Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room

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Advent season is inevitably a season focused on things. Should it be? No. Is it? Yes. So, one of the things we must battle against each year is the propensity to make the season about the stuff. We have cute little sayings to help us, like "He's the reason for the season" and "Keep Christ in Christmas." But rather than getting caught up in platitudes, as true as they may be, let us prepare our hearts to receive the true gift this season.

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Context: Those who have a qualitatively different kind of righteousness, that is, a righteousness that flows from a heart changed by God, should no longer be consumed with the things of this world.

What starts here and carries on through the end of the chapter deal with avoiding worldliness. That worldliness was tackled first from a religious perspective in verses 1-18. Here, however, they turn to a more secular examination. Specifically, man cannot be double-minded in their service, serving both wealth and Christ. Instead, our primary aim should be the glory of God and sole-allegiance to Christ.

Mind Your Heart.

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.”

Interpretation: Understand what Jesus is actually saying. He’s not condemning the wisdom of handling His blessings wisely, of being good stewards of His blessings. Instead, beware of elevating the value of these temporary blessings.

In Jesus’ day, material wealth was viewed as God’s blessing and approval. In general, people could expect to be well-taken care of through covenant faithfulness. However, the idea here is more than just being well-fed, etc. It is an obsession with acquiring more.

The depreciation of worldly treasures is emphasized through the imagery of the moth and rust. Moth larvae could chew through precious fabrics quickly, and the word rust refers to eating, like when rust eats away metal or vermin/rats chew through food.

Treasures is clearly used in the metaphorical sense. It is safe to assume that, if the believer can trust God to provide all of his needs here and now, how much more can expect to want for nothing in the life to come? The treasure is anything of eternal value that we accomplish in this life. The focus should be more on how you store up treasures and the fact that they have eternal value. Earlier in the SotM, Jesus encouraged His listeners to do good deeds like giving to the poor secretly, and the Father will reward you.

Where the treasure is, the heart follows. And, where the heart is reveals what the true treasure is. The treasure leading the heart will help with understanding the eye/light metaphor Jesus moves into next. The heart is the center of being, and involves the will and reason of a person.

It is tempting to get caught up in the “rat race” of worldly positioning…keeping up with the Joneses. However, there is no eternal value in such positioning. The point of this life is to make much of Jesus and live for an eternity with Him. Living for His glory makes eternal investments.

Illustration: The heart follows whatever we treasure...it drives us and consumes us, especially our will, but really determines who we are. I think about the character Gollum, who you find out is really named Smeagle, in the LOTR trilogy.

Application: Pause for a moment before we continue to mind your heart…to pay attention to it. Where are you at this morning? What’s been the thing that’s consuming you? There’s an old hymn “On Jordan’s Stormy Banks,” and it has a beautiful line that sums up our heart: “On Jordan's stormy banks I stand, and cast a wishful eye to Canaan's fair and happy land, where my possessions lie.”

Mind Your Focus.

Matthew 6:22–23 ““The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”

Interpretation: Often in the OT, the eye is thought of as the thing that sets the direction of life. So, an eye that is good focuses on God. Whereas some Jewish and Greek philosophers suggested that the eye had a light of its own which shines outwardly to illuminate objects, indicating some level of vitality, Jesus suggests a different metaphorical understanding — the eye shines light on the inner person. The ZIBBC notes, “The ‘evil eye’ in the ancient world is an eye that enviously covets what belongs to another.” That fits well with the context here, for Jesus is speaking of divided loyalties and a lust for earthly treasure and materialism.

In context, a bad eye would be focused on possessions, consumed with materialism. Those with bad eyes may claim a level of enlightenment or knowledge, but the truth is that their sight is limited and bad, ruled by a sort of double vision that tries to love two things, their stuff and God, equally. In actuality, their stuff IS their god.

Illustration: The eye will either bring light or darkness depending on what the focus is, but when the darkness is thought of as light, how dark indeed. It reminds me of Anakin Skywalker in the second chronological Star Wars movie. He believes he is doing what is right and best, and it ends up creating this most feared super-villain, possibly of all cinema.

Application: Where we focus determines our direction, and the thing that owns our will becomes our treasure until it consumes us. Pause again, and this time ask yourself where your focus lies. It’s so easy to get caught up in fixing our eyes on a host of things…the waves of the storm bearing down on us, the blessings we receive have a way of becoming the focus of life and the good becomes the enemy of the best, relationships and pleasing people, and the greatest one of them all…self. Where we focus will set the course of our life. Are we focused on Christ?

Mind Your Master.

Matthew 6:24 ““No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

Interpretation: A servant cannot serve two masters, meaning that he could not be employed by two different owners. His loyalty would be divided. So it is with God. It seems clear that we will treasure something (v.21), and that treasure will be a ruling desire in our heart. “Whatever you store up, you will spend much of your time and energy thinking about.” Combined with the teaching about the eye, Jesus says our attention and affections cannot be divided. He will certainly not be second place to anything, but He also will not share His throne with another.

The Bible often uses the terms hate and love as terms for life patterns, not emotional responses. The second part of the phrase, devoted and despise, capture this idea.

The word money comes from a Semitic word mammon which refers to money and/or possessions, communicating the idea of a person’s wealth or property. In context, it would be anything that a person puts his confidence in.

Money is positioned as a rival “god.” The idea of allegiance to material wealth was not uncommon in Judaism. Consider the following confession found in Testament of Judah from the second-century, “My children, love of money leads to idolatry, because once they are led astray by money, the designate as gods those who are not gods. It makes anyone who has it go out of his mind. On account of money I utterly lost my children.” This is attributed to Satan’s ability to use materialism to incite false yearnings/desires…idolatry in a person’s life.

Illustration: The greatest example of a person whose divided loyalties leads them to betrayal isn't found in a book, neither fiction nor fantasy, nor is it found in a summer blockbuster, but it's found right here in the pages of Scripture and the account of Christ and one of His twelve.

Application: One last mindful pause this morning — truly, what or who are we serving? Anything that climbs the steps to the throne of our hearts to establish a ruling stake there, that’s idolatry. Consider Isaiah 42:8 “I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.” Or, in the giving of the Ten Commandments, what does God say? Exodus 20:5 “You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me.” Who is our true Master this morning?

Experience

Guard against being controlled by the desire for material things this advent season. Instead, let us keep our focus on Christ. Whatever we treasure most, rest assured that this will own our desires and affections. May we long for Christ above anything else. Similarly, whatever we focus on will determine the thing we treasure. May our eyes be fixed on the One who is both the Beginner and Finisher of our faith. Finally, if our loyalties are divided, we will surely gravitate to whichever one we focus on more. Let us all the more, then, be diligent to serve our True Master well.