Luke 12:13-34 | Seek His Kingdom First

Good morning church. Today's reading is

from the book of Luke 12:es 13-34.

That's the book of Luke 12:es 13-34.

Someone in the crowd said to him,

"Teacher, tell my brother to divide the

inheritance with me." Jesus replied,

"Man, who appointed me a judge or an

arbiter between you?" Then he said to

them, "Watch out. Be on your guard

against all kinds of greed. Life does

not consist in an abundance of

possessions."

And he told them this parable. The

ground of a certain rich man yielded an

abundant harvest.

He thought to himself, "What shall I do?

I have no place to store my crops. Then

he said, "This is what I'll do. I will

tear down my barns and build bigger

ones, and there I will store my surplus

grain, and I'll say to myself, you have

plenty of grain laid up for many years.

Take life easy. Eat, drink, and be

merry."

But God said to him, "You fool! This

very night your life will be demanded

from you? Then who will get what you

have prepared for yourself?

This is how it will be with whoever

stores up things for themselves but is

not rich towards God.

Then Jesus said to his disciples,

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry

about your life, what you will eat, or

about your body, what you will wear. For

life is more than food and the body more

than clothes. Consider the ravens. They

do not sow or reap. They have no storoom

or barn. Yet God feeds them. And how

much more valuable you are than birds.

Who of you by worrying can add a single

hour to your life? Since you cannot do

this very little thing, why do you worry

about the rest?

Consider how the wild flowers grow. They

do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you,

not even Solomon in all his splendor was

dressed like one of these.

If that is how God clothed the grass of

the field, which is here today and

tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how

much more will he clothe you, you of

little faith? And do not set your heart

on what you will eat or drink. Do not

worry about it. For the pagan world runs

after all such things, and your father

knows that you need them.

But seek his kingdom, and these things

will be given to you as well.

Do not be afraid, little flock, for your

father has been pleased to give you the

kingdom. Sell your possessions and give

to the poor. Provide purses for

yourselves that will not wear out, a

treasure in heaven that will never fail,

where no thief comes near and no moth

destroys. For where your treasure is,

there your heart will be also.

Thank you, Gemma, for reading our

scripture passage for us this morning.

Please keep your Bibles open there to

Luke 12:13-34.

Luke 12:13–34

Verse 24,

life

does not consist

in the abundance

of your possessions.

Let's pray.

Father, we ask that you would open our

eyes to see wonderful things in your

word. Do this by your powerful spirit

who has given us these words, the words

of Jesus, so that we can see Jesus your

king. Help us to see him today. Amen.

Have you ever heard these words in your

house?

I've got nothing to

>> wear. Ever heard those words in your

house?

>> You got a teen in your house?

>> Probably if you got a husband in your

house. Have you ever heard these words?

There is nothing to eat in this house.

How many of you opened up your fridge at

some point this morning? Should be a lot

of you, I would think. Okay. How many of

you opened up your fridge to find it

100% empty? Nothing at all in there.

Oh.

How many of you opened your wardrobe or

your chest of drawers this morning?

How many?

Yeah, you're dressed. That's good. Not

in your jammies. How many of you found

absolutely nothing in your wardrobe?

Apparently, you found something.

Can I just make some quick observations

before we dig into the passage? All of

us actually have the basics we need

today, don't we?

But we contend to see what we don't have

rather than what we do have. Right?

The father is providing for you and for

me right now in his love and we ought to

be thankful. So let me give you some

very practical assignments. Next time

you open your fridge, look in your

fridge at the stuff that's in it and

say, "The Father loves me and provides

for me." The next time you pull open the

chest of drawers with your jocks and

your socks, you can say, "The Father

loves me and provides for me." I'm going

to give you an assignment. Very

practical assignment. Go home and count

how many shirts you have. I got a shock.

I did it this week. Go home and count

how many pairs of shoes are in your

house.

go do it and then give thanks [snorts]

to the father.

Okay. Luke 12. The context is there's

this incredible crowd. So, what I'd like

you to do as we start into it this

morning is I want you to picture or

pretend that you're in the crowd.

Imagine you're there in that crowd.

You've come to hear Jesus.

He's now famous. Some people absolutely

hate him, but many others praise him.

There are thousands upon thousands. The

word actually just means too many to

count in the crowd.

You're in your sandals. You're in your

tunic. It's hot. It's dry. There are

many, many thousands. And the word is

used at the beginning of this chapter,

trampling each other.

It's packed. It's a dangerous crowd.

There's a danger of actually getting

trampled and crushed. This is quite a

dramatic experience. You've not been in

a crowd like this before. You're getting

squeezed and there's lots of elbowing

and pushing and shoving. And so the 12

disciples try inadequately to do a

little bit of crowd control. Can you see

the picture?

And while they're trying to do crowd

control totally inadequately, Jesus then

calls them over and starts saying to

them who knows what. And you're there in

the crowd going, "I don't know what he's

saying to the 12 there. I came to hear

him."

And then while Jesus is teaching the 12,

some shouts out at the top of his

lungs, "Teacher,

tell my brother to divide the

inheritance with me.

Doesn't that seem like a quite an odd

scenario?

That's the scenario

that we have here in this passage.

Strange. We've come to hear Jesus and

this guy has a personal agenda about a

private matter and he wants to drag

Jesus into it.

>> [clears throat]

>> So this man was there and I think based

on the context we can we can also think

I think his brother was there because

he's like tell my brother here to divide

the inheritance with me. So Jesus

actually says I'm not going to judge

between you. I'm not going to mediate

between you but I do want to talk about

two important topics now. And here's the

two things Jesus wants to talk us to us

about this morning. Get these. You'll

understand what the message is about.

Okay, two topics. One, greed.

Two,

worry.

That's what we're going to talk about

today. Possessions and greed, verses 13

to 21. Possessions and worry, verses 22

to34. Greed and worry. Seek his kingdom

first. And Jesus here then uses three

main pictures to help us understand what

he's saying. The first picture is about

full barns and an empty soul.

Treasure for self, but poverty towards

God. That's the first picture. The

second picture is ravens. Ravens don't

store stuff, but God feeds the ravens.

The third picture is flowers. Flowers

don't make clothes. They can't buy

clothes. And yet the father clothe the

flowers. So first greed,

possessions and greed. If you'd look

with me please at verses 13 to 15 again.

Verse 13. Luke 12:13.

Luke 12:13

Someone in the crowd said to him,

"Teacher, tell my brother to divide the

inheritance with me." Jesus replied,

"Man, who appointed me a judge or an

arbiter between you?" Then he said to

them, "Watch out. Be on your guard

against all kinds of greed. Life does

not consist in the abundance of your

possessions."

Greed.

[snorts] Jesus instead of dealing with a

family squabble, he ends up aiming at

the heart of everyone of that crowd,

those thousands and thousands of people.

And by aiming at their hearts, he aims

the aims at the hearts of everyone here

this morning. He's talking to us and

he's taking us on. He's really bringing

out one br one brother is a greedy

coveting brother and the other brother

is also a greedy coveting brother. And

so you've got this conflict over an

inheritance. I'm sure that's never

happened in your family.

But the problem, Jesus says, is not

inheritance. The problem is what our

hearts treasure. That's the problem.

And he says in verse 15, guard against

all kinds of greed.

That's interesting. All kinds

of greed.

There's a few looking at this word

greed. There's a few bits in behind it

that might help us. One of the best ways

we could you we could translate this

word into English is a word we don't use

anymore. It's called avarice. How many

of you use that every day or have used

that word in the last week? Avarice is

an overwhelming desire and drive to have

wealth and and material possessions for

yourself.

Avarice that's one of the kinds of greed

Jesus is talking about here. The other

word, another kind of greed that Jesus

is talking very clearly about here is

coveting.

And coveting, if you understand what the

Bible teaches about coveting, it's the

one it's the one place where we all find

out, okay, according to the Bible, I'm a

sinner. I'm a lawb breakaker. Cuz

coveting catches us all out. Coveting is

wanting something for yourself that's

not yours to have.

So for instance, we think about the

themes of the Bible. The fallen angels

wanted a different position for

themselves.

They coveted a different position, so

they rebelled.

Adam and Eve coveted being like God, so

they took the fruit and rebelled.

David covered another coveted another

man's wife, so he took her and murdered

the man.

Judas coveted silver pieces of coins

and so he betrayed the author of life.

Coveting.

Coveting drives so much of what goes on

in the world. Coveting is the cause

behind our wars, our starvation,

exploitation,

government corruption, slavery,

divisions, quarrels, broken

relationships, family conflicts, lusts,

lawsuits, crimes. I could just go on and

on and on because coveting is at the

root of them all.

I was helped a lot. I was reading a book

one time. It just helped me. It it said,

"Do you see something that someone has

that you really like?"

Learn to say this.

I'm delighted they have that.

And then say to yourself, I don't need

that.

I think that's a really helpful little

exercise. So, learn to say those words.

I'm delighted they have that. I don't

need that. A type of greed, coveting.

Another type of greed that's here is in

these two brothers and their quarrel.

It's a sense of entitlement. I'm sure

that if Jesus had heard out the two

brothers, both of them would have

explained why they were entitled to what

they wanted.

Entitlement. Remember the seagulls and

Finding Nemo when Marlin's flopping

around on the on the dock. Mine. Mine.

Mine. Mine. Entitlement.

Nigel had to come to the rescue. The

pelican.

Entitlement though is against grace

because entitlement says I deserve that.

I'm worthy of that. Honor me. That ought

to be mine.

Whereas grace says I don't deserve it. I

could not earn it. It's a pure and

marvelous gift of God. And so

entitlement is a kind of greed that

takes us away. And it's here in these

brothers.

Colossians 3 verse 5 makes it clear for

Colossians 3:5

us this kind of greedy greedy coveting.

It's idolatry.

It is a false form of worship. And Jesus

is warning us here, be on your guard

against all kinds of greed. So then

Jesus tells the parable. Let's read the

parable. Verse 16. Luke 12:16. If you'd

Luke 12:16

look with me there. And Jesus told them

this parable. The ground of a certain

rich man yielded an abundant harvest.

And he thought to himself, "What shall I

do? I have no place to store my crops."

Then he said, "This is what I will do. I

will tear down my barns and build bigger

ones, and there I will store my surplus

grain, and I'll say to myself, you have

plenty of grain laid up for many years.

Take life easy. Eat, drink, be merry."

But God said to him, "You fool! This

very night your life will be demanded

from you. Then who will get what you've

prepared for yourself? This is how it

will be with whoever stores up things

for themselves but is not rich towards

God."

This is a challenging parable because in

the world we live in, our world looks on

before the rich man is called to account

by God and says that's the way you do

it.

You store it up so you have plenty for

yourself and then you eat and drink and

enjoy marrynt. That is the way to live.

You clever and wise man, you got it

right, rich man.

>> [snorts]

>> One of the things Jesus is pointing out

here is that you and I, we are treasure

stoers and we can't help but storing up

treasure of some type. What treasure are

we storing? Now, let's apply this

because this is a real application for

life that [snorts] we're living with

right now. Because if you are someone

who belongs to Jesus and has Jesus as

your king and who follows Jesus, your

work colleagues

or every if you're at college, everyone

on the college campus, your profs, I

shouldn't say everyone, but almost

everyone, let's be honest, your profs,

your classmates, the people around you,

or your neighbors in your estate or your

school friends or those involved in your

sports clubs. We could go on. The

general thought is this.

You're crazy. You are crazy to waste

your life following Jesus and miss out

on all the things of this world. You're

crazy.

Is that true? They think we're crazy.

But on the other hand, Jesus, the man

from heaven, says the complete opposite.

He says, "You're crazy to waste your

life amassing stuff for yourself that

cannot last and missing the endless

riches of eternal life with God in his

kingdom. You're crazy."

So, we have to ask ourselves, those are

pretty contrasting views, aren't they?

About possessions and about life. We

have to ask ourselves,

who's right?

What about you? Who do you conclude is

right? Is it the people around you where

you are?

Or is Jesus the man from heaven right?

You've got to make a conclusion.

And your conclusion is going to show in

how you live.

God makes a conclusion in verse 20. God

said to the rich man,

"You fool,

this very night your life will be

demanded from you."

God makes a conclusion about this rich

man. And Jesus asks, "What about you?

What do you say about what I'm teaching

about greed and possessions?

Who do you say I am?

Are you someone who knows Jesus as God's

eternal king and king over you?

Jesus calls on you today and invites

you, turn to me and be saved.

Turn to me. A welcoming invitation.

Who does Jesus say is truly wi rich and

wise? The person who has Jesus as their

king. The person who stores up treasure

in God's eternal kingdom.

But I have to ask, do we believe him?

That's the bottom line here. We can't

just say, "Nice theoretical teaching,

Jesus." We have to make a conclusion. I

believe you or I reject what you're

saying.

Now, when Jesus tells parables, one of

the things that's helpful is to say,

sometimes the parables like, "What's

going on in that parable?" One of the

things they say is, "Look for the sting

in the tail." In other words, the last

thing Jesus concludes at the end of a

parable. And here's the sting in the in

the tale of this parable. It's the last

verse. Verse 21.

This is how it will be for whoever

stores up things for themselves

but is not rich toward God. That's where

Jesus is driving with this teaching

about all kinds of greed.

That's the sting. So hear me brothers

and sisters, those who believe in Jesus,

let's be those who are rich towards God.

What does it mean to be rich towards

God? It means that God is my greatest

treasure. I treasure nothing more than

God himself. He is the one I treasure.

Let's be rich towards go God. We are

greedy when we store up things for

ourselves

yet we don't treasure God.

[clears throat] Possessions

and greed. Now we need to look at the

second piece which is

worry. Possessions and worry verses

22-34.

So let's have a little read off these

verses again. Starting at verse 22.

Let's look at what Jesus says about

worry and possessions.

Then Jesus said to his disciples,

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry

about your life, what you will eat, or

about your body, what you will wear. For

life is more than food, and the body is

more than clothes. Consider the ravens.

They do not sow or reap. They have no

storoom or barn, yet God feeds them. And

how much more valuable are you than

birds?

Who of you by worrying can add a single

hour to your life? Since you cannot do

this very little thing, why do you worry

about the rest? Consider how the wild

flowers grow. They do not labor or spin.

Yet I tell you that even Solomon in all

his splendor was was dressed like one of

these.

If that is how God clothe the grass of

the field, which is here today and

tomorrow was thrown into the fire, how

much more will he clothe you? you of

little faith. And do not set your heart

on what you will eat or drink. Do not

worry about it. For the pagans, pagan

world, the unbelieving world runs after

all such things. And your father knows

that you need them. But seek his kingdom

and these things will be given to you as

well.

Worry. What is worry?

Well, worry is what dominates your

thoughts and occupies your mind. What

you are anxious about, what you are

distracted by. Here Jesus says you're

distracted by issues of what am I going

to eat? What am I going to drink? What

am I going to wear?

Worry. Worry is the things that trouble

your mind and preoccupy you with

anxieties and they take over the

trajectory of your life.

My outlook, my energies, my priorities,

my work, my finances, my time

become all about trying to eliminate

what I'm anxious about, what I'm worried

about. It occupies my mind. It occupies

my time. It occupies what my life is

about. Worry. Jesus says, "Do not

worry."

We need to recognize that the crowd

Jesus is with here is largely a third

world crowd. They're poor,

but they are concerned about what are

they going to eat. They're having

struggles with what to eat, what to

drink, and what to wear. They're worried

about those things. And here's the story

actually in context when Jesus tells the

story of the rich man and the story to

these poor this poor crowd. What do the

rich worry about?

The rich worry about their need for

more.

What do the poor worry about? The poor

worry about their need for more. What do

the people in between those worry about?

They worry about their need for more. I

don't have enough. Jesus says, "Do not

worry." So the realities are every one

of us, Jesus is talking to you.

He's hitting us right where we live.

What is your purpose? Is your purpose to

seek your own ease, your own comfort,

your own security in possessions in this

life?

Or is your purpose to seek first

his king

and his kingdom?

What purpose are you living for? So he

tells about the ravens. So let's read

there verse 24 again.

Consider

instead of setting your mind on what

you're worried about, consider something

else.

Sorry, I seem to have a problem here. I

don't think I'm plugged in quite right.

Consider the ravens.

They do not sew crops or reap crops.

They have no no storoom or barn. Yet God

feeds them. I don't know if you've ever

seen much of ravens, but the reality is

are ravens operate mostly in remote

places. You don't tend to see them in

heavy populated places. They often go

down the road looking for a bit of

roadkill, right? The thing is with

ravens, if you've watched ravens,

they're not like camels. Camels can

store water for a long time. They're not

like squirrels that put away all their

nuts for the winter. Ravens are

basically this. Find food, eat food.

That's the raven's option. You might fly

away if others are trying to take it

from you and you gobble it up. That's

how a raven operates. That's the point

Jesus is trying to make is your father

feeds ravens.

Brothers and sisters, you're far more

valuable to the father than ravens. He

will feed you. Oh, you of little faith.

Then Jesus speaks about your life. Life

isn't made up of having the most stuff.

first few verses 15 to 21 life is more

than just having the basics food and

clothing verses 22 to34 and Jesus points

out very importantly in verse 25 look at

verse 25 with me there he says in verse

25 who of you by worrying can add a

single hour to your life

is wasted by worrying

life is for seeking God's kingdom your

life is about what you tre treasure. And

Jesus is trying to help us understand

our hearts. Your hearts, my heart. Then

he talks about flowers in the meadow.

Verses 27 and 28.

Verse 27. Look at it there. Please look

with me. Consider, remember, what are

you going to put your mind on? Consider

how the wild flowers grow. They don't

labor or spin. I tell you, not even

Solomon in all his splendor was dressed

like one of these. If that is how God

clothed the grass of the field, which is

here today and tomorrow is thrown into

the fire, how much more will he clothe

you, you of little faith?

There's a beautiful place that we just

drove by because we were just in Canada

called Mount Reveltoke.

And there's this um place they call

Meadows in the Sky. and Meadows in the

Sky, you can generally only get up there

about 50 days of the year because

there's so much snow up this mountain

that you actually can't access the area.

But when you get up there for those 50

days,

it is unbelievable because there's this

burst of color. The the meadows flowers

are just respplendant

way up in this remote place at the top

of the mountain where no humans have

been all year. Nobody's been minding the

flowers.

except our father in heaven.

And Jesus is saying, if your father is

able to clothe them without you giving

any attention to it, how much more will

he clothe you? You of little faith.

Then he speaks about your body. He spoke

about your life. Now he speaks about

your body. Your worries about these

things will not add any time. No moments

will be added to your life by worrying.

You don't believe that?

You don't.

I often don't.

Is Jesus right? We think that by

worrying about stuff with our body, it

does add time to our lives. Jesus says

you can't. In fact, what he's really

saying is worry actually wastes your

life. It wastes your time that you're

trying to redeem.

Like the foolish and greedy rich man,

your life could be gone today.

This night, Psalm 139 says that God has

written every one of your days in his

book before one of them came to be. Do

you believe that? Because if you believe

that, then you know that worrying isn't

going to add to the days God wrote in

his book.

Worrying does not add any time to your

life. It wastes the time you've been

given.

Do not worry. You cannot stop your

death. How much time and energy and

money and worry do you put into your

body? Then can I ask, how much time and

energy and thought and money and worry

do you put into the eternal kingdom of

Jesus? Because that's really what's

going on in the passage. Seek first the

kingdom.

worrying wastes my life. It doesn't add

to it. See, the picture here is that

Jesus is the eternal one from heaven.

He's speaking about time. He knows about

time and he made your eternal soul. And

Colossians 1:18 tells us that God has a

Colossians 1:18

master plan in all things. His plan in

all things, we read about it in

Ephesians 1 earlier, his plan in all

things is that Jesus Christ would have

the supremacy in everything. That's

God's plan. Supremacy. First place for

Jesus

in everything. That's what God is

setting out to do in his plan.

What's your plan? Is it the supremacy of

self

or is it the supremacy of God's king and

his kingdom? We got to ask these

questions off this passage.

Can I ask you the word authority? What's

the root word of the word authority?

Author.

[clears throat] Author.

Jesus is the author of your life and

your existence. He sustains your life

and he's the author of all things. He's

the creator.

Therefore, Jesus is the one with

authority

because he's the author.

Is Jesus the one in authority in your

life? Then we get to verse 29.

If you look with me at verse 29, do not

set your heart on what you will eat or

drink. Do not worry about it, for the

pagan world runs after all such things,

and your father knows that you need

them. But seek his kingdom,

and these things will give be given to

you as well. What's the sting in the

tail? the sting in the tail. The point

Jesus is making through ravens, flowers,

etc. and do not worry is seek his

kingdom. That's the point he's driving

for. The rest will be given to you as

well. Verse 32, do not be afraid, little

flock. Do not be anxious, for your

father has been pleased to give you the

kingdom. Sell your possessions. Give to

the poor. Provide purses for yourself

that will not wear out, a treasure in

heaven that will never fail. Where no

thief comes near or no moth destroys.

For where your treasure is, there your

heart will be also.

There's another sting in the tail here.

Where your treasure is,

that's where your heart is. Jesus is

help us helping us diagnose the driving

force in our lives.

Seek his kingdom and these things will

be given to you as well. What Jesus is

indicating here when we're talking about

possessions, that's the bigger picture

of what he's speaking about started with

some guy, some crazy man shouting about

an inheritance. Jesus starts teaching

about possessions. But what he's saying

here is that the smallest treasure in

heaven is eternal

and it is far far far

more valuable than all the riches of

Elon Musk. Apparently right now he's

worth 90ish billion give or take a few

billion

900 sorry 900ish billion give or take a

few billion.

What Jesus is saying is the smallest

heavenly treasure is worth more than his

900 billion. Do you believe that?

Because the smallest heavenly treasure

is not small ever.

You know, I was looking at Elon Musk's

900ish billion. That's about 900 billion

more than I'm worth.

But, you know, at our burial,

we're going to take the same amount with

us.

I found out this week that Elon Musk,

he's the same age as me. We're very

close in age.

So, within the next 50-ish years,

we will both leave this world

with nothing from this world.

Don't store up treasures on earth.

You'll lose it.

And the concluding sting verse 34 is

where your treasure is there your heart

will be also.

Your heart is where your treasure gets

stored. We store stuff and above all we

store things in our hearts. Your heart

is the engine for all you do. For the

words you say, for the actions you take

with your hands, for the directions your

feet take through life. Your heart is

what drives all of that. It's the

engine. So, your time reflects what your

heart treasures. Your energy and

enthusiasm reflects what your heart

treasures. Your conversations reflect

what your heart treasures. Your bank

account reflects what your heart

treasures.

Your purchases reflect what your heart

treasures. Your sexual behavior and

sexual desires reflect what your heart

treasures. Your ambitions and desires

for your life reflect what your heart

treasures. Your desire to engage with

the life of this local church reflects

what your heart treasures. Your giving

to the local church reflects what your

heart treasures.

At this moment, I'd like to just say a

little something. Jesus actually says

in verse 33,

"Sell your possessions and give to the

poor. Provide purses for yourself that

will not wear out. Treasure in heaven

that will never fail, where no thief

comes near and no moth destroys."

Could I just have a little word

specifically with the members, which is

most of you here? [clears throat]

Looking at verses 33 and 34. Let's get

practical. There is a way to fight

worry.

It's called generosity.

>> Jesus says there's a way to fight greed.

It's called generosity. Do you want to

fight those things? Then you need to get

really practical with what you possess

because the way to fight those is with

generosity.

Can I just say as to the members, why

should we give to this church? Well, we

give for the sake of the advancement of

the gospel, a proclamation that there is

a king and an eternal kingdom and that

all are welcome to know Jesus as their

king. So, giving to this local church is

giving for the sake of gospel

advancement. That's why to give. Giving

to this local church is giving to

worldwide mission. That's why to give.

Giving to this to DBC is giving to the

spread of the gospel and it's storing up

treasure in heaven. Giving to this

church more than ever now with our new

initiative plant cork is giving to the

poor because we're going to target the

poor and try to serve them and we're

especially want to bring them the

gospel.

But we've been helping the poor for

years through the giving to this church

members.

When we give, when we give, we're

sending on earthly treasures

to a place where the purses never fail,

where there's never rust or decay or

moths to eat it. Do we believe this?

We're showing when we give that our real

treasure is in heaven. Now, I want to

make some comments as Bryce. Okay, now

this little bit here, this is Bryce

talking. So, you can blame Bryce for

this bit. Okay.

Because Bryce hardly ever talks about

this about giving. [snorts] I talk about

it. I've been convicted working through

Luke. I talk about giving a lot less

than Jesus does. So there's a corrective

I need to make.

People will say, "Well, what about a

tithe?" Okay, let me step on some toes

as Bryce. Blame Bryce.

First of all, I want to say this is

especially aimed at the membership of

this church, which is most of you. I

also have no clue what anybody in this

church gives beyond myself. So, I don't

want I can't have a clue. I don't have a

clue. I don't want to have a clue who

gives what. And as a member, I do get to

see though the overall giving picture.

What comes in weekly and what comes in

annually

into DBC? That's all I know. So, first

of all, are New Testament believers

called to give a tithe as the Old

Testament Jews were? Let me just answer

that. I don't think a tithe is commanded

of New Covenant believers.

Okay, there it is. I don't think the Old

Testament tithe is commanded of New

Testament believers or New Covenant

believers. However, when I read my New

Testament about New Covenant believers,

let me tell you this.

What I read is they gave way more than

10%.

They sold whole properties and gave them

to the church.

They were delighted to give incredibly

generously.

And so this is not a command, not a

command from me or from scripture, but

if you're looking for a place to start,

I do think although a ti don't give an

Old Testament tithe, that's not for you.

But if you want a place to start in your

giving members, I think 10% is a good

starting spot and work forward from

there. I do think it's wise and good.

It's not a command, not required.

And just as we look at the giving in

DVC, there's much to be encouraged

about. We have grown in our giving as a

church and I praise God for that.

However, what I did quickly this week is

I broke down our weekly or monthly

giving

based on how many members we have.

Members only. And I counted that up. And

did you know that if we're giving 10%

our average weekly wage for each member

in this church is €168.

We're earning €420 an hour if we're

working 40-hour weeks.

I think DVC members, this is Bryce now.

Slam Bryce for this.

I think we can give much more generously

towards the poor

towards the cause of the kingdom,

towards missions. Okay, Bryce will go

back down his rabbit hole into hiding.

Now,

can I just say some things that

scripture tells us? One very important

one, don't give what you're not able to

give. 2 Corinthians 8:12. For if there

2 Corinthians 8:12

is eagerness to give there, the gift is

acceptable according to what you have,

not according to what you don't have. So

if some prosperity preacher comes along

and says, "Just put five grand on your

credit card. I know you don't have it.

Put five grand on your credit card and

God will open his storehouses and lavish

wealth on you." Don't do it. According

to this passage, you give according to

what you have. 2 Corinthians 9 then

teaches us, "Giving is a matter of the

heart. It's a private matter between me

and God." This is why we don't know who

gives what in DBC. It's a private

matter. You decide in your heart what to

give. We don't want to know what you

give.

Give generously though and what we're

supposed to give as members of this

church is a decided portion of our

income. So we should choose some sort of

portion or determined percentage. We

should give and we should give regularly

and continually whether it's weekly or

monthly. And just to mention on our web

page, we don't want to profile giving,

giving, giving. Everybody give to us.

But if you scroll right to the bottom,

there's a tiny link there right in the

middle called giving. So, if you want to

know how to give electronically, which

most of us do, um you can head down

there on our website, douglasbaptist.ie,

and find at the bottom of the website,

scripture indicates that the local

church ought to be the focal point of

your giving.

So,

can I challenge you? Jesus challenges

you. Put your money

where your heart is.

>> [snorts]

>> You can't keep your money here, but you

can send it on ahead of you where it

will not perish.

Put your money where your heart is

because you do that anyway.

Your heart drives where your money goes.

How do I guard myself against greed and

worry? Well, one, give. Give generously

to the kingdom of God. Two, give. Give

thanks to the Father who provides for my

needs. Three, give Jesus first place in

all things. He must have the supremacy

over my finances as well. The greatest

of all possessions, this passage is

about possessions. The greatest of all

possessions is God's king,

Jesus,

and his kingdom.

And there's nothing greater you can live

your life for. There's lasting joy.

There's lasting delight. There's

satisfaction if Jesus is your king. Is

Jesus your king?

I want you to know that treasure,

the treasure, treasures of this world

don't compare and he offers it to you.

So take him as your king because he's

good and he has what's best for you in

mind.

Will you turn to him and trust him today

as your king? The greatest of all

possessions is Jesus.

Can I just say a little word to the

believers here? We don't need to worry

and fret and be afraid because look at

verse 32. It says, "Do not be afraid,

little flock,

for your father has been pleased

to give you

the kingdom."

Isn't that amazing? You see the heart of

our father?

He delights.

It is his joy to give you the greatest

possession you could be given.

believers.

Let's take that into perspective with

our worries and our fretting and our

anxieties.

What do we really need?

We need the king of heaven.

We need the heavenly kingdom.

>> We need Jesus.

>> And he is truly all we need.

We cannot exaggerate the value and the

worth of Jesus our king. Let's pray.

Father,

help us with this passage. It just lays

it all on the line. It's one or the

other. It's the way the world thinks or

the way Jesus teaches.

Either Jesus is right or he's wrong.

Father, for those of us who trust in

him, we pray that you'd set help us to

set our hearts on your kingdom

that we'd realize that's where our

hearts must be because that's where our

true treasure is. Help us with this.

Help us to learn generosity. Help us to

learn thankfulness for the many ways you

provide for us in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. So, in response, we're going