The Secret Treasure
The Kingdom • Sermon • Submitted
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· 4 viewsAs Jesus is getting his disciples ready for the wild ride of ministry, He deals with the most important heart issue of all: the love of money. Money is the tool that people use to purchase the necessities of life. One must be careful not to exalt money to an unhealthy place of worship. The other danger is to see God as a source of money instead of the source of life. Jesus gives a three-fold remedy taking on the heart of God when it comes to provision in this life and the life to come.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction: Defining The Pain.
Last week we sat at the feet of Jesus as he taught us the difference in hypocrisy and righteousness.
“Hypocrisy is the overcompensation of a sinful heart through good deeds”
“Righteousness is the people of God taking on the heart of God to accomplish the will of God.”
Jesus gave three examples of hypocrisy that were prevalent in his day as well as ours: Generosity, Prayer, and Fasting.
We discussed the way to move from a heart of hypocrisy to a heart of righteousness by taking on the heart of God.
We need a heart transplant. Our sinful, selfish heart removed and God’s heart of love put in its place.
Jesus had one more area that he is going to spend the most time on and I wanted to make sure we had the time to really dive to this passage and learn from Jesus about our heart toward money.
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
Wow!! Money has caused people to wander away from their Creator and caused much sorrow. “Pangs” is the sorrow and pain associated with child birth.
Money is such a hard subject because it is such a powerful tool. You can do a lot of things with money. The issue is not money. God has no problem with money.
Money is the fall commodity people use to provide for their needs and wants.
It was not so from the beginning. In the world God created love was the commodity. Love was the driving force that would have caused everyone to do their part and contribute to the whole. There was no selfishness or pride that would take from one or withhold from one another.
The first thing that happened when the church was born was believers have all things common.
And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.
Acts
Everybody was just as important as everybody else. This lasted for about a week as selfishness and the love of money turned people from the faith.
How do we, as Christians, need to think about this fallen commodity of Money?
How do we, as Christians, need to think about this fallen commodity of Money?
The issue is when money becomes an object of worship.
The issue is when money becomes an object of worship.
An idol that worshipped at the provider of all things.
When worth of money becomes greater than your worth of God.
When your relationship with money is more valuable than your relationship with God. “Sorry Pastor, I don’t have time to worship, I have to work!!”
When your net worth is based on the money you have in the bank instead of your net worth in the eyes of God.
This heart issue must be dealt with if you are going to serve God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
The closer we get to the coming of Christ the more of a problem this will become.
But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
2 Tim 3:1-5
Scripture: Defining the Passage.
Jesus lays out 3 determinations of the heart that must be made to serve him and not money.
Determine The Treasure of Your Heart
Determine The Treasure of Your Heart
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matt
What you value the most becomes the worship of your heart.
What you value the most becomes the worship of your heart.
What you value the most becomes the focus of your heart.
What you value the most becomes the focus of your heart.
“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
Matt 6:
What you value the most become your master.
What you value the most become your master.
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
Matt
Everyone must choose whom or what they will serve.
Everyone must choose whom or what they will serve.
1) Money as your God.
1) Money as your God.
God can not just be a source of money for you.
Let’s pull the curtain back on our desperately wicked hearts. There are Christians that use their relationship with God just to gain “blessing” of money and things.
You will know this is true when your worship of God stops when the money runs out.
That makes God the servant to money.
2) The God who owns everything.
2) The God who owns everything.
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
God’s commodity is not money. God’s commodity is love.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
1 Cor 13
Determine The Source of your Provision
Determine The Source of your Provision
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Matt 6:25
Trusting in money causes anxiety in your life.
Trusting in money causes anxiety in your life.
Self-sufficiency causes anxiety.
Self-sufficiency causes anxiety.
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
Matt 6:31
Unanswered questions cause anxiety.
Unanswered questions cause anxiety.
For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
Trusting in God removes the anxiety of your life.
Trusting in God removes the anxiety of your life.
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
Matthew 6:
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
God’s value of you should drive your value of Him.
God’s value of you should drive your value of Him.
God determines our worth to Him through the sacrifice of his Son.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
Rom 8:
We must determine our net worth through our relationship with Jesus.
We are sons of the Most High God.
We are joint heirs with Jesus.
We are loved with an everlasting love.
We have been clothed with robes of righteousness.
“ ‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.
For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.
Rev 3:15
Faith in God’s provision will remove the anxiety of your provision.
Faith in God’s provision will remove the anxiety of your provision.
But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Matt 6:28
And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
Turn your anxiety into prayer.
Turn your anxiety into prayer.
do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Determine The Focus of your Life.
Determine The Focus of your Life.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Matt 6:33
Living by faith allows you to focus on the Kingdom.
Living by faith allows you to focus on the Kingdom.
You will never seek the kingdom while chasing the dollar.
Seeking the kingdom is expanding God’s love and influence to the world.
Living in the righteousness of God unlocks his resources.
Living in the righteousness of God unlocks his resources.
God has what you need.
Trust in God so he can trust in you.
Matt
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Next Steps: Defining the Process
Here are 4 action items to practice this week.
Measure your worth as a Child of God.
Turn your worth into Worship of God.
Turn your finances over to God.
Turn your anxiety in to prayer to God.