The Rich Young Ruler

Speaker 1 0:30

Welcome everybody . It's good to see you all . Oh , it's good , it's a good Sunday . My name is Jeff . I'm one of the pastor's here on staff . We are , as he mentioned , we are preaching through and have been preaching through Matthew for a bit and we're gonna continue to . We have found ourselves in Matthew 19, . So we're actually Matthew 19 , 16 through 22 . So you have any version of a Bible for yourself there . Use that . You also have the notes we would encourage you to use and then the Bible will be behind me on the large sky Bible back there . So it's in all those places for you .

Speaker 1 1:03

But our hope and our heart is this is that we open up God's word and as it compares to , as a mirror , to be a reflection of our own life , our own heart and our own relationship with God , and that , as we look to God's word for guidance that will lead us , teach us , guide us and convict us . And my hope is that you're able to experience a moment I hope you have moments today . It's a book that's written for us it wasn't written to us originally , but it is for us of how we are able to adjust and align our life to be more like Jesus , better tomorrow than we are today , not as much as we will the next , but it's a process and so we're gonna look at that today and I hope we have those moments together and then it comes through God's word that we're gonna open up today . So my wife's good at a lot of things , a lot of things she's good at . One of the things that she's really good at and I actually learned from this is that she does one thing and it brings her deep satisfaction as well . It's this it's checking boxes . Now this comes on a lot of different forms and I'll explain to you . It's to-do lists , it's grocery lists , it's calendars , it's all any other box checkers out there . Amen , okay , I see you , I see you which and again , there's no hate in this , to be clear , because my form of organization was Post-it notes and writing on my hand .

Speaker 1 2:32

So I've actually learned and grown a lot in this . In fact , she gave me permission , she goes , she goes . Make sure that they know I love lists and to-do lists so much . I'll put things on that I've already done and then put them on and check them off . I know that's how you know there might be a problem . No , and the one , my favorite one was . I went and I looked at one of her to-do lists that was on the counter and it said nap , check . But it's a record of the things that you've done , right . So that's okay , that's all right , I love it . I love it .

Speaker 1 3:04

But I think and I think this is what I've learned about lists and checking boxes and things it gives you a sense of wholeness , of completion . It gives you a record of the order of the things that you've actually completed in that day , and so there's a sense of going . The things that were set up before me I've done , the expectations that I had , maybe even the expectations I had of myself have been accomplished , and so there's the sense of wholeness and completeness in it . I think it establishes for us a sense of rules and expectations for the moment , or maybe even forever , of what is expected of you . And so then , as we go through the verses that we're gonna be looking at today , what we're going to see is Jesus talking to a man who has everything , absolutely everything , and yet there's still one thing missing . It's as if he's gone through and he's checked all those boxes and he says I've checked them all and yet there's just one thing that's missing , and I think that for us , as we allow a world that promises that it will solve every one of our problems , for us , could it be that we are making everything so important that we're missing the one thing that is most important ? So let's look to God's word and to guide us in this , matthew 19, . We'll start like this in verse 16 .

Speaker 1 4:30

It says just then a man came to Jesus and asked teacher , what good thing must I do to get eternal life ? Why do you ask me , what is good ? Jesus replied there's only one who is good . If you want to enter life , keep the commandments . Which ones , he inquired , and Jesus replied you shall not murder , you shall not commit adultery , you shall not steal , you shall not give false testimony on your mother and father , and love your neighbor as yourself . All these I have kept , the young man said . So then , what do I still lack ? Jesus answered if you want to be perfect , go and sell your possessions and give to the poor , and you will have treasures in heaven . Then come follow me .

Speaker 1 5:19

When the young man heard this , he went away sad , because he had great wealth . So then , from this story , what we know about this man is a few things , not just the fact that you have the rich , young ruler , if you actually have a Bible that you're opening up . This is famously what this passage is usually called . So we know that this man is young . That's what it says in verse 20 . We know that he is wealthy in verse 22 .

Speaker 1 5:41

And then and I'll just tell you this , I'm gonna tell it to you once , just so you know kind of the context for it is that there are there's four gospels Matthew , mark , luke and John . Those are four different accounts of the life of Jesus and they're written by four different people . So then you're going to get four different accounts from four different people . That doesn't mean that one is accurate and one is inaccurate . Be like me asking you how your date was last night and that one person might describe it as wonderful and magical and the food was delicious and all of the entertainment that we had and everything was fantastic . And then the other person , maybe the husband , would say it was good , we had fun , right . So both are accurate , but you're just getting a different interpretation .

Speaker 1 6:19

And so we learned that he is young , wealthy . And then actually from Luke 18 , which is another one of the accounts of the same account is that he was a ruler of other people , which you can assume by the fact that he was , he was wealthy is that he had servants or slaves in that time . We also know from the answers that this young man gave that he had been raised and was following the , the Hebrew text or the Torah , and that he had some sense of a relationship with God , knowing that there was a life and morality that he was supposed to align himself with , and so , in Luke , actually , it indicates that this young man , he ran to Jesus and he fell at his knees , indicating an eager approach and that kneeling posture out of a sign of respect . In fact , he called him a good teacher , which is not how people would refer to the rabbis of those days , you see , because he wasn't one of those spiritual leaders who was trying to kind of get Jesus in a gotcha game . It was more the fact that he was . He was really . He legitimately had an earnest desire to learn and to grow , despite his religious heritage .

Speaker 1 7:19

What we come to learn , though , is that he says I've taken inventory of my life and something's missing , something's not there . Despite everything that I have , something is not there . Do you ever take inventory of your life , of your pantry , of your garage , of different parts . I take inventory every day of my life . Before I walk out the front door , I take inventory of , I make sure that I have my wallet and my watch and my keys and my phone . It's the inventory that I take and to help me remember it is that it's wallet , watch , keys , phone . So it's W-W-K-P , which , if you grew up in the church , what would Jesus W-W-J-D ? It's stupid . So wallet , watch , keys , phone . Now , as I have progressed in age , I have now had to add one thing , which is reading glasses . That doesn't fit in the acronym . I don't know what to do with that , but if I forget it it's bad . So you take an inventory of everything that you need in life . And this man has taken that inventory and Jesus says there's just one more thing . And in fact he might actually even go so far as to say there's only one thing , there's only one thing . So then let's look back at 16 . And again , we're gonna kind of take each one of the verses and chunk them up and look at them . So verse 16 and 17, . It says this Just then a man came up to Jesus and he asked teacher , what good thing must I do to get eternal life Interesting ?

Speaker 1 8:44

I just to pause and look at that as he says to get , to acquire what's that ? How can I buy this thing that you say is so important and valuable ? How can I get it ? Jesus responds . He says why do you ask me about what is good ? Jesus replied there's only one who is good , and if you want to enter life , so it's not getting it , it's experiencing it , it's becoming part of it , it's welcoming you into this versus getting , and acquiring and doing is to keep the commandments .

Speaker 1 9:13

And ultimately , in this passage here , what we're seeing is a comparison of the same word being used in two different ways . Have you ever done that , where it's like I think we're saying the same thing but we have a different meaning of it ? In this case , it's good versus good . You say good , I say good . It happens in all parts of our life , for us and our family .

Speaker 1 9:32

As our kids have gotten older , they're able to help contribute to the family , which I'm so excited about and grateful for , and they do amazing things , and so one of the things that they've now started to help us do is to clean up after dinner , and so we will be sitting there and we'll be having dinner and I'll sit there at the table and I go , okay , we got this , will you guys help clean up dinner ? And they'll say we'll help clean up dinner . I say you're gonna clean up dinner ? And they say we're gonna help clean up dinner . And we're like great , so my wife will sit there and I will sit there and we'll continue to talk about the day , whatever crazy thing one of our kids just said about something that happened at one of the campuses or school or something like that . We're like , oh my gosh , can you believe that ? So we'll sit there and talk about it and then we'll go around the corner to the kitchen where they have cleaned up dinner and it just looks a little bit different than the interpretation that I had of cleaning up dinner . Somehow they loaded four and a half of our dishes . Of our five person family they've loaded four and a half . I don't even know how they did that , but they loaded four and a half dishes , a few silverware and actually the things that I used to cook actually looks worse than how we started . So I don't know , but it's a little bit of a . It's a different definition . I'm so sorry . My poor children are sitting here . They're like and we're in illustration . That's great .

Understanding Salvation Through Jesus

Speaker 1 10:39

But back to this story where he says good versus good . The young man viewed salvation as something that he could acquire , something that he could get or that he could do , which , frankly , I mean that's to be expected . He has everything , but he's asking this question . He says what does it take for me to live forever ? What does it take for me to be young forever ? What does it take for me to live and hold on to everything that I have forever ? And he asks what he thinks it is going to take to enter into the kingdom of heaven . And yet it's something that he wants to be included in , not something that he needs to be saved from , which , really , if you are a person of full access or no , people will have full access . There's often seasons of their life where they don't need to be saved from anything If all of their problems have been solved and there's nothing that we need saved from .

Speaker 1 11:33

Frankly , the disciples didn't get it either At the point that they said , jesus , we want to be with you in eternity . Can we be in your kingdom ? They thought that it was an earthly kingdom that they would be ushered in and that they would be seated at the right hand of Jesus . You're number one , jesus , and we're number two right . And he's like not exactly . See . The narrative of the gospel is different . It's what we are saved from and it's who we are saved by and it's what we are saved to .

Speaker 1 12:05

And so , while the young ruler was , he was asking this question what other good thing can I do ? Just tell it to me . Tell me the good thing that I can do . I will do it , I'll work hard for it , I will buy it . Whatever I need to do , you tell me what it is and I will do that . And you see , what Jesus was telling him was something much different . He wasn't saying what other good thing can I do . He was saying what good thing do I need to be ?

Speaker 1 12:33

And what makes the answer that Jesus gives even more complicated is that we are him and us . We are actively involved in a salvation that we cannot save ourselves from . Do you ever feel that in your own relationship with Jesus , it's that there's an active engagement that we are called to step into in that relationship , and yet it is fully up to Jesus on if we are going to be saved . And yet , while I believe that and I teach that on a Sunday and I proclaim that to people is that that is not how I live . How I live is this is that if I do enough , I will then get enough so that I can be enough ? Nobody taught me that . It's not like somebody sat me down and said this is the way of living . It's just that's who we're wired to be . Is that if I do enough , I will get enough , and if I get enough , then I will be enough ? And ultimately , that's what we are called to fight against . That's the war that we are waging against as we then submit a life to Jesus .

Speaker 1 13:34

Because what we wanna know , the question that I believe humanity is asking and that this young man is asking when he goes with him , is this . He's asking this question am I safe ? Am I secure ? Is there ? Can I , in this life and in the next , can I acquire enough things ? Can I build enough ? Can I have enough stuff in my life and not just stuff , but people and prestige and notoriety and power and influence ? Can I have enough things that will prevent me from my greatest fears happening Death , loss of life , unemployment , loneliness , hunger and that those fears are going to change based on who you are and in what season you're in life . But asking Jesus the question am I safe and secure from those things ? And what I've found is I've pursued Jesus in my life and even in the healthiest seasons is when I am pursuing Jesus . None of those things that I'm afraid of actually are prevented , because I think what Jesus is trying to get us to understand is that the things that we have made the most important things aren't actually . That is that we've missed the most important thing .

Speaker 1 14:45

Continue on verses 18 and 19 . The young ruler says which ones he's asking about the commandments , he inquired . Jesus replied you shall not murder , you shall not commit adultery , you shall not steal , you shall not give false testimony , honor your father and mother and love your neighbor as yourself . You see , jesus is listing from the 10 commandments which you'll find in Exodus 20 . In addition , we know that these commandments are commonly they were known by the Jews of that time . But then what would oftentimes happen is that the religious leaders of those times would go and they would add these other standards of righteousness oh , the 10 commandments are good . Well , I'm gonna give 10 more and God's gonna love me more because I'm gonna give more . We've never done anything like that right . Never , ever , ever . But they add more and they add more and more , and so , all of a sudden , these 10 commandments that God has given us to live our life by is oftentimes added to all of these other things , and so Jesus proceeds to list commandments number five through nine and then also adds in loving your neighbor as yourself .

Speaker 1 15:46

Now , just as a side note , the commandments are broken down essentially by the first four commandments are dealing with our relationship between us and God , and then the commandments five through 10 are dealing with our relationship with humanity , and I think that that's interesting in this , because it's believed that Jesus is listing these as obedience to the commandments that we can see , that we can tangibly . There's no conversation . If somebody murders somebody , we know that it's happened . If you've lied and given false testimony , that if you are not loving your neighbor , those are things that we can scale and metric and we can determine if they're actually things that are true and it's verified . I think it's also worth mentioning that these human commandments that Jesus listed , five through nine , and the loving your neighbor as yourself , is that the other ones , talking about a relationship with God is not only the first four commandments , but it's also an ongoing theme that we see in scripture and was well known in the Jewish heritage of that time .

Speaker 1 16:41

And it essentially breaks down to this because there's a theme of what God and how he wanted to interact with humanity , and it's this I am your God and you are my people . That's the message . That is the message from the first page to the very last page of scripture is it's him saying I am your God and you are my people . I did I did a 30 second search of that phrase I am your God and you are my people and I found it this many times . You could probably find it a lot more . Those are word for word , but again , you're going to see this theme and this phrase and I think that it's important because if you look at that , I am your God and you are my people . What he's saying is he says you are mine . I made you . You are fearfully and wonderfully made . I needed you together in your mother's womb . You are wonderfully made and I know that full well . I love you and I care for you . I gave you everything , including life . I inserted a life and breath into you and you walk around as a breath carrier of me . I am your God and you are my people , so just make me first . That's all he's saying is I am your God and you are my people .

Speaker 1 17:49

And while the young man seemed to understand that that he had the things is that he was mentioned . I'm sorry he was missing this foundational and this very fundamental violation of this relationship between him and God . I'm saying God , I've done all of these things for you . I have all of these things . And he said you're missing the fact that I am your God and you are my people . Continue on Verse 20, . All these I've kept as we've talked about .

Speaker 1 18:22

The young man said what do I still lack ? Now , keep in mind that this is a man who had everything and he was going to a teacher who had nothing , not even a bed to lay his head on . He had very few possessions . And this man who had everything was going and saying I want the one thing that I can't seem to buy , and that when you have everything VIP access to everything it's hard to comprehend when there's something that you can't actually get .

Speaker 1 19:00

I saw a statistic from the Super Bowl this last weekend that , within an hour of the Super Bowl ending , that there were 60 private jets that left the Las Vegas airport , and one of them was mine . Just kidding , thank you , no , just kidding . 60 private jets . I don't know how many people were on these One , two , five , I'm not sure . But do you think ? I think here's what's interesting . I picture people going to the Super Bowl thinking that they're VIP and thinking that they're , but you don't got private jet money , you just have a ticket to the Super Bowl . They're like oh , you thought you were a VIP , you didn't know that you weren't a VVVVVVVIP .

Speaker 1 19:46

Have you ever seen somebody who's like that that's then told no , doesn't matter who you are , doesn't matter what you have , you can't have this , not in and of yourself , not in and of your own power . And though I don't get the sense that the rich young ruler was incensed by this , it's almost like he just couldn't even comprehend it . Keep going . Jesus answered If you want to be perfect , go Sell your possessions and give to the poor , and you will have treasures in heaven . Then come and follow me . When the young man heard this , he went away , sad because he had great wealth . It's an upside down kingdom that is so hard to comprehend . It's addition by subtraction , which doesn't in my brain , so I'm not telling you something that I've figured out and that you need to catch up with me . I don't get it either .

Speaker 1 20:46

And yet Jesus describes this life as one thing . Perfect , now , not perfect in perfection of living , that you make no mistakes , but it's perfect in the sense that translation is whole , complete , lacking in nothing . He's like if you want the fullest version of life , do this Not implying singularity , like if there's one thing that you can do , but there's a sense of it's , promoting order and value and synergy with God from the start , the middle and the end of our life . I think of everything that everybody is carrying in here . If we were to go and take and to make every one of the things that each one of you are carrying into bricks , I can't even begin to picture what your arms would look like , thinking of the bills that you had to pay and the jobs that you're navigating and your kids that love you and your kids that don't love you and your bosses that are making life very difficult in your car that you hope starts when you go out there . But I think about all of the things that you are carrying here and to go .

Speaker 1 21:50

It's so easy to understand how life gets out of order that it feels imperfect , lacking a significant amount , and is very incomplete . There's another description for this in Scripture . In fact , it's the very nature and character of who God is . He talks about the idea of peace , which translates to this word , shalom Nothing broken , nothing missing . There's a sense that God wants us in our life with Him , through Jesus , to experience shalom , which is not perfection , but it's a wholeness that God desires for us to live into and step into and experience all the pieces , which are complex , in order , and that he is lining them up , not asking us to necessarily get rid of them unless they're harming to us , but putting them in a right place and a right order and making much of God and little of other things , taking all that you have and for this man he said , taking all the things that have gotten in the way of you and I , and wholeness and complete and perfection , and doing something with it , because it doesn't fit , those things that are in your life , that are big , I don't fit in there with them and I need to ask you to remove them or move them away . Jesus is telling this man to sell everything and give it to the poor , and then you will find the thing that is most important . And so , to be clear , this message is about money , but it's not only about money , it's a lot about money .

Speaker 1 23:22

Scripture mentions money over 2,000 times . Do you know that it mentions the word faith and prayer combined half as many times . So money is something that's important , and I actually think why Jesus uses this common item is because it's something that we can all understand , is it ? Every one of us spent probably at least $1 to clothe ourselves today , and so we can't forsake all of money in this . So , again , that's where this wholeness , completeness and balance comes . In this we need , but in that is that we also need to take the thing that we hold most dear and either get rid of it or put it in its proper place , and that may be , indeed , money , but the truth is that I read this so often and I let myself off the hook , because I am neither rich or young or ruler of many , because there's always going to be somebody richer and younger and have more people that answer to them . But here's what I know is that 97% of this globe would think that you are rich and young and that you rule much .

Speaker 1 24:27

So , though , this isn't only about money . It is about money , but don't stop there . Don't stop with the inventory there , because Jesus is talking about something much bigger , and it's this , it's idols . And again , that's another phrase that , if you were to look at this idea of idols , we go oh , that's what they used to worship to and pray to , and they're like little golden statues . And I go idols are so much bigger and they're way more dangerous than we may think . And here's how you can begin to identify idols in your life , even if it's not money . Anything I put before God is an idol . Anything I want with my whole heart is an idol . Anything I can't stop thinking about is an idol , because there are plenty of things that have nothing to do with money that I can't stop thinking about . There's not a day that goes by that I don't stand up here on a Sunday and wonder what you think about me . That matters to me , idol . There's not a day that goes by that I don't put some part of my worth and value in the success of my children . Idol . There's not a day that goes by when I'm sad that I don't at least think about how I'm going to fix that sadness through food and other means .

Making Much of Jesus, Not Idols

Speaker 1 25:47

Idol , and so I don't know what it is for you . It could be as simple as college applications so sorry . It could be as big as money and cars and jobs and prestige . It could be about football teams that won the Super Bowl , or football teams that didn't win the Super Bowl , sorry , sorry . It could be about pop stars that attended the Super Bowl . I don't know , this isn't from me , it's from the Lord , you know . But all of those things can take the place of and push out , and we make much of things that are supposed to be little .

Speaker 1 26:25

Here's what I would ask you , then . Let me ask it to you this way what is it that makes you fine ? You know what I mean when I say that If everything else was stripped away from your life , if everything else was taken away through a house fire or somebody took it away , as long as I have this , I will be fine . You can have everything else , but not this thing and anything else besides . God that makes me fine is an idol and a response .

Speaker 1 26:54

If at some point we become convicted and we say , fine , then I'll sell it all , but instead of me actually selling it all and getting rid of it or putting everything in its proper place is that I don't do a fire sale where everything must go . It's a garage sale and it's the things that I can actually live without . Come on , let's be honest . Who hasn't done a garage sale around here ? And that garage sale ? The reality is , I've never had one garage sale that the next day after I've either sold all the stuff for 15 cents or thrown it away because nobody wants it , or donated it . I've never missed any of those things . Oh gosh , you know that sweater I sold for a nickel . I just wish I had it .

Speaker 1 27:36

And we garage sale our faith and our life and our idols and we go God , you can have anything on this table . He's like you don't want it . So then why do I ? God is asking us to say very , very willingly and delicately to say God , if these things are bigger than you , then do something with that . So then , what do we do with that ? Because , if I'm going to be honest , is that after I was done reading this , I too went away sad .

Speaker 1 28:10

Jesus is bringing us to a place of realizing that this is a life that is useless without Him , in fact , dare I say , impossible . You know how I was talking about the other accounts of this in Luke 18 , as Jesus is responding to the young man , he says it like this in Luke 18 , 27, . Jesus replied what is impossible with man is possible with God . You can't buy your way in , you can't earn your way in . Has anyone ever bought something for you that you couldn't ? Or picked up the tab ? And I'm not talking about that . It's your turn to get dinner and then it's my turn , and that we take turns . Somebody has bought something for you that you never could have afforded on your own . How humbling is that ? And that you're like , could I just do something ? And so we write a thank you note or something like that .

Speaker 1 28:59

Jesus is done through His life . What I cannot do and here's the beautiful part it's not our job . It's not our job to match Jesus . We're not supposed to outmatch Jesus . You can't outgrace Him , you can't out-generous Him , but we can learn to live and change our lives , to aim and be like Him , and recognizing that the bill that he paid , the life that he lived , the death that I should have died through His perfect life and he died for me and paid that bill . I'm not supposed to pay the bill , but I'm supposed to make much of Him . That's what I'm supposed to do is to make much of Him and not put all of my time and energy into these things that never did anything for me other than asking for more , because this world will make you feel safe and secure and full , but it's fleeting and it's temporary , and then , over time , is that those things will then diminish the role that Jesus plays in our lives .

Speaker 1 30:02

Can I tell you the hope that I found in this passage as I went away , sad and I would say almost , as a means of gentle , shepherding in this because it was for me , as I was reading the different translations of this . So there's Matthew , there's Luke In Mark 10 , it's the same account , and at the point that Jesus gives the rich young ruler his response , do you know what he says ? He says , looking at him , he loved him and he said to him and if you look at the translation , that is that he . You know , when you look at somebody with love and compassion , it wasn't just I see you , it was . I saw . Jesus saw this man's heart and his soul . He looked at him , he loved him and he will graciously shepherd him through this .

Speaker 1 30:51

There's so many times in my life that I look at the things that I've made much of and I'm worried about the fact that I'm standing up here and asking you to fall out of love with all of these idols . And yet what I actually think that this is more about jobs , family possessions , security , safety , whatever it is is that , while it's true , is that it comes , but I think it comes less from a position of making less out of those things and it becomes more out of making more of Jesus , because , don't forget , in Matthew 1921 , he said do all these things and then follow me . And so it's a sense of saying aligning your life after me will then begin to allow these other things to diminish . Think back to your childhood . Think back to the things that you loved , that you would have ran out in the street for . If somebody had taken one of my stuffed animals when I was five years old and thrown into the street , I would have ran in front of a truck and gotten it . And I still have it . I still have it , but it's in a box and it smells kind of weird because it's sitting in the garage . I don't love it the same way Because other things have taken that place and that position in my life , and so , while , again , we need to check boxes and take inventory , I think that this will feel more like a relationship when it's saying that Jesus goes , make more of me , I will make less of these .

Speaker 1 32:18

I think that's what he's calling us to do . It's having an accurate view of the world that we live in , what it offers and what it can truly deliver on , which , honestly , is an ongoing thing . That's not going to be fixed today . And so then I can see that , as my heart is more aligning as I follow Jesus , those other things dim . They're still there , but it's that as I make much of and more of Jesus , those other things then begin to fit around them , and not the other way , and I don't always understand .

Speaker 1 32:55

There are days that it doesn't feel like that for me , and yet when I read that , what Paul says in Philippians 3 is , I see hope that on this side of heaven , that I will have victory over some of this . Philippians 3 , 3 , 7 , through 8 says it this way . But whatever we're gains to me now , I consider a loss . For the sake of Christ . What is more , I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ . Jesus is my Lord , for whose sake I have lost all things . I consider them garbage that I may gain Christ , my friends , I think that it's giving this world its proper due . It's seeing this world for what it is offering much , delivering on a little , and that there are things in this world that are wonderful and that should take up our time , but not our heart , not in place of Jesus . It's putting those things in its proper place .

Speaker 1 34:03

So then back to the text , and I've referenced it a couple of times . It said after Jesus gave him this information , he left sad . I don't know why he left , or why he left sad . I don't know if he left sad because he heard this and that , because he was rich and he said that these things are very important and I'm not . There's no way that I can do that . You've given me the most impossible task and so I will never experience eternal life . Or maybe he left sad because he realized he's got a lot of work to do and he went to reflect , consider , take inventory , check boxes and give things their proper due and put them in their proper place . I hope it's a second .

Encouragement to Grow in Faith

Speaker 1 34:52

So then , for us today , here's what I would encourage you with you can leave sad , but don't leave . Don't leave . Don't think that it's the impossible task . It's why Scripture talks about us working on our faith with fear and trembling . It's why that we see that God aligns our head and our heart in ways and that , slowly , over time , and that , when you look in the rearview mirror of your life , is that you see that you love Jesus more today than you did yesterday , but not as much as you will tomorrow . That we lean into community , we lean into His Word , we lean into worship and response and acknowledging that God is doing something in our heart , then give Him permission to allow Him to make much of Himself and then , slowly , over time , those other things begin to fade away .

Speaker 1 35:52

Leave sad , but don't leave . So , father , when I take inventory of my life , is that there are many things in there that I say , god , I don't know how you're ever going to change the value or importance of those things in my life , because they have taken up an enormous amount of space . And yet , as I continue to align myself towards Him , as I continue to sell those things and get rid of them . As I open-handedly say , god , you can take the things that you need and allow me to hold tightly to you . You take care of a lot of that . So , god , could we continue to through obediently following you , to make much of you Amen .