Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast,
where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.
In this podcast series, we're going to be looking into biblical
words that have great significance to our faith.
The name of this series is called the Word of the Week, where
once a week we will dive deeper into these words that we are
familiar with in scripture.
So come along with me.
Let's study the Word of the week.
Pastor Josh here with another word of the Week.
This week, we are going to conclude our study looking at discipleship.
I hope that this has been a great study for you.
I know it has been for me.
It's taught me how, number one, I can be a disciple of Jesus
Christ, but number two, how I can point other people to be disciples
of Jesus Christ as well.
Last week, we looked at the idea of time and really looking at
the concept of investing our time into other people.
For us to point people to Jesus Christ, it takes time, it takes
effort, it takes sacrifice.
And so for us as believers, we must understand the importance of
what it means to follow the director of directive of Christ in
Matthew chapter 28 that says for us to make disciples.
That's called the Great Commission.
And so one last thing I wanted to talk about in the concept of discipleship
is the idea of our treasure.
Where is our treasure?
What are we valuing in our life?
In Matthew, chapter 6, Jesus is teaching his followers here about
what it means to lay up treasures in heaven.
Matthew 6, verse 19, it says, Lay not up for yourselves treasures
upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break
through and steal.
So he says, don't focus on laying up treasures here on this
earth.
Why?
Because the treasures that we accumulate here on this earth are
going to pass away.
They're not eternal.
The.
The moth and rust will corrupt it.
Thieves can steal it.
And you know what the truth of the matter is, is that every material
thing that we have here on this earth can be taken away from
us.
It can be destroyed.
It can be stolen.
But then what Jesus says in verse number 20 is in contrast to
laying up treasures here in this earth.
It says, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.
So he says, focus on the eternal things.
Focus on the things that will last forever, where neither moth
nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves don't.
Do not break through nor steal.
And so what is he essentially saying here?
He's saying this.
The things that you invest into the kingdom of God, the things
that you invest into the things of God in accordance to his
word, those things will last forever.
No one can take that away from you.
No one can take away your salvation.
No one can take away the blessings that we find in following
Christ and then ultimately leading people to that same path.
And so what we can see here is that what we treasure in our hearts,
that will be where we place value in every other area of our
lives.
Verse number 21 says this, for where your treasure is, there will
your heart be also.
And so he says, what you treasure in this world is where your
heart is going to follow.
And where your heart follows is where your actions are going to
follow.
And so if we truly value the truth of Jesus Christ, if we truly
value his call for us to be disciples, that is where we're going
to set our hearts to.
We are going to set our hearts to following Christ with everything
that we have.
We, we know that all throughout the New Testament, Jesus
reminds us that to love him means to obey Him.
And so if we treasure him and we treasure that relationship that
we have with him, we will strive with all of our hearts to
love him and to obey him and to point other people to that process
as well.
And so I love this passage here in Matthew, chapter six, because
he talks about this idea of storing up treasures in eternity.
And, and I think of another passage of Scripture that specifically
speaks to the same concept, and that's in the book of Colossians.
Colossians, chapter three, verse one.
It says, if ye then be risen with Christ, and so you're identified
with Christ, you are a believer in Jesus Christ.
You're following him.
He says, seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth
on the right hand of God.
So again, the same directive here to set our minds and our hearts
on the things which are above the eternal things.
There he says, seek those things.
Verse 2.
Set your affection or your minds and your hearts on things above,
not on things on the earth.
And so here in this case, what is he saying?
He says, don't set your affections, don't set your heart,
don't set your love, don't set your minds to the things that are
here and now that are going to waste away.
Set your mind and your heart and your affections on the things
of God.
And what we can tell in Scripture is this.
We know that though we are using things here in this earth as
tools to bring people to Christ, the only thing that's going
to last forever are the things that God has called us to do in our
spiritual walk, and that is to, number one, love him with all
of our Heart, soul, mind and strength.
And, and to love our neighbor as ourself.
And if we love our neighbors, we will tell them the truth about
who Jesus Christ is.
And so ultimately, that's the concept of that treasure.
Where are we going to set our treasures?
In the things of God.
Now, this could talk about multiple different things, right?
It could talk about spiritual service.
It could talk about sacrifice.
It could talk about even material finances that God has given
us to invest our treasure into the things of God.
And so where we.
Where our heart is, is where everything else is going to follow.
And so the Bible teaches us as Christians, our heart should be set
with Christ.
Our heart should be set with his plan, his work, his eternal purpose.
And so when we do that, everything else will follow.
All of our treasure will follow in that direction.
And so if you could think about it this way, where is our time?
Where is our.
Our talent, the.
The talents that God has given us?
And where is our treasure?
If our.
If our treasure is set in the things of God, then we're obeying
Him.
If our.
If our time is set in the things of God, we're obeying Him.
If our.
If.
If our hearts and our minds and everything about us is set as
Romans chapter 12 says, As a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable
unto God, which is our reasonable service.
If, if we are completely given over to Christ, we're going to see
things working through us, and we're going to see people coming
to Christ, and we're going to see his plan being played out in
our life.
And that obedience brings us blessing.
That obedience brings us reward.
That obedience brings us joy.
That obedience brings us the confidence that our Savior loves
us and that he is sustaining us and that he is strengthening us.
And so to be a disciple means to have our heart set on Christ.
It means to have our heart set in His Word.
It means to have our heart set in the things that he has called
us to do.
So it's enjoying that sacrifice.
It's enjoying that service.
It's enjoying that love.
And so what I can tell you here today, when it comes to this
concept of discipleship, it's not about just following a.
A set of rules.
It's not just about following a set of curriculums or books.
It's ultimately following Christ.
It's ultimately giving ourselves over to him and then allowing
that to be our motivation for our love, allowing that to be the
motivation for our service, allowing that to be the motivation
of our message to those that need Jesus Christ.
And then teaching them right in discipleship comes teaching and
we teach through different avenues.
We teach in the classroom, we teach from different areas of service.
We even teach, by the way, that we live our lives by example.
And I would argue that teaching by example is the greatest
action of teaching, right?
Because we can say one thing, but doing something else is.
Is what we would consider hypocrisy, right?
So if I tell someone, hey, follow Jesus this way, and then I
in no way show any dedication to what I have just said, my message
is not going to be heard.
It's not going to resonate.
But the message that is aligned with our action will resonate.
So it's walking the walk, not just talking the talk.
And so, as we conclude the study in discipleship, I just want
you to think about that passage there in Matthew, chapter
six.
Where is our treasure?
Where are we investing?
You know, a lot's to be a lot.
There's a lot to be said about investments.
And in our world today, obviously there are good investments
and there are bad investments.
There are investments that can have great return.
There's investments that maybe can come back on us.
And, you know, it could be seen in a loss.
But at the end of the day, what we invest into the kingdom of
God will never return void.
It will never, never return to us as a loss.
Every investment that we make for the cause of the Gospel, every
investment that we make for the cause of the truth of God will
return to us in dividend form in a great way for.
For not just the next 20, 30, 40, 50 years, but for eternity.
The Bible says that there's eternal reward with following him
and serving him.
And so just wanted to share that here today as a brief study
in one of the aspects of discipleship.
And so this series has been a series that has challenged me in
the concept of following Christ.
Remember what Jesus said?
He said, if.
If you want to be my disciple, follow me, follow my word, continue,
abide in my word.
Even in John 15, we're reminded of the fact that we are,
we are not divine.
He is divine.
Jesus is divine.
We are the branches.
Without him we can do nothing.
There is no fruit, There is no success.
There is no victory outside of a relationship with Christ.
And so that's what we point people to.
We don't point people to a system or a program.
We point people to Christ.
And as we point people to Christ, they're able to find that
forgiveness, they're able to find that satisfaction, they're able
to find that hope.
And then hopefully, as second Timothy two, two says, that they
can pass that on to other people around them so that they can
pass it on to other people and that can continue as God has planned.
And so I hope that this has been a great study for you.
I encourage you to share this with somebody else and also too just
to continue on with our series here with the Word of the Week here
on the Middletown Baptist Church podcast.
Well, God bless you.
Hope you have a wonderful rest of your week.
We will come back and talk to you soon.
Hey, I really appreciate that you listened to the Word of the Week
podcast.
If you have any questions about the podcast or about our church,
Middletown Baptist Church, you can find more information about us
on Facebook or or YouTube or you can find the podcast on NBCPodcast.org
you can contact me directly at Josh Massaro at middletownbaptistchurch.org
stay tuned for future Word of the Week episodes where we dive deeper
into words that impact our life according to scripture.
Thank you so much.
God bless.
We'll talk to you soon.