S.O.T.M. Treasures on earth and in heaven [Matthew 6:19-21]

The next section we come to in the sermon on the mount has to deal with money and possessions and we will be here for a couple of weeks. I’ve talked to some pastors who don’t like to talk about money. I’ve talked to church goers who are turned off by pastors who preach on money. And I wonder why that is??? I wonder if it may be a problem in the heart of man…could it maybe be an idol for us??? Well, think on this fact for a moment. In Jesus’ day, most Jews were impoverished, so you wouldn’t think money and possessions would be a big deal, because they didn’t have much…but did you know the Jesus taught on money and possessions 5 times more than any other subject??? You know what that tells me? That it’s important and it’s a problem that we must face. So let’s see what our Lord has to say...

Stand for the reading of the word of God [Matthew 6:19-21]

To review briefly the theme of this section of the sermon on the mount, you remember, the theme in this 6th chapter is the relationship of the Christian to God as his Father. There is nothing more important than this. The great secret of life, according to our Lord, is to see ourselves as children of our heavenly Father through Jesus Christ. When we do we are immediately help with the two main temptations that attack us all in this life.

These temptations are.... The first is the very subtle one that comes to every Christian in the matter of his personal piety, religious/spiritual life [Matthew 6:1-18]. As a Christian I have my private, personal life of devotion. In that connection our Lord says that the one thing that matters, and the one consideration for me, should always be that God’s eye is upon me. I must not be interested in what people say, neither must I be interested in myself. When I give, I must not give in order to be praised of men. The same is true of my prayers. I must not pray in order to impress man. If I do, my prayer is useless. He denounces that idea. I must pray as under God and in the presence of God. Exactly the same principles obtain with the question of fasting; and you remember how we worked it out last week, in that we don’t fast to show we’re spiritual, but out of a response to God.

The second temptation, beginning in verse 19 deals with the Christian living in this world with all it’s affairs, feelings, strains, and stresses in relationship to God as his Father. So in this next section it’s dealing with, what the bible refers to as, ‘the world.’ We frequently say that the Christian in this life has to battle with the world, the flesh and the devil; and our Lord recognizes that threefold description of our problem and conflict. In handling this question of personal piety He deals first with the temptations that come from the flesh and the devil. The devil is particularly watchful when a man is pious, and when he is engaged in the manifestations of his spiritual life. But having dealt with that, our Lord proceeds to show that there is another problem, and that is the problem of the world itself.

Now what do the Scriptures mean by the expression ‘the world’? It does not mean the physical universe, or merely a collection of people; it means an outlook and a mentality, it means a way of looking at things, a way of looking at the whole of life that is not of God. One of the most subtle problems with which the Christian ever has to deal is this problem of his relationship to the world. Our Lord frequently emphasizes that it is not an easy thing to be a Christian. He Himself when He was here in this world was tempted of the devil. He was also confronted by the power and subtlety of the world. The Christian is in precisely the same position.

There are attacks which come upon us when we are alone, in private. There are others which come when we go out into the world. You notice our Lord’s order. How significant it is. You prepare yourself in the secrecy of your own chamber. You pray and do various other things—fasting and giving and doing your good deeds in private. But you also have to live your life in the world. And the world will do its best to get you down, it will do its utmost to ruin your spiritual life. So you have to be very wary. It is a fight of faith, and you need the whole armour of God in that fight, because if you have not got it, you will be defeated. ‘We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but by principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.’ It is a stern battle, it is a mighty conflict.

Our Lord teaches that this attack from the world, or this temptation to worldliness, generally takes two main forms. First of all there may be a positive love of the world and the things in it. Secondly, there may be anxiety, or a spirit of anxious care with respect to it. We shall see that our Lord shows that one is as dangerous as the other. He deals with the love of the world from verses 19 to 24, and He deals with the problem of being conquered by anxiety and care with respect to the world and its life and all its affairs, from verse 25 to the end of the chapter.]

Our Lord puts His teaching first of all in the form of a blunt assertion, which is also an injunction. He lays down a law, a great principle. And having given the principle, He then, in His infinite kindness supplies us with various reasons and considerations which will help us to carry out His injunction. Let me point it out from the text.

First, here is the injunction: ‘Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth … but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven’. That is the injunction, that is the exhortation. The remainder, you see, goes into the realm of reason and explanation. ‘Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth [injunction], where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal [reason]; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven [injunction], where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.[reason]’ We’ll look first of all at the exhortation itself. It is a twofold one—negative and positive. Our Lord puts the truth in such a way that we are left without excuse.

Let’s look at the negative injunction...

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth

What does He mean by this? First of all we must avoid interpreting this only with respect to money. Many have done that, and have regarded this as a statement addressed only to rich people. He does not say, ‘Lay not up for yourselves money’, but, ‘Lay not up for yourselves treasures’. ‘Treasures’ is a very large term and all-inclusive. It includes money, but it is not money only. It means something much more important. Our Lord is concerned here not so much about our possessions as with our attitude towards our possessions. It is not what a man may have, but what he thinks of his wealth, what his attitude is towards it. There is nothing wrong in having wealth in and of itself; what can be very wrong is a man’s relationship to his wealth. And the same thing is equally true about everything that money can buy.

At the core of this principle... It is a question of one’s whole attitude towards life in this world. Our Lord is dealing here with people who get their main, or even total, satisfaction in this life from things that belong to this world only. What He is warning against here, in other words, is that a man shouldn’t confine his ambition, his interests and his hopes solely to this life. That is what He is concerned about, and viewed in that way, it becomes a much bigger subject than the mere possession of money.

Poor people need this exhortation about not laying up treasures upon earth just as much as the rich. We all have treasures in some shape or form. It may not be money. It may be husband, wife or children; it may be some gift we have which in actual worth and monetary value is very small. To some people their treasure is their house, or a car, or whatever thing you value most… all of that is dealt with here. No matter what it is, or how small it is, if it is everything to you, that is your treasure, that is the thing for which you are living. This is the danger against which our Lord is warning us at this particular point.

That gives us some idea of what He means by ‘treasures upon earth’, and you see it is almost endless. Not only love of money, but love of honour, the love of position, the love of status, the love of one’s work in an illegitimate sense, whatever it may be, anything that stops with this life and this world. These are the things of which we must be wary, lest they become our treasure. Having said that, we come to a very practical question then…

How does one lay up treasures on earth?

Once again these are just some general ideas on what this means…it is a very broad idea after all. It may mean living to hoard things. Remember the TV show called ‘hoarders’? The whole show was going around to different peoples homes where they had hoarded all this stuff for some reason or another. Whether it brought them pleasure, security, or whatever it did for them they lived to hoard stuff…that’s laying up treasures on earth, a lot of people became hoarders of TP at the beginning of the pandemic. Another way is by trying to amass great wealth. Now this is probably more common than hoarding, but, in staying with the TV show theme…remember that old show hosted by Robin Leach, ‘lifestyles of the rich and famous’? That show displayed wealthy peoples homes and yachts and their lavish lifestyles. It put on display those who had amassed a great wealth.

Many people do these things hoard things and go after wealth…and our Lord is dealing with that for sure…but I think He also had a much wider idea as well. Our Lord’s injunction means avoiding anything that centers on this world only. It is, as we have just seen, all-inclusive. It applies to people who, though they may not be interested in wealth or money at all, are yet interested in other things which are entirely worldly in the last analysis. There are people who have often been guilty of sad and serious lapses in their spiritual life because of worldly things.

For example, some may not be tempted by money, but they can be tempted by status or position. Friends this very thing has invaded the church as well I’m afraid. I believe promotion has done more harm for the church of God than it has done good, if we are not honest and sincere and on guard.

John Piper addressed this in his book, ‘Brothers we are not professionals.’ he says this, and I quote.

“WE PASTORS are being killed by the professionalizing of the pastoral ministry. The mentality of the professional is not the mentality of the prophet. It is not the mentality of the slave of Christ. Professionalism has nothing to do with the essence and heart of the Christian ministry. The more professional we long to be, the more spiritual death we will leave in our wake. For there is no professional childlikeness (Matt. 18:3); there is no professional tenderheartedness (Eph. 4:32); there is no professional panting after God (Ps. 42:1).

But our first business is to pant after God in prayer. Our business is to weep over our sins (James 4:9). Is there professional weeping? Our business is to strain forward to the holiness of Christ and the prize of the upward call of God (Phil. 3:14); to pummel our bodies and subdue them lest we be cast away (1 Cor. 9:27); to deny ourselves and take up the blood-spattered cross daily (Luke 9:23). How do you carry a cross professionally? We have been crucified with Christ; yet now we live by faith in the one who loved us and gave Himself for us (Gal. 2:20). What is professional faith?”

If we are not careful we all can easily move from a life of trying to please God and living for His honor and glory, and almost unknowingly turn it around into a selfish, me centered, wordly centered work. The possible examples are almost endless. I am simply trying to give you some slight indication of the realm and scope of this amazing injunction. ‘Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth.’ Whatever the form may be, it is the principle that matters.

Let’s look at the positive injunction...

Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven

It is very important that we should be clear about this. Some people have interpreted it as meaning that our Lord is teaching that a man can achieve his own salvation. ‘Treasure in heaven,’ they say, ‘means a man’s salvation and his eternal destiny. Therefore, is not our Lord exhorting a man to spend his whole life in making sure of his eternal destiny?’ Patently that is wrong. This does not mean attaining one’s salvation. That is to deny the great central New Testament doctrine of justification by faith alone. Our Lord cannot mean that, because He is addressing people of whom the Beatitudes are true. It is the man who is poor in spirit, who has nothing, who is blessed. It is the man who mourns because of his sinfulness who knows that, at the end, in spite of all he may or may not have done, he can never achieve his own salvation. It does not means attaining one’s salvation.

What then does it mean? It means something that is taught in many places in the Scriptures, and two other passages will help us to understand the teaching here. The first is in Luke 16 where our Lord deals with the case of the unjust steward, the man who made a quick and clever use of his position. You remember He sums it up like this. ‘Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.’ Our Lord teaches that the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light. They make sure of their own ends. Now, says our Lord in effect, I am going to take that as a principle and apply it to you. If you have money, so use it while you are here in this world that, when you arrive in glory, the people who benefited by it will be there to receive you.

The apostle Paul expounds this in 1 Timothy 6:17–19: ‘Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.’ In other words, if you have been blessed with riches, use them in such a way in this world that you will be building up a balance for the next.

Our Lord says exactly the same thing at the end of Matthew 25 where He talks about the people who gave Him meat when He was hungry and who visited Him in prison. They ask, ‘When did we see thee hungred, and fed thee?… or in prison, and came unto thee?’ And He says, ‘Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.’ You do not realize it, but in doing these good deeds to these people, you have been building up your balance in heaven, there you will receive your reward and enter into the joy of your Lord.

That is the principle which our Lord constantly emphasizes. He said to His disciples after His encounter with the rich young ruler, ‘How hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God’. It is this trusting in riches, it is this fatal self-confidence, that makes it impossible for you to be poor in spirit. Or again, as He put it to the people one afternoon when He said, ‘Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life’. That is the kind of thing He meant by ‘laying up treasures in heaven’.

So the obvious question is...

How do we do this in practice?

The first thing is to have a right view of life, and especially a right view of ‘glory’. That is the principle with which we started. The great fact of which we must never lose sight is that in this life we are but pilgrims, as Christians we live in the world but are not of the world. We are walking through this world under the eye of God, in the direction of God and towards our everlasting hope. That is the principle. If we always think of ourselves in that way, how can we go wrong? Everything will then fall into position.

That is the great principle taught in Hebrews 11. Those mighty men, those great heroes of the faith had but one purpose. They walked ‘as seeing him who is invisible’. They said they were ‘strangers and pilgrims on the earth’, they were making for ‘a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God’. So when God called out Abraham he responded. He turned to a man like Moses who had amazing prospects in the Egyptian court and commanded him to leave it all and to become a miserable shepherd for forty years, and Moses obeyed, ‘for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward’. And so with all of them. What made Abraham ready to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac? What made all the other heroes of the faith prepared to do the things they did? It was that they desired ‘a better country, that is, an heavenly’.

We must always start with that great principle. If we have a right view of ourselves in this world as pilgrims, as children of God going to our Father, everything falls into its true perspective. When we have that right we shall immediately take a right view of our gifts and our possessions. We begin to think of ourselves only as stewards who must give an account of them. We are not the permanent holders of these things. It doesn’t matters whether it is money, or intellect, or ourselves, or our personalities, or whatever gift we may have. The worldly man thinks he himself owns them all. But the Christian starts by saying, ‘I am not the possessor of these things; I merely have them on lease, and they do not really belong to me. I cannot take my wealth with me, I cannot take my gifts with me. I am but a custodian of these things’.

And so the great question that arises is: ‘How can I use these things to the glory of God? It is God I have to meet, it is God I have to face, it is He who is my eternal Judge and my Father. It is to Him that I shall have to render up an account of my stewardship of all the things with which He has blessed me.’ ‘Therefore,’ the Christian says to himself, ‘I must be careful how I use these things, and of my attitude towards them. I must do all the things He tells me to do in order that I may please Him.’

There is the way in which we can lay up treasures in heaven. It all comes back to the question of how I view myself and how I view my life in this world. Do I tell myself every day I live, that this is but another milestone I am passing, never to go back, never to come again? I am pitching my moving tent ‘a day’s march nearer home’. That is the great principle of which I must constantly remind myself—that I am a child of the Father placed here for His purpose, not for myself. I did not choose to come; I have not brought myself here; there is a purpose in it all. God has given me this great privilege of living in this world, and if He has blessed me with any gifts, I have to realize that, although in one sense all these things are mine, ultimately, as Paul shows at the end of 1 Corinthians 3, they are God’s.

Therefore, regarding myself as one who has this great privilege of being a caretaker for God, a custodian and a steward, I do not cling to these things. They do not become the center of my life and existence. I do not live for them or dwell upon them constantly in my mind; they do not absorb my life. On the contrary, I hold them loosely; I am in a state of blessed detachment from them. I am not governed by them; rather do I govern them; and as I do this I am steadily securing, and safely laying up for myself, ‘treasures in heaven’.