House of Cards

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1 hour of prayer August 14-21

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Sermon

Oops: We tend to invest our lives in things that by their nature are temporary.

I started a new hobby this week. Wanted to show you. Not so good at it yet.

I can see why people enjoy this though. Or setting up dominos or playing jenga… There is a funny thing that happens. Each time I build up to the point where it typically falls down…If I pay attention, I can notice a little increase in my heart rate, my hands become a little more unsteady, and when it does fall…the more I put into it…the more frustrated I get.

It’s a little like the rest of life isn’t it?

job: No matter how good you are, a new boss, a change in corporate structure,

investment: you can build your nest egg for years and as many of you have experienced a change in the economy, a dishonest broker, international events…and you can go from an ostrich egg to a hummingbird egg very quickly

Marriage: You invest years into your marriage, and even if you both remain invested and the marriage thrives, disease, sudden tragedy, and it’s gone

Kids: You pour into these kids…and of course do the most important work while you’re still young and figuring life out…and so many other factors come into play…including the fact that they make their own choices…and that investment can leave you just as anxious, just as angry...

All…it’s only a matter of time.

Ugh: The knowledge that we will lose all we invest in creates anxiety

every card I placed made my heart beat a little faster…my hands a little shakier…every step means I lose more! Every step up the ladder, every dollar invested, every accolade...

I grew up in a time when video games didn’t save your progress. If you made it to world 8-4 of Super mario and ran out of lives, or the game froze, or the power went out, or your mom told you to turn it off…you lost it all.

And the farther you were, the more anxious you got and the more it hurt when it went away.

Anxiety is on the rise. The more uncertain something feels, the more we begin to feel it.

ironically, the more anxious we are, the more uncertain, the more likely we are to make the mistake that will bring the whole card house down.

Not to mention it is a miserable way to live.

I have lived most of my life susceptible to at least a low grade anxiety.

As i grew up, I learned that the things you count on are likely to fall…I needed a peace that I struggled to find.

AHA!: Jesus says DON’T!

And then I hear Jesus simply say: Don’t.

don’t worry. Oh, easy enough. Right Jesus…I’ll just stop.

Except this sermon has been building something.

A new way of thinking about ourselves...

Recognizing our need for God, getting humble, seeing our lives in the context of other people and how we should live like God…as givers, not takers, developing motives that are focused outward and upward instead of inward...

So what is Jesus making new in us here? Something that doesn’t just tell us not to worry…but can actually help us not worry?

This morning we are going to look at the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:19-34, Let’s pray before we continue

Yeah:

Better Building

We don’t want to build houses of cards. We are desperate for something stronger, something enduring and lasting, Jesus gives us some directives which prompt some questions which can go a long ways toward a better building. First....

What are you storing?

Matthew 6:19–21 (CSB)

“Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

I saw a 67 Mustang the other day for sale. So pretty. fully restored and absolutely gorgeous. They wanted about as much for it as a base model Mustang from this year.

The engine…not as powerful or efficient

The ride…not as comfortable

The toys…no where close

So why does a car that sold for less than 3 grand when it was new demand 10 times that now?

Well…in 1967, Ford made and sold over 470,000 mustangs. And while there’s no easy way to find a precise number today…how many still drive today?

It’s expensive because its rare, its rare…because cars wear out.

crash, poor maintenance, theft

moth and rust destroy…thieves steal

We just celebrated a year in our new home. We love it, love being this close to the church, love that it’s our home…but as a renter...

I never worried about the air conditioner going out.

I never worried about the state of the back fence.

The more things I own…the more things I have that wear out or can be lost.

Before Jesus says don’t worry, he says don’t store up treasures on earth. And he gives us an alternative. “Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven”

Why? Why that as an investment strategy? “Neither moth nor rust destroys, and thieves don’t break in and steal”

Then he makes a really curious statement: For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Anxiety comes from the heart. Fear. Fear builds when we think we may lose something of value.

Jesus is telling us that we can invest in a place where the value never decreases. In what can never be taken away.

So how do we do that?

Generosity, of our money, our time, our lives.

Proverbs 19:17 “Kindness to the poor is a loan to the Lord, and he will give a reward to the lender.”

Malachi 3:10 “Bring the full tenth into the storehouse so that there may be food in my house. Test me in this way,” says the Lord of Armies. “See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure.”

Acts 20:35 “In every way I’ve shown you that it is necessary to help the weak by laboring like this and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, because he said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ””

I could go on.

But I still struggle with this. It is far easier to focus on the need/desire I SEE than an arbitrary seemingly intangible good.

But I have seen the proof. In my life and others.

I was with a friend some time back and we were getting back in our cars to head to another destination, when I saw him get out of his car.

Nearby I had heard a man singing. clearly drunk, clearly alone.

My friend walked over to the man, made eye contact, gave him a hug, spoke a few words, and handed him some money.

My first instinct was to internally critique the generosity…Thankfully, I kept my mouth shut long enough for the Lord to point out to me that here was a man who knew where his treasure was.

no one can ever take that moment away from him. Nothing will destroy or steal that memory. And on the day he stands before the throne and the father pulls out the book of life, that good deed won’t earn him salvation…Jesus did that. But there is one moment where i know he will hear the father say, well done good and faithful servant.

And if you are storing up treasure you can’t lose...

Well, compare two investment strategies:

A fixed rate annuity. You know you are going to get a set return and a monthly check from here to the grave. Not going to make you rich, but will make you stable.

Playing the lotto. Every month you are dependent on winning enough to survive. How badly would your anxiety spike as you watch those ping pong balls emerge?

There are some extremes…but fitting.

Where your heart is…If your heart is growing more and more set into a place where you can’t lose…what does that do to your anxiety about what happens in a place where you know you will?

Where your treasure is…there will your heart be.

Let’s move forward. The second question:

Who are you serving?

Matthew 6:22–24 (CSB)

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness, how deep is that darkness! “No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

The eye is all about desire. What you want most. And Jesus equates this desire to service. What you fixate on has ownership of you and can demand obedience of you.

So he draws this conclusion “No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

You will love and serve God and then money is a tool

Or you will love and serve money and treat God as a tool

In the same way having things that will deteriorate leads to anxiety…wanting things you don’t have (that also deteriorate) can do the same.

Think back to when you were a kid.

You had that toy you wanted…your friend had it…you wished you could.

You weren’t happy your friend had it…you were sad you didn’t.

James had THE Millenium Falcon…I know. I was making due with Luke on a speeder bike, and he had the Falcon with Han, Chewy, and R2 on board.

if you don’t remember that, recall any small child in a store who decides they NEED something. Oh the anxiety…they have and share with their poor parents.

But this slavery to money, or rather to the eyes, is far more insidious and does more damage to people and relationships than you can imagine.

Try to be thankful for your own car when you constantly wish for another one.

Try to enjoy and excel at the work you are doing when you long for that better job at a better company

The man or woman who sees a person who is not their spouse and entertains the fantasy in their eyes that life would be so much better with someone else.

The energy poured into the “what-if” will drain your ACTUAL marriage faster than you can think.

Try to love your kids well while wishing they were different than they are.

Try being thankful for what you have, when your mind is constantly occupied by what you don’t.

“But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness” Desire is a cold and cruel master.

But look at those who had good eyes. Joni Eareckson Tada…her dad was an olympian, she was skilled and active, and at 17, just as she was preparing to launch, a diving accident left her a quadriplegic.

Her depression and despair were real. Her eyes grew dark. But it didn’t take long for her to choose to serve God instead.

Multiple best selling books, a powerful radio ministry, and a joy that infects everyone who interacts with her.

The apostle Paul in a letter written from prison says:

phil 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”

and Philippians 1:21 “For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

What are you storing, who are you serving? and

Where are you seeking?

Jesus then says, THEREFORE (because you are storing in heaven and serving the Lord) Don’t worry about your life. He gives a few examples:

Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat

what you will drink

or about your body, what you will wear

Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing?

Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather in barns, yet your father feeds them.

Aren’t you worth more than they?

Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying?

And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned as one of these.

IF that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown in the furnace tomorrow, won’t he do much more for you—you of little faith?

Our command. not to worry. His reason is not about us…he wants us to know and understand our father.

Do you know his care for you? Jesus reframes it:

Matthew 6:31–34 (CSB)

So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

The Gentiles, the nations without knowledge of God seek and worry for these things.

The world struggles and stresses after needs, desires, wishing for more, seeking to control all of it...

But we are given this amazing promise:

Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness

It’s not just about serving God, it’s about seeking him. God wants to be known by you. He wants you to know you are known by him.

He designed you and knows what will bring you the greatest joy and full peace.

His constant lament for Israel, the nation he chose to help reconcile him to humanity is that they knew what would bring them peace and refused it:

Isaiah 30:15 “For the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said: “You will be delivered by returning and resting; your strength will lie in quiet confidence. But you are not willing.””

Seek first God and his righteousness. You want to get rid of anxiety and worry? You want to not worry about tomorrow?

Store up treasure in heaven…put your heart beyond the reach of things that wear out.

Protect your eyes from the desires that remove your gratitude from what you have and cause you to serve the created rather than the creator

Seek him, know him, find him to to be trustworthy and find him to be your “Enough”

Whee!: When our lives are build on the eternal, we can enjoy the temporal with gratitude and peace

worship and prayer teams up

Here’s the best part. When my heart is in heaven, I can actually enjoy the things here!

I know that every house of cards I build will eventually fall. Best case scenario, some may last until I die.

But if my heart isn’t in the house of cards…I can enjoy the building and let go of the ending.

I can appreciate and care for the home God has blessed us with, knowing that the AC or plumbing will go wrong…but that my heart isn’t tied to that.

I can enjoy the car I have and I can even admire and appreciate the cars others have. I saw a McLaren 720S on Ward road the other day. That’s a 300,000 dollar sports car…eye wateringly pretty.

I enjoyed seeing it, and enjoyed seeing it sprint away from me…and it took nothing from my Hyundai Santa Fe...

As my wife and I, my kids and I go through the ups and downs of life, I can love them for who they are, not what they do for me or how they live up to a standard, or how they stack up to someone else’s wife and kids.

I can prepare for tomorrow without worrying about tomorrow. As I seek God, as I learn and trust in his wisdom, I will spend and save more wisely…but also with the knowledge that time and chance may take everything away…and yet still not worry because my heart resides in a place where moth and rust can’t destroy and thieves can not break in and steal. Where I know I have a savior that lives and loves, and has a place prepared for me and all who choose to trust, seek, and serve him.

Pray