Check Your Pockets

Intro:

Good evening.

The Bible says in 2 Cor. 10:5 that we are to “every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”

Col. 3:4 says, “When Christ who IS our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”

These verses indicate that our entire worldview should come from our relationship with Jesus Christ.

With that in mind, our sermon for this evening is a topic that I’ve borrowed from Brother Jack Wilkie, who works with Focus Press (Dr. Brad Harrub and crew), a sermon that I first heard on their podcast titled Think Deeper.

The sermon topic is “Check Your Pockets,” and to give credit where it is due, I wanted to let you know you can here their discussion on it by finding it on the Think Deeper Podcast, the episode titled, “Do You Have a Christian Worldview?”

It’s a really good episode, and definitely one that will make you think, as is the goal of the podcast.

The idea is that we need to check our pockets (or our person, or what have you) and use some things that we carry on our person every day, and can use these things as an object lesson to think about our priorities as Christians:

We need to understand that the temptation can be (if we aren’t careful) for us to COMPARTMENTALIZE our faith — to put it into boxes, and basically treat our lives as — “Well, this is my work life,” “This is my school life,” “This is my extra-curricular life,” “This is my family life,” and “This is my church life.”

That’s the wrong way to look at it!

EVERY part of our lives should be determined by our Christianity, not just what happens at the church building a couple of times a week.

So I hope that this sermon will help get you to thinking about some of these things like it got me thinking.

I. YOUR KEYS:

This has to do with where we GO.

Of course, the biggest verse that goes along with this one is Mark 16:15 - “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every Creature.”

Do we do that?

Not only do we do that, but do we get in the mindset of seeing people for what they really are, which is human SOULS?

The cashier at the grocery store … has a soul.

The attendant at the gas station … has a soul.

The waitress at the sit-down restaurant … has a soul, as does the person who hands you your food at the fast food drive through.

And Jesus died for those souls! (Just as He did for ours).

We’ve got to train ourselves and renew our minds to think souls. To look for opportunities to reach souls, ultimately culminating in Bible studies, conversions and discipleship.

So that’s the evangelism aspect of GOING.

But that’s not the all of it — Also, we need to remind ourselves that there are some places we don’t have any business going …

As the Children’s song says, “be careful little feet where you go” really should be our motto.

(I know Jesus sat and ate with sinners — and if we are going to certain places to do the same thing with the same INTENT, which is to save souls, then absolutely — But going to said places to JOIN IN with sin, or to just sit and be around it in observation is a very bad idea).

Psalm 1 we read of the blessed man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, does not stand in the path of sinners, nor does he sit in the seat of the scornful.

Also, when you think about your KEYS (and going that it represents), think about the different types of keys that you have:

Of course the car keys — going out into the community (Do we carry our Christianity with us), or maybe going on vacation (Do we carry our Christianity there?)

What about the HOUSE key — What all goes on in our houses when nobody else is watching? (The LORD is watching!)

What about our office key — How do we act at work compared to how we act in other parts of our lives?

II. YOUR WATCH:

This, of course, has to do with TIME.

Psalm 90:12 “So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

“Redeeming the time, because the days are evil!” (Eph. 5:16)

We have to ask ourselves sometimes are we truly prioritizing our time?

Are we DEDICATING our precious time? Are we SACRIFICING some of our time?

Do we GUARD our time for the proper things? Are we SELFISH with our time?

There are 168 hours in a week. 24 hours a day, times 7 days a week.

If you think about a typical week, and let’s say you spend 56 hours a week sleeping (8 hr. X 7 days), and 40 hours a week working, that still leaves 72 hours in a week left to choose what we do with that time!

How much of that 72 hours left goes to God?

(I understand ALL of our time goes to God.)

But I’m talking about carving out SPECIFIC time that is spent SOLELY on things like Bible study, prayer, evangelism, teaching our children about God, etc.

How much?

If the answer is just 3 or 4 hours a week (at the church building), it’s not nearly enough, and this world will eat us alive, and will eat our families alive!

Speaking of family — How would your family do if you only spent 3 or 4 of your waking/non-work hours a week with them? (Not so well?)

Well, what about the family of God?

III. YOUR WEDDING RING:

(For those who are married) …

Gen. 1:27-28 - “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

God defines marriage. He defined it here back in the opening chapters of Genesis, He defined it the same way when Jesus spoke of it in Matthew chapter 19, teaching one man and one woman for life, and setting the groundrules for that …

And man doesn’t get to change that.

Of course man would LIKE to change it; but that doesn’t make it right.

In God’s standards that only He gets to set for marriage, there are all kinds of principles that the Bible gets to decide for us:

The Bible says that marriage is for life — we often summarize it as “till death do us part” (See Romans 7:1-3).

There’s one exception, and that is in cases of fornication the innocent party may remarry (See Matt. 19:9).

Marriage is the only proper location for procreation (we just saw in Gen. 1:28 - “Be fruitful and multiply) …

And marriage is the only proper location for what LEADS to procreation (Heb. 13:4).

There are duties for a husband and wife in that regard (1 Cor. 7). (and there is BELONGING to one another from spouse to spouse, in the sense that Paul talks about one’s OWN husband and one’s OWN wife).

And Eph. 5, a husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her, and a wife is to respect and obey her husband as the leader of the family.

Much more could be said about the groundrules for marriage, but the bottom line is that a wedding ring reminds us of what?

The lasting nature of marriage,

The serious business that is marriage, and the commitment to one another that it takes day to day,

The need for putting work into our marriages/to GUARD our marriages (treating it with such delicate care because Peter calls marriage “the grace of life” — 1 Pet. 3:7.

(I want to turn and read that passage — Read 1 Pet. 3:1-7).

The very first time we read that something was “not good” — “It is not good that man should be alone” (Gen. 2:18), God’s solution for that was the institution of marriage!

We must respect the institution, and give it all we’ve got, because it’s important!

IV. YOUR WALLET:

“Okay preacher, you can stop now.” :D

The saying goes, “show me a man’s wallet, and I’ll show you what he really cares about.”

And that’s true, right?

People like to spend money on things they care about most — and certainly money is a necessary thing.

What is the root of all evil? (all kinds of evil, anyway)

If you answered “money,” you’d be incorrect.

It’s the LOVE of money that is the root of all kinds of evil — 1 Tim. 6:10.

But the fact of the matter is — for just as many BAD things a person can do with his money, there are an equal number of GOOD things that can be done with it, as well!

Two sides of a discussion of money — On the one hand, we cannot allow ourselves to become lovers of money like 1 Tim. 6:10 warns against — If we do, we’ll peirce ourselves through with many sorrows.

We looked at the foolish man who built bigger barns this morning …

Could also look at the rich young ruler — Matt. 19:21 - “Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.””

How did he respond? He went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions — He loved his money more than he loved God.

It’s not a sin to have a lot of money (Job, Abraham, David, Solomon [at first]).

(By the way, what is the way to cure that problem? Everytime you’re tempted to put the wrong focus on money — Just increase the amount you give to God, and eventually the Devil is going to stop tempting you with that one because he doesn’t want that!)

Other side of the coin on money: (no pun intended)

As we’ve said, there can be a lot of GOOD that can be accomplished with it.

And so is there an inherent righteousness in someone having less money, or an inherent unrighteousness in someone having more? (Certainly not! Some people try to take it that direction, but that’s not right).

The important thing is what you DO with it!

The Bible teaches us to WORK for our living - (Eph. 4:28 “Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.”)

The Proverbs talk about the importance of diligence - Prov. 13:4 - “The soul of a lazy man desires, and has nothing; But the soul of the diligent shall be made rich.”

The Bible teaches that the rich are to be ready to give & willing to share - 1 Tim. 6:18.

The Bible says that we are to give as we purpose from the heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God LOVES a cheerful giver - 2 Cor. 9:7.

The Bible says that we are to take care of orphans and widows (like we talked about last Sunday night in James 1:27), we are to help sponsor missionaries to take the Gospel to every creature — All of that takes money.

So again, it’s not how much we HAVE, it’s how much we USE, how much we GIVE — What we DO with it, because God demands that we be good stewards of what He’s given us!

Finally ...

V. YOUR DRIVER’S LICENSE/I.D.:

On your Driver’s Liscence or your I.D., you’ve got what?

My driver’s license tells me I’m live in the state of Oklahoma …

My address is on here as well, my date of birth, height and weight, etc.

And there’s things tied into all of this, like my voter registry, the laws that I am subject to, etc.

So there are a couple of things that can be pointed out here:

Number one is that the Bible teaches that I am to obey the laws of the land in which I live.

Romans 13:1-7 “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.”

Pretty self explanatory!

(There, of course, is one caveat to all of this, and that is if the law of the land conflicts with the law of God, then we ought to obey God rather than men — Acts 5:29).

And then number two, in view of the fact that we ought to obey God rather than men, the reason for that is because even though we are citizens of the country in which we live, our ULTIMATE citizenship is in heaven (Php. 3:20).

Conclusion:

(There were a couple others that they mentioned in the podcas — They mention other things on our person, like our clothes, business card [interesting one], & lastly cell phone — but for time’s sake, I’ll let you go listen to that if you want to hear the rest).

But I hope that you have found this object lesson as interesting as I did.

Again, I’m thankful for Jack Wilkie and their podcast for giving me the idea!