Treasures in Heaven–1

Sermon on the Mount - 53

Matthew 6:19–24 (NIV84)

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

20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

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

22“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.

23But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

24“No one can serve two masters. 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 both God and Money.

Do store up = θησαυρίζω thēsaurizō 8x = from thēsaurós (2344), treasure. To lay, store or treasure up goods for future use.

Treasures = θησαυρός thēsauros = treasure (wealth): accumulated wealth in the form of money, jewels, or other valuables.

Store up (θησαυρίζω thēsaurizō) appears eight times is Scripture.

Five of the occurrences are warnings.

Three are instructions about financial stewardship.

One of the three carries a condemnatory tone but describes a completed action rather than a warning against future behavior.

Matthew 6:19-20 are the first two instances of thēsau-rizō. The rest of the occurrences appear in the following Scriptures.

Luke 12:21 (NIV84)

21“This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”

The rich fool who stored up things for himself but was not rich toward God.

Romans 2:5 (NIV84)

5But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.

Thēsaurizō (you are storing up) here refers to storing something up for future judgment.

2 Peter 3:7 (NIV84)

7By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

Thēsaurizō (reserved) describes how the present heavens and earth are “being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.”

1 Corinthians 16:2 (NIV84)

2On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.

Saving it up = θησαυρίζω thēsaurizō = store it up, esv; emphasizes a positive instructions about financial stewardship for the collection.

Should set aside = τίθημι tithēmi = to put or place in a particular location.

Just looking at the Greek word, one may assume that this word is related to tithing. It is not related to tithing.

The word for tithing in Greek is δέκατος (dekatos) or related forms like δεκατόω (dekatoō), which derive from the concept of “one-tenth.”

Tithēmi, by contrast, is a general verb of placement and positioning with no inherent connection to the tithe or any fraction of wealth.

2 Corinthians 12:14 (NIV84)

14Now I am ready to visit you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you, because what I want is not your possessions but you. After all, children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.

Thēsaurizō here refers to parental responsibility rather than issuing a warning.

James 5:3 (NIV84)

3Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.

Thēsaurizō here condemns the hoarding of wealth, which is “the godless, selfish accumulation of goods—heaping up possessions and savings beyond the ability to enjoy or spend them.”

These eight instances underscore a consistent concern about misplaced priorities.

As we go through each these occurrences in more detail, let’s ask ourselves, “What are we storing up for our future?”

Rich but not Rich Towards God

Luke 12:13–21 (NIV84) (Parable only in Luke)

13Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

14Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?”

15Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

16And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop.

17He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

18“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

19And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ’

20“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?’

21“This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”

Greed = πλεονεξία pleonexia = the state of desiring to have more than one’s due.

The lust to have more than one’s fair share, a boundless grasping after more.

Who stores up things = θησαυρίζω thēsaurizō = to keep some material thing safe by storing it.

The rich man was a wealthy landowner who was part of an extremely small leisured class (generally estimated at less than one percent), who didn’t need to labor in his own fields.

It is not a sin to be wealthy, but it is a sin to make wealth your god. Note the emphasis the farmer gave to himself (“I” and “my”).

Wealth can make us generous or selfish, depending on what is in our hearts.

J. Vernon McGee: Notice the emphasis on the word I in this passage. This man had a bad case of perpendicular “ I-itis”—“What shall I do, because I have no place to store my crops.”

Such language suggests exclusive self-interest, a focus that is often the natural product of “earned” wealth.

V. 18, The man tearing down his barns to build larger ones was not wrong. That was a norm for many in that day. What was wrong was revealed in verse nineteen.

V. 19, This is what he had lived for. He had finally made enough and stored up enough to retire.

“The American Dream!”

If you live as though this life is all there is, and you live just for self, and as though there is nothing beyond death, you are a fool.

Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536): If the rich man had let himself be guided by love when he was in such mental turmoil, love would have said to him:

“Look around at how many are in need of what you have in excess. Acknowledge to whom you owe even a year’s productivity. God has favored you with capital from which you may garner the interest of heavenly deeds. Exchange transitory goods for permanent ones, earthly for heavenly, human for divine. Thus your generosity will have been your gain.”

The man had it all figured out. He didn’t have a worry in the world. But the verdict of God is that he is a fool, because he really believed that life consists in the abundance of the things which a person possesses.

This man had spent a lot of time considering how he was going to enjoy his material possessions, but he never considered the state of his soul.

He was thinking of the future, but he didn’t know the future.

His was the concern for today and for tomorrow that had no room for the consideration of eternity.

He neglected his own soul.

James 4:13–17 (NIV84)

13Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”

14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

15Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

16As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.

17Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.

Some may wonder, “What’s wrong with making plans?”

Proverbs 21:5 (NIV84)

5 The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.

James is not here dismissing the necessity to plan and prepare. What he condemns as sin is the kind of arrogant presumption that assumes that we control our future, that our timeline is ours alone to decide.

“If it is the Lord’s will.” This statement has been criticized by many false teachers, who claim that when you say this, you are manifesting doubt.

Instead, you need to “claim it now,” because faith means absolute confidence in the outcome.

God’s will is always prosperity, healing, and success.

Words create reality, so uncertainty blocks results.

These claims that false teachers espouse ignore some major areas:

God is sovereign; our faith and the words we speak are not.

The context in which the Scriptures they quote are written.

They redefine faith as confidence in one’s declaration rather than trust in God Himself.

When we say, “If the Lord will, we will live and do this or that,” we are demonstrating obedience and humility, not a lack of faith.

Luke 22:39-42 (NIV84)

39 Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him.

40 On reaching the place, he said to them, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation."

41 He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed,

42 "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."

Jesus submitted to God’s will. He was not guilty of doubt.

Mark 10:17–31 (NIV84)

17As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

18“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.

19You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”

20“Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”

21Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

The one thing he lacked wasn’t a particular deed that he needed to do; he lacked a new heart.

22At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

23Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”

Wuest Translation. And Jesus, having glanced swiftly around, says to His disciples, How with difficulty will those who keep on holding wealth, enter into the kingdom of God?

24The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! (how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God, lsb)

Original Greek: how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God. Does not include those who trust in riches.

25It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

26The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”

27Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

28Peter said to him, “We have left everything to follow you!”

29“I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel

30will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.

31But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

Jesus was not saying that anyone who wishes to be saved must divest himself of all private property and become an ascetic, living in poverty and self-denial.

He was addressing a specific person with a unique heart attitude.

In essence, Jesus was saying to him: “You say you have kept all of the law. What about the first commandment: ‘You shall have no other gods before Me’?” (Ex. 20:3).

Jesus knew that money was this man’s god. His money ranked ahead of God. This young man needed to get his priorities right.

If at best there be few who find the strait gate and narrow way (Matt. 7:14), with what difficulty will those who rest in the false security of wealth enter into the kingdom of God!

Matthew 7:13–14 (NIV84)

13“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.

14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

James 5:1–6 (NIV84)

1Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you.

2Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes.

3Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.

4Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.

5You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.

6You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.

You have hoarded wealth = θησαυρίζω thēsaurizō = to collect and lay up stores or wealth, treasure.

[This word] gives a genuine picture of Oriental wealth, garments etc. stored in barbaric abundance, too numerous for use.

This is talking of one who amasses more than they would ever be able to use.

The corrosion of their overabundance testifies against them; moths eats away at their clothing, rust and corrosion ruin their possessions.

The testimony against them is that this excess could have been shared with others who would have used it and not end up being wasted.

Psalm 39: 6 (NIV84)

6Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.

He heaps up wealth = צָבַר tsabar = to store (lay up): to keep or lay aside for future use.

Psalm 38:7 (Lexham English Septuagint)

7Surely a person goes through life as an image. Surely in vain they are troubled. A person stores up treasure (θησαυρίζω, thēsaurizō), and he does not know for whom he will gather them.

Proverbs 10:2 (NIV84)

2Ill-gotten treasures (θησαυρός, thēsauros) are of no value, but righteousness delivers from death.

Proverbs 10:2 (LES)

2Storehouses (θησαυρός, thēsauros) will not benefit the lawless, but righteousness will rescue from death.

Proverbs 21:6 (NIV84)

6A fortune (θησαυρός, thēsauros) made by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a deadly snare.

Proverbs 21:6 (LES)

6The one who produces treasures (θησαυρός, thēsauros) with a false tongue pursues worthless things into the traps of death.

Psalm 49:16–20 (NIV84)

16Do not be overawed when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases;

17for he will take nothing with him when he dies, his splendor will not descend with him.

18Though while he lived he counted himself blessed— and men praise you when you prosper—

19he will join the generation of his fathers, who will never see the light of life.

20A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

Ecclesiastes 5:10–15 (NIV84)

10Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless.

11As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them? 12The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep.

13I have seen a grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner,

14or wealth lost through some misfortune, so that when he has a son there is nothing left for him.

15Naked a man comes from his mother’s womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand.

Hoarded = שׁוֹמֵר Shomer = to be kept in a certain state, position, or activity.

These Old and New Testament verses stress where the valuable treasure is being stored. Stop treating earth as your storehouse.

When you place your valuables in an unsafe storage facility, you can incur moths, rust, and thieves.

The only safe storage is in heaven.

We’ll look at what other treasures that people store up, next week, the Lord willing.