"Generous Eyes and Whole Hearts" Matt. 6:19-24

under that and for those who've been called and sent and for where the lord's calling you to ministry and service in our community and speaking of which there are a lot of opportunities for us to serve through giving and in ropa clinic and community seeds on friday nights from four to six delivering food into vehicles for folks at highland terrace [Music] we also have an opportunity on wednesday morning from 10 to noon to go and serve our community by delivering meals on wheels wednesday night the youth meet up here at 6 p.m and the young adults at 7 15 and i believe the men gather on thursday 6 a.m 6 p.m oh 6 30. something like that but ben was so thoughtful in his post that he sent there are uh there's a link to all of the announcements so whatever i've watched you can find there um i want to say that at youth this week you know tracy told the youth about two monikers for the lord and that is that he is holy and he is good and psalm 34 says that uh taste and see that the lord is good and so i hope that as you come in this morning you've been reflecting on all the ways that he's revealed his goodness to you this week whether it's been in beautiful weather or gathering with your people in life group and enjoying kids laughter relationships whatever that is i hope that you're thankful so and we have the opportunity this morning to worship the lord through giving our tithes and offerings there's a place to do that on your way out the door back here and in our communion and in our hearing the word exposed this morning and so afterward we'll get to sing praises to god verses 1 through 3 of psalm 34 say this i will bless the lord at all times his praise shall continually be in my mouth my soul makes its boast in the lord let the humble be hear and be glad o magnify the lord with me and let us exalt his name together so if you would join me in praying before ben comes to teach us abba father i want to thank you for teaching us to give generously to pray constantly and fervently and to fast wholeheartedly as we hold christ in highest regard i want to pray for this body and their movement in prayer and in ministry in missions here locally and for those that you've sent in our state and in our country and abroad and i pray that folks stand firm in their faith and are steadfast as you care for them and you lead them in those ways i acknowledge with gratitude all that you've done for us and continue to do for us and as we find out what pleases you lord help us to be willing to do your will out of love and reverence these things i pray and trust and out of obedience to you and in the strong and mighty name of jesus amen i'm glad y'all are here i think you uh as far as we know that's that hasn't happened and that's that we can thank the lord for that because that's our goal is moving forward our goal is not to keep everybody perfectly healthy at all times we've got folks within our body that are staying home right now because someone in their family or someone they've been close to has gotten sick or engine they're trying to protect us so the folks that are here i think the measures that we're taking i realize they are um measured uh but not fearful uh just trying to be careful and wise as we move forward so that we can continue moving toward some version our new version of normalcy so appreciate y'all being here this morning for those who aren't here this morning i know there's all kinds of reasons that you may not be here they may be this there may be a fear of your kid being a distraction and i totally get that when i was in college uh if i was gonna be five minutes late for a class i just didn't go i just i this overwhelming fear of interrupting anyone that is inordinate in my case so and some of you can relate to that this fear of disruption uh just know that we have lots of margin for that lots and lots of margin and at our member meeting this afternoon and probably in the coming days i'll probably send out a little video encouragement to our our body and to those who might be visiting with us how to maybe re-frame those concerns and how maybe even to reframe what we're doing on sunday mornings what is actually taking place here and what you might consider as you're making those decisions from week to week let's go ahead and go to the lord in prayer this morning i want to make sure that we spend proper time in prayer asking him to condition these few minutes that we have together that our hearts are sensitive and tuned in that we ask and invite the holy spirit into this moment and ask him to speak to us and equip us so we're going to spend a few minutes praying along those lines we're also going to pray for another church in our community fellowship bible church travis chapel is the pastor there we're going to pray for the people group lodha people of the india 6.8 million strong 0.03 of which are christian we are each week praying through the least reached people groups in our world so we're going to lift up this people group as we pray for fellowship bible church as well and for how we spend this time let's pray lord just give us pause right now that we can all together collectively exhale knowing that we are sitting at your feet for a few minutes we are enjoying you for a few minutes in song and supper and fellowship and sermon i pray in these few minutes that we will recognize that we've been with you and with your people and that we will understand and appreciate and maybe even sense that in that we experience change and growth but we entrust these few minutes to you and ask you to do something wonderful to us and through us as a result lord also this morning i want to pray for another church in our community and praying for fellowship bible church for travis chapel for his family lord we want to lift up travis and just thank you for bringing him to greenville for landing them here and to be a shepherd of the people out at the fellowship bible church we want to ask you to bless him lord bless his family i pray that his family has a front row seat to worship and faith and that he is fueled by worship as he's going about the work of shepherding the people there pray for fellowship bible church lord for the membership there and for those who may be visiting there or that you would equip the saints that you would do wonderful things in and through them that they would be a salty bright aromatic people in this community between sundays they would mobilize at noon and engage neighbors friends workmates family members all of the above in faith or that they would would have a difficult time staying silent as a result of the time that they're spending together in the word this morning i want to pray that you would bless their moving and discipleship and their making disciples that you would just grow your kingdom through the ministry of fellowship bible church but also this morning i want to pray for the lodge people of india or the massive people group that most of which don't know you lord first of all we want to pray for those who do know you that you would give them a boldness [Music] that you would give them a burden [Music] you would mobilize them in conversation even possibly a great cost to their place in life and their even maybe their life in general lord just pray that you would give them as men and women sincerity to speak in christ or for those who don't know you and this people group massive massive number of people lord we ask that you would draw those people to you or we ask that you would send workers to this far corners and that they would speak in christ and that you would draw this people to you and hasten your son's return well we turn these few minutes over to you and we're thankful so thankful for this time praying these things in christ's precious name amen so i got an email this morning this is my one year mark's anniversary clark's is a shoe company they sell shoes i'm wearing clarks right now turns out i get 15 off today it's pretty big deal i don't know that y'all are taking this seriously this is a this is a big day is it apparently a year ago today friday i looked back at where i would have been on the what is the 18th or something like that today yeah the 18th it was a friday in 2019 and i must have been online surfing for a new set of shoes new pair of shoes so this is a special day i i have a problem i i you know i've kind of figured out that my number of shoes that i can have where i'm completely satisfied is n plus one within being the number that i have right now the same is true of bicycles the same is true of guns the same is true of knives the same is true of watches that's my thing i wonder if you all may have some things that you need in plus one to be truly satisfied i wonder if there's really anybody in this room that's completely satisfied with what you have at this very moment and aren't maybe in some way thinking about man once i get that set of tires once i get those rims once i get that guitar once i get that bow tie y'all know there's only one person i can be talking about with that he's not even here but man all the things i'm thinking about that people think about and go after that car those countertops that house that video game all those things that we find ourselves thinking about all the time this sermon is timely for ben mcgraw and i'm betting that it's timely for every person in this room because we all have to deal with this thing called stuff so if you would stand with me and let's go to the lord the reading of his word matthew chapter 6 beginning in verse 19 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 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 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 lord speak to us through these living words in christ's name we pray amen y'all have a seat i want to give you a kind of a bird's eye view of this passage the first few verses are familiar if you were here last week preached from matthew chapter 6 verses 19 through 21 on the two treasures the treasures on earth and the treasures in heaven and if you were here last week you realize that the way we dealt with those last week is they point backwards to the righteous practices section the section that begins in chapter six that deals with giving to the needy and the poor and deals with fasting and deals with prayer we dealt last week with that being a conclusion to that section and this week i want to introduce the thought that it's also an introduction to the next section these verses verses 19 through 21 the first part of what we just read serve double duty the exceeding righteousness section that we're in right here this entire message shifts in these passages for us from practices in the world to now things of the world you had to know this was coming even if you didn't read ahead you had to know that if jesus is going to talk about what life looks like and following him that at some point he's going to deal with stuff because those issues are not completely unrelated following christ and how we relate to and deal with stuff are connected verses 22 and 23 that's sort of the center section of what i just read here it's a really strange passage if you were paying attention and maybe you've read ahead and prepared for this morning maybe verses 22 and 23 you were scratching your head or what in the world is actually being said there the eye is the lamp of the body so if your eye is healthy your whole body will be full of light 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 this is a very strange passage and it's not easily sorted out there are people that have spent quite a bit of time trying to make sense of whether this eye is being identified here something that gives off light which is called extra mission or if the eye is gathering light it's called intromission we're not going to give two minutes to that we're not going to give 30 seconds to that this morning because that's not the point of the passage we're not talking about up thermology this morning optometry all those things we're talking about exposing the passage of the central meaning verse 24 is a passage sort of sums up this section no one can serve two masters either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to the one despise the other you cannot serve god and money what's brought out here is really this ultimatum you're either going to serve god or mammon faithfully you can't do both faithfully you can't be devoted to both you can't faithfully serve both and if you try to do that you're going to end up serving one or the other so so far in this passage just what we've read this morning we're dealing with two treasures two eyes and two masters this passage is so simple and i'm gonna do everything i can to keep it simple in these next few minutes really this whole section is about two ways of being in the world you could sort of summarize the entire summer on the mount as two ways of being in the world he presents one and the other throughout two ways of being in the world so the bird's eye view of this passage verses 19 through 24 is pretty straightforward it's simple we're not going to do anything crazy this morning we're going to keep it simple but we're going to start and really expose verses 22 through 23 to try and make sense of all of this the key is the strange passage that i pointed out that's right in the middle that has to do with the eyes this is the key to understanding what christ is calling his followers to do both 2000 years ago and through this living message today in 2020 okay so we're going to spend most of our time this morning in verses 22 and 23. 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 there's a contrast in this passage the healthy eye using the words that's used here in our translation versus the bad eye a little bit of greek to kind of acquaint you with this we're going to climb into this just for a moment not in an academic sense but in a way where you can begin to differentiate between these two the healthy eye the word there in greek is hapleus it means singular the singular eye is the healthy eye haplus ap vamos and that's contrasted with porneo up almost the evil are bad all right turn to deuteronomy chapter 15. this is going to be a key passage for us this morning deuteronomy chapter 15. i'll give you a second to turn there i'ma share a couple of passages with you in proverbs as you're turning there proverbs has a nice contrast between these two kinds of eyes the healthy eye and the evil eye or the bad eye here are a few little snapshots in proverbs chapter 22 verse nine you may jot these down and look at these later whoever has a bountiful eye okay that means verbatim in the hebrew uh there's a little note down at the bottom bottom of my page that identifies it as the good i whoever has the good or bountiful eye will be blessed for he shares his bread with the poor that's the good eye contrasted with the bad eye proverbs chapter 23 verse 6 do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy verbatim in the hebrew who has an evil eye the translation calls it rightfully stingy do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy who has an evil eye do not desire his delicacies and later in proverbs chapter 28 verse 22 a stingy man a man with an evil eye hastens after wealth and does not know that poverty will come upon him this will just sort of kind of give you a little bit of a conditioning to where we're likely going in deuteron deuteronomy chapter 15 that the evil eye sounds like it's stingy and the healthy good singular eye sounds like it's generous if you captured those so far you're ready for us to climb into deuteronomy chapter 15. let's look beginning in verse 7. if among you one of your brothers should become poor in any of your towns within your land that the lord your god is giving you you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother now i want to just call your attention to some anatomy as we're moving through this passage i want you to look for the body parts that are connected here heart and hand so far pay attention to the pit to the to the elements of what unfold in these passages if among you one of your brothers should become poor in any of your towns within your land that the lord has given you you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need whatever it may be take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say the seventh year the year of release is near and your eye look grudgingly in the original hebrew it's the i look evil in the septuagint which is the greek version of the old testament it's the pornios ophthalmos verbatim the seventh year of the year release is near and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother and you give him nothing and he cry to the lord against you and you be guilty of sin you shall give to him freely and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him because for this the lord your god will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake for there will never cease to be poor in the land therefore i command you you shall open wide your hand to your brother to the needy and to the poor in your land let me give you a little sense of what's going on in this passage you might have actually looked across the page or at the beginning of this heading in chapter 15 the sabbatical year this is a pretty special year in the life of israel this is a time where all loans all debts are wiped clean okay so i want you to imagine that you have a friend or a family member or an acquaintance maybe someone you work with that comes to you and asked for some money ask you to lend them a thousand dollars let's make it a substantial lend they're gonna ask you to lend you a thousand dollar or ask you to lend them a thousand dollars and you know that a week later all debts and all loans are going to be wiped clean that's what this is like right here and that's the begrudging look that he's talking about the kind of things that you might be thinking as someone asks for a loan or someone has a need in the time the short time leading up to a sabbath year and what's going on in this passage is the heart is hardened and the hand is shut contrasted with an open hand and an implied soft heart and then an unworthy thought of verse nine can y'all imagine what that unworthy thought might be like we personalized it a minute ago for somebody to ask for a thousand dollars from you a week before all debts and loans are forgiven i would have a few thoughts there i would have the thought that first of all i'm not going to be a chump that's not fair that's not cool that's not just i'm not going to make you alone let's just call it a give because you know you're not going to pay me back it would probably bother me more than anything okay i bet some of you could identify with some of those thoughts i'm not going to be a chump that's not fair that's not cool what's behind those thoughts though what the lord brings out in here in deuteronomy is the realization what's ultimately behind those thoughts is greed that evil thought that begrudging thought that unworthy thought that's behind this is ultimately greed and it shows up in the evil look that porneos of thammos that evil look that begrudging look is not fitting considering what surrounds this passage in deuteronomy chapter 15. that's why i wanted to camp out here for a few minutes is charge don't have this unworthy thought don't have this evil eye this grudging eye considering what's surrounding that passage in that charge to care for the poor let's look at a few passages surrounding it starting in verse 1 of chapter 15. at the end of every seven years you shall grant a release and this is the manner of the release every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor he shall not exact it of his neighbor his brother because the lord's release has been proclaimed that's the first thing because the lord's release has been proclaimed it's not fitting that we have an unworthy thought it's not fitting that the people of god should have an evil eye let's see what happens next in verse 4. there will be no poor among you for the lord will bless you in the land and the lord your god is giving you for an inheritance to possess that's the second couple of things i want us to draw the first thing is the lord's release has been proclaimed and here's the second thing in verse four the lord will bless you the lord your god is giving you an inheritance of the land that's why we're not going to have an evil thought or an evil eye or a begrudging look look down in verse five if you only strictly obey the voice of the lord your god being careful to do all this commandment that i command you today for the lord your god will bless you as he promised you and you shall lend to many nations but you shall not borrow you shall rule over many nations but they shall not rule over you there it is again verse 6 for the lord your god will bless you look down the page and let's capture some following passage beginning verse 12. let's see what happens after the section we read first if your brother a hebrew man or a hebrew woman is sold to you he shall serve you six years in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you when you let him go free from you you shall not let him go empty-handed you shall furnish him liberally out of your flock out of your threshing floor and out of your wine press as the lord your god has blessed you you see a pattern emerging you see the pattern emerging surrounding this charge not to have this evil eye or this begrudging look this refrain as the lord your god has blessed you you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of egypt and the lord your god redeemed you therefore i command you this today an evil look a begrudging look an evil eye a a response of greed is not fitting considering what is surrounding that charge the lord has proclaimed release the lord has blessed you the lord is giving you an inheritance of the land the lord has blessed you yet again as he promised to do the lord your god has blessed you you shall remember that you were once a slave but he redeemed you that's why the evil eye and the begrudging look is not fitting he said the eye and the heart and the hand should be blessing conditioned the heart the hand and the response to that person even knowing that you'll probably not get paid back is a response that should be blessing conditioned and redemption conditioned how could i not respond this way for my god has so blessed me my god has redeemed me an open hand a soft heart giving freely with a generous eye the charge back there in deuteronomy as a charge to the people of god of how to move in light of god and what he's done for them and the charge here on the sermon on the mount is sort of a refrain this is how you move as the people of god given what god has done you have that healthy generous eye that singular eye he calls it or you may have the evil eye porneros of thalmos i'd like to think that this took hold of the people of god in deuteronomy and this characterized them for the next few thousand years but sadly it didn't fast forward two thousand years later part of one a large part of what sent them into exile was their treatment of the poor man the prophets call it like they like like it is don't they and they use some graphic language and some graphic imagery to show it like it is amos chapter four is something you can write you can you can jot down and you consider right now i would like you to turn over to matthew chapter 20. and as you're turning there and share this passage with you from amos chapter four this blessed people these people that received an inheritance from the lord this people that had been redeemed these people that had been commanded to care for the poor here's the character of this people in amos chapter four hear this word you cows of bastion did god call through amos the wives of israel cows yes he did he absolutely did hear this you cows of bastion who are on the mountain of samaria who oppress the poor who crush the needy who say to your husbands bring that we may drink man can you envision that bring me the head of a pig probably not a pig bring me a goblet of something cool and refreshing the cows of bastion the lord god has sworn by his holiness that behold the days are coming upon you when they shall take you away with hooks even the last of you with fish hooks and you shall go out through the breaches each one straight ahead and you shall be cast into harmon declares the lord there's a graphic graphic picture here of a blessed people who 1200 years after they're commanded to move in a way that he tells them to move in light of what god has done for them they're greedy greedy well fed well provided for but they're greedy and they're ready for slaughter and as a graphic image of the greed among the people of god it's not in keeping with who they were as a blessed [Music] at that point which would be some 800 years later matthew chapter 20. for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard after agreeing with the lady [Music] into his vineyard and going about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace and to them he said you go into the vineyard too and whatever is right i will give you so they went going out again about the sixth hour in the ninth hour he did the same about the 11th hour he went out and found others standing and he said to them why do you stand here idle all day they said then because no one's hired us he said to them you go into the vineyard too now watch what unfolds here when evening came the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman call the laborers and pay them their wages beginning with the last up to the first when those hired about the 11th hour came each of them received a denarius a day's wage though they just started at the 11th hour and when those hired first came they thought they would receive more but each of them also received the denarius and on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house saying these last worked only one hour and you've given them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day in the scorching heat and he replied to one of them friend i'm doing you no wrong did you not agree with me for a denarius take what belongs to you and go i choose to give to this last worker as i give to you am i not allowed to do what i choose with what belongs to me or do you begrudge my generosity do you look on this literally in the greek with an evil eye so the last will be first and the first will be last there's so much meaning to this passage don't think about it like a bunch of western individuals i want you to think about what's going on here he's pointing to the response of the pharisees in the religious community at that point at the thought of him visiting with tax collectors and sinners and the notion of tax collectors and sinners and prostitutes coming into the kingdom this will later have application when the gentiles are invited into this kingdom at the 11th hour and they get the same wage as those who born the heat of the day it's a shocking moment and it's a moment where we might respond and say that's not fair that's not cool that you would ask me for a loan a day before a week before a year before debts are all forgiven that's not cool that he gets the same wage when he starts at the end of the day when i started at the beginning and what's going on behind that evil eye and that begrudging unworthy thought it is greed and the people of god from the point of 1500 years before christ where that law was given where we considered in deuteronomy to 1200 years later in the time of amos they were greedy and entitled and at the time of christ they were still greedy and entitled man it's a human problem we're not picking on israel it is a human problem so the contrast here in the sermon on the mount is either two treasures one heavenly one earthly two masters or two eyes which i will you have singular and generous are evil and begrudging i think it's an important point to bring out at this point it's really we're going to have a little gospel celebration in the middle of this sermon we're actually getting toward the application point of the sermon but we're not going to take we're not going to pass up an opportunity to consider a gospel celebration right embedded right in the middle of this passage it's important that i don't know if you notice this but the distinguishing character of these two things this healthy eye this singular eye versus the evil eye the opposite if you were to consider those ophthalmos versus porneo alfomos the opposite of evil is singular and the message in the sermon on the mount is a singular message it is a message about whole person following whole person righteousness whole person following christ whole person faith not whitewashed on the outside and dead on the inside not virtuous on the outside but seething with murderous hate on the inside not virtuous on the outside but lusting on the inside but whole person singular righteousness notice the opposite of the evil eye is the singular eye followers of christ start to have an exceeding righteousness that involves and incorporates the whole person into singular righteousness those who are united to christ by faith have that already amen those who have been united to christ by faith have that already amen when we're spending time in the sermon on the mount the message of the sermon on the mount is not try harder people of god not do better people of god it's what we already have in christ and we then go walk out it's who we are those are united to christ by faith already have whole person righteousness because we're wearing the alien righteousness of christ we can celebrate that right in the middle of this sermon we have to it's the fuel by which then we go be a generous people it's the only way in the world that we will be a truly generous people it is the means by which we become a generous people he's both preacher of this message herald and he's the means by which we we actually do what he commands us to do in there that's how we're different from this blessed and greedy people that we have a 1500 year window into from when the law was shared over there in deuteronomy to the snapshot in amos to the snapshot over there in matthew chapter 20. they're a greedy and blessed people we on the other hand are a blessed and righteous people and then we go walk out who we already are in christ man that gospel celebration right in the middle of this sermon has to be something that we enjoy this is a fuel for every single sermon on the mount message the message of the sermon on mount isn't try harder do better it's cling to the person of christ and watch how he transforms you watch how he moves you in the world okay so i have two applications that's a little side note there a good one gospel celebration right in the middle of a sermon we need whole person transformation of head heart and eye and we already have that fully and thoroughly in christ amen two applications from this passage first of all i want to deal with the reality that money is neutral i have two passages for you to turn to and they're right next to each other this is the last passages we're gonna land the plane first timothy chapter six go ahead and turn there first timothy chapter six money is neutral i'll give you a second to turn there first timothy chapter six i know a lot of using using digital stuff so we don't hear pages like we used to first timothy chapter 6 verse 10 says the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil it doesn't say money itself is the root of all kinds of evil money is neutral but man the love of it will make a mess of things the love of it will make a mess of things there's a guy that's mentioned a few times in the epistles in paul's letters a guy named demas he shows up in sort of these uh little references to hey so-and-so said hi so-and-so is rooting for you so and so he is here serving with me and then over there just a few pages over in second timothy chapter four this guy demas shows up again and it is a heartbreaking reference in second timothy chapter 4 verse 10 it says this guy demas in love with this present world has deserted me and gone to thessalonica it's a passing statement but it's a heartbreaking statement where this guy has shown up in the lists of people that are serving with paul that are serving the kingdom but he fell back in love with the world we've got to know the love of this this stuff will destroy people demons is a great example the problem is we can't abstain from this stuff that would make it easy wouldn't it you can abstain from sugar you can abstain from gluten you can abstain from carbs you can do all the things abstain from all these things keep them away from you but you can't abstain from stuff we all have to deal with money we all have to deal with stuff in some way and it messes people up i saw a ted talk this week or part of a ted talk and read the write up on this ted talk by this professor at university of california in berkeley his name is paul piff he had a hundred people sign up for a monopoly game strangers a coin flip randomly assigned one person in each pair to be the rich player they got twice as much money to start with the rich player okay at the monopoly twice as much money to start with collected twice the salary when they pass go and they rolled both dice instead of one so they can move a lot farther this professor used hidden cameras to watch the duos play for 15 minutes here's the results the rich players move their pieces more loudly you should pull up the ted talk it's fascinating this guy that was just made rich moments earlier is moving his pieces around the board and the other person's like quiet they displayed the rich players displayed the type of enthusiastic gestures you see from a football player who just scored a touchdown they showed a video of a guy going like this yes the rich player they even ate more pretzels from a bowl sitting off to the side that the players who had been assigned to the poor condition they ate more than the poor people money can mess some people up this is a great little experiment you need to watch this ted talk it's fascinating the rich players understanding of the situation that it was completely warped after the game talked about how they'd earned their success even though the game was blatantly rigged and their wins should have been seen as inevitable this stuff all stuff money mammon is what jesus called it is dangerous man we've got to know it i found i read another uh outcome from another study in 2010 where they asked more than 300 upper and lower class participants to analyze if they can analyze their facial expressions of people in photos and of strangers in mock interviews to discern their emotions this is fascinating but it's also heartbreaking the people that were from upper classes the rich people were not able to read facial expressions as well as the lower class people let that hit you for a moment envision the guy moving the pieces around the monopoly table louder envision the gestures watch the guy and gal eaten the pretzels the rich person eating the pretzels and consider the sad case that it's the lowercase participants the lower class people that didn't make the money that the upper class people made that were better able at reading faces they exhibited the poor people more emotional intelligence than the people who were rich money can mess some people up people of god we've got to know this stuff is dangerous it is neutral in and of itself but how we relate to it is dangerous it's not about how much you have it's about how you relate to it whether you love what you do have how important is it to you how much do you think about it how does it influence your decisions and master your time i have two applications for you and they're so simple but they're profound the page in the sermon on the mount you remember our teaching on the lord's prayer remember the simple prayer give us this day our daily bread man that's jesus knowing the condition obviously knowing the condition of man and knowing how prone we are to want more give me more to accrue to hoard to store up those things those earthly treasures that daily we need to pray give us this day our daily bread nothing more nothing less it made me think of the words of aguar in proverbs 30 give me neither poverty nor riches feed me with the food that is needful for me don't give me so much that i forget you and don't give me so little that i curse you man this stuff is dangerous people have got in and of itself it's neutral but what we do with it is dangerous so pray daily give us just what i need lord make me thankful for what you've given me keep my eyes from being fixated on that next thing that n plus one teach me to be satisfied with what i have the second thing is to be actively generous the same page i had you on there in first timothy chapter six verse 10 look across the the page to verse 17 as for the rich in this present age which are most of us i did say that most of us really frankly all of us compared to the rest of the world as for the rich in this present age charge them not to be haughty nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches but on god who richly provides us with everything to enjoy they are to do good to be rich in good works to be generous and ready to share thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is truly life man there's so much there people have got don't be haughty and you hear the monopoly player moving those pieces eating those pretzels crunching those pretzels the cows of bastion bring me the head of a pig and something cool and refreshing a goblet of something cool and refreshing don't be haughty set your hope in god not in your stuff not in your accounts do good you know the best defense against this notion of falling prey to stuff ruling you and mastering you is to have a great offense and this is a great offense to actually do good to be rich in good works to be actively about the work of being generous and ready to share as you are blessing conditioned and redemption conditioned i read a book uh just before i started the sermon on the mount this would be some years ago at this point a couple years i don't know how long we've been well maybe a year ago the book by sinclair ferguson and he presented um it's called it's about the amero controversy it was a controversy in scotland in the 1800s about what is the marrow and the central teaching of the gospel the title of the book is called the whole christ it may have been one of the most important books i've ever read it's not an easy read but it's a profoundly helpful book and it was insightful into how i viewed god and even how i might present god and how i might preach christ and it changed the way that i think about god altogether and it also changed the way i think about his commands and i want to offer this thought when jesus commanded adam and eve in the garden and said don't eat from this tree right here we often get focused on that one commandment not realizing there was a commandment in front of it the commandment from in front of it was to enjoy a garden full of trees and oh by the way stay away from that one enjoy a garden full of trees and oh by the way stay away from that one the best defense is a great offense and i want to present the idea to you to consider as a people to be characterized with a soft generous gentle eye ready to share with one another ready to share with those in need and in so doing you're enjoying a garden full of trees it will keep you away from that tree where you hoard and amass and are greedy and stingy and you will find the blessedness that he promises here in the sermon on the mount as you are generous with one another and generous with those who have need let's pray lord i'm thankful for this simple teaching um embarrassed to be the guy preaching it today as i am so focused on so many things and i'm thankful that i along with those who are in christ we're in alien righteousness so that you see us in the personal work of christ i'm so thankful we don't have to muster being a good boy we don't have to somehow set our face like flint and grit our teeth and trying not to be try not to be worldly and try not to be material but i'm thankful that you've already given us the goods to walk out what you've called us to be that you've already reckoned us that in the personal work of christ lord i pray that rather than make us lazy in these sorts of commands they will mobilize us to enjoy a garden full of trees of being generous of being eager and active to share with those in need even when it may mean we don't get paid back even if it may mean that we that it doesn't seem just or fair because we are so blessing conditioned and redemption conditioned lord i'm thankful that we have all things in christ that we find a yes in him i pray that that would make for a people that are so soft-hearted open-handed and soft and generous eyed that you would be glorified in praying these things in christ's name amen we are the richest people in the world and i mean that literally but i also mean in this room we are the richest people in the world for those who are in christ he is our treasure he is our reward he is our inheritance he is the pearl of a great price he has all those things he uh all the promises of god find there yes in him all of them man there's no space and no room for a begrudging look or an evil eye among the people of god given who and what we have in the person of christ he conditions our generosity he softens our hearts and opens our hands and he heals our eyes first corinthians chapter 11 for i received from the lord what i also delivered to you that the lord jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me in the same way also he took the cup after supper saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the lord's death until he comes go ahead and grab your supper thank you john you read my mind you saw i didn't have one thank you sir going to get that joker open if you got one open if you have one with you let's go ahead and take and eat in faith feeling supremely satisfied and content at this very moment in the personal work of christ let's take and drink in faith let's go ahead and stand and continue insult [Music] there is no other so sure and steady my hope is held in your hand when castles crumble breath is fleeting upon this rock i will stand upon this rock i will stand glory we have no other king but jesus lord of all raise the anthem your kindly rule has shattered and broken the curse of sins tyranny [Music] my life is hidden neath heaven's shadow your crimson flood covers me your crimson flood covers me glory glory we have no other king but jesus lord of all raise the anthem our loudest praises ring we crown him lord of all [Music] in all my sorrows jesus is better make my heart believe in every victory jesus is better make my heart believe [Music] than any comfort jesus is better make my heart believe more than all riches jesus is better make my heart believe [Music] our souls declaring jesus is better make my heart believe our song eternal jesus is better make my heart believe glory glory we have no other king but jesus lord of all raise the anthem our [Music] we crown him lord of all come out out of every blessing tune my heart to sing thy praise streams of mercy never ceasing call for songs of loudest praise teach me some melodies sung by flaming tongues above praise the mount time fixed upon it mount of thy redeeming love [Music] here i raise my ebenezer hither by thy help i've come and i hope by thy good pleasure safely to arrive at home jesus saw me when a stranger wandering from the fault of god he to rescue me from danger interposed his precious blood [Music] oh to grace how great a deader daily i'm constrained to be let thy grace lord like a fetter bind my wandering heart to thee prone to wander lord i feel it prone to leave the god i love here's my heart boy take and seal it here's my heart lord thy [Music] i cast my mind to calvary where jesus fled and died for me i see his wounds his hands his feet my savior that cursed his body found entrenched in tears they laid him down in joseph's tomb the [Music] oh praise the name of the lord our god o praise his name forever foreign we will sing your praise o lord o lord our god [Music] [Music] where is your sting the angels roar for christ the [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] our kings o praise his name forever foreign [Music] the blazing sun shall pierce the night and we will rise among the saints our gaze transfixed on jesus face oh praise the name of the lord our god o praise his name forever [Music] we will sing your praise o lord o lord our god o praise the name of the lord our god oh praise his name forever [Music] praise we confess to you that we value things more than we should and we beg you that you would show us how much better you are than anything else that money could buy us or any treasures we might acquire we love you jesus let me pray the first song i think the the words there were really fitting make my heart believe that conversation of the guy that said i believe held my unbelief man i'm so feeling so awkward today just really i mean like embarrassed about having to preach this more i would much rather heard a sermon from someone else preaching about stuff this morning than having to be the herald of it because i love stuff i'm really really honest i mean i do i mean i have all kinds of i like a little catalog of stuff that's going on in my head of stuff that i want more you know to replace and upgrade or to add man this is this is like a really i mean i hope you know that that's true of the preacher every sunday i mean you get to know your preacher you're going to find out they're made of the same stuff you're on but that's why i was awkward this morning i guess that's why i was just so uncomfortable i'm probably sweating the shirt out i'm really like embarrassed about it because i it's not something that i feel like i have under control and um in the way that would be like you know model me that'd make for an easy sermon but i i want him to help me believe you know i i think these sermons are equipping from right here to the back row and everybody in between i think they're supposed to how could we handle these things right apart from these sermons the words are not going to return void it's living it's powerful so we set it loose and we see what god does with it that's what i'm hoping for because i needed it and i probably needed to be stirred up by way of reminder again thankfully the lord is redundant he talks about money a lot he talked about money in hell a lot so it'll come up again so i needed it i hope today you needed it i hope you were encouraged by the notion that you just can't the point of the sermon on the mount it wouldn't be good boys and good girls be better try harder the point of the sermon of the amount is this is who you are in christ walk it out that's a very different motivation it's a very different motivation um some things that are coming up i think that you can be attentive to in the terms of generosity uh in the christmas season we have a an offering admissions offering it's called lottie moon be prepared for that right now go ahead and start preparing for it and thinking about maybe talking as a family what what can we give to mobilize the folks to the far corners to the people groups we've been praying for and we pray for it and let's see what our hearts can do to participate in that financially so lottie moon is one thing something we we we started doing i think it was probably our first year 17 years ago and i think we've done it most years i don't think this has happened the last couple of years and i'm hoping that we can reinstitute this as little christmas blessings for folks within us that have a need you don't know where it came from you just know it came from your brothers and sisters in christ but i mean we have occasions where we realize there's somebody in the body that man their job has suffered this year or they're searching for a job or they have some financial need and what a beautiful way to bless one another to be generous with one another we often think about those outside the body and we absolutely should but think about what that does when we have this environment among the body that's so attentive to each other and so responsive to each other's needs that's evangelism i don't know if you realize that people hear that wait a second they take care of each other like that i want to be part of something like that i want to be part of a community of faith where people are that attentive to one another do you know that we have people come in our door often over the course of the week asking for needs financial needs electricity gas like gasoline type gas bills you know that they need help with and a lot of times you if you ask them some questions you find out they're part of a local church but they haven't asked their church maybe because their church insulates them from their problems so they can keep their money but i bet that's probably it's probably actually a case of pride i don't want my my church family to know i had this need so i'd rather go to this random church that i know is going to be generous don't let greed insulate you from the needs within the body if you want to know great reason to be part of the body and connected to the body that's a good one how can you know the needs within you unless you know the people how can you bless needs within the body and meet needs within the body unless you know the people and couple that with don't let pride keeping you from expressing a need the occasions in our body when those needs have been expressed where people have had to in faith in response to the personal work of christ meet those needs that there's a name for that it's called worship it's called rubber meets the road worship so if you want a good rationale a good reason for being part of a local body so that you can know and be known so that you can know the needs within so that either you can share your needs or you can meet others needs and there'll be times where you're doing one or the other man what a great opportunity we have so uh hopefully this year we can reinstitute that christmas ministries to those in need within the body and that's not at the expense of those without that's still caring for those outside the body the notion of evangelism by caring for one another meeting the needs within the body with the body it's a beautiful thing makes for a striking striking aromatic people i'll be attending to those needs as they come up in the future as we give you more details a lot of moon details and the christmas ministry details y'all stand and we'll receive our benediction together now may the god of peace who brought again from the dead our lord jesus the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant equip you with everything good that you may do his will working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through jesus christ to whom be glory forever and ever amen y'all have a wonderful week god bless y'all

Channel: Crosspoint Fellowship

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Id: up7CB4Q9V94

Length: 72min 10sec (4330 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 18 2020