Beth Moore - Minding The Store - Part 5
I want to bring to your attention Matthew chapter 13, verses 51 and 52, because they are so beautiful. Matthew chapter 13:51-52 says this, Jesus asked them, he's been telling them parables, he wants to know, do they understand what he's telling them? Because he's been telling them about the hidden treasure and the priceless pearl, he's been telling them the parable of the wheat and the weeds. And okay, I want to say something, this is totally off-course, but that wheat and weeds parable, wheat and tares was the way I was taught, I think that's more King James, more NIV, but it is easier to say to me than wheat and weeds, it's like, "Whe-we-whe-we-whe-we-whe-we".
But I want you to remember that, because if you're like me, you are forever trying to get God to sort out, like, "Sort out the good from the bad," like, "Lord, I need to know who's on the good side, who's on the bad side," like I know what the good side and the bad side is. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? Well, I mean, like who's for you and who's against you? We're forever doing it. That's not going to happen, that's not going to happen, he says that will happen at the end, that he is letting it all grow together, and why this is important is because we're gonna constantly try to guess who's for real and who's not. And the thing about it is, we don't know the answer to that, only God does, only God does.
There are gonna be some things that embarrass us about the tares, like, "They're making us all look bad," and they're over here going like, "That tare over there is terrorizing me," it's just constant. No, it's all gonna grow together, and then God's gonna sort it out, it's that we're not the Judge. We're to have discernment, but we're to watch over our own spirits, and watch over and do an analysis of our own walk from time to time. And what we've been doing this weekend is doing that very thing, we're not called to go home and help our people sort out their storage unit, we are gonna keep our eye on our own storage unit because that's what we can control, and nothing else.
So, listen what he says, "'Have you understood all of these things?' And they answer him, 'Yes.'" And he said, "'Therefore,' he said to them," I love this, "Every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom treasures new and old". Now, I have looked at commentary after commentary after commentary. I got my daughter, who is my dear coworker and does a lot of research with me, and I'll throw her things that I don't have time to get to. I've got these commentaries, she's got these, "You look there, I'm gonna look here," and we love working together and we always discuss the concept.
And she looked into it, and so, there's no way to know for certain what Jesus means, as far as, "Can we lay it down to mean exactly what I'm about to tell you"? No. But would it include it? Absolutely yes. What he's basically saying is, when the new comes along, you don't have to get rid of everything else. Listen, let me give a few examples and see if we can sort this out. When the next generation comes up, of leaders and teachers in the church, there is a natural inclination to have to criticize the one before you so that you can have a way in, so that you can say, "Theirs didn't work, now here we come". But that's not necessary, because you can take the good that was given to you and passed down to you, you can set aside and cast out that which has not been advantageous, in the Spirit, to you.
You can have both that new, what God is doing in you and what God is doing in the generation, without having to ditch everything that came before you, not all tradition needs to go, not all liturgy needs to go. We'll be saying the truth of things like the creeds, then Nicene Creed, until Jesus comes, because it gives us a way to proclaim and confess our faith, that, "These are the first things". I wanna remind you, as we're thinking about this, of 1 Corinthians chapter 15, that chapter unfolds, it is the most amazing chapter of scripture, it's the Apostle Paul talking to the church in Corinth, and he's telling them, he's reminding them of the first things.
When we talk about first issues in the church, and when I say, "The church," I mean the church, Catholic, with a small C, which is the worldwide, every believer in Jesus Christ. So, when we say that, when it comes to the church, he's saying to us who are followers of Christ, you need to know that there are first things, that if there are first things, that means there are secondary things, that means there might be third things, there might be other things, but there are some first things. And for us, first things, and he says them, is that Jesus, according to the scriptures, came, was crucified, he died a physical death, completely stone-cold dead, but without decay, was raised from the dead, resurrected from the dead, that we might live with God forever, who put our faith in him, that these are first things.
But I want you to know he's tying together the new and the old, because they can't be separated. So, what I want to suggest to you is, he says, "The treasures of the new and old," to me, that speaks most to me about studying the Old Testament and the New. You and I are on this side of the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. The day of Pentecost is the day the Spirit was poured out upon us and the church was born. I'm grinning because I love that song so much, and I just nearly lose it every single time we come to the part that says, "And the church of Christ was born, and the Spirit lit the flame," because that's our moment, that was the party, that's when we were born as the church of Jesus Christ. But we are built upon that which was foretold all through the Old Testament. We're not disengaged and disconnected from it; we are a continuation.
Number seven: No riches are more valuable to store than God's words. The reason why I am telling you this is because, what I wanna say to you before we leave this place is, I wanna challenge you, when you think about what you're treasuring up, there's nothing like treasuring up the words of God, there's nothing. If you wanna know how you gain that wisdom, how you know what salvation and deliverance looks like, how you come to know him and to know the power of his resurrection, it's through the Spirit working through the Word of God. This is the one thing we know. We're in a world of such disinformation, sometimes we just come to the end of the day and go, "I have no idea".
There are times I don't know what's true and what's false. I know this, I know this, I know this, I know this is preserved Truth, living words, I know that we have had it for centuries and no one will be able to take it from us. I know that when the Apostle Paul said that, "Though he was chained," in 2 Timothy chapter 2, he says, "The Word of God is not chained". No matter what we keep thinking, it's all threatened, like, "Somebody's gonna take the Word from us". I'm like, "They're not gonna have that right". There will always be a people that will always be opening the Book, always be opening the Book. He will see to his witness going into every single church, every single people group, every single language, every single tribe, because we see that in the finish in Revelation. He will not let the gates of hell prevail against his church, he will not do it, he will not do it.
I want to tell you something, some of us, and rightly so in a lot of ways, we're really-really down on the church, because maybe it's let us down, maybe we feel betrayed by it, maybe we feel misled by it, and we're looking at it all and thinking, "Well, it just doesn't hold anything for me anymore". I'm gonna tell you, God is being faithful in our generation to do exactly what he said he would do, and that he is turning up the heat, in 1 Peter chapter 1, turning up the heat so that the dross will come to the surface, so that he can bring forth the gold and refine his church.
Wouldn't it be ridiculous that we would walk away from the church because he is doing exactly what he said he would do? And he's gonna prove what is genuine and he is going to also prove what is false and fraudulent. Here Jesus is, doing his job, and we're gonna walk away from him? He's being faithful. But here's what you need to know, Jesus is not demolishing his church, Jesus loves the church. He is demolishing that which in the church is keeping people from Jesus. That's what he's coming for, that which puts such a burden on people that they cannot get to Jesus, that which puts such a fraudulent leadership in front of people, such a spiritually abusive leadership, and there are many-many with healthy-healthy leadership.
But one thing he's doing right now is, I mean, he is just going after us for the misuse of authority, every single leader. Listen, if you're not a leader in the church right now who is looking at how you are dealing with authority in your sphere of influence, then I don't know how you're missing it, because if this is not a time for self-analysis for leaders, I don't know what is. How are we using that, are we getting people to be our servants. Do they owe us something? I remember years ago when somebody that I had worked with a long time and loved, and I had only seen good things out of, he said to me, "But I know you will always be loyal to me," and the hair stuck straight up on the back of my neck. It's like, "I'm gonna be loyal to Jesus".
But I'm gonna tell you something, leaders, you got you a hierarchy going? You need to die to that so fast. You are a servant, I am a servant. We humble ourselves, "And we adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, though existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited but humbled himself by becoming a man, and giving his life on the cross". We are called to lead out in sacrificial love, that's our leadership, lead out in discipleship of Jesus, that said, "Come, take up your cross and follow me". We are leaders in sacrifice and in love for enemy, and in love for God and for neighbor.
I want you to jot down Psalm 119:11, Psalm 119:11, I'm gonna say it to you. Psalm 119 is just so fabulous, it's something to take time to study all on its own. Psalm 119, 119:11, I'm going to say this in the ESV because it's got such good wording, "I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you". "I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you". If you wanna know how we can walk, now listen, we're never going to get this thing perfectly together, we're not. I have a time of confession every single morning, I start with this, and I'm not your big example, I can promise you that, but I'm just gonna tell you what my personal practice is.
I begin my morning with praise to God and then I bring confession of sin, because, what I'm wanting, I'm wanting him to pour me full of his Holy Spirit. Well, I need to pour my selfishness out, and all my fleshliness out, so that it's emptied out. Now, come, fill me up with your Holy Spirit and live through me. But I'm gonna tell you, as I live and breathe, I never have a single morning that I have absolutely nothing to confess, never. And so, you know, it just... And neither do you if you have a daily practice of it. Maybe you can go a few days, and you're not me, but I usually, whether it's something out of my mouth or something that was in my head that wanted to come out of my mouth, whatever it might be, there's always something, always selfishness, always some form of pride. But if we want to know what really guards us, to be able to walk faithfully with Jesus, it's gonna be storing up his words in her heart.
I want to tell you a story. It is, I bet, I bet I told this somewhere in ministry as long as 20 years ago, because you know how some things just stick with you and you never do forget them? I'll never forget this. There is a pastor, he's now in his eighties, in Houston, but he's just taught so faithfully and lived so faithfully. I don't agree with him about everything, he doesn't agree with me about everything, but man, he loves the Lord, and he has studied faithfully, and he has served his congregation as a good, solid shepherd, who has been faithful to Jesus. And he told a story years ago, I bet I've told this story, I hadn't told it in a long time, but I bet I've told this story more than he has, but I heard him tell it on the radio. He's from Houston, I heard him tell it on the radio, when I listen to Christian radio going to teach aerobics three times a week. I would hear that radio program and he talked about one particular time, he talked about his uncle.
So, he's long since with the Lord, because this man now is in his eighties. So he was talking about his uncle, and he was talking about how he fell into a coma and had a massive stroke. And so, he was alive for a number of days and then passed away. But while he was out cold in a coma, what he spouted off with his mouth was one scripture after another. That man had memorized scripture. And one reason this meant so much to me is that one of the ways... now, I don't know, you don't take this on as legalism, but I'm just gonna tell you, I had a very tormented mind, I have a very compulsive mind. Does anyone else? Like every now and then I just want to trade brains with someone and go, "How does it feel to you"?
Does it feel, like, I wanna see if I put my brain in your head, would you go, "Whoa," because I mean, I'm just so like, "Whoa," because sometimes I feel fairly normal, and then other times I'll realize how bizarre a person I am. And so, I just thought, "There's so much going on in there". And so, one way I lasso that thing in is, I make a practice of memorizing scripture, and it's not to keep me from ever thinking of anything else, it's to just ground me, it's like pulling it in, it's just disciplining the mind so that it will not just be. It's a way to gird up, what the Apostle Peter said, "Gird up your minds," and it means they're all the way out there like a garment, all the way, I mean, like pull the thing in. Anybody? Just like your mind just goes nuts? It's like, "Pull the thing in".
So, it's one way I do that. So, it was at a time I had already begun that practice, and I just can't tell you what it meant to me. Because is anybody else scared? Like I've never been one to really cuss, I have cussed some, but mostly to show off, and when I do it... Now, I know people really-really good at it, really-really good at it, that it comes real naturally to them, but with me, you always got the feeling that I was faking it. But has anybody but me ever feared like, after you've tried so hard to be a godly influence to your daughters and be loving in the faith, that you're gonna somehow like lose your mind, start cussing like a sailor? Anybody, anybody? I know I think about things that are just like what I'm saying. "Just bring it in, bring in, Beth, bring it in". But I want what's deepest in me, I wanna store up God's words. And I will say this to you.
So, I want, right now, I wanna talk to you who are about 35 and under, because one of the things that happens... Now, you need to know something, we need you worse than you need us, I promise you that, I promise you that. It is the natural inclination of a generation not to do it the way the mothers did it, it's part of the process of growing up, there has to be individuation in your household. In other words, your kids have got to figure out they are different from you, or they will never launch, it's the way they become their own person, so they've got to have that. So, you may do it, so right now I'm talking to 35 and under, you may do it differently, but here's what I'm going to tell you. If you are going to be mighty in the faith, girls, you have to be in the scriptures.
Now, you can do it a host of different ways, but one reason why we're having sort of this thing where, now, it's become, I'm just gonna throw this out, because I very much believe in advocacy, I think that you know that, but I'm saying we can replace the some spiritual discipline. We'll think, "Well, my mothers did it this way, they really were big on prayer and Bible study, but we're gonna be big on justice and advocacy". Listen, I believe we fight for justice, I believe we advocate for the poor, and advocate for the oppressed, and advocate for those who are marginalized. I believe that with all of my heart. But you want to know why I believe that? Because of the scriptures, because of the scriptures, because the only way you're going to be equipped, you got to study the scriptures.
You find a host of ways to do it, but what I want to say to you, don't decide, it was my generation that really began, there started being an awakening, and I don't know, I couldn't tell you the exact moment it happened, but God was doing it all over the place through Precept Bible study, BSF Bible study, he was doing it in CBS, everything you can imagine, women were somehow just like, a spiritual work of discipleship was happening among women and they could not study enough. I mean, it was just this major discipleship move among women, and it was something else. I mean, I've just never seen anything like it. And we knew it was nothing a human could do, what we were watching only God could do, only God could do. It will be the natural inclination of the next generation to think, "That's not the way we're going to do it".
And you do get to do it differently, but you still got to open up the scriptures, and you need to study it, so find a way, find a way. Find means, find discipleship materials, get yourself... Because we have got tons of leaders in this room among young women, tons of leaders. You will not be, there's no way to bypass. You may pray differently than your spiritual fathers and mothers. What I'm saying is, you may use a different method, but you're not gonna be able to get away with not having a prayer life and not studying the scriptures. You won't be able to get away with it, you won't have the might to fight the battles you need to fight and to stay between the ditches.
Now, remember when I said, earlier, that one reason we store things up is because someone coming behind us might treasure that someday? Remember when I said that? I want you to hear, you jot it down, and I'm gonna read it to you, because we need to be closing up. Jot down the address Deuteronomy 29:29, and I'm gonna tell you what it says, it's so marvelous. "The hidden things belong to the LORD our God, but the revealed things belong to us and our children forever, so that we may follow all the words of this law". "The secret things belong to the Lord," there are some things we're never gonna figure out, but the things revealed to us are not only for us, they're for our children.
And I'm not just talking about your physical children, you may not have physical children, you may not be married, and you may not even desire to be. You may be married, but you don't desire to have children for whatever reason. Maybe your family has been really harassed by a mental illness. I have a very good friend that just feels like, "You know what? We have had so many problems that we just believe we're going to love children that do not have anyone to love them and that we probably are going to be better off making this decision". That's their decision before the Lord.
So, here's what I want to say to you, I have many more spiritual daughters than I have physical daughters. I have two physical daughters, but I have lots of spiritual daughters, including Leesie. So, what I'm saying to you is, don't think you're not a mother. Oh yeah, you are, yeah you are, yeah you are. And the things that the Lord has revealed to you, those get to be invested in your children. You can't make them store it, you can't make them receive it. I don't know about you, but the Lord has gotten in our business, he's gotten in my business this weekend, and we're ending up with storing up God's words, New Testament, Old Testament, remembering which covenant we're in, we're in the new covenant, we're on this side, where our riches are not physical, but they're spiritual blessings, legacy of faith and love and joy and patience.
And you're thinking, "I don't wanna study all those genealogies". Oh, you know why you do? Because you're in a genealogy, you're in the bloodline of Jesus Christ. Oh yeah, you do, yeah you do. All those levitical laws? Oh yeah, you do wanna study them, because it makes you appreciate the cross of Christ that has freed you from having to abide by all things according to the law. Oh yeah, you do want to study those Old Testament prophets, because they showed you what God so disapproved of and approved of in his people, and how he warned them about captivity. Study the scriptures, spend the rest of your life storing up the treasures of scripture. And as you do, you will live that out, and you will have treasures up, real-life treasures in heaven.