Matthew: On Earth As It Is In Heaven Pay it Forward * Matthew 6:19-24

Transcription

1 Matthew: On Earth As It Is In Heaven Pay it Forward * Matthew 6:19-24 Please take your Bibles and turn with me to Matthew 6. Just in case you have been wondering how long we are going to be in the Sermon on the Mount, please know that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I looked at the calendar this week and found that we started the Sermon on the Mount all the way back on February 24, which is almost exactly 6 months ago. So, Lord willing, we have just five weeks left. And over these five weeks we will talk about some very important subjects, namely money & possessions, anxiety, false teachers, and assurance of salvation. In fact, I d like to highlight that last topic a bit. On September 8 th, the Sunday we start two services, I plan to preach a message entitled, Am I a Christian? I am sure you realize how important this topic is, and so I would encourage you not only to make it a priority to be here yourself, but also to invite others that may need to hear this message as well. So, that s two weeks from now, but today the message is about money and possessions what I am primarily going to refer to as stuff. I have to tell you that I was half expecting an audible grown to come from the congregation as I announced that, so let me thank you for refraining. I know this is one of our least favorite topics to talk about but we desperately need to. And apparently this was also the case in the 1 st century, because Jesus talked about stuff more than any other topic. In fact, He talked about it more than heaven, hell, faith, and prayer combined. Now, before we look at the text let me remind you once again that in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is giving us a portrait of discipleship. He is explaining what it means to follow Him. And in our passage today He says that a disciple is someone who accumulates stuff in heaven, not on earth. Or to use a popular phrase today, a disciple is someone who pays it forward, with forward referring to eternity. However, there is something very powerful that stands in our way of paying it forward and that is the god of materialism. And so today I hope we will be

2 honest with ourselves and admit just how much we struggle with this. We are all incredibly susceptible to materialism, much more so than we even realize. I think Randy Alcorn nails it on the head when he writes: Like the frog that boiled to death by degrees, we tend to gradually acclimate to our materialism, becoming desensitized to it, and finally regarding it as the norm rather than an aberration. The hardest part of dealing with out materialism is that it has become so much a part of us. Like people who have lived in darkness for years, we have been removed from the light so long we do not know how dark it really is. Many of us have never known what it is not to be materialistic. It is normal, the only way we know. This is why we need so desperately to read the Scriptures, to grapple with these issues, bring them to God in prayer, discuss them with our brothers and sisters, and look for and learn from those rare models of non-materialistic living in our Christian communities. I m convinced that if we were to gain God s perspective, even for a moment, and were to look at the way we go through life accumulating and hoarding and displaying things, we would have the same feelings of horror and pity that any sane person has when he views people in a mental asylum endlessly beating their heads against the wall. 1 I honestly don t think we grasp how materialistic we are and how incredibly dangerous it is. And so my prayer today is that God would use His Word to take our blinders off, and then through His Spirit empower us to follow Him with our stuff. To enable us to truly pay it forward. All right, with that said, let s read our text, Matthew 6:19-24: 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. The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the 1 Alcorn, Randy Money, Possessions, and Eternity. Eternal Perspectives Ministries; Sandy, OR. 2

3 light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 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. (Matthew 6:19-24, ESV) Now, Jesus point is pretty simple here, right? He just lays it right out there. We are to lay up stuff in heaven, not on earth. To lay up means to accumulate, store up, or stockpile. The Greek here has the connotation of stacking or laying out horizontally, like stacking up coins. 2 To illustrate this I almost brought some poker chips to stack on the pulpit but I thought that might cause more trouble than it was worth. Anyways, you get the picture, right? Jesus is saying, don t accumulate stuff here on earth don t focus on money, and retirement plans, and houses, and cars, and boats, and toys; rather focus on heavenly stuff. Now, while I am sure we get what Jesus is talking about in regards to earthly stuff, I am not so sure we understand what He means by heavenly stuff. Perhaps we have a vague idea, but I would guess that most of us really don t know what He is talking about. And I actually think this is a big part of the problem, because when we understand what heavenly stuff is, we will really want to pay it forward. So, let s take a few moments to talk about heavenly stuff, what the Bible most often calls rewards. The Bible tells us there are at least three types of heavenly rewards. Heavenly Rewards 1. Rulership The first is rulership. The New Testament says in numerous places that one day believers will rule with Christ in the new heavens and the new earth. For example, in Revelation 3:21 Jesus promises this: 2 MacArthur, John (2001). Pg The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Chicago, IL: Moody Press 3

4 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. (Revelation 3:21, ESV) Other New Testament passages offer more details and tell us that believers will rule over cities, nations, angels, and perhaps even entire planets. And while all believers will be with Christ, these passages indicate that authority and responsibility will be given according to how faithfully we have served Him here on earth. Now, I don t now about you, but I think this is pretty cool. To rule and reign with Jesus forever what could be better than that? By the way, I don t know about you, but I am hoping for one of the inner planets, Mercury, Mars, Venus although I guess it can t be Venus because that s where women are from, right? Anyways, being given oversight of part of God s creation for all eternity is a treasure truly worth pursuing. 2. Recognition The second type of heavenly rewards are crowns. Now, I realize that you might not get too excited about receiving a crown but that s because you probably don t understand what they represent. The crowns represent recognition given by God for following Jesus faithfully here on this earth. For example, the crown of life will be given for faithfulness in the midst of persecution. The incorruptible crown will be given for discipline and determination in the Christian life. The crown of joy will be given for excellence in evangelism and discipleship. The crown of glory will be given for faithfully serving in church leadership. And the crown of righteousness will be given for persevering in the faith. 3 We need to think of these crowns in the way an Olympic athlete considers a gold medal. When Michael Phelps works for years and years in order to win at the Olympic games he doesn t do so for the actual medal itself. Yes, the medal is nice but what he is really working for is the recognition that being a gold medalist brings to be honored for all of his hard work and effort. I 3 Alcorn, Randy ( ). Money, Possessions, and Eternity (Kindle Location 2800). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition. 4

5 think if we were honest all of us would love to stand on an Olympic platform with the whole world watching and receive a gold medal. And that is what crowns are about. It s about being told, well done good and faithful servant not by the world, but by the Father Himself. So for example, imagine standing in front of all billions of people everyone who has ever been created - and being recognized by God the Father for excelling in discipleship. How great is that going to be? 3. An eternal, unhindered relationship with our heavenly Father. The third type of heavenly reward is the ultimate one: an eternal, unhindered relationship with our heavenly Father. Note what Paul says in Philippians 3: I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14, ESV) The greatest reward in heaven will be perfect fellowship with Christ Himself. And as Paul shows us here, this is both the goal and the reward of the Christian life. As we have seen throughout the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is the reward! Now, to be honest, I don t think these are the only rewards available to us in heaven. I take this from the fact that God is more gracious and giving and magnanimous then we can even imagine. And while I don t know what all of these rewards will be, I am totally confident that whatever they are, we will be really happy to have them. Why Should We Pay It Forward? All that said, the fact that heavenly rewards are not primarily experienced here and now makes it difficult for us to focus on paying it forward. We are people of the here and now, and the future looks, at least, a little fuzzy to us. Since this is the case, let s go back to our text and look at three reasons Jesus gives us for paying it forward. 5

6 1. Earthly stuff is temporary, heavenly stuff lasts forever. (v ) First, Jesus says that earthly stuff is temporary, but heavenly stuff lasts forever. Look at verses 20-21: 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. Jesus reminds us here that earthly stuff doesn t last. And we all know this, right? This is true even for things made of the highest quality. Maybe a quick illustration will help. Several years ago I was given this bow as a gift from one of my friends. To be honest it is one of my most prized possessions. It is a Mathews bow, the very best you can get. I know some of you might have a different opinion, but you will just have to get over it. And I love (with a lowercase l) this bow. I take very good care of it. I rarely let anyone touch it. My wife and children know to give it a wide berth. I don t sleep with it next to me but it s never far away. But you know God used this bow a couple of years ago to teach me a lesson. It was late summer and I was practicing one day, getting it all fine-tuned and ready to go for hunting season. I was shooting the best I ever had. Everything was perfect. In the middle of this one of my brother-in-laws asked if he could see it. And, somewhat reluctantly, I let him and low and behold before I knew it he pulled the string back and let it go without an arrow on it. Now if you are not into archery you might not know why this is a big deal, but I can guarantee you all the bow hunters in the room just cringed because there is nothing worse you can do to a bow. I will spare you the details, but in an instant everything was messed up the string, the peep site, the cams and to this day, two years later, after numerous visits to archery shops, the bow still isn t shooting as well as it was on that day. Now, the point of this illustration is not to keep people from using your stuff the point is that even the finest things in life are subject to decay. To be honest, at the end of the day this bow is just a hunk of metal, plastic, and string, and 10 years 6

7 from now no one will want anything to do with it. Actually, its only five years old and its already out of date. In fact, they come out with new bows annually and every time I see one I think, man it would be really nice to have that one instead of this one. And isn t this the case with everything? Can you come up with one material thing that you have that doesn t wear out and leave you wanting something newer almost as soon as you have it? And we really need to get this. Earthly stuff cannot satisfy because it does not last. Note what Proverbs 23 tells us: Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist. When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven. (Proverbs 23:4-5, ESV) On the other hand, however, heavenly stuff lasts forever. There is nothing moths, rust, or thieves that can take it away from us. I absolutely love how Peter explains this in his first epistle. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. (1 Peter 1:3-4, ESV) You see, heavenly stuff is imperishable we will always have it. It is undefiled it will always remain pristine, just like the day we got it. And it is unfading it will never run out. Now, do you understand what this means? It means that heavenly stuff can be used but we never have to worry that we will lose it, that it will break, or that we will use it all up. We will always have it to enjoy perfectly forever! 2. Our stuff reveals where our heart is. (v ) The second reason Jesus gives for paying it forward is that our stuff reveals where our heart is. Look at verses 21-23: 7

8 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 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! Plain and simple we can say all we want that we are faithfully following Jesus, but if we are stockpiling earthly stuff that simply cannot be the case. If we are focused on stuff here, our heart is here. Over and over again in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus tells us that what He primarily wants is our hearts. And now we know the reason why because when He has our hearts, He gets everything else as well. So this is not a minor issue. It affects absolutely every single area of our lives. Let me show you why this is the case. Eye in verses is essentially a synonym for heart. Jesus is saying that if our heart, in regards to stuff, is bad if we are headed in the wrong direction in this area of our life then our entire life is off track. If we are blind in regards to stuff, we are blind about everything else. Now, you might think this is an overstatement, but note what Paul says in 1 Timothy 6: Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. (1 Timothy 6:9-10, ESV) Listen, listen, listen! As we sit here and read this the richest people in the history of the world, in the most materialistic culture that has ever existed warning sirens should be going off in our heads. Both Jesus and Paul tell us that the love of stuff is incredibly dangerous. 3. Stuff is a great servant but a terrible master. This leads to the third reason Jesus tells us to pay it forward. Stuff is a great servant, but a terrible master. Look at verse 24: 8

9 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. Now, you might be getting the impression that stuff is the problem, but that is not the case. Stuff is not evil; it is the love of stuff that is evil. You see, the Bible teaches that stuff is a tool God gives us for good. And there is a lot of good that we can do with our stuff. But here in verse 24, Jesus tells us that we have a choice. Either we can use stuff or it will use us. We can either use it to serve God, or we will be used by it to serve the devil. There are no other options. You cannot serve both God and stuff. The Greek word for money in verse 24 is an interesting one. Those of you who grew up with the King James Version know it it s mammon which was the name of a pagan deity. The point is that if we aren t careful, stuff will become an idol and before long we will be worshiping it instead of God. Instead of using our stuff to serve the Lord and lay up treasure in heaven, we will be enslaved to our stuff and give very little if any thought to our experience in eternity. This leads me to an illustration I have used before, although in a different manner. Before I have used a rope, but today I am going to use a line on the screen. Imagine with me that the line represents eternity a line that would run to infinity and beyond, as Buzz Lightyear would say. If the line represents eternity, then the dot represents your time on the earth. And here is what Jesus is telling us in Matthew 6. If you are living for the line, your god is God, and if you are living for the dot your god is stuff. Which one is it for you? Let me press a little bit more. You might be thinking, well, that s ok, because I am having a good time and living in the moment, and I might not have any rewards but I will still get to heaven. The problem is you very well may not. 9

10 I say this with a heavy heart, but you ultimately might be displaying that you aren t actually a disciple of Jesus. You may be showing that you aren t truly saved. Now, you might think I am going too far, but take a look with me at the interaction Jesus has with a rich young man in Matthew 19. Jesus said to him, If you would be perfect, [have eternal life] go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me. When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. (Matthew 19:21-22, ESV) The point here is not that you have to give up your possessions in order to follow Jesus, but rather you have to be willing to. If you aren t willing to forgo earthly stuff, than Jesus isn t your God, stuff is. And if Jesus isn t your God, He isn t your Savior, and if He isn t your Savior, you aren t going to heaven. So I hope you get how critical this is. Stuff has a way of reflecting our spiritual condition in a way that few other things do. I have said before that there is no more objective test of your spiritual life than your bank statement. Bank statements do not lie. You know, pastors often get a bad rap for talking about money too much. Oftentimes this is because people suspect that they do so for wrong motives, which sadly, is sometimes the case. But there is a right motive the one that Jesus and Paul had and that is for your eternal good. And I hope this is the way you will receive this today. Ultimately this is about the glory of God and your spiritual well being. One day every single one of us is going to stand before the Lord and give an account for how we have lived our lives. And I want all of you to hear the words well done good and faithful servant, and enter into an eternity where you will enjoy to the fullest all the treasures of heaven. 10

11 How Do We Lay Up Stuff In Heaven? Ok, so let s talk now about how we lay up stuff in heaven. To be honest, we all know that we struggle with materialism. We all know we are supposed to live for the line and not the dot. And so the real issue is how we go about doing it. So, let s talk application. Here are four ways you can lay up stuff in heaven. 1. Give back to the Lord first. Number one, if you want to lay up stuff in heaven, give back to the Lord first. This is what the Bible refers to as firstfruits. Proverbs 3: Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine. (Proverbs 3:9-10, ESV) One of the primary reasons we struggle to lay up treasure in heaven is that we tend to give God the leftovers rather than the firstfruits. And for most of us these days there aren t very many leftovers, if any at all. However, Scripture encourages us to give to God first and then to be good stewards with the rest of our income and trust Him to meet our needs. The Bible teaches this truth over and over again. For example, Malachi 3:10: Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. (Malachi 3:10, ESV) And then there is Proverbs 11:24: One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. (Proverbs 11:24, ESV) 11

12 The principle here is that you can t out give God. It s not possible, so lay up treasure in heaven and trust Him to take care of the here and now. 2. Stay/get out of debt. Number two, stay or get out of debt. This is another reason many of us aren t laying up treasure in heaven we simply have too much debt. The average household in the United States today has $8,200 in credit card debt, $7,300 in auto loan debt, and $6,500 in student loan debt. 4 This kind of debt is killing us, because as Proverbs 22:7 says: The borrower is the slave of the lender. (Proverbs 22:7, ESV) Many of us are slaves to debt and therefore we have a hard time laying up treasure in heaven. There is a lot that could be said here, a lot I would like to say, but I am primarily going to point you towards a great resource called Financial Peace University, a class that we will be offering beginning September 8. If you are struggling with laying up treasure in heaven, especially due to debt, you need to take this class. 3. Give stuff away. Number three, give stuff away. Look with me closely at what Jesus tells His disciples in Luke 12, a passage that is very similar to the one we have studied today: 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. (Luke 12:32-34, ESV) One of the primary ways, perhaps the primary way, the Bible tells us to lay up stuff in heaven is by giving to those in need. A real, legitimate

13 application from this message is for those with lots of stuff to go home today, sell some of that stuff and take the money and give it to those in need. If you want help with this, Jeremy Hess, our Director of Community Ministries would be happy to help you do so. By the way, I am going to spill the beans here a little, but part of our plan in opening a campus in Burlington is to lease or purchase a facility out of which we can meet the physical needs of that community. And so, if you want to lay up treasure in this way feel free to give and help make that possible. I d like to give an illustration here to help drive this home and give you some added motivation. In Acts 20:35 Paul quotes Jesus as saying, It is more blessed to give than to receive, and I want to show you how this is doubly true. I am going to ask G.T. here to help me. I ve got a $100 bill here. Let me ask you would it be better for me to give this $100 to G.T. and tell him to use it to meet his needs while he is here in the States, or would it be better for me to receive this $100 from him? It would be better for me to give it, for two reasons. First, I would have the joy of giving. If you haven t experienced this, it is great. There is a joy in giving that nothing else can provide. But second, in giving, I am paying it forward. I am laying up stuff in heaven. I can know that God is going to more than pay me back for giving to His mission here and I will get to experience that pay back for all eternity. 4. Remember Jesus. All right, one more. Number four, if we are going to lay up stuff in heaven, we have to remember Jesus. 2 Corinthians 8:9: For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9, ESV) Very simply friends, Jesus became poor so that we could become rich. Although He was wealthy beyond compare, He willingly became the poorest of the poor so that we could experience all the riches of heaven. If 13

14 you are a believer, regardless of what your bank statement says today, you are unfathomably rich and will be so for all eternity. The Father has already given you the Kingdom. All His riches are yours. And as we constantly remind ourselves of this truth, earthly stuff will lose its appeal and we will long for and live for heaven more and more. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace. Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers by Chris Carr. You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that: (1) you credit the author, (2) any modifications are clearly marked, (3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction, (4) you include Harmony Bible Church s website address ( on the copied resource. 14