Matthew 6:19-34

WEBVTT
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All right, good evening.
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Hopefully y'all can hear me well.
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So as Nick said, my name is Andrew, and I'm pretty excited to be preaching tonight.
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So if you've read ahead, or if you looked at the thing you get, it's called a bulletin,
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or you're familiar with the Sermon on the Mount, you'll know where we've come tonight.
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We're going to be in Matthew chapter 6, verses 19 through 34.
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You might say, though, if you do a quick skim, or you're familiar, that we're going to talk about money.
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We're going to talk about money, we're going to talk about anxiety, and that's difficult,
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because those are issues in our culture.
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And honestly, our culture doesn't really align with maybe what Scripture would say in this area.
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Not all the time.
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But like most of you, this is not something I get naturally.
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This is not something I do well, and so I struggle here too.
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So from a personal perspective, I thought I'd share a little story to bring us in.
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And this area, this concept of money, what do I do with it, what do I do with my possessions,
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has actually been one of the more difficult areas of my life.
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Now, I became a Christian.
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I grew up in a Christian home, but I would say that I started to follow Christ,
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really, the end of high school and college.
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So if you're familiar, those times of year, time of life, you don't have a lot of money, typically.
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And so I could justify, once the Lord began to convict me, that I need to start being generous,
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I need to start giving.
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I could say I don't have any money, which was partially true, because I just didn't have that much.
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But then I got an internship, and odds are a little bit different.
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I could give a little more.
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And so what I decided to do was to support some missionary friends of mine.
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And I decided I'd give them about $10 a month.
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So it's like it was three of them.
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It was about $30 a month.
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And I could do that.
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I'd done the math.
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I knew that I had made enough money.
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I thought comfortable in that.
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But what would happen is that end of the month would come, time to write the check.
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And I would go, I can write the check, or I can get a piece of climbing equipment.
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I like to be outside, I like to do things.
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So it was a choice.
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It was, I can give, or I can get.
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And what would also happen is I'd forget for a college student.
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Sometimes I'd forget.
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So I'd build up two months.
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I'd build up three months.
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And now I have $60 or $90, right?
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So a bit more.
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And the same thing would happen.
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Except now it was not a carabiner or like $30.
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It was a day of skiing.
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It was something to do or something I could buy.
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And I'll fast forward until now.
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I have a real job.
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I make real money, right?
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The desire is still the same.
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The dollar amounts just more.
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So now sometimes I'll look and say, that's a pair of skis.
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That's a big thing that I can acquire.
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And occasionally I'll still look at a tax return.
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And I'll think, look at all the money that I've made.
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Look at all the things I could buy.
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So I say this really to help us, help myself understand that it's not the material object, right?
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It's not the carabiner.
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It's not the pair of skis.
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It's not the thing.
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It's the affection that we place.
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It's the amount or desire that we place on things.
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And that's really what Jesus is going to address.
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He's not going to talk about money per se.
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He's going to talk about the affections and what we do with that.
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So that's what Jesus is going to address.
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Let's read our text.
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So as I said, it's Matthew chapter 6, verses 19 through 34.
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And sorry, that is on page 811 if you have a pew Bible in front of you.
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So he says,
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The eye is the lamp of the body.
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So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.
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But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.
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If in the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness.
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No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other,
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or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
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You cannot serve God and money.
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Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life,
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what you will eat or what you will drink,
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nor about your body what you will put on.
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Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
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Look at the birds of the air.
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They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns,
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and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
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Are you not of more value than they?
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And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to a span of life?
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And why are you anxious about clothing?
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Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.
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They neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you,
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even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
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But if God so clothes the grass of the field,
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which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven,
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will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
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Therefore do not be anxious, saying,
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What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear?
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For the Gentiles seek after all these things,
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and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
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But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
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and all these things will be added to you.
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Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow,
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for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.
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Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
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So let's pray.
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Father, thank you for this church,
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and the opportunity to dig into your scriptures.
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Would you allow us tonight to see,
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and hear what the life of a Christian should look like
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with respect to material things.
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Would you allow me to clearly and faithfully communicate your scriptures.
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Amen.
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So from the text we read,
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there are really three major imperatives,
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or three commands,
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that we're going to use to break up how we proceed through tonight.
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So the first is found in verses 19 through 24,
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and it's really dealing with the object of our affections.
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The second is going to be found in verses 25 through 34,
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a little bit longer section,
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but it's really dealing with the effect
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that what we place our affections on has.
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And then third and final,
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what a Christian must do in light of our living
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in the world in which we do.
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And that's really going to be found specifically in verse 33.
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So let's look at the first one,
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the object of our affections.
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Reading again verses 19 and 20,
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Jesus says,
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Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth,
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where moth and rust destroy,
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or thieves break in and steal.
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But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
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where neither moth nor rust destroys,
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or thieves do not break in and steal.
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Okay, so this first imperative,
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the first command,
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it's to build up treasures in heaven.
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We could state it negatively,
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and that would be not building up treasures on earth,
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but they're basically equivalent.
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So we, as followers of Christ,
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are called to use our resources,
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our money, our time, our energy,
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in such a way as to build up treasure in heaven
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as opposed to on earth.
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So I don't think that I really need to define
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what building up treasure on earth means.
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I think that's probably something we get,
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we understand.
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But we probably apply that,
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or we may apply that just to rich people, right?
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Rich people being, well, maybe double our income,
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maybe double what we make.
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It's not me.
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I don't want to build up treasures on earth,
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but the people who have money do.
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As if, like, the millionaire who wants to make more money
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has a different attitude than the blue-collar worker
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who wants to make more money.
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I think they're probably equivalent.
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So the issue is not the amount, it's not the object.
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It's that desire.
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So having more money will make my life easier,
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better, more complete.
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Now, I think that there is some truth to that.
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I think there's some truth to income
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does make some aspects of life easier.
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I would not dispute that,
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but Jesus is addressing the hard issues,
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addressing what goes on internally here.
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And so remember how I mentioned that as a college student,
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I wanted stuff.
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I wanted to go skiing, or I wanted Caribbeaners.
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I wanted things.
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As opposed to giving to my missionary friends, right?
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That was small money.
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That was small things.
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And now I could want a pair of skis,
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or go on a vacation, or something,
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as opposed to giving.
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It's the same attitude.
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And I would say as well,
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that if you look across the U.S.,
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there's a lot of people in debt.
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A lot of people have credit card debt.
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They have house debt.
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They have car debt.
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But not all of it,
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but some of it certainly comes from the,
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I want to build up material things.
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And then the problem is that we're not all rich.
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If we were rich, we might not have as much debt,
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but because we want to have all these things,
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if we don't have the money for it,
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we end up with debt as the result of,
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or can be the result of a misplaced object,
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a misplaced affection.
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So Jesus contrasts this attitude,
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this desire for earthly things,
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with a higher one,
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using our resources to make much of his kingdom.
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Now to explain this,
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we're given three areas.
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And I think two,
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we probably understand pretty instinctively.
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So if we look at verse 20 and 21,
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basically right after his command,
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he gives us,
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I think,
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the first self-explanatory,
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first self-explanatory explanation.
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So we all understand,
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even from a young age,
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that stuff breaks.
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Okay?
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If you don't get that,
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come into my house,
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my car will break down sometime,
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and I'll invite you over.
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You can help me out.
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Okay?
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Rust will happen.
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If you live in the north,
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there's salt on the roads,
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like a year,
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and your car starts to rust.
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That just happens.
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If you lived in Jesus' time,
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this would be really,
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really easy to understand,
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because there weren't Ziploc bags,
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there weren't Tupperware, right?
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Your food's going to get wet,
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there's going to get bugs in it,
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and then it's going to rot,
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it's going to ruin.
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So I think we get this,
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we understand that stuff breaks,
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stuff wears out.
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Jesus doesn't explicitly mention this,
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but I think it's fair to say
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that we all have some limited capacity
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of resources, right?
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We all have some limited amount of money,
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a limited amount of time,
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a limited amount of energy.
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And so if we're going to invest it,
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shouldn't we invest it in things
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that don't break versus things that break?
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I think that makes sense.
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But the final point that Jesus will make here
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is that really the location of our treasure.
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It's really the place we put our hopes,
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our dreams, our ambition.
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That's where our heart or our affection will be.
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So if I love my house above all else,
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if my house burns down and broken,
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that's kind of the point he's getting across.
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The second reason for building up heavenly treasure
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as opposed to earthly treasure
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is a bit more complex.
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If you look at verses 22 and 23,
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Jesus is discussing vision.
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How do we see what we focus on?
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So he's kind of building off of the prior statement
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about the location of our treasure
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and the subsequent falling of our heart.
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Jesus mentions light and he mentions dark
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and he mentions sight.
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To boil it down very simply,
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his point is this.
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What we look at or what we see,
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what we gaze at,
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it's really indicative of our heart's desire.
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And so if that sight picture,
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if what we see is evil,
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then all of us is evil.
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That's his point.
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It's not like I can look at evil.
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I can look in this context.
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I can love money and I'm only partially affected.
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He's saying, no, if you look,
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that represents all of you.
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That's a gaze into your heart.
00:11:10.580 --> 00:11:12.440
So the third kind of explanation
00:11:12.440 --> 00:11:14.800
is another one that I think is obvious.
00:11:14.920 --> 00:11:15.860
It's found in verse 24.
00:11:16.960 --> 00:11:18.519
We can't serve two masters.
00:11:19.240 --> 00:11:22.080
We can't serve two things.
00:11:22.879 --> 00:11:24.820
The problem is that for our culture,
00:11:24.980 --> 00:11:26.220
I think we've tried to do something.
00:11:26.340 --> 00:11:28.440
We've tried to say on Sundays,
00:11:29.000 --> 00:11:31.400
that's when I'm a Christian, right?
00:11:31.420 --> 00:11:32.740
That's when like Christ is king.
00:11:33.139 --> 00:11:34.759
Maybe the weekend, but it's probably just Sunday.
00:11:35.280 --> 00:11:37.280
And then there's this other sphere of life
00:11:37.280 --> 00:11:39.180
that is every other day.
00:11:39.259 --> 00:11:41.139
And so I can serve Jesus on Sunday.
00:11:41.300 --> 00:11:42.120
I can do that.
00:11:42.700 --> 00:11:44.400
And that's allowable because that's over here.
00:11:44.580 --> 00:11:45.800
And then I can serve my job,
00:11:45.860 --> 00:11:47.060
my bank account, other things
00:11:47.060 --> 00:11:49.080
because they're separate.
00:11:49.080 --> 00:11:51.800
The problem is that neither of them
00:11:51.800 --> 00:11:53.280
really is our master, right?
00:11:53.639 --> 00:11:55.639
Neither of them consumes all of us.
00:11:56.259 --> 00:11:58.100
And Jesus is crystal clear.
00:11:58.240 --> 00:11:59.500
You cannot serve two masters.
00:12:01.060 --> 00:12:02.180
You can't really correctly
00:12:02.180 --> 00:12:03.560
or fully serve two masters.
00:12:03.680 --> 00:12:04.780
And I think that's unnecessary.
00:12:05.080 --> 00:12:07.280
I don't need to say you can't fully serve
00:12:07.280 --> 00:12:09.700
or you can't kind of correctly serve
00:12:09.700 --> 00:12:10.720
because service implies
00:12:10.720 --> 00:12:12.420
that you're devoted to that person, right?
00:12:12.500 --> 00:12:14.620
He uses the language of kind of slavery, right?
00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:16.640
Someone's a master of you.
00:12:16.640 --> 00:12:19.020
They own you in that sense.
00:12:19.980 --> 00:12:22.340
And you can't partially be owned.
00:12:22.420 --> 00:12:23.400
You can't partially serve.
00:12:24.340 --> 00:12:25.860
So Jesus wants all of us.
00:12:25.940 --> 00:12:26.780
He doesn't want 50%.
00:12:26.780 --> 00:12:27.879
He doesn't want 75%.
00:12:27.879 --> 00:12:28.900
He doesn't want 99%.
00:12:28.900 --> 00:12:30.060
He wants 100% or nothing.
00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:32.500
If you're serving God, there's no room.
00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:34.080
There's not 1%.
00:12:34.080 --> 00:12:35.080
There's not 0.1%.
00:12:35.080 --> 00:12:37.440
There's not 0.001% for money.
00:12:38.660 --> 00:12:41.300
It's following Christ or not.
00:12:41.460 --> 00:12:42.020
That's the line.
00:12:42.139 --> 00:12:43.520
And the line of distinction he draws.
00:12:45.259 --> 00:12:46.920
So if we move on to the second point,
00:12:47.980 --> 00:12:48.660
the second grouping,
00:12:48.659 --> 00:12:50.779
it's really the effect of the affections we have,
00:12:50.879 --> 00:12:54.240
the effect of the things that we desire would be another way to put that.
00:12:55.480 --> 00:12:58.659
And I would say that incorrect affections will lead to problems.
00:12:59.519 --> 00:13:00.740
I think they generally do.
00:13:00.879 --> 00:13:06.259
So I know that I have from time to time desired or been anxious about a job, right?
00:13:06.379 --> 00:13:08.639
Anxious about what am I going to do after I graduate?
00:13:08.860 --> 00:13:10.500
What am I going to do in two years?
00:13:10.579 --> 00:13:11.399
What am I going to do in three years?
00:13:11.399 --> 00:13:12.360
What am I going to do in five years?
00:13:12.360 --> 00:13:17.340
It's always kind of what's going to affect my material security.
00:13:17.539 --> 00:13:18.300
Am I going to have enough money?
00:13:18.419 --> 00:13:19.360
Am I going to have a good job?
00:13:19.419 --> 00:13:20.480
Am I going to be able to do what I want?
00:13:20.779 --> 00:13:23.279
And one, it's not really useful.
00:13:23.700 --> 00:13:24.539
Two, it's really common.
00:13:24.759 --> 00:13:25.419
It's common in our culture.
00:13:25.500 --> 00:13:27.440
It's so common, I think, even in the church.
00:13:28.399 --> 00:13:32.960
But Jesus has a bit different perspective on what the natural tension of living in a material culture should be,
00:13:33.200 --> 00:13:34.279
particularly in the believer's life.
00:13:34.279 --> 00:13:35.819
Let's look at verse 25.
00:13:38.600 --> 00:13:39.079
Jesus says,
00:13:39.259 --> 00:13:44.279
Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink,
00:13:44.539 --> 00:13:46.379
nor about your body, what you will put on.
00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:50.259
Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
00:13:51.779 --> 00:13:57.539
So following that, Jesus is going to make two major points, kind of two major arguments to help us understand this.
00:13:58.279 --> 00:14:00.480
The first is really a series of greater than arguments.
00:14:00.480 --> 00:14:03.920
So, he's going to use flowers, he's going to use birds to say,
00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:05.740
Aren't you not, are you not greater than those?
00:14:05.779 --> 00:14:06.519
Are you not more important?
00:14:06.600 --> 00:14:08.879
Are you not of more value than those things?
00:14:09.420 --> 00:14:13.519
And the second is a bit of a broader observation about the nature and character of God,
00:14:13.639 --> 00:14:16.200
the nature and character of the God that we serve.
00:14:17.379 --> 00:14:19.259
So I said he points to birds and he points to flowers.
00:14:19.340 --> 00:14:22.840
If you look at verses 26 and 27, Jesus points to the birds outside.
00:14:23.740 --> 00:14:26.220
And he explains the means by which they receive their food.
00:14:26.220 --> 00:14:31.460
So if you haven't noticed, birds will fly around and they'll find a place and those aren't pecking in the ground.
00:14:31.759 --> 00:14:33.620
I'm not really sure why, I just know that they do.
00:14:34.120 --> 00:14:37.840
They'll go and they'll look for seeds or nuts or insects, whatever they eat.
00:14:38.879 --> 00:14:44.379
I've never seen a bird, to my knowledge, go somewhere and just spin in circles,
00:14:44.820 --> 00:14:47.180
worrying about where they're going to get food from, what are they going to find.
00:14:47.580 --> 00:14:49.320
They go and they get a worm, right?
00:14:49.399 --> 00:14:50.340
They get it from my garden all the time.
00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:51.840
I see robins getting worms out of my garden.
00:14:52.279 --> 00:14:54.980
I'm not happy about that because worms are good for me, but I see them doing it.
00:14:54.980 --> 00:14:56.860
They don't seem to be fluttering around.
00:14:58.220 --> 00:15:01.039
So they go, they do, they're looking for food and the Lord provides.
00:15:01.879 --> 00:15:04.259
So Jesus says, since we are of more value,
00:15:05.159 --> 00:15:09.240
shouldn't we have confidence in the Lord to provide food for us in a similar way?
00:15:11.159 --> 00:15:14.940
Jesus is going to make a similar point again with respect to our needs for clothing.
00:15:15.879 --> 00:15:18.779
So he says, let's look at the grass, look at the flowers.
00:15:19.560 --> 00:15:22.139
I don't know if you've ever walked in a field of wildflowers,
00:15:22.139 --> 00:15:25.899
or if you've ever kind of gone on a hike and just seen some beautiful scenery.
00:15:26.439 --> 00:15:27.840
Flowers are incredible.
00:15:27.960 --> 00:15:32.460
And Jesus actually says, look, they're even more beautiful than Solomon and all the splendor.
00:15:32.500 --> 00:15:33.120
That's true.
00:15:34.100 --> 00:15:37.120
But yet, they're temporary.
00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:39.039
They have a temporary nature.
00:15:39.159 --> 00:15:40.120
They have temporary value.
00:15:40.120 --> 00:15:45.879
And so if you look at Genesis 1, grass, other things, created order is good.
00:15:46.419 --> 00:15:47.639
Mankind is very good.
00:15:47.700 --> 00:15:48.440
So there's this distinction.
00:15:48.560 --> 00:15:49.240
There's a difference.
00:15:51.179 --> 00:15:52.799
I think that Jesus could make this point.
00:15:52.879 --> 00:15:53.679
He could make it for shelter.
00:15:53.960 --> 00:15:59.899
He could probably use a beehive or he could use, you know, a hollowed out den or something for a squirrel.
00:16:00.039 --> 00:16:01.799
But the same point would apply.
00:16:02.580 --> 00:16:06.620
God provides for the needs of his created order as we observe in nature.
00:16:06.620 --> 00:16:07.259
Just go look.
00:16:08.039 --> 00:16:09.519
And we are of more importance.
00:16:10.840 --> 00:16:18.919
So God's affection towards humans, I think it sizably outweighs his affection towards the birds, the grass, the bees, the trees, the things of this world.
00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:21.220
So are we not of much more value?
00:16:22.700 --> 00:16:25.100
But honestly, I believe all of this leads to the second point.
00:16:25.960 --> 00:16:27.000
Let's look at verse 32.
00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:36.299
Jesus says here, for the Gentiles seek after all of these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
00:16:37.399 --> 00:16:38.879
So Gentiles seek after food.
00:16:39.000 --> 00:16:39.840
They seek after clothing.
00:16:40.139 --> 00:16:41.919
They seek after the things that we need to live.
00:16:43.620 --> 00:16:45.639
Jesus says God knows that we need them all.
00:16:47.240 --> 00:16:48.940
God isn't, he's not blind to our needs.
00:16:49.039 --> 00:16:52.299
He's not unaware of our physical condition and limitations.
00:16:52.299 --> 00:16:55.639
That could be because he made us.
00:16:55.959 --> 00:16:57.939
That could be he kind of gets us because he made us.
00:16:58.039 --> 00:16:58.839
I think that's logical.
00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:04.059
It's not as if God's in heaven surprised that we need food.
00:17:04.440 --> 00:17:05.240
He made us.
00:17:06.119 --> 00:17:09.519
He's not hoping that I'll provide enough for my wife and I.
00:17:10.359 --> 00:17:11.539
That's not how it works.
00:17:12.419 --> 00:17:18.980
So our issues, our issues and struggles with anxiety, they really come to the forefront when we forget that he made us.
00:17:18.980 --> 00:17:22.099
That he cares for us and he's powerful.
00:17:22.420 --> 00:17:23.640
He's powerful beyond all compare.
00:17:24.579 --> 00:17:28.559
So when our focus is on the material things, when our focus is on what am I going to wear?
00:17:29.000 --> 00:17:30.099
What am I going to eat?
00:17:30.400 --> 00:17:31.360
Where does that come from?
00:17:32.180 --> 00:17:37.460
We run from the right affection towards God, the right concern and passion towards God.
00:17:37.500 --> 00:17:42.960
And we place our attention and our desire on doing what we believe necessary to survive.
00:17:44.220 --> 00:17:46.819
So this, Jesus says, is what the Gentiles do.
00:17:46.819 --> 00:17:48.140
What the rest of the world does.
00:17:48.980 --> 00:17:52.759
And it's ultimately, I think, the source of the majority of the anxiety in the first place.
00:17:53.799 --> 00:17:59.640
It exists because we forget or we lose sight of the fact that we have a heavenly father who knows what we need.
00:18:01.259 --> 00:18:02.720
So let's do a little experiment.
00:18:03.160 --> 00:18:07.460
Let's consider for a second that you were the child of Warren Buffett.
00:18:08.599 --> 00:18:11.059
If you don't know who Warren Buffett is, maybe you know who Bill Gates is.
00:18:11.400 --> 00:18:13.240
And maybe you like Bill Gates more because that's technology.
00:18:13.240 --> 00:18:16.819
Either way, both of those guys are rich.
00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:22.519
Like super, super, super, super, super rich.
00:18:23.940 --> 00:18:24.779
They're crazy rich.
00:18:25.319 --> 00:18:29.660
I'd heard someone break down how much Bill Gates would have to spend per day.
00:18:29.660 --> 00:18:39.540
So it was his net worth now, how much he'd have to spend per day, assuming no more money made, to spend all of his money in like 70 years or 50 years or something.
00:18:39.600 --> 00:18:40.500
And it was just incredible.
00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:44.120
I mean, you'd have to buy, I don't know, you'd have to buy like a country a day or something.
00:18:44.180 --> 00:18:44.759
It was crazy.
00:18:44.759 --> 00:18:53.640
So if one of those guys was your father, you would never, ever, ever have to worry about money.
00:18:54.160 --> 00:18:56.359
You'd never have to worry about food.
00:18:56.879 --> 00:19:02.019
You'd never have to worry about clothing or shelter because those are things that Bill or Warren could provide.
00:19:02.700 --> 00:19:05.440
You might worry about other things, but you'd never worry about money, right?
00:19:06.299 --> 00:19:06.900
That's silly.
00:19:06.980 --> 00:19:07.839
You would never do that.
00:19:07.839 --> 00:19:14.379
But the thing is, the gospel tells me and tells us that God is our father.
00:19:15.559 --> 00:19:19.779
The God who created the universe with his words is our father.
00:19:20.599 --> 00:19:24.659
The God who raised dead men back to life is our father.
00:19:24.779 --> 00:19:29.379
If I really believed that, anxiety and worry wouldn't control my life.
00:19:29.459 --> 00:19:33.139
I wouldn't be paranoid at work, thinking that someone's out to get my job.
00:19:33.240 --> 00:19:36.799
And I wouldn't second guess giving money to support gospel ministry.
00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:38.919
I wouldn't be concerned with these things.
00:19:42.259 --> 00:19:45.940
So that said, I think that there are several helpful things to consider.
00:19:46.539 --> 00:19:48.259
It really is direct application of these points.
00:19:49.419 --> 00:19:56.940
The first, and maybe more difficult, is that Jesus is talking about needs with, I think, little consideration towards wants.
00:19:57.019 --> 00:19:58.819
At least how we would define those in our culture.
00:19:59.579 --> 00:20:01.899
And we might not even define that correctly in our culture today.
00:20:01.900 --> 00:20:06.920
The line between what I need and what I want may not exist, right?
00:20:07.380 --> 00:20:09.240
To some, it's not me.
00:20:09.340 --> 00:20:10.100
I have a dumb phone.
00:20:10.340 --> 00:20:11.180
But some people have an iPhone.
00:20:11.560 --> 00:20:13.080
And they couldn't possibly live without it.
00:20:14.320 --> 00:20:17.560
That's probably not a need, but we've classified it that way.
00:20:18.380 --> 00:20:20.540
And maybe it's not something like technology.
00:20:21.080 --> 00:20:26.300
Maybe it's that we need nice clothes, right?
00:20:26.299 --> 00:20:28.399
They've got to cost so much.
00:20:28.440 --> 00:20:31.680
They've got to have like a logo or something on them, something fancy.
00:20:32.220 --> 00:20:36.200
And maybe it's not, maybe we're okay with just normal clothes, but we want nice food.
00:20:36.899 --> 00:20:38.539
You know, we can't have just some sort of food.
00:20:38.579 --> 00:20:40.639
We've got to have like flaming on every night or something.
00:20:40.759 --> 00:20:41.720
We've got to have something great.
00:20:41.720 --> 00:20:52.200
So I mention this because I don't want us to think linking, leave thinking that if we love and we follow Jesus, that we'll get this, right?
00:20:52.220 --> 00:20:55.460
We'll get a sweet car or a sweet house, sweet food, right?
00:20:55.500 --> 00:20:57.920
That's not how it works.
00:20:58.319 --> 00:21:00.519
The reward of following Jesus is that we get Jesus.
00:21:02.019 --> 00:21:05.120
Our physical needs, as he says, will be provided for.
00:21:05.500 --> 00:21:07.460
He's not unaware, you know.
00:21:07.460 --> 00:21:12.380
But we're not guaranteed to be healthy, wealthy, and wise.
00:21:12.579 --> 00:21:13.900
It doesn't work that way.
00:21:13.940 --> 00:21:22.720
So please, please don't leave hearing me say that our needs, being some sweet car or some sweet house, would be provided for.
00:21:22.759 --> 00:21:23.299
It's not biblical.
00:21:24.900 --> 00:21:29.539
The second application point I think to consider is what I would call maybe the mechanism of God's provision.
00:21:30.860 --> 00:21:35.400
So God could, if he chose, and he's done this before, drop manna from heaven to feed us.
00:21:35.819 --> 00:21:36.539
Okay, he could do that.
00:21:36.539 --> 00:21:42.119
He's done it before, but we're not the Israelites in the desert right now, right?
00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:45.740
So let's not assume that's going to happen.
00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:50.240
He's given us hands and bodies and brains and things to use.
00:21:51.099 --> 00:21:57.319
And so he's, I think in many ways, called us to work using the talents he's given us to earn a living.
00:21:57.899 --> 00:21:58.799
It's really not earning a living.
00:21:58.859 --> 00:22:00.139
That's kind of a bad word to use.
00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:04.059
But he's given us so much, we're called to work, make use of what he's given us.
00:22:04.059 --> 00:22:06.259
And that is the means by which he provides for us.
00:22:06.879 --> 00:22:13.919
He can provide otherwise, but I think Paul would say in second test that those who can work but choose not to don't deserve to eat.
00:22:14.039 --> 00:22:15.059
So don't be lazy.
00:22:15.179 --> 00:22:15.379
Work.
00:22:15.700 --> 00:22:16.279
God's given you.
00:22:16.359 --> 00:22:18.480
He's going to provide, but that might be through your work.
00:22:18.480 --> 00:22:21.440
So use your provision.
00:22:21.599 --> 00:22:22.500
Use your talents.
00:22:22.900 --> 00:22:24.299
God's provision probably would be that paycheck.
00:22:25.620 --> 00:22:32.059
But this is also the reason why Christians I don't think can be smug or arrogant or make their work their God.
00:22:32.779 --> 00:22:35.860
Because those talents that made you good at your job, well, God gave them to you.
00:22:36.220 --> 00:22:37.539
Those are God's provision to you.
00:22:38.119 --> 00:22:41.639
So you can't make those things out to be more than they are.
00:22:44.379 --> 00:22:50.839
So with those two things said, let's look at what I believe the correct response to living in a material world will be.
00:22:50.839 --> 00:22:55.480
So the third command for us is found in verse 33.
00:22:56.480 --> 00:23:00.919
It's really a direct, pretty blunt kind of reaction to our conventional manner of living.
00:23:01.839 --> 00:23:03.899
So we think, I need to get a job.
00:23:04.559 --> 00:23:05.519
I need to earn a living.
00:23:05.659 --> 00:23:07.599
I need to, you know, have a stable life.
00:23:08.299 --> 00:23:09.439
Stable is dependent on the person.
00:23:09.539 --> 00:23:12.059
We need to have a stable life, and then I can find Jesus.
00:23:12.139 --> 00:23:13.720
Then I can kind of do the faith thing, right?
00:23:14.279 --> 00:23:17.119
I need to have my life in order, and then I can come and have faith.
00:23:17.119 --> 00:23:20.879
And that's completely backwards from what Jesus is going to say in verse 33.
00:23:21.679 --> 00:23:22.599
So let's look there.
00:23:24.399 --> 00:23:30.659
So Jesus says, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
00:23:32.199 --> 00:23:36.500
So as opposed to our conventional manner of need to get things in order, need to do this,
00:23:36.619 --> 00:23:40.079
and then I can kind of put my emphasis, put my effort into the Lord.
00:23:40.679 --> 00:23:44.399
Jesus gives us a two-part instruction on what our priorities should be.
00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:47.960
He says, we're called to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
00:23:48.300 --> 00:23:49.880
and then all these things will be added to us.
00:23:49.900 --> 00:23:51.280
It's important to have that in context.
00:23:51.800 --> 00:23:54.800
Jesus says, seek first me and all these things, food, shelter, clothing.
00:23:55.060 --> 00:23:56.740
The things that we need will be provided.
00:23:58.220 --> 00:24:03.280
But I think we're called to do what might seem like a passive action, to seek, to go look.
00:24:04.820 --> 00:24:08.780
And then Christ will come, and he will give us what we need.
00:24:08.779 --> 00:24:11.680
So I think that's counterculture, to say the least.
00:24:11.799 --> 00:24:17.500
But let's look at what defines the kingdom of God, and let's look at what defines the righteousness as well.
00:24:18.859 --> 00:24:21.660
So step one is, I think, to seek the kingdom of God.
00:24:21.700 --> 00:24:23.359
That's the first part of the instruction.
00:24:24.660 --> 00:24:27.759
And in preparing for the sermon, I was reading a book by John Stott,
00:24:27.819 --> 00:24:30.359
and he said something that I found quite useful.
00:24:30.799 --> 00:24:32.920
And it's from the book, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount.
00:24:32.920 --> 00:24:37.580
And I'm just going to read it to you because I think it was as succinct of a point as I could make,
00:24:37.779 --> 00:24:38.580
and he made it for me.
00:24:38.680 --> 00:24:39.320
So I'm going to read it.
00:24:40.460 --> 00:24:44.140
He says that God's kingdom in Jesus Christ, sorry,
00:24:44.480 --> 00:24:49.820
God's kingdom is Jesus Christ, ruling over his people in total blessing and total demand.
00:24:50.660 --> 00:24:55.640
To seek first this kingdom is to desire, as of first importance,
00:24:56.080 --> 00:24:57.860
the spread of the reign of Jesus Christ.
00:24:57.859 --> 00:25:03.240
Such a desire will start with ourselves until every single department of our life,
00:25:03.879 --> 00:25:09.779
home, marriage and family, personal morality, professional life and business ethics,
00:25:10.500 --> 00:25:16.419
bank balance, tax returns, citizenship, is joyfully and freely submissive to Christ.
00:25:18.500 --> 00:25:22.859
So this action, seeking his kingdom, I think it looks like several things.
00:25:22.859 --> 00:25:28.139
It looks like accepting the responsibility of evangelism for our neighbors, our family,
00:25:28.240 --> 00:25:29.179
our coworkers, our friends.
00:25:29.839 --> 00:25:33.279
It looks like accepting the challenge of providing for missionaries,
00:25:33.399 --> 00:25:38.259
providing for our pastors, providing for missionaries abroad, here and abroad, I would say.
00:25:39.359 --> 00:25:42.000
I think on a kind of an application note,
00:25:43.059 --> 00:25:47.819
I do think a very countercultural thing would be for us as the church,
00:25:47.819 --> 00:25:53.619
for us not Trinity Baptists, but for us as people, to ask missionaries,
00:25:53.980 --> 00:25:56.720
how can we support you, to be proactive in supporting them,
00:25:57.159 --> 00:26:00.980
to be generous beyond not making them come and ask us.
00:26:01.960 --> 00:26:03.319
I think that would be very practical.
00:26:03.559 --> 00:26:08.179
But how beautiful would it be, though, if we, as the people that make up Trinity,
00:26:08.980 --> 00:26:10.639
you know, ask the missionaries, you can look downstairs,
00:26:12.059 --> 00:26:13.480
call them up, send them an email and ask,
00:26:13.539 --> 00:26:15.379
how can I support you?
00:26:15.380 --> 00:26:16.220
Maybe I can pray for you.
00:26:17.040 --> 00:26:18.920
Maybe I can support you financially.
00:26:19.100 --> 00:26:21.680
Maybe I can help you with some need if you're maybe a little more local.
00:26:21.780 --> 00:26:23.180
But how beautiful would that be?
00:26:24.420 --> 00:26:26.880
I think that would produce just a great joy in their hearts.
00:26:27.620 --> 00:26:30.220
And it would really, I think, enable them to stay on mission,
00:26:30.360 --> 00:26:34.400
to stay vocationally declaring Christ to the world
00:26:34.400 --> 00:26:37.280
without them having to spend a lot of time and energy
00:26:37.280 --> 00:26:41.080
finding supporters, raising money, doing those kind of things.
00:26:41.079 --> 00:26:46.199
So seeking the kingdom also, I think, means being really invested in missions.
00:26:46.839 --> 00:26:49.779
It's not as if it's a, okay, well, Nick is a pastor,
00:26:49.980 --> 00:26:52.779
so I will give Nick some money and he can do, like, the pastoring thing
00:26:52.779 --> 00:26:54.699
and I can just, like, give him a check.
00:26:54.779 --> 00:26:56.379
I think it means being invested in that.
00:26:56.899 --> 00:27:00.059
It means being invested in seeing the gospel and the kingdom reach,
00:27:00.339 --> 00:27:02.939
New Haven, Connecticut, America, and the world.
00:27:04.299 --> 00:27:08.319
I think it also really does mean that we should be praying for the coming of Christ
00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:10.099
and really the full unveiling of his kingdom.
00:27:12.439 --> 00:27:14.220
So if we break down the second part,
00:27:15.319 --> 00:27:17.339
Jesus in verse 33 says we should seek his kingdom,
00:27:17.579 --> 00:27:18.480
we should seek his righteousness.
00:27:18.879 --> 00:27:21.259
We could have grouped that maybe in all one big broad bucket,
00:27:21.419 --> 00:27:24.220
seek his kingdom and his righteousness and describe what that looks like.
00:27:25.119 --> 00:27:28.159
But God's thought broke it up and I thought it was actually a useful thing for me,
00:27:28.240 --> 00:27:29.359
so I'll present it to you.
00:27:29.960 --> 00:27:32.659
The second command then is to seek his righteousness.
00:27:33.819 --> 00:27:35.919
And so understanding is a separate and related item.
00:27:35.920 --> 00:27:39.539
And effectively, there are those that aren't within the kingdom of God.
00:27:39.620 --> 00:27:40.620
There are those who aren't Christians.
00:27:40.940 --> 00:27:41.779
They live amongst us.
00:27:41.840 --> 00:27:43.039
They live in different areas.
00:27:43.180 --> 00:27:44.900
But they exist, right?
00:27:44.940 --> 00:27:47.440
That's probably not news.
00:27:49.180 --> 00:27:53.340
We're called then to, as a result of seeking the Lord,
00:27:53.740 --> 00:27:55.580
be God's righteousness to them, right?
00:27:55.580 --> 00:27:59.320
So that looks like being involved in service to our community.
00:27:59.880 --> 00:28:02.400
You know, wherever brokenness and injustice is found,
00:28:02.560 --> 00:28:05.500
for us at Trinity, that might be being involved in night runners.
00:28:05.920 --> 00:28:07.320
There's lots of other opportunities.
00:28:07.420 --> 00:28:12.940
That's a very clear one that could be an application directly of the call to be
00:28:12.940 --> 00:28:14.880
and to seek the righteousness of God here.
00:28:16.080 --> 00:28:19.440
But I think ultimately our motivation for standing and taking action there is
00:28:19.440 --> 00:28:21.680
not to better ourselves, not to make ourselves,
00:28:22.680 --> 00:28:27.019
you know, got like night runners or something on our resume.
00:28:27.380 --> 00:28:32.539
It's not that, but it's to be the bringer of Christ's righteousness here and now.
00:28:32.539 --> 00:28:36.940
So where does this, where do we go?
00:28:37.039 --> 00:28:38.960
What do we do with this passage?
00:28:40.039 --> 00:28:42.259
I think in light of the three commands that Jesus gives us,
00:28:42.359 --> 00:28:44.339
those being to build up treasures in heaven,
00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:47.019
or negatively to not build up treasures on earth,
00:28:47.500 --> 00:28:49.240
the second one to not be anxious,
00:28:49.779 --> 00:28:52.180
and the third one to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,
00:28:52.920 --> 00:28:54.799
I think there's a few points of clear application
00:28:54.799 --> 00:28:58.720
that we can probably take in order to better prepare ourselves
00:28:58.720 --> 00:29:02.180
for the life of a Christian with respect to material things.
00:29:03.539 --> 00:29:05.619
So the first one would be read your Bible.
00:29:06.720 --> 00:29:10.159
That's probably obvious in church talking about reading your Bible.
00:29:10.859 --> 00:29:11.359
I get that.
00:29:11.399 --> 00:29:15.399
But if we struggle, as I from time to time will do,
00:29:15.399 --> 00:29:18.879
to understand and fully believe that God is my Father,
00:29:19.220 --> 00:29:20.159
who cares for me,
00:29:20.160 --> 00:29:22.360
who's capable of meeting my needs,
00:29:23.800 --> 00:29:25.120
then I think we need to be realigned,
00:29:25.259 --> 00:29:26.380
we need to be brought from where we are
00:29:26.380 --> 00:29:27.960
to in line with what Scripture says.
00:29:28.040 --> 00:29:29.240
Maybe we just need to be reminded.
00:29:29.420 --> 00:29:31.200
Maybe we're a little off course and just need a little reminder.
00:29:31.320 --> 00:29:33.340
Maybe we just need to be taught from the start
00:29:33.340 --> 00:29:35.019
about who God is.
00:29:35.720 --> 00:29:38.279
The best, clearest, most direct way to do that
00:29:38.279 --> 00:29:40.040
is to read His words He's written for us.
00:29:41.000 --> 00:29:43.140
So if we struggle to understand God's power,
00:29:43.700 --> 00:29:44.380
understand His dominion,
00:29:44.440 --> 00:29:45.720
maybe we should go to Genesis
00:29:45.720 --> 00:29:48.519
and see how God makes the world with His words.
00:29:48.519 --> 00:29:51.539
Maybe we should continue reading the Gospels.
00:29:51.700 --> 00:29:53.779
Our small group's been going through the Gospel of Luke,
00:29:54.359 --> 00:29:56.500
and we've seen Jesus' authority and His power
00:29:56.500 --> 00:29:58.059
being made manifest in miracles.
00:29:59.119 --> 00:30:00.160
If you doubt His provision,
00:30:00.279 --> 00:30:01.339
maybe you should read about the Exodus
00:30:01.339 --> 00:30:04.500
and see God's provision in water from a rock
00:30:04.500 --> 00:30:07.599
or manna and quail just from nowhere.
00:30:08.700 --> 00:30:11.359
So we need to continually seek and know the Lord,
00:30:11.960 --> 00:30:14.599
and He's given us a book that allows us to do that.
00:30:15.359 --> 00:30:15.680
Read it.
00:30:15.680 --> 00:30:18.860
I think the second thing,
00:30:18.940 --> 00:30:19.840
and it'll probably be a bit more,
00:30:20.180 --> 00:30:21.200
you might say it's more practical.
00:30:22.259 --> 00:30:23.360
So we need to have a budget.
00:30:24.120 --> 00:30:26.720
We need to have another means to track our finances.
00:30:27.480 --> 00:30:32.560
Today, our bank account is what we would probably consider
00:30:32.560 --> 00:30:34.960
our biggest resource in most cases.
00:30:35.700 --> 00:30:38.320
And I think a lot of times we're not aware
00:30:38.320 --> 00:30:39.940
of the vast provision that God's given us.
00:30:40.320 --> 00:30:41.360
We kind of glaze over it.
00:30:41.400 --> 00:30:43.120
We think that this just kind of comes with the culture.
00:30:43.119 --> 00:30:44.779
This kind of comes with the job I do.
00:30:45.559 --> 00:30:47.259
Reading scriptures will help you with that.
00:30:47.539 --> 00:30:48.819
But sometimes you just need to look and go,
00:30:48.979 --> 00:30:50.259
okay, dollars and cents.
00:30:50.579 --> 00:30:52.359
What has the Lord provided for us?
00:30:53.419 --> 00:30:55.439
And a budget is a great way to do that, right?
00:30:57.379 --> 00:30:57.739
Taxes.
00:30:58.000 --> 00:30:58.959
You might hate those.
00:30:59.159 --> 00:31:02.799
I find tax time actually encouraging most of the time, right?
00:31:02.819 --> 00:31:04.899
Because you get this thing called a W-2.
00:31:05.500 --> 00:31:07.079
It tells you kind of what you made, right?
00:31:07.119 --> 00:31:08.399
And then if you fill out a 1040,
00:31:08.759 --> 00:31:11.859
you can understand how much money you've given, right?
00:31:11.859 --> 00:31:13.679
You can see what you're doing with your money.
00:31:15.219 --> 00:31:17.559
I think that's God's provision through the IRS
00:31:17.559 --> 00:31:20.259
to help us have a diagnostic test for our souls.
00:31:20.359 --> 00:31:24.879
So I think you need to have a means to understand,
00:31:25.219 --> 00:31:28.659
a robust means to understand the provision God's given us, okay?
00:31:30.240 --> 00:31:31.359
It's not really our money.
00:31:31.479 --> 00:31:32.000
It's God's money.
00:31:32.059 --> 00:31:32.679
He's given it to us.
00:31:32.719 --> 00:31:33.619
We need to take account of it.
00:31:33.639 --> 00:31:35.479
So that would be my second application.
00:31:35.480 --> 00:31:39.839
And the third one's a bit less maybe practical.
00:31:40.079 --> 00:31:42.380
It's a bit more, a bit further out there.
00:31:42.440 --> 00:31:45.640
I would say we need to develop what I would call a questioning attitude.
00:31:47.099 --> 00:31:50.240
So I say that because we happen to live in a pretty materialistic culture.
00:31:50.579 --> 00:31:53.519
The values, the car you drive, the clothes you wear, what you do.
00:31:54.240 --> 00:31:57.140
And so it's difficult to distinguish between,
00:31:57.240 --> 00:32:00.380
distinguish between excess maybe.
00:32:00.380 --> 00:32:03.220
You know, excess in what is necessary.
00:32:04.600 --> 00:32:08.180
And so I would encourage the development of an attitude
00:32:08.180 --> 00:32:10.300
towards the use of our resources, time, energy, money,
00:32:10.660 --> 00:32:14.800
to better align us to the calling that Christ has for us in verse 33.
00:32:14.960 --> 00:32:17.600
So if you see that, seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.
00:32:18.960 --> 00:32:20.980
So I think when you're faced with a decision, major or minor,
00:32:21.220 --> 00:32:22.400
you should ask yourself this question,
00:32:22.400 --> 00:32:31.000
does this, this being having this job, buying this thing, doing this,
00:32:32.259 --> 00:32:35.080
does this enable me to have more time or more resources
00:32:35.080 --> 00:32:37.700
to put into the task of advancing God's kingdom?
00:32:38.759 --> 00:32:41.500
Or if you put it another way, does this thing,
00:32:41.820 --> 00:32:43.820
does it increase my ability to serve the Lord?
00:32:44.560 --> 00:32:46.960
So I'll give you an example to help out with this
00:32:46.960 --> 00:32:48.460
because that might be a little abstract.
00:32:48.460 --> 00:32:51.059
In fact, let's say that my wife and I both,
00:32:51.299 --> 00:32:54.519
our cars just, they just totally stopped working this week.
00:32:54.880 --> 00:32:56.559
Like total, maybe we got an accident,
00:32:56.759 --> 00:32:58.519
maybe the engine just fell out.
00:32:58.600 --> 00:32:59.120
I don't know.
00:32:59.299 --> 00:32:59.960
They stopped breaking.
00:33:00.059 --> 00:33:00.579
They just brake.
00:33:02.420 --> 00:33:03.600
We don't have any working cars then.
00:33:04.140 --> 00:33:06.220
I right now have about a 30-minute drive to work.
00:33:06.779 --> 00:33:09.000
Okay, so if I have a car,
00:33:09.360 --> 00:33:12.240
that's about an hour less a day that I have to do ministry,
00:33:12.360 --> 00:33:16.259
to do things like preparing for a sermon
00:33:16.259 --> 00:33:18.900
or preparing for a youth group or taking care of my wife,
00:33:18.920 --> 00:33:21.099
I have less time to do the work God's called me to.
00:33:22.359 --> 00:33:24.180
I have a bike, so I could bike to work.
00:33:25.019 --> 00:33:26.920
And at the current pace that I ride,
00:33:27.000 --> 00:33:28.720
that would be like three or four hours,
00:33:28.980 --> 00:33:30.500
depending on how fast I was going,
00:33:30.900 --> 00:33:32.259
to get to and from work, right?
00:33:33.559 --> 00:33:36.839
So with that, three to four hours out of your day,
00:33:36.900 --> 00:33:39.940
it's probably wise if I have the resources to buy a car, okay?
00:33:40.720 --> 00:33:42.460
Another question comes, what do I buy?
00:33:42.700 --> 00:33:43.660
There's lots of cars.
00:33:43.660 --> 00:33:46.420
Should I buy maybe a Lexus?
00:33:46.900 --> 00:33:47.680
Maybe a Toyota?
00:33:48.560 --> 00:33:49.380
Maybe an Acura?
00:33:50.220 --> 00:33:51.279
Maybe a Honda, right?
00:33:51.580 --> 00:33:52.320
If you're not familiar,
00:33:52.519 --> 00:33:54.460
they're kind of the same cars sometimes, right?
00:33:54.920 --> 00:33:57.380
So if it was me,
00:33:57.620 --> 00:34:00.259
the questioning attitude might have me say,
00:34:00.340 --> 00:34:03.279
you know, I'm going to buy the Honda versus the Acura.
00:34:03.300 --> 00:34:05.060
I'm going to buy the Toyota versus the Lexus.
00:34:05.100 --> 00:34:05.880
Now, why is that?
00:34:05.880 --> 00:34:10.340
Well, frankly, you can probably get the same reliability,
00:34:11.340 --> 00:34:14.200
and it's the same, to some extent,
00:34:14.280 --> 00:34:15.800
the same engineering in the car.
00:34:16.660 --> 00:34:20.200
And so you're looking at almost sometimes the same car
00:34:20.200 --> 00:34:22.360
for a lot more money or a lot less money.
00:34:22.559 --> 00:34:28.360
And so for me, I would say car fits my needs.
00:34:28.460 --> 00:34:29.280
If it's big enough,
00:34:29.420 --> 00:34:31.619
if it has enough seats for what I got to do,
00:34:31.619 --> 00:34:34.639
I have X amount more money that I can give,
00:34:35.039 --> 00:34:36.440
I can use in some capacity,
00:34:36.920 --> 00:34:40.420
that might be giving to support Trinity,
00:34:40.539 --> 00:34:42.079
that might be supporting missionaries,
00:34:42.139 --> 00:34:43.839
that might be doing something else.
00:34:43.859 --> 00:34:45.019
But there's a lot of opportunities
00:34:45.019 --> 00:34:47.339
to use maybe that excess money
00:34:47.339 --> 00:34:49.460
to advance the kingdom.
00:34:50.259 --> 00:34:52.079
So I don't think that example is prescriptive.
00:34:52.239 --> 00:34:54.159
I'm not saying that buying a Lexus
00:34:54.159 --> 00:34:55.539
is always a bad move.
00:34:56.400 --> 00:34:57.960
If it was me, I'd buy a pickup truck.
00:34:58.320 --> 00:34:59.320
That'd be my personal preference,
00:34:59.519 --> 00:35:02.539
but it's just that I think the scriptures
00:35:02.539 --> 00:35:04.980
are going to say that maybe buying a luxury car
00:35:04.980 --> 00:35:06.179
when a normal car will do
00:35:06.179 --> 00:35:10.320
is probably more self-serving than necessary, right?
00:35:10.380 --> 00:35:11.460
It's probably not a need.
00:35:11.519 --> 00:35:12.420
It's probably more of a want.
00:35:13.360 --> 00:35:14.079
And then as such,
00:35:14.139 --> 00:35:16.059
there's going to be some maybe non-nominal,
00:35:16.159 --> 00:35:18.039
it's not $5 difference
00:35:18.039 --> 00:35:20.639
that if you bought a luxury car, you don't have.
00:35:21.059 --> 00:35:22.420
If you bought another car, you do
00:35:22.420 --> 00:35:23.659
towards advancing the kingdom.
00:35:23.659 --> 00:35:26.920
I think this example could also be applied
00:35:26.920 --> 00:35:29.279
in an opportunity that we might think differently about.
00:35:29.359 --> 00:35:30.199
So let's say you had,
00:35:31.259 --> 00:35:32.639
you'd done a lot of good work for a while,
00:35:32.719 --> 00:35:34.259
you had an opportunity to get a promotion at work.
00:35:35.759 --> 00:35:38.259
If you got this promotion, though,
00:35:38.259 --> 00:35:39.960
it's going to give you a significant raise,
00:35:40.139 --> 00:35:40.739
a lot more money,
00:35:41.219 --> 00:35:43.519
but it's going to require 20, 30 more hours a week.
00:35:44.279 --> 00:35:45.440
It's going to take away your time,
00:35:45.539 --> 00:35:46.299
it's going to take away your energy.
00:35:47.659 --> 00:35:48.719
And that's going to take away
00:35:48.719 --> 00:35:51.399
from your time and energy to do ministry, right?
00:35:51.400 --> 00:35:54.039
I think I would again then ask the question,
00:35:54.200 --> 00:35:55.680
does having my old job,
00:35:56.099 --> 00:35:57.139
or is having my new job,
00:35:57.519 --> 00:35:58.519
does that as a total sum,
00:35:58.559 --> 00:35:59.660
does that better align me,
00:36:00.440 --> 00:36:02.260
better allow me to advance the kingdom?
00:36:04.720 --> 00:36:05.639
So to wrap up,
00:36:06.160 --> 00:36:07.519
I'll leave you with this.
00:36:08.660 --> 00:36:11.619
Jesus calls us to live for heavenly treasures first.
00:36:11.619 --> 00:36:14.279
He provides us with all things necessary
00:36:14.279 --> 00:36:17.000
so that our life need not be anxiety-filled,
00:36:17.380 --> 00:36:19.099
and He instructs us to live for His first kingdom.
00:36:19.739 --> 00:36:22.019
As such, we should live a different life.
00:36:23.440 --> 00:36:25.400
There's many men and women on earth
00:36:25.400 --> 00:36:28.159
who've exhibited this kind of kingdom-focused manner of living,
00:36:28.719 --> 00:36:30.739
but really none more than Jesus Himself.
00:36:31.859 --> 00:36:34.079
So looking at what the Apostle Paul points out about Jesus
00:36:34.079 --> 00:36:36.059
in 2 Corinthians 8, verse 9,
00:36:36.599 --> 00:36:37.859
we see, and Paul writes,
00:36:37.860 --> 00:36:52.120
Jesus put off His claims of material power,
00:36:52.420 --> 00:36:53.260
wealth, and dominion
00:36:53.260 --> 00:36:56.320
in order to provide us with the richness of heavenly life.
00:36:57.500 --> 00:36:59.680
No better example has existed, will exist,
00:36:59.940 --> 00:37:02.099
that we can look at to see the single-minded focus
00:37:02.099 --> 00:37:04.320
that Jesus had on the advancement of the kingdom.
00:37:05.280 --> 00:37:06.300
I pray if you don't know Him,
00:37:06.300 --> 00:37:07.480
you'd seek Him.
00:37:07.980 --> 00:37:08.880
And if you do know Him,
00:37:09.420 --> 00:37:10.360
continue to seek Him
00:37:10.360 --> 00:37:13.180
and focus your life on making Him known.
00:37:14.100 --> 00:37:14.640
Let's pray.
00:37:19.060 --> 00:37:21.320
Father, thank You for Your Word to us tonight
00:37:21.320 --> 00:37:22.220
from the Gospel of Matthew.
00:37:23.300 --> 00:37:26.240
I pray You would help us above all else
00:37:26.240 --> 00:37:28.220
to know and to trust
00:37:28.220 --> 00:37:30.680
that You are the almighty, powerful creator,
00:37:30.820 --> 00:37:31.500
and ruler of all,
00:37:32.200 --> 00:37:32.980
that You are our Father.
00:37:32.980 --> 00:37:34.920
Father, You've made us,
00:37:34.980 --> 00:37:35.639
You know us deeply,
00:37:35.800 --> 00:37:36.780
and Your scriptures testify
00:37:36.780 --> 00:37:38.900
that in Christ we and all things are held together.
00:37:40.039 --> 00:37:41.320
Please help us to see You more clearly
00:37:41.320 --> 00:37:42.300
and to know You more deeply
00:37:42.300 --> 00:37:44.480
so that we are able to trust Your provision for our lives.
00:37:45.800 --> 00:37:46.980
Father, do you give us the strength
00:37:46.980 --> 00:37:47.860
and give us the wisdom
00:37:47.860 --> 00:37:48.980
to see where our attitudes
00:37:48.980 --> 00:37:50.539
and our affections,
00:37:50.619 --> 00:37:51.840
our desires towards resources,
00:37:51.960 --> 00:37:52.679
our self-serving.
00:37:53.559 --> 00:37:55.240
Please help Trinity and our town
00:37:55.240 --> 00:37:55.920
help New Haven
00:37:55.920 --> 00:37:58.360
see our possessions as a free gift from You
00:37:58.360 --> 00:38:00.400
and strengthen us to stand firmly in that culture,
00:38:00.400 --> 00:38:02.619
firmly in that knowledge amongst a culture
00:38:02.619 --> 00:38:03.400
that differs radically.
00:38:04.119 --> 00:38:05.400
Thank You for Christ's example.
00:38:06.240 --> 00:38:07.180
I pray this in Christ's name.
00:38:07.920 --> 00:38:08.099
Amen.
00:38:11.900 --> 00:38:12.300
Yes.
00:38:13.000 --> 00:38:15.500
So we've been doing for the last,
00:38:16.019 --> 00:38:16.820
I don't know, a while,
00:38:17.619 --> 00:38:18.300
the evening service,
00:38:18.400 --> 00:38:19.559
having a question and answer time.
00:38:19.780 --> 00:38:21.500
So I don't know how much time we have.
00:38:21.720 --> 00:38:22.599
Maybe ten minutes?
00:38:22.840 --> 00:38:23.500
Five minutes.
00:38:24.400 --> 00:38:25.039
Brief questions.
00:38:25.039 --> 00:38:27.639
If there's any questions
00:38:27.639 --> 00:38:28.619
about anything that I said
00:38:28.619 --> 00:38:29.460
or the text tonight,
00:38:30.340 --> 00:38:32.239
anything I didn't say clearly
00:38:32.239 --> 00:38:33.279
or I confused you on,
00:38:33.340 --> 00:38:35.759
I'd love to try to answer that.
00:38:35.759 --> 00:38:37.759
Thank you.
00:38:37.759 --> 00:38:37.820
Thank you.
00:38:37.820 --> 00:38:37.960
Thank you.
00:38:37.960 --> 00:38:38.019
Thank you.
00:38:38.019 --> 00:38:39.960
Thank you.
00:38:43.960 --> 00:38:44.759
Thank you.
00:38:45.880 --> 00:38:55.019
Thank you.
00:38:55.039 --> 00:38:57.139
I wonder when that
00:38:57.139 --> 00:38:57.920
passes the line
00:38:57.920 --> 00:38:58.820
to be kind of
00:38:58.820 --> 00:38:59.860
included in planning
00:38:59.860 --> 00:39:01.659
to be a vitalizer
00:39:01.659 --> 00:39:02.599
to the wealth.
00:39:03.519 --> 00:39:04.500
Yeah, so Jonathan just asked
00:39:04.500 --> 00:39:05.639
a really difficult question
00:39:05.639 --> 00:39:06.559
that I might defer
00:39:06.559 --> 00:39:07.759
and punt to a pastor on,
00:39:08.019 --> 00:39:08.759
but...
00:39:08.759 --> 00:39:10.820
You repeat the question.
00:39:11.179 --> 00:39:12.059
Yeah, I'll repeat the question.
00:39:12.219 --> 00:39:13.119
So Jonathan asked,
00:39:13.199 --> 00:39:14.000
I think, a good question.
00:39:14.119 --> 00:39:15.320
Our culture seems to say
00:39:15.320 --> 00:39:18.219
that saving for retirement
00:39:18.219 --> 00:39:19.000
is something you should do.
00:39:19.099 --> 00:39:20.340
You should save a lot
00:39:20.340 --> 00:39:21.019
for retirement.
00:39:21.019 --> 00:39:23.139
And, you know,
00:39:23.219 --> 00:39:24.019
where, maybe,
00:39:24.119 --> 00:39:25.019
what's the diagnostic test
00:39:25.019 --> 00:39:25.980
or when do we cross the line
00:39:25.980 --> 00:39:28.000
between, would you say,
00:39:28.059 --> 00:39:29.099
maybe trusting your money
00:39:29.099 --> 00:39:29.860
and trusting the Lord?
00:39:29.940 --> 00:39:31.539
Would that be a fair statement?
00:39:33.099 --> 00:39:36.360
So here's what I would say
00:39:36.360 --> 00:39:37.820
and then I might punt
00:39:37.820 --> 00:39:40.559
if it doesn't hit the bill enough.
00:39:41.599 --> 00:39:42.759
I think there's examples
00:39:42.759 --> 00:39:44.380
in nature of things at store, right?
00:39:45.079 --> 00:39:46.199
If you've ever had a squirrel
00:39:46.199 --> 00:39:47.340
that digs, finds stuff
00:39:47.340 --> 00:39:48.139
and puts stuff in the ground.
00:39:48.239 --> 00:39:48.880
Sometimes it forgets
00:39:48.880 --> 00:39:49.360
where it puts it,
00:39:49.360 --> 00:39:51.039
but, like, you do see
00:39:51.039 --> 00:39:51.900
some examples of that,
00:39:51.960 --> 00:39:53.360
but I've never seen a squirrel...
00:39:55.360 --> 00:39:56.599
Okay, I kind of have,
00:39:56.680 --> 00:39:57.720
but I don't think nature
00:39:57.720 --> 00:40:00.579
takes, like, a massive amount.
00:40:00.980 --> 00:40:01.900
Like, I've never seen a squirrel
00:40:01.900 --> 00:40:03.840
take an entire loaf of bread
00:40:03.840 --> 00:40:05.039
and, like, try to bury it
00:40:05.039 --> 00:40:05.700
in the ground or something.
00:40:06.740 --> 00:40:07.400
So there's something,
00:40:07.480 --> 00:40:07.940
there might be something
00:40:07.940 --> 00:40:08.680
to draw from that.
00:40:09.099 --> 00:40:09.579
You know, again,
00:40:09.620 --> 00:40:11.099
it's a hard issue, right?
00:40:11.240 --> 00:40:12.860
Like, if all you're doing
00:40:12.860 --> 00:40:13.960
is not spending any money
00:40:13.960 --> 00:40:15.400
so you can save all your money,
00:40:15.940 --> 00:40:16.920
I think that's the equivalent
00:40:16.920 --> 00:40:19.440
of spending all your money
00:40:19.440 --> 00:40:20.900
now on something, right?
00:40:20.920 --> 00:40:21.380
It's like,
00:40:22.420 --> 00:40:23.599
my security's not complete
00:40:23.599 --> 00:40:25.000
unless I have a...
00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:26.079
I don't know what the number is.
00:40:26.200 --> 00:40:27.500
My financial planner's number
00:40:27.500 --> 00:40:28.240
for retirement,
00:40:28.240 --> 00:40:29.480
so I have to hit that number
00:40:29.480 --> 00:40:30.639
or else,
00:40:31.440 --> 00:40:32.880
and you're not giving
00:40:32.880 --> 00:40:34.300
your, like, super...
00:40:34.300 --> 00:40:35.320
I mean, I think that could be
00:40:35.320 --> 00:40:35.920
a comparable comparison.
00:40:36.639 --> 00:40:38.119
I don't know, Nick or Greg,
00:40:38.159 --> 00:40:39.840
if you have more wisdom
00:40:39.840 --> 00:40:40.559
and more thoughts
00:40:40.559 --> 00:40:41.300
to share on that.
00:40:41.300 --> 00:40:44.920
I'll go with no,
00:40:45.080 --> 00:40:46.480
but, yeah,
00:40:46.500 --> 00:40:47.300
I think that's a good question.
00:40:53.300 --> 00:40:55.740
Yeah, I think there's
00:40:55.740 --> 00:40:56.680
a certain amount of
00:40:56.680 --> 00:40:57.660
you think of this
00:40:57.660 --> 00:40:59.980
often seems to be
00:40:59.980 --> 00:41:02.380
the more moralistic sometimes,
00:41:02.700 --> 00:41:04.180
and I'm wondering
00:41:04.180 --> 00:41:06.240
if you took this message,
00:41:06.780 --> 00:41:08.080
how would you pull out
00:41:08.080 --> 00:41:09.260
the gospel,
00:41:09.640 --> 00:41:10.420
how many that can be
00:41:10.420 --> 00:41:11.139
chasing to, like,
00:41:11.820 --> 00:41:12.619
that ultimately
00:41:12.619 --> 00:41:13.559
all your efforts
00:41:13.559 --> 00:41:15.440
are rags,
00:41:15.900 --> 00:41:16.780
and that all that you
00:41:16.780 --> 00:41:17.240
ever did,
00:41:17.360 --> 00:41:18.340
you could never earn
00:41:18.340 --> 00:41:19.240
in favor necessarily
00:41:19.240 --> 00:41:21.420
to...
00:41:21.420 --> 00:41:22.420
Yeah.
00:41:24.220 --> 00:41:24.860
No, no, no,
00:41:24.880 --> 00:41:25.700
I think it's fair.
00:41:26.059 --> 00:41:27.180
So the question basically is,
00:41:27.440 --> 00:41:27.980
if you look,
00:41:28.380 --> 00:41:29.000
some people would say
00:41:29.000 --> 00:41:29.559
the Sermon on the Mount
00:41:29.559 --> 00:41:29.800
is, like,
00:41:29.820 --> 00:41:30.800
the greatest moral teaching
00:41:30.800 --> 00:41:31.760
and applies everywhere,
00:41:31.880 --> 00:41:32.579
and here it's,
00:41:33.500 --> 00:41:33.840
you know,
00:41:34.460 --> 00:41:35.840
how do you see the gospel
00:41:35.840 --> 00:41:38.180
in light of this part,
00:41:38.380 --> 00:41:39.400
particularly the Sermon on the Mount?
00:41:39.400 --> 00:41:40.420
Now, you know,
00:41:41.139 --> 00:41:42.240
I would say,
00:41:42.880 --> 00:41:44.360
I would say two things to that.
00:41:45.079 --> 00:41:45.440
One,
00:41:46.280 --> 00:41:47.440
Jesus here,
00:41:48.340 --> 00:41:49.400
and actually what Antoine
00:41:49.400 --> 00:41:50.280
talked about last week
00:41:50.280 --> 00:41:50.920
in the Lord's Prayer,
00:41:51.059 --> 00:41:51.960
like, we're taught
00:41:51.960 --> 00:41:52.980
that God is our dependence,
00:41:53.220 --> 00:41:53.400
right?
00:41:53.420 --> 00:41:54.800
He is our provider,
00:41:55.920 --> 00:41:56.320
and
00:41:56.320 --> 00:41:59.840
in some sense,
00:42:00.380 --> 00:42:01.720
the work that we do,
00:42:02.460 --> 00:42:02.880
let's say,
00:42:03.099 --> 00:42:03.900
so I'm an engineer, right?
00:42:04.000 --> 00:42:04.599
If I want to
00:42:04.599 --> 00:42:05.800
work and work and work
00:42:05.800 --> 00:42:06.280
and work and work
00:42:06.280 --> 00:42:06.940
and work and work,
00:42:07.040 --> 00:42:07.860
part of that is
00:42:07.860 --> 00:42:09.260
so I save myself, right?
00:42:09.300 --> 00:42:09.820
Part of that is
00:42:09.820 --> 00:42:11.200
so I make myself secure,
00:42:12.060 --> 00:42:13.280
and I think God's saying,
00:42:13.380 --> 00:42:13.460
look,
00:42:13.519 --> 00:42:14.640
you already are secure.
00:42:15.060 --> 00:42:15.420
In me,
00:42:15.460 --> 00:42:15.920
you're secure.
00:42:16.260 --> 00:42:17.600
I will provide for your needs.
00:42:17.720 --> 00:42:18.360
So I think in one way,
00:42:18.420 --> 00:42:18.840
that's it.
00:42:20.160 --> 00:42:20.420
The,
00:42:20.960 --> 00:42:23.880
kind of the second thing
00:42:23.880 --> 00:42:24.820
I would say is that
00:42:24.820 --> 00:42:27.019
it's related maybe,
00:42:27.120 --> 00:42:27.300
but
00:42:27.300 --> 00:42:29.340
we,
00:42:29.460 --> 00:42:30.519
we tend to think,
00:42:31.019 --> 00:42:31.340
again,
00:42:31.340 --> 00:42:32.100
that we've got to come
00:42:32.100 --> 00:42:32.760
all together.
00:42:33.000 --> 00:42:33.120
Like,
00:42:33.140 --> 00:42:33.760
I've got to come
00:42:33.760 --> 00:42:35.140
with enough money,
00:42:35.260 --> 00:42:36.000
enough time.
00:42:36.579 --> 00:42:36.740
You know,
00:42:36.760 --> 00:42:38.059
I've got to balance,
00:42:38.180 --> 00:42:38.440
like,
00:42:39.780 --> 00:42:40.140
I don't know,
00:42:40.220 --> 00:42:41.000
balance money
00:42:41.000 --> 00:42:42.160
or balance affection
00:42:42.160 --> 00:42:42.579
for those things
00:42:42.579 --> 00:42:43.180
and the Lord
00:42:43.180 --> 00:42:43.780
and Jesus says no.
00:42:44.160 --> 00:42:44.380
Like,
00:42:44.440 --> 00:42:44.620
it's,
00:42:44.620 --> 00:42:45.640
it's either me,
00:42:47.019 --> 00:42:47.400
well,
00:42:47.440 --> 00:42:47.860
it's me
00:42:47.860 --> 00:42:49.320
plus nothing
00:42:49.320 --> 00:42:51.180
or,
00:42:51.240 --> 00:42:51.480
or,
00:42:51.579 --> 00:42:52.519
or not anything.
00:42:53.079 --> 00:42:53.579
So that,
00:42:54.300 --> 00:42:56.660
that might be a little bit loose,
00:42:56.720 --> 00:42:57.420
but that would be my answer
00:42:57.420 --> 00:42:57.740
to that,
00:42:57.860 --> 00:42:58.280
that question.
00:43:01.340 --> 00:43:03.320
we've got time
00:43:03.320 --> 00:43:04.079
for one more.
00:43:06.539 --> 00:43:06.740
Yeah,
00:43:06.760 --> 00:43:07.000
turn around.
00:43:08.180 --> 00:43:08.880
How do you have
00:43:08.880 --> 00:43:09.140
this,
00:43:09.140 --> 00:43:09.640
this,
00:43:09.640 --> 00:43:10.559
this passage
00:43:10.559 --> 00:43:11.840
to build inside
00:43:11.840 --> 00:43:12.140
of,
00:43:12.220 --> 00:43:12.420
like,
00:43:12.480 --> 00:43:13.800
you have absolutely nothing?
00:43:14.559 --> 00:43:15.000
You know,
00:43:15.039 --> 00:43:15.220
like,
00:43:15.280 --> 00:43:15.600
your home,
00:43:15.780 --> 00:43:16.059
you know,
00:43:16.059 --> 00:43:16.160
stuff.
00:43:19.559 --> 00:43:19.920
Yeah,
00:43:20.039 --> 00:43:20.360
that was a,
00:43:20.380 --> 00:43:20.980
that was a good question.
00:43:21.079 --> 00:43:21.640
Everyone said,
00:43:22.019 --> 00:43:22.880
what do you do with,
00:43:23.120 --> 00:43:25.019
what do you do with this passage
00:43:25.019 --> 00:43:25.660
if you've got nothing?
00:43:26.440 --> 00:43:26.680
Right?
00:43:26.740 --> 00:43:27.380
If you've got
00:43:27.380 --> 00:43:28.620
no dollars,
00:43:28.800 --> 00:43:29.200
no cents,
00:43:29.300 --> 00:43:29.960
nothing to your name.
00:43:31.340 --> 00:43:32.579
So I think the same,
00:43:33.460 --> 00:43:34.960
so as I said
00:43:34.960 --> 00:43:35.760
at the beginning,
00:43:35.880 --> 00:43:36.480
kind of in the intro,
00:43:36.840 --> 00:43:37.079
it's,
00:43:37.579 --> 00:43:39.039
Jesus is not concerned
00:43:39.039 --> 00:43:41.880
with the dollar amount,
00:43:42.019 --> 00:43:42.260
right?
00:43:44.660 --> 00:43:45.059
To,
00:43:45.140 --> 00:43:46.100
to the rich young ruler,
00:43:46.220 --> 00:43:46.760
he will say,
00:43:46.880 --> 00:43:47.620
get rid of everything
00:43:47.620 --> 00:43:48.519
because that guy
00:43:48.519 --> 00:43:49.440
loves his money.
00:43:49.600 --> 00:43:49.780
Like,
00:43:49.800 --> 00:43:50.420
that's his thing.
00:43:50.500 --> 00:43:51.660
That's what he desires
00:43:51.660 --> 00:43:52.120
above all else.
00:43:52.120 --> 00:43:52.280
But,
00:43:52.280 --> 00:43:53.519
but outside of that,
00:43:53.579 --> 00:43:54.000
Jesus is,
00:43:54.539 --> 00:43:55.160
his warnings,
00:43:55.320 --> 00:43:56.039
his warnings about money
00:43:56.039 --> 00:43:56.559
are everywhere.
00:43:56.900 --> 00:43:57.400
But they're generally
00:43:57.400 --> 00:43:57.940
not like,
00:43:58.140 --> 00:43:58.260
hey,
00:43:58.360 --> 00:43:59.860
if you're,
00:43:59.860 --> 00:44:01.480
if you're rich,
00:44:01.500 --> 00:44:02.059
it's more difficult
00:44:02.059 --> 00:44:02.620
because the,
00:44:02.980 --> 00:44:04.000
having money can sometimes
00:44:04.000 --> 00:44:04.720
just do this thing
00:44:04.720 --> 00:44:05.180
with your heart.
00:44:05.420 --> 00:44:06.200
Not good things,
00:44:06.240 --> 00:44:06.400
right?
00:44:07.340 --> 00:44:08.660
But the question's not,
00:44:08.800 --> 00:44:10.300
do you have money?
00:44:10.420 --> 00:44:11.640
It's what do you desire?
00:44:12.260 --> 00:44:12.579
Right?
00:44:14.539 --> 00:44:15.320
And so again,
00:44:15.360 --> 00:44:17.320
I think for most of us,
00:44:17.400 --> 00:44:18.599
the means of God's provision
00:44:18.599 --> 00:44:20.059
for us is probably
00:44:20.059 --> 00:44:20.559
our jobs,
00:44:20.820 --> 00:44:20.980
right?
00:44:21.059 --> 00:44:21.280
That's,
00:44:21.280 --> 00:44:21.660
that's,
00:44:21.780 --> 00:44:22.640
that might be the case.
00:44:22.720 --> 00:44:23.320
In your questions,
00:44:23.320 --> 00:44:25.099
I think it's,
00:44:25.300 --> 00:44:27.480
if we don't have a job,
00:44:28.160 --> 00:44:29.039
God's provision comes
00:44:29.039 --> 00:44:29.599
in other ways.
00:44:30.539 --> 00:44:31.179
It's going to differ.
00:44:31.420 --> 00:44:31.840
And even though,
00:44:31.900 --> 00:44:32.840
for those who have a job,
00:44:32.900 --> 00:44:33.019
right,
00:44:33.079 --> 00:44:33.759
provision is going to be
00:44:33.759 --> 00:44:34.719
different from time to time.
00:44:35.480 --> 00:44:36.320
So I'd say it's really,
00:44:36.420 --> 00:44:37.860
it's a question of the affections,
00:44:37.940 --> 00:44:38.840
not a question of,
00:44:39.639 --> 00:44:39.820
you know,
00:44:39.840 --> 00:44:40.579
how much is in your wallet.
00:44:44.420 --> 00:44:44.820
All right,
00:44:44.940 --> 00:44:45.119
Nick.
00:44:45.119 --> 00:44:45.259
Thank you.
00:44:45.259 --> 00:44:45.320
Thank you.
00:44:45.320 --> 00:44:45.400
Thank you.