Worldly Attachments
Turn and Trust • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 3 viewsChristians have leaned on the value of catechism for centuries to summarize their core beliefs. Originally, catechisms and creeds helped those without formal instruction to understand the things of God. Over time these catechisms turn into compliance mechanisms leading many modern believers to overlook their true value. It's time to get back to that and re-explore the catechism of our beliefs. Prepare to be challenged as we undergo the daunting task of declaring what we believe. This section discusses our connection to the world. Every Christian must ask themselves sincerely if Jesus Christ is, in fact, their king. If so, is that proven in how they prioritize their time? Their activities? Their material possessions? We are a materialistic and self-focused culture; will that culture take priority over God's purpose in your life?
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Catechism
Catechism
Question: How should a Christian regard worldly attachments?
Answer: The core of faith is recognizing and submitting to the supreme dominion and sovereignty of God. We recognize this through the way we prioritize actions and decisions. We submit to this through willful acts of humility and selflessness. The priorities in our lives must consider that which we hold most dear. This means identifying elements of daily life which glorify God and elevating them and elements of our daily life which distract from or oppose God's glory so that we may reduce them. We demonstrate our submission through devotion of time, energy, and material items which we may carnally value to the work God has laid before us. This is done deliberately at the individual level, the household level, and the church body level. Without acts of submission, there is no testing of our worldly tendencies which can lead to justifying unhealthy worldly attachment.
Is God King?
Is God King?
Age of Enlightenment
Focused on individual liberty
Immanuel Kant, David Hume, Voltaire, Francis Bacon, John Locke, et al...
Pushed back against adherence to the monarchy and the religious order
The enlightenment is important because it forms the basis for how so many of us think of the world today...
We have a hard time imagining a life where we don’t have individual agency, but this isn’t necessarily historically common.
Even in the world today, many cultures outside of Euro-centric societies practice collectivism.
The natural outcome of the enlightenment is that many individuals rejected “the crown” and “the church”, then they sought to wear their own crown and worship a Bible made in their own image.
Consider the Golden Calf...
1 When the people saw that Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come, make gods for us who will go before us because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!” 2 Aaron replied to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off the gold rings that were on their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took the gold from them, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it into an image of a calf. Then they said, “Israel, these are your gods, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of it and made an announcement: “There will be a festival to the Lord tomorrow.”
NOT THE PROBLEM: Israelites were rejecting God in favor of a golden cow.
ACTUALLY THE PROBLEM: The Israelites were constraining/containing God in a form they were comfortable with.
15 “Diligently watch yourselves—because you did not see any form on the day the Lord spoke to you out of the fire at Horeb—16 so you don’t act corruptly and make an idol for yourselves in the shape of any figure: a male or female form, 17 or the form of any animal on the earth, any winged creature that flies in the sky, 18 any creature that crawls on the ground, or any fish in the waters under the earth. 19 When you look to the heavens and see the sun, moon, and stars—all the stars in the sky—do not be led astray to bow in worship to them and serve them. The Lord your God has provided them for all people everywhere under heaven. 20 But the Lord selected you and brought you out of Egypt’s iron furnace to be a people for his inheritance, as you are today.
The true sin of the Hebrew people in making the golden calf wasn’t in REPLACING GOD, it was seeking to DEFINE AND CONTAIN HIM.
Many will trivialize sermons and Bible studies warning against idolatry by justifying that they aren’t guilty....
...”I don’t worship material things in my life!”
...”I don’t have other powers and authorities that take priority over God!”
...and yet they will commit the exact same sin as the Hebrew people who made the golden calf…
...not by worshipping an “idol”, but by creating a form of God that they find palatable which will allow them to maintain their priority preferences, social/political beliefs, and material desires without it conflicting with the mold they’ve forced God into.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Read Exodus 32:1-5 and consider how the Israelites were not truly “rejecting God” as much as they were trying to define and contain God in a way familiar and comfortable to them.
1) How do people today seek to constrain, define, or manipulate the image of God into their own liking?
2) What are parts of people’s lives, psyche, or materiel being that they struggle to sacrifice when it conflicts with the Biblical God?
You Are Dedicated to God
You Are Dedicated to God
God selected us (Deuteronomy, during the Exodus) —> You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Remember this as we look at the story of Ananias and Sapphira
1 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property. 2 However, he kept back part of the proceeds with his wife’s knowledge, and brought a portion of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 3 “Ananias,” Peter asked, “why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the proceeds of the land? 4 Wasn’t it yours while you possessed it? And after it was sold, wasn’t it at your disposal? Why is it that you planned this thing in your heart? You have not lied to people but to God.” 5 When he heard these words, Ananias dropped dead, and a great fear came on all who heard. 6 The young men got up, wrapped his body, carried him out, and buried him. 7 About three hours later, his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 “Tell me,” Peter asked her, “did you sell the land for this price?” “Yes,” she said, “for that price.” 9 Then Peter said to her, “Why did you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” 10 Instantly she dropped dead at his feet. When the young men came in, they found her dead, carried her out, and buried her beside her husband. 11 Then great fear came on the whole church and on all who heard these things.
Ananias and Sapphira’s sin… embezzling what was consecrated
nosphizomai —> Greek for “embezzle” which implies taking something already dedicated or intended for something else
Vs 4: Peter reminds them that the money was never coerced from them
Begins in Acts 4:32 “32 Now the entire group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but instead they held everything in common.”
Similar to our story in Exodus, we see that the “apparent” sin is not the real issue. Ananias and Sapphira were not guilty of “not giving enough to the church”; they were guilty of acknowledging a dedication, or consecration, of what they had but then lying and deceiving others through half-hearted and disingenuous offerings.
Ananias and Sapphira took what was acknowledged as “not theirs” and sought to embezzle it.
As believers we proclaim with our mouths that we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.… but with our hearts we desire to keep ourselves for ourselves
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Read the story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11 and the preceeding verses in Acts 4:32. Consider how Ananias and Sapphira were reminded that no one “forced them to be generous” and they participated in the acts of dedication in Acts 4:32 voluntarily.
1) Have you ever been a part of an organization or event where everyone acted like they were dedicated but their actions said something different? What would you say about the “heart” of those who proved their commitment vs those who verbally stated it but contributed nothing?
2) What does Ananias and Sapphira’s cheating of the early church say about the genuineness of their dedication?
3) Some conveniently ignore these lessons because they point out the crimes many have committed in the name of Christianity. Let’s pretend the cynical view of church is correct. Pretend they hoard money and only seek to enrich themselves. In a world where this is all true, does it make the heart any more genuine for serving your own needs?
If We Are God’s, Nothing Is Ours
If We Are God’s, Nothing Is Ours
This is an extreme and radical perspective, but only because of how common our entitlement has become.
The misinterpreted “giving verse”.
7 Each person should do as he has decided in his heart—not reluctantly or out of compulsion, since God loves a cheerful giver.
Everyone tenses up when this is raised because it is uncomfortable. It stirs up feelings of indignation for “the church talking about my money”. Many have become accustomed to immediately tuning-out the moment our relationship with material possessions is raised, using things like historical corruption or salacious news stories become our shield for what would otherwise be a convicting message. (Insert personal appeal and testimony here)
The backdrop of 2 Corinthians 9 is in Chapter 8
7 Now as you excel in everything—in faith, speech, knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love for us—excel also in this act of grace. 8 I am not saying this as a command. Rather, by means of the diligence of others, I am testing the genuineness of your love.
“as he has decided in his heart” —> DIRECT CONNECTION TO —> “I am testing the genuineness of your love”
Material Possessions, Time/Schedule Allocation, World Views =/= the sin..........… It is forcing God into a shape that allows you that has dominion over things that is the sin!!!!
How we treat worldly attachments reveals the genuineness of our heart in ways many of us are not prepared to be revealed.
We can sing all the songs and repeat the same phrases over and over… but do we perform these acts of piousness to a God with unbounded rule over our lives or do we create a little golden calf God can sit on, nice and neat, where we can keep an eye on Him?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Read what Paul says about testing the genuineness of the heart in 2 Corinthians 8:7-14. What in these words cuts the hardest? In what ways to Christians seek to ignore that which might compel them to sacrifice? If there was such a thing, what would you consider the spiritual “key” (guiding principle or theological thought) that causes us to successfully prove the genuineness of our love?
Choose Beyond the World
Choose Beyond the World
We have to stop treating our lives as if they are our own; because if they are ours, then they’re not God’s which will inevitably lead to death.
Our God desires all of us. He calls on us to repent from this world and to trust in Him. We can’t turn and trust unless we are willing to be honest about what we’re turning from.
Take stock of your life and the way you regard the world. If you can’t imagine your life without the world, then you have to ask yourself what you’re really living for.
