The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 2: The Kingdom of God and Money

Episode Date: January 30, 2022

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. - Matthew 6:24 Are you serving money as your king? Or are you using money to serve the one true King?

Amen and amen. How we doing, church? Everybody good? You seem nervous. I can already tell. Everybody's all uptight. They're like, oh, boy, here we go. We're talking about money.

All right. Just everybody relax. Breathe in, breathe out. We're talking about money. You ready for this? You're not. But I am. It bothers me none, okay?

Here's the reason I want to talk about money. One, because Jesus talks about it a ton, but I love you. and I want you to be blessed, and I want you to be free. And this is a blind spot in so many people's life. And what we're going to see here is the difference between the kingdom of God and the freedom and the blessing that comes when we do money God's way. And then we're going to see the kingdom of this air, the kingdom of this world,

and the entrapment that the enemy uses when it comes to money. I told you last week in the beginning of this series that there are two kingdoms. The kingdom of God, the kingdom of this world, and we are called as followers of Jesus not to flee and go create our own little societies. By the way, received zero emails from the Amish.

Told you. We're also not supposed to follow and just do this world, the way the world says to do it, but we are supposed to fight. But we don't fight the way the world fights. We have our own. ways to fight. And I found this quote that I referenced last week, but I want to read parts of it to you this week. About 40 years after the last apostle dies, Christianity is

overtaking the Roman Empire. So there is this guy named Diagnetics, and he tells another guy, go investigate these Christians, and tell me what's happening. And so this man writes a letter back to Diagnetics, and he says this. He says, for the Christians are distinguished from other men, neither by country nor language nor customs which they observe. In other words, there is this radical diversity. It's not just one type of group of people. He goes on to say, they marry, as do all others, they beget children, but they do not destroy their offspring. Remember, the early Christians were radically pro-life in a culture that if you didn't want the baby you had, you just exposed it to the elements and let it die, you wouldn't even get in trouble. And this guy's saying,

but not the Christians, they don't do that. And I love this line. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They had a radical sex ethic. It was unbelievable that the Christian men in Rome in the first and second century, they did not treat their wives as a commodity. They loved their wives like Christ loved the church and were willing to lay down their lives for their wives. And it blew the Romans mind. And then he goes on to say, they are in the flesh,

but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. Sounds like they were listening to our upside-down kingdom. They are poor, yet they make many rich. They are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all.

They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners, as citizens, They share in all things with others. In other words, the early Christians were radically generous, radically generous. And so we're going to talk about money. And so sometimes when we're breaking up, Bunny, I will admit you're the best congregation in the history of congregations because y'all don't really complain.

I guess if you complain and you don't, and I don't reply, you just leave. But you don't really complain about it. but all my preacher buddies say every time they talk about money at their church, people complain all the time. And so I just want to point out, you know, sometimes people will say, well, all the church wants us to talk about money. All right. I did a little research. This is the 492nd weekend in the history of the church of 1122. So there's been 492 different sermons here. And 10 of them, this is the 10th one on money. That's 2%. It's like one a year. Now, I may be failing you.

I may be failing you. Because I've had some people say, why don't we just talk about Jesus? Why I need to keep it about Jesus? Let's talk about Jesus for a second. 40% of his sermon material was on money. You want to do it that way? We could do it that way. Increased 20 times the number of money talks.

One out of every 10 verses in the Gospels is about money. And here's why. Here's why I think Jesus talked about money so much. because we're going to see in the scriptures that money is the number one competitor for the heart and you cannot divorce these things. Like when I go to the doctor, I'm 48, seem to go way more than I used to,

but I go to the doctor. And have you ever noticed when you go to the doctor, like I had to go to the doctor recently about my ears, my ears were jacked up, and I get to the doctor to talk about my ears, and he wants to talk about what I'm eating and how much I'm sleeping, and how much I'm drinking? And then he brings up my sex life,

and I'm like, bro, I don't know what you do, but it ain't got to do with my ears, man. What are we talking about here? Turns out you are just one total being and all of it impacts all of it. And so if you think you can be a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ and then do money the way you want to do money,

then you're too dumb to talk to. But I pray to God that he will open your ears to hear. You see, you cannot be a disciple of Jesus and a disciple of this world, particularly the way the world says to do money. want you to be set free. Free. One of the things I'll set you free on is this.

At the end of the service today, there is no special offering. We're not asking you to sign a pledge card. None of those things you're going to happen, okay? So you can just receive this and do with it whatever the Spirit of God tells you to do. Because my goal is not to get you to respond in generosity to a sermon, but I want us to live generously in response to the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want you to have freedom, freedom. And so there are two kingdoms, and the kingdom of this world is not working in regards to the way this world says to do money. Don't believe me, check this out.

The average consumer debt in America right now is $151,000 per person. That's $15 trillion. that our consumer debt went up last year 7%, even though a whole bunch of people that had jobs last year don't have jobs this year, but we spent money that we didn't have. That's just what's happening. The average credit card debt is about $6,000. The average American is two paychecks away from being bankrupt. Average school debt is about $60,000.

And yet, every single time Americans are asked to list the things they worry about most, money is always one of the top three. And here's something really sad. As our earning increases, the likelihoodness of suicide increases proportionally. Think about that for a second. And everybody thinks, well, if I just had more money, then I'd be happy.

The reality is, statistically speaking, that is true until you hit $75,000. And once you make it past $75,000 in combined household income, then no more money makes you any more happy. And for some of you, 75K sounds like a lot, and some of you think, ooh, I couldn't make it on that. And if you live on a street where people make 10% more than you, no matter how much you make, you seem to be less happy. It ain't working. And what's really, really sad about Americans is most Americans feel very, very generous, and they don't feel very rich at all.

And yet, the average American gives less than 1% to charity, $737, $737,000. a year. Most Americans say if they just had 20% more money, then they would be happy, then they would be fully and finally satisfied. And I'm just telling you, folks, it's a lie. It's a big, fat lie. And so I know you get nervous when I talk about money, but guess who doesn't get nervous when I talk about money? Me? I love talking about money. Do you know why? I don't mind talking about money? Because I am a faith-filled trusting Jesus, first-fruits-bringing, trying to figure out how we can do less at my house so we can bring more to the kingdom of God. It don't bother me any. There's six other people in here with me. It's like talking about the Georgia Bulldogs. You want to

talk about that? We can talk about that too. Why? Because they're winners. So that's just how it goes. The Bible has all kinds of warnings when it comes to the love of money. Often misquoted, people will say money is the root of all evil. That's not what the Bible says. 1 Timothy 610 says this, for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. In other words, money makes a good tool and makes a terrible God. And we were created as image bears of God to love God and use money. But the problem is when we began to love money, we began to use God for our love of money. And it makes a terrible, terrible God. In fact, how many of you know a family that used to be a good Christian, go to church

family, everybody loved each other, and then grandpa died, and they got to the will, and now those families don't even do Christmas together anymore. That's what Paul was talking about. Or maybe, you know, two brothers from church together. They started a business together, and when they didn't have any money, everything was great. And then they started making a little coin, and they couldn't figure out the percentages of who got what, and now they don't even talk to each other anymore. You see, the Bible gives us this warning. Be really, really careful if you find yourself starting to love money. There's another warning in Hebrews 13, 5, and 6. Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have. For he has said, I will neither

leave you nor forsake you so we can confidently say, the Lord is my helper, I will not fear what can man do to me. Imagine that kind of freedom. Imagine that kind of financial freedom regardless of how much money you have. Imagine if you knew confidently the Lord is my helper, I will not fear what can man do to me. You see, the reality is that that freedom is available to you. One more verse, and then we'll dive into the This is just intro. 2 Corinthians 9-7, Paul says to the church in Corinths this. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion

for God loves a cheerful giver. I don't want you to give under compulsion. So go ahead and decide in your heart what you're going to bring to God before you even hear the sermon. In fact, if you're new to 1122, you've noticed we don't even take up an offering because God never comes to take. We bring. And I don't want you to give under compulsion.

And so when we first started 1122, I said, look, we're not passing the little shiny plate down the thing because I know what will happen. You'll see it coming. You'll be like, oh, no. And you have tried to, there's a tip, God. And that's not what we want you to do. And more than half of you give online. And listen, this is a real thing, okay?

There are some churches that print out these little slips of paper that say I give online so that when the offering plate comes by, you don't look like a cheapsake and you can go, see, I'm in. that's that that's creepy I'm just telling you I don't know that doesn't sound right to me so there's no special offering at the end of the service you're not signing up for anything we're going to respond like we always do we're going to sing we're going to bring we're going to pray now I want to focus on this passage from Jesus Matthew chapter 6 if you got your Bible go to Matthew chapter 6 it's in in one of Jesus is long it's his longest recorded sermon

called the Sermint on the Mount. And the reason I want to spend most of our time in this passage is because I want you to put on the kingdom lenses, because in this passage, maybe more than any others, Jesus talks about the two kingdoms that influence us. And there's a way to do money in such a way that aligns with the kingdom of God, and then there's the kingdom of this world, and it tells us what to do with money. Matthew chapter 6, beginning of verse 19, do not lay up for yourself. treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

Here's what he's saying. Every earthly treasure is temporary. Every earthly treasure is temporary. And Francis Chan says, everything that you have been given will bring regret or reward. And so what he's saying is this. So whatever you do, whatever you do, don't store up for yourselves treasures on earth. We live in a world where very smart people that have very good marketing degrees, spend billions of dollars a day to put ad campaigns in front of us,

to convince us that the temporary things of this world are going to meet all of our needs. And trust me, they just don't have the ability to do it. But they're really tricky and they're really flashy and they're really convincing. And in one second you can begin to believe if I could just get a hold of this, thing, then it would fulfill these desires that I have. It would meet these needs. And the reality is just this. I'm just here to tell you the truth. Your phone won't connect you. Your bank account won't protect you. New clubs won't improve your swing and a new app won't help you find a man with a ring. That's just true. And yet people have been buying into this and struggling this

for 2,000 years. This is not a new thing. In Luke chapter 12, Jesus shares this parable about what it looks like for somebody to store up treasures on earth. And you don't have to bounce all around. You can stay in Matthew 6. I'll read it word for word. He says this. And Jesus said to them, take care and be on guard against all covetousness. Now, you know why you have to be on guard because something is coming against you?

And what Jesus says is get ready to fight, stand your ground, because covetousness is coming after you. He says, listen how brilliant this is. For one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. Just hear that, America. For one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. And he told them a parable saying, The land of a rich man produced plentifully.

And he thought to himself, what shall I do? For I have nowhere to store my crops. And he said, I will do this. I will tear down my barns and build large ones. And there I will store all my grain and my goods and I will say to my soul, soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him, fool.

What is the word you hear over and over and over and over? My, my, my, my, my, my. And then, notice this. Why is the brother talking to his soul? I mean, he's talking about finances. He's talking about resources. He's talking about building more barn so he can put his stuff in his barn so that he can have enough for all the days of his life, and yet he begins to talk to his soul.

Do you know why? Because his barns and his money and his wealth can't say anything to his soul. And he knows intuitively this ain't doing it for me. And so he puts all his stuff in these new barns. The Greek there is called the American Dream. That's what that's called. I'm just telling you, it's a nightmare. And God looks at him.

It's the only time this happens in all the Bible, and he goes, fool, you might want to jot this down. You don't want the almighty sovereign king of the universe to show up in your bedroom one day. He'd be like, hey, Jesus, he goes, fool. You don't want him calling you a fool. And this brother is a fool. This night, your soul is required of you

and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? Ecclesiastes answers this. Ecclesiastes says you can store up all of these treasures and what happens if you have a dumb kid? Somebody if you've got some dumb kids and they're going to take all your stuff. Think about this.

All the stuff that means so much to you, your dumb kid's going to ruin it all. Your dumb kid is going to take your beach house and paint it colors that make you want to throw up. Some random people you don't even know are going to have your golf clubs. They're going to get him at Hope's closet. You're going to tie it one way or the other, okay? It's all going. And some dude you've never met. It's not even that good.

Doesn't even appreciate the clubs that he has. Going to get him on an incredible discount. And here's what's really going to irk you. And he's going to be better than you. you, bro. He's going to be better than you. That's what you have to look forward to with stuff. He says, whose will they be? So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. You see, the kingdom of God calls us to be rich towards God. The kingdom of this air calls us to be rich towards me. The question is, are you rich towards God? Or are you

a fool. And you'd be like, Pastor, I'm not, I don't even have a barn. What are you talking about? Okay, glad you brought that up. Check this out. Did you know in America right now there are 49,23 storage facilities? There's 2.3 billion square feet worth of storage space in America. That means every single man-woman and child in America has 7.3 square feet of storage space that we could stand in. We could all stand in our own barn. I think we're doing it wrong. Hey, listen, and if you've got a bunch of stuff stored up and you have not seen it in one year, go to at the end of the service, don't come down here and pray. I've already prayed for you. Here's what you got to do. Go cash it all out, sell it all, and invest it into the kingdom of God because you're just storing stuff up in

barns and it's doing nothing for your soul. And if you own a storage facility, God bless your ministry, tied like crazy. Okay. So back to Matthew 6. So he says, so don't lay up treasures here on earth, okay, because they're all temporary. But, verse 20, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. Do you see the two kingdoms? So you can lay up treasures here, you can lay up treasures there. And I've told you this before, but what Jesus is insinuating here is, why in the world do you spend all your money as if you're going to live here forever?

This ain't a permanent address. And I've shared this with you before, but I traveled probably way too much. And can you imagine if I pulled into the holiday Inexpress, checked in, went to my room, said, well, there's a problem. Called the front desk and say, hey, I need the numbers to the Home Depot because I'm going to upgrade my room a little bit, okay? I mean, I can't be walking around this nasty car, but I don't even, it makes me feel gross just looking at it, okay? We're taking this out with putting in marble. And I'm going to punch out this little window here because I need a breakfast nook, all right?

And I'm going to take this little area right here where the coffee maker don't really work right. and I'm putting in a coffee bar, and who even does granite quartz. That's what I'm doing, okay? And we're redoing the whole bathroom. I won't stuff straying on me from every angle, like a sinking submarine. That's what I'm going for, you understand? Let's go. And I'm sure Holiday Inn Express would be very grateful, but I'm sure they would even say,

well, Mr. Martin, you're checking out on Sunday. Uh-huh. Seems like an awfully big investment for such a short stay. Yeah, you're right. You're right. Don't store up for yourself treasures here on earth that are all temporary. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Now, just a little asteric here, because inevitably somebody comes up to me and be like,

Pastor, are you saying we should never renovate our kitchen? We should never get new stuff. Okay. Yeah, you do all this. The reason I pick on those things is because I don't care about those things. It's easy for me to pick on those. You never hear me picking on new camo, okay? So.

There's no way. problem, but all that. We have several families in our church and they own, they own furniture stores and the granite countertop places and redo houses. All right, that's how the economy works. For sure, you buy that stuff and employs a bunch of people, feeds a bunch of people. That's all fine and good. But the real question is, if those things begin to be your treasure, then there's a big, fat problem because it just does not have the ability to quench the desires that you have in your soul. That's what I'm talking about. You see, first, Timothy 6, Paul addresses this. Paul is training up a young pastor named Timothy, and he writes

them two letters. And in the first letter, he's like, all right, Timothy, when you preach, you're going to always be preaching to two groups of people. You're going to be preaching to people that want to be rich, and so that's where that warning came from. Beware. Because if you love money, if you want to be rich, watch out, man. And then you're going to talk to some people that are already rich. And in verse Timothy 6, 17, he says this, as for the rich in this present age. Now here's the problem with that verse. When I read that verse, I look at that verse and I'll be like, I know some rich people. And you people need to read this, okay?

I'm just a poor old country preacher. I ain't got nothing, but you rich people. But here's the thing is that do you know that if you make a combined household income of $35,000 a year, you're in the top 1% of wage earners on the planet? That means you're rich. You're rich. I know you don't feel rich, but you're rich. If you have a car, you're rich.

If you've got two cars, you're real rich. If you do things like match your belt with your boots this morning, you're rich. If you have an entire room in your house dedicated just for the clothes that you might wear one day or you might be able to fit into again one day, if you've got an entire room, oh, that touch your nerve, all right. That's rich people. That's rich people stuff. If your cars have their own home, you're rich.

And if you got so much stuff that you had to make their cars homeless because you put your stuff in your car's house, you're rich. This is talking to most of us, there might be one or two people here that don't fall into that category. But as for us here in and around Jacksonville, as for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty. That means don't think you did it on your own,

nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, that's the problem. But on God, like put your hope, set your hopes on God. And here's what I want you to see. Who richly provides us with everything to, what's that next word? Enjoy. Enjoy. We as believers are supposed to enjoy all of the blessings that God gives us. I mean, enjoy it.

And here's how you enjoy it. We're to do good, be rich and good word. to be generous and ready to share. See, some of you can't be generous and ready to share because your house poor, you spent all of your money on your house, and now God nudges you to be generous in some area, and you're unable to because you made a decision yesterday that makes all your decisions for tomorrow,

and you don't have enough margin to be generous. This is what he's saying. He goes, thus storing up treasure, there's that phrase again, for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. if you think the things that you buy are going to give you true life, then you will be miserable forever. But when we begin to understand that he's a good dad, he loves to give good gifts to his kids,

and every single believer, every single believer needs to give generously, we'll talk about that, needs to save wisely, we'll talk about that, and needs to spend wisely. Pray about every decision you make, and not just bring God the first 10% and then say the rest is just for me, but all 100% of it is to glorify God and for us to enjoy. Can you buy you some stuff? Of course you can. Look at these boots right here, okay? The most expensive shoes I have. I'll dig them, all right? And you know why I enjoy these boots? They feel good, they feel good, they look great, obviously, but here's why I enjoy. A gator had to die for me to wear these boots. I think about them every time I put them on, put them on, pray for Tebow, and then go to work, okay? That's what I do. But here's what begins to happen, man. When you

begin to really trust God with everything. It's the closer you get to Jesus, the more you'll be set free to enjoy the things he enjoys. And here's what begins to happen. You'll begin to enjoy the party more than the apartment or the house that you through the party. I don't know if you know this. If you knew the Bible study, Jesus loved a good party.

And I mean a party party. Like one time he was at one, they ran out of wine and he was like, don't worry about it. Got it. Okay? So he loved a good party. But what begins to happen is we had these things. negotiations with God anytime we move into a place and we're trying to justify how much we want to spend on it. Come on, we've all been there. Lord, I'm going to use it pretty good. And then the

moment we move in, we're so concerned about the carpet and the countertops and the drywall not getting scuffed that we're more concerned about the stuff than the humans were growing in it or the neighbors were inviting into it. And what begins to happen when we trust God is we enjoy the people at the party more than where the party happens. And we began to enjoy the ride you give more than the ride you're in. You began to say, all right, Lord, how can I use this vehicle that are bought for your glory? Because there's a bunch of you, and you made a dumb decision when you bought that car, man. You didn't even buy that car because you wanted it. You bought that car because you knew your friends would be impressed. You bought that car because you knew how cool you would look in it,

and here's what's dumb, you can't even see you in it. And after a minute, no matter how sweet you, dude, I love my truck, no problem. But in just a minute, it smells like what? You, your kids in a French fry, and it's just your car. And when you begin to really trust God, with all of your finances, you begin to enjoy the rides that you give more than the ride that you're in. You begin to enjoy the people that you serve or the people that you build memories with way more than the places that you go. You begin to enjoy the laughter at the table way more than the restaurant that the table's in. You begin to enjoy the money that you invest in the kingdom of God way more than all of your other investments.

And I'm not saying don't make those investments all you smart people. Make those investments. Make more banks so that you can invest. more into the kingdom of God for your own enjoyment. Christians are supposed to enjoy this life more than everybody else. So how do we store up for ourselves treasures in heaven? You bring your first fruits to God, you watch and work with it. You save some, and then you spend the rest for the glory of God.

Some of you need to downsize, sell their house you're in, sell the car that's got too big of a payment, so it can free you up to be more generous to the kingdom of God. And some of you need to go and buy the brand new house and the brand new neighborhood that's just across the street from one of our campuses so that you can move in as a missionary and lead everybody on your street to Jesus. The reality is I can't tell you what you got to do.

Only the Holy Spirit can tell you. But I promise he's the real preacher here, and if you lay it at his feet, he will tell you what to do. But we are supposed to enjoy. And every single one of us are called to bring to him our first and our best. So how do you lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven? I thought about this a lot. The only thing we can take to heaven is people.

That's it. The only thing we can take to heaven, you ain't taking your stuff, it's all staying here. This is why I'm going to tell you over and over. God doesn't want your money. He already has your money. In 100 years, guess what's still here? Your money, your stuff, and God all still here. You go on.

The only thing you're going to tell you. could take with you to heaven is other people. So leverage everything that he has given you to invest into the expanding kingdom of God so that we can take as many brothers and sisters with us to the great wedding banquet in heaven. And that's why here at 1122, we are ruthlessly committed to launching campuses everywhere God would give us an opportunity and planting at least a thousand churches in 10 years all over the world. Why? So that we can lay up for ourselves, treasures in heaven. And then not only that, then you leverage all the resources that you have to do what Jesus prayed in the Lord's prayer when he says,

Thou will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That we demonstrate the gospel here on this planet. Why? So that others would see our good works and give glory to God. That's what we're to do. That's how you lay up treasures in heaven. He goes on to say in verse 21. Very famous verse, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Not the other way around. Most people think, even though the words say what they say, most people think where your heart is, your treasure will follow.

And Jesus is like, no, actually it goes the other way around. Wherever your treasure goes, your heart will follow. You don't believe me? Imagine if I came out and took your wallet from you. So give me your wallet, all your credit cards and all you, and I had all you, you know, you look like a guy that would probably have your pass-co. just on a sticky note in your wallet. And so I took it.

Put it in my pocket and preached the rest of the sermon. Guess who's paying attention to the sermon more than everybody else? That guy. Right there, right there, great shirt, that guy. And then if I was like, if I cut it short, hey, you know what? Got places to be, I'm out. Everybody else would be like, that's weird. You tweet stuff.

And then I walk back here. This one guy was like, hey, where that guy go? Okay. And he would go wherever his treasure was. Don't believe me, I shared this with you before. When I moved here in 2003, my pastor, Pastor Jerry Sweat was an avid gator fan. All right.

Nobody's perfect, but he was into that. And then two of his kids went to Florida State, and you know what began to happen over time. When those checks did not go south to Gainesville, but they went west down I-10, God put a hinge in his elbow. His elbow, like when he didn't work, it would do this, and then after a little while, what, oh, oh, oh,

and now that's what happened. Why? Because where his treasure is, there his heart. will be awesome. So, the reality is, is that your bank account will tell you what you worship. Your bank account will tell you what is first in your life. And God wants your heart. And you may say, no, no, no, no, God has my heart. I come to church and I worship with my hands up. Okay, that's cool. But Jesus says, wherever your treasure is there, your heart will be also. And there is a spectrum when it comes to us giving. There is, very simply. Some people don't give it all, because you

think it's all yours. I pray to God he would open your eyes to realize that everything you have is a bloodbought grace gift from him. But some of you think, no, more is mine. That's bad. That's really bad. Then there's just like one step up. And some people give so that they can get. That's still really bad. Some people think, all right, here's what I'm going to do. I need that, I need that promotion at work. So I'm going to tip a little at church and then God owes me. Yeah. You see, this is called the prosperity gospel and it's a lie from the pit of hell. And the heresy at the the core of the prosperity gospel is, I am preeminent, I go first, and God has to respond to my action, not the other way around.

Then you begin to move into the good category of why people are generous, and then some people give because of ROI, return on investment. They see a need or they see God moving in a way, and so they invest in that, and that's good. It's still not ultimate. The ultimate way to worship God with your finances is in first fruit faith giving. When we bring back to God, our first, in our best, not because of who we are, but because who he is. Because he is first, because he went first, because he gave his son first, and then he gave to us his first and best in Jesus Christ.

And so on a rhythm, we continuously bring back to him our first and best as a response, not to just what he is doing, but to who he is. That's it. And so for some of you, one way to do that very practically is you should go to your app, if you hadn't downloaded it, 22 app, you should do it, and you should set up recurring automated giving so that you could just decide right now, before the sale comes out and before, you know, the person calls you to refinance your house or whatever the thing is, that you would just decide, I am going to make this decision that makes all my decisions, and I am on a weekly basis or monthly basis, however it works in your house, and I'm just going to set up automated giving to just say, God, I am pre-deciding

that I am bringing to you first and best. You see, because when you automate your, giving, what it allows your church to do is to step boldly into areas that God calls us to do. And for some of you, that should be your response. And one of the questions I ask to folks all the time is this, especially if they feel like they have money problems, I just say, hey, listen, based on what you know about God and based on the way you have been spending money, if you were God, would you give you more money? You see, more money is rarely the cure. And money is one of the very few indicators. one of the very few outside indicators of the heart.

And remember, the enemy is trying to deceive you. And God wants your heart, not your money. God is not waiting up in heaven going, do you know all the cool things I would like to do? If I could just get the rich people at 1122 to be generous. That is not how it works. He owns it all. He has it all.

He needs nothing. He wants your heart. And then Jesus shares this really, really short parable. He says, 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? In other words, he's saying the way people handle their finances affects every other part of their lives. It may be positive, it may be negative. But what you do with money affects every other part of your life. Verse 24, another very famous verse, he says this, 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 both God and money. No one can serve two masters, which, honestly, if you're at church today, you're probably like, whoa, whoa, whoa, well, pastor. Money is not my master. Okay, cool. Then tell it what to do.

Tell it what to do. Take your next paycheck and just invest it into some gospel work around the world. You know, well, I can't do that because I got bills. And I got, okay, well, then guess what? The Bible says that the rich rule over the poor and the debtor is slave to the land. tender. God wants you to be in the kind of place where you get to tell your money what to do

for your joy and his glory. And then of all the things Jesus could pick, as the primary competitor for the heart, he says, you cannot serve both God and he doesn't say Satan, doesn't say the flesh, doesn't say this world. He says, God and money. Because the crazy thing about the way money works, man, is the things we own begin to own us. The things we grab on to, begin to grab on to us. The thing we invests our time and energy and hopes in always let us down. Clesiastes 510 says this. He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income. This is also vanity. Now watch what Jesus does in this sermon. In my Bible, there's a little headers so you can like figure out where you are. But there's no break in this sermon.

So he's just talking about no one can serve two masters. No one can serve two masters. Therefore, so based on that, teaching on money, he says this. I tell you, do not be anxious about your life. One of the things you learn if you do any counseling classes is you're never supposed to tell people how to feel. This is why I'm a terrible counselor. Because people are like, I'm worried. I'm like, cool, don't.

That'll be $1,000. All right, so. This is what Jesus does. He goes, what are you worried about? Twitch is like, a lot. I got bills and student loans, and I need this business deal to go through, and I'm trying to keep up with the Joneses.

Which, by the way, if you're trying to keep up with the Joneses, the Joneses are going to hell. Don't keep up, man. And if your last name is Jones, surrender your life to the Lord's of Christ so you don't go to hell, please. But Jesus is like, don't be anxious about your life, what you'll eat or what you'll drink,

or about your body, what you'll put on. And then here's the question. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? And we would all say, of course it is. And yet money still is one of the primary worry causes in our culture. Money is still one of the primary reasons listed when people fill out while we got divorced. And Jesus is like, what's wrong with you? The richest country and the history of the world got more money than any other group of people ever.

and yet you worry about it more than anything else. You see, Jesus would agree with the late theologian, Biggie Smalls. More money, more problems. And he's trying to set us free. And then Jesus, on the sermon on the Mount, is going to talk about two categories of people when it comes to money. And all of us fall into one of these two categories.

There are the savers and the spenders. How many savers do we have in the house? If you're a saver, raise your hand. Okay, look at it. See? They're just like... So confidence, you dang right, right here. That's it, okay?

Mature saver right here, okay, cool. How many spenders up in here, all right? Yeah, the fun people, glory to God. All right. Now, typically what happens, typically, I saw two, I tell, I see a married spender spender, that's dangerous. Oh, yeah, I'm going to be broke. Typically, you get a spender and a saver,

and they fall in love and just fight it out for the rest of their life, all right? Now, Jesus, the first category is going to talk about it. He's talking to the savers, and here's what it is, Is there any problem saving? No, no problem saving. Providers 1322. A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children.

You're supposed to save. You're supposed to save diligently. Okay. However, the problem that he's talking about is when you begin to tie your savings to your security. It's a problem when you, every morning you wake up, the first thing you do is you check your bank account. And you were looking for a number on a screen. And you think that number somehow protects you. and it can't protect you.

It can't protect you, man. One visit from the highway patrolman about your child, your world's upside down. One visit to the doctor, no matter how much money you have in the bank, and everything's upside down. And so to the people that are trying to look for money

for their security, here's what he says. He says, look at the birds of the air. Now again, this is called the sermon on the mount, because he's standing on a mountain. And I think Jesus, the great teacher, I think some birds fly off. And it's like, look, birds. And everybody's like, sure, birds.

Now, he is Jesus, so he could have been like, cue the birds and every, you know, here they come. I don't know. But he's like, all right, man. There's birds right there. Look at these birds. And here's their saving program. Ready?

They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns. So look at the birds. They don't have a 401K. They got no retirement plan. They don't have a college fund. You know what their college plan is? Kick them out the nest and go, good luck. That's it.

That's all they do. And yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. And here's the key question. Are you not of more of value than birds? Don't tell Peter this. But according to the Bible, you're more important than birds. And if God takes care of every bird on the planet, won't he take care of you?

This is what he's saying. In other words, don't put your trust for security in your finances. Put your trust for security in your Heavenly Father, because he loves you and he'll take care of you. Verse 27, in which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to a span of life? The answer is none. In fact, the average American loses three years off of their life

because of what stress and anxiety over money does to the human body. Three years. And now he's going to talk to the spenders. Because it's about this time where the spenders. Who are the spenders again? Let's get it up there, confess. I'm in your group, that's right, all right? Man, another married couple, spender, spender.

Oh, in trouble, too. You see, we're like, get them, Jesus. Get them, because my spouse, with the savings, we got a rainy day fund. It could be a monsoon for a decade, and we'd still be okay, all right? You see, because the Bible doesn't mean, listen, the Bible, when we talk about the things

of this world not satisfying, it doesn't mean if you're a Christian, you've got to, like, wear a potato sack, and live in a cave, and you can only come out on triple coupon Thursday. That's not what it means. It's about where you put in your hope, where are you put in your trust?

And so for the spenders, he says this, and why are you anxious about clothing? And he's not just picking on clothes, what he's saying is, if you look to money to bring satisfaction and status, it just won't work, it'll just let you down. And then he points, he's like, look, consider to the lilies,

and there's lilies on that mountain. Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin or go to the mall. They don't buy any. on Amazon, they don't try clothes on, and yet I tell you even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed or dressed like one of these. I don't have time to fully go into it, but around here we lovingly call this the cul-de-sac of stupidity. When we think stuff will do for us what it cannot

do for us, and then we do it again, that's the cul-de-sac of stupidity. And here's what I mean, right? Like, you get some stuff and you think it's going to, like you get some pants. And if you need pants. Get you some pants. Just realize it's still you in the pants. They ain't going to do anything for you. And I'm not saying stuff is stupid. I'm saying you're stupid. Because we go back to the thing that just let us down and be like, this time, newer model, bingo, it's going to do it for me. Take another leg, Clark. That's what's happening. First third. But if God so close the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, oh, you of little faith.

See, we all have faith. We just have misplaced faith. We all have trust. The problem is, is if you're putting your trust, either in your finances for your security or you're putting it in some stuff for satisfaction, you're just misplacing it, and it will let you down. But when you put your trust in the sovereign king of the universe,

who's also your father, and he's a good dad, and he loves to give good gifts, not only can you trust him for your security and your satisfaction, but then and only then can you enjoy all the other gifts that he gives you because when you enjoy these gifts it doesn't terminate on the gift but it rises up to the giver of the gift that's how we were created to live and so he says but if god so close the grass of the field which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven will he not much more clothe you oh you of little faith what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear

And this should sting a little. For the Gentiles seek after these things. He's like, a bunch of you're spending money, like, you don't even believe in God. You're like, whoa, but whoa, settle down. What do you mean I don't believe in God? That's what he means by Gentiles. It's not just non-Jewish. He's like, you spend money.

Like, you don't even trust that there's a God. You're like, whoa, I believe in God. I come to church. I sing. I close my eyes sometimes, you know, if I know the word's good enough, do the Pledge of Jesus. I'm in the disciple group, all these kind of things. He's like, yeah, that's cool.

but if I look at your bank account, it is like you are investing money only in you and your bank account for your satisfaction and for your enjoyment. And you're practically in your finance acting like an atheist. He goes, for the Gentiles seek after these things

and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them all. Verse 33, but seek first. The kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you. And the first isn't clothes and stuff for the first, you seek first, the kingdom of God, and security and satisfaction will be added unto you when you realize that Christ is enough.

That's the freedom, man. You see, so the Bible teaches, if you've been around church, maybe you've heard of the tithe, the tithe. It doesn't just mean 10%. It means the first 10%. And for sure, it was the law and the old covenant, and it's a good place to start in the new.

When people ask me, how much should I give to Jesus? I would say all of it. all of it you bring him your first and you bring him all your sorrows all your sin all your desperation all your hopes and dreams and he gives you himself and he is more than enough that's better man that's just better and so we bring to god our first and our best and here's the thing every single one of us are tithing to something something gets our first the problem is it can't do for us what our Heavenly Father can do for us. And so the reason we do this is because God is first, Genesis 1-1, in the beginning of God,

because God loves first, 1 John 4-10. This is love, not that we love him, but he loved us and sent his son as a propitiation for our sin. That God went first, Romans 5-8, that God demonstrated his love for us in this, that while we were yet still sinners, Christ died for us. Therefore, we bring to God our first and best, because he loved us by giving us his first and best in Jesus Christ. Now, again, we're not taking up an offering here.

It's not what we're going to do. In fact, I can only find one place in all of the scripture where Jesus took up money. One time he didn't have enough money to pay his taxes, so we went fishing, praise God, all right? Now, there for sure are offerings all in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. But there's only one time in the Bible in the New Testament where Jesus said, give me some money. And at the end of the conversation, he gave it back. it's in Matthew chapter 22 it's in Matthew chapter 22

and if you think all of this talk is about money you'll miss the whole point and you're going to hear in this even if you're brand new to Bible study there is a verse in here that you hear people especially politicians quote all the time and they misquote it and it's quoted out of context all

the time it doesn't mean what we try to make it mean today Matthew chapter 22 the Pharisees went and they plotted how to entangle Jesus in his work And they sent their disciples to him along with the Herodian saying, Teacher, they're going to try to butter him up. We know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion,

for you are not swayed by appearance. Tell us what you think, is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? They thought they had him trapped. But Jesus, aware of their malice, be real careful if you're trying to trick Jesus. Like, even at the end of the sermon, if you're like, I'm going to give more than ever because I figure this out. Be careful, man.

Remember, he wants your heart. But Jesus aware of their malice said, why put me to the test, you hypocrites? He's so aggressive. Show me the coin for the tax. And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, whose likeness and inscription is this?

And they said, Caesar's. And then he said, here's the famous line, therefore render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar and to God the things that are gods. This has nothing to do with separation of church and state and a bunch of words we've made up okay that's not what he's talking about at all and when they heard it they marveled and they left him and they went away you see actually pastor olson taught me this a couple years ago in a bible study we were doing they come up to him they're

trying to trap and they're like all right we got a question for you jesus and what they think is no matter what he answers he'll get in trouble with some group of people that's listening either the romans or the jews and they're like how we got it so should we pay taxes and he goes give me a dollar and they hand him a coin, a denarius. And he holds that thing up, and he looks at it, and he goes, whose image is this? They look. That's Caesar.

He goes, right. So give to Caesar, what is Caesar's? At some point, back in the Mint, when they were creating this coin, they imprinted the image of Caesar on this thing, and the way that you know it's Caesar's is because it bears the image of Caesar. So do with money what you're supposed to do with money. You buy stuff and you sell stuff and you trade stuff and you pay your taxes and you do all those things. That's what this thing can do and that's what you should use it for.

Makes a terrible God makes a great tool. Render under Caesar what is Caesar's. And then in the New Testament all it says and to the God and to God the things that are gods. But just use your Holy Spirit inspired imagination for a second. And what if? What if? I could just add a little and say. And imagine Jesus looking at them.

And once again, it goes, so whose image is born on this coin? Caesar's. Then he puts his finger in one of their chest and says, and whose image do you bear? You see, because just like this coin, when it was in the mint, the image of Caesar was imprinted on it. When you were knit together in your mother's womb, God created you as an end. image bearer of God. So give to Caesar what bears his image, these coins. And give to me you.

Give to me you. Because you bear the image of the almighty God. And when he created you and breathed the ruah of life into you and you open your eyes, you were created to be in that face-to-face intimate relationship with the king of the universe who wants to be known as your heavenly faith. Father and the things of this world will just never get you there, but that relationship with him will satisfy you and bring you an eternal security that only he can bring. So use money the way money is supposed to be used, but do not be used up by this world,

but give yourself. An image bearer of God, give yourself to me. Why? Because no one can serve two masters. No one can serve two masters. because what will happen when you try to serve two masters, it will rip you apart. I've told you before, it's like you ever see somebody getting out of a boat on a dock too slow?

You can't stay there very long, man. You've got to make a decision. And Jesus is saying, when you got one foot in the God camp and you got one foot in the world camp, these things are heading in different directions, and it is going to tear you apart, and you are an image bearer of God. So render under Caesar's what is Caesar.

and give God you, because you are an image bearer of him. And so we're going to close today the way we always close. No special offering, you don't have to sign anything. We are going to bring back to God our first and our best. We are. We're going to bring to him our first and our best. And for some of you, your step of faith for the very first time is you are going to begin to trust God and not in yourself. And you are going to trust him with your first and your first.

and your best because you're believing he's a good dad. If he takes care of the birds and he takes care of the flowers, surely he can take care of me. And all of us probably need to repent. Because when it comes to finances, man, it's just the water that we are swimming in is driving us towards the world's way of doing finances. And every one of us have a blind spot. And we need to come before the Lord and say, Lord, I need you to help me. I need you to show me.

I need you to get the grip of this world off of me and the area of my finances. and I want to walk in the freedom and in the blessing that you have called me to. I want to use these things to glorify you, not be used by these things for the glory of this world. And we're going to sing. And funny enough, not only did Pastor Olson teach me what Jesus meant in Matthew 22, he also wrote the song that we're going to sing. And the crux of the song is this, I want to love you. God, I want to love you.

I live in a world, and there's a million things trying to tear me apart. and I want to love you. And it's kind of easy to do in our churches right now, right? It's kind of easy to do when we're all here together and just heard an amazing sermon and we're about to sing this great song. It's kind of easy to do. And then by Tuesday, after your about your millionth ad

of what you've got to have to make it through the week comes through, you begin to get dragged away. And in those moments, you're going to say, no, no, no, God, I want to love you. I want to love you. I want to love you. And so we're going to respond. We're going to pray.

And I'm telling you, I know we've been talking about money for an hour. This place should be filled up, me going first, saying, Lord, I repent. I repent. And we're going to bring our first and our best. And we're going to sing. I want to love you.

Would you please stand? Let me pray for you. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we love you more than anything because you first loved us. Lord, I pray for the families right now that feel like they are in financial bondage because they are. God, would you set them free? God, would you start with a heart

and then when you follow up with some brothers and sisters around them that can teach them the skills, the abilities, the techniques to walk out of that ditch? Knowing that you walk with them, your rod and your staff protects them. And Lord, I thank you. That Jesus, you did not come and give a part of yourself,

but you gave it all. You poured out all of yourself on the cross for all of us that would believe. And Lord, I pray, I pray for a supernatural outpouring of freedom and blessing on every single family in this church, every single individual in this church. And Lord, that we would love you. That we would see this world for the thing that it is, temporary, shiny little trinkets that can do nothing for our soul. And Lord, I pray that we would bring to you our first and our best and that you would allow us to enjoy every good and perfect gift that comes from you. Lord, may there be freedom in this place and that freedom comes from your life.

We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. So let's sing, let's bring, let's pray. Let's respond.