So Jesus wants to make us wealthy stewards. He's not against that, but this is about the heart attitude, which always has to have more. It's a failure to just sit back and say: look at what God's blessed me with. I'm so content NOW!
The ‘worries of this life’ is a failure to be here. Can anybody remember the last time you could not be fully-present in a situation, you were thinking about something else, because of the worries of this life?
Does it stand to reason then, that is why the word of God cannot take root in our hearts: because of the worries of this life, and the deceitfulness of wealth? Is Jesus nailing it, or what? Jesus gave this message 2000 years ago, and it's still true today. The worries of this life, and the deceitfulness of wealth, keep us from God's best.
Have you ever popped off in anger, and when you were confronted on your behaviour, you said: yeah, but I was just stressed out? The worries of this life kept you from God's best.
Have you ever made a rash decision that had horrible consequences to it, and when you were confronted on that, you said: yeah, but you don't understand the pressure I was under? The worries of this life, and the deceitfulness of wealth.
We could give example after example after example, but what's the answer? There are a lot of answers. I just want to give you one, and this is in no way a complete answer, this is just one answer that helps. That answer is Sabbath.
Jesus said this: “Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath”. Let me just tell you some things about Sabbath….
To argue about which day of the week it is, misses the point. To make it a day of ‘no fun’, misses the point. To make it a day of ‘rules to keep’, misses the point. To make it a day that puts guilt or condemnation on somebody, misses the point. “Let no one judge you by days, or moons, or festivals”.
But the principle of Sabbath is absolutely necessary to save our life. It will save our life. Will God love you more; or love you less? Absolutely not; it’s nothing to do with condemnation or guilt. It has to do with basic rhythms, that God built into creation.
There is a six-and-one rhythm built into creation. God did, and the animals do too. There's a recent zoological study, using animals in zoos; they put them out for six days, and then hid them for one day, letting them rest. The other group, they just put them out every day. The group they put out every day, actually got sick. There's a six and one rhythm to creation. God built it into that.
The truth is that we're addicted to accomplishment, achievement, and action. We're addicted to it. It releases something in our brain. You realise we can be addicted to anything? We can be addicted to stress. We love being stressed out; and even though we say we hate it, we actually couldn't do without it, because it releases something in our brain, that we like the feeling of it. Let me prove it to you?
Take a Sabbath; and then by two o'clock in the afternoon, pay attention to how you feel. You feel horrible, and you say: oh, this thing doesn't work. No, it does work; but your body is detoxing from the chemical being released in your brain, that's used to being stressed out.
We can be addicted to anything. I knew a guy once, he'd sleep 10 to 12 hours a day, and when you'd ask him how he was doing, he'd still say: he was tired. Why? He was addicted to that feeling, he liked it.
There's something happens. Something about action, accomplishment; stress - we love it; and we feel like we're a failure if we're not a part of it.