Financial Wisdom in a Materialistic Age

Heavenly Father, we love you and we need you.

We treasure you and we adore you.

This morning, Father, we've come to bring you true and honest worship,

to declare that you, God, are the one true God.

There's no one that compares with you.

You are the one cornerstone upon which we can build and bank our lives.

God, this morning, we don't just worship you because you do us good.

We worship you because you're true, because you're real, because you're glorious.

You're worthy of our worship, God.

And we find our fullest and our truest identity when we worship you.

God, you're glorious and you're good.

You are majestic and you are merciful, God.

And for that, we love and we surrender to you.

Christ, this morning, come and have your way in our hearts.

Come and be first and preeminent in our lives.

Father, why don't you come and give us faith and help us to surrender to you freshly this morning, we pray.

Father, we want to bring before you those in our midst that are going to be traveling to Turkey this week.

Chris and Fiona, Charlotte, Echo and her mom, Florence and Cynthia, Tiffany, Alex, Phoebe and Yidi.

And God, we do pray that you will firstly protect them and keep them safe, God.

We pray for the logistics of their travels, God.

That they won't miss flights, miss buses.

That, God, all the logistics will work out.

There will be no accidents.

Everyone will be kept healthy and safe, Lord.

Look after them, we pray, God.

Father, more than that, we pray that as they study your word and as they visit the historical sites of the New Testament,

God, we pray that your word will come alive.

We pray, God, you'll speak them powerfully.

We pray for each one going on the trip.

That your word, God, will go deep in their hearts.

And the wonder of who you are, God, will be made freshly known to them, Lord.

God, open the eyes of their heart as they travel around Turkey, God, and explore these sites.

God, may your word come alive, we pray.

God, be with Chris and Fiona as they lead this team.

And will you meet each person, we pray, Father.

Lord, this morning we also want to pray for sons and daughters, for Julie and the team there.

And thank you for the amazing work that they do.

Thank you for their courage.

Thank you for their perseverance, God.

Thank you for their steadfastness.

Lord, we do pray that you will continue to lead them and guide them, God.

And fill them with your Holy Spirit and strengthen them.

And, God, when they feel overwhelmed, when they feel exhausted, God, won't you lift their sights to you, God.

And remind them that you are with them, Lord.

We pray for each one of these ladies, God.

Those that have gone back to Uganda and those that are here in Hong Kong.

God, won't you draw near, Lord.

We pray again that your word will come alive, that you'll be speaking to them.

Oh, Jesus, come and have your way, we pray, Lord.

Won't you come and set these ladies free, Father God, from the exploitation, God.

Thank you for the people, sons and daughters, that are loving them and being so good, Lord God.

We do pray for you to continue to resource them, strengthen them.

Pray for Julie and her colleagues, God.

Pour your love into their hearts as they love these ladies, we pray, Father.

Father.

And then, Father, finally, we pray for this morning at Emmanuel Church, where Chris is preaching.

Father, won't you bless him abundantly?

Won't you bless Evangel as he pastors and leads that church?

Give him wisdom and insight.

And, God, we pray that he'll know your presence.

He'll know your spirit, Lord.

We pray, God, that more than just a pastor and a leader, that your word will speak to him personally, God.

That you will be his cornerstone.

And that he'll minister out of a place of sweet intimacy with you, God.

God, we pray for those that are members and not yet encountered you.

We pray that you'll cause them to have a life-changing encounter with the living God.

Pray the gospel will get deep into that church, Lord.

And we pray that each person will come to see and understand and believe and receive the gospel.

And that'll change their whole lives.

We pray for their witness in that area, God, to be clear and powerful.

Pray for their relationships to be shaped by the gospel.

Father, we pray all these things in your wonderful and your mighty name.

Amen. Amen.

Wonderful.

Guys, for those of you going to Turkey, have a wonderful trip.

And we look forward to hearing about it afterwards.

Gary, will you come and bring God's word to us this morning?

The scripture reading comes from Matthew, chapter 6.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

Please follow along in your bulletins or on the screen.

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy 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.

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.

You cannot serve God and money.

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink,

nor about your body, what you will put on.

Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

Look at the birds in the air.

They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not more value than they?

And which of you, being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life?

And why are you anxious about clothing?

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.

They neither toil nor spin.

Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven,

will he not much more clothe you?

O you of little faith,

Therefore do not be anxious, saying,

What shall we eat?

Or what shall we drink?

Or what shall we wear?

For the Gentiles seek all of these things,

and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,

and all these things will be added to you.

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow,

for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.

Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

This is the word of God and his promises to us.

Gary, is this on?

Okay.

So just to let you know where we are at with our preaching,

in December last year we started preaching through Matthew's Gospel,

and we did Advent, and then we got to John the Baptist,

and then we got to the Sermon on the Mount,

and we've been working through the Sermon on the Mount,

and at various points when Jesus picks up on a theme,

which is really pertinent to us,

we've just paused on that theme.

And so about two months ago,

Jesus spoke about salt and light,

and we decided to pause there for a couple of weeks

and explore what does it mean to be missionaries into our city,

for Christ to send us out.

And then we went back to the Sermon on the Mount,

and we continued,

and then Jesus starts to speak about prayer,

and so we decided to pause for a couple of weeks

and consider prayer.

Why is it imperative that we must be a praying church?

Now we go back to the Sermon on the Mount,

and today we get to chapter 6,

and Jesus, in this very famous passage,

talks about money.

And seeing that money is such an important part

of so many of our lives,

and in the city of Hong Kong,

we're going to pause here again for a couple of weeks,

and just consider how Jesus' upside-down kingdom

speaks to this really important area of our lives.

And so for the next four or five weeks,

we're going to look at what Jesus has to say

about our financial lives.

And so let's dive straight into this scripture,

and work our way through it,

and see what Christ says to us this morning.

And so look at verse 19 and 20 with me.

Jesus says this.

He says,

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth,

where moth and rust destroy,

where thieves break in and steal.

But lay up for yourselves rather treasures in heaven,

where neither moth nor rust destroy,

where thieves do not break in and steal.

Now, if you step back a little bit

and remove some of the kind of religious language,

what Jesus is saying here

is not very intellectual or philosophically deep.

It's pretty straightforward and sound financial advice, right?

Jesus is saying to them

that you've got these two investment vehicles.

One of them is high risk, very high risk,

and the returns on investment is pretty average.

The other one is very low risk

with great returns on investment, okay?

And so he says to us,

Which one do you want?

Now, just to understand,

when Jesus talks about heaven and earth here,

he's not talking about geographical spheres,

as if the material world is kind of bad

and the invisible city in the sky is somehow good.

When he talks about heaven,

he's talking about the place

where God's rule and reign is,

where Christ is king.

And he's talking about earth

is the place where God is absent.

And so Jesus is saying,

you've got these two kind of investment vehicles,

in a sense.

How are you going to invest your life,

your one and only life?

How are you going to invest your financial life?

On the one hand,

you've got this one vehicle,

and it comes with high risk.

There's every possibility that you could lose it all.

And you could lose it through natural things,

like floods and freak accidents

and misfortune and disease,

or maybe even like stock market meltdowns

or sentiment, that kind of thing.

Or you can lose it through wickedness and evil, greed,

someone stealing it from you.

But either way, it's very risky.

And even if you do survive the risk,

the return is pretty short-lived.

The maximum return that you're going to get

on this investment is your lifetime.

There comes a day when that return

is going to be exhausted,

and it comes to the end.

Now, of course,

the upside of this short-term investment

is that the returns are immediate.

They are tangible.

There's a sense that you can see them

right here and now, right?

You can check on your phone the stock price

or your share portfolio or that car.

You can actually feel it.

So in a sense,

the upside is that the return is tangible

and right in front of you.

Contrast that, says Jesus,

with this other kind of investment vehicle,

if you were.

And it's admittedly harder to see.

It takes longer to see the fruit of it.

It requires more patience, more trust.

But it has almost zero risk.

And the return,

while it might take longer,

is never-ending.

You're never, ever going to get

to the end of it.

And so imagine this.

Imagine you have,

maybe before I go there,

these two investment vehicles,

I remember in South Africa a few years ago,

I think four or five years ago,

we had a president that was corrupt,

very corrupt to say the least.

And he had orchestrated that all his players

were in the key kind of positions of government.

And he was organizing all these deals on the side

to steal hundreds of millions of dollars.

But there was one person

that wouldn't do his bidding,

and that was the finance minister.

And so, you know,

he had deals with the airlines

and the freight agency

and the coal miners and everyone,

but the finance minister

wouldn't do what he wanted.

And he was holding up all these deals

that this president had cut.

And so one Friday afternoon,

the president fires the finance minister

and appoints some backbencher

that kind of nobody's heard of.

The guy doesn't even have an economics degree.

He's just a pawn to do his bidding, right?

And over that weekend,

the stock market just fell into freefall,

and people lost up to 30%

of their entire wealth in one weekend.

15 years of savings in one weekend

was just evaporated and wiped off

people's balance sheets.

And that's what Jesus is saying.

You can go there,

but there's extremely high risk.

It's extremely volatile.

And so he says you've got these two options.

Now, imagine you inherit $100 million.

You've got a wealthy uncle,

and he leaves $100 million to you,

and you go to your financial advisor,

and you say,

what should I do?

And your financial advisor says to you,

she says,

well, I've got these two options for you.

One is very high risk

and average returns,

but it is immediate.

The other one is extremely low risk

and very long-term returns.

Which one should I choose?

Well, you don't need a PhD in finance

to know which is the good choice, right?

It's pretty straightforward.

And that's what Jesus is saying here.

All of us are economic beings.

We live in an economic world,

and Hong Kong in particular

is a highly charged economic city.

And Jesus is inviting us

to be wise stewards of our lives

and also our economic lives,

our financial lives.

Now, that's all very straightforward,

but here's the tricky part.

The tricky thing is,

why don't we do that?

In other words,

if you look at it black and white on paper,

one looks far more logical

and rational than the other,

and yet most of us,

and myself included,

find ourselves being drawn

towards this one,

the immediate return,

even though it's far more risky and volatile.

Why is that?

That doesn't make rational sense.

And the reason is,

because as Jesus will tell us

again and again and again,

that actually our lives

are far more controlled,

not so much by the rationality

of our minds or logic,

but actually by the condition of our hearts.

Remember Jesus constantly speaking about,

what's the condition of your heart?

Because the condition of your heart

determines your behavior,

your decisions,

your outflow.

The Bible again and again is saying,

watch how your heart is,

because out of the outflow of your heart,

everything flows.

That's why Proverbs says,

above all else,

above everything else,

guard your heart,

because your heart controls your decisions

and your behavior

and the way that you go about your life.

And so look at what Jesus says here

in verse 21.

He says,

where your treasure is,

there your heart will be also.

And that's the challenge, right?

Put it in black and white in front of us,

it's easy to make the choice.

But in the day-to-day decisions

and the trenches of life,

we're often guided far more

by what our hearts desire,

by what our hearts want to believe is true,

by what our hearts treasure,

than by mere logic and rationality.

And in many ways,

that's the key word.

The key word is treasure.

What is it that's caught

the imaginations of our hearts?

What is it that our hearts long after

or treasure?

Chris was telling me this week,

I haven't seen the movie,

but he just told me the scene

and it painted such a vivid picture

that I could immediately see

what he was talking about.

But apparently in the movie The Hobbit,

in one of the movies,

there's this guy that stumbles across

lots of gold and treasure.

All the students are laughing.

You guys like The Hobbit, evidently.

Anyway, so some guy stumbles across

all this treasure

and he falls in love with this treasure.

He must have this treasure.

And so he pulls it all up

and he gets it into a treasure box

and he's hoarding his treasure.

But the city in which he lives

is about to get destroyed.

And so there's a ship that's leaving

and he's got to get onto the ship.

And he's got his treasure box

and he's making his way

through the crowds towards the ship.

And while he's doing that,

they're starting to untie the ropes on the ship

and to pull up the gangplank.

And so while he's making his way

towards the ship,

one or two gold coins fall along the way

and he kind of stops

and he picks up his gold coin

and he carries on

and then another one drops

and he stops to pick it up

and he puts down the treasure

and he picks up

and he's going.

And as he's going,

you know what's happening.

The ship is starting to

more and more,

you know,

get ready to leave.

And he can see it happening

and everything logical says,

just leave the two gold coins.

You've got a whole box

full of treasure, right?

Just get on the ship.

But there's something alluring

about that treasure.

He can't leave even two coins behind.

And so eventually the ship sails off

and he's standing at the end of the,

you know,

wherever ships sail from

with this treasure box,

but it's all in vain

because the ship has gone without him.

And in many ways,

that's what it's like.

Money has this way of,

this allure that draws us in

that helps us

or stops us making rational decisions

because our hearts get enamored

with the treasure

of what it promises.

In some ways,

it's like those of us

that struggle with an addiction.

If you speak to someone

who struggles with an addiction

when they sober

or they're not in the grips

of the addiction,

the rational logics

make complete sense.

They'll agree with you.

Yeah, you're right.

This thing is dangerous.

It's killing me.

It's destroying my relationships.

But in the midst of that addiction,

it's not rationality and logic

there's some other power

that's at work

pulling them towards

that hold in their life.

And that's what Jesus is saying here.

He's showing us

that there's two different ways

to approach our money.

But then he's saying

that what determines

whether we are financially wise

or financially foolish

is actually not based

on our level of education

or our expertise.

It's not how good you are at budgeting

or how good you are at investing.

Actually, what determines

whether we are financially wise

or financially foolish

is the condition of our hearts.

The condition of our hearts.

And so the question is

how do you know

where your heart is?

How do you know

what your heart treasures?

Well, I guess one way to know

is to ask ourselves

what have we spent money on recently?

What's taken a large share

of our financial decisions?

But another way Jesus tells us

to know where our hearts are

is to look at our eyes.

To look at our eyes.

Now, what do I mean by that?

Well, look at verse 22 with me.

Jesus says,

The eye is the lamp of the body.

So if your eye is healthy,

your whole body will be full of light.

If your eye is bad or unhealthy,

your whole body will be full of darkness.

If then the light within you is darkness,

how great is your darkness?

Now, what's Jesus talking about?

This eye lamp kind of business.

What's he going on about?

Well, Jesus is saying

that the eyes of our hearts

are like windows

that let the light in

and shape the condition

of our hearts and our souls.

So maybe picture this.

Picture an olden day lamp, right?

You've got this,

you light a candle,

you put it in this old lamp

and then you've got the glass around it

that stops the wind from blowing it out.

And you're walking through the streets.

And the condition of that glass,

that lamp,

is going to shape

how powerful or strong that light is.

If the glass is clean and clear,

the light is going to shine

and you're going to see the room where you are

or as you walk the streets,

you're going to know which way to go.

The light is going to stop you

falling into a ditch

or losing your way

or getting lost.

But if the glass is covered

or it's muddy

or it's dirty

or it's not clear

or it's discolored,

the light can't get out

and you're going to hold that lamp

in front of you

but you might stumble and fall

or lose your way.

And Jesus is saying,

in many ways,

so does with the eyes of our hearts.

If the things we treasure,

if the things that have captured

our imagination,

if the things that the eyes of our hearts

look to with longing

and with inordinate desire,

those things that we look at

and say,

that will make me safe,

that will keep me secure,

that will make me happy

or fulfilled,

those things actually shape

how much almost light

our souls get to experience.

They get to shape our hearts.

And so how do we know

whether our hearts

are going to be healthy or not?

Well, what's captured the eyes

of our hearts' imagination?

What are the things we look to

for longing

or with desire?

What's captured our imaginations?

And Jesus says,

if the light,

if your eyes are healthy

and the word healthy there,

it's actually got to play in words.

In some contexts,

it means generous.

In other words,

if the eyes of your heart

are outward looking,

not inward looking,

not hoarding,

not how much can I have,

if the eyes of your heart

are generous,

actually that's going to make

your heart light.

It's going to,

the light of God

is going to shine in your soul.

But the word healthy there

can also mean single-minded,

complete,

as opposed to divided

or double-minded.

And so Jesus is saying,

if the eyes of your heart

are not focused

on two different goals,

but they're single-minded

in their devotion,

there's one thing

that has captured them

above all else,

actually you're going

to be a wise person.

It's like your heart

is going to have

the light shining on them.

You're going to know

which way to walk.

You're going to make

wise decisions,

as opposed to being

double-minded,

trying to focus on

serving God in one sense,

but then there's

this other pull on you,

which is also you're

trying to serve that God

at the same time.

Jesus says,

if the eye is healthy,

if it's single-minded,

it'll be like the light

inside of you

is shining brightly.

And so look at

what Jesus says

in verse 24.

He says,

going on about this,

he says,

therefore,

no one can serve

two masters.

Either he'll hate the one

and love the other,

or he'll be devoted

to this one

and despise that one.

You cannot serve

both God and money.

And Jesus is saying

that in the end,

if we're double-minded,

one of them

is going to have to win.

One of them

is going to have to

give way to the other one.

Now the question is,

which one is going to win?

And the answer is,

which one our heart treasures?

Which one our heart treasures?

Friends,

maybe I can ask us

this question,

or I think Jesus

would ask us this question.

What is our heart

treasuring?

What's captured

the imagination

of our hearts?

What do our hearts

look at and think,

if I only had that thing,

it would make me safe,

secure,

fulfilled,

happy.

It would give me meaning

and purpose in life.

And so,

look at what Jesus says here.

He says,

the thing that we look at

with longing

or inordinate desire,

it's not just your treasure,

it actually becomes

your master.

And what he means by that

is it starts to call

the shots in your life.

It actually starts

to dictate

which way you go.

It starts to shape

your decisions.

In a way,

we think we're making

the decisions,

but there's this master

that's pulling the strings

that's actually shaping

the decisions

that we make in our life.

How wise we are

or how foolish we are,

what voice we listen to,

and ultimately,

the way that we actually

spend our lives.

And that's why,

friends,

Jesus is so radical

when it comes to money.

You know,

Jesus makes some radical claims

when he talks about money.

He says,

in Luke chapter 12,

Luke 12 · chapter mention

I think Oscar's speaking

on this next week,

he says,

watch out,

be on your guard.

Watch out for what money

will do to you.

Be on your guard

against all kinds of greed.

Now it's amazing,

Jesus never says that

about other kind of sins.

He never says,

you know,

watch out in case

you find yourself

in adultery.

Why?

He doesn't have to,

right?

If you find yourself

in adultery,

you generally know

that you're in adultery.

Nobody wakes up

and says,

hang on,

I think this is adultery.

Not sure,

but I think so.

But money has another power over us.

Greed has a way

of getting into our hearts

and blinding us

to the reality.

And so Jesus says,

watch out,

be careful.

Jesus is radical

when he talks about it.

And the reason is

because money is a way

of blinding us,

of helping us

not even see

what a grip it's got

on our lives.

You know,

a few years ago,

The Economist

ran a poll.

And in this poll,

they asked the question,

what is the most grievous sin

that our culture

is guilty of?

Of the seven deadly sins,

what is the most deadly

of the seven deadly sins?

And all the respondents

came back,

and the number one

most deadly sin

was greed.

In the Western world,

Western culture,

everyone said greed

is the thing

that we are most susceptible to.

And there was another

poll at the same time

pretty much agreeing,

saying the same thing,

that the biggest problem

in our culture

is materialism and greed.

Well,

a few months later,

the BBC in England

ran a poll

on the seven deadly sins.

And one of the questions

they asked is,

which of these sins

are you least guilty of?

And you can imagine

how it goes.

The one sin

that everybody agreed

they are least guilty of

is greed.

In other words,

it's the biggest problem

that everybody out there

is struggling with.

They need to sort out greed,

but I'm fine.

I'm fine.

You see,

money is a way

of blinding us.

It gets inside

of our hearts,

but it also blinds us

to the reality of that.

Friends,

that's the danger.

What your heart treasures

will own you.

It will master you.

It will promise you

the world.

It will end up

making demands of you.

And in the end,

it will become

a slave driver

that you can never satisfy.

And that's why

a Christian,

someone who comes to know

and understand the gospel,

someone who's applied

the gospel to their lives

is constantly preaching

the gospel to themselves.

Saying,

oh my soul,

do not hope

in the materialism around me.

Trust in God.

Trust in God.

There's an amazing prayer

that a man from

a couple of hundred years ago

wrote,

and I've been praying

this prayer

over my own heart

the last few months,

and this is how it goes.

He says this,

Now,

in the final section

of our passage today,

Jesus speaks

to the most alluring

and the most appealing thing

about that money promises.

It's the thing

which most often

captures the eyes

of our hearts

and the reason

why money

has such a powerful

pull on us.

And to be honest,

I feel this pull

all the time.

And so let's look

at what Jesus says

in verse 25.

He says this,

Therefore I tell you,

do not be anxious

about your life,

what you will eat,

what you will drink,

or about your body,

what clothes you will put on.

Isn't life more than food

and the body

is more than clothing?

Look at the birds of the air.

They don't sow

or reap

or trade on the stock market.

They don't gather

into barns

and yet your father,

he feeds them.

Are you not more valuable

than they are?

For which of you

being anxious

can add a single hour

to his life?

Verse 31,

Therefore I tell you,

don't be anxious.

Don't wonder,

what shall we eat?

How shall we drink?

What clothes shall we wear?

For even the Gentiles

seek after these things

and your father knows

that you need them.

Seek first his kingdom

and his righteousness

and all these things,

he'll take care of you.

Therefore,

do not be anxious

about tomorrow.

Now,

in this final section,

Jesus speaks

to the most alluring

and appealing thing

about money.

It's the thing

that money promises us

and that is that

the more money we have,

the more safe

and secure

our lives will be.

But it's a promise

that money promises

to keep us safe

from our fears

and secure

from our worries

and our anxieties.

And yet,

is that really the case?

Can it really deliver

what it promises?

I remember about 12 years ago,

I was living,

no,

even more,

15 years ago,

I was living in Johannesburg

and a bunch of us

were driving

from Johannesburg,

South Africa,

up to Malawi.

And you have to drive

through Zimbabwe,

through Mozambique,

into Malawi.

It's a two-day trip

and we were doing

an outreach there.

And so we get to Zimbabwe

and at the border

we change money

and it's about 25 Zimbabwean dollars

to one South African rand.

And we travel through

and get into Mozambique,

into Malawi.

We spend 10 days in Malawi

and then we drive back down.

And on the way back,

we get to the border

and it's now 100 Zimbabwe dollars

to the South African rand.

In 10 days,

from 25 dollars to the rand

to 100.

Lost 75% of its value.

A few years later,

Zimbabwe went through hyperinflation

and at its highest,

listen to this,

Zimbabwe's inflation

was 180 billion percent per annum.

180 billion percent.

Every day,

your money was becoming

more and more worthless.

Entire life savings

was becoming worthless

by the hour.

Money makes a promise

that will keep you safe

and secure

or provide for your needs.

But can it?

Can it really deliver?

A number of years ago,

there was a study published

in the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

And in the study,

they asked people

that had inherited

millions and millions of dollars,

how much money

do you need

to feel safe?

people that inherited

from 10 millions

up to hundreds of millions

of dollars.

How much money

would you need

to feel safe and secure?

And the answer

across the board,

almost no matter

how much they'd inherited,

was roughly in the region

of double whatever I inherited.

I inherited 100 million,

200 million,

and I'll feel safe.

I'll feel secure.

And Abigail Disney,

the granddaughter

of Roy Disney,

who co-founded

the Disney company,

she inherited more money

than she'd ever be able

to spend.

Commenting on this,

she says this,

if how much money you have

is your primary measure

of success,

value,

and security in life,

then good luck with that

because you'll never feel

like you have enough.

And that's what Jesus

is saying here.

He's saying money

makes us fools

because it promises

us security.

It promises us freedom

from worry and anxiety,

but it actually

cannot deliver.

And just like the deer

that walks into

the hunter's trap

thinking that all is safe,

it catches us.

And money is a way

of luring us in

with this never-ending

promise of peace,

but it actually

never comes.

And the irony is

that the more

we think about it

and the more we plan

for it and the more

we worry and the more

we strategize,

actually the more

insecure and unsafe

we feel.

The more we plan

about it,

the more we worry

about it,

and we feel less secure

and more anxious.

And so Jesus tells us

that if you want

to be free

from the worry of money,

one of the worst

things you can do

is strategize

how to hoard

and get more.

The more you plan

to save and invest

and grow your share,

the more you're going

to worry about it.

Actually,

one of the best things

you can do

if you worry about money

is give it away

because suddenly

you'll realize

just how powerless

it is to really satisfy.

John Wesley famously

said this,

money never stays

with me.

It would burn me

if it did.

I throw it out

of my hands

as quickly as possible

lest it should find

a way from my pocket

into my heart.

And friends,

Jesus tells us

the answer

to our financial fears

and anxieties

and our concerns

about the future

is not found

in an amount of money.

It's found

in a person.

It's found

in a person.

And so look

at what Jesus says.

He tells us

to do two things.

First thing,

he says,

do not worry.

Do not worry.

And the second thing

he tells us to do

is to lift our eyes

heavenward

and to fix our eyes

on the one

who's seated

on the throne

in heaven.

He says,

cast your eyes,

bring your fears,

bring your worries,

bring your hopes,

bring your needs

to your heavenly father.

Financial peace

is not found

in an amount.

It's found

in a person.

And so he tells us

to do two things.

He says,

look to the God

who is good

and glorious.

He says,

this God,

your heavenly father

is great.

He is sovereign.

He is glorious

and majestic.

There is not

a single minute detail

of all of life

that is beyond

his rule

and his reign

and his realm

and his control.

There is not

a single thing

that is beyond him.

There is not our lives,

not our children's lives,

not our kids' education,

how are we going

to pay next month's rent,

how are we going

to get food

on the table,

where are we going

to find work?

There is not

a single detail

of life

that is beyond

the hands

and the grasp

and the control

of the sovereign God

in heaven.

He is in control

of all of it.

And though we may not

always understand

his ways

and though he does

things that we don't

always fully appreciate

and though he does

things that we might

think aren't the wisest,

he is great

and he is majestic

and he is in control.

Look at what Jesus says.

Don't you know

the birds of the air,

the lilies of the field,

they're all his.

They're all under my control

and so are your lives

and mine.

And friends,

this may be a scary thought

but you know

that you and I,

we don't have

one single dollar

in our accounts

more or less

than what the sovereign God

would want us

to have right now.

You know,

sometimes we think

like we come to God

and he says,

yes,

I see your situation.

I really wish

I could help out

but I'm just fresh

out of cash

at the moment.

Maybe next month

will be better.

God,

the sovereign God

knows every detail

of our lives

and there's not

one single dollar

more or less

that we have

than what he wants

us to have.

He is aware

of it all.

Friends,

if you're a Christian,

you have a father

in heaven

and he's sovereign.

Look upon that

and be comforted

by his greatness.

But then not only that,

look to God

because he's good.

He's not only great,

he's good.

Jesus says,

if God takes care

of the birds

and the flowers,

don't you think

he'll take care of you?

If he cares for the animals

who don't bear his image,

who don't have the spirit

of Jesus living inside of him,

who aren't the pinnacle

of his creation,

do you not think

he'll take good care

of us as well?

And friends,

as we said,

we may go through

tough times,

we may go through

difficulties,

there'll be times

when things happen

that we wouldn't want

to happen

or choose to happen,

but none of us

at the end of our lives

will be able to stand

before God

and say,

you were not good.

Every one of us

will stand before

the throne of heaven

and say,

oh God,

you were so good,

so extravagantly good.

And later on,

Jesus says in chapter 7,

yeah,

he says,

which one of you,

if your son asks for bread

or give him stone,

which one of you,

if your daughter asks

for dumplings,

is going to give them

a scorpion?

Please mom,

can I have some

shi long bao

and here's a scorpion instead?

No,

of course not.

If you,

a parent,

know how to take

good care of your kids,

if you love them

and you go out of your way

to look after them

and you think about

what they need

and what's going to serve them,

don't you think

your Father in heaven

will do the same?

In Romans,

Paul writes,

he says,

if God did not spare

his son,

if,

friends,

when we were enemies

of God

and we were lost

and we couldn't find

our way towards God

and we were dead

in our sins

and we had no way

of saving ourselves,

if we were dead

in our sins

and God didn't spare

his son,

not because he had to,

not because he owed us,

but just out of his

extravagant love

said,

here,

I send you my son

to die on the cross.

If God did not spare

his son,

how will he not

also with him

graciously give us

everything we need?

Friends,

while we don't understand

why everything goes

the way it does,

we may not understand

why God allows

and orchestrates

certain things,

surely the cross

proves that God

is not out to punish us.

Surely the cross

proves that God

is looking out

for our good.

He loves us

extravagantly

and therefore

we can trust him.

Tim Keller

says this,

he says,

if you come to see

and know Christ,

you don't have to worry

about money.

The cross proves

God's care for you

and gives you security.

Now you don't need

to have to envy

anyone else's money.

Jesus' love

and salvation

confers on you

a remarkable status,

one that money

cannot give you.

Money cannot save you

from tragedy

or give you control

in a chaotic world.

Only God can do that.

What breaks the power

of money over us

is not just

a redoubled effort

to follow the example

of Jesus

or to try and be

more generous.

Rather,

it's a deepening

of our understanding

of the wonder

of Christ's salvation,

what you have in him,

what he's done for you

and then living out

the changes

that that gospel

makes in your hearts.

And friends,

the great irony

and the great tragedy,

as we said earlier,

is that when we look

to money and wealth

as our treasure,

while we look to it

for safety and security,

the more we look to it

to give us peace,

actually the more worried

and anxious we become,

the less safe

and secure we feel.

But friends,

if the gospel

gets deep in our hearts,

if the penny drops

from our head

to our hearts,

when you realize

that God is good

and gracious

and he's glorious

and he's in control,

you know what will happen?

This is the irony.

You won't be able

to give your money

away fast enough.

You won't be able

to find enough causes

and people

to give it away.

When the penny drops

from our heads

to our hearts,

money will become

so fleeting,

it'll be such a joy

to give it away,

we won't even have

enough people

and organizations

and charities

to give it to.

Friends,

don't you see

the one who,

though he had everything

and owned everything,

he didn't stay in heaven.

He gave up

all of that for us.

He left the comforts

of heaven

to give us himself,

to give us

what we desperately needed,

to give us,

you and I,

the one security

that really does work,

that we really

can bank our lives on,

that we really

can trust,

not just in this life,

but in the life

to come.

Friends,

let's bank our life

on him.

In the words

of that great

ancient hymn,

it goes like this,

riches I heed not,

nor man's empty praise.

Thou,

my inheritance,

now and always,

thou and thou only,

the first in my heart,

high king of heaven,

my treasure,

thou art.

Let's pray together.

I want to invite you

to stand with me

as we pray,

and I want us to,

I want to lead us

in a different kind

of prayer.

You can,

yeah,

let's,

you know,

over this last few weeks

as we've been

talking about prayer,

when we looked at

Nehemiah's prayer,

Nehemiah chapter one,

and Daniel's prayer

in Daniel chapter nine,

both of them

come to God

in prayer,

and they both

confess their sin

on behalf

of the people.

It's an amazing line,

they don't say,

God,

I've sinned,

they say,

God,

we've sinned against you,

and there's great power

in this kind of corporate

acknowledgement and owning.

I want to ask you,

I know this is a brave

thing to do,

but I want to ask us

if we can come before God

and pray a prayer

of confession,

and admit that God,

so often we've looked

to financial resources

and wealth

to do what only you can do.

We've often trusted

in that above you,

and there's a prayer

on the screen

that I want to encourage us

to,

maybe I can read it for us,

and if you want,

you can read it as well,

you can read it out loud,

or you can read it quietly,

but I want to encourage us

to pray this prayer.

You don't have to,

and there's no condemnation,

this isn't to make you

feel guilty,

but I've found in my life

as I've had to deal

with God

and repent

and confess this week,

there's been an incredibly

liberating feeling.

God's liberated me

in such an amazing way.

I felt the freedom,

and so I want to encourage us

to do likewise,

and so as we do this,

let's ask God

to break the hold

that money has over us,

to find our hope

and our security

and our peace

and our peace in Him.

And so as I pray this,

won't you join me

and let's pray together.

Heavenly Father,

thank you that you are

a great

and glorious Father,

and yet you are

also exceedingly good.

Thank you that you are

magnificent

and majestic,

and yet also

merciful and kind.

Father,

we confess

that we have so often

looked to money

and wealth

to do what only

you can truly do,

to take care of our needs,

to provide for our families,

to satisfy our longings,

and to give our hearts

true rest.

Father,

we confess

that in our hearts

we have treasured

financial resources

before you.

Forgive us,

Father.

Forgive us,

we pray.

Thank you

for your amazing grace,

your welcoming arms,

help us to love you

supremely,

to trust you

absolutely,

and to find our

deepest delight

and our highest joy

in you.

In your son's good

and gracious name

we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Father,

we really do ask that,

God,

we pray that

by your power

you will break

the hold

that money has

over us,

God.

We pray,

God,

that you'll set us

free,

God,

from worry and anxiety.

We pray,

Lord,

that as we take

our comfort

and security

in you,

Jesus,

that the allure

and the appeal

of financial wealth

will lose its grip

on us.

God,

set us free,

we pray,

God.

God,

we want to trust you

and love you

supremely.

Come and have your way

in our hearts,

we pray.

In your wonderful

and powerful name,

Amen.