WEBVTT 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:08.640 Hello, I'm Pastor Creighton, and thank you for tuning in to New Sun Churches Podcast. 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:15.359 We're a gospel center church in Port Perry, Ontario, proclaiming the true and life-giving word of Jesus as we love and serve our neighbors. 00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:18.320 May God bless you today through his life-giving word. 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:22.160 Our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew. 00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:33.840 Jesus said, Don't store yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal. 00:00:34.159 --> 00:00:42.640 But store through yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don't break in and steal. 00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:46.399 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 00:00:47.280 --> 00:00:48.880 The eye is a light. 00:00:49.039 --> 00:00:51.119 If your eye is healthy, your whole body. 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:56.159 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. 00:00:56.399 --> 00:01:01.359 So if the light within you is darkness, how deep is that darkness? 00:01:02.159 --> 00:01:10.400 No one can serve two masters, since either he will eat one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the other. 00:01:10.719 --> 00:01:14.560 You cannot serve both God and money. 00:01:14.879 --> 00:01:17.040 This is the gospel of the Lord. 00:01:17.359 --> 00:01:18.159 Praise you. 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:32.959 You know, when I uh used to go visiting when I was a teenager, my mom would always say, There's three things not to talk about at your when you when you visit people at the dinner table. 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:34.640 One of them was money. 00:01:34.959 --> 00:01:44.079 Sadly, everywhere I go, they when they invite me to speak, it always seems to have some way related to money. 00:01:44.319 --> 00:01:52.560 And so I I know people uh look forward to me coming and visiting to talk about what Jesus says about money. 00:01:53.280 --> 00:01:55.760 Thank you for the opportunity. 00:01:57.040 --> 00:02:14.800 I also know when I this isn't in my sermon at all, but I also know when uh when you look at the the list of verses that are the hard sayings of Jesus, a good chunk of them always orbit around money, wealth, resources, what God provides to us. 00:02:15.120 --> 00:02:17.680 So it's something we have to talk about. 00:02:17.759 --> 00:02:20.879 It's something that's important for us to talk about. 00:02:21.759 --> 00:02:23.439 Will you pray with me? 00:02:25.599 --> 00:02:30.639 Most merciful God, we confess that we do sin against you. 00:02:30.960 --> 00:02:38.319 We have not loved you with our whole heart, and so we have not loved others as a Christ follower would. 00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:47.039 As we turn to your word, God, move in us, convict us, show us where our heart is. 00:02:47.439 --> 00:02:50.479 We pray in the mighty name of Jesus. 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:51.759 Amen. 00:02:53.759 --> 00:03:15.759 As Jesus sets his face toward Jerusalem, as he prepares his followers for what lies ahead, as he teaches what life in his way, living his truth will look like, he declares, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:22.800 But it's not a new thought that has just occurred to him as he's walking along that broken road. 00:03:22.960 --> 00:03:28.479 It's an ongoing echo sounded at the very beginning of his ministry. 00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:30.080 And we read it this morning. 00:03:30.159 --> 00:03:33.759 We heard it within the Sermon on the Mount. 00:03:34.080 --> 00:03:47.840 Woven deeply into the fabric of that sermon is Jesus' poignant grief, his care for his beloved ones who revel in the idolatry of self. 00:03:48.240 --> 00:04:01.280 An indicator of this genesis of sin, this ultimate idolatry, Jesus says is found in our relationship to money and the resources that God entrusts to us. 00:04:01.439 --> 00:04:05.280 Do not lay up for yourselves treasure on earth. 00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:06.719 Yet we do. 00:04:07.360 --> 00:04:11.599 No one can serve two masters, yet we try. 00:04:11.919 --> 00:04:19.360 You cannot serve God and wealth, and for some reason we don't comply, and we must ask why. 00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:23.279 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be too. 00:04:23.519 --> 00:04:30.079 Our gods are written in and on our heart, and we won't deny them. 00:04:30.399 --> 00:04:35.519 What attracts the eye reveals the nature of our soul. 00:04:35.839 --> 00:04:42.959 It reveals what that soul is bound to and what that soul is bound toward. 00:04:43.519 --> 00:04:46.959 Is it Christ, the light that fills our eyes? 00:04:47.199 --> 00:04:56.639 Or does the self eclipse the light, blinding our eyes and so pointing to a place that we would rather not think about? 00:04:57.199 --> 00:05:01.040 We are told light has come into the world. 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:06.480 We are also told that for some reason people loved the darkness. 00:05:06.800 --> 00:05:19.279 So the question is, are we bound toward the kingdom of light, or are we merely treading towards a grave in the dust of rusting, moth-eaten wealth? 00:05:19.519 --> 00:05:22.399 The question is stark, it's hard. 00:05:22.720 --> 00:05:24.000 Where is your heart? 00:05:24.319 --> 00:05:25.360 Who are you? 00:05:25.600 --> 00:05:28.399 That is the question of these readings this morning. 00:05:28.720 --> 00:05:42.079 So many eyes, even among those claiming to know Christ, remain dark, fixed on the self and lusting for those rusty, dusty treasures of this world. 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:49.839 When the selfie is the lens through which we see the world, our soul goes dark. 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:57.600 On the road towards the cross, we meet a rich young ruler whose salvation is in jeopardy. 00:05:57.759 --> 00:06:05.519 It will be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for that rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 00:06:05.759 --> 00:06:17.199 On that road we meet Pharisees and we meet members of the Sanhedrin clinging to their darkness, serving themselves and abhorring the light that is Christ Jesus. 00:06:17.439 --> 00:06:23.199 We hear of a rich man hoarding, barn building, but life losing. 00:06:23.680 --> 00:06:34.240 We hear of dishonest, insincere, deceitful managers whose financial self-interest is actually spiritually self-defeating and self-damning. 00:06:35.839 --> 00:06:44.000 The truth we hear Jesus speaks, that bookends his ministry, his dwelling while he is here among us. 00:06:44.240 --> 00:06:57.120 That the truth that resonates from each encounter that Christ has, from each beatitude, from each woe, from each parable, is where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 00:06:57.839 --> 00:07:03.839 As Jesus approaches the time of his suffering and the cross, he tells us a story. 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:05.040 We read it this morning. 00:07:05.120 --> 00:07:08.319 It's the story of Lazarus and a rich man. 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:09.920 Why does he bother? 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:18.959 Is he just trying to trigger those who are listening to him to spark a controversy to gain some sort some form of popularity? 00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:19.680 No. 00:07:20.399 --> 00:07:27.040 That story is yet another reverberation, another echo of that verse. 00:07:27.279 --> 00:07:29.920 Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:36.720 That sounded in the Sermon on the Mount way back at the beginning of the ministry in Galilee. 00:07:37.120 --> 00:07:38.800 Where is your treasure? 00:07:39.120 --> 00:07:40.319 He knows us. 00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:42.319 Jesus Christ is God. 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:43.279 He knows us. 00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:44.879 He knows what distracts us. 00:07:45.040 --> 00:07:47.519 He knows what grips our heart. 00:07:47.839 --> 00:07:51.600 He sees the indifference that we have for others. 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:54.079 And he knows what it indicates. 00:07:54.480 --> 00:07:55.920 And it pains him. 00:07:56.720 --> 00:07:58.879 He looks on us with love. 00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:04.959 And I cannot imagine the pain that he feels as he looks into our heart. 00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:09.040 But somehow I imagine it looks an awful lot like a cross. 00:08:09.519 --> 00:08:14.639 In all Jesus' teachings, he is perfectly clear. 00:08:14.959 --> 00:08:18.720 What we serve here and now matters. 00:08:19.279 --> 00:08:22.560 What we do here and now matters. 00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:24.560 What we say here and now matters. 00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:28.399 What we love here and now matters. 00:08:29.360 --> 00:08:30.879 It reveals us. 00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:36.480 He says the stuff of our here and now are indicators. 00:08:36.720 --> 00:08:43.279 First indicators of who we truly are, and then of where we are headed. 00:08:43.600 --> 00:08:51.840 Jesus calls to us, he loves us, he will redeem us, he will restore us to who he created us to be. 00:08:52.559 --> 00:08:57.679 If only, if only we will truly turn to him. 00:09:00.159 --> 00:09:01.519 What do we want? 00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:03.440 What do we love? 00:09:04.399 --> 00:09:08.399 Where your treasure is, he says, there your heart will be also. 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:15.840 In March 1973, the Gideons visited my public school. 00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:27.440 And that night I remember lying, actually I have it in my pocket, I remember lying on my mom's couch, reading this small silver New Testament that they'd given me. 00:09:27.679 --> 00:09:29.919 You see, my family was not rich. 00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:34.720 My dad's constant encouragement was get a good education. 00:09:34.960 --> 00:09:39.440 You'll get a good job, and you won't have to live like this. 00:09:39.919 --> 00:09:47.039 But you know, even at 11 years old, reading these Gospels, things didn't add up for me. 00:09:47.279 --> 00:09:56.240 I recall reading Matthew 6, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 00:09:56.399 --> 00:09:58.480 Ye cannot serve God in mammon. 00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:05.279 Forty years later, that text would form the center of my master's thesis. 00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:09.360 I remember reading about Lazarus and the rich man. 00:10:09.679 --> 00:10:11.679 It was all very confusing. 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:15.519 I didn't like the idea, I confess, of burning in hell. 00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:18.639 I didn't like the idea of being poor either. 00:10:18.879 --> 00:10:20.320 I wanted to be rich. 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:22.960 I wanted to be successful. 00:10:23.519 --> 00:10:26.320 Why was that rich man in hell, anyways? 00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:27.679 What had he done? 00:10:27.840 --> 00:10:30.399 Was he greedy and vengeful like old Mr. 00:10:30.559 --> 00:10:36.080 Potter in the in the movie The Wonderful Life that we read or we watched each Christmas time? 00:10:36.480 --> 00:10:38.240 Well, Jesus didn't say that. 00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:44.240 Had he become rich by crime like Lex Luther in my Superman comics? 00:10:44.879 --> 00:10:46.720 Jesus didn't say that either. 00:10:47.039 --> 00:10:50.399 Was he a cold, miserable miser like Mr. 00:10:50.480 --> 00:10:53.679 Scrooge in a Christmas carol that my dad used to read? 00:10:54.000 --> 00:10:56.080 No, he didn't say that. 00:10:56.320 --> 00:10:58.320 He dressed in the latest fashions. 00:10:58.480 --> 00:10:59.919 He had a nice house. 00:11:00.159 --> 00:11:01.519 He threw big parties. 00:11:01.600 --> 00:11:02.639 He lived large. 00:11:02.799 --> 00:11:05.279 I imagine he was really quite popular. 00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:08.000 I mean, really, what's not to like? 00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:09.679 He had money. 00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:15.600 And there's not even a hint in what Jesus says that this guy was chasing after war. 00:11:15.919 --> 00:11:17.279 He knew Abraham. 00:11:17.440 --> 00:11:23.039 He called him Father Abraham, like all those good temple-going preacher people did. 00:11:23.279 --> 00:11:29.679 There's no scandal, there's no accusation against him, there's no blot against his reputation. 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:38.960 He was just a respectable, ordinary, everyday citizen with money, going about his life and going about his business. 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:40.960 You know, frankly. 00:11:41.200 --> 00:11:44.399 Frankly, he was pretty much like any of us. 00:11:44.559 --> 00:11:45.840 I mean, consider this. 00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:51.039 His standard of living was absolutely nothing compared to ours. 00:11:51.279 --> 00:11:54.799 He we live in ways that he would envy. 00:11:55.039 --> 00:11:58.639 We have stuff he couldn't even imagine. 00:11:58.960 --> 00:12:05.840 As Canadians, we are wealthier than the vast majority of people who have ever lived on this planet. 00:12:06.320 --> 00:12:10.879 We're wealthier than most people who are living on this planet today. 00:12:11.360 --> 00:12:12.480 So how am I? 00:12:12.639 --> 00:12:17.120 I mean, how are we any different than that that rich guy? 00:12:18.080 --> 00:12:30.559 Almost 40 years later, after that evening reading this Bible on my mom's couch, I stood on a on a street corner. 00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:34.399 It was a January morning, it was downtown Toronto. 00:12:34.559 --> 00:12:42.720 You know, the sun was rising, it reflected off the bank towers and the CN Tower, and the Royal Ontario Museum was just over there. 00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:45.279 Queen's Park was just up the way. 00:12:45.519 --> 00:12:52.159 And a small clutch of worshippers spilled from the Church of the Redeemer onto the sidewalk around me. 00:12:52.480 --> 00:13:01.840 They blended seamlessly into the world of commerce and culture and politics and economics that is Toronto, that is Canada. 00:13:02.159 --> 00:13:10.720 I can still remember the smells of perfume and coffee and bakeries and the exhaust of luxury vehicles passing by on the street. 00:13:10.960 --> 00:13:20.159 It's the smell of prosperity as those people hustled off to their lives, their careers, their pursuits of happiness. 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:25.600 Seriously, don't store up for yourself treasures on earth. 00:13:25.919 --> 00:13:28.799 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 00:13:29.120 --> 00:13:38.480 Did they even notice the people lying there on the steps just outside their massive iron-studded church doors? 00:13:38.960 --> 00:13:47.519 The poor and hungry laid there on the steps, just outside the gate where they had been worshiping. 00:13:47.840 --> 00:13:58.960 You see, again, that morning things refused to add up for me because mere hours before I stood in front of a very different church in a very different city. 00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:00.799 It was in East Africa. 00:14:01.039 --> 00:14:01.919 I'd been lost. 00:14:02.080 --> 00:14:08.080 I got lost in Nairobi, and I found myself in the most densely populated slum on the planet. 00:14:08.480 --> 00:14:19.120 The smells of unwashed humanity, smoke from cooking fires mingled with the exhaust of cheap Chinese motorcycles, the smell of poverty. 00:14:19.360 --> 00:14:21.600 But there was a church there too. 00:14:21.919 --> 00:14:24.720 A small, ramshackled church. 00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:28.159 But the flimsy wooden doors were wide open. 00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:32.080 Poor and hungry Christians declared the gospel. 00:14:32.240 --> 00:14:34.720 They greeted everyone and welcomed them. 00:14:34.879 --> 00:14:37.919 Please come in, sit down, eat. 00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:40.399 The difference was stark. 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:48.000 The poor and hungry, loving, feeding, serving the poor Ur and hungrier. 00:14:48.799 --> 00:14:55.440 While in Canada, the rich and the self-satisfied barely noticed those littering their church steps. 00:14:56.159 --> 00:15:00.320 But that day, in my heart, I still protested. 00:15:00.639 --> 00:15:02.480 I can't do everything, God. 00:15:02.639 --> 00:15:07.679 I give what I can, I do what I can, when I can, what more do you want? 00:15:08.159 --> 00:15:19.360 But even as these memories sort of fled through my mind, I wonder what those Pharisees that we read about sitting on the fringes, as Jesus taught, were shouting back at him. 00:15:19.600 --> 00:15:30.240 What scoffing challenges did they spit at that poor, penniless, disheveled rabbi from who knows where on the road to Jerusalem? 00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:31.840 Don't be ridiculous. 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:32.960 Don't be ridiculous. 00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:34.240 Don't be naive. 00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:37.200 We live in a modern world, in a modern economy. 00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:39.039 It is expensive to live here. 00:15:39.120 --> 00:15:44.000 I have a family, they have needs, my income is limited, I do what I can. 00:15:44.559 --> 00:15:47.200 When I can, I give what I can. 00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:50.879 Would you have me sell everything and give it away? 00:15:52.720 --> 00:16:03.039 So early that morning, again back in Toronto, a young woman came up beside me at that corner, and a song blasted from her earphones. 00:16:03.279 --> 00:16:06.559 If we are the body, why aren't his arms reaching? 00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:08.480 Why aren't his words teaching? 00:16:08.720 --> 00:16:13.039 Why is his love not showing them there is a way? 00:16:13.440 --> 00:16:15.759 If we are the body. 00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:23.519 It's that word if that Jesus challenges in the telling of his story of Lazarus and the rich man. 00:16:23.919 --> 00:16:25.360 Am I the body? 00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:26.720 Am I a Christian? 00:16:26.879 --> 00:16:28.480 Am I of the church? 00:16:28.720 --> 00:16:30.320 Where am I headed? 00:16:30.639 --> 00:16:33.679 Is it truly heaven or Hades? 00:16:34.639 --> 00:16:37.919 If you love me, Jesus says, you will. 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:39.519 Not you must. 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:40.480 You will. 00:16:40.720 --> 00:16:43.440 You simply will keep my ways. 00:16:43.600 --> 00:16:44.720 And this is my way. 00:16:44.799 --> 00:16:53.840 And I know some people like to translate that word that I translate as way, some like to translate it as command, but you cannot command or demand love. 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:56.240 Love is freely given and freely received. 00:16:56.320 --> 00:16:57.360 It's the way. 00:16:57.679 --> 00:17:00.159 This is my way, Jesus says. 00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:04.000 That you love one another as I have loved you. 00:17:04.240 --> 00:17:10.319 Greater love has no one than this, that you lay down your life for your friends. 00:17:10.640 --> 00:17:12.960 You are my friend's if. 00:17:13.680 --> 00:17:18.640 That word, if is such a small word, but it's a theologically important word. 00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:26.400 If you do what I give you to do, if you keep my ways, you will live my love. 00:17:27.119 --> 00:17:38.960 Jesus challenges us to ask ourselves, why did that apparently good, successful, religious man end up suffering in anguish and torment? 00:17:39.279 --> 00:17:42.480 You might wonder why Jesus even brings all this stuff up at all. 00:17:42.640 --> 00:17:46.480 Surely his mom told him not to talk about money when he was in crowds. 00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:50.720 But he sees into our hearts. 00:17:51.920 --> 00:17:53.200 He knows us. 00:17:56.079 --> 00:17:59.200 All this money talk just makes us uncomfortable. 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:03.279 It makes some people angry, it makes us defensive. 00:18:03.839 --> 00:18:10.160 He does it because he sees into our hearts and he sees into the hearts of the people that day. 00:18:10.480 --> 00:18:16.559 He sees what they are after, and he sees where they are bound. 00:18:17.119 --> 00:18:19.279 At that moment, consider this. 00:18:19.519 --> 00:18:29.759 Even the twelve disciples, the gospel tells us, even the twelve were self-seeking, worldly-minded men headed in the wrong direction. 00:18:30.559 --> 00:18:37.519 So Jesus told them about Lazarus and the rich man that he knew they were all dreaming of being. 00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:46.960 He tells the story to ignite something in us, to spark the flame that will bring his light into our darkness. 00:18:47.200 --> 00:18:55.279 When Jesus asked, Lord, will though, when Jesus was asked, Lord, will those who are saved be few? 00:18:55.680 --> 00:18:57.200 He doesn't say no. 00:18:57.440 --> 00:19:05.039 He says, strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter, but will not succeed. 00:19:05.279 --> 00:19:15.200 When he responds to that same question in another place, he responds with, The gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. 00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:17.519 Seek the things of heaven. 00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:22.240 He is telling us, not the things that lure you onto the path to hell. 00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:28.400 Don't store up for yourself resting treasures on earth, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:37.680 Jesus is telling us the hard truth that living his way, living love is not easy. 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:41.519 But he's telling us it's what Christians do. 00:19:42.319 --> 00:19:47.599 Not because they must, but because it's who they are. 00:19:48.079 --> 00:19:51.920 The Christian knows the rich aren't rich, anyways. 00:19:52.079 --> 00:19:57.920 The wealth they claim and accumulate and serve and worship only bears witness against them. 00:19:58.240 --> 00:20:02.799 It's undeniable evidence of their eternal poverty. 00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:08.640 It reveals a heart in the world, not a heart in the Christ. 00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:16.720 If Scripture is true, if again, and if we believe, then we know all things belong to God. 00:20:16.880 --> 00:20:22.000 We know He only entrusts them to us for a short while. 00:20:22.799 --> 00:20:27.920 And so I'm an accountant, and I deal a lot in law, and especially trust law. 00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:32.880 Well, what are the terms of this trust that God entrusts us with? 00:20:33.680 --> 00:20:46.480 Thy will, not my will, be done on earth, here and now, just as it is there and then in heaven, and this is his will that we love each other just as he loves us. 00:20:47.039 --> 00:20:49.599 We heard the commands earlier in the service. 00:20:50.079 --> 00:20:54.480 We used to say, on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. 00:20:54.640 --> 00:20:55.039 Love. 00:20:55.200 --> 00:20:57.039 It's the whole ball game, really. 00:20:57.200 --> 00:20:58.880 And it's really that simple. 00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:24.720 From the abilities, from the talents, from the training, from the education, to the body that you now inhabit, from the nutrients and water and oxygen that fuel your life, to the breath that you just took, to the heartbeat that just pulsed in your chest, from the bank accounts and the real estate and the cars and the financial statements that you hold, every dollar you've ever earned, all things come of thee, O Lord. 00:21:25.759 --> 00:21:28.240 They're only entrusted to us. 00:21:28.880 --> 00:21:41.519 Peter, who's there on that mount with Jesus, would later write, as each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards, not owners. 00:21:41.759 --> 00:21:46.400 Good stewards, good managers of God's varied grace. 00:21:46.640 --> 00:21:54.160 Paul the Apostle taught the church to excel in the grace of generosity, in the grace of giving. 00:21:54.400 --> 00:21:54.880 Why? 00:21:55.119 --> 00:21:59.519 He says generosity and giving are not commands, but they are actually. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:01.039 Proofs. 00:22:01.359 --> 00:22:02.000 Proofs. 00:22:02.240 --> 00:22:04.400 Proofs to show where your heart is. 00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:10.559 Proofs to show what you treasure, what you worship, what you serve, what you love. 00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:21.359 Paul's just echoing Jesus as he instructs the church in this grace of giving, this grace of generosity. 00:22:21.920 --> 00:22:26.559 Your treasure, where it is, reveals who you are. 00:22:27.279 --> 00:22:30.559 Jesus wants us to look at our stuff. 00:22:30.880 --> 00:22:36.640 He wants us to look at our financial statements and ask, How am I doing? 00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:39.279 How am I actually doing? 00:22:39.599 --> 00:22:41.759 And where am I headed? 00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:52.880 John, who followed Jesus towards Jerusalem, would later write, and by this we know that we have come to know God if we keep his ways. 00:22:53.200 --> 00:22:58.799 God is love, and whoever lives in love lives in God, and God lives in him. 00:22:59.279 --> 00:23:07.279 And then he asks what I think is the most scary and devastating question in all of Scripture. 00:23:07.680 --> 00:23:23.200 If anyone has means and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart to him, that is, ignores him and has no compassion for him, how does God's love live in him? 00:23:24.319 --> 00:23:26.240 And the answer is simple. 00:23:26.559 --> 00:23:28.000 It just doesn't. 00:23:28.319 --> 00:23:31.359 That rich man knew Lazarus. 00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:32.480 Send Lazarus. 00:23:32.559 --> 00:23:33.920 He cries it out from hell. 00:23:34.079 --> 00:23:39.839 Yet Abraham reminds him that Lazarus lay just outside your gate. 00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:41.920 And you had good things. 00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:47.839 So over that chasm between heaven and hell, there's a question left hanging. 00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:50.079 You had good things. 00:23:50.880 --> 00:23:56.720 How is it exactly that Lazarus received only bad things? 00:23:57.039 --> 00:23:58.880 Was there no compassion? 00:23:59.680 --> 00:24:08.160 As his heart was closed to Lazarus, so the gates of heaven at that moment were closed to him. 00:24:08.720 --> 00:24:14.640 He was bound for where his heart is, where his treasure is. 00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:16.880 He was buried in the dust. 00:24:16.960 --> 00:24:30.079 And it's ironic that in the end all that worldly treasure that we so highly prize is no more than dust, worthless dust, of which our graves are made. 00:24:31.279 --> 00:24:41.359 What we do with all God entrusts to us reveals whether our hearts, whether we are bound for heaven or not. 00:24:42.720 --> 00:24:44.079 It's really that simple. 00:24:44.319 --> 00:24:48.799 What the rich man did here and now indicated where he was headed. 00:24:51.839 --> 00:24:55.359 I'm the diocesan executive director. 00:24:55.519 --> 00:24:59.839 You know, when people ask what my job is, often people will say, Well, he's our moneyman. 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:02.480 He he manages the stuff, right? 00:25:02.720 --> 00:25:05.599 And I suppose it's meant as a joke. 00:25:05.839 --> 00:25:18.480 But more and more often people will say, and I'm sure sermons like this aren't helping my cause, people will say, When I see you coming, I hide my wallet, I hide my purse, I hide my money, I hide, you know, whatever. 00:25:18.880 --> 00:25:20.480 So please hear this. 00:25:20.799 --> 00:25:27.279 I don't care, not even a little bit, about your wallet or your purse or your money. 00:25:27.519 --> 00:25:28.799 I care about you. 00:25:29.359 --> 00:25:36.319 I care that you see that what you do with that wallet, that purse, that money, that rusting treasure. 00:25:37.279 --> 00:25:40.799 I care that you see that it points to where you are bound. 00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:42.880 It points to who you are. 00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:53.359 In that Sermon on the Mount, on that road to Jerusalem and the cross, Jesus was teaching his followers what living love looks like. 00:25:53.759 --> 00:26:01.599 It looks like being willing to lay down your life or your wallet or your purse or your whatever for others. 00:26:01.839 --> 00:26:04.000 It looks like sacrificing for them. 00:26:04.079 --> 00:26:12.960 It looks like managing and using the things of this world that God has entrusted to your care in expressions of love. 00:26:14.559 --> 00:26:16.799 It looks like the way Christ lived. 00:26:17.039 --> 00:26:19.680 It looks like how he emptied himself. 00:26:19.920 --> 00:26:22.720 It looks like arms reaching and caring. 00:26:22.880 --> 00:26:25.279 It looks like hands healing and comforting. 00:26:25.359 --> 00:26:28.480 It looks like his words speaking and teaching. 00:26:31.119 --> 00:26:34.720 And your love showing them that there is a way. 00:26:35.119 --> 00:26:43.519 This is the image of the Christian because it's the image of the Christ, and so it is the image of the church. 00:26:43.839 --> 00:26:55.839 Jesus didn't become, didn't come because he cares even a little bit about your wallet or purse or any other rusting, moth-eating stuff that we value. 00:26:56.079 --> 00:27:00.160 He cares about who we are and where we are headed. 00:27:00.480 --> 00:27:07.359 He suffered and endured loss of one of his friends, of a worldly man, one of the twelve. 00:27:07.599 --> 00:27:08.240 Why? 00:27:08.799 --> 00:27:21.039 The more I read and study the story of Judas, the more I'm convinced that he endures that pain as an example for us, to show us just how dangerous wealth can be to us. 00:27:21.279 --> 00:27:26.400 You know, when another friend abandoned him and lied and cursed him. 00:27:26.960 --> 00:27:28.960 Did Jesus ask him why? 00:27:29.920 --> 00:27:30.240 No. 00:27:30.799 --> 00:27:33.440 He asked him, Do you love me? 00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:34.960 You get it? 00:27:35.759 --> 00:27:40.160 So often, you know, I'm asked, how much must I give? 00:27:40.480 --> 00:27:44.880 And pastors and rectors fall off their chair because I answer, nothing. 00:27:45.519 --> 00:27:47.200 You must give nothing. 00:27:47.359 --> 00:27:50.160 The Christian actually doesn't give anything at all. 00:27:50.319 --> 00:27:59.599 They are faithful managers of God's resources and so allocate them to God's purposes to bring God joy and glory. 00:27:59.839 --> 00:28:04.640 They don't give from some form of duty or exchange or compulsion. 00:28:05.039 --> 00:28:06.480 They simply love. 00:28:07.359 --> 00:28:08.799 It's who they are. 00:28:09.519 --> 00:28:15.599 In the world, the question of giving usually begins with, you know, the leftovers. 00:28:15.839 --> 00:28:19.599 What I can give after I have all I want. 00:28:19.839 --> 00:28:38.799 Donations are generally afterthoughts, you know, the scraps, the offerings come from the leftovers after I've had my fill, after I have the house I need, after I have the car I need, the boat I need, the entertainment I need, the comfort and leisure I need, the recreation I need, the this I need, the that I need. 00:28:38.960 --> 00:28:44.480 Our list of me first needs go on and on until there's virtually nothing left over. 00:28:44.880 --> 00:28:50.319 And then we do what we can, when we can, if we can. 00:28:51.039 --> 00:28:56.160 Ultimately, Jesus is our only true need. 00:28:57.279 --> 00:28:58.799 Do you believe? 00:28:59.279 --> 00:29:10.720 Because if you believe, you know that other stuff, that stuff is just a distraction that puts our eternal life, our eternal well-being in jeopardy. 00:29:11.039 --> 00:29:22.000 When we want Jesus more than any of the stuff of this world, it's then that we step into the life that He created us to live. 00:29:23.039 --> 00:29:31.119 It's then that we are true believers, true followers, and true worshipers of the one and only God who loves us. 00:29:31.359 --> 00:29:40.960 It's then that that biblical conditional if, if you believe, is replaced with the lived and spoken conviction, I believe. 00:29:41.279 --> 00:29:42.160 I believe. 00:29:42.400 --> 00:29:46.480 Loving God makes us the people He created us to be. 00:29:46.720 --> 00:29:52.319 A people created by love, through love, for love, to live love. 00:29:52.880 --> 00:30:03.680 Love that is God-centered, yet overflows us and is expressed in compassion and generosity towards others. 00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:06.480 Our here and now matters. 00:30:06.640 --> 00:30:09.279 Our hopes and dreams and desires matter. 00:30:09.440 --> 00:30:15.359 Our every word, action, and choice matters because they indicate where our heart is. 00:30:15.599 --> 00:30:19.200 They indicate who or what we worship. 00:30:19.440 --> 00:30:24.160 And so they indicate the road we are walking and where we are bound. 00:30:24.480 --> 00:30:32.319 So today I pray our hearts will be fixed upon Christ alone, upon Jesus. 00:30:32.640 --> 00:30:40.480 And we will stand in his light and we will live and love just the way he did. 00:30:41.359 --> 00:30:42.960 Will you pray with me? 00:30:48.720 --> 00:30:55.039 Almighty and merciful God, you alone can renew the human heart. 00:30:55.440 --> 00:31:28.720 Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit, that being freed from the love of passing things, our hearts may be conformed to the likeness of your Christ, who humbled himself in love, who lived love, who died loving and serving all whom you have created, who rose revealing for us the truth and way that is life, who lives and reigns with you, and God the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. 00:31:29.440 --> 00:31:29.920 Amen. 00:31:35.759 --> 00:31:38.400 We hope that you've been blessed by God's Word today. 00:31:38.559 --> 00:31:43.920 If you live in the Port Perry area, we hope that you'll come and worship with us in person on Sunday at 10 a.m. 00:31:44.319 --> 00:31:47.680 If you'd like to learn more about Newsong Church, we'd love to connect with you. 00:31:47.839 --> 00:31:52.640 Please find our contact information at newsongportperry.ca and reach out to us. 00:31:52.880 --> 00:31:58.079 Newsung's ministry is entirely funded by the generous giving of those who worship and journey with us. 00:31:58.240 --> 00:32:06.400 If you feel called to support our ministry with a financial gift, please go to newsongportperry.ca slash giving to make a contribution. 00:32:06.640 --> 00:32:09.359 Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.