Text: Luke 18:18-27
Title: Give Your Heart!
Series: The Giving Church
Topic: Giving your heart!
Occasion: Burnside Christian Church,
Prop.: When you give your heart to God, be prepared for BIG THINGS to happen in your life!
Introduction: Good morning! It is so good to be back with you! At this time, our Jr. Church age kids are dismissed and please pass the attendance pads down the pew your in.
Giving! This month our focus turns to this exhausting topic! I introduced this topic by asking you which of these four areas is the hardest to give?
TIME TALENT MONEY HEART
Rethink on that question for a while. Today, we start where we need to start…with the most important part of this whole topic of giving. Today, we focus on GIVING YOUR HEART!
Please turn to Luke 18:18-30. This will be our text for today.
While you are turning there, I want to mention that next Sunday will be an opportunity for you to put into practice some of the things I have been speaking about this month. Next Sunday, we will be collecting your money, your time and your talents. There will be a table in the fellowship hall where we will collect: Clothing, canned goods, toys, and money for the benevolence team. These items will be given to those in need in our surrounding communities! Please come prepared to give!!!!
Luke 18:18-30. Are you there yet? This is what our text reads:
18 A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
19 "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ’You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’ [a]"
21 "All these I have kept since I was a boy," he said.
22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
23 When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. 24 Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! 25 Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the rich to enter the kingdom of God."
26 Those who heard this asked, "Who then can be saved?"
27 Jesus replied, "What is impossible with human beings is possible with God."
28 Peter said to him, "We have left all we had to follow you!"
29 "Truly I tell you," Jesus said to them, "no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God 30 will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life."
Upon reading our text, you might assume that this is a message on giving money. And you’d be wrong.
T.S.: I want to answer three questions in regards to giving your heart this morning.
What does it mean to give God your heart?
I. WHAT DO I MEAN BY GIVE YOUR HEART?
ANSWER: I mean sold out, would do anything you can for God’s kingdom, purposes and will!
A. The example of the Rich Young Ruler
--The Rich Young Ruler
All three gospels record Jesus’ encounter with this rich young man. His name is never given. His occupation is never given. But all three gospel writers mention that he is young (by the way, youth according to Philo, is suggested to include the period between 21 - 28), all three gospel writers mention that he was a Jew (for he had obediently followed the Law since he was a boy), and all three gospel writers mention that he was extremely wealthy. His question of how to inherit eternal life, indicates that he is a Pharisee…one who placed MUCH emphasis on following the Law to the letter! Did you catch it? What must IIIIII DO to inherit eternal life? How many good works must I perform?
It would not be out of line to suppose that this man was perhaps a member of the Sanhedrin. The Supreme Court of the day.
So in regards to SOME of his lifestyle, there was NO doubt that he was sold out for God!
But, you see, this rich young man was sold out for God in the areas where it was comfortable for him. He was obedient in the things that were easy for him!
In regards to the 10 commandments, Jesus lists 5 of the 10.
Don’t commit adultery
Do not murder
Do not steal
Do not give false testimony
Honor your father and Mother
And those five commandments that Jesus lists are five commands that this rich, young, Pharisee believes he has faithfully kept! Do you remember how Jesus summarized the 10 commandments?
Love the Lord your God!
Love your neighbor as yourself!
The five that Jesus reminds this rich young man of are the commands concerning how to treat one another.
How strange it is that this young fellow firmly responds by saying, “All of these I have kept since I was a boy!” But did he really love his neighbor as Himself? He was sitting on massive amounts of wealth while his neighbors went hungry.
What we have here is a heart problem! His treasure was wealth. And there was his heart! This young man was more in love with his riches than his Lord. He hadn’t given fully his heart to God!
B. The example of you
--Perhaps you can relate to our main character. You have tried to follow God’s word to the best of your ability. You’ve been a Christian from the time you were very young. And now in your adult life you are trying to be obedient to the things God calls you to.
But there is one thing in your life that is luring you away from God! Maybe your struggle is with money and maybe it’s not. But there is something in your life that you have given your heart to more than God.
Sports
Your Job
Dating relationship
Drugs
There is some area in your life that you love more than your Savior! And it’s obvious because that’s where you spend your time, talents, and money! It’s not until you give your heart to God will you give Him your time, talents and money.
Is it clear what I mean by GIVING YOUR HEART TO GOD?
That leads me to ask our second question:
II. HOW DO I GIVE MY HEART?
ANSWER: YOU CHOOSE TO GIVE YOUR HEART!
A. PUT GOD FIRST!
--Notice the Rich Young Ruler
Jesus told Him what he needed to do. And what was the result?
Vs. 23 of Luke’s account tell us: “He became very sad”
I think Mark’s account gives us a better description. Mark 10:22 says: “At these words, his face fell and he went away grieved.”
Jesus was essentially telling this young man to get his priorities right!!! Look at what really matters! This is the same message I have for you today! WAKE UP AND LOOK AT WHAT REALLY MATTERS!
People, have you forgotten that you have an eternity of life waiting for you? And the decisions you make in this life will have a large impact on where you spend that eternity! And yet, we live for THIS life…not the one that really matters!
Optional :
(I have discovered that humans can lose perspective wayyyy too easy! This is why Christians fight with other Christians. This is why there is complaining in church. “It’s too hot.” “It’s too cold.” “The music is too loud.” “The sermon was too short!” )
This is a call to those who are professional complainers to get your priorities straight and get some perspective! Live for what matters!
ILLUSTRATION: Nathan Cooper while in Mexico said in our break out groups: “This trip has made me realize how small I am. How insignificant my problems are. It has really put things in perspective.”
B. It’s YOUR decision!
God will never steal your heart!
It’s yours to give.
It is my desire for you to give your heart to the one who gave His! I want your heart; your desire to be to serve God!
ILLUSTRATION: You’ve heard it said, “What you win them WITH is what you win them TO. I heard of a church that held church in a bar…with a mechanical bull…with an open tap and it advertised by saying: “Short sermon, free beer, lots of fun.”
I want you to be a faithful attendee of Burnside Christian church because you genuinely love Christ! Not because the music is good. Or the sermons are stellar. Or because you like me. I want to invite people to Jesus! Nothing else!
CHOOSE TO GIVE YOUR HEART!
III. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I GIVE MY HEART? --God can use you!
ANSWER: BIG THINGS MAN…BIG THINGS!
--Rich Young Ruler.
I wonder to myself: Did this wealthy man who rejected Jesus for fortune ever regret his decision? He was invited to follow Jesus and be an eye witness to the miracles that we read about. To have conversations with the God who created him. And he turned it down. All for wealth that would have to be left behind when he left this world.
I don’t have to wonder. I KNOW that at some point in his life, he regretted his choice.
There are three things that happen when God has your heart:
1. You do whatever God tells you to do!
--David was sold out for God! It caused him to stand up to a bully! A bully who was a killing machine! And as a result,
2. You go wherever God tells you to go!
--example of Philip Acts 8:27ff
You remember the story of the Ethiopian Eunuch.
Philip shared the good news with this foreigner and ultimately got to baptize him! Not only that, Philip got to ‘teleport’!!!!! ALL BECAUSE HE WENT WHERE GOD TOLD HIM TO GO!
3. You give whatever God tells you to give!
--example of Abraham sacrificing his son Isaac.
One of the most amazing stories of obedience. Abraham had FINALLY been blessed with a son!!! And now, God was asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac to Him as a sign of his faithfulness to Him!
Abraham complies. But before he can plunge the knife into Isaac’s bound body, an angel of God speaks! And further more, Abraham sees God’s faithfulness and provision as there is a RAM caught in the thickets that Abraham can use as a sacrifice!
ILLUSTRATION: Think about Hitler! Think about Paul! Paul is the prime example that God can use you in BIG ways when you give Him your heart 100%…
CONCLUSION: As we conclude, there is a final question that I would like each of us to consider: Where is MY heart?
As you contemplate this question, can you truly sing with meaning the words to our hymn of decision: I SURRENDER ALL. If you need to make a decision today won’t you make that known to us this hour? WHATEVER your decision, it begins with Giving God your heart! Let’s stand and sing!
