Today with Jeff Vines

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The reason we call this series Hidden Holiness is we're
saying that there are some things down deep inside. If
they're genuine inside you, they'll express themselves outwardly.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
There'll be a.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Manifestation of something that's changed and been transformed inside.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Today, Today, Today, Today with Jeff Fines, pasta apologist and
Bible tea chair.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
Hello, and welcome to Today with Jeff Fines. In this episode,
Pastor Jeff continues the Hidden Holiness series. He's exploring the
idea of hidden stress or hidden holiness. Let's dive in
with Pastor Jeff as he reads from Matthew chapter six.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
Okay six, verse twenty five. We're gonna get there in
a second. You know, you're in church in case you forgot,
and that means you expect to hear from God and
study the scripture. Right, So open your Bibles, your cell phone,
your iPad, whatever it is, because when you walk out
of here, we want you to have a greater understanding

(01:20):
of something that Jesus clearly taught. The reason we've called
this series Hidden Holiness is we're saying that there are
some things down deep inside. If they're genuine inside you,
they'll express themselves outwardly, there'll be a manifestation of something
that's changed and been transformed inside.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
Now, I mentioned you a couple of weeks ago.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
My uncle Otis and my uncle Otis have had a
few favorite sayings. He would say, and you've heard most
of these. Man, it's going from bad to worse. You
ever anybody say that? Or Man, that's like jumping from
the frying pan into the fire. Ever heard that one.
I'm between a rock and a hard place. Sometimes I
would ask, Okolodus, Uncle ote Is, how's it going? And

(02:00):
he would say this. Mama said, cheer up, things could
get worse. So I cheered up, and sure enough, things
got worse. Just preparing for the message the kind of
topic we're talking about, I went back and read an
old accident form that was given by a bruised and
battered workman. He had filled this out. I want to

(02:20):
read it to you. This is what he said. Okay
he said, and I quote when I got this. Remember
this is an accident form. When I got to the building,
I found that the hurricane had knocked off some bricks
around the top. So I rigged up a beam with
a pooey at the top of the building. And hoisted
up a couple of barrelfuls of bricks. When I fixed
the damage area, there were a lot of bricks left over.

(02:44):
Then I went to the bottom again and began releasing
the line. Unfortunately, the barrel of bricks was much heavier
than I was, and before I knew what was happening,
the barrel started coming down, jerking me up. I decided
to hang on since I was too far off the
ground by then to jump, and halfway up, I'm at
the barrel of bricks coming down fast. I received a

(03:06):
hard blow on my shoulder. I then continued to the top,
banging my head against the beam and getting my fingers
pinched and jammed in the pulley. When the barrel hit
the ground hard, it burst its bottom, allowing the bricks
to spill out.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
I was now heavier.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
Than the barrel, so I started down again at high speed.
Halfway down, I met the barrel coming up fast and
received several injuries to my shins. When I hit the ground,
I landed on a pile of spilled bricks, getting several
painful cuts and deep bruises. At this point, I must
have lost my presence of mind, because I let go

(03:45):
of my grip on the line. The barrel came down fast,
giving me another blow on my head and putting me
in the hospital. I respectfully request sick leaf. Now, as
a pastor, I meet people all the time whose lives
can be exemplified by this accident form. They never know

(04:08):
what will barrel of bricks is going to hit them next. Fact,
I can guarantee there are people in the room right now.
They're still coming to church, but in a way they're
wondering if they should check out. Their life has just
been one accident form after the next, and they're wondering
if it's ever going to get better.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
Now, here's the problem.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
Remember I told you I'll always be honest with you always, Matthew.
Six is hard, especially the last section, and this is serving.
Verse twenty five is the basis of the final message
in the series.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
Let me read it to you. Here's how it goes.
And these are the words of Jesus.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
Therefore, I tell you do not worry about your life,
what you will eat or drink, or about your body
what you will wear is not life more than food,
and the body more than clothes. Look at the birds
of the air. They don't sow or reap or store
away in bards, And yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not much more valuable than they can? Any
one of you by worrying at a single hour to

(05:05):
your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See
how the flowers of the field grow. They do not
labor or spind. Yet I tell you that not even
Solomon and all his splendor, was dressed like one of these.

Speaker 2 (05:17):
If that is how God closed the grass of the field.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
Which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire,
will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith?

Speaker 2 (05:25):
So do not worry saying what shall we eat? Or
what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear?

Speaker 1 (05:30):
For the pagans run after these things, and your heavenly
Father knows that you need them. Now, have you noticed,
in sixteen years of being your lead pastor, I have
never preached on this text? Do you know why it's hard?

Speaker 2 (05:47):
Jai? Well, you don't avoid hard passages in the past.

Speaker 1 (05:49):
That may be true, But I've got to come to
some kind of understanding before I could stand and deliver. Well,
my experience seems to tell me the opposite. Be patient
of what Jesus says, how on earth is it possible
to live a worry free, stress free life when there's

(06:10):
always a bucket of bricks just around the corner. You
ever been to a children's cancer ward, how is it
possible not to worry about your children and grandchildren? You
ever lost somebody that you loved, how could you possibly
not be concerned about death? If you ever lost or

(06:32):
known someone who's lost their home, their livelihood, their job,
and ended up destitute, how is it possible not to
worry about those things? And the other thing is I've
traveled too much around the world, and I can tell
you just because you're a Christian doesn't mean you're immune
to these things. The bucket of bricks can hit you too.
In fact, it seems inevitable. So is Jesus saying that

(06:56):
you and I should not worry about food and clothes
because He's always going to.

Speaker 2 (06:59):
Give us everything we need. It can't be that.

Speaker 1 (07:04):
Not the way I'm communicating, not the way you're thinking.
Is Jesus saying that his provisions are always splendid? No
Walmartin Target for us only, Lululemon, Pierre Cardon, Luis Vetade
and Gucci is Jesus saying that you and I should
not be concerned with feeding our families and making a
living and having nice things to wear.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
Should we all just sit.

Speaker 1 (07:25):
Under a tree and wait for God to release the
heavenly manna to feed us and the heavenly splendor.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
To clothe us.

Speaker 1 (07:32):
How is it possible not to worry or to be
anxious or to be stressed out? I mean, how many
times have you heard your pastor say this rule?

Speaker 2 (07:39):
There is a world ruler.

Speaker 1 (07:41):
He is on the prow like a lion seeking to
destroy us.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
He seeks to still kill and destroy.

Speaker 1 (07:48):
How is it possible with that kind of knowledge not
to be anxious, stressed, or worried? And should we seem
to be stressed about money? Because we live in a
world where people are dis honest, who oppressed the poor?

Speaker 2 (08:01):
And we know that.

Speaker 1 (08:03):
There God is money and the love of it, we're told,
is the root of all evil.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
We experience. Hardship, disease, betrayal, relationship fractures, rebellious children, family turmoil, loneliness, depression.

Speaker 1 (08:17):
And then there's this other little small thing called death
that just hangs over our heads. Folks, again, why did
none of you warn me of what's gonna happen when
I got older? None of you told me that everything
was gonna hurt. None of you told me that at
any point of it. You didn't say to me, hey, Jeff,
just wait, did you get older? Everything's gonna hurt. My

(08:39):
pain has pain, everything hurts. I'm telling you. Death talks
to me every day at this age. You know what
it says. It says, I'm coming, right, How on earth
could you not worry?

Speaker 2 (08:51):
And here's what people will tell me. And I'll read commentaries.

Speaker 1 (08:53):
About this passion and they'll say, well, you just gotta
trust Jesus. Okay, but you can trust Jesus and still die.
You can trust Jesus and still suffer. You can trust
Jesus and still experience hardship, poverty, of debt. Right, are
you telling me that every mother who lost a child
did not trust Jesus, Every worker who lost the job

(09:14):
did not trust Jesus, every lover who lost a love
did not trust Jesus. Paul, the spiritual hero of our faith, here's.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
What he said.

Speaker 1 (09:25):
And I quote Tewo Corinthians eleven. I have worked much harder,
been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, been
exposed to death again and again.

Speaker 2 (09:35):
Five times. I'll received from the Jews forty lashes minus one.

Speaker 1 (09:38):
Three times I was beaten with rods once I was
pelted with stones. Three times I was shipwrecked. I spend
a night and day in the open sea. I have
been constantly on the move. I've been in danger from rivers,
in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews,
in danger from gentiles, in dangers in the city and
danger in the country, in danger at sea, in danger
from false believers. I have labored and toiled, and have

(09:59):
all gone without sleep. I have known hunger and thirst,
and have often gone without food. I have been cold
and neked. Paul trusted Jesus. Paul loved Jesus, considered all
things rubbish when compared to the goodness of knowing Jesus,
and he was often poor, destituted in pain. What guarantees

(10:21):
do we actually have now? To understand this, we have
to understand quickly. I got to move fast. The three
areas Jesus talks about in Matthew six. The whole issue
stems from the first topic, and that topic is money.
Now you can take a deep breath. This sermon is
not about money. But the first part of this passage

(10:44):
Matthew six to nineteen goes like this, and it's important
to know this because this is a foundation for everything.
He's gonna say, do not store it for your sales
treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, where thieves
break him and steel, But store it for your sales
treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy,
where thieves do not break in and steel, for where
your treasure is there where your heart be. Also, so

(11:05):
everything after verse twenty one answers the question, since our
real treasure is in heaven, how should we live. That's
the whole introduction to this section. Now, how many have
you ever heard the name? If you remember, maybe if
you grew up around Chicago, the name Willy Stokes. Willy
Stokes was a gambler on the South side of Chicago,

(11:26):
and he attracted attention when his family had a local
autobody shop outfit his coffin as a Cadillac Seville, complete
with trunk and front grille, windshill, dashboard, silver spoke wheels,
working headlights and tail lights, and stokes own vanity license plate.
Newspaper photos showed the embombed Gambler like a display in

(11:49):
a wax museum, sitting at the steering wheel of his
coffin car in a hot pink suit with five hundred
dollars bills stuck between his left thumb and forefinger.

Speaker 2 (12:00):
Flannery O'Connor wrote a short story with this.

Speaker 1 (12:02):
Title, you can't be any poor than dead, And yet,
despite our awareness of that kind of reality, we still
spend a major part of our lives in frantic chase
to accumulate more. There's a bumper sticker that says he
who dies with the most toys wins. Philip Yancey asked
the question.

Speaker 2 (12:21):
Win's what what do you win?

Speaker 1 (12:25):
Hey, guys, if you watched that television show, it's not
who wants to be a millionaire, but it's women who
want to marry a millionaire that they've never met. So
the show's about marrying a millionaire they've never met. And
if you've seen the show Survivor. On Survivor, you got
these contestants who will eat rats and cockroaches in effort
to gain a million dollar price. It's reality TV much

(12:49):
see TV. Money is the primary pursuit of a world
that does not know, Jesus. We worship it, we trust
in it, we depend on it, we put our hope
in it for a better life.

Speaker 2 (13:02):
Right.

Speaker 1 (13:03):
Alternatively, here's what's uncanny. Jesus saw money as something to
guard against, not desire. Hey, pastor, Jeff, you said it's
not about money. Well, this little section is hold on
Jesus said he he actually, he actually attributed the idea

(13:24):
of money to a god called Mammon. That's the name
of the god. See, if you think Mammon is the
Greek word for money, you're wrong. He Actually, many of
the people who will come after Jesus and all the
way up to the medieval times, they will refer to
Mammon as the devil of covetousness. So Jesus comes along

(13:49):
and says, let me tell you right now, if you
think you can serve money and Mammon that god as well,
you're wrong. You're either gonna love one hate the other,
or love the other and hate the one. So that
Jesus is a saying that money is so dangerous to
the soul that you got to do whatever it takes
to break yourself free of it, of its power, to
the extent of giving it away. That's what he told

(14:11):
the rich young ruler. And there's only one thing that's
gonna save your soul. You're gonna have to get rid
of money, because it's your god. Jacques Elul, a renowned sociologist,
wrote a provocative book about money, and he shocks the
readers when he says, you have to find ways to
profane money. You have to demagnetize its spiritual force, even

(14:35):
if it means handing wads of cash to strangers or
going into a busy street and throwing up money into
the air.

Speaker 2 (14:44):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (14:46):
Early communities of Jesus followers, they formed this kind of
army of resistance against the god of Mammon. The Book
of Hebrews tells us that the believers were joyful when
their property was confiscated. Now you think about that, somebody
comes and steals everything you have in the bank, in

(15:07):
your house, and you're happy.

Speaker 2 (15:08):
Is that possible?

Speaker 1 (15:10):
But we go on to learn that the reason they
were joyful is because it forced them to think about
what really mattered in their lives. It forced them to
think about where's my true hope, where's my true peace,
Where's my true security.

Speaker 2 (15:22):
It forces you to come.

Speaker 1 (15:23):
To terms with who you really are and what you're about.
Theresa of Ablie her reforms kind of shape the Catholic
contempatave world, and she said that she prayed that God
would help her to see the world's riches as dangerous,
like a stroll among lions. And when a rich patron

(15:47):
showed her her diamonds and precious stones, here's what Teresa said.
She said, and I quote, I only laughed to myself
and felt sorry that people should value such things when
I remembered what the Lord is in store for us.
There's the apostle Paul stay with me now, who said,
I know what it is to be in need, and
I know what it is to have plenty. I have
learned the secret of being content in any in every situation.

(16:10):
So Paul carried money. Yeah, it was useful, but he
carried it lightly. He used it to accomplish the work
of God, but he showed no signs of bondage to it.
John Wesley, one of the great preachers, was once informed
that his house had just burned down, and his reaction was,
the Lord's house burned. One less responsibility for me. Now,

(16:34):
how is that possible? So Matthew six speaks of Mammon,
the god of money, but it also speaks of hardship.

Speaker 2 (16:40):
We're told, don't worry about money. How do we not
do that?

Speaker 1 (16:43):
Don't worry about suffering, lack of food or clothing, destitution
or pain. Don't you find it uncanny that North Americans
live in unprecedented comfort, and yet we're the ones obsessed
with the problem of pain. In America, the number one
issue amongst skeptics is pain.

Speaker 2 (17:02):
They'll say, I can't believe in God.

Speaker 1 (17:04):
It is the roadblock to my faith because of pain
and hardship in the world. Prayer meetings in the United
States oftentimes will focus on the curing of illnesses or
requests for healing. Nothing wrong with that. I'm simply trying
to tell you something. If you go any other place
in the world other than the West, that's not true.
The house churches in China right now, they simply assumed

(17:27):
that opposition will happen from the state. They can't imagine
anything different, And so when they pray for one another,
they pray that they will be strong enough to stand
under it, not to be rescued from it. And then
one of the pastors who served twenty seven years of
hard labor for holding unauthorized Christian meetings. When he emerged
from prison and returned to church, he thanked his congregation

(17:50):
twenty seven years now for praying for him. He had
been assigned a dangerous job in prison. He coupled together
one million railroad cars without an injury. That's risky business,
one million. And he said, God, answer your prayers for
my safety. Now, if you're from the West like me,
I'm thinking, well, how about God answering your prayers to
not let you go to prison?

Speaker 2 (18:12):
Anybody thinks that way.

Speaker 1 (18:14):
I mean, if you can answer his prayers inside, maybe
you can answer his prayers outside. Philip Yancey and his
book entitled Rumors of Another World, tells of being invited
to speak in me and mar which is present day
Burma or is it vice versa? It's Burma today, right, okay?
And before he got up to speak, the pastor said, remember,

(18:35):
when you speak to these pastors, most of them have spent.

Speaker 2 (18:37):
Time in jail because of their faith.

Speaker 1 (18:40):
Yancey responded, well, then should I talk about one of
my books, like where is God when it hurts? Or
Disappointed with God? And he said, no, that's not really
a problem.

Speaker 2 (18:48):
Here. They think about what he's saying.

Speaker 1 (18:50):
So they don't think that God's abandoned them just because
they're facing persecution. They don't think that God is not
loving because they're facing persecution. They think that's just part
of what you endure when you're a christ follower. That's
just part of God's calling. A student is not above
his teacher, says Jesus. If they persecuted him, e, they're
gonna persecute you. If I suffer, you're going to suffer.

(19:12):
We're sharing his sufferings.

Speaker 2 (19:13):
It's expected.

Speaker 1 (19:16):
But wait a minute, how does that harmonize with Matthew six?
He'll provide for all your needs. You know the story
of Ada and Iron Judson. He's the one that brought
the Christian faith first to Burma and Hardship. Have you
read his story? I mean, it's not a great recruitment
book for missionaries. Hardship stalked his life from day one.

(19:41):
When war broke out with England, the Burmese arrested Judson
because he looked light skin, he spoke English, and he
looked and talked like the enemy. So Judson was forced
march barefoot for eight miles to a prison and each side.
The guards passed a bamboo pole between his heavily shackled legs,
hoisted the lower part of his body high off the ground.

(20:02):
Blood would rush to his head, preventing sleep and causing
fierce cramps in his shoulders and back, and clouds of
mosquitoes feasted on the raw flesh of his.

Speaker 2 (20:11):
Feet and legs.

Speaker 1 (20:13):
Treatment went on like this for two years, and the
only reason Judson managed to endure was because his devoted
wife would show up every day at the prison pleading
for better treatment and would bring Judson food. So finally
he was released, and you think his life's going to
get better, here comes the barrel will barrel of bricks

(20:35):
after his release. Just months after his release, Judson's wife,
weakened by smallpox, died died of fever, and shortly after
that his baby daughter died as well. And in his account,
Judson would kneel by his wife's grave for hours each day,
regardless of the weather, and he built a one room

(20:55):
hut in the jungle, dug his own grave in case
it might be necessary, and worked in solitude on a
translation of the Bible in Burmese language. Only a handful
of Burmese showed any interest at all to his message,
Yet he stayed there for thirty four years in all,
and because of his faithfulness, one million Burmese Christians today

(21:16):
trace their spiritual roots back to Adam Iron Judson, and
the dictionary that he compiled, now two hundred years old,
remains the official dictionary of me and mar today. Now,
how can I harmonize all of that with what I
constantly hear from preachers? As they guarantee health, wealth and

(21:36):
prosperity if you do everything they say. Why does so
many of today's popular preachers sound as if we are
the center of the gospel me? And if you listen closely,
you would think that Jesus said, seek first your personal
health and wealth and use the power of God to
get it. Seek first your financial portfolio and your earthly significance,

(21:59):
and followed you to attain it. I remember hearing the
preacher say when I was in seminary, and this is
a loose quote.

Speaker 2 (22:06):
I can't remember it word for word, but it went
something like this.

Speaker 1 (22:08):
Jesus never wants you to be sick, poor, or suffer hardship.
And if you suffer any of these things, it's because
there are sin in your life, and let me tell
you something. If that's true, then the apostle Paul must
have been a rascal.

Speaker 2 (22:20):
Because he suffered more than any of us.

Speaker 1 (22:23):
Paul saw hardship differently, though, he said in Second Corinthians
four sixteen.

Speaker 2 (22:28):
Therefore, do not lose heart.

Speaker 1 (22:29):
Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are
being renewed day by day, for our light and momentary
troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far
outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on
what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what
is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
So Paul had two pictures of himself. One the image

(22:51):
he saw in the mirror. The insomnia of the beatings,
the imprisonments, and deprivations had left their mark on his exterior.
But there was a second image, the image you could
not see. He could sense that this self inside, the
true self, was being renewed, that while you could see
the scars on the outside, on the inside he was

(23:11):
experiencing this spiritual healing and restoration, and that hardships were
part of what God used to make him spiritually fit.
So that Paul would see suffering and hardships as momentary,
light light afflictions, and he never saw those hardships as
a disproof of God's love and care and concern for him.

(23:34):
His focus, his gaze was on something else.

Speaker 3 (23:39):
You've been listening to Today with Jeff Fines. Thanks for
joining us. Next time we'll bring you the rest of
this message from past to Jeff MHM. You can listen

(24:10):
to more messages like this. Just search for Today with
Jeff Fines. Wherever you get your podcasts. You make me
a bond.

Speaker 2 (24:21):
Say with every single briend. Won't bring this

Speaker 1 (24:28):
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