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.
II. IN ORDER TO GIVE IT ALL TO GOD YOU HAVE TO SEE THINGS THROUGH SPIRITUAL EYES. 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. Does it seem like these verses are kind of out of place. What does the eye have to do with earthly or heavenly treasures? Turn over to Ephesians 1. While you are turning there let’s think about some things. You know that there are two people living in you. There is the natural man and the spiritual man. Paul spends a lot of time in his letters telling us that we are to walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh. Let me ask you a question. What is real – the physical or the spiritual? The answer that you thought in your head may give you an indication of how you view the work of God in your life. Ephesians 1, beginning in verse 15, For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. Listen to this… 18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. Though we tend to believe what we can see, the reality of life in this world transpires in the spiritual realm and is then seen in the natural. If your eyes are good (your spiritual vision), your whole body will be full of light. All right, let’s go back to what we heard about treasures in the previous verses. …For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Are you trusting God to provide for you financially? The truth is you can only expect that promise to become reality in your life if – and this is a big if – if you are faithful to God with what He has given you. That means being faithful to tithe from your income. Oh, Pastor Mike, you don’t understand. There is no way I could ever make ends meet if I tithed. No you don’t understand, God will never be able to word that out in your life until you decide to tithe. Listen, I don’t go down to the office and get on the computer to see if I can figure out who is a tither and who isn’t. That’s not my concern. But what is my concern is that you understand spiritual principles that God wants to see revealed in your life and the principle of tithing is one of them. You can’t afford to tithe? The bible says you can’t afford not to. Malachi 3:8-10, 8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ “In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,” says the LORD Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty. Oh that’s an Old Testament command. We are a New Testament church. NO, it’s a God principle and it is for all time. You see, He wants it all.
III. IN ORDER TO GIVE IT ALL TO GOD YOU HAVE TO MAKE A CHOICE. Look at the first part of verse 24. “No one can serve two masters…” Why is that? Because a “master” by nature demands loyalty. Exodus 20:4-6, 4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. The word “serve” in verse 24 is douleuo (doul-yoo'-o) and it means, 1. to be a slave to 2. to be enslaved… Paul wrote to the church in Rome, in verse 16, Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? It’s a choice. I cannot for the life of me figure out how anyone who claims Christ as Lord and Savior can possibly think that you can live with one foot in the kingdom and one foot in the world. James 4:4, You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. In the rest of verse 24 Jesus tells us the results of being double minded. …Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. Former president Ronald Reagan once had an aunt who took him to a cobbler for a pair of new shoes. The cobbler asked young Reagan, "Do you want square toes or round toes?" Unable to decide, Reagan didn't answer, so the cobbler gave him a few days. Several days later the cobbler saw Reagan on the street and asked him again what kind of toes he wanted on his shoes. Reagan still couldn't decide, so the shoemaker replied, "Well, come by in a couple of days. Your shoes will be ready." When the future president did so, he found one square-toed and one round-toed shoe! "This will teach you to never let people make decisions for you," the cobbler said to his indecisive customer. "I learned right then and there," Reagan said later, "if you don't make your own decisions, someone else will." Today in the Word, August, 1991, p. 16. You cannot serve both God and Money. God does not want part of your devotion… He wants it all.
Life is full of decisions. Many times the decisions we make are rather half hearted. But even half-hearted decisions will show where your priorities are. Surprised to see an empty seat at the Super Bowl stadium, a diehard fan remarked about it to a woman sitting nearby. "It was my husband's," the woman explained, "But he died." "I'm very sorry," said the man. "Yet I'm really surprised that another relative, or friend, didn't jump at the chance to take the seat reserved for him." "Beats me," she said. "They all insisted on going to the funeral."
Coffee Break.
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You can make that choice today. What is it that may be keeping you from being totally sold out for God? Oh, I know… we say we are. But are you really? Sometimes it really hurts to take the time to see the truth about our own lives. It’s much easier to point out weaknesses in others, but that’s not what God wants from you. He doesn’t want you to hold anything back from Him. He wants to confess your sins to Him. He wants you to fully trust in Him and His word. He wants you to serve Him and Him alone. He wants it all.
How much is all?
You cannot serve God and money…
You cannot serve God and alcohol…
You cannot serve God and drugs…
You cannot serve God and gluttony…
What has sway over your life?
It’s time to give it to God.
He wants it all…
