Okay, let's grab our seats and we're going to spend a few minutes in prayer.
If you are new to Watermark, one of the things we love to do as a church family is to pray.
And so every Sunday we take a few minutes to pray.
And we often pray for ourselves and we often pray for another church outside of ourselves.
Sometimes a church in Hong Kong, sometimes a church elsewhere.
Julie, I wonder if we can get this slide up.
I want to introduce this family to you.
This is Sujith and Cheryl Jacob with their children, their three children.
And I met Sujith and Cheryl two weeks ago in Taiwan.
These guys are originally from India and they have been living in Oklahoma City for the last 20 years or so.
And they are about to move back to India to go and start a new church in Mumbai in December.
And so they are getting ready and organizing a team and a bunch of people to move to India with them to start a church.
And so we are going to pray for Sujith and Cheryl a little later.
And so as we pray, I am going to be praying over the microphone.
But I want to encourage you to pray with me.
Join with me and agree.
And under your breath you pray as well.
So this isn't just me praying and you listening.
This is us as a church praying together.
Okay?
Can we do that?
Great.
So why don't you join me and let's pray together.
Gracious and wonderful Father, we come before you this morning to worship you and to adore you, God.
We've come to acknowledge that there's nobody like you.
There's nothing like you, God, in all creation as we said.
God, there's nobody as glorious as you.
There's no one as holy as you.
There's no one as merciful and gracious, God.
And Father, we come not because we've got it all together, but we come just as we are.
We come broken.
We come with our issues and our hang-ups.
And yet we've come to meet the glorious one and to find our rest in you, to find our hope in you, to find our peace in you.
Father, won't you open our eyes to see you more clearly?
Father, as a church family, we want to know you deeply.
We want to know your manifold dimensions, God.
We want to know the depth of your characteristics.
And so, Father, won't you open our eyes to see you?
God, we don't just want to know you superficially.
We want to continually grow in awe of you and be amazed by you.
Father, I pray that we won't just be a worshiping community on Sundays, but throughout this week, God.
Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday, and as we go to work and as we go to school and university.
Father, won't we be a worshiping community?
We pray, God.
We pray that you'll be first and foremost in our hearts and in our lives.
Father, won't you show us your glory, we pray.
We want to see your majesty, God.
Father, this morning we confess that our hearts, God, are so often turned in on ourselves.
Often our hearts are more inward focused than we like to admit.
And, Father, if we are honest, we are often motivated by pride or unbelief.
God, we get frustrated when things don't go our way.
And it's because our hearts are turned in on ourselves.
Lord, we confess this to you and we ask you to forgive us.
And we ask you to change us.
God, won't you soften our hearts and orientate our hearts towards you?
God, we want to love the things that you love and we want to love them correctly.
Help us, we pray, God.
Father, we are often fearful and anxious because we trust ourselves more than you.
Won't you help us to trust you?
Father, this morning we pray for Chris and Fiona and the team in Turkey.
Their last few days there, we pray for their safety and their protection.
And just as they're coming towards the end of their trip,
won't you continue to speak to them from your word?
I pray your scriptures will come alive.
God, won't you reveal more of yourself to each one of them?
And we pray, God, that they do come back to Hong Kong safely.
We pray for no hang-ups or issues or traveling frustrations, but that everything will go well.
Bring them back safely, we pray, Father, in these last few days.
And this morning, God, we want to pray for Sujith and Cheryl as they look to plant Cornerstone Church in Mumbai.
Father, thank you for their faith and their courage to move across the world to this unknown city for both of them
and to start this new church.
And we pray, God, that you give them courage.
We pray for boldness, Lord.
We pray, Father, that you strengthen their faith.
When they feel like they can't do it, may they remember that you, God, can do it.
God, we pray for their kids and for visas and logistics around the move.
We pray, God, for finances.
Won't you give them the necessary finances to make the move and to start up this church?
And we pray for the core team, God.
We pray for some people to go with them to help them start this church and to see a thriving church in Mumbai that will reach people for you.
God, we pray that you prepare their own hearts for the challenges that are no doubt coming their way, for the difficulties.
Lord, I want you to draw near to them.
And so I really pray that you wash Sujith and Cheryl in the gospel, God.
May they know that their deepest treasure is in you and not in the things of this world.
Father, then finally this morning we want to pray for Hong Kong and for our own leadership here, our civil leaders.
Father, we're aware of what happened in the legislature and the council yesterday.
God, we understand that as laws are being passed, these are complex issues.
And there are people on many different sides trying to push for their agenda.
God, we do pray for soft hearts.
We pray for wisdom.
And, Lord, we pray that above all that every lawmaker will seek the best for Hong Kong and not for themselves, God.
We pray for our civil leaders that they really will be servants of the city of Hong Kong and the people of Hong Kong, God.
We pray that they will seek to serve the city and not their own agendas, we pray.
And so, God, as these things in the next few weeks get heated, we pray for wisdom.
We pray for soft hearts.
And we pray for you, God, to even be involved there.
We pray all these things in your wonderful and powerful name.
Amen.
Great.
Let's listen to the reading of God's word.
And then Ed is going to come and share the scriptures with us this morning.
The scripture reading comes from 1 Timothy chapter 6.
Please follow along in your bulletins or on the screen.
Amen.
But godliness with contentment is great gain.
For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.
But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.
For those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desire
that plunk people into ruin and destruction.
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.
Some people eager for money have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many grifts.
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth,
which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.
In this way, they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age,
so that they may take hold of the life that is fully life.
This is the Word of God.
Oh, great.
Well, first of all, I want to just wish all the mothers another Happy Mother's Day.
My mom is just right here now.
You guys are really—thank you, Mom.
You guys are really the unsung heroes of the family, so Happy Mother's Day.
Today, we are going to be continuing this sermon series on money.
Now, two weeks ago, Kevin preached about you cannot love both God and money,
for where your treasure is, there your heart is also.
Last week, Oscar was preaching,
be on your guard against greed and be rich to God.
I was very challenged by Oscar's sermon last week.
I asked the Holy Spirit,
Am I rich to you?
Am I rich to God?
Am I generous?
Do I really sacrificially give to God?
And the Holy Spirit was very convicting.
He says,
Ed, you receive your paycheck.
You pay for school tuitions.
You pay for rent for the apartment.
You pay for your fixed expenses,
discretionary expenses,
and you have a line item for charitable donations.
But the rest, after you pay for all those things,
you keep for yourself.
You put it into your nest egg.
What would it look like
if you shared that excess with me?
What would it look like
if you gave me 50% of that excess?
Because it's my money anyway.
To tell you the truth,
I'm still struggling with that.
Because money has such a big grasp in my heart.
And so it's very topical today.
That's exactly what we're going to be talking about.
Now, today's passage is from Timothy.
And just a little bit of background.
It's the Apostle Paul writing to Timothy.
And he says,
Timothy is overseeing the Church of Ephesus.
And one of the problems of the Church of Ephesus
that was emerging
was that there was emergence of teachers
that were teaching false doctrines.
And some teachers were even using
their religious positions
to gain wealth for themselves.
And so the Apostle Paul
is basically warning the Church,
be on your guard against greed,
don't fall in love with money,
and pursue a life that is truly wealth.
Why don't we go to the next slide?
I have a slide on the first,
the two points that we're going to be addressing.
I think the next one after this.
So three points that we're going to be talking about today.
Christ's commitment,
we're going to define that,
and the folly,
the foolishness of pursuing riches.
We're going to be talking about
your God-given wealth,
wealth,
and how that entails kingdom responsibilities,
and the enemy's deception and plans
to prevent you from living a life
that is truly life.
First point,
but godliness with contentment
is great gain.
Now,
many of us in Hong Kong
are looking for contentment
in all sorts of things.
We've been told
that it can be found
in what we have.
We've been told
that it can be found
in the experiences,
maybe travel.
The latest thing is,
the latest New Age thing
is mindfulness.
Mindfulness.
But the Apostle Paul tells us
the truest form of contentment
cannot be found
in those things,
but only found
in the person of Christ.
Jesus introduces
the concept of Christ's contentment,
basically contentment,
godliness with contentment,
or contentment in God,
which is external,
which is independent
of external circumstances,
but based on
our relationship with God,
contentment that is found
in our relationship with God.
Now,
Paul summarizes this concept
very well in Philippians 4.11,
where he says,
I have learned
the secret of being content
in every situation,
whether well-fed or hungry,
whether living in plenty
or in want.
I can do all this
through him
who gives me strength.
Paul is basically saying,
when Christ is your everything,
everything else
are little things.
It doesn't really matter
whether you're richer or poor.
The external circumstances
don't really matter.
For the Christian,
Jesus Christ
defines everything
in our lives.
And that is why
Paul says
that's great spiritual gain,
because our souls
can actually rest in him.
For the Christian,
Christ defines
our identity.
It says in John 1.12,
it says,
yet to all who receive him
and who put their faith in him,
you have the right
to be called children of God.
You are a child of God.
When your identity
is a child of God,
you don't have to be defined
by social media,
how much you make,
your achievements,
even how you look.
You are lovely
and perfectly loved
as a child of God.
Christ defines our purpose.
Our purpose is much,
he gives us a purpose
that is much greater
than just living the good life.
Christ says,
love others,
love God and love others,
and that's your purpose.
And join in my
kingdom redemption plan.
And we'll be talking
a little bit about that later.
Christ also defines love.
The standard of love
in which we're called
to love others
is defined by Christ.
It's defined by
the creator of this world
coming down
and dying for his creation.
That's the standard of love,
and that defines
how we love others.
And it also gives us
great freedom.
freedom.
Because in each of us,
there is darkness
in our hearts.
There are things
that we have done
or thoughts that we have
that we're not proud of.
But God says,
Jesus says,
if you repent to me,
there is no guilt,
there is no condemnation.
There's no condemnation
in Christ.
And so you are free.
When we accept Jesus
into our lives,
our souls do not have
to bounce around
looking for meaning,
looking for significance.
Our souls do not have
to be affected
by the external circumstances,
whether we got
that paycheck rise
or we didn't.
Everything becomes defined
and centrally tethered
to Christ.
And that is what Paul means
by spiritual gain.
That is great spiritual gain.
Now,
the implication
of Christ's contentment
is that we're called
to be also content
with our material things.
So we're moving on.
Paul says,
for we brought nothing
into the world
and we can take nothing
out of it.
But if we have food
and clothing,
we should be content
with that.
God's key concern
is that we don't fall
in love with the things
of this world
that would distract you.
He knows how material things
could have a sway
in our hearts
and he wants our hearts
to be tethered to him
and him alone.
He even is also
very clearly stated
throughout the book
of the Bible
and even in Deuteronomy 8
where I think
very, very clearly
God speaks to Moses.
He says,
be careful that you do not
forget the Lord your God.
Otherwise,
when you eat
and are satisfied,
when you build
the fine houses
and settle down,
and when your herds
and flocks grow large,
your silver and gold
increase and all of you
have multiplied,
then your heart
will become proud
and you will forget
the Lord your God.
Now,
Paul's argument
for why we shouldn't
fall in love
with the material things
of this earth
is slightly different
from the past couple weeks.
He's saying,
this earth
is not our home.
This earth
is not our final destination.
We are souls
created for eternity.
Our life here
is just this much
or even this much.
And so,
there is folly
and foolishness
in trying to accumulate
stuff for this world
during our time here.
In Philippians 3,
it says,
but we are citizens
of heaven.
And in 2 Peter,
it says,
we are looking forward
to the new heaven
and the new earth
he has promised,
a world filled
with God's righteousness.
happiness.
When a wealthy woman
died,
a very wealthy woman
died,
one of the attendees
in the ceremony
at her funeral
asked the minister,
how much did she leave
behind?
The minister answered,
everything.
That's how much
you're going to bring
to your next stage.
You're not going to
take anything with you.
You're going to leave
behind everything.
And God's desire
is for us to have
a love relationship
with Jesus
that is not distracted
by wealth.
Indeed,
if we have the basic
necessities,
clothing,
shelter,
we are called
to be content.
Our true treasure
is Jesus
who leads us
to take hold
of a life
that is truly life.
Paul continues on.
Again,
he goes on
and commands
those who are rich.
he says,
command those
who are rich
in this present world
to not be greedy
and to not hope
in things
that are uncertain,
but to do good
and be rich
in good deeds,
to be generous
and to share
with others.
The basic premise
here is that
there is kingdom
responsibility
with having received
God's given possessions.
In Luke 12, 48,
it says,
From everyone
who has been given much,
much will be demanded.
From anyone
who has been entrusted
with much,
much will be asked.
This is also reaffirmed
in the parable,
in Matthew 25,
in the parable
of the talents.
I'm going to spend
a little bit of time here.
In the parable
of the talents,
a master
was going to go away
for a very,
very long time.
And he had three servants
and he was going to
entrust the talents
that he had
or talents
are basically
bag of gold.
Different bags of gold
to his various servants.
To the first servant,
according to their abilities.
Now,
to the first servant,
he gives five.
To the second servant,
he gives two.
To the third servant,
he gives one.
Now,
after a very long time,
after he comes back,
the first servant
that had five talents
said,
I invested your talents
well,
your bag of gold.
Now I have five more.
Ten.
So,
thank you.
Here you go,
master.
And the master says,
good and faithful servant.
You have been faithful
over a little.
I will give you much more.
Come and enjoy
the joy of your master.
The second servant
comes and says,
master,
I have invested
your two talents
and I got two talents more.
Here you go.
And then,
again,
the master says,
good and faithful servant.
You have been faithful
with little.
I want to give you much more.
Come and enjoy
the joy of your master.
And then,
the third servant goes,
master,
I know that you are
a hard man.
You reap where you do not sow.
You gather where you do not scatter.
So,
well,
I hid your talent on the ground.
Here,
here's your one talent back.
And the master goes,
you wicked and slothful servant.
You should have at least,
ought to have at least,
put that talent in the bank
so I get some interest back.
I think,
I'm going to paraphrase a little bit
from Tim Mackey's
sermon on this.
Two reactions,
initial reactions.
The first reaction we may have is,
is this master being a bit too harsh
on that third servant?
Is this master a harsh man?
And,
you can see,
and if you look at,
if you look at how he reacted
to the first two servants,
you can see that that's not true.
Because he says,
well done,
good and faithful servant.
He's actually really enthused
that they've done a good job.
He wants to give them even more.
He says,
you've been faithful with little.
I'm going to give you even more.
And then he says,
come and join in my,
come into the,
enter the joy of the master.
And he said,
come,
let's celebrate.
Let's come and celebrate.
So,
is the master really harsh
as the third servant presents it?
Or is,
really,
he is disillusioned
about how he views the master?
The second point that you have is,
well,
maybe this servant
is just
incompetent.
And so,
again,
maybe the heart master
is being a little bit harsh
because he's just kind of,
maybe he's just like a guy
who,
you know,
really timid
and can't get stuff done.
And,
the master,
and that's the key point.
This is the key point.
The master is not angry
at the servant,
number three,
because he did a bad job.
The master is,
calls him a wicked
and slothful servant
because he did nothing at all.
He didn't do anything.
He didn't even put the minimum,
do the bare minimum,
which is put the money
in the bank
to collect interest.
And that's the point.
God desires us
to invest his resources
that he has given you,
your money,
back into the kingdom
to redeem it
in a broken world.
I mean,
not to,
not to quote a
Spider-Man cliche
because I do know
there are people
who work in Sony here,
but,
with great power
comes great responsibility.
And that's what it's saying.
Now,
we just mentioned
the concept of
kingdom redemption.
The concept of
kingdom redemption
can feel very abstract.
Even though
we pray,
every time we say
that our Father,
we pray about it.
He says,
our Father,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
But the reality is
this is not
an abstract concept.
See,
the original plan
for God
was to create
a world
where
Adam and Eve
will have dominion.
So,
he gave,
he handed over the keys
to Adam and Eve
to rule the world
in communion with him.
Then,
we chose,
then,
what actually
happened was
man says,
thanks but no thanks,
rejected God.
I'm going to run it
according to my
sense of good and evil,
my understanding
of good and evil.
And so,
the world
becomes broken.
God's redemption plan,
the kingdom redemption plan,
is to revert
the broken world
back into
this original
form
through the work
of his faithful,
through the hands
of his faithful servants.
It is a world
where there is,
where it's governed
by love
instead of fear,
generosity
instead of self-interest,
cooperation
instead of competition,
joy
instead of strife,
patience
instead of busyness,
kindness
instead of apathy,
gentleness
instead of harshness.
You can see
what I'm doing here.
I'm just taking
the fruit of the spirit,
looking at the opposite ends.
Now,
what does kingdom
redemption look like
tangibly
within our spheres
of influence
and watermark?
Kingdom redemption
is alpha
and young life
going into
the secondary schools
of our Hong Kong,
of Hong Kong,
and giving purpose
and identity
to those
youth
that are lost
and confused
in this high-pressure world.
Kingdom identity,
kingdom redemption
is sons and daughters
going into the streets
of Wan Chai,
rescuing ladies
and even men
from the sex trade
and giving them
a new identity
in Christ
as a son
and daughter
of Christ.
Kingdom identity,
kingdom redemption
is ICM
going into
meet the minorities
population
which have been
overlooked by society
and giving them
care
and attention.
kingdom redemption
is ICF's program
going into
the campuses
of Hong Kong
and bringing
the invitation
of Christ.
Kingdom redemption
is watermark church.
We're building up
our members
every week
so that they can
go out
Monday to Friday
to live with
kingdom purposes.
Kingdom redemption
is our purpose
as a son
and daughter
of Christ.
There is much joy
in participating
in the plans
of the kingdom
and it's God's desire
that you join
in this mission.
With the Holy Spirit
as a guide,
he calls you
to participate
in making investments
for the kingdom
to help redeem
this broken world.
But one big caveat,
one big caveat,
don't do it,
don't make it
a religious thing.
Don't do it
because you think
that that's what
God needs from you.
In Isaiah 66,
he says,
this is what
the Lord says,
heaven is my throne
and the earth
is my footstool.
Where is the house
you will build for me?
Where will be
my resting place?
Has not my hand
made all these things
so they came into being?
There's nothing
that God needs.
God created everything.
So we participate
in kingdom redemption
not out of
religious obligation.
We participate
because we love
our Lord.
We participate
because how rich
he has been
through us
by giving us Jesus.
We participate
because there's
richness and joy
in having the Lord
use our hands
for his kingdom
redemption purposes.
And we participate
because it is
what we're designed for.
You know,
personally,
I've been learning
to surrender
your finances
to God
is a journey.
As you can see
from what I shared earlier,
you know,
the Holy Spirit
continues to challenge me
and convict me
in terms of my giving.
Two years ago,
the Holy Spirit
spoke to me
and said,
how much would you,
how much is a soul
worth for you?
How much is it to you
if we can bring
one more sheep
back to the good shepherd?
How much is it to you
if we can bring
a lost family member
back into the family?
It starts softening
my heart.
Now,
the Holy Spirit
obviously is convicting
about,
am I actually being
rich about it?
Am I actually being
generous to God?
So,
everyone who's already
on this journey
of surrendering
your finances to God,
I pray that you continue
and continue to surrender
more and more
and have the Holy Spirit
convict you
in your giving.
But for those
who haven't joined,
I invite you to join.
It's a wonderful journey.
It's wonderful
to see when you're,
the wealth that you have
is put to use
in God's redemption,
in God's kingdom
redemption plan.
It's just like,
glory to God.
Yes.
Now,
just as we talked
about how God
invites us
to participate
in this kingdom
redemption plan,
the enemy,
the enemy prowls
and he's,
it's like basketball.
His direct objective
is to prevent you.
He's the defense.
He hates it
when you are
walking in his ways.
And so,
how does the enemy
achieve that?
How does the enemy
play defense against us?
Very easy.
In verse 9,
it says,
those who want
to get rich
fall into temptation
and a trap.
The enemy
sets a trap
that captivates
our heart's desires
and keeps us
from desiring
the things
from God.
And oftentimes,
these traps
are so deceptive
we're even unaware.
Now,
consider an animal trap.
That's a funny story.
I started looking up
animal traps
on YouTube
and what they
would look like
and then now,
this was on Trisha's computer,
and now all these
animal traps
come up
and advertise
like she thinks
she's going to try
to buy an animal trap.
But the animal traps,
they're scary
because they're hidden
and they're camouflaged.
Like an animal
is just like walking by
and then,
like he doesn't even know
he's walking into it.
They also feature
different bait.
There's different baits
for different animals.
And also,
animal traps
are strong.
Once it's got the animal,
you're not coming out.
And that is how
the enemy prowls.
The enemy prowls
to set traps
in our hearts
to lead us
to wander,
to lead us
into evil,
which is evil
as defined
as the absence
of God.
I have to confess,
when I first
read this passage,
my initial reaction
was,
well,
I agree with that.
Money is the root
of many evils.
Yes,
we all heard that.
Yeah,
agree,
agree.
And then,
when he says,
when he addresses
for those who want
to become rich,
I'm like,
no,
that's not me.
It's like,
if you ask me
straight to my face,
is my life's goal
to become rich?
I can honestly say no.
But,
if you ask,
if you ask me
whether I want
to get rich,
I would say no.
But,
if you ask me,
do I desire
financial security
and one day
financial,
you know,
financial freedom?
I would say yes.
Do I desire
to be respected
by society?
I would say yes.
Do I desire
to provide
a comfortable
lifestyle
for my family?
And again,
I will say yes.
I am not
some of these things,
but I am
all of these things,
and therein lies
the deception
of the enemy.
He turns these
good things,
seemingly good things,
but he makes them
take hold
of my heart,
and he leads me
to wander
from my faith,
as what it says
in the passage.
In the area
of financial security,
I have this
deep desire
to stock up
and build
my nest egg,
and that's partially
because it's
intergenerational.
I think my family
and generations
from above
lived a really
not an easy life,
and so we're
told to save,
to be thrifty,
to stock up.
It's also partly
Chinese virtues.
Chinese virtues
is teaching frugality,
preparing for lean times.
That's Chinese virtue,
and maybe it's
partially my experience
in 2008
during the great
financial crisis
when I just saw peers
and everyone
just get axed,
everyone losing
their jobs,
but the problem,
but my desire
to build my own
nest egg
is it directly
contradicts
with what God says.
Do I end up
hoping in my nest egg,
or do I end up
hoping in God?
It hinders me
from being rich
to God
as I'm finding out
because I'm so focused
on this nest egg
instead of his kingdom.
Whether I admit it
or not,
I desire to be
respected by society.
In fact,
when I changed jobs
three years ago,
I bought a nice
expensive watch.
I wanted my peers
and my clients
to know that I've
attained a certain
level of success.
but here's the thing.
Do I continuously
seek approval
from society?
Do I continuously
seek to achieve?
Do I continually
seek to get more money
versus what God says?
My identity
is in Christ.
I am a son of Christ.
I am lovely
and perfectly loved
by him.
and I desire
and I want my family
to have a good life.
I want a desire,
I desire to give my family
a comfortable life,
one that is similar
to what my parents
had provided for me.
But what if it,
what if God's intention
and purpose
for us as a family
is that to show him
his most glorious ways,
he wants us
to downsize our lifestyle?
Am I ready to do that?
The enemy has these
deceptive traps
in my life.
Oftentimes,
these enemies
hinders me
from living a life
that is fully surrendered
to God.
It can create burdens
in me
in hoping for things
that cannot deliver.
And it creates
burdens
that God actually
wants to free me from.
So the bad news is
I can't free myself.
There's all these traps
in my heart.
I can't undo it.
It's got me.
But the good news is
Jesus Christ came
and can do
what we cannot do
for ourselves.
He let himself
take the fall
for all of our sins
and be free
so that we can be free
from the trap of money.
Jesus is the one
who breaks down the traps,
the doors of the traps.
Jesus is the one
who can change
the desires of our hearts.
Jesus leads us
to a life
that is truly life.
Let's follow him
and take hold
of a life
that is truly life.
according to Jesus Christ.
We are not
you
my
God
keeping it
what we have.
Amen.