Potential Pitfalls of Prosperity

Transcript

GR 1726
5/25/2014
Potential Pitfalls of Prosperity
Hebrews 13:5-6
Gil Rugh

We're going to Hebrews 13, we're working through the book of Hebrews and God has given us an order in the book of Hebrews. Early on in the early years of the ministry here I had people often say to me, we spend so much time in doctrine. I wish we would spend more time on the personal application. And really the pattern set down in Scripture, God spends much time setting the doctrinal foundation and life grows out of that. Someone else cannot be the Holy Spirit in your life. Since you have placed your faith in Christ and take in His Word and submit to that Word, the Holy Spirit of God takes and works in your life to mold, develop and shape you and you respond to His truth in obedience.

The bulk of Hebrews has dealt with the finished work of Christ. God's Son came to this earth to offer the one and only sacrifice that could pay in full finally for all eternity the penalty for sin, provide complete and final, absolute cleansing, enable us to stand in the presence of God justified, declared righteous by the Holy God. How awesome that is, how great that salvation is that you and I, defiled sinners, deserving and on our way to an eternal hell have been so cleansed, so forgiven, the penalty for our sin so fully paid that God can declare us righteous, absolved of all guilt. That's the past dimension of our salvation. Hebrews talks about that. There is the future dimension we sometimes call glorification, including there all that God has promised to those who have been justified by faith in His Son. We will, some day, enjoy the glory of God's presence for all eternity, dwelling in a city He has prepared called the New Jerusalem where we will enjoy the glory of God forever. We will experience as the church of Jesus Christ the glorification of these physical bodies. That's the future hope we have. Then there is the present reality of our salvation. Hebrews has brought this up and this becomes the focus of this closing portion of Hebrews. How do we live as those who have been justified by God's grace and anticipate being glorified by that same grace in fulfillment of all He has promised to those who love Him? The present work of what we sometimes call sanctification, holiness of life, living lives that are pleasing to Him.

Hebrews 13 is focused on this. The first three verses focus on our responsibility to love one another. I want you to be careful here, people get confused. The commands to live a life pleasing to God are given to God's children. The world is addressed as guilty before God. They are revealed as sinners by a holy God. But there is no exhortation for them to change their conduct because they can't do that. They can't bring cleansing to themselves. So you see Hebrews 13 opens up talking about love of the brethren. He is addressing those who are members of God's family, who have been born again by the living and abiding Word of God. We looked at John 3, Jesus told Nicodemus, “you must be born again;” you must have a second birth from above, born into God's family. Now we are to live like it. That means we identify with others in the family, that picture that we understand—we love and care for one another in our physical families and our spiritual family, that love we have, that bond established because we have fellowship with the Father, as 1 John says, “we have fellowship with one another,” we share in one another's lives, we express that love. Even during times of difficulty we share that with one another.

Verse 4 concentrated on the purity that is characterized God's family as believers, their moral purity. Marriage is to be held in honor among all. We get frustrated, we talked about the condition of the world. We have come through a unique time in the history of the world. We have nations like our own nation that don't even recognize what nature teaches, as Romans 1 says, “but do that which is contrary to nature, which is unnatural.” And redefine marriage as something other than the joining of a man and a woman. We noted quotes even from the Greeks and the Romans in past history, often noted for their gross and vile conduct. But they were clear that marriage is between a man and a woman. That doesn't mean that they were morally pure, but depravity continues to go down. But among God's people we are to honor marriage, hold it in honor, see it as God's plan, the norm. We noted the exceptions that God gives by grace to some. The normal plan and pattern He has is for marriage and the expression of sexual desires is limited to the marriage relationship. And those whose lives are characterized otherwise will face God as their judge.

So moral purity characterizes God's people. Sad that often the church doesn't recognize that. That doesn't mean that Christians can't sin, we can sin morally as well as in other areas, but the lifestyle of a believer must be different.

Come to another area, an area we love to talk about—money. Verses 5-6, “make sure your character is free from the love of money.” That will be really the subject of verses 5-6. And that word translated love of money, it's the same basic word we had translated love of the brethren in verse 13, the word love. The verb phileo, that form, so we join that word love with the Greek word for brethren in verse 1. Now we take that same word for love and join it with the word money or silver in verse 5. And believers are not to be taken up with the love of money. That is not to characterize their way, their walk. It's the way of the world. All that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life. This is not new. We say we live in such a materialistic society and a materialistic country and a materialistic world. It has always been that way. But believers are to live differently. This was written 2,000 years ago and prior to that the Scripture addressed it, as we will see.

Now we might think, this is strange, is he just jumping around? In verse 4 he talks about marriage and sexual marriage, in verse 5 he jumps over and talks about money, and these things just seem to be unconnected. But they are very closely connected. Interesting how often the Bible mentions sexual sins and covetous sins together. We're just going to take a couple of examples. One is in the Old Testament, come back to Exodus 20. Much of the book of Hebrews is focused on the superiority of Christ to all that was provided in the Mosaic Law or the Mosaic Covenant. And part of the Mosaic Law was the Ten Commandments. There are many commandments in the Mosaic Law, I can't think offhand, 663 the Jews counted, but the Ten Commandments give a nice summary for the Jews and for us.

I want you to note the connection here. In Exodus 20, God giving these Ten Commandments to Moses, He tells him in verse 14, “you shall not commit adultery;” the next verse says,”you shall not steal.” People steal, they covet what someone else has, they love material things and they want more for themselves than they can normally have. Same thing down in verse 17, “you shall not covet your neighbor's house, your neighbor's wife, male servant, female servant, ox, donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” You see these things go together because all these things come out of a heart that is in rebellion against God and is focused on the pleasures of self. Why do people go outside of the marriage relationship for sexual fulfillment? They want to please themselves. They don't care what God has said. They are not interested in His purposes and plans. They are in rebellion against Him. Why do people covet? Steal? Love money? Focus on material things? That's their life in rebellion against God.

Come over to the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 5. Paul addresses this matter in writing to the Corinthians and here he makes a distinction that we have noted when we began between the world and the believer. And in 1 Corinthians 5:9, “I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people. I did not mean at all the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers.” Do you see how easy it is to join together those who practice immorality with those who are covetous? They covet what someone else has, what belongs to someone else. And the desire for material things and the love of those things go together, the desire and immorality with the satisfying of selfish pleasures and desires. “ I didn't mean with the immoral people and covetous people and covetous people and swindlers, idolaters of the world because then you would have to leave the world because the whole world lies in the evil one. Right? But I actually wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person or covetous.” See we can put this love of things, material things, covetousness, not always the same word but expressing the same idea, or other sins, we don't share with them.

God's family has standards just like you as a physical family with your children. There may be young people, they hang around, they get drunk, they practice immorality, they do a variety of things. You tell your kids, that's not acceptable in our family. I remember my dad before we were believers, there were still certain things that he said, that cannot be done in our family. Well, this is what God says. This is My family, this is My household. Certain conduct is unacceptable. We tell our children, they get to a point, my dad told me, we used to arm wrestle and he says, that's fine. I can't wait until I beat you. He said, just remember, when you do, you have to leave. I kept letting him win for the longest time. Temptation came, but I always came to my senses at the last second and went down.

So that's what God is saying about His family, this is not acceptable in My family. So He tells His family members, anyone who professes to be part of the family and wants to live like this, they have to be excluded. So they realize the seriousness of it.

Come to Ephesians 5:3, he's talking about “being imitators of God as His beloved children,” verse 1, and “walking in love as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us. But immorality or any impurity or greed,” see how he closely connects immorality and greed, which is another way to talk about covetousness, another way to talk about love of money and things, together. It's contrary to manifesting the nature of God. You become partakers of the divine nature, remember, God's character is now being produced in us. We are to walk in love, immorality is always self-centered, selfish. A man commits immorality, was that because it was best for his wife? For his children? Or if a woman does, same thing? No. Because it is a self-centered desire to satisfy what I wanted. The same with greed and covetousness and the pursuit of things. They are selfish desires.

They oughtn't to be even named among believers. We often think of covetousness, that's something that goes on in the heart and our cover is you can't see my heart. The Scripture assumes what is in your heart is evidenced in what you do. We reveal what is in “because it is out of the heart,” Jesus said in Mark 7, “all these sinful things proceed.” So we do reveal what we live for, what is important to us.

Now you can come to Colossians 3. This is similar to Ephesians but I want you to note the connection he makes here in Colossians 3. You'll note the chapter opens up, “if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above. Set your mind on things above.” There is a total change of focus in life, I mean, God's work of salvation, when he says you are born again, that pictures the radical change that takes place at the very center of your being. Now the focus of our life, our thinking, our desires is changed. “You have died, your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life is revealed, you will be revealed with Him in glory.” And we start out talking about that past dimension, justification. “You have died with Christ, been buried with Christ, been raised with Christ to newness of life” and now we anticipate that future promise.

Verse 5, so our present reality, our sanctification. “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, greed, which amounts idolatry.” We see that same connection made by Jesus during His earthly ministry, shortly. Greed, another way to express covetousness, the love of money. That's idolatry to have that selfish desire for things the center of your life. I mean, think of the wealthy people of the world, how much they talk about their money. Do they talk about God and His grace? That He has given me the ability to make money? That He gave me a mind that could think things through, that could conceive of things that would result in bringing me vast sums of money? No, they talk about how intelligent they are, what they have done, their plans. God is not part of it. You try to talk to them about God, well, not open to that. How sad it is. It is idolatry.

Come back to Hebrews. “Make sure your character is free from the love of money.” Now these Hebrew Christians, this congregation of Jewish believers has been through difficult times, remember. They have experienced significant physical loss and suffering. That was back in Hebrews 10:32, “remember the former days when after being enlightened,” after you came to trust Christ and know His salvation, you endured a great conflict of suffering. That involved, verse 34, “the seizure of your property, your possessions.” They knew what it was like maybe to be reduced to poverty because of their testimony for Christ and identification with Him. The problem is, now it is coming around again and they can see the similar kinds of problems on the horizon that are beginning to press in. And you know how you've gone through maybe some serious financial setbacks, you finally dig your way out of that hole, so to speak, and all of a sudden you can see here it comes again. You begin to panic and you want to look for a way to avoid such suffering and loss. That's what these Hebrew Christians are going through. You know, we've been through this, we've lost so much, we've just recovered. It's so nice to have a little bit, a place to live, enough to fall back on in material possessions. There is nothing in and of itself wrong with that but that can't replace my commitment to Christ, which supersedes everything else.

The world is going to be relentless in pressing in. Not saying there is anything wrong with possessions and wealth, there is everything wrong when they become the focus of your life. Let's be honest, there is great danger in living in a prosperous society. We are blessed to live in a prosperous country, we benefit from that as believers. We live comfortable lives, we have more than we need to get by day by day. We don't know what it is to just have enough food for today and be wondering where will the food for tomorrow come from. The same is with a place to live and our clothes. Even in poverty we have more than much of the world has. That begins to shape our thinking and the world begins to mold us, contrary to Romans 12 which tells us, “don't be conformed or molded by the world but be transformed.”

Come back to Matthew, I want to look at several of the passages where Jesus addressed this and warned of the danger. And then time permitting we will come back and relook at some of these passages a little more. In Matthew 6 we are in the Sermon on the Mount. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus addresses the matter of earthly possessions. Verse 19, “do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth. And earthly treasures and the treasures placed here on earth are places where this treasure can be lost—moth, rust, thieves, inflation, deflation, catastrophes, all kinds of things.” For us not too long ago we had stock market difficulties and they talked about how many people lost all their retirement savings. Things happen in this world. The warning here is “do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where none of these things can impact it or diminish it.” Then there is the word of warning, destruction “,for where your treasure is there your heart will be also.”

Now what is enough treasure? What is too much? We tend to look at this in the context of other people and it's the people who have much more than I do who probably aren't storing up treasure. But all of us, think back of how it was when you first got married, what you did. Marilyn and I lived in a very small apartment above a dry cleaning shop. There was a dry cleaning shop and we were the only apartment upstairs, one-bedroom apartment, it was great. It meant we weren't living with my mother and dad or her mother and dad, and they were happier about it than we were. Worked out great. But we didn't stay there. Then we moved to another place, then we moved to another place, then we moved to another place, moved to another place. I was watching a program in another country where people from the United States went to buy a house, and the real estate person said, you have to understand this country is different. There aren't many places for sale because the people here don't move up. The house they buy when they get married is the house they will live in the rest of their life. They don't see this as a stepping stone. Every society has its own things they create. But for us we do get caught up in it, it just is our way of life. We have to be careful because it becomes normal. We say, my heart is not focused here. We have to be careful, where your treasure is there your heart will be also.

John Wesley as you well know from past church history said anytime I get extra money, I quickly give it away lest it find its way into my heart. And there is a truth to that for us because what is enough? I tell you what was enough for me 50 years ago would not be considered enough today, and the lifestyle then is not the lifestyle I want now. That doesn't mean it's the lifestyle I have to have, but I have to be very careful. These things draw me in, pretty soon they become the focus of my life, the concern of my life. What will happen if I don't have retirement savings? What happens if? And now I'm concerned, and these things to try to guarantee my security take more. So even though we have abundance, we have less for the things of the Lord.

I am going to share something with you. I don't know what people give at Indian Hills, I don't see checks, I don't see financial records. But we did have some statistics given to us as the Board. Do you know what the largest group of givers are at Indian Hills, numbering in the hundreds, people who give $500 or less a year. Now that's a small number. We're not talking about these are people who give $500, we're talking about $500 or less, total for a year. For some people here that might be a lot. I don't think it is so for 300-400 people. Could it be in our prosperity, you know Paul wrote to the Corinthians and said, “I'm coming to collect a collection from you. I don't want it to be tainted by covetousness.” In other words if you give little, it will be a reflection of covetousness. So I'm just concerned for us as a congregation. I don't know who gives what or doesn't. We think we are a Bible-believing church, we want to be biblical. But have we been tainted by things? Well, it takes a lot to live today. Well, it takes a lot to live as the lifestyle gets more, doesn't it? And then, how much do I have to have for retirement? Well, I don't want to be dependent on anyone. Sometimes what we really mean is I don't want to be dependent on the Lord. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with planning, with making certain preparation, but you know it is never enough. It just grows and grows and so planning for tomorrow grows with it because we're always told, how much will it take to continue the lifestyle to which you have become accustomed when you do retire. And it takes more of my planning for the future.

One of the preachers, I was reading from the 18th century, said his concern, he did not want to have much stored up here because if the Lord called him to His presence tomorrow, he didn't want to have to give an account as to why he left so much unused down here. If the rapture would occur this afternoon and we stand to give an account before the Lord and He said to me, why did you leave so much stored up down there? I gave you that to use for My purposes. Well, I didn't know if I would need it. Well, maybe you should have trusted Me. Remember the man who stored up the money. I mean, we have to be careful that we don't get drawn in.

This is not a rebuke, particularly, but it is for all of us, including me. We get caught up in the world in which we live and it constantly presses in on us and wants to shape our thinking. And pretty soon we are focused on this life. Matthew 6:24, “you cannot serve two masters, you cannot serve God and wealth.” We fool ourselves as to who we think we are. I have to examine myself, am I getting caught up in this? You know it happens gradually and pretty soon, how did I get so entangled in this? And then things go wrong and pretty soon we are in a financial disaster. How did we get here?

Come over to Matthew 13, I just want you to feel something of the impression of how often Christ addresses this. Matthew 13, this is the parable of the soils. The Word of God is sown out there, verse 22, “the man whose seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the Word. The worry of the world, the deceitfulness of wealth choke the Word, it becomes unfruitful.” True salvation manifests itself when we are freed from slavery to sin, the world, the devil. This man wasn't. The initial response—wonderful, I've wanted to hear this. But you cannot add Jesus Christ to the baggage of your life, and the attempt to do that stifles any effectiveness of the Word and he is unfruitful.

Come over to Luke 12, another warning given by Christ during His earthly ministry. Verse 15, we're just breaking into some of these sections, “beware and be on your guard.” This is our Lord and Master, the head of the church, speaking. “Beware, be on your guard against every form of greed. For not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” So as we are privileged to live with prosperity, remember God warned Israel back in Deuteronomy 18(I think, we won't look for it now), “when your possessions increase,” to just summarize it, “be careful you don't forget Me,” God says. So when you have an abundance your life doesn't consist of your possessions. God does bless some believers with great wealth, He has blessed all of us, just looking around, to one degree or another of riches and wealth. Be careful, be aware that does not become your life.

He told a parable of a rich man whose land was very productive. He began to reason to himself saying, what shall I do? I have no place to store my crops. I will build bigger barns. What we do is find better investments, we're going to set more set aside, we're going to secure our future finally. Then he says I can sit back, have the life, take early retirement, be able to do what we want. It's what the world holds out, that's the good life. I get a retirement magazine, not because I'm thinking of retiring, but I think it is fun to read about the places that they tell you about and the population and what kind of religious places are there, things to do. Interesting. But it all holds out, they don't show anybody sitting there with a glum face. Everybody is having fun, and they are having the retirement they deserve, that you deserve, that you can have. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with retirement, but we have to be careful. God's statement to this man, verse 20, “you fool,” a word that means not wise, not intelligent. All you have is wealth.

Not too long ago a very wealthy man in the internet world died. I think he left $11 billion. Was he a fool or wise? It all depends on what you have after you die. It's not what you have when you die, it's what you have after you die. We know what he had when he died, it's still here. His wife became the heir of $11 billion, he took nothing with him. What does he have? That's the measure, that's what Christ says.

“So is the man who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” Then that warning, you can't change your life, trust God. But come down to verse 34, we'll talk more about the intervening things in a moment, “where your treasure is there your heart will be also.”

Many years ago I did some studies, part of the doctrinal program then, and part of the study that was done, we assembled material that had been taken around the world and it was Christianity moves into a new area and its greatest impact is among the lower level. That would mean people who have less financially. There is a zeal and a passion in that Christianity, but they could chart, and we did charts and you could chart, as people became believers they became more successful because they became better workers. They wanted to honor the Lord with working harder, doing their best, being honest people. And they would begin to rise in the material scale and you could chart, there would begin to be a decline in the spiritual passion among those believers. I never forgot those charts and how you could just sense it. What happens? We just get caught up with the world, the devil, the god of this world does his work very well. He draws us into something and we think, this is not good or bad. Then you have the health and wealth preachers, we don't go that far, but we begin to identify the material prosperity God gives us with God's blessing on us for us. And it may not be for that, it may be so He can use us in the lives of others. That's probably why God didn't make me a billionaire, I could give fifty reasons why I should be doing a Bible study in January in the Caribbean. I mean, don't they need the Word there? And that's the way we think.

I want to stop in Luke 14, just one verse. This is a tough section, verse 26. He had great crowds and we think that's good, we have church growth and we think all the principles of church growth and how to grow a church and be successful. When the large crowds started to follow Christ what He does is a church shrinking program, He didn't have the church yet, but He is shrinking His followers. He says to them, “you can't come after Me unless you hate your father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, even your own life. You have to pick up your cross and follow Me.” What is He saying? You can't be a follower of Mine unless you are all in, you don't add Me, as I mentioned, to the baggage of your life. I love Christ but I love my family. Well, make your choice because becoming a follower of Christ may cost you your family, your parents, your children and so on.

Then he gave illustrations—“don't be a fool, count the cost.” Down in verse 33, “so then none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all of his own possessions.” Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “you are not your own, you have been bought with a price.” Even your body doesn't belong to you, it's His and not yours. You are His slave, you don't own anything. Your body belongs to Him. Whatever we have is what He has given us to be used according to His purposes. You can't be My disciple unless you give up everything and I become the total focus of your life. That's why we have many people who think they are saved but they have never been saved. They think they just add Christ and now I've taken care, I have security to go to heaven and I have the best of both worlds here, and on we go. “Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, we did many mighty things for you and many things. And He said, I never knew you.”

Look at Luke 18 and then we have to go back to Hebrews. Verse 18, “a rich man came to Jesus, a young man and said, what do I have to do to have eternal life? And Jesus said, keep the Law, do all that.” Not that he could be saved by keeping the Law, but he is bringing him onto the root issue. You have to commit yourself totally to Me to have eternal life. So he said, “I've kept the Law and I've done all these things.” Great.
Verse 22, “Jesus said to him, one thing you still lack. Sell all that you possess, distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven. Come follow Me.” And this man is very sad because he was extremely rich. Couldn't do it. Jesus said, how hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of heaven. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get into heaven. But with God everything is possible.”

You see the seriousness of wealth here. How many times have you heard the testimony—so-and-so, a billionaire, has come to place his faith in Jesus Christ and is declaring his total allegiance to Christ. It does very rarely happen. Doesn't say that some Christians aren't wealthy, there can be a wealthy man saved. “With God all things are possible,” but it's unusual. Why? Because wealth becomes the focus of our life, it becomes the god of our life. Strong words. “You have to give up everything and follow Me,” that's what we read Jesus said earlier in a different context. “You can't be My disciple unless you give up all your own possessions.” This idea that I'm rich and now if I have eternal life I have the best of both worlds. No, now you live in a different world for a different master. While you still live on this present earth, you are living with a totally different focus.

Come back to Hebrews 13. Don't love money, make sure your character is free from it, your way is not characterized by it. Be content with what you have. There is the positive side of it—here is something you are not to do, here is something you are to do. Be content. The world is driven on with that relentless pursuit of something, and when I get more I'll have it. Then when you have so much you can't use it, just being able to have it is something. Be content with what you have.

Come back to 1 Timothy 6, we are going to get here in our study of 1 Timothy shortly. Paul is writing to Timothy and the church at Ephesus, and you'll note what he says. Some of those false teachers, the end of verse 5, “equated godliness as a means of gain.” And we have many of these shysters and health and wealth believers today. They use a facade of godliness to make themselves rich. “But godliness is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.” So there is our key idea, being content. “We brought nothing into the world, we can't take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare, many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil, some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But flee from these things, you man of God. Pursue righteousness” and so on. Already at the church at Ephesus Paul writes to Timothy and says, “some have been led astray, they've wandered away from the faith and they have brought disaster on themselves and their testimony for Christ.” What a sad thing. I didn't mean to, it wasn't what I was thinking. Do you want to get rich? You'll fall into temptation. If you love money, you'll be drawn into all other kinds of evil.

It’s humorous in a sad way. A crime will be committed on TV but they'll always say something positive about this person and how could they do this. I mean, they were having an affair but I can't believe they would kill their spouse. Sin has these tentacles and you just can't isolate yourself to one sin. That selfishness of sin just spreads itself and consumes you. And a warning, some believers already have wandered away from the faith and brought grief to themselves.

Come over to Revelation 3, the church at Laodicea. Here is the most “successful” church humanly speaking addressed by Christ out of the seven churches in Revelation 2-3, and yet it is the most harshly condemned church. It is the church Christ does not give a good word to. He said to them, verse 15, “I know your deeds. You are neither cold nor hot, I wish you were cold or hot. You are lukewarm. Either cold or hot, I will spit you out of my mouth.” Remember what Christ said, “unless you are totally committed to Me you can't be My disciple.” This idea of lukewarm, I'm a believer, I know I trusted Christ years ago, I'm just not living for Him. I'm not the judge of hearts, but the One who is the judge of hearts has spoken to the issue, have nothing to do with you. Whoever came up with the idea that there is a true Christianity that is a lukewarm Christianity? Whoever came up with the idea that you can be a follower of Christ but not follow Him? I tell you who came up with it—the devil, the deceiver who masquerades as the angel of light. Christ says “because you are lukewarm, I'll have nothing to do with you, I reject you, I spit you out of My mouth. You say, I'm rich, I've become wealthy, I need nothing. You don't know you're wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. You have to come to Me for true riches, true wealth, what I can only provide in cleansing and forgiveness and new life and the hope of glory.”

Today we have church growth programs and the measure of being successful is that your church grows. We saw that Christ moved to shrink His following. When the crowds get large He said, “wait a minute, let's talk about this. You can't be My disciple without giving up everyone and everything else.”

Back in Revelation 2 He addressed the church at Smyrna, verses 8ff. Verse 9 he says, “I know your tribulation, your poverty, but you are rich. Those that oppose you don't fear what you are about to suffer,” verse 10, “some of you are going to prison, you'll be tested. Be faithful to death, you'll get the crown of life.” That little church, how does it compare to Laodicea? It's a little, struggling, hanging-on church, suffering. But he says, you are faithful. The church at Laodicea, we don't need anything. Look at our growth, look at our stature in the community. We are self-sufficient. You are nothing. We begin to get shaped by the world and it's a constant, relentless pressure.

Come back to Hebrews 13 and we'll pull this together. The reason we are not to love the world and can have that focus of contentment in a world focused on wealth, whatever we have or don't have, He has said, “I will never leave you nor will I ever desert you.” We're not going back to the Old Testament, you have some of the references in your margin. Deuteronomy 31:6-8, He gave that promise; Joshua 1:5,9, that promise was repeated. “Be strong, be of good courage. I will never desert you, I will never forsake you.” The point is what more do we need? We have the eternal God who is sovereign over all, who has created all things, who controls all things. And He is with me, He will never leave me all of my days. Never. It's reinforced with a quote from Psalm 118:6, we sang a verse of this psalm earlier in our service. Verse 6, “so that we may confidently say,” not hesitantly say, not timidly say. Confidently say, “the Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will men do to me?”

I shared with you, many years ago. We were in China talking with a pastor who had spent 20 years in prison. What about we give you this literature to distribute? Are you afraid they'll arrest you? This man was in his early 70s. What are they going to do to me? They took the church away, they imprisoned me, they took all our possessions. If they want to take me back to prison and feed me, that's up to them. Here is a man who is free, he's not worried about tomorrow. It's in the Lord's hands. That's the point. He is my helper. Remember Jesus reiterated the promise that we quoted to you from the Old Testament in the Great Commission, Matthew 28:20, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” That word translated always there is literally all the days. I love that. Always gives the idea, I will be with you all the days. Every day I think of that, He is with me. We sing about it, we read about it, we study it. Then we get out there, what are we going to do? How are we going to handle this? Lord, you are in control, my life belongs to you, my desire is to be as faithful to you as I can be in every area of my life. My life is in your hands.

Come back, now we have to reiterate some passages, come back to Matthew 6. We read down to verse 24. Now note how Jesus goes on after He says,” you cannot serve two masters.” Verse 24, “you cannot serve God and wealth. For this reason I say to you,” he's going to elaborate on what we have in condensed form in Hebrews is stretched out by Christ here. “Do not be worried about your life as to what you will eat or drink, your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food? The body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, they don't sow, they don't reap, they don't gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them.” Aren't you worth more than these sparrows, these birds? And you can't change your life. You worry about it but you can't change it, that's the point of verse 27. “Why are you worried about clothing? Look at the lilies of the field.” We have some flowers that were planted out back of our house and Marilyn remarks periodically, look how beautiful those flowers are. And they are. It's amazing. We didn't do anything. We just put them in. They look like weeds. In fact my comment was where did you get those things? They blossom and the flower is beautiful. And that's just one kind of flower. Look at the multitudes of flowers that the Lord has created, the beauty. He says here Solomon didn't even have such splendor, the wisest man with the greatest wealth, he couldn't create the beauty God did in a wild flower. Amazing.

Verse 30, “if God so clothes the grass of the field which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not also clothe you, you of little faith? Don't worry then about the things of this life.” The Gentiles, He is addressing Jews here, the church hasn't begun yet and the Gentiles here are the unbelievers. They don't know the God of Israel. They seek these things. “Your heavenly Father knows you need these things. Seek His kingdom, His righteousness.” In other words you live for Him, the focus is on Him, on pleasing Him. He takes care of these things. “Don't worry about tomorrow, tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” The point is it will take care of itself because God is in control tomorrow. You can't control tomorrow, I can't. All we can do is worry about it

Think back, here you sit now comfortable, getting a little hungry, looking forward to the afternoon. Think about what you've worried about over the last ten years and all that accomplished. How often do you say, I don't know why I was so concerned about that, I don't know why I was so worried about that. Well, I don't either. God says we shouldn't be, He controls tomorrow. You know that line from a song, I don't know what tomorrow holds, but I know who holds tomorrow, pictures it. That's right.

Come over to Luke 12:22ff. We read down to verse 21 and then we jumped to verse 34, but the same point Christ is making. And He reiterates much of what was said and recorded in Matthew. Down in verse 32, I love this, “do not be afraid, little flock, your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.” Think about that, we talked about that with the city God has promised which will be in the eternal kingdom. It's mine, I am wealthy beyond compare. This earth and the things of this world will be consumed with fire, Peter says. It will all be burned up, don't get attached to them. Don't worry about it. If you live from hand to mouth day by day and you have the riches of glory before you, the heaven with you, what else do you need? What else can there be? Doesn't mean we don't take care, we don't make plans, the proper sense. But my life doesn't lose its focus. Remember that was the point of Hebrews 11—they stayed focused on the promise, they focused on what God promised. That's what matters.

One more passage, Philippians 4, some of you were probably wondering when we would get here. Paul is in prison when he writes this, how beautiful. I mean, he has lost his freedom, this is an imprisonment that goes on for five years, and here he is. Some believers in other places have sent him a gift. He thanks them for the gift, he is appreciative. Verse 11, “not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, I know how to live in prosperity. In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled, going hungry, having abundance, suffering need.” What is it? “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” That's it. I may be doing without, I may be suffering, but God is my strength, He is my provision. You sent me material things, I appreciate it. That was a gift you gave to God and God used it to help me.

But don't lose the focus, look at the end of verse 18. “What you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God”—the most important thing about handling our possessions properly. Well, I don't give to that, I don't agree with that. Well, I want to be wise with my money but I want to be generous with it. There is always one reason not to and why I need it. How much of a hold does our wealth have on us? Good thing to stop and think, if I lose it all today will I be content. I'd be worried. Why have anxiety about tomorrow? Sometimes it is stages in our lives that sounded good, to take a serious step and say, let's just cut this off and do with very little in this area or cut way back just to see how we do. Do I have to have this? Has this become essential to my happiness? Is this important to me in a wrong sense? Lord, I have you. If I lose everything this world has to offer, if I wake up in the morning and my family is gone, my house is gone, my bank account is gone and I'm being carted off to prison, I have riches beyond compare. I am content. God doesn't give me grace for tomorrow, I want to be careful. Easy to boast about what I will do tomorrow if, when I don't have to do it, but nonetheless I want to try to be sure my thinking is where it ought to be. I don't want to hold the things of this world in a tight grasp. Hold them loosely, hold them lightly, be generous with what God has given you so that if He calls you into His presence today, you can say, I have used it wisely as you would have me, as a good and faithful servant.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for the riches that we have in Christ, riches unseen but sure, riches that we will enter into some day, an inheritance preserved by You in the glory of Your presence where we will dwell forever and ever. You have blessed us, You have prospered us materially. The tragedy would be that in this prosperity we would forget You and become taken up with our possessions. May we be faithful. We pray in Christ's name, amen.