Golden Nugget - The Power of Love Part 1 & Worship with Terry MacAlmon

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 lists all the qualities of love.  If you have difficulty to love or want to test your level of love, be sure to measure yourself against these standards: Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

This passage is actually a description of God, for He is love this is His character.  He is patient and kind etc.  Evaluating yourself against these standards is therefore actually evaluating yourself against the character of God, i.e. how far have you progressed to becoming like Him, like Jesus.

Let’s take each of these characteristics and make them applicable to our lives, keeping in mind that love is not a feeling, but something you do.

Love is patient.  Impatience, therefore, is a loveless act.  How patient is the Lord with you.  I'm so glad He didn't give up on me, for it took me years to get rid of many things that grieved the Lord.  His amazing patience kept Him persevering in disciplining me while He waited patiently for me to get the idea and change my ways.  Do you have a similar experience with the Lord’s patience with you?  How about your patience with your spouse, friends, children, work colleagues, the government, and the like?  Patience with people shows your trust in the Lord that He can change people and mend relationships.  He can help you through situations that test your patience.

Love is kind.  "You don't know what people are like," you may say, "do you know how difficult it is to be kind to rude people?"  Yet, you expect the Lord and other people to understand your moods, don't you?  And the Lord does stay kind but firm to you in spite of your bad behaviour at times.  He did say in Matthew 7:12 to do to others as you want them to do to you and that you should love your enemies (Matthew 5:44).  Kindness demands getting rid of your pride at times, but the results and fruit of being kind is out of this world.  You reap so much kindness and favour from others.

Love does not envy.  We read in James 1:14-15: Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.   Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death.   Sinful thoughts lead to sinful behaviour.  Envy is a thought.  Thoughts need to be taken captive and made obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).  This means that whenever a thought, that is not acceptable by Biblical standards, enters your mind; you should consciously take it captive and line it up to Biblical (Christ's) standards.  If you don't do it, that thought will steer your life in an ungodly direction causing you to grief the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30) and be disciplined by the Lord.

Say, for instance, you are envious of someone's skill.  If you don't apply Biblical truths regarding this and realise that you have received different gifts and talents, your envy will cause ill and loveless feelings towards the person.  This will lead to loveless and sinful behaviour towards the person which could shipwreck your relationship - cause it's death (James 1:15).  Envy is, therefore, a thought that could lead to hostile behaviour and the harming of relationships if not dealt with at its conception.

While you're on the blog, why don't you have a look at more of this kind of articles in our archive to your right, or on your mobile device, tap 'home' at the bottom and then the arrows next to the 'home' button to search for more articles? 

Let's worship with Terry MacAlmon

59. Sermon on the Mount Secrets - God’s Greatest Enemy Part 1

“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” [Mammon KJV] (Matthew 6:24)

This passage points out one of our Lord’s greatest enemies and one of our biggest hindrances in serving the Lord wholeheartedly.

A master makes decisions and creates the circumstances that influence his servant’s life. In New Testament times, a slave belonged to his master and obeyed his master’s every bidding. Today, those of us who work for someone else have some understanding of what a master is. We understand the principle of doing what the employer expects. We have little choice or input into the system outside the established policies.

Jesus specifically used the term “master” in this context. We belong to the master we choose to serve. The master makes demands and manipulates the circumstances that cause us to be dependent on or controlled by him. In New Testament days, the master controlled his slave’s circumstances to the point that the slave could not survive on his own. He depended on the master for both lodging and food.

According to our passage, the Christian can serve or belong to only one of two masters: God or Mammon. Mammon is the god of money. A god is a spiritual being with power. A god cannot be controlled by people but always controls and enslaves them.

There is only one living God, and all false gods or idols are dead, but we find power behind them. Only two spiritual powers inhabit the universe: the power of light and the power of darkness. Satan, God’s enemy, controls the power of darkness. In all his activities, he attempts to deceive people and draw them away from the Lord. Jesus described him to his children, the important people of the day (the Pharisees), as follows: “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies,” (John 8:44).

Satan’s strategy of deception is the creation of rulers, authorities, and powers, (Ephesians 6:12) whose lies control people and keep them from the love and truth of God that could set them free. Examples of such gods are Mammon, lust, and power. Satan is the actual god of darkness who controls lives and the so-called gods are his demons—the fallen angels, including Mammon.

The motivation and methods of control that God and Mammon use are also somewhat different. Whenever the Lord emphasizes something in the Bible, the devil uses every opportunity within his power to influence people to oppose God in that area. For example, using the Lord’s name in vain in the movies opposes Exodus 20:7 and pornography opposes Jesus' command in Matthew 5:28.

God’s command prohibiting the serving of two masters is Mammon’s motivation behind his determination to make people materialistic. Mammon saw this as a challenge to compete with God for our love. He uses every opportunity to influence people to rely on money rather than the Lord. Satan even saw an opportunity to try to deceive Jesus to bow to Mammon and therefore to himself. “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ‘All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me,’” (Matthew 4:8, 9).

Mammon uses subtle strategies. If the devil would approach someone and say, “I’m the devil, follow me,” how would that person react? She would run as fast as she could. Instead, he gradually turns up the heat so you will not notice you are being controlled by money. To be continued.

For children and adults who are prepared to learn in a childlike way. For more information see http://t-a-c.co.za.

Golden Nugget - How to Love the Lord with your Strength & Worship with Terry MacAlmon

We have been discussing this passage in Mark 12:30 in the last three articles: And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

During our discussions, we have been going out from the viewpoint that loving the Lord involves sacrificing and giving.

The way you love the Lord with your strength is by doing things, by using your strength.  Don Francisco sang in one of his songs that love is not a feeling, but an act of your will.  You choose to do something in obedience to the Lord.  Jesus said in John 14:15: If you love me, you will keep my commandments, in John 14:21: Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them, in John 14:23: Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him, and in John 15:10: If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.

       

Four times in a matter of minutes He said that doing what He says proves that we love Him.  Can it be that He considers doing His will to be important?  Then, seconds later, he said something that we seriously should consider doing.  He said in John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.  Many of us may now have thought:  ‘I’m so glad I’m His friend, for He laid down His life for me.’  However, verse 14 comes next: You are my friends if you do what I command you. 

Ouch… If we do not do what he tells us to do, every moment of every day, we are not His friends. And maybe we do not count among those He has laid down His life for? 

This, however, can be played to both sides.  If you consider Jesus to be your friend, you should lay down your life for Him.  What does that mean?  It means sacrificing things you’d like to do, things you enjoy, things you indulge in to satisfy your desires, therefore everything that defines your life according to your will, in exchange for what He wants, what He expects of you.  This is what the apostles did.  They sacrificed their careers, their pleasures, and their carnal desires so the gospel can go out and it could get to you.  How about us doing it as well?

Jesus did the same.  As we saw earlier, He said in John 15:10: …just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.  How did He keep His father’s commandments? 

1.   He sacrificed His heavenly comforts and came to earth to identify with man.

2.   Every day, during His early-morning prayer time, He heard from His Father what He should do that day to serve the people whom His Father loves and He did it sacrificially.  He did not first buy everything He needed to live a comfortable life and from there did a few things to appear good.  No, He said: “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” (Matthew 8:20)

3.   He died a horrible death to set you free from the bondage of sin.  This, He did not really want to do.  He prayed in the garden regarding the death He was about to die: “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36)  He did not suffer and die as a hero, but as an obedient child who proved His love for His Father through His obedient actions, often against His will.

Jesus summarised the life He expects you and me to live in these words: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.  For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” (Matthew 16:24-26).

        We read in Ephesians 2:10: For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

        If God went to all the trouble to prepare good works for us to glorify His name, who are you and I to choose to live in comfort and disobedience?

        Let’s love the Lord our God with all our strength.

Let's worship with Terry MacAlmon

58. Sermon on the Mount Secrets - Seeing is Desiring

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:22, 23)

Considering the context, we can conclude that in this verse, Jesus was talking about money. It follows the verse about our treasure. The verse about the masters, God and Mammon (money) follows it, and after that, we read about material goods for another eight verses. Therefore, the passage must be about money.

The eye introduces us to our surroundings, and the heart follows the eye. When a child notices a toy he likes in a toy store, he desires it, although he has never thought of buying that particular toy before. This applies to all people. The best way to keep a thief from stealing something is to hide it, and the best way to entice a customer to buy your product is to display it. What the eye does not see, the heart does not desire.

The passage above refers to the attitude of the eye. How are our eyes programmed?  What will our hearts follow? We can’t help but see what is before us, but how we see it is what counts. We have a choice. A man can see a beautiful woman and either ignore her or let his heart follow his eyes and desire her.

In the case of money, we expose our eyes and hearts to cars, houses, desirable lifestyles, and vacations. When we program our eyes to focus on material goods, status, and position, our hearts will desire and obtain them.

We also see ourselves in our mind’s eye, and that determines what we desire. Do we see ourselves as rich, powerful, and influential, living in a mansion? Do we envision ourselves in a political, managerial position, or in a position of influence in the church? If so, that is what the heart desires.

However, if we program our eyes to see the Lord, His works, and the needs of others, those eyes will ignore the material things they see and focus on what the Lord is doing. The heart will then follow, desiring to get involved with His activities. We see these with both the physical and the spiritual eye.

“God is light; in Him, there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth,” (1 John 1:5b, 6). The Lord and Mammon, the god of money, are enemies. If God is light, then anything outside God must be darkness. If God and money are enemies, then money must be darkness. I hear you say that the Bible says it's the love of money that is the root of all evil, but we're not referring to evil here. We're referring to things keeping us from walking in the light, from using our time to proclaim the light instead of managing things that are not of God, thus darkness.

A good eye, whether physical, spiritual, or the mind’s eye, focuses on the things of the Lord and will therefore bring light to the body. A bad eye focuses on things not of God, but of Mammon and other gods. They will darken the heart, since the God of light is absent. “If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness?” (Matthew 6:23b). If you use money or another dark entity as your guide, your life is destined for darkness.

What do your eyes cause your heart to desire? Do you set your eyes on temporary pleasures or on eternal rewards? We require no more than our daily needs. Anything more, in God’s mind, is darkness that will lead us to neglect His cause.

God is light. A body full of light is one that has absorbed God’s presence. In a body full of darkness, more attention has been given to ungodly activity; that is why we find less light.

What evidence can we find of God’s presence or His light in our lives? As when we switch on the light in a dark room, revealing its contents, the light of God reveals the contents of the heart. The evidence of the Lord’s light or presence in our lives is a revelation of His character, of His Word, and about our lives.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you,” (Matthew 7:7). The more you ask the Lord about Himself, His Word, and His Kingdom, the more He will reveal to you. He will reveal solutions to your problems as you seek them with all your heart.

Knocking at these doors might take time, though. The Lord might take His time to reveal, since He first wants to see a sincere and trustworthy heart. He wants to find out who will constantly seek Him and who reveals a genuine interest in that which is important to Him. Can He really trust a heart that is divided between His enemy, Mammon, and Himself?

If we are so concerned about meeting our material needs that we have little or no time to think about the Lord and His Kingdom, then money has replaced God’s presence. Then we might no longer get revelation. Even if someone gives a revelation, we might not grasp it, because the light of God is not there to reveal it.
The lockdown situation that most of us find ourselves in now is a good opportunity to learn to shift your focus. Personally, I had to deal with the desires of my heart. Am I going to occupy my mind with worries where the money would come from, or am I going to be busy with God's Kingdom (allowing Him to use me to affect other peoples' lives) and His righteousness (working at being holy and pure before Him), trusting Him to meet my needs (Matthew 6:33)? 

The body in this context can be either an individual or a body of believers. Remember the city on a hill with its lights? Imagine to what extent the Lord can use a body of believers with a corporate heart after God, living in revelation, constantly seeking more of it.

To get to this point, though, a body of believers has a major stumbling block to overcome: tradition. Although tradition provides security, it prevents people from receiving and acting on fresh revelation. Religion is dead and the body is in darkness when people follow set rules and procedures instead of the living God.

For children and adults who are prepared to learn in a childlike way. For more information see http://t-a-c.co.za.

Golden Nugget - How to Love the Lord with your Mind & Worship with Terry MacAlmon

Jesus said in Mark 12:30: And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

So far we’ve been looking at loving the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul.  You may read it by clicking on the relevant links.

The mind is actually part of the soul, but because Jesus mentioned it separately in this passage, we’re discussing it separately.  Our mind is the main thing that determines our actions.  Everything we do begins with a thought and thoughts have a number of sources.

             1.   Thoughts could originate from us.  We get an idea.

             2.   Thoughts come through what we see and hear.

             3.   Thoughts could be an idea another person shared with us and we then

                 think about it.

             4.   Thoughts could be suggestions from Satan.

             5.   Thoughts could be a prompting from the Holy Spirit.

    What we do with our thoughts is what determines our love for the Lord.

 Our thoughts could be an idea that would result in something good or a temptation to sin.  Or it could be about yourself and what you want to accomplish.  Everything we think determines where we stand in our relationship with the Lord.  It’s no use we say we love the Lord, but what we think is actually disgusting to Him.

     James 1:14-15 tells us the following: Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.  Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.  King David was a good example of the consequences of such thoughts.  He saw Bathsheba bathing and instead of resisting the thought right from the start, he cherished the thought until it gave birth to sin, the sin of committing adultery with her and murdering her husband.

     Where did this thought come from?  It came from what David saw, but also from what Satan suggested to him.  He was probably set up through a number of suggestions to be in the right place at the right time for Satan to accomplish his purpose.

     What could Satan’s purpose have been?  The Lord sent Nathan the prophet to David.  You can read the entire account in 2 Samuel 12:1-15, but Satan’s purpose became clear in verse fourteen.  After Nathan has conveyed to David the Lord’s punishment for what he had done, David immediately repented and then Nathan declared God’s forgiveness and the withdrawal of some of the punishment, but what Nathan said in verse fourteen was very profound, actually aimed at you and me as well.  He said: “However, because by doing this you have made the enemies of the Lord show utter contempt, the child who is born to you shall surely die.”  Another translation uses the words “because by this you have given the enemies of the Lord great occasion to ridicule Him”.

     Why are we tempted then?  Is it really about us?  In a way it is, yes, because sin does affect our peace, joy, and fruitfulness.  Satan wants to kill, steal and destroy these things.  But what Satan really aims for is having a go at God.  He seeks opportunities to ridicule God and show contempt for Him.  He wants to be able to say: “Do you see what Henry has done.  He claims to be a Christian and having everything you promised, but look how he behaves.  Is that what your children are like?”

     When we cause that to happen to God, as a result of what originates in our thoughts, do we love Him?  Shouldn’t we sacrifice in our thought life and the resulting actions to the honour and glory of the Lord?  These could be sinful thoughts leading to sin, but it could also be self-centred thoughts leading to self-centred behaviour, such as own ambitions, too much attention to hobbies and sports, occupying the mind with earthly and worldly interests instead of God-centred interests, etc.  A good Biblical example here is the story of Martha and Mary.  You may read it in Luke 10:38-42.  This world is not our home, and our life is not our own.  We are Kingdom citizens on a pilgrimage to represent the Lord on earth.  His interests should actually take all our time and energy.  Yes, we need to relax and a little entertainment and sport activity are necessary, but we really do need to love the Lord with ALL our (our entire) mind.

   

Sacrificing our appetites, our desires, our self-gratifying thoughts and behaviour for the sake of the Lord’s desires, and thinking about what He wants, is what loving Him with our entire mind is about.  Meditating on His Word and His will all the time is how we love Him with all our mind.

    But how do we do that?  Won’t we be too spiritual doing that?  In whatever you do, consult the Lord and think about how He would feel about what you’re about to do.  If you love your wife, your children, your parents, and your friends, you involve them in your life, don’t you?  Similarly, if you love the Lord, involve him in your thinking and your resulting actions.  Ask Him what He thinks and wants, tell Him of your joys and struggles, think about how He perceives things and the behaviours of people (including yours), and avoid having Him ridiculed by His spiritual and human enemies.

Let's worship with Terry MacAlmon

57. Sermon on the Mount Secrets - Where is your treasure? Part 2

We're busy discussing this passage in Matthew 6:19-20: Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

We were saying that our entire focus should not be material things on earth, but should be using the gift we've received and God will care for us. I then gave an example of how the Lord cares for us personally while we're working at focussing more on our gift than on money and where that comes from.

Someone else's gift might be making money and giving it away. Such a person does not care much for teaching, encouragement, evangelism, or anything “spiritual.” She wants to bless God’s Kingdom and see to it that the wheels are turning. She does not love money, for money passes through her hands; she just loves making money.

I have a friend like that, only his passion is not giving, but serving. He was part of our youth outreach team some years ago. While we were all interested in evangelism, teaching, and counselling, he was more than happy to maintain our building, sound system, and electrical equipment. He was outspoken about it. He had no need to preach; he just wanted to serve. He felt that was what God called him to do.

God is concerned about the focus of our heart. What do we think about? How do we use our time and energy? Is it for His Kingdom or our own well being? Have you ever wondered why the world is developing, why we are not still riding horses, carts, and wagons? It is because people think. We constantly think up better ways to do things, and the result is a dynamic, changing world. If we constantly think about who God is, discovering His characteristics and imitating them, what a dynamic place the church will be.

What are these treasures we store up in heaven? Would it be money when we give money? Would we have a magnificent mansion in heaven that we so desired on earth?

I have a parable for you. Once there was a rich man and a poor man, both Christians, who lived in the same village. They knew about each other. The rich man lived in luxury, just for himself. He believed in Jesus, but loved his position in church. The poor man, on the other hand, loved Jesus in spite of his poverty and cared for other poor people by helping and encouraging them.

One day, they both died and went to heaven. As they walked with the angel who took them to their homes, they saw a spectacular mansion.

“That must be mine,” the rich man said.

“No,” the angel said, “it belongs to the poor man.”

The rich man’s shoulders slumped. “Then where is my home?”

The angel pointed to a small shack and shrugged. “We could use only the building material that you sent up.”

I don’t know what our homes in heaven will be like. Some Bible translations talk about mansions, most mention rooms, but the Greek word means residences. However, it doesn’t matter, because what we send up will be used to our benefit, whatever the Lord decides this benefit might be. I think the best treasure we can send to heaven is obedience. I said earlier that the closer we live to the Lord on earth, the more intimate our relationship with Him, the closer we will be to Him in heaven. This is why Hebrews 12:14 says that without holiness no one will see God. Our present relationship will simply be transferred.
 Isn’t being close to the Lord in heaven already enough treasure? But once again, isn't this a selfish approach? The greatest treasure we can send up to heaven if we consider God's needs are souls. We have the saying in English; "the more the merrier". We have been so conditioned that money will make us happy. Mammon tries his utmost to get us to focus on earthly treasures, but to God, it's about relationships. Who are the happiest - the rich people all alone in their position and status, or the crowds of ordinary people having fun? Heaven is going to be fun. Why would that be? Would it be because we are all going to be all alone in our mansions, or because we will be one big happy family surrounding our Father?

We all have gifts, and we are not expected to give more than we have or more than we are gifted for. It doesn’t matter what you sow, as long as you sow in obedience. All sowing will result in equal blessing on earth and a treasure in heaven, and usually in winning and preparing souls for an exciting and joyful eternal life with Father God.

For children and adults who are prepared to learn in a childlike way. 

Golden Nugget: How to Love the Lord with your Soul & Worship with Terry MacAlmon

 Jesus said in Mark 12:30: And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

In our last post, we began to discuss the practicalities around loving the Lord.  We were discussing whether it is good enough to only tell the Lord you love him.  Last time we were discussing ‘loving the Lord with all your heart’ and we’re taking our discussion from the angle of sacrificial and giving love.  Maybe if you read the article here you can get the whole picture.

What is your soul?  The soul consists of your mind, your will, and your emotions.  However, in Mark 12:30 Jesus separates’ the mind from the soul, so we will only look at the soul as the will and emotions and discuss the mind separately.  Many of us enjoy loving the Lord with our emotions.  We like the goosebump kind of worship.  That is actually why the church has become so ineffective, since this kind of “loving” the Lord is very selfish.  It’s nice to go to church for an exciting “kick” and then being able to say we had a good time with the Lord.  But who is this kind of worship about?  Isn’t it about you and me, to get a good feeling about being religious?  What did we sacrifice and what did we give?

Consider for a moment what it was that gave the early church in the book

of Acts a kick.  Wasn’t it the power of God that went with them as they healed the sick, preached the gospel, and drove out demons?  It was an emotional experience, yes, but one focused on the Lord and what He had done with them for others and not just for themselves.  They sacrificed their selfish emotional experience for a God- and neighbour directed experience.  This resulted most of the time in severe persecution during which other emotions, such as fear and anxiety, manifested.  What did they do with these emotions?  They turned it into faith.  They did not allow their carnal nature and Satan the pleasure of enjoying these negative emotions, but sacrificed these feelings to the Lord in exchange for faith.  We do enjoy the attention that these negative emotions create for us, don’t we?  Satan is a master deceiver and our sinful nature enjoys going along with him.  It’s only our acting in faith that counters this.  For example, in Acts 4 we read that Peter and John were arrested and after they were released, the believers responded as recorded in verses 23 to 31.

We, therefore, love the Lord with the emotion part of our soul by sacrificing selfish emotions in exchange for obedience and faith.  What does this obedience consist of?  Obedience is all about doing the good works the Lord has prepared for us – thus giving of ourselves.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them, (Ephesians 2:10).

The soul also consists of our will.  We have been created with a free will and this is the area where our love for the Lord is tested most severely.  Do we want to sacrifice our will in exchange for the Lord’s will?  How often do we pray in both the Lord’s Prayer and our general prayers: “Let your will be done”?  Do we really want it?  What if the Lord’s will contradicts our will?  Once when the Lord convicted me of something He wanted me to get rid of because it didn’t please Him, I told Him I wasn’t able to stop it.  I was too weak was my excuse.  Then He told me: “No, it’s not that you cannot, but that you don’t want to, for you can do all things through Him that gives you strength (Philippians 4:13) if you wanted to.  We often have a lot of excuses as to why we cannot act in obedience – not enough time and resources, etc.  But we know the saying: “Where there’s a will, there’s a way”.  Comfort and selfish ambition are the two great enemies of loving the Lord with your will.  The only way to love the Lord with the will part of your soul is to sacrifice your will in exchange for His will and to give yourself entirely for His purposes to be fulfilled through you.

“But I am within His will.  He blessed me with all the comforts I enjoy,” you may tell me now.  Is that so?  I challenge you to ask the Holy Spirit to show you which parts of your life are your will (what you want and desire) and which are His (what He wants for you).  When He convicts you, why not sacrifice your soul (will and emotions) in exchange for what God has planned for your life and in that way show your love towards Him by giving what He requires of you to give.  Then you can enjoy what He promised you.

Let's worship with Terry MacAlmon

56. Sermon on the Mount Secrets - Where is your heart? Part 1

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)

Some people, who preach prosperity, believing the Lord wants us to be financially prosperous while on earth, teach the principle of sowing and reaping.  The more money we sow into the church, the more money God will bless us with.  I don’t want to offer an opinion on the validity of this principle, but I want to talk about our focus or motivation.  When we sow money with the purpose or motivation of reaping money, we violate at least three principles laid down by the Lord:

So do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?’  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:31, 33)

No one can serve two masters.  Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve both God and Money. (Matthew 6:24)

The third is our passage under discussion.

Why are we on earth?  What is our purpose for living? 

When we lived in the United Kingdom, there were many people from countries in the EU who came to live in the UK following the opportunity to make more money.  However, they did not come to stay indefinitely, but send all their money back to their own country to be stored up for them when they returned.

So it is with Christians.  We are only ambassadors sent to this foreign

“country” (earth) to accomplish the purpose, which the King of our “country” (God’s Kingdom) wants us to accomplish—the winning of citizens (souls) for our Kingdom.  We are not to store up treasures here.  We find a few reasons in our passage for this.  Verse 19 mentions destruction by moth and rust. Inflation and aging devaluate our treasures.  It also mentions theft.  Many people in many ways want a cut of our treasures.  Men will make a plan, whether illegally or “legally,” to take others’ money for themselves - they say business is business.  This makes us worry about our treasures.  When we have much to protect and worry about, the time and energy that we are supposed to use for Kingdom work are consumed by our earthly treasure, (Matthew 6:31-33).  That is why we need to have our treasures in heaven.  Those treasures are kept safe so we don’t need to worry about them, but can focus on our task of being busy with those things that are important to the Lord.

Verse 21 tells us another reason to store our treasures in heaven.  That which is important to you, occupying your thoughts all day, will also occupy your heart. 

How do you feel about the god of money, Mammon?  What do you make of him when he lures God’s people away from Him, making them dependent on money for meeting their needs?  Do you like it when he puts glittering temptations before people, enticing them to desire more than they need, and getting corrupted by lust after money? 

How do you feel when you see people obey God’s principles, when people live according to His principles of interdependence, of giving and receiving, of trusting God to provide so that He, not Mammon, gets the glory?  Do you enjoy being used in the gift God gave you, seeking first His Kingdom, and being in right standing with Him? 

When we seek to have our treasure in heaven by doing what the Lord expects of us, He will keep His promise in Matthew 6:33.  We can testify that the Lord is taking care of our financial needs because of the principles in the passages above.  We have endless testimonies of how we looked at our budget and realized that there is no way we could pay our bills, but we did. I always say that with the Lord, a bookkeeper will be confused, trying to figure out where the money came from.  The car’s tyres last longer, and so do food and other consumables.  The Lord’s protection, especially against the constant attacks of Mammon, is obvious.  We trust that in the end, a treasure awaits us in heaven.  This is my story.  Someone else might love making money and giving it away.  To be continued.

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