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Summary

This sermon explores the dangers of materialism and worldliness in the church, emphasizing the importance of keeping Christ on the throne of our hearts. It draws from 1 Timothy to highlight how materialism can threaten our spiritual inheritance and offers practical ways to guard against it.

Chapters

00:00 Materialism: A Threat to Our Inheritance
08:15 Guarding Against Worldly Influences in Worship
12:23 Self-Reflection and Materialism
15:25 The Role of Elders and Leadership Responsibilities
18:33 Guarding Against False Teachings
21:41 Worldliness and Its Impact on Faith
24:19 The Dangers of Materialism and Greed
28:39 The Pursuit of Godliness
31:17 Cravings and Desires
34:25 Materialism and Trust in God
38:20 The True Source of Life
41:20 Keeping Focus on Eternity

Transcript *This transcript was automatically generated and may contain errors.*

Emily Hatfield (00:01)
So if you will turn with me to the book of 1st Timothy, is where we’re going to be spending the majority of our time this afternoon. And I’m thankful that we’ve kind had a little bit of a pushback in time because I was thinking an hour? Like these guys out here, only been given 25, 30 minutes and you’re going to give me an hour back here? I was excited, but I’ll keep it rained in. I’ll do my best. So our topic for today is materialism’s threat.

to our inheritance. when I was thinking about the topic of materialism, the first thought I had was to go to the book of 1st Timothy, because at the end of 1st Timothy, as we’re going to see, a lot is mentioned about the people there and guarding the people there in Ephesus from loving money. But here in 1st Timothy, this letter is obviously written to Timothy, who is, as we see in verse 3, living in Ephesus.

Now, you know anything about 1st century Ephesus, 1st century Ephesus was an amazing place. housed one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the Temple of Artemis. And this place would have been a bustling city. was well advanced for its time period. had running water. They had very intricate houses. Ephesus was a wealthy place.

So when you think that we’re talking about people who lived in the first century, I don’t want you thinking like I sometimes, I guess, am tempted to, that these people weren’t really that well off. They were. The people in Ephesus especially were pretty rich. This was one of the wealthiest cities in all of the ancient world at that time. It was a port city and you had people coming from all over.

who were involved in various trades and who would come to the temple of Artemis both to worship and as a banking center. so there were lot of people passing through Ephesus. There was a lot of emphasis on wealth. There was a lot of emphasis on status. this is where Timothy is living and preaching. And apparently the people are struggling with materialism.

Now when we think of materialism, don’t want us to only think about an accumulation of stuff. Because while that is something involved in materialism, that’s not the only thing. Materialism isn’t just about stuff. Materialism is when we take Jesus off the throne and we put something else worldly there. Anything of this world that we take and put on the throne of our hearts

That’s materialism. We’re caught up in the material, earthly side of us. And we’re supposed to forsake all of that and put Christ on the throne of our hearts. so I want to look before we get to 1 Timothy chapter 6, want us to look at the rest of 1 Timothy. And we’re going to go quick because we can’t do just a huge view and dive into 1 Timothy. But materialism isn’t only covered at the end.

This is something that I think has been a struggle all throughout the church there. so it’s been embedded into this letter from Paul all along. if you look in chapter one, have Paul writing to Timothy and verse three says, want you to charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine.

nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith. Certain persons swerving from these have wandered away into vain discussion desiring to be teachers of the law without understanding either what they’re saying

or the things about which they make confident assertions. let’s pause here. This may seem like it’s not anything what I’m talking about, I want you to look at some of these words. Here are people living in Ephesus who are perverting godliness. And here’s how they’re doing it. They don’t have a pure heart. They don’t have a good conscience. And they don’t have a sincere faith.

They’ve swerved from these things into vain discussions desiring to be teachers of the law. Here are people living in Ephesus who want status. They want preeminence. They are seeking to climb a social ladder within the church. Now we don’t know anything about that, right?

That’s never something that creeps its way into our congregations where we want to be friends with the right people or we want to be able to bend the ear of this elder because they have influence. Here were people that were taking the faith and they were twisting it and as we’re going to see later thinking that they could take godliness and twist it into something for gain for themselves.

And so the materialism I think begins in this first chapter by starting with preeminence. What they want is status. They’ve taken something that the world seeks to be on top, to be number one. We live in the best city. There would have been a lot of Ephesian pride. And now they’re taking that and they’re putting it in the church. And they’re saying, well, I want to be the best.

⁓ I want to be a teacher I want to be able to get up there and have people look at me and listen to me and Pat me on the back I want people to follow me and See that’s twisting the faith Because faith is in Jesus It’s not in people. We don’t follow other people. We don’t follow other personalities. It’s all about Jesus If you continue down in verse 18

of chapter 1, Paul says, This charge I entrust to you. so again, this is the second time in this passage because the first one comes in verse 11 where he talks about entrusting, but then in verse 4 we have stewardship. these are already kind of money terms that we’re putting around. Like you think about stewardship, you think about money. Something being entrusted that’s typically used in regards to money. I charge you, Timothy.

I’m entrusting this to you in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you that by them you may wage the good warfare holding faith and a good conscience because by rejecting this some have made shipwreck of their faith among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander whom I handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme. had Hymenaeus and Alexander done?

Now we don’t have explicit things that teach us exactly what they had done to shipwreck their faith, it tells us that they rejected holding the faith in a good conscience. That’s what they rejected in order to make shipwreck of their faith. So could they have been among this number who were certain persons swerving into these vain discussions who desired some type of preeminence?

who in desiring this position where everybody knew their name actually ended up shipwrecking their own faith because they made faith all about them instead of all about Jesus.

If you go into chapter two…

Paul is going to continue giving instruction on making sure that we keep these worldly thoughts out of our hearts. it starts by not wanting preeminence, by not making everything about you, but if you go to chapter 2, and I’m quite positive you are familiar with these verses because we preach them at women all the time.

Women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness with good works. Well, I’m glad we preach this to women a lot. need this, right? This is what we’re supposed to have as our attire, good works, godliness. But if you’ll notice,

What this is talking about, what this is kind of speaking against are these women in Ephesus who come in with braided hair and gold and pearls and costly attire. These weren’t Ephesian women who didn’t wear enough clothes. These were Ephesian women who came to church wanting to look like they just came off of some runway so that everybody would look at them and think, she must have so much money. ⁓ she must be

fancy, must be this, she must be that. And all the attention was put on the outside and that’s what she wanted. She wanted to draw attention to herself. And Paul says, want you to teach women to adorn themselves with modesty, with self-control, with godliness, with good works. When you come to worship, it’s not about you.

You come to worship and it’s about Jesus and Jesus isn’t seen in Ephesus in these women because they’re too busy getting all made up and all of their fancy stuff because it’s worldliness living in their hearts. It’s their culture that has now infiltrated the church. It’s infiltrated their mindset.

he’s not telling these women you can’t braid your hair or that we can’t ever wear pearls or gold or costly attire and I’m I’m thankful for that because generally every moment of every day I have a braid in my hair and I feel like growing up I only ever had braided hair when this scripture was preached and I always felt myself like no don’t braid your hair I’m braided but that’s not what it’s talking about it’s a mindset we don’t come to worship seeking

glory we don’t come to worship seeking to detract from God’s glory and so Paul says Ephesus is a fancy place and we have to be careful that we keep that worldliness out of our hearts instead what you need to put on when you’re getting ready to come to church you need to put on godliness you need to put on good works self-control

That’s what we need. Holiness, love, faith, self-control. These are the things that should adorn women of God. We shouldn’t ever be striving to make it all about us. Now that’s hard. It’s hard because we live in a culture that is every moment of every day forcing self on you. It wants you to think of yourself before anyone else. We live in a very selfish culture.

Selfies are like the be-all end-all of things, right? And I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with selfies, but listen, selfies, the whole definition of it is a look at self, right? And sometimes instead of looking at self to like fix what’s wrong with us in the mirror like James talks about, we look at self in order to puff ourselves up, to think we’re better than someone else, to seek to be better than someone else.

which is what these women were doing as they’re putting on all these fancy things. this isn’t all. It’s not just the women. He’s not picking on the women at Ephesus that they’re the only ones bringing this in because if you go into chapter 3, the leadership is also needing to make sure they focus on this. And so when you look at these leadership positions, when we’re talking about elders, in verse 3, elders must not

must not be lovers of money.

Elders aren’t immune to the temptation of materialism. so here is something that they have to have under control. They cannot love money. They cannot be driven by money. This is how churches get into politics. When elders are driven by greed or they’re driven by wanting that preeminence.

Paul is inspired to say that person’s not qualified to be an elder. elder must not be a lover of money. He can’t be a recent convert or he may, verse 6, become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Puffed up with conceit. Isn’t that that preeminence again? When you become an elder, there is a lot of responsibility on you.

and you end up with a lot of knowledge about a lot of sheep, end up with a lot of authority, and if your heart doesn’t have Jesus on the throne,

then you may become puffed up and conceited and seek that glory for yourself. so this qualification is given. Elders can’t be this way because elders are supposed to be imitating Jesus so that we can follow in their example.

can’t be lovers of money, can’t be puffed up with conceit. But it’s not just elders. Deacons, verse 8, must also not be greedy for dishonest gain. So again, so far we’re just in the beginning of chapter 3, but you realize all along the way everybody in this congregation is struggling with the temptation to keep the world out and to keep Jesus on the throne.

And we live in a society that is very materialistic. I found myself one time, I don’t know what I was doing, I think I was returning something at Belk. And I was like, you know, you hear stuff on the radio and I’m just kind of like bebopping along to it, singing it to myself. But I realized it was that Madonna song, living in a material world. And I am a material girl. Y’all know it, you knew it, you knew the song. But I found myself singing the song.

And then I stopped myself and I was like, what am I saying about myself? That I’m a material girl? And I was like, hold on, that doesn’t feel scriptural.

But it made me think, do I just let the world seep in? Do I just unconsciously let the things around me and the things in my culture sneak into my heart in ways that sometimes are as innocent as a little catchy little tune that gets in my head that then tells me lies about the things that I should focus on?

people in emphasis needed to keep the world out out of their hearts out of the church chapter four we’re back to some women because widows well that’s chapter five will will we won’t skip chapter four in chapter four verses one through three the spirit expressly says in latter times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons

through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. What are these people who are now deciding they want to teach these weird things and these weird restrictions, these insincere liars?

Why are they doing that?

Could it be to be given that preeminence that chapter one is talking about that you’re seeking desiring to be these teachers? They want people to follow them. They want people to follow the things that they’re saying. They want people to think they’re more pious than other people because they restrict people from doing things that God hasn’t said you have to restrict. We’re more holy because we don’t get married. We’re more holy because we don’t eat these certain things. Well, God never said you couldn’t do those things.

But people, they like to be puffed up. They like to be validated. And so, they’re insincere. They’re just seeking a following. And ladies, we have to be careful of that. In our culture and within the church, sometimes people just want a following. And we have to be the students of God’s Word that we need to be so that we can refute error when we hear it.

We shouldn’t be following anybody. We should be following Christ. And if people speak anything other than that and try to restrict or try to loosen, we say we don’t want any part of that. That’s insincere. That’s seeking preeminence. In verse seven, have nothing to do, Timothy, with irreverent silly myths. Rather,

Train yourself for godliness. while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way. When you have some time, go back and circle every time godliness is used in 1st Timothy. It’s a lot. Godliness is a big theme given to Timothy. Don’t have anything to do with all this stuff that’s going on, Timothy. There are going to be people coming into Ephesus

They’re going to be desiring to teach. They’re going to be desiring to have people follow them. They’re going to be desiring to be puffed up within the church to be placed on a pedestal. And Timothy, I want you to stay away from that kind of stuff. Timothy has had prophecies made about him. Timothy has had his hands laid on him by apostles. Timothy’s been put in a pretty prominent position. And Paul says, keep it out of your head and keep it out of your heart.

I want you to stay away from that and the way you do that is to train or discipline yourself for godliness. You see, avoiding materialism’s threat to our inheritance, avoiding letting materialism, worldliness get into our hearts, it isn’t going to be something we wake up and we just say, yeah, I don’t want that. Materialism is sneaky. It’s deceptive.

And Paul says, you’re gonna need to train yourself for godliness. You’re going to need to discipline yourself about the things that you believe and hold dear. It’s easy to get swept away in a wave of popularity. It’s easy to get swept away when people are all the time building you up and before long your head is too big to fit out the door.

Paul says, stay away from that. Train yourself for godliness. right, chapter five, we are back to some widows, some women who are ⁓ struggling with these ideas.

because verse 6 we have these widows who may be self-indulgent we may have widows who verse 11 have their passions draw them away from Christ that’s the world, right? that’s the world sneaking in and worldly desires now having the desire to be married isn’t a wrong desire but having the desire to be married over the desire to follow Jesus is wrong

And so these young widows who now are free to be married, if these desires start leading them away from the faith, you can’t be focused on the world and on the flesh. You’re to be focused on Jesus. And that’s why I say materialism isn’t just stuff that can come in. It’s attitudes of wanting to be like the world, of wanting to have what the world has.

There’s no place for that in the life of a Christian. In verses 20 and 21 of chapter 5, as for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels, I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging. Do nothing from partiality.

What is partiality? Isn’t that looking at people through worldly eyes? When I’m partial to people, when I’m prejudiced to people, I’m seeing them from a worldly perspective. What they have or what they don’t have. What they look like. Any of that is through a worldly eye. And Paul says, Timothy, don’t look at people like that.

We see people through the eyes of Jesus.

We see them for the soul that they are who either needs to be snatched away from the evil one or who needs to be kept on this path walking toward Jesus. That’s how we see people. And so don’t do anything by prejudging. Don’t do anything by partiality. Don’t do some things for the rich people that you wouldn’t do for the poor people in the congregation. Don’t.

hamper the people that can do something for you while neglecting the people who will never be able to repay you. Don’t act like that, Timothy. It’s worldliness. It’s materialism. And so, now we come to chapter 6, which is finally, I think, really all about this. Though, I hope I’ve made the case that I think all of 1 Timothy is kind of building to this point. Hey Timothy, you’re in a

And ladies, we’re in a worldly place. This country is worldly.

Keep the world out, Timothy.

Keep the world out, ladies.

chapter 6. Let’s start by reading verses 2 through 10 and then want to make three points of application. 1st Timothy 6 starting in verse 2, who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground that they are brothers, rather they must serve all the better since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved. Teach and urge these things. Now if anyone teaches a different doctrine,

and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.

but godliness with contentment is great gain. we brought nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world, if we have food and clothing with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. It is through this craving

that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

So what can happen when the world is let into our hearts? What can happen when we don’t train ourselves for godliness but find ourselves susceptible to materialism? Well, I think in the first place we see that we can be tempted to twist godliness as a means of gain. again, I go back to chapter one and I ask, is this what happened to Alexander and Hymenaeus?

We know in 3 John verse 9 that this is what happened to diatrophies. have written something to the church, diatrophies, likes to put himself first, other translations say who loves the preeminence, does not acknowledge our authority. What’s diatrophies doing? He likes to be first. Diotrophies likes to be heard. Diotrophies likes the preeminence.

I think if we’re not careful, in our heart of hearts, we might be able to say that about ourselves sometimes. I like when I’m put first. I like when people notice me. I like when people put me above somebody else, when they give me the preference. I like when people listen to what I say. We have to be careful that we’re not trying to seem like something we’re not.

that we’re not seeking to climb some kind of social ladder in the church so that we can be put on this pedestal by other people. We serve because our Savior was a servant. And if our Lord, the maker of this universe, could stoop down and wash the feet of those disciples, then who am I to ever want a pedestal to stand on?

We’re servants.

we have to we have to trust that God has put us where we need to be in the positions that we need to be in that he’s going to use us in ways that may not be glorious may not be glamorous but Jesus didn’t come to be served but to serve

So instead of seeking friendships, relationships, opportunities that can puff me up, how vigilant can I be about seeking opportunities to serve other people without notoriety? Serve people in ways that no one will ever see and never know about.

That’s a way to train yourself for godliness. Matthew chapter 6,

We read about some Pharisees who really liked preeminence. Right? Couldn’t this kind of be said of the Pharisees at large? They liked for people to notice them. They liked for people to tell them that they were doing God’s law just exactly right. They liked to get those big phylacteries. They liked for people to notice them when they came out.

But Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount…

In chapter 6 verse 1 he says, Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them. For then you’ll have no reward from your Father who’s in heaven. Thus when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly I say to you, they’ve received their reward. Do you see what they’re doing here? Because it’s not just

that they’re doing bad things but they’re getting recognized they’re doing good things they’re giving to the needy aren’t we supposed to give to the needy? when you did not do this to the least of these okay we’re supposed to do this here are good things that they’re doing so is this not the very definition of using godliness as a means of gain they’re trying to do something that is good that is godly but they’re doing it with the wrong motive

they’re doing it to step on top of people to get to the top. And Jesus said, they’ve already got their reward. When people noticed them, when they had the preeminence on earth, that’s it. That’s the reward. I don’t want this life and anything in it to be the reward I get. I want heaven. I want to be with Jesus.

And so we cannot seek preeminence. We cannot seek to be on top. Jesus is above all. I am a servant. That is the only place that I want to find myself. We can be tempted to twist godliness as a means of gain. But in the second place, I think we can also be tempted to crave the wrong things.

So in 1st Timothy chapter 6, see that there are people with all of these cravings. They’re desiring to be rich. They’re loving money. They have this craving for money. In verse 4, you have people who are craving controversy. They’re craving quarrels about words. That sounds like people who like to be right.

right that they know they’re right and they like to be and they like to cause division they like to cause controversy may like for people to know that they know the latest and greatest thing we’re not supposed to crave money we’re not supposed to crave controversy if you are desiring to chase riches if your desire is to chase anything that’s gonna lead you from from chasing Jesus

you can only chase one thing at a time. have two kids and I tell you, you can only chase one thing at a time. If they figured out that they could divide and conquer and just go in the opposite directions, I’d only be able to get to one of them because I can only chase one thing at a time.

Loving money is a root of all kinds of evil. It’s through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith. If your life is all about chasing this world and the stuff that’s in it and the preeminence that comes in it,

You can only chase one thing. And if you’re chasing this world, then you’re not chasing Jesus. And He is the only way to the eternal life in heaven. So don’t settle for a reward here on earth like the Pharisees. Run toward Jesus. Matthew chapter 6 verse 21

Jesus goes on to say, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. your eye is bad, ⁓ looking toward the wrong things, chasing the wrong things, your whole body will be full of darkness. If the light in you is darkness, how great the darkness. No one can serve two masters, for 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 God and money or God and mammon you cannot serve God and be materialistic you cannot serve God and love the world we live in the world but we are not of the world you cannot serve both and in the third and final place

We can be tempted to twist godliness to a means of gain. We can be tempted to crave and chase the wrong things, but we can also be tempted to misplace our trust.

In verses 17 through 19 of chapter 6, Paul writes, for the rich in this present age, let us all be clear that we are those. Right? We live in 21st century America, and no matter what level you live on, we’re rich in the present age. As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty.

nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. There to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. We can be tempted.

to lean on the stuff we have, the financial security that we think we have, on the amount of money we’ve got stored away in a bank account somewhere or something we’ve got coming to us later, we can put our trust in that.

And when it’s taken away…

That may be when we realize that our trust was in that.

that we were focused on self, on stuff, on what I could do, on the things that I could produce. Riches in this age are uncertain. They’re not something to rely on. But instead,

Christ is truly life. Colossians 3, when Christ who is your life appears.

Is he? Because I can only chase one thing.

And if I’m honest with myself, I’m not all the time chasing Jesus.

A lot of times I’m chasing a lot of other things. I’m distracted. And I want to be focused. I want to be sitting at the feet of Jesus like Mary, but too often I’m doing all kinds of other things like Martha. When one thing is needed to stop, listen, to chase Him.

In Luke chapter 12, and we won’t turn there for time’s sake, but in Luke chapter 12, Jesus tells the parable of the rich fool who’s got these barns and he wants bigger barns so he tears everything down, but ⁓ that night your soul is required of you. And Jesus tells us, life does not consist in the abundance of the things that you have. And sometimes I think I need to write that on my forehead. And well,

on my hand. feel like if I wrote something on my forehead I wouldn’t be able to see it unless I was taking those selfies, right? But I need this before my face. Life does not consist in the abundance of the things you have. Life does not consist of the status that you achieve to. Life does not consist of how many followers you have on social media. Life does not consist in the amount of people who know your name and know your story and respect you.

Life does not consist in anything that this world has to offer.

Jesus is truly life.

So as we finish, I want to look at two sections of scripture in 1 Timothy, where Paul has a minute to, guess just for lack of a better term, have a praise break. He’s in the middle of talking, he’s in the middle of giving some admonishment to Timothy, and then he’s just got to stop and praise. So in chapter 1, we have the first doxology. In 1 Timothy 1, starting in verse 15, so he’s been talking about, you know,

giving this to Timothy that he’s got to make sure that he is teaching people the way that they need to. This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am foremost. But I received mercy for this reason that in me as the foremost Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life to the King of Ages, immortal.

invisible, the only God. Be honor and glory forever. Amen.

This is what he’s entrusting to Timothy. This is the truth that Timothy has to hide in his heart. He is the only God and he is the only one who deserves honor and glory forever. So I’ve got to make sure that I don’t let wanting some kind of preeminence for myself threaten my inheritance. Glory belongs to God, not to me.

first place every place belongs to God not to me to Him be glory and honor forever in chapter 6

kind of bookends the book here with these thoughts. Chapter 6 verse 13, charge you in the presence of God, gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time.

who is the blessed and only sovereign, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see, to Him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. How do we combat materialism? How do we combat worldliness from seeping into our own hearts? I think if we focus on God,

being the king of kings we focus on jesus has been lord of lords if we focus on dvd only the godhead being immortal dwelling in unapproachable light if this will be the thought of our lives and will be keeping jesus on the throne not taking him off when i need a little self worship

not taking Him off the throne when I need stuff to make me content and happy and fulfilled. Whether that stuff is physical stuff or whether that stuff is anything on this globe that God made and anyone. Anything that sits on the throne that isn’t Jesus is idolatry.

And so we have to keep ourselves from wandering into this problem of materialism by focusing on who God is.

You’re focused on the treasure here.

How much time are we spending on the treasure that awaits? Jesus said, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. We’re spending a whole week talking about eternity and an inheritance in heaven. But may this not be the only time we spend thinking about heaven. May the rest of our days, however long or short on this earth be

May they all be spent looking to heaven because our treasure is going to be where our heart is. And if my heart’s on this earth, and if my heart is tied to here and the stuff here and the people here and the things here and the glory that I can receive here, then like the Pharisees, I’ll have my reward.

But if my heart will be set on heaven, then no matter what comes in this world or what doesn’t, I can rest in contentment and peace and hope because my citizenship is in heaven. And that’s when the reward will come. That’s when blessing will come. And that’s when I’ll get to sit at the feet of Jesus, casting our crowns down.

and seeing him as he is. That’s the reward we want. So don’t chase this shiny stuff here.

hails in comparison to the glory that awaits us. We pray with me.

Father God, we thank you so much for the promise of heaven. We thank you so much that you have adopted us as daughters and that you’ve promised to give us this inheritance thanks to our Savior, the Lamb who was slain.

Father, please forgive us when we are distracted by the world that we live in. Please help us to discipline ourselves to keep the world out. Help us to focus on your word, to help keep our minds centered in who you are so that you can occupy the throne of our hearts.

Father, please keep us from selfishness, from glory seeking. Please keep us from looking at other people with partiality and prejudice, with worldly eyes and intents. Father, please keep the world out of our hearts. Please help us to seek with our whole hearts and all of the days of our lives that you give us. Help us to seek Jesus.

we know that you are faithful to your promises. And if we seek Him and follow Him, Father, you have graciously promised that one day we can be with Him. So we thank you for the promise and thank you for the strength that we know you will give us for this journey. Thank you, Father. It’s through Jesus that we pray. Amen.