we're not meant to emulate it all the way. 107 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:28,640 But the question is, why would they do this? 108 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:32,160 Why would they go out into the wilderness for this? 109 00:06:32,360 --> 00:06:36,600 There was a church father by the name of Hyperachaeus, and he 110 00:06:36,600 --> 00:06:40,400 said this. He said to accept poverty freely 111 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:44,320 is the monk's treasure. Therefore, my brother lay up 112 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:49,160 treasure in heaven, where there will be endless time for rest. 113 00:06:49,160 --> 00:06:54,080 And what he's doing here is he's riffing off of the teachings and 114 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:59,280 the lifestyle of Jesus himself. So we're going to be in Matthew 115 00:06:59,280 --> 00:07:01,960 chapter 6 today. If you have your Bibles, we 116 00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:03,440 always encourage you to bring physical Bibles. 117 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:05,120 If you have it. You can always look at it on 118 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:07,480 your phone. It'll be on the screen as well. 119 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:11,840 Matthew is the first book of the New Testament, the first gospel. 120 00:07:12,120 --> 00:07:14,240 It's about 3/4 of the way through your Bible. 121 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:17,480 If you want to turn there, we're going to be starting in verse 19 122 00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:21,600 today. And again, these desert fathers 123 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:24,360 and mothers, they chose the radical lifestyle in order to 124 00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:27,880 counteract the forces and the poles of the culture that they 125 00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:30,120 live in. We too, as followers of Jesus, 126 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:34,000 are constantly being swayed and pulled by the waves and the 127 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:38,040 tides of our culture. And this is what Jesus speaks on 128 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:40,240 the Sermon on the Mount to his disciples. 129 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:44,480 This sermon is one of the most famous passages, famous sermons 130 00:07:44,480 --> 00:07:47,240 of all time. It's sort of Jesus's inaugural 131 00:07:47,240 --> 00:07:50,000 address announcing what the Kingdom is like and how we can 132 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:53,720 live into God's Kingdom. And he says this in verse 19. 133 00:07:55,560 --> 00:08:00,480 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moths 134 00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:05,360 and vermin destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but 135 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:09,400 store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where Moss 136 00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:12,560 and vermin do not destroy and where thieves do not break in 137 00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:17,160 and steal. For where your treasure is there 138 00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:22,640 your heart will be also. So here Jesus gives two options 139 00:08:22,640 --> 00:08:26,200 for the for the place where we can store our treasure. 140 00:08:26,200 --> 00:08:29,760 One is heaven and the other is down on earth. 141 00:08:30,720 --> 00:08:33,039 So the question becomes like, why would we be tempted to store 142 00:08:33,039 --> 00:08:37,720 all, all of our stuff on earth? Why do we do that well, as human 143 00:08:37,720 --> 00:08:39,960 beings, you and I live in a material world. 144 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:43,799 We we work for a living. We get money from our work in 145 00:08:43,799 --> 00:08:46,120 order to pay for a food or roof over our head right. 146 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:49,800 Our our needs are visible and they're tangible and by the way, 147 00:08:49,800 --> 00:08:53,200 that working for our keep is a is a good and beautiful thing. 148 00:08:53,920 --> 00:08:57,480 God designed us to work as we see an Adam and Eve with the 149 00:08:57,480 --> 00:09:01,440 Garden of Eden. But so often what happens is in 150 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:05,880 our pursuit of our tangible needs, we often times fear that 151 00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:10,760 we won't have enough. We worry and we toil and we 152 00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:14,000 build up for ourselves. We store up for ourselves 153 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:19,840 treasures here and now on earth. We build storehouses that are 154 00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:25,760 bigger and bigger. When God wants us to store our 155 00:09:25,760 --> 00:09:30,680 treasures elsewhere, you know it's not that. 156 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:35,760 It's not that storing up your treasures is bad per SE. 157 00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:37,640 That's not what Jesus is coming against. 158 00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:40,440 He knows instinctively as human beings we want to store up 159 00:09:40,440 --> 00:09:44,600 enough. The question becomes where are 160 00:09:44,600 --> 00:09:48,760 we storing our treasures? So today I'm going to give you 3 161 00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:51,920 quick reasons why there's wisdom in storing up your treasures in 162 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:55,080 heaven instead of here on earth following Jesus's commands. 163 00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:56,880 The first and first reason is this. 164 00:09:57,440 --> 00:10:01,080 Moth and vermin destroy treasures on earth. 165 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:05,480 Again, take a look at verse 20. But store up for yourselves 166 00:10:05,480 --> 00:10:08,960 treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy and 167 00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:12,160 where thieves do not break in and steal. 168 00:10:13,680 --> 00:10:17,040 So again, it's not about the fact that humans want to store 169 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:19,040 up treasures. It's about all about where we 170 00:10:19,040 --> 00:10:22,120 choose to store it on earth or in heaven. 171 00:10:22,520 --> 00:10:26,520 Now the word here for vermin, some translations call it rust, 172 00:10:26,880 --> 00:10:29,680 and the word literally means sort of this eating away. 173 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:32,120 So think of how rust sort of eats away at metal. 174 00:10:32,760 --> 00:10:36,120 What Jesus is saying here is like, due to the fallen nature 175 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:40,720 of our world, due to sin, this world has a sort of corrosive 176 00:10:40,720 --> 00:10:43,480 effect on all of our material possessions. 177 00:10:44,040 --> 00:10:46,920 Everything decays, it falls away. 178 00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:50,480 And So what he's saying here is don't put all your eggs in the 179 00:10:50,480 --> 00:10:53,760 basket here on earth where it will be eaten away eventually, 180 00:10:53,760 --> 00:10:56,520 either by moth or by rust or by vermin. 181 00:10:57,840 --> 00:10:59,760 In other words, what he's saying is this. 182 00:11:00,760 --> 00:11:05,760 Heaven is the only secure place to invest your time, your talent 183 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:09,520 and your treasures. It's the only place where your 184 00:11:09,520 --> 00:11:12,960 treasures won't be stolen, where they won't decay, where they 185 00:11:12,960 --> 00:11:15,920 won't eventually be eaten up by time or by others. 186 00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:19,800 Store up your treasures in heaven. 187 00:11:21,080 --> 00:11:23,400 If I was going to go back in time, like let's say I had a 188 00:11:23,400 --> 00:11:28,920 time machine and I could go back to, you know, young 19, 90s Ben, 189 00:11:29,160 --> 00:11:31,840 right? And I could give him some advice 190 00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:35,200 on where to invest. I want to tell you, I would not 191 00:11:35,200 --> 00:11:38,760 tell him to invest in something like Blockbuster, You know what 192 00:11:38,760 --> 00:11:42,280 I mean? Instead, I'd maybe say, all 193 00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:46,240 right, invest in Apple or invest in, you know, NVIDIA or Google 194 00:11:46,240 --> 00:11:48,320 or something, but don't invest in Blockbuster. 195 00:11:48,320 --> 00:11:50,720 I know it's, it's like peak right now for you, Ben. 196 00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:54,320 I know they have N60 fours inside of them, but trust me, it 197 00:11:54,320 --> 00:11:59,040 will fall away. That would be a poor investment. 198 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:02,120 What Jesus is saying here is saying don't store up here on 199 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:04,080 earth. That's a bad investment. 200 00:12:04,080 --> 00:12:07,200 It's going to fall away. None of that's like financial 201 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:10,360 advice, by the way. Don't take that from me, but 202 00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:12,840 don't store up for yourselves Beanie Babies, right? 203 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:15,760 They're not going to be worth what you think they're going to 204 00:12:15,760 --> 00:12:17,800 be worth. Instead, the only safe 205 00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:19,720 investment is to store them up in heaven. 206 00:12:19,720 --> 00:12:24,600 Now we need to also sort of avoid the the opposite of 207 00:12:25,160 --> 00:12:27,760 extreme here, which says, you know, don't store up anything 208 00:12:27,760 --> 00:12:30,760 for yourself. Don't, don't save for tomorrow 209 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:32,760 or save for the future. I don't think that's what Jesus 210 00:12:32,760 --> 00:12:34,840 is saying here. Again, we look at the broad 211 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:38,440 context of Scripture to understand individual passages 212 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:42,120 and all throughout Scripture we see that saving up for tomorrow 213 00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:45,600 is a wise thing to do. In Proverbs, it talks about the 214 00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:48,760 ants and how they work during the summer in order to save up 215 00:12:48,760 --> 00:12:52,680 for what the winter. Scripture also talks about how 216 00:12:52,680 --> 00:12:56,880 Joseph, he was storing up grain for Egypt because there was a 217 00:12:56,880 --> 00:12:59,960 famine that was about to come. Corinthians talks about saving 218 00:12:59,960 --> 00:13:03,520 up for your own children and so on and so forth. 219 00:13:03,520 --> 00:13:05,800 Parable of the talents. We get the picture. 220 00:13:06,080 --> 00:13:09,480 It's not that investing is bad. It's not that saving is bad. 221 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:13,760 In fact, it's good. What Jesus is saying here is he 222 00:13:13,760 --> 00:13:17,480 saying that with the excess? Resist the urge to just keep 223 00:13:17,480 --> 00:13:20,680 building bigger and bigger storehouses for yourself. 224 00:13:21,920 --> 00:13:25,640 Resist the urge to just keep and accumulate and fall into the 225 00:13:25,640 --> 00:13:29,080 trap of materialism. Does that make sense? 226 00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:31,480 So far, heaven is the only safe investment. 227 00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:34,520 So that's number one. Moth and vermin destroy 228 00:13:34,520 --> 00:13:37,400 treasures when we store them up here on earth. 229 00:13:38,920 --> 00:13:42,160 Second reason why we need to choose the wisdom of heavenly 230 00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:45,600 treasures is that our heart follows our treasure. 231 00:13:46,280 --> 00:13:48,320 Our heart always follows our treasure. 232 00:13:48,320 --> 00:13:55,400 Matthew 621 Jesus says for where your treasure is, there your 233 00:13:55,400 --> 00:14:01,680 heart will be also interesting. So for Jesus, this idea of 234 00:14:01,680 --> 00:14:04,840 materialism and accumulating and having more and more, it always 235 00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:09,400 comes back to the heart. It always is about the heart 236 00:14:09,400 --> 00:14:13,480 first and foremost with Jesus. By heart I'm talking about the 237 00:14:13,480 --> 00:14:17,000 center of our will, the center of our emotions, the center of 238 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:18,960 our desires. That's the heart. 239 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:21,160 It's the the kind of the deepest part of who we are. 240 00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:25,280 And what Jesus is teaching here is he's saying your heart 241 00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:29,440 follows your money and your time and your treasures. 242 00:14:30,840 --> 00:14:32,800 Now, sometimes we think it's like the opposite, right? 243 00:14:32,800 --> 00:14:35,360 We think, you know, the things we really care about are the 244 00:14:35,360 --> 00:14:38,920 things we spend our money on. And that's true, right? 245 00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:41,240 If you were to show me your budget and you were to show me 246 00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:45,000 your calendar, I'd get a pretty good picture of what you care 247 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:46,920 about, right? Same. 248 00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:49,880 Same with mine. But Jesus is saying it's, he's 249 00:14:49,880 --> 00:14:52,520 saying, yes, it's that, but it's, it's also the opposite. 250 00:14:52,520 --> 00:14:55,920 He's saying wherever you, wherever you send your treasures 251 00:14:55,920 --> 00:14:59,680 off to your heart will also go with it. 252 00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:05,680 You will follow your treasure. Part of this is because, you 253 00:15:05,680 --> 00:15:10,480 know, if we, if we just store up for ourselves here on earth, we 254 00:15:10,480 --> 00:15:14,400 fear because we know that we might lose it all in a moment. 255 00:15:15,880 --> 00:15:19,160 We might have job loss or the economy might turn or someone 256 00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:20,840 might take it or someone might betray us. 257 00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:24,320 And so if our heart is with our treasures here on earth, we, we, 258 00:15:24,320 --> 00:15:28,440 we live in fear or we might be tempted to greed because we 259 00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:31,600 never quite feel like we have enough. 260 00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:36,840 Let me put it this way. Our hearts, our desire and our 261 00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:40,800 energy, our attention follows our treasure. 262 00:15:41,520 --> 00:15:43,280 It goes with it. It's inevitable. 263 00:15:44,560 --> 00:15:48,000 The things you spend your money on and your time on are the 264 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:52,480 things that you care about. And then Jesus says this really 265 00:15:52,480 --> 00:15:54,600 next, this next part, which was really interesting. 266 00:15:54,600 --> 00:15:56,480 There's a couple different interpretations that you can go 267 00:15:56,480 --> 00:15:58,280 with it. It's not quite clear, but in 268 00:15:58,280 --> 00:16:02,640 verse 22, he says this. He says the eye is the lamp of 269 00:16:02,640 --> 00:16:05,440 the body. If your eyes are healthy, your 270 00:16:05,440 --> 00:16:08,640 whole body will be full of light, but if your eyes are 271 00:16:08,640 --> 00:16:11,880 unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. 272 00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:16,960 If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that 273 00:16:17,480 --> 00:16:20,440 darkness? What is Jesus talking about 274 00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:22,640 here? How many of you have ever heard 275 00:16:22,640 --> 00:16:25,840 the phrase the eyes or the window to the soul, Anyone. 276 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:26,760 Yep. Show of hands. 277 00:16:26,840 --> 00:16:28,720 Few of you. I think that's from like 278 00:16:28,720 --> 00:16:30,640 Shakespeare or something. And it's kind of the idea of 279 00:16:30,640 --> 00:16:33,400 like, if you really look into someone's eyes, you can see what 280 00:16:33,400 --> 00:16:35,840 they're really like. You know, you can see inside to 281 00:16:35,840 --> 00:16:39,320 their souls. It's almost like a portal into 282 00:16:39,320 --> 00:16:42,080 their souls. And Jesus, I think is, is kind 283 00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:45,760 of saying something similar. He agrees that the eyes are the 284 00:16:45,760 --> 00:16:50,440 are the portal to the soul. But what he's saying is, is the 285 00:16:50,440 --> 00:16:54,280 eyes are are the thing that allows things externally to come 286 00:16:54,280 --> 00:16:58,240 in and land in our hearts. What do I mean by that? 287 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:02,120 What Jesus is saying, he's saying, yes, the eyes are the 288 00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:05,280 window to the soul, but it's it's like a portal that allows 289 00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:09,200 things into our hearts. Our hearts are sort of the 290 00:17:09,200 --> 00:17:12,079 repository of treasures. There's a storehouse even in our 291 00:17:12,079 --> 00:17:16,760 heart. And what we focus on is what 292 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:20,920 fills our hearts. So if we have good eyes, our 293 00:17:20,920 --> 00:17:24,160 focus is on God, Our focus is on loving him. 294 00:17:24,160 --> 00:17:28,880 Our focus is on living righteously for God and his love 295 00:17:28,880 --> 00:17:30,640 and his righteousness fills our heart. 296 00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:36,280 But if we have a bad eye, which is sort of Hebrew for if we have 297 00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:39,120 a bad eye, it's sort of the connotation of like, we look at 298 00:17:39,120 --> 00:17:42,000 what our neighbors have and their house and their, their 299 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:44,560 cars and their possessions, and we become envious of those 300 00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:47,400 things. Covetous is another word for 301 00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:49,200 that. He's saying if we look out and 302 00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:52,760 we just want what our neighbor has, our, our eyes are evil. 303 00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:55,760 They're darkened. And what happens? 304 00:17:55,840 --> 00:17:58,680 We allow that darkness into our heart. 305 00:17:59,400 --> 00:18:01,960 We become greedy. Does that make sense? 306 00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:04,840 So. So what we choose to focus on is 307 00:18:04,840 --> 00:18:06,960 what fills our hearts. Our eyes are like a portal. 308 00:18:07,360 --> 00:18:08,920 Michael J Wilkins puts it this way. 309 00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:14,520 If a disciples eyes are fixed on earthly treasure as his or her 310 00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:18,720 value, personal significance or earthly security, then the heart 311 00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:20,960 will likewise be full of darkness. 312 00:18:21,600 --> 00:18:25,200 When we focus on something evil, the eye becomes the conduit by 313 00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:27,400 which evil fills the inner person. 314 00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:31,480 If the eye is good, it is the conduit that allows the heart to 315 00:18:31,480 --> 00:18:34,880 be filled with the light of God's treasure. 316 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:41,120 Let me put it this way. The longer we behold something, 317 00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:43,920 the more it takes residence in our hearts. 318 00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:47,120 Have you found that to be true in your life? 319 00:18:47,720 --> 00:18:51,000 The whatever you focus on, whatever you're desiring, 320 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:54,800 whatever you're really just like watching and and folding and 321 00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:58,560 giving your attention to it begins to take seat in our 322 00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:03,000 heart, residence in our hearts. And so the invitation of Jesus 323 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:07,960 is to have a singular focus, to turn our attention purely and 324 00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:15,520 strictly to Jesus himself, because where our treasure goes, 325 00:19:15,520 --> 00:19:19,960 our heart will go also. OK, so that's number two. 326 00:19:20,960 --> 00:19:24,160 Third reason why we choose the wisdom of storing up in heaven 327 00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:26,760 rather than on earth. You guys can say this with me, 328 00:19:26,760 --> 00:19:32,320 it's on the screen. You cannot serve 2 masters. 24 329 00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:35,480 Jesus says no one can serve 2 masters. 330 00:19:36,920 --> 00:19:40,400 Either you will hate the one or love the other, or you'll be a 331 00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:43,000 devoted to 1 and despise the other. 332 00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:47,120 You cannot serve both God and money. 333 00:19:47,360 --> 00:19:52,720 Wow, powerful words. What it what it did Jesus say 334 00:19:53,240 --> 00:19:55,520 it's really hard to serve both God and money? 335 00:19:56,760 --> 00:19:59,760 No. Did Jesus say some people 336 00:19:59,760 --> 00:20:02,200 struggle with serving both God and money? 337 00:20:03,800 --> 00:20:09,000 He says you cannot serve both God and money. 338 00:20:09,720 --> 00:20:11,320 It's one of the greatest sayings of all time. 339 00:20:11,360 --> 00:20:13,200 Jesus knows what he's talking about here. 340 00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:15,520 Some translations have it this way. 341 00:20:15,720 --> 00:20:21,720 They say you cannot serve God and mammon thinking mammon. 342 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:23,240 What is mammon? I don't know what that is. 343 00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:27,120 Mammon is actually an Aramaic word, which would have been what 344 00:20:27,120 --> 00:20:28,720 they would have spoken at the time. 345 00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:32,040 But Matthew chooses not to translate Aramaic into Greek. 346 00:20:32,040 --> 00:20:34,600 In this instance, he leaves it as mammon. 347 00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:37,560 It's likely as a call back to the Hebrew. 348 00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:41,440 So he left it untranslated and scholars think it was because 349 00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:47,120 the word mammon was the name for an ancient Syrian God of wealth. 350 00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:54,160 Interesting. So here, wealth, materialism, 351 00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:59,720 accumulation, it's being personified as a rival God to 352 00:20:59,760 --> 00:21:05,880 Yahweh himself, God the Father. You catch that this is not just, 353 00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:07,920 you know, oh, money's nice to have. 354 00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:09,480 And so we all kind of chase after it. 355 00:21:10,360 --> 00:21:12,840 Jesus is giving the impression that no, this is like an 356 00:21:12,880 --> 00:21:17,240 animated demonic force that can grip you and lay hold of you if 357 00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:19,000 you let it. Do you see? 358 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:22,320 Do you see why this matters? OK, it's not just a passive 359 00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:26,520 thing, but it's an active thing. Mammon is to be taken seriously. 360 00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:31,280 It's Jesus's way of saying there is a rival God out there, 361 00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:34,120 lowercase G God out there. Beware of it. 362 00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:41,560 I kind of wanted to help personify this idea of Mammon as 363 00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:43,600 a rival. And so I did what I, what I like 364 00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:46,480 to do lately, evidently is like I go to ChatGPT and I'm like, 365 00:21:46,680 --> 00:21:50,040 hey, show me what like a rival God Mammon might look like. 366 00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:53,520 And I, I really didn't like what it pumped out because it was 367 00:21:53,520 --> 00:21:58,280 sort of this like dark demonic, like scary horned creature. 368 00:21:58,280 --> 00:22:00,520 And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no. 369 00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:05,360 Mammon is not scary. Mammon is enticing. 370 00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:10,560 Mammon allures us in with the promise of wealth and well-being 371 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:12,600 and security. Mammon is not some scary thing 372 00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:14,200 that you say, whoa, I don't want to go near that. 373 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:17,160 It's the opposite. And so I found this, this 374 00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:20,920 painting, it's from 1909. So think industrial revolution, 375 00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:22,480 so on and so forth. Take a look. 376 00:22:23,120 --> 00:22:26,760 This painting is over 100 years old, painted by Evelyn De 377 00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:29,120 Morgan, and it's a depiction of Mammon. 378 00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:32,240 So you can see that Mammon is sort of this golden God like 379 00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:35,680 like figure in the background, intentionally out of frame with 380 00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:41,440 its size and notice something. Notice that the woman in this 381 00:22:41,440 --> 00:22:46,040 painting is not going for the bag of gold that Mammon is 382 00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:50,000 extending here. No, she she's lost interest in 383 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:53,800 the gold a long time ago. She's now worshipping the God of 384 00:22:53,800 --> 00:22:57,960 wealth itself. How many of us? 385 00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:01,400 We may start off with just trying to get enough to get by, 386 00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:05,560 then get enough to be comfortable, then get enough to 387 00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:08,000 outperform our neighbors or whatever. 388 00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:11,000 We start off by chasing money, but then something shifts. 389 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:14,560 Our heart actually starts to worship the God of Mammon 390 00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:17,360 itself. You can see her just kind of 391 00:23:17,360 --> 00:23:20,080 looking up in desperation at this mammon, and he's just kind 392 00:23:20,080 --> 00:23:22,960 of towering over her in full control. 393 00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:27,640 This painting carries with it significance because this is the 394 00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:31,080 struggle that each of us face when it comes to wealth and 395 00:23:31,080 --> 00:23:34,160 mammon and accumulation. It's what Scripture writers 396 00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:37,160 would call an idol, which is a false God. 397 00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:41,760 And an idol replaces God's role and function in our lives. 398 00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:45,480 So a false God, they, they attempt to say, hey, I'm going 399 00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:48,080 to give you all these things. I'm going to perform this 400 00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:54,600 function in your life. But they try to entice us by 401 00:23:54,600 --> 00:23:56,680 giving us things that only God was meant to give us. 402 00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:01,080 Tim Keller says that idols are usually good things that turn 403 00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:05,240 into ultimate things. Wow, how many good things in 404 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:07,080 your life can easily become an ultimate thing? 405 00:24:11,280 --> 00:24:16,800 It's interesting to me that accumulation, materialism, 406 00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:21,720 consumerism, it's interesting that workaholism is is one of 407 00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:24,200 the only acceptable drugs in our culture. 408 00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:29,000 Have you noticed that it's because you see a very positive 409 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:32,360 return when you are a workaholic in life, do you not? 410 00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:35,000 People are like, whoa, you must have it all together. 411 00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:40,240 Whoa, you got the new iPhone, you know, 200, That's amazing, 412 00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:43,280 right? Like, wow, you must have it 413 00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:45,120 together. You must be a hard worker, 414 00:24:45,120 --> 00:24:47,280 right? Workaholism has become an 415 00:24:47,280 --> 00:24:48,920 acceptable drug. Most people are, you know, when 416 00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:51,520 it comes to like, like heroin or meth, it's like, no, no, no, 417 00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:52,640 don't do that. That's destructive. 418 00:24:52,640 --> 00:24:54,800 But when it comes to accumulation, it's like, yeah, 419 00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:57,160 good for you, man. Have you noticed that? 420 00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:01,720 It's an idol, and it's a dangerous one at that. 421 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:05,880 Mammon offers us all sorts of things. 422 00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:08,200 Mammon tries to offer a security. 423 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:10,240 You're going to be taken care of. 424 00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:13,800 You're going to be fine. Mammon offers us a sense of self 425 00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:15,920 worth. Oh, you must have made it. 426 00:25:17,120 --> 00:25:19,560 Offers us power and influence over others. 427 00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:21,720 It allows us some sense of independence. 428 00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:24,240 I can do what I want, when I want to do it, wherever I want 429 00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:27,400 to do it at. And finally, Mammon offers us 430 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:30,840 pleasure. Everything, all the pleasures 431 00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:33,520 that the world offers us, we can have at our disposal if we would 432 00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:36,880 just worship and bow our knee to Mammon. 433 00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:41,680 The Rockefeller family with some of the the wealthiest family 434 00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:43,680 ever. I think it was Standard Oil. 435 00:25:43,680 --> 00:25:46,600 Is my history right on that? Standard Oil, very wealthy, 436 00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:49,560 probably one of the wealthiest people in our nation. 437 00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:52,320 And one time someone asked Rockefeller, they said 438 00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:55,240 Rockefeller, how much money is enough? 439 00:25:56,600 --> 00:25:58,600 It's a good question. And what is his? 440 00:25:58,600 --> 00:26:01,320 What did he say? His response was this just a 441 00:26:01,320 --> 00:26:04,800 little bit more. Isn't that telling? 442 00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:08,640 He's making commentary on the human heart, our propensity to 443 00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:11,560 just want more and more and more up and to the right. 444 00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:16,960 Accumulation, upgrade, upgrade, upgrade, just a little bit more. 445 00:26:19,120 --> 00:26:20,800 But I want to, I want to, I want to say something. 446 00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:22,800 It's it's not that wealth itself is bad. 447 00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:30,640 It's not, you see, wealth itself isn't evil, but wealth's grip on 448 00:26:30,640 --> 00:26:33,960 the heart is dangerous. Does that make sense? 449 00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:38,200 It's the grip, it's the, it's the trapping effect that it has 450 00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:40,760 that can be dangerous. And I think that's why Jesus 451 00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:44,480 said, hey, it's easier for, it's easier for a camel to go through 452 00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:47,600 the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom 453 00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:49,640 of heaven. He's not saying it's impossible, 454 00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:51,240 He's just saying there's difficulty there. 455 00:26:51,440 --> 00:26:53,120 So be cautious. Does that make sense? 456 00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:57,280 So don't store up and build storehouses for yourself. 457 00:26:57,280 --> 00:27:00,640 Give it over to God. The only safe investment in 458 00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:07,480 heaven, The difficulty to escape Mammon and actually put our 459 00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:11,280 security and our sense of self worth and our pleasure in God 460 00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:13,440 the Father is something we have to pay attention to. 461 00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:16,120 God Himself wants to be our security. 462 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:20,680 He wants to tell us our worth and give us pleasures at His 463 00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:22,360 right hand. Not pleasures we go out and seek 464 00:27:22,360 --> 00:27:24,440 ourselves, but the pleasures from His right hand. 465 00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:29,600 The desires of our heart will be met when we find our full 466 00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:35,840 fulfilment and desire for Him. There's a there's this movie 467 00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:39,480 called Interstellar which one of the focuses towards the end of 468 00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:41,880 the movie is this massive black hole. 469 00:27:42,040 --> 00:27:44,560 If you know anything about a black hole, it's that the 470 00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:47,920 gravity is so strong that even light itself can't escape from 471 00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:49,120 it. You know that. 472 00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:52,520 And this movie is incredible because at the end they are sort 473 00:27:52,520 --> 00:27:55,680 of circling this black hole trying to escape from it, but it 474 00:27:55,680 --> 00:27:58,320 just is sucking everything into it. 475 00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:04,680 Mammon is like a black hole. It constantly is trying to pull 476 00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:07,720 you in. It's force that exerts over 477 00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:10,480 ourselves is always drawing us into itself. 478 00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:16,800 We cannot serve 2 masters, and Jesus's point here is that 479 00:28:16,800 --> 00:28:22,560 disciples of Jesus are to have no other gods, including the 480 00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:25,680 rival God of Mammon. No other gods. 481 00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:33,800 There's only one true God. OK, so the question becomes, how 482 00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:38,480 do we actually store up our treasures in heaven then? 483 00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:42,960 What does that look like? One of the best ways that we can 484 00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:47,240 store up our treasures in heaven is through a practice called 485 00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:51,040 generosity. Generosity could be defined this 486 00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:53,440 way. It's sacrificially and 487 00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:55,280 cheerfully. Those words are important. 488 00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:59,720 Sacrificially and cheerfully giving our money, our time, our 489 00:28:59,720 --> 00:29:05,640 gifts, and our power. Matthew 62 Jesus implies or 490 00:29:05,640 --> 00:29:08,080 expects his disciples to be giving to the needy. 491 00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:13,080 He says, so when you give to the needy, it's very common in 492 00:29:13,080 --> 00:29:16,200 Jewish, Jewish culture to be giving to the poor. 493 00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:19,360 They took the Old Testament commandments very seriously to 494 00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:21,960 look after the oppressed. So giving to the poor was a 495 00:29:21,960 --> 00:29:25,600 common thing. Jesus expected his disciples to 496 00:29:25,600 --> 00:29:27,160 do the same. Elsewhere. 497 00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:30,840 We read Jesus's words in Acts 2035 where he says this. 498 00:29:31,440 --> 00:29:36,040 It is more blessed to give than to receive. 499 00:29:37,360 --> 00:29:39,760 That word for blessed we learned about in the Beatitudes is the 500 00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:42,640 word marcarius. In other words, you'll be 501 00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:47,520 happier if you give then you will if you just receive. 502 00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:55,640 Do we actually believe that? Do we live like we believe that 503 00:29:57,120 --> 00:30:02,560 challenging verse here for most of us, what we see here is is 504 00:30:02,560 --> 00:30:05,520 generosity is certainly it encompasses more than just 505 00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:08,160 money, but it definitely includes money. 506 00:30:08,280 --> 00:30:12,080 It's not less than money because of the grip that money has on 507 00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:14,080 our hearts. You see, Jesus expected and 508 00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:15,760 encouraged his disciples to give. 509 00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:19,120 But give to what? That's the question, right? 510 00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:23,200 What are the things that we're meant to be generous towards 511 00:30:23,200 --> 00:30:26,360 with our time, talent and treasure and our power and 512 00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:28,760 influence? Well, number one, we are called 513 00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:33,200 to be generous towards the poor all throughout Scripture. 514 00:30:33,520 --> 00:30:37,360 It's a justice issue to look to the poor and the oppressed and 515 00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:40,800 the widow and the fatherless and the orphan and to take care of 516 00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:43,720 their needs because they're near and dear to heart and to God's 517 00:30:43,720 --> 00:30:47,200 heart. He looks after the poor. 518 00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:49,640 And we are called to be the conduits of God's grace and his 519 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:52,560 mercy and his justice to the people who are down and out. 520 00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:55,200 We will always have the poor among us. 521 00:30:56,280 --> 00:30:59,320 Jesus said, you know this or this, There's a passage where 522 00:30:59,960 --> 00:31:02,360 talks about like God, when did we see you hungry and feed you? 523 00:31:03,080 --> 00:31:06,680 And what does Jesus say said anytime you fed the least of 524 00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:08,520 these, you fed me, you took care of me. 525 00:31:09,920 --> 00:31:12,880 So first and foremost, our time, our talent, our treasure, our 526 00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:18,000 power is to go to the poor. The second thing we're called to 527 00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:21,640 give to all throughout the Bible is the church or those who 528 00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:26,800 advance the gospel. We see that the the work of the 529 00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:29,760 ministry is supported by the people in the Old Testament and 530 00:31:29,760 --> 00:31:32,040 the New Testament. In the Old Testament, it's the 531 00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:34,520 people brought bringing their gifts and their talents to build 532 00:31:34,520 --> 00:31:38,480 the Tabernacle, to host the festivals. 533 00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:41,720 And you think about the temple worship and you think about 534 00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:44,400 synagogue worship. It was the tithes and offerings 535 00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:46,800 of the people that were able to allow that to function. 536 00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:50,800 In the New Testament, Paul talks often about paying the people or 537 00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:53,920 taking care of the people who are giving you or presenting you 538 00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:57,160 the gospel, which is why we very frequently encourage tithing and 539 00:31:57,160 --> 00:31:58,960 offering in the church, for instance. 540 00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:02,920 So first, giving to the poor. Second, giving to the church or 541 00:32:02,920 --> 00:32:04,320 those preaching the gospel to you. 542 00:32:04,320 --> 00:32:08,760 And then third is just any other Kingdom ventures, any other 543 00:32:08,760 --> 00:32:11,080 things that are trying to do good in this world for the sake 544 00:32:11,080 --> 00:32:14,240 of the gospel. It could be a nonprofit, It 545 00:32:14,240 --> 00:32:17,160 could be someone who, you know, is just doing really good work 546 00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:19,560 for whatever refugees or the poor or whatever. 547 00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:27,640 But the point is this, we are called to be generous to the 548 00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:30,680 initiatives that are going to advance the Kingdom because 549 00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:33,520 those are the things that will last forever. 550 00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:36,880 Everything else is going to fade and fall away. 551 00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:41,360 Your house is going to be a pile of rubble someday, or it's just 552 00:32:41,360 --> 00:32:43,360 going to be turned into something that's much nicer and 553 00:32:43,360 --> 00:32:45,800 fancier, right? Your, your, your 4-O1K, your 554 00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:48,400 bank accounts, all of that is going to be redistributed in 555 00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:51,280 about 200 years, 300 years. You're not going to know the 556 00:32:51,280 --> 00:32:53,560 people who have your money. It's all going to go somewhere. 557 00:32:53,840 --> 00:32:55,680 The point that Jesus is making is this. 558 00:32:55,920 --> 00:32:58,400 He's saying give to things that last forever. 559 00:32:59,800 --> 00:33:05,440 Relationships, the oppressed Kingdom, gospel work, souls 560 00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:08,600 being saved. Use your wealth to advance the 561 00:33:08,600 --> 00:33:10,120 gospel. Because the gospel and the 562 00:33:10,120 --> 00:33:13,440 Kingdom are forever. They're forever. 563 00:33:15,240 --> 00:33:18,040 Don't store up for yourselves treasures on earth. 564 00:33:18,920 --> 00:33:21,640 That's stupid. You hear me? 565 00:33:21,920 --> 00:33:24,680 That's stupid. Store up your store up your 566 00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:26,440 treasures in heaven. It's the only safe place to 567 00:33:26,440 --> 00:33:30,360 invest you with me so far. You guys are like, I wasn't 568 00:33:30,360 --> 00:33:33,280 expecting a giving talk today. OK, this isn't a giving talk. 569 00:33:33,280 --> 00:33:36,400 This this is a escaping from mammon talk. 570 00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:38,680 You hear me? That's the point of the day is 571 00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:42,160 how do we escape the lure of materialism and greed in our 572 00:33:42,160 --> 00:33:43,520 culture? It's all around us. 573 00:33:44,840 --> 00:33:46,160 I started preaching and I lost my place. 574 00:33:46,160 --> 00:33:47,760 I'm going to find it here. Just give me a SEC. 575 00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:54,840 Here's the thing, when it comes to generosity, we are hard wired 576 00:33:54,840 --> 00:33:56,880 to give to others. Why? 577 00:33:57,840 --> 00:34:01,280 Because God made us in His own image and there is nobody who 578 00:34:01,280 --> 00:34:05,520 was given more than God himself. He gave His only begotten Son 579 00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:08,560 when Jesus was here. He gave all of His time, His 580 00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:10,760 effort and energy. He got down and washed His feet. 581 00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:12,520 He willingly gave His life for others. 582 00:34:12,520 --> 00:34:16,280 You can never out give God. And because we're made in the 583 00:34:16,280 --> 00:34:21,560 image of God and His likeness, you and I are hard wired in our 584 00:34:21,560 --> 00:34:28,080 DNA to give, to be generous. As a matter of fact, science 585 00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:31,400 supports the idea that you and I are meant to give. 586 00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:35,360 Did you know that life satisfaction goes up whenever we 587 00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:38,120 are generous with our money and generous with our time? 588 00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:40,600 There's multiple different factors that improve in our 589 00:34:40,600 --> 00:34:43,840 lives when we give. Sociologist Hilary Davidson and 590 00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:48,000 Christian Smith in their book The Paradox of Generosity, they 591 00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:51,719 say this. People rightly say that money 592 00:34:51,719 --> 00:34:55,960 cannot buy happiness. But money and happiness are 593 00:34:55,960 --> 00:35:01,520 still related in a curious way. Happiness can be the result not 594 00:35:01,520 --> 00:35:06,360 of spending more money on oneself, but rather of giving 595 00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:11,120 money away to others. The data examined here show this 596 00:35:11,120 --> 00:35:16,440 not to be simply a nice idea, but a social scientific fact. 597 00:35:17,160 --> 00:35:20,000 It is a social scientific fact that the more we give away, the 598 00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:24,000 more happiness we receive. It's almost like Jesus knows 599 00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:28,840 what he's talking about, right? It's almost like the King of the 600 00:35:28,840 --> 00:35:32,320 universe knows how the universe operates and how we are meant to 601 00:35:32,320 --> 00:35:37,440 live into this Kingdom. Blessed are those who give, not 602 00:35:37,440 --> 00:35:40,680 those who receive. It's so much more better, so 603 00:35:40,680 --> 00:35:43,040 much better to give than it is just to take. 604 00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:46,160 But here's the thing. When it comes to generosity, 605 00:35:46,160 --> 00:35:47,400 there's a bit of a disclaimer here. 606 00:35:47,680 --> 00:35:51,400 There's a bit of a disclaimer. Our motivation matters. 607 00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:55,000 Our motivation of the heart matters deeply. 608 00:35:57,240 --> 00:36:00,520 You see, if we're generous people and we give a bunch of 609 00:36:00,520 --> 00:36:04,360 money and you know, we, we give a lot away, but we also let 610 00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:07,240 people know that we're giving a lot away, that's kind of a 611 00:36:07,240 --> 00:36:11,600 problem. You see, we, we can't escape the 612 00:36:11,600 --> 00:36:16,520 grip of Mammon if we're just exchanging the idol of greed for 613 00:36:16,520 --> 00:36:20,240 the idol of vanity and looking good in front of others. 614 00:36:22,120 --> 00:36:24,320 You guys are like, oh boy, here we go, right? 615 00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:29,120 You can't exchange the idol of greed for the idol of control 616 00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:31,640 and power. It doesn't work like that. 617 00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:35,520 So Jesus reminds us that our motivations matter deeply when 618 00:36:35,520 --> 00:36:38,480 it comes to our generosity. As a matter of fact, the 619 00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:42,520 beginning of Matthew 6 is all about the heart posture and all 620 00:36:42,520 --> 00:36:44,200 about acts of righteousness in front of others. 621 00:36:44,200 --> 00:36:47,280 He says be careful not to practice your righteousness in 622 00:36:47,280 --> 00:36:49,440 front of others to be seen by them. 623 00:36:50,880 --> 00:36:52,640 It's not that acts of righteousness are bad. 624 00:36:52,640 --> 00:36:54,320 Go do a bunch of really good things. 625 00:36:54,600 --> 00:36:57,120 It's actually even OK if people see you doing the good things. 626 00:36:58,120 --> 00:37:02,360 What Jesus is saying is don't do it to be seen by them. 627 00:37:02,360 --> 00:37:06,320 Does that make sense? Don't do it because you want 628 00:37:06,320 --> 00:37:09,360 their attention in the accolade and the notoriety. 629 00:37:11,160 --> 00:37:16,200 The motivations of the heart matter deeply, and so make the 630 00:37:16,200 --> 00:37:21,320 wise investment. Be generous with your time, your 631 00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:23,640 gifts, your talent, and everything else. 632 00:37:27,600 --> 00:37:32,200 If you were to go through Matthew chapter 6, you would see 633 00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:36,680 that all of Jesus is teaching here on doing acts of 634 00:37:36,680 --> 00:37:40,800 righteousness and praying and fasting and giving. 635 00:37:41,920 --> 00:37:46,160 We see that it's all in the context in the relationship to 636 00:37:46,160 --> 00:37:50,440 knowing God as our Father. If you were to just take a look 637 00:37:50,440 --> 00:37:52,640 at this screen, just take a look at this list. 638 00:37:52,880 --> 00:37:56,960 This is chapter 6 alone. All these different times where 639 00:37:57,040 --> 00:38:00,560 Jesus says your Father in heaven, it's your Father who 640 00:38:00,560 --> 00:38:04,760 sees your Father who sees your Father knows our Father in 641 00:38:04,760 --> 00:38:06,240 heaven. Your Father will forgive you. 642 00:38:06,600 --> 00:38:11,160 All of these commandments are meant to be lived out in the 643 00:38:11,160 --> 00:38:13,800 context of loving relationships with God as the Father. 644 00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:18,080 Because none of this makes sense if God isn't on the throne. 645 00:38:18,880 --> 00:38:22,880 Being generous and giving more than we feel like we can bear, 646 00:38:22,880 --> 00:38:27,480 or giving sacrificially makes no sense unless it's in 647 00:38:27,520 --> 00:38:31,120 relationship with God the Father, the King, who is the one 648 00:38:31,120 --> 00:38:36,520 who provides for us. So when it comes to generosity, 649 00:38:36,520 --> 00:38:40,800 all of this has to be taken into relationship with God. 650 00:38:41,920 --> 00:38:44,360 And if you're here today and and you're checking out church for 651 00:38:44,360 --> 00:38:47,360 the first time or you don't even know if you have relationship 652 00:38:47,360 --> 00:38:50,280 with God, the invitation for you is, is to know him as your 653 00:38:50,280 --> 00:38:54,480 Father, your perfect heavenly Father who loves you deeply. 654 00:38:56,200 --> 00:38:58,920 Again, Wilkins says the transformed disposition of the 655 00:38:58,920 --> 00:39:04,520 disciples in her heart motivates us to discipline our lives to be 656 00:39:04,520 --> 00:39:09,120 like the Father. In other words, we give of 657 00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:14,840 ourselves freely so we can become like Jesus together and 658 00:39:14,840 --> 00:39:17,600 honor the Father, recognizing that everything we own is 659 00:39:17,600 --> 00:39:20,360 already His. We're just stewarding it here. 660 00:39:23,720 --> 00:39:26,720 All of this is because we have received the righteousness of 661 00:39:26,720 --> 00:39:28,440 God. When we put our faith in Jesus, 662 00:39:28,440 --> 00:39:31,520 what He did on the cross and the resurrection, we've received 663 00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:32,840 that inner righteousness from Him. 664 00:39:32,840 --> 00:39:35,400 And now we can go do acts of righteousness out of that 665 00:39:35,400 --> 00:39:38,080 posture, out of gratitude, out of thankfulness. 666 00:39:39,640 --> 00:39:43,600 It's all about making Dad proud. It's all about making him proud. 667 00:39:45,120 --> 00:39:50,640 That's the motivation. As we close here, we release the 668 00:39:50,640 --> 00:39:54,560 grip of Mammon by investing our lives in what will last. 669 00:39:55,560 --> 00:39:59,800 Invest in what will last. So we have some practices for 670 00:39:59,800 --> 00:40:02,720 you to help us. A sort of escape the grip of of 671 00:40:02,720 --> 00:40:06,360 wealth and materialism and accumulation #1 we already 672 00:40:06,360 --> 00:40:09,000 mentioned is just the practice of generosity, lent 673 00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:12,480 traditionally as a time of alms giving or giving to the poor or 674 00:40:12,480 --> 00:40:15,000 the needy. So maybe in this next week, 675 00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:18,000 maybe you choose to look at your budget and choose to give a 676 00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:21,280 little bit of time or give a little bit of money to an 677 00:40:21,280 --> 00:40:24,160 organization that you know is looking after the poor and the 678 00:40:24,160 --> 00:40:26,400 needy. Maybe you choose to give some 679 00:40:26,400 --> 00:40:29,920 time or money to Love Inc, one of our partners that you'll hear 680 00:40:29,920 --> 00:40:32,320 about after the sermon. Maybe you want to make a 681 00:40:32,320 --> 00:40:35,560 donation to Ankeny Service Center or Hope Ministries or 682 00:40:35,560 --> 00:40:37,440 whatever it may be. Or maybe you want to look into 683 00:40:37,440 --> 00:40:40,560 volunteering your time. Almsgiving and generosity are 684 00:40:40,560 --> 00:40:44,240 great ways to break the grip of mammon. 685 00:40:44,880 --> 00:40:47,960 Generosity is one of our convictions here at a church and 686 00:40:47,960 --> 00:40:50,520 you can look it up on online. We have some language about that 687 00:40:50,520 --> 00:40:55,840 as well. Giving and choosing generosity 688 00:40:56,360 --> 00:41:00,280 is the pressure relief valve from just storing up for 689 00:41:00,280 --> 00:41:03,880 ourselves. In other words, when the movie 690 00:41:03,880 --> 00:41:06,480 Interstellar, you know that the black hole is just sucking that 691 00:41:06,480 --> 00:41:09,040 spaceship in closer and closer and closer, and you want to know 692 00:41:09,040 --> 00:41:12,440 how they escape it, how they finally get out of the the 693 00:41:12,560 --> 00:41:15,840 gravity of of the black hole. They start shedding their 694 00:41:15,840 --> 00:41:18,520 weight, they shed off and sacrifice. 695 00:41:18,520 --> 00:41:21,840 They detach part of their valuable ship in order to escape 696 00:41:21,840 --> 00:41:25,960 the pull of this black hole. In the same way, church, in the 697 00:41:25,960 --> 00:41:32,240 same way, in order to escape the pull of materialism and wealth 698 00:41:32,320 --> 00:41:36,560 and mammon, we have to shed off and sacrifice and be generous 699 00:41:36,560 --> 00:41:40,800 people. We got to release it so we can 700 00:41:40,800 --> 00:41:46,040 escape. Another practice is the practice 701 00:41:46,040 --> 00:41:48,160 of Sabbath. Actually, no, this quote is 702 00:41:48,160 --> 00:41:49,200 good. I have to share this quote here. 703 00:41:49,200 --> 00:41:50,680 It is what my coach said it this week. 704 00:41:51,240 --> 00:41:56,240 He says money is like manure. If you let it pile up, it starts 705 00:41:56,240 --> 00:42:01,720 to stink. If you spread it around, it 706 00:42:01,720 --> 00:42:04,320 makes things grow. How good is that, right? 707 00:42:04,520 --> 00:42:06,280 Don't let it pile up, it starts to sink. 708 00:42:06,400 --> 00:42:09,360 Spread it around and makes things grow #2 is the practice 709 00:42:09,360 --> 00:42:12,600 of Sabbath. Traditionally, we often times 710 00:42:12,600 --> 00:42:15,120 Sabbath is a time where you refrain from buying or selling 711 00:42:15,120 --> 00:42:17,720 or being productive for productive for yourself. 712 00:42:18,200 --> 00:42:20,480 Maybe you want to try just gratitude or gratitude 713 00:42:20,480 --> 00:42:23,320 journaling or the practice of simplicity. 714 00:42:23,600 --> 00:42:27,680 Simplicity is incredibly difficult as Americans because 715 00:42:27,720 --> 00:42:30,000 we really don't like a downgrade, do we? 716 00:42:30,880 --> 00:42:32,760 We like upgrades, not downgrades. 717 00:42:33,520 --> 00:42:36,280 You know, if you were to say, Oh yeah, we're my, my husband and I 718 00:42:36,280 --> 00:42:39,520 or my spouse and I, we're, we're down grading our house and we're 719 00:42:39,520 --> 00:42:41,360 down grading our car. People will be like, what's 720 00:42:41,360 --> 00:42:42,520 wrong? Is everything OK? 721 00:42:42,520 --> 00:42:45,280 Right. But as Christians, what if we 722 00:42:45,280 --> 00:42:49,400 instead chose to simplify, chose to grant downgrade for the sake 723 00:42:49,880 --> 00:42:51,440 of running away from materialism? 724 00:42:53,480 --> 00:42:57,160 I'm going to invite the the band to come on forward here and 725 00:42:57,160 --> 00:43:04,000 play, but I want to conclude by talking about Jesus because 726 00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:07,600 there was this moment. There's this moment where where 727 00:43:07,600 --> 00:43:10,120 Jesus is dying for our sins, where he is. 728 00:43:10,440 --> 00:43:17,800 He's on the cross. And we see this picture where at 729 00:43:17,800 --> 00:43:20,920 his feet on the ground there are these soldiers. 730 00:43:20,920 --> 00:43:24,680 And what are they doing? Scripture says that these 731 00:43:24,680 --> 00:43:29,560 soldiers on the ground are casting lots for his clothes. 732 00:43:31,960 --> 00:43:34,360 And so I want you just to imagine that scene for just a 733 00:43:34,360 --> 00:43:39,160 moment, that that these soldiers with Jesus on the cross, they're 734 00:43:39,160 --> 00:43:41,720 not looking up at him, but rather they're looking down and 735 00:43:41,720 --> 00:43:45,480 they're throwing dice, trying to get better clothes for 736 00:43:45,480 --> 00:43:49,760 themselves, trying to better their circumstances. 737 00:43:51,480 --> 00:43:55,480 In other words, they're looking at their material goods rather 738 00:43:55,480 --> 00:44:00,560 than looking up at Jesus. They're focused on the ground. 739 00:44:00,560 --> 00:44:04,240 They're focused on getting more for themselves, getting the 740 00:44:04,240 --> 00:44:09,080 treasures here on earth when they could have looked up, and 741 00:44:09,080 --> 00:44:13,960 seeing instead that there are treasures beyond imagination 742 00:44:14,200 --> 00:44:18,880 found in Jesus himself. In a similar way, may we not get 743 00:44:18,880 --> 00:44:21,360 caught in the cycle of just looking what everyone else has, 744 00:44:21,360 --> 00:44:24,960 looking to our own circumstances, but instead may 745 00:44:24,960 --> 00:44:30,200 we look up at the One who gave it all, who lived a life of 746 00:44:30,200 --> 00:44:35,760 poverty for us, who sacrificed. And in him may we found find a 747 00:44:35,760 --> 00:44:39,480 Pearl of great price. In him may we find that we have 748 00:44:39,480 --> 00:44:42,040 everything we've ever been looking for, and nothing else 749 00:44:42,040 --> 00:44:47,040 will satisfy. To follow Jesus means to let go 750 00:44:47,040 --> 00:44:52,320 of earthly trinkets and return for eternal treasures.