Heaven Wk#3

Good Morning & Welcome to New Hope

I remember when I began my first official job after graduating high school, I didn’t have a clue about investing. My idea of saving for the future was going to the store and buying what I wanted. I didn’t have a very good concept of finances. I didn’t balance my check book and didn’t even have a concept of setting money aside for a raining day, let alone for retirement.

Investing isn't typically a get rich quick tactic that you can do for a short period of time and expect to make a significant amount of money. It's often a long-term process that requires patience, commitment, and keeping calm when the market fluctuates, as it inevitably will. 

You may have heard of long-term investments and short-term investments, but are unsure of what they mean, what the difference is, or what investment strategy is best for you. A long-term investment usually offers a higher probability of maximizing your return over a 10-year period, rather than bringing you a high return in just a few years. Examples of long-term investment vehicles include stocks and index funds. 

A short-term investment is an investment you expect to hold for 3 years or less, then sell and/or convert to cash. Examples of short-term investments include money market funds, certificates of deposit, and short-term bonds. While many people like to play the market or speculate with day trading, it's a risky business and you should educate yourself and do plenty of research before you try short-term investing. For most people, it is easier and safer to plan on long-term investments. 

Until one day at work this guy and I began to talk about some of these things. He would draw and write on cardboard boxes to share concepts with me so they made sense (compound interest, the power of 7, and the significance of time). He convinced me to begin thinking about my future, so I started a 401K and began putting money aside. Over time he continued to encourage me to increase the amount I was paying forward.

Let me ask you this question: Which do you think the Bible encourages?

It’s one of the things I wish I would have learned at an earlier age. It’s one of the things I wish I had done a better job of teaching my kids. But this morning we look at this topic of investing in a similar, but different way - we look at spiritual investing and what Jesus has to say about it.

(NLT)

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

19“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal.

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

20Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.

Part 1: The Tale of 2 Treasures

What’s the problem? Maybe before we define the problem, we should discuss what’s NOT the problem when it comes to investing.

#1. There is no ban on possessions...

#2. Saving for a rainy day isn’t prohibited either...

Scripture praises the ant for storing up for what they need in the winter

Scripture says that a believer who does not provide for his family is worse than an unbeliever

#3. We are to enjoy the good things which God has given us

So what does seem to be the problem? What is Jesus speaking against?

#1. Selfish accumulation of goods… “Do not store up for yourselves”

#2. Hardheartedness towards meeting needs of others

#3. Person’s life consists of what they accumulate

#4. “Materialism that tethers our hearts to the earth” ~Stott

What we pursue and store up here on the earth is corruptible. In Jesus’ day moths would get into people’s clothes, rats & mice would eat stored grain, & thieves would break into homes and steal. Nothing was safe.

Today we may not have the same problems with moths getting into our clothes, and may have more advanced food preservation than back then, but theft may be more rampant and diverse than back then. Stock market fluctuations, cyber terrorism, identity theft,

Regardless of what we do to keep our stuff safe today, we can’t take any of it with us when we go. “Naked I came into the world, and naked I shall return.”

But what does it really mean to “Store up treasures in heaven”? Not sure that Jesus really explains it. What seems to make the most sense is anything we do here on earth for the Kindgom’s sake, and the effects of what’s done lasts for eternity.

It’s not any kind of works-based gospel, where you earn your way to heaven. We’re told at the beginning of chapter 5 that Jesus’ disciples gathered around him...His conversation is with those who have believed and are following Jesus.

1. Invest in yourself - developing the character of Jesus

2. Invest in others - always be thinking of others

What does that mean? It means thinking, speaking, & living like Jesus did. What does that mean?

Think of yourself less and others more

Giving up your freedoms

Serving others

Speaking the truth in love & grace

21Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

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

What we pursue shows what we love

(NLT)

Where we invest shows what we love

How we spend our time shows what we love

Jesus continues… Part 2: The Tale of 2 Visions

22“Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light.

23But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!

In verse 21 Jesus talks about the desires of the heart. He now switches it up and talks about another part of our body, the eye, that’s actually a window to our soul. “When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light.”

So much of what the body does depends upon our sight - run, jump, drive, paint, build. The eye helps the body do what it does.

Scripture uses the eye & the heart kind of in the same manner

What have you “set your heart” to?

What have you “fixed your eyes” on?

Here’s Jesus’ point… Just as our eyes affect our entire body, so does where we place our priorities/focus/the desires of our heart. Jesus is driving the point home pretty well. AND HE’S NOT DONE YET...

Part 3: A Tale of 2 Masters

24“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.

Jesus starts with our choice between 2 treasures (here/now or there/then); and the choice of 2 visions (where we fix our eyes); to now the choice between 2 masters - God and mammon (wealth&riches with a strongly negative connotation).

But some say that’s “hogwash”. Sure you can! I can manage it very cleanly! I can balance it just fine!

I do my Sunday morning stuff on Sunday morning, and I do my other six day stuff on the six days. Sure, I mix in a little Jesus here and there. I try to do my best at treating people right, but sometimes you just run into people that are hard to love.

The problem is that God don’t work like that!

“I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to anyone else, nor share my praise with carved idols.

I will not let my reputation be tarnished, and I will not share my glory with idols!

8“I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to anyone else, nor share my praise with carved idols.

(NLT)

You must worship no other gods, for the Lord, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about his relationship with you.

God doesn’t want us to try and fit Him around our lives; he wants our lives to be built around His.

14You must worship no other gods, for the Lord, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about his relationship with you.

11I will rescue you for my sake— yes, for my own sake! I will not let my reputation be tarnished, and I will not share my glory with idols! (NLT)

Heaven is our promise not our purpose

(NLT)

12“Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.

13I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

13I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”

(NLT)

6As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near.

7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.

8And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing.

(NLT)

23Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

24Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ.

25But if you do what is wrong, you will be paid back for the wrong you have done. For God has no favorites.

(NLT)

40“Anyone who receives you receives me, and anyone who receives me receives the Father who sent me.

41If you receive a prophet as one who speaks for God, you will be given the same reward as a prophet. And if you receive righteous people because of their righteousness, you will be given a reward like theirs.

42And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded.”