October 18, 2020
We continue in Matthew this Sunday, discussing “Jesus and Possessions”.
Also, as a reminder, if you missed Monday’s Love Your Neighbor seminar on the Gospel and Racial Justice (or if you just want to replay it), you can find the video, audio, and other resources from that event here. We ask that you continue to join us in praying for humility, love, and unity as we allow Christ to refine us and as we seek to reflect His love to those around us.
Here’s how you can prepare for this Sunday at Park Church:
1. Read our text, Matthew 6:19–24.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
In yet another call to a radically distinct way of life, Jesus calls His followers to live free from a slavish preoccupation with wealth and material possessions. When wealth and possessions are valued as a source of security or a status marker, they become like false gods that have the power to deceive and enslave your heart. The power to live free from this bondage to materialism comes first from the realization that material possessions are ultimately doomed for destruction and can never give you what your heart truly craves. More importantly, preoccupation with material accumulation pulls humanity away from a better, and incorruptible treasure. Jesus is calling people into a Kingdom where God is known as the true and eternal source of security and love. God Himself is the treasure our hearts long for, and living for His Kingdom brings indestructible joy.
2. Read, pray, and sing through the service:
Don’t use Spotify? Click the song title below to see song on YouTube.
CALL TO WORSHIP: From Psalm 84:1–2, 10:
How lovely is Your dwelling place,
O LORD of hosts!
My soul longs, yes, faints
for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
to the living God.
For a day in Your courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
Better (Joseph Pat Barrett, Ed Cash, Chris Tomlin)
CONFESSION OF SIN:
Lord Jesus,
With our mouths we confess that you are our greatest treasure, but with our actions we reveal a desire to lay up treasures on earth and not heaven. Open our eyes to see the ways we’ve done this and forgive us.
Because we can’t serve two masters, Jesus we ask that You would help us see Your true worth and value today. Spirit, stir a devotion for Jesus deep in our bones and help us live accordingly. Release our grip on money and believing that it can make us happy and whole.
Jesus, be the one true treasure that our hearts are devoted to. Only You can satisfy and only You will never fade. Let our hearts and homes reflect this reality.
Amen
Be Thou My Vision (Mary Elizabeth Byrne, Eleanor Henrietta Hull arr. Citizens & Saints)
ASSURANCE OF PARDON: Isaiah 55:1–3
“Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David.”
PASSING THE PEACE
(Click to Read)
When we’ve met as a large group on Sundays, we’ve always had a time of greeting one another after singing. Many churches call this time “passing the peace.” In some church traditions, one person will say to another, “The peace of Christ be with you” to which the other person responds, “And also with you.”
While potentially unfamiliar for some, we felt that “passing the peace” during greeting times at home could be a powerful act in this age marked by very little external peace. In Isaiah 9, Jesus is described as the Prince of Peace. He wants His kingdom to be marked by this very peace! We want to “pass” to one another this peace that only Jesus can give, especially at a time like this.
It might feel a bit cheesy, but we encourage you to actually pray the peace of God over each other during our times. We encourage you to look into each other’s eyes as you say, “The peace of Christ be with you!” and have others respond with, “And also with you.” Be open-hearted to Jesus, asking Him to fill you with His peace.
SERMON & COMMUNION
I Belong To You (Hagan Anderson, William McDowell) / Take My Life And Let It Be (Frances Ridley Havergal, Henri Abraham Cesar Malan arr. Norton Hall Band)