Matthew 6:19–24Scripture
Everybody turn your Bibles this morning to Matthew chapter 6. And we continue on in what I have often and repeatedly over the last few weeks referred to as the dethroning ceremony in Matthew chapter 6, which quite honestly we need in our culture because the epicenter of most of our lives is centered around our self. It's very easy in this culture to get fixated on self and then because of that viewpoint in life which is very easily easy to adapt in our society we tend to it tends to affect how we interpret Scripture and so really before you enter into your Bible study I'll just say this we're going to be in chapter 6 verse 19–24 before we enter before you enter into your Bible study, one of the things you should do is spend a considerable amount of time praying that the Lord would unhitch you from self.
Yes. That would not become your tutor as you read his word, but that you would allow the Scripture to say what it needs to say in the way that it needs to say it. I was crooked there. And so that's kind of our prayer. That's kind of my prayer this morning for us. I actually we had a little I had a little funny thing. Some of you are still looking. I see you flipping pages. But Matthew 6:19-24.
In the very back of the room, I came up and I was having a hard time getting files dropped upstairs. That's always fun. And so I had to come make the computer be alive and see the network. And so we were dropping files. I was frantically dropping files. There was a little dialogue that happened back there. It was interesting while I was trying to do that with among two friends. One the dialogue went something like this. Sean, there's somebody here who needs spiritual discipline. And I chuckled and
Introduction
I said, is that right? And something like that. Something like I'm busy. I don't have time for this right now. And so and then as I finished up, I tapped the person who needed the spiritual discipline and I said, "Get straight." And then walked off.
And I thought it was hilarious at first. And as I walked about halfway down the stairs, I thought to myself, "Isn't that how we do this? We go to people and we say, get straight." I don't even think that's the way that church discipline happens. And I think we fail to understand that the word is instructive. The point of correction oftentimes, even in relationships with other people, is to hold God's word high in front of a person who loves the Lord that they may turn their attention and gaze back towards the Lord in a moment where they've turned their gaze away from him.
Yes. Amen. So, we hold truth high. We don't correct people and tell them what to do. I'm not I'm not saying correction is bad all the time. But it isn't instructing people in their flesh to do something different.
But it's holding truth high in a heart that loves him that they might then fix their gaze and go that direction. Again, this becomes then problematic in a world where truth is not valued.
We in our culture have become bored with truth.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 3:31
We're bored with it. And in any way possible, we want to jazz it up a little bit to make it more palatable, more entertaining, more amusing until it loses and dilutes it to the magnitude it no longer has its effect on the world. This I believe is an effective tactic of the enemy.
This has come in and seeped into the life of the church. Now we take truth and we use it as platitudes. We preach sermons that tickle emotions, entertain our people, and no longer have the lasting effect that it intended to have when God gave it to us. There are times it should challenge us. Truth is offensive. And
When you take the edge off of truth, it no longer is offensive and it is no longer effective.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 4:34
Truth is great and it's hard. It's wonderful and it's not. It's all of those things. So my prayer today is that the truth would do what God intended it to do. Matthew 6:1 19- 24 says this, "do not lay up for yourself treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal." Now pause.
Back in the day, what would happen is wasn't so much about bank accounts and stocks and 401ks and CDs. Wasn't so much about that and getting silver and gold and coins and holding that in your house so that you had some kind of effective currency when everything hit the fan, if you know what I mean. That's not what it was.
What they did was they had storehouses where they would keep things items that were a treasure to them. Most often and most often the greatest currency was food. This is why later on you hear a parable of somebody who stores up storehouses full of grain because that's what they would do with their treasures.
But God is trying to help us understand to not toil and worry about tomorrow. We soon see that he talks about this. He is building something here in the context of what happened in the day where they stored up stuff in fear for what would happen tomorrow.
I'm not saying we shouldn't be responsible. I'm not saying we shouldn't apply wisdom. I'm not saying we shouldn't be prepared. I am saying that
God is challenging us to not find our hope in what we can store but find our hope in who he is.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 6:34
Amen. And that's very important because your heart can be attached and find its substance and its trust and its meaning and its hope and its peace in something that could be here today and gone tomorrow by fire.
And then where does your peace go? And then where does your joy reside? And then where? So trust is not found in that which is destroyed easily. It's found in that which is eternal. And specifically for believers, it is even more paramount that we understand that our hope is found and built on nothing less than Jesus Christ and his righteousness, which he's in heaven. He ain't down here. All right. So that's where our hope is.
It's heavenward, not earth. Okay. So, but lay up for yourself treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroy or where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, this is a big thing. This should shock you. This should concern you. You should do some soulsearching here. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. Notice there is a connection between what you worship, what you see, and what you serve. And it affects your heart.
You can't detach who you are from what you do.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 8:28
What you do is indicative of what your heart is. In a world where we have created an acceptable understanding of a phrase similar to this, well, but they mean good. Somebody does something bad and we say to them, "but they're a good person and they mean good." The Scripture doesn't allow for this whole thing of you're a good person, but you do bad things.
The Scripture wants us to understand the reason we do bad things is because we're we're not good people.
And the reason we need Christ is because we're not good people. And the reason we don't do bad things is cuz we need a savior and we're the problem. Right? How many of you don't raise your hand and don't point to the person to the left or to the right, but somebody How many of you could attest the fact that you got a problem and it's a you problem.
And every day you should wake up remembering you have a you problem.
You should not celebrate you. You should celebrate him.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 9:59
P.S. Yes, if you celebrate you will pass away. He will not. He will not. Your body will die. Your spirit will live eternally. Which do you feed most? Well, track with me here today. I'm coming into your garage.
I know the code. I'm coming in. I'm coming in there. Which do you do most? Do you know that if you read the Bible three minutes, it's actually six, it's actually, it's 10 minutes a day, three chapters a day, you can finish the whole Bible in a year, just three chapters, 10 minutes. Do you know that globally, not just in America, globally, the amount of time, the average amount of time that a human being spends on their phone, globally, the phone hadn't been around that long. I was married when I got my first one.
My first cell phone. I'm not talking about the one you circle around and go down the hallway so you can have a private conversation when your mom ain't in there. Not talking about that one, you know. By the way, wasn't it awesome when they developed that little dingle dangle thing that spun?
So, you know what I'm talking about. You put it in the phone and it would rotate so it didn't get all tangled up and kinkedked. That was amazing. Some of you don't even know what I'm talking about. You're like, "That's weird." I mean, What's What's a chord? I don't know what the cord is. What do you mean walking down the hallway? You were attached to something. I don't know. Totally forgot what I was talking about.
Don't even remember. Don't even cell phone. The average time globally that a person spends on their phone is four and a half hours.
A day. A day. Now, you don't even realize it. Because you look at it so long and so many times four and a half hours a day scrolling.
Well, I don't have time. I'm too busy scrolling. You're busy scrolling. Which do you feed most? Your flesh or your spirit man? Some of you don't spend 10 minutes a day in the word. This 4 and a half hours of expenditure that your flesh dies. You know what? It satisfies flesh.
That passes away. Your spirit man lives forever.
The problem is we feed our flesh better and wonder why our spirit man is anorexic, starving.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 12:46
You wonder why you can't come overcome temptation. You wonder why. You wonder. Come on. And God is trying to help us understand something very important here. We have got to fix our gaze on that which is eternal.
He's trying to help us understand there's something better for you. I'm going to play this clip. Play this clip. I love this. This is so fascinating. I saw this week. I've seen this movie, but this just look at this. Look at this.
Get what he wants.
To the wrong guy. You and this tree are now connected. Hello.
What happens when a tree loses all its leaves?
Triple shot latte. Ice latte. Extra milk. Just be here with me right now. You want to hear the talking? Just do what you do. I'm going to need y'all quit playing with me and pull out your big gun. I'mber you better recognize son.
I love it. So far in this sermon, I have spoken a thousand words. It took four and a half minutes to do it. I've already spoken a thousand words. Imagine with me for a moment if you only had a thousand words to speak and you died. How would you spend them differently?
Could it be we live in a culture and in a land of abundance and to the degree that we no longer value what we have at our disposal?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 15:22
In this clip, he's funny. He's he's fast. He's talking like he's running out of oxygen. But everything changes when he has less words. What would you say if you only had 1,000 words left? Would you talk at all or would you hoard them so that you could live longer?
What would you do if you knew somebody needed to hear about Jesus, but every word you spoke meant you're walking closer to your death?
What if you just didn't have a thousand words left? I'm not talking about, Listen, I'm not saying a thousand sermons. That's a lot of words. I'm not saying a thousand conversations, 1,000 words. Who would you call?
What would you confess? What would you make right? What would suddenly feels foolish? How would it change the way you talk?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 16:45
Let me press even deeper. You may not have 1,000 words left. You may not have 1,000 days left. And each of you may not have 1,00 minutes left. That's right. Because the Bible says you can be gone in a moment. That's right. Now, listen. I grew up in the South.
Just track with me here. I grew up in the South where it was hell, fire, and brimstone, and they scared you straight out of hell and into heaven. It's the way it worked. The scarier the sermon, the most effective, the more effective it was and the bigger the altars were filled. That's not the point of the sermon. But there is an idea that we think we're going to live forever.
And you're right, you are. But not your flesh. Not the part of you feed the most.
So God is trying to help us. And Jesus specifically in this is trying to help us understand something and really just change our viewpoint on something.
Jesus says in Matthew 6 that the way you're living right now already reveals what would matter what matters most.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 17:58
I want to I want to read this to you. Right? We live as if tomorrow is guaranteed for 2 Timothy 3 1-5 says this. Track with me.
Understand this that in the last days there will come times of difficulty for people will be lovers of self. Does this sound familiar? Lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, check. Without self-control, check. Brutal? Check. Not loving good. Check. Check.
Check. Treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Check. Having the appearance of godliness but denying its power. Check. Check. Then it says avoid such people.
It's warning us. We're drawing near to the end. Yes. I mean, in light of all that's going on in the world, what's going on in Iran, people are asking questions. Is this prophetic? Is this the end times? What's going on? We don't we don't know that. We do know that it is good. You're not guaranteed tomorrow.
So, this is an opportunity to think differently about what you treasure.
We spend as if we'll always earn. We scroll as if we'll always see. And we plan as if we'll always breathe.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 19:49
And in so doing, we store our treasures in what will not last. We fix our eyes on what is fading, and we attempt to serve what cannot save. That's right.
We're lovers of self. That's the error of our age. Build your brand. Protect your peace. Chase your truth. Put yourself first. But Jesus says the opposite. Deny yourself. Take up your cross. Follow me. There is a collision between the kingdom of self and the kingdom of God. And ma and Jesus is talking about this in this text and he says do not lay up for yourself treasures on earth. He does not suggest it. He commands it.
And here's the big idea.
When time runs out, what owns your heart is revealed.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 21:00
One day you will stand before the Lord and time will be out for you. And what you treasured will reveal what heart you had.
Let me ask you a question as you reflect on what you treasure today. What heart do you have? That's the heaviness of this text and you need to feel it so you don't miss it.
Point 1Your treasure reveals your heart
Number one, your treasure reveals your heart. We're going to do this quick. Do not lay up for yourself treasures on earth, where moss and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourself treasures in heaven.
First of all, Jesus is not anti-money. Money's amoral, right? So, Kirk and J.R., come up here for just a minute. Right. I don't have any cash. We'll pretend like I do.
Okay. Yeah, sure. Give me some money. Yeah, show me the money. Yes, that'd be that'd be awesome. Yeah, let's do that. Let's do that. Yeah. Yeah. Great. Money's good. Thank you. Awesome. All right. Yeah. Yeah. It's great. All right. This is awesome. Oh, man. Good night. There's some They're not all ones. There's some 20s and stuff in there. No, there's not. Yeah.
Oh. I like what's happening here. This is getting expensive for you. Okay, so here we go. You take half that. You come over here. You take half that. All right. So, I got all the money. He's got all ones. The money is amoral.
The money is only spent in either an appropriate way, in a way that's eternal, or a way that's fleshly based on the heart of the person holding it.
Does this make sense? This is simple. I know you when I say amoral, you kind of know what I'm talking about, but this probably helps a little bit. So, the money is either used in a good way. So he gets his paycheck, right? He decides, you know what? The Lord says, "be generous and care about eternal things." And so, he doesn't give anything to the church. He doesn't help anybody that has need. He only cares about himself. So, he pays his bills. He does that. And then he goes out on the weekend. Are you with me?
And he goes downtown and he picks up a prostitute. What are you doing that for? Right. And on. Are you with me today? That's what he does with his money. Now, Kirk, hopefully I do better. Right. Hopefully I do better. So he pays his bills, puts money in for retirement, he helps a homeless person find a place to live. He gives to the church. He helps are you with me? Yes.
Now, let's say that these two gentlemen are single and they come to the church here and there's other single ladies in the house. They wouldn't know how he spends his money. So, they can't really see his heart.
This shows where his heart is. How he spends this shows where his heart is. Let me ask you a question. You guys can go sit down and please give her money back. That there's some 20s in there, man. Let me ask you a question. When you look at how you spend your money, when you look at when you look at how you spend your money, what do you treasure?
That's what Jesus is doing here. Man, this is a gut punch, man. This should be a gut punch to every single person in this room.
How are you spending that which you would never have if it weren't for him anyway?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 25:42
Is what you spend does any of that have eternal impact or is it only just temporary and just satisfies the lust of your flesh? Some of you are like, "Why are we talking about going and getting prostitutes with money with people that are from our church?" It happens. Matter of fact, pastors have been outed all year long for this.
That's why in Matthew 7, he says, "They'll stand before me and say, I did this in your name at church. I was a pastor in your name. I did this in your name." And he's like, "and you spent money on prostitutes. I don't know you.
Where listen money is amoral but it reveals your heart and you can't spend one way and say your heart is another he says that ain't permitted.
Okay. Then Jesus says, "for where your treasure is, your heart will be also." Your treasure, listen, leads your heart. Track with me. This order is important. Where your treasure is, your heart goes. If your treasure is status, your heart bows to approval. If your treasure is comfort, your heart runs from sacrifice.
If your treasure is money, your heart fears loss more than sin.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 27:32
If your treasure is self, your heart will orbit around your own glory.
Many claim Christ with their lips while treasuring the world in their hearts. And your treasure never lies.
If you had 1,000 words left, would you be talking about your platform or your redeemer?
Point 2Your vision reveals your heart
The way you spend your time, your money, your affections already answers that question. Number two, your vision reveals your heart.
And Jesus shifts the metaphor and he says this, the eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. In other words, a healthy eye means single focus or clear devotion, generous sight. But if your eye is bad, your whole body is full of darkness. Listen,
What you fix your gaze on fills your life.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 28:36
If you stare at luxury, you will crave it with your whole self. If you stare at lustful things, you'll be consumed by it, long for it, be filled with it, and only be satisfied by it. If you stare at comparison, you will rot with envy. If you stare at yourself long enough, you will enthrone yourself, worship at the throne of yourself, and only care about yourself.
And every decision you make and every way you think and the way you speak will be centered around self. And I found often that people who are lovers of self don't even know it. They are prisoners of this reality. Blinded to the reality of it. All their decisions are based on what is best for them. Been there.
Your vision shapes your desires. Your desires steers your life.
Some believers are spiritually weak. Not because God is absent, because their eyes are disciplined more by culture than by Christ.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 29:58
Hours of streaming, endless scrolling, constant consumption.
Point 3Your master reveals your heart
Your vision reveals your heart. Number three, your master reveals your heart. That's the three That's the three movements we see here. I told Brooke that and she was like, I just don't understand what you mean. Is what do you mean move? We speak on different I said sections. It's three sections. She's like, I get it. But in a piece of music, I'm not musical. See, Ebony is, there's movements.
And a play. There's movements in this text. There's movements. And he's talking about three different things. Your treasure, your eyes, and what you what your master is, who your master is. And those three things reveal what kind of heart you have. You know what he's doing? He's giving a way for you to fact check your work.
More importantly, he's giving you a way to fact check your confession.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 31:22
Now, in church, we don't like to do this today. This makes us uncomfortable. Honestly, every single person in here under the sound of my voice, whether believer or not, whether somebody who confesses to be a Christian or not, should be doing soulsearching about the disparity between what we long for and what he says we should long for.
All of you. All of you. Here's the good news of the gospel before you get too panicked. You're not saved by what you do. Yeah. The point of this is to help you know you're guilty. You are guilty. And if not for him, you're toast. Yeah. I mean, you're just toast, man.
You know what? You know why he's doing this? It's the only way he knows how to help you lift your eyes from self which you trust in to that which can save which is heavenward. If you sit today through this sermon you're like I'm good Lord help you. Lord help you today. No one can serve two masters. Not might not cannot cannot serve God in money which will be Lord to you. Money represents control, security, power, self-sufficiency.
You can't bow to Christ and to control. You can't worship the cross and culture. You cannot enthrone self and submit to a savior at the same time.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 33:30
It just don't work that way, man. Scripture is just black and white. It just is what it is.
In the last day, people will be lovers of self and lovers of money. And Jesus says you must choose your master at the end of the li of your life. There will be not two thrones in your heart but only one. And when time runs out what owned your heart is revealed. Listen on your last day your bank account will not hold your hand. Right?
It will not it won't be there man. Your followers will not stand at your bedside. That's right.
Your curated image will not answer for your soul.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 34:29
The real you will cuz he knows it. So, you've done fooled everybody else with your social media presence.
You've created versions of yourself that appease men. But at the end of the day, the real you shows up in front of God. And he sees you. Notice that every portion of this whole section, he keeps saying when you go into the closet, I see you.
That lets you know that he doesn't just see you when you're in the crowds. He sees you there. But he sees you when you think you're in hiding. There is nowhere you can go to escape the eyes of the Lord. So whatever version you put out there for the world, he sees the real you. He sees you.
Only Christ, only the lamb who was slain, only the king who conquered death.
If he is not your treasure now, he will not suddenly become your treasure when you stand before him,
Pastor Shawn Gray · 35:29
then it won't work that way. Let me ask you a question. What do you love? Not what you not what do you claim to love. What do you love?
I'll close with this. Only a thousand left. I love that. Maybe less. Only a thousand minutes left. Only a thousand days left. Maybe less. Maybe a thousand seconds. Jesus is not trying to frighten you for effect. He's trying to free you from wasting your life in a generation obsessed with self.
He's telling you, lay up treasures in heaven. Begin to focus on things that are eternal. And today, choose your master.
I'm looking over there for some reason. I can't even see you. It was just a big blur. So, whoever's over there, I'm not like choose your master. This feel like a safe place. It was actually empty. Chairs over there as I just focused over there. So, yeah. So, let me ask you one last time.
If you only had 1,000 words left, would they sound like worship of self or surrender to Christ?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 36:59
Because one day you'll speak your last word and after that you'll stand before the king. Make sure your heart belongs to him. Now for some of you who are sitting in the tension of this decision, you've heard of Christ. I want to take a moment and I want to tell you the Bible's very clear. Here's a very brief gospel message.
Listen, very brief. We've been on a downhill trajectory since the beginning when he put us put Adam and Eve in the garden and they chose wrong and they sinned and ever since then sin has just been passed down from generation to generation and you're born into it and you need help. And it actually says in Scripture as it draws out the greater narrative, it says that God is coming with a winnowing fork to discipline those who are in sin.
But because he loved you, he sent his son to die for you whose name is Jesus. He came, he walked among us, he lived a perfect, holy life. He was crucified on the cross, righteous in every way, so that his righteousness could be trans could be transferred to you in exchange for your unrighteousness. Here's all you have to do. Believe in him and repent. That's it.
What's repentance, Sean? That seems like a churchy word. Well, it's simple.
Acknowledge you have a you problem and know that he's the savior that can save you from the you problem and turn from you towards him.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 38:52
It's that simple.
It's that simple. You don't need an altar call. You don't need music playing in the background to move you to get there. You can do it right where you sit. You can do it without a prayer because it happens in your heart in a moment. You don't need special words. But when your heart decides to do something, just like your heart decides to spend money, your heart changes your life because he's changed your heart. Are you with me? He does the work.
There's no incantation to pray. Now you're saved.
It's just when you're tired of you and you turn to him.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 39:55
For some of you, that might happen this morning. You'll know and your wife will know and your husband or your husband will know and your kids will begin to know and your friends will know because you can't no longer be the same. You won't be perfect because you still got some flesh and you got a you problem still. He saves you and one day this flesh will be done away with and our flesh sin that's in our flesh will be done away with and then all that will be left is what he's redeemed and made new.
Some of you today I'll say this. So that's for those of you who are sitting in here that you're like what do I do with this Jesus? What do I do with this decision? How do I make him my master? That's answer to that question number two. There's some of you in here today that are like, I thought I was saved.
I'm not sure anymore because it don't look good when I see how I spend my money. And it don't look good when I think about what I look at in the closet of my life, in the private areas of my life.
Come on now. 48% of the church, 48% of the church is looking at pornography of the church.
I don't like what I what my eyes gaze on. I don't like it. I don't like what my how I spend my money. I don't like who I've made my master. I thought I was saved. I said I was saved. I came down at youth camp and I prayed a prayer and I've been baptized.
So was the pastor who just recently got outed for picking up prostitutes during the week.
And he went to Bible college and he's preached for several years.
So, it's good to sit here today and get a picture of the heart you have and cry out to God and say, "Change my heart." I mean, because honestly, if he don't do the work, you're toast. You're toast. Only God can do this in a heart of a man or a woman. Only God. So, we look to him. Lord, we love you very much. We're thankful for who you are. Oh, man.
Seriously, Lord. I mean, good grief. I mean, good grief.
I at times wish that you cared more about my feelings, but my feelings got me here. What I feel, what I want, what I desire, what I like, what I makes me comfortable, that got me to where I'm at.
If you cared about my feelings, you'd let them remain Lord.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 43:19
So here, Lord, in spite of my feelings, in spite of the way that makes me feel, you let truth wreck my feelings for the sake of redemption.
Today, we're thankful for that. Some of us have got a little too big for our bridges. We think we're pretty such muty.
Thank you for humbling us today because you are the hope of our salvation, not what we do.
We love you, Lord. In your precious and holy name we pray. Amen. And amen.
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