True Riches | Pastor Marcus Mecum

Bible and we're going to go to Luke 18 and we're just going to kind of go back and forth a little bit. No servant can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. Here it is. You cannot serve God and mam and say mam and one more time. So it mentions that there are two masters and there's two choices. You can serve God or you can serve mam and. This particular contrast that's given is an extreme one and it's actually very rare. Jesus does this on no other subject besides this one where he talks about you cannot serve God and mam and now I would personally probably argue with Jesus in what he says and I would introduce like you cannot serve God in the devil. That's what I would say but of course we're all grateful that I'm not Jesus right. Far from it so I think it's at a minimum for our consideration we should be saying what is he talking about? What is he saying? Why is this extreme contrast given on the subject of mam and where Jesus is saying you cannot serve God and mam and you're either serving one or you're serving the other. Notice he didn't say you're believing in one or believing in the other. He said you're serving one or you're serving the other. Serving speaks of what you're living for. It speaks of what you're giving, your energy, your time, your talent, your focus, your desires, your passions. What is the pursuit of your life? That is what you are serving. And Jesus brings up that a lot of people believe in God but they are serving mam and. Mam and is an Aramaic term it's mentioned four times in the Bible and it's not talking about money specifically. Mammon means the God of riches. So when he speaks about mam and what he's saying is how people personify money or they make money a living, breathing, being or a God and we know that money isn't alive. We know that money can't breathe and we say that money talks because it kind of does but that's not really the actual dollar bill talking it's the spirit behind it and we've all heard Mammon at some point or another say something to us. I mean Mammon is actually very convincing. For example have you ever heard Mammon say the church is just about money? All the church wants is your money. Have any of you ever gotten a bill? Have any of you ever had somebody set you down and say hey listen you've been coming to the church for many years. You know your family is a part of the church but but but you you're not giving and you know we really has anybody ever had that happen. But you can't go to lunch today. You can't go by a shirt. You can't go to the gym and there not be it so the only place that's like that and all the earth where you can go and 80 percent of the people that go to church never give. They say 97 percent of American Christians never give. But yet they never get a bill and the clientele if you were to call it that the people that come

to church you treat the ones who don't give in the same way you treat the ones who do give. You love the ones who don't give in the same way you love the ones who do give. You treat their children in the same way at the same value because under God we have a different value system and so what we're hearing is that Mammon says a lot of things that they're just not true. They're not accurate. They're there are lies and what Jesus is warning us about is that Satan will try to control the people of God in this way. It's why people get uncomfortable when you talk about this subject in church. It's because you're talking about people's God. They've made it alive. They've given it such weight. They've given it such authority in their life. It's controlling them and Jesus said hey you're going to have to be careful which one you serve here. Not talking about which one you believe which one you serve. Choose God or Mammon. Revelation 13 talks about how the Antichrist will rule and reign. How he'll get people to bow down to him. It's not going to be through military force. It's not going to be through military power. It will be through financial pressure. If you do not take the mark of the beast you will not be able to buy or sell. The threat is if you don't bow down to me, you can't care for your family. If you don't bow down to me, you can't provide for the basic necessities of life. If you don't bow down to me, your needs will not be met. If you don't bow down, you will not be able to eat. And so we all know the spirit of Mammon is already in control of the world. The question is, are we going to allow it to control us as God's people? You serve one, or you serve the other. Luke 18 gives us a great picture on someone who loves God, but they're controlled by Mammon. Let's look at verse 18. Now a certain ruler asks Jesus saying good teacher,

what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good, but one that is God. You know, so notice he's saying this guy knows the scriptures. He's saying you know the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your father and your mother. And so Jesus is speaking to a guy that understands the scriptures. He's talking to someone that loves God. He's lived his life to obey God because he says in the next verse, yeah, all these things I've kept from my youth. And Jesus responds to him, you still lack one thing. Now watch this next phrase is where a lot of people get messed up. Notice what it doesn't say. It doesn't say, sell all that you have, distribute to the poor and you get to heaven. This is how you get to heaven. That's not what it says. It says, sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor and you will have treasures, or they say treasures in heaven. So it's implied this guy's already going to heaven. This is not a scripture about heaven and hell. This is not a indictment that the guy doesn't love God or believe in God. Jesus is talking about treasure in heaven.

Treasure speaks of our reward. Jesus said, store up for yourselves treasure. It's not speaking about access. You're not going to die, walk before the pearly gates and they're Michael and Gabriel are and they pull up your giving record and say, you know what? You kind of didn't do a good job here. Sorry, you can't go in here. We know access is not based on what we give. Access is based on what Jesus gave. It's not based on what we do. It's based on what Jesus has already done. When he went to the cross and he died, for us, the Bible says he finalized it, he finished it. It is done, it is over. Our payment has been paid in full. We have access to heaven because of the price Jesus paid. So this is not about do you love God. This is not a heaven and hell issue. The distinct language Jesus uses as you will have treasure in heaven and right after this in the next verse, he says, come follow me. Come follow me. So Jesus is saying, hey, this is the way. Come on, I've got a great plan for you. I've got a great future for you and the man turns his back to the invitation and he walks away sorrowful. He walks away from the come follow me. That phrase, come follow me is only given

a few times in scripture and every time it's given to one of Jesus' apostles. When he goes to Matthew who's running a tax collector business, he says, come follow me. When he goes to Simon Peter who's running a fishing business, come follow me. So Jesus called every one of his 12 apostles, he used that language. So now he's looking at the rich young ruler and he's giving him this unique invitation that's only given to the apostles. So he's inviting him to potentially be one of the 12 apostles. I mean, this is an amazing invitation. This is a very unique thing. This is not for everybody, but this is for some. Think about this, you and I probably have not been called to sell everything that we have and go be a missionary to Russia. I only say that because you're here. I've never received that call. You've never received that call, but we know there are people that do receive that call. We don't have to go to Russia, but we have to begin to think about ways to support people who go to the places we've not been called to go. But what's going on here is this is a man who receives a unique and rare invitation. This is his destiny, according to Psalms 139. This is how we know that God formed us

and he knew us in our mother's womb, that he predestined us, that he knew all of our days, the details of our days, the good works that he's prepared for us. The Bible says they were already laid out. Our job is to walk in them. Everything that God wanted him to do was on the inside of them. All that God had planned. this date was on God's calendar. There was a big old black ex on it. This is the day that he's going to hear this. Come follow me. He's rich, which according to the world's standards means he has a lot of money, which everybody says that's what you need to have. He's young, we're obsessed with youthfulness, so he's got that going for him. He's a ruler, so he's got prestige, so he's got that going for him. So everything according to worldly standards, he's got set in his life, but that wasn't his calling. That wasn't his destiny. And so he misses his destiny, he misses the opportunity to be one of the 12 apostles his day of destiny came and he missed it because of Mammon. Every one of us have potential on the inside of us. We have a call on the inside of us. We have a destiny on the inside of us and our job is to figure out what that is. It's not to figure out what someone else is called to do, but what am I uniquely by God called to do and the rich young ruler misses his moment with destiny. He walks away and he walks away sorrowful because he was controlled by money. Again, not heaven and hell, that's not the conversation. It's talking about God blessed him and he served the blessing instead of serving God. He served Mammon and it's important that you hear this, that he missed it because of Mammon. You say, well, this has nothing to do with me. I'm not rich. There are two categories of people when it comes to this subject. People that have money and are controlled by it and people that don't have money and are controlled by it. It's speaking about your desire, your serving, your pursuit, your focus, your obsession, your attention, what you get stressed about, what you are fearful about, what you get anxious about, all of those things are inside of this idea. And the crazy thing about this moment is if you fast forward 37 years in early church history, the Romans invaded Jerusalem, plundered the city and took all their wealth. So here's a guy who ended up losing all of his stuff anyhow. He had an opportunity to be one of the 12 apostles,

he missed it and he lost all that stuff he was given his life to and we do the exact same thing. We have opportunities to make an eternal impact. We have an opportunity to take what God has given us, to give him glory through our life. We have destiny moments, moments where we can reach our full potential, moments where we can do something great for God and in the same way we miss it because we're focused on stuff. Stuff we're not going to take with us, stuff that in the end has no relationship to our eternity and it's all taken away. Now this is a difficult conversation that Jesus is having with this individual and the crowd is watching it. Now the crowd that's watching it, they're feeling the same way we're feeling like this is a pretty difficult subject to be listening to. And so let's look at verse 24. So Jesus saw that he'd become very sorrowful and he said, "How hard is it for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God for it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God?" So now the crowd, everyone who hears it, they say, "Well then who can actually be saved?" Like this is very hard. This is a difficult thing that we're listening to. And Jesus says, "The things that are impossible with men are possible with God." And Peter steps out of the crowd hearing them say, "This is so hard. This is so difficult. It's impossible who can actually do this." Peter steps out and says, "I did it. I walked away from my fishing. I had the same moment. I had the same invitation. I walked away from it." The other apostles step out of the crowd and they say, "We did it. We walked away from other opportunities, other things that we could do, other things that we could have given our life to. We did it." And so play it out again. The rich young ruler comes to Jesus. He's saying, "I love you. I know the Scripture. I've obeyed the Scripture. I love the things of God and Jesus is I know, but you lack one thing. There's all this treasure in heaven. There's so much more we want you to experience. There's so much more that's stored up for you, but you're going to have to come follow me again. This come follow me is not for everyone. This is a rare, unique calling that this man was born for. He can walk away from it and be one of the apostles, but he can't. He can't do it. And so he instead, Everyone's watching this man walk away. Jesus acknowledges that everybody's watching this scene in real time play out. He acknowledges that this is difficult. He acknowledges that this is a hard subject.

And they're all like, man, none of us are gonna be able to get this right. None of us are gonna be able to serve you. This is too hard. And Simon Peter stands up and said, I did it. The apostles stand up and say, we did it. This guy refused to, but we did it. And Jesus looks at the apostles in Simon Peter, verse 29. Assuredly, I say to you, there's not one of you who's left a house, parents, brothers, white children for the sake of the kingdom and shall not receive many more times in this present time and in the age to come eternal life. Jesus is looking at Simon Peter and he's emphatically saying, make no mistake about it, Simon, you've lost nothing. And he's looking at the rich young ruler and saying, you make no mistake about it. You've not won anything. You still got all your possessions. You're still in control. Simon, you gave up control. But make no mistake about it, Simon Peter. You cannot out give God. You cannot whenever you follow him and you trust him, you do not lose. And it's not just about eternity. Jesus promises in the present time. We're not just talking about, well, we're just saying there is a promise attached that you do not lose

when you trust God. Let's go back to Luke chapter 16, looking at verse 11. "Therefore, if you have not been faithful in unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust true riches?" And that's really what I'm trying to get to today. What is true riches? Well, it actually tells us in verse nine. So we'll back up a couple more verses. "I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon that when you fail or die, you may receive, they may receive you." Talking about your friends, there's gonna be friends that may receive you into your eternal home. In other words, the way you make friends with the use of unrighteous mammon. Again, money is amoral, it's neither good nor bad, it's whose hands it's in is what it affects. He's saying, the way you make friends with it is that every time you give, you have to make it about something different than money. You have to, when you give, say, what am I giving for? What am I making friends with? And when you die, he said, you're going to get to heaven. And when you get there, you're gonna meet people, you didn't know their name, you didn't know anything about them, but you're going to meet people

and they're going to come and they're going to say thank you because they are there because you cared enough to give so they could hear the gospel. And that is true riches. Giving should always be about souls. It should always be about the great commission, what are we doing to preach the gospel? To make sure that the lost and the dying and the hurting can hear. So the same way we receive God's grace, they can receive God's grace. I tell my story all the time that I was 16 years old, I didn't know John 3 16, I'd never heard David and Goliath and a church who had hired a youth pastor, there's a church about 70 people, hired a youth pastor, that youth pastor went to a lunchroom in my high school, that's where I met him. Fast forward, I end up hearing the gospel on a Saturday night, I give my life to Jesus Christ, that Saturday night, I give my life to him in that church is where I went to youth group every Wednesday night in a space about the size of most of our closets, that's the space that they gave the youth ministry. In that space, I learned how to pray, in that space, I learned how to read the Bible, I learned how to study the scriptures, I was discipled in that space, I served in that space, I did the small things, I preached my first sermon in that space, all of those things happened right there in that little church and someday when I get to heaven,

when I die, when this life is over, there are going to be people I wanna see and you're not the first people I'm gonna wanna see, we have all of eternity, we'll have a bonfire, But the people I want to talk to are the people in that little church who had enough vision, who had enough care to hire a youth pastor and reach out to some lost nothing nobody, young kid, who I don't know where I would be, I don't know what my life would look like, had they not reached out to me. And at some point, on the other side of our giving, whether we ever experience it here or not, there will be a day that people will want to see and meet the people that were behind those on Wednesday night, those young people that hear the gospel every Wednesday. They, women, there are women right now at Madison Correctional Facility. 70 women are being baptized this week at Madison Correctional Facility. If you're a part of the church, you know how much we do to make sure that we're reaching lost people wherever we possibly can. But the point is you'll never meet them, they'll never meet you. But at some point when this body fails and we go stand before the throne of God, the people that we have made friends with will be meeting us there, they'll shake our hands and they'll say thank you for giving, for caring,

for reaching and that is what giving is all about. (audience applauds) In Matthew, I'm sorry, in 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 10, it tells us a little bit more about Mammon. Let's look at it. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some have strayed from their faith in greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. So notice the Bible says the love of money is where people miss it. It's not money, it's the love of it. There's, when you love it, when you're serving it, that's Mammon, when you're giving your passions to it, it's the root of all kinds of other evil, all kinds of other disruptions in your life. It opens the door to all kinds of things in your life and the reason is money and loving money and serving money was not what money was designed to be in your life. It was not designed to be served, it was designed to serve you. It was designed to accomplish the purposes of God in your life and you say, well, why do we struggle so much with loving it and serving it in the way that we do? Like the rich young ruler, this is what we buy into. We believe that if we serve money, if we live for money, if our pursuit is money, then we'll actually have a life that's protected, a life that's safe, a life that's secure because that's what Mammon does.

Mammon promises us everything will be okay if you just trust me. I'll give you everything you need. I'll give you happiness. I'll give you joy. I'll give you identity. I'll make you important. Mammon says the reason people don't listen to you is because you don't have enough of me, but if you get more of me, then people would actually listen to you. People would actually love you. They don't really love you 'cause you don't have enough, but if you did have all this, then they would love you. They would think you're somebody. They would actually see your true value, your true worth, that's the lie of Mammon. You do not have to believe those lies. Don't give life to those lies. Money was never meant to be a God. It is not a living, breathing entity. God is the one who promises us joy. God is the one who says in me, you can find peace. In me, you can find contentment. In me, you can find freedom from fear and stress. So find your worth in him. Generosity, at the end of the day, is eternal. And you can't get short-sighted with it. What we know, according to Scripture, is what you don't have a revelation of here on earth.

You will have it in eternity. Luke 16, there's a rich man. He was very wealthy on earth. Generosity was not a value to him. And he ends up going to hell. He didn't go to hell because of a lack of generosity. But he's in hell. And he says, all I want is for someone to be generous enough to go dip their finger in some water and touch my tongue. So people in hell will wish that people cared more. And when we're in heaven, we'll wish that we had cared more, gave more, and reached more. True riches is storing up treasures in heaven. True riches is living your life, understanding the most valuable thing on the planet is a human soul. So valuable that God gave his only son for us. [MUSIC PLAYING]