Sunday Morning Podcast January 2, 2022. Bro. Dave Goble. Pastor
Download Sermon Audio Only Now…
We’ve had some challenges, but we can look forward still to a good year in this 2022. The glass is half full, and not needing to be half empty! Thank the Lord for the blessings He’s given us! We started a thought this past week, on “where our treasure is, there will our heart be also.” We’re going to continue with that thought in mind, but with a little different way of looking at it. One of the passages we will be reading from is in Luke 18. I’d like to think about where our treasure is, as we began this new year, and in the thought of that, how we accumulate it and how much time we spend with it, and what we do with it. I was reminded of 3 things that influence that subject. What we fear, what we love, and what we value.. think about treasure. There’s your “wealth,” it is your coin, but also your ideas, preferences, your attitude, and thoughts. So think about treasure that way. It’s also influenced by how we think about how much something cost us.
Those things three elements affect how people make decisions about anything. They tend to accumulate what they love, they tend not to part with those things they fear of losing. They value what they tend to accumulate, they spend time with it, but also again sometimes what those things cost, what we do with it, that kind of thing. Value is more than what things cost, but what it means to you. If you only go by cost, you will get what you paid for, low, or high. Making a decision on low cost, will show you it wasn’t that valuable. Another thought, before we go to our text, is “what I value, needs to be aligned with what God values! I need to be, in order to prosper. How have you determined that what you value, is aligned with what God values? Simply by what you think, or what you want? Because we have a “witness,” the Word of God, of things that God values! .So we can search the witness to see if what I value is the same as what God values. That means you have to read, search, pray to receive the witness from it. I’d like to ask as we study, are we aligned with what God values, or with my preferences? If I’m aligned with the world and it’s ways, it’s likely I will not be aligned with God’s values. Again, costs is not the same as value, and might be more than what we’re comfortable with. But if we’re seeking value, that might be preferable. One of the things that determine value, is fear. Normally we will try to avoid what we fear. What we fear, sometimes drives up the cost of the decision. Seeking value will sometimes overcome the fear. Because the cost is not the primary “driver.”
TEXT: LUKE: 18:18-25
18 And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
19 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good: none is good, save one, that is God.
So the ruler wants to know, “what do I have to do to inherit eternal life?” Or what do I have to do to be a Christian? To serve God?
20 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.
21 And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.
Jesus started with the law, because he knew the young ruler was aligned with the law. He’s teaching a lesson. What we prefer, believe, what our opinion is, our thought is, is not necessarily what God is aligned with! Jesus is asking this young man to determine what is he aligned with? In essence of course, the young man is declaring he is aligned up with the law of Moses and faithful to it. In our language today, he is saying he goes to church every Sunday, and doesn’t hang out with the worldly crowds and doings, i.e. go clubbing, foolishness, doing things that I know are wrong.
22 Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come, follow me.
23 And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.
24 And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
25 For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God!
We’re going to speak about this rich young ruler, class, value, and what we’re aligned up with. We make reference also to; Luke 12: 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. I’d like us to consider this new year, that our treasure is not our house, land, possessions. Our treasure ultimately is our opinions, ideas, preferences, attitudes, and thoughts. Those are our greatest treasures, that each of us hold. In wars, marriages, it’s the differences of strong opinions, ideas, that causes the divisions. It’s not usually about “stuff” and who has the most, but rather the differences about ideas. Ideas start wars! As we start 2022, our opinions, and ideas, what we (1)value, matters! That’s your treasure! This young ruler was fearful of losing his treasure! What you (2)fear losing, is your treasure! Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also! Also what you fear losing, is what you will (3) love!
Sometimes the one thing we are unwilling to give up is the one thing that God needs the most! That one thing is what will keep us from a rich relationship with God and put us at odds with God’s people the body of Christ! All from that one thing we are unwilling to give up! God wants us to sell everything we have, to find our treasure! The young ruler couldn’t do it be cause that was not where his treasure was. Instead it was in his “stuff.” Is our treasure with our opinions, our attitudes? Is that what we fear losing? We all have strong opinions. But I need to be willing to distribute them to wherever poverty is, and find my treasure in heaven! It is not stuff that will divide God’s people. Instead it’s opinions, attitudes, preferences, ..that will divide God’s people! God says “let it go!” “Let Me have it!”
“Getting Our Priorities Straight – I” “What We Fear Losing”