Storing Up for Good

(S1)

Canning is a method of preserving food for its later consumption…generally done after harvest-time in preparation for the long winter days ahead.

— Some of us may remember our parents, or grandparents, painstakingly gathering, and preparing food to be processed, sealed and stored away (shelves…)

Grandma- Canning Meat

This process of preserving food was proven safe by the findings of the wreck of the Bertrand, a steamboat that sank in the Missouri river in 1865. In 1974 they tested some canned food found, and determined there was no trace of microbial growth.

The 109 year old food as still safe to eat.

If we consider the process of “storing up” food as a fundamental method of long term survival and preservation; using canning as a metaphor, let me pose this question

(S2)

What are you ‘storing up’ in your life that will prepare, preserve, and satisfy for eternity?

PRAY

{Matthew 6:19-21}

Context—Sermon on the Mount—Teaching what it means to live for eternal things rather than the temporal. How the those who follow Jesus much of what we do has lasting value and eternal benefit?

Jesus urges us to focus our attention on storing up heavenly treasures that helps us in loving God, and loving people

“This Lent, keep the chocolate and give up Bigotry, Judgement, Misogyny, Hatred, Bias, and Divisiveness! Love God, Love your neighbor. No Exceptions!” Pastor Eric Mulanda

If we are honest, this is hard to do. We have to first understand the depravity of the human soul without God

(S3) — J.W. sermon; ‘Original Sin’ {Gen. 6:5}

“Is man by nature filled with all manner of evil? Is he void of all good? Is he wholly fallen? Is his soul totally corrupted?Or, to come back to the text, is every imgination of the thoughts of his heart evil? Allow this and you are so far a Christian. Deny it, and you are but a heathen still.” J.W.

We throughout the Bible in the lives of those God used...

Israelites...Jacob...David...Thomas...Paul

The Lenten season is an invitation for us to recognize that we are nothing but dust and ashes without that life-giving Spirit of God, we are but dry bones destined to the grave, until the Spirit of God breathes life into us to renew us...

— We combat our shortcomings by storing up treasures of lasting value in the kingdom of God? What are those treasures?

Jesus is teaching his followers how to live, how to pray, to be obedient to the law; not to harbor anger, or desire what we don’t possess, and that our yes, be our yes.

He says love your enemies, give to the needy, tells them the proper way to fast, to not be critical of others, and to not worry—In doing these things we are in the preparation and process of storing up what will last.

Two realities of storing up what has eternal value that every follower of Jesus needs to know.

(S4) —

19 “Do not store up for yourselves what will not last...”

Jesus warning to...‘BE CAREFUL”

1 ““Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.”

5 Be careful when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

14 be careful that revenge or hate doesn’t enter into your lives; always forgive

16 be careful when you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

In a sober consideration of our mortality, Jesus knew the temptations, we would face; what would detour us from living the life God desires for us.

We were all kids once; remember how much we didn’t like to be told what to do or not do? Out young minds couldn't yet comprehend, that it was mostly for our protection and safety.

Hot Stove

Jesus said be careful, in what you store up…what we fill our lives with can keep us from living life’s into God’s BEST. be careful in storing up what can be destroyed (disappear)...what is temporary.

(S5) —

20 “...store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

The second reality of storing up what has eternal value that every follower of Jesus needs to know.

The Promise of REWARD

3 when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. 4 Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.”

6 “When you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.”

14 “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you.”

17 “But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face. 18 Then no one will notice that you are fasting, except your Father, who knows what you do in private. And your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.”

Jesus defines these as treasures or reward as “the place in which good and precious things are collected and laid up, as a store house or repository.”

What is this treasure, the spiritual food that we are to be storing up?

(S6)

The moral GOODNESS of God

Proverbs 2:7 He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,

A life that honors God’s goodness in all we do...

(S7)

2. Our FAITHFULNESS to God’s commands

Proverbs 7:1 My son, keep my words and store up my commands within you. 2 Keep my commands and you will live;

Laws—what which ones? Jesus summed them up...

(S8)

3. Desiring Godly WISDOM

Proverbs 10:14 Wise men store up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool invites ruin.

...found in His word, when we pray...listening to the Spirit of God in us

And we can even learn from the ants;

Proverbs 30:25 Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer;

Storing up these treasures of God’s goodness...in our faithfulness...and desire for wisdom from God’s word sustain us in times of temptation...

The same way my grandma stored up…to sustain us through the hardest of winters…

Be careful...store up...

From jesus we learn that everything that happens externally (out here)...is a reflection of whats internal (in here)

(S9) —

21 “Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. 22 “Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. 23 But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!”

How we treat others...live...act...what we pursue...what we ignore...

(S10)

What has our HEART will have us!

What we store up is a reflection of what has our heart...Do we have to be careful? Yes, so that what we store in here has lasting value; eternal consequences?

Each Sunday in lent (Exodus): God’s deliverance, how he brought his people out of…Storing up more of Jesus is about finding our way out of Egypt and into a better way of life.

(S11)

Lent is an invitation to seek that better life, to recognize that we are nothing but dust and ashes. We are but dry bones destined to the grave; but with the Spirit of God who breathes life into us; we can...

— Store up HOPE instead of fear; live into God’s STORY instead of our own; find FREEDOM from sin, and celebrate what God is doing in us. By trusting in God’s COVENANT of love rather than the chaos in the world. Which bring us from shame to GLORY and one day from death to new LIFE

By storing up what is eternal God goodness, through our faithfulness, and seeking Godly wisdom...we are preserving what lasts a lot longer than 109 years...

Let this challenge us all to store up more of Jesus this lent—So we are not just living for today, but preparing for eternity—More of Jesus and less of ourselves.