Daily Devotional For Sunday, October 27, 2024
Today is the Lord’s Day as we say in church and I pray and hope that you do plan to attend worship and praise and thank Jesus Christ for all He has done and continues to do for you. We have been making our way through Jesus’ Sermon On The Mount found in Matthew chapters 5, 6, & 7. Currently we are looking at today at Matthew 6:19-24:
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. (20) But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; (21) for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (22) “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. (23) But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! (24) “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth” (NASB).
Have you noticed that people are into things, material things, possessions, money, and being prosperous. We have a tendency to build our lives around being preoccupied with the materialistic that is primarily fueled by greed, covetousness, pride and manipulation. Most of us would probably argue that this does not in any way describe us and we would probably be very defensive about it, but the truth is our homes and residences are stuffed with stuff we do not need, with money we do not have so that we can impress people we do not even like.
Jesus describes the religious leaders being this way in Luke 16:14, “Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and were scoffing at Him” (NASB). It always seemed it was the religious people that gave Jesus a hard time. It seems the Apostle Paul had the same issue – religious people who wanted their way rather than God’s way. False doctrine (whether taught or personally contrived) always leads to fake morality, erroneous behavior, fake values because of hypocrisy. Look at 2 Peter 2:1-3,14-15:
“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. (2) Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; (3) and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep . . . (14) having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children; (15) forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness” (NASB).
Peter refers to the two ungodly and unrighteous sons of a priest named Eli. His sons’ names were Hophni and Phinehas. They abused their positions as priests and on the same day, they both died in a battle against the Philistines in 1 Samuel 4:!7-18. 1 Samuel 2:12 describes them perfectly: “Now the sons of Eli were worthless men; they did not know the Lord” (NASB). Another example is two high priests during Jesus’ life that abused their positions. Throughout the history of the church, religious charlatans have manipulated God’s people for money, wealth, sexual favors and materialism. We see this today in so-called “faith healers” and the “health and wealth” preachers. The Old Testament warns us many times about accumulating wealth for the sake of accumulating wealth. Look at Proverbs 23:4, “Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, cease from your consideration of it” (NASB).
Today, yes we have to deal with economic recessions, inflation, depressions and rising and falling stock markets. Much of this we have no control over except how we will respond to them. But according to God, most of our economic challenges come from our own personal greed. British pastor and author John Stott writes this: “Worldly ambition has a strong fascination for us. The spell of materialism is very hard to break” (Source: John Stott, Christian Counter-Culture, p.154).
The Apostle Paul had the right godly attitude towards money, wealth, possessions, and materialism when God inspired him to write this in 1 Timothy 6:6-8, “But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. (7) For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. (8) If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content” (NASB). Pastor and author Chuck Swindoll writes this about Jesus’ remarks in Matthew 6:19-24:
“The path of Christianity is strewn with the litter of straying saints. Those men and women lured by a lesser loyalty surprise us—perhaps even shock us. More often than not, we don’t see it coming. The passionate pursuit of worldly wares leads to a slow and steady erosion of the passionate pursuit of Christ. The roots of this kind of erosion go deep into the soil of humanity. No one is immune—neither the young, nor the middle aged, nor even those who have walked with the Lord for decades. Someone who was once a model of spiritual zeal and strong faith can be lured away from a close relationship with Christ and become tainted and tortured within by greed for money and lust for more.
How quickly we can come to live a bold-faced lie while appearing genuinely holy! And ironically, with the accumulation of possessions like money, property, treasures, and toys, we almost always sink deeper and deeper into worry. Those who have more tend to worry more. Jesus addresses these very real problems in His Sermon on the Mount as He singles out the corrupting effects of wealth, warning us of the subtle yet powerful tentacles of greed and the futility of worry” (Source: Charles R. Swindoll, Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentary, “Matthew 1-15,” Vol. 1A, p. 118).
Jesus never condemns having “treasures” in your home or money in your bank, but what He does condemn is allowing these to come between you and your relationship, walk and serving God. Money is not the root of all evil, but the love of money is (1 Timothy 6:10). It is where our love for these replaces our loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength with lust for more and more and more.
Questions To Consider
- If you were to die right now, what would happen to all your “treasures” you have accumulated through the years? What does this tell you?
- Jesus says it is greed that gets into financial trouble. Do you agree with that? Why or why not? Has greed ever put you into financial trouble? What did you learn from this?
- Greed is not just in the acquisition of things, but also in refusing to share them with others. Psalm 24:1 says, "The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, The world, and those who dwell in it” (NASB). This means everything you have is God’s. Does your life reflect this truth with all your “treasures”?
- Have you ever experienced people who were once on-fire for Christ get distracted by their own greed, treasures and leave the church, their walk with Christ and their friends? How did you deal with that? Why do you think they did that?
- Would you say that the “spell of materialism has its grip on you and is hard to break? Why or why not?
Scripture To Meditate On: Proverbs 23:4-5, “Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich. Be wise enough to know when to quit. (5) In the blink of an eye wealth disappears, for it will sprout wings and fly away like an eagle” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Jesus, please help me to love You more than I love my “treasures” or the pursuit of more “treasures.” I don’t always live as if all that I have is Yours. I can get possessive and even stingy with the “treasures” You have given me. Please help me to have a generous heart like You. I love You Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside!--Pastor Kelly