THE SECRET LIFE: REWARDER | SUNDAY 13TH APRIL | PS AARON MORE

okay awesome you can grab a seat church

and uh I know for those who like the

order and routine you're twitching a

little bit right now like um the pastor

hasn't counted how many songs and we

were just getting going it's okay we are

uh doing things a little bit differently

this morning we will have some worship

at the end and we're also going to have

some ministry so it's going to be a um

an awesome morning but really looking

forward to what the Holy Spirit's going

to do in our midst and

uh wow so we've been doing a series um

as part of Lent um so Lent is uh a

period of fasting in the life of the

church in the 40 days and the lead up to

Easter and really the three practices

historically that the church has focused

on during season of Lent is uh fasting

giving to the poor and prayer and these

all come from uh teaching of Jesus in

Matthew 6 and so we've called the series

the secret life because Jesus taught

these practices and he actually said uh

when you do these things in secret and

so we've been talking about these

practices we've been talking about how

we live in such a world now where no one

does anything in secret you know people

eat their dinner and it's on Instagram

and uh all of those things and and yet

Jesus calls us to a life that is uh

secret and so over the past few weeks

we've talked about prayer fasting and

giving um not in that order but those

are the three things we've been talking

about and so I'm going to finish the

series this morning and so in Matthew 6

there's actually this common theme that

we look at when we read these uh

passages so in Matthew 6 uh 4 it says

"So that your giving may be in secret

and your father who sees what is done in

secret will reward you." And then in in

uh 66 it says "But when you pray go into

your room shut the door and your father

who is in secret will see what is done

in secret and will reward you

it says "But when you fast in verse 17

anoint your head and wash your face so

that your fasting may not be seen by

others but your father who is in secret

and your father who sees what is done in

secret will reward you." See there is a

common theme in Matthew 6 and it's

actually the theme that God wants to

reward

us god actually these practices are not

practices in and of themselves they are

not merely just disciplines to for the

sake of discipline but Jesus in his

teaching repeatedly says these are

practices that actually carry a reward

with them so Matthew 6 teaches that God

rewards what is done in secret for him

and right now some people are probably

really comfortable with this idea of God

as a rewarder some people are thinking

flip um is this the uh will Aaron be

here in a white full white suit next

week talking about some hyper prosperity

might get some veneers in you know opens

her mouth we don't need lights the teeth

just shine you know what I'm saying like

oh I don't know like what's going on

with this thing as God as a rewarder so

that's what we're going to unpack this

morning hebrews 11:6 is actually one of

Hebrews 11:6

my life verses and it says this "Without

faith it is impossible to please him for

he who comes to God must believe that he

exists and that he is a rewarder of

those who diligently seek him." So when

we come to God there is two dispositions

we need number one we need to know he

exists the other disposition is that we

actually need to know that he's a

rewarder it doesn't ask our opinion on

whether we're comfortable with the idea

of God being a rewarder it doesn't ask

us have our life experiences trump that

reality so that no longer seems true to

us it doesn't say do an inventory work

out whether it's comfortable for you or

not to view God as a rewarder it's

actually a commandment that he who comes

to God must believe he exists and

believes that he is a rewarder of those

who diligently seek

him god is a rewarder and our

recognizing of this is essential right

so why for some of us is there a little

bit of bristle when we think of this

idea of God as a rewarder well sometimes

we're like "Hey isn't everything done by

grace?" And if everything is done by

grace how does this um h how does this

work if God is also a rewarder and

rewards things that are done i like what

Dallas Willard says he said "Grace is

opposed to earning not to effort."

Grace is opposed to earning not to

effort and that's why Paul actually in

uh Colossians 1:29 says "To this end I

Colossians 1:29

strenuously contend with all the energy

that Christ so powerfully gives me." He

says "I use all of my energy but I

actually realize it's what Christ gives

me." You see grace is not opposed to

effort but it is opposed to earning c

lewis tells a story of a boy who uh he's

it's his dad's birthday coming up and he

um wants to buy his dad a birthday

present but he's like a six-year-old boy

so he's got no money so he goes to his

dad and he says "Um hey I'd like to buy

you a birthday present." And so his dad

says "Okay hey here's six p you can go

and buy me a birthday present." So he

happily goes down to the shop he uh

looks all around he chooses the present

that he wants he pays the six pence he

comes back and he gives it to the father

on his birthday the father opens it he

hugs his son he's so blessed and then um

CS Lewis says only a fool would think

that the father was 6 p

richer you know and so you might have

heard that uh Christian band called six

pence none the richer and their idea is

that actually everything we have even

the ability to diligently seek him is

all through his grace but it doesn't

mean that grace is opposed to effort it

doesn't mean that we uh have no part in

playing to diligently seek him it just

means that even when we do diligently

seek him God is six pence none the

richer it's not like he was going "Wow I

can't wait for Aaron to add his strength

oh I'm going to move when Aaron finally

adds his strength to what I'm wanting to

do he's not sitting there waiting for my

six pence but when I choose to take the

time to give that thing that will bless

his heart he moves in response to it

even though he was the author of it all

you see grace opposes earning not

effort and so when we think about this

topic as a rewarder some are like "Oh

yeah I've heard this gone wrong." you

know where all of a sudden someone's um

taking up offerings for their private

jet or um you know um and you know it's

a double if they take up an offering for

their private jet and tell you that you

can have a 10-fold return if you sew

into it you know um just uh sew into my

jet and we'll give you a tenfold uh you

can receive a tenfold harvest so some of

us are like "Oh yeah that thing of God

is a reward." We know what it's like for

that to be

manipulated but I'd like to say this

morning God's goodness cannot be

overstated but it can be

misunderstood god is actually the very

definition of goodness you cannot

overstate the goodness of God you can

try and distort it but when you distort

it you don't end up with something

better than God he is eternally good he

is the standard of good this is actually

what the temptation in the garden was to

try and find some goodness outside of

God and it does not exist some people

may distort the goodness of God they

might try and uh only look at the

goodness of God as material blessings or

those kind of things but they cannot

come up with a picture that's actually

better than who God

is because he is the standard of

goodness god's goodness cannot be

overstated but it can be

misunderstood and so God is a

rewarder when we approach him we must

believe that he exists and that he is a

rewarder but you see Hebrews 11 goes on

to tell us a little bit of what that

looks like and in Hebrews 11:33 it says

Hebrews 11:33

um it's talking about the heroes of the

faith and it says "Who through faith

conquered kingdoms enforced justice

obtained promises." So this is talking

about the people of God in the Old

Testament and their victories it says

they stopped the mouths of lions

quenched the power of fire escaped the

edge of the sword were made strong out

of weakness they became mighty in war

put foreign armies to flight women

received back their dead by resurrection

and we're kind of like "Wow that's like

the kind of reward I want they conquered

kingdoms they saw the dead restored they

done all that then it's talking about

the same

faith and it says some were

tortured refusing to accept release so

that they might rise again to a better

life others suffered mocking and

flogging and even chains and

imprisonment they were stoned they were

sworn into they were killed with the

sword they were they went about in she

skins of sheep and goats afflicted whom

the world was not worthy

of and all these through commanded

through their faith even though they did

not receive what they promised because

God had something better intended for us

that with us they would be made perfect

you see here Paul is actually he's

giving this this context that the same

faith the same rewarding God sometimes

brings immense breakthrough on this side

of eternity sometimes the healed bodies

uh get healed in the name of Jesus

sometimes the financial breakthrough

comes sometimes the promotion comes and

that stuff happens and it is the

blessing of God and people who try and

say "No God doesn't care about blessing

people materially." It's not true he

does bless his children

materially but that's not the only way

he turns up as a

rewarder you know sometimes it is the

faith to pursue during a hard season

that is the reward because it's actually

sewing into eternity a reward that

cannot be had on the earth you see

sometimes we have amazing breakthroughs

here on earth and sometimes we have

breakthroughs in eternity and what we

know is whether it's now or in eternity

God is a rewarder who can be trusted he

God's rewards manifest in our present

life and they also manifest in eternity

that's why Jesus said in Mark 29 "Truly

I say to you there is no one who has

blessed houses or brothers or sisters or

father or children or lands for my sake

and for the gospel who will not receive

a hundfold now in this time houses and

brothers and sisters and mothers and

children i don't want a hundfold of my

brother but that's okay um I'll work on

that." Um that might be where the next

part comes in with

persecutions you get a hundfold or you

my brother I'm telling you it's going to

come with

persecutions and in the age to come

eternal life so he says hey there will

be material blessings on this life but

be aware they also come with

persecutions and then he shares the

other side of it and to eternal life

that God is a rewarder and he wants to

bless us so how do we get into trouble

with this idea of God as a rewarder i

think sometimes the way we get into

trouble is when we think we know what

the reward we're going to receive

is now I believe we should pray for

certain things we should believe for

certain rewards that's not wrong but

sometimes what happens is we get

hyperfocused on one kind of reward so

whatever's going on in our world

everything is about that one thing so

you know if you're uh looking for a

house you know everything you're like

praying about it you're believing for it

so everything comes uh through the lens

of well I'm believing for this house

that we're looking to buy and so what

happens is um you receive a word and

someone says I believe you're going to

see the goodness of God in this next

season you go "Yes my mansion's coming i

know it." Like "Yes the house I want."

It's just amazing because I went through

that house and then the next day someone

told me "I'm going to see the goodness

of God." And so we hyperfocus on this

one area like now I'm not praying about

other things i'm just believing I'm

going to see the goodness of God in this

one area and what happens is it becomes

very binary right because sometimes God

does provide that thing that we want and

sometimes in his wisdom he has another

way of getting us to the place where we

want to go but when we're hyperfocused

on one thing we create this binary

outcome which means either God's good or

he's terrible based on whether I get

what I want

and so God as a rewarder part of the

revelation is actually realizing I can

trust you to be the rewarder i don't

have to believe necessarily to have

faith for the reward i have faith that

you are the rewarder and when my faith

is in you as a rewarder I can survive

those

things that seem like disappointments

because here's the reality the nature of

the reward is not within our

control ultimately we need to play our

part yes we diligently seek God but the

nature of the reward is not within our

control

and sometimes faith has been

uh seen as if if we hyperfocus on one

thing then God will provide it and uh

sometimes we miss the goodness of

everything God's doing in our life

because we're focused on one

thing and sometimes we need to widen and

actually realize his goodness and the

rewards that he is bringing us you know

I think to the time when um my dad had

recently been saved and then had a

stroke and passed away and you know

hearing that the pastor from the church

that didn't really believe in healing

turned up and prayed and absolutely

believed my dad was going to be healed

and yet he was um you know tragically

passed away and so in that moment it's

like well is God really a rewarder like

I thought God was a rewarder and then

this happened right so sometimes we're

dealing with pretty big disappointments

sometimes we are dealing with things

that are large in our world and are like

how does this work

out and I think one of the beauties when

you journey with God and you try your

best and ask him to help you to keep a

soft heart you see seasons of reward

that you could never imagine

you know I remember the first time

sitting down with a that I sat down with

one of our youth when I was youth pastor

and he opened up and began to share

about what it was like never having met

his father and I remember in that moment

being able to share my story and us

connect in a way that I never would have

connected you know had I not been

through that now I still would have

chosen not to go through that but in the

midst of that I was like "Wow God

there's even a sense of reward in this

season that I've gone through even in

this hard thing you're still using it

you're still a rewarder even the worst

things you can work together for

good." And then in Genesis 15 he

actually says to

Abraham "See we get rewards in this life

we get rewards in eternity and then he

actually says "I am your reward." See

there's actually no greater reward than

the reward that he is our reward his

very presence with us and that's what it

was talking about in Hebrews when it

said "Hey they died believing for the

promise but God had something better for

us." It wasn't the something better that

it meant all of our material wishes

would come true it was something better

that we would live with our sins

forgiven with the Holy Spirit anointing

us with the power of God with the

ability to love and be set free from

things he's like "Wow." So God himself

is our

reward far beyond anything else

but this

morning I do want to uh challenge us if

maybe we've had some disappointments

along the way and maybe as a result of

those disappointments we're kind of like

"Hey I'm okay with eternal rewards but

something's happened to my faith where I

no longer expect to see the goodness of

God in the land of the living." You know

maybe there's something that's shifted

in me where I'm like "Wow I no longer

have faith for things the way I used to

because of disappointments because of

that thing that didn't happen because of

in some instances really painful

things." And actually Proverbs 13 says

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick but

a longing fulfilled is a tree of life."

And so sometimes what happens is when we

encounter disappointment we actually go

to a place where we no longer have hope

and we begin to defer hope and sometimes

what we think we're doing is we're

protecting ourselves from uh you know

this um disappointment but actually

what's happening is we're a sick heart

is developing

i remember uh when I was I think just

about to turn 21 um my uh neither my

brother nor sister are Christians and so

my mom and I decided that we would go to

a Hillsong conference together and that

was a really big deal for us it was like

oh wow we'll do this it will be amazing

um you know it was in the height of uh

Hillsong and Darene check and we're like

wow this will be amazing we're going to

uh book it and go together we probably

because our family uh weren't all

Christian we kind of didn't have that

sort of experience regularly as a family

so it was going to be something really

special so we heard um my mom uh

listened to Radio Rema she heard a

company organizing uh trips so I thought

"Sweet we'll sign up." And so um you

know it cost us a few thousand dollars

each we bought a a package that included

flights tickets accommodation and we're

like "Oh this is going to be amazing."

And then um a few weeks later we find

out hey that company that you've just

bought your tickets through has gone

into receiverhip and we're ah and then

they said "But don't worry what they've

been doing is they've been putting the

money into a separate account so your

money will be there it'll be okay." So

okay that's cool and then we done some

inquiry and they're like "Oh no what's

happened is everyone else's money went

into that um separate fund for some

reason yours just got left in the

general account." And um someone says

"Why didn't you buy insurance?" If we

had bought insurance we would have paid

it to them and they still would have got

even more of our money so um wouldn't

have worked in this case so um we hadn't

bought insurance and we were like "Oh

few thousand." And neither of us were

that motivated to pay another few

thousand and so I was like "Oh they're

advertising on Remma." And I'll be

honest I'm like "I'm going to send an

email to Remma i'm going to go through

and just I'm going to pull on their

heartstrings." And I'll be honest in my

mind what I was like I could see like

Reema were going to do this great

campaign and like we want to send this

mom and son to Hillsong you can picture

it right i'm like what a great moment uh

Reema didn't see that moment they just

said "We're very sorry for your loss."

Um I was like "There's a chance here

feel good." Like mother and son

traveling together i was like I let them

know my dad passed away when I was 12 i

was trying all the heartstrings i'm like

"Surely this is a story that you want."

And so I'm like "Oh God." Like there's

there's going to be some way you're

going to come through in this situation

and it was like "Oh no we didn't get our

trip." And so many years later I was in

a service where someone was like "Hey

talking about God restoring things that

we missed out on." And I was like "Oh."

All of a sudden I hadn't thought about

that money in years and all of a sudden

it it it sprung to my mind and I was

like "Hey whatever happened with that?"

Like and I felt like the Holy Spirit

speak to me and he's like "No I already

took care of that." I was like "Oh." And

I began to think and when I was

approaching my 30th birthday my brother

who I insulted earlier and when I tell

this part of the story you'll realize

I'm the bad brother and he's the good

brother when I was 29 approaching my

30th he phoned up and he said "Hey last

year I helped," he was working in London

at the time earning really good money

and so he phoned up and said "Hey last

year I helped your sister um come to

London to visit me and so I realized

it's your 30th this year i want to um

pay for a trip for you and Sarah." I was

like "Oh how nice that's amazing how

generous." And we had just been thinking

"Yeah so maybe not persecutions maybe

you do want a hundfold of my brother i

don't know so that wasn't usual for our

family even though it's generous like

that's never happened since this was a

uh I was like "Flip when as I was

approaching my 40th I was like I

remember what you did for my 30th." Like

come on uh and

so just before that I've been praying

and see my mom had actually gone on to

be a missionary over in Puerto Rico and

uh I was like "Oh I'd really love to

visit mom." And um we were youth pastors

and Brody will tell you that youth

pastors don't generally get trips to

Puerto Rico unless they're doing

photography because um it's uh it's hard

um so I was like I don't just don't know

if we can afford it and so then my

brother phoned this and he's like I'd

like to pay for your trip somewhere i'm

like I don't know if he's thinking

Puerto Rico right but he gave us this

cash contribution towards going to um so

we went over to Puerto Rico were able to

take my nephew came with us um and so we

went visited mom where she was so

special then we uh went back to LA

actually uh for those who know Brad

Walker we met Brad Walker in LA my mom

came we um it was just amazing we got to

um spend this time together and then

here's the amazing thing my dad was an

absolute rock and roll music fanatic he

buddy Holly was his favorite he had over

3,000 records we had a music room in our

home and he wanted nothing more than to

visit the states but he never got to he

actually had American friends and pre-

internet he used to send them talking

tapes so he'd actually record on a tape

and send it to them and they would send

them back and I would always get in

trouble because I would be out the back

throwing a ball against the wall playing

like Martin Crow through the V timing it

beautifully and my dad would be like

"I'm doing the talking tape." And all I

could hear

is I was like "Dad they're finally time

cover drives." But he funnily enough he

didn't have the appreciation because he

was doing his talking tapes but you know

my dad had always dreamed of going to

America and so we have this moment where

it's uh me and Sarah and Elijah and my

nephew Clayton and my mom and we go to a

50s diner and there's a jukebox there

and we we put on Buddy Holly and there's

just this moment where it's like wow you

know as much as I would have loved to

have been at the Hill Song conference I

would never have traded it for that

moment one of the most special moments

of my life to have Sarah there Elijah my

nephew Clayton my mom sitting there

knowing this is what dad would have

loved to have done and he couldn't do it

but we're here together wow God you are

so so

good because he is a rewarder

now I know that has that story has the

the the finishing that you're like "Yeah

well maybe my story doesn't have that

finishing." And does every area on this

earth end exactly like that no but God

is a rewarder and he is a rewarder for

eternity and he will take the things we

missed out on and and and bring eternal

reward but he is also a rewarder in this

life and one of the things I've

discovered is it's really subtle the way

this filter comes in when we had

expectations that weren't met because

unmet

expectations cause us to defer hope and

so this morning in just a moment we are

going to have a time of ministry and for

some people I think it there's maybe

been the subtle thing that's happened

where

uh you know you used to have this real

uh belief that you're going to see God's

goodness in this life and maybe that's

just waned a little bit through

disappointment maybe there's even as I'm

talking about that there is the thing

that you can think of that you missed

out on that you're like man that's the

thing that holds heavy in my life that's

the one that's the prayer that wasn't

answered that's the thing that I still

can't make sense of and I am not

suggesting to you this morning that we

will have an answer to make sense of

everything but what I am believing is

that the weight of that thing can fall

off you this morning that the goodness

of God would be restored you know maybe

for some of us we've been hyperfocused

the other way on earthly rewards and we

actually just need to process well maybe

I'm in a season of God being my reward

maybe I'm in a season of storing up

treasure for heaven and that's okay as

well and so this morning what we want to

do is I've we've asked a ministry team

and to be honest um I sometimes do say

this this is a morning where man I

encourage you to respond because we're

simply going to be praying the goodness

of God released over people where you

know they're probably not going to ask

you a whole lot of questions about what

you want prayer for they're just going

to pray that God's goodness would be

restored to us that we would be a people

that wouldn't be hyperfocused on this

world but we would also know that we

have a father who chooses to turn up in

ways to show us how amazing he is he

chooses to take a a cancelled trip and

turn it around 10 years later make it

the most amazing thing the most special

moment because that's who he is he is a

rewarder of those who diligently seek

him and the greatest reward of all is

actually that we get to live with him if

you just want to close your eyes um if

you're here this morning and you've

never uh put your faith in Jesus you've

never said "Hey uh that you want to give

your life to Jesus." Then I want to uh

say a prayer this morning for you if if

you're like "Man I know I'm in that

place." What we believe the gospel was

simply this that Jesus came and he paid

the price for the wrong things that we

had done so that we can give our lives

to him and when we do he forgives us our

sin he gives us a brand new start and we

begin to live life his way i'm just

going to say a prayer this morning and

if you're like man I want to be in that

prayer this morning aaron I haven't

given my life to Jesus but I'm in a

place where I'm sick of doing things my

way and I want to do things God's way if

that's you this morning just with every

eye closed um if you want to give give a

wave of your hand and I'm the only one

looking in the auditorium but if that's

you this morning you're like I know I

need to give my life to Jesus I want you

to include me in that prayer Aaron then

I just ask just give me a wave of your

hand awesome i see that hand i see that

hand

awesome if you raised your hand or if

you should have I'm just going to say a

prayer now and we're not all going to

repeat it out loud but you can uh pray

it in your voice uh under your breath or

out loud however you want if it's your

prayer if you're like "Man I want to

give my life to Jesus." These words are

not the end of the conversation they are

the start of a journey

but they are the starting point of

reconnecting to God so Lord this morning

I come to you and give my life aresh to

you thank you for sending Jesus to

forgive me of my sin lord I confess of

the wrong things that I've done and Lord

I'm sick of living my life my way so

Lord I ask this morning that you would

make me new you would make me born again

and you would give me a new

life in Jesus mighty name amen and you

know if you said that prayer this

morning we would love to connect with

you after the service but and uh just

help um connect you with Jesus and so

you know you can come forward at the end

of the singing time but what's going to

happen now is we are going to go into a

time of worship and

uh I really believe we're going to just

see some things fall off some people's

lives i actually think there are people

here with past disappointments that

maybe you didn't even realize were

hanging on and this morning there's

going to be a beautiful freedom that's

going to come and there are people who

aren't even sure what they need but they

just want more of the goodness of God in

their life and this morning we're going

to pray and just believe that God's

goodness would be displayed there are

people that are going to their their

relationship with God's just going to be

different a as you begin to meditate on

that idea that God is your rewarder and

maybe some of the lust for things of

this world is going to fall off and this

revelation of just how good Jesus is is

going to come and so we're going to sing

this morning and just as we uh sing

these first couple of songs we just

invite you to come forward and there's a

ministry team that would love to pray

for you to see the goodness of God

restored lord thank you for your

goodness thank you that you do love us

Lord thank you that you are the rewarder

Lord that you reward in this life Lord

you reward in eternity and ultimately

that you are our reward and so Lord I

pray for each person that has maybe a

sense of hope deferred each person that

just needs to see your goodness

ar you meet with us again we declare our

dependence on you lord no ministry team

has the ability to change someone's life

but Jesus you do and so Lord we confess

our dependence on you we again say "Holy

Spirit come holy Spirit come may this be

a holy moment lord may scales fall off

eyes lord may there be

freedom and great breakthrough in Jesus'

name." Amen amen