The Treasure Test Summary
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Series Promotion:
Series Promotion:
Have you ever wondered if your life would be better with just a little more money? Of course you have! Maybe you want to buy a better home, newer car, better school for kids, give more to missions, make a trip to Israel, or maybe you want to help someone you love who is facing hard times. Wanting money is a no-brainer. But is that all there is to it? Is our only role with money to spend what we have and want more when it's gone? It is easy to feel powerless when it comes to our finances: mortgage, bills, clothes, food, cost of living has to be taken care of. But what if I told you that you have more power than you realize? You have the power to help your family, change your habits, and even impact others in a big way. The truth is, money matters. Right here. Right now. And when you choose to change the way you think about it, God can do some big things in you and even bigger things through you.
Generosity is a gateway to intimacy with God.
Generosity is a gateway to intimacy with God.
Generosity is a gateway to intimacy with God.
Generosity is a gateway to intimacy with God.
“For I am Adonai. I do not change, So you, children of Jacob, are not consumed. “From the days of your ancestors you have turned aside from My statutes, and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot. Yet you say: “How should we return?” “Will a man rob God? For you are robbing Me!” But you say: “How have we robbed You?” “In the tithe and the offering. You have been cursed with the curse, yet you keep robbing Me—the whole nation! Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse. Then there will be food in My House. Now test Me in this”—says Adonai-Tzva’ot—“if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out blessing for you, until no one is without enough. I will rebuke the devouring pest for you, so it will not destroy the fruit of your land, nor will your vine be barren in the field,” Adonai-Tzva’ot says. “All the nations will call you blessed. For you will be a land of delight,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot. “Your words against Me are grievous,” says Adonai. Yet you say: “What did we say against You?” You say: “Serving God is worthless.” Also: “What good is it that we kept His service or that we walked as mourners before Adonai-Tzva’ot? So now we are calling the proud blessed. Those who practice iniquity are built up. Indeed, they have tested God, and escaped!” Then those who revere Adonai spoke with each other, and Adonai took notice and heard, and a scroll of remembrance was written before Him, for those who revere Adonai, even those who esteem His Name. “So they shall be Mine,”—says Adonai-Tzva’ot—“in the day I make My own special possession. So I will spare them, as one spares his son serving him. Then you will return and distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.”
How much of God’s money is in your pocket right now? No matter how much money you have, you probably feel like it’s not much and you may wonder why God wants your money at all. In a lot of ways many people feel powerless when it comes to their money: mortgage, bills, clothes, food, cost of living has to be taken care of. But what if you have more power than you realize? You have the power to help your family, change your habits, and even come to know God more intimately. The truth is, money matters. Right here. Right now. And when you choose to change the way you think about it, when you choose to own your attitudes and your decisions with the cash you do have, God can do some big things in you and even bigger things through you.
Its not just about tithing but how much love you put into tithing.
Its not just about tithing but how much love you put into tithing.
Then Yeshua looked up and saw the rich dropping their gifts into the treasury box. He also saw a poor widow dropping in two small copper coins. And He said, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all the rest. For all these put in their gifts from their surplus. But she, out of her poverty, put in all she had to live on.”
Now we make known to you, brothers and sisters, the grace God has given to Messiah’s communities in Macedonia— that in much testing by affliction, the abundance of their joy and their extreme poverty overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For I testify that according to their ability, and even beyond their ability, they gave of their own free will— begging us with much urging for the favor of sharing in the relief of the kedoshim. Moreover, it was not just as we had hoped, but they gave of themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will. So we urged Titus that, just as he had made a start before, so he should also complete this gracious service for you. But as you excel in everything—in faith and speech and knowledge and all diligence, and in your love for us—also excel in this grace. I am saying this not as a command, but I am trying to prove by the diligence of others the genuineness of your love as well. For you know the grace of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah—that even though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that through His poverty you might become rich. Now I give my opinion in this matter, that it is a credit to you that a year ago you were the first to start—not only to do but even to be willing.
Whatever your heart’s treasure is, whenever your heart has determined what that is, you will do anything for it. You will die for it. You will pay any cost for it. You’ll do anything to maintain it, anything to sustain it, anything to reclaim it. Yeshua the Messiah came and died for you. Why would he do that? There’s only one answer. The only answer would be that you and I were his heart’s treasure. You die for your heart’s treasure. You do anything for your heart’s treasure. You do anything to purchase it.
Whatever your heart’s treasure is, whenever your heart has determined what that is, you will do anything for it. You will die for it. You will pay any cost for it. You’ll do anything to maintain it, anything to sustain it, anything to reclaim it. Jesus Christ came and died for you. Why would he do that? There’s only one answer. Why would he go to hell? Why would he experience the infinity of hell? The only answer would be that you and I were his heart’s treasure. You die for your heart’s treasure. You do anything for your heart’s treasure. You do anything to purchase it.
Here’s what’s so intriguing. Every other treasure in the world will basically make you die to purchase it, but Yeshua is the only treasure that died to purchase you. Some of you are working yourself into the ground for your career. Your career is demanding that you die to purchase it, but Yeshua dies to purchase you. This is supposed to be the motivational fuel behind every single act of giving.
A treasure of lasting value is made of more than money.
A treasure of lasting value is made of more than money.
Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, So we cannot take anything out of it. But having food and clothing, with these things we shall be content. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and a trap and many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil—some, longing for it, have gone astray from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But you, O man of God, flee from these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faithfulness, love, perseverance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith! Take hold of the eternal life—you were called to it, and you made the good confession for it in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you before God who gives life to all things and Messiah Yeshua who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. This He will reveal in His own time—the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or is able to see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen. Direct those who are rich in this present age not to be proud or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God—who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. Direct them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, to be generous, sharing, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the future, so they might take hold of the true life. O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, turning away from pointless chatter and the contradictions of so-called knowledge— by professing it, some have missed the mark concerning the faith. Grace be with you.
Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, So we cannot take anything out of it. But having food and clothing, with these things we shall be content. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and a trap and many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil—some, longing for it, have gone astray from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But you, O man of God, flee from these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faithfulness, love, perseverance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith! Take hold of the eternal life—you were called to it, and you made the good confession for it in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you before God who gives life to all things and Messiah Yeshua who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. This He will reveal in His own time—the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or is able to see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen. Direct those who are rich in this present age not to be proud or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God—who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. Direct them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, to be generous, sharing,
1 Timoth 6:6-
We’ll never get what we really want until we discover what is most valuable. But choosing what’s valuable isn’t natural. We’ve all had the experience of getting what we naturally want, only to discover it's not what is most valuable—it’s not what we ultimately wanted or needed. But how do we avoid being deceived by our short-term desires? How do we avoid the traps to obtaining a truly lasting treasure?
God assumes full responsibility for our needs when we are generous.
God assumes full responsibility for our needs when we are generous.
The desire of the righteous is only good, but the hope of the wicked only wrath. One gives freely, yet gains even more. Another withholds unjustly, and comes to poverty. A soul who blesses will prosper, and one who gives water will himself be satisfied. People curse anyone withholding grain, but blessing is on the head of one who dispenses it. A person who diligently seeks good finds favor, but to one who searches for evil, evil comes to him! Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.
Proverbs 11
There is something paradoxical about biblical generosity. The dictionary defines a paradox as a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition however when it is investigated or explained proves to be well founded, true. The Hebrew sage proposes one of the greatest paradoxes ever on the subject of giving: the more you give away, the more you have. This week we will explore this seemingly absurd statement to figure out if it is in fact true.
We are the healthiest when we are the most generous.
We are the healthiest when we are the most generous.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in or steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Matthew 6:19-21
“So I say to you, do not worry about your life—what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? “Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns; yet your Father in heaven feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. Now if in this way God clothes the grass—which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow—will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the pagans eagerly pursue all these things; yet your Father in heaven knows that you need all these. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Matthew
A substantial amount of research has been done to prove the correlation between stress and physical illness. This research proves that stress is a large contributor to both the onset and progression of both physical and mental illnesses. Have you ever felt owned by something with no power to fight back? Being owned or controlled by money—or the lack of it—can feel a lot like this. The truth is, all of us have felt powerless when it comes to money at some point in our lives. Because of that, we tend to believe that if we just had more money, we’d somehow be better in every way. But in reality, while money can be a powerful tool, the real power doesn’t lie in the money itself; the real power belongs to us—the people using the tool. This week we’ll turn to words of Yeshua to see that it’s not the amount of money we do or don’t have that gives us wealth or health, it’s the way we use and understand it that gives us the power to be healthy and wealthy.