Scripture Meditation: Matthew 5:1-11
INTRODUCTION
- What could you do with a billion (that’s BILLion with a "B") dollars?
- First of all- being a good Christian I know you'd want to tithe on that billion
- For the record- a tithe on a billion dollars would be 100 million dollars
- Even if the church never invested the money we could-
- Double the size of our annual budget
- And live on the $100 million for the next 125 years or so
- Here’s something that might be fun- depending on your level of generosity. With your billion dollars you could...
- Buy every family in the church
- A $300,000 home
- 2 brand-new, fully equipped Toyota Camrys
- Ten years worth of groceries
- And give them a nice little check for $1.4 million cash
- And you'd STILL have more than $400 million to spend on yourself
- Buy every family in the church
- But let’s say you're greedy and decide you want to keep it all for yourself
- If you'd invest that billion dollars- and get an average annual return of 10%
- You- and your descendents- could spend $1.85 million a week FOREVER
WHAT JESUS HAD TO SAY ABOUT WEALTH
- The bottom line is that IF you had a billion dollars you could do almost anything you wanted to do
- But- according to Jesus- you might not be able to enter the kingdom of God!
- Turn with me to Mark 10:23-25
- Now turn to Matthew 6:19-21
- This morning we're continuing our sermon series Why You'd Be Uncomfortable With Jesus
- See if these verses of Scripture don't make you squirm
- Now I want you to go back to Matthew 5 and we'll look at verses 3-6
- You know- when you're studying the Sermon on the Mount-
- You also have to consider the sixth chapter of Luke- known as the Sermon on the Plain
- Read what Jesus says there
- It’s one thing for Jesus to bless the poor-
- But these woes are another thing all together
- The Greek word translated as woe carries the idea of a stern warning or a curse
- So get the picture here- Jesus is...
- Offering blessings to those who are poor and broken- society’s losers
- And cursing those who are rich and powerful- namely society’s winners
- It’s like I told you last week: Jesus will make you feel uncomfortable
YOU & ME- THE WORLD’S WINNERS
- I suspect that many of you are thinking: Wow! I'm glad I'm not rich!
- I'll grant you that none of us-
- Are rich by the standards of billionaires like Bill Gates or Warren Buffett
- But Bill Gates isn't the standard Jesus had in mind when He warned of the dangers of wealth
- Actually-
- When Jesus was talking about the rich-
- You and I are the kind of people He had in mind
- I'll grant you that none of us-
- Let’s take a little survey- how many of you:
- Live in a house with four walls, a roof and indoor plumbing?
- No matter how small or rundown your house may be
- You are wealthier than 660 million people in the world today
- Do you have food in your pantry?
- 815 million people in the world don't have enough food to sustain their daily energy needs
- In the time it will take me to say this sentence- 2 more children will have starved to death somewhere in the world
- Live in a house with four walls, a roof and indoor plumbing?
- Did you know that two-thirds of the world’s population don't have affordable access to telephone service?
- Now I'm not talking about exotic things like cell-phones and Wi-Fi Internet connections
- I'm talking about basic land-line telephone service
- How many of you have had one or more members of your family see a doctor in the past year?
- Consider yourself blessed!
- Because 1.3 billion people in the world have no access to basic health care services
- Do you own a car?
- Only about .07% of the world’s population does
- Now I gotta be honest- I was shocked when I read that statistic
- Things Americans think of as necessities would be considered unimaginable luxuries in most of the world. Things like:
- Being able to send your child to school
- Owning a television- a stereo system- or an iPod
- Being able to take a vacation
- We live for our vacations
- The vast majority of human beings would find the idea of taking a vacation incomprehensible
- Having a pair of shoes
- Not a closet full of shoes
- A PAIR- one
- Bottom line:
- No matter what statistic you choose to look at
- A typical member of the American middle class is richer than 85-90% of the people in the world today
- Now I realize this may make you feel VERY uncomfortable
- But when you're richer than 85-90% of the world’s population-
- you're FABULOUSLY wealthy!
- you're one of the world’s winners
- And you're the kind of person Jesus had in mind when He said: ...Woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.
- But when you're richer than 85-90% of the world’s population-
THE SUSTAINING POWER OF HOPE
- With all that in mind- let’s go back and look at some of the blessings Jesus offers to society’s losers (people who aren't like us)
- Blessed are you who are poor, for YOURS is the kingdom of God.
- Blessed are you who hunger now, for YOU will be satisfied.
- Blessed are you who are meek, for YOU will inherit the earth
- I want you to notice what Jesus is doing here
- To desperate people He’s offering the sustaining power of hope
- I know your situation here on Earth is bleak. But if you'll place your faith in Me- and trust God completely- you'll have great rewards in heaven
- Have you ever wondered why young Muslim men are willing to strap bombs to their bodies and blow themselves up?
- It’s not just an effort to kill innocent people- although that’s a part of it
- In a perverse way- they're being driven by the power of hope
- They believe that-
- If they martyr themselves
- They'll instantly be admitted to a lush, sensuous heaven where every want- every desire- they could possibly have will be met
- Now when you've got nothing to live for here on Earth- that’s a pretty powerful idea
- They believe that-
- Go back and look at the spirituals created by slaves in the American South
- In songs like Swing Low- Sweet Chariot- There Is A Balm In Gilead- His Eye Is On The Sparrow desperate people were holding onto hope
- They were saying: We don't have nothing in this world- but we know better days are comin’
- You know- throughout the NT the Bible offers the promise of heaven to desperate people who've put their trust in Jesus
- Folks- God-
- Doesn't want you to be embarrassed by these passages of Scripture- to think they're nothing but Sweet By-And-By nonsense
- He wants you...
- To realize that this is the main thing- the real deal
- To be filled with this power of sustaining hope
THE SPIRITUAL CHALLENGE OF BEING RICH
- And that’s a problem for rich people like us
- The truth is: Most of us aren't particularly interested in the promise of future rewards in heaven
- Don't get me wrong...
- You're glad you've got your fire insurance in hand
- And- all things considered- you'd rather go to heaven instead of hell
- But that’s about as far as it goes
- You don't have that deep, all-consuming desire to go to heaven a poor person would have
- Because the fact is- you've got too much to hang on to here
- I mean- let’s be serious about this thing-
- If you're desperately poor knowing that Jesus is preparing a room for you in heaven is pretty exciting
- But...
- When you're living in a beautiful suburban home surrounded by an emerald green lawn
- Who wants to downsize to one lousy room?
- And who cares about walking streets of gold?
- Not rich Americans- that’s for sure
- We'd rather cruise down the interstate in a late-model, air-conditioned SUV listening to satellite radio in beautiful surround sound
- Even when the Bible describes the wonders and glories of heaven- we're not that interested Revelation 21:9-14
- What’s the big deal?
- Sounds like the kind of stuff you see at Disney World- doesn't it?
- In Joni Eareckson’s book- Heaven- Your Real Home- she talks about looking forward to getting to heaven and being able to throw away her wheelchair
- Which makes perfect sense if you're a quadriplegic
- But why would that excite you? After all- you've got YOUR health
- Do you begin to see what we're driving at?
- Rich Christians don't have a burning desire for heaven- we've got it too good down here
- But there’s another problem with wealth:
- The security and comfort money provides
- Can lull you into believing you don't really need God in this life either
- For instance- in the Lord’s Prayer Jesus instructs you to pray for daily bread
- If you've got a week’s worth of food in the pantry- and can afford to eat-out at a nice restaurant anytime you please
- You don't need to depend on God to provide daily bread for your table
- The Bible says that God is the Great Physician- and it’s true
- But when your doctor’s a phone call away- and you've got good medical insurance
- Getting sick doesn't hold the same sense of terror it does for a desperately poor person
- In Matthew 6:28 Jesus tells the poor not to worry about clothes for the body- to put their faith in God who clothes the lilies of the field
- Look- God doesn't have to clothe YOU
- Not when Target, Kohl’s and Northlake Mall are just around the corner
- Listen again to what Jesus says in Mark 10:24-25
- Jesus never said it was IMPOSSIBLE for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God
- He said that having wealth and material possessions makes it HARD to enter the kingdom of God
- Mother Teresa once said: you'll never know that Jesus is all you need- until Jesus is all you've got
- With those words- Mother Teresa put a finger on your spiritual challenge
- You've never had to learn that Jesus is all you need
- Because you've never been in a position where Jesus is all you've got
LEARNING TO HUNGER AND THIRST AFTER RIGHTEOUSNESS
- So what’s the solution?
- Do you go out- sell everything you own- give the money to the poor- and live like a pauper?
- You could...but I wouldn't recommend it
- There may be certain spiritual advantages to being poor
- But being poor is a brutal, crushingly miserable way to live
- So what do you do?
- Jesus provides the answer in Matthew 5:6
- First read it from the NIV- and then read the way the verse is translated in The Message Bible
- Have you ever noticed that food never tastes as good as it does when you're really hungry?
- That’s why your mom never let you eat cookies or have a candy bar before dinner
- She knew that if you're filled up with junk food- you won't an appetite for the good stuff
- The problem with being a rich Christian is that-
- It’s so easy to get filled up with the comforts and false sense of security that money and material things can provide
- You never develop that hunger and thirst for righteousness- that good appetite for God
- So how do you get hungry for God?
- The basics are simple
- You need to be an active part of a church
- You need to commit yourself to the disciplines of regular prayer and Bible study
- You need to make worship the highest priority in your life
- Then- if you want to go even deeper...
- You need to find a way to minister and serve others in Jesus’ name
- You need to strive for purity and righteous-ness in your life
- And above all- you MUST surrender your-self completely, totally and absolutely to the Holy Spirit who dwells within you
- The basics are simple
- The bottom line is that if you truly want to be blessed by God you've got to want Him more than anything!
- It’s not enough to give Him a few hours of time on a Sunday morning
- He has to become your all-in-all
- Psalm 42:1-2
- Folks-
- When you have THAT kind of desire for God-
- He WILL bless you
- Let us pray
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