First Things First, Part 2

Today on Summit Life with J.D. Greer. Listen, there's nothing wrong with nice stuff. God created for us all things to enjoy. The problem is when you prioritize that above the kingdom of God, which means if you've got money to be extravagant somewhere, be extravagant first with the kingdom of God. Happy Giving Tuesday, and thanks for joining us today on Summit Life with Pastor J.D.

Greer. I'm your host, Molly Vidovitch. You know, the book of Haggai teaches us something that's easy to get, but it's far too easy to forget. You see, our hearts are continually drawn to invest in things that don't really matter, won't ever truly satisfy and can't sustain us long term.

Well, fortunately, there's a better way. We'll explore that together on the program today. And of course, I want to remind you that it's also Giving Tuesday. Any gift given at J.D. Greer dot com slash donate today only will be matched up to $50,000 and will help fund the translation of the Bible in a brand new language.

More on that later. But right now, I hope you kept your bookmark in the book of Haggai. Let's rejoin Pastor J.D.

for the message he titled First Things First. The Bible does not teach some kind of Christian karma system where each time something bad happens, you should look for something bad that you did that brought it on. I mean, think about it. The core of your theology is a perfect man who lived a perfect life and was still betrayed by his friends, falsely accused and then crucified on a cross. And God used it all for something amazing. So I'm not saying that it always has like something God's like. What I'm talking about are moments when God sends something into your life to wake you up and you know it. By the way, in my experience, if that is what is happening to you, the Holy Spirit will make it known immediately with a clear, obvious action step. God is not an unclear communicator. He doesn't like give you secret codes he's wanting you to figure out. If he wants to tell you something, he will make it known. And if he doesn't make anything clear, then you can assume that what you're going through is just part of the suffering that he's appointed his people to.

But the point is, you should at least ask the question. And I would submit to you that some of you are right where you are because God is saying the same thing to you. He was saying to that generation in Haggai chapter one.

So that's number one. Because you put yourself first, me second, I'm frustrated in your efforts. Secondly, he says, because you did that, you're unable to find contentment. They were unable to find contentment.

Look again at verse six. You eat, you eat, but you never have enough to be satisfied. You drink, but you never have enough to be happy, whatever that means. You put on clothes, but you never have enough to get warm.

The wage earner puts his wages into a bag with a hole in it. God was saying, listen, you keep spending money to buy stuff, but it's like there's this gigantic hole in your heart. So that no matter what you put in, you aren't finding that happiness, that security, that contentment that you seek.

I feel like this has got to be one of the worst possible states to be in, right? You obtain what you always wanted to obtain, but you still don't feel like you always wanted to feel. You get married, but you still feel lonely.

You bought the vacation home, but you still don't feel connected to your family. Friends, just reason with me for a minute, will you? What good is all that money and all that success if it does not produce the joy and security and satisfaction in your heart that you crave? God says, that shall never find, never, no matter how much stuff you have, if I am not first, because life does not consist, Jesus says, in the abundance of possessions, contentment, happiness, security. Oh, there's a different path there. There's a different path there.

And it's not found through that path that you've been on, that path where you put yourself first to get your career established and build your house and load your bank account. Those who idolize money and try to put it in that spot are always going to find that it disappoints. Idols always work like that. They disappoint.

You fill them up and you come back the next day and find them empty. And when that happens to you, and it will, Tim Keller says, you're going to make one of four choices. When you feel like that thing that you thought was going to supply the happiness and money and security and fulfillment, you thought, when it doesn't, you're going to make one of four choices. He says, option number one is you will blame the idol itself.

There's something wrong with it. I got to get another one. It wasn't that guy, right? That guy, I thought he was awesome, but it turns out I actually needed a different one.

So you swap him out for a new model. Oh, the happiness that I'm searching for, it wasn't really in being the most popular like I thought it was. It's in finding that special someone. Oh, no, no, no. It's not finding that special someone. It's in money.

That's really the way to be happy. Oh, no, no. It's not there. It's not in money. It's in family.

Oh, no, no. It's not in family. It's just in knowing that you're a good person and you have the right eight people around your bedside, you know, at the end. And if you got your family, then it's going to be all, or whatever other idol you come up with. You just say, well, someone on the idol and I got to find a new one. He said, option number two is you blame yourself. And that is you live with shame. There's something wrong with me. I'm not good enough.

I'm not good enough until you live with this guilt complex, shame complex. Option number three, he says, is you blame the world itself. You become a cynic. You conclude, well, there's just no happiness in the world. You can't depend on anybody or trust anybody.

Everybody and everything will end up letting you down and you become a cynical old person. Option number four, he says, you realize that you were made for another world. Again, to quote C.S.

Lewis, if I find in myself a yearning which nothing on this earth can satisfy, the only conclusion is that I was made for another world. There are two things God says happens when you put him second. First, he says, I frustrate your efforts. And secondly, he says, you are unable to find satisfaction.

That's where Israel was in Haggai 1. So what does God tell him to do? What's God tell him to do? I love this, verse seven, the Lord of armies says this, think carefully about your ways. And watch this, go up into the hills, bring down lumber and build the house.

And I'll be pleased with it and I will be glorified, says the Lord. Here's what I love about that verse. It's not that hard. There's no complex code to break. There's nothing to memorize.

There's no attendance sheet you need to check off. Just start putting God first. Get your rear end up to the hills, bring down the lumber and build the house. But what about all the enemies who want to kill us? And what about setting up our children well for the future? And what about getting this nation established?

Can't you just hear all the objections are coming up within their heart? God responds with Matthew 6 33. You seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And you watch as I add all of these things unto you. The question for Israel and the question for us is simply, do you trust God enough to put him first?

I mentioned this last week. The greatest obstacle to generosity in the life of the average Christian is not stinginess. It's trust. That's always the obstacle to commitment. Do you actually trust Jesus enough to go all the way with him? To fully release yourself to him? If you're struggling with commitment in any area of the Christian life, it ultimately comes back to trust.

Do you trust him enough to release yourself fully to him? You're asking if I put God first, am I going to be taken care of? And what you do with your money, what I do with my money is the single greatest indicator of the quality of our faith.

Because you know this, talk is cheap. Church attendance is cheap. Anybody can say they trust God, but what you do with your money determines whether or not you actually do. Don't tell me what your mouth says you believe about God. Show me what your pocketbook says you believe about him. That's the much more reliable indicator, which is why I believe Jesus talked about money so much. It's not because he needed money.

Can we agree on that? He could take five loaves and two fish and feed a nation. Jesus talked about money a lot because he knew that what we did with our money demonstrated whether or not we actually believe, regardless of what our mouth says. You see, money always competes with God for that first place in our hearts.

It is God's number one competitor, so to speak. I was listening to a Christian leader named Andy Crouch actually mentioned him in another context last week. He pointed out how Jesus said in Matthew 6, you probably know this verse, Matthew 6, 24, you cannot serve God and money. He said, you know, isn't it interesting that this is the one thing, the only thing that I know of that Jesus said you cannot serve alongside of God.

He didn't say you cannot serve God and sex, you will desire. He didn't say you cannot serve God and Caesar. I mean, think about it, Caesar was a bad dude. He was evil, he was anti-God, he was a murderer, he was militaristic, he was insane. Yet Jesus never said you cannot serve God and Caesar.

In fact, what did he say? Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and give unto God what is God's. Which basically means you can serve Caesar appropriately, just don't treat him like a God.

Don't treat him like a God, but there is a way that you can and should serve both Caesar and God. So why doesn't Jesus say that about money too? Why doesn't he say, hey, just serve money appropriately and serve God appropriately. Andy Crouch says it's because money offers us a power that not even Caesar has. Money is unique among other kinds of power in at least three ways, he says. First he says it's fungible, there's your SAT word for the week.

That fungible just means that you can trade money out for an infinite number of other things. You can use money to buy comfort, you can use it to guarantee security. You can use money to control outcomes so that they are favorable for you.

Money gives you the ability to get done what you want done in the world, even if other people don't want you to do those things. That's power. Second, he said money's countable. At any point you can know how much of it you have. That is not true for other kinds of power. How much power does the CEO of a company actually have?

Well, they got some, but if you've ever been in that role, you know it's hard to know exactly how much power you have. There's just no way to count it, but you can measure money. You can measure it literally down to the penny.

It is right there in a balance sheet. Finally, Crouch said it's storable. You can save it for later. That's not true of most kinds of power. Most power has to be exercised now. With money, though, you can store it up. Even being a speaker this morning, for you I've got a certain kind of power. I'm just in being the speaker, but I've got to use that right now because you're not going to be here for an hour.

I can stand here and give the same talk to an empty room, and it's not going to have the same effect, is it? Money's not like that. You can store it up.

You can hold on to it and use that power whenever you want. Those three things, Dr. Crouch said, give money a kind of possessive, enslaving power in your heart that not even Caesar has, which is why God tells us you can't serve God and money. Both of them are going to call out for you to depend on them. Both are going to compete for your heart's affections. They're going to say, lean on me, hoping me for the future. You're going to love the one and end up hating the other.

If you love the one, you're going to resent the things that the other claims on you. Thanks for joining us today here on Summit Life with Pastor J.D. Greer. Friends, today is the day. It's Giving Tuesday. And did you know that there are still 3,600 languages spoken on earth that have zero access to the Bible?

That's right. Millions and millions of people live without even having the option of opening God's Word and reading it for themselves. But you know what? You can make a difference today because on this Giving Tuesday, every single dollar given at jdgreer.com slash donate will go towards funding the translation of the Bible into a language it's never been translated into before. And the best part is that every dollar given up to $50,000 will also be matched by a generous donor, meaning we'll double our gift to this work.

But it's today only, so do not wait. Get in on what will literally be a life-changing, eternity-shaping work for an unreached group of people. Give right now at jdgreer.com slash donate. That's jdgreer.com slash donate. Now let's return for the closing moments of our teaching series. Once again, here's Pastor JD.

It's even worse, though. Matthew 6-24, that I quoted. How many of you, again, this is for the issue of the church background, how many of you memorized that verse using a different word? You cannot love God and mammon.

That's right, okay, so you too. I realize that the second week in a row, I said some positive things about the KJV. I promise I'm not gonna start preaching from the KJV. But the KJV gets this one right, and our modern English translations get it wrong. The original translation says you cannot serve God and mammon. Now, why do some translations still have the word?

Okay, follow this, okay, you ready? What language does Jesus speak in? Aramaic, okay? Mammon is the Aramaic word for money. But your New Testament was written originally in Greek, so when the gospel writers wrote down Jesus' words, they would translate what he said from Aramaic into Greek. Yet for this one word, this one word, mammon, they just left it in Aramaic.

So in the original Greek translations of the Bible, it's Greek, Greek, Greek, Greek, Aramaic. Why did they leave that word untranslated? Well, when you're translating something, what kind of word do you not translate? Think about it, if you're translating, what words do you leave untranslated? Names.

You don't translate a name, you transliterate a name. And the early church said the disciples wrote down this as a proper name because they understood that Jesus was not just talking about a thing here. He was talking about a personal power, a demonic power, something that comes into your heart with a will. Satan has a unique power over this. It is part of his domain. It's not that you can't have any of it, no.

The world works on it and it has great power for good. It's just that you should always realize that it will always be fighting to have you to possess your heart. God and money will always be pulling you in opposite directions.

You're gonna love the one and your love for the one is gonna make you hate the other. With demonic energy, it's gonna beckon you, Christian, it's gonna beckon you to transfer your trust from God to it. You may never verbalize this, but in your heart, you'll think, I don't need to trust God for the future. I have mammon. And by the way, if right now, you don't like all this talk about stewardship and generosity and giving, I might just argue to you that mammon is whispering in that in your heart.

We hate it when he talks about this, but he just mind his own business and move on and get back to how Jesus makes our lives complete. That is the spirit of mammon talking to you right there. It comes into your heart with a will and it says, don't talk about this, don't think about this because I wanna possess you. One of the things that John Mark Comer explained a few weeks ago when he was here was that the devil's primary strategy in our lives was to get us to believe lies, right? And remember how when he described a demonic lie, a demonic temptation is an idea with a will behind it.

A thought that forces its way into your mind and just tries to take over. Then he challenged us, he said, identify the specific lies that Satan whispers to you. Try to write them out in words and then counteract them with scripture. Well, I took his advice and I started to do that. I have this little app on my phone called Evernote and it's just a place where you keep random notes and stuff and I have one right now called The Devil's Lies for J.D.

Greer. And I've just over, it's taken me several weeks, I'm just going through and writing them down and one of mine, one of the first ones that the Holy Spirit helped me identify was in regards to money. I'd say it's probably true for all of us. So I really just, in pondering it, I was like, I wanna get the version of this lie that the enemy whispers into my heart.

Here's what it comes out as. It comes out as an abundance of money is the good life. And so J.D., if you're going to give, don't give in a way that threatens your material comforts.

Give to look good. Give to fulfill whatever obligations you think you have to your church so that you can be a model for them in giving, but do not give in a way that threatens your present comfort or future security. The truth that I'm using to counteract that lie is what Jesus said next in Matthew 6. That lie pops into my heart probably twice a day at least. And I will counteract it with, lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust do corrupt and where thieves break in and steal, but instead lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust and thieves can't touch them. The good life is not to be found through laying up treasures here. The good life is found through laying up treasures there. And I'm faced, I realize, with a simple call to believe. Do I believe God and his promises or do I believe mammon and his promises? Do you believe that the good life is not a lot of money down here, but do you think the good life is laying up treasures there because both of them are calling out for you right now?

What about you? Do you trust God enough to give him your first and your best and then to use whatever excess you have to lay up treasures in heaven and not here? Around here, we use this phrase.

We've used it for years. We say live sufficiently and give extravagantly. And we say it that way because most of us reverse that. We give sufficiently and we live extravagantly. In fact, let's just be honest. We try to give sufficiently so that we don't feel guilty about our extravagant living.

I'm just calling you to reverse that. Listen, there is nothing wrong with nice stuff. God created for us all things to enjoy. The problem is when you prioritize that above the kingdom of God. You understand God was not upset that Israel had paneled houses.

He was gonna give them that anyway. He was upset that they had prioritized paneled houses for himself over his kingdom, which means if you've got money to be extravagant somewhere, be extravagant first with the kingdom of God. That is why Veronica and I have always maintained that our biggest yearly expense, our biggest monthly budget item, by God's grace as often as we can do this, and so far we haven't had any exceptions, our biggest budget item is always gonna be the kingdom of God. We have determined to put more into God's kingdom than we spend on our mortgage. Like we wanna give more to the kingdom of God than we spend on our mortgage each year. More than we put into our savings, the kingdom of God by his grace, we are always going to have it come first in our lives.

What about you? Specifically this December, I wanna call us to respond as we begin again in some bold ways. I'm asking you to consider what you might do that shows that the kingdom of God truly does have your first and best place in your heart. What can you give that clearly declares Jesus is first? Maybe it's something that says you're gonna change in this.

Maybe it's a gift from stored resources. Maybe as an application of today's message, you're just gonna wrestle with like, hey, why am I still hanging onto this? What better thing could I do than actually put this into the kingdom of God?

Haggai 1 verse 2. These people say, time has not come for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt. We'll get to that. We'll get to that. We'll get to that one day, but it's not time now. Now it's time for us to establish our career, get our college majors figured out. Let's get all this other stuff set up.

And God says, oh, no, no, no, it was time. It should come first. Y'all, where did we say this today? Where do you say it?

Where do I say it? I don't mean to put words in your mouth, but it probably comes out like this. You probably don't articulate it this way, but here's what we think. Oh, the time has not come for the triangle to be thoroughly reached with the gospel.

Yeah, we're gonna give. We'll try to do our part, but we're not gonna do it in a radical way, in a way that affects our lifestyle as if the hour was urgent. Oh, the time has not come to end the foster care crisis in Durham. The time has not come for us to make a real difference in the prison system. The time has not come for Afghan refugees to receive the hope of Christ. The time has not come yet to get the Bible translated immediately into languages around the world that have no access to the gospel. Time's not come yet to reach these college campuses. Hopefully that'll happen one day, but right now is the time to build my own house or to build that second home or to live that lifestyle I've always dreamed of.

That's what time it is. God says, no. The time has come to build this temple. That's why I brought you back from exile. That's why I saved you. So I'm gonna think carefully about your ways.

The solution for us is simple. Put God first, go up to the hills, bring down the lumber, and build the house. God says, I'll take care of you if you do. By the way, if you need additional motivation, you should just realize, ponder the fact that this whole temple that they were building, right, y'all know this, right? It was just a temporary stand-in for Jesus. Jesus was the real temple, the real sacrifice that would be made to connect people and God, the real place where the presence of God dwelt, and God built that temple all by himself, didn't he? Jesus didn't save us through some paneling and some wainscoting. Jesus reconciled us to God through the torn flesh of his own body, the real temple, the place where man and God would reconnect. That was established because God gave to us his first and his best, Jesus. So in light of that, should we not joyfully give back our first and our best to him? Do you need to begin again? Do you need to place God back on the throne of your heart or maybe make him Lord for the very first time? Don't wait. Do that today. And if you have questions about what that looks like, we would love to hear from you.

You can always send us an email at requestsatjdgrier.com. Pastor JD, today is Giving Tuesday, and we have an amazing opportunity here at Summit Life to fund a new Bible translation for an unreached people group. Yes, Molly, exactly. And all the funds that are collected, 100 percent, are going to be given to translate the Bible into a brand new language where we actually have church planters on the ground that don't have a Bible in the native tongue. And I know you say, well, what is it?

Well, I can't really say because it's such a secure region. You're going to help put the Bible into the language of a group that's never had it before and is so security sensitive that we can't even talk about it on the air. There are 7,000 languages in the world today, and about half of them, about half, have little to no access to the Bible in their native tongue.

And so we want to change that for the language of this group that some of our missionaries and church planters are living among. We're going to be working with a translation organization who's going to help do it at the highest levels of quality. I want you to know that we will keep zero dollars that we raise here today at Summit Life. It's all going to go to this incredible work. We still need your generosity toward Summit Life.

That's what enables us to be here. And so I hope this doesn't take away from any generosity you give to us. But this one day we want to say let's help make the gospel accessible to a people group that's never heard it before. Don't wait.

Don't wait. Invest in the mission of God and the global church today. Go to jdgrier.com slash donate and give your gift today. All right, people, think about the opportunity that we have here. We can make a tangible, life-changing difference in the lives of real people who currently have zero access to God's word. And like Pastor JD said, any gift given today at jdgrier.com slash donate will be matched up to $50,000 to help fund this Bible translation project. We're literally giving away every single dollar that we receive today.

So why wait? Head to jdgrier.com slash donate to give today. Once again, that's jdgrier.com slash donate. And thank you to each of you who make this incredible work possible. Your support is essential to our mission and we are so grateful for every contribution. I'm Molly Bidevich wishing you a very happy Giving Tuesday. And tomorrow we'll start a new teaching series called Multiply. Don't miss it Wednesday on Summit Life with J.D. Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by JD Greer Ministries.