02.13.2011 Sermon on the Mount - 6 - 401k?

02.13.2011 Sermon on the Mount 6 - 401k? from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

This Friday, Annette and Alan and I are leaving for Honduras. The following weekend we hope to share all that took place down there.
Let’s pray and look at the Word.
Lord, we thank You and appreciate all that You’ve done for us – You are what we stand on – You are solid and secure when everything else is insecure. You can be trusted in every way. We appreciate that – You are reliable, true, and faithful in all things. Help us to have that assurance of faith. Whatever area of life in which we need help, You act on our behalf. Speak to our hearts, prepare us to hear Your word – help us to walk in a manner worthy. Thank You for paying for all of our sins. In Your name we pray, amen.
Matt. 6: 19 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 "But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
I am going to ask the question we are all thinking – some of you? None of you? The question is – is this possible in the 21st century? In this day of 401Ks, are you disobeying this verse? We need to ask a few questions
What does it mean?
How does it apply?
Should we just skip over it and go to the next section?
This is a great passage to show how to get more out of the Bible. You cannot understand what a passage means until you understand what the passage meant. First we need to ask, what did they hear and what did they understand was being said – then when we catch that, we are able… our tendency is to hear it from our perspective. You will not understand it until you know what they are going to get out of it.
This must be interpreted in light of what has been said up to this point in the Sermon on the Mount. The contextual sections – 4 passages that tie it together – in sets of 2 contrasting/comparing thoughts/principles in the passage.
2 treasures. First – DO NOT – if you are thinking about your stocks and 401Ks, maybe the 'do not' does not mean 'do not!' Sorry – that is what it means. He is saying – if you are storing up treasures on earth – STOP – if you are not, don’t start! There are translations that are literal – ‘do not treasure treasures’ – ‘
‘do not value valuables’ - 19 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
They only had two things that were treasures – they did not have stocks – they had clothing. They would pass clothing on as part of the inheritance. These were of great value. They were very expensive. That is why he talks about moth and vermin eating.
The other treasure was coins – precious metals and gems. These are also temporary – they get destroyed or stolen – they don’t last. Don’t treasure/value things that will disappear eventually. This should not be your life’s goal and the focus of all you do. Our tendency – we treasure treasure. We SAY family is more important – but in reality, we live in such a way that the money and security and happiness that they bring us is what matters most.
Has anyone seen these shows – about people who have a problem with hoarding? It is an illness. They have an intervention. They try to help them understand why they are hoarding. As they go to throw things away, you can see that their security is in the thing. Paul tells Timothy – tell them not to trust in the uncertainty of riches.
We think if we have riches, we will be more secure. But that is faulty thinking. Wealth does not give security – EVER. The reality is the opposite – it makes you insecure – a focus on it.
The action we take to make ourselves secure actually does the opposite.
Cindy and I were reading in Christianity Today – as of 9/11 – Americans joined the world. We used to think it was all out there.
Think about Katrina – those types of things don’t happen here – it happens out there – Look at the economy – everyone says it will be back in a year or two –do you believe that? It may never be back. The uncertainty of riches – at some point – it will always fail. It may not be for a long time – but eventually it fails.
20 "But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;
There is a treasure you can get that is not temporal but lasts. He is telling us to change our focus – from the things that are valuable in this world – don’t let it capture your heart in any way. Your heart will follow – what you really value is what will steal your heart. How do we do this – storing up treasures in heaven? By having the inner life of devotion – to have radical devotion and service – by letting our light shine to glorify God. By living what we have been talking about – we store up treasures on earth. You treasure the things that consume your mind. He goes on – next passage:
22 "The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. 23 "But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
We had two treasures now we have two visions. He uses the metaphor of a lamp. He is contrasting light and darkness. Whatever you are devoted to – if you take a lamp into a room – it lights up the whole room – but if there is something wrong, the room will be dark. A clear devotion to God – a clear moral focus will light your life completely. And in context, if your focus is on materialism and wealth, it will create a sickness in your soul. The person focused on this world will have a corrupt soul.
The love of money – the focus and attention of our world – is the root of all sorts of evil and moral corruption. You see it in the world – people wanting more and more. It creates moral corruption in the world and in our own lives. The things of the world will oppose the things of God. This is stern – He doesn’t hold back but challenges us to a different way of thinking. For us it is not easy – we tend to have wealth. When He uses the term- eye – it is connected to the heart. Selfish ambition plunges us into moral darkness. I think we think, no – we believe that we can pursue the material wealth of the world with gusto and think that it will not influence our moral influence and character. The answer is in the next verse:
24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
We believe we can. But God is saying – it is not possible – simply not possible to serve God and mammon. No one can serve two masters. This doesn’t work so well in our day because we don’t have slaves and servants. But for them, this was obvious. IF you were a slave, you did not go and serve another master; -this person owned and controlled you. They would have thought – oh yeah, of course you can’t serve two masters.
That verse does not say money is the root of all evil – but the love and devotion to it – it is our attitude toward it that matters – how it captures our hearts and minds – we have to use money to get by in life – but if it becomes something that captures your heart – it automatically turns your heart from God. And it doesn’t have to be money – it can be sports, education, entertainment, it can be your car! There are all kinds of things that can take your attention from God. Don’t think it is just the rich people who struggle with this – it is just as easy for the poor to have a love of money. What He is emphasizing – how much God demands our devotion and loyalty. Just like a slave would serve his master, so we should serve our loving and kind and merciful master. All the more we should serve that master – fully devoted to Him to do what He asks us to do – What do you want from my life, God? We all blow it when we get off the path, but He is calling us back.
The Jews say – The Lord is one God – love Him with your heart, soul, mind, and strength – that is what He is asking. Next time I am here, I will talk about the fourth passage – Whom do you trust – seeking God’s kingdom. You can’t do this unless you trust that God will take care of you – So what I want to do is go back to the beginning – what does it mean today – how do we live this way? Does this mean you cannot have a 401k?
If a verse seems to contradict other verses, you need to keep searching for other passages.
A year ago, we went through Financial Peace University – there are plenty of verses that talk about planning ahead and financial stewardship – so we need to put it together – how does it relate to us? How do we plan, and yet not store up? How are we good stewards, and yet not let it take our hearts – and that is the battle! We have to find balance – and the tendency is to go one way or another.
I think a lot have done that – gone on the financial stewardship side – “there are all these verses about handling money” – Yeah, but 90% of them are about giving it away!
The other side is just as important – to plan and prepare – so we take both teachings and apply them to our lives – and there can be a better understanding to make things work.
We have to read this in its context – it is about trust – from 25 through the end of the chapter – give us this day our daily bread – this is living a life of trust – trusting God to take care of our needs – if you are treasuring treasure, you are not living a life of trust. He wants us to trust Him – to be secure in Him alone. The second aspect – throughout the Sermon on the Mount – He talks about giving to those in need – give to the one who asks of you…when you give, don’t let the left hand know…
Make sure that other things are not consuming you so much that you are not meeting others’ needs. If you are living a life of sacrificial generosity, and trusting God, money takes its proper place in your life. You can follow the verses on stewardship without it becoming your focus – without it becoming a treasure to you.
That was then, this is now.
Some of you think this is terrible – but we need to understand – their lives were different. They did not have 401ks or stock options – but they had land – and their ways of preparing – they had small businesses – farms – and their children would take over the family farm – and the parents just stayed there. No trips to Florida (That would be a long way!) and no vacations to the Dead Sea. They had this system of preparing – but it was easy for it to capture their heart and become their security. Don’t let things capture your heart. Simple 3 questions:
1) What do you value? What do you treasure? That is where your heart will be. What do you focus on? Is your eye clear? Where is your devotion in your commitment
2) What are you serving? You cannot serve both
Lord, I thank You – help us to make You first – to be devoted wholly and solely to you.
1 more announcement – we will be doing – starting before Easter – a special series to reach out into our community –
A while ago, we did Extreme Makeover, life edition – this will be Extreme Makeover – Hope edition – and we will be finding some folks who have some needs and helping them – either in their homes – and we’ll also search for someone to help outside of our church to help get their yards ready or helping them out – maybe small jobs that we can do to focus on living the Sermon on the Mount.