Sermon on the Mount - Treasure in Heaven
Sermon on the Mount • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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We are going through the Sermon on the Mount
The Core of Jesus’s Teaching to his followers
We have discussed
Beatitudes: Ways of living that God considers blessed, and they seem backwards
How when we live those blessed ways we help bring healing to the world, and guide people closer to Jesus
How Jesus expects his followers to be more righteous than even the Old Testament Requires, an impossible task unless we are following Christ!
And last wee We looked at how Jesus wants us to differ from the pharisees, who only did good to show that they were doing good, as a performance, he calls us to do good not only in public, but in private - and when we do good thing in private, God will reward us!
Then Jesus says something interesting:
“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.
Jesus says don’t lay up treasures for yourself here on earth
they are temporary!
You can’t take it with you.
Notice that this comes right after he talked about receiving rewards!
And that we are rewarded by God when our righteouness, our good works, are done when no one is around to see them.
So by practicing the things jesus has already talked about that is how we lay up treasure in heaven, by being generous, by taking time to seek God’s will in prayer, by fasting in secret, or by praciting the beatitudes:
Where our treasure is, that is where our heart is. Church Do you long for heaven?
JEsus continues:
“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.
Church Jesus gives us a choice, we can either serve Him and have rewards in heaven, or we can serve money.
HE calls his followers to be the light of the world, we cannot do that if we are more in love with wealth and worldly goods than we are with him.
If we are full of light - by looking to Jesus, our light will shine, but if we only look to money and worldly goods, then we have no light.
But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
This is why he began the sermon by saying “blessed are the poor” becuase when you are poor, and you know how to survive as a poor person, it is easier to serve God than it is to serve money.
It is the story of the rich young man:
And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’ ” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”
Church, we here in America have so much! and that is a blessing! but we need to make sure that we are not living for our stuff, or for the paycheck, or for the new TV, or for retirement, we want to live for Jesus first.
Now Jesus knows that we have needs in this world, and he addresses them:
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Church if we follow Christ, and put him first, and do not seek the riches of this world, he will provide for us. He provides for the sparrows, he clothes the fields with flowers in spring time,
We need to first seek the kingdom of God. If we seek his kingdom - the kingdom where the poor, and the mourning, and the meek, and the persecuted are blessed, then he will provide for us what we need.
Notice in the lords prayer, it is about seeking Gods kingdom, and then asking only for the daily provision.
When we seek his kingdom first, he will provide the rest.
Lets jump ahead a little bit to Chapter 7 verse 7
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
Our God, our father is a good God, he knows what we need, and he is willing to provide,
We just need to ask him, and he will cover our needs.
Not always what we want, but what we need.
So What is jesus telling us to do?
Seek heavenly treasures by living righteous lives.
Be generous to those around us.
Do not worry about earthly goods like money or wealth, but trust God to care for your needs.
I know that is easier said than done, but Church we have to try.
Seek God’s will and God’s kingdom first
Then, Ask God to give you what you need, not what you want, and trust that he will provide.
If you are generous with the money and the resources God has given you, and you give to the poor, or to organizations that can help the poor, if you show that You love God more than you love money, then he will make sure you have enough.
Don’t be foolish with it, but be generous with what you have, and God will take care of your needs.
And if we are okay with being generous with what we have, and taking care of the needs of others before ourselves, then God will give us treasure in heaven.