Priorities
From the Series—M6
January 20, 2004This evotional concludes our M6 series. We’re exploring three themes in Matthew 6-secrets, motives, and priorities. This week’s evotional focuses on priorities.
The Treasure Test
In Matthew 6:19, Jesus said, “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 moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is there your heart will be also.”
There is a powerful principle in this passage of Scripture. It’s the law of treasures: if your treasure isn’t in it your heart isn’t in it. Jesus was just saying it like it is. If you want to know how I’m doing spiritually you need to look two places: my calendar and my checkbook. My calendar and my checkbook are two of the best barometers of my spiritual condition. How I spend my time and how I spend my money reveal my priorities.
Treasure is whatever you value most. And the way you determine what you value most is by simply determining where you invest the most amounts of time and money. That’s the treasure test.
Worshipers
I recently read Louis Giglio’s book The Air I Breathe and it is a fascinating angle on worship. Giglio says, “You my friend are a worshiper! Everyday, all day long, in every place you worship. It’s what you do. It’s who you are. You cannot help but worship something. It’s what you were made to do. Should you for some reason choose not to give God what He desires, you’ll worship anyway-simply exchanging the Creator for something He has created. Worship happens everywhere all day long. We all worship something all the time.”
All of us are worshipers! That is the way we’re wired. God gave us lungs to breathe. God gave us eyes to see and ears to hear. God gave us a heart to pump blood throughout the body. And God gave us spirits to worship. Here’s what I know for sure: you are using your time and your money to worship something. The question is what?
The Throne
Louis Giglio asks a great question in The Air I Breathe. “So how do you know what you worship?” Giglio says, “It’s easy. You simply follow the trail of your time, your affection, your money, and your allegiance.” He says, “At the end of the trail you’ll find a throne; and whatever or whoever is on that throne is what’s of highest value to you. On that throne is what you worship.”
You can tell me what you worship using words, but I think the real answer to that question is this: you worship whatever you invest your treasure in. If you sing at the top of your voice during “worship” but you aren’t investing your treasure in the things of God you’re giving God lip service.
Last week’s evotional quoted John Piper. He said, “All sin comes from not putting supreme value on the glory of God.” The opposite of sin is worship. Worship is placing supreme value on the glory of God. And the way we place supreme value on the glory of God is by using our treasure-our God-given time, money, gifts, and passions-for God’s glory. We invest them for kingdom purposes.
Idolatry
Let me share an important principle in this passage: you become what you invest in. Jesus said, “Where your treasure is there your heart will be also.” In other words, you become what you invest in. Or another way of saying it is this: you become what you worship.
If you invest your treasure in stuff you’ll become materialistic. If you invest your treasure in missions you’ll develop a heart for missions. If you invest your treasure in sinful habits you’ll become sin-full. If you invest your money in the things of god you’ll become godly.
In some ways, that is so simple but if we really grasped the reality of that principle we’d do more of what this passage talks about. We’d worry a lot less about treasures on earth and worry a lot more about treasure in heaven.
Psalm 115 is a fascinating expose on this principle: you become what you worship. It starts out saying, “Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory.” Then the Psalmist juxtaposes this worship-full approach to life with a life of man-made idols.
Psalm 115:4 says, “Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell; they have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but they cannot walk; nor can they utter a sound with their throats.”
The Psalmist is saying it like it is: it’s pretty pointless to worship anything less God. And then the Psalmist says something fascinating. Psalm 115:8 says, “Those who make them will be like them.” In other words, you become what you worship. Louis Giglio says it this way. “Whatever you value most will ultimately determine who you are. If you worship money, you’ll become greedy at the core of your heart. If you worship some sinful habit, that same sin will grip your soul and poison your character to death. If you worship stuff, your life will become material, void of eternal significance. If you give all your praise to the god of you, you’ll become a disappointing little god to both yourself and to all those who trust in you.”
You become what you worship. If you don’t like who you’re becoming you’re worshipping the wrong things. You’re investing your treasure in something less than God.
I love the way A.W. Tozer said it. “A low view of God is the cause of a hundred lesser evils.” But he said that a person with a “high view” of God “is relieved of ten thousand temporal problems.”
I think all of our problems are worship problems. That may sound like an oversimplification, but I don’t think you can sin and worship at the same time. I think the reason heaven will be sinless is because we’ll never stop worshiping. What I’m trying to say is this: the way to stop sinning is to start worshipping. The more you worship the less you sin.
I think sometimes we take a negative approach to holiness and we reduce it to a list of don’ts. Don’t do this and don’t do that. Dallas Willard calls it the gospel of sin management where we focus on righteousness by subtraction. The problem with that is this: goodness is not the absence of badness. Too often we try to be good by not doing anything bad, but Willard makes a great observation. He says, “Not going to London or Atlanta is a poor plan for going to New York.”
I don’t care what your problem is. I think the solution is worship. A low view of God is the cause of a hundred lesser evils. And a high view of God-a life full of worship-is the solution to ten thousand temporal problems.
One more thought: giving problems are worship problems. I don’t think anyone has a giving problem! If you aren’t investing in eternal things you don’t have a giving problem you have a worship problem because you can’t worship God without giving.
Tithe Experiment
Matthew 6:24 says, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
All of us struggle with greed at different times and in different degrees. It’s easy for us to fall into this trap where enough is never enough. And I know from personal experience that giving is the only thing that keeps greed in check. This may seem a little blunt, but the tithe-the ancient spiritual discipline of giving the first 10% of my income back to God-is the only thing that keeps money from becoming my master.
Malachi 3:7 says, “Return to me and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty. And the prophet says, “How are we to return to you?” The Lord responds, “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.” And the prophet says, “How do we rob you?” And God says, “In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse-the whole nation of you-because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. Test me in this and see if I don’t throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you cannot contain it.”
Some of us live under a financial curse because money is our master. And the way to get out from under that curse and pass the treasure test and experience the blessing that God promises in this passage is to begin tithing. I’m writing from personal experience. Lora and I made a decision when we got married that we would never not tithe. There have been times when it’s been tough, but I think it’s the only way for me to keep money from becoming my master. I’ve also learned that God can do more with 90% than I can do with 100%.
One way for you to put this passage into practice is to begin investing your treasure in the kingdom of God. You may want to do a tithe experiment like Jacob did in Genesis 28:20. “Then Jacob made a vow. If God be with me and watch over me on this journey I am taking and give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s house, then the Lord will be my god and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”
Eternity
The way we handle money comes back to the way we view money. We need to redefine success. I think the measure of financial success in biblical terms isn’t how much you make its how much you give. Our financial motivation needs to be giving not getting. But we turn money into an end instead of seeing it as a means. I think a lot of people consciously or unconsciously live their life as if money is the end all and be all-whoever has the most money wins. But I love Gary Thomas’ perspective.
He says, “Thinking about eternity helps us retrieve perspective. I’m reminded of this every year when I figure my taxes. During the year, I rejoice at the paychecks and extra income, and sometimes I flinch when I write out the tithe and offering. I do my best to be a joyful giver, but I confess it is not always easy, especially when there are other perceived needs and wants. At the end of the year, however, all of that changes. As I’m figuring my tax liability, I wince at every source of income and rejoice with every tithe and offering check --more income means more tax, but every offering and tithe means less tax. Everything is turned upside down, or perhaps, more appropriately, right side up. I suspect Judgment Day will be like that.” I suspect he’s right!
The Worry Test
The word “worry” is repeated six times in the last nine verses of Matthew 6. Anytime Jesus repeats himself six times he’s talking about something pretty significant. But what does worry have to do with priorities? Our worries reveal our priorities. We don’t worry about things we don’t care about.
Jesus, who knew human nature better than anyone, knew exactly what we worry about. He said don’t worry about what you will eat or drink-how to make ends meet. And don’t worry about what you will wear-your external image. He said, “Seek first His kingdom and his righteousness.” The NLT says, “Make the kingdom of God your primary concern.”
Jesus was saying, “Don’t major in minors.” Don’t waste mental and emotional energy worrying about what you wear or what you eat. Put first things first. Keep the main thing the main thing.
Time Management
In his book Putting First Things First, Stephen Covey divides life into four quadrants. Quadrant 1 represents those things are both urgent and important. Quadrant 2 consists of things that are important but not urgent. Quadrant 3 is the one that can consume our lives if we aren’t careful. It consists of those things that are urgent but not important. And Quadrant 4 is the quadrant of waste. It consists of those things that are not urgent and not important.
Life is a constant battle between the urgent-the things that demand our attention-and the important-the things that deserve our attention. And if we aren’t careful, we become addicted to the urgent. Stephen Covey said it best. “Anything less than a conscious commitment to the important is an unconscious commitment to the unimportant.”