31 Mar Above and Beyond Part 4 | ” The Garrison of Supreme Comparison”
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Starting Point: What is Christianity all about? Is the Bible really more than just a book? Who is Jesus? No matter where we are in life, we all have questions. Starting Point is a great place to explore the faith and have safe and open discussions about some of life’s toughest questions.
Growth Track: In this 3 part class; Discover, Deepen, & Dedicate; you will get answers to the most frequently asked questions about Waters Church and have an opportunity to ask your own. This is the perfect place to get to know the “Why” behind the “What” of who we are as a church.
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Key Verse Luke 12
ABOVE & BEYOND OFFERING – NEXT WEEKEND
This man came to Jesus because he thought he was not getting what he deserved. He wanted his brother to divide his inheritance but his brother did not want to and the man felt betrayed. He hears about Jesus, he knows of how he spoke about money. Jesus spoke more about money than he spoke about heaven and hell combined.
This was Jesus’s response to this man. This man wanted Jesus to tell his brother and fix it. The problem however was not with the brother, it was with this man who thought he was entitled. Sometimes we do this in church. When we hear a message and we think ‘so and so should be hearing this’.
Ice-breaker question:
Q. Can you relate to either the man or the brother and if so, why?
We do not exist in our possessions. They are not our identity. We tend to measure ourselves with them or measure ourselves against another person because of what they have and we don’t have.
People pay thousands of dollars for products with this logo. They believe if they wear this logo it will give them meaning. It is the Garrison of Comparison – ‘important’ people put it on and now others want to be like them.
THE PROBLEM IS NOT “SUPREME”. THE PROBLEM IS MAKING WHAT SOMEONE ELSE HAS SUPREME IN OUR LIFE.
1. GREED IN ME IS HARD TO SEE.
Jesus was in the middle of a sermon and this man had the audacity to tell Him to make his brother share. We don’t come to Jesus for what we can get, we come to Jesus because of who He is. This man thinks it is his brother’s problem, but the problem is with him. Greed is invading our culture at a record rate. Being rich is not the problem, it is being greedy to the point where we cannot give. That is why Jesus tells the man in verse 15 to “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.”
GREED THRIVES IN THE GARRISON OF COMPARISON
Seeing other have the life we deserve. Some of us have front row seats to other people’s lives – Instagram-parison. Going on Instagram and desiring to have what they have.
Q. What example can you give of where you may have been jealous, resentful or judgmental because of what you witnessed others doing on social media (vacationing, buying a home, getting married etc.)?
“We live in a world where everyone is sharing one perfect second of their imperfect day, and interpreting that second as a life of perfection.” – Forbes Magazine
These people we see on Instagram are living a life of quiet desperation like the rest of us. We need to stop comparing ourselves to them or we will end up praying prayers we should not be praying.
COMPARISON CAN CAUSE YOU TO PRAY PRAYERS BASED ON WHAT OTHERS HAVE AND DO INSTEAD OF WHAT GOD HAS IN STORE FOR YOU.
Example: praying for God to send you a spouse because you think you should be married after seeing your friends posts – then some random person is nice to you and you think that because you prayed, that is the one. You tell this person that you prayed God would send them and you just set them up for failure.
Q. What prayers have you prayed based on what someone else had and what was the outcome?
We should not try to ‘put something on’ that we think will add value to us. Only in our Savior we have purpose and worth.
The Bible says that both rich and poor are sinners. We are not to twist justice for the rich or the poor. Poverty is not a virtue and none of us are good. This is where we get entitlement. Some young people want what mom and dad have in their 20’s but it took mom and dad forty years to get it. This entitlement stops us from being generous which stops us from receiving a blessing. Even in seasons when things are tough, God will bless us as we work through these seasons. If we cannot tithe on what we have, then we will never be able to tithe. When we start giving, we can watch God start blessing.
Q. What are some examples of entitlement you have personally witnessed in our society or what is something you have felt you were entitled to receive?
2. GREED FOCUSES ON ONLY ME.
Luke 12:16-19 ESV
It is okay to be focused on ourselves, to take care of our needs. It is okay to build our homes and invest our money. There are lots of rich people in the old and new testaments. In this parable, there are 6 ‘I’s and 5 ‘My’s and this man his having a conversation with himself. Greed isolates us from everyone else. Greed alienates us and makes others our enemy and then we cannot love and give generously.
Q. What possessions have you focused that caused you to be out of focus with others? What possessions do you have that you fear of losing and why?
3. GREED BLINDS ME TO MY TRUEST NEED.
Jesus tells this man he is a fool. He is taking care of himself, but his soul is lost in the process. Being rich toward God is giving to what God cares about – people. Are you giving your stuff away? Are you giving to people? It is good to store, but not to store only to think of ourselves.
There is all kinds of greed. It can be love of fame, being important.
Q. With which of your possessions do you want to be more generous?
YOU DO NOT EXIST IN YOUR POSSESSIONS. YOU EXIST IN THE POSSESSION OF GOD.
Only Jesus can fill our truest and deepest need.
PRAYER FOR EACH OTHER, THE LOST, WOONSOCKET AND OTHER UPCOMING CAMPUSES, THE ABOVE & BEYOND CAMPAIGN, THE CHURCH, THE NATION AND LEADERS.
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