**New Series: Two Masters**
All right, well, good morning, DC. How are you guys doing? How are you guys doing? Awesome.
Well, when you came in today, you probably would have noticed a lot of things have changed. The sign outside, maybe you're... is it sounding weird in here? Is that just... is that me? All right, our guys got it. They're going to work on it.
And so when you came in, there was like some new signage and different stuff. Did it look okay? Look good? Okay. So that's exciting.
What's not exciting, though, is a bunch of stuff didn't come in in time. And so bear with us, if you don't mind. Some of our print materials were a little bit delayed. And so sadly, there's some things that still say CLC. There's some green things around the room. And so just bear with us as the green turns into blue. And over the next couple of weeks, hopefully, we'll get all of that squared away.
All the digital stuff should be working pretty well for you right now. The only thing is the app was supposed to go live this morning, and it did not. And so, but we're okay. You can still use your CLC app to take notes. It's already there, ready for you. And we'll let you know when things get shifted over there. But if you're looking for us online, we are dc.one now, O-N-E, dc.o-n-e. And on social media, we are Disciples Church, and you can find all of that stuff there. Okay? Sound good?
All right. Before we get into, like, this whole thing, can I just tell you, though, that where you go to church doesn't make you a disciple? The sermon you listen to doesn't make you a disciple. The teacher we're going to give you after service today doesn't actually make you a disciple. Those things are great. They're awesome. In fact, I'm really... really glad you came to church today, but can I tell you that churches don't make disciples? Programs don't make disciples. People do.
So the only thing that can make a disciple is a disciple. And so I'm so glad you came to church today, but if you are really on board with me and with this church in this whole discipleship thing, then what I need you to understand is that's not happening in this room right now. But where it does happen is in the context of relationship.
When you get into a small community, a small group of people where you can actually do life together, and they can know you, and they can ask questions, and you can ask questions, and they can pray with you, and you can grow to be more like Christ in that small group relationship. And so we call those DC groups now. Used to be life groups, now they're DC groups.
And we're going to talk a little bit about that real quick, because it's really important to know that you're not just a disciple. You're not just in a DC group that discipleship happens, because that's where you actually get connected to other people trying to become more like Christ. And in that place, you can build relationships, you can build trust, you can get to know people and be known.
Because right now, you're just... some of you are nameless faces in a crowd. Some of you, I know your name, but not everybody. Some of you are just a number on a live stream somewhere. But if you want to actually become a disciple, you're going to have to get connected to people, okay? You need people in your life who are actually modeling for you what it looks like to be like Jesus. You need people in your life who are teaching you, from Scripture and from their own life, what it means to follow Jesus.
You need people in your life that are actually encouraging you to keep following Jesus, because some of you know sometimes the cross gets heavy, right? And so you need somebody encouraging you, but you also need somebody in your life that's correcting you. Because sometimes you think you're following Jesus and you got lost along the way. And so you need somebody that can correct you, and you need somebody that's challenging you to actually become like Jesus in every area of your life, including your blind spots, including in some of those areas that maybe you're a little bit weak in.
And so we need people. God actually designed you for relationship. He actually made you to need other people. That's why he calls you a part of the body of Christ. How many of you know you're not the whole thing? You're a part of it, right? Like my finger is not a body. My finger is a part of the body, right? But if the finger is no longer attached to the hand, it is dead and useless.
So let that settle for a second. Don't be dead and useless. You got to stay connected, all right? And so we do that through discipleship groups, through DC groups.
And one of the things that we got to understand in Hebrews chapter 10, it says, let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. What that means is stir up is just how do I motivate people? How do I encourage people, right? And it's one another, right? Like I'm not the only one that's supposed to stir you up. You're actually supposed to stir me up. You're supposed to stir the person sitting next to you.
We're supposed to stir up one another to love and good works. This is what it means to be a disciple. If you missed the closing message from our first love conference, we talked about this love thing because it is the marker for who is and who is not a disciple of Jesus Christ. He says, you'll be known by the love that you have for one another.
So how you love other disciples actually makes you a disciple. It's how we are identified, right? So this whole love thing, to love like Jesus loves, how many of you know that's not always easy? Because love takes a lot of work and you need other people that are helping you love like Jesus loved.
And beyond that, like how easy is it to love people if you're never around people? Like you actually kind of need people in order to do the thing that Jesus said you need to do, right? So this whole, I can just be a Christian all by myself thing doesn't actually work. You need people, right? To love and to do good works.
Here's what I love about God. He actually has a work for you to do. And if you actually pay attention to scripture, he actually made the work before he made you. He made a work and then he designed you to be able to do the work. So your design actually reveals your destiny. If you can figure out how God has made you and wired you, you'll actually know what it is that he's telling you to do because the work came first.
And if you still don't know yet what your work is, man, go to Growth Track. It's actually happening right now upstairs. So don't leave the room right now. Go next week. But every Sunday at 9 a.m., the Growth Track is there to help you discover your design, figure out how God has wired you so that you can actually know the work that you're supposed to be doing.
And he says, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, right? Sometimes we get so busy in life, we start neglecting important things. But this gathering together is so important. He says, don't neglect this as some are getting in a habit of doing. Not just you miss once or in a while, but you start getting into a habit where it's like every week you're missing this gathering together.
He says, but encouraging one another, right? I love this. Sometimes you're the one encouraging. Sometimes you're the one being encouraged. But you're encouraging one another. That's what happens in the context of relationship. And he says, do this all the more as you see the day drawing near.
Now, the day, that's the day of judgment. That's the Lord's day. They talk about that a lot in the Bible. And so basically what this is saying is the further we get from the resurrection of Christ and the closer we get to the return of Christ, the more you actually need to be in community, okay?
So where does community happen? In groups. Thank you, Pastor Pat. So DC groups is where that's going to happen. Discipleship happens in the context of relationships.
So let me tell you a little bit about our groups. Some of this is old information. Some of this is new information, but I want everybody to be on the same page because if DC is your home, then you should be in a group.
Okay. So our groups are what we call free market seasonal groups. Okay. Free market just means we don't care why you get together. We just care that you get together. Free market means pick people you want to hang out with and do things you want to do. Make sense, right?
So if you want to get together and play basketball, do it. If you want to get together and learn how to sew, we got a group for you. If you want to get together and have breakfast. Awesome. I love breakfast. If you want to get together and, and I don't know, play games or do a potluck at somebody's house, or you want to sit down with the latest Christian book, or you want to sit down with the book of Romans and just walk through the book of Romans together.
If you just need to find some healing from some trauma from your past, whatever draws you together, that's awesome. Because what's most important is not why you're together, but what happens when you are together, okay? So these are free market groups.
And then most of our groups are seasonal, which means they don't go all year round. We intentionally put start and stop moments so you don't have to lie. Because maybe there's a better way to phrase that, but like sometimes we get really busy and it's like the Christmas season and summer and it's like we got all these things going on and so you start missing group because you got busy in like these seasons of life.
Well, we eliminate the need for lying and we just say, hey, look, we're gonna take a break. Like, it's okay, you can do the things that you need to do and then we're gonna come back together, okay? So our groups are what we refer to as seasonal.
Now, not all of them are seasonal, but let me walk you through this because we actually put our groups into five categories. Our five categories or groups are social, study, serve, support, and love.
And discipleship. So social and study, those are the two most common, maybe the two most popular. Social just means we're gathering together because we like each other and we just wanna hang out. This is the group for my wife. Like, she just wants to be with people and she doesn't care what you're doing, it's social. I just wanna hang out, right?
Then there's study groups, those are my groups because that's the nerd groups. Where's my nerds in the room, right? You just like, give me a book, give me a Bible study. Like, I just wanna study, I wanna learn, I wanna, and it's like, man, I don't care about the relationship with the people. I just want the stuff, okay?
Now, social things happen in study groups and study can happen in a social group, but it's just where the focus is, okay? The priority or what's gathering you. Both of those are great groups that you can be a part of.
Then there's serve groups where you're just gathering together with other people who have a passion to do good in a community. And it's like, hey, I wanna do good, but it's really hard for me to do it by myself, so I'm gonna get a bunch of friends together and now we're gonna go together and serve. And so those are great groups.
Then there are the last two categories, one is support groups, and these are very unique because these follow a national curriculum and they are not seasonal, they go year-round, because how many of you know that trauma happens year-round? Like, you need help, like, all the time, not just some of the time.
And so these are not seasonal groups, and they're also overseen by our counseling department. And so the support groups are things like Divorce Care and Grief Share. If you're looking for something like a Celebrate Recovery or an addiction program, we don't house that here, but we will connect you with a place that does. But if you're looking for support, especially emotionally or spiritually, then we have some groups for you, and you can find those groups online as well.
And then there's the new category. This is discipleship groups. And this is kind of why I wanted to talk about all of this, so that you'd understand this new thing that we're adding in. And so discipleship groups are actually just hyper-focused on helping you become more like Christ, to be one and make one.
And so discipleship does happen in all of the groups, but discipleship-labeled groups, it's like, this is the why we're gathering, okay? It's very, very intentional. Now, these groups are also limited in size. Because if you get too big, you're no longer discipling. Now you're just attending a class, okay?
And so these are not classes. These are small groups, so they're limited in size. They are also not seasonal. They go year-round, okay? So I could probably say, like, this is the intense group. So if you're ready for that level of intensity, then a discipleship group might be the right one for you.
And we've hand-selected a few pastors and leaders of our church who have a gifting for helping make disciples. And so they're leading those groups, and you can find those if you go to go.dc.one/groups or use the QR code.
But all of these groups are actually going to kick off on February 16th. That's just two Sundays away. And the idea here is, if this is your home, you should be in a group, okay? So that means if you're not in a group, then I'm going to treat you like you're a stranger. If this isn't your home, no, I'll be nice to you. But I'm really trying to stress, and I'm scaring some of you, like, get in a group, okay?
In fact, this is so important to us that we're actually going to kick off that first six weeks of our groups with an all-church life group campaign. Just said life group. See, it's going to slip out all the time. It's all right. You still, Grace, thank you. Thank you, Pastor Jason.
So we're going to kick off the DC season with an all-church campaign. And what that means is that for six weeks, it doesn't matter what group you join, you're going to be talking about the same thing. Because on Sundays for six weeks, we're going to walk through the book of Ephesians verse by verse.
And then in our podcast between sermons, we're going to talk about Ephesians. And then when you get in a small group, you're going to talk about Ephesians, right? And it's really awesome because Ephesians has six chapters. And so we're going to spend six weeks going through six chapters of Ephesians.
So it takes some of the stress out of it because just everybody gets in a group. We're all studying the same thing. One mind, one heart, one direction. And then after those six weeks, you can go play basketball and do all of the fun stuff that you want to do already. Sound good?
All right. That was my 20-minute announcement to start this sermon. So if you're ready, I guess I could sum it up by saying just get in a group, get in a group, get in a group, get in a group.
All right. So we're going to jump into this idea of two masters. If I could just have the refs restart the play clock to 35 minutes. I'm kidding. It's a little football humor for you. I'm going to try and keep this a little bit abbreviated because we are going to be talking today about everyone's favorite subject to talk about at church.
We're going to talk about money. Is there a better way to start Disciples Church than with a conversation about money? Now, I got one amen. Thank you. But before you start groaning, before you start pretending like you left your wallet at home, can I just refresh your memory for a second, okay?
We came in. We worshiped. Pastor Jason came up. He prayed us out of worship. And then he got up. He welcomed guests. And then he did offering. And then we did announcements. And now I'm up on the stage, which tells you, guess what? Offering's already done. You don't have to start looking for the exit. I'm not doing offering 2.0. We're not doing a rehash of the offering, okay? So relax. Just breathe. It's okay. Just chill, right?
But we are going to talk about this thing because there is a huge connection between being a disciple and money. There is a connection that we need to look at. And so today, I really want to talk to you about your heart. I think there's a heart issue that we need to address. And then next week, Pastor Carlton is going to come, and he's going to make everything so practical that we're going to be able to have tips and ideas and things to walk away with. But today, it's not the practical. Today is the heart. Are you with me?
Okay, so Jesus, he said a lot about money. He talked about money a lot. In fact, about 40% of the parables in the New Testament that Jesus told had something to do with money or possessions. In the Gospels, I had to look up this stat like four different places because I didn't believe it when I first saw it. But one out of every 10 verses in the Gospels talk about money or possessions. That's a lot.
The Bible has about 500 verses on prayer, about 500 verses on faith, and over 2,000 verses on money and possessions. The Bible has a lot to say about this subject, and that might seem weird, but Jesus actually tells us why. And it's in this amazing sermon called the Sermon on the Mount, and it's found in Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7. If you want to read the whole thing, it's a beautiful sermon that Jesus presents to this crowd of people early on in his ministry.
But right in the middle of it, he actually gives us the why God is so concerned with money. And so this is where we pick up in Matthew chapter 6. It says, do not. Now, when Jesus says don't do something, what should you not do? Like whatever he's about to say, like I don't want to do it.
So do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But, okay, so if he's telling you not to do something, and then he gives you the word but, what does that mean? That means I don't do that, but do this, okay? Do this thing.
So instead, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. So not here, put it up there, okay? And then he says where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
So your heart follows your treasure. And so if your treasure is here, your heart is here. And when your treasure is there, your heart is there, right? So where your treasure is, that's where your focus goes. And so when your treasure is here on earth, it's at risk, right? He goes through that list of moths and thieves and all this stuff, rust that can destroy your wealth.
And so when your treasure is here, you're preoccupied with keeping it safe, right? You're focused on it. You're thinking about it. You're worrying about it. You're obsessing over it. And then Jesus comes in. He's like, hey guys, what if instead of worrying about your treasures here, what if you just started putting your treasures in heaven where you don't have to worry about it anymore? Isn't that beautiful?
And then he continues, and it gets weird for some of us, because then he says, 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?
And some of us read that and we're like, he was just talking about treasure. Now he's talking about eyes. I don't get it. Okay, but he's still in the same conversation here. It's still talking about where you're putting your treasures, but he's using a Hebrew figure of speech. Okay, and it's translated for us, your eye is healthy. In the original, it was something more like a good eye and a bad eye.
And a Hebrew figure of speech was a bad eye was a stingy or selfish eye. And a good eye was a generous eye. And you can read through Proverbs and in Psalms where it will talk about this good eye and tie it to this idea of generosity, because it's a Hebrew figure of speech.
And so he's saying, hey, look, when your focus is no longer on the good eye, you're obsessing over your treasures on earth. When you can finally actually just release all of that, stop trying to amass wealth for yourself, but start recognizing that every blessing you have is just a resource so you can be a blessing to others.
And when you start putting treasure in the right place in your life, all of a sudden you become a generous person. And there's something in a generous person that just, it's like the light in you just shines out. But when you start focusing on your treasure here, you lose that eye of generosity. It becomes dark. And now everything that comes out of you is darkness. Are you with me?
Okay. So then Jesus gets to the heart of the matter. He says, no one. How many people does that include? Like everybody, like no one. Like I know some people are like, well, I'm the exception of the rule. No, no, no. No one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or he'll be devoted to the one and despise the other.
And then he says, you cannot serve God and money. Okay. Now we've talked about this before, but this is the principle and this is the example, right? The principle is no one can serve two masters. The example he gives is God and money.
Okay. But what we have to understand is that the principle is more important than the example. Don't lose the principle because you're so focused on the example. Okay. The principle means if Jesus is your master, your job can't be. If Jesus is your master, your spouse can't be. If Jesus is your master, drugs can't be. If Jesus is your master, sex can't be. If Jesus is your master, your thoughts can't be. If Jesus is your master, your feelings can't be. If Jesus is your master, your desires can't be. If Jesus is your master, you can't be your master.
If Jesus is your master, nothing, nothing else can be because you cannot serve two masters. Period. End of story. And you can insert whatever example you want because the principle is God is not interested in competing for your affection.
And so he gives us the example, God and money, and he actually chooses this for a reason because discipleship demands full devotion, not divided loyalty. And when we begin to choose money, we divide our loyalty. When we begin to choose anything, we begin to divide our loyalty when we don't choose Jesus.
He uses money as the example for the principle for a really, really good reason. And that is that he's God. He is the all-knowing one. And he knows how much of a barrier your money is going to be between you and God. And so he uses that as the example because he knows it's the one you're gonna struggle with the most, at least for a lot of us, especially in America. Western Christianity, we got a problem with money and God.
And so in the context of this passage, when he says you can't have two masters, what he's saying is you can't have two gods. And maybe the hardest thing I have to do today is try and convince you that if you are not careful, money will become your God.
And a lot of you are already going, that's silly, I know what money is and it's not God. But let me just press on you a little bit. How do you relate to a God? If you actually believe that someone or something is God, then guess what? Your whole life is gonna revolve around that thing, right? You're gonna make decisions based on it. Your emotions are gonna be tied to it. Your purpose and meaning are gonna be connected to that thing, okay?
You're gonna find meaning and purpose in it. So when money is your God, your life revolves around money. Your decisions are based on money. Your emotions are tied to money. It's up when you got it and it's down when you don't. Meaning and purpose are found in it. How do I get more of it? How do I keep what I have? How do I use what I have best? What do I do when I don't have enough?
Meaning and purpose begin to be tied to money. And money then becomes the filter through which you see the rest of life. So when we say God and money, we gotta be careful. Because if we're not careful, money can become God.
And so Jesus says you can't have two masters. You can't make me Lord if money is. Discipleship demands full devotion, not divided loyalty. So people and things, they're always gonna be in competition with God for your affection, for your devotion, for your attention. But you cannot serve two masters, no matter how much you try.
And so that's the challenge that Jesus gives. He says, God or money. And what's really funny about this is it's not even a hypothetical thing. If you keep reading your Bible, you actually find an illustration of someone trying to choose God and money at the same time. It's found in Mark chapter 10.
We have a young man that comes up to Jesus and says, as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, good teacher, and Jesus is going to address that part in a second, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
And what I always find interesting here is that his focus is on eternal life. But eternal life is a promise from a God. And his attention, his focus is not on God. It's on the promise from God. So in other words, he didn't come running up to Jesus saying, how do I get right with God? He didn't come up to him saying, how do I get closer to God? He didn't come up saying, how can I learn more about God? How can I serve God? How can I worship God better? No, no, no. His focus, his attention wasn't on God. It was on what he wanted to receive.
And we see that come out in his life in a second as well. And Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. And this is actually a beautiful passage that illustrates the Trinity. And it's funny because some will try and use it as an argument that says, oh, see, Jesus never claimed to be God.
But do you know, Jesus didn't actually say, don't call me good. He asked a question. He said, why do you call me good? He was trying to get at the understanding of the young man, right? Because Jesus is there and he's like, hey, you've heard me teaching. You've probably seen me do miracles. That's why you came running up to me and kneel down. But do you actually know who I am? Or am I just a teacher?
And then Jesus continues. He says, you know the commandments don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't bear false witness, honor your father and mother. Like he's just walking through the 10 commandments with him. And he said to him, teacher, you notice what he dropped off? The word good, which means that young man just totally missed it. Just total oblivious to who he's actually talking to.
Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth. And I would insert there, yeah, right. All these I've kept from my youth. And Jesus, looking at him, loved him. And before we get to his response, can we just pause right there? The young man, he missed it. And Jesus' response wasn't to get upset, wasn't to get angry at him, wasn't even disappointment. His response was love. Love.
He had compassion on the young man because he knew what was going on. He knew the issue that was happening. And when you mess up, when you miss it, that's how God responds to you too. Like when you miss it, it's not this God that's like, man, I can't believe you blew it again. No, no, no. There's compassion. There's love, even when you mess up.
And then he responds. He says to him, you lack one thing. He's saying, you know, outwardly you've done all this great stuff, but there's still something missing. Your heart is not in the right place. And then he's going to draw attention to where the young man's heart is. He says, go sell all that you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven.
There's tying into this sermon on the mount again. And come follow me. So he's pointing out this issue. He says, all right, you want to have eternal life? You want to really follow after God? Okay, sell everything that you have, give it to the poor. And it's actually a unique question. God doesn't tell other people to do that. Jesus doesn't tell other people to give away everything to the poor.
It's a unique example because he recognized this young man has made money and his possessions, his God. And then he gives them the same invitation that all of us have. He says, come follow me, right? He invites him to become a disciple. Isn't that awesome?
You know, it's even cooler in this. If you actually pay attention, he answered the question. The question was, what do I have to do to inherit eternal life? And he says, follow me. How do you inherit eternal life? Follow Jesus, right? Like, how awesome is that? Jesus actually answers the question, even though it was the wrong question to ask.
And then this is the result, disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. So this guy walks away sad because he had some great stuff. I guess more poignantly, you could say he had some stuff that had him.
And he obeyed the commandments outwardly, but his heart was still tied to his possessions. His heart was still trying to serve two masters. But you can't serve God and money. And so Jesus uses that example, and this man shows us how we act around it. This young man made his choice. He chose his stuff over Jesus. He walked away, had a chance to be one of the disciples, following Jesus closely, and he chose to walk away.
And so the question today is, what about you? What choice have you made? What choice are you going to make? Because you can't serve two masters. You can't serve God and money. Jesus demands first place. And until you give him first place, then you haven't really given him any place in your life.
And the problem is, we start to act on it. We start to act on it. We start to act on it. We start to act on it. We start to act on it. We start to act like money is our savior. And when you see money as the solution to your problems, that makes money your savior.
When Jesus showing up or somebody handing you a million dollars is equally valuable to you in solving your problems, you have made money your God. When you start thinking, man, I'm not happy, but if I had some money, I could be happy. When you start thinking, you know, I'm so stressed right now, but if I just had some more money, then I could have peace.
You know, I'm so sick right now, but if I just had some money for the right doctor, for the right medicine, then I would be healthy. And my car broke down, but if I just had some money, I could fix the car. And when you start looking at money as the solution to all of your problems, you have made money your God.
Whatever you look to as the solution to your problems, that's the God that you actually worship. So what A.W. Tozer, I love this quote. He said, as God is exalted to the right place in our lives, a thousand problems are solved all at once. You know why? Because God's better at solving problems than you are.
God's better at solving problems than money is. And you know what is so cool about God? This is one of the things I love about God most. He can solve money problems with or without providing money. Isn't that cool?
So like the disciples, they have this moment where they have to pay a tax and they don't have any money. And so Jesus says, just fish and it'll be all right. And they catch a fish that has a coin in its mouth. That's weird, okay? And it's the exact amount they need to fulfill their obligations, right? Like Jesus made money show up in a fish.
I'm pretty sure if you actually need money, he can get it to you. Like he's got some ways, okay? But what I love is that he can solve what we think is a money problem without actually providing any money at all.
Example for this, there was a time in my life, my wife and I, when we were like poor, poor, like no money, no money. Bank account was empty and the gas tank was empty. Like I rode on fumes into my driveway and my bank account had like 37 cents in it. And I'm like, okay, so we have a problem, right? Because I'm stuck at home and I need my car to go to work to get money to buy the gas that my car needs.
Do you see the problem there? I need the money to get the gas, to get the job, to get the money, to get the gas, to get the job, to get the... Somebody say, hey, the math ain't mathing right there. Like there's a problem, okay?
And so I prayed and I said, Jesus, I need gas money. And then I get a phone call from a guy I'd been doing some side jobs for. And he said, hey, I got some work I want to give you. He said, but it's actually, I'm on my way there right now and I have to pass by your house. So how about I just pick you up on the way? The job is going to pay in cash, so I'll drop you off with some money in your hand.
I was praying for gas money and God's like, you don't need gas money, you need to get to work. How awesome is God? How awesome is God? How awesome is God?
How many of you have ever had an involuntary fast? I don't mean in January when the church says, hey, we're fasting. And you're like, oh, I guess I got to fast. No, but like there's no money, so there's no food. So you say, because you're so spiritual and holy, you're like, I guess I'm fasting unto the Lord until payday, right?
Okay. We're laughing, but I've been there. Like, I've been in that moment where I'm like, well, right? We're like, I guess we're fasting. I hope we don't fast for six weeks, because I don't know if I can make it. 40 days feels like a really long time.
So we're fasting, and I'm hungry, and I'm getting frustrated. And so I prayed, I'm like, God, we just, we need some money to be able to buy food. And God's like, no, you don't. The doorbell rang, and somebody left a pile of groceries on our front porch.
I was praying for money to buy food, and God's like, you don't need money. You need me to show up in your life. God can solve money problems with or without money. He's awesome like that. I love it.
And so who's your master, the Messiah or your money? And here's what I find weird. I was actually talking about this with my wife in the car a few days ago, that I found Christians who, they would never say it with their words, but their anxiety, their worry, their life, their focus, their obsessions, all of it is communicating this one thing.
And that is that I trust God to forgive me of my sins and to open the doors of heaven, but I don't trust him to be my provider. Let me say that again. I trust a God I've never seen to forgive me of my sins, of which there are plenty, to give me eternal life, a scientific impossibility, in a heaven that sounds too good to be true.
And I trust him with all of that. But then when it comes to my money, my trust runs out. And as we were talking, I came to this realization that the reason why we can trust him with those things is that they're intangible.
And it's easier to trust God with the intangible, because there's nothing we can do about those things anyways. So we trust him with what we can't do. But money, food, that's stuff we can touch. And if I can touch it, I need to be able to control it.
And so we have a really hard time trusting God in that area, even though we can trust him in some other stuff. And maybe that's why Martin Luther said there are three conversions necessary, the conversion of the heart, the mind, and the purse.
And that was universal language at the time. So guys, don't be like, oh man, he's talking about my wife. Okay. So what he's saying here is we need a conversion of the heart where our love and our passion and our desire is on Christ. We need a conversion of the mind where we take every thought captive and we submit our thoughts and our will and our desires and all of that. We surrender that to Christ, but then we got to come to the purse as well.
And some of us, we can surrender the heart and the mind, but then we want to hang on to the bank account just in case we need it and God doesn't show up. And in his wisdom, here's what I love, in his wisdom, Jesus told us in advance that that was going to happen.
He said, you can't serve two masters. And then he gives the example. You can't serve God and money because he knew that there was going to be a lot of money. And he said, you can't serve two masters. And then he gives the example. There's going to be people that had more faith in their paycheck than the one who paid for their sins.
So you can't serve God and money. We're going to close. I got two things that I want you to think about this week. So first we had that rich young ruler, right? And he wanted to follow Christ. He wanted eternal life, but he wasn't willing to surrender his wealth, right?
Now, Jesus does not call everyone to give up all of their possessions, but he does call every one to surrender everything. So two questions for you. First question, what is Jesus asking you to surrender today? Is Jesus in competition with something in your life? Is there something in your life that has been trying to become your master?
Have you been trying to serve two masters or three masters or five masters? What is Jesus asking you to surrender? And maybe the example of God and money was the example you actually needed to be the master of. But what is Jesus asking you to be here today?
But the invitation to follow Jesus is always an invitation to surrender to him. So what in your life is competing with Jesus as master?
Second question I want you to think about is, are you worried about your finances? Or do you trust God as your provider? And I want that to just not be a church answer. I want that to be a Monday morning answer.
Monday morning, as you go off to work, are you trusting or are you worried? Because we often begin to try and serve a second master when we lose trust in the first master. Jesus, I wanna follow you, but I just don't know that you're gonna be enough for me. I don't know if you'll be enough for my family and our needs.
Can I just give you how I came to a beautiful place of just trusting God? I realized that God is all-knowing and I'm not. I realized that God is all-powerful and I'm not. I realized that God is all-good and I'm not.
So until the day I become all-knowing and all-powerful and all-good, maybe I should trust him with my finances instead of me. So which one of us is gonna be better with the money, me or the all-knowing, all-powerful, all-good God?
And I learned this lesson actually to trust God as a teenager. I was driving with my dad to Michigan and we stopped to get gas and right next to the gas station was a McDonald's. And so I ran into the McDonald's, he gave me some money and I ran into the McDonald's to get lunch while he was pumping gas.
So I buy my lunch and I'm walking out of the McDonald's and I'm stopped by a guy that looks pretty, pretty rough and he says, hey man, I haven't eaten in a couple of days and I'm so hungry. He's like, do you have any money that I could just buy a sandwich?
And I had used the money that my dad had given me. I was like 14 years old at the time. I'd already used all the money and so I said, man, I don't have anything except for this bag of food, you want it? And so I gave this man, he didn't want it at first but I gave it to him and he just tore into that thing.
I mean, he didn't even ask if there was pickles or onions or anything. Like he just, he just dug in. Like you could see this was a man that he wasn't grifting. He was like, he was hungry. And I walked away just feeling like, man, I was able to do some good today.
Now, I tell you that quick story, not for you to go, oh, little Brent was like that kid in the Bible that gave Jesus this fish and loaves. Like, oh, Brent's the best. I'm telling you that story because if you were there that day, you would have done the exact same thing.
Why? Because it wasn't my money. I didn't pay for the food, so it made it really easy to give it away. Not only that, but I knew my dad had more money. When he gave me that $10 bill, I saw he had more cash on him.
I also, I knew that my father loved me, and I knew that the moment I got in the car and I told my dad why I didn't have any food, he would not let me go hungry. I knew that my dad would take the car through the drive-thru, and I would walk away with another meal.
If you were there that day, it would have been an easy decision for you as well. So if we trust my dad, who's got enough money in his pocket to buy me lunch, and loves me enough to buy me a meal, and loves me enough to buy me a meal, and loves me enough to buy me lunch, cares for me enough not to let me go hungry.
If my dad will take care of me, your dad will take care of you too. And if we will just surrender and trust the heavenly father that loves you, just trust him with it, and he can provide with money, and he can provide without money.
If you'll just fully surrender him, and then just trust him as our provider. Proverbs 3:5 talks about this trust. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Not some of it, not part of it. Don't exclude the money part of it. All of it.
Do not lean on your own understandings. A lot of times, that's where we get in trouble. Because we start looking at the numbers, and we start thinking, okay, if I do this, and I do that, and if I try and put God first in this area, man, it's not going to be enough for this, and I'm going to struggle here.
Hey, look, you're not doing your math. You're doing kingdom math. Okay? So just don't lean on your own understandings. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. In all your ways. How many of your ways? Not most of them. No. All your ways, acknowledge him, and he will not let you go hungry. He will make straight your paths.
Be not wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. Stop trying to make money your God that's evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. You know what? When you actually surrender to him, when you start putting him first in all things, man, it feels good. It's refreshing. It's like, man, I don't have to worry. I can just trust. Ooh, that feels good.
He says, honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce. Then your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will be bursting with wine. Honor the Lord with your wealth. You want to know how you keep money from becoming your master? Use it to honor God.
In that Sermon on the Mount that we talked about, Jesus said, seek first the kingdom and then all the stuff that you're worried about, all the stuff that you need, it'll come next. In other words, keep God first and everything else is going to fall into place. But we trust him.
Let's pray.
Father, we just thank you for your word. We thank you that you are an amazing master. You are so much better at solving the problem. You are so much better at solving the problems than we could be. And so we just put our trust in you today.
I just ask that you would just begin to encourage every person in the room, everybody watching this message online, that if there's an area in our lives where we've been trying to serve two different masters, that you would put a spotlight on it right now, that the Holy Spirit would just begin poking at that thing so we'd recognize that's the master that I need to stop worshiping.
Father, I pray that you give us wisdom and strength as we navigate that. And that we would truly be able to put our worries aside and put our full trust in you. That you are King of Kings, Lord of Lords. You are the master. You are God and you are our father. And we can trust you to provide for us and care for us. And so today we say thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.
on Feb 05, 2025
