Treasure and Trust

Today on Summit Life with J.D.

Greer. The call to ministry and the call to be Jesus' follower are always one and the same because God only blesses you to make you a blessing. There is no such thing as a follower of Jesus who is not actively engaged as a channel of blessing to other people. God is like a spiritual tornado.

He never pulls you in without also hurling you out. Welcome back to Summit Life. As always, I'm your host, Molly Vitovich. We hope you had a great Thanksgiving day and maybe you're out and about working on that Christmas list right now, but the fact that you're here means that you're ready to jump back into God's Word with us. Today, Pastor J.D. Greer answers the question, how do we receive the blessings of God?

Everyone wants to experience God's blessing, but how do we really grab a hold of that abundant life like the scriptures talk about? What is it we're supposed to do? We just began a series called All In, and if you missed the first message, you can catch up online at jdgreer.com. Right now, let's get into our teaching. Pastor J.D.

titled today's message Treasure and Trust. So this week, we're going to look at our second Old Testament character, and that is the person of Abraham, and we're going to look at his story and what his story shows us about what it means to go all in on the mission, and then we're going to look at your life through the lens of his life, and then we're going to look at where we are as a church through the lens of his life. So if you have your Bible, I would invite you to take it out right now and open it to Genesis chapter 12. That's where we're going to begin.

Then we're going to go to one other place before we apply this to our church. Genesis chapter 12, verse 1, Now, if you study this passage, one of the things you'll see is that this story begins in a remarkably similar way to the way that the Noah story begins, and that is intentional. If you remember, by the time that Noah lived, the world had become so wicked that God chose one man and his family and started over through them and destroyed the rest of humanity with a flood. So he repopulates the earth through Noah and his descendants.

Well, Genesis 10 and 11 are the story of those descendants, and what you find is that by the end of chapter 11, there is one kind of godly line of the sons of Shem, and they are all now living in the place of idolatry, which makes you assume that they've become idolaters too. And there's one final guy in this line, a guy named Terah, and he's got one son named Abram, and Abram is childless. Terah's name literally means the moon, which is a Hebrew metaphor for the end.

It'd be like you or me saying the caboose. So what he's indicating is that it's over. The godly line has succumbed to idolatry, and Abram is childless. So Noah's descendants have left the world of the exact same condition that it was then when God saved Noah out of it. So it looks like it is about time for God to destroy the world again. Project humanity has been a complete and utter failure, but instead of destroying the earth, God does something different this time. He calls out Abraham, and he gives him this promise. He promises him that he will bless him, and more than that, he will make their name great by making them a blessing to the whole earth.

Like Noah, Abraham found grace in the eyes of God, and through him, all of us would find grace. Rather than God destroying the world again the way he did in the flood, this time he chose a family. And instead of choosing a family and destroying everybody else, he chose a family and said, I'm going to bless you, and I'm going to make your name great, because through you, I'm going to bless everybody. And the blessing that he was talking about was an explicit promise of the Messiah. Through Abraham's descendants, God was going to send a Messiah that would bless all the families of the earth. Like Noah's art, this Messiah would shield his people from the wrath of God, and he would commence a new creation, a new race, one that no longer was inclined toward evil, but one that loved God and followed God and did what God had intended them to do.

The blessing that God is talking about here is the blessing of salvation. It would start in Abraham's house, but it would extend to the whole world. And every single one of us in this room that knows Jesus Christ as their Savior was included in the promise that God made to Abraham that he didn't destroy our wickedness through a flood. He just he destroyed our wickedness by sending a Savior who would be destroyed in our place so that we could have the blessing that God promised to Abraham. Now what was required of Abraham to receive this promise?

And what was required of Abraham to become this blessing? He had to leave all that he knew to obtain it. He had to take his hands off of everything that he owned and everything he loved in order to become God's child and then to become God's vessel of blessing. And he had to believe God for the impossible. Abraham and Sarah are childless, which is, of course, a challenge for any couple, especially in days before there are modern medicine. But there's a little detail in verse four that shows you why this is especially challenging, and that is that Abraham is 75 and his wife is 60.

And by that point in your life that, you know, if it ain't happened, it ain't gonna happen, right? Can I get an amen? So he's told to forsake all that he was clinging to, and he was told to venture out into the unknown, trusting in nothing but the promise of God for something that was absolutely unbelievable. Now there are five crucial things about the mission of God and understanding how you, what it looks like for you to follow God that I want to observe for you out of these four verses before we go on.

So here they are. Number one, following God always means venturing out into the unknown. Following God always means venturing out into the unknown. You know, God says to Abraham, Abraham, I want you to go to a new land I have for you. And Abraham says, well, where is that? And God says, I'll tell you later. And Abraham's like, well, could I at least get, you know, some GPS coordinates? I'm gonna punch it into my camel and, you know, that way the camel knows where to go.

And my wife wants to, you know, she likes to know how long it's gonna get there. And God says, I'll tell you as you go. God says to Abraham, I'm gonna give you a son. And Abraham says, how? God, I'm 75.

And Sarah's 60. And God says, I'll explain that later. Just come on. And God says to Abraham, you know, later, you'll find out. God says to Abraham, I want you to climb up this mountain.

I want you to sacrifice your son. And Abraham says, why? And God says, I'm not gonna explain that to you.

I just want you to do it. All of Abraham's interactions with God involve him venturing into the unknown. I love how John Calvin summarized God and Abraham's discussion here.

John Calvin said, basically God says to Abraham, close your eyes and take my hand. Close your eyes, Abraham, and take my hand. I'm not gonna tell you where we're going. I'm not gonna tell you how we're gonna get there. I'm not gonna answer all the questions.

You're gonna do this one step at a time. You're gonna know that this is me talking to you. You're gonna close your eyes and you are gonna take my hand.

Let me tell you why I love that. Because I see as a pastor so many people who are unwilling to do this, which is why they never know God and why they never experience what God has for them. They're like, well, God, if I surrender to you, I mean, what are you gonna do about this right here? Are you gonna make me be a missionary? And do I have to, you know, or am I gonna be poor?

Do I have to break up with my boyfriend? Or God, I don't understand this. How is this gonna work out?

How is this pressure gonna do this? Am I gonna become one of those annoying, like, Jesus-freak kind of people? Because they people just get on my nerves. Am I gonna become that? And God says, for now, I'm not gonna tell you. Close your eyes and take my hand. Because this is gonna go one step at a time. And if you know this is me talking to you, then you're gonna have to trust that I'm going to do what I said I'm gonna do. And I'm not gonna show you what the end of the road looks like. I'm just gonna show you that you're gonna take my hand and walk with me. That's how God always calls people, and that's the one hurdle some of you cannot get over.

It's because you have to see where you're going before you go. God is at A, is it B, is it C? And God says, I'm not telling you which one it is. I'm just telling you to take my hand.

I am not telling you to turn your brain off. You gotta decide if this is really God speaking to you. You gotta decide if God is the one who wrote the Bible. But once you conclude that it is Him, that it is He that is speaking to you, then at that point, you have to say, God, wherever you wanna go, wherever you wanna go, I'll go anywhere holding your hand. Number two, God's calling to salvation and His commission in the ministry or mission are one and the same. God's calling to salvation and His commission in the ministry are one and the same. Did you notice that God's first call to Abraham is also His commission in the mission? The reason I say that is because there's this misconception among Christians, I find, that you get called to be God's child at one point, and then later on, you get called to be a disciple and to go into His mission, as if it was like a 2.0 or a graduate level or a 4.0.1 kind of place in Christianity.

That doesn't exist. In the Bible, the two calls, the call to be His child and the call to be in His mission are always one and the same. Abraham, I am blessing you to make you a blessing.

Same sentence. Think about other people in the Bible, Moses. Now I call Moses in the burning bush. What did he say to him at the burning bush? He's like, hey, man, I want you to veg out for about 10 years while I just kind of school you and then 10 years I'll come back to the burning bush and then I'll send you to, no. The first conversation they had at the burning bush, I'm about to send you to Pharaoh.

I'm calling you to be my servant and to be my emissary all at once. Peter, when God called, when Jesus called Peter to follow him, remember how he did it? He had him cast his nets on the other side of the boat, immediately they were filled up with fish, about made the boat sink, and Jesus says, follow me because that's what I'm going to do with your life.

That's how you're going to catch men. The apostle Paul, when God called the apostle Paul, appeared to him on the road to Damascus, and Jesus said, rise up. Act 26 16. Rise up and stand on your feet for I've appeared to you for this purpose to make you a minister and a witness of the things that you have seen and the things which I will yet show you. The call to ministry and the call to be Jesus follower are always one and the same because God only blesses you to make you a blessing. There is no such thing as a follower of Jesus who is not actively engaged as a channel of blessing to other people. God is like a spiritual tornado.

He never pulls you in without also hurling you out. Jesus said to his disciples, John 15 16, you didn't choose me. I chose you and I chose you that you would go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit would remain and it is my father's glory that you bear much fruit, which is really good news for some of you because you got to understand that when God chose you, he didn't choose you just to save you. He chose you to make you an instrument of salvation.

For some of you, your lives have been characterized by selfishness and mistakes. You have caused pain and you might think that Jesus only has enough grace allotted for you to just save you. It's like that's pretty much all he can do with you. You were so bad, so damaged. He just saved you. He's like, that's it.

I got nothing left. When Jesus shows you grace, it is for the purpose of making you an instrument of grace and in fact what I have seen over my life is the more grace Jesus had to use in saving you, the more grace he uses you through you to bless and to save others. Jesus calls you. He blesses you to make you a blessing.

That's number three. You are only blessed. You are blessed to be a blessing. Thanks for joining us today here on Summit Life with Pastor J.D.

Greer. We'll jump back into today's teaching in just a moment. Okay everyone, Thanksgiving is officially behind us and I certainly hope you had a great day celebrating with family and friends this week, but now it's game time. Whether you like it or not, it's officially Christmas time and one of my favorite Christmas traditions is sending out cards to beloved friends and family. This Christmas season we are very excited to offer our gospel partners and financial supporters a special collection of 20 exquisite Christmas cards crafted just for you. These cards carry messages that reflect the heart of Christmas and they're not just cards, they're messages of hope, love and joy that you can share with anyone who holds a special place in your heart this season. We're sending these out to all of our friends who donate $35 or more to this ministry, so don't wait.

You can give over the phone right now at 866-335-5220 or by visiting us online at jdegreer.com. Make this Christmas season special by sharing the good news with those that you care about most. Now let's return to today's teaching. Once again, here's Pastor J.D. You're blessed to be a blessing. Question, is that how you see the blessings in your life? Do you see the blessings that God has given to you as something that God gave you to pass through you to others?

Or let me rephrase it like this, do you see yourself more as a reservoir of God's blessings or a channel of God's blessings? I have a friend of mine who's a pastor and he said that there was a guy in his church who is a multi-millionaire. He said he's one of the most remarkable guys that I've ever known because he said this man gives away money faster than anybody I have ever, he says he just is writing checks all the time to try to get new ministry started. My friend said I asked this guy what is like what's your goal in all this? How do you know that you've succeeded?

He says my goal, get this, he says my goal is to bounce my last check before I die. I want to take every bit of what God's given me and I want to turn it back into his kingdom because God did not give me this just for me. God gave me this to be an instrument in his kingdom. Is that how you see the blessings in your life?

If so then because you understand you've been loved by God you know how you'll show that? You'll love people extravagantly the way that you've been loved. It means you'll give generously to people as you've been given generously to. It means that if you've been given wisdom you will share your wisdom with others. It means that you've been given a talent you are asking how does this talent go to bless the kingdom of God not how is it that I build my own kingdom?

That's what it means. Here's number four, to receive the blessing and become the blessing we have to take our hands off everything and make God our trust and his kingdom our delight. To receive this blessing and to become this blessing we got to take our hands off everything and make God our trust and his kingdom our delight. Do you realize that when God called Abraham, listen, he didn't tell Abraham he wanted Abraham to add a little God to his life, add a few tweaks to his morality. He called Abraham to a whole new basis for living. He said Abraham everything that you've looked to for security I want you to walk away from. Everything that you have spent your life building I want you to walk away from that because I want to become your security and I want my kingdom to become your delights. What kingdom are you living for, right? Does that characterize you? You see following God is not just adding a little God to our lives it means making God our trust for the future and his kingdom our delight.

Let's calibrate for a minute. All of us in this room have something probably a set of things that we look most to for security and we look to as our treasure what we what we love. For example for many of you men it's succeeding in your career. That's what you got to have because succeeding in your career helps you have identity as a man it helps you you make sure that you're going to provide everything that you need right you're having enough money in the bank is is security. Some of you men live for your hobbies right that's why you spend so much money on them that's why you devote so much time to them. We have some students that you know security for them is getting into the right school making sure they make the right grades that's what they look to is kind of their security for the future. For some of you it's just getting married having a great family having a comfortable life after you're married I mean that's what the good life is that's security that's treasure. Following God means letting go of all of that as your primary treasure and your security and it means making God the source of both of those things and if that doesn't sound really difficult to you then I can assure you you've never thought through it.

That's why so many people miss this that's why so many people stay religious but never actually become followers of Jesus because they don't know what it's like to take their hands off everything and say Jesus it's all yours you show me where you want me to go what you want me to do you're my treasure you're my security. I've heard it referred to as a Copernican revolution of the soul. Do you remember science? Do you remember Copernicus?

I'm doing this because that's the world. Remember what Copernicus discovered? He discovered that unlike what astronomers thought the earth was not at the center of everything and the whole universe you know revolved around it.

Copernicus discovered that the earth actually was in orbit around the sun and there was nothing really except for a little tiny you know hunk of rock called the moon that was orbiting the earth and he was a Copernican revolution because we weren't at the center having everything orbit around us we were actually orbiting things that were much larger than us. Copernican revolution of the soul. Many of you have come to church you've come to God to try to figure out how to get God back in orbit in your life. You're like God how do I get you as a part of my family?

How does it get you a part of my career? How do I get you as a part of my eternity? And God says wrong question because you don't come to me to add a little bit of me to your life. You got to discover that this is this is not even this is not even your universe.

You're not even the center of anything. You are going to orbit me and you're going to have to start answering what purpose I have for you in my kingdom which means I've got to become your delight. My kingdom has to become your kingdom. I have to become your treasure.

You orbit me not me orbiting you. Does that make sense? Number five.

Number five. To become the blessing we have to believe the impossible. To become the blessing we have to leave believe the impossible. Abraham had to believe what he couldn't understand what seemed impossible and then act on it. He had to believe God would keep his word.

He had to close his eyes and take God's hand and somewhere along the way he splashed cologne on his hundred-year-old body and put on some Marvin Gaye and he started a family. For you to follow God means that you believe some equally impossible things. One that he can save you. Two that he can use your life for blessing just like he promised. Three that he will answer the questions that you don't know the answers to.

Four he will provide for you the resources for what he tells you to do. Following God at every step always means believing God that God will do the impossible even when you don't know how it works out what the answer is or where it's coming from. Now before I apply this to you I want to take you to one other place where Abraham was tested on this. You ever seen how God sometimes will teach you a lesson then he'll come back a few chapters later in your life and test you on it to see whether or not you actually learned it?

And if you're like me you usually fail miserably and you have to go back and relearn the lesson. Well that's what God's about to do to Abraham and so chapter 22 is that story so flip over 10 chapters if you got your bible to chapter 22. But Genesis 22 Abraham is, Abraham and Sarah have had their miracle baby. The name of the baby was Isaac which means son of laughter because I mean you just know how humorous it shows you the bible writers understand that this is ridiculous. I mean humorous right? Isaac born when Sarah is 90 which means that when they both had a birthday that year they both got diapers. Two totally different kinds and different types right? This is funny. It's funny there's a 90 year old woman wearing her own diapers is now putting diapers on her kids. After these things God tested Abraham.

Is that what we're testing? And he said to him Abraham and Abraham said here I am and he said take your son your only son Isaac whom you love and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. Now I know that for some of you that raises some questions why would God ever say that to somebody?

There are answers to those questions. I don't have time to answer those questions for you today but what I want you to consider is what this meant for Abraham. God knows what it means for Abraham because yes we all love our children but for Abraham that was something more than just a beloved child. That was everything he hoped for the future. That was what he left that land for.

This was the fulfillment of the promise. All of his hopes, all of his dreams, all of his security, all of his affections are centered upon the head of this child and God looks him dead in the face and says take your son. But do you see the phrase your only son? I mean he's only got one son.

Why does that need to be clarified? Right? Take your son. Oh your only son. I only got one son so my one son is my only son whom you love because he's spelling out for him exactly what it's costing Abraham. Take your only son the fulfillment of this promise the one that you love and I want you to walk up that mountain and I want you to sacrifice him to me. Abraham begins this journey as he's walking up this mountain there's this touching scene where Isaac looks at his dad and says dad I see the wood, I see the fire, I see the knife, I don't see a sacrifice. And all Abraham says is something that's become very famous if you've been in church he says son God will provide the lamb for the sacrifice. Jehovah Jireh is what he said that God will provide the lamb. Maybe go make their way on up the mountain and Abraham builds the altar puts the wood on the altar takes Isaac and puts him on the altar and raises his knife to slaughter his son. And right before he plunges the knife into his chest an angel of God appears in front of Abraham and says stop don't do this. God was testing you to see if he was still your security and he was still your treasure or if somehow the blessings of God had replaced God. And he wanted to know if the time came if this was still all about him.

And then the angel went on to say now that you have gone through with this now God knows that you love him because you were willing to sacrifice your son your only son whom you loved and God sees the love that you have for him. What is being tested of Abraham? It's a question that I think you really ought to ask yourself. Is God your primary treasure and trust? Is God your primary treasure and trust? You want to know how you can know?

Here's how you know. Does he have full authority to tell you what to do with everything in your life? Have you come to a point where you've told God he can have it all all of it? Is your life a blank check to God?

Everything you own, everything you are, everything you have, everything you ever hope to be is it in his hands to do with what he wills. If you've never come to that position in that place then you're not really a disciple of Jesus. Which is why Jesus talks about so many religious people who never enter the kingdom of God.

Because they're religious means they like to come to church they like to hear tips for living they like to hear what the Bible has to say about this and that. They've never come to a place where they say Jesus you are my treasure you are my security and so my hands are open and they are off of everything because you are what I am seeking. Is he your primary treasure and is he your trust? Pastor JD Greer has given us challenging questions to consider today. You are listening to Summit Life and a message titled Treasure and Trust.

It's part of our new teaching series called All In and you can catch up on and you can catch up on previous messages free of charge at jdgreer.com. Also a very special announcement this coming Tuesday is an international giving holiday known as Giving Tuesday and each year JD Greer Ministries picks a gospel focused cause to give generously to. This year we are very excited to have the unique opportunity to spread the message of the gospel with tens of millions of people in a very strategic location. By giving through JD Greer Ministries on Tuesday you can help put Summit Life on the airwaves in Southern California. Be sure to tune in next week to hear all of these details.

Every penny given that day will be used to further the gospel in this strategic way. You can bookmark jdgreer.com slash donate right now so you're ready for Giving Tuesday. While you're on the website don't forget to sign up for our weekly newsletter. Get ministry updates, information about new resources and Pastor JD's latest blog post delivered straight to your inbox. It's a great way to stay connected with Summit Life and it's completely free to subscribe.

Sign up when you go to jdgreer.com. I'm Molly Vitovich. Thanks for joining us today. You know God wants to multiply our lives but that journey begins when we take our hands off of everything we own and love and trust in and venture into the unknown. Be sure to join us next week when we continue the teaching series called All In here on Summit Life with JD Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by JD Greer Ministries.