Three Foolish Mistakes (Matthew 6:19-24)
Sermon on the Mount • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Transcript
Sermon
Sermon
Key Passage
Key Passage
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, 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. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light.
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!
“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.
Introduction
Introduction
Vision/Mission of Real Life Selkirk
We exist to reach the world for Jesus, one person at a time
We do this by making Biblical disciples in relational environments
These are not simply words, this is what we strive to live out in every sermon, every life group and every conversation.
If we strive to make Biblical disciples, then we need to know what a disciple is
In Matthew 4:19, Jesus called His disciples by saying, “Come follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
The calling, journey and destination were laid out by Jesus in concise language
He called them to follow Him
A disciple is following Jesus
As they followed Him, they would be changed into the people that He would use to go into the world
So a disciple is changed by Jesus as they follow Jesus
We are not just changed into holy people
We are changed into people who are called to be a light in this dark world, like a city on a hill.
We are changed because when we seek after Jesus, we both expand His Kingdom and deepen His Kingdom.
Expanding His Kingdom is taking what we have learned and how we have grown and going out to make more disciples.
This is what maturity looks like. Not intelligence. Not knowing all of the Bible verses.
Maturity is making disciples
Jesus calls this being a “fisher of men”
In our text today, we can see the heart of the disciple as they follow Jesus.
It is a heart for His Kingdom, not the kingdoms of this world.
It is an embrace of what we cannot see, rather than a grip on what we left when we chose to follow Jesus.
Preaching
Preaching
I entitled this sermon “Three Foolish Mistakes”
In order to wrap our heads around the mistakes that are highlighted in this passage, I want to take us on a small journey through the sermon on the mount and our approach over the last couple of months.
We began this sermon with Jesus’ description of the kingdom of God.
Our journey through the Beatitudes was called “The Pursuit of Happiness”
In it, we saw that there was a difference in the Kingdom of God.
The lives we live here would not find happiness with Poverty of Spirit, or persecution, or mourning.
If our hearts are found in the Kingdom of God, they are transformed into something different than what they were before.
Our text then moved to the Salt and Light passage
It said that we are the salt of the world.
We are the light, like a city on a hill.
Again, there is a separation between who we have become because of Jesus and what the world looks like.
We then approached a bunch of topics that show that we are not under a new law, but that Jesus is the fulfilment of the law and that we must seek the heart of Jesus not just rules.
Murder...or hate
Adultery...or lust
Revenge...or mercy
Kingdom living is different than living in this world.
Jesus’ sermon then moved to areas that good Christians ought to do and sharing with us that this isn’t just about the good things we do, but rather, they are about the heart by which we do good things
Giving
Prayer
Even last week, fasting
These are not done to gain religious favor with God
They are done because our hearts are transformed and what we do is for God, not for the world to see.
Last week, we talked about fasting.
Contrast fasting—(pushing the flesh down and pursuing God in the spirit) with earthly treasure
This is the perfect launch into our topic today. We will be talking through the struggle of three significant battles all of us face in our lives.
I want to lay this out in a way that will make sense as we navigate this text and guide us as we discover the foolish mistakes we slip into.
My heart determines my treasure
My treasure determines my gaze
My heart- There is one word that we will attach to this phrase: love and devotion
A little later in this text we will see that Jesus says you cannot serve two masters, you will either hate one and love the other or you will be devoted to one and despise the other
What my heart loves, will be what I value
Simple
What I value, I will focus my gaze upon in my life
We are truly efficient people.
What we stare at determines what we value. We don’t waste our time looking at things that we don’t value.
And what we value shows us what our heart.
Keep that reality in the back of your mind as a filter for the rest of what you hear.
The spiritual battle in this world revolves around two things: the heart of God and our heart
We tend to think about our discipleship with Jesus being about changing what we do.
By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.
This is something we need to understand about being a disciple of Jesus
Being a disciple is not about changing the fruit.
Being a disciple is about changing the tree.
All of this sermon to this point can be summed up in this reality.
If our heart is changed, then everything changes.
The way we feel, the way we act, the way we speak, the way we love.
Everything changes.
The fruit changes because the tree is different.
Our text today goes into some areas that deal with some pretty deep parts of our lives.
But these are not calling us to simply add better fruit to our lives.
Rather, they go to the root of the fruit of our lives and reveal to us where our hearts are directed.
Before we go into this text, I want to share a story from Jesus that will put a very practical picture to the points that we see in our passage.
To study for this passage, I dug through a few other points in the NT for some understanding in depth.
I found a parable that communicates a very similar message as our text today.
Then following the parable is a nearly identical teaching from Jesus about worry, that is built on the foundation of how we view the things of this world.
I would like to share this story and use it as a foundation for us as we navigate Jesus’ teaching.
Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?”
Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest.
He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain.
And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ’
“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
Now I want to lay the foundation for this parable
A couple of guys were in an argument over who gets an inheritance, likely from their father.
Jesus uses this as an opportunity to teach them a lesson about greed and building a life on the things of this world.
Jesus says, a guy had a really good crop that had a ton of produce from it.
He was clearly pleased.
His problem was that he had nowhere to store his crops.
So he tears down his barns and builds bigger ones so he could store up all of his wealth of grain
He says, “When I get my huge storehouse of grain, then I’ll take life easy! I’ll eat, drink and be merry for many years.
Then notice this.
God says
This isn’t a neighbor, or a prophet, or rabbi, or teacher. This is God.
God says, “you fool. Tonight you are going to die. Now who’s going to get your stuff? Two argumentative boys who can’t make peace and didn’t earn a single kernel of your grain?”
God then says, “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves, but is not rich toward God.”
What is the point?
He built his kingdom. He built it really well, and seemingly wisely.
But, at the end, God said that he was not rich toward God.
This was a problem. He spent his entire life building his own wealth and did not build wealth toward God.
We will refer to this man in our passages today.
Keep in mind that they will all lead to the same teaching next week about worry.
there is something about where our treasure is that is the source of worry in this life.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Foolish Mistake #1- Mistaking Earth for Heaven
Foolish Mistake #1- Mistaking Earth for Heaven
Jesus presents us with a logical argument.
Jesus speaks in logic for people like me sometimes
He says, “Do not store up treasures on earth
then He says, “Store up treasures in heaven
Because where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Jesus says there are two realities of life:
Earth determines my treasure
My treasure determines my gaze
Heaven determines my treasure
My treasure determines my gaze
As we continue in this passage, we will find that there isn’t really one foot in both camps.
There aren’t multiple options here. There aren’t grey areas.
Either your treasure is on earth or your treasure is in heaven.
Either our heart is rooted in Heaven or on Earth.
The first foolish mistake is to confuse earth with heaven.
In our world, we often associate wealth with blessing from God.
I want you to know this, sometimes it is, sometimes it is not.
You can be wealthy and Godly
You can be wealthy and worldly
You can be in poverty and be Godly
You can be in poverty and be worldly
What we treasure in this life grows from where and how we have surrendered our hearts to God.
Fasting means nothing if we don’t value heaven
Food is more important
Even our prayer is an indicator of our treasure.
Are we asking God to build our treasure here? or in heaven?
As we look at this idea of where our treasure is, there our heart will be also, we look back at the rich man in the story.
He was not rich toward God. He was rich in the ways of the world.
He worked, planned, saved, expanded and built his wealth in this world.
He mistook this world for eternity.
If we were to look at the rich man from the outside, many would envy him and seek to model their lives after this man.
However, the wealth of this world consumed his heart.
He loved the world. He loved his crops. He loved the wealth and security.
He worked hard to achieve it at all costs.
At the end of the story, we can simply look at his life and see that he lived in what he thought was God’s blessing, but he did not grow to love God.
He grew to love the blessings of God. The created over the creator.
The entire investment in life was temporary, and it revealed his heart.
On the outside, he looked like he was blessed by God.
If you were to ask the question, “Is God blessing this man?” we would likely say, “Absolutely”.
Here is where the lie comes in.
I feel that one of God’s greatest curses in this world is that some of us can make this life work
Whether it be by being really smart, or talented, or just super lucky.
You can make this life work.
When this happens, we feel that we are being blessed for our path.
When in reality, what we are calling blessing is a tomb. We feel it is good, but it prevents us from seeing or feeling like we need Jesus.
This really boils down to a question of our motive in this world.
“Let us learn...not to call the rich lucky, nor the poor unfortunate. Rather, if we are to tell the truth, the rich man is not the one who has collected many possessions, but the one who needs few possessions. And the poor man is not the one who has no possessions, but the one who has many desires.”— John Chrysostom
The one who goes to God saying, “Your will be done” and is content with the daily bread afforded by God, is the one who is truly wealthy.
The one who puts their life into their wealth will find poverty in their never having enough.
I think I could go into application on this point, but I feel it speaks very plainly on its own.
We only have a set number of breaths in our lungs. We only have a certain number of words we will speak.
Will they be invested in the earth or heaven.
May we not tragically mix them up like the rich man.
What is our treasure?
I want you to think back to the last couple of passages.
Pray so everyone sees you, because you have already received your reward in full.
Pray then God will reward you.
The reward is the treasure we value.
Foolish mistake #2- Mistaking our body for our soul
Foolish mistake #2- Mistaking our body for our soul
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light.
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!
My heart determines my treasure
My treasure determines my gaze
I love how this passage outlines the connection of our eyes and our heart.
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light.
The picture is vivid.
If my heart is focused on the things of heaven, then I will value and treasure the things of heaven.
If I value and treasure the things of heaven, I set my gaze on things that are eternal.
Jesus says that this is healthy and the body will be full of light.
When our eyes are focused on the things of God and eternity, what comes into our eyes fuels our hearts!
It is through the light of God that our hearts grow, our treasure gains value.
The heart determines the treasure. The treasure determines the gaze. The gaze fuels the heart.
However, the opposite is true as well.
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!
If the gaze of our lives are on the things of this world, there is no light.
What do we have to fuel our hearts? Nothing.
If the eyes are the lamp that has no light, then nothing in this body will be light.
The only source of light for our hearts is found in the things of God.
One of my favorite passages in the Bible is found in 2 Corinthians 4.
If this is your church home, then you had better become familiar with 2 Corinthians 4.
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
We do not lose what? Heart
This is the battle for the heart being waged between heaven and earth.
Eternal and temporary.
Walk through this text contrasting the heaven/earth dilemma.
Light and momentary troubles or eternal glory?
Wasting away? or Daily renewal?
Fix our eyes on what is seen? or what is unseen.
When we look at the rich man in the parable, we can clearly see where his eyes were focused.
He built his body, but his soul remained in darkness. It was clear that the last line of the parable applied to the gaze of his heart.
“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
The light did not grow because his gaze was affixed to his farm and barns.
Foolish mistake #3- Mistaking ourselves for God
Foolish mistake #3- Mistaking ourselves for God
“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.
There is a ton of depth to this passage and this mistake
Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters.
You cannot serve both God and money
Jesus just cuts the bridge between myself as master and my money.
The truth is that there will always be the tension of greed with earthly things and His heart.
Jesus often challenged this part of our discipleship journey.
As I said, one of the greatest curses in humanity is that we can actually do enough in this life to make it feel like we are doing it well and making it work.
It is easy to see ourselves in that place, or look at others in that place and feel as though they have it figured out and that we need to model our lives after them.
But outward possessions are a mask for inward value.
We might look at people in this world and say, “Why would God bless them that way?”
I’ve often felt frustrated because I see wicked people thriving and I see righteous people suffering.
I ask God, “Why? I don’t understand”
But I am looking at this with temporary eyes.
Certainly the suffering is difficult, but beneath the suffering, God is renewing that person every day.
This world’s wealth is a mask that hides the eternal health of that person
If you went to a play and on the stage was a guy with a crown and robe, you wouldn’t say, “That is a real king.”
You would know you were at the theater. They may not be the best actor or exhibit any qualities of a king beneath the costume. But I don’t consider their royalty of any value, because I know the value of the person is seen when they take off the costume.
In the same way, this world is a stage, and we all have a temporary costume on. That temporary costume hides the real spiritual condition of all of us.
May we not look on the outward appearances of one another. May we grow in our hearts and look for the hearts of those around us.
When Samuel was anointing David as King, here is what God told Samuel:
The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
As we look at this final verse of our passage today, we can see the struggle between two masters.
Jesus says that we cannot serve two masters.
I will serve the costume and have the best costume a show for the people around me
Or I will grow the heart
Either my heart is planted in Heaven or my heart is planted in the world.
IT CANNOT BE BOTH
“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.
No one can doulos two kurios’.
Doulos-(Greek)- Slave (serve as a slave)
Kurios- (Greek)- Master
Explain slave/Master
We are all slaves.
We are either a slave to sin or a slave to Christ
When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.
What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
There is no gray area
The heart that is planted in eternity sees Jesus as Lord
The heart that is planted on earth sees money as Lord
This is where we are going to conclude and talk about money.
This passage ends by saying, “You cannot serve both God and money.”
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Your money will leave you. Your money will forsake you.
Jesus will do neither.
Paul instructs Timothy in a similar way:
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.
Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.
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.
Do you see the connection between the heart, the the treasure and the gaze?
It isn’t wrong to have wealth.
You can have wealth, just don’t put your hope in it.
There is a life that is truly life. It is not the theater of this world.
It is the eternity that awaits us.
May we not be distracted by our appetites.
May we live a new heart for the Kingdom
Conclusion
Conclusion
Jesus wants to give us a new heart (tree).
This is not achieved by doing good things.
This is only done by the work of God within our lives
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Foolish mistakes can only be avoided when our hearts are planted in heaven, not on this world.
It is time for a transplant of our hearts.
Gospel Presentation
