Treasures in Heaven

Scripture Reading

Matthew 6:19-24

Intro: Earthly Treasures are Temporary

Matthew 6:19 ESV

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,

How many of you have had something break, get stolen, or just lost?

This is proof that earthly things are temporary. They will not be in your life forever. They will break, wear out, get lost, get stolen, or sometimes you simply stop delighting in them.

But it goes beyond materialism too.

How many of y’all have had a pet die? What about a friendship or relationship fizzle out?

Even our earthly relationships are fragile. They’re prone to damage and break in the same way.

The point Jesus is making here is that if all we do is focus on the treasures, joy, and security of this life, we’re foolish. This life is temporary. Whatever you work for in this life, if you can’t take it with you into the next, then it’s temporary and therefore it’s fragile.

Have someone come up and stand on a carton of eggs.

An egg was never designed for you to stand on it. When you put your weight on it, it’s bearing a weight it was never meant to bear.

This is what it looks like when we try to put our trust in fragile things. If we try to build our life on them, storing them up in hopes that we can feel good, they will only let us down. God gives us good things in this world, even earthly treasures come from God. But when we try to put our weight on them, when we lean on these things to support us and make us happy and bring us fulfilment, we’ll be let down. Why? Because that’s not what they were made for. And that’s not what we were made for. We were made to rely on God and God alone.

Heavenly Treasures are Forever

Matthew 6:20 ESV

but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

So Jesus tells us that instead of earthly treasures, we should work on building up heavenly treasures. Heavenly treasures are not fragile and prone to corruption. Heavenly treasures last forever.

So what does it mean to lay up heavenly treasures? Well let’s think about it as the reverse of laying up earthly treasures.

We lay up earthly treasures because we want the feeling they give or the satisfaction we feel or the security it brings us here on earth. To do this, we work hard to get those things. You may be motived to work hard in school so you can get into a good college so you can get a good job so you can buy a big house and do whatever you what with you money. You may be motived to build earthly relationships so you always have people around you to make you feel good and not lonely. All of that is fixated on the here and now, and it consumes our thoughts and our efforts.

So when we think about laying up heavenly treasures, it means our energy and our efforts and our focus is directed towards God, not the temporary things of this life.

This means were thinking more about how to honor him and serve him and expand his kingdom than we are thinking about our own kingdom.

What You Treasure Will Affect Your Heart

Matthew 6:21 ESV

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

Jesus says that what we treasure will affect our hearts. Meaning if your goals are focused the things of this earth, your affections will be there too. You will begin to love those things more than God. And what draws your love, draws your worship.

This means that when we lay up treasures on earthy, it causes us to fall into idolatry.

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!

And when Jesus is talking about the eye being healthy, the word translated healthy here actually means more like, “single purpose” or “straightforward” or “sincere”

In other words, when our eyes are fixed on God and his kingdom alone, our whole body will be full of light and good. But when our eyes are bad, when they have wavering purposes because they’re simultaneously fixed on this world and God’s world and therefore they can’t actually focus on anything, then our whole person will just be filled with darkness, rather than light.

What we fix our eyes on, what our motivations are, what we are preoccupied with and drawn to… that has an impact on our entire lives, either for good or for bad.

Why It Matters

Matthew 6:24 ESV

“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.

This all matters because God will not share our hearts with anyone. He will not allow us to have another God alongside him. This is the first commandment:

Exodus 20:3 ESV

“You shall have no other gods before me.

This is because we can’t serve two masters.

English Standard Version 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

Only one master can have control of our lives. It is like having two steering wheels for two drivers in a car, each with their own plans for where to go. That car will be ripped to shreds unless one yields control to the other. Thus, if you try to serve two masters, you will devote yourself to one and despise the other. You will have affections for one and be spiteful towards the other that tries to pull you away.

English Standard Version Matthew 6:24

You cannot serve God and money.

If you serve God, then you will love him and hate all that draws you away from him. You will be devote to him and forsake all that pulls you away.

If you serve money, then you will hate when God does things to pull you away from it. You will grow to despise him because you want to be devoted to something else.

You are going to be pulled in one direction or another, but not both. And your heart will follow where you are pulled so that you are pulled even more in that direction.

Conclusion

So Jesus warns us to be careful about our treasures and our motivations. What captures your affections? What’s motivating you? If it’s this world, then you’re in grave danger. Because you cannot serve both this world and God.

Now practically speaking, I think we address this problem by looking to Jesus and seeing just how much better he is than everything else this world has to offer.

The more time you spend with him, the more you’ll see his beauty. So guard your time. Give Jesus your time and you’ll grow to love him more and more. Only by seeing how amazing he is can we be motivated to let go of the rest of this world for something better.