He Wants It All

October 16, 2011

Morning Worship

Text: Matthew 6:19-24

Subject: Priorities

Title: He Wants It All

I have been preaching in past weeks about how to improve on your relationship with God. I know that I am on the same page with God in this – if you are going to call yourself a Christian it has to be on His terms and not your own.

Last week I shared about how important it is to be consistent in your walk and how you need to stay connected to church. It is true that you don’t have to go to church in order to be saved, but I have to ask, “If you are saved, why don’t you want to be in church?”

Two weeks ago I shared from 2 Timothy 1 about the three things that God has given us in order to make us everything He wants us to be. Those three things are a spirit of power, and love and a sound mind.

Yet, in spite of the fact that we have everything we need to be the best, the church of Jesus Christ does not at all look like the church He intended to raise up. And I believe the reason for that is that we have misplaced our priorities and fallen short of our potential by holding on to and chasing after things that have no real importance in life.

Haddon Robinson points out that one old recipe for rabbit started out with this instruction: "First catch the rabbit." Says Robinson: "The writer knew how to put first things first. That's what we do when we establish priorities -- we put the things that should be in first place in their proper order.

Let me set up the sermon by going to Ecclesiastes 5:10-16, 10 Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.

This too is meaningless. 11 As goods increase, so do those who consume them.

And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them? 12 The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep. 13 I have seen a grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner, 14 or wealth lost through some misfortune, so that when he has a son there is nothing left for him. 15 Naked a man comes from his mother’s womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand. 16 This too is a grievous evil: As a man comes, so he departs, and what does he gain, since he toils for the wind?

Money or material possessions do not satisfy. The truth is, that when you place an emphasis on the things that you can gain to satisfy you now, the results are only temporary. But when you focus on the things that have value to God, when you think His thoughts and know His will for your life, when those things become a priority to you, it is then that the church will be what it is supposed to be. Now. I have to say this, “for the church to be all that it can be, it has to start with you as an individual.

Our passage today deals with money or material gain, but the spiritual principle that is established here applies to all things that could become a hindrance in your life in Christ.

Read Matthew 6:19-24.

Everyone hold up your bibles.

I believe this is God’s word…

I believe that God intends the best for me…

His best is found in here…

I accept His word for my life…

And I appropriate it to my life…

In Jesus’ name…

What does God want from you? He wants it all.

I. IN ORDER TO GIVE GOD ALL YOU HAVE TO RE-EVALUATE YOUR PRIORITIES. 19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth… Now, does that mean that God doesn’t want you to have any of the good things in this life? NO, it doesn’t say that. What this verse does say is that things should never become your priority. What happens when all you can think about is making money? You become consumed by it. Then you want more money and then that is never enough. Money is s lousy means of keeping score. The futility of riches is stated very plainly in two places: The Bible and the Income Tax form. Unfortunately here is a rule of thumb that people tend to live by today. Billing's Law: Live within your income even if you have to borrow to do so. In our passage Jesus specifically says not to store up on earth… Why is that? Because everything that is on the earth will eventually go the way of the earth. Matthew 24:25, Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. Again, I want to reiterate, money isn’t the problem. Things aren’t the problem. Being consumed by them is. The word translated “store up” means, “to amass or hoard.” You just want more and more and are never satisfied. And to what purpose? …moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. So why do we spend so much time and effort chasing after things that won’t last? Because your enemy has told you lies through the culture, through the media, and through the lives of others that the one who dies with the most toys wins. The fact is, the one who dies with the most toys is dead… satan tried to deceive Jesus with all those promises of the benefit of the temporal when they were in the desert. And Jesus always stood against him according to God’s word. In Hebrews 11:24-27, 24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. Look again at verse 25. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. Having money is not sin. But the love of money is the root of all evil. This is the spiritual principle that is stated in verse 19. Don’t look for satisfaction in the temporal. Drugs won’t do it… Sex won’t do it… money won’t do it… things won’t do it for you… Tobacco and alcohol only satisfy temporarily – then you want more. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. Does this say that we are only to think about heaven? Not the way I read it. But what it does say is that whatever promises that have been given you, because you are a child of God, an heir of God and co-heirs with Christ, because you are seated with Jesus right now in the heavenlies, those promises are spiritual – are signed, sealed and delivered in heaven. We therefore, can place our faith, not in the things that lead to death, but in the things that lead to life, both in heaven and right now. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. I don’t know about you, but my heart (my spirit) accepts the things that God has in store for us in the present and if, in my heart (spirit) I can accept those things by faith, then shouldn’t they be mine now? Only if you give it all to Him by faith. He wants it all.