Cash Over God
You have your Bibles, starting to Hebrews and we’ll get to our main passage. This is where we’ve been. Let’s hear the pages rustle. All right. Hebrews 12, starting at verse, what? Well, come on. 15. “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God.” We discovered that coming short of the grace of God can happen for a believer or nonbeliever. For a nonbeliever, you can miss eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. As a believer, you can miss living life empowered by the fruit of the spirit. Love joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, kindness, self-control.
And there are three things that’ll cause a person not to come to Christ or to keep a Christian powerless in Christ. And one of those is a root of bitterness, a grudge. Who you mad at? And we talked about that on Sunday night. Then make sure that there’s no immorality. And we discovered last night that that is intent. That’s intent to arouse. That happens way before the final act of completion. And that’s all I was talking about, about hugging.
Remember, some of you were little concerns that I’m saying no don’t hug. No, I say, “Great, hug. Hug all you want as long as your intent is to express genuine affection.” But the minute your intent changes, the minute your thoughts go someplace else, it’s time to move to half a hug and have your polar bear alert. Because immorality happens when you cross the line of propriety, that’s sin. And then the third one, or godlessness. “Like a godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for single meal, for you know that when he desired the blessing, he found no repentance even though he suffered with tears.” Remember the story Jacob and Esau? They wrestled in the womb. Esau was born first.
He got the birthright. That’s what happened. Firstborn got the birthright. Big deal in those days. Got to have the birthright. He got the birthright. Jacob had a hold of his heel when they came out, and we’re talking serious wrestling here, and God had promised the birthright to Jacob. And Jacob was dysfunctional just like his dad. He was a liar and a sneak, and he had no patience. Could not wait on God. Really tough for him to wait. Now he was a homebody. He putzied around the house a lot. He was a gourmet cook. He was into natural foods and red little stew was his specialty. Esau as a man’s man, hairy guy. Kind of ruddy, drove a pickup truck, hung a 30 odd six in the window, wore a baseball cap, spoke with a drawl. Kind of redneck kind of guy. You know? And he was out hunting one day and he got skunked and he forgot his lunch and he starved.
It’s the end of the day, and you could hear the screen door slam as he walks into the room and sniffs. Mm, red lentil stew, Jacob’s specialty, my favorite. Actually Esau did eat quiche, he just wouldn’t tell anybody. He said, “Jacob, I need some stew. Can I ask some of your stew?” And Jacob had thought this one through. And he said, “No ball full, whole thing or nothing. Five days worth or nada. Here’s the deal. You don’t care about the birthright. You don’t care about things of God. God’s already told you he’s going to take it away from you and give it to me. You’re liable not to get anything for it. So what I’m offering you is four day, five days worth of your favorite food in exchange for the birthright. Now, what do you say?” And Esau is our example of an individual, rather shortsighted and thinks about resolving the needs of the immediacy of the moment with no regard to the distance future. Anybody ever do that?
And he said, “Sounds like a good deal to me.” You know? It’s the kind of guy that would sell you Boardwalk to the guy who owned Park Place. That’s the kind of guy he is. I mean, see, he took stew over salvation. He chose lentils over the Lord. He took gas over God. That’s what he did because that’s all you get when you eat lentils. Oh, I’m sorry. I was trying to figure out whether or not I should have said that in church. Your life is like a cone, not a pyramid, not a triangle, a cone.
And all your stuff fits at the base of your cone. In this part of the world, a lot of you have a lot of stuff. I have one of those little skinny evangelist bases because I don’t have my own TV show, but some of you have some really big bases. We saw that when you came in now. So you can just kind of tell. Now, take all your stuff and put it at the base of the cone and now come up six inches. You’re sorting your stuff. You got to leave some stuff down into a smaller circle and keep coming and keep coming and keep coming.
And what’s the top five of all your stuff? Go to the top three. Here comes the fire. Stop the turtle rock. You got one shot. You can run in and make one trip and you got to go. What’d you grab? See, that’s the top of your stuff. See, that’s where that is. See. If you’re my age, it’s your pictures. If it’s a young person’s age, your CDs. I don’t know. But think about your stuff. Go to the top item. What’s number one on your list? And while you’re doing that, let me make a point.
All God wants from you is everything you have and everything you will have and everything you are and everything you will be. That’s all he wants. Including that. Now that is the that that’s at the top of your cone, and God demands it from you. But it’s really hard to give him that because you don’t know if he’ll give that back. See, if it won’t enslave you, he’ll give it back. If it will enslave you, he won’t let you keep it. Problem. Does God know what’s better for you or do you know what’s better for you? Has God ever made a mistake?
Have you ever made one? Yet, you will still trust you because we’re talking about that. And you know what’s best for you regarding that. So it’s really hard to do that with that. You have to grind your teeth and you have to go mm, and then God takes your stuff and he weighs it and, “That’s no big deal. There you go. This is not a problem for you. There you go. Oh, this.” If God does that with that, is that okay? Your answer, if it’s no, it will either keep you out of the kingdom of God or you will not experience love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, faithful, kindness, self-control. That’s the bottom line. So what are the thats? Well, money, goals, desires, dreams, people. Let’s start with goals. I’m a goal setter. I just am. I set goals. I love setting them.
I was getting ready to play for the Lakers. I’d run treadmill. I got my heartbeat down to 46 beats a minute. I was lean, mean, hostile, agile, mobile, fragile. I was ready. But you’re on a treadmill, you don’t go. Have you ever noticed that? And how many goals do you have to accomplish in your lifetime to look back on your life, to know whether or not you won it? How many? They asked Rockefeller, how much money’s enough, and his answer was, “A little bit more.” I mean, how many goals to know? The bumper sticker’s wrong. He who dies with the most toy wins. That’s not right. He who dies accomplishing the most goals wins. That doesn’t have anything to do with it. It must not be that. Let me prove it to you. Set a goal. You hit it. Mode of exhilaration followed by a period of depression until you set another goal.
Now, if you set a goal and miss the goal, no exhilaration, but you’re depressed until you set another goal. Now, whether you make the goal or miss the goal, you will experience depression until you set another goal. Christmas is a great example. I always have my packages purchased by Thanksgiving. I’m into Christmas, and three days before Christmas, I’m really excited. Two days before Christmas, I’m really excited. Night before Christmas, I am so excited. At Christmas morning, I run down the stair. I go over the trim and the ribbon flying, and I try that on and I play with that. It’s time for the noon meal. On every Christmas afternoon I’ve ever spent has been a downer. I call it post-package depression syndrome. How come? 365 days to go. That’s how come. What do you think? I was with a guy, a Mercedes convertible. Nothing wrong with a Mercedes convertible, great car. LA freeway. We’re zipping. He’s really going and I’m starting to get nervous. I say, “Ray, Ray, why are you driving so fast?” He was serious. He said, “There’s somebody ahead of me.”
And some of you are living your life that way and it’s going to cost you love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control because you see, when your goal becomes more important to you than Christ, there’s a price to be paid. Now I’m not questioning your salvation. When you came to Christ, I know he was up at the top, but what happens every now and then, you get lukewarm and he drops down a notch or two because something replaces him. And sometimes it’s goals. Sometimes it’s money. Charlie Brown’s little sister said on Christmas Eve, “All I want is what I have coming to me. All I want is my fair share. All I want is what I want when I want it.”
Ladies, let me speak to the ladies. Gentlemen, just be quiet. You’re not in this deal. It won’t cost you dime. Just be quiet. Ladies, if we can decide on the store. Now, I’m going to give you a card, a credit card, but it’s not a universal card. It’s not a Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express. It’s a specific department store and you will never have to pay the bill and you can use it as much as you want to, but we collectively have to agree on the store. Okay? All right. On three, give me your answer. 1, 2, 3. [crosstalk 00:13:35].
On the east coast, they don’t have anything like that. They can’t decide on the east coast where they’d like to go. West coast, universal, Nordstrom’s. All right. Now you now have a card use as much as you want to, you never have to pay the bill. Will that do it for you? Now you’re on the horns of a dilemma. Here’s the dilemma. It’s like Campolo when he talks about the little kid in Sunday school and the teacher says, “Tell me what’s gray and furry and climbs in trees and has curved tail and stores nuts for the winter.” And the little kid said, “Well, I know I’m supposed to say Jesus, but it sounds like a squirrel to me.” You know?
And so here you are on the horns of a terrible dilemma. I mean, as long as you’re going to be miserable, I think rich is definitely the way to go. But I guess I’d ask the question, why be miserable? I walk up to Shaq, Shaquille O’Neal, he’s just a kid, he’s just a young guy and he’s only going to make about $40 million this year. Shaq, there is something missing in your life.
He’s got more clothes, cars, money, women. He hasn’t fantasized about the things that are happening to him. And he’ll say, “What? I’ll buy it” because it hadn’t run its course yet, it hasn’t got boring. It’s like the guy who died, he was a gambler, a chaser, a ladies man kind of, and he woke up in the presence of a nicely groom man in a pleasant room. And he says, “Well, if this is hell, it’s not so bad.” And he walked outside and it’s a casino. Now, a casino is a playground to a gambler and he had a quarter in his pocket. He had a theory, three bar, and he’s thinking, “I bet you can’t lose in heaven.” Three bars. Took the money, 13 red roulette, 31. He hit. Took the money. Crap table, 10 passes.
Let it ride each time. Broke the bank. Big time. Lots of money. Saw a beautiful woman. He wasn’t smooth. “Hey.” Walks out. “I’m in heaven, I made it. This is great. Lots of money. She’s terrific. Marvelous.” Shows up four months later, deep sad eyes, hollow purposeless look on his face. He said, “Since I left this place, I have played the lottery eight times. I have won the lottery eight times. Every hand of poker I’ve played, I have won. Every horse race I’ve bet on, I’ve hit win place and show. And every gaming event I bet on, I get the points of both teams exactly. I now know I will never lose in this place. And every woman I want, instantly mine, no thrill of the chase. Now you need to know that you see for a gambler it’s not winning or losing, it’s the unknown that does it for us. And here there’s no unknown and I can’t really handle it. And so clearly you’ve made a mistake. I would rather take my chances in hell. Would you just send me to hell?”
And the guy laughed, a deep gutter roll, evil kind of belly laugh, kind of ha ha ha, a kind of laugh like that. You know? And then he said, “Where do you think you are?” And hell is portrayed as that place where you got everything you wanted right when you wanted it with no thrill of the chase. Yeah, I didn’t believe it either. No. Now I’ve had those fancies drive my car. I’ve invented a perpetual motion machine and become the richest man in the world. Just work through the scenario, I’m driving someplace. I’ve scored 70 points in a basketball game, gone in and showered and had the crowd wait for me to come out and do a concert for them.
I have won most valuable player and national championships in basketball, football and baseball in successive years while driving my car. And I’m currently working on doing it in one year, but the travel is horrendous, I’ll tell you. You see, I am so close to hypocrisy on this one. I am so close because like you, I have Christianized the lottery. Oh, what a money pump I could be for Jesus with $40 million. Oh God, you can trust me with it. Just lay it on me. What do you think? Rich young ruler walked up to Jesus, boy, he knew the source. He went to the guy who had the answer. Belief was not his problem. “What must I do to be saved?” he asked, and Jesus, good evangelist that he is, strung him along a little to build rapport.
“How are you doing with the law?” The kid thought in his mind, “I’m a good Jew. I’ve kept it since I was a youth. All you have to be is good. I’m good. I’m in. That’s great. I kept it since I was a youth, sir.” And Jesus says, “That’s nice. Now sell everything you have. Oh, don’t give the money to me, give it to the poor and then follow me.” And he looked at him with a look, same kind of look he looked at doubting Thomas second time he walked through the wall. In the Greek, it’s a long loving, pulling, begging, fleeting kind of look. Can you imagine a look like that from the eyes of the son of God? His countenance fell and he turned and sadly walked away. He believed, he wouldn’t repent. He wouldn’t follow Jesus. And he took gas over God because he chose money over Christ.
