Sermon Central
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Let's Make A Deal
Contributed by Craig Benner on Sep 29, 2013 (message contributor)
Summary: The devil wants to find out if you have a selling price. He will make some offers that sound too good to believe, and they always are. Hold out against his deceitful offers and God will reward you in the end.
Get Sold Out, Not just Hold'n Out
Man is made up of body, soul, and spirit. This trinity of mankind will work to be unified. You can't give your soul to God, your spirit to the devil, and your body to the world.
Our God is a jealous God, but He is also a gentlemen. He is not a dictator. He will not just take a fragment of you as a form of symbolic religiousity. If you try to play that game with God, you will lose. The devil, he is a dictator, and he will work to cause your whole being to be under his thumb.
Why do we fight against the sanctifying work of the Lord? He invites and encourages us to sell ought totally to Him. Somehow, we want to reserve a part for ourselves; that is precisely what hinders us.
IL.: An ungodly tavern keeper decided to attend a revival meeting of John Wesley. He just wanted to hear the music and so he resolved that he would not listen to any of the preaching. When the preaching started, he stuck his head between his knees and stuck his fingers in his ears. After a while, a fly landed on his nose and began to irritate him. He took a finger out of his ears and shooed the fly away. During that time, he heard nine words of the preacher. They were, "he that hath ears to hear, let him hear." He could not shake those words from his mind. They haunted him all that night and the next day. So he returned the next evening, listened intently and was converted.
You can do all kinds of things to turn off the message and the messenger, but God still has a way of gripping your heart and soul.
Let us look at some reasons that cause people to not become sold out.
I. Wrong Preparation --Lk. 12:16-18
Some work on preparing the comforts of this life more than on consecrating themselves to God.
This man was interested in building bigger barns. His goal was to prepare for his financial future and probably the future welfare of his family. However, there is no mention made of a spiritual preparation. God does not even seem to be in his plans.
He had a problem with greed. Just a verse before this parable, Jesus expounds on this problem.
And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
Lk. 12:24
Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?
Lk. 12:27
Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
This man planned all by his lonesome.
Riches and material gain will never satisfy the cravings of your soul.
To seek greater things in not so wrong, unless you are only seeking them for your personal benefit.
God called this mas a fool.
Mt. 6:19,20
19 ¶ Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
Life without God at the helm is meaningless. Only in Him can you find real fulfillment. Seek a more profound relationship with Him and He will take up the slack in your life.
Mt. 6:33
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
II. Wrong Intentions --Lk. 12:19
The assumption of making oneself into something of higher value---a self-made man.
The real issue here is not of being rich or poor, but it is a matter of focus----inward; towards self.
We live in a world where even the church people are caught up in having the newer, the nicer, the neater. It is all about comforting our carnality.
At the end of life, what really matters and what will be recognized is not how much you gained, but how much you gave; not how much you won, but how much you done; not how much you saved, but how much you sacrificed; not how much you honored, but how much you served.
Finances
Time
Talent
Service
III. Wrong Vision --Lk. 12:20
This man was envisioning things that he would never live to see. We all too often assume that we have many years ahead of us in this life to partake.
James 4:13,14
