I think we're almost ready to go. Good evening. Hope you all are doing well this week. I know it's been hot, but tonight it's supposed to rain and then cool off a little bit. And so looking forward to a little bit of relief. Let's go ahead and bow together for prayer. And then after that, we will dig back into the texts we've been working our way through and the Sermon on the Mount. So let's pray. Father, we're so grateful for the opportunity tonight to open up your word. And I pray that as we look into your word that you would speak to our hearts. Help us to have a firm understanding of these truths. I pray that you would just do a work of grace in us, that we would see the need to apply the word of God. And just help me to effectively, rightly divide the word of truth tonight. Bless the children in the back as they're having their classes. Help that to go very well. Help their fellowship to be very good. And I just pray that you'll also be with the The English class in the back going on as well. We ask all this in Christ's name, amen. Okay, Matthew chapter six is where we are tonight. And we are looking at verses 19 down to verse 21. Very familiar passage of scripture. And so as we look at the passage and we read it, it's gonna be well known to you, you'll know about it. But sometimes these familiar passages are the ones that we easily forget about. and we often run past them, and tonight I hope that we can look at this freshly. So here's what God's Word says, Matthew 6, 19, where moth and rust doth corrupt, where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Now as I like to do, I'm going to give you a simple summary statement for the verse and it is a simple, simple summary statement and here it is. It's invest your life wisely. It's just a simple statement. Invest your life wisely and Jesus is basically telling us the way that we invest our lives needs to be carefully thought out. So, I want to start with a couple of introductory thoughts before we look at the principles that are laid out in these verses. First of all, we are reminded that life has a transitory nature when it comes to the pursuits that we have in life. We think of Ecclesiastes chapter 1 verse 2, he says this, Vanity of vanities, or it's like the wind, it just blows and it's here and there. Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, vanity of vanities all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labor which he taketh under the sun? One generation passeth away, another generation cometh. Then in verse number 13 he says, I gave my heart to seek and to search out wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven. This is sore travail that hath God given to the sons of man to be exerciser with. I've seen all the works that are done under the sun. Behold all is vanity, that's emptiness, vexation of spirit, that means it's a weariness to the soul. What is Solomon saying in Ecclesiastes? He's saying, basically, if you look at life and all you see, all that's there is actually what you see, and you don't look at it from an eternal perspective, guess what? It's very empty. Very frustrating. And really when we look at life, there are two basic worldview options. Option one, this is a brief time that we have to live here on this planet and all we get is what we get today. And so you should just live your life for what you can get today. And that is the way most people live. It's tragic, but it's true. That's the way most people live. And sadly, a lot of Christians actually, in practice, live with such a worldview. They don't believe it if you ask them, well, what do you believe about eternity and the gospel and what really matters? They're going to give you the right answers. But when it comes to the actual choices that are made in life, they actually follow this first worldview system. For instance, if you looked at how a Christian managed their money or maybe didn't manage their money. Or how they handle pleasures in life. How they handle power and prestige or recognition. There are a lot of people that their view of life is, you know, it's not wrong if you get away with it. So you can cheat the system as long as you don't get caught and you're okay. Or the ends justifies the means. As long as what I'm trying to accomplish in the end is good, then how I get there doesn't really matter. That's option one. The worldview that says, how I live doesn't matter. Because it's just the here and the now. But the second option is the biblical worldview. Our lives in this world are only a small portion of our existence. So we must live today with an eternal perspective. The fact is, whether you live to be 100 years old or 50 years old or 20 years old or 80 years old, in light of eternity, that is a really short period of time. In fact, in light of a thousand years, it's a really short period of time. In light of human history, that's a short period of time. But that doesn't mean that our lives are insignificant. It's that we're to live life with an eternal perspective. And so everything that we are given comes from God. we will one day answer to him for how we use those things. We're not entitled to the good things that we get from him. We could use the word grace. God is giving it to us that we don't deserve it. He's being kind to us. We're given these things for a season and for a reason that we need to consider. So if God gave it to me, it's not forever, it's for this time. And if he gave it to me, he has a reason for that. He wants me to use those resources for his glory in a way that is consistent with that purpose that he has for me. We need to order our lives according to his commands, not just our impulses, how we feel, what we want, what others tell us we need to do. We live with a desire to obey God and his commands. That's the biblical worldview. And then this is probably the biggest of all of them. Our identity is rooted in our position in Christ. and everything is both oriented to it and rooted in it. So as a Christian, when I think about why I do things, why I don't do things, how long I'm willing to endure a certain thing, how I look at the situations that I'm encountering, it needs to always be interpreted in light of eternity and my position in Christ. And so you see that these two worldview systems are completely contradictory. You can't put them together. They don't mesh together. They are on two opposite ends of the spectrum. And we are going to live our lives according to one of those systems primarily. So a couple of important considerations in light of this. Every choice that you and I make is coming from a worldview point of view. How we process circumstance is developed within the context of a worldview. Our ultimate goals are developed within a worldview. And our expectations are developed within a worldview. And so you say, well, Joel, why do you take the time to say all of that? Because that's exactly what Jesus is talking about in these verses. So let me read it again, and then we're gonna work our way through the text and look at several principles that we find here. So here's what it says again. Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Now, do you see the two worldviews in that passage of Scripture? The one that we're to reject and the one that we're to embrace. Do you see that there? Well, let's break it down a little bit tonight. So principle number one, simple principle, do not be consumed with temporal investments. Let me say it again. Do not be consumed with temporal investments. Now, that is not a statement that's meant to suggest that we should be frivolous in how we handle our money. or that it's somehow sinful for us to make wise fiscal decisions. That is not what I'm suggesting at all. And that is not what Jesus is suggesting at all. We read the book of Proverbs and there's a ton of information about how we are to manage our money, how we're to work, how we're supposed to be ambitious and industrious individuals, and how we're supposed to use those resources that God gives us. But the point is this, when it comes to how I invest my time and how I handle the stuff that God gives me, I'm not to be consumed with stuff that is temporary, things that only have a lasting value. We could say there's an end date on those things. And so he says it, lay not up treasures on earth. So three thoughts to think about here. The first is this, it's a command. So if God tells us don't do this and we choose to do this, what will we call that? Sin, another word we could use is what? Disobedience, all right? So, you know, this has to be real simple. It's disobedience. So God tells us, don't lay up for yourselves treasures on earth. Don't be consumed with your temporal investments. The second observation about it is that it is stated in the negative. What I mean by that is he doesn't say, do this. He says, don't do this. Did you get that? And the question is, well, why? Why would he have to state the negative? Well, he's giving it to us in the negative because it's telling us about our natural inclination. You know what our natural inclination is? It's to live for what we see. It's to be consumed with what's right in front of us. The most natural thing for us to do as people is to be consumed with the moment and not what's coming down the road. It's so easy to do that. In fact, something simple as not planning ahead is one of the ways that we do this. But when we talk about not planning ahead, he's thinking about thinking in terms of eternity here. And so the principle, don't be consumed, is built on the fact that it's a command stated in the negative, and it is given because we are inclined to not do it. Second principle, remember the emptiness of temporal pursuits. In verse 19 he states it this way, where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal. Let me say it again, where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal. There are three things that he mentions that are the reasons why we are not to lay up for ourselves treasures on earth. The first is the word moth. And we all know what a moth is. It's a little creature, a little insect that is destructive. In fact, I don't know why this is, but if you walk out the back door, you leave the Fellowship Hall, you walk down the Sunday School Wing, and you walk out that door and you go to the cars that are parked over there at night, you can smell moth balls. Did you know that? I'm serious. You kid. I don't know why this is. I don't know. Maybe the neighbors got like a closet with mothballs in it or something like that. And whenever I smell this mothballs, especially in the summer, it reminds me of going to my grandparents house when I was a little kid. And, you know, we'd go, we'd stay in this room and we're always like, what's that weird smell? And we like walk over and you notice it was coming from this closed closet door and you'd open the closet door and you're like, whoa, it's in there. I don't know what's in there. And we're like, hey, what's going on? Why is it smelling that? Well, you know, we don't want moths to eat these very old clothes that are in there that are never going to be worn by anybody at any time. Right? In fact, I remember in that closet there was Believe it or not, there was a blanket that was army grade. It was my great grandfather's in World War I. It was like this old wool blanket and it smelled like mothballs. It was really itchy if you put it on. And so whenever I think of moth, I think of that. Now, why do people put mothballs in those closets? Because moths eat clothes, right? And what is that telling us? Well, nature is destructive. Nature is destructive. If you have a garden, which I have one right now, nature is destructive. Is it not? It's been really, really hot lately. And it's been really, really dry lately. And then if it rains tonight, hopefully it doesn't knock all my corn down. What's survived gets knocked down in a hailstorm or something like that. Well, the fact is that nature is destructive. This is a fallen world. And because this is a fallen world, there's bad things that happen. You think about Genesis chapter three, and you see the story of the fall. And what does God tell Adam and Eve? Because you sin, there are going to be troubles in this world. And he talks specifically about the troubles that are going to be specific to Eve, and then he talks specifically about the troubles that are gonna be specific to Adam. And he says, you're gonna labor by the sweat of your brow. And the ground is gonna bring up thorns and thistles. And eventually you're gonna turn back to the dirt. That's what he says. What's the point? In this fallen world, nature is destructive. And so when Jesus talks about moth corrupting, he's saying, everything that you spend all your time and all your energy and all your resources on, it's going to be eaten by the decays of nature. The second one that he mentions is slightly different, but it's in the same vein. He talks about rust. What is rust? It's the fact that material possessions deteriorate. And so maybe you can think about some old trophy that you had when you were in high school. You know, I reminisce on when I was in high school, my senior year and these trophies that I got. And if I tell my kids about them, they don't even know if I'm lying to them or not because the trophies are gone. I don't even have them anymore. And you're wondering if I'm lying too, right? Well, what I have left is like this little plaque that says what the trophy was and it's all rusted and you could barely read it. And it's only what, you know, 25 years ago or something like that. I have to think about it. About 25 years ago, that's all it is. But the fact is that everything in this world is deteriorating. There was this illustration that the Puritans gave where when you pluck a flower and you begin to smell it, it's already wilting in your hands. It's such an interesting illustration, is it not? As you're examining natural beauty, it's already beginning to decay. And the third one is really interesting. He says, thieves break through and steal. And I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand, but anybody in this room ever been robbed? You ever been like physically robbed? I have, it's not nice, more than once actually. And I know what it's like to have somebody break into my house and steal stuff. And you feel so violated by that. You feel very insecure when a thing like that happens. And one of the things that really gets to you is that you say, someone came into my house, they stole my stuff, I bought this stuff, they didn't care about my life and the lives of the people in this house, had no value to them. And you know what he's talking about? He's talking about the fact that people are sinners and they seek to exploit one another. And so the whole point of Jesus' statement, such a simple one, he says, where moth and rust do not corrupt and thieves do not break through and steal, he says, if you live for stuff of this world and that's what you're consumed with, then it's going to get destroyed by nature, it's deteriorating, and it's going to get stolen if it doesn't. Third principle. Live a productive life investing in eternal pursuits. Now, yesterday in our Tuesday night study at ABBI, we were talking about different kinds of parallelism and we talked about a kind of parallelism where he states something and then he states it again, it's a synonym, it's like saying the same thing slightly different but again and sometimes he states one thing and then he states it in the negative Okay, that's what this is. This is like an antithesis kind of parallelism where he's basically saying you can lay up for yourselves treasures on heaven or you can lay up for yourselves treasures on earth. So don't do this, rather do this. That's the idea. It's a form of parallelism. And again, this is a command. So I want to remind you that it is sin not to do this. It is disobedience not to do this. It's stated in the positive, and I think that's very important. You say, well, why does that matter? Well, it's given in the positive because our lives are not meant to be wasted. They're actually meant to be active and ambitious. And I think of it this way. Everybody in this room is allotted something by God. You know, time. opportunities, physical resources, giftedness, material resources, lots of different things. Our families, the time that we're living in, the location that we're living in, all of those things are part of this. And the fact is you're going to do something with that. Every single one of us is going to do something with that. Some people, you know what they do with that? They invest it in evil. like the guy that goes and steals someone's stuff, that's a person that has intelligence, okay? They actually are ambitious. They're actually pretty brilliant sometimes. The kind of things that people will do to go steal somebody's stuff, like it's pretty shocking actually when you think about how much planning and scheming and observation goes into doing something like that. You know what that is? That's taking these gifts that God's given them and use them for evil. And there are many, many people that do that tragically. Why do they do that? Well, because they have a worldview that says it doesn't matter. There's no God. I'm not answerable to him. I just have the here and the now. People's lives don't matter. I'm gonna do what pleases me in this moment. Some people invest their lives in empty things. Now they're not to that level where they pursue evil, but they pursue emptiness. And you know, I think that's actually where most people live their lives. I think that's where most Americans live their lives. You know, we live in a very prosperous society, one of the most prosperous in all of human history. And the fact is we have so much stuff available to us and a lot of the resources that we've been given, we invest them in things that really don't have a whole lot of value. How do I know that? Well, I know that because I go to people's garage sales. What is a garage sale? A garage sale is an accumulation of stuff that's now deemed as jerk, but you want to give it to somebody else. And they're coming, they're gonna pick through, they're like, maybe there's something of value in there. Or, you know, look at the free table. Our kids, man, my kids love this free table. They go over there and they're like, they're picking through, and they're like, I'm like, where did you get that? Oh, I got it at the free table, dad. I'm like, I know who put that there. They're trying to get rid of it, right? And you want to bring it home. All right. Okay. Well, what's the point? The point is that we invest a lot of time and resources and energy and stuff that's pretty empty. Let's just be really honest. Not that it's evil. It's empty. It falls short of what is best and what is really good. Some people waste their lives in idleness. Now this is a little different. Evil is I'm actually using a good thing for a bad thing. And emptiness is I'm using a good thing for a thing that doesn't have a lot of value. And idleness is I'm wasting a good thing. It's like the person who does all this work. In fact, there was a proverb we were going through with our kids recently and he talks about the person who works in the field and then the harvest comes and they just leave it out in the field and it rots. What's that? It's idleness. It's wasted opportunity. And some people do that. So I think over the course of our lives, if we were totally honest, we'd probably fall into this category at some point in our life. We really do. But we have these seasons where we just kind of like, we let things slide and we don't really do much with it. But what does God want us to do? It's simple. Invest your life in eternal pursuits. He doesn't want us to use the things that he's given us for evil for certain. He doesn't want us to use them on empty things. He doesn't want us to waste them. He wants us to invest them in eternal pursuits. And that's really at the heart of these verses. Principle number four, remember the lasting value of eternal pursuits. Now he is making this contrast because he's basically, in the same way he's saying, don't do this, do this, he's gonna show you parallelism again. He's gonna say, because this is what happens when you pursue worldly pursuits, and here's what you have when you pursue eternal pursuits. In verse 20 he says, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt. Where thieves do not break through nor steal. Now in the first example he says, everything in this world, it's prone to destruction because we're in a fallen world. And things are going to corrupt because it's a fallen world. And people are gonna steal it because this is a world that's full of evil and sin. But you need to invest in something that doesn't have that problem. Where there are no moths to eat your World War I army blanket. Or you don't have your trophies resting. Where is that? Well that's eternity. No moths in eternity. In the new creation there's gonna be no curse. No rest, there's no corruption in our eternal state. No thieves, the new Jerusalem will be entirely filled with redeemed people in their glorified state. And so the very simple fact is Jesus is saying, why would you waste your time and all the opportunities that you have being totally given to stuff that doesn't last? That's what he's saying. You know, the honest truth is we need to hear this today, don't we? Every single one of us does. We need to be reminded of this. And it's such a simple truth and it makes so much sense. It's such simple logic, but it's needed. Principle five, realize that you'll invest in what you love. Now, how does he close a little section? Verse 21, he says this, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Now, this is a question that kind of popped into my head and maybe this is a question that popped into yours. The question is, do you invest in it because you love it or do you love it because you invest in it? And the fact is, kind of both of them could potentially be in view here. The point of Christ's teaching is to go deeper than just what we do, but why we do it, and how what we do affects our hearts. He is concerned with the source of action, and the source of action is the heart. Think about some of Jesus's teaching. He says, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And he says, where do adultery and where do thieves murder and where does dishonesty and theft, where do all those things come from? He says, well, they come from the heart. Because what's in the heart comes out in the actions. So he says, rather than just telling you don't do this, don't do this, don't do this, he says, remember what causes you to do those things. He's concerned about the heart. Our hearts are a driver that motivates us to action. You know, a lot of us, we will do things because our heart's in it that we will make sacrifices that other people won't make. I mean, you know, going back to the sports days, some of you, that was your thing. Or maybe some of you, music was your thing. And there are people in this room that, you know, because of what you majored in in college or because of what you were studying at this point, you practice hours and hours and hours a day in that particular discipline so that Well, you wouldn't fail your class so that you would get better at what you're doing, but ultimately you were motivated by that. Or, you know, I think about people that maybe in the athletic world that you would run and you would train and you would put yourself through tremendous physical misery and heartache so that you could just get a medal that was second or third place, hopefully first place, but you had a tournament or something like that where you gave all of this time and all of this energy for that. Why? What's in here? Your heart. You said, man, that prize is worth it. That grade is worth it. You know, how many people you studied ambitiously, not because you love studying, because you wanted to get good grades. Some of you go, I can't identify with any of those things. Well, you had something, all right? I don't know what it was, but you had something that motivated you, it drove you. The heart is a driver. It pushes us to action. So what's Jesus saying here? He's saying, well, what you invest in is sort of like, it's the proof of what you love. I mean, you could actually learn a lot about what people love by looking at their finances. It's really true. Because what do your finances do? They reveal what you spend your money on. Okay, so like when we come to tax season, I go through like credit card reports and looking at all these different things, it's kind of revealing. I'm like, wow, I spent a lot of money on, a lot of money on food in my household. A lot of money on school books for my kids and those kinds of things. But there's other things too. It starts coming out and you go, you know, maybe we spend a little too much here. Maybe we're neglecting some things over here. The heart's a driver. It reveals, it is revealed in what we do. But there's another piece of this. Our heart is also easily influenced and shaped and captured by the things around us. And here's the fact, when you pour your life into something, it grabs your heart. It really does. You know, like when I think about, you know, as a high schooler playing baseball, And I think about, you know, that sport. The fact is, it was my heart. My heart was what drove me to the sport. But the more I got into the sport, the more it captured my heart. You know what I mean? It kind of does both of those things. And I think about this illustration, a home. My heart's desire is for a specific kind of house. Now, obviously it's capped by what I can afford usually, okay. But you know, in our minds we're like, I know what I can afford and that's the one I want to get. And we're working towards that. And so that desire drives us to plan and drives us to save and drives us to plan what's going on so that we can take that step and get what we want. Well, then after a while, our heart gets disappointed what we have, because we find all the problems in it. We find out maybe our neighbors aren't as nice as we thought that they were gonna be. I have great neighbors, so not me, but some, you know, we could have, you know, tough neighbors, or a situation's a little bit different, or you go and you visit somebody, and you're like, well, man, you know, it'd be kind of nice if our house was a little bit bigger. I mean, their house is bigger, and we're sitting around this table, everybody's crunched together, we could use something a little bit nicer, and all of a sudden, you start doing what? Want something else. And our heart gets easily dominated by what we have. Doesn't take long to want something different. What's the point? Our heart is captured by stuff. It's really easy. Yeah, we could really see it when kids are teenagers. Like there's the stage in life where kids don't like think about what other people think. And then that's the only thing they think about. You know what I mean? And so you were laughing because you remember your kids like going from like, they could care less about how they looked, how they dressed or anything. And all of a sudden it's like, whoa, they really seem to care a lot about this. Dad, I'm not wearing those shoes. I'm not wearing that shirt. Hold on, I need to spend some time getting myself together. You know, there's this switch that flips. And why is that? It's because they're concerned. They're concerned about those things. The fact is that lots and lots of things in this world can capture hearts. And what's amazing is that Jesus takes this teaching and then we see other places in the New Testament where it's applied as well. This is the passage that came to mind first. 1 John 2, verse 15. And you're gonna notice some parallels. When I read this, you go, ah, I see how what Jesus said and what John's saying here, they're complimenting each other. That's because John is taking Jesus's teaching and he's applying it to these people. But here's what he says, love not the world. Neither the things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of this world. And the world passeth away, and the lusts thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. I don't know about you, but when I read that text of Scripture, I saw all kinds of examples of similar statements. For instance, you see that word love mentioned three times in the text. Love not the world. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. What's he talking about? He's talking about the source. Just like Jesus ends that statement by saying where your treasure is, that's where your heart is also. John's saying the same thing. Your affections drive what you do. They drive what you pursue. Love is mentioned. Loving God and loving the things of this world, they are fundamentally irreconcilable. You have two different worldviews. You have one worldview that says, hey, all I get is the here and now, and that's what I'm gonna live for because I know it's there in front of me. I can handle it, I can taste it, I can feel it, I can experience it. And what does John say? Don't love that. Jesus says rather love what is eternal. And what does John say? The world is passing away, and the luster of but he that doeth the will of the Lord abideth forever." In other words, these two things are irreconcilable. Thirdly, the world and its values are passing away. And he really makes the point in Matthew chapter 6. He says, moth and rust corrupt, moth and rust don't corrupt. Okay? I mean, real simple. And so what does he say? The world passeth away. It is in the process of decay. But the one who does the will of the Father, he abideth forever. In other words, the person who's living for this world is living for something that's decaying. And the one who's living for eternity is living for something that lasts forever. There's a big difference between those two. The believer's pursuits have this lasting quality. And so that is what Jesus says, and that is what John says. So it leads me to some simple application questions. I'm just gonna ask these questions. I'm not gonna answer these questions. I'm asking them so that you and I will ask them together. Because these questions are dealing with some of the most basic fundamental areas of life. Things like marriage, family, work, rest, entertainment, wealth, worship, our identity. How you answer these questions really determines which worldview really represents the way that you make your decisions. So let me throw some out there at you. The first is this, does your life matter? And if so, why or why not? I hope everybody in here says, of course it matters. And I hope nobody in this room says, well, it's because of what I accomplished. It's because of where I live. It's because of what I know. It's because of how people see me. I hope everyone says, I'm creating the image of God. I was created with dignity and value, and he saved me. He sent his son to die for my sins, to rise from the dead, and because of the value that God has placed on me as an image bearer and one who is redeemed to him, that's where my value is. How do you know you're valuable to God? How does a God-centered sense of value shape your identity? You know, how many people really struggle on this issue? I mean, what happens is, as we get a little bit older, some of the things that really defined us when we were young, if they still defined us, it would be very discouraging. You know what I'm talking about, right? All of a sudden, you start hitting this point where you're like, hold on, hold on a second. Like, that's what I was all about, and now, if I'm all about this, it's not quite the same. Like, when I go to a baseball game, I don't even know the guy's names anymore. And I'm sitting there going, I remember when I was like, like an eighth grade boy, I knew like every player on all these teams and I knew their stats. And I'm like, wow, man, someday I'm gonna be as tall as that guy. Like I might be 6'2 or something. And I might actually make like way more than 180 pounds or something like that. Like one day it's gonna happen. It's possible. And now I'm looking back and I'm like, that guy's only 21? Like he was born after 9-11, what in the world, you know? And then you're watching these players and all of a sudden you realize like, I think that season of life has passed me, or I have passed it. And you start realizing something. You know what? If my identity's in that, pretty empty. Not a whole lot to live for. Do you believe that you were created as a man or a woman for a reason? That's a good question, especially for the time we're living in today. Do you believe that marriage and the raising of children matters? You know how many young people, they're getting to that stage in life, they're like, you know, I don't want to get married. I don't wanna have children. I don't wanna deal with the burden. I'm just gonna have dogs. So when I go out and walk in the morning, everybody's walking their dogs, you know? Everybody's walking their dogs. I don't walk my dog. You can't keep up with me, man. Come on now, right? When I see that though, you know, there's nothing wrong with walking your dog and having a dog. I'm not saying that at all. But here's the truth. Most of those people are deciding not to get married not to have families because it's easier to have dogs and go to work and make money. It's really true. And one day they may wake up and realize, ah, that's the wrong decision. It might be too late. It really may very well be too late. But the fact is there's Christians like that too. I hate to say it, but it's true. There's Christians who are raising their kids and are like, I think it would have been a lot easier had I gone this other route. No, these are eternal souls. God gave them to you. And when he gave them to you, he gave them to you for a reason. He wants you to shape their lives. And he wants them to live for him and to affect the generation that he's planted them in. Do you believe that the biblical pattern for the structure of a home matters? A lot of people don't even know what a marriage is anymore, what a family is. Well, the Bible defines these things very clearly. Do you believe that a biblical pattern, that the structure of a work week matters? You say, well, I mean, five days, six days, what does it matter? Well, in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and He rested on the seventh day, and He sanctified it. What does that mean? It means, well, He set it apart. For us, why? Because we can't run seven days in a row, and then come another seven days in a row, and come another seven days in a row. There's gonna be a day that your body's gonna pay you back because you didn't pay it. It's a simple fact. Yet God created for our own good this pattern of work and rest, and work and rest, and rest that's focused on Him. He sanctified it. Some people say, well, that's Old Testament. That's the creation. That is the design that God has for us, even today. Do you prioritize the gathering of the local church over entertainment? This is a really tough one, and I really struggle, I got to play sports when I was a kid, and I really enjoyed sports, and I want my kids to have those opportunities. But here's the bottom line, my kids are not missing church. You say, well, you're the pastor. Yeah, but you know what? My kids are not going to be missing church so that they can play some sport. And my parents didn't allow me to do it. And I personally don't do that. And the reason is because this is what they're going to do the rest of their lives. It's gonna shape the kind of choices they make about who they marry. It's gonna shape the kind of choices they make about where they go to school, the kind of careers that they have, the values that are gonna shape their home. Are they gonna have children? How many children are they gonna have? How are they gonna instruct them? How are they gonna handle the struggles of life? And the bottom line is, I want God to be first in their lives. And it starts with me as a dad and what I teach them. Do I delight most in what God emphasizes? I mean, the things that really get us excited. Does God care? I mean, like, it's a kind of interesting question. And by the way, God's not against us playing sports. God's not against us learning music. God's not against us enjoying entertainment. God created us with all kinds of skills and interests, and those things are good, and they're to be used. But the simple fact is, they're to be viewed in a distinctly Christian manner. The list could go on, but the simple fact is how we answer these questions, it reveals something about worldview. It reveals something about priority. It reveals something about what matters most to us. And the fact is that when we look at Christians today, and we compare ourselves to Christians 100 years ago, I'll just be honest, very few of us would be even close in mindset when it comes to our personal choices in many ways, to the way that would have been just typical thinking of a Christian 100 or 150 years ago. You say, well, what changed? I'll tell you what changed. The culture has gotten into our hearts. We become very worldly. We are not thinking biblically, we're thinking culturally. And we have to be so cautious that we do not compromise in these areas. I'll read it again. What Jesus says is so simple. He says, lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, where thieves do not break through and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. May God help us to properly prioritize our lives. Our value is ultimately in the fact that God has created us in his image and he has saved us. We are privileged, we've received His grace. We don't deserve any of the good things that we've got. And so we use them as gifts from Him. Our duties as men and women living in this world, we take them seriously. And they're duties that are God-given duties, not, oh, the culture's forcing this on me, this is what I'm supposed to do. Hey, you know what, who cares? Be concerned about what God thinks. Be concerned about what He says is right and wrong. Everything we're given comes from Him. We're not entitled to it. We're given it for a season and for a reason, so we need to consider that. One day we're gonna answer to Him for what we do with it. We've got to prioritize our lives around what He emphasizes. We have to order our lives according to His commands. Our identity must be rooted in our position in Christ. Everything must be oriented to it and rooted in it. That's what the text is all about. Let's bow for prayer and ask the Lord to help us with these things. Father, I think about these truths. And I pray that you'd help us to just be honest before you about the kind of values that shape our lives. And Father, I pray that we would actually not be shaped by our culture or what is typical around us, but we would just be simply shaped by what the word of God says. We'd be godly people, we'd love you first, that everything would be downstream from that. Help us to see the emptiness of living for this world, the pain of living for things that are rusting, that are easily stolen, and that the corruption of nature eats away. Help us to recognize the incredible value of living a life for eternal pursuits, and the great delight that we will enjoy for eternity when we are experiencing the benefits and the blessings of having lived wisely. We ask these things in Christ's name, amen.