This month we've been talking about things that shipwreck the faith. The first week we looked at bitterness and the root of bitterness that grows up among us. Last week, what did we talk about last week? Anybody remember? What's that? Self-righteousness. I really did forget. I wasn't kidding. I live in the moment. I'm kind of like a Labrador retriever. Last week we talked about self-righteousness and how it causes us to look away from the righteousness of Christ. This week we're going to talk about the deceitfulness of wealth. Jesus, when he was teaching on the parable of the sower and the seeds, he said that some seed fell upon good soil. That good soil, though, had weeds in it. And the weeds are what choked out the fruit, kept the seeds from coming to maturity. And those weeds, he said, were the deceitfulness of wealth, and the cares of this life, and the busyness of life. And I think that's interesting. I'll be honest. I, I don't feel like wealth has been that big of a problem in my ministry and the people that I've ministered to. I don't feel like I've seen a lot of people leave the church or superect their faith because of their, of the love of money. And I wouldn't probably not preach on this, but Jesus thought it was a really big deal. And the apostle Paul thought it was a really big deal. And so I'm going to take their advice, you know, just kind of submit to them. They probably know more about what is dangerous for your soul than I do. And so I'm going to, I'm preaching this on their advice, not on mine. So don't think that I'm like picking on anybody in the crowd. Last week I was absolutely picking on y'all. Y'all are terrible, but I'm just kidding. But, but Jesus was very concerned about wealth. Three of the Gospels tell the same story. Matthew, Mark, and Luke. They all tell the same story about a young man who came to Jesus, and he was a great guy. He was great. He'd been raised in the synagogue. He knew the laws of God. He had lived his life righteously. He had tried hard. He wasn't self-righteous. He wasn't like, you know, the Pharisee beating his chest, talking about how great he was. He wanted eternal life. He came to Jesus. When Jesus was being turned against, when people were beginning to really turn against Him, when Jesus was about to go on His way to Jerusalem to be crucified, He came to him then. He didn't come in the middle of the night like Nicodemus. He wasn't afraid for anybody to know he was coming to Jesus. He came to him publicly right out in the middle of the day and called him good teacher. What must I do to inherit eternal life? You're the good one. He's saying that for a reason, right? Obviously the other ones weren't as good in his mind. This was the guy who knew it, who had it. Tell me. What do I have to do to inherit eternal life? Just tell me. I'll do it." And Jesus looked at him and said, well, you know the law. Follow the law. I've done that. I've done that. And there's this precious, precious verse in Mark. Jesus looked at him and had compassion on him. Jesus looked at him and loved him. and said, that's awesome. Go sell your goods, give them to the poor, and follow me. And follow me. You just said you love your neighbor as much as you love yourself. You just said those words. So all that worldly stuff, you don't need it. Give it to them and follow me. And the man went away sad. Because he had a lot. And Jesus looked at his disciples and said, guys, it's hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. And they were like blown away. If rich can't do it, then nobody can. Who can enter the kingdom of God? And Jesus says, well, on your own, in your flesh, in your own power, it would be impossible. But with God, all things are possible. And I think there are just two things that just stand out about that story. And Jesus wants them to stand out. They wouldn't have said it, wouldn't have given us the story three times if you didn't want them to stand out. And the first one is, this is the only person that I have found in the Bible that Jesus has looked at and said, follow me, that didn't do it. James, Peter, Paul, they all left everything they had and followed Jesus. They left father, mother, they left businesses. Matthew got up from behind his tax collector's table and left it. But not this guy. He had great wealth. And the other thing that stands out to me is that Jesus loved him. Jesus loved him. He had compassion on him. And that stands out to me and that tells me, it reminds me that Jesus loves sinners. Jesus loves sinners. Jesus loves people who aren't ready to follow him. So that invitation is always standing. Today we're going to talk about the deceitfulness of riches. Riches are wealth, money. It's a great tool. It's a terrible God. It's a great servant. It's a terrible master. As one of my friends told me this week, money is great at solving money problems. That's it. It's not good for anything else. Please stand as we read from 1 Timothy chapter 6. Hear the word of the Lord. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a trap and many senseless and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. Now as for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. Thus far the reading of God's Word. All men are like grass, and all of our glory is like the flowers of the field. And the grass withers and the flowers fall. But not God's Word. God's Word stands forever. You may be seated. Those who desire to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. Bianca made me memorize that about 20 years ago. I don't know why. She just made me. More than that, 30 years ago. She insisted, so I did. Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a trap and many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into just good verbs, right? Powerful verbs. Plunge men into ruin and destruction. Oh, that's an overstatement. That's an overstatement. Y'all see the movie The Blind Side? Great, just a great story, wasn't it? This great family, the Toohey's from Memphis, fashionable East Memphis as my friends call it, Germantown. They literally adopted a kid. They found him walking home in shorts one winter day. and took him home and began to take care of him and brought him into their house. He lived there. He referred to them as her mom and dad, his mom and dad. He referred to their son as his brother. He lived in that home. He even went so far as to go to Ole Miss because it was their favorite school and he ended up being a professional football player. It's a great story. And you know, Blindside 2 is being written right now. Because he's suing the family. Feels like they exploited his story. He didn't make any money from the movie. They're all popular and they already were rich, but they're richer. He's suing them. He's alienated from them. He insists that it's not about money. You ever rented a U-Haul? U-Haul's a great story. It's a great story. A man came back from the Navy, had really just bought into this idea that if we all share the work, we can get more work done. He's a great guy, and he started this company where they would spread things out, spread out the responsibilities, and let people rent their own thing. Y'all know how U-Haul works. And it made tons of money. It was very popular. He's a family man. They had 13 kids. Thirteen kids. And every time there was a major birthday or something, you know, they wanted to share with their kids. And they gave shares away of the company to their children. He was just so generous. He didn't really keep up. And one day in the 80s, lo and behold, he wasn't the majority owner anymore. And his kids started fighting and just tore each other apart. The family was ripped apart. Some family members accused other family members of hiring a hitman to kill their sister. His sister was murdered. They don't speak anymore. The oldest son owns the majority share now. They're all alienated. They don't talk. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and many foolish and harmful desires plunge men into ruin and destruction. plunge men into ruin and destruction. There's a family, Candace and Brandon Miller. Brandon developed property in Manhattan. Candace, I mean, we all know what Candace is, right? What else you gonna be if you develop property in Manhattan? She's a Instagram influencer, of course. loves big pictures of her lavish life and showing her house on the Hamptons. They have a house in the Hamptons, which is on the northern part of Long Island, I think. I don't really know where the Hamptons are. The people there don't want me to know where they are. But she had a big house. They celebrated their 20th anniversary. Maybe it was their 10th. We'll say 20th, I don't know. not too long ago and had just dozens of friends at their Hampton house. It was a Midsummer Night's Dream theme party because their life was so dreamlike. You can still find the spread on Instagram, I'm sure. Brandon, he was a businessman. It was just never quite enough for him. He was always making that next deal. And when there was a property downturn in New York over the pandemic, of course, he began to go into debt and spiral into debt and more and more. He never told his wife, never wanted anybody to know what was going on. At one point, they needed a place in Manhattan. They couldn't afford a house, but they needed to keep up appearances. So they rented out an apartment, a furnished apartment for $450,000 a month. You know, because you need to keep up appearances. Nobody wants to invest with somebody who doesn't have money, who isn't successful. Last summer, just past summer, in the last few months, Brandon sent Candace and the kids on vacation to Italy. It was vacation time. And while they were there, he went and got in his Porsche, closed the garage door, stuck a water hose in the exhaust pipe, and killed himself. because he was in such debt, he was never going to get out. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. Guys, you know how long it took me to come up with that list? I left my house at 7 o'clock this morning and I had that list before I was at Starbucks. The stories are everywhere. The stories are everywhere. And if you want more stories, you can drive right now to Riverside Casino. And I guarantee you anybody in that casino at this hour of the day on this day of the week is writing their own autobiography of somebody who wants to get rich and is being plunged into ruin and destruction. It's everywhere. Why? What is it so deceitful about money? Why is money so deceitful? Well, first of all, it's deceitful because you have to have it. Right? It's not like, you know, other sins, you know, sex, drugs, rock and roll, whatever. You can keep yourself away from those things. You don't have to do those things. You have to touch money. You just have to. You have to have it. You have to use it. You have to use it responsibly. If you're, and honestly, The problem is that money does solve some problems. Money is, you know, I've lived, there's nothing noble about being poor, I can tell you. Some of the nastiest people I know are poor. You know, there's, in America we have the poverty line, and then there's what's called the happiness line, which is three times poverty line. I've lived on all sides of all those lines. I can tell you, up here's better. Okay, it does get better. And if you're underemployed, if you're under-resourced, then I encourage you to, we have people in our church that you can talk to, we need to get you to a place where you can stop obsessing about money. And as long as you're underemployed, you're probably going to. Because it's hard, it's hard to be down here, I understand that. But once you get to a level, Money stops making you happier. Money is great at solving money problems. It just doesn't do anything else. That's the problem. We think it's all it does, everything else. Money is deceitful and it's dangerous because you have to touch it. You do. You do. But the love of money, the love of money is what is destructive. Why? Well, one of the reasons is we constantly have it pushed in our face how money can make you a better person. Money can make you happier. Money can make you more beautiful, more desirable, stronger, more virile. Whatever it is you want, money can get it. That's constantly being trumpeted in your face. It's a lie, but we believe it. It's hard not to believe something you're told every minute of every day. You know, you walk through the mall. The mall's the big... They still exist, by the way. You walk through the new outlet mall, right? It's a temple. It's not a shopping place. It's a temple. where things are being worshipped, where money's being worshipped. And look at the life. You're not being sold goods, you're being sold a life. A life of beauty, a life of, you know, buy these clothes from Adidas and you'll instantly become thinner and more athletic. Right? I'm not about Adidas. I'm sorry. Lululemon. Buy these clothes from Lululemon and you'll immediately become more beautiful and more athletic like them, like the picture. We're constantly being told that, and it's a lie. It holds these temptations out in front of us that if we just had that, we'd be happy. But when we get that, we're not changed. The clothes do look better, but they haven't changed what's in them. And even when I do change what's in them, since it's me, I'm going to wreck it. I mean, I could look better than this for a few thousand dollars, you know. Liposuction can't be that bad. But I would just do it again. Because it's me. It's always dangling this tool out there in front of us. It's a lie. The reason why money is so deceitful is because it's a lie. Psalm 62 says, those of low estate are just a breath, but those of high estate are a delusion. In the balances they go up, they are together lighter than a breath. And because they're a lie, they never quite deliver, they enslave us. They enslave us to this dream that we thought we would have, we believe we will get, when we just get a little bit more. If we just had a little bit more, it teases but it never delivers. I have a friend named, well, you all don't care what his name is. It's Brennan, but you don't care. He was the RUF campus minister at Stanford for a while. He lived in Silicon Valley and made, as you can probably imagine, wealthy friends. Really good friends, great people. Went on vacation with one of them. They took him and his wife to their villa in Switzerland. And while they were in their villa, and this is Silicon Valley money, okay? While they were in their villa in Switzerland, Brennan and his friend flew over to Germany to pick up a new Porsche and drive it back, because why wouldn't you want to drive a Porsche to the Alps? And he said on the whole drive back, all his friend did was talk about the day when he had jet plane money. He's just, he's not quite made it yet because he doesn't have jet plane money. He just, aid him up that they had to fly commercial to Switzerland, to their chalet. It's always just right out there in front of you. Right out there in front of you. Once I get that, it'll be enough. There is no enough. It lies. Primarily it lies to us about security. It tells us we're fine. That's what C.S. Lewis says, the ones who are the most enslaved to money are the ones not seeking the toys and the trinkets, but the ones who are seeking security. Because you will never have security in this life other than in God and in Christ. And since you will never have security in this life, you're never going to feel secure. But those who put their trust in money to get it are always just barely missing it. They're the ones afraid to give it, afraid to share it. And that security never comes. James says, come now you who say tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit. Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. It holds out, it promises us just a little bit more in that 401k, just a little bit more, and you'll be secure. Not in this life. Not in this life. I don't know which story stands out to you the most, but mine was Steve Jobs. When Steve Jobs died of cancer, like, you know Steve Jobs, right? I mean, he's like, if he can't buy life, then life can't be bought. You know, I mean, I don't know, that one hit me. You will not achieve a financial place where you have true security. All these things ultimately lead us to destruction. They plunge men into ruin and destruction. Why? Because they're pointing you away from Jesus. They're pointing you away from Jesus. If your compass is pointing that direction, then you're going to run up on the rocks. You're going to be shipwrecked. There's only one place to find security, and Jesus is very clear about that. You have to choose. You cannot seek both. You know, you can't, like, put money here and Jesus here. So you're kind of seeking them both, right? I'm going to chase after Jesus and pick up the money on the way. He says they're like this. You have to pick. You have to pick. He says that. I'm not saying that. I would never say such a thing. But Jesus said that in Matthew 6. No one can serve two masters. Either he'll hate the one and love the other, or he'll be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. You just can't. You can't seek them both. You've got to set your GPS on one or the other. You just have to. And when you do, if you set it on Christ, then you will have enough. You'll have contentment. And if you set it on money, you will always lack that contentment and be driven for more. And if God loves you, you will smash your faith upon the rocks and you'll realize you're going the wrong direction before it's too late. That is the deceitfulness of wealth. You can ask me questions about it in a few minutes if you want to know more. But let's go on to the key to contentment. What then is the opposite of being a slave to wealth? It's contentment. And contentment just looks in another direction. Being a slave to wealth, loving money, is always looking at what you don't have. Contentment is looking square in the face of what you do have. It sees what you have, and it gives thanks for that. Paul says he learned the lesson of being content, and he says, it's this, he says, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there's anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen and may practice these things and the God of peace will be with you. That's the key to contentment, he says. I've learned to be content in all things. Because what? I give thanks for all things. I make all my needs known before the Lord. And I meditate on what's good. I meditate on what's good and pure and peaceful. What's right. I don't meditate on what I don't have. I don't meditate on what's wrong with the world. I don't meditate on what might happen. Instead, I look at what I do have with thankfulness. I probably had the best teacher on contentment anybody can have and y'all might be tired of me talking about my mom and if you are then you can just leave. And the woman didn't get everything right but she was content. She was content. And I don't think I'll ever know those kind of riches. When I drove her home from the hospital after when she was told that she had pancreatic cancer. And on the way home, I said, Mom, you know, we don't know how much longer you got left, but if you have anything on your bucket list, I'm going to give it to you. Whatever you want to do. Because I knew it wasn't going to be very expensive. It's not like she's going to go to, you know, Mount Everest. So, anyway, whatever you want. Well, you don't want to go on a cruise with your sister. Whatever you want. Just be thinking about it." She goes, okay, thanks, I'll think about it. And so then two days later, it's time for me to drive back to Tulsa, and we're sitting having breakfast in the kitchen, and she said, you know, I thought about what you said, and there's a lot of things I haven't done. I kind of like to see the Statue of Liberty. But, you know, I really just want to sit here in this kitchen. I want to have my grandkids come around me. I want you to come visit me. That's kind of all I want. Last couple of weeks of her life, a surgeon came in and said, we can't put you, an anesthesiologist came in and said, we can't put you under again. You won't come out. And it says here on your list that all you want to do is go home and sit on your porch. I can give you that. That's contentment. She looked at what she had. She wasn't thinking about jet plane money. She was content with what she had because she looked at what she had and she was thankful for what she had. Her life wasn't obsessed with what she didn't have. She lived in the day, in the moment. She didn't live in the land of what if. I cannot ever give you enough, teach you enough theology, give you enough money, give you enough whatever, teach you to pray enough to make you feel secure in the land of what if. What if, I don't know, I don't know what if. I know that God will be with us what if. But you know what guys, you've got The answer to your prayer, the prayer you prayed this morning when you said, give us this day our daily bread, I guarantee you every one of you have enough for today and that is all you've been guaranteed. You have your daily bread and you have Christ. The Lord of the universe gave himself for you. When you begin to feel that gnawing, covetous, envious, gross, yucky feeling deep inside that makes you wanna just get sour and filled with self-pity. And guys, I know self-pity, man. I've lived in that land for the last 10 months. Remember what you have. Remember what you have. You have Jesus, God himself, while you were still a sinner, gave his son for you. How will he not with him give you all things? That's where contentment comes from. And contentment is great wealth. Contentment is great wealth. There's a really, really good children's book. If you have kids that are still young enough to let you read to them, I just can't recommend this book enough. It's called The King's Equal. And it's about an arrogant young prince who was told that he could not have his father's crown until he married a woman who was his equal in wisdom, in beauty, and in wealth. And so this great search goes on for a decade, trying to find the perfect wife for him. And of course, they find up on the top of a mountain, hiding from him, actually, this shepherd girl. She was beautiful and she was wise and she demonstrated her wisdom. And he fell in love with her, but he started weeping. He said, you're poor. How could you ever be my equal in wealth? And she said to him, actually, that's not the problem. The problem is you're not my equal in wealth. And I don't want to marry you. Because there's really nothing in this world that I want. And you go to bed every night just eating your heart out over the crown. And you can't be happy because you don't have what you want. You're not my equal. And until you are my equal, I will not marry you. Wealth comes from not how much you have, but from how much you want. You have Christ, and in Christ you have all things. What else do you want? I'm running out of time, but I do want to get to this last point, the right use of wealth, the right use of wealth. And the reason why I want to point to this is because it's important, as you see, that Paul does not condemn the rich. He says, so they may take hold of that which is truly life." I love that depiction, right? That being generous, living a life of blessing others, of sharing good fortune with others, that is truly life. I love that. It's just such a rich picture. If you wanna know what life really is, be like Jesus. What did Jesus do? He, who was very rich, for our sake became poor, so that by his poverty, we might become rich. Enjoy a life. Being wealthy is a gift, right? It's a gift, just like you would say that a preacher has a gift of preaching, that a singer has a gift of singing, that an artist has a gift of their art, and they should use their gift. That's the thing. It's not a sin to have the gift. It would be a sin to only use the gift for yourself. But you should use it. That's what a good steward does. That's how God designed this entire community called the church. He gave people different gifts, and they used their gifts. You can read that in Romans 12 if you want to. And being wealthy is a gift, and it's important that you use your gift to bless the rest of the church. That's how it works. The Apostle Paul, every time he went to a new city in Acts, The first thing he did was look for somebody who was rich. I'm sorry if you didn't know that. But he needed a big house to preach in. He needed that. Lydia was the first. She was a wealthy woman in Corinth, I believe. I'm not 100% sure about that. The city, I'm sure it was Lydia, and I'm sure she was wealthy. And she had to make him basically come and live with her, and he lived with her for three years. Preaching every Sunday. Saturday. One of those. I'll go back and look. He was making a ministry center out of these wealthy houses that were big enough for him to do ministry out of. Jesus did the same thing. His ministry was supported by a woman named Susanna who was a member of Herod's household. She was wealthy. Somebody had to feed those disciples. He didn't miraculously break bread every day. That was their gift. That was their contribution. That's what they had to give. It's not a sin to be rich. It is a sin to love riches. It is not a sin to have money or to use money. You have to use money. Money is great at solving money problems. It's just the only problem it'll fix. It's a great tool. If you want to remember this, remember the first Avengers movie, I think? Did y'all see the first one? I think it's the first one. And Hulk kind of squares off with Loki at the end. Am I right? You're my expert. And Loki kind of bows up on the Hulk and says, who are you? I am a god. And before he's able to finish the sentence, the Hulk picks him up and does this to him a few times and then just says, you're a puny god. That's money. It's a good tool. It's a puny God. But when we use it to bless others, we get to be like Jesus and we get to enjoy what is truly life. Please pray with me. Father in heaven, thank you for your many gifts to us. And I pray, Lord, that you would rescue those of us who spent way more years than we want to admit, loving money and obsessing over it and counting it and trusting it. I pray, Lord, that we would repent. And I pray that we would be overwhelmed by what we have, what we have in you, what we have in your son.