Page 25 - Demo

We need to stop pretending that we can avoid making a choice. The whole story of God’s relationship with man is an invitation to choose whom we will serve.
After leading the Israelites into the Promise Land, Joshua assembles the people and issues this invitation
to choose in Joshua 24:14-15, “14 “Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Jesus issues a similar challenge to His followers in Matthew 16:24-26, “24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 25 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
It seems paradoxical. Try to save your life by seeking all the things you think will benefit it and you will lose it in the end. Choose to deny yourself and serve God instead and you will discover the life that will give you the security and peace you were always seeking. The Christian missionary and martyr Jim Elliot famously said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. What are treasures on earth and in heaven? What does it mean to try to store them up?
2. How can we best determine where our treasures lie? What are some things we try to treasure?
3. What does “the lamp of the body is the eye” mean? How does what we focus on determine what we value?
4. How can changing our focus change us for the better? What does it mean to “set our minds on things above”?
5. How do we sometimes try to serve two masters? Why is it impossible to serve two masters? How can we determine who we really do serve?
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