Sermon Tone Analysis

Restraining Materialism

matt

Religionists of the day of Jesus had the same problem.

They were totally consumed with things.

Among all of the other problems of the Pharisees, this was also to be included.

They were thing-oriented.

They were greedy.

They were covetous.

They were manipulative, and they moved toward grasping more things.

And so as we come to this element of the sermon on the mount in , Jesus directs some statements about things to the Pharisees who were abusing this whole matter of possessions

WE are in Debt - 40-60% last Christmas were paying off CC from the previous Christmas

Parent will go into debt to buy plastic toys for Christmas that end up in the local landfill by June

People will spent $1,000 on a Disney vacation for children but don't tithe

Student load debt is sumthering

God has a plan for money - and does not mean you cant possess things.

Look people drive to the mall in cars they can not afford, to spend money they do not have , to buy things they don't need, to impress people they don't like.

Tithing will take the back seat to:

vacations

sports for kids

restaurants

I Your Heart

Matt 6.19-

Now that is very simple statement

Now that is very simple statement

Two treasuries you have the option to choose

You have treasuries on the earth , you have treasuries in in heaven, Jesus said put it in heaven not o the earth.

What do you do with your wealth ?

invest it here invest it there

matt 6.19

What do you do with your wealth?

Don’t invest it here.

Invest it there.

“For where your treasure is, that is where your - ” what?

“ - your heart is going to be, also.”

Let’s go to verse 19, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth.”

What does that mean?

Well, let me give you a little word study on this,the word is thsaurizete.

We get the word “thesaurus,” which is “a treasury of words” from that.

But thsaurizete, it’s a play on words.

It means “treasure not up treasures.”

Don’t stockpile, if you want it in a simple sense.

The idea of the word “treasure” is to place something someplace, to stick it somewhere, to stash it somewhere.

How much is enough

Martyn LloydJones tells the story of a farmer.

The farmer bounded joyfully into his kitchen one day and confronting his wife with a great big grin on his face he announced to her that their finest cow had just given birth to twins, one brown and one white.

He said, I feel the impulse to dedicate one of these cows to the Lord, we'll bring them up together and when they are at a marketable age we'll sell them and we'll keep the proceeds from one and we'll give the proceeds from the other to the Lord.

His wife went right to the issue as wives are prone to do and said, which is the Lord's cow?

The white one or the brown one?

He replied, well there's no need to worry about that dear, or to decide that now since we'll raise them together.

Dave Ramsey Financial Peace - tithe first, then four walls then savings ...

Some months later he entered the same kitchen a little more slowly, looking very sad.

His wife asked why he was so sullen, to which he replied, I have bad news, the Lord's cow died.

Why is it always the Lord's cow, that dies?

I guess we laugh at that because we identify with that kind of approach.

We could even say, the Lord took His cow home.

I guess the fact is we all tend to lay up treasure on earth.

The pull of the sin that is in us drags us down to the earth, it is like a magnet, it is like a gravity, and we want to be rich towards self and poor toward God.

So it's usually God's cow that dies.

Jesus I believe speaks directly to this perspective on life in these verses, and I think He gives us a tremendous insight into ahow we are to really see the matter of wealth, the matter of money, the matter of luxuries.

Garments - and moths

Two treasuries, why should we choose the heavenly one?

Because in the earthly one "moth and rust corrupt, and thieves break through and steal."

Verse 19 says.

But in the heavenly one there's no moth, rust, and thieves don't break through and steal.

Now listen to this, in the Orient in Bible times wealth was basically kept in three ways, all right?

John MCauther - says

Basically wealth was kept in three ways,there was no paper, there were no ah, bank books, there, there was not the kind of system we have, wealth was identified in literal commodities, and basically there were three, garments, grain, and gold or precious metal.

Garments, grain, and gold.

Take for example garments, in biblical times garments were a very, very important commodity.

You will remember for example that Gehazi the servant of Elisha wished to make some forbidden profit out of Naaman's curing of leprosy, and so he asked for a talent of silver and two changes of garments because that was substantial wealth.

Wealth had to be in a commodity, and wealth was expressed in fancy, rich, extravagant garments.

Do you remember Achan?

In Joshua chapter 7 said, I, I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment and I coveted and I took it.

You will remember that Joseph when he bestowed upon Benjamin his affection gave him five changes of garments.

Grain - and rats

Grain - and rats

Another way they stored their wealth was in grain.

Do you remember the rich fool said, I will tear down my barns and I will build what?

Bigger barns, to hold more of my wealth.

And his wealth was in grain, and you notice the word rust?

Rust - polarity causes metal to be eaten away

In verses 19 and 20, actually the word means eating, eating.

-No where is it used to mean rust, no where in the Bible at all, in fact I don't think there's anyone who's ever found a place where it's used to mean rust.

What it basically means is eating, brosis.

And you know what the problem with grain is? Mice, rats, worms, vermin, they eat it.

I told you a few months ago that 15% of all of the stored grain of India is eaten by rats and mice, even today.

And the problem if you have all your money in grain is that the little things that get in there can eat it.

Gold - and stealing +

There was a third commodity that they put their treasure into and that was gold or precious metal, you know what the problem with that is?

How are you going to hide it?

Well you might keep it in your house, but a thief could break in and steal it or as was most common they would find a place in their field that only they knew, in the dark of night, go out dig a big hole in the field and bury it, that's why in you have the treasure stored in a field, remember that?

The parable.

Because that's where they put their wealth, they put it in bags and stuck it in the ground and covered it over, and thieves would lurk around at night and watch where they did that and they'd go and dig it up.

And not only that when a thief brokeinto a house the word literally means to dig through, mud diggers, thieves were mud diggers, why?

They would literally dig through the wall of a house, or dig through the dirt in the ground to get it.

So your garments would be eaten by moths, your grain would be eaten by whatever kind of animal or insect or vermin got in it, and your gold would be taken by mud diggers.

The point is this, you hoard it you lose it, it's unsafe and insecure.

And what do we do today?

Boy, we got our moth balls and we got our rat poison and we got our burglar alarms.

II Your Eye