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If you have your Bibles, and I hope you do, I want to invite you to join me in Matthew chapter 6.
As you turn there, a couple things that I would like to mention to you.
If you do not have a copy of God's Word, we want to invite you to give you one.
We have Bibles in the back.
I'll be back there at the end of the service.
You do not have to wait on me.
If you want to go back there and grab one right now, right there at the connections table,
you can have one of these.
This is our gift to you.
We want every single person to have a copy of God's Word.
Let me say this as well, because I've had this question come up to me.
What if you have a friend or a family member that does not have a Bible and would like one?
Can you get one and take one to them?
Absolutely.
You bet you can.
We want everyone to have a copy of God's Word, and so we would invite you to go by there and
grab one of those.
Also, I would like to share with you guys something that will be going on in my life next week that
will affect you guys for next week.
Next week, you're going to be blessed.
Josh is going to be, Josh Nix is going to be here.
He's going to be preaching.
He's going to continue on in Matthew.
He's going to do a wonderful job.
I've been talking to Josh over the last couple weeks, and the Lord is doing a wonderful work
in his heart and in his life on this passage as he prepares to preach.
Next week, my wife and I and our kids will be out of town.
Back this past March, I got a phone call from Calvary Baptist Church in Augusta, Georgia,
which is the church that I grew up in before we moved to First Baptist North Augusta, and
they asked if I would come and preach at their homecoming.
And so I said, well, let me go and let me ask our elders.
And so I asked our elders, and they said, absolutely.
A wonderful little church there in Augusta, Georgia, say this, and I'm letting you guys
know this, number one, because I desperately want your prayers, need your prayers.
This is a congregation that I went there.
Our last Sunday there as a family was in 1989, and then I went a handful of times.
And then in 1995, which was the last time I was in that church, was for my grandfather's
funeral.
So it's a congregation that I do not know, but a congregation that God has called us to next
week to be able to preach, and she'll do that.
The other reason why I'm sharing that, guys, with you is because in a world of social media
where if you get on and someone tags me standing in another church preaching, I just wanted
to say, we love it here.
I sent a message out to my family.
My aunt had her family portrait taken with all of her daughters, their husbands, their
kids, their spouses, and their kids.
And there's 80 people.
Right?
Wow.
Isn't that?
Yeah.
So I sent out a text message because we all grew up going to that church.
And I said, hey, I'm going to be preaching there.
Would love it if you guys, because they all still kind of live in the Augusta area.
Most of them do, if you can make it there.
And then the very first text message was, are y'all moving back to Augusta?
I was like, no, no, we are not moving back to Augusta.
So please believe me in my heart, we're going there for homecoming.
If you don't know what a homecoming service is, then you might not have been raised Southern
Baptist.
If you know what a homecoming service is, you were raised Southern Baptist.
So if you're curious what it is, basically it's a once a year for a lot of churches and
they'll do these.
And then they invite, maybe if they have someone who's called out of ministry from their congregation
to come preach like they're doing with me, it's an opportunity for grandma to have her
grandkids come and worship with them if they've moved on to a different part.
So just a wonderful, wonderful opportunity.
And so praying through what God has for me to be able to share with them.
But I did want to communicate that to you guys.
So last night was prom.
It was our last prom at the Bradbury house as our kids are graduating from high school.
I heard someone say this and I'm going to apply this to my life.
The saying was, I am 47 years old.
I have the sense of humor like I'm 12 and I feel like I fought in the Civil War.
All right.
That's me this morning.
All right, so let's pray and then we'll jump right in.
God, I thank you so much for this morning, Lord, and for this opportunity.
Lord, I thank you for this church.
I thank you for their investment, not just in my life, Lord, in the life of my family,
but in the working and the ministry of the gospel.
God, I thank you for our time of worship together.
Lord, I pray that you were exalted.
God, I pray for our time in the word today.
I pray that you will be exalted.
Lord, remove from this, Lord, what is of me.
And Lord, may it only be what is of you for your name and for your glory.
And it's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Well, guys, we live in a society that loves stuff.
We do.
One of my favorite TV shows is American Pickers, where they go around and literally pay money
for people's trash, right?
I love it.
We are a society who loves stuff.
I think Lexington County, it's got great evidence of that.
And I would encourage you on your drive home this morning to count how many storage building
facilities you pass on the way from here to your house.
We love stuff.
We love stuff so much that when our stuff outgrows our house, we don't get a new house.
We don't get rid of stuff.
We pay $150 a month so that someone else will hold on to our stuff.
We love stuff.
We have TV shows where people try to solve the problem of hoarding because people have
hoarded too much stuff.
But we also have TV shows where people celebrate the fact that people hoard and have too much
stuff.
We love stuff.
We love stuff so much that we have a business whose entire model, which is extremely significant,
successful, and you will know who this business is, who says that the moment you realize
that you need more stuff, all you have to do is pick up your phone, tap your screen, and
you can have more stuff there by tomorrow.
Jesus, as he's teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, speaks to an eternal danger that arises
when our hearts become consumed with, when what we begin to pursue is the matter of stuff and
how we need stuff and find our identity to stuff.
And in that, to surrender to the pattern of this world and instead of to him and his kingdom.
So would you read with me this morning, Matthew 6, we're going to read verses 19 through 24.
Jesus in teaching says,
Do not lay up for yourself treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves
break in and steal.
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves
do not break in and steal.
Verse 21, for where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.
The eye is the lamp of the body.
So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.
But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.
If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness.
No one can serve two masters.
For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise
the other.
You cannot serve God and money.
Two things I want to remind us of in the Sermon on the Mount before we look at this group of
three illustrations that Jesus brings to us is Jesus, if you'll jump back, I apologize that
this won't be on the screen, but Jesus has called people to faith by repentance of their sin.
You see, the Sermon on the Mount is being set on the foundation of what he says in Matthew
4, 17.
It says, from that time, Jesus began to preach, saying, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand.
This was not a one-time message Jesus said.
This was a continual, over and over and over again message.
Some biblical scholars think that from the time Jesus said that in Matthew 4, 17, to the time
that we pick up the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, 1, that it's been a little bit
over a year.
So Jesus is saying, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
The second thing in understanding that the Sermon on the Mount is Jesus is calling people to
something while calling them to reject something.
He's calling them to something while Jesus is calling them to reject something.
Jesus is preaching for the way of the kingdom and the rule of the king.
Part of Matthew's point of his gospel is to point his audience to the fact that Jesus Christ
is king.
And that you and I, when we surrender to the king, we are a part of the kingdom.
And in the Sermon on the Mount, we get this kingdom ethic that's there.
He's been doing this as he's been battling with the false teachings of the Pharisees.
All throughout chapter 5, we see where Jesus is correcting the false teaching of the Pharisees,
where he says, you have heard that it was said, but I say to you.
And he corrects on matters of anger and lust and divorce and oaths and retaliation, and it
goes on and on and on.
He then picks back up, as we saw over the last couple weeks, in chapter 6, was speaking
to, don't be like the hypocrites.
Guess who the hypocrites are?
The hypocrites of the Pharisees.
He says, don't, excuse me, don't be like the hypocrites.
Don't be like the hypocrites who do these religious acts and deeds with the wrong heart and the wrong
purpose.
They do it for themselves, not of God.
So when you give, give with a heart for God.
When you pray, pray with a heart for God.
When you fast, fast with a heart for God.
And so Jesus has been challenging the notions and practices of the day concerning false religion,
false faith.
He's confronted their false use of scripture and their false practices as well.
And now through these three illustrations, I want to be honest with you, that seem on the
surface, to be a little disconnected, Jesus is what we're going to see as though doing them
with an intentional purpose as he moves from one illustration to the other, comes to this
at the end, you cannot serve God and money.
So why would Jesus, in this context, be speaking to this issue of money?
Well, here's what is at the heart of the Pharisees.
The Pharisees would use religion for the purpose of not exalting God, but for the purpose of making
money.
Now, let's complete candid moment here, right?
This is my job.
I am very grateful that every two weeks, a paycheck hits my account for me serving as
the pastor of this church.
That's not what's happening with the Pharisees.
They are using their religion, they are leveraging false teachings in order so that they can make
a profit of where their heart is and what their heart desires.
And so Jesus, within this, is going to press toward them of who they are to be.
Who is your real master?
You see, Jesus is not going to talk about that it's wrong to possess money.
He says it's wrong for money to possess you.
And that oftentimes, this can come in and appear in our lives, in the matters of materialism,
which can enslave and capture the heart.
You see, this is not a call toward poverty.
The rich and the poor will both suffer with this if they're not careful.
So the question for us, the question Jesus is going to be asking is, where is your heart?
Who or what has captured your heart?
Matthew 6, 21, for where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.
Have you ever thought about what you treasure the most?
Have you ever thought about where you treasure the most in this life?
Where you invest your time?
What consumes your thoughts?
Is it set on the king, in the kingdom, or on the lesser things of this world?
You see, for the Pharisees, to be rich was to be holy.
To be rich was evidence of God's obedience, I'm sorry, of your obedience and God's blessing.
The problem for the Pharisees in this line of thinking was this, the more they had, the more they wanted.
There was no satisfaction with what God was doing and how God was using this in their life.
And so Jesus gives three illustrations here that will address their heart and our hearts today.
That as they struggled with greed and materialism, will pour it in and ask us the exact same question.
Regardless of how much money is or is not in your account, where is greed and materialism in your life?
So today we are going to talk about money.
It's a topic that a lot of people are uncomfortable with, but we are going to look at this and talk about money.
I thought this was interesting in my study this week.
Jesus in Matthew alone, Jesus in Matthew alone talks about money 109 times.
In fact, Jesus talks about money five times more than any other topic.
And while we may not like to talk about money, we like to think about it.
We like to think about money.
It might be the topic of conversation that can kill a family lunch together, but all while we're there, we think and we long for it.
When we think about money, money is the thing that oftentimes gets blamed for our greed and materialism when they creep in our lives.
And we find it's the scapegoat to blame money for our problems.
But here is what we see in 1 Timothy 6.10.
Here's the problem concerning money.
And this is what Jesus is going to address here.
Here's what Paul says to Timothy.
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.
You see, the issue is not the object.
The issue is not money.
The issue is for you and I and our longing and our desire for the money.
Of what we desperately want and desperately crave.
So Jesus is going to give three illustrations.
The first illustration that he gives us here is two treasures.
Two treasures.
Matthew 6.19-21.
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.
But lay up for yourself treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.
So what is Jesus saying?
But also, what is Jesus not saying?
Sometimes this passage of scripture will be used to twist and to manipulate the agendas, the goals, and the pursuits of godly people who seek to do godly things with the finances that God has blessed them with.
Here, Jesus is not saying don't save.
Jesus is not saying don't be wise.
Jesus is not saying don't work for retirement.
Jesus isn't even saying don't be wealthy.
Jesus here is addressing that your and my attitude for what we have.
Because here is the thing about our stuff.
Here is the thing about our possessions.
Some of the greediest people I have encountered in my life are the people with the fewest possessions and the smallest amount of wealth.
However, in my life, some of the most generous people that I have ever known, real, sacrificial givers, are wealthy in who they are.
So the amount of stuff and the amount of money is there.
The issue is not what do you have.
The issue is how do you view it.
It's the motive of the heart.
We look at them what we see in scripture.
We look at David, Solomon, Abraham, and a list of others in the Old Testament.
Wealthy.
King David, Solomon, Abraham came as Abram as a man who came from a family of wealth and influence.
We see in the New Testament.
We see Jesus' calling of Zacchaeus and the type of tax collector that Zacchaeus was.
Zacchaeus would have been wealthy.
We see in Acts chapter 16 and the salvation of Lydia and what God, what we believe God would continue to do in her life through the church at Philippi.
We see God working and moving with people of wealth, people with a kingdom mindset.
Here's the key for us.
Whether you, where you view yourself on that scale does not matter.
It's that people with a kingdom mindset do not amass fortunes or possessions for themselves.
Instead, they look at what they do have, recognizing of who it came from, and they ask themselves this question,
how do I use this for the kingdom?
How do I use this for the glory of God?
How do I take and be a faithful steward of what it is that God has entrusted me with?
Whether it's little or whether it's much, and how do I use this for the growth of the kingdom?
For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.
That in our abundance or in our few, what we see is a love for the king and a love for the kingdom.
In Matthew 13, 44, there's a parable Jesus teaches, a very simple one-verse parable.
He says, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up.
Then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
You see, because in finding the treasure, the kingdom of heaven, and in Christ,
the goal is how do I gain more of who God is and for the glory of his name?
The second illustration that Jesus gives us is two visions.
Two visions.
Matthew 6, 22 through 23.
The eye is the lamp of the body.
So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.
But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.
If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness?
I'll be candid with you guys.
These couple of verses consume me with trying to fully be able to grasp everything that is said and everything that is implied in these two verses.
There's language that is used here that is different and not like the language that you and I use on a daily basis and illustrations that you and I don't use on a daily basis.
And what I don't want to do is miss the forest for the trees here.
So let me explain it to you this way.
Here's what Jesus is saying.
That our eye is like a window.
And when an eye is healthy, it's like a clean window that lets light into the house.
And the clean window does not block or distort the light.
But when an eye is bad, it is like a dirty window that distorts or even blocks out the light.
And the eye here illustrates the heart.
So do I have a healthy eye, a healthy heart?
Or do I have an unhealthy eye and an unhealthy heart concerning the gospel?
Well, here's what's neat within this.
Look at verse 22.
So the eye is the lamp of the body.
So if your eye is healthy, if your heart is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.
Here's what's interesting about this word healthy.
This word healthy is synonymous with the word generous.
Generous.
So let's read, if your eye is generous, if your heart is generous, so your whole body will be full of light.
You see, what comes from the heart shows and reveals who the person is.
Let me ask you, do you want God to be generous or greedy towards you?
Do you want God to be generous or greedy towards you?
I don't know about you, but I want God to be generous to me.
And praise God that he is generous to you and to me.
He does not give what we deserve, but he gives out of his grace and out of his generosity.
And we see this as evidence and truth in our life, not just simply with the common grace that we share with all of the world,
but we see it through his wisdom, his truth, his presence, his eternal blessing, his joy, his peace, his salvation.
It goes on and on and on.
He continually pours out blessings, the heart of the generosity of our God toward us.
So you and I are called, whether it's in the small that we have, or in the large that we have,
if it's in the minimal that we have, or the excessive that we have,
to give and give in godly generosity.
To not give as the Pharisees would have given,
so that people would look at the Pharisees and praise who they are for what they've done.
Not to give so that people would look at us and think that we are godlike,
but so that we would give because we desire to be godly.
To be like God who's called us and saved us and glorified him.
And when we are full of light,
the generosity that will flow is evident in who we are.
To be generous as God is generous to us.
In the third illustration that we see,
in verse 24,
Jesus says he's been building.
He's been building two treasures,
two visions,
and if the crowd is missing it,
Jesus brings it and draws it together.
He says in verse 24,
no one,
no one
can serve two masters,
for 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
God and money.
In a day and a time
where slavery was a common interaction
in their world.
Here,
Jesus uses the language
of slavery.
While slavery is something
that you and I know of
and that you and I are aware of
and that we've studied,
and I'm not saying that there's slavery
still all over this world.
In our day and time
where we find ourselves,
you and I don't fully understand
the language of slavery.
Now sure,
we have people
who have expectations of us,
correct?
And sometimes we can misuse
and say,
you know,
I feel like they're treating me
like I'm a slave.
And it's a misunderstanding
and a misapplication
of what that word means.
Sure,
we have bosses over us.
We have governmental agencies
who enforce things on us.
We have managers.
You and I,
none of us are separated
from the fact
that we have people
who have expectations of us.
But where we find ourselves
and where we live,
unless we come from
some horrible,
horrible situation,
that is real.
I don't want to belittle this.
I don't want to belittle,
but the reality for us,
this more than likely
is not the case.
You and I
have never truly been
a slave.
And when Jesus says,
no one can serve
two masters,
that language
would have resonated
in that world
different than us.
And so here
is the picture of it.
It's not demands.
It's not expectations.
Jesus is saying,
only one person
can own you.
And they own you.
They own every part of you.
They own your yesterday,
your today,
and your tomorrow.
They own the words
that come out of your mouth.
They own the thoughts
in your mind.
They own the deeds
of your body.
They own you.
Jesus says,
and by that definition,
you cannot have
two masters.
You see,
when we come to Christ,
repent,
for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand.
When we come to Christ,
and we receive Jesus Christ,
the work of Calvary,
the cross,
through the power
of death,
burial,
and resurrection,
and we receive
that salvation work
that he's doing
on our life.
He is our Savior,
and he is our Lord,
and he is our master,
and he is our king,
and we are a part
of this kingdom.
In Romans 6,
I want to read to you
the Apostle Paul's words.
He says this,
starting in verse 16.
Do you not know
that if you present yourselves
to anyone
as obedient slaves,
you are slaves
of the one
whom you obey?
Either of sin,
which leads to death,
or of obedience,
which leads to righteousness.
Verse 17,
thanks be to God.
Thanks be to God
that you,
who were once
slaves of sin,
have become obedient
from the heart
to the standard
of teaching
to which you have committed,
and have been being
set free from sin,
have become
slaves
of righteousness.
I'm speaking
in human terms
because of our
natural limitations.
Paul said,
I want you to grasp
and understand
what this means,
and so I'm going
to use worldly
examples
so that we can
understand them.
For just as you
once presented
your members
as slaves
to impurity
and to lawlessness,
leading to more
lawlessness,
so now present
your members
as slaves
to righteousness,
leading
to sanctification.
for where
your treasure
is,
there
your heart
will also be.
I'm going to ask
the praise team
if they'll make
their way up on stage,
ask our prayer team
if they'll make
their way
to the sides
of the auditorium.
Where are your treasures?
What consumes
your thoughts,
your mind,
your motives,
your hearts?
Is your heart
reflective
of the grace
and generosity
given from God
to you?
Or is your heart
reflective
of the sinful
pursuits
of this world?
Who's your master?
Repent
for the kingdom
of heaven
is at hand.
Folks,
may we be
the people
who dig up
Jesus,
who uncovered
the truth
of the gospel
and say,
oh,
I want more of that
and I'll give up
anything,
anything
for more
of him.
Would you pray
with me?
God,
thank you
for who you are,
for your working
and your moving
in our life.
Lord,
may we
seek
to surrender
all,
all of who
we are,
all of what
we have,
all of what
we desire
for you
and you alone.
It's in Jesus'
name we pray.
Amen.
That's it
for this week's
message.
Be sure to check
back next week
for a new episode
and in the meantime,
you can visit us
online at
willowridgechurch.org
or by searching
for Willow Ridge Church
on Facebook,
Instagram,
and YouTube.
Thanks again
for listening.
Bye.