The Heart of the Issue: There's No Such Thing as a Divided Heart

Introduction

Whats up friends! Welcome back to NXT High School. My name is Matt Velasco, if we have not met I want you to know that I am so glad that you are here and would love to meet you before you leave tonight! You’ll hear and see that we say something around these parts, we say that Wednesday night, tonight, is the best night of the week. And we firmly believe it. Not just because you get to hangout with friends and have free dinner and a ton of fun, but also because God has a funny way of showing up in special ways on Wednesday nights here at NXT.

So, if you’re new, thanks for being here! We hope you love it and I want to personally invite you to come back next week.

Image

Mrs. Bertha Adams was seventy-one years old when she died alone in West Palm beach, Florida on Easter Sunday 1976. The coroner’s report read, “Cause of death… malnutrition.” She had died of starvation after wasting away to fifty pounds. The state would do an investigation of her home and found a “pigpen… the biggest mess you can imagine.” One seasoned inspector declared he had never seen a home in greater disarray.

Bertha had begged for food at her neighbors’ doors and had gotten what clothes she had from the Salvation Army. From all appearances she was a penniless recluse— a pitiful and forgotten widow… But this wasn’t actually the case.

Amid the wreckage left behind in her home there were two keys to safe deposit boxes at two different local banks. Inside of these safe deposit boxes they found something incredible. The first box contained over 700 AT&T stock certificates plus hundreds of other valuable notes, bonds, and other investments, not to mention cash amounting to $200,000. In the second there were no certificates or stocks, just $600,000 in cash. Mrs. Bertha Adams was a millionaire and then some. Yet, she died of starvation.

Big Idea

Her life is an extreme parable of the dangers of materialism, which promises so much but cannot give us what we need most. Our society is constantly telling us that to live life at its best means to have more and more possessions and pleasures. But, as Christians, we should know that this is just plain false. But, even if we do know this, the temptation to want more is still there. We walk the balance beam between simplicity and excess, and we claim to want nothing but Jesus and yet live in such a way that says we want as much as we can and Jesus. Sadly, some of us lose our balance, and the results are devastating.

Text Address

Luckily Jesus knew the condition of the human mind & heart and gave us wisdom for a moment such as this. In Matthew 6: 19-21 Jesus tells us in easy-to-remember terms how we should relate to the world. In a world boobytrapped with snares even more subtle than materialism, Jesus provides wisdom that will guide us safely across the way. Open up your Bibles to Matthew 6:19-21

Matthew 6:19–21 ESV

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Let’s pray.

Content

Set Up

Jesus here is in the midst of a series of sermons or monologues known as the Sermon on the Mount where He is dismantling the way the Jewish people in His time thought and acted. He said things that seemed to be contradictory to those who were listening to Him. In fact, many of the portions of scripture that we grow up being taught are found in this discourse. He talks about anger, lust, divorce, oaths, retaliation, your enemies, giving to the needy, praying, fasting, anxiousness, judgement, the list goes on. But tonight, we’re going to talk about one of the simpler lessons found in the Sermon on the Mount. Simple not because its easy to apply or because we can graze over it, but simple because Jesus makes it abundantly clear why this matters. He states it clearly when he says, For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

We’re starting a new series tonight called Heart of the Issue which is a 2 week series that aims to take an authentic look at what is below the surface and in the heart. This week, we will be asking this question- Where is your heart? Jesus tells us that we can find the location of our heart by finding the location of our treasure. And so I ask also, where is your treasure? Tonight’s message is titled “There’s no such thing as a divided heart” and that is going to be the lens through which we look at this idea of storing up treasure.

The reality is that most of us have our treasure in things not named Jesus, which means our heart isn’t in Christ either. If thats the case, then we need to know how in the world we lay up treasures in Heaven so that our heart can be there too. Tonight we’re going to talk about the three things you must do in order to lay up for yourself treasures in heaven. You must, Treasure Christ, Serve Christ, and Trust Christ.

1. Treasure Christ

Friends, did you know that anything that you treasure in place of Christ is dangerous. If you have it (whatever it is that you treasure) and depend on it, it’ll kill you! If you don’t have it and crave it, it’ll kill you! Whatever is dividing your heart for Christ can kill you because your treasure shows your heart! And a heart without Christ is dead! So you might be asking, why does this matter for me, Matt? Because if you don’t treasure Christ you will die. Whatever you treasure apart from Christ will kill you.

Basketball will kill you if you spend all of your time practicing and none of your time praying.

Your boyfriend or girlfriend will kill you if you spend all of your time chasing intimacy with them and none of your time chasing intimacy with Jesus.

Money will kill you if you spend your whole life trying to grow your bank account and none of your time trying to grow your knowledge of Jesus.

Dance will kill you if you spend all of your time memorizing a routine and none of your time memorizing scripture.

Friends, do you see the deadly danger of treasuring something other than Christ?

So then what does it mean for you to lay up your treasures in Heaven rather than treasures on the earth? Here is a story Jesus told that can help us understand this, Luke 12 where a man had a hugely successful year of farming and he said, “What will I do? I’ve just gotten so much money!” and his answer is to build bigger and better barns to hold all of the crops and all of his accumulated wealth will sit there safe and untouched! And then he says to himself, “well self… lets relax and eat and be merry for my money is safe in my barns!” But God said to him, “fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” and then Jesus says this crucial sentence in verse 21,

Luke 12:21 ESV

So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

What in the world does that statement mean? Rich Toward God… Does it mean “give God lots of money!” Of course not… being rich toward God doesn’t mean enrich God. It means to count God as your riches.

Laying up for yourself treasures in Heaven is to maximize God as your treasure. It means to treasure Christ. The problem with the rich farmer that Jesus talked about wasn’t the fact that he saved up, it was the fact that he saved up and then placed his trust in his savings. Its not a problem to invest, to save for college, to save for that big thing you’ve always wanted… but it is a problem when you place your hope, trust, and heart in those savings. When those things become your treasure.

Whether its how you handle your money, how you love your neighbor, how you speak, or how you spend your time. Do these things in such a way to show those around you that God, not anything else, is your treasure! Imagine if you were to invite me to shadow your life for a week, or even a day. Would I walk away knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that what you treasure above all else is Christ? Or would I walk away knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that what you treasure above all else is basketball? Your boyfriend? Dance? Hockey? Your girlfriend? Music? Movies? Money? Or even your friends?

2. Serve Christ

Matthew continues in verse 24,

Matthew 6:24 ESV

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

This brings us to our second point. Serve Christ.

What does it mean to serve money? Understanding what that means will help us understand what it means for us to serve God. George Washington’s mouth isn’t opening up on the dollar bill talking to us saying do this or do that, Thats not what it means to serve Money. To serve money means to calculate all of your behaviors, all of your life, do what you do to maximize what benefits can come to you from money. It means to be thinking, “how can I maximize how much money I make?” That would be serving money! And friends, you can replace money with whatever form of currency you want. It could be your time, it could be your friends, or your possessions.

So what does it mean to serve God? Lets not complicate it...Its the exact same… to calculate all of your behaviors, all of your life, do what you do to maximize the pleasures you can get from God! All of the benefits you can get from God in Christ, all that God can be for you! What do I mean when I say the benefits you can get from God? Well let me give you a list,

Love

joy

peace

patience

kindness

goodness

faithfulness

gentleness

self-control

But most of all… grace and mercy through Salvation which saves us from our sin.

You cannot serve God and Money these ways. They are mutually exclusive. Either you are aiming to make God your treasure in everything or your aiming to make money (or whatever it is) your treasure in everything. And the only way to increase in that treasure is to serve whatever it is by devoting your whole life to receive more of it.

To lay up treasures in heaven by serving Christ means to calculate all of your behavior to maximize the benefits that you have in God through Jesus Christ.

3. Trust Christ

Luke writes in Luke 12:32-34

Luke 12:32–34 ESV

“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Do you see the connection between laying up for yourselves treasures in heaven and sell your possessions, give to the needy, and provide yourself with moneybags that don’t grow old?

You have providing yourself moneybags and treasures that never grow old and giving to the needy. Jesus is saying - This is the way you do that! Sell your possessions and give to the needy… Thus provide for yourselves treasure in heaven.

So how do you store up for yourself treasures in Heaven by trusting Christ? You take your money and you show your freedom from it, its not your God and its not your treasure, you love people and you want people to love your God, so you are displaying the love of God by sharing with people more and more and in doing that your joy in Heaven and in God increases!

The motive that Jesus gives is in verse 32, when he says, Fear not little flock! Because He knows giving away our money or our time is scary. He knows that we think, “If I give this much away to the Church or to a ministry that cares for the poor I may not have enough!” or he knows that if we give up whatever we treasure most we may be fearful of the anxiety or the pain that comes with letting it go.

Jesus says, fear not little flock. What does that means? It means that God is our Shepherd.

Fear not little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure. So he is both a father and a shepherd.

To give you the Kingdom. Now He is a King!

Jesus is piling up pictures of Himself to take away our fear of giving away our treasure! He is a shepherd, a father, and a king! Shepherds know everything the sheep needs in order to provide for them. Fathers have an incredible care for their kids. Kings have authority and power to get it done! And he is saying He is all of that for you, so don’t be afraid!

Friends, Jesus is telling us to be lavish and generous givers. Not just of money, but of our time, our love, our care, our gifts, you name it!

Conclusion

So if I put it simply and if you walk away understanding one thing tonight let it be this: The meaning of laying up treasures in heaven is first to treat Christ as your treasure, and then show how much He is your treasure by giving and giving and giving to those in need while trusting that Jesus will provide for you.

I want to leave you with one last piece of scripture,

Hebrews 13:5–6 ESV

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

Mrs. Bertha Adams had money. She had wealth, and yet she died lonely and starved. Let her story be a warning, a heart placed in anything other than Christ will steal from you your joy and your hope.

Jesus, help make our students free from the fear of Giving. Would we be the most lavish and generous givers that our schools have ever seen. For your sake Jesus, amen!