What Do You Treasure?

A guy named Jim Elliot once said,

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

Matthew 6:19–34 ESV

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not 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. So, 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. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 24 “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. 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

have you ever wondered or thought, “Why do I do certain things?”

Jesus here, is talking to us about our desires and values.

What is it that we treasure?

Do you desire and treasure money?

Do you desire and treasure your possessions or what you could potentially own? Like a truck? Or a new phone?

Do you desire and treasure popularity?

Do you desire and treasure finding a girlfriend, boyfriend, or a spouse?

Do you desire and treasure the idea of having everything that you need to live a long and prosperous life?

Or, is your greatest desire and treasure God and what He promises and provides?

Let’s explore the first three verses and look at

Good Treasure vs Bad Treasure

Matthew 6:19–21 ESV

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Jesus is saying that you will essentially be a slave to what you desire and treasure.

In other places in scripture when this idea of treasuring things of this world more than God is talked about, the Bible uses a word that we would translate to “over-desire”

Over-desire is the kind of desire that causes people to be completely hopeless and purposeless when they loose something or can’t have something in this world. Over-desire is also what causes people to fight, kill, and completely use others to get what they want.

James 4:1–3 ESV

1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

Maybe you’ve heard this phrase,

Sometimes the things you own or could own end up owning you.

Where your treasure is is where you will be magnetized to.

Jesus doesn’t have a problem with you valuing treasure or over-desiring a treasure. He has a problem with you valuing or over-desiring treasure that will eventually leave you empty, hopeless, or even deeper into sin..

If your destination is heaven why are you letting your heart be at home on earth?

Lets look at verses 22-24 to answer the question...

How Do I Know What I’m Treasuring?

Matthew 6:22–23 ESV

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, 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. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

This might sound very confusing.

So, Jesus, your telling me that if I have bad eye sight I’m going to have darkness inside of me?

Jesus is using a common Hebrew saying to make a point.

The Hebrew saying was that those who had bad eyes or evil eyes was to say that that person was stingy.

Stingy: mean and ungenerous. Someone who valued their possessions or money more than human life. Someone who was willing to use or help other people just in order to get some type of power or influence over them.

Proverbs 23:1–8 ESV

1 When you sit down to eat with a ruler, observe carefully what is before you, 2 and put a knife to your throat if you are given to appetite. 3 Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food. 4 Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist. 5 When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven. 6 Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy; do not desire his delicacies, 7 for he is like one who is inwardly calculating. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you. 8 You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten, and waste your pleasant words.

Jesus is saying that the way you can tell if you’re treasuring the world more than Him is how you behave in relation to others with His creation.

God is generous and gracious with His world. Do you behave the same way with it?

Do I care more about people or what they can provide me?

Am I willing to give up what I have for the purpose of helping someone in need like Jesus did?

Does my hope in what Jesus has eternally promised me make me generous with what he has temporarily provided me?

Now, before we go and say, this is just about buying stuff, or owning a lot of things, this is only for people who want to get rich. You need to understand something...

Jesus is really speaking to ANYTHING that has become the desire of our heart.

Money, yes.

Possessions, yes.

Relationships.

Every relationship on this planet ends in death.

Status and popularity.

Today’s popular jock is tomorrow’s washed up drunk on the corner of the street.

Sexual Pleasure.

All sexual pleasure last but only a brief moment. This is why people are serial monogamists or addicted to pornography.

Violence, a rush of adrenaline, the jolt of a mystery or suspense.

All of these things I’ve mentioned are what people are willing to manipulate for, lie for, hide from others, or even kill for.

Those who see these earthly treasures as something worth manipulating, hurting, or killing others for really have zero control over their lives.

Jesus is trying to teach us this.

If he were here with us in the flesh, Jesus would be asking you and me...

Is this thing that you think is better than me really going to give you what I can?

Is that job or dream you have really going to leave you fulfilled eternally?

Do you really want to be enslaved to the things Ticktock, Youtube, Sony, Microsoft, The pharmaceutical companies want you convinced you need!

Isn’t there something so much better than what you are chasing?

Matthew 6:24 ESV

24 “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.

Do you guys really want to just settle for less?

Do you guys really want to be slaves of lesser desires?

Desires that will never really satisfy you?

Aren’t you tired of treasuring things that can eventually be taken from you or will eventually fade in quality, quantity, and satisfaction?

Are you okay being a slave to your destructive desires?

Where will these things you are chasing eventually take you if you let them continue controlling you?

This “Higher Ground” Principle - Setting your heart and desires on God and eternity is the key to unlocking confidence and peace in the here and now.

Treasuring Heaven Brings Peace Here

Matthew 6:25–34 ESV

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Jesus is saying that the things that actually matter on earth (food, water, shelter, clothing, etc) are all things that you can depend on God for because he values you.

This isn’t meaning that you need to go stand at the entrance of Walmart and beg people for money. It doesn’t mean you need to just not plan on college or not plan on finding a job.

It means that as you are going about your life, living life normally, being a functioning member of society, you are not doing it alone. God is with you. And God is working around you… God knows what you need before you do.

One person said this about this issue...

Matthew 2. Paradigmatic Preaching: The Sermon on the Mount (5:1–7:29)

When priorities regarding treasures in heaven and on earth are right, God will provide for fundamental human needs

Now, here’s the thing,

What you think you might need isn’t always what you really need.

Thomas a Kempis said this about us assuming our own needs,

The Imitation of Christ Self-Love is the Greatest Hindrance to the Highest Good

If you seek this or that, if you wish to be in this place or that place, to have more ease and pleasure, you will never rest or be free from care, for some defect is found in everything and everywhere someone will vex you. To obtain and multiply earthly goods, then, will not help you, but to despise them and root them out of your heart will aid. This, understand, is true not only of money and wealth, but also of ambition for honor and desire for empty praise, all of which will pass away with this world.

If we’ve become convinced that what we do not need is what we really need then we will never find joy, peace, and security in this life.

But, if we look to Jesus, we will find a security and peace that surpasses all understanding and provides all that we need, when we need it, and is not dependent upon circumstances or physical limitations, but is dependent upon the will of The Father, we will find strength, and joy, and purpose that we never thought possible.

You might be tempted to think that God’s clothing you, feeding you, sheltering you must be exactly what the world says it should. Or what you’ve experienced as an American citizen. Or what you’ve seen healthy and successful people with on tv or in the movies.

But this is not the true and pure way of defining what God knows we need. This isn’t how we define how he clothes the flowers or feeds the birds.

What we need is to experience Christ’s being formed in us in the here and now.

Sometimes that looks like a prison cell just like a flower might be clothed in a trash dump.

Sometimes that looks like a hungry belly just like it looks for a mother bird to feed her young what she found in the field.

Sometimes it looks like execution at the hands of Rome.

Paul said,

Philippians 4:11–13 ESV

11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Think of this.

Jesus was the only man to perfectly trust God for all he needed. Yet, Jesus said this in Luke...

Luke 9:58 ESV

58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

It says this of Jesus being thirsty,

John 19:28–29 ESV

28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.

Just because Jesus said this section of scripture to us doesn’t mean we are immune to suffering. Why? Because he wasn’t!

Remember Jesus is the perfect model for this.

John 4:34 ESV

34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

Jesus’ treasure was His Father’s glory!

Jesus’ delight was to accomplish His Father’s will.

What did Jesus do?

Went to the cross.

This seems paradoxical if we misinterpret the words Jesus said in Matthew 6.

But, what did Jesus do after he died?

Resurrect from the dead

The Resurrection of Jesus was God’s ultimate fulfillment of these promises for the promise maker (Jesus). And for the believer, God has promised us that same resurrection. And then, from there, we get to enjoy all that we stored with Jesus that has been waiting for us. The treasure that is secure.

My final thought for you this morning...

Your treasure will always be your master...

My question for you this morning

Are you satisfied by the master you’ve been serving?