Good morning, everyone. Joy to be back with you this morning here at Evangelical Free Church. There were about 75 of us gathered at Mount Gilead last weekend, and we truly did have just a wonderful, wonderful time together. It was great interacting with all these different families and young children that were there, and the surroundings are just excellent. It was great facilities, and it was a great time for us to be together. A concept that we do not hear a lot about in our role as Christians is the idea of worldview. A worldview is the way we see the world and how we determine what is right or wrong or what is true or false or what ought to be or what ought not to be. Our worldview, our outlook on the world, is shaped by our families. our education, our history, our surroundings, even our culture. And the worldview that we have is what we have learned from our earliest days, and it is something that is reinforced and even challenged by our experiences and interactions with others. But the challenge is that we need to consider this morning is that we do not think about our worldview, We think with our worldview. That is to say, we see and believe certain things that seem right to us and normal to us and the way things should be. But since we are not always aware about how we arrive at our decisions and our conclusions, we are often not aware and perhaps not even willing to consider that our worldview may be in need of change and alteration. We become especially aware that we are dealing with worldview issues when we have conflicts with others over ideas and the way we think things ought to be. Our worldview is the story that we tell ourselves about our origins, our purpose, our role in history, and how we determine the meaning of family, relationships, the values that shape our understanding of reality. It is our worldview that separates us from them. Now the idea of worldview is important in the Scriptures. And many times God reminds the people of Israel to recount the stories of old. and to pass them on from generation to generation. The things that God has given to them, He says, teach these things to your children and to your children's children. And so that sets an example for us, not only that we should recognize our own worldview, but how our worldview needs to be changed to fit with the one that God has been giving in His Word and reveals in His world. Now, my own ministry experience spanning several decades and involving many different cultures and people of many different backgrounds, I have had the privilege of interacting with believers and non-believers from a variety of backgrounds. In every situation that I've been in, there is a set of values, convictions, beliefs that are held as true and that are seen as something that must be followed. However, when placed against the teachings of God's Word, each and every one of these cultures has to decide which path they will follow. Because there are things in every culture that reflect a faint shadow of God's original intent for mankind. And so truth can be found in every culture because in every culture there are people who are created in the image of God. and who have been given the revelation of God through creation. At the same time, because of the fall of man into sin and because of man's sinful rebellion against God, every culture also has much that goes against God's eternal Word and thus needs to be changed and transformed and repented of. As I often told my students at the seminary in the Middle East, East meets West in the Bible, and both need to be changed thereby. Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are called to embrace and follow the worldview that God Himself gave to us. That is a worldview that is shaped by the nature of God, by the character of God, by the truth of His Word and was lived out to perfection and taught by Jesus Christ Himself. It is one that should set us apart. And Marcus says, different from those who do not know Christ. The sad fact, however, is that in whatever culture I have been in, including my own, there are far too many believers that live and act and think and make decisions in ways that differ very little from the culture around them, whatever that culture may be. When I was in the Middle East, I saw Middle Eastern Christians that acted more like Middle Eastern than Christian. My wife being from Europe, we have met a number of European Christians that act more European than Christian. It's true for American Christians as well, who in matters of lifestyle and values often are more American than they are Christian. The statistics, the surveys, the results are simply too overwhelming to make a contrary claim. But what if we could live differently? What if we could live in a way that would really reflect a people who have encountered the living God? That, after all, is what God commands. It's what He desires of His people. And as I have been giving a lot of thinking to this whole idea of worldview and how our worldview is determined and how we act according to our worldview and then interpret things thereby, what if we were to challenge it by the teachings of God's eternal Word and take a deeper look at what forms our worldviews and what should form our worldviews? And so this summer, In what I'm calling the M&Ms of the Christian life, we're going to take an introductory look at a number of different issues that affect Christian discipleship and what it means to be a follower of Jesus. And the challenge that we will face is that a true biblical worldview is one that transcends culture. It transcends country. It transcends political party. It transcends personal preference. But the Christian biblical worldview as modeled by the Lord Jesus Christ is one that unites believers from all around the globe and from across generations because it is focused on the one through whom all things were created, namely the Lord Jesus Christ. So the challenge that we have is if we are to grow in Christian maturity and becoming more and more truly a people of God, we need to grow in our understanding of how God sees the world, how God made us, and what God expects of us as His people. So, in this series that we will look at over the months of July and August, entitled, The M&Ms of the Christian Life, we're not going to examine every possible issue that we could address. We're not going to be able to answer every possible question, but we will seek to be a people who are intrigued by the Word of God and will allow our thinking be captivated by the truth that is found therein. and let that Word of God challenge and shape and improve our thinking and our understanding on different worldview issues. And so the issues that we will address, each one beginning with the letter M, are money, where we look at how are we to understand the earthly treasures that God has given us, missions, what is God's desire for the world, marriage, What is God's intentions and desires as he brings men and women together in marriage? Me, how am I to understand who I am and what my role is in society, in creation? Men, we're going to look at what is a biblical view of manhood. followed up by, in quotation marks, moms, because it had to start with M, but what it'll really be is a biblical view of womanhood. And we'll understand what that means and all the privileges and responsibilities that come with that. And finally, membership. What does it mean to be part of the people of God? And it's my hope that God is going to speak to us through his word, through the time that we'll have together as we interact with these issues. We are going to talk on some issues that are going to make us feel a little bit uncomfortable at times. Perhaps you've noticed that that's what Jesus likes to do. And as we address these issues this summer, we want to get more in tune with the Spirit of God, with the Word of God, with the truth of God, that we might grow as a people of God and be more responsive and more reflective of those who truly do embrace a biblical worldview. And because of the importance of what we're going to do this summer, I'm going to ask us to do something unusual. I'm going to ask us to actually stand as we prepare to start this series as a symbolic gesture of committing ourselves to the Lord and what he has to teach us through his words. So please stand with us as we begin this series and ask that the Lord would teach us and that he would cause us to become more like him. Now, Father, as we stand in your presence, you're the one that has called us to be imitators of you. You are the one that has called us to say you are molding us to be more and more into the image of your Son, Jesus Christ. And Father, we know that it takes only but a moment's notice for us to realize we fall far short of that ideal. But oh God, thank you that in Christ your law and your wrath has been satisfied. But now you call us, Father, to go and live out this newness of life that we have in Christ. And oh, how we need your help. And so we turn to you and say, Spirit of the living God, would you fill us and refresh us and challenge us through the word that you have inspired. And would all that we do this summer be done for the great and glorious name of Jesus Christ. We are yours, Father. We confess the Lordship of Christ over all areas of our lives. Lead us and teach us, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated. Now if I had the power to look at just two things in your lives, I could quickly determine what your true and real priorities are. In spite of all the flowery things we say about the Christian life, in spite of all the nice words we say about commitment and devotion or discipleship or faithfulness, a quick look at these two things would reveal our true values and the most important desires of our lives, and those two things are our calendars and our wallets. Whatever else we may say about the purposes of life, how we use our time and how we spend our money reveal the true priorities of our life, because they reveal what one truly loves, because the heart follows the things it desires. Now, the passage that we're going to look at this morning as we begin this series is grounded in the famous Sermon on the Mount. And in this earth-shaking sermon by the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 5-7, our Lord spends a great deal of time dealing with proper attitudes and motives that we are to have if we want to live according to His kingdom values. We see in His teaching not only that He is strongly theological, but that He is also deeply practical. Along the way, He is going to tell His followers not only what they are to be, but what they are to do if they want to live for Him and give glory in their lives. And so people that have entered, first of all, entered into the kingdom of God, that's the requirement. We must be born again and enter into the kingdom of God, and once that has happened, once we have a new heart, once we have been regenerated, we repent and we believe and we confess Jesus Christ as Lord, and now we are to be a kingdom people. And as he goes on with this sermon, he is saying this is what a kingdom people will look like. Now, we're not going to take this whole sermon this morning. In fact, we're not even going to take the extended section in Matthew 6 where a passage is found this morning. We'll simply mention that Jesus lays out a powerful teaching about the role and use of material possessions. He warns against greed. He warns against anxiety. Isn't that interesting? In the first century of Israel, He had to warn about greed and anxiety. I think He would have to warn about greed and anxiety today. He speaks against hoarding. He speaks against the false security of material things. But this morning we're only going to look at just a couple of verses in Matthew chapter 6, namely verses 19 to 21. We are surrounded by riches and wealth. We see it in the pursuit of homes, in the chasing after of careers, in the building of reputations, in the accumulation of material possessions. I have seen it almost everywhere that I have gone that the accumulation of wealth and material status is the main driving compulsion that feeds the lives of most people. And I would like to stand before you today and say that the church is immune to such challenges and problems. But you know better. You have eyes to see and ears to hear and you understand that all too often there is more of the world in the church than there is of the church in the world, because as I said in my introduction to this series, many Christians unfortunately live lives that are no different than those outside the church. A simple survey as we just look around the world, not even just our own country, but around the world, reveals that there are numerous countries that are in debt, running after the gods of greed and materialism. These debts choke off investment, they slow economic initiative, they reduce incentive to responsibly handle one's money. In the United States alone, consumer debt is at an all-time high, the one that will require those enslaved in their debts many years to pay back. For example, there's 189 million people in the United States who have a credit card. Almost 50% of them do not pay back the full balance each month. Loans on automobiles, loans for education are at all-time highs. And the holders of those loans will find themselves in deep financial difficulty for years to come because of their debts. This pursuit of riches, this pursuit of the good life, this pursuit of the American dream pushes people to want bigger things, a bigger house, a bigger car. If you go into a restaurant, you might see a bigger waistline. And there's a challenge then about money, about material possessions, and that should not surprise us because the Lord Jesus Christ taught a lot on this subject. In fact, He taught more about this particular subject of money and material possessions than any other subject. And so, when it comes to a meddling preacher, no one tops Jesus in getting to the heart of the matter. He knew that money and wealth are one of those things that every disciple of His must come to understand biblically. There is carnage all across our land by Christians who don't understand money and therefore are in tremendous debt. It is a major issue that determines the length and depth of our discipleship and our commitment to the Lord. And so we begin by reading our passage for this morning, Matthew 6, verses 19 to 21, where the Word of God says, But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. May the Lord add his blessing to the reading of the word and give understanding. And so as we look at this passage this morning, and this, our first subject in our series on the M&Ms of the Christian life, we will see that there are three main ideas that flow out of our text this morning. And the first one is the reality of storing up things. The text says, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. It is simply a part of who we are and our business of being human that we tend to accumulate things. And so Jesus just assumes that is part of our existence. The ESV, from which I've been reading this morning, translates the phrase, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth. But in the original language, the verb and the noun actually come from the same root, and so we might translate it this way, do not treasure up treasures for yourselves. I think that gives a more poignant picture of what Jesus is telling us. Do not treasure your treasures. And I think really what he is saying, in light of this command to not store up, and the reality that we often do store up, is he's saying, stop laying up treasures for yourself on the earth. Stop in the old way of living, and the old way of doing things, and the old way of thinking that comes more from the world than from the Word. Because now you are a new kingdom, people, and you need to be living according to new kingdom principles. You've been laying up now," he says, things for your own purposes, your own uses, your own temporary pleasures, but the time has come to start laying up things for a higher cause. Now in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ, wealth was often measured in one of two ways. It was measured in clothes. It was measured in metal coins. Isn't that interesting? That's exactly what he points to. Because both of those things were a tangible demonstration of one's net worth. The fancier the clothes, it was thought, the wealthier you would be. The more coins you could amass, the greater your personal worth. Now the clothes of preference in the days of Jesus would have been made of wool. That was the sign of quality. That was the sign of influence, much as we might have leather or other materials today that we want our clothes to be made of. That was the prestigious clothing that one would wear. Just to look across the landscape today, we often put prestige in the names that are on our clothes. If you go by the names of stores or by commercials, people chase after names like Gucci and Versace and Gloria Vanderbilt and Pierre Cardin, Tommy Hilfiger. Or maybe you need to have a certain type of cowboy boot and a cowboy hat if you really want to be hip. We're not very different from the people of the first century because we ourselves are tempted to treasure up treasures for ourselves. In our professions, we accumulate titles and awards. We hang diplomas and degrees on our walls. We put our qualifications on business cards and hand them out. We collect toys of all types. We are all in the habit of wanting to collect and store up things. We treasure up treasures for ourselves. It's interesting as we look at what Jesus says here, that the phrase, do not treasure up treasures for yourselves, had a specific meaning in that day of coins being stacked on top of each other. It's the idea of the person who is secretly hoarding money and stacking it up in big piles. It's as if Jesus is saying, do not stack up your riches, do not hoard them. And I think what he would say today, rather than do not stack up your coins, he would say, be careful not to stack up your money in savings accounts, or retirement accounts, or stock market portfolios, or real estate, or in your mattress, or in your doomsday cellar. Now, we take the whole counsel of God, and so there is wisdom in how we live, and we are told in many places that it is actually wise to prepare for the future. It's actually wise to make these good stewardship decisions. But what he's warning us about is to not put our ultimate trust, our ultimate hope, our ultimate confidence in the things that we can stack up and store away. And so he says, stop storing up treasures for yourself on the earth, but treasure up treasures for yourselves in heaven. Our first point would be, if Jesus is your ultimate treasure, you will not settle for the folly of earthly riches. True wealth is not found in silver and gold. True wealth is found in a dynamic, vibrant, living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. In the early church, which suffered wave after wave of persecution from the Romans. The Roman soldiers broke into a church in order to seize treasures that they presumed had been stored inside. And in the face of pressure about revealing the location of these supposed riches, one of the elders of this church simply pointed to the other side of the room, to the group of widows and orphans that the church was regularly feeding and taking care of, and he said, these are the true treasures of the church. It's a different way of looking at wealth when we recognize that those created in the image of God are of much greater value than that which can perish. Now it has been said that you cannot take your money with you, but you can send it on ahead. You can do that by investing in the things of eternity, by spending your time and your talent and your treasure on the things that please God, on the things that promote His work on the earth, that build others up in Christ, the things that will ultimately last forever. And so we have an enormous and tremendous privilege of being able to invest in God's work and supporting our church and supporting Christian charities and helping believers take care of their basic needs. We can help promote and provide for Christian schools, have fund relief projects for refugees. We can support a missionary. We can volunteer to help the illiterate. We can provide clothes for the poor. We can help send a student to seminary. We can provide medicines for the sick. We can write letters for believers who are imprisoned because of their faith, of which there are a multitude around the globe, even as we gather freely this morning. There are so many things. that we can be doing to store up treasures for heaven, treasures that will outlast our earthly life, treasures that will be a blessing to God and to the people of God and the cause of God. But this is a tough lesson for us to learn, because our culture all around us tells us to satisfy ourselves, to pad our bank account, to make good investments, to make sure we have all the pleasures and treasures of this earth. to get instant satisfaction, to satisfy our own desires, to take care of number one. The sad thing is that we don't find any relief from that kind of teaching even from so-called Christian television. Oftentimes what passes for Christian television is nothing more than greed and selfishness with a thin veneer of spirituality slapped across the top. We don't hear often enough about the cross. about commitment and sacrifice, about striving for holiness, about sacrificing and preaching the gospel, about living holy and honest lives before the world. Instead, we hear things about how to be happy in Jesus. how to succeed in Jesus, how Jesus can give you a better marriage, how we can have political power in Jesus, how we can diet like Jesus, how we can have marital satisfaction, and on and on it goes in Jesus. We've turned Jesus into a means to an end, but my friends, Jesus is the end. It is to be all about Jesus and becoming more like him. not have the emphasis on the here and now, and this three score and 10, or more if the Lord gives us strength, but on eternity. And so we need to have in our mind, as we're on the whiteboard of heaven, that there is a line that has an arrow on each end, and in mathematics we know that that line stands for infinity, eternity. And we need to live for the line, because our life is just a dot on that line. And in light of the line, the dot pales in comparison. I'm going to give a few examples of statements made by some big names on Christian television. Now I'm not gonna name their names here because my purpose is not necessarily to attack personalities, but to point out bad teaching in light of what the Bible says about money. And so I've named this next section Popular Preachers versus the Bible. One popular preacher says, I want to get you out of this malaise of thinking that Jesus and the disciples were poor. The Bible says he has left us an example that we should follow his steps. That's why I drive a Rolls Royce. I'm following Jesus' steps. But Jesus replied, foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. Another popular preacher says, give $10 and receive $1,000. Give $1,000 and receive $100,000. I know that you can multiply, but I want you to see in black and white how tremendous the hundredfold return is. For they promise people, if you give, the Lord will give back to you a hundredfold. a plague on their houses. But Paul warns against constant friction among men of corrupt mind who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. The prosperity preacher says, you know that God never blesses sheep before He blesses the shepherd. Shepherds get it first, then the sheep get it, because sheep follow shepherds. If not, we shepherds are going to have poo on our shoes, so the sheep must follow the shepherd, and God always blesses the shepherds first, so a pastor can never see his church prosper if he's poor." These are actual quotes taken from Christian television. James, the half-brother of Jesus, said, Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasuries in the last days. The popular preacher says, Years ago they used to preach, Oh, we're going to walk on streets of gold. I would say, I don't need the gold up there. I've got to have it down here. The Apostle Paul says, for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. Now perhaps you think that I'm just exaggerating. Maybe I've isolated a few comments. I assure you such is not the case. If we were to listen carefully across our so-called Christian airwaves, we would see these statements multiplied thousands of times over daily. This type of teaching is so pervasive. It says, store up for yourselves treasures on earth. You're a child of the King and you deserve the riches of the King. Forgetting that we serve a suffering King who came to the cross first and will get all the glory later. Jesus says, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth. but lay it for yourselves treasures in heaven." So who are you going to listen to? Who are you going to pattern your life after? But the big question you really have to answer before God is where is your true storehouse? Are you storing up things for heaven? Or are you being satisfied with the mundane things of the earth? Are you sending your resources on ahead of you because they are invested in eternal things, or are you squandering them here on the earth? Because the fact remains, the text tells us, we are all storing up treasure somewhere. The only question is where? Well, after seeing the reality of our storing up of things, we move on to our second point. We can see there the results of storing up. And the text tells us where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. Jesus makes it clear that we're going to store up and there's going to be results of where we store it up. Those who insist on storing up things here on earth, well, that's where moths and rust eat things and thieves break in and steal. I've already told you that clothes made of wool were commonly used in the first century. They were a sign of wealth. So were metal coins. Well, it just so happens that moths have a real appetite for wool, as many of you probably have already found out. And so, very quickly, the wealth of clothing can disappear once the moths get a hold of it. In the same way, precious metals, no matter how you keep them, will eventually rust and rot away. They'll turn to dust if just left to themselves. So the question becomes for us today, then, because this word is for us today, what are the moths and the rusts of our lives today? What can bring our treasures to a quick end? Well, a wire can short-circuit and start a fire that consumes the whole house. A water pipe can suddenly burst, fill the house with water, destroying everything. A spilled cup of grape juice can ruin that perfect suit or that wonderful dress. A dry climate can dry rot your books and magazines. An electrical surge can blow out the television or the home entertainment center. Now, the images of the moth and rust show that all of our material things are ultimately vulnerable. Therefore, they're not worthy of our ultimate trust and devotion. Well, if there's moths and if there's rust, there's also the problem of others wanting to break in and steal what we have. Now, you know, in the first century, homes were made of mud, dirt. So without a sure way of protecting things, people would just dig a hole in the middle of the house and bury their treasures there. We have an example of this if we go back to the Old Testament in the book of Joshua and the life of Achan. The Israelites had just destroyed Jericho, But suddenly they were defeated and going to go after the next city. And it was because one of them had harbored treasures in his heart and had hidden them away. In fact, he testified as much when he said, then I coveted them and took them and see they are hidden in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath." So the safe was in the middle of the living room, dug into the ground where it was hoped that people wouldn't find it. And that's why then if we were to take this term literally, we could translate it like this, where moths and thieves dig in or dig through. They're digging through the wall, they're going to dig into the ground, wherever it is you might be protecting your stuff. Now we, rightfully, because we do want to be responsible as well, we try to hide and protect our goods from those that would steal them. But we live in a fallen world. Locks can be broken. Dogs can be poisoned. Alarm systems can be overcome. Guards can be overpowered. So, the point is not that we shouldn't protect our valuables. We should protect our valuables, but we should not put our ultimate confidence in them. Two weeks ago, Sunday afternoon, my wife and I are enjoying a nice, quiet Sunday afternoon nap, which, after all, are the best. Sudden banging on the door, yelling and hollering. At first, I thought maybe it's a home invasion. As it turns out, the neighbor's house had caught on fire. And so there I was in the backyard of my house, 10 feet from the fire, farting it with a garden hose so that it wouldn't spread to my house before the firefighters got there. My friends, it can happen that quickly. The point is not that we shouldn't protect our valuables. Yes, let's be good stewards and let's protect them, but do not put our ultimate confidence in them. They can literally disappear in a day. The late Mr. John Rockefeller was the richest man of his day. He was worth billions, and he had an unending drive for his wealth. He was asked one day in an interview, how much is enough? A little more, he said. But Mr. Rockefeller, like everyone else, could not outrun the Grim Reaper, and so eventually, like all of us, he died. And so when he died, the question came, well, how much did he leave? And an insightful reply said it best, he left it all. No earthly treasures are safe. The result of storing up things on the earth is the destruction and loss of all things when we, in fact, come to the end of our days. The moths and the rusts of this world will eventually claim them all. But there is another option. to the destruction of all that we have. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal." You can put the treasures that God has given you beyond the reach of the rot and corruption of this world by investing in the things of God. Now, in days gone by, we had the common expression that was heard, keep up with the Joneses. They had two cars, we need two cars. If they have a house addition, we need a house addition. If they go on a two week vacation, we need a two vacation. Let me suggest a better strategy. Don't keep up with the Joneses. Keep up with Jesus. The works that we do for Jesus and for his church are the treasures that will outlast the world, the flesh, and the devil and cannot be touched by him. What we have securely locked away in the Father's house is secure from all intruders forever. As I said, we can't take our riches with us, but we can send them on ahead. I know a successful businessman in the state of Minnesota. He builds windows. He's added on and bought out other companies and has gotten bigger and bigger. He's worked very hard for years to build this company. He's very, very successful. But you would never know it by their lifestyle. He says, I am funding the Great Commission through making windows. And when their three children became adults and moved out of the house, they sold their house and bought a smaller one. so they could free up more resources to support the work of God's kingdom around the world. They're among the happiest people I know. They can't give God's money away fast enough, and God keeps blessing them with more and more. So maybe we want to follow the example of John Wesley. John Wesley is quoted as saying, earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can. Now that middle one does not mean hoard, that middle one means economize. Instead of paying $0.57 for a can of peas, if you can get it for $0.49, pay $0.49. Economize all you can so that you have more to give away for the cause of God. And he earned his money by selling his sermons. Imagine that. There is not a table in the foyer afterwards. But he earned his living by selling his sermons and books, and he kept increasing his income, but his living expenses stayed the same. When they found his diary after he died, he lived on the same amount of money year after year, even as his income grew, because he gave away more and more money as he went on. He ended up with 28 pounds, to his name, about $40. He gave it all away. He was storing up riches for himself in heaven. What will happen to our riches today? And what is it that has a hold on you that you need to get rid of? Do not settle for worldly wealth when you can inherit true riches in the life hereafter. You cannot give God, but it sure is a lot of fun trying when you just open your hand up and let him pour the resources through and you keep giving them away as he gives you more and more. And so we've seen the reality of storing up The only question is where. We've seen the results of storing up, either they're all going to rot or they're going to invest in eternity. And finally we see the root cause of storing up, the heart. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. And so Jesus gets quickly to the core of the issue, that money and riches are ultimately a matter of the heart more than of the wallet. It really does not matter how much you have or do not have. My experience has been that poor people can be just as materialistic as rich people. The rich people have it and they want more. The poor people don't have it and they'll do whatever they can to get it. Jesus said, for where your treasure is there your heart will be also. And so here's the question, my friends. What are the things that grab your heart? Cause it to beat with a passion that motivates you? The sad fact is, looking at the statistics across the land of how people are enslaved in their debts, far too many people do not really own their things. Their things own them. And their hearts are with things that will not matter. Their music collections, their sporting equipment, their hunting gear, their reputation, their properties. Those things are good to a certain level, but not in light of eternal value, and so hold things with an open hand. It's not without reason that Solomon, as he was teaching his son how to walk as a man of God, told him, keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. So we need to learn to guard our hearts, to not let our hearts grab onto things that will ultimately lead us astray. How do we do that? Well, we need to have our thinking changed, and that's the whole point of what we're doing this summer, is we want our thinking to be challenged by the eternal word of God, so that we can live wisely in the time that we have. And what are some of the things that we should know? Jesus tells us, take care and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. In a world that says he who dies with the most toys wins, Jesus says, rubbish. It does not matter how much you own. What have you done for me with what I gave you? Because ultimately the type of life worth living is one that impacts eternity. My friends, let's live for the line, not for the dot. Let's live to impact eternity. The second principle we can look at is what Paul says when he says, but godliness, listen well, godliness with contentment is great gain. That's not what a stockbroker will tell you. Godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmless desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. All that we have we will leave behind at the moment of our death. And when we stand before Almighty God, it will not matter how many pairs of designer jeans we had. but it will matter what we did with our time and how we spent our money. It will not matter whether we had a Ford F-150 or a Mercedes-Benz, but it will matter whether we had the seal of the Holy Spirit on our lives. It will not matter if we had a big house or a nice estate, but it will matter if we sent our riches ahead into the Father's house. Where is your heart this morning and what are you investing in? And will it outlast you into eternity? The point is this, Paul says, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. The only question is whether your reward will be eternal or it will be temporary. And so we've seen this morning our three main points, the reality of storing up, the results of storing up, the causes of storing up. Let us be reminded that God has given us so much in Christ. And because He's given us so much in Christ, let's use it for the glory of Christ, to live for Christ, passion in Christ. And I know that I'm running a little bit over, but I want to close with some words from a song that impacted me so long ago. In fact, before I started to go out as a missionary in the late 1980s. It's a song by Pastor Scott Wesley Brown, who was a minister of worship in the San Diego area. And he wrote a song called Things. I'm just going to read the words as we close our time this morning and let the words of the song resonate as we look at what Christ has told us in this passage. Things upon the mantle, things on every shelf, things that others gave me, things I gave myself, things I've stored in boxes that don't mean much anymore, old magazines and memories behind the attic door, things. things on hooks and hangers, things on ropes and rings, things I guard that blind me to the pettiness of things. Am I like the rich young ruler, ruled by all I own? If Jesus came and asked me, could I leave them all alone? Oh, Lord, I look to heaven, beyond the veil of time, to gain eternal insight that nothing's really mine. and to only look for daily bread and all contentment brings, to find freedom as your servant in the midst of all these things. For discarded in the junkyards, rusting in the rain, lie things that took the finest years of lifetimes to obtain. and whistling through these tombstones the hollow breezes sing, a song of dreams surrendered to the tyranny of things." Let's pray. Father, we thank You this morning. You are a God who is gracious and lavish in all things. And Father, You've told us to pray each day for the things that we need, and too often, Father, we live as if that's not true, and so we hoard so that we'll have something for tomorrow. God, help us to balance that wisdom that we need so that we'll be good stewards of what You have given us. and recognize that ultimately it all comes from you. And Father, would you open up our hearts that we might open up our hands to allow our blessings to flow unto eternity. Do the work that only you can do, Father, in our hearts as we pray now, pleading for your help, but thankful for Jesus, in whose name we pray, amen.