1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Money, Deceitfulness

One day a certain old, rich man of a miserable disposition visited a rabbi, who took the rich man by the hand and led him to a window. “Look out there,” he said. The rich man looked into the street, “What do you see?” asked the rabbi.
“I see men, women, and children,” answered the rich man.
Again, the rabbi took him by the hand, and this time led him to a mirror. “Now what do you see?”
“Now I see myself,” the rich man replied.

Then the rabbi said, “Behold, in the window there is glass, and in the mirror, there is glass. But the glass of the mirror is covered with a little silver, and no sooner is the silver added than you cease to see others, but you see only yourself.

One of the most insidious temptations to believers in Christ is the temptation to love money and possessions.
We tend to hoard it seeing only ourselves as the goal.
Sadly, a heart that pursues riches is an idolatrous heart that is self-centered at its core.

Our passage this morning confronts the danger of materialism.

 

Proposition

3 Keys to overcome a materialistic heart:

1. Save up in heaven vs 19-21
2. Selfless giving vs 22-23
3. Single master vs 24

See the previous sermon on Fasting here