Deceitfulness of Riches

As I was preparing my sermon this week on thankfulness I read through various portions of the gospels and I was thinking long and hard on something that didn't make it into the message so I thought I would write a post on it.

This week I read these two parables:

Matthew 13- Parable of the Sower, v. 1-9, and the parable explained, v. 18-23
and
Matthew 22- Parable of the Wedding Feast, v. 1-14

In the post, I will focus my comments on a common theme in both, the deceitfulness of riches.

Just a little background for me personally and what life stage I'm at. I'm am currently 32 years old and have a growing family (5 kids). I'm no longer a twenty something and my oldest son is 8 years old. As I grow into my thirties, I'm seeing people my own age changing lifestyle to be at home more, think about the future more, and planning more. I live in America, so culture has large opinions on what what those decisions should look like in terms of working life, material accumulation, and future goals. I find myself re-thinking goals and what I envision the present and future to look like. I'm very glad for the Bible.

Matthew 13:7

Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.

Matthew 13:22

As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

In this parable, Jesus speaks of the seed of word of God and what keeps it from being fruitful. He only mentions 4 things: not understanding, not having deep root, the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches. I find the seed in the thorns to be a very scary warning. The way it reads, one can understand the word (the first seed), one can receive the word with joy (the second seed), and have deep root (the third seed did not get scorched by the sun) and still be unfruitful for the kingdom of God. Why? At some point after having all these good things the hearer become deceived by the cares of the world or the deceitfulness of riches. The seed had grown and had deep enough root to not be scorched by the sun, but the thorns grew and choked what was there. Lord, help me not to be deceived.

Matthew 22:5

But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business

I can't help but fast forward to judgement day when actual people are standing before the creator of the universe to give account for there life and realize they gave up paradise with the Lord for more work and riches in this life. At the same time, I know the pull to have more now. In Matthew 25:34 Jesus explains that there is a "kingdom prepared foy you (and me) from the foundation of the world". Yet, many will not see this kingdom and some will be deemed "not worthy" as the king said in Matthew 22:8 because of the deceitfulnes of riches in this world.

I pray that we God would remind us of his warnings and lead us not into temptation.

Be careful not to get sideswiped

A few months ago I was driving up Decorah hill behind a very slow driver.  As I can get impatient at times, I remember thinking, "Come on, I have to get somewhere today".  Just as the slow poke driver turned to the right on 7th Ave a minivan, coming from the right, blew the 7th Ave stop sign and flew right through Decorah.  I realized that it was God who put that slow driver in front of me and I was quite thankful.

Three days later, after finishing up some work, I was driving home on Hwy 33 from Allenton doing at least 55mph.  All of the sudden a minivan that was stopped for the traffic on Hwy 33 but that did not see me pulled out directly in front of me.  When she noticed me she stopped, but she happened to stop directly in my lane.  I slammed on the brakes and noticing that there was no oncoming traffic I swerved hard to the left.  Because I didn't want to pull it hard to the right again I came to a stop in the oncoming shoulder.

I sat there shaking for a bit because I had my daughter in the back seat, and I realized that something very serious could have happened.  I looked back at her and all was well - she was dosing to sleep.  I regained myself and drove the rest of the way home in my burning tire smell filled car thankful to God that nothing happened.

All of this filled my mind for the next few days and I would often times think over what had happened - I was almost in a very serious accident on two different occasions within three days.  I found myself very alert when I was driving, realizing that something could happen.  One day when I was thinking about it at my kitchen table I felt the Lord ask me this question, "Which is more dangerous - being sideswiped by a minivan or being sideswiped by sin?"  I realized that the Lord was telling me to be alert and on the look out against sin.

1Peter 5:8, "Be soberminded; be watchful.  Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."

I wasn't going to write about this in a blog post, but just this week someone called me to tell me of a dream that they had about an accident.  They went into some detail of what happened.  This person felt that it was a warning to be alert against sin.  They had no prior knowledge about what I felt the Lord had told me after my near accidents.  I believe that his dream was from the Lord so, I decided to write to encourage the body to be on the lookout.

Stand alert.  Satan is very cunning and he is looking for an opportunity to bring ruin into your life through sin.

Jesus encourages us to ask the Father to "lead us not into temptation".  We don't ask this because the Father is in the habit of leading us into temptation, rather we ask this so that He would lead us away from temptation.  There is a difference between asking God to do something and asking him to stop doing something.  There is a difference between asking God to lead me away from temptation and asking God to stop leading me into temptation.  One relies on the lead of God and his protection and the other is afraid that God wants to lead me into temptation.  I believe that Jesus was encouraging his disciples to cry out to the Father looking for His lead which can help us avoid temptation.  Jesus taught us to pray this way because God can help.  So I pray that the Lord would lead us - that He would lead us to still waters where we hear Him, that he leads us to His promises, that He leads us far away from any temptation, that He leads us "not into temptation".

I am also asking that each of you pray for the Christian leadership in this community.  Please pray for the leaders here at Bend City Church, but also pray for the leaders at Community Church, Kettlebrook, New Life, and the Refinery.  Please pray:

1. That the leaders would be on their guard against sin.
2. That they would walk in integrity and uprightness of heart placing God before everything.
3. For their marriages - that they would honor their wives in all that they do as a coheir of grace
4. For their families - that they would lead their families well in the fear of the Lord.

Thank you for praying,
Scott

11/7/2010 Attributes of Christ - Sovereign and Good

http://bendcitychurch.podbean.com/2010/11/08/attributes-of-christ-sovereign-and-good/

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10/31/2010 Attributes of Christ - Holy

http://bendcitychurch.podbean.com/2010/11/01/attributes-of-christ-holy/

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