Treasure Test

Not Taxes

Have you seen the Turbo Tax commercials this year?

They show people doing all kinds of random things and not doing their taxes. Then they end with a quite catchy slogan: “Come to Turbo Tax, and don’t do you taxes.”

It is really a great marketing pitch, since doing taxes for most people (me included) is not the most fun and exhilarating activity.

The point of the commercial is: don’t waste your time doing your taxes, instead go do something you enjoy and let someone else do your taxes.

What caught my attention isn’t the thought of someone doing my taxes for me (I don’t think I have ever done my taxes by myself).

I was struck by the idea that we live in a world where it is quite easy for most of us to fairly readily do whatever it is we want to do without having to worry about all the things that used to take SO much time.

Think about it:

It wasn’t really that long ago that the majority of food consumed by a family was either grown or raised by the family.

It was in our life time that communicating with someone required a decent amount of effort and sending them something required days in the mail.

When my kids watch something on television now, they get fixated on the commercials because their whole life has basically consisted of streamed videos.

Here’s my point. We live in the most advanced and most prosperous country in human history.

Many of the things our grandparents and great grandparents struggled with are no longer things we even think about.

And while this is great in so many ways, there is a hidden danger in prosperity and ease.

It is intoxicating to the point that we begin to believe that life is a pursuit toward more and more pleasures in the world and the promises of heaven become more and more unappealing.

“Afflictions are a great trial, but there is no trial like prosperity.”— C.H. Spurgeon

Spiritual Echocardiogram

Jesus’s greatest concern His sermon isn’t with our actions, our obedience. NO, His greatest concern is our heart.

That has been at the center of these first verses we have looked at and it is explicitly clear today.

Jesus’s desire in 6:19-24 is that we would be satisfied, happy, fulfilled, lacking in nothings, and truly at peace.

What might sound like critical and confrontational words, really is a warning and an invitation.

Listen and follow along as I read.

Matthew 6:19–24 CSB

19 “Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t 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 eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness, how deep is that darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

If Jesus’s focus is on our hearts, this passage really is a spiritual Echocardiogram.

Many of you have had one of these on your physical heart.

Doctors use sound waves to take images of your heart in order measure blood flow and such and determine the health of your heart.

We see this explicitly in verse 21:

Matthew 6:21 CSB

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

Jesus is saying:

What you LOVE ultimately determines how you LIVE.

Strong words right? Probably makes us all wiggle in our seats a bit.

Jesus points out the most obvious application in the last verse:

Matthew 6:24 CSB

“No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Though money is a deeply significant treasure for most of us, it isn’t the only thing I believe Jesus wants us to think about today.

To examine our hearts, we would likely find a countless number of potentially really good things that ultimately determine how we live and what we are living for.

These things are rightly called “idols” in the Bible. False gods we worship hoping to find in them pleasure and satisfaction.

Though many, if not most, of the things we “treasure” are likely good things, our hearts have a sinful tendency to make them into “GOD” things.

And it is that that Jesus is warning us of in this passage.

Three Sober Warnings

1) Beware of what you TREASURE.

It really isn’t too hard for us to figure out what we treasure in life.

You might sit down and write out the top 5 or 10 things in your life that you value and it might look like a pretty good list, but what if you dug deeper.

What if you tracked how you spend your time throughout a given period of time (week, month, season, or a year.)

What if you had someone audit what you spent your money on.

What if there was some way to record the thoughts that mind dwelled on most throughout your days.

What if we asked those closest to you what they think you treasure most.

We did this with the girls a couple of weeks ago, asked them what they thought our family values were (Basically, what was most important to mommy and daddy about our family).

They said spending time together, loving one another, and such, but they also said games, cleaning the house, and taking showers, which we do value hygiene and cleaning up after ourselves, but those wouldn’t be the ones we would have wanted to be at the top.

Jesus gives us criteria for discerning/testing the merit and value of our treasure.

Can it be eaten by moths? Or will it eventually decay and wither away?

Or can it be stolen by thieves.

Though Jesus seems to be pointing to physical stuff as treasures, the idea here is “do the treasures that captivate your heart have staying power?

We all know cars, gadgets, houses, clothing, and the like all ultimately fall apart or lose their appeal.

But we also know that people and relationships shift, change, and become complicated.

We know that careers, hobbies, and experiences never really satisfy as much as they promised or we hoped they would.

We know these things, and yet it is so difficult for us to stop going back to them over and over again, even training our kids to do the same, and ending with the same results.

It often takes a funeral for us to stop and consider what it is that matters more than anythings else.

The Puritan preacher Richard Baxter said in a funeral sermon:

“Both believers and unbelievers, Christians and non-Christians, both want heaven. But the believer prefers heaven above earth, whereas the unbeliever only prefers heaven over hell, and consequently he will not have heaven.” — Richard Baxter

Do you hear what Baxter is saying: Some want heaven only as their “Plan B” because they really love earth more than anything else; but the only ones who will get heaven are those who prefer it even over the earth.

Jesus is urging us here not to place the highest value on things that will pass away, but to value those things that will last forever.

He wants us to see the promises of heaven as infinitely greater than anything we could taste, see, hear, touch, or experience on earth.

Christ says, “Enjoy the things of earth, but know that this is just a taste of the glories that await us in heaven.”

Beware of what you treasure.

2) Beware of what you PURSUE.

Verse 22-23 are quite challenging to understand especially as they are sandwiched between some of the most recognizable and straightforward verses in the sermon on the mount.

But there is a relationship between these verse and the previous ones.

Just as the health of your heart is determined by the treasure it loves, the health of your eyes is determined by the direction they are fixed upon.

To whatever your eyes are fixed will ultimately guide what you will pursue.

D.A. Carson gives a helpful illustration for what Jesus means in this passage:

A large field of new snow is so inviting as it glistens in the winter sun. No mark is on it, no footprint; yours is the privilege of tramping across it and establishing any pattern you like. If you look fixedly at your feet and try to cross the field in a straight line, you will make a most erratic pattern. If instead, you fix your eye on a tree or boulder on the other side and walk straight toward it, the path you leave will be quite remarkably straight.

If we trace the path of our lives over the past weeks, months, or even years, what would our path look like?

To where are our eyes looking?

Jesus says He is the light of the world. It is no coincidence that light shows up in this passage.

Jesus is saying “Fix your eyes on me and the light of life and the hope of heaven will flood in.”

We must remember, those of us to are in Christ, our lives on earth will be the closest we will ever get to hell, but for those outside of Christ, it is the closest they will ever get to heaven.

To where will you fix your gaze? Beware of what you pursue.

3) Beware of what you SERVE.

Jesus final warning hits at the heart of modern Christianity.

A pastor acquaintance of mine in the eastern part of Kentucky posted something on facebook written by a 20 somethings guy in Georgia.

I don’t go to church. That doesn’t mean I lack a relationship with God. I don’t read the Bible every day, every week, or even every year. That doesn’t mean I don’t know God’s word. I don’t get on my knees, fold my hands, and bow my head every night. That doesn’t mean I cease daily conversations with God. I’ve questioned him in tough times. I’ve resented him in times of grief and loss. I’ve lost faith in him due to lack of faith in myself. But he never left me. He’s been here the entire time, his footprints just a step ahead of mine. I believe that he loves everyone. Read that again. Everyone. The obvious sinners. The silent sinners. The caring. The judgmental. The believers. The nonbelievers. I’m not here to preach. I’m not trying to prove myself. I don’t believe in God because of how I was raised; going to Sunday school every week, then sitting in a pew singing hymns and listening to a sermon. I believe in God because I’ve felt him. I’ve heard him. All of my own accord.

There are nuggets of truth in what he says:

Going to church, reading your bible, and praying don’t make you are Christian.

God doesn’t shy away from our question or turn His back on us when we struggle to understand.

And yes, He does love everyone.

But at the core of this post is a desire to live his life how he wants without any commitment to truth as revealed in scripture.

It is an attempt to have the blessings of God and the pleasures of the world at the same time.

It is an attempt to serve two masters, but ultimately only serving one.

Who do you serve?

In 1 Timothy 6, Paul instructs Timothy to teach the wealthy, or those seeking to me, about how they are to live.

His instruction is profoundly helpful in regards to Matt 6:24

1 Timothy 6:6–10 CSB

6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out. 8 If we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. 9 But those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

The LOVE of money is the root of ALL kinds of evil…where your treasure is there your heart will be also…no one can serve two masters…godliness with contentment is GREAT GAIN...

Whom do you serve brothers and sisters?

Three Serious Questions

As we close want to pose three questions that I believe will help us uncover the treasures of our hearts, figure out what we are pursuing, and unpack whom we are serving.

1) Do you have a “JUST IN CASE”?

Do you have a back up plan in case this Jesus thing doesn’t work out?

You love Jesus and all, but it would be good to make sure there is money set a side, a plan in place, or something to fall back on in case things with Him fall through.

If your honest, what is your just in case?

When you find it, you will find the treasure you likely can’t live without.

2) Do you have a “AS LONG AS THAT”?

Do you have somethings or some people in your life that are off limits when it comes to submitting to God?

Your willing to do most anything, give most anything, and go most anywhere, as long as that thing or that person isn’t affected.

“As long as it doesn’t mean I need to move; it doesn’t effect my retirement; it doesn’t effect my relationship with my kids; it does require me to give up this or that...”

What is your “as long as that”?

When you find it, you will find the focus of your pursuit.

3) Do you have a “IF YOU DO THIS”?

Do you have an unwritten contract with God?

You’ll go to church, give, serve, and do all the “right” things as long as He hold up His end of the deal.

What is your “if you do this”?

When you find it, you will find the master you are seeking to serve.

Invitation

Give God your “Just in Case”

Give God your “As long as that”

Give you your “if you do this”

Embrace Him as your greatest Treasure.

Fix your gaze on Him as you sole pursuit.

And serve Him as the master of your life.