Impossible Task
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 3 viewsNotes
Transcript
Treasures We Lay Up
Treasures We Lay Up
How fitting is it that Jesus followed up a teaching on self denial with a teaching on treasures. One of my favorite movies has a treasure involved. Goonies. From a kids perspective, its’ not a kids movie, but I grew up watching the TV version, meaning all the bad words were bleeped out.
I love the story of how this group of Goonies set out to save their families homes and neighborhood from being turned into a golf course by setting out to search for the treasure of one eyed Willy.
They risked their lives for the treasure, but the bad guys caught up to them and made them hand it all over, or so we were led to believe. At the last minute, only after abandoning the treasure to save their lives in a moment of lamented sanity, they realized that they still had a bit of treasure left that hadn’t been taken and it was enough to save the day.
We all like a good treasure hunting movie don’t we?
Well, as Jesus is walking us through Matthew 6 we’ve listened to his teaching on self denial and now He challenges us to consider what we are living for.
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Treasures on Earth - anything that you can’t take with you in eternity…the catch is, eternity starts now. You don’t really even own what you have.
Total consumer debt in US 2022 $16.83 Trillion up 7% from 2021
Credit card debts in US 2022 $910 billion, up $16% from 2021
Auto Loans debts in US 2022 were 1.41 Trillion, up 6% from 2021
Mortgage debt in US 2022 was $1.22 Trillion, up 9% form 2021
As a nation, we seem to love stuff! The problem is not just that we can’t take it with us, but that we tend to think much more about the stuff that money can buy than we do about the God who provided the money in the first place.
7 The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.
Being a slave can’t be any fun. Too often we see it as someone being chained up, being whipped in order to get someone to do a job. God is saying that the one who borrows what they don’t have to by what they don’t need becomes a slave.
In todays world, it’s hard for most people to think about living without debt. I myself have a car loan and a mortgage. With the price of homes and cars it seems almost impossible to go without debt.
It can be done! it just takes discipline. The pit fall of too many people is credit card debt. I’m not even going to go into why its so bad from an interest stand point, the real problem is that its so easy to end up with debt on credit card and have nothing to show for it. Nothing you could sell and pay it off. This debt typically comes from materialism.
It use to be said, you can tell what a person treasures by looking at his check book. Now we’d have to look at your bank statements, or credit card statements. Even if you don’t have massive amounts of credit card debt, we may also be able to see what you and I treasure by another means. By searching your browser history. What you search for is usually something you treasure. It’s so easy to go down that path and spend hours searching. You might not have even bought anything but you’ve been searching and dreaming of that special somehting you want, whether it’s a new bow, new gun, new couch, new clothes, new fishing stuff.
My temptation is tweaking things. My mind is always looking at how to make things better. Anything that would help me do something better or more efficiently. That can send me down an endless rabbit hole of temptation!
What does God want you searching for?
Treasures in Heaven! Things that last for eternity.
10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it.
11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—
13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.
14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.
15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
This is a description of how we as believers will be held accountable for what we did with what we were given. Is what we are living for eternal or is it momentary pleasure and chasing after money.
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light,
23 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!
24 “No one can serve two 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.
Jesus is speaking of the difference between spiritual sight and spiritual blindness. If you are blind, even though your eyes are open you live in darkness. If you have sight that’s how light enters into your body and mind. The kicker is when you have sight, but are blinded to spiritual truth only bringing you darkness in spiritual matters.
Jesus is saying, don’t be blinded by the seductive messages of this world to chase after material things. It’s not wrong to have material things. You can definitely use the house you live in for kingdom work. Even the kitchen table you have can be a ministry tool, or the living room that can accommodate a gathering of people attending a bible study. This isn’t an excuse to go out and go into debt to outfit your house with all new furniture. As long as having things doesn’t rule your life, is the real issue.
Jesus here is talking about laying up treasures in heaven in stead of on earth. HE’s talking about living our lives to please him and for kingdom initiatives, like the gospel being spread. Like reaching new people in our neighborhoods. Supporting missionaries, but way more important than that, you and me personally treasuring the thing that God treasures.
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
We can’t serve two masters. It’s literally impossible. Have you ever tried working two full time jobs for two different bosses? It’s maddening. They both want your time. They both have full time expectations of you. You can’t fully please one without taking away dedication to the other.
How many of you have ever seen the trick riding trick where the rider is holding the reigns of two different horses. Eventually she stands up on them with one foot on one horse and one on the other. It’s not natural. You have to sense the rhythm of both horses so they don’t through you off and you fall flat on your head. Horses can be trained to do this with out causing injury to the rider, but it takes months if not years of practice.
The real trick is this. The world will lull you into thinking you can chase after the world and still serve GOd. We are told by some “bible teachers” that if we have enough faith we can be wealthy and have everything we’ve ever wanted. I’m betting that falls with in the parameters of “you will have had your reward” under that context as well.
In the trick horse event of life, if you try and put one foot on the horse of the world and one on God, you will inevitably fall and fail. We will be lulled to sleep and rendered ineffective for the kingdom, which lasts forever, all the while living for something that’s going to burn up, wood, hay and straw.
4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?
6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
Jesus paid the price for our sins. Once for all! Jesus is saying, live like you’ve been raised from the dead, not like one still enslaved to the world!
13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
Seder Supper
Seder Supper
9 remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me,
10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
Pass over was the meal that Jesus and His disciples were celebrating and sharing the night of the last supper. This was the annual celebration of God delivering the Israelites from Egypt. It is from this meal/celebration that we get the elements for Communion.
Passover was the feast of unleavened bread. Leaven or yeast was a symbol of sin so the week leading up to passover there was always a massive house cleaning effort. No leaven could exist in the house. A family would share the passover meal and at the end they would go through certain items that were specifically designated to symbolize parts of their journey.
The elements:
4 cups of wine
Plate with 6 items on it.
Cup 1 - sanctification - God’s intent for the people of Israel was that they would be set apart. Delivering them out of Egypt was the first step to call them out as his chosen people as a nation.
6 “I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations,
Item 1 - Parsley dipped in salt water - symbolizes the bitter life filled with tears that were shed during enslavement
Item 2 - Horseradish root - bitterness of a life of slavery
Item 3 - Ground horse radish - 1 tsp - crying at the taste of slavery
Item 4 - Sweet honey, apple, nuts - the reminder of the promise land
Item 5 - Hard boiled egg - symbolizes the destruction of the temple - mourning
Cup 2 - Cup of plagues - 10 plagues, judging false Gods of Egypt. Jesus skipped this cup to symbolize that he would take the judgment of the world on himself.
Pouch with 3 slots holding 3 pieces of matzo bread. Tradition is Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Actually means Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Middle piece removed and broken in two. The Jesus piece is broken in half. one half wrapped in a white linen cloth and hidden.
Significance of matzo bread. They eat this bread for 8 days. Because it has no leaven/yeast, they have to poke holes in the bread before they cook it. It comes out with holes and stripes due to the way they cook it. Jesus was pierced by the nails and whipped leaving stripes of blood.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
Matzo bread - unleavened = without sin. Jesus was the only one who lived that never sinned. After his death on the cross he was wrapped in burial cloths and placed in a tomb.
The piece of matzo that was hidden was part of a game at the end where the children would search and try to find it. The one who found the piece of unleavened bread received a prize. Once the piece was found it was removed from the linen cloth, broken in to smaller pieces and shared with everyone.
14 but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”
The bread of life should be shared.
Cup 3 - Cup of Redemption - this is the cup that Jesus raised up and shared with everyone symbolizing the new covenant in His blood.
Cup 4 - Cup of Praise - Hallelujah - Praise be to God
Item 6 - Lamb bone - It’s a lamb bone because they’ve already eaten the main portion of the meal. The bone symbolizes the spotless lame of passover. This is where the blood for the door posts came in Egypt to preserve the life of the first born. A lamb brought to the temple for sacrifice could not have a blemish. No spots. No growths. Not even a lame leg or broken bone.
Jesus was the spotless lame and not one bone was broken during crucifixion.
46 It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones.
36 For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.”
37 And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.”
Cup 5 - Elijah’s cup - There was also an empty chair and place setting for Elijah because the Jews believed that would come one day to tell them who the messiah would be.
5 For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.
6 In that day, declares the Lord, I will assemble the lame and gather those who have been driven away and those whom I have afflicted;
The Children were to run to the door and open it to see if Elijah was there.
John the baptist came in the spirit of Elijah, making strait the way of the Lord.
17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
Communion