Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] What if I told you that the things that you cannot see are actually the most valuable and most important things that you should be investing your time in?
[00:00:15] God doesn't design us to fit. He designs us to be impactful.
[00:00:22] And in fact, the Bible actually talks about it. We talked about last week. Well, hello, it's Ryan.
[00:00:29] We talked about how it's important for us to not care or have any anxiety about what we should wear, what we should drink. And we actually will link the podcast in the show notes about what it's like to put God first.
[00:00:44] And this is in Matthew chapter six that we started toward the end, actually starting from verse 25 all the way to 34.
[00:00:54] Whoop.
[00:00:55] And what we're finding is. And I was just really, it was impressed upon me to continue to actually read beforehand, because actually, at verse 25, there's a therefore.
[00:01:10] And if you're any kind of Bible scholar or just a grammatical person, you have to understand what the therefore is there for.
[00:01:23] Real bad dad joke. But also a very true biblical study statement because you have to understand what happened before it to have context for what came after.
[00:01:35] So you go through this book of. Chapter. Excuse me, chapter six in the book of Matthew.
[00:01:42] It's really powerful because one of the things it talks about is, turn this down a little bit, is how much we store up treasure in heaven and what Jesus is saying about storing things in heaven versus storing things on earth. So we're going to run it back like a DJ and go to Matthew chapter six again. But we're going to start at verse 19. We're going to spend a little bit of time here so we can understand how all of this comes together in context. I want to make sure I provide that because one of the things we find is we miss out on a lot of the material. Excuse me, the intangibles.
[00:02:34] There was a study done about individuals toward the end of their life.
[00:02:39] And one of the things that they said, even particularly older ones, you see this online and in different interviews, they said when they're getting closer to the end of their life or they're in their 60s, 70s, 80s, and these people are doing these ad hoc conversations now. But there was a study done before that, talked about, hey, what are some of the things that you wish you had not done or wish you had spent more time on when you were younger? Because now they're getting older, they're getting into their sunset years.
[00:03:11] What would you suggest?
[00:03:13] One of the things that they said is, I wish I hadn't worked so much and I spent more time with the people that I loved.
[00:03:20] Isn't that crazy?
[00:03:22] Because essentially the things that they thought brought happiness in one day, a part of their age or a season in their life really didn't bring back or bring to them the value that they thought it would have.
[00:03:38] And unfortunately, what we continue to do is pursue and gain the things that we think will add value to us. We think that it'll make us happy, we think that it'll bring us joy, we'll think that it will bring us satisfaction. But the thing is, we will always continue to store up in those areas the needs that we have.
[00:04:03] But we end up losing it to the stock market if it eaves and flows. If someone makes a bad decision at a company that you lose your investment dollars, there's a whole bunch of things, you get robbed, stolen glass broken in your car, somebody tried to break in your house. There's all kinds of things that could happen.
[00:04:26] But what keeps an individual anchored during those times when we know that material things do and will fail you?
[00:04:37] Jesus has the answer. So I'm gonna start at.
[00:04:40] I'm gonna keep going on this. We might take a method, break this up a little bit, but we're going to start at verse 19 and read through to 21. Okay?
[00:04:50] 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 neither moth nor rust destroy, and where thieves do not break in or steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
[00:05:14] Okay, this is one part, and then we'll break this down in the next part.
[00:05:21] So a part of this, at the end of the day, anything that you get is going to either rust like metal, like a car is going to naturally be, since it's metal is going to be succumbed to the environment is going to start to pass away.
[00:05:44] Moths get enclosed. Now, this is more so a characteristic of being in like the Palestinian environment where it's hot, right? So you had moths in your clothes and your metal. The metals had rust because they were. So there's moisture in the air, heat.
[00:06:04] So you would typically have things that would rust fairly quickly.
[00:06:09] So people understood what Jesus was talking about contextually. Because anything that they kept stored up for a while would actually either start to come apart or it will start to rust.
[00:06:20] So what he's saying is like, don't store up your valuables in those areas. Now this is the thing most people, and I want to put this in, be careful with this, because most People think I have to say no to material things and say yes to only spiritual things.
[00:06:40] I don't think that's the case. That's not what Jesus is saying.
[00:06:43] He's not saying forsake them.
[00:06:45] He's just saying don't store them up.
[00:06:48] Which means that there is a priority on which one you put more value on, and priority on versus the other.
[00:06:57] Okay? He's saying store up. He doesn't say, stop building any kind of money. You're still going to live in this earth. Last time I checked, you still need to spend money to pay your bills. You need money to eat.
[00:07:11] You need money to buy clothes, right? There's things that you need, right? And God made the resources. Now, even if we want to go back to the book of Genesis, chapter one or chapter two, I believe God made the gold, and God said the gold was good. And gold is a sign of material wealth. It is something that God designed for himself, for us to understand that that particular metal in itself does not rust, is soft and is precious.
[00:07:44] So he's not saying what I made was bad, okay?
[00:07:50] What he's saying is when you put a different level of emphasis on it, that's when we start having the problem.
[00:08:00] So if you have more material things invested, then you have relationships, then you have friendships, then you have love, then you have character. When you have more money than obedience. Now, that's when we start getting out of balance.
[00:08:17] Because at this point, you have prioritized what the material thing can get you versus what the intangible thing can keep you in.
[00:08:30] Let me say that again. You've prioritized the material thing that you can purchase versus the. The spiritual thing that you have to build and actually sustain.
[00:08:43] I back in the day, and actually, I've had boxes of gadgets and stuff, old school.
[00:08:51] I'm tempted to show it. I'll show it.
[00:08:55] Okay, Y' all notice it, but this is. This is an old. This is an Apple tv, okay?
[00:09:02] And I got this back from a family member.
[00:09:07] This was maybe about a week or two ago, And I come to find out that is. It's out of date.
[00:09:15] At one point, this was about maybe 150 bucks, right?
[00:09:20] But I go online, and I look up the serial number, and I find that it is what they call vintage, which means is obsolete.
[00:09:32] It is now a glorified artifact that Apple has said, thanks for buying.
[00:09:43] I'm sure you enjoyed it while it was relevant.
[00:09:46] But now you have a piece of history that is now an artifact that's going to sit in Your house forever. Can't trade it in.
[00:09:55] You will get no money but a recommendation to recycle it and then reuse it and repurpose those resources used to build it to build something else, if you choose to recycle it. Or you can store it up where it's going to get rust and it's going to get dusty and no one will have use for it, but it's going to take up space in your house, even though it's a small box.
[00:10:27] Jesus is saying to us that you and me need to take the time to build up the things that are intangible.
[00:10:42] Our character, our love for one another, the encouragement we give, the support that we provide, those that we care about, the brotherhood, the sisterhood, those things we need to invest in. And instead of prioritizing the money that we get, we prioritize the intangibles, the spiritual things of the kingdom, and then use those resources to bring more of the intangible things to light.
[00:11:19] So think about this.
[00:11:21] If you have a lot of financial gain, could you particularly and maybe use those resources to do some good in the world?
[00:11:33] Could you provide a job? Could you pay someone's debt off? Could you do something good with it?
[00:11:40] That no, you use this material thing to bring an intangible result. You used it to bless somebody, but you used it to bless someone else. And the Bible says here, do not store up for yourself.
[00:11:58] You decided to use it for someone else and not for yourself.
[00:12:07] That's where I find most of us get this thing mixed up because we have heard it done many times before.
[00:12:16] Says that money is the root of all evil.
[00:12:20] That is an improper way of. The Scripture that doesn't even say that. It says the love of money is the root of. Of all evil.
[00:12:29] It's the root of other evil, of things. Like it just.
[00:12:34] It causes us at times to get involved in other kinds of evil. It just does.
[00:12:42] People have done some crazy things for a dollar.
[00:12:47] Y' all put a pause there.
[00:12:50] And you can also utilize those resources.
[00:12:56] If you don't love it, you'll give it.
[00:13:00] And why does Jesus talk about this so much?
[00:13:04] There's other places in the Bible that he talks about what money does, because this is the key. He says this in verse 21, says, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
[00:13:18] So treasure is not necessarily a.
[00:13:22] A need to be met.
[00:13:25] Well, it is in many cases, but it's driven by what your heart values.
[00:13:34] So do you value the bag or do you value the Savior?
[00:13:47] Which one do you Value.
[00:13:49] It's not necessarily negating one over the. Like saying, I don't want one. It's not an either or.
[00:13:56] It's which one has priority in your life and which one plays second, third, whatever.
[00:14:11] And this is the part that we're going to get to. And we'll expand on this later, but in the later verse, there's two.
[00:14:20] Let me see, three more verses. It's 22 through 24. I want to bucket this next three in the next pod, but I'm going to give a quick preview.
[00:14:33] It's the light of the eyes. So what does your eyes say when you're in circumstances like this?
[00:14:41] And then he goes in to say, you cannot serve two masters.
[00:14:51] I don't. I don't think you can.
[00:14:54] That, that's, that is, you know, that's confusing.
[00:15:00] It says because you love one and hate the other, Jesus says, you cannot do it.
[00:15:07] And he says something so interesting. If you really want to take a preview of what's coming in the next pod, go to Matthew, chapter 6, verse 24.
[00:15:17] That'll get yourself prepped for it. But what's the key for today?
[00:15:21] The key is, do not store up treasures for you in earthly things.
[00:15:28] Those things are going to pass away.
[00:15:30] They're going to break, they're going to rust, they're going to.
[00:15:33] They're going to fail you. They're going to be vintage and they'll take up space in your house.
[00:15:39] They'll cost you money.
[00:15:42] So do more of the things that will have eternal value, the love, the comfort, the care, the encouragement, the relationships that you have in your life.
[00:15:56] Prioritize those.
[00:15:59] God doesn't say, nothing's wrong with both of them. He just says, don't store up more.
[00:16:05] Do not store them up.
[00:16:09] Which means we gotta distribute. We can still use what God's given us to bless people.
[00:16:15] We see it all the time in shows. When someone gets blessed to be a blessing, that's what abras the Abrahamic covenant.
[00:16:25] He said blessed. He said, God said, I'll bless those who bless you. I will curse those who curse you. I'm blessing you to be a blessing to others. That is a part of the Abrahamic covenant that Jesus comes through, that he gives us an opportunity to be a blessing.
[00:16:42] But just like anything, we got to know where this came from first.
[00:16:47] We don't have.
[00:16:49] I'm going to end on this.
[00:16:52] In the day that we live in now, we talk about priorities, plural.
[00:17:00] There are not.
[00:17:01] And you cannot have multiple number ones.
[00:17:06] What are your priorities?
[00:17:08] Priorities mean one you cannot have multiple ones.
[00:17:13] The language changed at the beginning of the industrial age, where we added the ies to priorities.
[00:17:21] So you cannot have multiple number ones.
[00:17:26] Therefore, nothing is number one. Everything is evil, even not evil, everything is even.
[00:17:34] So if you start utilizing and understanding that there are no multiple number ones, there's only a priority one.
[00:17:46] Can you take a minute and reflect and see and be honest with yourself?
[00:17:51] Have you been spending more time storing things where rust and moths and thieves are gonna steal it?
[00:18:01] Or have you been spending time on the things that are eternal where moths and rust and these can't get?
[00:18:13] No one can steal your joy.
[00:18:18] No one can steal your peace, unless you put your joy and your peace in something that will fail you.
[00:18:33] We're going to talk about this more in the next pod. If you haven't yet subscribed, subscribe.
[00:18:38] Share with someone. I truly believe that this day and age, especially when we have all of these vacillating markets, jobs, and all these things are moving, and it's a moving target. There's. There's a lot of unease.
[00:18:56] This is where we got to find out where our heart is anchored.
[00:19:00] And it really can be anchored in stuff that someone can call vintage.
[00:19:04] Just buy a quick update.
[00:19:06] All right. Hope this blessed you, and we'll catch you in the next one.
[00:19:11] Peace.
