The Gospel & Money

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Lord Jesus, because that is true, we're going to leave this world.

It's a reminder to us that this world is not our final destination, that there's more to come.

We all should be buried with a fork in our hand, which reminds us that there's still more to come.

Keep your fork, you're going to need it.

And so we say that.

And so in our thinking, God, we want to not just sing that and say that.

We want to live that.

So if this world's not home and we are going to fly away one day, then how much do we need in this life to be happy?

How lightly can we hold our possessions?

And how joyful can we be in this life, knowing that there's a better life to come.

God speak to us about that today.

We pray in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

You can have a seat.

If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it up to Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

And we're going to continue in our series entitled The Gospel and, where we look at different topics through the lens of the gospel.

And today I want to talk to you about the gospel and money.

The gospel and money.

And uh, if you've been in this church any length of time, uh I've had people say to me, I've never heard you talk about money before.

Uh we don't talk a lot about it uh because we understand, and the people of this church understand, I think, what the Bible says, and so here's what I want to do.

I want to, instead of me plathering on uh about money, because usually what preachers do, they talk about money, and at the end they dim the lights and play and sing kumbaya and ask you to write checks.

Uh I'm not gonna do that today.

I want to just look at four different things the Bible says about money, and I want to give you some questions to take away uh from what the what from what the biblical text says.

Does that make sense?

Uh I don't apologize for what the Bible says.

I'm not embarrassed by it.

Matter of fact, I'm encouraged by it.

I'm stimulated to how I think about it, uh, and and I'm challenged by it.

I enjoy all of that.

And so I just want to look at four different passages.

The first one is hot out of the mouth of Jesus in Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

And by the way, before I get into this, I when I started studying for today, I had too much.

It just kept just more and more notes and more and more study notes.

Pretty soon there's like a six-part series on money.

I was like, that's I'm turning this in one sermon.

But let me just tell you this: the Old Testament in Genesis 12, it begins with God saying this kind of, he's our Abram, Abraham's our spiritual forefather.

God says to Abram, I'll bless you, and you'll be a blessing, and through you all the nations of the earth will be blessed.

Okay?

That's what God says.

He says, I will bless you.

That Hebrew word blessed in Genesis 12, it means to kneel.

And God's not saying I'm gonna kneel before you, but God's saying, I'm gonna dispose myself towards you in such a way that your little life cannot contain it all, okay?

It's gonna it's gonna come to you, it's gonna spill over.

Matter of fact, all the nations of the of the world are gonna be blessed through you.

Now, when God says through you, he's not talking about one man, he's talking about one people, God's people, because one man can't bless all the nations of the world, okay?

And so God's talking, it's a plural there.

He's kind of referring to you and your descendants.

But then the Old Testament kind of ends in the book of Malachi, chapter three.

It's got the great passion there about tithing.

He says, Hey, bring the whole tithe in the storehouse, see if I don't open up the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing upon you.

You're not able to receive, pressed down, shaken together, overflowing, all this good stuff.

But if you keep reading in Malachi chapter three, this is what God says as a result that God says, put me to the test and see if I won't do this.

But then he kind of we never quite get to this verse down there.

In about verse 10 or 11, he says, And all the nations of the world will call you blessed.

He says to Abram, I'll bless you, and you'll be a blessing, and all the nations of the world be blessed through you.

And then it ends with in Malachi 3 with God saying, Oh, by the way, all the nations of the world will call you blessed.

And just, because I'm not going to reference anything from the Old Testament because we don't have time today, but I just want to say this, just to parentheses around that.

What if God's intention all along is to bless you?

Now, most of you hear blessing, we kind of think money.

You don't get to define what the blessing is, but but but God's saying, hey, I want to I want to dispose myself to you.

I want to relate to you in such a way that everybody knows how good I am to you.

Here's the first question I want you to write down and think about.

I'll give you about six or seven questions just to think about through the week.

The first one is this What would it look like for God to bless you?

What would it look like for God to bless you wherever you are in life right now?

We'll just let that be the first question.

Let me read from Matthew chapter six.

Jesus is talking.

He says in verse 19, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rough and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

But lay up for yourselves treasure 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 eyes bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.

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'll be devoted to the one and he'll despise the other.

You cannot serve God and money.

Now Jesus is making a couple statements here that kind of provoke some questions or should provoke some questions in us.

Like when he says, Do not lay up for yourselves treasure on earth where moths corrupt and thieves break in and steal.

And that's it.

He says, But lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven.

Here's the first question the Bible asks us about money today.

Do you have more treasure in heaven or on earth right now?

Where's the majority of your treasure?

Do you have more in heaven or on earth?

Because one of the things Jesus talks about a lot is about your treasure.

About your treasure.

He says, Where your treasure is, there your heart will be.

And we'll get to that in just a minute.

But he says, hey, lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven.

Matter of fact, you should all make an appointment with your financial advisor if you have one this week and sit down with him and say, hey, here's my goal.

When I die, I want to have more treasure in heaven than I do on earth.

And prepare for that cat to stroke out right in front of you.

Because no one's ever said that to him.

Because when if you ever meet with him the first time, they'll ask you this question: how much money do you want to retire with?

Because I met my guy, I said, all the money in the world.

He said, No, really.

No, that that that's my fantasy because I grew up poor and I think money is going to make it all better.

And he said, You don't really think that, do you?

I said, Not at all, but I just thought you'd never you'd not heard that today.

But seriously, if you believe what Jesus says, he says, lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven.

Don't leave it all here on earth.

You should meet with your financial planner and say, I want to kind of adjust my portfolio to make sure I've got more treasure in heaven than I do on earth when I die.

And just be prepared for him to look at you like, I got no idea how to make that happen.

Well, you should have an idea, and I should have an idea how to make that happen because that's what Jesus says.

But he gets down there to the bottom.

And here's another question I want to get you.

In verse 24, no one can serve two masters.

See, Jesus says money is a master.

No one can serve two masters.

For he will hate the one and love the other, he'll be devoted to one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and money.

When Jesus talks about two masters, he says, You got God or you got money.

So it'll be easy to say.

Well, let me give you another question.

I think the text asks us, who do you serve?

Who do you serve?

God or money?

Now, let's don't kid ourselves.

If we took a little survey and said, Do you serve God or money?

We would all say, I serve.

Of course.

Of course you do.

Let me give you a few questions before we kind of register that answer in the book as your final answer.

To quote the guy from some game show, is that your final answer?

Here's some questions to help us all kind of get to the honesty of do I serve money or does money does it serve me?

Here's some questions that'll help you get down to that.

Number one, did I pick my career based on how much it paid?

I know I did.

Number two, do you find it hard to like people who have money?

When you see somebody with money, do you think in your mind they made a deal with the devil?

That's how they got that nice truck, that nice house.

They're probably stealing right now.

Probably selling cocaine right now.

God's gonna get them.

Don't look at those people, kids.

They got money, they're going to hell.

Number three, am I motivated by a free trip or free samples?

Number four, do you eat more food if someone else is paying for it?

Oh, you're paying?

Hang on a second.

Can I see that menu again?

I don't want the lunch selections.

Let me open it up to the inside.

Number five, is more money a goal for you?

Which, by the way, I like this week I was having lunch with a friend and I said to our waitress, hey, I pray for people I meet during the day at the end of the day.

So I'm gonna pray for you.

I want to pray for you by name.

I don't pray something specific.

What can I pray?

And they always give two answers.

And she gave the first and she said, Oh, good health.

And see, that that doesn't work for me, okay?

Because I just push back and go, Do you have good health right now?

Oh yeah.

Then what are you asking God for?

Good health.

That's like me.

Hey, God, make me a middle-aged bald white guy.

And at that point, they're just like, uh, this is more conversation than I wanted.

I don't know what to do.

And I said, No, let's ask God for something.

He's the king of the world.

And she's just like, okay, lower your voice.

Uh and then she says, Money.

Which is what everybody says.

I said, Do you have money?

Yeah, but I need more of it.

No, I'm not saying money's bad.

And by the way, the Bible never says money's bad.

It says the love of money is the root of all evil.

But money's not bad.

You don't have to be afraid of money.

And if you've got money, you don't have to feel guilty.

I have friends who do really well financially.

We say in the church they're blessed.

I say outside the church, oh, my friends are rich.

And they have this low-grade sense of guilt about it.

Every time I see the Powerball is like$200 and something million dollars, God, I wouldn't feel guilty about having all that in my bank account.

I would be great.

And God said, just shut up and do your job, okay?

Okay, but I'm just letting you know, if you're looking for somebody who can handle that, I think I could.

I watched that show, uh, how the rot the lottery loop ruined my life.

I tell God, I don't think it would ruin me.

So if you'll superimpose those numbers on my bathroom mirror, I'll trot right down to the quick stop and get that taken care of.

We'll build a new children's building and a new auditorium and all kinds of stuff and a pastor suite.

Anyway, is more money a goal for you?

Next question: Do you fear being taken advantage of financially?

Do you fear being taken advantage of financially?

Are you always trying to look up, make sure no one's getting over on you?

Last question to help us decide do we serve God or money?

Do we serve money or does money serve us?

Do you react to requests for money with indignation or anger?

It's like those little kids come and ring my doorbell.

School starts.

I mean, I can't wait for the follow up.

Two days in they got a fundraiser going.

They come to my door, ring the doorbell, and I look out there and I see it's a kid with a little sheet in his hand.

I'm like, got me one right here.

I rip the door open.

What do you want?

What are you selling?

This is a no-solicity neighborhood.

Can't you read the sign out there?

Is this a fundraiser for your school?

What's your principal's name?

I'm gonna call him right now.

What's your name?

I'm gonna tell your principal you're breaking the law.

Say right there, son.

Get my phone.

What's your name?

My wife is off the chain in there.

Neil McClendon.

Which, when she uses my first and last name, I'm in trouble.

And the kid's like, I'm just kidding, man.

Oh, never mind.

I don't buy from white people.

Go on, get out of here.

And then he's like, uh, uh, and I always grab the thing and go, what's the most expensive thing on here?

Uh, uh, I don't know.

That's a lie.

The Bible says liars are how they're placed in the lake of fire.

You want to go to the lake of fire, son?

At this point, the kid is just like, uh, uh, you believe in hell?

Hell's a real place.

You're gonna go there if you lie again.

Most expensive thing costs$32.

It's on page seven.

Put me down for that.

He's like, How do you know?

Because I married a rich girl.

Hollow Notes wrote a song about it.

Because you're a rich girl, but you're gonna you know Hollow Notes are?

No, you're going to hell for sure, son.

The kid's just like, uh, ah, you're gonna tell your parents about this?

Yeah, my mom's out there in the car.

Wave at your mom.

And I buy whatever the kid's selling.

That's why that guy, I've been buying for this one kid since the first grade.

He's now in high school.

I'm like, they ain't got fundraisers anymore.

You pocketing all this money.

Why do I tell you that?

Because it doesn't, I mean, do you do you respond to requests for money with a sense of indignation?

Like, why are you asking me for money?

Because you probably got more than you want people to know.

Now be careful that you don't underrepresent how good God's been to you.

So just in case people might know, think you got some money, it might ask you for it.

Now, I'm not saying announce your business out on out on some billboard or whatever, but Jesus says you can't serve two masters.

You're gonna serve one or you're gonna serve the other.

Now, let me I don't want to talk about money in a negative slant.

Let me let me just give you a little positive slant to it.

The right use of money has two effects, Jesus says.

Number one, it provides rewards of an eternal nature.

You should probably ask yourself, how much treasure do I have in heaven?

If Jesus says, and he did, lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven, how much it provides rewards of an eternal nature.

Secondly, it draws our affections into the kingdom of God.

It draws our affections into the kingdom of God.

That's why the Bible says, and we'll see in just a minute, he says, Hey, wherever your treasure is, there your heart will be.

That's why Jesus says, Hey, lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven, because wherever your treasure is, that's where your affections are going to be.

Second verse, I want us to look at.

If you're in Matthew, turn to the right, to the book of Luke.

Luke chapter 18.

Luke 18 · chapter mention

Starting in verse 18.

And a ruler asked him, Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

And Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good?

No one is good except God alone.

You know the commandments do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your father and mother.

And he said, I'm a homeschooler, I've memorized these, I got them all right on the test.

All these I've kept from my youth.

When Jesus heard this, he said to him, One thing you still lack, sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor, and you'll have treasure in heaven, and come follow me.

But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.

Jesus, looking at him with sadness, said, How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God.

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.

And those who heard it said, Then who can be saved?

But he said, What is impossible with men is possible with God.

And Peter said, See, we've left our homes and followed you.

And he said to them, Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God who will not receive many times more in this time, in this life, and in the age to come, eternal life.

What is Jesus saying to us?

Now, what he's not saying to us is, hey, if you really want to be a Christian, you've got to give all your possessions to the poor and come follow Jesus like this guy.

No, Jesus has this ability to kind of put his thumb on the pulse of what's really happening in the room.

The guy comes up to Jesus, don't miss this, and he says, What must I do to inherit eternal life?

Good teacher.

And Jesus says, Why do you call me good?

There's only one who is good.

You know the commandments.

And the guy, and Jesus lists off about four or five of them, and the guy says, I've kept every one of these since I was a little kid, okay?

I'm spotless.

I'm the most morally impeccable person you will ever meet.

And Jesus is kind of like, All right, let me put this down here where you live.

Remember when the disciples came to Jesus and said, What's the greatest commandment?

He said, Love the Lord your God, thy heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as you love your.

And so Jesus is talking to this guy, and the guy's like, All these I've kept from my youth.

Jesus says, Okay, one thing you lack, go sell all your possessions and give to the poor.

And then you'll have treasure in heaven, and then come follow me.

See, there's Jesus talking about treasure in heaven once again.

And the Bible says that this, the man went away sad because he was very wealthy.

If you're wealthy in the room right now, which by the way, to bring this down to where we all live, you're all wealthy.

I'm wealthy.

See, it's not just in comparison to all your friends, the comparison by the world standard, every one of you in this room is wealthy.

I'm wealthy, so I'm talking to all of us right now.

And so Jesus says, Hey, here's the deal.

You kept all the commandments.

Well, the greatest commandment is is loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving your neighbor as much as you love yourself.

So you love your neighbor as much as you say you love yourself?

Absolutely.

Great.

Give him all your stuff.

What you talking about, Willis?

See, because here's this thing.

Jesus has this innate ability to put this down to a point of decision.

And God's like, and then Jesus says this, and here's where our question comes from.

Let me just kind of read this passage.

He says, verse 24, Jesus looking at him with sadness said, How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God.

But it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.

Now, what I've seen before is preachers who don't really study the Bible say, Well, at the temple there was this little archway gate, and it was kind of short, and a camel had to get on its stomach and kind of crawl through.

That is not true.

There's no such thing as a gate at the temple called the eye of the needle.

It does not exist, okay?

That's just something preachers make up because they don't want to tell rich people in their congregation, hey, the Bible says it's hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

They didn't say it's impossible.

Here's why it's hard for rich people like us.

Don't think Bill Gates.

Think me and you.

Here's why it's hard.

Because we tend to trust in what we can see more than in what we can't see.

And you can make enough money to where you can start making unbiblical decisions.

Like you can make enough money in your marriage that one day you just look at each other and go, you know what, we're not happy anymore.

This isn't working.

Let's just divide the assets and you can have the beach house.

I'll take the cabin in Colorado and I'll take primary custody of the kids.

And you just negotiate it out like you're ordering off a lunch menu.

Poor people can't do that.

You know that?

They just stuck.

Poor people don't have another TV to go watch.

How many of you in this room got more than one TV in your house?

Can I see your hand?

My hand's up.

Lift it up high.

Don't do this.

Like, hold it up real high.

You materialistic gluttons.

There, I put some guilt on you.

No, you ain't gotta feel bad about that.

But see, poor people don't have two TVs.

Poor people can't say, I don't watch, I don't want to watch, you know, international house hunters.

I don't want to watch people I don't know buy a house.

I can care less about this.

I hate that show.

I hate Chopped, okay?

I don't want to watch people cook, buy a house, dance, or sing.

I don't ever watch TV.

I live with a wife and two daughters.

They like all that kind of stuff.

And I just kind of walk through.

I don't want to watch property brothers, those two kids, those two brothers on HCTV who get a house.

Now there's a house of some people in Waco that buy houses for$10,000 and totally renovate them, you know.

And then, oh, now you got a million-dollar home.

I hate those people too.

And here's why.

Because I love my house until I see a show like that, then I hate my house.

We'll get to that in just a minute.

But Jesus just says, hey, here's the thing.

Here's the question I want I want to ask you from this passage.

I think Jesus wants to ask in this passage what would be the hardest thing for you to give up right now?

Some of you, it's it's not money.

It's something else.

But Jesus says, here's one thing you lack.

It's hard for rich people like us to get into the kingdom of heaven because we trust in so many other things.

Things that we can see and touch and taste and feel, and the things that we can't see.

Yet the Bible says in Hebrews 11 that the substance of faith, faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.

The evidence of your faith is in what you don't see.

Third passage that I want to look at.

If you're in Luke 18, just go to the left of Luke chapter 12.

Luke 12 · chapter mention

Luke chapter 12, I'll start reading verse 13.

Luke 12 · chapter mention

Someone in the crowd said to him, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.

But he said to him, Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?

And he said to them, Take care and be on your guard against all covetousness.

Now let me stop right here.

Look at me.

Sometimes Jesus would say things that people didn't expect him to say.

And this is one of those situations because Jesus will say something, and people ask him a question.

And if you don't want God's answer, don't ask God the question.

So people think, I'm going to ask this question, and Jesus is going to agree with me.

Probably not.

Here's what happened: He says something that people, and it's kind of like, and Jesus is like, I better explain this.

And so that's why he tells a parable.

And so that's what happened.

The guy says, Hey, Jesus, you'll agree with me that my brother should divide the inheritance with me.

And Jesus said, Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?

And people are like, Oh, well, if I was God, I wouldn't answer like that.

And he said to them, Take care and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.

And he told them a parable saying, The land of a rich man produced plentifully.

And he thought to himself, What shall I do?

For I have nowhere to store my crops.

And he said, I will do this.

I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods, and I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for me.

Many years, relax and eat, drink, be merry.

But God said to him, Fool, this night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?

So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God.

There's a couple of things that the Bible just asks us blatantly right here.

The first one is, How do you define life?

How do you define life?

You say, What do you mean?

Jesus says, take care and be on guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.

So if your life does not consist, it's not defined by the abundance of your possessions, then how do you define life?

You should ask yourself that question this week.

Second question the Bible asks us is what do you covet?

Jesus says, be on guard against all covetousness.

I was joking early about watching TV.

It's not just watching TV.

My wife went on a lunch date the other day, uh, somewhere out in Katy, and we're coming back, and she said, Oh, I want to stop and look at the model homes in Aliana.

Don't do that.

There's a model home over there, they've got a game room in there, and then walled off behind these double doors is a media room with surround sound, and it's dark, and it's got a big TV in it, and it's got these uh these leather theater style seats.

And the guy said, A man, this is the ultimate man cave.

You could just go in here and escape from the world.

And I was like, You got a cigarette?

He's like, excuse me.

I said, You got I don't smoke, but I go in here, close these doors and escape from the world.

So I slipped in my 20 and I took a three-hour nap in there.

I came home, I love my house until I came home after seeing that.

I wanted that.

That's called covetousness.

It's even hard to say, isn't it?

I just botched it again.

It's called covetousness.

It's called wanting something so much that you fantasize about how better your life's gonna be if you just had that.

And oh, did I tell you that an outdoor kitchen on the back of that bad boy?

And the guy, just like you would say, past the salt, I said, Is that part of the house?

He goes, No, that's a that's an extra.

We just want you to see what all's available.

It's only 160,000 to get that done as well.

And I just thought, who talks like that about$160,000?

A salesman does.

Then I went home and there was my little grill on the back deck.

I didn't even, I don't even want to use that thing ever again.

It's like, well, there you go.

Mmm, mmm, mmm.

Let me give you another question because Jesus ends the story, by the way, of the rich fool by just saying, Hey, I got my my soul, he says to his soul, get this.

Here's how you know you're materialistic.

You talk to your soul.

Your soul is your spiritual part of you.

You talk to your soul in a material way.

Look at what he says.

He says, Hey, what shall I do?

Verse 17, I have nowhere to store my crops.

And he said, I'll do this.

I'll tear down my barns and build bigger barns.

And there I'll store my grain and my goods, and I will say to my soul, soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years.

Relax, eat, drink, and be merry.

Your soul, the spiritual dimension of who you are, this is not sustained by material goods.

That's how you end up being the guy who's 68 and got the biggest house you've ever lived in, and your soul's withered up like a little raisin.

You are perpetually unhappy and low-grade angry because you've been feeding your soul material things your whole life, and your soul doesn't want that.

Your soul wants to go to Costa Rica and put on a headlamp and drill tin into the roof of a school at 10 o'clock at night when everyone's quit working and you're up there and you're just like, and somebody said to me one time, they said, Hey, when we were there in February with our men's trip, they're like, hey, where's Wheeler Baemin and Brian McKee and the rest of those guys?

Brett Ferguson, I said, they're up there working by the moonlight.

Should we go up there and check on them?

I bet they're happier than we are.

One of the guys looked at me like, how so?

I said, your soul was created for something that beyond the realm of explanation.

Your soul doesn't need material goods.

If you're saying to your soul, eat, drink, and be merry, you have plenty laid up for years, you are feeding material things to your spiritual soul, and your soul is going, no thanks, I'm good.

And the Bible calls those kind of people fools.

But God said to him, Fool, this night your soul will be required of you.

And the things that you prepared, whose will they be?

I have a friend that works for an organization that just helps dying millionaires figure out how to divest themselves of their money.

And you think, I'd be a great job.

She says, It's very sad.

It's very sad.

These people don't know what to do.

I try to work into the conversation.

Then I tell you, we're building a children's building.

I don't, but the thought goes through my mind.

Here's the last question this section asks us.

Jesus says in verse 21, so is the one who lays up treasure for himself.

There's Jesus talking about treasure again.

So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God.

Here's the question the Bible's asking us today.

What is it, what does it mean to be rich towards God?

You should go for a walk with your wife later today and ask that question.

If you're single, if you're a single woman in here and a guy out on a date, you should, when you get you start to get to know each other, he says, Tell me about you.

What are what is your what is one of your life goals?

I want to be rich towards God.

I want to die happy knowing I got more treasure in heaven than here on this earth.

That's how you weed out the boys from the men.

A man hears that and says, Oh, speak again.

A boy hears that and goes, what do you mean?

Look at one more passage.

You got you get you got room in it for one more passage in you, and then we'll be done.

Second Corinthians chapter 9.

2 Corinthians 9 · chapter mention

I start reading in verse 1 so you can get the context of what we're gonna read.

And again, the preacher's not shaking you down.

I'm not fleecing you.

There's not pledge cards under your seat, is there?

Look under there.

There's not any.

We're not going in.

And here's the deal.

Here's why it's not, okay?

Look at me.

If you're visiting this church for the first time, you need to know this.

I don't preach to my people on the basis of what I want them to do.

I preach to them on the basis of what I want you to understand.

Therefore, whatever you do is rooted in your understanding, not our latest program at the church.

Where every six weeks we rally up something else for you to get excited about.

Because once you understand what the Bible says about everything the Bible says it about, you don't need a lot of stimulation.

You just need somebody to get up and tell you what the Bible says, and you're like, I got it.

I'm not seven, okay?

Take the training wheels off.

Let me get this bad boy out on the road.

That's understanding.

This is what the Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 1.

2 Corinthians 9:1

Paul says, now it is superfluous.

I'm glad that word's in the Bible.

That's an SAT vocab right there.

Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry to the saints.

In other words, it's pointless because you people got this.

I'm talking to Noah about the flood up in here.

He says, For I know your readiness of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achai has been ready since last year, and your zeal has stirred up most of them.

But I'm sending the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove in vain in this matter, so that you may be ready, as I said you would be.

Otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you're not ready, we would be humiliated to say nothing of you for being so confident.

So, verse 5, I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead of you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an extraction.

Verse 6, the point is this.

Now when the Bible, which is very simply written, says something like, The point is this, your ears should perk up.

The point is this whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly.

Whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

Each one must give as he has made up his mind.

That's a bad translation from the Greek.

I read from the ESV.

The Greek word there is not mine, it's cardia, which is heart.

Each one should give as he's purpose in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, but for God loves a cheerful giver, and God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

As it is written, He is distributed freely, He is given to the poor.

His righteousness endures forever.

He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase your harvest, the harvest of your righteousness.

You'll be enriched in every way for all your generosity, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

But all that so you can get the context of verse six and seven, where he says, the point is this whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly.

Let me give you another question to think about this week.

How you're reaping these days.

It's none of my business what you give.

I have nothing to do with that.

I don't see it, I don't touch it.

We have a financial secretary that takes care of all that.

But I will ask you, how are you sowing?

Because then he says this.

For each one must give as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion.

And each one has his purpose in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

That would cheerful is the Greek word hilarious, which is where we get our English word, hilarious.

God loves a hilarious giver.

And God is able to make all grace abound to you.

See when he says in verse 7, hey, each one must give as he's purposed in his heart.

Here's the only point I would make in the sermon, other than reading the text and asking questions, because anytime a preacher talks about money, you're like, where are you going with this?

Nowhere.

I don't have an agenda today.

I have a responsibility as your pastor to love you enough to tell you what the Bible says.

Here's the one point I would give you to the sermon.

What you do with your money is a reflection of what God has done with your heart.

What you do with your money, what I do with my money is a reflection of what God has done in my heart.

That's why the Bible has great confidence when it says, let each man give as he's purposing his heart.

Because when God has your heart, he has all this other stuff.

Let me give you two examples from the Bible and we'll be done and we'll run free and get out of here.

Amen?

Who's for that?

I didn't feel any love right there just for the record.

I feel like Jerry Maguire.

I grabbed the fish and said, Who's coming with me?

Y'all didn't look up from your computers.

You weasels.

Anyway, two stories about what again, let me demonstrate.

Hey, what you do with your money is a reflection of what God's done in your heart.

Two stories.

Number one, in Luke chapter 19, that tells a story of a man named Zacchaeus who got up in a tree.

Luke 19 · chapter mention

Remember, he climbed up in a sycamore tree for the Lord.

He wanted to.

Y'all grew up in church, didn't you?

Yeah.

Remember, Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was.

Yeah, there you go, your vacation Bible school superstars.

Jesus comes along and he just walks up to the trunk of the tree and says, Zacchaeus, I got to go to your house and eat supper tonight.

Which, by the way, I'm instituting a new policy.

I might just call you this summer and just drop in and just say, Hey, I'm in your neighborhood.

You got any lunch meat or a box of cereal?

I hadn't had supper yet.

Now, now I'm not kidding because I grew up poor inside all the rules, but when I got met, when I got engaged, I'm not kidding you.

My mother-in-law sent me a copy of Emily Post's book, Manners and Etiquette.

Prim and proper Southern.

I told my wife, I almost dropped in about 8:15.

I was doing, I made a hospital visit, and then I met a guy for coffee who just said, Hey, I feel like my life's coming unravel.

Can you meet me at the Starbucks?

Absolutely.

I got done, I was at the Starbucks in Greatwood.

And now about, I don't know, almost 9 o'clock, I almost called Wade and Emmy Burger said, Hey, I'm right across the highway.

You got any leftovers in your fridge?

I'm hungry.

My wife said, You don't do that.

You don't drop in on people, it's not appropriate.

We're friends, aren't we?

So I might call you, and you can say no.

You know, but Jesus came to the tree trunk, said, Zacchaeus, I got to go to your house.

Zacchaeus didn't say, Oh, my house is a mess, Jesus.

Give me 30 minutes.

No, Jesus showed up, and here's the deal: the Bible doesn't tell us anything they said or did.

They ate together, and when they were done eating, here's what the Bible tells us.

Zacchaeus said, Lord, I tell you what, I'm gonna give half my possessions to the poor.

And if I've cheated anybody, and Jesus is like, if you cheated anybody.

You're talking to the Son of God here, my man.

What do you mean if?

You're a tax collector.

Don't make me flick my ashes on the plate right here at the table.

If you cheated anybody, he says, Hey, I'm gonna, he's already given away half his money.

Now remember, what you do with your money is a reflection of what God has done in your heart.

He said, I'll give half my blessings to the poor.

And if I cheated anybody, I'll give back fourfold.

People come up to me and go, You think that's really real?

That's not my question.

My question is, what do you think Jesus said to him at dinner?

I want you to ask yourself that question this week.

What did Jesus say to this cat at dinner that caused him to do that?

I'll give you one more.

You got attention span for one more?

Because remember, it's all through the Bible, by the way.

I'm just picking out a couple.

John chapter 12.

John 12 · chapter mention

So it starts really back in Luke chapter 10, about verse 38 to 42, the story of Mary and Martha.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

Mary and Martha, Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus, kind of going, go hell with your bad self, Jesus.

I ain't even blinking, taking my eyes off you.

And Martha comes out of the kitchen.

Lord, don't you care?

My sisters left me to do all the work.

Don't ask God a question if you ain't prepared to live with the answer.

And Jesus says, Martha and Martha, I don't think he took his eyes off Mary.

Martha and Martha, you're worried about many things.

Well, one thing is needed.

Mary's chosen that which is better, and it will not be taken away from her.

John picks up the story in John chapter 12.

John 12 · chapter mention

It says, six days before Passover, there was a party given in Lazarus' honor.

Apparently, if you die for four days and then rise from the dead, they throw you a party.

Imagine that.

My kid graduated in fifth grade.

I felt I didn't bring her flowers and stuff.

People bring in flowers, and I was like, I expect her to graduate.

This didn't surprise me.

I mean, they had like a movie crew there filming this thing.

Like, take a picture of the iPhone, honey, from the back row here.

But hey, there's a party in Lazarus' honor.

The Bible says Martha served because some things never change.

Mary shows up with a with a pint of pure nard.

I just love saying that word.

It sounds bad, doesn't it?

Nard.

A pound of pure nard, an expensive perfume.

It was worth 300 denarii.

A denary was the paycheck for like one day of labor.

You get a denary.

That's basically a year's wage.

You factor out the weekends or the Sabbath, you got yourself a year's worth of like 2D fruity Vaselines, what it was like.

Any of you men here wear cologne?

Can I see your hand?

Hello?

It's okay.

Raise your hand.

You're like, I don't wear cologne, you liar.

You should wear cologne.

It's like them little fifth grade kids.

They don't you don't stink in the fifth grade.

But when you get to the sixth grade, you stink.

You gotta tell your kids you need to bathe because you smell like a squirrel, okay?

Get them some axe body spray or something.

All these teachers are going, mm-hmm.

My room smells like a field house.

Yeah.

Kid got some funk coming off of him.

Yeah.

Can you imagine?

How many women in here wear perfume?

Can I see your hand?

Can you imagine?

Take, take whatever, if you work, take the amount of money you make in a year and buying that much of your of your perfume and mixing it with some Vaseline to get it like this fragrant ointment.

I wouldn't say ointment because that sounds like something the doctor gives you, like in a tube for a rash, and Jesus is like, don't put that on me.

She comes in with a pint of pure nard, expensive perfume, and she begins to slather on Jesus, and Judas is like, why wasn't this money, why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor?

And the Bible says, because God knows everyone's heart.

He didn't say it's because he cared about the poor.

He said this because he was a thief and he used to reach his little hand in the money bag and skim off the top, like Zacchaeus used to do.

But God never got Judas' heart.

Judas died and went to hell because his heart was never transformed.

That's why he stole money.

That's why he coveted money.

That's why he sold Jesus out for 30 pieces of silver.

What you do with your money is a reflection of what God has done in your heart.

Mary's just slathering it down, and Jesus is like, hey, leave her alone.

The poor you always have with you.

You won't always have me.

Most profound thing in the passage right there.

Why?

Because in John 13, it starts in John 13, verse 1, and Jesus, having loved his disciples, comes to show the full extent of his love.

John 13:1

He washes the disciples' feet.

The crucifixion narrative starts in the end of chapter 12.

Jesus was getting ready to be died, be killed, and buried, and only Mary got that.

She comes to anoint him for burial.

Now just think about this, because I've been walking around all week, kind of giggling about this.

If I took a pound, a year's worth of waste, say, if you made$50,000, I took$50,000 of old spice, mixed it with some Vaseline, so I had this ointment that, okay, that was very fragrant, and I slathered you with$50,000 worth of that.

How long before you stop smelling like that?

That wouldn't come off of you, would it?

This should have like a scratch and sniff part to the butt.

Oh, we get that, Jesus, because we don't get it.

Jesus the next day rides into Jerusalem.

He is reeking of old spice.

People are like, I don't know where he's been, but he smells good.

And by the way, when he went to stand before Pilate, and Pilate was like, dude, what is that?

Jesus just smiled.

It's understanding.

Only Mary understood.

That was enough for Jesus.

She showed up.

I'm gonna anoint you for burial.

I don't want to serve you, I just want to know you.

So I'm getting it.

I got$50,000 for the old spice.

You got a minute?

Go ahead.

I dare say he went to the cross still smelling like that.

25 days later.

Imagine the Romans pounding him down.

Dude, what is that?

And him just smiling.

It's understanding.

I'm ready to be buried, therefore, go ahead and kill me.

Because you're not doing it.

See, the Bible's full of these extravagant people, extravagant things that people did that made no financial sense because of what God had done in their heart.

Here's my last question, and we're done.

What is the last financially extravagant thing that your heart caused you to do?

Does that make sense?

Hello?

Y'all don't want to make eye contact.

What's the last financially extravagant thing that your heart caused you to do?

That's all.

See, because when you look at money through the lens of the gospel, it clarifies it.

It's not a bad thing.

If you've got money, don't feel guilty.

You didn't make a deal with the devil.

Matter of fact, I would tell you that God blessed you because He trusted you with it.

If you're good at business, get better at business.

But don't do this.

Don't waste your life building bigger barns.

Hold your hands out and speak a blessing over you.

Because your father's desire and plan has been and will always be to bless you.

I say these words to you from your father.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Cause his face to shine upon you.

May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

In the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you, you're dismissed.