Storing Up Treasure
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We are continuing in a series of messages from the book of Matthew. It is a passage of scripture known as the Sermon on the Mount. I call it the best sermon ever. Over the last three weeks, Jesus talked to us about prayer, giving and fasting. All of these are good things to do, but the religious leaders during Jesus time had made doing them a show for others to see. They were doing them in order to get praise from man.
In all three instances, Jesus tells them to not do these three things (prayer, giving and fasting) in public like the hypocrites do, but instead to do them privately where the Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
Verse 1 of chapter 6 was really the intro to this thought...
1 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
People do their right things in public so that they can be “rewarded” with the praise of man. If that is what we do, we will have no reward for that in heaven.
Our passage today is really the conclusion of this line of teaching just before addressing worry…we’ll talk about that next week.
Today is about our treasure. In the previous verses, the approval of man was the treasure.
Let’s see what Jesus has to say...
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.
We are doing a small group study on this book…I choose Peace by Chip Ingram. This past week, the title of the chapter was “Choosing Peace in Anxious Moments”. Chip used Philippians 4:6-7 as the basis for how we choose peace…I just want to read it quickly for you because it relates back to our passage in Matthew.
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Chip does a wonderful job of walking through this verse…that we need to change our focus to God through prayer…the right kind of prayer. When we focus on our anything but God, we can get anxious, but if we focus on God through relationship in prayer, we have a peace that passes understanding.
Let me say again…when our focus is on any-thing, that brings anxiety. When we focus on God, through a prayer pattern called ACTS:
A - adoration
C - confession
T - thanksgiving
S - supplication
Our posture to the world will change. Our treasure is God, our relationship with him through Christ - that brings peace. Let’s go back to Matthew 6...
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
Jesus says not to store up treasures on earth…we get a hint of what he means by that in verse 21...
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The kind of treasure that Jesus is warning against is the kind of treasure that captivates our heart. It is something that we are so focused on and must get and achieve. You can always tell what someone’s treasure is by what they spend a lot of time and energy trying to get and when they have it, it is all they talk about.
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
Jesus says that these earthly treasures will some day go away. He uses moths and vermin…some translations have rust - these all destroy. This type of destruction is typically something that happens over time.
I was thinking about my first car…a 1976 VW Super Beetle. It was the car I took Renee on dates in. It was my pride and joy for a time. I overlooked the rust. They rust that ate through the fenders so that you could see the tires from above. The rust that ate the floorboard through so that as a passenger you could see the road go by under the car. Rust that would take out a support structure in the front that made the car dangerous to drive.
If moths and vermin/rust don’t destroy, at some point a thief is going to try to steal it from you.
If I am concerned that my treasure is in danger of destruction or theft, that concern will likely cause some anxiety at some point. My focus will be the things of worth that I have and how I can maintain them.
This doesn’t mean we don’t have nice things. It doesn’t mean we don’t take care of those nice things. He says not to make these things your treasure. I know people who have wealth, but their wealth is not their treasure. In fact they are crazy generous with their wealth because it is not their treasure.
Jesus instead says...
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.
Ok…store up treasures in heaven…how do we do that? Over the last three weeks, we talked about three different ways - Prayer, giving, and fasting, but those done in the correct way. With the right motives…the right posture. Is our desire to please God, or please man and get man’s approval? The first stores treasures in heaven, the second values a treasure that will not last.
Paul in his letter to Timothy writes about this very thing...
17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
Some store earthly treasure and wealth as a means of security. There is a holding on tightly to what is owned as a means of preservation and security a preservation and security that is very, very uncertain, but Paul says that being generous and being willing to share is a greater means of storing eternal treasure. That treasure, Jesus says, is not susceptible to moth, vermin, rust or thieves.
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Show me a man’s treasure and you’ll show what that man values in his heart.
Jesus seems to them take a bit of a turn in what he is saying by the next two verses, but they really continue this thought of being mindful our what our treasure or desire is.
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!
Much of what we desire, much of what we fear, are concerned about…starts with what it is that we see. What is the focus of our vision…of our sight? Not only what is it that we see, but what is it that we perceive?
Let me give you an example from a story in the old testament. This young boy David was visiting his brothers on the front lines of a battle where this giant of a man Goliath was taunting the Israelites. The entire army and King Saul saw Goliath as an impossible enemy. Someone who could not be defeated. David saw the very same man and saw God providing the victory.
It is very possible that while we see the same things, our perceptions of what it means could be different.
Let me give you one more example....
Jesus on the night before he went to the cross had a meal with his disciples. Eleven of them hung on his every word, taking in all that he said, enjoying their time with him. There was one who had other things on his mind. He was plotting a way to betray Jesus and get himself a little silver in return. Eleven had their treasure sitting with them. Judas was willing to trade the man sitting with him for some earthly treasure.
The difference was in what they saw with their eyes. Seeing Jesus as the treasure filled the 11 with a body full of light. A light that would spread to be the light in each one of us. In contrast, Judas could only see the money. What his eyes saw resulted in darkness within his body - a very great darkness.
When Jesus talks about our eyes being healthy, it is not the physical eye, but health in what our focus is. What are we looking to as the source of security and hope? If we look to the things of this world as our security and hope, that leads to darkness within us, but if Jesus is who we look to as our security and hope…how great and healthy is that light within us.
Jesus sums it up with this...
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.
We all have a master. Whatever is the master of us will dictate how we act, how we talk, how we see the world.
As I look back on my own journey as a follower of Christ, I can where I was looking for security and hope in all the wrong places. I looked for it in accomplishment, in things, in people…and each of those “masters” let me down. There came a point in time when I was confronted with the gospel - with the story of what Jesus on the cross. That he did that because he loved me and wanted me to have a relationship with him…with the God of the universe.
I had to make a choice - would put my faith in the work of the cross? Would I trust Jesus not only as savior but as Lord? Would I make him Master? Would I replace all of these other masters with him? I said yes.
Sin then, Jesus has been patient with me as he dethrones the other masters I didn’t know I had. I’ve had to come to grips with being willing to deny what I wanted because the Bible calls it sin. I could not continue in the sin because I can’t serve two masters.
This journey as a believer in Christ starts with a yes to him, but then continues with a daily saying yes to him. To focusing our sight…our eyes…on Him and what He wants for my life.
Is there a way in which Jesus is asking you to say yes today? Perhaps for the first time… Perhaps he’s brought something to your attention that he would you to turn away from and turn to him. That’s called repentance.
Perhaps he’s calling you to something. I believe there could be future pastors in this room…future missionaries to the nations. That journey starts with a simple yes.