Kingdom First - Week 2 "Kingdom or Thingdumb?

So Jesus is calling us to learn to live kingdom first. And so our goal in this series is really the exact same goal Jesus has for our lives, to learn to live kingdom first. And so today, I wanna talk with you about a question. Here's the question. Kingdom or thingdom? Kingdom or thingdom? Turn to your neighbor and say, you get to decide. Turn to your other neighbor and say, it's up to you. [00:26:18] (30 seconds)  #KingdomOrThingdom

``Now friends, according to Jesus, how I handle money shapes the kind of person I'm gonna become. And how you handle money shapes the kind of legacy that you leave behind. Not just on this earth, but far beyond into eternity. And that's what we're gonna see today in Matthew chapter six. So here's our big idea for today. So if you're a note taker, I want you to write this down. This is a summary of Jesus' teaching right here. What you invest in God's kingdom, you enjoy forever. [00:30:17] (31 seconds)  #KingdomInvestments

And so when you say, well, what's the kingdom of God? Like, what are we talking about? So last week, we gave you a definition that comes from Genesis one about the kingdom of God and that definition holds through all the way through to the Bible. It's most helpful definition you'll find. Here it is. The kingdom of God is this, the kingdom of God is the rule of God over the people of God who channel the blessing of God to the world. [00:33:54] (23 seconds)  #KingdomIsGodsRule

In Jesus, the kingdom of God is at hand. In other words, Jesus has come to make right all that's gone wrong in this world and in us. How does he do it? He does it by restoring the rulership of God in your life one heart at a time. And today's subject matter is the number one place where self is to be dethroned. That's what we'll see in Matthew six. A little background before we jump in. Matthew is the first book of the New Testament. So it functions as a bridge between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Matthew quotes the Old Testament at least a 100 times, over a 100 times. [00:35:20] (38 seconds)  #MatthewBridgeScripture

In Jesus, the kingdom of God is at hand. In other words, Jesus has come to make right all that's gone wrong in this world and in us. How does he do it? He does it by restoring the rulership of God in your life one heart at a time. And today's subject matter is the number one place where self is to be dethroned. That's what we'll see in Matthew six. A little background before we jump in. Matthew is the first book of the New Testament. So it functions as a bridge between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Matthew quotes the Old Testament at least a 100 times, over a 100 times. [00:35:20] (38 seconds)  #JesusRestoresRule

In Jesus, the kingdom of God is at hand. In other words, Jesus has come to make right all that's gone wrong in this world and in us. How does he do it? He does it by restoring the rulership of God in your life one heart at a time. And today's subject matter is the number one place where self is to be dethroned. That's what we'll see in Matthew six. A little background before we jump in. Matthew is the first book of the New Testament. So it functions as a bridge between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Matthew quotes the Old Testament at least a 100 times, over a 100 times. [00:35:20] (38 seconds)  #RestoreGodsRulership

So from this passage, Jesus calls out two things for us. Okay? So if you're a notetaker, write this down. The first thing, Jesus calls for divesting of my thingdom. So he calls for divesting of my what's divesting? Well, dictionary.com defines divest as to dip dispose or to sell off. Here's the definition, to be free of. Imagine being free of the pull of my thing. That's what we're talking about. [00:38:19] (28 seconds)  #DivestFromThingdom

If you're here today saying, what's what's the big deal about thingdom? Here we go. If you are a parent, you have children with you, you may get asked some questions over what I'm about to share. It's a little PG warning. A survey was done in, I think, 1990, 1991. I looked it up the other day, forgot the date. About there. They surveyed a thousand adults asking the question, what would you do for $10,000,000? Buckle up. Twenty five percent said they would abandon their families. Twenty five percent, $10,000,000. Twenty three percent said they would be prostitutes for a week. This is an empirical actual study. Seven percent said they would murder a perfect stranger for $10,000,000. Now, let me see your hand. If you believe that those people doing those things for that money could ever go on the other side to be truly happy. Raise your hand if you believe that. I don't believe that. [00:39:31] (63 seconds)  #MoneyChangesMinds

Where does it end up? Right there. Compute that. And then also, have cars back here. Right? Now, am wondering, this is your chance this is your chance to be proud. How many of you have ever actually paid off a car payment? Remember that raise your hand. Oh, God bless you. Remember that last payment? You're like, woo hoo. All those payments, you were sweating those payments. And where did it end up? Where everything ends up. Listen, landfills are full of things we couldn't live without. [00:43:49] (32 seconds)  #StuffEndsUpInLandfills

Here's a thief. How about the thief of broken families? Do you know who the poorest people in America are? Single parent homes. Single parent homes. Driving in any urban center, where do you find poverty? Go look in the homes and see what structures. Single parent homes. Broken homes. Family breakups of all different varieties. Here's a thief. How about the thief of economic downturn? Your markets boom, markets bust. Bubbles can grow, bubbles can burst, and your whole world right there with it. How about this thief? How about the thief of the US government? Enough said. Right? Reality is Jesus is warning us. No wonder he's strongly warned. There are thieves. Don't build your life for that which can be taken away. [00:46:27] (48 seconds)  #DontBuildOnThings

So Jesus is saying is the number one rival to God in my life will be money and all that it takes to get there. That's the number one rival. The chief competitor to God is money. In fact, the word money there, if you have different translations or you look this verse up in different translations, you see the word mammon. Mammon refers to an ancient Aramaic word where it has a root in the personification of the idea of that in which you ultimately trust. Mammon. That's why it's capitalized. It's personified. Your ultimate one that you trust. It's a sobering warning from Jesus indeed. Why does he warn us? Because he loves us. [00:47:53] (44 seconds)  #MoneyVsGod

Every dollar you spend, your bank statement leaves a trail that points to a throne that reveals your real king because Jesus loves you and loves me. He doesn't want you to be a sucker falling for marketing or self centered desires that are not tempered by the rule of a loving kind generous God who has better things for us. [00:49:51] (25 seconds)  #SpendingRevealsYou

So bottom line, money is a blessing from God. Hear this, it's not a substitute for God. Money is a blessing from God. I grew up in poverty. I get to say that. It is it's not a substitute for him. And if you get a little and it starts to take over, you're off track. [00:51:06] (21 seconds)  #MoneyIsABlessingNotGod

So the reality is, friends, kingdom generosity is not something God wants from you. He's good. It's something he wants for you. He wants to decouple your heart from chasing money and things so that you could chase the person who made you and loved you. Money will never love you like Jesus does. Money will never take care of you like Jesus does. [00:55:18] (22 seconds)  #GenerosityFreesYou

So in verse 19, Jesus like, don't accumulate treasures. Now he's saying, do accumulate treasure. What's the difference? Well, in the worlds of in the worlds of real estate, the difference is three worlds three words rather. Location, location, location. Jesus is like, yeah, accumulate in heaven. [00:56:03] (24 seconds)  #InvestInHeaven

Notice the words treasure and heart. Treasure and heart. According to Jesus, your treasure and your heart are inseparably linked together. Now the truth is, God is not after your treasure. He owns it all. So he's not after that. God is not after your treasure, He's after your heart. Oh, which is linked to your treasure. So if God wants to get to your heart and it's linked to your treasure, he's gonna tug on the treasure to get to your heart. [00:59:45] (32 seconds)  #TreasureReflectsHeart

Imagine this. Okay? Imagine, you gotta you gotta imagine what we imagine we're all living at the end of the American Civil War. Okay? You there? That's where we are. We're living at the end of the American Civil War and we're all in the South. So we're we're stationed in the South. That's where we are. But our true home is in the North. For some of you southerners, woah. It's like, just imagine. We're stationed in the South. Our true home's in North. Now just imagine, we just found out it's official. The war is over. The North won the victory. [01:04:29] (30 seconds)  #CitizensOfHeaven

Question. What will you do with your Confederate money in that scenario? You're in the South, the war's over though. It's just winding up. Your true home's in the North. What do you do with your Confederate money? If you're wise, you live on it. Right? You live on some. You gotta live. So you live on some. But if you're wise, you would exchange as much of that confederate currency for US currency as you possibly could. Why would why is that wise? It's wise because in a little while, confederate currency will be worthless. [01:04:59] (43 seconds)  #ExchangeForEternal

In the same way, friends, one day our earthly treasure will all be worthless. And in this in between time, between now and eternity, we can exchange that which is going to become worthless for that which lasts forever. That's what Jesus calls us to do. [01:05:42] (27 seconds)  #TradeTemporaryForEternal

Jesus calls us to live kingdom first. The truth is, friends, he loves us. Money will never love you more than Jesus. None money will never make you more safe and secure than Jesus. Money will never care for you and be faithful to you more than Jesus. And so the question is, kingdom or thing dom? [01:08:04] (25 seconds)  #JesusOverMoney