We seek what we love, we love what we treasure

Maewyn Succat was born in Britain in the 5th century.

As a teenager, he was an atheist but was captured for slavery and shipped off to Ireland

During his captivity, he became a Christian but one day he heard a voice say to escape and return home on a boat

While home he had a dream that was a letter addressed to the “Holy Boy” pleading with him to come back to Ireland.

Maewyn struggled with this but ultimately thought that Gods call was priority over his comfortable life

He went back alone to Ireland and planted 300 churches Baptized 120,000 Irish in his 29 year ministry

When he went to try and share his love for Jesus to his ex master, his master heard that Maewyn was coming so he put all of his treasures in his house and burned himself alive with all of his treasure, because he didnt want his former slave to vanquish him.

When Maewyn became a Christian he took on a new name, it was Patricius or Patrick in english.

He loved God, He treasured God, he prioritized God, and God did something amazing through him. Prioritizing God led Patrick to bringing others life, prioritizing self led his ex slave master to destruction.

Read whole passage

Matthew 6:25–34 ESV

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Pray Here

Ask Question: What is the Purpose of life?

Matthew 6:25 ESV

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

Get Responses

Westminister Shorter Catechism “The purpose of life, or the chief end of man Glorify God , Enjoy him forever.”

How can you GLORIFY God and ENJOY Him unless he is prioritized above all things in your life?

Is life not more than food? The body more than clothing? These are important things!

Disordered love now: Image, Influence, Control, or Comfort

He’s asking the question, isn't there so much more to life than the simple!

1. Disordered Love Pulls us From Peace

READ Augustine Quote on Ordered loves

Themelios: Volume 33, No. 1, May 2008 The Map of “Enjoyment” and “Use”

Living a just and holy life requires one to be capable of an objective and impartial evaluation of things; to love things, that is to say, in the right order, so that you do not love what is not to be loved, or fail to love what is to be loved, or have a greater love for what should be loved less, or an equal love for things that should be loved less or more, or a lesser or greater love for things that should be loved equally.20

Matthew 6:25 ESV

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

This is a classic case of disordered loves, which causes anxiety

Disordered love then: Food, Drink, Clothing

Jesus here is talking about life, hes helping us see there is a purpose to life, and in that purpose there is an ordering of the things that we love.

Ask Question: What is the Purpose of life?

Get Responses

Westminister Shorter Catechism “The purpose of life, or the chief end of man Glorify God , Enjoy him forever.”

How can you GLORIFY God and ENJOY Him unless He is prioritized above all things in your life?

Is life not more than food? The body more than clothing? These are important things!

Disordered love then: Food, Drink, Clothing

Disordered love now: Image, Power, Control, or Comfort

He’s asking the question, isn't there so much more to life than the important things!

So loving these things above God causes anguish and anxiety

2. Ordered Love Pushes us Toward Peace

Matthew 6:32–33 ESV

32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

The world seeks after all the other things, we don’t need to do that

Why do they seek those things? They are desperately trying to fill their hearts with satisfaction

We find our satisfaction in Christ

As humans our actions flow out of our affections, in order to seek God we must thirst for him

Ask Question

Ask Question

What do you do to kindle your heart’s affection for God? Or, What could you start doing?

Get Responses

Read your Bible and Pray first (monday coming up), seek Gods face before you seek anything else on this earth

We all have busy lives, but you prioritize what you love As you seek Jesus, all the things in life that you need will fall into place

Jesus ceases to be a compartment but is the lens by which you view everything

Remember, what we think we need, often leads to our destruction

So Seek God and Trust Him, Turn your affections toward Him and rest in His goodness

as your loves are ordered correctly with Jesus at the center of all things, you will experience the peace of God and that peace surpasses all understanding. Who wouldn’t want that kind of peace?

How do we know what we love?

What are you seeking?

Are you seeking after Image, Power, Control or Comfort? Or are you seeking after God?

3. We Seek What We Treasure Most

Matthew 13:44 ESV

44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Talk about above verse

For me, my Idol is Comfort, I know that so much of my life is in pursuit of this, and not in pursuit of trusting Jesus over my comfort

Ultimately somewhere deep down I think that comfort is going to satisfy my soul over the satisfaction of Jesus Christ

I must ask myself the question, “Do I love comfort more than I love Jesus” the obvious response is NO, but what do my actions say? Am I a functional Atheist?

Show me your bank statement and your calendar and I will show you what you love

WE MUST REPENT AND BELIEVE

1 John 1:9 ESV

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Once Christ has done this, we are free to pursue him with all that we have, there is no room for shame in this, were all imperfect people, but we long to see Christ’s perfecting power in our lives.

Jesus will reorder our loves, we just need to repent and believe, then ask His Spirit to help us to rightly order our affections.

It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that we will Treasure the person who is infinite in value who goes by the name Jesus Christ!

So we must take stock of our lives and look at our hearts to ask the question, What are we seeking? Is it Image, is it Power, is it Comfort, is it Control?

If that thing isn't Jesus above all things, we need to plead with God to reorder our affections.

Next week we will talk about how we can have an active role in that through our habits

4. We Share What We Treasure Most

Think of John the Baptist, he didn't worry about what he was going to wear, he wore camel hair. He didn't worry about what he was going to eat, he ate locust. But he sought the kingdom of God by proclaiming that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, he was sharing the good news that the Lamb of God was here to take away the sin of the world. He shared what he treasured most.

Matthew 5:14–16 ESV

14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Let your light shine before others, let your priorities draw others to give God GLORY!!!

Light on a stand. Your light is a life that prioritizes Jesus. Now my impact in a dark room might only be a little. Have them turn their lights on on their phones, see the impact that we could have on a dark world if Christ were the prioritized light in our lives

My challenge: Ask yourself honestly, what are you seeking most? Pray and ask God that he would order your loves to bring you peace in God.

If your desire is that God would be the center of your affections, go and share the good news, share the light that you have been given!

A correct ordering of your loves might be a small thing, but the result is massive, the peace of God will be with you, go out and share that peace with others.