The 4Fs - Finances (Matthew 6:19-24)

This is ERC Sundays, the messages at Emmaus Rd.

Church in DeWitt, Iowa. ERC is a Church of people

striving to grow in Jesus and make him known to others through

our faith, words and actions. Find out more about our church

at emmausrdonline.org. Here's this week's message.

Yeah, this is the last week in our 4S series.

We've been talking about faith and family and fitness, and

today we get to talk about finances.

All of these things, Of course, God wants to teach us about.

He wants to show us what it means to be good stewards and in

all these different areas, and that is for his glory and for

our good. When we follow the word of the

Lord in all these different areas of our life, what happens

is we get to we get to make the name of Jesus known, we get to

glorify him and we do that for his Kingdom and for again, like

I said, our good. And so this week we find ourself

in finances. Lucky you, lucky you.

I know they're during the first service.

There were definitely some first timers here and I was just like,

man, they show up on the week where we're talking about money.

This is this is going to go great.

I love that for them, but I don't know, it's happened a

couple different times and they walk in and and inevitably when

I use the word finances, they're like, oh great, here we go.

Pastors going to tell me that I have to give all this money to

church and if I'm not, I'm a terrible Sinner and all these

things and great, can't wait. But that's not how this goes at

all. If you read your Bible, that's

not at all what God says. God tells us that as we are

receiving his resources that he gives us freedom to do with

those what we want. And that's an amazing thing for

the God who gives everything. It's intriguing and amazing that

he's like, here you go, have a good time.

And we have those choices. We have those options to do what

we want with our finances. But is there biblical wisdom

that we can use with that so that we can again, flourish in a

way that maybe we would have never thought of before through

typical secular thoughts about money?

And So what I want to key in on today is I want us to think

about investments that actually last, that actually last

investments that because we invest in all sorts of things.

You could, you could talk about your house, you could talk about

a car, you could talk about all this stuff.

None of that actually really lasts, right?

It doesn't really last in. And here's how.

Let me give you a familiar phrase.

You've heard it said that you will not see a her or you will

not see a U-Haul van behind a hearse.

You've heard that right? Yes.

If not, you just heard it. So you can still say yes because

you just heard it. OK, so no U hauls behind

hearses. And so we often then talk about

the things that we're not allowed to take with us, we

can't take with us. But I don't want to stay in the

negative. I want to move to the positive.

What can we take with us? What can we take with us?

Here's the thing, we get to take people and praises.

We can take people and praises with us.

How does that work, man? As we share the gospel, as we

share the good news of Jesus Christ, what happens is we get

to gather God's people and we get to say, come with me, come

with me to eternity, Come with me to meet Jesus face to face.

And when we get there, you know what we get to do?

We get to praise Him in His glory, in his absolute unseen

glory. We get to praise Him and man.

We want to make heaven crowded. Not that you can actually do

that, but we want to make it crowded, don't we?

That should be our goal. And so we want to take people

and praise this with us. Therefore, that should inform

how we invest our first and our best.

That should absolutely inform that.

So here's what we're going to do.

Let me make this very clear. We're going to look at a little

passage that Jesus speak that where Jesus is speaking, and

we're going to see what he calls foolish investments.

We're going to figure out what he calls wise investments, and

then we're going to take a hard look at God's investment into

you. That's where we're going.

Foolish investments, wise investments and God's investment

into you. So with that in mind, we are

going to read from Matthew chapter 6 verses 19 through 24.

Matthew 6:19–24

If you have your Bibles or the Bible app or you know, kind of

however that works for you, you can follow along on the screen.

All of those are perfectly fine ways.

So Matthew 619 through 24, and we read this in Jesus name

because it's literally his words.

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth

and rust destroyed, and where thieves break in and steal.

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where

neither wrought, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and

where thieves do not break in and steal.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The eye is a lamp to 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 2 masters, for

either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be

devoted to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and money. Here ends the reading of God's

Word. May it be blessed.

There was a man who was on a business trip and he was booked

in a hotel for four nights. So he gets to the hotel room on

the first day and he's like, Nah, I'm not in love with it.

So checks in. But then he goes off to the

conference. When he gets back from the

conference, what he does is he looks around and says, you know

what? The lighting in here isn't

great. Let me give this place some nice

upgrades. So he goes off to Menards and he

buys a few new table lamps and and he buys some like of those

stick on LED strips and he's like, all right, we're lighting

this place up. Good upgrade.

So he goes off to the conference on the second day and when he

gets back from work on the second day, he looks around and

goes, man, now that there's better light in here, I'm seeing

all sorts of stuff I don't like. So he walks in the bathroom.

He's like, you know, that mirror adds like 10 lbs.

I'm not a fan. So, so he goes back to the store

and he, he buys a new mirror for the bathroom and he installs

that and he buys new artwork because the artwork in hotels is

pretty cheesy. It's not great.

It's very corporate. Nobody likes that.

And if you do, let's talk after the service, it's not great art

teacher. Sorry.

Anyway, So, and then he also he like buys these like handles for

all the closet doors and all the, and all the drawers.

He buys handles because it's like those are so outdated.

Let me let me upgrade this a little bit.

So he installs all that stuff on the second day and he goes to

bed that night and he thinks to himself, man, that was totally

worth it. Goes to work on the third day,

comes back and as he walks back in, as in most hotels, he walks

in and he looks and he's looking right into the bathroom and he's

like, that is not a throne appropriate for a king.

In fact, that toilet, it is so uncomfortable that I cannot

comfortably sit there and play my game on my phone for upwards

of 25 minutes, killing time on the toilet.

And so he's like, you know what? I need to upgrade that, too.

So he goes back to Menards and he's picking out a toilet.

And he's like, yeah, that's a that's a throne fit for a king.

So he picks out the toilet. And while he's there, he's like,

you know what, let's redo the paint, too.

It's a little drab in there. So he gets off the materials and

he goes back to the hotel room and he's installing the toilet.

And he's like, yeah. And he's put, you know, he's

painting the walls. And there's a knock on the door

and the manager, he opens the door and the manager's there.

And the manager takes like one look in the room and went, huh,

what are you doing? And the guy like very plainly,

just very calm. He's like, what?

Making some investments? I'm upgrading this room.

It's the problem. And the manager's like, you

check out tomorrow. Why would you, why would you

change this? Why would you sink all this

money into this thing? He's like, I don't know, I just

thought it was a good investment.

I really wanted to do it. Here's the thing.

That's kind of a silly story, but we constantly invest in

things that don't last. Here's what Jesus says.

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,

the whole body will be full of darkness.

What's he getting at? What are we?

What is he really talking about? Here's the thing that I know is

true. Absolutely for the people in

Jesus's day, and even more so for the people of our day.

We are absolutely bombarded with things all the time that make us

want, want, want, want, want, want, want.

We have marketing geniuses who rightfully so, make hundreds of

thousands of dollars a year because they're really good at

separating you from your money. It's not always even that

subtle. So let let's let's take a couple

case studies here. Let's say you're in your house

and it's perfectly fine. Everything functions well and

and you've got a pretty good little life going.

You're fine. But then you get wrapped up in

watching like house flipper shows or remodeling shows and

all of a sudden you know what you're doing.

You're like, man, I think I think we should put new tile in

the bathroom. I think we could upgrade the

floor. I think we could change the sink

out and all of a sudden, like you are consumed because of what

your eye has taken in. You are so consumed by what

you've been focusing on, right? Or maybe maybe it's your phone.

And so like on your phone, you talk about it and your phone's

always listening. We all know that.

So now you're going to get ads, by the way.

So your phone is listening. And so you start getting ads for

clothing all the time because you're like, oh, I need some new

stuff. And you're talking to your

friends. All of a sudden all these ads

start popping up for new clothing.

And before you know it, you're like, man, it's kind of shabby.

I I'd better buy some new stuff. Even though you've got a closet

full of stuff that you don't even wear.

That's perfectly fine, or I'll make this very personal.

I don't. Yeah, that's my mother-in-law.

Nailed it. This is why I don't even go in

shoe stores. I don't.

I don't because I know what's going to happen.

I will have less money when I walk out of that place.

Here's the thing. Gosh, guys, our eyes, they get

so filled up by these marketing geniuses, ads and everything

that they're doing. And we just want more and more

and more and we're never content.

We're never content. And So what they've done to us,

victims, maybe what they've done to us is they've said you're not

enough, you're not whole unless you do this, unless you have

that, unless you upgrade that, you will not be whole, you will

not be happy. And we've bought into the lies

we have absolutely as a society, we have bought into those lies.

And maybe the greatest lie that they sell us or, and it's

subtle, it's so subtle. They get us with comparison.

They get us with comparison every single time.

And it's not even the marketers who do that.

That's just us. We look across the street, oh,

so and so got a new car. Then you get in yours and you're

like, this thing sucks. No, it doesn't.

It runs, it moves, it does what it's supposed to do.

It's fine. But that's not how we think.

We tend to think in comparisons. And Teddy Roosevelt quite

famously said comparison is the thief of joy.

You don't have joy in your life, man.

I bet I can tell you why, or at least one of the reasons why.

It's because we're always comparing.

And so here's the thing. Here's what I want to get to

real quick. I think I've made the case that

some of these things, they're just toxic that we take in with

our eyes, the things that we focus on.

But then again, if we always blame what's out there, we're

never going to figure this thing out because God tells us that we

have to start with what's in here.

I have to start with the position of my heart.

And then we can start to work some things out because

everything is flowing out of the position of my heart, right?

Whether that's unnecessary want or desire, or whether that's

gratitude and contentment and thankfulness, all that starting

in here. So let me let me get to

something a little maybe potentially challenging, but I

don't. I don't always have the best

words. I'm not always the goodest at

talking. Yeah, I see what I did there.

Good, good. I'm glad.

Well, let me read something from Tim Keller that I think really

gets to the point here. Here's what he says on this

topic. If there is a God who created

you, and therefore, since that God gave you everything, you owe

that God an eternal debt, an absolute debt, The only possible

due that you can give to a person who has given you

everything is everything. So do you work for his agenda?

Do you work for his goals? Do you work for his business?

In a sense, he's given you the businesses charge card and

you're going off to the Bahamas with it.

In other words, are you basically living for your own

interests, your own goals? My friends, that is treason.

You're saying I want to be the governor of my own life.

What's wrong with that? That's treason.

It's cosmic treason. It's ingratitude of the highest

order. So the point that Tim Keller and

the point that Jesus is making in this text is very simple.

It's very simple. It's about the position of our

hearts. It's not about a dollar amount.

It's about the position of our hearts.

Because even in this text, Jesus tells us he, he points out where

your treasure is. That's also where your heart is.

And he wants your heart. He wants it in in a relationship

with him positioned correctly so that you can live your life in

real joy and contentment and peace, not constantly chasing

the next big thing that they put out.

Jesus calls us to make wise investments in the gospel.

He calls us to make wise investments with the resources

that he's given us. Kristen says it every week, and

it's true. Every single week.

Everything we have belongs to the Lord.

It's all his. But what do we do with that

business charge card, huh? What are we doing with it?

So here's the thing. I could probably kind of nag on

the whole thing all day, but I don't really want to do that.

I would like to shift us into the positive.

I would like to shift us into what are wise investments.

And I'm going to do that by telling you a little story.

Story time again. You're welcome.

About 40 years ago, there were a group of young upstart people,

and they got real tired of doing religion the way that everybody

around them said that they should be doing it.

And so they formed a dream. They formed a dream.

And that dream looked like not their glory, not their comfort,

but the glory of God and accessibility to Jesus Christ in

a way that that community did not currently have.

And they dreamed, and they dreamed and they sacrificed and

they fought and they lost their they lost friends because of it.

They lost real dollars because of it.

They gave it all away. Let me tell you how that

investment is shaking out today. Every single Wednesday night and

every single Sunday morning, I am in this building and I'm

seeing that investment pay dividends over and over and over

again. I have seen those investments

multiply across I don't know how many generations.

I look at young people inside this church, maybe your kids,

maybe your grandkids, and I am looking at that investment which

has exploded. It is investment that is paying

dividend on top of dividend on top of dividend.

Every single day that we open these doors, I am here talking

to you because they chose, they went out of their way, they

broke free from what was and they said no.

We are going to invest in what we believe matters most and that

is people meeting Jesus Christ. And I stand before you on this

stage today because of their investment.

I don't exist here without them being faithful to the call of

God in their life to make a wise investment that wasn't about

their comfort, that wasn't about keeping up with the Joneses, but

an investment that was all about making Jesus known.

That happened here and it still happens here.

If you are sitting here listening to me right now, that

investment is paying off for you.

Their investment is still working.

It's still making money over and over again.

But that's not real money. That is, that is money that is

gold towards eternity. That's what that is and it's

working. It is working.

There's multiplying. It's amazing.

So here's the thing, I want to show you something.

I want to show you what Jesus says are wise investments, says

layout for yourselves, treasure in heaven where neither moth nor

rust destroys, from where thieves do not break in and

steal. I said at the beginning, we take

our people and our praises with us and that's it.

That's it. So how is God calling us then to

invest in the thing that will last forever, People in our

praises? How does that working out?

Man, I got to tell you, and I'm just being honest.

I'm not a salesman. I am not a financial guru, but

when I walk in this building and when I see your faces, when I

see you guys interacting, when I see little kids running around

spilling coffee or with the Donuts, whatever, it's all worth

it. It's so worth it.

Now let me pause for a second. Let me do a check here because

every once in a while I leave the notes and I start talking

and I don't even know what I say.

Sometimes I just listen to it back.

I'm like, that's crazy, but not bad.

Thanks. Let's do a check anywhere today.

Have I told you that you have to give a certain percentage to

this church? Yes or no?

Good. Glad I didn't do that.

At any point today, have I told you you have to give a certain

dollar amount to this church? Good.

Glad that didn't happen. At any point did I say that you

have to give money otherwise you shouldn't show up here?

Have I said that? Good, because if anybody ever

said any of those things from this stage, they would be fired.

Rightfully so, and I would love to give them a kick out the

door. That is not what God calls us

to, and here's how we know that. Second Corinthians 9-7 and

eight. Each one must give as He is

decided in His own heart. Do you see how it comes back to

the heart issue I was talking about?

It's a heart issue. Not reluctantly, not under

compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Man, did you see it? And here's the thing, I can tell

you honestly, again, not a salesman, just a guy whose life

was changed by Jesus. I can tell you every single time

we get to invest in something that is bigger and grander than

us, man, it rocks my heart. It really does.

I'm not just saying that because I'm a pastor.

It does. It changes my heart.

It moves me towards knowing that there is a greater goal then

even just this building. There is a goal to make heaven

full, and I want to work on that goal with you.

I want you to join in that God. God wants you to join in His

work of making His Kingdom full. Now I want to show you one more

thing and then we're going to get out of here.

The last point that I wanted to bring you to is God's investment

in you. OK, we've talked about foolish

investments. I think we get that talked about

wise ones. We can see that.

So let's talk about God's investment into you.

There's a little, little couple of verses where Jesus is telling

a parable, and this is how it goes.

Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a

field which a man found and hid, and for the joy over it he goes,

and he sells all that he has, and then he buys that field.

Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking

beautiful pearls, who when he had found one Pearl of great

price, he went and sold all that he had, and he bought it.

Here's what I'm going to tell you, little Bible lesson

friends. This text has two meanings.

Let me give you the first one. The first meaning is what we've

kind of been talking about today, the fact that man, when

we feel the gospel, when it is penetrated our hearts, when it

has moved us, you know what we ought to do.

We ought to invest every stinking thing that we can give

away into that because we know it has eternal value and it

multiplies to the NTH degree. That's one way to understand

this, but there's another way and there's a greater way to

understand this text. You are the treasure.

You are the Pearl. Now, granted that you've been

buried in sin, so you're a little dirty, but man, God sees

you and he's like, I can get that dirt off.

I can get that sin off. I can wipe all that stuff away.

And I know underneath when I wipe all that junk off, it is

going to be so valuable. They are going to be so valuable

for me that what am I going to do?

I'm going to give it all away and that's exactly what Jesus

Christ has done. He has given it all away for

you. He's invested 100% of himself in

you. That's exactly how it works.

We see in the Old Testament that God calls for a tie the 10th.

We don't see that in the New Testament because Jesus is

giving 100%. He did not tithe his blood and

say, well, that was probably good.

No, he gave 100% of it so that you can be saved, so that you

can be in a relationship with Him, so that you can spend

eternity in glory with him and your brothers and sisters in

Christ who know the same thing. Friends, Jesus didn't hold back.

And the application is he's asking us to trust him enough to

not hold back to, to give as our heart moves, as our heart is

moved by the truth of the gospel, as as Jesus Christ comes

into us through his Spirit and he changes our wants and our

desires and our needs and he aligns them with himself and the

cross man, all of a sudden it gets real easy and real fun to

give that stuff away. I'm not joking, it's true, and

if you haven't tried it, then you probably don't know why I'm

crazy up here, but try it and then you can be this crazy too.

It's a really good life. It's a really good life because

I'm not hanging on to things that don't matter.

I want to invest in what matters forever.

I hope you want that too. And you can have that through

the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thanks for listening to the ERC

Sundays To support the work God is doing and Amazed Rd.

Church, visit amazedrdonline.org/giving.