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Elevate Christian Network :: Ministry Outreach TV

Elevate Christian Network :: Ministry Outreach TV

Video Transcript

hi pastor Matt here thank you so much for either streaming or downloading this sermon I pray that every week you’re challenged by the Word of God you’re built up in his love the Word of God kind of gets in you and rearranges things and draws your affections of to the person and work of Jesus Christ I want to remind you as always that although men I’m I’m so glad that that you want to hear what what I’ve got to say this week or we’ve got to say this week that this is never meant to substitute God’s good plan for you to be in a community of faith where the Word of God has preached and proclaimed and so I want to encourage you to use this like a vitamin not like a meal so that you belong to a community of faith where you’re being shaped by being known by using your gifts by receiving the word but partaking in the sacraments and by walking faithfully in accordance with the scriptures and then this is something men you’re listening to while you run or you’re watching when you have a few minutes and so just want to make sure we we frame what this is and what it should not be now but with that said one of the things that the village church wants to do is the things that are created here by the grace of God man we want to give those away that’s podcasts and podcast that’s family discipleship curriculum that’s Bible study curriculum like what we’ve tried to do for over a decade is just whatever we create here we want to give away and so to do that though we rely on the donations and generosity of those who believe in what we’re doing and who have benefited from the things that have been created here and so here before you dive into what I’m sure is gonna be a 4550 minute sermon I just wanted to encourage you if you have grown if you have benefited from our resources would you consider being a part of the team that helps this engine continue to produce and create biblical creative and practical discipleship curriculum for men and women of all ages and all stations and so man if you’d pray about that and consider that that would that would be amazing thank you so much enjoy the Word of God proclaimed well good afternoon if you have your Bibles let’s go ahead and dive in we’ll be in Matthew chapter 6 want to remind you because I think it’s really important as we dive into this last practice so this will be the last practice that we talk about next week and we’ll close out the fall series on kind of how to put all this together in a way that we can kind of live by it and then it’s just hard to believe but then we’re basically at Thanksgiving and we’ll kick off Advent I mean that’s just kind of where we are which is kind of still messing with my brain a little bit but but but for today we said at the very beginning of this series that there were two ways to kind of think about our faith and and we call them lenses right there were two lenses by which we could think about Christianity we can consider our Christian and we said the first is kind of a moral lens that when we think about what it means to be a Christian we think about what God has come to do we think about it morally right that here’s what it means to be a Christian that I do these things and I don’t do these things and then what God has come to do is he’s got this moral vision for how things should work and so he’s putting that moral vision on us and saying live into that moral vision and so I think the longer you’ve been in church the more apt you probably are to lean that way or if you’ve never been in church and you’ve always kind of avoided Church because you’ve just felt like church folk or judgmental then you probably lean that way and and here’s the great news that is not Christianity but it’s just not now I’m not saying that God doesn’t have a moral vision for his people because he absolutely does it’s just that you cannot reach that moral vision with the out without the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit and a relationship with Jesus and so we have said since day one you cannot do life for Jesus without doing life with Jesus and so if all you know is right and wrong and you try to do what is right and avoid what is wrong at best you’ll be self-righteous and at worse you’ll fail and you’ll pretend to not fail and go underground with your struggles anybody want to testify that’s exactly what happens I’ll testify that’s exactly what it happens so you only there feel shame I I can’t I don’t know why I can’t figure this out I don’t know why I can’t do this right but let me just learn the language of my church when do we raise our hands when do we say hallelujah oh we don’t okay so let me know when do I take notes do I take notes how do i how do I pick up the language of this particular local church and then hide or I’m nailing it I don’t know why you can’t figure out I’m not struggling with those things I can’t believe you struggle with those things and you become self-righteous and so what we said no no the the lens by which we understand our faith is through the lens of redemption the limbs of the lens not the limbs the lens of redemption that is here’s what we see that God has moved towards us in Christ the God has saved us from sin and death and that the Holy Spirit indwells us and transforms us over a period of time by his steadfast love and so once you have those lenses things begin to change you you can’t you can’t go here’s the moral vision let me try to do it or one of those two things happen if you can say I just want to be with him then things start to move I just want to be with him and here’s what’s hard for us where we kind of excel as Western linear predominantly educated men and women is tell me what to do and I’ll do it tell me what to do and I’ll do it give me the instructions and God’s going well okay but I want to give you a relationship and relationship will be the transforming force not a list of what you know you should and shouldn’t do it’ll be the relationship and so we said this this actually changes everything especially when it comes to these practices by which we kind of position ourselves for witness or being with him not just trying to do life for him and so if you’ll think about all the practices that we’ve talked about from rest or Sabbath from prayer to inviting others in celebrating – study – fasting – prayer all of these things we do not so that we might be loved by God but because we are loved by God right in fact I think I could highlight it off of where we taught last week where in the Old Testament there was a purpose for fasting to consecrate ourselves right to ask for the favor of God to seek the forgiveness of God but but new fasting is because we do have those things right so we’re not fasting for them but from them are you tracking with me so we’re praying not so that we might have a relationship with God but because we do have a relationship with guns so we pray and we just pray what we got there there are times in my marriage with Lauren where I’ve got a ton to say and there’s a time where it’s just kind of great that were together and she’s not saying a lot and I’m not saying enough and and I know many of you like Oh somebody’s saying a lot if you guys are together but sometimes it’s it’s now sometimes it’s just we just like each other’s presence and so we’re just kind of hanging out in each other’s presence and then and then there’s time when there’s a lot of chatter and so this is what we’ve been talking about and so that redemptive lens versus moral lens is extremely important in light of the last practice that we’ll talk about today and it’s one every time I’ve taught on it which by the way in 16 years is five times it feels really heavy in the room like I’m talking about something we’re not supposed to talk about and so just that’s to bait you into like what is it okay in the in the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation there are over 500 verses on prayer so I mean you can just go okay man the Bible is pretty serious about talking with God hearing from God walking with like 500 somebody said some of you 500 times they’re trying to make a point right it’s putting a little emphasis little um and then there’s about the same amount of verses not exactly but about the same amount of verses when it comes to faith and and I think that’s true because you’re not really you gotta have faith to pray right I mean those two are similarly connected and and then listen to this one there are over two thousand verses on anybody want to guess money how did you feel it like it’s that the thing that must not be named right and in fact if I could start to like let me unpack these things to you one out of every ten verses in the New Testament deals with money sixteen of the 38 parables of Jesus deal with money 25 percent of Jesus’s teaching address financial resources can you imagine if one sermon out of every four once a month we were doing a money sermon here’s what’s crazy I would be much more lined up with Jesus’s ministry than I am right now and yet because of the day in which we live there would be much more skepticism that I was actually lined up with Jesus’s ministry at all right now so here’s what’s great for the cynic in you for the cynic in us so I tried to tease myself out and I’m not I’m one Jesus does all of this teaching on money and never takes up an offering doesn’t say really need to add that wing to the synagogue I mean you know it we know it we got to add it right never said hey guys I could be so much more effective in my deity if I just had a chariot that would take me to the outer reaches now look at me I’m not saying look I’m not saying those things are wrong I’m just saying that Jesus does all this teaching on money and never asks for any why so it’s interesting to note that in the Sermon on the Mount which is where our text is today Jesus is just ruthlessly going after the heart above the action what he wants is your heart and the fruit of a heart transformed is the action and yet what we see in the New Testament is somehow the money in particular it kind of can weave itself into us in a way that’s either toxic and destructive or freeing and life-giving and and so I want to talk about that and our time together to the last practice will will will get at before we talk about how all these things were next week and and then move forward from there so here’s Matthew chapter 6 starting in verse 19 here’s what it says do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is there your heart will be also the eye is the lamp of the body so if your eye is healthy your whole body will be full of light but if your eye is bad your whole body will be full of darkness if then the light in you is darkness how great is the darkness for no one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other of you be devoted to the one and despise the other you cannot serve God and money now I want to start with this because it what you see right out of the gate is don’t do right I mean that’s right out of the gate don’t do this do this so what I want to do is kind of reorient our hearts around this idea like Jesus just said lay up for yourselves treasures right this is a positive thing like God wants you Jesus wants you to store up treasures for yourself he just wants you to do it in a particular way and so the do not here is trying to save your spirit from anxiety and the desire to be God right don’t do it in such a way that you feel like you’ve got to control it you’ve got to manipulate it you’ve got it right where moth and rust and thieves destroy he’s reminding you that you control less than you think you do look at me he’s reminding you that you control less than you think you do so you and I are stuck between Ecclesiastes and jobe and if you don’t have a church background let me try to explain that in Ecclesiastes Solomon the richest man probably on earth decides to test and see what might be enjoyed under heaven under the Sun and here’s what he finds out so he’s got all the money in the world so he starts throwing party and then he starts trying women I’m just it’s the past the Bible don’t email me and then he tries real estate and then he tries right he tries everything and when when his grand experiment of what pleasure is there to be had in life here’s what he says it’s all meaningless so so if I could I need to be careful of my time he starts throwing some parties and parties are awesome and he throws good parties right not like a bad pattern have you ever been to a bad party there are such a thing but like he’s thrown epic parties I mean he’s providing the food he’s providing the wine and he’s just tricking out the palace and he’s throwing these epic parties and he he starts to get bored in them and so what he does is he just kind of turns up the volume he makes the party even bigger in fact you can read in second Kings just how big these parties got really like there were 60 cows and 200 Robox and 400 fowl and I mean you I mean you you’ve never thrown a party like that I mean you just had you can’t afford to throw a party like that if you can’t come see me because I do want to ask you to help us build the building down the road but this isn’t that sermon right that this is this is a trillionaire who positioned his heart to figure out if there was any enjoyment to be had ultimately under for the pleasures under the Sun and he comes back and it goes and it’s all meaningless but you’re never gonna get to learn that lesson yourself there’s not gonna be wealthy enough you’re stuck between Solomon who is a trillionaire and Jobe who lost everything and Jobe who lost everything finds out that God is enough and Solomon who has everything finds out that stuff can’t satisfy the human soul but you and me we haven’t lost everything and we certainly don’t have that kind of wealth so we’re stuck in this place who are like uh sure just a little bit more is gonna satisfy just just a little bit more will finally put me in just a little bit more and I’ll feel safe and and the Bible saying hey don’t start believing that lie don’t invest where moth and rust can destroy and where thieves can break in and steal don’t invest in such a way don’t spend your money in such a way that you’re constantly worrying about it or you’re trying to make it a thing that it can never be there is not enough money on earth to keep you physically healthy forever there is not enough money on earth to guarantee relational peace and stability the conflict in your relationships has nothing to do with how much money you have although we’ll talk a little bit about might kick it up here in a moment right you can’t buy your way to peace you can’t buy your way to happiness you can’t buy your way out of depression you can’t buy your right yeah are you with me on this so so the Bible saying hey don’t invest here and then he tells us well let me let me use this example like like stuff that has a way of kind of making us grow in concern where maybe we didn’t have any but my wife’s in this service I had an 89 Chevy Corsica right after we got married that 207 thousand miles on it the driver’s side door wouldn’t open so if you can imagine being a newlywed it’s hard to stay you know just dashing when you’ve got to crawl in the car first so that your wife can then get into the passenger side and there was no heat or air conditioning in the car and and so we used to have at beltway Park where I was training we’d have elder meetings after Wednesday night prayer any Southern Baptist in this room so you’d have Wednesday night prayer so we do Wednesday night prayer and then we’d go into Elder meeting always went late that’s why we do our elder meetings here usually in the morning so I can put that cap on it right let’s stay true we got two hours let’s get it done not the Wednesday night go home at 1:00 and it was not uncommon in the winter to come out to my car at midnight and and the windshield would be frosted or iced over and there’d be nothing I could do about it and so that I had to you’ll have to explain this to your children I had to roll down the window all right I didn’t get to press a button I didn’t get to tell the car to do it can you roll down the driver’s side window I had to manual labor right roll the window down and then I would have to like Ace Ventura drive the twenty-minute home and 20 degree weather and hope that I didn’t lose sight because of it to get home and here’s what like I never thought about that car other than guy hope it makes it so like have you ever done that thing where you’re like I’m not gonna park in that parking space it’s a little too tight never thought that with the 89 Corsica just never thought it everyone around the Corsica thought Matt right I never thought that I just thought this will work and then crawl out the passenger side door or driver’s side window right which is not it wasn’t as cool as Dukes of Hazzard right and so and all of my illustrations are dating me significantly here and and yet then there was a very kind woman who came to Lauren and I was just hey I’m blessed by administrated love to love to get you a car and so she got us a BMW 3-series one brand new but it was still a BMW when you’re coming from an 89 corsica anything would have felt lavish but now we only had it for a couple of months because I was unsettled by it because it’s really hardening like 23 to be like find your sufficiency in Christ alone and then go and get ride get in your BMW and drive a it just felt dirty to me and so traded it in on a Chevy but I would worry about the BMW in a way that I’d never even thought about the Corsica like I would like to drive out a little bit further apart let me scratch my Beemer right I think so I’m not saying one is right one is wrong I’m saying that there is a way that we can become consumed by the one that ultimately is not spiritually healthy and that’s not to say not don’t care about your stuff you should care about your stuff right your stuffs good gift from God that you’re meant to steward right but that what I’m saying don’t invest where things can be destroyed right don’t don’t invest in such a way that your concerns are always on earthly things and not on heavenly things right but then he tells us where to invest right he says to invest in heaven now what does that look like how do you invest in heaven well if we follow kind of the the narrative arc of Scripture this begins this idea of investing in heaven actually begins in Genesis chapter 14 where Abraham gives 10% of everything he – Mikkel Zadok and and if you don’t know who Mikkel zanuck is I taught on it when I walked through the book of Hebrews that’s all the time I have for it today but look that up and check it’s a fascinating story and then moving forward and God establishes his covenant with his people in Exodus and numbers the idea of the tithe or 10% the first 10% of what comes in is given to the Levites who worked the temple worked the tabernacle and so the tithe was the standard baseline here’s what the people of God do here’s how we invest in heaven and then the the question is does the tithe hold over into the new testament and and so you’ll find scholars will argue about this for my own family we use the tithe as baseline this is the least that we will do is give 10% and we give that 10% to the place that is spiritually forming us and and that means for us the village church I am NOT just the pastor of this church I am a member of this church I don’t know if you ever thought about it that way but my kids are here we’re here my wife’s in women’s Bible study I’m all around like we are this is our church not that we’re leading but we’re members of this church this is home to us we felt homeless this summer on sabbaticals we would try other churches there was just something about this place because this place is home and then I also we based it or I based it off of Matthew 23:23 which is this rebuke against the Pharisees but there was something there that I was like yes let that be the baseline in Matthew 23:23 Jesus says this to the Pharisees and scribes woe to you scribes and Pharisees you hypocrites for you tithe mint and dill and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of law justice mercy and faithfulness and then look at this sentence these you ought to have done without neglecting the others and so here’s what Jesus teaches hey you’ve missed my heart you’re you’re obeying the law but you’ve missed my heart what you should have done is both you see it you don’t have to see I saw it so I was like okay we’re gonna decide and I decided when I was making twelve thousand five hundred a year they were gonna give a certain percentage away regardless of how how the Lord blesses us and if he blesses us with much that percentage will give away and if he doesn’t bless there’s not that percentage we’re gonna give away and so we had that conversation early on when we were dead broke cuz I know my heart and my heart would be that eventually that would be enough we’re given away enough and so instead of kind of posturing myself like that I just come in okay Lord this is what we’re gonna give away moving forward and we’ve been true to that since like I said I was making twelve five a year and if that church wouldn’t have what they call and I don’t know how old you are they used to do these things called poundings where everybody would bring like canned goods and stuff for you basically food they would never eat to give you to survive off up there was a lot of ramen noodle soup and splitting doctor thunders and there was a lot of that in those days we were just broke broke and it was amazing and even back then we were like this is what we’re giving away that all that we have is yours we’re gonna live in such a way that says all that we have is yours and so that’s the that that’s where we would get tide then these tides went to the tabernacle they went to the synagogue they went to the temple depending on the period of time in the people of God’s life but then what happens in the New Testament after the Holy Spirit falls at Pentecost is we just don’t read anything about tithing anymore you start to see radical generosity seemingly take the place of tithing among the people of God let me show you some of this this is acts 245 and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need tell me that doesn’t sound cult-like we just agree that that sounds cult-like like if all of a sudden I noticed my neighbor one of his cars were gone and I was just like hey what what I’m in your car that’s pretty sweet right it’s like oh man well I’m part of this church and and some members of our church and they just fell on some hard times I had some medical issues I had some and men they were just they were in a jam and so we thought you know what we could make this work and we sold the car then we took the money for that car and we we got them out of their medical debt we helped them get back on their feet you’re like like what you’re gonna get is that awesome right or they’ll be like I’ve got some needs right you got another car I got some needs uper right and so you’ve got the this is what’s happening there the church the South the world’s getting turned on its head you know social services in Rome was the church it’s never been given to the government to do those things it’s been given to the bride it’s our birthright to bless 2nd Corinthians 9 6 through 8 the point is this whoever so sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever sows bountifully will reap bountifully each one must give as he has decided in his heart not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful Giver I love this so do you see how serious God is about your heart I don’t want you to give reluctantly I don’t you’d be like oh I got to do this and I want you to give under compulsion and then he says for God loves a cheerful Giver that the word in the Greek there is hell Aaron it’s where we get the idea of hilarious anything would it look like to be a hilarious Giver not just a happy or like I dude is a hilarious Giver it makes you sound crazy doesn’t it like cult crazy with our generosity this is a picture of the kingdom this is upside down economics and then lastly in first Timothy 6:17 through 19 as for the rich in this present age everybody make eye contact that’s you right don’t don’t look around and go that ain’t me that verse is for somebody else that is everyone in this room now you might feel pinched and paralyzed because of some financial decisions you’ve made but if you live in this area you’re rich by the world standards by the world standards here you’re living beyond most people’s comprehension of what the good life could be we’re just spoiled in the West so this text is for you so don’t turn me off like and the rich among you and then turn oh it’s you it’s me as for the rich in this present age charged them not to be haughty nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches but on God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy they are to do good to be rich in good works to be generous and ready to share the storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future so they may take hold of that which is truly life love that last sentence there is a story that’s being presented to you and to me of what the good life is it’s every time you turn on your TV it’s every ad it’s every picture in the magazine it’s a lot of stuff on your feed here’s the good life and it and its comfort and its self-indulgence and it’s it’s it’s the good life and Paul just said hey if you’ll be generous with that you’ll actually take hold of what’s truly life Apostle Paul quoting Jesus who says it’s more blessed to give and receive you know there’s actually sociological data not that we need that to validate the Word of God there’s sociological data that the happiest people tend to be the most generous people there’s a difference between a scarcity mindset and an abundance mindset it leads to kind of joyful living now what do our finances teach us about ourselves because cuz here’s what’s happening he he’s going after the heart he’s saying hey your finances teach you about yourself so watch this hat how many of you feel like you could justify almost anything in your life now go ahead get it up let’s just let’s just go ahead and get your hand up ah all right now anyone who doesn’t have their hand up it’s just just too fine right now why they don’t have their hand up right they’re just like yeah no I don’t think I you know I know people who struggle with that but I feel like man I can think of three or four times right now that I have not justified myself when I could have right it’s just that’s justified but the heart is deceitful we’re able to defend our actions to ourself like like we’re the best lawyer that’s ever walked on the face of the earth we are able to defend our actions to ourself and that’s why I tell y’all nobody lies to you more than you do nobody no one lies to you as frequently and as thoroughly and as perfectly as you lie to yourself right it’s just the truth so so Jesus here in a very real way it’s like yeah I hear ya I hear what you say you value what you love what you treasure what you’re all about but can I see can I see your statements so what do our finances teach us about ourselves well it shows us our deepest reality it shows us where our affections are little bears 21 for where your treasure is there your heart will be also I love the way Tim Keller says this he says money flows effortless Leslie struggle with that all day to that which it’s it’s God it’s your money just gonna flow without any effort to whatever you worship just is and so here’s the way one of the ways you can kind of pay attention to what’s really going on in your heart is to lay out how you’re spending your money and and and and let it let it tell you the story of what you really value so I so want to chat about this thing on anybody you feel guilty and I don’t want anybody to feel hopeless today here’s what I would mean by that I think radical generosity and living the way of Jesus demands financial margin financial margin do you have the capacity to bless so if you’re looking at your finances and you’re looking down and and you live in a house you can’t afford and you drive a car you can’t afford and you’re spending money you don’t have I love you that’s saying something about you it just is and if you like well actually I can’t afford it and I’m trying to say biblically speaking if the house you live in created a scenario in which you can’t be generous then you can’t afford it because you’re called to generosity and and you’re like I can afford the car it’s a 12 year note and it’s only 900 a month then then maybe you’ll be able to swing that but if it’s kept you from being generous look at me I love you you can’t afford it and listen I then I might deal with my kids and their athletics is this if you’re all-in I’m all-in if you’re half-hearted I’m out I mean I’ll be there to cheer you on but don’t expect me to drop any dollars on it but if you’re in I’m in like if your firebreather you’re a go-getter you’re gonna but and my son’s in the room he could testify the fact if I’m like anybody it’s time to go to speed 2001 ago they migrated you don’t have to go and I let’s walk away let him play his ex game and then he’ll he’ll pay for it later right but if he’s like let’s do it I’m in let’s go and so I’m not saying don’t spend money on your kids I’m saying if you’re spending so much money on your kids that you can’t be generous then you can’t afford to spend that money on your kids and and if your coffee habit don’t think I don’t know some of you like don’t you dare don’t you dare look good coffee is a gift from God on high it is a blessing from from the very innermost part is bean but it but if you’re dropping six hundred bucks a month on coffee and look at it cuz it might shock you how much you’re spending and that has kept you from being generous or is driving you into debt then you can’t afford it in something’s being revealed about what you actually value and what you’re actually all about there’s nothing wrong with having nice houses nothing wrong with having nice cars nothing wrong with having and enjoying nice coffees right you can be a foodie and still have margin to be generous and gracious to those who have me the command is not to live in such a way that we’re trying to be God and we’re controlling everything in our lives and we’ve got nothing for no one because we’ve got to take care of us it’s the opposite of Christian living right so it reveals kind of our affections our kind of deeper reality what we actually value and and then it also helps us it helps us be honest about how we see the world look at verse 22 the eye is the lamp of the body so if your eye is healthy your whole body will be full of light but if your eye is bad your whole body will be full of darkness if then the light in you is darkness how great is the darkness and so now he’s talking about how you see the world around you and he’s talking in a very real way about how you see God working in the world around you and so I brought this up a couple of weeks ago and I want to kind of reiterated in our time together it is incredibly important as Christians that you understand the Trinity and how it’s such a good such good news in such a big deal that God is three and one that God his father got his son who God is Holy Spirit distinct and yet one because this is what sets us apart from every other philosophical and religious belief in the world we believe that the essence of our God is self giving love God is love he is not just Lavine he is love because he is three-in-one no one else can say that no other religion can claim that God the Father loves God the Son God the Son loves God the Father God the Father loves the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit loves the father the Holy Spirit makes much of Jesus it’s this dance of delight that we are invited into and if God in His essence is self giving love and the Spirit dwells inside of us as believers pulling us in to that divine dance then should we not over a period of time become more and more and more generous as we receive the generosity of God like the generosity of God is staggering and and yes and amen in our salvation I’ll get that to that here in a second but if your thought about how super Phylis creationists so god wanting to get across his glory to us couldn’t he just make the Grand Canyon and be done with it I mean I mean seriously how many of you been to the Grand Canyon alright and you step on you’re like wow I mean you feel small it feels gigantic and you know that in the scope of the universe it’s microscopic you know tiny this little ball is we’re on in the grand scope of the universe maybe there are galaxies upon galaxies upon galaxies out there like we’re we’re like barely even a moon on some other planet and yet God in his generosity just spoke it into being in such a way that it’s expanding in every direction to this very day beauty like wicked function without beauty why does God so generously make things beautiful why this afternoon when you maybe you ate before I don’t know how it works if you’re not preaching but but food has a really distinct and beautiful taste that’s generosity because why it doesn’t serve any purpose in regards to keeping us alive there’s plenty to eat that’ll keep you alive that’s not wonderful but but God in his generosity says now don’t just be sustained enjoy don’t just be sustained marvel and he gives that even to those who hate him this is the generosity of God and now let’s get into the fact that God so loved the world that He gave sent his only begotten Son that whoever would believe in him wouldn’t perish but have eternal life how about this for generosity he takes every bit of your rebellion and sinfulness from you and gives in its place the righteousness of God in Christ so that your holy and spotless and blameless in his sight so if we see the generosity of God then we’re able to walk in the light of that generosity and be generous people if we think that God is stingy that God is trying to rob from us that God is keeping from us that he is not allowing us then we live in such a way that we operate in a scarcity mentality right that that God has not been generous well I’m not gonna be generous but to experience the generosity of God over time it is to become generous people and then the last point is found there in verse 24 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 but you cannot serve God and money this word money there is actually the word Mammon which is a word for money but there it’s deeper than that there’s some kind of spiritual reality at play when it comes to money and how money and the human soul work with one and Jesus is warning here that you are being shaped by your world in ways that you are unaware here’s a little trick about decison a little trick here’s a here’s an insight into discipleship you are always being discipled always you are always being shown here’s how you live here’s the way to happiness here’s the way to joy here’s the way right.you it is all you are not in like a mild current you are in a rapid that is pushing you and pulling you and trying to shape you and trying to inform you of how life works and Jesus says watch your wallet cuz your wallets gonna show you what you actually value and if you begin to be swept downstream you will not believe not trust not lean into me you will lean into yourself you’ll believe that you’re able you’ll build phony protection that are no real protection you will build up storage bins which will not be able to save you and you will not trust me you will trust yourself watch your wallet lest you abandon me and think that you can build a better world and that’s a terrifying idea you will not serve me and Mammon you will not serve me and money you will serve me or so what do you I think what he’s saying there’s that there’s an awareness that everything I have is his or there’s a I worked hard for this and those are two very different mindsets right one is God gave me these things – Stuart I’m an owner of nothing I am a steward of everything it’s a very different mindset than man I’ve worked hard for this and I’ve got all this and so I’m gonna spend it like I want I want you to hear me say that that man I think it’s it’s not a sin or a bad thing – I’m not of the poverty mines I mean the Psalms the Bible is filled with rejoice and enjoy and and good food and good drink and and and a good kind of comfortable few like those are good right things they just make really crummy gods and so it’s not that we weren’t meant to enjoy it’s that we weren’t meant to be owned by enjoyment you with me okay so what’s the way forward because here’s what I know even trying to write this this week the exit Jesus wasn’t the issue that the putting together it’s it’s how do you help if statistics are true and Mark Twain has a great saying about statistics I can just never say in a big church but find me somewhere in the community I’ll tell you then many of us in here are just paralyzed with really bad debt it’s high interest credit card debt and it just happened without us knowing it we like many of us we’re not most of us we didn’t have parents that set us down was like here’s how you make a budget here’s how you should think about spending how many of you had folks that did that okay look at it I mean look at it you are we are on a different spectrum here than the other two services praise God most people never learn how to do money or what money is like or how to build a budget or tithe in or how to give all right like none of that usually happens you kind of stumble your way into and if you’re not careful you’re actually being targeted by I don’t know if you’ve been to a football game lately specifically a college game but man they’re trying to like hey free t-shirt and here’s your credit card it’s only 19 percent a month interest no worries and then no one has somebody who has no idea how all that works actually no that’s their twenty grand in the hole with 19 percent interest and how do you climb out especially if you’re graduating with sixty thousand in college debt then you marry someone with sixty now you’re 120 grand in the hole both you brought in 40 60 grand credit card debt and how jammed up are you and then the tension of that in a relationship listen marital issues are almost always orbiting around money and sex one of those two things so how do you get out here’s here’s what I would tell you the Lord sees you the Lord makes away and so if it’s taken you several years to get into this hole my guess is you’re not gonna get out today but we can shift our mindset and go I’m gonna get out we can shift how we’re spending we can educate ourselves by the grace of God of how to climb out so that we might live the kind of lives marked by generosity that God would call us into you know we actually have a ministry here that’s meant to help you do that and so if you find yourself jammed up by that then you can come up and and pray with one of our men and women up front after the service is over and they’ll they’ll kind of just go I need some help I don’t know how to get out I don’t know how this happen to me and and they can that they can point you in the right direction here would be my homework for the week if you’re married I want you to find some space to have a conversation around your finances are we living generously like God would have us do here’s the only thing I ask neither one of you play the role of the Holy Spirit right because if you’re jammed up right now and you head out to the car and one of them’s like would you think of that I love you just not helpful like that will do nothing but incite anger in your spouse and that’s not the way forward right so just at some point have a conversation with your spouse where are we how do we move forward are we committed to moving forward if you’re single yet again I would get with some friends I think this stuff works best in community like Josh Patterson Brian Miller are other 2l peas and then Brad pain at times they get my tax return like I want them to see look I got no secrets I’m not preaching one thing and living another way i want to be held accountable here’s I’ve got margin and here’s where that margin is going here’s the percentage that we said we were gonna give away when we were in you know in young dumb and in love and making 12 grand a year and here’s how we’re trying to stay true to that and so I think you can sit down with a group of friends and and just because it’s weed like we just don’t want to talk about money it’s like that one thing we can’t talk about and and yet mention two thousand times in Scripture 25 percent of what Jesus is talking about he’s he’s trying to get at our heart and you can understand your heart someone through your finances and so when you’re gonna sit down with a friend or a group of friends or a spouse this week and just go where are we are we committed to moving how are we gonna move and do we need help because some of you just gonna need to help and there’s some jams that you can get yourself in that you can’t get out by yourself you need to help and what I’m trying to say is we’ve got some help that maybe you can take advantage of it’s free it’s not gonna cost you again in in my I’m always doing this it’s just kind of how I’m wired like when I think about all these practices that we’ve covered I’m like what would it be like it just the village church you know just if I’m thinking about this area that like this church that will be one Church in one location here in another couple years it’ll be like if you and I just surrendered all this and and every time we’re out to eat we’re generous and we’re asking for people how to pray and we’re like Lorna we’re having dinner Thursday and I asked the waitress how we could pray and she just Mel started weeping crying and and we got two minutes just you just stunned it how many people are hurting and broken out there but all I want is some kindness and then there’s this room all the sudden there’s this eagerness to understand what would compel us to do something as simple as that she wouldn’t like them so kind of secular humans like how dare you she just wept and thanked us and thought it was the sweetest thing ever here’s here’s how I want to end our time why don’t you stand with me we’re gonna read our generosity prayer together as this is the corporate hope that we have as the body of Christ Holy Father there is nothing we have that you have not given us all we have and all we are belong to you bought with the blood of Jesus to spend everything on ourselves and to give without sacrifice is the way of the world that you cannot abide but generosity is the way of those who call Christ their Lord who love him with free hearts and serve him with renewed minds who withstand the delusion of riches that chokes the word whose hearts are in your kingdom and not in the systems of the world we are determined by God’s grace to increase in generosity until it can be said that there is no needy person among us we are determined to be trustworthy with such a little thing as money that you may trust us with true riches above all we are determined to be generous because you Father are generous it is the delight of your daughters and sons to share your traits and to show what you are like to all the world amen

  • Pastor Matt Chandler ministers from Matthew 6:19–24. In His numerous teachings on money, Jesus seeks not to rob us of pleasure but to set us free from our futile desire to be God.

About the Village Church

The mission of The Village Church is to bring glory to God by making disciples through gospel-centered worship, gospel-centered community, gospel-centered service and gospel-centered multiplication.

We multiply the kingdom by planting these churches, whose people can continue the good work of making God known and enjoyed in cities and places everywhere.

But how do we do it? We create new campuses. We send out church planters. We partner with existing churches. We resource.

Campuses

We have a growing conviction to see the gospel multiplied and to use the multi-site model as a strategy for church planting. The creation of new campuses gives our church the opportunity to use Pastor Matt Chandler’s gift of preaching and gathering to raise up strong, gospel-centered churches.

 

Pastor Matt Chandler and Family

Pastor Matt Chandler and Family | Courtesy: The Village Church

About Pastor Matt Chandler

Pastor Matt Chandler served as the youth pastor of a small church near Houston, Texas before attending Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, where he received a bachelor’s degree in Bible.

While at Hardin-Simmons, Matt became the teacher of an inter-denominational Bible study for college students. He also served on staff at Beltway Park Church. After several years in Abilene, Matt moved to Dallas but continued his itinerant speaking ministry.

In 2002, Matt became the lead teaching pastor of Highland Village First Baptist Church, now known as The Village Church. In 1999, he married his wife, Lauren. They have three children: Audrey, Reid and Norah.

 

The Village Church - Flower Mound Texas

The Village Church – Flower Mound, Texas.

 

 

The Village Church – Ministry Channel | Flower Mound, Texas

 

 

More resources:

History | The Village Church

Thirteen families settled in the Texas plains and established the Holford Prairie Church … moved to a vacant Albertson’s and became the Flower Mound campus.

The Village Church – Flower Mound | Facebook

The Village Church – Flower Mound, Flower Mound, TX. 4743 likes · 75 talking about this · 34550 were here. We exist to bring glory to God by making…

Matt Chandler: The Village Church, Flower Mound, Texas …

Interview by Scott Marshall. MATT CHANDLER is the lead pastor of The Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas, a 2011 Outreach 100 Church …

Matt Chandler (born June 20, 1974) is the lead pastor of teaching at The Village Church, a Southern Baptist church in Flower Mound, Texas, and the President of …

Recovering Redemption: A Gospel Saturated Perspective on How to Change

Matt Chandler - Recovering Redemption - Christian Book

Matt Chandler – Recovering Redemption Book.

Matt Chandler Book: None of us, really, can do what’s required to change our lives for the better, taking what’s persistently frustrating and making it perfectly satisfying. Yet as hopeless as that may sound, it is the flat-line truth in which good news comes to life . . . to your life. For just as what’s lost can be found, what’s wrong can—even now—be recovered.

Recovering Redemption, written with a pastor’s bold intensity and a counselor’s discerning insight, takes you deeply into Scripture to take you deeply inside yourself, discovering that the heart of all our problems is truly the problem of our hearts. But because of what God has done, and because of what God can do, the most confident, contented person you know could actually be you—redeemed through Jesus Christ.  Learn more…

 

See also: Christian News Updates and Christian Music & Bookstore at Elevate Christian Network

 

About 

Cee Harmon is the founder of Elevate Christian Network and Elevate Your Potential Magazine. He enjoys helping people improve the quality of their lives - spirit, soul, and body.
 
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