Matthew 6:19-24 - Where’s your heart?

So there I was

Preaching Sunrise service.

Working Saturday night.

Avoided taking a guy to jail—Eventually had to.

Drunk—wanted to fight.

“If we’re going to do this, let’s do it. I’ve got stuff to do.”

Jail/easter story? Duplicitous life—Can’t have both.

That’s a hard turn around.

There’s a friction between our lives Saturday night into Sunday.

There’s a fracture between who we are and who we’d like to be.

We’re in this series called Authentic Generosity.

This is really an X-ray on who has our heart.

Big Idea: Who has your heart?

Context

Jesus is preaching the Sermon on the Mount

He is revealing to them the heart of the law.

Those who follow the law to the letter tend to have a view of earning their salvation through performance.

He’s revealing that there is an underlaying element to our lives.

We live from the heart.

Our lives are oriented around our loves and what we worship.

He doesn’t want us to simply have an external righteousness, but an all encompassing internal and external righteousness.

Jesus is telling us the posture of their heart matters for every element of our lives.

Stand to read

Matthew 6:19–21 ESV

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Leader: This is God’s Word

Everyone: Thanks be to God

We live in a very materialistic age.

Jesus begins the portion of the sermon talking about the love of things.

The treasures of this earth are prone to age/break/lose value.

It’s temporary pleasure at best.

Hilary and I have been on a purge

We have so much stuff—Just throw it away.

I have a theory.

Our great-great grandparents lived in the great depression

They knew what it was like to not have anything.

They wanted to provide happy Christmas.

This trickled down generations.

Then when they passed away, we have a sentiment

“This was grandma’s sewing thimble”— I don’t sew.

Now, we are overloaded with THINGS.

Earthly treasures do not last.

We cannot protect them.

One day everything we own will be in yard sales or dumps.

Money and items we cherish can be stolen and taken away.

Here today and gone tomorrow.

We spend so much of our lives collecting and hoarding things and we turn them into idols called “sentiment”

Jesus calls us to contrast this love of stuff with a love for the eternal.

Treasures in heaven are immaterial and actually satisfy.

Eternal treasures never lose value and cannot be lost or taken away.

These things are guarded in heaven and cannot be taken away.

This is more than the treasure itself—it’s the posture of the heart around the treasure.

The condition of our heart and what we value will become clear for all to see. Why?

Matthew 6:21 ESV

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

The heart refers to the center of our being.

The heart determines our emotions, our logic, our desires.

Human beings were created to worship, and each of us are worshippers.

The question is, what do we worship?

What do we value above everything else?

What means the most to us?

Church,

Our treasures (money) reveal what we love most.

One of the basic fundamental truths of the Christian faith is that our heart belongs to the Lord.

He created us and redeemed us by the blood of Christ.

For anyone to worship anything other than Him is spiritual adultery and we must repent of it.

We live wholistic lives, but try to divvy up.

We have figured out how to divide our lives into different compartments

This is me at work/home/party/relaxed.

This is how I do money, time, hobbies.

Jesus reminds us that we are wholistic people.

Transition

Jesus inserts this metaphor and it almost feels out of place

Matthew 6:22–23 ESV

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 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!

A window lets light into the house—The eye lets light into the body.

It’s important for us to pay attention to the thing we let see.

Some might read this and believe that it’s about money

A good eye is generous

An evil eye is greedy and miserly.

However, a better interpretation is devotion.

What our eyes let into our heart.

Where is your heart? What are your eyes fixed on?

You cannot live with a double vision.

You cannot have one eye that focuses on the light/the other on darkness.

You cannot love both holiness and evil.

If your eye is fixed on darkness, the whole self will be dark.

We must fix our eyes on Jesus.

When our eyes are fixed on Jesus, everything else in our life reflects our devotion.

I ran track in 8th grade, and the number 1 thing they teach you is to not look back.

You don’t need to be focused on the people running behind you.

You need to focus on the finish line, because that’s where you want to go.

When you focus on the people behind you, that’ll slow you down.

When you focus on the finish line, you’re definitely going to get there.

When Jesus is our treasure, the rest of our life will reflect His goodness and glory.

It impacts how we engage with people, how we spend/steward our money, how we work.

Shortcuts happen when we love things rather than the Creator.

When we focus on Jesus, we will live in the light.

Transition

Jesus draws a line in the sand.

You cannot live a public life in the light/private life in the dark.

You can’t love both righteousness and evil.

Jesus draws the line.

Matthew 6:24 ESV

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. You cannot serve God and money.

This is not an attempt to get you to give more.

Jesus is not asking for your money. He wants your heart.

Giving is an act of worship.

We declare that our income does not govern us.

We acknowledge that the Lord has given us the money and we aspire to give our first and bests to Him.

We give a 10th of our income, because we trust the Lord to provide.

We give a 10th because we want to offer our very bests of money, time, and talents to the Lord.

I don’t want to just give Him a tip “Thanks for the sermon.”

I want to give Him my heart because He is my treasure.

The way we engage with people, the way we govern our money, the way we spend our time, the things we think/talk about give us a clear indication about ourselves.

Church,

Our lives reveal who our God is.

Things you give yourself over to will tell you who you worship.

Your income/outgo can give you an idea who worship.

Your schedule will give you an idea who you worship.

This has been revealed in my life.

Confession: I’m built to go.

I run, run, run

That’s not how I was created.

We were created to work hard for the Lord and rest in the Lord.

What I end up doing is working hard to make dead lines and money and no rest is found anywhere.

Making money, working to provide for your family are not bad things—they just make bad gods.

We should work hard, but not at the expense of our worship of Jesus.

We should work hard for the expanse of our worship of Jesus.

We magnify what we love by the way we live our lives.

What are you magnifying more than the Lord?

Don’t give yourself over to the worship of things.

Once you begin playing the “If I could only just…”

Get the dream job

It’ll be spectacular at first—Then the passion fades.

You’ll find it hard to get out of bed and go.

Find the right one.

The love of my life is out there somewhere.

I’m going to get on dating apps and sleep around until I find him/her.

Get the boat.

Don’t get a boat.

Get you a friend that has a boat and let them worry about the maintenance.

Having a job you love, finding a spouse, raising a family, getting a boat—None of these are bad things—They’re just bad gods.

They’ll leave you ultimately unsatisfied and looking for something else.

That’s not what you were made for.

Gospel presentation

God made you to be satisfied by Him and for Him.

“The glory of God is man fully alive.”

When you are flourish and growing spiritually, physically, emotionally

When you are living an abundant life for the glory of God—That’s what you were made for.

This isn’t a reality for some of you.

Some of your would say, “Man, I’m barely hanging on—My life is not in line with God’s will for my life.”

We settle for lives that are lesser-than because we pursue lesser-gods that cannot forgive our sins or give you abundant life and will leave us empty.

That’s not what you were made for.

In our sin, we have rebelled against God and worshipped gods that we created for us.

Weak, spineless, and jellyfish gods.

But God is merciful and persistent.

He pursues us as we actively run from Him.

He sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross so that we can be forgiven and restored to a right relationship with God.

Then, God raised Him from the dead to show His power and authority over our sin.

Through faith in Jesus Christ, we can live the abundant life through faith.

No more guilt, shame, or fear

We get to have the spirit of freedom through faith in Jesus Christ.

If you’re not a Christian, You can be made alive today.

You can stop worshipping yourself or another idol and turn to the sovereign Creator of all things.

Where is your heart?

You can have new life in Christ.

You can walk in freedom.

You don’t have to serve dead gods that suck the life out of you, and give yourself over to King Jesus, who is strong and kind.

All you need to do is take a next step.

Take the Next Step

Decide who your master is.

Money? Your kids? Drugs? Sports? Job? You?

If you’ve made a god of these things, you’re likely exhausted and need a change in your life.

Abundant life is found in Jesus alone.

Will you submit to His lordship and find true joy?

Give and serve like you treasure the Lord above everything.