Treasures in Heaven Part 1

Opening: Over the past many weeks we have been studying the sermon on the mount. C.S. Lewis made this comment when being criticized over his answer to the question to you like the Sermon on the Mount.

Someone once criticized C. S. Lewis for “not caring for the Sermon on the Mount.” He replied, “As to ‘caring for’ the Sermon on the Mount, if ‘caring for’ here means ‘liking’ or enjoying, I suppose no one ‘cares for’ it. Who can like being knocked flat on his face by a sledge hammer? I can hardly imagine a more deadly spiritual condition than that of a man who can read that passage with tranquil pleasure.” [God in the Dock, pp. 181-82].

The Sermon on the mount is indeed a very pointed, hard-hitting message delivered by our savior. While I love it for its teaching, it is not a sermon by which any reader or listener cannot see himself in its accusations.

Intro: What does your heart value? How does one take an accurate reading of the intangible aspects of ones heart, life focus and desire? I fear that many believers in this nation have lost the ability to measure their own desire for wealth and comfort without an unbiased comparison toward those that have more than they do. In other words, we use the possessions of others to justify our own desire for more.

Matthew 6:19–24 (CSB)

19 “Don’t 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 neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal.

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

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.

23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness, how deep is that darkness!

24 “No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Jesus first gives two commands concerning our actions and one observation.

#1 Do not Store up treasures on earth

#2 Store up treasures in heaven

Trans: Let’s look at the first one

#1 Do not store up treasures on earth...

Why Shouldn’t we store them up?

Moth and Rust/vermin destroy; Thieves break in and steal.

Many times with my small children, we’d be out someplace enjoying an ice cream cone or Popsicle . Inevitably one of my children would have enough of the dessert and want to go play. Many times, I have been asked can I save the rest for later?

The question always brought a grin to Hope’s and I faces at the childlike innocence of not being able to discern the effects of the future upon their already dripping dessert.

In essence this is what most of us are like. We are child-like in our behavior and lack the ability or desire to consider the effects of the future on the goods we have worked so hard to acquire.

Application: This is in essence what Jesus was teaching. Your goods will decay or be stolen. They are finite. What use are treasures stored up until they decay, are stolen, or until you die . Then as most inheritance left behind are, It is squandered. Squandered on frivolous expenses by someone who did no work to acquire them in the first place.

Trans: So then why not turn your temporal wealth into heavenly treasure?

Matthew 6:20 CSB

20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal.

#2 Store up treasures in heaven...

Why Store them up in heaven?

Because this type of treasure will never decay, be stolen, or taken away.

How do we store up for ourselves treasure in heaven?

Trans: There is parallel passage found in Luke that gives us the answer.

Luke 12:32–34 CSB

32 Don’t be afraid, little flock, because your Father delights to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Make money-bags for yourselves that won’t grow old, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 25:31–40 CSB

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 “ ‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me; I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or without clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick, or in prison, and visit you?’ 40 “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Application: So then what is the answer to the question:

How do we store up for ourselves treasure in heaven?

We use the wealth that we have today to impact the eternal kingdom in the future. Notice the eternal impact of their actions in verse 40.

Matthew 25:40 CSB

40 “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

The phrase “Bothers and Sisters of mine” implies that those who are in heaven were impacted on earth by the generosity of the saints. It is possible that the “treasure” that Jesus is referring to being stored up in heaven Is the souls of men.

The Observation

Matthew 6:21 CSB

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

This observation that Jesus makes is applied to both of the previous statements equally, yet the results are completely different. In fact for the sake of illustration I am going to arrange the verses to show it’s intended weight.

Matthew 6:19 CSB

19 “Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.

Matthew 6:21 CSB

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

Matthew 6:20 CSB

20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal.

Matthew 6:21 CSB

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

What we value will determine how we live and whom we serve.

Trans: Jesus uses an illustration that is very foreign to us but would have been understood by His audience.

Matthew 6:22–23 CSB

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness, how deep is that darkness!

D.A. Carson explains it this way....

The eye is the lamp of the body” (v. 22) in the sense that through the eye the body finds its way. The eye lets in light, and so the whole body is illuminated. But bad eyes let in no light, and the body is in darkness (v. 23). The “light within you” seems ironic; those with bad eyes, who walk in darkness, think they have light, but this light is in reality darkness. The darkness is all the more terrible for failure to recognize it for what it is (cf. John 9:41).

Carson, D. A. (1984). Matthew. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke (Vol. 8, p. 178). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

Whatever we set our eyes on we will lead by…if we are chasing comfort, possession, or the American dream. We have bad eyes unable to see the foolishnes of this aspiration.

But if we set our eyes on heaven. We will live accordingly. We will use our worldly goods for God’s kingdom. We will strive to seek the values of the coming kingdom. We will lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven.

And unless you are foolish enough to think you can have it both ways, Jesus makes it clear of this impossibility.

Matthew 6:24 CSB

24 “No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Many versions state “you cannot serve God and Mammon.” I actually prefer that translation because of the suggestion it makes. The name “mammon” is actually a name given to “the god of wealth and excess”. In our sterilized reading of scripture it is often just translated as money, but that is not the true picture nor would the audience have interpreted in that way. Jesus was making the distinction of being a servant to Yahweh God or a servant to a false god. This is an issue of worship. Revelation 18 gives us a description of a city given over to this spirit.

In this way, Jesus is forcing His audience to take an account of their hearts. Many as the previous verses contend are unwilling to recognize that their vision is skewed. They will continue to walk in great darkness. But their will be some in His audience and maybe even some of you today. Who today say, “today is the day that I will use all that I have to ensure that many will hear the gospel message.

I will use my worldly goods to help produce heavenly rewards.

What we do with what we have been given matters.