The Sermon on the Mount: What Do You Treasure?

Introduction

Matthew 6:19–24 (ESV)

“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 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!

“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.

We have been going through the Sermon on the Mount. We have looked at Jesus’ teaching on the character of those who belong to the Kingdom, the role and purpose of the law for the citizens of the kingdom and Christ’s fulfillment of the law. We have seen how Christ is giving us a new heart in order to love and follow Him and it changes how we relate to God in our spiritual disciplines, such as fasting, giving, and prayer.

Now, as we come to the middle of chapter 6, we see Jesus address how we are to relate to the world and the things of the world around us. What is our proper response to the things God has given to us?

What is a treasure and what does it mean to treasure something?

A treasure is defined as something of great worth or value.

To treasure something is to hold or keep as precious.

The question Jesus wants us to answer is what do we treasure? What is it that our hearts hold dear and precious?

Treasure Only the Things that Are Worth It

Do Not Store Up Temporary Treasures

Jesus is not telling us it is wrong to have possessions and wealth.

We see God gives boundaries to protect what each person owns.

Do not steal is a commandment to protect the possessions and wealth of each person.

Do not covet is God telling His people to not even long for what someone else owns.

He is warning us not to love and treasure temporary things.

It is alright to be thankful for what God has given to us

Every good and perfect gift comes from above.

James 1:17 (ESV)

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

We ought to live in thankfulness for what God has provided and given to us.

Do Not Get Attached to Things We Cannot Keep

But we need to guard our hearts from becoming attached to temporary things we will never be able to keep.

Jesus wants to protect us and our hearts from making too much of temporary things that will never satisfy and which we can never truly own.

We must remember that the world we are currently living in is not our ultimate home. We are like nomads and travelers passing through.

Staying with the Crafts - How weird would it be for us to try to make our home in someone else’s home knowing that we would have to leave?

What are the earthly treasures we can get too attached to?

Our possessions, home, money

Our sports, entertainment, pleasure

Our school, job, success

All these things, while they are good gifts from God, these are all temporary gifts and are meant to point us back to God, not to terminate on themselves.

But too often, instead of seeing these things as gifts from God for us to use for His honor and glory, we see them as the ultimate end and goal of our lives.

We work hard at our jobs and education to find the success that will bring us glory. Does God want us to work hard? Yes! He created us to work. But not for that work to terminate on us and for our own selfish desires. Our work is meant to reflect Him and His goodness.

Maybe we work so hard so we can build up our possessions and wealth. If God has blessed us with a nice home, beautiful car, and a big savings account, that’s awesome. But are we giving our all to attain those things? Are we sacrificing more important things in order to gain our physical possessions and wealth?

Students, we want you to be successful at school and to gain a good education.

Or we work several hours a week with our kids to make them better athletes. There is nothing inherently wrong with any of these things.

But often times, we emphasize the success at school and sports while we neglect the weightier matters of growing in our knowledge and love of God. We treat matters of education with greater importance than the education of God. In fact, in our pursuit of helping our children to excel at sports, education, and success, we will sacrifice spiritual matters, thinking that these temporal things have a greater importance than helping our kids love God and follow Christ with their lives.

Parents, grandparents, and families, you and I are entrusted by God to help ensure that our children grow up learning how to love Jesus and follow Him with their lives. We spend tens of hours a week on these other things, while on average, even the most committed family might spend one or two hours a week focusing God. And we wonder why so many of our students are leaving the faith when they leave home? It is because we have effectively taught them to value the things of the world above valuing eternal things.

Let us be thankful for the good gifts God has given to us, but let us not place our hearts and our hopes in these things knowing that they will not last long.

Store Up Eternal Treasures

What is God calling us to treasure, to find true value in?

Our Souls

As much effort as we put into working and earning and training and learning, let us see the value of our very souls as more valuable and important than anything we can gain in this life.

You can have everything this world can give, but have you ever given your life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Without Christ, everything else is a striving for the wind!

What good is it for a man to gain the whole world and to lose his very soul! Everything in this world is temporary and even if you gained it all, you will not be able to take it with you. But you are created to exist forever, either with God or separated from Him. Be sure you are not neglecting the eternal aspect of your very person in order to gain temporary things you can never keep!

The People with Whom We Walk Through Life

There are other things we can actually take with us when we leave this life. That is the other people we do life with.

Are you putting as much energy into sharing the love and hope of Christ with others as you are putting into these other temporary activities and possessions? While you will never be able to take your house, car, or trophies with you, you could be used by God to lead someone into an eternal relationship with Christ. You could potentially see someone in heaven that would not otherwise be there if you had not shared with them the hope of the Gospel! Seek to build eternal treasures rather than hoarding temporary ones.

God Himself

Finally, the greatest treasure any of us can have is that of God Himself. God is the prize and the treasure that we long to have. He is the One we were created to walk in relationship with.

Only God in Christ can provide all that our souls long for.

King Solomon in his riches, who had everything we could ever hope for, the biggest home, the nicest transportation, all the best servants, the richest food, everything, he claimed was all meaningless. None of it could satisfy him.

It is why he wrote in Ecclesiastes 12:1

Ecclesiastes 12:1 (ESV)

Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;

God is our treasure. Stop living for what is temporary when we have the greatest treasure offered to us in Christ Himself!

Because of this, Jesus shows us that this is ultimately about worship!

Worship the One Who is Worthy

What We Treasure Shows Us What We Worship

Worship is the act of ascribing worth to something

Whatever we value and treasure is what we worship

If we treasure our possessions, our achievements, activities, etc. above all else, we have made a god out of them.

The first and second commands tell us to place worth only in God Himself

The law is summed up by loving the Lord our God with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strength

Worship is not simply about coming into this place to sing a few songs and to listen to someone speak for 30-40 minutes. Worship is about having a heart that loves God above all things. It is living in such a way that is thankful for all that God provides but is willing to let it all go for the sake of knowing Christ even more.

Worship is a state of heart that loves God with every ounce of our being!

We Are Slaves of What We Worship

The reason why what we worship is important is because we only want to ascribe worth and value to that which is truly valuable.

God alone is to be worshipped because He alone is worthy to be worshipped.

If we worship something other than God then we are falsely ascribing value to something it does not have or deserve.

We are lying about the value of the things of this earth when we place it above God in our hearts and minds.

And the truth of the matter is we cannot worship both God and money, no matter how hard we try.

We might say, I’m putting God first, even though I also want to treasure and value my money and possessions.

Jesus says this is impossible.

It is like saying, I love my wife most, but I also have a couple other women on the side that I love, but my wife is first among others. If I do that, I do not love my wife at all. I am serving my own self and pleasure, not loving my wife, regardless of how much more I say I love my wife over others. She is not simply to be first, she is to be the only one I am devoted to.

Another reason why what we worship is important is because we enslave ourselves to whatever we worship.

None of us are truly free from serving something. All of us, whether we acknowledge it or not, are serving something outside of ourselves, even if we think we are living for ourselves.

We are either slaves to the things of this world, to our desires, to philosophies, or we are slaves to God.

The question we have to ask is, who do we want as our master?

Money/Possessions

As much as we might think we want to build a little kingdom for ourselves here on earth, being a servant to money/possessions/achievements will actually kill you.

As you work and serve and worship the money you think will take care of you, you will quickly find out that what you thought you wanted is no longer enough once you get it. So then you work even harder and longer for more. And then that doesn’t satisfy.

Maybe its for the latest technology or gadget. Maybe its to continue to have the latest iPhone or the newest car. As exciting as it is to get it, you quickly find that it doesn’t satisfy for long before you start longing for the next best thing.

It’s been two weeks since we celebrated Christmas. I wonder, how many of those gifts we gave or received have now found their way into a corner collecting dust and we are now already longing for something new even from what we got. How many toys are already broken or shoved into a toybox?

The master of money and possessions is a master who will constantly wear you out and eventually kill you as long as we worship it.

Christ

Christ, however, is a Master who is Gentle and Tender with those who choose to serve and worship Him. He does not exhaust us, but rather gives us rest and grace and strength.

Matthew 11:28–30 (ESV)

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Matthew 20:28 (ESV)

even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Isaiah 55:1 (ESV)

“Come, everyone who thirsts,

come to the waters;

and he who has no money,

come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk

without money and without price.

Our Heavenly Father is the True God who longs to provide for His people who serve Him and trust Him. While all the false gods of this world exhaust us and constantly take and demand from us, God is a God who provides for His people and gives them what they need and provides rest for their souls.

What master have you chosen to serve?

Money/Treasures/Possessions

God

Guard Your Eyes to Desire Only What’s Worthy

How do we lead our hearts to treasure only what is eternally valuable?

We must guard our eyes!

Matthew 6:22–23 (ESV)

“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!

Our eyes lead and guide our hearts to what they desire

The eye is the lamp of the body, the window to the soul. And through our eyes, our hearts can be filled with light or darkness. Look at how our eyes can direct our minds and hearts!

Our eyes can lead us to covetousness and lust

Jesus has already addressed the issue of adultery earlier in Matthew 5. Adultery is not simply committing the physical act with someone who is not your spouse. Adultery begins by looking!

Matthew 5:28 (ESV)

But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

The eyes direct your heart.

The eyes direct us in our idolatry as well. We have phones that give us access to so much that our hearts crave and desire.

We can scroll through social media and see all the great things that other people are posting. How easy is it to look at those images and begin to desire and want what they have.

Or maybe it is scrolling through Amazon online and seeing all the wonderful new things that could be ours with the click of a button.

Now, I’m not saying that it is inherently wrong to do some window shopping and scrolling through online shops. But we must take care because those things can actually be used to develop a heart of covetousness and idolatry within us. We must guard our eyes to keep us from treasuring and worshipping things that are not worth it.

Our eyes can lead us to love and worship of God

However, our eyes can also be used to direct our hearts to God. Where do we direct our eyes to look? Are we constantly wishing for more in possessions and trinkets? Or are we directing our eyes to see the beauty and glory of God!

Instead of looking at what we do not have, have we taken a look at what we do have and turn our eyes to God in thankfulness?

We can turn our eyes to God as we connect with Him in His Word. We have started this new Bible reading plan together as a church. This is not just something else to keep us busy during the day. This is something that we want to do, because as we come to God’s Word, we want our eyes and hearts to be directed to His goodness and beauty so that we will treasure Him more and desire Him like He deserves.

Of course, we must also direct our eyes and thoughts to who Christ is and what He has done for us upon the cross. Why do you think we go back to the cross week after week and hopefully, we are directing our own hearts to dwell on the cross day after day? Because it is through looking to Jesus that our hearts are led to worship, love, and treasure Him above all else.

Hebrews 12:1–2 (ESV)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

How can we guard the health of our eyes?

By turning our eyes and our focus away from the things of this world and focusing on Christ.

As the great hymn is written:

O soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see? There’s light for a look at the Savior, And life more abundant and free.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,   In the light of His glory and grace.