Treasures in Heaven
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Can you believe that Easter is less than two months away? It will be here before you know it. When I was a kid I loved Easter Egg Hunts. We would go over to my grandparents house and my cousins and myself and my sister would hunt eggs all afternoon. It would start out with the parents hiding eggs and then the parents would get tired and we started hiding eggs for each other. But the best part was the treasures that we found inside. There was always some kind of coins or candy or little toys. We would have the best time hunting our eggs with treasures in them.
Today, we have bigger treasures. Right. Some of have expensive treasures. We work hard to obtain these treasures. Some of us work and save to obtain these treasures. These treasures become important to us. When we go on vacations we like to bring back treasures from our trip.
In the sermon on the mount, Jesus teaches us about storing our treasures and how we should do that.
If you have your bibles, go with me to the book of Matthew. This is the last passage from the sermon on the mount that we will talk about the rest of this series. However, it would benefit you to finish reading Jesus sermon that goes through chapter 7. But I want to read to you from chapter 6 of Matthew and begin with verse 19.
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light.
23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Having money is not evil. Being wealthy is not a sin. Money is neutral. Did you know that you can actually love money and not have any? Money is not having, having money is not evil, but if you love money or anything else that you might put before God then it becomes evil. You start to worship it. You depend on it and that is when the intent of your heart becomes evil.
There are three things this morning that Jesus is teaching us from our text. Three things that Jesus is instructing us to do.
1. Keep Your Heart Pure
1. Keep Your Heart Pure
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Where are you investing your treasure? You should ask yourself this question, Am I generous?
What is generosity?
Generosity is becoming an unselfish person.
Generosity is becoming an unselfish person.
Think of it this way. Generosity is love in action. If I am not a generous person, then I am not a loving person.
Is love an important word? The word love is mentioned 714 times in the Bible. The word believe is mentioned 272 times in the Bible. The word pray is mentioned 371 times in the Bible. I believe that all of us would agree that each of these words are very important to the believer. What about the word give? Is that an important word? I believe it is. It is to God. The word Give is mention 2, 152 times in the bible. Three times as many as the word love. Why do you think that is?
I believe it’s because God is a giver. God gave His son to us so that we could have eternal life. Jesus gave up His life so that we could have eternal life.
Did you know that in the books of Matthew, Mark and Luke, 1/6 of those books deal with our relationship with money.
And here in our text Jesus is telling us to Keep Your Heart Pure. How do we do that? He tells us don’t store up your treasures on earth but store up your treasures in heaven. In other words, use your money now to send ahead in Heaven. Do kingdom work with your money.
By investing your treasures in God’s kingdom here on earth your are sending it on ahead.
Have any of you heard of Humphrey Monmouth?
Have any of you heard of William Tyndale? William Tyndale pioneered the translation of the Scriptures into English from their original languages of Greek and Hebrew.
If it wasn’t for Humphrey Monmouth William Tyndale doesn’t translate the Bible as we know it now. Humphrey Monmouth was a wealthy businessman who financially support Tyndale as he translated the Bible. Look at all the lives that the Bible has touched over the years. It wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for Monmouth.
If you look in Paul’s writing, you will notice a name that he mentions, Phoebe. It is believed that she helped to support Paul in his missionary journeys. If you notice that when Luke writes the book of Luke and Acts he is writing to Theophilus. It is believe that Theophilus helped support Luke’s ministry. The gospel could not be spread if it weren’t for these people that stored up their treasures in heaven. They invested in kingdom work.
A man by the name of J. Paul Geddy, an oil billionaire said this about money. “Money is a lot like manure. If you stack it up it stinks. If you spread it around it makes things grow.”
Where are you investing your treasures? That is where you heart is. Are you focused on things that will give you pleasure now but will fade away or are you focused on things that will give you pleasure now and pleasure in heaven. I’m make plans for the future and I want to invest in what God is doing. That is a pure heart.
2. Keep Your Eyes Clear
2. Keep Your Eyes Clear
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light.
23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
For those of you that don’t know, I went back to school this semester. After being out of school for 30 years, I made a choice to go back and get my degree. One of the classes I am taking this semester is psychology. One of our units of study focuses on the eye and the different parts of the eye.
The eye is a very fascinating part of our body. If you look in a mirror and you can see your eye ball you will see the cornea. Light is focused into the eye through the cornea. Behind the anterior chamber is the eye’s iris, that’s the colored part of the eye. And the dark hole in the middle of the eye is the pupil. Muscles in the iris dilate or constrict the pupil to control the amount of light reaching the back of the eye.
Directly behind the pupil sits the lens. The lens focuses light toward the back of the eye. The lens changes shape to help the eye focus on objects up close. By helping to focus light as it enters the eye, the cornea and the lens both play important roles in giving us clear vision. In fact, 70% of the eye’s focusing power comes from the cornea and 30% from the lens.
Light that is focused into the eye by the cornea and lens passes through the vitreous onto the retina. The retina has special cells called photoreceptors. These cells change light into energy that is transmitted to the brain. The retina sends light as electrical impulses through the optic nerve to the brain. The optic nerve is made up of millions of nerve fibers that transmit these impulses to the visual cortex, the part of the brain responsible for our sight.
As you can see, the way we see life and everything around us is a very elaborate process. Jesus is informing the people about our natural sight and comparing it to our life. The eyes is what allows light into the body. That is how we see. Our eyes is what distinguishes color. Verse 23 Jesus’ says...
23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
So, the question Jesus is asking you today is how clearly do you see? Not physically see, but is there anything blocking your spiritual window?
The Pharisees of Jesus day believed money was good. If someone was poor then they were sinning. Materialism can blind us. It can make us focus on things that just aren’t that important. Too many times we lose our focus on the right things.
You have probably heard of Helen Keller. At 19 months old after a bout with illness she lost her sight and her hearing. And with the help of Anne Sullivan she learned how to read and write.
A man once told Helen Keller, “I think it’s terrible you were born blind.” She replied, “Better to be born blind and to see with your heart than to have 2 eyes and see nothing.”
The quickest way for us to clear our focus is to be generous. When you let generosity take over your life you will begin to see things in a much different light. We take the focus off ourselves and begin to focus on what really matters. Building God’s kingdom and not our own.
3. Keep Your Hands Strong.
3. Keep Your Hands Strong.
24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
During Jesus’ time, slavery was common in Rome. A master was in complete control of his servant. They understood what a master slave relationship was. So, when Jesus made this analogy they understood what He was saying completely. For the most part during New Testament times slaves were treated more like servants and the institution of slavery was starting to decline. So, they truly understood this analogy.
Materialism thou is a cruel master that can enslave the heart, mind and will. So, who do you serve? Are you dependent on money? Do you trust in it to survive or do you give it to God and place your trust in Him? We say, “I trust you Jesus.” But then we put a tight fist on our finances and we claim it is ours. The truth is everything we have belongs to God.
26 for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.”
8 ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty.
Everything you have and yourself belong to the Lord. You were bought with a price. You are not your own person. God paid a dear price for you.
20 You were bought with a price [purchased with a preciousness and paid for, made His own]. So then, honor God and bring glory to Him in your body.
Now understand this, there is nothing wrong with owning things. I own stuff. I have three cars, a house, and a bunch of stuff at my house. The question is who owns you?
The average church member gives between 1.5% and 2% of their income. Here is something to think about. During the great depression the average church member gave 3.3% of their income.
God asks us to give 10%, the 10% doesn’t belong to God, all of it does. He just gives us 90% to live off of. If we take more than what He allows us to have we are robbing God. Malachi says...
8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings.
Tithing is the only place in scripture where God tells us to test Him. No other place are we allowed to test God except in our tithes and offerings.
10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.
Some of you may be thinking, “If all of it is God’s then why don’t He just take it.” My answer to you is God is a generous God. All He asks of you is to be good stewards with what He is giving you. Before you do anything with it. Give back to Him what He asks for first. That is how you allow God to be the master of your life.
God is giving all of us a chance to pass the test that is placed before us. Do I honor God with my first fruits or do I all myself to be mastered by money? Who is your master? Someone is going to own you. Will it be God or will it be mammon? You get to make that choice.
Why do we place such a high value on money as a nation? Why do we allow the desire for money to be a main factor in our life decisions and priorities? Why do we place our trust and our faith in it?
Some of you will tell, I don’t do that. If you give to the electric company before giving your tithes you are asking the electric company to bless the rest. But God says give me the first fruits first and I will bless the rest. I would rather God bless it than OG&E.
Why do we depend so much on money and expect it to guarantee our future? And why do we desire it more than we desire God’s plans and His purposes for our lives?
We see it all around us. We may even see it taking president in our life. Greed and the accumulation of wealth. We allow those things to dominate our mind and life so that honoring God is no longer the main priority in a person’s life.
Let me close today by showing you how Jesus followed this text up. Look at verse 25.
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.
29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?
31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
God loves you. He wants the best for you. Why do you think Jesus said all of this after He just talked about money? I believe that He was assuring the people that God had their back. God takes care of all our needs. We just need to be obedient and must our faith and trust in Him to supply those needs.
Let’s pray.