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First Baptist Church Leominster iconFirst Baptist Church Leominster

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Responsibility as an extension of the Apostle Paul was to appoint elders in every church. And so here he's giving instruction to Titus to remind the churches, probably the elders of the churches in this way.
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Titus 3, verse 1. Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.
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For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others, and hating one another.
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But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us. Not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the
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Holy Spirit. And He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Lord, so that being justified by His grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
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This saying is trustworthy. I want you to insist on these things so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works.
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These things are excellent and profitable for people. But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.
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As for a person who stirs up division after warning him once and then twice have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful.
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He is self -condemned. When I send Artemis or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me in Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there.
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And do your best to speed Zenos the lawyer and Apollos on their way. See that they lack nothing.
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And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works so as to help cases of urgent need and not be unfruitful.
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And all who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all.
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Amen. Let's pray, please. Our Father, we pray you'd help us to live lives of practical
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Christianity as shown forth in our relationships with others about us.
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And so we pray, our God, you would assist us, give us great grace.
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Lord, that we would be ready for every good work, that we would speak evil of no one, avoid quarreling, that we would be gentle and show courtesy toward everyone.
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For we know, Lord, that once we were the scandalous, or we were scandalous in our lives, in our thinking, in their behavior, our attitudes, disobedient, led astray.
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But you were good to us, our God. Your loving kindness was shown to us. You saved us by your grace, not because of anything we did, could do, would do, but because of your purpose in Christ, showing us mercy, causing us to be born again, the
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Washington of regeneration and renewing us, renewing our thinking, Lord, our hearts, our mind, our motivations, our goals by the blessed
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Holy Spirit you poured out richly upon us through our Lord Jesus Christ. And so, our
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Father, we pray that you would help us to live lives as Christians should live. And we pray, our
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God, again, that you would forgive us for where we sin and fail. And now as our brother
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Jason comes to bring forth your word to us, Lord, we may be confronted with issues, behavior, attitudes, actions that are not right.
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We pray that we would take your word that we hear and apply it to ourselves, humble ourselves before you and seek mercy and grace that you would cleanse us,
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Lord, and help us to live rightly before you according to your word. And so bless these words of our
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Savior Jesus Christ that he gave so long ago on that mount. Bless it to us, our
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God, now as they're delivered to us. For we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Jason, please.
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Charles Spurgeon once said, The heart must and will go in the direction of that which we count precious.
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The whole man will be transformed into the likeness of that for which he lives.
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Where we place our treasures, our thoughts will naturally fly. In other words, the human heart, the wellspring of spiritual life, the seed of your emotions, your source of your will, your desires and your affections will always follow after that which you consider to be most valuable.
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Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Please join me in the book of Matthew.
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Our text this morning is Matthew 6, verses 19 -24. And in this passage, the
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Lord Jesus Christ warns us about fixing our hearts on worldly and temporal treasures.
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Let's look at the text together. Matthew 6, verses 19 -24
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Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.
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But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
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For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 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. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.
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If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.
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You cannot serve God and money. In this passage, we're given two commands, verses 19 and 20, followed by a spiritual principle, verse 21, and then an illustration of this principle, verses 22 through 23, and finally a conclusion regarding this principle, verse 24.
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Let's begin with the commands. Matthew 6, 19 through 20. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.
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But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
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There are two commandments in these verses. There is a negative command and there is a positive command.
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The negative command comes first. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth.
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The terms lay up and treasures are two very similar words. In fact, these two words are derived from the same root word, thesaurus, which is where we get the
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English word, thesaurus, which is a treasury or a collection of words.
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These two terms are actually a play on words. The phrase literally reads treasure not up treasures.
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In other words, don't stockpile your treasures. Don't hoard your treasures.
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Don't stash away your treasures. But to what does the term treasures refer?
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What sort of things are we forbidden to stockpile, to hoard, and to stash away?
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This term means a great deal more than merely money alone. Treasures is a very broad and an all -inclusive term.
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And in this context, the term refers to anything that is considered to be valuable but perishable.
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Anything that is considered to be of worth but can also be lost in one way or another.
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So the term could refer to money or to material possessions, but it could also refer to immaterial things as well, such as power, prestige, or celebrity.
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Whatever earthly thing that is highly important to an individual is his treasure.
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It refers to anything of value or worth that is limited or restricted to this temporal world.
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The reason why we're commanded not to stockpile treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, it's because treasures kept on earth are never safe.
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They're never secure. They're never lasting. Everything on earth will eventually decay.
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Everything will rot. Everything will fade away. And eventually, everything will deteriorate completely.
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All of your earthly treasures will eventually spoil. All of them will corrode.
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They will eventually corrupt over time. None of your earthly treasures will ever be completely safe or secure in this world.
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So kingdom Christians are commanded to avoid laying up things that moth and rust can destroy, things that rust, things that can decay, and things that thieves can easily break in and steal.
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Well, practically speaking, what does this mean? What is being specifically prohibited in this verse?
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Is it a ban on owning possessions? Is it a ban on owning luxurious possessions? Is it a ban on putting away and saving money for the future?
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Well, this verse is not referring to the things that we use in our everyday lives. It's not talking about the things that are our necessities, nor is this verse talking about the active things in our lives, but to the things which are inactive, the things which are being stockpiled, the things which are being hoarded.
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This verse is referring to our surplus. It's referring to our excess. It's referring to our overabundance.
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This verse is talking about that which goes beyond what we can possibly use. It's referring to the things that we don't use, the things that you are stashing away somewhere and keeping for yourself.
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The implication is that there is an abundance too numerous for you to use, but you continue to keep on hoarding.
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You continue to keep on piling them up. In other words, this passage is forbidding the selfish accumulation of goods.
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The key word in this verse is yourselves. This passage is forbidding laying up for yourselves treasures on earth.
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The Lord Jesus Christ is not forbidding us from earning and possessing money. He's not forbidding us from earning and possessing a lot of money, nor is
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He forbidding us from keeping money and saving it for future purposes. Rather, He is forbidding us from storing money for the sake of storing money to selfishly accumulate more and more wealth.
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The Scriptures never forbid Christians from owning property or possessions or even luxurious possessions.
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Abraham was an extremely rich man. His wealth, his influence, his military power competed with many of the kings of Canaan, even though he was a shepherd.
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And neither do the Scriptures forbid putting away or saving money for the future. In the book of Proverbs, the slugger is told to go to the aunt and to consider her ways and be wise.
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Why? Because, Proverbs 7 and 8, without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.
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Likewise, Paul gave similar instructions about the importance of financial provision in the book of 1
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Timothy. 1 Timothy 5, 8, But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
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The great concern behind this command, not laying up for yourselves treasures on earth, is not so much the treasures themselves, but our attitude towards our treasures.
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God's primary concern is the relationship that exists between our heart and our treasures.
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Take a look at Matthew 6, 21, For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
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Now think about the implication of what this verse is saying. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
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It's not the treasure that follows the heart. It's the heart that follows the treasure.
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Beloved, your treasures and your cherished possessions are inseparable and indivisible from your passions and your desires.
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Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. And if your treasure is earthly, then your heart will likewise be earthly.
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If your treasure is heavenly, then your heart will likewise be heavenly. If everything you value and set your heart upon is on earth, then you will have very little interest in the eternal things of God.
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But if all throughout your life your eyes are continually fixed upon the eternal things of God, then you will lightly esteem the things in this world.
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Matthew Henry commented, We are therefore concerned to be right and wise in the choice of our treasure, because of the temper of our minds and consequently the tenor of our lives will either accordingly be carnal or spiritual, earthly or heavenly.
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The heart follows the treasure as the needle follows the lodestone or the sunflower the sun.
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At the location of your treasure, there also is your love, your affections.
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Where the treasure, there is your value and your esteem. Where the treasure, there are your desires, your pursuits, your hopes, your trust, your joy, and your delight.
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Beloved, the heart belongs to God. The heart is God's due.
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And thus our treasures must be laid up with Him. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
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The love of money, the pursuit of money, is to focus on the temporal. It is to reject the eternal.
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To spend your time, your energy, and your resources amassing more and more wealth is to completely waste your life.
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What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and yet forfeit his soul? It wouldn't matter if somehow you acquired every last cent, every last treasure that this world affords, because on the day you die, you will most assuredly lose it all.
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John Wesley rightly said, the real value of a thing is the price it will bring in eternity.
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To spend your life in love with money, to spend your life pursuing money, is to pursue that which is temporal and fleeting.
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It is to pursue that which absolutely has no eternal value whatsoever.
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1 Timothy 6 -7 For we brought nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world.
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But if we have food and clothing with these, we will be content. In this life, true contentment has nothing to do with how much wealth you possess.
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It's completely unrelated to how many possessions you own. The accumulation of wealth and possessions are like salt water, and the more you drink, the more thirsty you become.
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Enough is never enough. Ecclesiastes 5 -10 He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income.
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This also is vanity. Why? Verse 11 When goods increase, they increase who eat them.
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And what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? An unhealthy love of money, an unhealthy love of possessions will bring great complication into your life.
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Because the love of money and possessions obscures the simplicity of life. The more money and the more possessions that you own, the more complex and difficult your life will become.
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Randy Alcorn, the author of the book Money, Possessions, and Eternity wrote this,
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The greater the mass, the greater the hold that mass exerts. The more things we own, the greater their total mass.
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The more they grip us, setting us in orbit around them. Finally, like a black hole, they suck us in.
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We think we own our possessions, but too often, our possessions own us.
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Every item we buy is one more thing to think about, to talk about, to clean, to repair, to rearrange, to fret over, and to replace when it goes bad.
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So instead of being able to enjoy God, instead of being able to fellowship with each other, instead of being eternally minded, our possessions take hold of us.
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And we redirect our attention and our focus and our energy away from the creator to the created.
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Kingdom Christians are not to lay up for themselves treasures on earth.
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But rather, kingdom Christians are to lay up for themselves treasures in heaven. Matthew 6, 20
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But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
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Well, practically speaking, how do we accomplish this? How do we lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven?
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The apostle Paul actually gives us the answer to this question in his first letter to Timothy. 1
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Timothy 6, 17 As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.
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Verse 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, and to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.
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How do you lay up treasures in heaven? By doing good. By being rich in good works.
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By being generous. And by being ready to share the things that God has given to you with others.
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Beloved, our responsibility is to use our resources, our God -given resources, to meet the needs of others.
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Prosperity and abundance are never God's provision for us to live in luxury. Prosperity and abundance are
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God's provision for us to help and to assist other people. The money that God has entrusted to you is not yours.
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And it's not for your kingdom. The money is His, and it is to be used for His kingdom.
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2 Corinthians 8, 14 Your abundance, at the present time, should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness.
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Again, Alcorn comments, God comes right out and tells us why He gives us more money than we need.
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It's not so that we can find more ways to spend it. It's not so that we can indulge ourselves and spoil our children.
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It's not so we can insulate ourselves from needing God's provision. It's so we can give and give generously.
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In our North American culture, far too often, we assume that when God increases our income,
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He does it in order that our standard of living might also be increased. And the extra money that God provides is spent on bigger and better things.
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But God's true purpose in increasing your income is to increase your giving.
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It's to increase your generosity to others. I think it all boils down to the matter of stewardship.
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Am I being a good steward of the money that God has entrusted to me? Am I acting as if I own this money?
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Or am I acting as a faithful steward of the Lord Jesus Christ, spending His money on His kingdom?
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What's the first and greatest commandment? You shall love the Lord your
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God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. And what's the second? You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
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Are we truly obeying this command to love our neighbors as ourselves if we are storing up and hoarding money for potential future needs when our neighbor is laboring today under actual present needs?
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Are we truly obeying this command to love our neighbor as ourselves if we are multiplying our money and our possessions, yet turning a blind eye to the impoverished world around us?
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In the 18th century, John Wesley was a preacher and a hymn writer during the Great Awakening. But as a young man at Oxford University, he began to limit his expenses so that he would have more money to give to the poor.
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The first year, his income was 30 pounds, and his living expenses were 28 pounds, so he had 2 pounds to give away.
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The next year, his income doubled, but he still managed to live on 28 pounds, so he gave 32 pounds to give to the poor.
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In the third year, his income jumped to 90 pounds. But instead of letting his expenses rise with the income, he kept them to 28 pounds and gave away 62 pounds.
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In the fourth year, he received 120 pounds, so his giving rose to 92 pounds.
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And this practice, which he began as a student at Oxford, continued all throughout his life. Even when his income grew to thousands of pounds sterling, he lived simply, and he quickly gave away his surplus money.
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One year, his income was over 1 ,400 pounds, and that year, he lived on 30 pounds, and he gave the rest away.
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Wesley recognized that money and possessions are a trap, so the money went out as quickly as it came in.
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And in his journal, he reports that he never had more than 100 pounds at any given time. In 1744,
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Wesley wrote, When I die, if I leave behind me 10 pounds, you and all mankind can bear witness against me that I have lived and died a thief and a robber.
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And when he died in 1791, the only money mentioned in his will were the miscellaneous coins to be found in his pockets and his dresser drawers.
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Most of the 30 ,000 pounds he had earned in his lifetime, he had given away.
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Wesley clearly demonstrated that his heart followed his treasure, and his treasure was the
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Lord Jesus Christ and his kingdom. Beloved, make certain that your heart is following the right leading.
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Put your hope in the Lord Jesus Christ and not on the uncertainty of riches.
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So rather than pursuing temporal and earthly treasures, rather than pursuing the accumulation of wealth and material possessions, we must seek the things that are eternal.
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We must pursue the things that are eternal by laying up for ourselves treasures in heaven.
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Well, how do we accomplish this difficult task? How do we ensure that our hearts will seek and pursue the right treasure?
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How do we ensure that our heart will seek and pursue the eternal things of God rather than the temporal treasures of this world?
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Matthew 6 .22 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. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.
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If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness. Now there are quite a few differing opinions on the meaning of this illustration.
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And I tend to lead towards the simplest and the most straightforward. In the scriptures, the eyes are often associated with the heart.
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In fact, in many passages, the eyes are synonymous with the heart. Deuteronomy 4 .9
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Only take care and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life.
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Psalm 131 .1 O Lord, my heart is not lifted up. My eyes are not raised too high.
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I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. In Ephesians 1 .18
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Paul prays that God would grant to the Ephesian church the spirit of wisdom and of revelation and the knowledge of Him.
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Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which
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He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints. In Matthew 6 .22
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the Lord Jesus Christ is transitioning from the stated importance of having our heart in the right place, verse 21, to the importance of having our eyes healthy or fixed upon the proper things.
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Not only must our hearts be in the right place, but our eyes must be sound and healthy because the eye is the lamp of the body.
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Meaning the eyes enable a person to see light. The eyes discover. The eyes direct.
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The eye is the body's primary channel for gathering and learning information.
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In this illustration the eye is pictured as a window which through light comes into the body.
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Now if a window is clean and the glass is clear and the light that comes in will shine through into the room.
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But if the window is dirty or the glass is tinted or discolored or covered up then light will be hindered from shining into the room.
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The amount and the quality of light that comes into a room is dependent upon the condition of the window through which it comes.
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And likewise the amount and the quality of light that comes into our bodies depends on the condition of the eye through which the light comes.
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If your eye is healthy then your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad then your whole body will be full of darkness.
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Well what constitutes a healthy eye? What makes an eye healthy?
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This term healthy is used only two times in all the scriptures. It's used here and in the parallel passage of Luke 11 34.
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And the literal meaning of this term is to be single which is how the King James Version translates this passage.
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When thine eye is single thy whole body also is full of light.
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For an eye to be healthy it must be single or it must possess a singular vision.
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A healthy eye does not have any cataracts or blind spots or shadows or blurs or double vision.
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A healthy eye sees clearly what is set before it and it passes on this outlook to the rest of the body.
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In this context a healthy eye or a single eye is referring to an eye that has single minded devotion.
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It refers to an eye that is fixed on the spiritual and eternal things of God. The implication of verse 22 is that if our eye or is that if our heart which is represented by the eye is single or healthy then our whole spiritual life will be filled with spiritual understanding or light.
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A few passages back in the Beatitudes we see that God our Father grants special blessing to those who are pure in heart.
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Matthew 5 8 says blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see
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God. The term translated pure means to be clean or to be free from contamination and it carries with it the idea of being unsoiled and unblemished without spot without impurity.
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This term was often used to describe metal that had been refined by fire removing all the dross and the impurity leaving behind nothing but the purest of metal.
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And in this sense purity means to be unmixed or unalloyed or unadulterated.
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The phrase pure in heart is primarily expressing this idea. It refers to a heart that is unmixed with impurity.
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A heart that is undivided in its devotion. A heart that is single minded or wholly committed to one solitary thing.
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And that one solitary thing is the Lord Jesus Christ. In the last chapter of First Chronicles King David fervently prayed for the people of Israel and for his son
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Solomon that they both might possess a pure heart. First Chronicles 29
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I know my God that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart
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I have freely offered all these things and now I have seen your people who are present here offering freely and joyously to you.
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O Lord the God of Abraham Isaac and Israel our fathers keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people and direct their hearts towards you.
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Verse 19 Grant to Solomon my son a whole heart that he may keep your commandments your testimonies your statues performing all and that he may build the palace for which
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I have made provision. King David's prayer was for their hearts to be completely and thoroughly devoted to the
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Lord God. King David prays that God would grant them a whole heart a single minded heart an undivided heart a heart that will keep
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God's commandments keep his testimonies keep his statues. J .C.
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Ryle remarked singleness of purpose is one great secret of spiritual prosperity.
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It is the one great secret singleness of purpose. Well in contrast to a pure heart and a healthy eye is an impure heart and a bad eye.
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A bad eye will blind and distort your vision. A bad eye will fill your body with spiritual confusion and disorder and darkness.
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An impure heart is a heart that is mixed with impurity. A heart that is divided in its devotion.
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It is a heart that is double minded a heart that is hypocritical and worldly. A man with a bad eye and with a duplicitous heart is
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Proverbs 28, 22. A stingy man who hastens after wealth and does not know that poverty will come upon him.
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Beloved God desires that our hearts be entirely devoted to Him.
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God desires that our eyes be fixed firmly upon Him. But very often in our lives we find ourselves with divided loyalties.
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Very often we find ourselves in possession of a divided heart and a bad eye.
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In the world in which we live it's very easy to get overwhelmed and distracted. Not only with the difficulties but also with the delights that this world affords.
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The world and the things in the world can be very alluring. They can be very attractive. And they can easily redirect our attention away from the
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Lord Jesus Christ and away from His kingdom. The desire of our hearts may be to serve the
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Lord Jesus Christ. The desire of our hearts may be to follow Him and to glorify
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Him. But we also desire other things. Desires of the flesh.
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The desires of the eyes and the boastful pride of life. Even though all these things are passing away.
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Even though all of these things can be destroyed by moth and rust or stolen by thieves or ultimately lost at death.
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Our hearts still greatly desire the temporal treasures of this world.
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So how do we ensure that our eyes and our hearts will seek and pursue the right treasure?
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How do we ensure that our eyes and our hearts will seek and pursue the eternal things of God rather than the temporal treasures of this world?
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Beloved, we must develop an eternal perspective. We must view all temporal and earthly things through the lens of eternity and through the lens of our relationship with our eternal
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God. As Christians, we must recognize our status in this world.
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Christians are exiles. Christians are aliens. We are temporary sojourners.
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We are pilgrims. We don't belong in this world. We have been called out of this world.
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We have been delivered by God from the kingdom of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of His beloved
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Son. Ephesians 2, 4 through 6. But God being rich in mercy because of His great love with which
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He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, God made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved.
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Verse 6, and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
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Beloved, we are seated, present tense, with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
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In other words, we are no longer a part of this present world. We have been raised up. We have been seated far above the penalty of sin, far above the power of sin, and far above our bondage to sin and to the things of this world.
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Our citizenship, Philippians 3, 20, is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body by the power that enables
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Him to subject all things to Himself. As citizens of the kingdom, we are merely temporary residents of this world.
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We are exiles, we are foreigners, we are strangers, we are aliens. Simply put, you do not belong to this world.
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So in light of this truth, in light of our current status in this world, in light of our citizenship, how then are we to live?
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We should live like an exile. We should live like an alien, like a temporary resident.
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Meaning, don't get too comfortable in this world. And don't get caught up in the things of this world.
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Don't set your hopes, your dreams on the uncertainties of this world. Because this world is passing away.
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But rather, live your life in the light of eternity. Colossians 3, 1,
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If you've been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above. Where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
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Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
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When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with Him in glory.
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A .T. Robinson wrote this, It does matter what we think, and we are responsible for our thoughts.
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Paul does not mean that we should never think the things upon the earth, but that these things should not be our aim, our goal, our master.
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The Christian has to keep his feet upon the earth, but his head in the heavens. He must be heavenly minded here on earth, and so help to make the earth like heaven.
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Beloved, does your heart seek the things that are above? Is your mind set on the things that are above?
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Are your eyes fixed upon the things that are above? Or are you distracted and weighed down by the things that are on earth?
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Do you daily live in the realization that you are a citizen of the kingdom of heaven?
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That your home and your kingdom are not of this world? Do you live in the realization that your inheritance, your reward, and your treasures are in heaven?
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And that these are protected by the Lord God for you.
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In my own struggle to maintain this eternal perspective, I found John Bunyan's book,
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Pilgrim's Progress, to be an extremely helpful resource. You probably figure that.
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I think I've mentioned it in my last three sermons. But in the introduction of Pilgrim's Progress, Bunyan writes this,
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All mankind are pilgrims. All are pressing through this world.
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The Christian willingly considers that his life is a journey because he is seeking a better country.
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But the greater multitude are anxious to prevent the recollection that time is a preparation for eternity.
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And in consequence of this neglect, they shudder when approaching the brink of the grave into which they are irresistibly plunged.
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Time hurries on. Those whose pilgrimage is limited to the foul but fascinating streets of the city of destruction, while those whose anxious cries lead them to the
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Christian calling, press on in the narrow and difficult path that leads to the heavenly
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Jerusalem. Bunyan likens our spiritual life to a long and treacherous journey, which leads us through many perilous and dangerous lands.
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But the Christian pilgrim recognizes that this journey is preparing him for eternity.
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The Christian pilgrim recognizes that his goal should not be for a pleasant and comfortable journey, but to reach his final destination.
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And if this is our ultimate goal, to reach our final destination, which is heaven, do you see how foolish and how absurd it is to fix your eyes on anything else?
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If heaven is the ultimate goal, we should let nothing that is temporal and fading, no treasures, no pleasures, no allurements to distract us from our journey forward.
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Proverbs 4 .25 Our eyes must look directly forward and our gaze be straight before you.
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Kingdom Christians must avert their eyes from the sparkle and the luster and the temptation of these temporal treasures.
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Kingdom Christians must maintain a clear and a singular eye, giving God and the things of God our soul and our undivided attention.
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And the reason why this is absolutely necessary, the reason why our hearts must remain undivided, is because just as a divided kingdom cannot stand, a divided heart cannot stand either.
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The Lord Jesus Christ makes this abundantly clear. The final verse in our passage this morning deals with the mutually exclusive nature of serving
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God and serving money. Look at verse 24. No one can serve two masters, for either you will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.
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You cannot serve God and money. Behind the decision to lay up treasures on earth, or to lay up treasures in heaven, behind the decision to fix our eyes on the temporal, or to fix our eyes on the eternal, is determined by yet another decision.
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The decision of whom you are going to serve. All of these choices, the two treasures, the two visions, are ultimately a choice between two masters.
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It's a choice between God and money. It's a choice between the creator himself, or anything that belongs to his creation.
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And no one can serve two masters. You cannot serve God and money.
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Well, why not? Why can't you serve both? Why can't you serve
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God and money? Why isn't it possible to serve two masters simultaneously?
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Well, in order to better understand this statement, it helps to understand the words that are used in the original language.
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The term translated masters is kurios, which is often translated as lord, referring to one who is sovereign or supreme in authority.
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And in this context, it refers to a slave owner. He to whom a person or thing belongs.
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He who has the power of deciding. He who has the ultimate ownership and uncontested power.
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Now, if two masters were to go along together in one direction, a servant may follow them both.
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But the moment that one master parts to the left and the other to the right, then you will see to which master the slave belongs.
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A slave cannot love and observe and cleave to both masters. If to the one, then not to the other.
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And if to the other, then not to the one. Beloved, all throughout the New Testament, over and over again, the
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Lord Jesus Christ is spoken of as our master. And we are his servants.
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Prior to salvation, we served a different lord. We served a different master. Sin was our lord.
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Sin was our sovereign. Sin was our master who ferociously ruled over us with supreme and uncontested authority.
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But upon receiving the Lord Jesus Christ, upon trusting in the
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Lord Jesus Christ, alone for our salvation, our bondage to sin was broken. The power that sin held over us was broken.
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And hence, we became slaves of God. Slaves to his righteousness.
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Romans 6. When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regards to righteousness.
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But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death.
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But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.
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You cannot claim the Lord Jesus Christ as your master if your allegiance is to anything or to anyone else, including yourself.
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To know God's commandment, to know His will, but to resist following and obeying it demonstrates that your loyalty does not belong to God, but to another.
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John Calvin says, Where riches hold the dominion of the heart, God has lost
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His authority. Just as you cannot walk in two directions, you cannot serve two masters.
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For either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the other. Our treasure is either here on earth or it's in heaven.
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Our spiritual life is either full of light or full of darkness. And our master and our
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Lord is either God or it's someone else or something else.
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So do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.
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But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroy, where thieves do not break in and steal.
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Beloved, make certain, make absolutely certain that your heart is following the right leading.
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For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Determine today to make the
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Lord Jesus Christ your treasure. Determine today to make the eternal things of God your treasure.
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Live in this world as an exile. Live as an alien. Live as one whose citizenship is in heaven, whose inheritance is in heaven, and whose final eternal destination is in heaven.
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Fix your eyes upon the Lord Jesus Christ and pursue these things.
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And if you do, your heart will be whole. Your heart will be undivided.
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It will be pure. And you will most assuredly see God. Put your hope in the things that are eternal, not on the uncertainty of riches.
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Let's pray. Gracious Father, we confess that we struggle with riches.
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We struggle with material possessions. We struggle with the things of this world. And so often,
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Lord, we make them our idols. And these idols are deaf and dumb and they cannot hear and they cannot deliver us.
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They cannot give us satisfaction. They cannot give us peace. And yet we continue to pursue them.
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Lord, forgive us for these things. Help us to flee from idolatry. Help us to flee from the love of money.
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Lord, I pray that each one of our hearts would follow Jesus Christ, that he would be our treasure.
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Lord, you have gifted us with so many spiritual blessings, with your Son, with your Spirit, with your
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Word. Help us, Lord, to focus on these things in the midst of difficulty, in the midst of sickness, in the midst of great lack.
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We pray, Lord, that we would remember our treasure and our inheritance, which is in heaven. Lord, help us to see things clearly.
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Thank you. In Jesus' name, amen. For more information, visit www .fema