" LIFE TAKES GOD $ENSE "
Look Up: Matthew
6:19-21, 24; 1 Timothy 6:17-19
Sermon preached by Dr. Wayne
Poplin, Senior Pastor of
Carmel Baptist Church, Matthews, NC
INTRODUCTION:
What do you feel
when I talk about money? Is it a sense of joy [Because it brings up
thoughts of blessing and growth in your life]? Is it aggravation or
resentment? Is it guilt? Is it a feeling of dread? Fear? What
about anger? Money does that more than any other topic. For
instance, if I talk about worry and people know they worry, they chuckle.
If I talk about prayer, and we experience conviction, we tend to want to do
better at praying. But talk about money [and the Bible is full of verses,
texts and parables on money, so why shouldn’t we] and a legion of emotions is
released. I don’t get upset anymore when I preach on money—but I know
what it is to have the issue of money create emotions and feelings within me.
Why is that? Because money is a heart matter. I feel these emotions
in my heart [the place of response], because money is a heart issue. The
heart is a battleground of two fierce competitors—God and money. Jesus
said:
No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love
the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You
cannot serve both God and Money [Matthew
If Jesus had paused right after saying, “You cannot serve both God
and…,” what would you have inserted to finish the sentence?
The devil? Your family? Your self? But He said “money”!
That is the number 1 competitor to God. My text [NIV] even capitalizes
money. It is easier to call it mammon, because no one knows what that is.
But it is money. My heart is the location of this struggle between God and
money. That is why emotion runs so high.
When Jesus made this same statement in the Gospel of Luke, Luke recorded a
response.
The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus
[Luke
There is that emotion expressed from the site of the battle—the heart.
This is why Jesus talked so much about money [He talked more
about money than heaven and hell and a lot of other topics]. He knew it
was a heart issue. He knows that the heart and money are all tied
together. When Jesus talked about money, He knew He was talking about the
heart. He didn’t talk about money to make us mad, fearful, etc. He
didn’t talk about money because He wants our money. He talked about
money because He wants our heart. The only place in the New Testament
where Jesus asked someone for money was when He asked for a coin to use as an
illustration [Mk.
Let’s go back to the text in Matthew 6:24 and see what Jesus meant.
No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the
other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot
serve both God and Money [Mt.
When you hear
the word “serve” it sounds like you do something for money [provide a
service for money] or are meeting the needs of God—“serve God.” We
do neither of these. It is just the opposite. Serving money means
looking to money to provide you a service and to meet your needs. Money
is the giver and benefactor in the servant-master relationship. You are
not doing money good. You look to money to do you good. Likewise, to
serve God would be to look to Him to be our helper, our benefactor and treasure.
He is the giver and benefactor.
So, what Jesus says is that one of these—God or
money—becomes the integration point of our lives. The integration point
is what ties our life together, what we put first and what is most important to
us. It is what causes us to change things around to fit that integration
point. And Jesus said that we cannot have God and money at our integration
point. It is one or the other. One has to be first and one has to be
most important and one is causing us to make adjustments to keep it as the
integration point.
So if money is the integration point—first, most important,
causing the adjustments, then money is foremost in our thoughts. It
doesn’t matter whether you have a lot of money or not. Money is still
foremost in your minds. You think about what the money you do have can do
for you or what the money you want to have or wish you had could do for you.
It is the point that you try to fit everything around. Decisions pass
through this integration point [giving to the Lord, job, etc.]. As a
result, what happens is that we keep using up the margins so that we can’t do
good, be rich in good deeds and be generous and willing to share. I want
to talk more about that next week.
If God is the integration point, then He is first, most
important and we change things around, make alterations to do His will and
follow His way. So then, for example, maybe we postpone buying something
we want or doing without something we could buy to do what God wants us to do [a
car—drive old one longer or buy used one—not upgrade to leather]. You
make adjustments so that you can do good, be rich in good deeds and to be
generous and willing to share [1 Tim.
Now, here is another point that Jesus made. At
any time, you can know what your integration point is. Jesus said that we
can know that by looking at what we do with our money.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also [Mt.
So
what we do with our money is an INDICATOR. What we do with
our money is a bold statement of what we value. It does not lie. If
we have money or don’t have all we want, what we do with it or would do with
it if we had more indicates where our heart is.
If you
want to locate your heart right now, look at your check book, your credit card
statement, and see what you are working toward and adjusting everything to do.
You may not like what that exercise indicates. Maybe you want to
change where your heart is. What do you do? Well the passage in
Matthew 6 helps us with that change. Where we put our money is not only an
INDICATOR [of where the heart is] but is also a DETERMINER
[of where the heart can be].
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust
destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves
treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do
not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there you heart
will be also.
Here is an exciting truth. If I want my heart to be in a particular place
and not in another, then I need to put my money in that place and not in the
other [Alcorn, Money, Possessions and Eternity, p.101]. My heart
follows my “treasure.” If you want more of a heart for missions, put
your money there. If you want more of a heart for God, give to Kingdom
work. If you want more of a heart for the lost, put your money there.
If you put all of it in your house, car, 401k—it will be there. Treasure
leads. Treasure determines.
E.g.—class
gave $560 to a needy family—young mother died. That indicated where
their heart was but also will determine where their heart will be.
Last week we talked about the RICH. Did you ever decide if you fell into
that category? I imagine most of us do. [e.g., of new family].
We have the means, don’t we, to do good, be rich in good deeds and to be
generous and share? Will we? It depends on the winner of the turf
battle—God or money. Want to move your heart? Move your money.
We will talk about some other things next week that we must also do.
In Mark 12:41-44, there is the story of the widow who gave the two cents.
Why? I would have told her to keep it. All logic said keep it.
Her circumstances said keep it. She was a vulnerable widow with no one to
help. Do you think there was a turf battle in her heart? But she
gave all that she had to live on. Why? Her integration point was
God. She loved Him. It was Passover season, and her heart was full
of how God had provided for His people through the lamb. Her decision
passed through that integration point and she adjusted everything in her life to
give to God. Jesus was watching. I wonder if He thought of His
mother—another widow whose integration point was God? Don’t you know
His heart was encouraged to see that? His integration point was God and He
was about to give His all as well.
Clink—clink. 2 cents into the big temple pot. She never knew that
the sound of those two coin would echo for centuries. I know where her
heart was, because I know where she put her money.
Where is ours?