This changes the game.

Your reason determines your reward. I feel like preaching that.

If the reason I'm doing it is to be seen,

then that's my reward. If they see me and if

they say that I did it good, then that's my reward.

But if I have a deeper reason, then I have

a greater reward. Here's a game changer for me. I

have this Sunday school way that I see the Bible

sometimes that messes me up, because I imagine stuff like

when it says, your reward in heaven or your reward

from your father. I always used to picture a corner

of heaven where there were pots of gold. It was

more like Lucky Charms and leprechauns than the Bible, but

it was like these big rewards in heaven, treasures in heaven.

But I'm probably not going to need gold in heaven

because up there it's called gravel.

You see what I'm saying?

There's not a monetary value. It's like V-Bucks in heaven,

so it's not going to really buy anything. But now

I'm realizing that this is not a passage about, hey, man, give,

and then when you get to heaven, it's going to

be like your Uber is going to be a Maybach.

It's not about getting this reward in another place. It's

about getting it from another place.

Then your father, this was the key to unlocking.

The scripture for me. It said, he sees what is

done in secret. That used to scare me. Oh, God

is watching me all the time.

But now I see that it means he's keeping score.

And that means nobody else gets to.

And when I live that way, there is a certain

validation that only comes from him and living according to

the values that he's given to me, and the world

can't give that.

And when I'm not living in alignment.

With that, then I get the car, and the car

is my reward. And when the smell of the car

is gone, then so is the thrill of owning it.

If I... If I do it for people, then I

have to get it from people.

One scripture I like to think about when I'm having

a pity party is one time when Paul was talking

about preaching the gospel. In certain situations, Paul would say,

Don't pay me.

I don't want any money from you. I want something

from God.

He wasn't always doing that, but when he explained it

to the church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 9, he goes, Hey,

I got nothing to brag about. I preach because I'm compelled.

In other words, God called me to do this, so

I almost have to do it. But if I do

it out of obligation, then it's just a discharge. But

if I do it like it's a privilege, then it's

a reward. So the revelation for me was that my

reason determines my reward. So if I'm doing this for you,

then you hold my reward.

But if I'm doing this for.

Him, it.

Applies in every area of life. It applies to giving.

Jesus said this.

He said, I didn't come to abolish the law. I

came to fulfill it. That's what he means by the

game changer. I didn't come to play the game a

little better, keep the law a little better, like put

more on top of it. I came to change the

reason that you do it.

So one of those things is giving.

In the Old Testament, you would see an.

Obligatory system of giving.

Where I bring the tithe because I have to or

else I'm under a curse.

And so I bring God the.

First fruits of my produce and the first fruits of

all of my increase because I have to. It is

obligation oriented. That's how most of us live. But grace

changes the game. Jesus said, I didn't come to abolish it,

but to fulfill it. In other words, I came to

give you a different reason Now it's not that I'm

doing it because I've got to. I'm doing it because

of the grace of God.

Am I saying this right, Lord? It's a shift in perspective.

And sometimes you keep doing the same things, but you

find a deeper reason to do it.

And then you find meaning in your life.

But if you're not careful, you run around all your

life changing the things that you do, but you find

no meaning in the things. Because as long as you

have shallow reasons, you.

Get empty victories.

But when your reason gets deeper, when you start saying,

you know what?

I'm giving to God. I'm serving God.

Not because I have to or not because people might

notice or not because I'm going to go to hell

if I don't. But just he's been good to me.

Just because I know that my redeemer lives. That's why.

You and your father who sees what is done in

secret will reward you.

Whatever is your reason controls your reward. You believe that?

You believe that if you have a devotion, just so

you can post on Instagram that you had it with

a picture of your coffee mug sitting next to Colossians 3,

Colossians 3:7

verse 7. Do you believe me that if that's why

you did it, that's what you get out of it?

And when it only gets 12 likes, don't cry, because

I preached Matthew 6, 1 through 4, and I told

you that if that is your reason, then that is

your reward.

I see it like a game show in my mind.

Tell them what they've won.

It's like, you know, absolutely nothing because you did it

for the reason. And people will go, I left that church.

Why'd you leave that church? Because I got burned. Were

you in the cooking ministry?

You see the scar? Is it nasty?

I get it.

We get hurt.

But sometimes the reason that we got hurt is because

in our heart, what we needed from people was too much.

And we shouldn't have been.

Doing it for people to begin with. Oh, the applause

died down by 73%.

It always happens when you challenge the values.

And I noticed a trend in my preaching a couple

years ago that bothered me, so I've been working on it.

I was preaching a sort of theology that was a

little perverted in this way. Not on purpose, but you

just shift toward it. You say, if you will, God will,

and God's going to … You fill in the blanks.

If you obey God in this area of your life,

it will produce a blessing.

It was a cause and effect.

What I'm coming to understand is, while that's true on

the surface, the real blessing is built into the process.

The real blessing is built in.

When he says, don't let your left hand know what

your right hand is doing when you give, that means

that it ought to be so automatic because you've operated

out of your values to the point like these guitar players.

Is there a guitar anywhere around here? When they play,

there's got to be one, right, L.J.? When they play.

They don't have to think about. I would play y'all

talk dirty to me by poison.

But that's not appropriate for church. That's the first song

I learned though.

That's what I think about when I see electric guitar.

They do this. With the right hand. And this with

the left hand. But they don't. See, these hands, if

I've done that enough, this hand is.

Going, and this hand is going, and the left hand,

what is this, Glycerine by Bush, I think I'm playing?

Of all the songs. Child of the 90s. And if

you've done it enough, it's not even a thing.

And Jesus said, I would like for you to get

to the point where my grace has changed you enough

that you don't have to think about it or pray

about it. God, should I give to further your gospel

in the earth? I just need a sign. How about

your common sense? And so he challenges my values. Go

ahead and subscribe now. I'll see you next time.