Sermon Transcript

You may be seated. As you’re being seated, please take your neighbor’s Bible. Just take it! Take it, open it to Matthew chapter 6. If you happen to like their Bible better than the one that you have, you have permission to keep it for this service, and you can make the exchange at the end, if the other party is willing. Otherwise you would leave church guilty of being a thief of God’s Word—which is a weird thing to think about—but don’t steal  in church, even somebody else’s Bible!

So, you’ve got it open to Matthew chapter 6. A couple of weeks ago we began this series called Simply Church. We are diagnosing a problem. Here’s the problem: some people are too busy for church, some people have no time for church, and some people wrongly think that church makes your life more complex. Because we’ve only got a limited amount of time, money, energy and love, and we have to make choices where we give it.

And so, when you think about church, you’re saying, “I know what they want down there at that church! They want my time, they want my money, they want my energy and they want my love. And I only have so much to give, so I’m going to keep church at an arm’s distance.” That is wrong thinking! What we’re learning in this series is, in a simple church, it is simply the way to survive. When church is central—when Jesus is first—life actually gets simpler.

So that’s what we’re learning, and how we’re doing that is we’re looking at the most simple statements Jesus ever made. The first week we looked at the very simple statement in Matthew chapter 11 when He said, “Come to me.” [Matthew 11:28, ESV] It’s as simple as that. And do you know who He gave that invitation to? He said, “Come to me, all [of you] who [are weary] and are heavy laden…I will give you rest. [All you have to do is] Take my yoke upon you…My yoke is easy…my burden is light. [Come to Me!]”

And then, last week, we looked at the very simple statement that Jesus made to a guy that made church way too complex. He said, “[What] is the great commandment…[because I only got time for so many, I only got energy for so many; if, if you had to boil it down to one, Jesus, which commandment would it be]?” And what was it? Do you remember; do you remember? What was it? “…Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all [of] your mind and [then] love your neighbor as yourself.” And so, just real simple—it’s just all about loving God: “Come to Me, love God, love people.”

So now we’re going to get to the third statement. I’m going to give it to you right here at the beginning. Look at Matthew chapter 6, verse 33; Jesus said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things…” All these things that take your time, all these things that take your money, all these things that zap your strength, all these things that want your love…then all these things “…will be added to you.” And the prerequisite is that Jesus and His kingdom have to have first place. And when Jesus doesn’t have first place, life is not simple—life gets complex.

Now, you look at these four categories here—we’ve been using these throughout the series here—and some of you naturally have an aversion to the icon in the upper right-hand corner. Do you see that? You’ve tried to look away from that, and you’ve convinced yourself, “I’m going to try to endure! Surely if I keep coming to church, surely they’re not going to talk too much about money!” If you’ve never come to church before, and you’ve had the suspicion, “All they ever talk about down there at that church is money!”—I’m about to confirm your suspicion.

Actually, this is the one time in the year, probably, that I’ll preach about money, because–and I want to give you a disclaimer–right now, if you just think it’s going to get weird in here because we’re going to talk about money, you now have permission to stand up and leave. We won’t look! I won’t look. Anybody want to leave? Okay, so you’re too embarrassed to leave. So now you’re here, you’re locked in. So let’s talk about money!

Now everybody, relax. Everybody relax. God does not need or want your money. Turn to your neighbor and say, “God doesn’t want your money. God does not want your money! Relax!” Tell them to relax. “Relax! God doesn’t want your money!” Here’s what God wants: God wants your heart. And if God gets your heart, He will have no problem getting your money. And when God has the heart of the church, it is amazing how the church has money to do anything God wants it to do. God doesn’t want your money—God wants your heart; once God gets your heart, no problem getting your money—okay? So everybody just relax a little bit.

You know, it’s amazing when you talk about simple and complex. The title of the message today is The Cure for Anxiety, and we’re about to see that here in the passage. But there’s so much anxiety over money because we only have so much, right? And what’s amazing is, I have met people who make a vast amount of money. They make over a hundred-thousand dollars, they have two kids; and yet they are stressed and they are in debt and they’re worried about paying bills, and life is just super-complex.

And yet, I’ve met other people; their household income is like fifty-thousand dollars, they’ve got seven kids, and they are at peace, and the bills are paid and everything is just fine. Do you know what the difference between the two is? The difference is, one household—Jesus is first, and they’re seeking the kingdom of God first—and the other household, they’re seeking everything but the kingdom! Jesus says, “You want a simple life? Seek the kingdom of God first, and then all these things will be added to you.”

So, let’s kind of unpack it here. And we saw here in chapter 6, verse 33, it talks about the Kingdom. So here’s what we need to know, that Jesus is teaching. First of all:

 

1. Clashing kingdoms are competing for my first and best.

Do you understand, you live in a world of clashing kingdoms? We don’t think about kingdoms so much because we’re modern western American people, and we don’t think about kings and kingdoms—we think about presidential elections and things like that; we’re a democratic society.

And, and some of us, our life is complex, because we refuse to think of Jesus as a king. We like to think about Jesus as like a coach: kind of yelling advice from the sidelines, sending in a play, but then you get to call the audible. Listen, Jesus didn’t come to be your life coach! Jesus came to be your King, and He has invited you to be a citizen in His Kingdom. And for those of us that love Jesus and serve Jesus and seek Jesus, we are seeking the Kingdom of God on earth. Jesus taught us to pray, “[Lord,] Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” [Matthew 6:10] So, here we are as a church. And a lot of theologians have made the mistake of equating the Kingdom of God with the church.

Here’s the Kingdom of God – simplest definition I can come up with: the Kingdom of God is simply the rule and the reign of God. Now, Jesus said that rule and that reign is going to come completely on earth, but we’re not yet there. We live among clashing kingdoms, and every kingdom of this world wants you to seek it. And the kingdoms want first place in your life.

In a moment, we’re going to see that Jesus mentions three different kingdoms in the context of this passage: the kingdom of food, the kingdom of fashion and the kingdom of finances. We’re going to unpack that here in just a minute. But, every one of those wants first place. And those are not the only kingdoms, they want first place. And if you do not, every day, make a choice to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, your life’s not going to be simple! There is competition for your first and your best.

Now, we said that the Kingdom of God is not the church—but please don’t misunderstand; the church is the place on earth where the Kingdom of God is most fully visible, right? Those of us that serve Jesus, those of us that worship Jesus as a King, we sing to Jesus; this is the most visible form of the Kingdom. Those that are in right relationship, seeking the righteousness of God means we’re seeking the things to be right on earth according to God’s plan, especially in our hearts. So, the church is not the Kingdom, but it’s not less than the Kingdom.

So when we talk about Simply Church, it just simply means we seek to put Jesus first in everything, and we want to guard first place for that which is under the rule and the reign of Jesus Christ. Clashing kingdoms are competing. Now, when you don’t have Jesus in first place, what happens is, King Jesus and His church end up getting leftovers.

So, as we think about this area of, of money…and if you’re stressed about money, you’re anxious about money; if you never feel like you have enough money…listen, the problem is not that you don’t have enough money. The problem, if you’re anxious over money, is that you don’t have enough “simple!” And here’s the way you make finances simple—alright?—it’s the sequence. There’s only three things you can do with money: you can spend money, you can save money or you can give money. However you choose to order those will determine how simple your life is.

Here’s what God wants: When, when you seek the Kingdom of God first, you give first, you save second, and you spend whatever’s left. But, if you get the order backwards, you will be anxious. If you spend first, save second—and then give God your leftovers—now you’re going to feel guilty, now you’re going to feel stressed Because here’s the thing: I don’t know of a person who doesn’t want to give more.

If I talk to you and I was like, “How much…?” I don’t how much anybody in this church gives but me. But, I bet everybody in this church would like to give more to God. The problem is not that you’re not generous—the problem is that you’ve got the order wrong. If you give to God first out of all that God has given to you, and then you save some for some things that you know are coming (like emergencies that you didn’t plan on)…

…Yesterday, or actually a couple of days ago, my daughter Brooke—she was doing a recording down in Nashville, and so she asked if she could take my car down to Nashville—and I said, “Yes.” And so, on the way down there, she called me. She had a flat tire, and it wasn’t just a flat tire, she blew out the tire. So she calls, like, “Dad, we’re at Discount Tire and I need to get another tire. I just want to let you know, it’s going to be two-hundred dollars.” I’m like, “At Discount Tire it’s two-hundred dollars? That doesn’t sound like much of a discount. Okay, so…alright, put the thing on there.” Now, listen. I had a little bit of stress (I get a little stressed about sending two-hundred dollars anywhere!), but you know what? There’s an account sitting there for such emergencies that I didn’t plan on—because I know this is the way that life works. Children break your stuff!

So you’ve got to have something sitting there, right? Two days before that she said, “Dad, the windshield cracked!”—you know, and then three days before that: “My iPhone cord doesn’t work! Can I have yours?” Poof! “No, you’re stealing!” You know, so you have to give first, and then if there’s anything left over you save for stuff that’s going to break. And if there’s anything left over, you can spend that.

But if you get the order wrong, this is what happens: you spend, and if there’s anything left over after your spending spree, you save, and then, “if I’ve got a little bit left over and I’m feeling super-generous, I might kick in a little bit in the offering.” Listen, if Andrea and I invited you over to our house for dinner…you show up at six o’clock on Wednesday night, and somehow we forgot that you were coming…and yet we don’t want you to know that we were so lame that we forgot about you…We’re, “Oh, come right in, come right in!” And we sit you down at the table, and then I go over to the refrigerator and I look like, “What are we going to feed these people? Oh, look! We’ll give ‘em this!”

Now, you say, “What is that?” Listen, this is Andrea’s famous Crescent Roll Chicken. At least it was Andrea’s famous Crescent Roll Chicken on Tuesday. On Sunday it is a science experiment! Okay? This is what I found in the refrigerator this morning. Now, if I served you this, how much do you think I would be valuing you? You don’t give people you value the leftovers! You give the leftovers to the kids! And you give the best to the people that are in the first, special, honored place in your life. So, if you’re giving God the leftovers, that is not the way to simply do church. Clashing kingdoms are competing for the first and the best.

Now, here’s the next thing we’re going to learn here:

 

2. Simplicity is the cure for anxiety.

 

I’ve titled this message The Cure for Anxiety, and the cure for anxiety is simplicity.

Now, if you will humor me here for a moment, I’m actually going to work backwards through this passage of Scripture. We’ve looked at verse 33; let your eyes go up to verse 25. And Jesus is teaching this, teaching us, in context here, of the clashing kingdoms. I want you to see the kingdoms, beginning in verse 25. He says, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious. . .” [Matthew 6:25].

Now just stop right there, just take a little temperature-reading on your anxiety level. Is there some anxiety? Zero to ten? Where are you doing on the anxiety chart? How much of that anxiety has to do with finances? High or low? You got a number in there, zero to ten? “Alright,” He says, He’s like, “Stop! That needs to be zero!” Now, if you have any level of anxiety, you need to examine what’s in first place.

And He goes on; He says, “…do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat [there’s the kingdom of food] or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” Do you hear what Jesus is saying? “You were made for more than food; you were made for more than fashion!” That’s the second kingdom. You’ve got the kingdom of food, you’ve got the kingdom of fashion. So if you’re anxious about what you put in your body, or you’re anxious about what you put on your body, something’s not right—Jesus isn’t first! He’s like, “You’re life was made for more than food, more than fashion.”

He goes on, verse 26: “Look at the birds…” He uses the illustration, “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more [valuable] than they?” What’s the answer to that? Well, absolutely I’m more valuable than a bird! Some of you don’t believe that. Turn to your neighbor and say, “You’re more valuable than a bird! No, you’re more valuable!” God’s got you! Look at the birds! They eat every day—they’re fine!

And then He uses a second illustration. Look at verse 27: “And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his [lifespan]?” What’s the answer to that? Nobody! In other words, He’s talking about your time. “Why are you so anxious about the fact that you don’t have enough time?” Jesus says, “The problem is not that you don’t have enough time; the problem is you don’t have enough ‘simple!’ Don’t be anxious about time! You can’t add an hour to your day.” The problem is, you’re trying to add too much—too much time, too much food, too much passion, too many things competing for first place!

Verse 28: “And why are you anxious about [your] clothing?   Consider the lilies of the field, [and] how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all [of] his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown [in] the oven, will he not much more clothe you…?” Answer? “Well, matter of fact, He will!” Do you have a promise? I have a promise that God will clothe me. You may not like the fashion; God did it! Alright? He clothed me, alright? That’s. . .He goes on: “. . .O you of little faith?” What’s the problem? It’s not a lack of time, it’s not a lack of food, it’s not a lack of clothes; it’s a lack of faith. It’s, it’s not a financial problem; it’s a spiritual problem. You don’t have enough faith!

            And so he says in verse 31[-32], “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ [and] ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after. . .these things. . .your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.” Do you see this? He’s not saying you shouldn’t have food. He’s not even saying you shouldn’t have fashion or that you shouldn’t have finances. He says your Heavenly Father actually knows you need all that. The question is, are you trusting Him to provide it, or are you anxiously trying to manufacture this stuff, in first place, on your own? Simplicity is the cure for anxiety. And so, we need to understand the order here.

Here’s the next thing:

 

3. When Jesus is first, my treasure finds its proper place.

 

When Jesus is first, my treasure finds its proper place. Now, let your eyes again go up the page (you’re just like, “This is really weird! We preach through the Bible backwards here!” Yeah, it’s a little weird.) Go back to verse 19; again, He’s speaking of the cure for anxiety, but He’s going to point to another kingdom—and this is the kingdom of finance—that competes for first place. Verse 19: “Do not lay up for yoursel[f] treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

Years ago, Andrea and I just really benefitted from some principles that were shared with us related to giving and finances, and we’ve tried to exercise those—even when we had nothing! All those years that we lived on the road, going to different churches in the context of Life Action Ministries, we lived on church parking lots. And our, our income during that time was about a thousand dollars a month, and we had to had to raise that our self. We didn’t receive a salary for what we did; we raised our own financial support.

So, we had about a thousand dollars a month. And just because we were taught well, we just always tried to put Jesus first in all that. So before we spent any money, before we saved any money, there was checks flying out to support God’s kingdom. And so, the Lord honored that; we always had enough, we never had a whole of extra—but we always did that.

And I would just say to you that if you are just starting out (and I’m looking over here to the people that are under the age of twenty), if you will start giving God first place in your finances—no matter how little you have…if you get ten dollars, if you will send the first dollar of those ten dollars back to Kingdom causes, you will find you will go further on the other nine dollars than you would have gone if you’d kept all ten!

Now, I’m talking to a bunch of twenty-year-olds, but how many of you that are, like, three times that age would say, “Amen!” and tell them, “I’ve seen that work! That, that’s actually worked out!” Anybody? Would you tell these people over there? Alright, good. And if you want to give to some of their college funds, they’d be happy to talk to you if you have a little left over. Okay? So, listen, this stuff works! And it doesn’t make any sense on the math, but somehow God keeps His promise. When Jesus is first, my treasure finds its first place.

Now, here’s what’s interesting about that. Studies have shown the more money you make, the less likely you are to give the first to God. . .because I’m talking about these people giving like one dollar out of ten, and you’re like, “Yeah! You should give that dollar!” And then some of you that are making like a hundred-thousand dollars, you’re having a really hard time giving ten-thousand of it to God. You’re like, “That’s ten-thousand dollars! What are you talking about?!” It’s the same percentage that you “amen-ed” me telling them to give the dollar! Why is it, the more you have, the less likely you are to give it? It’s not a financial problem; it’s a faith problem. When Jesus is first, my treasure finds its proper place.

And listen, if I could get you to believe what I’m telling you right now, in a thousand years you would walk up to me in Heaven and thank me for teaching you this! You know why? Because you’re going to be enjoying the treasure that you have laid up there. When Jesus is first, my treasure finds its proper place.

Anybody know what that is? That’s a moth. Now, do you know what moths eat? They eat your stuff. I did a little research on this little guy, and I found out that these little moths—on their larval stage, like these baby infant moths—they like to eat wool carpets and blankets and sweaters and wool suits and stuffing inside of your bed (which is gross even to think about!), fur coats and feathers and hats and dusters. And yet, have you heard of this thing “mothballs?” Do you know what mothballs are? Mothballs have this chemical in it—it’s called naphthalene—and it is lethal to these moths! And Jesus said, “Don’t lay up treasure on earth, where moths can destroy it.”

And then He mentions something else; He mentions rust. And what does rust do? Rust eats more expensive stuff; it eats the metal and all of your things that used to take you somewhere. It destroys, it corrodes, it decays. What you once found useful for entertainment, or for transportation, ends up breaking or getting sold to a junk yard. Think about the thousands of dollars that were spent on just what we see in this picture, and it’s just sitting there—and the only value it has now is a sermon illustration.

And then Jesus said, if the moth doesn’t get it and the rust doesn’t get it, what’s coming after it next? Thieves! Because on earth, people tend to take things that don’t belong to them. And so, thieves break in and steal. People steal your stuff, work steals your strength, slanderous people can steal your reputation, illness steals your health and eventually age steals all the rest of it.

So, here’s what Jesus is saying. When Jesus is in first place, my treasure finds its proper place. But here’s what He’s saying: my earthly treasure will be worthless on the day that I die. I wonder if somehow—I don’t have any way of doing this; I don’t know what anybody here makes—but there is somebody in here who has the greatest net worth of all of us. I don’t know who that is. And you’re probably saying, “Oh, I hope you don’t. I’m the person that has the most stuff in the bank account, savings account, CDs, IRAs, more toys, more treasures, more homes.” You’ve got the most stuff!

Now, that’s fine, that’s great—just put Jesus first in all that—and Jesus said, “I’ll add it all to you.” But here’s the thing: somebody’s got the least net worth. It’s probably somebody sitting over there, in that section over there and it’s like, “Yeah, I’d probably be at the…” What if we just lined everybody up according to their net worth? Here’s the thing: on the day that you die, guess what? Everybody’s equal! Your net worth on the day that you die is—what? Zero. Hold up the universal symbol of your net worth on the day that you die. It’s zero! And Jesus says, “Stop laying up treasure on earth!”

You should be more concerned if Jesus is first with laying up treasure in Heaven—because here’s the principle: “I can’t take it with me.” You’ve heard that before, right? You can’t take it with you. But here’s what Jesus taught: you can send it on ahead, so that it’s waiting for you when you get here. Randy Alcorn wrote a helpful little book called The Treasure Principle, and these are the things that we’ve tried to live our lives by, as we’ve learned these things.

Notice what He says here in verse 20; He says, “Lay up for yoursel[f] treasures in heaven…” Do you know that’s a command? Years ago there was a TIME magazine cover story that had a Rolls-Royce—and a man standing beside the Rolls-Royce—and he was a famous television evangelist. And the article asked this question: “Does God want you to be rich?” Now, how would you answer that question? “Crickets” in church! It’s like, “Oh, it’s this theological debate. I don’t know!” Listen, the answer to that question is this: “Absolutely God wants you to be rich…in Heaven! Jesus said, ‘Lay up for yourself treasure in Heaven!’” You say, “Isn’t that selfish?” No, it’s obedient. Listen, this is not just right, it’s smart!

Doesn’t sound financial investing say invest in that which will bring the highest rate of return over the longest period of time? Isn’t that smart? This is smart. You shouldn’t just do this cause you ought to; you should do this cause you’re smart! It’s like, if I’m going to have any treasure in Heaven, I better be putting it up there now and not stacking it up down here.” So how do you do that? You give! You put God first and you pry your grip off of your treasure. You get it into the places Jesus wants it to go.

And then this principle:

 

4. My heart always goes where my money [my treasure] is sent.

 

 

Wherever your money is, there’s where your love is. And do you know what’s great? There are people in this church that love Jesus so much and love this church so much that we got plenty of money to do whatever we need to do, that the Lord wants us to do. And yet, there are some people—and the reason why you don’t give is not because you don’t have it. It’s just because you don’t have a heart for it! And again, it would do absolutely no good for me to try to turn the screw or twist your arm—just try to get you to give something—if your heart’s not in it. If your heart is here, your treasure will find its way here, and God will get whatever He wants done through the people that have a heart for His kingdom.

Look at it here in verse 21. He says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” You know what that means? I give for the same reason that I shop. How many of you are, like—shopping is your best thing? You’ve conquered that skill and you are well-known as being one of the best shoppers. Okay? Now listen—if you are a good shopper, here what that means. That means you are always evaluating the cost-to-benefit ratio. Do you understand the cost-to-benefit ratio? Here’s the deal. I’ve got some treasure, money, I’ve got cash—and it has some value. What I’m looking for is, I’m looking to exchange this treasure for something of greater value.

So, you go to the mall, and you find a shirt or a pair of shoes and you say, “Oh, this treasure is worth more than the cash in my pocket,” so I make the exchange. That’s what makes you a good shopper. Do you know, that’s what makes you a good giver as well? It’s exchanging something of lesser value—like cash—for something of greater value, like spiritual riches, and the work of God on earth to get done what He wants done. And so I give for the same reason I shop. There’s a greater treasure that I receive than just storing up my stuff. If you don’t have a heart to see that, then no one would expect you to make that exchange.

So the key is to get you to understand; to have a heart for the things that Jesus has a heart for. And then when you give, it is a joy! There’s nothing you would rather do. It brings you so much pleasure, you almost feel selfish for giving! “It makes me so happy! I don’t know what I’m so happy to do this! Just give more, give more, give more—because I get such pleasure for it!” Right? So, my heart always goes where my treasure is sent.

And then this:

 

5. When my eye is on the treasure, I will make short-term sacrifices with joy.

 

 

So, here’s the thing: if I am laying up treasure in Heaven, then where is my vision going to be, where’s my focus going to be, where’s my eye going to be? It’s going to be on where I’ve stored my treasure, and if my treasure is in Heaven, I’m going to have a focus on the things of Heaven, a focus on the Kingdom of God. And, because it’s there, I will make short-term sacrifices here with joy!

I can do without the new pair of shoes, I can do without the shirt; I can do without the extra house, the extra car, because my treasure is waiting for me in Heaven. You’re like, “Does anybody actually live like that?!” As a matter of fact, this room is filled with people that live like that. They live on less than they could because they get a greater reward by prying loose treasure and storing it up in Heaven.

This past week, I talked to our Business Manager at the church and—they don’t let me see anybody’s name as it relates to giving; I don’t know what anybody gives in the church except me. But they give me reports of like numbers and categories. And so I asked them for a little report, and I said, “I want to see what our regular attenders give.” For those of you that just show up every now and then, I wouldn’t expect you to give anything to the church. Your heart’s not here. When your heart’s here, God willl figure out a way to get your money here; that’s fine.

But for those of that, “Harvest is our home, this is the place that I receive spiritual nourishment, these are the people that are investing in my kids, in my marriage, in my family, and I love this place, and I love Jesus, and I am locking arms with the church to get this done”—if you’re a regular attender. So then, Debbie says, “Well, how do you define a regular attender?” I’m like, “Oh, I don’t know. Let’s set the bar really low. Give people that we’ll assume, maybe, they didn’t fill out the Connection Register because they’re rebellious and they never fill the thing out even though we tell them every week to do it! We’ll give you a pass. So I set the bar, “Let’s define a regular giver as somebody that comes once a month.” Twelve times a year; yeah, you’re a regular giver—I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt, okay?—a regular attender.

So I said, “Just find out—how many people is that?” And so, this is what she came up with. She said, “Okay, that’s like just over six-hundred people, regular-attending households.” Alright? So, this is what we have record of—and if you give cash, we wouldn’t know anything about that. But, over six-hundred regular-attending households. And so, what’s a household? Well, for me—our family—that’s like seven people, okay? For the Spear family, that’s like forty-five—I don’t know. But, I mean the average is like four—something like that.

So this, these six-hundred people–that could be like two-thousand people; we don’t actually know how many people this is, but it’s regular-attending households. So, of those that are regular attenders, there are fifty-nine regularly-attending households that gave, in 2017, over ten-thousand dollars to the church. Wow! That’s amazing! Fantastic! Way to go! And you’re just like, “Man, that seems astronomical!” And maybe you can aspire to that someday. It’s like, “I’m in a different category.” So, there were seventy-seven regularly-attending households that gave between five-thousand dollars and ten-thousand dollars in 2017. Fantastic! That’s awesome!

There’s other people in another category: there were two-hundred-and-sixteen people that gave between a thousand dollars and five-thousand dollars to the church. Fantastic! Here, here’s another category: Of regular givers, in the category between one dollar (Thank you very much! We appreciate you guys so much over there!); gave between one dollar and a thousand dollars, there were a hundred-and-two. Now, I would say that’s awesome. Those are people who have a heart, because their money—their treasure—went where there heart was.

Here’s what boggles the brain: there were a-hundred-and-fifty-one regular-attending households…you come here, you benefit from the church…but you don’t contribute anything to the church. That’s not a financial problem. That’s a spiritual problem. That’s a discipleship problem, that’s a faith problem, that’s a priority problem. And the reason you didn’t give is probably not because you’re not a generous person. It’s because you spent it, you saved it, and you didn’t have anything left over to give to God! And so, I would challenge you—in this coming year—to seek the Kingdom of God first.

And here’s the last thing:

 

6. Releasing my grip on money demonstrates my confidence in God’s grip on me.

 

 

And Jesus taught this down in verse 24; just look at it here; it says, “No one can serve two masters. He will [either] 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.” Think about that: you cannot serve God and money. Jesus didn’t say you should not serve God and money; He said it is a spiritual impossibility to serve God at the same time you are serving money.

Here’s why that’s a spiritual impossibility: God and money make the same promise. Do you know what God promises you? He promises you security, He promises you significance and He promises you, if you’ll trust Him, your life will be simple. Do you know what money promises? Same thing. Money lies to you, it whispers in your ear (“money talks” you know)—this is what it says: “Trust me, I’ll make your life secure. Trust me, I’ll make your life significant. Trust me, I’ll make your life simple!” You cannot believe both—and whichever one you believe is the one you will serve.

Prior to the service, I went around and I distributed some M & Ms. If you received some M & M’s from me prior to the service, would you please stand right now?—come on, do this quickly, if you got some M&M’s. Some of you said, “I knew it!  I knew it when I took those M&M’s there was going to be a sermon illustration!” Now, just remain standing if you got some M&M’s from me, okay? Cool. Now, if you received some M&M’s from somebody else, would you please stand? If somebody shared their M&M’s …Okay, good job, good job, good.

So, now, I want those of you that are standing now to look at the people around you—that did not receive any M&M’s. Do you see how angry and frustrated and cheated these people are? They think you’re selfish! Now, I want you to look right now. Look at this room. Everybody look around. Do you know what this room represents right now? This room represents the world. A minority of the people are holding the  majority of the  M&Ms. How many of you that are standing, that received some M&M’s, actually got more M&M’s than you actually need? Okay?

Here’s the reality: I handed out enough M&M’s for everybody in this room to have some. Of those of you that received M&M’s, I would like for you to remain standing if you still have some M&M’s. What happened to the M&M’s? You consumed them on yourselves, didn’t you? Selfish people! And these people are still standing there holding M&M’s. I do not see anybody distributing M&M’s. They’re saving them for later! Alright, you can sit down.

Is there anybody here that, like, M&M’s is like your thing—I mean you love M&M’s, but you didn’t get any M&M’s? Is there anybody that’s like, “I don’t know if I’m going to be able to survive without M&M’s!” You? Come, come here. Come right up here, come here…What’s your name? “Isaac.” Isaac, come here; c’mere, c’mere. You love M&M’s? “MM-hmm.” And you haven’t had, you didn’t get any today? Aww! How many of you think Isaac should have some M & Ms?

Alright, hang on Isaac, I’m going to pray for you! Lord, I pray that You would bless Isaac with some M&M’s today; you know how much he loves them. And I’m sure that he would really be blessed and give you thanks and gratitude for what You would give to Him through your good gifts. In Jesus’ Name I pray, amen. Thank you, Isaac. [Sends Isaac away while he puts the rest of the M&M’s in his mouth.]

What? You’re like, “How could you be so cruel?” Some of you are more upset with me for not giving Isaac M&M’s than you are that you have more than you need, and you know people who need what you have. Releasing my grip on money demonstrates my confidence in God’s grip on me.

Stand with me right now, bow your heads. I’m going to pray for you. Heads are bowed, eyes are closed. I have no idea how much money you have; I have no idea where your treasure is. I do know this: I can look at your treasure and tell you where your heart is. Does God have your heart? If He has your heart, He won’t have any problem getting your money. Would you just tell the Lord, “Lord, I trust you! Right now, I choose to put You first in my finances. I want to seek Your kingdom first and Your righteousness—believing that all these other things will be added to me in Your time. And God, would you show me where You want me to send my treasure? My heart is Yours. I give you my heart, I give you my soul, I give you my mind and my strength and my love; I give You my time and I give You my money.

Father, I do pray that, for each individual, you would show us what has first place. So many different kingdoms competing for first place in our lives. God, would You give us such a love for You that there would be a release of our grip on my, on our money. We trust You! We pray in Jesus’ Name, amen.