June
23 Week two “possessing nothing” Mt 5:1-10
Intro
- Where we are in this series. Chpt 2
Last
week we began a discussion about the pursuit of God
How
even in the church we let things get before god
Gods
desire, our created purpose is to love him deeply
In
the Sermon on the Mount = jesus describes what it means to live a life in
proper perspective. Kingdom living
Tozer
draws attention to “Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom
of God.
Lets
stand 4 our scripture reading Frm the sermon on the mount, Mt 5
Now
when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His
disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them.He said:
3
“Blessed
are the poor in spirit,for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.(B)
4 Blessed are those who mourn,for they will be comforted.(C)
5 Blessed are the meek,for they will inherit the earth.(D)
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,for they will be filled.(E)
7 Blessed are the merciful,for they will be shown mercy.(F)
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,(G)for they will see God.(H)
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,(I)for they will be called children of God.(J)
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,(K)
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.(L)
4 Blessed are those who mourn,for they will be comforted.(C)
5 Blessed are the meek,for they will inherit the earth.(D)
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,for they will be filled.(E)
7 Blessed are the merciful,for they will be shown mercy.(F)
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,(G)for they will see God.(H)
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,(I)for they will be called children of God.(J)
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,(K)
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.(L)
Our
topic today is -The blessedness of possessing nothing
This
was a big deal to Jesus. We ignore it
In
fact, we think of homeless, possession less people as vagabonds and bums.
We
aren’t sure what to think of monk and aesthetics
In
the beginning, There was a plan
Things
were for our use. They were subservient
We
were to subdue the earth. All things were there for us
We
were given dominion Genesis 1:28-
28 Then
God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the
earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of
the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
But
The human heart was a shrine where only God was to be held
Outside
the heart, a thousand gifts of god for us to enjoy, but they were not supposed
to be loved
The
nature of sin as it relates to things, makes the gifts of god into something that when
we take them into our hearts are a potential source of ruin to the soul.”
We
get this. We resemble this. We are this
Most
of us understand we care very deeply about things. Getting stuff and
keeping stuff.
George Carlin “Stuff” comic routine.
“If
we didn’t have so much stuff”, we wouldn’t need houses. Houses are just
piles of stuff with a lid on it.”
And
be sure to lock the door so no one takes your stuff
The
retired Methodist minister
Our
human tendency is to want to possess.
We
have allowed
“God’s gifts to take the place of God, and the whole course of nature is
upset by the monstrous substitution. Little or no room inside now for
God........
Bob
tuttle - Balloon illustration. High pressure, low pressure
We
wonder why we don’t feel him, why our spiritual life is so unsatisfying
We
were created to be filled with God, have filled our hearts with something else
Or
to put it another way
We
want things because our hearts are not filled with God…..
Think about that
We
humans want things…….. its in our hearts
There
can be no doubt that this possessive clinging to things is one of the most
harmful habits in this life
To
possess… possessiveness...me, my, mine, gain, profit, look out for number
one etc...
Gain,
profit vs loss [we like gain and profit we don’t like loss]
What
will it profit a man if he gains the world yet forfeits his soul?
Answer
the question.
Our
desire is to possess because we fear
We
don’t want to lose the things we love
Especially
the people
Our
desire is to possess because we don’t trust
Scarcity mindset
Depression = had nothing = it could happen again
There is an extra charge for extra
condiments
If we don’t look out
for ourselves no one else will
We
say- “God helps those who help themselves” = not in scripture
Actually God helps the helpless…The Beatitudes
Our
desire is to possess because we think we deserve more/better (we are prideful)
“Let’s go back to Egypt”
“Manna again?!?”
More is better.
VIDEo
show video here
I
want a bigger Coke!
Tozer
urges us to consider that it is in giving up stuff or giving up a love of stuff
that we grow closer to God.
Quote
- “The way to a deeper knowledge of God is through the lonely valleys of
soul poverty and rejection of all things…..The blessed ones who possess the
Kingdom are they who have repudiated every external thing and have rooted from
their hearts all sense of possessing. These are the ‘poor in spirit’.”
So
there is good news
To
repudiate it and give up all for Christ’s sake is to lose noting at last, but
to preserve everything unto life eternal” Mat 16:24-26
24 Then
Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be
my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For
whoever wants to save their life[f] will lose
it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What
good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or
what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
The
ten commandments say it in a negative way #1
Thou
shalt have no other gods before me
Jesus
says it in a positive way…..Blessed are the poor in spirit.
They
are no longer slaves t o the tyranny of things
Though
free from all sense of possessing, they yet posses all things
Theirs
is the kingdom of heaven
“This
is not to be understood as a mere bible teaching to be stored away
with a mass of other doctrines. It is a marker on the road to greener
pastures. A path chiseled against the steep sides of the mount of God.”
And
there are examples of people that lived their life with god at the center
Abraham
and Isaac. Willing to give up his son
Had
he not been willing, where would the story of Abraham be?
Paul
" 8 What is more, I consider everything a
loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing(N) Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake
I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ(O) (Philippians 3:8)
The
Levites
- When the Lord divided the promised land among the tribes of Israel Levi
received no share of the land. God said to him simply, "I am thy part and
your inheritance" (Numbers 18:20), and by those words made him richer than
all his brethren, richer than all the kings who have ever lived in the
world. (20)
Whomever
has the one, has little need of the other
Whomever
has love of God has little need for love of things
Many
of the worlds religion teach that Desire is the nature of all suffering.
When
I stop wanting the thing, the suffering goes away
Jesus
said don’t worry………..
The
robber and the monk and the diamond
Conclusion
–
If
you recognize this problem in your life, what should you do?
First – be honest. do not make excuses…..
insist to yourself that your relationship with god will be frank and open-
fearless moral inventory.
Second- be determined.. come
with a heart determined to remove things from the throne and restore god to
power. Name specific things if need be
Thirdly
Consider self denial
Have
you ever fasted?
Denying
ones self to remind yourself of the proper place of things and the proper place
of god
If
we would indeed know God in growing intimacy we must go this way of renunciation.
But
austerity is not the goal.
The
goal is loving god first
The
result of this is that we begin to live generous lives
Don’t
seek god and things
Don’t
seek god and
Seek
god
What
a blessed life we have, when god becomes our hearts desire
Father,
I
want to grow closer to you,
but
my weak coward heart clings to many worldly things.
It
will hurt for me to part with those things that I treasure
and
I do not try to hide from you the fear of giving them up.
I
come to you trembling, but I do come.
Please,
Father, cleanse my heart from those things which I have treasured for
so long that they have become a part of me and that block your
entrance.
Cleanse
my heart so that you may enter and dwell
without rival.
May
I become all you know I have in my heart to become, for Your
glory.
Then my
heart will have no need for the sun to shine within it, for you will be its
light, and there will be no room for darkness.
In
Jesus’ name, Amen
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