[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason, and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching from God's word you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to him. If you're ever in the Madison, Alabama area, we'd love for you to worship with us on Sundays at 830 or 10:30 a.m. If you have any other questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison church, find
[email protected] dot. Be sure to also check out our Bible study podcast, Madison Church of Christ Bible studies. Thanks again for stopping by.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: Man, what a blessing this morning to be here with these guys and to see them lead us in worship. You know, I was just imagining. I know we didn't do this ten years ago, but imagining them coming up and dumping their money in the bucket, it feels like that was last week, right, with these guys. And to see them grow and mature and to be able to stand before us and lead us in worship this morning is just a beautiful, beautiful thing, and I'm so proud of them for that. I hope you caught on to some things as Mark was up here sharing with us things that are going on. I hope you're feeling the effects of growth.
I hope that as you were listening to all the things that were mentioned this morning, that you're reminded of the great things that are happening here at Madison. I think about these young men who are growing in their spiritual walk and developing their leadership abilities, where they can stand to do that. This morning in our early service, we gave a Bible out to Gabriel Manasco. I love the fact that his family is taking ownership of the direction of their children spiritually. They're teaching them that the gospel was presented to him, that he was moved by that and became a Christian just recently. We're so thankful that they're taking the time to do that. I can see that growth happening inside their families and maybe families and others. We've had several baptisms, and so it, the idea that the gospel is still touching people's lives, they're coming to him is just a beautiful thing. But then I think about what was put before us with regard to our shepherds. Six men who have we have prayed about whether we knew their names or not. We were praying for them and looking forward and anticipating today where they would come into the leadership here at Madison. And the fact that we have those names now in front of us, that we can be very specific and intentional in our prayers on their behalf. All of that is a testament to their development spiritually as they have matured in Christ and as they are now setting themselves up to be leaders among us. What a blessing it is to see that, of course, we're overflowing in classrooms and we're doing all those kinds of things, and there's a need for us to expand our facilities so we can facilitate some of the things that are going on. But it excites me that there is even more out there for us to do. And as we have begun this campaign, as we talk about what's next, it's exciting to me as well, when I think about the growth that's taking place and the opportunities that we still have out there to pursue. And so, as Mike Baker kicked us off in this series back a couple of weeks ago, one of the things that he brought us to was the reality that we need to be the Church of the New Testament. So he took us to acts, chapter two. And as he began to talk about the different things that they did, they experienced a great growth right at the beginning because everybody came to Jesus. But beyond that, in persecution and under really difficult circumstances, what was it that caused them to continue to grow? Well, Mike did a beautiful job of laying that out for us. And then he reminded us that there were four key things that we see in that text that brings us to this next level of growth. And it was evangelism, discipleship, fellowship, and generosity. And so I love that he laid that foundation. And for us, what we want to do is make certain that we are accomplishing those things because we believe what God did to bless the church early in those days is the same thing that he'll do for us if we put our same confidence in him as well. And then last week, Andrew took us to Ezekiel 47. What a beautiful word. Picture the idea of that water flowing from the temple and that the water that came out got deeper and deeper, and everything that that water touched began to grow and to flourish and become clean. And it was just a beautiful illustration of how the gospel coupled with us and the Holy Spirit working through us to share that gospel message to others, that people's lives are touched and changed and transformed. And I think it's beautiful for us to be reminded that we have an obligation to get out there. And as Mark encouraged us to go beyond that ankle deep, get into the knee deep and the waist deep and the swimming in our responsibilities as we want to grow in Christ together. So I love where we're headed with all this. And today we're going to be talking about the treasure principle. And what I mean by that is we're going to talk a little bit about what Jesus says treasures are and the difference between treasures on earth and treasures in heaven. But as I was thinking about this message, one of the things that I was thinking about was, what do I think of when I think of treasures? And often I think of pirates or different things like that. But then I also go back to when our family was a little bit younger. We had one go to movie that we would go to all the time that would get us excited about treasures and those kinds of things. And it was always an entertaining movie, and it was this a national treasure. Some of you went, yes, I love that. It was a great movie. Right? It's a family friendly movie, and it's based on treasure hunting. And, you know, whether we all want to admit it or not, all of us in our lives have been in search of that kind of a treasure. Right? We all, we're sort of wired and geared to do more, to earn more, to keep more, as Mark was telling us early on, like, the idea that we're in pursuit of that next biggest thing and the next promotion and retirement and those kinds of things that will help us facilitate our life later on. And all those things are about us capturing that treasure. Well, I don't want to get into the details of this story too much, but in a nutshell, what it is, is our founding fathers left some clues. And this man, Ben Gates, not just his father or his grandfather or his great grandfather, but several different generations, had all been in pursuit of these clues that our founding fathers left. And they had all come to dead ends, and it all had this one big clue that was a starting point for them to launch through and ultimately find the treasure. But the thing that I want you to take from it is not that they got the treasure, although that was amazing and wonderful for them to see that greatest treasure that the earth had ever known. The thing that I wanted you to register with is this treasure was something that they were willing to risk it all for.
Authorities, their status, their jobs. Like, it was so important that they were willing to risk everything for the sake of locating that treasure. So I want us to take us back to the first century. You know, this story about a man who maybe he's on his way into the city and do some work, and he's on his journey, and as he's going, it's a hot summer day, he's kind of sweating through those fabrics, and he's got sweat coming off of his brow, and he's walking along, and he's going to do his work into the city. But as he's getting closer to the city, he realizes he's not making good time. And so he thinks to himself, maybe I can take a shortcut through this field. And so he goes through that field, and the ground is kind of uneven and a little unsettled. And so he takes his staff out, and he's kind of guiding him steps and making sure that he keeps his balance and those kinds of things. And as he's plotting along, he puts the staff down, and all of a sudden, he hears a boom, and it kind of, you know, it kind of alarms him. And he's like, what was that? So he reached down and hits the staff again, and he hears it again, and it sounds like some kind of box or crate. And so he gets down and moves some debris, and he opens it up, and he discovers that there is not just a box there, but there is some significant treasure, valuable things, jewelry, coins, and all these things. The greatest treasure that he could have ever imagined. And so he's standing there going, this belongs to whoever owns this field. But what he does instead is he buries that. And instead of going into the town to do his business, he leaves it right there and goes back home and immediately sees how he can liquidate all of his assets, everything that he owns, everything that's valuable and worth anything to him. He gets rid of those things in order to go back and buy that field, because whoever had the field owned everything that was in it. That treasure was so expensive and valuable that it was worth selling everything he had in order to get that treasure. Well, this is the passage in Matthew, chapter 13, verse 44, where it says, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field.
And in his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field.
Well, so now we're looking at this situation, and when we think about treasure, we think about valuable things, right?
But Jesus is sort of turning our attention to more of a spiritual twist of this, right?
He's saying, the kingdom of heaven is like the treasure. So the greatest treasure that we could ever have is the one that Jesus is talking about here. It's worth selling everything that we have in order to invest ourselves fully in getting that treasure, right? That's the kingdom of heaven. So, basically, what the point of this is is life with God is a treasure worth full buy in, like complete and total submission, complete surrender, giving everything up so we can have that treasure, because that treasure is the most valuable thing that we could ever want. Now, I want you to understand something. Jesus is telling this as a parable. And because of that, parables had sort of some significance because they would often marry something very physical with something very spiritual. And Jesus admits that there are times where there are going to be people who don't necessarily understand what he's trying to get across in those parables. He's trying to help us understand things on a spiritual level, but he tells these earthly stories for us to grasp it. I guess the point I'm trying to make is, as we look at this, he marries two different things. One is a spiritual thing and one is a physical thing. And the physical thing is possessions, wealth, riches.
And the spiritual thing is living with God. So I want us to understand, so we may try to separate some things in our minds at times, and we may think that, you know, my life spiritually is one thing, my wealth and my prosperity and my possessions, all those things are something totally different. But it does seem to appear to me that God is finding a way to marry those two concepts as they work in parallel with one another. So maybe we may see them as separate parts of our lives, but it seems to me that God is connecting those two in several things that we're gonna read this morning. So I talked about the parables. What were the parables for? Well, before Jesus even shares this story in Matthew, chapter 13, one of the things that he does is he sort of explains what parables are for. People are asking, why do you ask, why do you tell us these stories? And why are we supposed to be moved by them and what are we supposed to get from them? And Jesus basically says, hey, if your heart is receptive, if you want to be taught, if you truly have inside your heart the desire to live for me, then the things that I'm sharing with you are going to have an impact. If you're listening and you want to apply these truths, it's going to transform the way you think about things, and so it will change your direction in life. It's like a repentance of sorts. It's a reminder that we are one way, and these truths help shape the way I think about things to the point where I'm willing to make a change in my life. So transformation takes place when we apply these truths that he's given us. So Jesus has done this. Well, let's talk about transformation just a moment before Jesus ever came onto the scene in his ministry. Now, he was here, but he wasn't engaged in his ministry. God raised up John the Baptist, and he sent him out on that mission. And, you know, the Bible tells us that he was supposed to be the forerunner of Christ, right? So he came out and he was preparing the way for Jesus. And so he began preaching, and he preached the message of repentance, meaning transformation, change, right? And as he's preaching this, he's. He's encouraging everybody to be baptized and to just change their life, to get a new start and those kinds of things. And so as he's doing this, there are some people who have honest questions in their mind, like, what does this mean? How is it that I'm supposed to change? And I think it's very interesting that as he gives an answer to those questions from these three different groups, all of them deal with possessions, wealth, money, those kinds of things, tangible things that we can touch and put our hands on. So there's a group that comes up, a crowd says, well, what does it look like when we change? Like, what does transformation look like to all of us? And so he says, hey, well, you've got extra clothes and you've got extra food. Take those things and share those with other people. Like, make sure that you're helping out the people who are really in need, and that's how you change your life. So transformation is not go say some prayers and go to worship a little bit more? No, it calls us to action. And then to the tax collectors, they were saying, hey, well, what is it that we do? I mean, we just collect taxes. He says, hey, you guys are overcharging, right? Like, stop doing that. Stop padding your own pockets and do something to be a benefit to other people. And then there's a whole other group of people who are soldiers who are sitting there listening to John preach this idea of transformation and repentance. And they say, well, what does it look like for us? And he says, hey, you've mistreated people and you're taking things from them, you're taking money from them. You're just abusing these folks. You've got to stop doing those kinds of things and be fair in your treatment of other people. Do you understand what I'm saying? Like, as we think about what transformation looks like, we may think in terms of our heart that we just need to have a better attitude or we need to do a few things. But it's interesting, isn't that the change that is required for them is to let go of stuff that they are holding on, to let go of things that they may think they own or that is their possession and relinquishing that over for another purpose. So let's talk a little bit about Zacchaeus.
Very familiar story. Small guy, tax collector, has no friends. Really, the only thing that makes him Zacchaeus of any, you know, sort of, no pun intended, stature, anything that makes him of that is the fact that he has money over everybody else, right. And he has the authority that he can ask for extra things from people. And so he would not just tax them to pass it on to the Romans. He would tax extra to get it for himself. So he himself was packing his pockets with a lot of extra cash, and he was very, very wealthy. So Jesus walks up. He wants to see Jesus. He's up in a tree. Jesus says, come down. And he goes into his house, and they share a meal together. And in that meal together, we don't know the content of that conversation, but it probably had something to do with the kingdom of heaven and how he needed to transform his thinking. Because the very next thing is Zacchaeus stands up and he says, hey, I will give half of my wealth to the poor. Now, what is it that Jesus preach to him?
I don't know, but whatever it was triggered something inside of him to say, I got to relinquish control of some things. And so he does. I'm going to give half of my wealth, and if I've cheated anybody on their taxes, I'll pay that up to four times more. Think about what he's saying there. What is Jesus response to this? This is interesting. He says, salvation has come to this house today because he gave, because he was willing to give money back.
Well, not necessarily just because of the money, but because the actions of his heart revealed that something was changing, something was transforming in him. Zacchaeus was relinquishing control that he had held onto for a long time over and saying, I'll get rid of that completely for the sake of the kingdom of God. What a powerful thing. So what is the point of all these things? Well, God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him, and that may be hard for us sometimes to think about us relinquishing control of those kinds of things, but this is kind of what God is calling us to.
So we're going to take that story of Zacchaeus, and we're going to contrast it with two others. Okay. The two others are this rich fool and the rich young ruler. Now, the rich fool, just to kind of summarize, the story there in Luke chapter twelve is simply this. This man has wealth and possessions. He has big barns and lots of storage of crops and supplies for his life. And he says, what am I going to do about this? My storehouses are overflowing. So he says, well, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll tear down those and I'll build bigger ones. And when I fill those things up, then I'll just take my rest, and I'll just live the rest of my life just living off of my wealth and my prosperity for the rest of my life.
And God condemns him by saying, hey, he's rich toward himself, but he's not rich toward God. Well, why would that be wrong? I mean, aren't all of us looking to provide for ourselves in the future so we can rest and enjoy retirement or, or kind of relax a little bit and just live off of the hard work that we've done all these days? But he's saying, listen, if you've got all this wealth and you're not doing it for something else, you're not storing it up for the right thing. So he says to him, the answer to Jesus, as people are asking questions about this, what's wrong with this? Jesus says, sell your possessions and give to those in need.
This will store up treasure for you in heaven.
Okay, so we need to stop for just a moment. If Jesus is saying, these parables are meant to trigger something in us, and we are supposed to have receptive hearts so we can learn from these things and then transform the way we think and how we act and live, then we got to take notice of this, right? Sell your possessions. Give to those in need. This will store up treasure for you in heaven. And the, and the purses of heaven, never get old, never develop holes. Your treasure will be safe. No thief can steal. No moth can destroy it. Wherever your treasure is, there, the desires of your heart will be also. What's the point of all this?
According to this, our overflow, the things that God gives us in abundance, those are not meant to just make us better and stronger and better and give us the blessing. It's for us to use that as a way and a vehicle to bless and be helpful to other people as well. So let's look at the rich young ruler. Rich young ruler. You know that the guy comes up to Jesus and he asks a simple question. What good thing must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus says, well, you know, you know the commandments. Follow those, honor your father and mother. And he almost stops him, like, okay, I gotcha. I've done those things since I was a little boy. I have tried my best to honor those commandments. I've lived for God. I've followed the law. I've done all these things perfectly. But. But is there anything that I lack? Now, give this guy kudos, because he's asking a question that all of us would love to ask, right? If we had Jesus right here in front of us, and we could ask him, what is it that I'm missing? Because I think all of us would want to know, right? If I have an attitude that's keeping me from being in a proper relationship with God, would not I not want to know what that is? So I could correct those things? Here. This guy's asking, and Jesus says to him, there is one thing right, if you want to be perfect. And by the way, that word perfect does not mean, like, sinless. It means spiritually mature.
If you want to be spiritually mature, go sell all of your possessions. Give the money to the poor.
You will have treasure in heaven and come follow me.
But, says the young man, heard this. He went away sad, for he had many possessions. See, he chose the lesser and fading riches over those eternal and everlasting treasures.
But what if Jesus came to us and we had the guts to ask him, what am I missing?
Would you have the guts to open yourself up with that kind of vulnerability and let jesus point right to your heart and say, this is where you need to change?
In this case, it was the riches that he was holding onto.
In all of these stories, whether it be Zacchaeus, the rich young ruler, this rich fool, all of them were holding on to things that are tangible, things that tie us to value here on earth. And he's saying, those things have to be dismissed and done away with in order to do that. What's the point of this story? Talking about discipleship is good, but when we are moved to action, that actually is discipleship.
That's the part that we're looking for, is the movement on our part to do the right things and to be moved by what Jesus has told us.
So these stories kind of all exemplify one simple truth, and that's simply this. That transformation comes when we give what we perceive as ours over to God's purposes.
Let's keep reading. In Matthew, chapter six. So now we've talked about Jesus sharing parables. We've talked about Jesus having engagements with different people for different reasons.
But what would it be like if we just grabbed one of his sermon outlines? And what is it that he taught about with regard to wealth and possessions and those kinds of things? Well, if you look at the sermon on the mount, he covers a lot of different things. But in Matthew chapter six, it seems to pivot a little bit, and it deals with the things that we like to hold onto. And so here in Matthew chapter six, verse 19 and 20, he says, don't store up treasures here on earth where moths eat them and rust destroys them. Where thieves break in and steal.
Store your treasure in heaven, where moth and rust cannot destroy. And thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there, the desires of your heart will be also. And that phrase is going to come up several times in the scripture, that where our treasure is, there, our heart will be also. So we have to ask ourselves, what exactly is being said here in the context? What does this have to do with us in our christian walk? Storing up treasures in heaven as opposed to storing up treasures on earth. What does that really mean? Well, as I look at the context of Matthew chapter six, again, he pivots a little bit and he starts talking about us trying to receive credit for ourselves, for the discipline, things that we do, whether it's praying in public or different things, that we're doing good deeds, those kinds of things. When we look and we're trying to get people to respond and say, hey, you did a great thing, and we're looking for their applause, that's the only reward you're going to get. But specifically, in verse three and four of chapter six, he talks about when you do, when you give money to people, when you give things to other people, give alms. Okay, the idea here is don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. What's he saying? Don't start keeping your own list of your good deeds and the things that you're doing for other people for your own glory. No, do it out of your glory, for God. He had just got through saying that all of the good things that we do in Matthew chapter five, verse, verse 16, we do that to let our light signs show God, so God can be glorified.
So here he's saying, you know these things when you give to people, make sure that your mindset is right, that your attitudes are right. But then he follows that up in verse 24, indicating that there could be a dilemma that we might face. And that dilemma is the fact that we would have money as something, or possessions or wealth as something that we hold on to and then trying to give our full heart to God. And he says, those two things are going to be in conflict. You can't serve those two things together.
And then after he finishes that statement, he moves on a little bit further and talks about the things that we worry about, what we're going to eat, what we're going to wear, what we're going to do this next day, and how we're going to have the things that we need in our life. And he says, hey, stop worrying about those things. God knows those things that you need. He's going to provide those for you. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all of these things will be added unto you. So if I see that in the context, I recognize that what's taking place here is he's putting treasures as something that we hold onto, that we use as a way to determine our worth and our value. How many times have we seen the statement or heard the statement of someone, well, he does really good for himself, as if that somehow gives that person an extra value in life. But that person who has all the wealth in all the world is no better off than the poorest of the poor in the eyes of God, because that wealth is not our value.
Our value is what God has placed on us from the moment we arrived here.
He's in a battle to get our soul back to him in heaven.
So this wealth stuff that we hold on to, that we grasp for, that we try to lay hold on, those kinds of things are not the thing that are going to give us that substance. So storing up treasures on earth means clutching onto money and possessions rather than generously utilizing them for the growth of the kingdom. Again, I want to call all of us to receptive hearts. As Jesus is talking, we have to ask ourselves, am I willing to take this next step in my spiritual development and my growth for the sake of the kingdom of God? All of us are being asked that question today, not just. Not just people who have the resources. Every single person is asked this question, are we given our best for the kingdom?
One commentary says this in the context storing up treasure, focused particularly on the compassionate use of our material resources to meet the other other person's physical and spiritual needs, in keeping with the priorities of God's kingdom. That's a mouthful. But what it's saying is that everything that we've been blessed with is given to us so we can return that blessing to further the kingdom. That's why those 150,000 people in our nearby community are so important. That's why the people that we send people like Barry Smith off in other lands to study, because we believe that it's our responsibility through our giving and through our offerings, to be able to help and bless other people in our community. And there's still so much that can be done. But not only does Jesus say this, and his followers all believe those things and began to practice those things, but then you see people like Paul, who basically has a parallel passage right as he's talking to Timothy. He says this in one Timothy 618 and 19, about those who have money, says, tell them to use their money to do good.
They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. And by doing this, they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life. The bottom line is, there is so much more to this life than the things that we have. And so what he's saying is that when you give those things over, when you share those things with other people, you feel the significance of it. That's why the Bible says it's more blessed to give than to receive. Because when we give to other people, we are fulfilling a responsibility that God has laid on all of our hearts to be kind and compassionate and thoughtful to people all around us. James warns people who don't understand this by saying, hey, the stuff that you have is going to be rotten. It's going to corrode. It's going to be die and going away. And so if you hold on to these things, you're storing up treasures for yourself right here and now. That's the treasures here on earth.
And I always think about this, because you've heard the statement that you never see a U Haul being pulled behind a hearse, right? You don't see that. That's because nobody takes it with them. Right? You can see those egyptian pharaohs. They got all their treasures and stuff buried with them. What happens? People dig those things up and their body is still decaying. Those things do not go with them into eternity. When John Rockefeller died, there were people that were asking, what is it that he left behind them? One of the richest men ever. Okay? And they asked, what does he. What did he leave behind? And his accountant and his lawyer said, everything. He left everything behind. Why? Because whether we die or those things corrode and go away, they're just temporary things here.
And it can't be the kind of thing that we place all of our value on. He says, you've laid up treasure in the last days. Jesus warns us, too, that life isn't determined by one's possessions. We're not defined by what we have, but with what we do with what we have.
That's the value of a Christian, because we're God's instruments to reach other people.
So in Matthew, chapter six, after he told them to store up treasures in heaven, not on earth, what else did he say?
And you may read these texts sometimes, and it may not be so clear to you, but let's try to just put our mind around it. If you're thinking about how he's talking about money, don't store up treasures on earth, but in heaven. Then he says this. Your eyes are a window for your body.
When they're good, you have all the light that you need. But when your eyes are bad, everything is dark. And if the light inside you is dark, then surely you are in the dark. What's he saying in this? Simply put, what our eyes and our heart focus on are the very thing that have an impact on our soul. He's saying in this context, if you're storing up treasures on earth, then those kinds of things are not necessarily spiritual things. And so you're pursuing those things, and it becomes a darkness on you because you now have placed all of your. Your time and your energy and your focus on these things, and you've abandoned God over here. But if you in turn focus on the spiritual things and you're inviting light into your life and you're inviting the blessing of God, and you're inviting a new way for you to reach out and to be a blessing to other people. It's like if we focus on the things that are most important, then it changes the way we live our lives and it transforms the way we think.
But then he goes on to say this. You can't be the slave of two masters. You'll serve one, love the other, or have one that's favor over the other.
He says, you cannot serve God and Money. And the word for money here is kind of an odd word. It's mAmmon. And in this Hebrew language, what it's trying to say is there's a certain visual that comes with Money. There's some kind of a way to look at money and kind of see, that's the impression or that's the personification of that wealth. So when you look at this word that is mammon, the idea is it's wealth that it can be seen or visualized. It's the stuff that we do for show. It's the nice things that we wear, the nice cars that we drive, the nice house that we build, all the possessions that we start gathering up. All those things in our mind are wealth personified. And if we get so focused on those things, what we have, then we are saying we are a picture of these things, and that's who I am in total.
And that is a disregard for the one who is giving you all of those things.
So what is our biggest obstacle? It's simply this that we tend to think that everything that we have is ours.
We worked for it, we earned it, we got it, we received it, we did the hours for it. We coordinated, we worked out our payment, we negotiated our salary. We did all of these things.
And I think that is a landfall, that is a pitfall of us if we find ourselves focused on those two things. So let me give you four things that I think will help us sort of zero in on the attitude that we need to have. The first thing is this, is that everything is God's, and I'm the manager of that overflow.
Now why would I say that? Well, the reality is we need to be reminded of these texts, and I'm going to run through them real fast because there's several of them. I'm not going to give a lot of comment about them. I just want you to see that through the scriptures, God is reminding us of this over and over. Job 41 says, everything under heaven belongs to me. Psalm 24 says, the earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and its people, belong to him. Haggai says, the silver is mine, the gold is mine. In deuteronomy, chapter eight, even the ability to earn wealth and to gain things, all of that is given to us by God. I could go on and on. In one corinthians chapter six, it talks about how we are bought with a price. We are not our own. God has given Jesus to pay the price for us, so our soul is purchased by his blood. We don't even belong to ourselves. We are his. We have surrendered ourselves for him.
He has everything and everything that we have in this life. You, yourself, and all the things that you have are the blessing of God. Every bit of that is given by him. And so if we see that as being God's, it changes our perspective a little bit, makes us more of a steward, if you will, a manager of those kinds of things. So I found this quote and I thought it was great. It says, a steward manages assets for the owner's benefit.
Catch that?
Manages the assets for the owner's benefit. He carries no sense of entitlement to the assets he manages. It's his job to find out what the owner wants done with the assets and then carry out his will. Well, just a second. Let's all ask the question. What is it that God wants from his people?
And we've read several things that he said about this already, but there's even more that we could share about this. The treasure. Principle number two is this. My heart always goes where I spend. His overflow. What do I mean by that? Well, our priorities reveal something about us, right? It gives us an idea of where our passions lies and those kinds of things. How do I identify those things? Well, it's pretty simple. How is your time spent? Look at your calendar. What is the predominant thing that you have on your calendar?
What about what we fixate on? Like, when you get up in the morning and you come, you know, something that's really on the top of your mind is important. What is it that you're fixated on? What is it that you spend all of your time researching? What do you look up a YouTube video on how to do every day? You know, those are the kinds of things that we can get fixated on. And then second of all, and I know you don't have checkbooks, but you got. You can look at your bank account. What is it that you spend most of your resources on? If you could itemize all the things in your budget, what gets the biggest total?
Those are just ways for us to identify where our priorities, where our passions lie.
The third principle is this, and I'm gonna say this, a receptive, transformed heart repurposes God's overflow into spiritual pursuits.
How can I be a blessing to other people?
Principle number four is this. God's overflow is not meant to raise my standard of living, but rather to raise my standard of giving. Why do I say that?
Well, look at this passage.
And I love that Mike Baker, when he spoke to us, shared with us these four core things that the early church did. And here, the hebrew writer, in this little short text, gives us elements of all four of those things as we think about who we're supposed to be as God's people.
He says, for this world is not our permanent home.
It's not. At some point, this world ends, and we have a home in heaven. The Bible refers to in Philippians three, we have a dual citizenship. Right? My citizenship is. Yes, here on earth. But I have an even more important citizenship, and that is in heaven. And it says, because we have this, we are looking forward to a home yet to come. That's that fellowship aspect of this, right. We are unified in our purpose and in our direction, to live for God and to pull each other along this road together and to hold each other accountable and to enjoy this fellowship and this worship together and the idea that we are moving in the same direction. That's why our fellowship activities and things that we do together are so fun, because we don't have to worry about being in conflict with each other, about what is really most important in this life. We pursue God together, and that brings us joy and that fellowship. But then it says, therefore, let us offer to Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name. What is that? That is our discipleship, and it's our evangelism. Right. The idea that people out there know who we are and we're excited about what's happening in here, but more so, even what's happening out there, and that we can be a part of something great and big and seek to fulfill God's purpose in our lives.
That's the fellowship and the discipleship and the evangelism. But then listen to this last part, and don't forget to do good and share with those in need.
These are the sacrifices that please God.
Beautiful passage that has all of those elements in it as we try to seek to serve God.
So now the question is, again, if our hearts are receptive, if we're listening to what Jesus says and we're going to be moved by that, what might God be asking of each of us?
And before you say, Brandon, hey, that's a pretty harsh question to ask me. And it's easy for you to stand up on that stage and do that. I can tell you Brandon has been talking to himself all week long.
I've asked myself, am I really doing what I could do for God? Have I really pressed myself into action? Have I really sacrificed? Have I really shown my devotion to God in the way that I should? And the answer is, I'm sorting through that right now. And some of you are probably doing the same thing. But I'm asking you the same question I'm asking of myself is, what might God be asking of all of us?
So here's some questions. Maybe to just zero in on what the answers to those questions are, is if I were to ask you, forget everything that I've said, and I just polled every one of you, and you had a piece of paper, and I could say, hey, what are your priorities in life?
I think a lot of us would stop, and we would start at the top of that page, and, you know, we want to be spiritually minded people. So we would say, God is the priority of my life. Right? And then we would probably say something like, my wife or my family, you know, and then we would say, maybe my job. And then we would say hobbies and things that I enjoy doing, like relaxation and those kinds. I think we would probably enumerate it in some form or another in that way. Right.
So that would be our priority list. But then ask yourself the second question, which is, does your investment of time, passion, money reveal that that is, in fact, the case?
Again, it's one thing to talk about discipleship. There's nothing to be moved into action, to change and to do something.
Well, then let me take you back to that initial parable that Jesus gave.
One of the things that jumped out to me in that is this man who found the treasure, who hid it back, it said with excitement, with joy, could not contain himself to get out of there and get rid of everything else in his life so he could focus his. Everything that he had, all of his resources on gaining that treasure.
Are you in that boat?
Are you ready with joy in your heart to do something amazing for God? Are you ready to commit yourself fully and that everything else in your life becomes pale in comparison to that thing which is the most important, a relationship with God and a way to impact the kingdom around us.
That's what we're being called to do, and that's the treasure principle that we all must live by, no longer storing up treasures on earth, but storing up treasures in heaven. This morning, if there's anyone who has a need, if you want to give your heart to Jesus, you want to be baptized into Christ, hope you'll come. If you want to just have the courage to come forward and to be supported by your brothers and sisters in anything that you're going through, whether it be a sinful thing or whether it be a goal in your life, or may it be just a temptation that you're struggling with. If there's any need that you have, we encourage you to come forward so we can pray for you while together we stand. And as we sing.
