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I. HEBREWS 11:24-26 - EXEGESIS Heb.
11:24-26 - “By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to
be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer
affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures
of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the
treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.” A.
Verse 24 - “By faith Moses.”
1. He had confidence in God when he called him to be the
leader.
2. He believed that he was able to deliver them.
3. Therefore, he was willing to forego the wonderful financial
prospects
before him in B. “When he was come of age.” When he was grown up to manhood.
1. He took this step in the full maturity of his judgment,
when there was no danger of being influenced by the ardent passions
of youth. C.
“Refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.”
1. It gave him the opportunity of receiving the best education.
2. Connected him with important offices in the state.
3. D.
Verse 25 - “Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people
of God.”
1. They were then oppressed and downtrodden; no future,
no security.
2. Those whom God had designed to be his peculiar people.
3. Moses saw that if he cast in his lot with them, he must
expect trials.
4. Delivering them would involve great peril and hardship,
trial and danger, want and care, and the sacrifice of all the
comforts and honor he
enjoyed at court.
5. “Every one who becomes a friend of God and casts in
his lot with his people, though he may anticipate that it will
be attended with
persecution, with poverty, and with scorn,
prefers this to all the
pleasures of a life of gaiety and sin, and
to the most brilliant prospects
of wealth and fame which this world can offer”
(Barnes). E. “Than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.”
1. There is a degree of pleasure in sin, but it does not
deserve to be called happiness or joy.
2. It will all soon pass away. Had Moses lived at the court
of Pharaoh all his days, it would have been only for a little
season.
a. Life itself is short at best, and if pleasure is pursued
through the ordinary life man, it is very brief. It goes
away.
b. Those who live for pleasure
often shorten their own lives.
Indulgence often brings disease and hedonists
usually die young
c. Calamity, disappointment, and envy ruin a life of pleasure.
d. The senses become jaded, and one cannot achieve the
accustomed levels
of pleasure without self-destructive or illegal indulgence.
e. Compared with eternity, how brief is the longest life
spent in sin!
3. In view of all the pleasures sin furnishes, faith enables
man to pursue a better path. Those who become the friends of God
are willing to give up all those fair and glittering whistles
and toys held out by Satan, and to submit to whatever trials may
be part of a life of self-denying service to God. Nor is there
ever occasion to regret the choice. Moses deliberately made that
choice: not in all the trials which he endured, in all Israel’s
ingratitude and rebellion, is there the least evidence that he
ever once wished himself back again that he might enjoy the pleasures
of sin in Egypt. (Barnes) F.
Verse 26 - “Esteeming the reproach of Christ.”
1. He endured such reproaches as Christ suffered; denotes
the sufferings endured in the cause of the faith.
2. Those who are zealous in doing
good expose themselves to blame and
to ridicule. G. “Greater riches.”
1. Reproach itself is not desirable; but reproach, when
a man receives it in an effort to do good
to others, is worth more to him than gold -
a. 1Peter
2. The scars which an old soldier has received in the defense
of his country are more valued by him than the spoils
of war. H. “For he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.”
1. It is right to have respect to the rewards of heaven
in serving God. It does not prove that this was the only or the
main motive which moved
Moses to abandon his prospects in
2. Nor does it prove that this should be our main or only
motive in leading a life of righteousness. If it were, our religion
would be mere selfishness
3. But it is right that we should desire the rewards and
joys of heaven, and be motivated to stand fast in our trials.
II. HEBREWS 11:24-26 - APPLICATION A.
Several ways to deflect this truth
1. Redefine sin and righteousness so that our virtue fits
our practice.
a. Luke
b. Mark
2. Deny the application to ourselves; deceive self.
a. Matt.19:21 - "Go sell what you have, give it to
the poor and come follow me." Does not apply to me.
b. Luke
3. Make the command so radical as to be foolish
a. Matt.
4. Be insensitive, unaware, or
un-interested in application.
a. Luke 16:13-25 - Lazarus and rich man told in response
to those who made a mockery of Jesus teaching. Jesus responds with the parable of the good
Samaritan - Luke 10:33. B.
The last one is the most common in our time and place 1. Rich man lost for one
reason: “You received good things and Lazarus
evil… and you were unaware.” Excuses: I gave him the scraps! III. JESUS’ TEACHING ON PROSPERITY AND MATERIALISM
IS QUITE CLEAR A. Amos 6:1-6; Luke 6:24-25
1. You have had your time of ease.
2. You have already been comforted.
3. Your affluence is your reward.
4. “Woe unto you who are full, for you shall hunger!” B.
Asian perspective of a visit to
1. Story of Johnson's Boar: President Johnson tried to
improve the genes of the traditional Vietnamese pig, by introducing
western boars. The
boars killed the little Vietnamese sows while
mating with them. Now
"Johnson's Boar" is a Vietnamese
idiom describing any gift that
consumes.
2. Pantry is full of food stocks good for days, even weeks,
while rest of the world obtains food day by day. Christians
pay more to eat out on
Sunday than they give in contribution.
3. Your meals center around a large choice cut of meat,
eaten whole in large quantity.
4. Your food markets offer only choice food brought from
afar.
5. Your dogs eat better than most people. You waste your
abundance. Everything is disposable. Fruit trees in your
yards are un-harvested.
6. The best electronics in the world are in church buildings.
7. So many clothes that some are never worn and thrown
away when they no longer fit. While the rest of the world
uses cloth diapers or nothing,
Americans fill their landfills with pampers.
8. Not an indictment, but a perspective. A hungry man values
each bite. A full man vomits it up.
a. “Have you found much honey? Eat only so much as you
need,
lest you vomit it
up” - Prov. 25:16
b. But we say: “Demand Di-gel
when you eat too well.” “Plop, plop,
fizz, fizz; oh what a relief it is.” Americans
spent over 4 billion
dollars a year on over the counter antacids. IV. WE ARE POSSESSED BY OUR POSSESSIONS A.
Luke
1. As Christians, we are consumed with consuming. We have
made making money the eleventh commandment. B.
Test: 1Tim. 6:17-19 - Choose a good work
that could be done effectively:
Teaching the gospel in places where the response
has been dramatic:
1. Simple answer: Not enough preachers choose to go, and
those who wish to go cannot easily find the money from
brethren to go.
2. Why? Too unstable a way to make a living, no job security;
prefer a self-supporting church with a parsonage, insurance,
numbers, buildings,
office, good schools, adequate salary.
3. “Yep, it’s them scared, lazy preachers that won’t get
out there and spread the gospel.” .
4. Oh really?! At
least Peter got out of the boat. What about the eleven
who huddled together in the bottom of the
boat?
a. Changing congregations as a preacher with a young family.
b. Salary cut because congregation had a building project;
can’t write for support because we’ve always been known as a self-supporting
congregation; after paying bills, left with $20 for the whole
month; working five days a week for the church and two days a
week in secular work to meet expenses; being told that your wife
should shop at thrift stores and take the kids to the free clinic
to save the local church money; and, listening to brethren lie
about their income in business meetings to justify this kind of
behavior.
c. Walk a mile in that preacher’s shoes before you are
tempted to whine to him about job security.
d. I have met a few brethren here who will not compromise
the faith for a paycheck and have suffered for it, and
I admire them deeply
5. Prov. 11:4 - “Substance cannot
profit in the Day of Judgment: But
righteousness delivers from death. He who
puts his trust in his riches
will fall." IV. HOW WE CHOOSE TREASURES IN A.
Make decisions based upon personal judgment, interests, and desires
rather than spiritual needs.
1. Parable of the good Samaritan.
2. The widow's mite.
3. Luke
a. B.
Worry that such a doctrine will impoverish us
1. Matt.6:31-32 - “God knows your needs.
2. Do you believe that? Then act on it! Where is your faith,
man?!
3. Not denying the need for comfort or security
4. Ecc. 5:19-20 5. Jer.
22:13-19 - “Did not your fathers eat and drink, do judgment and
justice when it went well with them?” C.
Fear to use the good bounty God has given us
1. Matt. 25:15 - “Behold I saved your talent by burying
it.”
2. Rich young ruler “went away sorrowful, for he had many
possessions”
3. Do we do that?
4. “I can't afford to leave my debts. I am choked out by
things. I'd have to have the mother of all garage sales before
I could “take up my cross
and follow Jesus.”
5. We just studied about the New Testament Church, and
we claim to do all things as they are written. Well… 2Cor.
8:1-5 D.
Will you choose the riches in Christ or the treasures in I'll never forget the Spring of 1946. I was 14, my little sister
Ocy was 12, and my older sister Darlene
was 16. We lived at home with our mother, and the four of us knew
what it was like to do without many things. My dad had died five
years before, leaving Mom with seven school kids to raise,
and no money with which to do it. By 1946, my older sisters were
married, and my brothers had left home. A
month before Easter Sunday, the minister of our church announced
that a special collection would be taken to help a poor family.
He asked everyone to save and give sacrificially. When we got
home, we talked about what we could do. We decided to buy 50 pounds
of potatoes and live on them for a month. This would allow us
to save $20 of our grocery money for the offering. Then we thought
that if we kept our electric lights turned out as much as possible
and didn't listen to the radio, we'd save money on that month's
electric bill. Darlene got as many house and yard cleaning jobs
as possible, and both of us baby sat for everyone we could. For
15 cents, we could buy enough cotton loops to make three pot holders
to sell for $1. We made $20 on pot holders. That
month was one of the best of our lives. Every day we counted the
money to see how much we had saved. At night we'd sit in the dark
and talk about how the poor family was going to enjoy having the
money the church would give them. We had about 80 people in church,
so we figured that whatever amount of money we had to give, the
offering would surely be 20 times that much. After all, every
Sunday the minister reminded everyone to save for the sacrificial
offering. The
day before Easter Sunday, Ocy and I
walked to the grocery store and got the manager to give us three
crisp $20 bills and one $10 bill for all our change. We ran all
the way home to show Mom and Darlene. We had never had so much
money before. That night we were so excited we could hardly sleep.
We didn't care that we wouldn't have new clothes for the holiday;
we had $70 for the special offering. We could hardly wait to get
to church! On
Sunday morning, rain was pouring. We didn't own an umbrella, and
the church building was over a mile from our home, but it didn't
seem to matter how wet we got. Darlene had cardboard in her shoes
to fill the holes. The cardboard came apart, and her feet got
wet. But we sat in church services proudly. I heard some teenagers
talking about the Smith girls having on their old dresses. I looked
at them in their new clothes, and I felt so rich. When
the sacrificial offering was taken, we were sitting on the second
row from the front. Mom put in the $10 bill, and each of us girls
put in a $20. As we walked home after church, we sang all the
way. At lunch Mom had a surprise for us. She had bought a dozen
eggs, and we had boiled eggs with our fried potatoes! Late that
afternoon the minister drove up in his car. Mom went to the door,
talked with him for a moment, and then came back with an envelope
in her hand. We asked what it was, but she didn't say a word.
She opened the envelope and out fell a bunch of money. There were
three crisp $20 bills, one $10 and seventeen $1 bills. Mom put the money back in the envelope.
We didn't talk, just sat and stared at the floor. We had gone
from feeling like millionaires to feeling like poor white trash. We
kids had such a happy life that we felt sorry for anyone who didn't
have our mom and dad for parents and a house full of brothers
and sisters and other kids visiting constantly. We thought it
was fun to share silverware and see whether we got the fork or
the spoon that night. We had two knives which we passed around
to whoever needed them. I
knew we didn't have a lot of things that other people had, but
I'd never thought we were poor. That Easter holiday I found out
we were. The minister had brought us the money for the poor family,
so we must be poor. I didn't like being poor. I looked at my dress
and worn-out shoes and felt so ashamed that I didn't want to go
back to church. Everyone there probably already knew we were poor. We
sat in silence for a long time. Then it got dark, and we went
to bed. All that week, we girls went to school and came home,
and no one talked much. Finally on Saturday, Mom asked us what
we wanted to do with the money. What did poor people do with money?
We didn't know. We'd never known we were poor. We didn't want
to go to church on Sunday, but Mom said we had to. Although it
was a sunny day, we didn't talk on the way. Mom started to sing,
but no one joined in and she only sang one verse. At
church we had a visiting speaker from overseas. He talked about
how churches in We
looked at each other and smiled for the first time in a week.
Mom reached into her purse and pulled out the envelope. She passed
it to Darlene. Darlene gave it to me, and I handed it to Ocy.
Ocy put it in the offering plate. When
the collection was counted, the minister announced that it was
a little over $100. The missionary was excited. He hadn't expected
such a large offering from our small church. He said, "You
must have some rich people in this church." Suddenly it struck
us! We had given $87 of that "little over $100." We
were the rich family in the church! Hadn't the missionary said
so? From that day on I've never been poor again. I've always remembered
how rich I am because I am in the Lord. "And
He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury,
and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So
He said, 'Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more
than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings
for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood
that she had.'" (Luke 21:1-4). |
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