Thank you for listening to this message from
Lifehouse Church. And if I can encourage this
church to just continue, when you feel God's
presence moving like it's been moving this morning
during worship, just press in. There are things
that change in the presence of God. When God's
presence manifests. Things shift, it has to,
because God, that's his glory coming down and
just getting amongst us. So just press in, just
focus on him during those worship gatherings.
And I know that's happening. I look back over
and see it taking place, but just continue to
do that because God's incredible and he wants
to come in and he wants you to feel his presence,
amen? He's not only a God who can be heard, seen,
but he can be felt as well. So thank you for
doing that. Thank you for pressing in. Well,
listen, this is the last message of this series.
Holy buckets. Say holy buckets. Yeah, holy buckets.
They're like, holy buckets. This has been a long
one, right? And this may have left you with as
many questions as answers because there's so
much to cover in God's word on this subject.
And the reason you might have more questions
is because Christians really ask themselves more
questions about money and possessions than the
average individual does. You know, when it comes
to money and possessions and our money and possession
bucket, we ask questions. a lot of times that
others just don't ask. People in the world, people
that aren't following Jesus, don't ask some of
the questions we ask ourselves. God's word prompts
us to ask some questions that an unbeliever might
not ask. One of those questions might be like,
how much money is too much money to have in my
bank account? Is it 10 ,000? Is it 100 ,000?
Is it a million, right? The world's philosophy,
they don't ever question that. They're never
like, well, I got too much. I need to give some
of this away. That's just not how the world thinks.
But we as Christians, we ask ourselves these
things. We ponder on or wrestle with the idea
of how many possessions should I have? Is too
much stuff, too much stuff, right? That's not
how the world thinks. The world thinks the more
the what? Yeah, the more the merrier, right?
The more stuff I've got, the merrier I am, right?
They don't think to themselves, where's the line
with money and possessions? They don't even know
there is a line. So as Christians, we ask ourselves
a lot of questions about money and possessions.
And we begin to realize it's not all mine. And
as followers of Jesus, excuse me, we wanna ask
these questions. And not just live for the here
and now. I don't know if you understand as we've
gone through this series in particular, but we
don't live for just the here and now. We don't
live for just a moment. In God's economy, we
live for there and then. So we ask ourselves
questions as believers that a lot of others don't
ask because we realize that this life is just
a testing ground. This is a place where we're
just hanging out for a little while. And as I
think about this, and as I ponder on this, an
image came back to my mind. I think the first
person I heard talk about this image was Francis
Chan. They're gonna put it up on the screens.
It's just a simple image. And when they throw
that up there, how many can see that right now,
right? That image is just a dot and a line. And
that line, if you can in your imagination, is
going out to infinity. And if I can give you
just a little illustration of what this life
is all about, that dot, that little tiny dot
represents this life. And the line is our life
for all of eternity with God. So anytime I want
to gain some perspective on what this life is
all about and everything that I'm working towards
and everything that I have, I remember this image,
right? That this dot, that dot just represents
my life, whether that's 50, 60, 70, 80, 100 years,
whatever God gives you represents that. But the
next life and everything I do in this life sets
up for the next life. Everything I do is setting
up, right? And determining the dot determines
what eternity is going to look like. for me.
Everything I do, everything I handle, everything
that I manage, that God has given me, it's all
about the dot, and that is going to set things
up for all of eternity. If you can picture that
line, I couldn't get the image to go out like
3D, just into infinity. So we ask ourselves the
questions that other people don't ask. Right?
We ask ourselves the questions about money and
possessions and the things that God's placed
in my bucket. We ask him. And we've done that
through this message series. We've got you to
ask a few questions, right? We got you to ask
questions like, who owns it all? Who owns it
all? He does, right? We don't own anything. Anything
that's in our money and possession bucket, we
don't really own. It's all God's. The earth is
his and everything therein. Everything in the
heavens and the earth, the word of God declares,
is his. Who really owns it all? He does. He just
calls us to be the manager. We're the ones that's
just managing it while he's gone. That's what
the word of God tells us, right? We answer questions
or ask questions like, what does Jesus want me
to do with the money and possessions that are
in my bucket? Now, that's a loaded question.
What does he want me to do with the money and
possessions in this bucket is a big question.
So we just answered the first thing that you
need to do. And the word of God tells us that
the first thing that we need to do is give back
to him first fruits. That's what the word of
God says. We give him back our first, we give
him back our best, and we give him back the 10th,
the tithe. That's what the word of God declares.
And he promises if we give the first, if we give
the best, if we give the 10th, if we get the
tithe, he'll bless all the rest. It's what the
word of God declares, right? So we asked and
answered that particular question. What does
he require of us? We also asked and answered,
is it biblical to save money? And the word is
what? Yes. Thank you. You were listening. Awesome.
All right. It is biblical to save money. And
we learned this from the ant, a little insect.
We save money because we know that winter is
coming in our life. There'll be a winter season
when you're gonna need a savings account and
we save money so the rest of the colony has something
to eat because somebody's in need somewhere in
the colony. We learned that out of God's word.
We learned that you need to have a written plan.
You need to have a wisdom and you need to put
down on paper a budget. You learned this last
week, right? How many know it's not a plan unless
you really write it down? Come on, it's true.
We're always like, well, I got a plan right here.
It is right here. That means you didn't really
write it down and work it all out, right? You
got a half a plan floating around up there somewhere
in your head. It's a plan. We've answered and
asked these questions. And today I want to finalize
all this. And there's so much more. We literally
could spend an entire year just talking about
money and possessions and what God's word has
to say about it. But today I want to tackle the
question, am I serving my money? or is my money
serving me? Am I serving my money, or is my money
serving me? I want you to turn to Matthew chapter
six, and we're gonna start at verse 19. Matthew
chapter six. If you got your Bibles, if you're
getting your notebooks out, taking notes, please
get those out right now. I'm gonna pray while
we're turning. Father, we thank you for this
day. God, I ask that the word of God, Lord, it
would be a lamp to our feet and a light to our
path, and God, that it would open our hearts
and our minds, and God, that we would discover
truth. And Lord, not only will we discover it,
but we would apply it. And we thank you for what
your word does and how it guides us in Jesus'
name. And amen and amen. Matthew 6, 19 says this,
do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth
where moth and rust destroy and where thieves
break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves
treasure in heaven where neither moth nor rust
destroys and where thieves do not break in and
steal. For where your treasure is, there your
heart will be also. The lamp of the body is the
eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole
body will be full of light. But if your eye is
bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.
If therefore the light that is in you is darkness,
how great is that darkness? Verse 24 says, no
one can serve two masters for either he will
hate the one and love the other or else he will
be loyal to the one and he will despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon. Three sets of
scriptures. That Jesus lumps together, that he
packages together when he's talking about money
and possessions. He stacks them together to teach
us some things about whether we're serving money
or money is serving us. And holy buckets is really
about who is serving whom. Who is serving who?
right? Who is serving who here and now in this
time, in this moment? And I'm going to start
off with verse 24 that says, no one can serve
two masters for either he will hate the one and
love the other or else he will be loyal to the
one and despise the other. You cannot serve God
and mammon. Mammon in scripture is money, all
right? It's money and possessions. That's what
mammon means, all right? That's the definition
for it. And the word of God is telling us that
we cannot serve two masters. There's only gonna
be one master in your life. Turn to somebody
right now, look them in the eye and tell them,
you got one master, just one. You got one master,
that's it. And go ahead and say, I'm not it.
All right, please say that right now. You got
one master. There's one master. Only one leads
out front. There's only one master key. This
building has a master key. I've actually used
it a few times and they gave it back to the owners,
but there's a master key for this building. And
the beautiful thing is with the master key, it's
one key, but it opens all the doors in the building.
You go to any door at all and it opens it up.
It's a master key, right? A grandmaster is out
front, master of the universe, who's God, he
leads it all. A masterpiece is one of a kind.
It's one. It's the number one. And whatever and
whoever or whoever is master in our lives is
what is steering us in life. Whoever or whatever
is master in your life is what's steering you.
If you have multiple people in your car, in your
vehicle, the person who is the master in the
car is the person behind the wheel. All right?
If you own the car, but you're not behind the
wheel, how many know you're not the master of
the craft? Amen? It's true. Whoever is behind
the wheel, and some of the men need to amen here,
right? Whoever's behind the wheel is king. Come
on, say it, amen. We control it all as soon as
our wives tell us what to do. We're the king.
If the wife or female is behind the wheel, it's
a male, female, they're the king. But whoever
is behind the wheel is master of the vehicle.
They steer the vehicle. And if there's two people
in the car, three people in the car, six people
in the car, whoever's riding in the car, you're
going wherever the master steers. How many know
that's true? You can complain, you can fuss,
you can make a... deal about the whole thing,
but you're gone wherever the master takes you,
wherever they steal. And that's how it is in
our lives. Whatever is master in your life is
steering your life. It's moving you down the
road. It is controlling where you're going, whether
you believe it or not, it's true. Whether you
say amen or not, it's true. Whatever is master.
And Jesus used these descriptive words in this
particular verse. And he says, what we love,
right? You'll love one and you'll hate the other.
You'll be loyal to one. will despise the other.
I'll stick to one and I'll forsake everything
else. It's what's master, definitive, decisive
words. He's not mincing words. He's talking straight.
And he puts them together to create this idea.
You cannot serve God and money. Can't do it.
And it's super interesting to me that what Jesus
says or does not say right here. More in factly,
what he does not say. You know, we're talking
about spiritual things. And I would expect Jesus,
when he would make a statement that bold, that
he would say, you know, you cannot serve God
and Satan, right? They're the two opposing forces.
That would make complete sense to me. That would
be very understandable because there's only two
kingdoms in the spiritual world. There's the
kingdom of God and there's the kingdom of darkness.
There is heaven and there is hell. There is Satan
and there is God, right? There's the two. So
it's super interesting that Jesus is in this
conversation and he's saying, you cannot serve
God and money, money. My expectation would have
been something completely different. Why did
he say this? Why did he talk about serving God
and money? Because Jesus knew something. He knew
that he was talking, first of all, to his people.
And he was talking to the people of God. And
then even if they weren't the people of God,
it's a weird thing to say Satan is my master,
right? How many know the average person is not
going to come up and say Satan is my master?
How many know anybody that's ever said that to
you, ever? Raise your hand, all right? Maybe
one or two in the house, right? They don't say
that. It's not a desirable statement, especially
for a Christian, but a non -believer even to
say, you know, that Satan, the devil is my master.
even for an unbeliever, even somebody who's far
from God. And if you ask most people how they
feel about the devil, you're going to probably
get a couple of different responses. You know,
if you ask somebody how they feel about the devil,
some people say, well, I don't even believe he's
real. And so others are going to say, you know,
I just want to stay away from all that. That's
scary stuff. If they're not Christian, like,
I just don't, I want to stay away from that.
But there's a, you know, they're not going to
say I'm loyal to the devil, right? I love the
devil. You're not going to hear that come out
of their mouth, even from unbelievers, but there,
and Jesus knew, he knew that that was not going
to be a temptation, but he did know that there's
going to be deep temptation. There's going to
be desire and acceptance that accompanies the
idea of loving money, being loyal to money, putting
money in first place as a master. It's the literal
definition of success in our society. If we measure
success in our society, we look at how much money
they got in their account, this house that they
live in, this stuff that they drive, and that's
immediately what we do. We do a visual scan like,
oh, they're successful, right? They got it. Jesus
knew exactly what he was saying in his money
and possession conversation when he focused the
listener to ask the question, who are you serving?
Who are you serving? Where do your loyalties
lie? What do you love? Because we will never
master what's in the bucket if the bucket is
mastering us, right? We'll never love God. We'll
love what's in the bucket and it will master
us instead of us mastering it. It'll be all a
role reversal. So we got to ask ourselves the
hard question and answer where I'm really at.
What do I love? Where do my loyalties lie? What
am I serving? And answer, what is the master
of my life? What's mastering my life? It's true.
Because if I don't ask myself this question,
if I don't search God's word in this, money and
possessions will become this cheap substitute
for God. That's what money and possessions can
become. They have the potential to become. a
cheap substitute for God. Because money and possessions
promise something. They offer something that
all of us crave. Now, it's a false offering.
It's a false notion. But all of us crave security,
significance, and power. Every one of us in our
lives, there's a craving for us inside. And it
can be in different orders, right? That security
might not be your first one. Significance might
not be, or maybe power. But every human being,
there's this piece of us that looks for and desires
security and significance and power. And if you
break us down to the core of who we are and what
we really desire, it'll come back to these three.
It'll come back to security, significance, or
power. And these are things that money and possessions
seem to offer, right? But never really deliver
on. Never really deliver. 1 Timothy 6 .10 says
this, for the love of money is the root of all
kinds of evil. It is through this craving that
some have wandered away from the faith and pierced
themselves through with many pangs. I use this
in one of the other messages. Let me prove to
you what I'm talking about a little bit. Security,
right? Money can cause me to think that I'm insulated,
that somehow money is gonna remove all my problems,
that if I just had enough money, all my problems
would disappear, right? How many of you have
ever said, you know, if I just had that first
million bucks, anybody ever say that? Come on,
I have, right? You know, if I just had that first
million bucks and you're thinking in your head,
all my problems would go away. They'd all disappear.
I'd be set. There'd be no worries in life. It'd
all be cool, right? And we think that because
we think we can buy our way out of problems.
We really do. We think if you got enough money,
you can buy your way out of a problem. And we'd
feel secure with all that. We think if we get
enough stuff around us, right? We feel we got
enough equity buildup, but we got enough stuff.
If we got enough assets just allocated in the
right places, we're going to feel secure, right?
And we feel it. That's why you hoard stuff. Some
of you hoarders out there, you know who you are.
Sometimes there's a sense of security that goes
along with that. And if I get enough stuff accumulated,
right, it makes me feel secure. But this is something
that money and possessions can't deliver. You
can't get enough money and you can't get enough
possessions to feel secure. You really can't.
It is God and God alone who will give you eternal
security. He's the one that will make you feel
secure now in this life and in the next. And
if you don't believe me, read the book of Job.
I've been reading in the book of Job. Job lost
all his possessions in one day. He was wealthy
beyond wealthy. And in one day, the enemy took
it all, all of it from him. Security. The second
one, significance. Significance, right? Money
offers false promises of significance. It really
does. If I had enough money, I would be respected.
If I had enough money, I'd be popular. If I had
enough money, I'd be invited to a lot more places
than I'm invited to right now. How many of you
got lots and lots of money? People like to invite
you to places, right? Because they want to get
your money, right? I would matter if I had lots
of money. I could buy the car. I could live in
the neighborhood. That really matters, right?
There's significance tied to it. I will be well
-respected. I will matter. It's time for money.
People will notice me. But mammon, man, money
and possessions will only offer or deliver a
superficial significance. It'll be surfacy. Don't
believe me? Take a good look at Hollywood right
now. Most of the people in Hollywood are a mess.
Amen? They need Jesus. They really do. They're
grabbing for significance in all the wrong places.
And mammon becomes this cheap substitute for
God. You don't even know what significance is
until you come to Jesus Christ. Do you come into
faith and you start to understand what it is
to be a son or a daughter of the Most High? I
did not know what significance was until I started
to understand who I was in Christ Jesus. That
is significant. When you start to understand
that he's got an eternal plan for you and that
he's got an inheritance and that he's got a heritage
and that he's walking with you and talking with
you and he wants to walk you the whole way through
and take you into the next life and bless you
beyond anything that you can even imagine. If
you want to understand significance, understand
who you are in Christ because everything in the
world will suddenly go dim, right? It'll fade
away. into nothingness. It is significance. Mammon
makes me think I can get power, right? It's a
false power. If you have the bucks, you call
the shots. If you have the bucks, you are the
big shot, right? If I got enough money, I own
the business. I own the organization. I own the
city. I own the state. I own the country. I own
it. When I talk, people listen and they serve
me at my pleasure. What I choose to do. Money
can give you a false sense of power. But Jesus
said this in Luke 22. He said, that's not how
it's gonna be with you if you follow me. He said
this, now when there was a dispute among them,
which was the disciples, as to which one of them
should be considered the greatest. And he said
to them, the kings of the Gentiles exercised
lordship over them, right? That's how the world
works. And those who exercise authority over
them are called benefactors, but not so among
you. On the contrary, you who are greatest among
you, let him be as the younger and he who governs
as he who serves. For who is greater, he who
sits at the table or he who serves? Is it not
he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you
as one who serves. Security, significance, and
power. Money will give you a false sense of all
three. It'll make you think that somehow you
have this and it is a cheap promise of the enemy.
The devil is behind the idea of the love of money.
The word of God says that the love of money is
the root of all evil, not money itself, but the
love of money. And Satan is perfectly happy to
hide behind the money for you never to mention
the word Satan or devil or his name as long as
it draws you away from God, as long as your dependence
pulls away from God. He's perfectly fine with
you hanging on to the buck and sliding right
into hell with it. He's okay with that. I'll
never forget my brother -in -law. And this was
some years back now, probably two decades or
more ago. But I remember my brother -in -law
working for a company, a smaller company in Indiana,
Pennsylvania. And the work that he did, that
business began to get very successful. And this
young business owner was in his 30s, was wildly
successful. He was one of those guys that just
shot up from the bottom and rose to the top.
And he had the cars. He had the house. He had
a plane, right? He had a jet, actually. He did
it. He was one of those guys who made it, right?
The world called successful. He had it all. It
was all at his fingertips. Everything was happening.
This same guy put a gun in his mouth and ended
his life in the middle of his money and his possessions
all around him. falsely drug in with significance,
security, right? And power by money. And he ended
his own life. He ended his own life. If the worship
team would come. Jesus talked one more thing
in this clump of scriptures where he's talking
about money possessions. And it's super interesting
what he says. In Matthew 6, 22, he says this,
the lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore
your eye is good, your whole body will be full
of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole
body will be full of darkness. If therefore the
light that is in you is darkness, how great is
that darkness? Now, let me ask you a question
because we've been asking questions all through
this series. What's in your eye? What's in your
eye? What's in your eye? Look at the person beside
you. Say, what's in your eye? What's in your
eye? Go whisper. Go ahead. Whisper. I know it's
a quiet moment. What's in your eye? This passage
makes complete sense, but yet at the same time
sounds contradictory, right? Because Jesus says
if the eye is good, the whole body will be full
of light. If you open your eyes, how many of
you woke up this morning and opened your eyes?
Raise your hands. This is one of those questions
I tell if you're paying attention, okay? I know
the answer, right? When you woke up this morning,
you opened your eyes, and it was dark because
your eyes were closed. And as soon as you opened
your eyes, your body was filled with light. Light
came into your eyes. You began to see what was
around you, right? And if your eye is bad, if
my eye goes bad and I've injured my eye already
and had to have it pasted shut, right, as they
treat it, then it's dark and you can't see anything.
That makes complete sense. But when you read
this scripture a little further, there's a curve
ball, right? There seems like there's a contradiction
in this because Jesus says, if therefore the
light that is in you is darkness, how great is
that darkness? That sounds really contradictory
to me because how many know light and darkness
can't exist in the same place? They can't. Light
dries out darkness. But Jesus said, if therefore
the light that is in you is darkness, how great
is that darkness? And it sounds contradictory.
It sounds like double talk. But what was Jesus
saying about money and possessions? Because that's
what he was talking about here. If money and
possessions are the master of our life, they
possess the power to appear as light in our eyes.
Money and possessions, they have the appearance
of light. It is false light that can actually
be darkness if we love the money and possessions.
And Jesus said, how great is that darkness? How
great is that darkness? He was warning us. Money
and possessions hold the power to fill our body
with what appears to be light. And it is false.
It is darkness. If we love the money, if we love
the possessions, if we gain significance and
security and power because of the money, and
in the end, it will bring nothing but destruction.
Who's serving who? Who's serving who? I'm going
to ask you to stand. Visit our website at www
.lifehousecog .com.