HEAVENLY INVESTMENTS (Ezekiel 7:19; Matthew 6:19-24) INTRODUCTION In our passage this morning Jesus is talking about our treasures, our heavenly treasures. Most of us equate with our money, but money is a poor substitute for true treasures. In a Discipleship Journal, it had this to say about the shortcomings of money. Money will buy a bed but not sleep; books but not brains; food but not appetite; finery but not beauty; a house but not a home; medicine but not health; luxuries but not culture; amusements but not happiness; religion but not salvation; a passport to everywhere but heaven. (The Voice In the Wilderness, quoted in Discipleship Journal, Issue 53, 1989, p. 21.) Jesus wants us to think about what our true treasures are and where they are located. At the beginning of Matthew 6 in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus talked about three religious practices which we should doing for the glory of God from the heart and not to be seen by men. He talked about our giving, our praying and our fasting. In this section Jesus goes from the outward practices to inward values. He will also talk about having good eyes verses having bad eyes. And He will talk about serving God versus serving mammon. Let s consider what Jesus is saying in this passage. TREASURES IN HEAVEN VERSUS TREASURES ON EARTH The first area to consider is what are our true treasures and where are we putting them. 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, (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. Most of us have the desire to accumulate wealth or as Jesus calls it to lay up treasures on earth. We work and most of us have a retirement fund in which we are investing. But Jesus challenges us to think not only of an earthly retirement program, but a heavenly and eternal retirement program. March 31, 2019 Corntassel CP Church Page 1
The earthly investment program is temporary and it is subject to lost. Jesus speaks of moth, rust, and thieves either ruining or destroying our earthly wealth. Why did he use these images? Ancient wealth often consisted of two things other than money: expensive clothing and storehouses of food and grain. The rich would often weave gold threads into their garments both to display their wealth and to store it. But most clothing was made of wool, which in the ancient world was especially vulnerable to moths. The word translated rust literally means to eat away. The reference is probably to the loss of crops and grain due to worms, rats, and other vermin. Also, houses in the ancient world were not made of brick or aluminum siding! They were made of baked clay. Thieves could dig their way in. The word translated break in literally means to dig through. Our earthly treasures are at best only temporary and at worst they can be lost. Jesus is saying that we need to be laying up treasure in heaven where they will be safe and secure for all eternity. Not only can we lose our earthly treasures through many ways, we can t take any of them with us when we die. You no doubt have heard the old saying, You don t see a hearse pulling a U-Haul-it. The obvious point is that we can t take our material possessions with us when we die. We need to put more thought into what our true treasures are and how we can lay them up in heaven. What kind of treasures can we lay up in heaven? If we can t take our material possessions to heaven, what can we take with us? There are many things. Here are a few ideas: First of all we must make sure that we will be in heaven. This means that must see our true treasure as the free gift of heaven by God s grace. God promises us heaven if we will put our trust in Jesus Christ. So understanding our true treasure and how we are to lay up treasure in heaven, we start with being saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Then we will see that our growth in grace, i.e. being conformed more and more into the image of Christ is part of our true treasure. We will be taking that to heaven with us. Our progress in our sanctification will somehow be reflected in heaven! Paul says in I Corinthians 13 that faith, hope, and love abide forever, so our true treasure is our faith, hope, and love that we will take to heaven with us. We can lay them up in heaven as we exercise them on earth. In addition to what we will take to heaven with us, we can send some things ahead of us. March 31, 2019 Corntassel CP Church Page 2
When we pray, our prayers are laid up in heaven. According to Rev. 8:3-4 the prayers of the saints are being collected by God in heaven. We can send our prayers ahead of us to heaven. When we pray we are laying up treasure in heaven. We can lay up treasure by helping others get to heaven. Paul calls those reached for the Lord his glory and crown at the 2 nd coming. 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20 ESV (19) For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? (20) For you are our glory and joy. We can send these treasures ahead of us to heaven. We can lay up treasures by how we use our possessions here on earth. We can support the cause of Christ through our giving to others and to the cause of Christ. In Luke 12 Jesus especially mentions giving to the poor: Luke 12:32-34 ESV Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. (33) 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. (34) For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. If these things: our gift of eternal life, our Christ-like character, our faith, hope, and love, our prayers, the people we help on earth are our true treasures, how we use our material possessions, then that is where are heart will be. That is what we will be focused on, give our lives to, etc. GOOD EYES VERSUS BAD EYES This leads us to consider the next area Jesus speaks about. He talks about our eye sight or our vision, whether our eyes are good or bad. Matthew 6:22-23 ESV "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 be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! The eye is the lamp of the body. This statement is somewhat puzzling to me. A lamp usually gives forth light, but the way Jesus talks about the eyes is that the eyes are like windows, they let the light in. What is Jesus getting at? I believe that he is saying that what our eyes are focused on will either let light into us or it will let the darkness in. What we are focused on will illuminate our heart. If we are focused on our true treasures, we will be walking in the light. March 31, 2019 Corntassel CP Church Page 3
If our eyes are focused on our own earthly treasures, which are only temporary, then we will be filled with darkness. And especially if we think that the darkness we see is the true light, then how great is the darkness we are walking in. The KJV gives an interesting translation to the word good in verse 22: Matthew 6:22 KJV The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. It using the idea that a good eye or healthy eye is a single eye. This means that we don t have a double vision. The vision we have of our true treasures is a single vision. It is focused on the right things. It is clear, not clouded with cataracts. If we think that our true treasures are the things of this earth, then we are in darkness. If we try to live with a double vision or try to commit ourselves to our true treasure and also to the world s treasure, then we will be staggering around walking in darkness. The good and healthy eye is the one that has the good and healthy vision. What is filling your vision? What is your heart truly focused on? Jesus is saying that you must choose each day to focus on the things of God and then you will be walking in His light and the light of Christ, the Light of the world, will be shining upon you and through you. SERVE GOD OR MAMMON The leads us into the third area which Jesus wants us to consider and that is we cannot serve God and mammon at the same time. 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. The word mammon comes from the Greek word is sometimes translated as money, wealth, and material possessions. In biblical culture the word mammon often carried a negative connotation. It was sometimes used to describe all lusts and excesses: gluttony, greed, and dishonest worldly gain. Ultimately, mammon described an idol of materialism, which many trusted as a foundation for their world and life view. March 31, 2019 Corntassel CP Church Page 4
So Jesus is saying we must decide each day on whether we will serve God or mammon or materialism. Materialism is the modern day idolatry that affects all of us. And God hates idolatry. Our American culture is built on materialism, the lust of accumulating things. Malcolm Forbes, publisher of Forbes magazine, is remembered as the man who coined the phrase, He who dies with the most toys wins. That s why he collected scores of motorcycles. That s why he would pay over a million dollars for a Faberge egg. That s why he owned castles, hot air balloons and countless other toys that he can no longer access. He is dead and all his toys do him no good now. I wonder if he still feels like a winner? After he collected all his toys did he think he was still a winner? Materialism is a horrible task-master. Even the non-christians warn of the dangers of materialism. George Monbiot writes in the New York Times, Materialism is a system that eats us from the inside out. He says that buying more stuff is associated with depression, anxiety and broken relationships. It is socially destructive and self-destructive. Jesus says that it spiritually destructive. Jesus says that we have to choose between serving God or materialism for you cannot serve two masters. Notice that Jesus calls mammon a master. A master is the owner of a slave. The logic is simple: a person cannot serve God and mammon because a person can only have one owner. Two owners will not share their slaves with the other owner. It is impossible to serve two masters. Do we see God as our Master or do we see materialism as our master? We cannot serve both. Choose God! CONCLUSION So what s the bottom line in this passage? What is it that Jesus is trying to get across to us? The basic idea in each of these three areas is to decide on what our true treasures are and then order our life around them. It is to see that God and our relationship to Him and our eternity spent with Him is our true treasure. Let s keep our eyes fixed on this. Let s serve God. Let s spend our time and effort laying up treasures in heaven. The starting point of laying up treasures for you to receive the gift of eternal life in heaven. It starts at the feet of the crucified Savior. It starts with being freed from our sins through the Blood of the Cross. It starts by putting our faith in the promises of God. Then as we walk in the light of God s Presence, His Word, and His Spirit we will have a clearer vision to see what is truly important in life. Then we will want to send up our prayers. We will want to use our money and March 31, 2019 Corntassel CP Church Page 5
possessions for the kingdom of God, not my kingdom. We will want to focus on developing a Christ-like character. We will have are minds focused on things that are above, not on things of the earth, as Paul says. We are to decide each day what is our true treasure to be focused on. But one more thing. We need to do more than make these decisions each day. The story goes: Three frogs sat on a lily pad. One decided to jump off. How many were left? Three. He only decided to jump off, but never took the leap. It's not enough to make a decision. You are to go and do these things that you claim to be your treasure. Amen? Amen! March 31, 2019 Corntassel CP Church Page 6