February 26, 2025 • 55 mins
In the Old Testament, God’s people were often promised earthly, physical blessings if they obeyed him. The blessings of land and prosperity were often anticipations of a greater, heavenly reward. In the New Testament, on the other hand, God’s people are not promised wealth or comfort, at least not in the present age. In Mark 10:17–31, Jesus warns us of the danger of treasuring money and making an idol out of it. Our money and our resources should be used for the purpose of his kingdom. David Platt urges Christians in wealthier contexts to take heed of Jesus’ words and to trust in God’s generous provision.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are listening to Radical with David Platt, a
weekly podcast with sermons andmessages from pastor, author and
teacher David Platt.
Let's read Mark 10, verse 17.
As Jesus started on His way, aman ran up to Him and fell on
his knees before Him.
Good teacher, he asked whatmust I do to inherit eternal
life?
Why do you call me good?
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Jesus answered no one is goodexcept God alone.
You know the commandments Donot murder, do not commit
adultery, do not steal, do notgive false testimony, do not
defraud, honor your father andmother.
Teacher, he declared.
All these I've kept since I wasa boy.
Jesus looked at him and lovedhim.
One thing you lack, he said Go,sell everything you have and
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give to the poor and you willhave treasure in heaven.
Then come follow me.
At this the man's face fell.
He went away sad because he hadgreat wealth.
Jesus looked around and said tohis disciples how hard it is
for the rich to enter thekingdom of God.
The disciples were amazed athis words.
But Jesus said again Children,how hard it is to enter the
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kingdom of God.
It is easier for a camel to gothrough the eye of a needle than
for a rich man to enter thekingdom of God.
The disciples were even moreamazed and said to each other
who then can be saved?
Jesus looked at them and saidWith man this is impossible, but
not with God.
All things are possible withGod.
Peter said to him We've lefteverything to follow you.
I tell you the truth.
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Jesus replied no one who hasleft home or brothers or sisters
, or mother or father orchildren or fields for me and
the gospel will fail to receivea hundred times as much in this
present age homes, brothers,sisters, mothers, children and
fields, and with thempersecutions and, in the age to
come, eternal life.
But many who are first will belast and the last first.
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All right, let's recap.
Front of the worship guidenotes that you've got,
especially if you weren't herelast week, but even if you were
a reminder of where we've beenand what truths we've seen
unfold in this passage at thispoint.
First, a radical approach Jesus'call to salvation demands total
surrender.
In this passage, jesus is notusing conventional evangelism
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techniques.
If only he had some of theevangelism books that we have
available in our bookstorestoday, he could certainly have
led this man to Christ iehimself.
But he didn't have those booksand so he goes off saying he
needed to go sell everything hehas and he loses the prospect
Because he tells him to abandoneverything, total surrender.
We talked about how salvation isnot a matter never a matter of
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external reformation.
Salvation is not a to-do list,not a check-off box.
Jesus is not saying if you dothis, then that will earn your
salvation.
Instead, salvation is always amatter of internal
transformation.
His, this man's, givingeverything he has, selling
everything he has and giving itto the poor would be evidence
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that he is trusting Jesus, thatsomething is happening in his
heart that would cause him toleave these things behind and
give himself, give thesepossessions away, sell them to
sell them and give them to thepoor.
And the picture is we talkedabout how we don't give away our
possessions, sell ourpossessions, give to the poor in
order to earn salvation.
We sell our possessions andgive to the poor because we have
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salvation, because Christ is inus, his love in us, his love
for the poor overflows throughus.
That we would make radicalsacrifices like this, naturally
automatically flowing from thepresence of Christ in us,
because of an internaltransformation in us.
We talked about how, at thecore, we all need changed hearts
.
We're not looking for alegalistic to-do list on how
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much you have to sell in orderto earn salvation.
Never a matter of externalreformation, always a matter of
internal transformation.
And we saw how Jesus is notmerely a respectable teacher,
he's the sovereign Lord.
There are many, including thisman, who are just fine with
Jesus being a teacher to respect.
It's a whole other ballgame forJesus to be a Lord to obey.
Jesus is not in our lives wetalked about.
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He's not in our lives to giveus financial advice.
He is in our lives as the ownerof every dollar.
We have every possession.
We have our houses, our cars,our clothes, our stuff.
Everything is under HisLordship and it's His to do with
whatever he pleases.
Our lives, our possessions areentirely His to spend.
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Our savings account are His tospend, doesn't matter what
financial advice you would getfrom what financial planner.
He is Lord and this changeseverything about how we live,
not just a respectable teacher,sovereign Lord.
All that led to radicalaffection.
This is where we talked abouthow Jesus calls us to give
sacrificially because he lovesus Verse 21,.
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You just looked at him andloved him.
We went to Luke, chapter 12.
In chapter 12, verse 33, inLuke, he tells his disciples
there sell all your possessionsand give to the poor.
Same kind of radical command.
But what he says in verse 32,and this is the verse we camped
out on, it's the dynamite thatblows up the God of materialism
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in our lives.
Because Jesus knows for us tohear words like sell everything
you have and give to the poor.
He knows that just sparksinsecurity and fear in us.
What happens when you begin tosell all you have and give to
the poor?
Well, how are you gonna takecare of this and this and this?
And there's all kinds ofquestions.
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And Jesus says do not be afraid.
Luke 12, 32.
Do not be afraid, little flock,for your Father is pleased to
give you a kingdom.
He says, when you abandon homeand house possessions, cars,
clothes, stuff that you haveheld on to, security, safety
that you have held on to in thisworld, don't be afraid.
Don't be afraid because youhave a Father who's a shepherd
who protects you.
He's a Father who delights inyou and a King who provides for
you.
He has a kingdom to give us.
And so Jesus tells us thesethings to make radical
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sacrifices, not because he hatesus or because he wants our
lives to be miserable.
He tells us these thingsbecause he loves us.
Jesus loves rich people.
He loves rich people enough totell rich people the truth.
The reminder is we are all richpeople in this room.
That's why this text is sopertinent for us, because all of
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us in this room are incrediblywealthy compared to the rest of
the world.
Radical affection leads to theradical command.
Jesus gives commands, notconsiderations.
Jesus does not say to this richman be willing to give
everything you have.
Instead, he says five commandsGo, sell everything you have,
give to the poor, then come,follow me.
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And we talked about how thiscommand is not necessarily
universal, that it doesn'tnecessarily apply to every
follower of Christ of all time,that every follower of Christ is
supposed to sell every singlething they have and give to the
poor.
It's not universal.
At the same time, it's possible.
It's possible that he would saythat to any one of us in this
room.
And even if he doesn't say thatexactly, we cannot hide behind
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this smoke screen of well, I'dbe willing to give everything.
It's not what this passage issaying.
This passage is saying is yourlife is completely on the table
before the Lord, blank check andwhatever he says to give,
whatever he says to do, thoseare not options to consider,
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they are commands to obey.
I was talking with one familythis week who they have a
six-year-old son.
Husband and wife have asix-year-old son and they one
night this week were havingfamily worship time and they
read through Mark 10, 17-31.
They were talking about thispassage and they asked their
six-year-old son.
They said what do you have thatyou could sell and give to the
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poor son?
They said what do you have thatyou could sell and give to the
poor?
And son kind of thought aboutit.
Six-year-old said well, I'vegot this video game system, my
video games.
They said well, would you bewilling?
That's what they asked.
They said would you be willingto sell that and give the money
to the poor?
And he said yes.
And they said the father saidokay, then that's what we're
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going to do.
And the little six-year-oldsaid no, this is us, this is us.
It's easy.
Easy to say oh, I'd be willing.
And so they talked about itsome more.
And next day dad got home fromwork and son was playing, went
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up into his room and called hisdad up into his room completely
unsolicited.
His dad goes up there and hisson says to his dad dad, I've
been thinking a lot about whatwe talked about and I've heard
you and mom talking about whatyou're going to sell to give to
the poor.
And I need to do that with myvideo game system to the poor
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and I need to do that with myvideo game system.
God, give 30-year-olds and60-year-olds across this faith
family, six-year-old kind offaith.
What happens when we say that,across this family, with all of
our possessions, with all of ourhouses and all of our cars and
all of our clothes and all ofour stuff, all the treasures we
hold on to, what happens?
What a picture here.
Jesus has not given us optionsto consider.
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He gives us commands to obey.
That's risky.
Put everything on the table.
You want me to sell it all?
I will sell it all.
Jesus, tell me exactly what tosell everything on the table,
what to give away?
I'll do it.
That's risky.
This is the point where peoplestart jumping ship.
But it's risk, don't miss it.
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It's radical risk.
Jesus says for radical reward.
Jesus does not want to strip usof our pleasure.
He wants to satisfy us with Histreasure.
Remember the cute rhyme there.
Matthew, chapter 13,.
Verse 44 is what we looked at.
Remember this verse the kingdomof heaven is like a treasure
hidden in a field.
When a man found it, he hid itagain and then, in his joy, he
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went and sold all he had andbought that field.
How do you sell everything youhave with joy?
How do you take every singlething you have and sell it or
give it away with a smile onyour face when you know you have
treasure here and you aretrading trinkets for treasure?
(10:14):
Jesus is not telling us anywherein the New Testament not to
care about treasures.
He's telling us to care aboutreal treasures.
Stop living for trinkets thatwe think are treasures and to
live for what is true treasure.
Come follow me, you'll havetreasure in heaven.
Radical risk for radical reward, and this is what we talked
about.
Which do we want?
(10:34):
Short-term treasures that wecan't keep or long-term
treasures we can't lose,unpredictable investments or
inexhaustible savings?
That quote from Jim Elliott.
He is no fool who gives what hecannot keep, gain what he
cannot lose.
And it really comes down to thequestion of where is our heart?
We looked at Matthew 6, 19through 21.
You remember Do not store upfor yourselves treasures on
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earth where moth and rustdestroy and where thieves break
in and steal, but store up foryourselves treasures in heaven
where moth and rust do notdestroy and thieves do not break
in and steal.
And then he says, matthew 6,21,.
Memorize this verse.
If you don't have it memorized,for where your treasure is,
there your what Heart will bealso.
What a humbling verse.
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The reality is, what Jesus issaying there is that our use of
money is a sure barometer of ourpresent spiritual condition.
In other words, ladies andgentlemen, our possessions and
our lifestyles give away whereour treasures are and our heart
lies.
Wherever our treasure is there,we see where our heart is.
And it's not just our presentspiritual condition.
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Our use of money is a sureindicator of our future eternal
destination.
There's a radical reward to behad in heaven, jesus says.
And it begs the question areyou going to live for treasure
on earth or are you going tolive for treasure in heaven?
And Jesus says, lest we think,well, I'm going to enjoy
treasures here and then havetreasure there.
This is the name of the game incontemporary Christianity Pray
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the prayer, live life enjoyingthe treasures here and you have
to free pass the treasure inheaven.
And Jesus says it can't be done.
No one can serve two mastersTreasure on earth, treasure in
heaven.
Which are you living for?
Where is your heart?
Where is your heart?
Radical reward that he has forus and all that brought us to
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radical loss?
Love of possessions willinevitably and ultimately rob us
of the joy for which we havebeen created.
He walked away sad why His eyeswere blind.
We talked about how His eyeswere blind to the depth of His
sin that was bound up with Hispossessions.
It was a blind spot for Him.
He was wealthy and he didn'teven know the extent to which he
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had missed it.
It was a blind spot.
His eyes were blind not only tothe depth of his sin, but to
the depth of the need of thepoor around him.
He turned a deaf ear to them,closed his eyes.
His eyes were blind, his facewas sad and his hands were full.
He stood there in the full handof treasures and walked away
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and missed Jesus altogether.
Now, that's what happened inJesus' conversation with him.
That only gets us through partof the passage, Because the
disciples are sitting there andJesus turns to them and in verse
23 he says how hard it is forthe rich to enter the kingdom of
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God.
And the disciples?
Look at verse 24,.
The disciples were what Amazedat his words.
They were shocked, and herepeats it again how hard it is
to enter the kingdom of God.
It is easier for a camel to gothrough the eye of a needle than
for a rich man to enter thekingdom of God, and we're going
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to talk more about that wholeimagery next week.
But the picture here is Jesussaying it is hard for the rich
to enter the kingdom of God.
This should cause our ears toperk up.
Because we're rich, it's hardto enter the kingdom of God from
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this room.
Now, why did he say this andwhy was it so shocking to these
disciples?
This is where, in order tounderstand what's going on here,
we've got to take a step back.
We're going to dive into theOld Testament to see the
mentality that was in thesedisciples' minds.
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That would cause them to havetheir jaws on the ground in
shock when Jesus makes astatement like how hard it is
for the rich to enter thekingdom of God.
And you know, it's not justimportant for us to do this in
order to get into thesedisciples' minds in Mark 10.
It's important for us to dothis because we've got to
realize how we've got the samementality.
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It's interesting as soon as youstart talking about radical
giving and radical abandonmentin an affluent religious
community, there's certainphrases that come to the top
pretty quick, and one of thosephrases is Dave, haven't you
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read the Old Testament?
Don't you know that?
Abraham, he was wealthy.
Don't you know about Isaac andJacob, patriarchs, wealthy.
Don't you know about David,king David, man after God's own
heart, which we always use tojust kind of be a blanket thing?
So everything David did wasright.
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Well, he was wealthy.
Solomon, he was blessed by God.
Look at all this wealth.
Don't you know it's okay tohave a lot of stuff?
Don't you know these are heroesof our faith, so it's okay to
enjoy all the stuff we have,like they did.
That's a good question.
It's good enough for us to diveinto together tonight, and I
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want us to see the answer.
So go back with me to Genesis,chapter 12.
Genesis, chapter 12.
And while you're turning there,what I want us to see is this
next truth come up on the pagehere in your notes A radical
shift.
A radical shift While you'refinding Genesis chapter 12,.
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Here's the truth.
We must understand our use ofmoney and possessions in the
context of biblical history.
We must understand our use ofmoney and possessions in the
context of biblical history.
You're thinking we're going tohave a biblical history lesson?
I promise, just stick with me.
We've got to see this.
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This is huge.
Genesis 12 is where we'resitting in our Bibles right now.
You know what happens beforethis.
Genesis 1 and 2, god createsthe world and all the things in
this world, material things inthe world, and he creates them
good, and he creates them forhis creation, his people, to
enjoy.
Now, obviously, in Genesischapter 3, sin enters the world
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and kind of mars, the wholepicture Not kind of really mars,
the whole picture.
And then you fast forward toGenesis chapter 12, and this is
when God births the nation ofIsrael.
This is when he calls out Abramin this passage, who's later
called Abraham, calls him out tobegin a nation that he would
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call his own, the people ofIsrael.
And I want you to hear what hesays to Abraham.
Abraham, in this passage, verse1, the Lord had said to Abraham
leave your country, your peopleand your father's household and
go to the land I will show you.
I will make you into a greatnation and I will bless you.
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So listen to what happened.
Abram left, as the Lord hadtold him, and Lot went with him.
Abram was 75 years old when heset out from Haran.
Listen to verse 5.
Here's where this truth isgoing to start to unfold.
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You got this in your notes andI want us to think about it in
light of Genesis 12.
In the past, in the OldTestament, this is the very
beginning of God, hisrelationship with the people of
Israel.
Old Covenant.
Obedience to God led toacquiring possessions on earth.
Obedience to God led toacquiring possessions on earth
in the Old Testament Starts here, with Abraham.
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What you've got is God saying tohim leave here and go to the
land I will show you, which.
That doesn't seem like that biga deal, but needs to trigger in
at this point that in the OldTestament, land is everything.
Land is wealth, land isprosperity.
The more land you have, thebetter.
The more fertile your land is,the more wealth you have.
And so God says I've got apromise of land for you, and he
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begins talking about how he'sgoing to bless Abram.
Now, that's spiritual blessing,but it's also material blessing
and what you've got is Abrahamgoing off to this land and he's
got possessions that he'saccumulated, he's got people
he's acquired, he's got somewealth and he's taken it off to
a land that God has said I'mgoing to bless you with it.
And God says I'm going to blessyou.
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For this reason, I'm going topour out my spiritual, material
blessing on you and through you,that blessing will overflow
into all the peoples of theearth.
So that's how the whole picturestarts in Genesis, chapter 12.
Now fast forward with me toGenesis, chapter 24.
I want you to see how this isemphasized throughout the
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picture of Genesis Obedience toGod leading to acquiring
possessions on earth.
Look at Genesis 24, verse 34.
The picture here is Abraham hassent his servant to go find a
wife for Isaac.
And this is what the servantsays to a guy named Laban
talking about Abraham.
I want you to listen to how hedescribes him, verse 34.
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So he said I am Abraham'sservant.
The Lord has blessed my master.
That's Abraham.
The Lord has blessed himabundantly and he has become
wealthy.
He has given him sheep andcattle, silver and gold, men's
servants and maid's servants,and camels and donkeys.
God has blessed him and givenhim all kinds of possessions.
(20:30):
I'll keep going to the right.
We'll come to Genesis, chapter30.
I'm sorry, go to Genesis 26first, then we'll get to 30.
Go to Genesis 26,.
Look at verse 12.
Abraham had a son.
His name was Audienceparticipation, part of our
program.
Abraham had a son.
His name was Audienceparticipation, part of our
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program.
Abraham had a son.
His name was Isaac.
Okay, isaac Did Abraham enjoyall the material possessions and
Isaac got nothing.
No, look in Genesis 26, verse12.
Isaac planted crops in thatland in the same year, reaped a
hundredfold because the Lordblessed him.
The man became rich.
Talking about Isaac, he becamerich and his wealth continued to
grow until he became verywealthy.
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I love you're going to see thisjust the way this is described.
It's not just wealthy, hebecame very wealthy.
He had so many flocks and herdsand servants that the
Philistines envied him.
He had so much that the nationsaround him envied him for how
much he had.
Now I'll go to the right, tochapter 30.
Isaac had a son.
His name was Jacob, jacob andEsau.
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Esau made some mistakes.
Jacob's in the picture.
Genesis, chapter 30.
Look with me at verse 43.
This is talking about Jacob,verse 43.
This is talking about Jacob inthis way, talking about Jacob
the man.
Jacob grew exceedinglyprosperous not just prosperous,
exceedingly prosperous and cameto own not just flocks, large
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flocks and maid servants and menservants and camels and donkeys
.
Keep going to the right Genesis, chapter 47.
Last place we'll look inGenesis.
And maidservants andmenservants and camels and
donkeys.
Keep going to the right Genesis, chapter 47.
Last place we'll look inGenesis, genesis 47.
Jacob had a son.
His name was.
He had a lot of them.
You don't need to know that.
He had a lot of sons and one ofhis sons' name was Joseph.
And remember what God did washe took Joseph by way of slavery
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to Egypt and exalted Joseph inPharaoh's house there in Egypt
to provide salvation for hispeople from famine.
I want you to listen.
This is kind of how the book ofGenesis closes with Abraham's
family, his descendants livingin Egypt.
Listen to verse 27.
Now the Israelites settled inEgypt in the region of Goshen.
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They acquired property there.
So you see the picture Allthroughout Genesis, god's chosen
people, this nation that he isforming and establishing, is
extremely wealthy, exceedinglywealthy, very wealthy, much
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possessions.
Now, what happened after this?
You remember, there in Egyptthey became slaves and God
delivered them out of theirslavery.
In fact, the way he deliveredthem out of their slavery, he
did all these plagues and got tothe Passover and he sends them
out and he says I'm going totake you to a promised.
What Land I'm going to give you?
Land flowing with milk andhoney.
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It's out there.
And as they're leaving theirslavery in Egypt, what are the
Egyptians doing?
You remember?
They're like throwing gold andsilver at them.
It's a great picture.
They've been slaves, they'reescaping slavery and they're
like hey, take some of my goldon the way, take some of my
silver on the way, just have itall.
God is prospering them so thatthey will be established in the
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land when they get there.
He's taking them to thepromised land and on that
journey what he does is he givesthem his law and in that law he
talks about this pictureObedience to God will lead to
acquiring possessions on earth.
I want to show you in two places.
Go to Leviticus, chapter 26.
Two chapters over to the rightGenesis, exodus, leviticus,
chapter 26.
(24:10):
Probably don't spend a lot oftime in Leviticus, not the most
popular quiet time book.
Leviticus, chapter 26, verse 3.
I want you to hear what Godsays to his people and just see
this truth Obedience to God ledto acquiring possessions on
earth.
Listen to what he told him,verse 3, leviticus 26.
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If you follow my decrees andare careful to obey my commands
there's the condition obedienceto God I will send you rain in
its season and the ground willyield its crops and the trees of
the field their fruit.
Your threshing will continueuntil grape harvest and the
grape harvest will continueuntil planting and you will eat
all the.
Look down in verse 9.
He said move it out to makeroom for the new.
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I'll put my dwelling placeamong you and I will not abhor
you.
I will walk among you and beyour God and you will be my
people.
I am the Lord, your God, whobrought you up out of Egypt so
that you would no longer beslaves to the Egyptians.
I broke the bars of your yokeand enabled you to walk with
heads held high.
You see the picture he'sprospering his people and he's
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saying to his people if youfollow my decrees and are
careful to obey my commands,you're not going to have, you're
going to be eating the harvestfrom last year.
When the new harvest comes in.
You're just going to have tomove it out.
You're going to have so much.
One more place.
Keep going to the right andyou'll come to Deuteronomy.
You go to Numbers andDeuteronomy, chapter 28.
I want to read one extendedportion there that really gives
this picture Obedience to Godleading to acquiring possessions
on earth and I want you to seeyou'll see it a couple of times
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in this passage we're about toread the relationship between
the people's obedience and God'smaterial prosperity that he
would bless them with.
Look at Deuteronomy 28, verse 1.
Here it is If you fully obeythe Lord, your God, and
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carefully follow all Hiscommands, I give you today one.
Here it is the crops of yourland and the young of your
livestock, the calves of yourherds and the lambs of your
flocks, your basket and yourkneading trough will be blessed.
You'll be blessed when you comein and blessed when you go out.
The Lord will grant that theenemies who rise up against you
will be defeated before you.
They will come at you from onedirection but flee from you in
seven.
The Lord will send a blessingon your barns and on everything
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you put your hand to.
Your God will bless you in theland he is giving you.
He will establish you as Hisholy people, as he promised you
on oath.
If you keep the commands of theLord, your God, and walk in His
ways, then all the peoples ofthe earth will see that you were
called by the name of the Lordand they will fear you.
The Lord will grant youabundant prosperity in the fruit
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of your womb, the young of yourlivestock and the crops of your
ground and the land he swore toyour forefathers to give you.
The Lord will open the heavens,the storehouse of His bounty,
to send rain on your land inseason and to bless all the work
of your hands.
You will lend to many nationsbut will borrow from none.
The Lord will make you the head, not the tail, if you pay
(27:22):
attention to the commands of theLord, your God, that I give you
this day and carefully followthem.
There it is.
You see the picture here thatis the bounty of heaven is yours
, obedience to God, leading toacquiring possessions on earth.
(27:47):
And it's the same picture westarted with way back in Genesis
, chapter 12, when God said I'mgoing to bless you so that all
peoples on earth will be blessedthrough you.
That's what he just said inDeuteronomy 28, verse 10.
Then all the peoples on earthwill see that you are called by
the name of the Lord and theywill fear you.
What God's doing in the OldTestament don't miss this.
What he is doing in the OldTestament is he is establishing
(28:12):
a nation in a land that will bea display of his glory to all
the nations around.
In fact, it leads to the secondpart of this truth.
In the past Old Testament,obedience to God led to
acquiring possessions on earth,and God gave possessions to
build a place that displayed Hisglory among the nations.
This is huge.
(28:32):
At first it was the promisedland.
You will live in this land andyou will be a display of my
glory.
But then this is where we fastforward to David and Solomon,
and it's not just about havingland.
What's going to be in themiddle of the land?
A temple right.
(28:53):
And I'm going to give you greatwealth so that you can build a
majestic temple, splendor,majesty, display my glory to all
the nations around.
And this is exactly whathappens.
Go with me and this last placewe'll turn in the Old Testament
here.
Go with me to 1 Kings, chaptereight.
(29:15):
1 Kings, chapter eight.
Yes, god made David rich,wealthy.
God made Solomon rich andwealthy.
Why?
(29:36):
What happens is, in 1 Kings 6,solomon takes the wealth that he
had inherited from his father,david, and he builds a temple,
the glory of God.
This is not just anotherbuilding, this is a place where
the glory of God will dwellamong his people, and then,
after that, he builds a massivepalace.
You get to 1 Kings 8, and whatSolomon does is he prays,
starting in verse 23,.
(29:57):
He prays a prayer of dedicationof the temple.
And then you get to verse 62,and I want you to listen to the
celebration.
They had Just picture this.
Then the king, and all Israelwith him, offered sacrifices
before the Lord.
Listen to verse 63.
Solomon offered a sacrifice offellowship offerings to the Lord
(30:18):
22,000 cattle that's a lot atOutback.
That's a lot of cattle 22,000and 120,000 sheep and goats.
Can you imagine?
That's a lot of sheep and goatsthat you're offering as a
sacrifice?
This is a mega party Worship.
(30:43):
Picture the king and all theIsraelites dedicated the temple
of the Lord with that and listento this.
On that same day, the kingconsecrated the middle part of
the courtyard in.
Israelites dedicated the templeof the Lord with that and
listen to this.
On that same day, the kingconsecrated the middle part of
the courtyard in front of thetemple of the Lord, and there he
offered burnt offerings, grainofferings and the fat of the
fellowship offerings, becausethe bronze altar before the Lord
was too small to hold the burntofferings, the grain offerings
and the fat of the fellowshipofferings.
So Solomon observed thefestival at that time, and all
(31:05):
Israel with him, a vast assembly, people from Lebo-Hemeth to the
Wadi of Egypt.
They celebrated it before theLord, our God, for seven days,
and seven days more, 14 days inall.
And the following day he sentthe people away.
They blessed the king and thenwent home joyful and glad in
heart for all the good thingsthe Lord had done for his
servant, david and his people,israel.
That was one incredible day.
(31:27):
David and his people, israel,that was one incredible day.
Affluent, wealthy, display theglory of God, so that the
nations will see this and seethe glory of God.
And we know that that's what'shappening here.
You get over two chapters to 1Kings 10, and look what happens.
There's a queen, the queen ofSheba, a pagan queen, who comes
(31:49):
to visit Solomon and listen towhat happens.
When the queen of Sheba heardabout the fame of Solomon and
his relation to the name of theLord, she came to test him with
hard questions.
Arriving at Jerusalem with avery great caravan with camels
carrying spices, largequantities of gold and precious
stones, she came to Solomon andtalked with him about all that
she had on her mind.
Solomon answered all herquestions.
(32:09):
Nothing was too hard for theking to explain to her.
Listen to this Verse four.
When the queen of Sheba saw allthe wisdom of Solomon and the
palace he had built, the food onhis table, the seating of his
officials, the attendingservants in their robes, his
cupbearers and the burntofferings he made at the temple
of the Lord, she was overwhelmed.
She said to the king the reportI heard in my own country about
your achievements and yourwisdom is true, but I did not
(32:30):
believe these things until Icame and saw with my own eyes.
Indeed, not even half, was toldme, in wisdom and wealth.
You have far exceeded Wisdomand wealth.
You have far exceeded thereport.
I heard how happy your men mustbe, how happy your officials
who continually stand before youand hear your wisdom.
And listen to verse 9.
Pagan queen declares Praise.
(32:56):
Be to the Lord, your God, whohas delighted in you and placed
you on the throne of Israel.
Because of the Lord's eternallove for Israel, he has made you
king to maintain justice andrighteousness.
God getting glory from themouth of a pagan queen because
of how he had blessed David andSolomon.
And then you get to verse 10.
She gave the king 120 talentsof gold, large quantities of
(33:18):
spices and precious stones.
Never again were so many spicesbrought in as those the queen
of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
And it just continuesthroughout the rest of this
chapter.
Here's the picture Obedience toGod leading the people of God to
acquire possessions on earth.
This is such an incompletepicture in many senses.
(33:39):
We haven't even looked at howGod made provisions to make sure
the prosperity he gave would beshared with the poor.
We haven't even looked at howwealth was abused, maybe
particularly in Solomon's lifeand others' lives, how wealth
was abused.
But the picture is God isgiving them wealth and
possessions as they obey him,and he's giving them possessions
(34:00):
.
Why?
To establish them as a peoplein a land with a temple that
displays the glory of God to allthe nations around them.
That's what he's doing allthroughout the Old Testament.
Now, with that background, let'sstep into some disciples' shoes
and you see a rich synagogueruler come up to Jesus.
(34:28):
Simply by nature of the factthat he is rich, you assume what
this man is blessed by God.
Obedience to God led toacquiring possessions on this
earth, and not only thepossessions picture, but the
(34:50):
place picture, the templepicture, because this guy of all
people has enough to afford thechoicest sacrificial offerings.
This guy is able to give tosupport the temple furnishings.
This is a picture of theblessing of God.
All that he has.
Don't just think they'reshallow, they're operating on an
(35:15):
Old Testament mentality here.
And he comes up to Jesus andsays what must I do to inherit
the kingdom of God?
And Jesus looks back at him andsays get rid of all your stuff.
And as soon as you hear Jesussay that, your jaw does go on
(35:39):
the ground, he just told onewho's so blessed by God with all
of this stuff to get rid of itall.
Who has so much to offer to thetemple this stuff, to get rid
of it all.
Who has so much to offer to thetemple for sacrifices?
To get rid of it all.
And you're amazed.
And then Jesus turns to you andsays it's hard for a rich man to
(36:00):
enter the kingdom of God.
Do you see what a radical shiftthis was?
In the Old Testament, obedienceto God led to acquiring
possessions on earth.
In the New Testament picture,obedience to God leads us to not
(36:23):
acquire but to abandonpossessions on earth.
This is unheard of,revolutionary.
It's a radical shift.
Don't miss it.
Jesus is not just saying thatthis man's wealth is not
evidence of God's blessing.
Jesus is actually saying thatthis man's wealth is a barrier
(36:46):
to God's blessing in his life.
It's a barrier to him beingeven anywhere in his life.
It's a barrier to him beingeven anywhere near the kingdom.
It's a barrier to him.
This is shocking to you.
This is a very differentpicture.
It's all over Scripture and youcompare the Old Testament and
the New Testament.
Now I want to be careful here,because I believe most of the
themes that we see when it comesto possessions and giving the
(37:08):
Old Testament are do reappear indifferent ways and are
reaffirmed in different ways inthe New Testament.
But this one does not.
This one does not anywhere.
And just in case you think I'velike fallen off some truck and
lost sight of what is reality inScripture.
I want to bring in somebody tohelp me out a little here.
A guy named Craig Blomberg wrotea great book called Neither
(37:28):
Poverty Nor Riches.
It's a whole biblical theologyof possessions.
I want you to hear what he says.
His conclusion he says the NewTestament carried forward the
major principles of the OldTestament with one conspicuous
omission Never in the NewTestament, never, was material
wealth promised as a guaranteedreward for spiritual obedience.
(37:52):
Material reward for piety orfor obedience never reappears in
Jesus' teaching and in fact itis explicitly contradicted
throughout.
This is a picture in the OldTestament.
Obedience to God leads toacquiring possessions on earth
so that he builds a place thatdisplays his glory to the
(38:13):
nations.
That is a picture that is notcarried over in the New
Testament and it was shocking,amazing, really scandalous, for
Jesus to say this in Mark 10.
And I'm convinced it'sscandalous to talk like this in
the contemporary church.
(38:34):
It is virtually unheard of tosay.
In the contemporary Americanchurch culture that we live in
(38:55):
I'll bring it down even to thecontemporary affluent Birmingham
church culture that we live init is not a popular thing or a
common thing to hear that ourwealth is a barrier to us
(39:18):
entering the kingdom of God andthat if we want to be obedient
to God, we will abandon ourpossessions on this earth.
To God, we will abandon ourpossessions on this earth.
That doesn't go over very welltoday.
It's not received well today.
(39:39):
It's not adopted well today.
Do you know why?
Because in our contemporarychurch culture, I'm convinced we
are still living on OldTestament principles of giving
and possessions.
This is where the point comes.
(40:02):
This is why we need to divethrough all of that, because we
need to see a mirror of the waywe approach possessions today.
It is a prevailing theology inour culture that says that
(40:25):
wealth is a picture of God'sblessing in our lives for
obedience, and that wealth isgiven to us for us to have more
and more and more.
And God gives us stuff to buildstuff.
You want the proof?
(40:46):
Last year alone, christians inAmerica spent over $10 billion
on church buildings $10 billion.
(41:08):
Like we're building temples.
Take the real estate owned byinstitutional churches in our
country today and you have wellover $250 billion.
(41:31):
God has given us stuff, so let'sbuild places for His glory.
No Old Testament.
We don't build temples.
You're the temple, I'm thetemple.
This is a radically differentpicture.
(41:52):
And we?
It's not just church buildings.
Church buildings are areflection of the mentality that
plagues our hearts.
We think every few years weneed a bigger house, we need
more.
We need a bigger house, we needmore.
We need a better car, we needmore clothes.
(42:13):
More clothes, more possessions,more gadgets, more electronics.
Don't we want to be like theheroes of faith in the Old
Testament?
I want to be in the line ofAbraham and Isaac and Jacob and
David and Solomon.
Look at all this stuff they hadand they got to enjoy.
No, let's be in the line ofJesus.
And it's not that everything inthe Old Testament is null and
(42:38):
void and was bad.
It's a different covenant.
God was establishing a people,a nation on this earth to be a
display of his glory.
And it's a radically newpicture now, instead of God
giving possessions to build aplace that would display his
glory among the nations, now Godis giving possessions to build
a people who take his glory tothe nations.
This is very different Now.
It's not a place, it's a peopleyou and I who don't build
(43:00):
buildings and say come here andsee the glory of God.
Instead, we take the money thatGod has given us the wealth
that God has so given to us andthe possessions that God has
given to us, and we take it tothe nations and we say, here's
the glory of Christ, and we givefood to starving people and we
bring orphans and widows intoour homes and we are a people
(43:25):
who take our possessions and weabandon them for the sake of
taking the glory of Christ tothe nations.
It's just not how we work, it'snot how we think.
I used illustration a long timeago here at Brook Hills.
I say a long time ago, likeI've been here like 50 years,
but I've been here like a littleover two years, so a whole two
years ago I used an illustrationand I want to bring it back
(43:46):
here years, so a whole two yearsago I used an illustration and
I want to bring it back here.
If you've heard it beforeyou'll recognize it.
But I remember.
I remember when I was preparingto go to the Sudan a few years
ago.
Sudan, a place where hundredsof thousands of our brothers and
sisters have been engrossed incivil war over the last 20 plus
(44:08):
years not just since it gotpopular in the news over the
last few years and heavypersecution.
And I received in the mail, asI was preparing to go to the
Sudan and this was still duringwartime there a Baptist state
paper and on the front cover ofthat paper there were two
articles side by side.
I don't know if the editor didthis intentionally or if he just
(44:30):
missed it.
Really, really, really, really,really, really, really bad.
The picture was on the leftheadline First Baptist Church
fill in the blank.
It doesn't matter what church,doesn't matter what state First
Baptist Church fill in the blankcelebrates new 2323 million
building.
And it was a two or three pagearticle that talked about all
(44:51):
the amenities this building hadas a place of worship, all the
great things it would have.
It was 1 Kings 6, 8, like $23million building.
On the right the articleheadline said "'Baptist Relief
Helps Sudanese Refugees'".
(45:11):
This article short article onecolumn talked about how 350,000
Sudanese at that point this wasin the Darfur region.
This is when Darfur wasbeginning to get some press
350,000 refugees in Sudan weredying of malnutrition and may
not make it to the end of theyear at that point because they
had no food.
(45:31):
And you got to the end of thisarticle and it said Baptists had
raised money to send to theSudanese refugees.
You know how much said was sent.
On the left, first BaptistChurch celebrates new $23
million building.
On the right, baptists havesent $5,000 to refugees in the
(45:57):
Sudan.
$5,000 is not enough to get aplane into the Sudan, much less
one drop of water.
Drop of water.
(46:23):
Old Testament, New Testament.
Ladies and gentlemen, this isnot an indictment of that church
.
It is not an indictment ofchurch buildings.
It is an indictment of you andme.
We have thought the blessing ofGod meant we should acquire
(46:46):
more and more and more and more.
And it's transferred over intothe way we do church, where it's
bigger and better and more andmore.
And we need to repent.
And more and more.
And we need to repent.
We are a people who have beengiven much, not to acquire more
(47:08):
and not to build places andstuff, but to take the glory of
Christ to the nations.
God has not blessed us that wewould get our hearts and our
minds around this.
God has not blessed us so thatwe can live at higher standards
of living than the rest of theworld.
He's blessed us so that we canhave radical sacrifices of our
(47:31):
lives for the rest of the world.
He's not blessed us so we canhave higher standards of living,
we can have greater sacrificesof living, we can have greater
sacrifices of life.
This is what it means to beblessed by God, to take all that
he gives us and to spend it.
To spend it for the sake of thechurch, needy brothers and
sisters around the world and thelost 4.5 billion people who are
going to an eternal hell, andthe poor 30,000 children every
(47:53):
day who are dying of starvationor preventable diseases.
This is what lies before us.
How can we acquire more andbuild more?
God, deliver us from OldTestament thinking that it's not
the picture in the NewTestament.
It's not just here.
It's this new covenant here,god establishing a people.
(48:13):
But listen, in the OldTestament, obedience to God led
to acquiring possessions onearth.
New Testament, obedience to Godleads to abandoning possessions
on earth.
But there's a picture here tocome, and it's not to be
contrasted with New Covenantbecause it's still part of the
New Covenant, but it's thecompletion here.
Don't miss it In the future.
As we look to the future,obedience to God leads us to
(48:35):
accumulate possessions in heaven.
To accumulate possessions inheaven.
We're not living to have stuffhere, because we're living to
have reward there.
This is a biblical thing.
We'll look at this just asecond.
God gives possessions to builda paradise, possessions in
heaven, a paradise where we willenjoy his glory with the
(48:57):
nations.
Display his glory among thenations in a temple.
Be the temple.
Will enjoy his glory with thenations.
Display his glory among thenations in a temple.
Be the temple.
Take his glory to the nations.
There is coming a day when wewill enjoy his glory with the
nations in eternal reward.
And this is what we're livingfor.
These are the possessions we'reinvesting in and living for.
Turn with me to the right.
1 Corinthians, chapter 3.
This is the last place we'lllook.
I told you we weren't going toget very far in those notes.
(49:18):
1 Corinthians, chapter 3.
I want to show you this Whileyou're turning there, I want to
share with you a quote from aguy named Randy Alcorn.
He wrote a great book calledMoney, possessions and Eternity
that dives into some of thepractical things about how maybe
some of these things might playout in our lives.
I want you to listen to what hesays.
Dealing with this picture ofeternity, he says A startling
(49:40):
thing has happened among WesternChristians.
Many of us habitually think andact as if there were no
eternity or as if what we do inthis present life has no eternal
consequences, he continues.
Without a doubt, the singlegreatest contributor to our
inability to see money andpossessions in their true light
(50:03):
is our persistent failure to seeour present lives through the
lens of eternity.
In other words, the reason wesee our minds are so foggy, our
eyes are so blind and we see ourpossessions here so wrongly, is
because we've forgotten there'sa world to come, because when
you're living for what's goingto be there 10 billion years
(50:25):
from now, it affects where youlive here and how you live here.
It says look at eternity.
This is the picture in 1Corinthians 3.
This is a somewhat complicatedpassage.
In some ways, the context herePaul's talking about building on
the foundation of Christ in ourlives and he talks about, just
like we've mentioned, how wedon't build a temple because we
are the temple.
(50:46):
I want you to listen to what hesays in verse 11.
We'll start there.
No one can lay any foundationother than the one already laid,
which is Jesus Christ.
So he's talking about nomissing.
Here Jesus is the foundation.
So he's talking about don'tmiss it.
Here Jesus is the foundation,and he's talking to the church.
He's talking to believers here.
Listen to what he says.
If any man builds on thisfoundation using gold, silver,
costly stones, wood, hay orstraw, his work will be shown
(51:07):
for what it is, because the daywill bring it to light.
It will be revealed with fire,and the fire will test the
quality of each man's work.
If what he has built survives,he will receive his reward.
If it is burned up, he willsuffer loss.
He himself will be saved, butonly as one escaping through the
flames.
Let me help you understand realquickly what Paul just said here
(51:27):
.
He's talking about.
He's not talking about the dayof judgment when believers and
unbelievers will be separatedfrom one another.
He's talking about, like thesecond coming of Christ, the
picture here where believerswill stand before Christ, and
this is not salvation at stake.
This is people who have builttheir lives on the foundation of
Christ.
The question is, what are theybuilt with?
(51:47):
And Paul says there are somewho will have built possessions,
treasures in their lives thaton that day will be shown to
survive through the fire andthey will receive their reward.
This is a picture we see ofreward all throughout the New
Testament, a whole other sermon,a few sermons.
(52:09):
Hebrews 11,.
Moses regarded disgrace for thesake of Christ because he was
looking ahead to his reward.
1 Corinthians 9, 2 Corinthians4, 2 Timothy 4, all talk about
we're living for a prize, for acrown, for a reward to come to
present glory to Christ.
But what Paul says is therewill be someone that day who, on
(52:32):
the foundation of Christ, havebuilt with hay, straw or wood,
and when the flames come theywill burn up everything that's
been built.
And it's not that theirsalvation will be lost because
they will escape, but they willbe like a man jumping from a
(52:55):
burning wood building.
Be like a man jumping from aburning wood building, escaping
through the flames.
And it all begs the questionwhat are we building in our
lives?
What are we investing in in ourlives?
What treasures are we buildingin our lives that will survive
on that day and praise to Christ, or that will burn up on that
day?
Let me help you think throughit.
(53:17):
Our houses will burn up on thatday and all the money we've put
in our stuff and our cars andour possessions and all the nice
clothes will burn up, all thethings that we grabbed onto burn
(53:40):
out.
Our 401ks and our savingsaccount won't survive this fire,
no matter how great or wiselywe invested them.
What will survive is the childwho had no food on his table and
(54:03):
you fed him.
The brother who was imprisonedfor his faith and you went to
visit him.
The man or woman in anunreached village that had never
heard the name of Jesus, thatheard the name of Jesus from
your mouth because you spentyour life taking the gospel to
them.
That'll survive and these arethe things that we will present
(54:24):
to Christ for his glory on thatday.
What scares me?
What scares me is that thispicture might cause some in this
room to think well, I'm stillgoing to be in heaven, though
right, as long as I'm in heaven,that's what's most important.
(54:48):
I want to make sure that.
That's okay.
That's what's most important.
I mean, I'm a Christian.
Why do I have to worry aboutall this radical giving and
radical abandonment stuff?
I know I'm going to have them.
That's what's most important.
How can I say that when so manyother things are important to
(55:13):
our God?
We hope you've enjoyed thisweek's episode of Radical with
David Platt.
For more resources from DavidPlatt to our God.
You are listening to Radical with David Platt, a
weekly podcast with sermons andmessages from pastor, author and
teacher David Platt.
Let's read Mark 10, verse 17.
As Jesus started on His way, aman ran up to Him and fell on
his knees before Him.
Good teacher, he asked whatmust I do to inherit eternal
life?
Why do you call me good?
(00:22):
Jesus answered no one is goodexcept God alone.
You know the commandments Donot murder, do not commit
adultery, do not steal, do notgive false testimony, do not
defraud, honor your father andmother.
Teacher, he declared.
All these I've kept since I wasa boy.
Jesus looked at him and lovedhim.
One thing you lack, he said Go,sell everything you have and
(00:44):
give to the poor and you willhave treasure in heaven.
Then come follow me.
At this the man's face fell.
He went away sad because he hadgreat wealth.
Jesus looked around and said tohis disciples how hard it is
for the rich to enter thekingdom of God.
The disciples were amazed athis words.
But Jesus said again Children,how hard it is to enter the
(01:06):
kingdom of God.
It is easier for a camel to gothrough the eye of a needle than
for a rich man to enter thekingdom of God.
The disciples were even moreamazed and said to each other
who then can be saved?
Jesus looked at them and saidWith man this is impossible, but
not with God.
All things are possible withGod.
Peter said to him We've lefteverything to follow you.
I tell you the truth.
(01:26):
Jesus replied no one who hasleft home or brothers or sisters
, or mother or father orchildren or fields for me and
the gospel will fail to receivea hundred times as much in this
present age homes, brothers,sisters, mothers, children and
fields, and with thempersecutions and, in the age to
come, eternal life.
But many who are first will belast and the last first.
(01:49):
All right, let's recap.
Front of the worship guidenotes that you've got,
especially if you weren't herelast week, but even if you were
a reminder of where we've beenand what truths we've seen
unfold in this passage at thispoint.
First, a radical approach Jesus'call to salvation demands total
surrender.
In this passage, jesus is notusing conventional evangelism
(02:09):
techniques.
If only he had some of theevangelism books that we have
available in our bookstorestoday, he could certainly have
led this man to Christ iehimself.
But he didn't have those booksand so he goes off saying he
needed to go sell everything hehas and he loses the prospect
Because he tells him to abandoneverything, total surrender.
We talked about how salvation isnot a matter never a matter of
(02:31):
external reformation.
Salvation is not a to-do list,not a check-off box.
Jesus is not saying if you dothis, then that will earn your
salvation.
Instead, salvation is always amatter of internal
transformation.
His, this man's, givingeverything he has, selling
everything he has and giving itto the poor would be evidence
(02:53):
that he is trusting Jesus, thatsomething is happening in his
heart that would cause him toleave these things behind and
give himself, give thesepossessions away, sell them to
sell them and give them to thepoor.
And the picture is we talkedabout how we don't give away our
possessions, sell ourpossessions, give to the poor in
order to earn salvation.
We sell our possessions andgive to the poor because we have
(03:17):
salvation, because Christ is inus, his love in us, his love
for the poor overflows throughus.
That we would make radicalsacrifices like this, naturally
automatically flowing from thepresence of Christ in us,
because of an internaltransformation in us.
We talked about how, at thecore, we all need changed hearts
.
We're not looking for alegalistic to-do list on how
(03:40):
much you have to sell in orderto earn salvation.
Never a matter of externalreformation, always a matter of
internal transformation.
And we saw how Jesus is notmerely a respectable teacher,
he's the sovereign Lord.
There are many, including thisman, who are just fine with
Jesus being a teacher to respect.
It's a whole other ballgame forJesus to be a Lord to obey.
Jesus is not in our lives wetalked about.
(04:01):
He's not in our lives to giveus financial advice.
He is in our lives as the ownerof every dollar.
We have every possession.
We have our houses, our cars,our clothes, our stuff.
Everything is under HisLordship and it's His to do with
whatever he pleases.
Our lives, our possessions areentirely His to spend.
(04:24):
Our savings account are His tospend, doesn't matter what
financial advice you would getfrom what financial planner.
He is Lord and this changeseverything about how we live,
not just a respectable teacher,sovereign Lord.
All that led to radicalaffection.
This is where we talked abouthow Jesus calls us to give
sacrificially because he lovesus Verse 21,.
(04:46):
You just looked at him andloved him.
We went to Luke, chapter 12.
In chapter 12, verse 33, inLuke, he tells his disciples
there sell all your possessionsand give to the poor.
Same kind of radical command.
But what he says in verse 32,and this is the verse we camped
out on, it's the dynamite thatblows up the God of materialism
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in our lives.
Because Jesus knows for us tohear words like sell everything
you have and give to the poor.
He knows that just sparksinsecurity and fear in us.
What happens when you begin tosell all you have and give to
the poor?
Well, how are you gonna takecare of this and this and this?
And there's all kinds ofquestions.
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And Jesus says do not be afraid.
Luke 12, 32.
Do not be afraid, little flock,for your Father is pleased to
give you a kingdom.
He says, when you abandon homeand house possessions, cars,
clothes, stuff that you haveheld on to, security, safety
that you have held on to in thisworld, don't be afraid.
Don't be afraid because youhave a Father who's a shepherd
who protects you.
He's a Father who delights inyou and a King who provides for
you.
He has a kingdom to give us.
And so Jesus tells us thesethings to make radical
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sacrifices, not because he hatesus or because he wants our
lives to be miserable.
He tells us these thingsbecause he loves us.
Jesus loves rich people.
He loves rich people enough totell rich people the truth.
The reminder is we are all richpeople in this room.
That's why this text is sopertinent for us, because all of
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us in this room are incrediblywealthy compared to the rest of
the world.
Radical affection leads to theradical command.
Jesus gives commands, notconsiderations.
Jesus does not say to this richman be willing to give
everything you have.
Instead, he says five commandsGo, sell everything you have,
give to the poor, then come,follow me.
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And we talked about how thiscommand is not necessarily
universal, that it doesn'tnecessarily apply to every
follower of Christ of all time,that every follower of Christ is
supposed to sell every singlething they have and give to the
poor.
It's not universal.
At the same time, it's possible.
It's possible that he would saythat to any one of us in this
room.
And even if he doesn't say thatexactly, we cannot hide behind
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this smoke screen of well, I'dbe willing to give everything.
It's not what this passage issaying.
This passage is saying is yourlife is completely on the table
before the Lord, blank check andwhatever he says to give,
whatever he says to do, thoseare not options to consider,
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they are commands to obey.
I was talking with one familythis week who they have a
six-year-old son.
Husband and wife have asix-year-old son and they one
night this week were havingfamily worship time and they
read through Mark 10, 17-31.
They were talking about thispassage and they asked their
six-year-old son.
They said what do you have thatyou could sell and give to the
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poor son?
They said what do you have thatyou could sell and give to the
poor?
And son kind of thought aboutit.
Six-year-old said well, I'vegot this video game system, my
video games.
They said well, would you bewilling?
That's what they asked.
They said would you be willingto sell that and give the money
to the poor?
And he said yes.
And they said the father saidokay, then that's what we're
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going to do.
And the little six-year-oldsaid no, this is us, this is us.
It's easy.
Easy to say oh, I'd be willing.
And so they talked about itsome more.
And next day dad got home fromwork and son was playing, went
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up into his room and called hisdad up into his room completely
unsolicited.
His dad goes up there and hisson says to his dad dad, I've
been thinking a lot about whatwe talked about and I've heard
you and mom talking about whatyou're going to sell to give to
the poor.
And I need to do that with myvideo game system to the poor
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and I need to do that with myvideo game system.
God, give 30-year-olds and60-year-olds across this faith
family, six-year-old kind offaith.
What happens when we say that,across this family, with all of
our possessions, with all of ourhouses and all of our cars and
all of our clothes and all ofour stuff, all the treasures we
hold on to, what happens?
What a picture here.
Jesus has not given us optionsto consider.
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He gives us commands to obey.
That's risky.
Put everything on the table.
You want me to sell it all?
I will sell it all.
Jesus, tell me exactly what tosell everything on the table,
what to give away?
I'll do it.
That's risky.
This is the point where peoplestart jumping ship.
But it's risk, don't miss it.
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It's radical risk.
Jesus says for radical reward.
Jesus does not want to strip usof our pleasure.
He wants to satisfy us with Histreasure.
Remember the cute rhyme there.
Matthew, chapter 13,.
Verse 44 is what we looked at.
Remember this verse the kingdomof heaven is like a treasure
hidden in a field.
When a man found it, he hid itagain and then, in his joy, he
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went and sold all he had andbought that field.
How do you sell everything youhave with joy?
How do you take every singlething you have and sell it or
give it away with a smile onyour face when you know you have
treasure here and you aretrading trinkets for treasure?
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Jesus is not telling us anywherein the New Testament not to
care about treasures.
He's telling us to care aboutreal treasures.
Stop living for trinkets thatwe think are treasures and to
live for what is true treasure.
Come follow me, you'll havetreasure in heaven.
Radical risk for radical reward, and this is what we talked
about.
Which do we want?
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Short-term treasures that wecan't keep or long-term
treasures we can't lose,unpredictable investments or
inexhaustible savings?
That quote from Jim Elliott.
He is no fool who gives what hecannot keep, gain what he
cannot lose.
And it really comes down to thequestion of where is our heart?
We looked at Matthew 6, 19through 21.
You remember Do not store upfor yourselves treasures on
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earth where moth and rustdestroy and where thieves break
in and steal, but store up foryourselves treasures in heaven
where moth and rust do notdestroy and thieves do not break
in and steal.
And then he says, matthew 6,21,.
Memorize this verse.
If you don't have it memorized,for where your treasure is,
there your what Heart will bealso.
What a humbling verse.
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The reality is, what Jesus issaying there is that our use of
money is a sure barometer of ourpresent spiritual condition.
In other words, ladies andgentlemen, our possessions and
our lifestyles give away whereour treasures are and our heart
lies.
Wherever our treasure is there,we see where our heart is.
And it's not just our presentspiritual condition.
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Our use of money is a sureindicator of our future eternal
destination.
There's a radical reward to behad in heaven, jesus says.
And it begs the question areyou going to live for treasure
on earth or are you going tolive for treasure in heaven?
And Jesus says, lest we think,well, I'm going to enjoy
treasures here and then havetreasure there.
This is the name of the game incontemporary Christianity Pray
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the prayer, live life enjoyingthe treasures here and you have
to free pass the treasure inheaven.
And Jesus says it can't be done.
No one can serve two mastersTreasure on earth, treasure in
heaven.
Which are you living for?
Where is your heart?
Where is your heart?
Radical reward that he has forus and all that brought us to
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radical loss?
Love of possessions willinevitably and ultimately rob us
of the joy for which we havebeen created.
He walked away sad why His eyeswere blind.
We talked about how His eyeswere blind to the depth of His
sin that was bound up with Hispossessions.
It was a blind spot for Him.
He was wealthy and he didn'teven know the extent to which he
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had missed it.
It was a blind spot.
His eyes were blind not only tothe depth of his sin, but to
the depth of the need of thepoor around him.
He turned a deaf ear to them,closed his eyes.
His eyes were blind, his facewas sad and his hands were full.
He stood there in the full handof treasures and walked away
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and missed Jesus altogether.
Now, that's what happened inJesus' conversation with him.
That only gets us through partof the passage, Because the
disciples are sitting there andJesus turns to them and in verse
23 he says how hard it is forthe rich to enter the kingdom of
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God.
And the disciples?
Look at verse 24,.
The disciples were what Amazedat his words.
They were shocked, and herepeats it again how hard it is
to enter the kingdom of God.
It is easier for a camel to gothrough the eye of a needle than
for a rich man to enter thekingdom of God, and we're going
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to talk more about that wholeimagery next week.
But the picture here is Jesussaying it is hard for the rich
to enter the kingdom of God.
This should cause our ears toperk up.
Because we're rich, it's hardto enter the kingdom of God from
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this room.
Now, why did he say this andwhy was it so shocking to these
disciples?
This is where, in order tounderstand what's going on here,
we've got to take a step back.
We're going to dive into theOld Testament to see the
mentality that was in thesedisciples' minds.
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That would cause them to havetheir jaws on the ground in
shock when Jesus makes astatement like how hard it is
for the rich to enter thekingdom of God.
And you know, it's not justimportant for us to do this in
order to get into thesedisciples' minds in Mark 10.
It's important for us to dothis because we've got to
realize how we've got the samementality.
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It's interesting as soon as youstart talking about radical
giving and radical abandonmentin an affluent religious
community, there's certainphrases that come to the top
pretty quick, and one of thosephrases is Dave, haven't you
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read the Old Testament?
Don't you know that?
Abraham, he was wealthy.
Don't you know about Isaac andJacob, patriarchs, wealthy.
Don't you know about David,king David, man after God's own
heart, which we always use tojust kind of be a blanket thing?
So everything David did wasright.
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Well, he was wealthy.
Solomon, he was blessed by God.
Look at all this wealth.
Don't you know it's okay tohave a lot of stuff?
Don't you know these are heroesof our faith, so it's okay to
enjoy all the stuff we have,like they did.
That's a good question.
It's good enough for us to diveinto together tonight, and I
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want us to see the answer.
So go back with me to Genesis,chapter 12.
Genesis, chapter 12.
And while you're turning there,what I want us to see is this
next truth come up on the pagehere in your notes A radical
shift.
A radical shift While you'refinding Genesis chapter 12,.
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Here's the truth.
We must understand our use ofmoney and possessions in the
context of biblical history.
We must understand our use ofmoney and possessions in the
context of biblical history.
You're thinking we're going tohave a biblical history lesson?
I promise, just stick with me.
We've got to see this.
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This is huge.
Genesis 12 is where we'resitting in our Bibles right now.
You know what happens beforethis.
Genesis 1 and 2, god createsthe world and all the things in
this world, material things inthe world, and he creates them
good, and he creates them forhis creation, his people, to
enjoy.
Now, obviously, in Genesischapter 3, sin enters the world
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and kind of mars, the wholepicture Not kind of really mars,
the whole picture.
And then you fast forward toGenesis chapter 12, and this is
when God births the nation ofIsrael.
This is when he calls out Abramin this passage, who's later
called Abraham, calls him out tobegin a nation that he would
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call his own, the people ofIsrael.
And I want you to hear what hesays to Abraham.
Abraham, in this passage, verse1, the Lord had said to Abraham
leave your country, your peopleand your father's household and
go to the land I will show you.
I will make you into a greatnation and I will bless you.
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So listen to what happened.
Abram left, as the Lord hadtold him, and Lot went with him.
Abram was 75 years old when heset out from Haran.
Listen to verse 5.
Here's where this truth isgoing to start to unfold.
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You got this in your notes andI want us to think about it in
light of Genesis 12.
In the past, in the OldTestament, this is the very
beginning of God, hisrelationship with the people of
Israel.
Old Covenant.
Obedience to God led toacquiring possessions on earth.
Obedience to God led toacquiring possessions on earth
in the Old Testament Starts here, with Abraham.
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What you've got is God saying tohim leave here and go to the
land I will show you, which.
That doesn't seem like that biga deal, but needs to trigger in
at this point that in the OldTestament, land is everything.
Land is wealth, land isprosperity.
The more land you have, thebetter.
The more fertile your land is,the more wealth you have.
And so God says I've got apromise of land for you, and he
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begins talking about how he'sgoing to bless Abram.
Now, that's spiritual blessing,but it's also material blessing
and what you've got is Abrahamgoing off to this land and he's
got possessions that he'saccumulated, he's got people
he's acquired, he's got somewealth and he's taken it off to
a land that God has said I'mgoing to bless you with it.
And God says I'm going to blessyou.
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For this reason, I'm going topour out my spiritual, material
blessing on you and through you,that blessing will overflow
into all the peoples of theearth.
So that's how the whole picturestarts in Genesis, chapter 12.
Now fast forward with me toGenesis, chapter 24.
I want you to see how this isemphasized throughout the
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picture of Genesis Obedience toGod leading to acquiring
possessions on earth.
Look at Genesis 24, verse 34.
The picture here is Abraham hassent his servant to go find a
wife for Isaac.
And this is what the servantsays to a guy named Laban
talking about Abraham.
I want you to listen to how hedescribes him, verse 34.
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So he said I am Abraham'sservant.
The Lord has blessed my master.
That's Abraham.
The Lord has blessed himabundantly and he has become
wealthy.
He has given him sheep andcattle, silver and gold, men's
servants and maid's servants,and camels and donkeys.
God has blessed him and givenhim all kinds of possessions.
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I'll keep going to the right.
We'll come to Genesis, chapter30.
I'm sorry, go to Genesis 26first, then we'll get to 30.
Go to Genesis 26,.
Look at verse 12.
Abraham had a son.
His name was Audienceparticipation, part of our
program.
Abraham had a son.
His name was Audienceparticipation, part of our
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program.
Abraham had a son.
His name was Isaac.
Okay, isaac Did Abraham enjoyall the material possessions and
Isaac got nothing.
No, look in Genesis 26, verse12.
Isaac planted crops in thatland in the same year, reaped a
hundredfold because the Lordblessed him.
The man became rich.
Talking about Isaac, he becamerich and his wealth continued to
grow until he became verywealthy.
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I love you're going to see thisjust the way this is described.
It's not just wealthy, hebecame very wealthy.
He had so many flocks and herdsand servants that the
Philistines envied him.
He had so much that the nationsaround him envied him for how
much he had.
Now I'll go to the right, tochapter 30.
Isaac had a son.
His name was Jacob, jacob andEsau.
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Esau made some mistakes.
Jacob's in the picture.
Genesis, chapter 30.
Look with me at verse 43.
This is talking about Jacob,verse 43.
This is talking about Jacob inthis way, talking about Jacob
the man.
Jacob grew exceedinglyprosperous not just prosperous,
exceedingly prosperous and cameto own not just flocks, large
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flocks and maid servants and menservants and camels and donkeys
.
Keep going to the right Genesis, chapter 47.
Last place we'll look inGenesis.
And maidservants andmenservants and camels and
donkeys.
Keep going to the right Genesis, chapter 47.
Last place we'll look inGenesis, genesis 47.
Jacob had a son.
His name was.
He had a lot of them.
You don't need to know that.
He had a lot of sons and one ofhis sons' name was Joseph.
And remember what God did washe took Joseph by way of slavery
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to Egypt and exalted Joseph inPharaoh's house there in Egypt
to provide salvation for hispeople from famine.
I want you to listen.
This is kind of how the book ofGenesis closes with Abraham's
family, his descendants livingin Egypt.
Listen to verse 27.
Now the Israelites settled inEgypt in the region of Goshen.
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They acquired property there.
So you see the picture Allthroughout Genesis, god's chosen
people, this nation that he isforming and establishing, is
extremely wealthy, exceedinglywealthy, very wealthy, much
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possessions.
Now, what happened after this?
You remember, there in Egyptthey became slaves and God
delivered them out of theirslavery.
In fact, the way he deliveredthem out of their slavery, he
did all these plagues and got tothe Passover and he sends them
out and he says I'm going totake you to a promised.
What Land I'm going to give you?
Land flowing with milk andhoney.
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It's out there.
And as they're leaving theirslavery in Egypt, what are the
Egyptians doing?
You remember?
They're like throwing gold andsilver at them.
It's a great picture.
They've been slaves, they'reescaping slavery and they're
like hey, take some of my goldon the way, take some of my
silver on the way, just have itall.
God is prospering them so thatthey will be established in the
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land when they get there.
He's taking them to thepromised land and on that
journey what he does is he givesthem his law and in that law he
talks about this pictureObedience to God will lead to
acquiring possessions on earth.
I want to show you in two places.
Go to Leviticus, chapter 26.
Two chapters over to the rightGenesis, exodus, leviticus,
chapter 26.
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Probably don't spend a lot oftime in Leviticus, not the most
popular quiet time book.
Leviticus, chapter 26, verse 3.
I want you to hear what Godsays to his people and just see
this truth Obedience to God ledto acquiring possessions on
earth.
Listen to what he told him,verse 3, leviticus 26.
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If you follow my decrees andare careful to obey my commands
there's the condition obedienceto God I will send you rain in
its season and the ground willyield its crops and the trees of
the field their fruit.
Your threshing will continueuntil grape harvest and the
grape harvest will continueuntil planting and you will eat
all the.
Look down in verse 9.
He said move it out to makeroom for the new.
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I'll put my dwelling placeamong you and I will not abhor
you.
I will walk among you and beyour God and you will be my
people.
I am the Lord, your God, whobrought you up out of Egypt so
that you would no longer beslaves to the Egyptians.
I broke the bars of your yokeand enabled you to walk with
heads held high.
You see the picture he'sprospering his people and he's
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saying to his people if youfollow my decrees and are
careful to obey my commands,you're not going to have, you're
going to be eating the harvestfrom last year.
When the new harvest comes in.
You're just going to have tomove it out.
You're going to have so much.
One more place.
Keep going to the right andyou'll come to Deuteronomy.
You go to Numbers andDeuteronomy, chapter 28.
I want to read one extendedportion there that really gives
this picture Obedience to Godleading to acquiring possessions
on earth and I want you to seeyou'll see it a couple of times
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in this passage we're about toread the relationship between
the people's obedience and God'smaterial prosperity that he
would bless them with.
Look at Deuteronomy 28, verse 1.
Here it is If you fully obeythe Lord, your God, and
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carefully follow all Hiscommands, I give you today one.
Here it is the crops of yourland and the young of your
livestock, the calves of yourherds and the lambs of your
flocks, your basket and yourkneading trough will be blessed.
You'll be blessed when you comein and blessed when you go out.
The Lord will grant that theenemies who rise up against you
will be defeated before you.
They will come at you from onedirection but flee from you in
seven.
The Lord will send a blessingon your barns and on everything
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you put your hand to.
Your God will bless you in theland he is giving you.
He will establish you as Hisholy people, as he promised you
on oath.
If you keep the commands of theLord, your God, and walk in His
ways, then all the peoples ofthe earth will see that you were
called by the name of the Lordand they will fear you.
The Lord will grant youabundant prosperity in the fruit
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of your womb, the young of yourlivestock and the crops of your
ground and the land he swore toyour forefathers to give you.
The Lord will open the heavens,the storehouse of His bounty,
to send rain on your land inseason and to bless all the work
of your hands.
You will lend to many nationsbut will borrow from none.
The Lord will make you the head, not the tail, if you pay
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attention to the commands of theLord, your God, that I give you
this day and carefully followthem.
There it is.
You see the picture here thatis the bounty of heaven is yours
, obedience to God, leading toacquiring possessions on earth.
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And it's the same picture westarted with way back in Genesis
, chapter 12, when God said I'mgoing to bless you so that all
peoples on earth will be blessedthrough you.
That's what he just said inDeuteronomy 28, verse 10.
Then all the peoples on earthwill see that you are called by
the name of the Lord and theywill fear you.
What God's doing in the OldTestament don't miss this.
What he is doing in the OldTestament is he is establishing
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a nation in a land that will bea display of his glory to all
the nations around.
In fact, it leads to the secondpart of this truth.
In the past Old Testament,obedience to God led to
acquiring possessions on earth,and God gave possessions to
build a place that displayed Hisglory among the nations.
This is huge.
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At first it was the promisedland.
You will live in this land andyou will be a display of my
glory.
But then this is where we fastforward to David and Solomon,
and it's not just about havingland.
What's going to be in themiddle of the land?
A temple right.
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And I'm going to give you greatwealth so that you can build a
majestic temple, splendor,majesty, display my glory to all
the nations around.
And this is exactly whathappens.
Go with me and this last placewe'll turn in the Old Testament
here.
Go with me to 1 Kings, chaptereight.
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1 Kings, chapter eight.
Yes, god made David rich,wealthy.
God made Solomon rich andwealthy.
Why?
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What happens is, in 1 Kings 6,solomon takes the wealth that he
had inherited from his father,david, and he builds a temple,
the glory of God.
This is not just anotherbuilding, this is a place where
the glory of God will dwellamong his people, and then,
after that, he builds a massivepalace.
You get to 1 Kings 8, and whatSolomon does is he prays,
starting in verse 23,.
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He prays a prayer of dedicationof the temple.
And then you get to verse 62,and I want you to listen to the
celebration.
They had Just picture this.
Then the king, and all Israelwith him, offered sacrifices
before the Lord.
Listen to verse 63.
Solomon offered a sacrifice offellowship offerings to the Lord
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22,000 cattle that's a lot atOutback.
That's a lot of cattle 22,000and 120,000 sheep and goats.
Can you imagine?
That's a lot of sheep and goatsthat you're offering as a
sacrifice?
This is a mega party Worship.
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Picture the king and all theIsraelites dedicated the temple
of the Lord with that and listento this.
On that same day, the kingconsecrated the middle part of
the courtyard in.
Israelites dedicated the templeof the Lord with that and
listen to this.
On that same day, the kingconsecrated the middle part of
the courtyard in front of thetemple of the Lord, and there he
offered burnt offerings, grainofferings and the fat of the
fellowship offerings, becausethe bronze altar before the Lord
was too small to hold the burntofferings, the grain offerings
and the fat of the fellowshipofferings.
So Solomon observed thefestival at that time, and all
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Israel with him, a vast assembly, people from Lebo-Hemeth to the
Wadi of Egypt.
They celebrated it before theLord, our God, for seven days,
and seven days more, 14 days inall.
And the following day he sentthe people away.
They blessed the king and thenwent home joyful and glad in
heart for all the good thingsthe Lord had done for his
servant, david and his people,israel.
That was one incredible day.
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David and his people, israel,that was one incredible day.
Affluent, wealthy, display theglory of God, so that the
nations will see this and seethe glory of God.
And we know that that's what'shappening here.
You get over two chapters to 1Kings 10, and look what happens.
There's a queen, the queen ofSheba, a pagan queen, who comes
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to visit Solomon and listen towhat happens.
When the queen of Sheba heardabout the fame of Solomon and
his relation to the name of theLord, she came to test him with
hard questions.
Arriving at Jerusalem with avery great caravan with camels
carrying spices, largequantities of gold and precious
stones, she came to Solomon andtalked with him about all that
she had on her mind.
Solomon answered all herquestions.
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Nothing was too hard for theking to explain to her.
Listen to this Verse four.
When the queen of Sheba saw allthe wisdom of Solomon and the
palace he had built, the food onhis table, the seating of his
officials, the attendingservants in their robes, his
cupbearers and the burntofferings he made at the temple
of the Lord, she was overwhelmed.
She said to the king the reportI heard in my own country about
your achievements and yourwisdom is true, but I did not
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believe these things until Icame and saw with my own eyes.
Indeed, not even half, was toldme, in wisdom and wealth.
You have far exceeded Wisdomand wealth.
You have far exceeded thereport.
I heard how happy your men mustbe, how happy your officials
who continually stand before youand hear your wisdom.
And listen to verse 9.
Pagan queen declares Praise.
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Be to the Lord, your God, whohas delighted in you and placed
you on the throne of Israel.
Because of the Lord's eternallove for Israel, he has made you
king to maintain justice andrighteousness.
God getting glory from themouth of a pagan queen because
of how he had blessed David andSolomon.
And then you get to verse 10.
She gave the king 120 talentsof gold, large quantities of
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spices and precious stones.
Never again were so many spicesbrought in as those the queen
of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
And it just continuesthroughout the rest of this
chapter.
Here's the picture Obedience toGod leading the people of God to
acquire possessions on earth.
This is such an incompletepicture in many senses.
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We haven't even looked at howGod made provisions to make sure
the prosperity he gave would beshared with the poor.
We haven't even looked at howwealth was abused, maybe
particularly in Solomon's lifeand others' lives, how wealth
was abused.
But the picture is God isgiving them wealth and
possessions as they obey him,and he's giving them possessions
(34:00):
.
Why?
To establish them as a peoplein a land with a temple that
displays the glory of God to allthe nations around them.
That's what he's doing allthroughout the Old Testament.
Now, with that background, let'sstep into some disciples' shoes
and you see a rich synagogueruler come up to Jesus.
(34:28):
Simply by nature of the factthat he is rich, you assume what
this man is blessed by God.
Obedience to God led toacquiring possessions on this
earth, and not only thepossessions picture, but the
(34:50):
place picture, the templepicture, because this guy of all
people has enough to afford thechoicest sacrificial offerings.
This guy is able to give tosupport the temple furnishings.
This is a picture of theblessing of God.
All that he has.
Don't just think they'reshallow, they're operating on an
(35:15):
Old Testament mentality here.
And he comes up to Jesus andsays what must I do to inherit
the kingdom of God?
And Jesus looks back at him andsays get rid of all your stuff.
And as soon as you hear Jesussay that, your jaw does go on
(35:39):
the ground, he just told onewho's so blessed by God with all
of this stuff to get rid of itall.
Who has so much to offer to thetemple this stuff, to get rid
of it all.
Who has so much to offer to thetemple for sacrifices?
To get rid of it all.
And you're amazed.
And then Jesus turns to you andsays it's hard for a rich man to
(36:00):
enter the kingdom of God.
Do you see what a radical shiftthis was?
In the Old Testament, obedienceto God led to acquiring
possessions on earth.
In the New Testament picture,obedience to God leads us to not
(36:23):
acquire but to abandonpossessions on earth.
This is unheard of,revolutionary.
It's a radical shift.
Don't miss it.
Jesus is not just saying thatthis man's wealth is not
evidence of God's blessing.
Jesus is actually saying thatthis man's wealth is a barrier
(36:46):
to God's blessing in his life.
It's a barrier to him beingeven anywhere in his life.
It's a barrier to him beingeven anywhere near the kingdom.
It's a barrier to him.
This is shocking to you.
This is a very differentpicture.
It's all over Scripture and youcompare the Old Testament and
the New Testament.
Now I want to be careful here,because I believe most of the
themes that we see when it comesto possessions and giving the
(37:08):
Old Testament are do reappear indifferent ways and are
reaffirmed in different ways inthe New Testament.
But this one does not.
This one does not anywhere.
And just in case you think I'velike fallen off some truck and
lost sight of what is reality inScripture.
I want to bring in somebody tohelp me out a little here.
A guy named Craig Blomberg wrotea great book called Neither
(37:28):
Poverty Nor Riches.
It's a whole biblical theologyof possessions.
I want you to hear what he says.
His conclusion he says the NewTestament carried forward the
major principles of the OldTestament with one conspicuous
omission Never in the NewTestament, never, was material
wealth promised as a guaranteedreward for spiritual obedience.
(37:52):
Material reward for piety orfor obedience never reappears in
Jesus' teaching and in fact itis explicitly contradicted
throughout.
This is a picture in the OldTestament.
Obedience to God leads toacquiring possessions on earth
so that he builds a place thatdisplays his glory to the
(38:13):
nations.
That is a picture that is notcarried over in the New
Testament and it was shocking,amazing, really scandalous, for
Jesus to say this in Mark 10.
And I'm convinced it'sscandalous to talk like this in
the contemporary church.
(38:34):
It is virtually unheard of tosay.
In the contemporary Americanchurch culture that we live in
(38:55):
I'll bring it down even to thecontemporary affluent Birmingham
church culture that we live init is not a popular thing or a
common thing to hear that ourwealth is a barrier to us
(39:18):
entering the kingdom of God andthat if we want to be obedient
to God, we will abandon ourpossessions on this earth.
To God, we will abandon ourpossessions on this earth.
That doesn't go over very welltoday.
It's not received well today.
(39:39):
It's not adopted well today.
Do you know why?
Because in our contemporarychurch culture, I'm convinced we
are still living on OldTestament principles of giving
and possessions.
This is where the point comes.
(40:02):
This is why we need to divethrough all of that, because we
need to see a mirror of the waywe approach possessions today.
It is a prevailing theology inour culture that says that
(40:25):
wealth is a picture of God'sblessing in our lives for
obedience, and that wealth isgiven to us for us to have more
and more and more.
And God gives us stuff to buildstuff.
You want the proof?
(40:46):
Last year alone, christians inAmerica spent over $10 billion
on church buildings $10 billion.
(41:08):
Like we're building temples.
Take the real estate owned byinstitutional churches in our
country today and you have wellover $250 billion.
(41:31):
God has given us stuff, so let'sbuild places for His glory.
No Old Testament.
We don't build temples.
You're the temple, I'm thetemple.
This is a radically differentpicture.
(41:52):
And we?
It's not just church buildings.
Church buildings are areflection of the mentality that
plagues our hearts.
We think every few years weneed a bigger house, we need
more.
We need a bigger house, we needmore.
We need a better car, we needmore clothes.
(42:13):
More clothes, more possessions,more gadgets, more electronics.
Don't we want to be like theheroes of faith in the Old
Testament?
I want to be in the line ofAbraham and Isaac and Jacob and
David and Solomon.
Look at all this stuff they hadand they got to enjoy.
No, let's be in the line ofJesus.
And it's not that everything inthe Old Testament is null and
(42:38):
void and was bad.
It's a different covenant.
God was establishing a people,a nation on this earth to be a
display of his glory.
And it's a radically newpicture now, instead of God
giving possessions to build aplace that would display his
glory among the nations, now Godis giving possessions to build
a people who take his glory tothe nations.
This is very different Now.
It's not a place, it's a peopleyou and I who don't build
(43:00):
buildings and say come here andsee the glory of God.
Instead, we take the money thatGod has given us the wealth
that God has so given to us andthe possessions that God has
given to us, and we take it tothe nations and we say, here's
the glory of Christ, and we givefood to starving people and we
bring orphans and widows intoour homes and we are a people
(43:25):
who take our possessions and weabandon them for the sake of
taking the glory of Christ tothe nations.
It's just not how we work, it'snot how we think.
I used illustration a long timeago here at Brook Hills.
I say a long time ago, likeI've been here like 50 years,
but I've been here like a littleover two years, so a whole two
years ago I used an illustrationand I want to bring it back
(43:46):
here years, so a whole two yearsago I used an illustration and
I want to bring it back here.
If you've heard it beforeyou'll recognize it.
But I remember.
I remember when I was preparingto go to the Sudan a few years
ago.
Sudan, a place where hundredsof thousands of our brothers and
sisters have been engrossed incivil war over the last 20 plus
(44:08):
years not just since it gotpopular in the news over the
last few years and heavypersecution.
And I received in the mail, asI was preparing to go to the
Sudan and this was still duringwartime there a Baptist state
paper and on the front cover ofthat paper there were two
articles side by side.
I don't know if the editor didthis intentionally or if he just
(44:30):
missed it.
Really, really, really, really,really, really, really bad.
The picture was on the leftheadline First Baptist Church
fill in the blank.
It doesn't matter what church,doesn't matter what state First
Baptist Church fill in the blankcelebrates new 2323 million
building.
And it was a two or three pagearticle that talked about all
(44:51):
the amenities this building hadas a place of worship, all the
great things it would have.
It was 1 Kings 6, 8, like $23million building.
On the right the articleheadline said "'Baptist Relief
Helps Sudanese Refugees'".
(45:11):
This article short article onecolumn talked about how 350,000
Sudanese at that point this wasin the Darfur region.
This is when Darfur wasbeginning to get some press
350,000 refugees in Sudan weredying of malnutrition and may
not make it to the end of theyear at that point because they
had no food.
(45:31):
And you got to the end of thisarticle and it said Baptists had
raised money to send to theSudanese refugees.
You know how much said was sent.
On the left, first BaptistChurch celebrates new $23
million building.
On the right, baptists havesent $5,000 to refugees in the
(45:57):
Sudan.
$5,000 is not enough to get aplane into the Sudan, much less
one drop of water.
Drop of water.
(46:23):
Old Testament, New Testament.
Ladies and gentlemen, this isnot an indictment of that church
.
It is not an indictment ofchurch buildings.
It is an indictment of you andme.
We have thought the blessing ofGod meant we should acquire
(46:46):
more and more and more and more.
And it's transferred over intothe way we do church, where it's
bigger and better and more andmore.
And we need to repent.
And more and more.
And we need to repent.
We are a people who have beengiven much, not to acquire more
(47:08):
and not to build places andstuff, but to take the glory of
Christ to the nations.
God has not blessed us that wewould get our hearts and our
minds around this.
God has not blessed us so thatwe can live at higher standards
of living than the rest of theworld.
He's blessed us so that we canhave radical sacrifices of our
(47:31):
lives for the rest of the world.
He's not blessed us so we canhave higher standards of living,
we can have greater sacrificesof living, we can have greater
sacrifices of life.
This is what it means to beblessed by God, to take all that
he gives us and to spend it.
To spend it for the sake of thechurch, needy brothers and
sisters around the world and thelost 4.5 billion people who are
going to an eternal hell, andthe poor 30,000 children every
(47:53):
day who are dying of starvationor preventable diseases.
This is what lies before us.
How can we acquire more andbuild more?
God, deliver us from OldTestament thinking that it's not
the picture in the NewTestament.
It's not just here.
It's this new covenant here,god establishing a people.
(48:13):
But listen, in the OldTestament, obedience to God led
to acquiring possessions onearth.
New Testament, obedience to Godleads to abandoning possessions
on earth.
But there's a picture here tocome, and it's not to be
contrasted with New Covenantbecause it's still part of the
New Covenant, but it's thecompletion here.
Don't miss it In the future.
As we look to the future,obedience to God leads us to
(48:35):
accumulate possessions in heaven.
To accumulate possessions inheaven.
We're not living to have stuffhere, because we're living to
have reward there.
This is a biblical thing.
We'll look at this just asecond.
God gives possessions to builda paradise, possessions in
heaven, a paradise where we willenjoy his glory with the
(48:57):
nations.
Display his glory among thenations in a temple.
Be the temple.
Will enjoy his glory with thenations.
Display his glory among thenations in a temple.
Be the temple.
Take his glory to the nations.
There is coming a day when wewill enjoy his glory with the
nations in eternal reward.
And this is what we're livingfor.
These are the possessions we'reinvesting in and living for.
Turn with me to the right.
1 Corinthians, chapter 3.
This is the last place we'lllook.
I told you we weren't going toget very far in those notes.
(49:18):
1 Corinthians, chapter 3.
I want to show you this Whileyou're turning there, I want to
share with you a quote from aguy named Randy Alcorn.
He wrote a great book calledMoney, possessions and Eternity
that dives into some of thepractical things about how maybe
some of these things might playout in our lives.
I want you to listen to what hesays.
Dealing with this picture ofeternity, he says A startling
(49:40):
thing has happened among WesternChristians.
Many of us habitually think andact as if there were no
eternity or as if what we do inthis present life has no eternal
consequences, he continues.
Without a doubt, the singlegreatest contributor to our
inability to see money andpossessions in their true light
(50:03):
is our persistent failure to seeour present lives through the
lens of eternity.
In other words, the reason wesee our minds are so foggy, our
eyes are so blind and we see ourpossessions here so wrongly, is
because we've forgotten there'sa world to come, because when
you're living for what's goingto be there 10 billion years
(50:25):
from now, it affects where youlive here and how you live here.
It says look at eternity.
This is the picture in 1Corinthians 3.
This is a somewhat complicatedpassage.
In some ways, the context herePaul's talking about building on
the foundation of Christ in ourlives and he talks about, just
like we've mentioned, how wedon't build a temple because we
are the temple.
(50:46):
I want you to listen to what hesays in verse 11.
We'll start there.
No one can lay any foundationother than the one already laid,
which is Jesus Christ.
So he's talking about nomissing.
Here Jesus is the foundation.
So he's talking about don'tmiss it.
Here Jesus is the foundation,and he's talking to the church.
He's talking to believers here.
Listen to what he says.
If any man builds on thisfoundation using gold, silver,
costly stones, wood, hay orstraw, his work will be shown
(51:07):
for what it is, because the daywill bring it to light.
It will be revealed with fire,and the fire will test the
quality of each man's work.
If what he has built survives,he will receive his reward.
If it is burned up, he willsuffer loss.
He himself will be saved, butonly as one escaping through the
flames.
Let me help you understand realquickly what Paul just said here
(51:27):
.
He's talking about.
He's not talking about the dayof judgment when believers and
unbelievers will be separatedfrom one another.
He's talking about, like thesecond coming of Christ, the
picture here where believerswill stand before Christ, and
this is not salvation at stake.
This is people who have builttheir lives on the foundation of
Christ.
The question is, what are theybuilt with?
(51:47):
And Paul says there are somewho will have built possessions,
treasures in their lives thaton that day will be shown to
survive through the fire andthey will receive their reward.
This is a picture we see ofreward all throughout the New
Testament, a whole other sermon,a few sermons.
(52:09):
Hebrews 11,.
Moses regarded disgrace for thesake of Christ because he was
looking ahead to his reward.
1 Corinthians 9, 2 Corinthians4, 2 Timothy 4, all talk about
we're living for a prize, for acrown, for a reward to come to
present glory to Christ.
But what Paul says is therewill be someone that day who, on
(52:32):
the foundation of Christ, havebuilt with hay, straw or wood,
and when the flames come theywill burn up everything that's
been built.
And it's not that theirsalvation will be lost because
they will escape, but they willbe like a man jumping from a
(52:55):
burning wood building.
Be like a man jumping from aburning wood building, escaping
through the flames.
And it all begs the questionwhat are we building in our
lives?
What are we investing in in ourlives?
What treasures are we buildingin our lives that will survive
on that day and praise to Christ, or that will burn up on that
day?
Let me help you think throughit.
(53:17):
Our houses will burn up on thatday and all the money we've put
in our stuff and our cars andour possessions and all the nice
clothes will burn up, all thethings that we grabbed onto burn
(53:40):
out.
Our 401ks and our savingsaccount won't survive this fire,
no matter how great or wiselywe invested them.
What will survive is the childwho had no food on his table and
(54:03):
you fed him.
The brother who was imprisonedfor his faith and you went to
visit him.
The man or woman in anunreached village that had never
heard the name of Jesus, thatheard the name of Jesus from
your mouth because you spentyour life taking the gospel to
them.
That'll survive and these arethe things that we will present
(54:24):
to Christ for his glory on thatday.
What scares me?
What scares me is that thispicture might cause some in this
room to think well, I'm stillgoing to be in heaven, though
right, as long as I'm in heaven,that's what's most important.
(54:48):
I want to make sure that.
That's okay.
That's what's most important.
I mean, I'm a Christian.
Why do I have to worry aboutall this radical giving and
radical abandonment stuff?
I know I'm going to have them.
That's what's most important.
How can I say that when so manyother things are important to
(55:13):
our God?
We hope you've enjoyed thisweek's episode of Radical with
David Platt.
For more resources from DavidPlatt to our God.
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