The Master of Liberty

 The Master Of Liberty

June 26, 2016 – Pastor Matt James – “The Master of Liberty”

 

The Master of Liberty

Text: Matthew 6:19-24

The Gospel is good news about deliverance from our sinful nature and all it’s burdens. (Eternal Life and the Truth)

  • Jesus is the great counselor that brings clarity to our lives.

Treasures in Heaven

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The Lamp of the Body

22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

You Cannot Serve God and Riches

24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

 

These three ideas (Treasure, Sight and Masters) can easily stand by themselves and preach but I think Jesus is making a compound argument for our Liberty.

  • I believe He is trying to free us from the bondage of a broken and impossible worldly value system.
  • These three ideas make a solid case to put our trust in the Lord and to breath peace in a difficult time. (a hike in the woods)

What is a Treasure?

By nature a Treasure is something of great value that is hidden away or kept in a safe place.

  • People put a personal value on money or gold. (Stocks reacting to the BREXIT and gold going up in value)
  • People can highly value things such as art, buildings or cars. (Lady valued her house so much she never had company)
  • Educations, careers and talents are valued differently by people. (Worship leader with hand illness)
  • And of course relationships usually have the highest value in our lives. (Family, Friends, acquaintances, business partners)
  • These things can give us a sense of security if all is well and usually have most of our attention.

 

We each have a value system where we rate each thing or relationship we have or that we want to have.

  • Our VS is created out of many variables: our upbringing, morals, hurts, our failures, likes and dislikes, personality, the Bible, friends, surroundings, health…
  • One of the clearest examples of a value system would be Triage: the assignment of degrees of urgency to wounds or illnesses to decide the order of treatment of a large number of patients or casualties.
  • The value system is based on the greatest need for survival. (The Orlando Shooting – a huge crisis)
  • We put things in an order based on our personal VS and the most Treasured things or relationships we put away in a safe place. (Things we cannot live without – urgency or importance)
  • These Treasures have a certain amount of control over our lives. (We want the correct Treasures where our hearts are)

Hold that Thought as we look at the next idea:

How important is our Sight?

  • I couldn’t imagine being blind. (Blind lady as I was picking up trash – I didn’t know what to do) (I am grateful for my sight!)
  • We live in a world that is spiritually blind. (We live in darkness or ignorance concerning God and His Truth)
  • Spiritual blindness creates a faulty Value System. (We Treasure rebellion, physical strength and beauty, sensuality, status, acceptance, pride, control, craftiness and the like)
  • These Treasures, or what is important to us, are earthly and we put them in earthly places or we put an earthly perception of them and hide them away for safekeeping.
  • If we have a clear vision of God and what is True then we have a clear vision of what is important.

  • Seeing light in all its color gave perspective and helped place value on certain things. (The guys said, “That is now my favorite flower)
  • God’s Word brings the full spectrum of light to our lives and a clear vision to our VS. (We see what is important, what is urgent, what is essential, what is eternal)
  • I Treasure – honesty, truth, laws, love, kindness, justice, mercy and I put them in proper perspective for each situation.

 

Recap:

  • Treasures – the valuable things we hide away, keep safe.
  • Sight – our perception of life including people and things.

 

Hold onto those Thoughts as we look at the next idea:

 

There are TWO Masters!

  • We have an apprehensive perception of the word “Master” – like a person who is harsh or punishes others. (Not the true meaning of the word “Master”)
  • The Dictionary says a Master can be: A male teacher, a person with a Masters Degree, a person qualified to teach, a person with authority over another, a person that conquers or masters, a person licensed to command a merchant ship, one having control, an owner of a slave or animal, the male head of a household, a presiding officer in an institution or society (as a college), any of several officers of court appointed to assist (as by hearing and reporting) a judge, AND an original from which copies can be made; especially: a master recording.

 

There are a lot of qualities to a Master that if we apply the Light of God’s Word to our lives we will perceive who we are serving.

  • We have two possible Masters: God or anything we put in His place.
  • If we are serving something or someone other than God then all the negative connotations of Master will be applied to our lives. (That Master is unrelenting and demands complete submission to all of that Master’s qualities)
  • Is our Master: a past hurt, a sin, a fear, money, a person?
  • Idols have mouths, eyes and ears but no understanding. Hands and feet but cannot help.
  • People have some good qualities about them but we are all imperfect and we don’t have the full qualifications of a good Master. (If we are co-dependent our life depends on them)
  • If we allow God to be our Master then all His qualities will guide our lives as we follow Him. (He becomes our Teacher, our Authority, our Conqueror, the Captain of our lives, He controls the destiny of our eternity, we belong to Him because we are bought by the blood of Christ, He is the head of His Household and we are His heirs, He presides over our lives with the authority of the Heavenly Courts, He stands as the officials and the Judge and our Defender, AND we become the image of our Good Master!)

When God is our Master this happens!

  • If God is our Master then we are no longer Mastered by our hurts, failures, our past, disappointments, things, talents and abilities or disabilities, people or opinions, gossip, status, or any worldly system of value that we once placed ourselves in. (We are now free in Christ)
  • If our Treasures are based off of the wrong Master we are in bondage to an earthly broken value system and our hearts are trapped with them.
  • If we base our Value System on God and His Word our VS works properly to evaluate all things including our own value to God and to others. (We are no longer in submission to the wrong Master and our hearts are safe with God)
  • Our Treasure is God, His Truth and the spiritual things that are eternal and no one can steal them away and they don’t disappear.
  • The bondage to the wrong Master is broken!

We are His Treasure and He is ours!

  • We see through good eyes repaired by the light of the Truth and we see the fullness of life that is guaranteed to us!
  • We have all of Heavens Treasures in our hands: His Wisdom, knowledge, peace, righteousness, grace and mercy!
  • We now see and have the Way, the Truth and the Life.
  • We Treasure the Truth. We See the Way. And we serve the One who is our Life.
  • My heart, my will, my desires, my thoughts, my emotions, my very life is found hidden safely with Him in Heaven.

Christ lived, died and lives again so that we could be free from bondage of sin and earthly values.

  • Jesus did this for us and our response is to accept it – and who wouldn’t? (Like the people seeing color for the first time)
  • This is the Good News: That Christ freed us from darkness into light.
  • Like the creator of the glasses Christ is on a mission to bring light to our lives. (He wants to get to everyone)
  • Where our Treasure is there is our heart as well, maybe that’s why the Holy Spirit is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance?

We are God’s Treasure and He is on a quest to fill Heaven with as many people that will believe in Him.

  • Give your life to Him. Pursue Him and find Him.
  • He is the one true Good Master and with Him all things fall into the proper order even our hearts.
  • We are safe in Him. Stand and gaze on the goodness of God.

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