Mat 6:19-24; Earth Is God’s Burn Pile.

Class Outline:

Wednesday September 18, 2024

 

Main idea for today: God helps us to make the correct choice to store up treasure in heaven by instructing us of our future apart from this world. 

 

Intro: God purposely set up a contrast of good and evil in His universe, which produced conflict amongst people and within people.

 

Most Christians today are going to find the conflict within themselves; light and darkness, good and evil, heaven and earth. In the final temptation of Jesus, Satan seeks and hopes for this conflict to be within Jesus, but it wasn’t. He offered Him the kingdoms of the world, i.e. the treasures of the earth, MAT 4:8-10.

 

Though we are apprentices, we still have strong desires, as did He. Desire is a great and wonderful thing if it seeks true treasure.

 

The one who worships in secret, must not come away from his giving, or prayer, or service and then seek worldly things. The Lord, in this sermon, teaches us that to be His apprentice is a commitment of our entire lives, every aspect of them. This should excite us rather than burden us. 

 

The conflict means that in this life we will always be tempted by a wrong treasure. Jesus gives us two choices; heaven and earth. 

          Earth - decay and consumption.

Heaven - eternal pristine. (ISA 51:7-8)

 

MAT 6:19-24. 

 

In various ways, God helps us to make the right decision. We are not on our own.

 

Three simple truths that help us greatly: 

1. You’re not taking any of it with you. 
2. Your exit from this earth can happen at any moment. 
3. You will be judged by Christ after you leave. 

 

You’re not taking any of it with you. 

 

PSA 49:16-20; JAM 4:14 “You do not know what your life will be like tomorrow ….

 

Luke 12:13-21. 

 

Tyre was fabulously wealthy through trade; God pronounced judgment upon them through the prophet Zechariah and Alexander the Great carried out the judgment, in the manner that God said, 200 years later. Zech 9:3-4. 

 

God personalizes the ill-gotten gains of Israel by naming them after the sins that acquired them (AMO 3:10-11). 

 

Your exit and judgment can come any day. 

 

JAM 5:1-6: Greed. The cries of the oppressed reached the ears of the Lord of hosts (Sabaoth). 

 

JAM 5:7-11: The stored up treasure for judgment (vs. 3) is now revealed as the coming of Christ. 

 

We must be patient and wait for the true reward, meaning that we do not seek the false one (REV 22:12). 

 

The Lord uses James to give wonderful motivation to endure and be patient: The Judge is standing at the door; examples of the prophets and Job. 

 

2Co 5 - our ambition is to please God and our promotion to heaven is imminent. 

 

Earth is God’s burn pile: The prophetic end of all earthly treasures: 2PE 3:3-7, 11. 

 

MAR 13:1-2. The earthly things that are beautiful, are beautiful. What they lack is permanence. What temple did Jesus say He would rebuild?  

 

Holy conduct is directly associated with where you are seeking the fulfillment of your desire (MAT 12:35; LUK 6:45).

 

Because of all of this, do not be worried about your life as you seek heaven (“the kingdom of heaven and His righteousness”), your Father will care for it. MAT 6:25-33.