Sunday Sermon Matthew 6:19-21

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

Prayer

Lord Heavenly Father, we thank you for hearing the cry’s of our hearts and for you allowing us to gather to worship in Spirit and in Truth. We ask today, that you would be present, that you would fill us with a double portion of your Holy Spirit and that you would do a work in our hearts. Father our desire is to not be hearers of the Word, but to be doers of the Word, so open wide our ears and may the teaching today turn into shoe leather and action. May we receive joyfully the encouragement, admonition, and conviction that you will give.

In Jesus Name, We Love You! Amen

Review

Looking back over the past few weeks, we have learned about the spiritual disciplines of giving, prayer, and fasting.

And that when we do these in secret, that the Father will reward us openly.

However, we also learned that we are not to do these to be seen by men, like the Scribes and the Pharisees of the day for the have their reward and its earthly.

Church, even though this was a simple teaching, it is one that is difficult to do.

Here in Matthew, the Lord says when he sees us in secret, he will reward us openly 3xs. Not once, not twice, but three times he repeats this phrase.

Then why don’t we do it more? Why do we struggle to give, to pray, and to fast?

Do we have wrong priorities?

Spiritual disciplines

No spiritual discipline is more important than the intake of God’s Word.

Donald S. Whitney

Spiritual growth is not automatic. It requires cooperation with God and the application of spiritual diligence and discipline.

Warren W. Wiersbe

The man who disciplines himself stands out and has the mark of greatness upon him.

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Church, it all comes down to our priorities, because we will always make time for those things that matter most to us.

Matthew 6:19 NKJV

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;

Martyn LloydJones tells the story of a farmer. The farmer bounded joyfully into his kitchen one day and confronting his wife with a great big grin on his face he announced to her that their finest cow had just given birth to twins, one brown and one white. He said, I feel the impulse to dedicate one of these cows to the Lord, we'll bring them up together and when they are at a marketable age we'll sell them and we'll keep the proceeds from one and we'll give the proceeds from the other to the Lord. His wife went right to the issue as wives are prone to do and said, which is the Lord's cow? The white one or the brown one? He replied, well there's no need to worry about that dear, or to decide that now since we'll raise them together.

Some months later he entered the same kitchen a little more slowly, looking very sad. His wife asked why he was so sullen, to which he replied, I have bad news, the Lord's cow died. Why is it always the Lord's cow, that dies?

I guess we laugh at that because we identify with that kind of approach. We could even say, the Lord took His cow home. I guess the fact is we all tend to lay up treasure on earth. The pull of the sin that is in us drags us down to the earth, it is like a magnet, it is like a gravity, and we want to be rich towards self and poor toward God. So it's usually God's cow that dies.

Jesus I believe speaks directly to this perspective on life in these verses, and I think He gives us a tremendous insight into ahow we are to really see the matter of wealth, the matter of money, the matter of luxuries.

Here, Jesus shifts gears and begins addressing an issue that was prevalent in His day.

He was surrounded by many who sought worldly gain.

They were often preoccupied with acquiring material wealth and possessions.

We too live in a culture that is consumed with possessions, wealth, or materialism if you may.

In fact, most are judged more by what they have accumulated than the character they possess.

It seems as if we can never get enough.

There is always something new, bigger, or better being released and we can never be satisfied.

Now as we begin our study this morning, let me say that having possessions in this life is not a sin.

The issue Jesus is addressing is not have possessions, but you possessions or treasures having you!

There is nothing wrong with working hard and achieving success.

The problem begins when we allow the love for our possessions and the desire to accumulate more and more dictate our lives, like the rich man who built bigger barns to store more...

That is the focus of the passage we have read. Jesus deals with how we are to view and relate to that which we have.

Jesus switches gears on us and gives us an imperative in the Greek.

Does anyone remember what a imperative is?

It is a command, it is a responsibility that God has laid at our feet, because he will not force his way into anyone’s life.

So what is Jesus teaching here about treasures?

The word treasures is used 3xs in three verses, so that tells us right away that treasure is a focus of this text.

But what does Jesus mean by laying up?

Lay up-thēsaurizō-(thay-sow-rid'-zo)v. — to store away (valuables) for future use, to heap up, to accumulate riches..

What treasure is Jesus talking of here?

Treasures-thēsauros-(thay-sow-ros')n. — accumulated wealth in the form of money, jewels, or other valuables, the place in which good and precious things are collected and laid up, a store house, a treasure chest.

Layup (thēsaurizō) and treasures (thēsauros) come from the same basic Greek term, which is also the source of our English thesaurus, a treasury of words. A literal translation of this phrase would therefore be, “do not treasure up treasures for yourselves.”

The Greek also carries the connotation of stacking or laying out horizontally, as one stacks coins. In the context of this passage the idea is that of stockpiling or hoarding, and therefore pictures wealth that is not being used. The money or other wealth is simply stored for safekeeping; it is kept for the keeping’s sake to make a show of wealth or to create an environment of lazy overindulgence.

Is Jesus teaching us that we cannot save? NO

But he is admonishing us to beware where we are storing!!!

Let’s take a closer look at the text:

Matthew 6:19–20 NKJV

Jesus teaches us that there are two places that people store:

On Earth

And In Heaven church!

Jesus simply says, listen, don’t store you treasures on earth!

That’s simple right? Not!!!

Many of us, if not all of us have more than we need!

We are more wealthy, than the rest of the world and yet, we keep building bigger barns to have more stuff, more treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, and thieves break in and steal.

Luke 12:15–17 NKJV

And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’

Luke 12:18–21 NKJV

So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

Covetousness-pleonexia- greediness n. — the excessive and immoderate desire of acquiring more and more (wealth), greedy desire to have more.

Coveting impacts the rich and poor alike.

The more of heaven there is in our lives, the less of earth we shall covet.

Charles Spurgeon

Matthew 6:19–20 NKJV

When Jesus talks of moths, rust, and thieves breaking in a stealing he is talking about:

Clothing or garments.

Wheat and food

Valuables like gold or your family treasures.

In ancient times, wealth was frequently measured in part by clothing.

Compared to our day of mass-produced clothes, garments represented a considerable investment.

Rich people sometimes had golden threads woven into their clothing, both to display and to store their wealth.

But the best clothes were made of wool, which the moth loves to eat; and even the richest persons had difficulty protecting their clothes from the insects.

Wealth was also often measured in grain church, as we see from the parable looked at of the rich farmer who said, “I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods” (Luke 12:18).

Brōsis (rust) literally means “an eating,” and is translated with that meaning everywhere in the New Testament but here (see Rom. 14:17; 1 Cor. 8:4, “eating”; 2 Cor. 9:10, “food”; and Heb. 12:16, “meal”). It seems best to take the same meaning here, in reference to grain that is eaten by rats, mice, worms, and insects.

Almost any kind of wealth, of course, is subject to thieves, which is why many people buried their nonperishable valuables in the ground away from the house, often in a field (see Matt. 13:44).

Break in is literally means to“dig through,” and could refer to digging through the mud walls of a house or digging up the dirt in a field.

Because the homes where made of mud church, of mud.

Nothing we own is completely safe from destruction or theft.

However, if we store in heaven like Jesus has taught us church, then guess what? Moth and rust cannot destroy and thieves cannot break in and steal.

Matthew 6:21 NKJV

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Now the Lord gives an explanation of what He means by treasure.

It deals with what a person desires most in life.

Where the aim of his life is, there is his heart.

If his aims are earthly, that is where his heart is set; if they are heavenly, that is where his heart is. What a man does tells what a man is.

NOTE: It has been said, "that a man’s interest are where his investments are.”

NOTE: If a person has a Christ centered attitude about material things, God will bless him and he will be a happy person. But if a man is obsessed and possessed by material things, he will be very unhappy and miss the blessing of God.

Martin Luther said, “Whatever your heart clings to and relies on is your God.”

I read a story about the famous Bible commentator and preacher Matthew Henry. He was robbed once of everything that he owned. It didn't devastate him, however, because he wasn't keeping his treasures on earth. Later, he wrote these words of prayer in his diary:

Lord, I thank you

that I have never been robbed before;

that although they took my money, they spared my life;

that although they took everything, it wasn't very much;

that it was I who was robbed, and not I who robbed.

That is the heart attitude of someone who has kept his treasures in heaven, where they cannot be brought to loss by the things that destroy treasures on earth.

It's the heart attitude of someone who has taken Colossians 3 seriously:

Colossians 3:1–2 NKJV

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

In order for us to set our minds on things above, the heart must be right first.

In fact, if the heart is right, everything else in life falls into its proper place.

The person who is right with the Lord will be generous and happy in his giving to the Lord’s work.

By the same token, a person who is covetous, self-indulgent, and stingy has good reason to question his relationship with the Lord.

Jesus is not saying that if we put our treasure in the right place our heart will then be in the right place, but that the location of our treasure indicates where our heart already is.

Spiritual problems are always heart problems.

Sinful acts come from a sinful heart, just as righteous acts come from a righteous heart.

Where are you storing your treasures?

Do your possessions have you or do you have your possessions?

Prayer

Lord, thank you for all that you have given us, to give back unto you. Father, please show us this week where we store our treasures ,and if we are coveting something in our life. Lord our heart is to serve you with everything we have, and everything we are, so please bring us to this place. Lord, open the doors of heaven this week in our lives and those around us, and please give us an opportunity to share the gospel of grace.

In Jesus Precious and Holy Name, Amen!

God be with you till we meet again;

Till we meet, till we meet, Till we meet at Jesus’ feet; Till we meet, till we meet, God be with you till we meet again.

The Lord Bless You!

Your Mission Starts Now!

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