What We Cherish

Introduction: Jesus, the Subversive

The world has fallen into enemy hands. Things are not as they were meant to be.

The word “Eden” means “delight.” The garden of was literally a garden of delight.

Satan entered to deprive God’s image-bearers of God’s delights, and to deprive God of the love of His children.

God promised one who would crush Satan’s head.

The Sermon on the Mount is the longest recorded sermon of our Lord. It was delivered early in His public ministry, a ministry that would lead to the cross where Jesus would crush Satan’s head as Satan crushed His heel. As He journeyed toward the cross, Jesus planted seeds that would begin to unravel the fabric of Satan’s schemes in the world since the Fall.

In 4, Jesus addresses a significant strand of Satan’s canvas. He does it through three warnings and two illustrations to bring home one truth. The first of those three warnings pertains to What We Cherish. It’s found in verses 19-21.

What Not to Treasure

When I was a kid, we didn’t have lightening bugs in Detroit. But when I went to visit my aunt in Cincinnati during the summer, every night there would be these bugs flying around that lit up. We would catch them and put them in a jar with air holes in the lid. We wanted to take them to the room that night so they could be like a night light. But they didn’t live very long and they didn’t light up in the jar like they did when they were flying free. By morning, we’d have a jar or dead or dying fire flies - we called them lightening bugs - and no enjoyment from all our efforts to capture them.

What to Treasure

The Power of Treasure