Click here after starting sermon
audio to bring up
PowerPoint
slides and visual aides which go along with
the sermon.
Help
Please help
keep this ministry free by
honoring our system:
Click here to recommend this sermon to others. [A new window will open.
Scroll to the bottom of the new page to enter your
vote, then close.]
Help spread the Word by casting your
vote...it's a proven system that keeps this ministry free!
Grace Notes Ministry:
Subscribe
Learn More
Who Owns You?
[The Sermon on the ‘Amount’]
Matthew 6:19-24
We can divide life into 2 broad categories:
the spiritual, and the material.
But the Lord Jesus never made that
distinction. Matter of fact, He often taught that our attitude toward the
material is a mark of your true spirituality.
v. 21 ‘Where your treasure is…’ Talk
is cheap…put your money where your mouth is!
Ill.—Some guys attach their wallet to a belt
loop with a chain. God connects our wallets to our heart.
In other words, Jesus can look at our
checkbook for the last 30 days and tell where we are spiritually…not only by
what we return to Him, but also by our stewardship of the rest of HIS
money…the ‘things’ we place such importance upon.
Now, nowhere did our Lord magnify poverty.
There’s nothing spiritual about being poor. And there’s nothing wrong w/
things in and of themselves.
1 Tim. 6:17
…the living God, who giveth us richly all
things to enjoy;
The important question is, do I own my
possessions, or do they own me?
v. 32 Needs or greeds?
Luke 12:15
And he said unto them, Take heed, and
beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of
the things which he possesseth.
Some things can be good or bad, depending
upon how they are used. Examples:
Music—a gift of God, and can be used for
positive, but Satan can take that same tool and use it for evil.
Sex—a gift of God, but out of bounds a major
tool of sin.
Internet—can be used for good, or evil.
Understanding that money / things can be used
for good or evil, let’s be aware of how the devil wants to use things to
harm us…
Things can take a toll on:
1. Our heart—affections
v. 19 ‘lay not up’ = hording or
stockpiling. Nothing wrong w/ having a savings or laying up an inheritance,
those are actually good. It is talking about over indulgence,
luxuriousness…things becoming the object of our life’s affection.
In Jesus’ day, wealth was found in 3 areas:
·
Amount of clothing you
possessed
·
Amount of food stored up
·
Amount of gold accumulated
Christ is clearing up the common thinking
that if you have a lot, it’s because God is blessing you, and if you don’t,
you must not be right with Him. The same thing is taught in today’s
prosperity gospel [name it and claim it / blab it and grab it / slot machine
religion].
Truth is, more people have been ruined by
prosperity than ruined by poverty. The church has always had more success
w/ the ‘poor’ than the rich who feel they don’t need God.
Ill.—Dr. John Maxwell is one of the world’s
top Christian experts on money. Back when he pastored in CA he had a man in
his church who came to him w/ a financial problem. He said, “I used to make
$200/wk. and I tithed my $20 faithfully. But now I’m making 10 times
that…I’m having trouble turning loose of $200 tithe. It doesn’t seem fair,
when most don’t have to give near that. What can I do?” Maxwell pulled him
to his knees and said, “let’s pray about it.” Then he prayed, “Lord, my
brother here is having trouble obeying you. His problem started when you
began blessing Him so much financially…Lord, I pray you’ll bring
providentially circumstances into his life that will reduce his salary back
to where it used to be, so he can once again obey you!” He jumped up and
said, oh no, I can tithe, I can tithe!”
Things can easily have an impact on our
heart…our affections.
v. 19 Things don’t last, they are very
temporary. And if you were living for things, they can be gone in a moment.
Ill.—when the stock market crashed, beginning
the great depression, people jumped out office windows to their deaths…it
was all they were living for, and suddenly it was gone!
Things don’t last…and things don’t satisfy.
Think about it…if money satisfies, how much does it take? “Just a little
more!” No one preoccupied w/ money ever feels they have enough…it’s a
treadmill, an endless cycle.
Ill.—wealthy farmer had thousands of acres in
his county. Someone said, you must’ve set a goal long ago to own all the
land in the county. He said, no, I never had that goal…all I’ve ever wanted
to have is the land that was next to mine!
Notice now that Jesus doesn’t totally reject
the desire to accumulate…He only “redirects” that desire.
v. 20 From an earthly realm to a
heavenly realm! Just switch banks…move your accounts from the bank down the
street to the bank up in heaven! That’s a real investment and it’s burglar
proof, rust proof, decay proof, corrupt proof…that bank is invulnerable and
impregnable…no need for FDIC, and the interest is out of this world!
Ill.—every time you drop your offering in the
plate you can whisper to it silently, ‘see you in heaven.’ Every hour you
invest in serving God will reap an eternity of reward. You cannot outgive
God, and that applies here on earth, as well as in eternity!
Many of you will give many hours for our VBS
next month. But every minute of it is a treasure you’re putting away in the
bank of heaven.
Just look at this nice building we have to
worship in. Think about the many folks who gave and worked sacrificially to
make it all happen…most of them gone now…but we are still reaping the
rewards, and now they’ve joined their treasure in heaven, and as they look
down and see souls still being saved and lives still being changed, they
realize something about their investment from long ago--it’s STILL drawing
interest!
v. 21 Jesus said our treasure affects
our heart.
Matt. 19:21-22 This young
man’s problem was not that he had great possessions, but that his
possessions had him.
Things also take their toll on…
2. Our mind—perceptions
v. 22-23 The eye is the window that
lets the light in. The amount of light that comes in is dependent upon the
condition or health of the eye.
Single = healthy Evil = blurred
It all depends on our vision / perception.
Question is: are you spiritually minded or materially minded?
Clear vision means you are spiritually
minded…seeing things in perspective, w/ eternal values in full view. But
materially minded people have a blurred vision of what life is truly all
about.
Things also take their toll on…
3. Our will—directions [decisions]
v. 24 Mammon = money or riches
“Serve” means to be a slave. And we all are
‘owned’ by someone or something. You may even feel you are your own
boss…but you belong to someone, somewhere!
Ill.—man walked down street in Chicago
wearing a sandwich board which read on the front, “I am a fool for Christ”.
People walked by him and laughed, then looked back and saw the other side
which read, “Whose fool are you?”
We all serve someone or something…and it’s a
matter of our will.
Ill.—farmer’s cow had 2 calves, one solid and
one spotted. He told his wife he felt led to raise them, and give the
profit from 1 of them to the work of the Lord. She thought that was a great
idea. She asked, which one? He said, “doesn’t matter.” A few days later
he came in and said, honey, I have bad news. What? The Lord’s calf died!
When times get tough, the Lord is the first
one tossed out of the mix. It’s a conscious decision of the will, and it
has a major impact upon the direction our lives take.
Remember Lot? He and his uncle Abraham began
to accumulate wealth. One day their herdmen got into a scuffle w/ each
other. Abraham suggested they split up, and Lot chose the well watered
plains of Sodom and Gomorrah.
His mistake was he said, ‘that’s a good place
to raise cattle’…but he never thought about whether it was a good place to
raise kids.
How many people get a job offer or promotion
opportunity which requires a move, and they jump on it w/out ever looking
into whether there’s a good church for their family there.
Lot moved to Sodom wealthy…a prince. But he
left Sodom w/ nothing…a pauper. Everything he lived for was destroyed and
gone in an instant.
We can fall in love w/ things and give them
our heart. They will take their toll on our mind’s perceptions, and they
will steer the direction of our will…and we may even leave this world as a
prince, but we will enter the next world as a pauper.
You can’t store treasure in heaven if heaven
is not your final destination. If you need to be saved, here’s how…
Please help
keep this ministry free by
honoring our system:
Click here to recommend this sermon to others. [A new window will open.
Scroll to the bottom of the new page to enter your
vote, then close.]
Who Owns You?
[The Sermon on the ‘Amount’]
Matthew 6:19-24
The important question is, do I o
my possessions, or do they o m ?
“Things” can take a toll on:
1. Our h —affections
‘lay not up’ = h or
stockpiling.
2. Our m —perceptions
The eye is the w that
lets the light in.
Single = h . Evil =
b .
3. Our w —directions
Mammon = money or t .
“Serve” means to be a s .
When t get t ,
the Lord is the first one tossed out of the mix.
Lot’s mistake: He said, ‘that’s a good place
to raise c ’…but he never thought about whether it was a
good place to raise k .
Lot moved to Sodom wealthy…a p
. But he left Sodom with nothing…a p .
Help keep this service free by
recommending it using:
 |
