Pitfall #4: Problems With Materialism

Introduction

In Luke chapter 8, starting in verse 4, we have recorded the parable of the sower, in which Jesus would use the illustration of a farmer who goes out to plant his seed, as they did in that day, and how when he scatters that seed, it would fall in a lot of different kinds of places on a lot of different kinds of soil. Some of it would fall accidentally on the soil of the pathway that would be hard and the seed would never penetrate, and some would fall into shallow soil with rocks underneath that wouldn’t allow for much growth and development. Some would fall in ground that was that was also sown with thorns and weeds and ultimately would be choked out, and others would fall into the well-tilled prepared soil, and it would produce abundant harvest for the farmer.

But Jesus’ point in this parable is not to teach us a lesson about agriculture. His point would be to use each of these different kinds of soil to illustrate different kinds of heart and how they respond to the word of God. Look with me, starting in verse 11. He said, Now the parable is this the seed is the word of God. And those beside the road are those who have heard when the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. And those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear the word, receive it, receive the word with joy, and these have no firm root. They special attention to this next verse, and time of temptation fall away.

And the seed which fell among the thorns. These are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way, they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to maturity. And the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart and hold it fast and bear fruit with perseverance. I want you to think with me this morning about that third soil, that third kind of heart. We might call it the cluttered heart that Jesus describes in verse 14. It is interesting that this is not the kind of heart that is completely close to God’s word, not like the one described with the first soil. Nor is it the crazed heart that lacks the depth of conviction to stick with it.

In fact, it is interesting that in the cluttered heart, the seed of God is planted and even to some degree grows. The problem is that within this heart there are just too many other things. Jesus describes them as worries and riches and pleasures, but the operative phrase is of this life. Things that pertain to the physical, the here and now, the earthly, and not to the spiritual. In the end, the pressing things push out the important, and the word is choked so that it is unable to accomplish the purposes it’s supposed to in the life of this person, the cluttered heart. I’m worried about that. I’m worried about that one, brethren, because we live today in a materialistic world. We live in a world where men and women are measured not for what they are, not for what their character is, but they’re measured by how much they have and where they live and what they drive, measured in terms of material things.

We live in a world where most folks literally are consumed with the pursuit of wealth and fortune and all the things that those things can buy. We’ve deluded ourselves if we think God’s people have gone unaffected by everything going on around us. The truth is that in the lives of a lot of Christians, at times we are so filled with other things, with job and career and house and car and investments and bills and pursuits that pertain to this life. That God’s word in our hearts is just getting squeezed and shoved aside and pushed back by the pressing things so that it just gets lost in the shuffle, honestly. How much time did you spend each day this week talking to God in prayer? And reading from his word and gleaning the powerful truths that change our lives.

How much time did we spend with that this week? Do you see the problem? We get cluttered hearts. We’ve been talking about how we can raise children that grow up to love the Lord. And we’ve suggested over this past month that a key part of that process is to train our children to navigate around the pitfalls of life that threaten to make them unhappy and upset their faith. And I want to tell you something, folks. We have a tremendous pitfall with the problem of materialism around which we must teach our children to navigate. I think this is particularly a difficult problem for a couple of reasons. Number one, it’s difficult because materialistic thinking simply permeates our culture. With everyone else around us caught up in the pursuit and the race to get stuff, to get things.

1. The Most Important Thing Is Our Relationship With God

If we’re ever going to help our kids learn to escape this dangerous pitfall, this mine in the minefield that threatens to upset the faith and life of our children. So think with me about three things that we need to be convicted about to deal with the problem of materialism. Number one, we need to be convicted that the most important thing in life is our relationship with God. Brethren, that’s the sum total of really what I’m trying to say in the lesson this morning. That the most important thing in a person’s life is that he be right with God. That he have a relationship with Jesus Christ. We need to be convicted about that in our hearts. And brethren, we need to be busy about the business of convicting our children of that.

That the most important thing that they can do as they grow up and live their lives is to be right and have a relationship with their God. Do you believe that? Let me tell you something, folks. Our children will not learn this principle from our culture. Our kids will not learn this conviction by looking at what’s going on around them with everybody else. Because you know what everybody else is doing. They look around them, and what they see are friends and neighbors, and they’ll see co workers, all of whom are consumed with the desire to have more and more things, newer, bigger, better. That’s what they’re going to learn from culture. They’re going to see it when they watch television, the thousands and thousands of commercials that they see every year that tell them what?

Be satisfied? Seek a relationship with Jesus Christ? No. What are they going to learn from the commercials? They’re going to learn that you can’t really experience life to the fullest without a new Chevy truck in your driveway. Or without a new specially curved toothbrush that enables you to get to those back teeth. Or without dryer sheets that make your laundry spell like springtime. That’s what they’re going to learn. They won’t hear much of anything at all about the need for a relationship with God. Watching our culture, our children won’t begin to get the idea that that’s something that is extremely important. Folks, that has to come from us. We must counter the impressions left by our culture. By teaching our children the hard realities about these things that everyone else is trying to accumulate.

Several things need to be included in that. We need to teach our children that material possessions don’t last. Jesus tried to teach us that in Matthew chapter 6 and verse 19. He tried to warn us about their fleeting natures. He said, Do not lay up for yourself treasures upon the earth. Why? He said, We’re moth and rust destroy, and we’re thieves break in and steal. He was trying to tell us something about their fleeting nature. They don’t last. What is today’s latest and greatest is tomorrow’s news? Old news. In Proverbs chapter 23, and in verse 4. The wise man says, Do not weary yourself to gain wealth. Cease from your consideration of it. When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.

Material things don’t last. And even what we might be able to accumulate and keep throughout our entire lives, we won’t take it with us when we die. You know, it is said that a very, very wealthy man passed away. And one of his one of his friends, close friends, was asked by somebody, how much did he leave? And the friend looked at him and wrinkled up his face, and he said, All of it. And that’s right. We don’t take any of it when we die. That frustrated Solomon in Ecclesiastes chapter 12 and verse 18. Ecclesiastes 12, 18, he says, Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me.

And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all of the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity. He said, I can’t believe this. He said, I’ve acted wisely, shrewdly, I’ve accumulated all these things, and Solomon was a very, very wealthy individual. And then reality struck. I’m not going to take any of it with me. I’m going to leave it all behind to someone else who didn’t have to work for it, who didn’t have to act wisely to have it. And for all I know, he may squander it all. And his son did. Even what we keep throughout our lives we can’t take with us when we die.

And even what even those things we might leave behind for someone else are destined for destruction. In 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 10, Peter warned us about the coming day of the Lord. He said, But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a war, and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat. Listen, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Where’s all this stuff going to wind up? Destroyed. We need to teach our children that material things do not have abiding value. We must also teach our children that material things are not going to enhance their standing before God. Be turning, if you will, to Luke 16. You know, we may enjoy some advantages because of wealth and prosperity in this life.

That may be that may open for us some doors that may be closed to others, but I’m going to tell you, folks, what we are able to accumulate in the way of wealth and possessions of this life doesn’t matter to God, not one bit. In fact, in Luke chapter 16 and verse 19, Jesus would tell us about a rich man, a very wealthy man. He says, Now there was a certain rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, gaily living in splendor every day. He had it all. But you know, you read on down through there and get verse 23 and find out that when he died, he lifted up his eyes and Hades being in torment. He was separated from God into eternity.

He couldn’t buy his way into heaven. The fact that he accumulated a lot, had a lot of possessions, a lot of wealth. It didn’t matter to God in the end. Brethren, we live in a culture where people know the price of everything and the value of nothing. Where people that value things most that have no lasting value, we must teach our children not to waste their efforts pursuing life’s cheap tinsel while neglecting the things that really do matter. Jesus gave the greedy this warning in Luke chapter 12 and verse 15. He said, Beware and be on your guard against every form of greed. Listen to this. For not even when one has abundance does his life consist of his possessions.

And if we live our lives pursuing things, folks, we’re going to be gravely disappointed in the end. What really does matter in life is our relationship with our God. Solomon came to that conclusion after a long journey. If you turn back to the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 12.

Solomon came to that conclusion after experimenting with all the different pursuits to which one might give himself. He tried all the different paths, all the different things one might do to find meaning and purpose in his life. And we won’t read the whole book, but you ought to. It’s a good book about the utter futility of life apart from God. In chapter 12 and verse 13, he gets to the conclusion and he says, the conclusion when all has been heard. And listen, this was a fellow who had the opportunity to try it all and experience it all. And in his wisdom, he comes back and he says to us, Listen, when you boil it all down, here’s what matters. Fear God and keep his commandments. Or this applies to every person, for God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether good or evil.

Solomon says what life is all about when you boil it all down. It’s having such an awesome respect for God that we would learn and do all that he’s told us to do. Because we’re all accountable to him. Jesus would say it a little differently in Matthew 16 and verse 26. He would say, For what will a man be profited if he gains the whole world? What would you give up for that? I mean, we talk about having it all. Jesus literally means here, having it all. If you could have everything you could possibly want, what would that be worth to you? Jesus said, for what will a man be profited if he gains the whole world at what price? His soul. What would you give in exchange for your soul?

What’s worth going to hell for?

Why is a relationship with God of such great value? Two reasons. It is of great value because it ensures happiness in this life. Nobody loves us more than God does. Nobody desires our best more than he does. No one knows better how to live life to its most fullest extent than God does. Listen, the only way to experience true satisfaction and fulfillment while we’re here on earth is to live our life in connection with God and His will. That’s why this relationship is so important. And it’s important, secondly, because it’s the only way to get ready for eternity. Listen, people can lightly dismiss what is in the Bible. They can lightly dismiss is irrelevant for their lives now, the will of God. But there is a day coming, listen to me, when for every human being, there will be only one thing that matters, and that is where do I stand with my God?

The tragedy is that for a lot of people, they’ll only realize that when it’s too late. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t want that to happen to my kids.

2. Lust for Wealth Destines Us to Get Into Trouble

I want them to know it right now. I want it to be so ingrained in their minds that they live their life devoted to that principle. I want to be sure that they don’t waste themselves pursuing things that have no real value. We need to be convicted that the most important thing in life is having a relationship with God. And we need to convict our children of that. But let me say to you secondly, the second conviction we need to go into this with that when we lust for wealth and for money and possessions, we are destined to get into trouble. Turn in your Bibles, if you will, to 1 Timothy chapter 6. Because Paul would try to warn us about that in 1 Timothy 6, starting in verse 9.

Paul there writes, for those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil. And some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves through with many a pain. You know, the tragedy that Paul would describe here in principle is one that is being played out in too many lives today, in the lives of real people in our culture.

And we just need to be honest about that.

And as a consequence of that, our marriages are suffering. Little time is left to build solid relationships. It’s no surprise that divorce is epidemic today when you consider how little time couples have to nurture their relationships with each other. And children suffer. Moms and dads are far too busy at work to really be involved in the work of raising kids. Remember that statistically, a pre-teen only spends 39 minutes a week in focused conversation with his parents. Brethren, we are raising a generation of children that are literally screaming for someone to pay attention. Our work is eating up our time with our families. And to what end? So that we can buy fancy cars that take us in opposite directions. Find homes that are empty or where our children sit home alone.

And find dining room tables around which our family never has time to sit and eat. Our busyness is impacting our spiritual life as well. Little time is left for things like Bible study and prayer and time with brethren, the basics for our spiritual survival. And that doesn’t begin to encompass the work of the kingdom that needs to be done, the work of saving souls and strengthening brethren and seeing to the needy. Who has time for that? In fact, the truth is I hear, I hear some honest Christians today who just say, look, I don’t have time for it anymore. I don’t have time to do it. I’m too busy. Doing what? Where does that leave us? With Christians whose faith is shallow and who have little relationship with their God.

It leaves us ignorant of God’s truth and deprived of the power of that truth in our lives and in danger of being deceived by error. And it leaves a dedicated few in local churches who are often taxed beyond their limits to do the work that no one else has time to do. While we do what? What is it that we’re spending our time on? The pursuit of wealth is robbing many of their happiness. Financial problems and credit debt plague this country. One study found that the average American lives on 105% of his income. If that doesn’t compute in your brain, that’s right. It shouldn’t compute. Somewhere you’ve got to make up the shortfall. Most make it up with credit cards. Estimates are that we owe Vista MasterCard Discover and American Express 385 ready.

Billion dollars. The average American has seven credit cards with an average balance of $2,500 per card. I’m in the wrong business. I need to get a credit card company.

12 years later. And that doesn’t even begin to touch on the stress that financial worries put on marriages and families and on us personally. But I’m going to tell you something, folks. Credit card debt, most of the time, is the epitome of materialistic thinking. It’s the attitude that says, I’ll have what I want right now. I won’t save for it. I won’t wait for it. I’ll indulge myself because it’s what I want and it’s what everyone else has. And brethren, that is the materialistic mind that Paul was trying to warn us against in 1 Timothy 6. If you’re one of those who has seven that’s carrying $2,500 balances, scissors, go home, cut them up. Change your thinking.

3. Material Things Are Never Going to Satisfy Us

Maybe we need to be again by convincing ourselves. And then finally, let me say to you, we need to be convicted that material things are never going to satisfy us. We need to get this one straight, folks, because this is the big lure of material things. We convince ourselves that if we could just get one more thing, if we could just get to a certain level financially, if we could just get accomplish certain material desires in our life, one more thing, we’ll be happy. We’ll be satisfied. Ever said that? I said that. I said that when I hated riding the school bus. And I said to my mom and dad, if you will just get me a car, and here’s where I messed up. Any car.

Just get me a car so that I don’t have to ride the bus and I’ll be happy. Well, you know, when you’re 16 years old, your brain isn’t fully developed and you don’t work right. My parents smiled at me, took me to the front door, and pointed to a 1973 Ford LTD station wagon sitting in the driveway. Said, you got a car, partner. And I got to tell you at first, I like not riding the school bus and driving my Green Ford station wagon to school. But I discovered after a while doing that that it’s really hard for a 16-year-old boy trying to impress young ladies. It was really hard to be cool in a green 73 Ford station wagon. I could haul a lot of people in it, but just wasn’t very cool when I was doing it.

So I returned to my parents, who were still grinning, and said to them, okay, here’s the deal. If I could just get a car that’s cool, then I will be happy and I will be satisfied. And they grinned at me and they worked with me, and we bought out and we bought a car that at least when I was 16 years old, I thought was a cool car. And I was satisfied, right? Never wanted another thing. No. Because you see, it was kind of an old cool car, and it was kind of rusting and the paint was bad. And so I went back to my mom and dad, who were still grinning, and who said, and I said, if we could just get it painted and fixed up a little bit, you know, then it then I would really be happy and satisfied with that.

And so they helped me to do that, and we got it painted and fixed up, and I was happy. Well, no, not for long, because, see, a really cool car has to have a stereo. And after the stereo, back in the early 80s, the thing for a 16-year-old kid to have was raised letter tires on his car. And so I pled for raised letter tires, and then it was one thing and then it. Well, you know how that goes, and you people are laughing at me, but you’re just as guilty. Because I’ve listened to you. I’ve heard it. We say to ourselves, if we could just get the bigger house, you know, the house is too small, and if we could just move up, we could just get the bigger house.

We’d be happy. I wouldn’t want another thing. And that’s a lie. Come on. Because once we get into the house, we look at the yard and we say our yard, and the neighbors look at us, and we need to landscape. And if we could just get the house landscaped so the neighbors wouldn’t talk, we’d be all right, right? And then when the landscaping’s done, we want to wallpaper the bedroom, and when the bedroom’s wallpapered, you know, if we could just get a pool, we’d never need anything else. Come on. In fact, one of the ways we justify giving undue attention is material to material things is we convince ourselves that one day we’re gonna get enough. That’s why it’s okay for both mom and dad to be working, and that’s why it’s okay to get over all the overtime we can get.

And that’s why it’s okay for a time to neglect family and to neglect spiritual things, because one day we’re gonna get enough, and we’re gonna be satisfied, and we’ll have it all paid off, and we’ll be content and not want anything else. And brethren, that is a delusion of the devil. It’s not so. That day never comes. If it’s material things we want, we’ll never have enough of them. What has to change is not how much we have, but our attitude toward what we have. Don’t give me wrong. I don’t want to imply that there is something inappropriate about planning and dreaming and fixing up. But I am trying to say that there is also an important sense in which we need to learn to be satisfied with things right where they’re at.

And with things just as they are, even if they’re not perfect. I think about Paul’s spirit in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 11. When he said, Not that I speak from what? For I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means. I also know how to live in prosperity. In any and every circumstance, I’ve learned the secret of being filled and going hungry. Both of having abundance and suffering need.

Satisfied. Can we say that? If I got a little bit, that’s okay. If I’ve got a lot, that’s okay too. I know how to cope with all of it. Can’t we? I think that satisfaction comes from two sources. Number one, that satisfaction comes from knowing what is really important. Listen, folks, if you have a relationship with Jesus Christ this morning, if you’re a part of his kingdom, if your sins have been forgiven. If heaven is your hope, then the most important things have been taken care of. Thank God for His grace. That’s what’s important. We need to remember that. But then, secondly, let me say to you that the satisfaction also springs from a greater appreciation of what we do have. Next time you’re looking across the driveway at the neighbor’s brand new Chevy truck and feeling a little twinge of resentment because you’ve been driving the car, the same car for eight years and it’s old.

Remember that most people on earth today are going to walk. And next time you’re looking around at your house and feeling deprived because it seems cramped and it seems so small, and there are others who have much bigger and much finer homes. Remember that in most places in the world, probably two or three families or more would share the space that our family occupies and without air conditioning, too. And next time you’re looking around the bedroom and feeling deprived because the mattress is lumpy and the bedroom furniture looks like something from a 70s showroom. Remember that tonight most people are going to go to bed sleeping on the floor. I know there are people that have a whole lot more than I do. But the vast majority of people in this world have a whole lot less than I do.

4. Model These Convictions Before Our Children

And it makes me a little more grateful and a little more satisfied. Brethren, if what we want are things, we’ll never get the cup filled up. We need to change our perceptions. We need to learn to be happy and satisfied with where we are and what we have. Well, those are the convictions. If you’ll indulge me just another moment or two, I want to talk to you a little bit about how we instill these convictions in our children. I want the lessons to be practical. And so, what can we do to help our kids avoid the pitfall of materialism? Number one, let me say to you that we simply must model these convictions before our children. Parental example becomes critical in these processes. The best way for my kids to make their relationship with God the most important thing, the best way to teach them to do that is by making sure it’s the most important thing to me.

My kids need to see me nourish my relationship with God through prayer and Bible study. They need to see me give a priority to the kingdom’s work in my life. They need to see me taking care of the needy and winning souls and serving the church in leadership positions and teaching in Bible classes and so on. They need to see me sacrifice opportunity for material gain for the sake of the kingdom. What a great lesson to your children to see Dad turn down overtime and the extra money to be home with his family. What a great lesson to our children to see Dad put off a client so that he can be at Thursday night of a gospel meeting. Brethren, if we want our kids to grow up believing that their relationship with Jesus Christ is the most important thing, then it’s got to be the most important thing to us.

5. Make Spiritual Things a Priority in Our Home

And then number two, we need to make sure that spiritual things are a priority in our home. Jesus said in Matthew 6 and verse 33, as we sang in the song this morning, to seek first his kingdom. But our children need to learn at home, watching us what that practically involves. How do you seek first the kingdom? For example, we need to make sure that Bible class lessons are more important than schoolwork at our house. I’m going to tell you something. If some of your kids are approaching your schoolwork, their schoolwork, the way they’re approaching their Bible class lessons, they’re failing. Because I teach them. I know. Education is important to Heidi and I. We’re one of those adamant moms and dads who wants to see what the homework is when the kids get home.

And we insist they go and do that first before they do anything else in the day. And we check report cards and we watch grades and we conference with teachers. Education is very important to us. But it has occurred to us that at times it seems we are more focused on that even than we are on the biblical training of our children, even than we are on those Bible class lessons and being sure that they’re thoroughly prepared. And that concerned me. I wondered if what I was saying to my children is look, you need to get a good education. And oh, by the way, it’s probably good to get your Bible class lesson too. Well, now listen, I want to reverse that because here once here’s what I want my kids to hear.

You need to be spending time with God’s word, getting to know him and building a relationship with him. And by the way, it’s a good idea to get a good education too. That’s the message I want my kids to hear. Because I want to instill that conviction that having a relationship with Jesus Christ is most important. I think every parent needs to have some kind of plan for your children to spend time with God’s word every day. Even if you just get a sheet of paper and write down a couple of chapters from the book that you want them to read. And then make sure that every day that work is top priority in your house. When you finish your Bible reading, then jump on that homework.

What a great message to send our kids. Then, secondly, we need to teach our children the priority of spiritual things by having an unbroken habit of worshiping with God’s people. What a great way to teach our children the priority of spiritual things. In Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 25, the Hebrew writer talks to us about it. He warns us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the habit of some is. But encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near, we need to be one of those families that is just there every time the door is open. Because that says to our kids not just that what we’re doing here this morning is important. It says to our kids that a relationship with God is important.

And what we’re doing here to nurture that relationship is important. In fact, what we need to do is we need to be sure with our children that we sacrifice other things that they’re doing, that we sacrifice other important things that they’re doing to do this. If your kid has a championship ball game at a time a worship service is scheduledule, make sure he misses the ball game. And if your kid has a chorus concert or a school performance at a time when God’s people are missing, make sure they miss it. Anytime you have an opportunity to say what we do for the Lord is the number one priority, is a great way to get that message across. That spiritual things are the most important things. Let me give you a guarantee.

Ten years from now, 20 years from now, no one will even remember what happened in that ball game. No one will even remember that chorus performance. But your children will remember that in our house, spiritual things were always the most important things. Give a priority to them. Bible work needs to be done before kids watch TV or go out to play. You know, a lot of families have television watching rituals. Do y’all have a favorite show at your house? We used to. We used to watch Seventh Heaven until it started getting a little trashy and I didn’t like it. But every Monday night at 8 o’clock, we work things out so our family sat down together and watched Seventh Heaven. You know, it occurred to me, wouldn’t it be great if we had some spiritual rituals like that, where mom and dad and all the kids cleared everything out of their schedule to be sure that at this given time and place we sit down and did something spiritual, maybe had a family devotion.

6. Don’t Give Your Kids Everything They Want

Or maybe in your family, you gather every night before everyone goes to bed and pray together as a family. Wouldn’t those be great rituals at your house? We need to give priority to spiritual things. And then finally, I tell you, I wish I could send out the teenagers when I make this point, because they’re all going to be mad at me when I get done. But here it goes. Y’all take notes on this, would you? Number three, don’t give your kids everything they want. In fact, sometimes it is good and healthy for young people when they ask for something to hear their mom and dad say, no, you can’t have that. I’m sorry. We can’t afford it. We just don’t have the money for that. Kids need to get used to the idea that sometimes we have to say no to our desires and the things that we want.

And even if you do have the money, sometimes we need, rather than giving our kids what they want, to make them work for it. You want that new skateboard? How much is it? $40? Okay, let’s go home and make a list of jobs. And how much you’ll earn for each job. Make them work for it. Teach them the principle that we have to wait, and we have to earn money and we have to save for the things that we want. Why? I don’t want my kids to learn the principle of instant gratification. I don’t want my kids to get used to the idea that all they have to do is want, and somehow the money will mystically appear and they get it. I want them to learn to work and to wait and to save to buy the things that they want to buy.

Conclusion

I think every family needs to have a financial system. A system, even when children are very young, by which they can work and earn money and set it aside and save for the things that they would like to give. Don’t give your kids everything they want. It just begins to develop the materialistic mind, even when they’re very young. Folks, we live in a world that is fixated on things. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want my children to grow up with that kind of thinking. We need to help them avoid that pitfall and teach them to seek what has real value. It is not the material things of this life that are destined for destruction. It is a relationship with Jesus Christ. Take out your song books, if you would, please, and turn to the number that Jim has selected as the invitation song.

And when you’ve done that, if I could have your attention back for one more minute, it would be to challenge you on that first conviction where we began this morning. I doubt if we had pulled this audience of people who chose to gather here today and said, Do you agree that the most important thing in life is to have a relationship with the God of heaven? I doubt if we asked that question to the audience, anyone would have said, no, I don’t think that’s most important. I imagine every person assembled here today agrees that the most important thing in my life is to have a relationship with God. So I’m going to ask you now, do you have one? Are you a person that at one time built a relationship with him but has come to neglect him?

Things aren’t right with him today. Or someone who has never obeyed the gospel of Jesus Christ. And today, if you know the Lord came, you wouldn’t go to heaven. You don’t have a relationship with him. I want to test your convictions this morning. If you really believe that that’s the most important thing, what are you going to do about it? If you’ve never obeyed Jesus Christ, but you believe he’s the Lord, if you’re ready to commit your life to serving him, behind behind this window up here, there is a water, a baptistry filled with warm water, and this morning, in accordance with the instructions of Jesus Christ, we’ll baptize you into Christ so that you can be born again and have that relationship with Him. Is it really most important?

We’ll see. Come right now, while we stand and while we sing.