Treasure that Lasts

Texts: Matthew 25:14–30; Matthew 6:19–21; Luke 12:16–21

[Before the sermon: Remind everyone to pick up a copy of The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn in the atrium.]

SLIDE 1

On October 25 we'll celebrate Pledge Sunday, when we'll make our commitments for the coming year. But today isn't about the pledge card. Today is about a bigger question: where is my treasure, and where is it going?

Introduction: Pressing On, Looking Ahead

For the last several weeks we've been pressing on with Paul in Philippians. We heard him say he forgets what lies behind and strains toward what lies ahead, pressing toward the goal for the prize of God's upward call in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13–14). And we heard him remind us that our citizenship is in heaven (3:20).

Paul could press on because he knew where he was going. When you know where you're headed, it changes how you live today. It changes what you hold onto and what you let go of.

In one sense, the sermons in this series have been about the theory of pressing on. These next two weeks are about what it really means in our lives. Pressing on reaches far beyond how we spend our money. It shapes how we use our time and our talents too, and we'll talk about those another day. But it at least applies to our money, and we're in a season where we need to talk about the stewardship of our treasure.

SLIDE 2

Jesus talked about money more than almost any other subject, not because God needs our money, but because he knows how tightly it can grip our hearts. In the same sermon we'll look at today, he says plainly that we cannot serve both God and money (Matthew 6:24). There are two masters competing for our hearts, and we need to be honest about which one we're serving.

Not long ago I was talking with a fellow minister about preaching on money. He told me he's never had to do it. I suppose that's a good thing; he must have served some very generous congregations. But with all respect to my brother, I believe it would be irresponsible of me not to preach about it. Possessions have a quiet, insidious way of taking control of our lives. They limit our joy in the Lord, and they limit our ability to faithfully steward what God has given us.

SLIDE 3

Before we go any further, I want to be honest with you about three things.

First, I believe in supporting the local church. The church is the vehicle God has chosen to bring the good news into this world. Paul says that through the church the manifold wisdom of God is made known (Ephesians 3:10). Through the church we grow toward maturity in Christ, and through the church we are salt and light in the world.

And I believe in this church. We're not perfect, but we are blessed to carry out his mission. We have good leaders, gifted members, and a strategic location, in a time and place where we can be a godly influence. I believe the improvements this campaign will fund will help advance God's kingdom here.

But I never want to be seen or heard as self-serving. This series isn't about getting your money into our budget. It's about what God wants to do in your heart. If God leads you to give to another kingdom-focused ministry, do that. I'm confident God will take care of this church. He always has.

Second, I want you to know that this is uncomfortable for me too. I'm not preaching this from some place where I've got it all figured out. I struggle with the desire to hoard. I feel the pull to hold on tight, to keep a little more just in case.

Third, God has been patiently challenging me in this area for most of my life. As a young man, I remember a preacher named Jack Exum coming to our church and boldly preaching on possessions. It made me take a hard look at how I managed my finances.

Decades ago, here at Park Avenue, we went through a stewardship program called Take God at His Word. It literally changed our lives.

Twenty years ago we went through Faithful to the Call, a campaign much like the one we're in now. Once again I was challenged to consider what we could give. Looking back, we were surprised at how much we were able to give.

And all of us have seen the fruit of that campaign. Every Wednesday night we see our kids in class and playing together afterward. We see our PAWS meals. This past Thursday morning, 200 young women were here for our Lady Jacket Breakfast. They weren't just fed a good breakfast; they experienced the generosity of a church and heard a good word about life. And through CTW, record numbers have experienced God's word in exciting ways.

I'm not there yet when it comes to generosity. But over the years I have grown in my understanding of possessions, and I'm still growing. So these next two weeks, I'm preaching to myself as much as to anyone. This sermon is for me.

SLIDE 4

Foundation: It All Belongs to God (Matthew 25:14–30)

Before we turn to our main text, we need to settle a foundational question. It's the question underneath every decision we make about money: whose money is it?

Scripture's answer is clear. The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it (Psalm 24:1). The silver is mine and the gold is mine, declares the Lord (Haggai 2:8). When King David and the people of Israel gave generously to build the temple, David prayed, "All things come from you, and of your own have we given you" (1 Chronicles 29:14). Even when they gave, they knew they were only giving God back what was already his.

SLIDE 5

That means we aren't owners. We're stewards, managers of what belongs to someone else. And that changes the question. The question isn't "How much of my money should I give to God?" The better question is "How much of God's money should I keep for myself?"

Jesus told a story about this. Turn with me to Matthew 25.

[Read Matthew 25:14–30, or summarize it]

A man going on a journey called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, each according to his ability. Then he left.

We use the word "talent" today to mean a skill or ability, and that actually comes from this parable. But in Jesus' day a talent was money, and a lot of it, roughly what a laborer might earn over many years. That's why stewardship rightly includes our time and our abilities. But notice that Jesus started with money.

The first two servants went to work and doubled what they'd been given. The third dug a hole and buried his master's money in the ground.

After a long time, the master returned and settled accounts with them. To the first two he said the same words: "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master."

Notice that the servant with two talents heard exactly the same praise as the servant with five. The master wasn't measuring the size of the return. He was measuring faithfulness. We'll come back to that idea next week.

Then the third servant came. Listen to his explanation: "I knew you to be a hard man… so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground." Do you hear what held him back? It was fear. And underneath his fear was a wrong picture of his master. He didn't trust him. We'll come back to that next week too, because I think it's at the root of why so many of us struggle to give.

This parable teaches us three things about stewardship. First, it all belongs to the master. Not one of those servants owned a penny of what he managed. Second, there will be a day of accounting. Paul says it is required of stewards that they be found faithful (1 Corinthians 4:2). Third, faithfulness in small things matters. Jesus said that whoever is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and if we haven't been faithful with unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to us the true riches? (Luke 16:10–11).

There's real freedom in this. An owner carries the whole weight of his possessions. A steward simply asks, "What does my master want me to do with what he's entrusted to me?"

And as we'll see, Jesus tells us exactly what to do with it: invest it in what lasts.

SLIDE 6

Our Text: Matthew 6:19–21

Now turn to our text for today, Matthew 6:19–21. These verses come from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus' longest section of teaching, and it's no surprise that one of its themes is possessions and treasure. Jesus knew the battle that goes on in our hearts.

[Read Matthew 6:19–21]

Here are some things I've learned from these verses that have helped me along the way. You'll find some of them in The Treasure Principle, so be sure to pick up a copy.

SLIDE 7

1. Everything Here Is Headed for the Junkyard (v. 19)

Jesus begins with a warning: don't store up treasure on earth, where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal.

[Show video clip – Junk on I35]

There's a big car junkyard along I-35 here in Texas. For years I drove past it, and every time I did, it preached me a little sermon.

[Tell the junkyard story in your own words. Suggested shape: describe the new-car moment everyone knows — the new-car smell, the shine, parking at the far end of the lot so nobody dings the door, the monthly payment. Then take them down I-35 to rows and rows of stacked, rusting cars.]

Go back to Slide 7 when video concludes

Every one of those cars was once somebody's pride and joy. Somebody signed the papers. Somebody washed it on Saturday. Somebody worried about the first scratch. And now it sits in a field, rusting.

That's what Jesus means by moth and rust. Everything we buy is on its way to that junkyard. Some things just take longer to get there.

This isn't meant to make us gloomy. It's meant to make us honest. And it drives us to ask a question: is there a way to invest in things that last?

SLIDE 8

2. Jesus Offers the Best Rewards Program There Is (v. 20)

Jesus doesn't stop with a warning. In verse 20 he gives an invitation: store up treasures in heaven, where moth and rust don't destroy and thieves don't steal.

I have a confession. I love free food.

[Tell the restaurant rewards story: you favor restaurants with good rewards programs, and when all else is equal, you'll choose the one with the rewards. Have fun with it.]

Here's what I've realized: I spend my money with a reward in mind. So do you. Every one of us does. The only question is which rewards we're collecting.

And here's the surprising thing: Jesus isn't embarrassed by that. Look at the verses just before our text. Three times in Matthew 6 Jesus says your Father who sees in secret will reward you (6:4, 6, 18). Hebrews 11:6 says God rewards those who seek him. Jesus doesn't tell us to stop wanting rewards. He tells us to want the right ones.

Now, I'll be honest with you. I can't tell you exactly what heavenly treasure will look like. Scripture says no eye has seen and no ear has heard what God has prepared for those who love him (1 Corinthians 2:9). But I know two things. It will be good, because God is good. And it will last, because it's kept where rust can't reach it.

A free burrito is nice. But it expires. Jesus offers a reward that never does.

SLIDE 9

3. Your Heart Follows Your Treasure (v. 21)

Now look at verse 21: where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

We usually read that backward. We think it means, "Whatever you love, you'll spend money on." That's true enough. But Jesus is saying something more: your heart follows your money. Put your treasure somewhere, and your heart will go there too.

I'm not one to buy stock, but I've noticed what happens when people do. They start following the company. They check the price every day. They read the news about it, and they tell their friends about it. Their lives rise and fall a little with how it's doing. Their hearts follow where they've put their treasure.

That's good news. If you wish you cared more about God's kingdom, start investing in it. If you wish you loved this church more, invest in its ministry. Your heart will catch up with your treasure.

SLIDE 10

Conclusion: A Question for This Week

Next Sunday we'll talk about how ordinary believers actually live this way. And the Sunday after that, we'll make our commitments together.

But first, let me tell you about one of my investments.

[Tell the baseball card story: in the 1980s you started seriously collecting, because cards from the 1950s had become valuable and you assumed yours would be worth thousands by now. Some of your collection is worth something, but the companies started mass-producing cards, and suckers like you bought them all up thinking you'd be rich.]

SLIDE 11

Jesus told a story about a man who made the same kind of bet. In Luke 12, a rich farmer had such a big harvest that he decided to tear down his barns and build bigger ones, so he could relax, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him, "Fool! This night your soul is required of you." Jesus ended the story with a warning: so is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God (Luke 12:20–21).

When judgment day comes, I don't want to be seen as a sucker. I don't want to find out I spent my life collecting things that turned out to be worthless. I want to be rich toward God.

SLIDE 12

So this week, I want to leave you with one question. Every time you spend money — at the gas pump, the grocery store, your favorite restaurant with the great rewards program — ask yourself: Where is my treasure right now? And where is my heart?

Everything here is headed for the junkyard. But you can send your treasure ahead. And your heart will follow.

I want to show you a short clip of Randy Alcorn, the author of The Treasure Principle. In it he talks about the last days with his wife, Nanci, who died of cancer in 2022.

[Show video clip - Alcorn]

[Read the passage from Alcorn's The Law of Rewards (special edition) describing the morning Nanci died. Paste it here from your copy.]

SLIDE 13

That unforgettable Monday morning in 2022, when I held Nanci’s hand as she exited her body and entered the presence of Jesus, I could picture Christ’s outstretched arms and hear his loving words, “Well done.” I could imagine her broad smile as he hugged her. Home at last! And I thought of all the people from all over the world she would then meet and get to know and love—those we had the privilege of helping through our giving, and who thereby received the gospel, food, clothes, clean water, medicines, Bibles, and good books. Sometimes I feel like part of me went to Heaven with Nanci. That’s not only because of our deep love for each other, but because she and I partnered together to invest in people for eternity. I so look forward not only to seeing old friends but to having Nanci introduce me to these new friends we invested in before we ever met them!

SLIDE 14

Transition to the Hymn: "I Surrender All"

In a moment we're going to sing "I Surrender All." Most of us have sung it so many times we could do it without the hymnal. But let me tell you where it came from.

The man who wrote the words, Judson Van DeVenter, was an art teacher in Pennsylvania in the late 1800s. He was a gifted artist, and he had trained for years hoping to make art his life's work. But people in his church saw another gift in him, and they kept urging him to give his life to preaching the gospel.

For five years he wrestled with God. He didn't want to let go of his dream. It was his talent, after all. Then one day he finally laid it all down. He said later that when he surrendered, a new day began in his life. Out of that moment came the words we're about to sing.

He spent the rest of his life preaching across America, England, and Scotland. Late in life he moved to Florida and taught hymnology at the Florida Bible Institute near Tampa. And in the late 1930s, one of the young students there was a tall, skinny preacher boy from North Carolina named Billy Graham.

Graham later wrote that Van DeVenter was one of the evangelists who most influenced his early preaching. He remembered how the students loved this kind, deeply spiritual old man, and how they would gather in his home in the evenings for fellowship and singing. According to Graham's own account, he was with Van DeVenter when he died in 1939, and the old evangelist went to be with Christ smiling, singing the hymn he had written more than forty years before.

Think about that timing. Van DeVenter died in 1939. Billy Graham's great crusades didn't begin until about ten years later. Van DeVenter never saw any of it. But Graham carried "I Surrender All" into his crusades, and through them this hymn reached millions of people around the world. An art teacher surrendered his talent to God and never saw most of what God did with it. He just invested what the Master had given him, and the Master multiplied it.

There's one more part of the story. The man who wrote the music, Winfield Weeden, traveled with Van DeVenter for years, leading the singing at his meetings.

SLIDE 15

When Weeden died in 1908, three words were engraved on his tombstone: I Surrender All.

Let me ask you something. If someone had to sum up your life in three words on a tombstone, what would they be? We may not get to choose what's carved in stone. But our bank statements and our calendars are already writing the story of what we've surrendered, and what we're still holding onto.

Think back to the parable we read this morning. Van DeVenter discovered what the faithful servants knew: what we hold in our hands was never really ours. Everything we have, our money, our abilities, our time, our dreams, belongs to the Master.

So as we sing, don't just sing the words. Pray them. When we sing "All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give," let's mean it. Let's hold our treasure with open hands, and let's give him our hearts. Because where our treasure is, there our hearts will be also.

Let's stand and sing.

[Closing prayer]