Where Is Your Treasure

Where is Your Treasure? Sermon by Rich Miller Introduction During this Christmas season we all know or should know that the most important part is to honor and celebrate the physical birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who gave His life as a free gift of salvation to all humanity. As the wise men came with gifts for the young child, for some of us a different part of the excitement of this season is the giving of gifts to loved ones or those in need. The monetary value of these gifts is not significant as I can attest to the fact that many of the best gifts, I have ever received did not cost a lot of money but were heart felt. So let me ask where is your treasure today? Is it in Jesus Christ knowing that he has paid our sin debt in full? Is it the strength that comes from having The Holy Spirit live inside of you? Is it the joy and peace unspeakable that knows that God the Father creator of Heaven and Earth loves you and cares about you and is there for you always? Is it in your spouse feeling that they are The Lord’s perfect companion for you to share this life with? Is it in your children feeling blessed that God allowed you the gift of being their parent? Is it in your ministry feeling that you are the hands and feet of The Lord doing his work for his Glory? Or Is your treasure somewhere else altogether and maybe you have not even realized it? Please turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Matthew chapter 6:19-21 and hear what Jesus is saying about our treasure. To provide a little background or context to this reading the setting is the Sermon on the Mount which is described by some Bible commentaries as King Jesus’s inaugural address if you will and shows how apart from our faith in Him we could never meet the requirements of the law. He does this by providing clarity of the mosaic law and even raises the standard of holiness higher. This is also the longest recorded Sermon from Jesus in The Bible and is a great area to reference on a variety of topics. Matthew 6:19-21 NIV 19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 FOR WHERE YOUR TREASURE IS, YOUR HEART WILL BE ALSO. What is Treasure? In Matthew chapter 6 Jesus teaches up about storing up treasures in Heaven and not on earth. To help us understand more clearly what he is teaching us here first I feel it is important for us to define the word Treasure and see what The Bible says about the descriptive qualities of Treasure. Treasure is any possession that is highly valued by its owner. I am so grateful that we have a God that values us. Amen! We can see in the word that The Bible also teaches us that treasure is something that is highly valued. Matthew 13:44-46 The Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl 44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. 45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. If we take notice to verse 46 I have underlined the key words great value to describe the treasure. Based on this parable it is safe to say that the treasure Jesus is referring to in Matthew 6:21 is indeed something of great value to the man who buried it and more importantly The Kingdom of Heaven is something of even greater value. Amen. We can see another example of The Lord describing treasure as something of great value in the Old Testament when God is speaking to Moses at Mount Sinai in Exodus 19:3-6 3 Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel:  4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine,  6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” We can see here that out of all the people on the whole earth The Lord has called the children of Israel to be a unique group of people who have great value because they will be a Holy Nation and kingdom of priests if they obey God’s covenant. Isaiah 33:5-7 is an interesting passage of scripture as well because not only does it give us more descriptive qualities of treasure from a biblical standpoint but also starts showing us how to achieve this treasure as well which will help us apply it to our lives. Isaiah 33:5-7 5 The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with his justice and righteousness. 6 He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.[a] While it is clear that Isaiah is prophesying to the children of Israel about the coming of Jesus Christ, also Isaiah further defines the believers treasure by what The Lords will do for us. The Lord will be the sure foundation for our times. He will also be a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge. Isaiah then says that the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure. Now please understand what The Bible is speaking of here is a healthy respectful fear of The Lord and not being terrorized so know the Word so you are not deceived by those who may speak incorrectly. With that being said, to get a great example of what the fear of The Lord looks like we can reference Proverbs 2 verses one through eight as Solomon is explaining this topic through the leading of The Holy Spirit. Proverbs 2:1-8 2 My son, if you accept my words     and store up my commands within you, 2 turning your ear to wisdom     and applying your heart to understanding— 3 indeed, if you call out for insight     and cry aloud for understanding, 4 and if you look for it as for silver     and search for it as for hidden treasure, 5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord     and find the knowledge of God. 6 For the Lord gives wisdom;     from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. 7 He holds success in store for the upright,     he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, 8 for he guards the course of the just     and protects the way of his faithful ones. Solomon states here that by turning our ear to wisdom, calling out for insight, and crying to The Lord for understanding and searching for it as treasure (something very valuable) we will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. This can be stated in our modern terms simply to pray to The Lord and seek his righteousness. Search for wisdom to do his will and to live in a way that pleases him and repent when we miss the mark. Solomon uses strong emotion when he states to cry to The Lord and to search for wisdom as treasure. Let’s think about that for a minute. If I told everyone here that I had hidden $10 million dollars in the church building and who ever finds it can keep it how would everyone react? I am sure all you would be calm and reverent but believe or not some people would do just about anything to find it. This is the desire we are to have when seeking wisdom and a closer relationship with The Lord. We are to search for it as treasure. Amen The Treasure of Salvation We just spoke about Isaiah 33:5-7 which says that The Lord will be a sure foundation, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge. Let us speak for a time about the treasure of salvation. The word salvation can defined by The redemption of man from the bondage of sin and liability to eternal death, and the conferring on him of everlasting happiness. In John 14:6 Jesus makes the path to salvation crystal clear by saying   “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. With that being said if our pursuit is to store up treasures in Heaven and not earthly treasures salvation must be at the forefront of our pursuit. If there is anyone here tonight who has not invited Jesus Christ into their heart as their Lord and savior please speak with us at any time during this service or after and we will pray for you so that you too can receive the free gift of salvation. I would gladly interrupt this sermon to see a soul saved. Amen Salvation is key because as Jesus said he is the only way to the Father. So how do we know if we are saved? The confession and believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord is the first step in salvation. Romans 10:9-10 9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. A second step in that process of salvation is to repent of your sins. The word repent is defined as To be sorry for sin as morally evil, and to seek forgiveness and also to cease to love and practice sin. We can see this point illustrated in Acts 3:19 19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, Another example of this is found in Luke 13:3-5 when Jesus is reminds us not to put one sin above another and judge others but that we all need to repent of our sins. Luke 13:3-5 Repent or Perish 13 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered,“Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” These verses are powerful and remind us that sin is a big deal. That is important to understand so that we can appreciate the high value or treasure that is salvation. Often we may not appreciate a collector’s item or object when people show it to us but when they say the value or what they paid for it then we have a new perspective. We can never truly appreciate the awesome gift of salvation that has been offered to us and to everyone who will receive it. One of the most famous verses in all of scripture gives us a great point to reflect on as to the extent of God’s unfailing love for us. John 3:16-17 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Can you only imagine knowing that your child or loved one would have to suffer, be tortured, be mocked, and killed in a cruel fashion!!! I cannot even fathom that personally. While it is impossible to truly articulate the magnitude of this sacrifice Jesus tells us that it is the greatest kind of love. John 15:13 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. Think about it all the romances and loving things done by man from the beginning of time. They cannot compare with what Jesus did for us on Cavalry’s Cross. Conclusion So we now know that treasure is something of a very high value. We also know that Jesus tells us to not invest in earthly treasures that are here today and gone tomorrow. But instead we are to invest in the kingdom of heaven. We have found that to know God starts with a healthy fear of him to gain in wisdom and understanding. Most importantly, we know that God loves us and he has given us a free gift of salvation. You see we are The Lord’s treasure church. And where his treasure is his heart is also. That is why he has always been there to help us guide us and gave his only son for us. And if that was not enough he gave us The Holy Spirit so we would know with utmost confidence that Jesus Christ is Lord. So we could see signs and wonders to confirm our belief. So we can have power when satan and this world try to convince us that we are wrong and that Jesus is not the one true path to salvation or that material things will heal our hurts and bring us joy. The Holy Spirit that allows us to feel the presence of The Lord in any time, in any place and in any circumstance. We are The Lord’s treasure and we are in his heart. Let us keep our focus on Jesus Christ as our treasure so our hearts will also be with in and for him. Amen.