Treasures in Heaven

So take your Bible turn back with me to Matthew 6. I said earlier in our scripture reading that the verses that are before us Verses 19 to 24. We will not cover all of those verses this morning We're really gonna split them in half and to be honest with you. That was a last-minute decision Sometimes I will decide to make a part one and a part two out of a block even on a Saturday night Brother Keith will tell you that sometimes late in the night.

I'll give him a text message or let him know even on a Sunday morning It's just the way it works sometimes and this morning We're gonna cover verses 19 to 21 and next week we'll wrap this up and we'll look at verses 22 to 24 Now I think everybody here knows that we're just plugging along in our series on the Sermon on the Mount We've been in the Sermon on the Mount for quite some time I know and in our verses this morning. We are seeing another transition in the teaching of Jesus We just finished up verses 1 to 18.

I know but back in verses 1 to 18 Jesus was addressing The religious externals the outward expressions of the Jews in their faith Well in the rest of chapter 6 Jesus is teaching on kingdom priorities He's teaching on possessing a kingdom perspective in life when it comes to money and wealth and possessions So you can look at these verses like this Verses 1 to 18 were all about outward expressions of our religion.

That's what we saw we looked at Giving we looked at praying we looked at fasting and then here starting in verse 19 all the way to the end of the chapter It's all about living with a kingdom perspective a kingdom perspective Now we're going to see Jesus do the same thing that we've seen him do all along in all of this teaching At every corner around every bend in this teaching. Jesus is doing the three same things He is exposing the false religion of the Jews.

You might say brother Chris He has just worn the Jews out He did all throughout the Sermon on the Mount then he is explaining and exalting God's standard for life see he comes in and he corrects their hypocritical religion and he exalts God's standard for life and Then he is explaining to his people there were the twelve and then some other true Disciples and he is explaining to his people a new life the true Christian life and we're calling it the extraordinary Christian life Now at first glance at our verses We see that Jesus is dealing with wealth. He's dealing with money.

He's dealing with possessions If you look at the scriptures that we read earlier in verse 19 in verse 20 and in verse 21 He mentions what? Treasure he mentions wealth possessions monies and then if we see on down to verse 24 You see that he explicitly states that it is money you see money Possessions wealth this was all a very big deal for the religious leaders in Jesus day But in a bad way really a bad way Truthfully the religious leaders were very materialistic They were very greedy and really they were downright covetous in every way There's one little verse that shows us the heart and the practice of the religious leaders Luke tells us in Luke chapter 16 verse 14 that the Pharisees were lovers of money Just let that sink in Jesus through Luke says the Pharisees were lovers of money And you know this shouldn't surprise us This really shouldn't just think about all the things that the Jewish leaders were wrong with Every time Jesus brought up a new subject.

He revealed that the Jews had it all wrong No wonder they sought to stone him immediately because he was examining and exposing their false religion right before their eyes If you think about it with me, you'll see what I'm explaining in chapter 5 back at the beatitude starting in verse 3 We saw that the Jews had a the wrong view of themselves. They were not poor in spirit. They were proud in spirit They were not me. They were not merciful. They were mercy less Then in chapter 5 verse 13 to 16 we learned that they had the wrong view of the world They weren't the salt of the earth.

They were the hypocritical religious frauds of the earth They weren't the light of the world. They cast a shadow of Riding religion on the world wherever they lived Then in chapter 5 verse 17 to 20 we saw that the Jews had the wrong view of the word They didn't seek to honor God's Word. They sought to reduce it or add to it They altered God's Word to create their own religion They altered God's Word to fit and accommodate them in their sin and then in chapter 5 verse 21 to 48 We saw that they had the wrong view of morality.

They saw themselves as morally superior to everyone But Jesus shows them that they were morally bankrupt They had broken the letter of the law and even the spirit of the law they had broken the law in motive in an attitude in word and indeed And then in the verses we just finished up chapter 6 verse 1 to 18 We saw that they had the wrong view about their religious duties those external duties They did not give and pray and fast for God They performed their religious duties for men to see they were not seeking to honor God No, they were seeking to honor men or seeking the honor of men Well right here chapter 6 verse 19 to 24 We will see that they had the wrong view about wealth the wrong view about their money the wrong view about Possessions and this shouldn't surprise us We should have seen this coming to be honest with you I give you a little tip here read ahead Just read ahead and whatever subject Jesus brings up it is safe to assume that the Jews were all wrong They were all wrong in every one of these subjects and lessons But you know if we think back to our Old Testament We know that there were others who did not approach money and possessions in a godly way.

This is nothing new Remember our friend Aiken Y'all familiar with our friend Aiken back in the days of Joshua when Joshua was leading the nation of Israel After Moses had passed on Even though Joshua gave specific instructions when they took Jericho Aiken still took that garment that was to be destroyed and the silver and the gold that was to be dedicated to God He thought that he could steal and hide that loot and get away with it You know I was talking with one of the men and the church about this story I wonder what he thought he was gonna do with that garment I mean if he would have put it on in front of everyone they would have known exactly where he got it But God killed him he ultimately died for his greed and his disobedience.

His heart was full of greed Remember what happened to King Solomon King Solomon ignored teaching that he knew Deuteronomy 17 verses 16 to 17 We talked about this this past Wednesday night And he went on down the road of greed and materialism and then ultimately we know that he fell into all Types of sexual sin ultimately he became the richest man on earth at the time and when he got to the end of his life What did he say about it all he said it's worthless vanity It's worthless But you know we can't forget Ananias and Sapphira in the beginning of the New Testament church when that New Testament church was just getting started in Acts 5 We see that they lied to the church about their offering to the Lord.

You see they sold a piece of property Now their mistake was not owning the property Their mistake was not selling the property their mistake was not in what they gave Their mistake was that they vowed to give it all but then when they came before the church they held some back See it was greed that got them God struck them down for their greed in their hypocrisy Well, the Jewish leaders in Jesus day were just as bad if not worse They use their positions to amass tons of wealth all in greed.

It was all about materialism They had a covetous heart all of them and scholars tell us that Caiaphas the high priest in Jesus day was Enormously wealthy we touched on this quite a while back when we studied the gospel of John together Caiaphas that is And that was the sin that the Jews Were holding on to here. This was the sin that Jesus was attacking again Jesus was exposing the sin of the Jews and right here.

It's about greed and materialism He is explaining God's standard for life and how money fits into things He is calling his people to this new life this extraordinary life true kingdom life a kingdom life with the proper perspective unlike the Jews Who were sitting right in front of him as he taught? Now I'll share with you how we're gonna break down these verses Actually, we're gonna have three parts to the verses Three divisions of these verses I said earlier these all go together verses 19 to 24 We will examine our treasure Ultimately will apply this to us We will examine our vision and then last we will examine our master.

That's what Jesus is doing here He is exposing their treasure. He is exposing their vision and he is exposing their master Now all this comes together Ultimately for one call and like I said, we're gonna take our time This is gonna be a part one and a part two and we're only gonna cover verses 19 to 21 this morning So we're only going to focus on this portion that I'm calling our treasure So number one our treasure, let's go back to verse 19.

Let's read down to verse 21 Jesus says do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where three 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 also be Now here in the verses there are a lot of twos a lot of pairs I think when I go through this you'll see what I mean.

There are two commands There are also two treasuries There are also two people and then there are also two outcomes which are determined by the two different people One will obey what Jesus is teaching and one will not But then there's one principle and this principle is vital if we're going to live a kingdom life and have a kingdom Perspective see if we're going to live a life truly devoted to the kingdom We must get not just the twos in here the pairs, but the principle So first I want us to look at these commands I want us to look at these commands now The first is negative out of verse 19 and the second is positive out of verse 20 go back to the verses Do not lay up for yourselves treasures in earth There's the negative verse 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.

There's the positive now there's a key phrase in both of these commands and The phrase is lay up for yourselves. The new American says store up for yourselves Now in the original language this phrase literally says and it sounds funny to our ears Do not treasure up treasures do not treasure up Treasures now the idea here is stockpiling the idea here is piling up the idea here is hoarding The picture here is of money.

It's of wealth that is stockpiled and it's not being used It is hoarded up in excess and not being used The picture here is of a person who has stockpiled money and assets just for self and it is not being used now Where are they stockpiled? This brings us to the treasuries this brings us to the treasuries the two treasuries The first Treasury is on earth while the second is in heaven again Go back to the verses do not lay up do not hoard up for yourselves treasures on earth and then verse 20 But lay up or stockpile up or hoard up for yourselves Treasures in heaven. This is simple.

Jesus is saying do not hoard up treasures on earth But then he says to make sure that you hoard up or store up treasures in heaven I'll give you two examples Have I ever told you about the five hundred thousand dollar cemetery? I don't think I have Now many of you know in our past our church was located out in the Nola community We used to be Nola Baptist Church and in those days we had a cemetery lots of country churches have cemeteries There's nothing wrong with the cemetery Originally this property belonged to a particular family and in the process of moving We ultimately gave the cemetery back to the family.

It's where it needed to be Primarily buried in the cemetery where community people and family people as well as a few church people But you know when I was working through that process. I got advice from different Baptist leaders and I got advice from our director of missions And I was explaining to him the things we were dealing with and in the course of that conversation He told me this he said I know a church that has $500,000 in a cemetery account I almost dropped the phone What do you do with a half a million dollars in a cemetery account?

I thought about it last night How long could you pay somebody to cut the grass with a half a million dollars? I? Mean I shared this with brother Keith you can have a gold-plated gate around that thing But the sad thing is Generations from now chances are that money will still be there and the families will be long gone and They'll still be stockpiling that money for what for that blessed cemetery But you know I heard of another story it was a good one I heard the story of a Pastor who had a lot of money Usually when you hear the story of a pastor with a lot of money.

It's not a good story, but this one is There was this famous Southern Baptist pastor who in his very early years in ministry He made some investments and he became very very wealthy now the church he served paid him One of the leaders testified that 30 years after pastoring that church he wrote a check for every penny the church paid him for 30 years plus interest Someone went on to interview that church leader And they said well the church didn't pay the pastor the church didn't pay him and the leader said well kind of sorta But he gave back to the church and through the work of the ministry far more than we ever paid him in over 30 years See the difference in One case money is hoarded up on earth It's not being used in the other case great amounts of money were made, but it was used for others It was used for the church And it was used for missions And it was invested in the kingdom and kingdom business And we're gonna speak a little more about this as we move to the application But what about the two people notice the two people notice?

How personal the verses are look at the verses do not lay up for yourselves And then he goes on with the positive but lay up for yourselves See it seems that Jesus is talking to people who must make a choice We know that there was a great crowd there Mostly Jews the Jewish leaders were there and of course most of the crowd rejected Jesus they rejected his teaching Oh, but there's this faithful band of the disciples and those true followers Who did accept these words so ultimately it became two people?

The one who hoards up wealth on earth and then the one who takes the teaching and they hoard up wealth in heaven But then notice the outcomes again go back to the verses do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where mouth and rust Destroy 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 in steel Here Jesus tells those who are listening to avoid the things that moth can destroy That would be closed Have any of you ever smelled mothballs Y'all know what mothballs are Every time I walk down an aisle of a store maybe Walmart or another type of store like that You know, I smell mothballs.

Listen, it reminds me of my grandmother's house I mean she had an old drafty house and she kept mothballs in her closets Why because she knew a moth would eat their clothes That was the same problem they had in their day in their culture You see fine elaborate clothes were a part of a man's wealth in that culture in many ways His clothes were a measure of his wealth and those expensive elaborate clothes were just as susceptible to be eaten by a moth As the poor man's clothes, so Jesus says don't hoard up wealth on earth that can be eaten Also, Jesus tells them to avoid things that can that rust can destroy Now this word rust literally means eaten away Now there's some there's some debate among scholars if this rust is referring to metals or not But the word is used more commonly in connection with grain In their day and culture grains were harvested and they were stored away for food And in many ways a man's wealth was measured by how much grain he had stored away in his barns And all that grain could be eaten by worms it could be eaten by vermin like rats and mice Really any kind of pests could eat away at that grain And that grain could rot it could even rot from Moisture or being exposed to the elements if it wasn't stored and cared for properly So Jesus says do not store up wealth on earth that can be eaten or wealth that can rot away and then last Jesus tells them to avoid the things that thieves can steal In Jesus day their homes were not much for security The walls of a common man's home Most of the time were just nothing more than baked clay and a thief had no problem literally digging in to a home And so the man who hoarded up wealth in his home could easily lose his possessions to a thief So Jesus is saying do not pile up money do not pile up wealth on earth so it can be stolen by thieves But not so with monies in heaven Jesus says those treasures can never be eaten.

Jesus says that wealth can never be destroyed Jesus says that wealth can never be stolen. Jesus says treasures in heaven are safe and they are secure Now before we get into the principle so we got to get to the principle in verse 21 Notice what we have here. This is when I ask you to just take a step back. Look what we've seen Jesus says do not hoard up do not store up wealth that will not be used He says if you do you risk losing it all Jesus is emphasizing how temporary Worldly wealth truly is oh, but not so with wealth that is stored up even hoarded up in heaven those treasures are safe Those treasures are safe and sound and that is the point of verses 19 and 20 But then we must see the principle We must see this principle now the principle is rather simple, but yet it's very profound Jesus says where your heart is There your treasure is Jesus says where your heart is there your treasure is Is that what he says?

Look at the verse that isn't what he says See you see all the way around For most of us we would think about it the way I stated it Most of us would look at it and say oh where our heart is that's where our treasure is But that's not how Jesus phrases it Jesus says that if you find a person's most cherished possessions there you'll find his heart He says if you find a person's most prized Stuff that is where you'll find his deepest desires his strongest of feelings and his motives That is the great principle here in verse 21 Now here's where I want us to go to our examples Remember Abraham and Lot there in the Old Testament now remember they were living in Canaan They had been called out of paganism and they were faithfully Following the Lord and I want us to turn to Exodus chapter or excuse me Genesis chapter 13, and I want you to put your eyes on a few verses In chapter 12 Abraham had been called Lot went with him And then notice what verse 1 says and this is before God changed his name from Abram to Abraham So if I call him Abraham, I'm just getting ahead of God a little bit forgive me Verse 1 so Abram went up from Egypt He had his wife and all that he had and Lot went with him He goes back to Canaan where God had originally called him Now Abraham verse 2 was very rich in livestock silver and gold and he journeyed up and he goes up to worship He goes up to where he had been before And what does the verse say Lot went with him But notice starting in verse 4 in the place where he had made an altar at first and there Abraham He called on the name of the Lord back in Canaan.

He's worshiping Now a lot went who went with Abraham also had Lot flocks herds and tents So that the land could not support both of them Dwelling together for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's flocks or livestock in the herdsmen of Lot's livestock At the time the Canaanites and the parasites they were also dwelling in the land see it got kind of crowded Then Abraham verse 8 he said a lot let there be no strife between you and me and Between your herdsmen and my herdsmen for we are kinsmen. We are related. We are brothers.

We're family It's not the whole land before you separate yourself from me If you take to the left hand then I'll go to the right or if you take to the right hand Then I'll go to the left Verse 10 and Lot lifted up his eyes He lifted up his eyes and he saw the Jordan Valley that it was well watered Everywhere like the Garden of the Lord like the land of Egypt and verse 11 So Lot chose for himself the Jordan Valley Lot journeyed east thus they separated from each other Abram settled in the land of Canaan while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and it says that he moved his tent as far as Sodom In verse 13 now the men of Sodom were wicked great sinners what? against the Lord Now what do we see here?

We see the great example of these two men and we see the choice that they made Abraham he stayed in Canaan the land that God called him the Libyan he stayed away from Sodom But what about Lot Lot's treasure was near Sodom and in Sodom Because that is where his heart was you see Lot had a worldly heart and it was proven by his actions Abraham's treasure was in Canaan where God called him to go because fulfilling God's will was his heart Abram had a godly heart which is proven by his actions Now look at where each man's most prized possessions were look at how they invested their monies and their Possessions look at what they did Now before we move to the rest of the verses we must ask ourselves a few questions here We must apply this principle and this commands Listen if we are going to live with a kingdom perspective if we are going to live Not with an earthly perspective.

We've got to make the right choice So first an application the principle the principle in verse 21 Jesus is saying that if we Find our most cherished possessions that is where our heart is Let me say that again if we find our most cherished possessions that is where our heart is He says that if we identify our most prized possessions That is where our deepest desires are found and that is where our strongest feelings and motivations are Some of you heard this phrase You know they say home is where the heart is That may be true But Jesus is saying that if you find a man's most prized possessions That's where his heart is and it might not even be at home a More direct question.

What is your most prized possession? Is your most prized possession your monies your investments your retirements? Is your most prized possession your work your career? Is your most prized possessions your hobbies whatever they may be? This might surprise some of you is your most prized possessions your family You know you can have an unhealthy view of the family. I've seen people do that you can make even family an idol Is your most prized possessions? popularity and what other people think Is your most prized possessions an earthly institution? You see where are your deepest desires? Where are your thoughts where are your motives?

Where are your strongest feelings? What are your most cherished possessions? Ask yourself be honest? But second the command in verse 20 Jesus is calling his people to invest their monies their wealth and their assets in heaven not on earth Again they say home is where the heart is but Jesus is saying that if you find a man's most prized possession That's where his heart is and that is where his money and his wealth will be Let me say that again They say home is where the heart is But Jesus is saying that if you find a man's most prized possessions That is where his heart is and that is where his money and that is where his wealth will always be So a question we must ask ourselves here Where are we investing our money are we investing our money on earth or in heaven are we?

Primarily investing our money in our work and in our career in our hobbies and our family in our children in our popularity or other earthly institutions or are we truly investing our monies and possessions in heaven? Are we investing in those things that are fleeting That are temporary that can be eaten away that can be destroyed that can be lost Are we investing in the things of heaven those things that are eternal? Those things which can never be destroyed they can never be lost Again, we must be honest here as well.

We must evaluate here as well Now think about our friend lot again Lot took his wealth and he invested it in Sodom Sodom was the world folks He invested in the world to gain position and power and prestige You need to get that folks he invested in the world to gain position and power and prestige. Well, how do I know that?

Because when the angels came to rescue lot remember that story The angels came to rescue lot and they found lot where at the city gate and see in that day The city gate was a place of power and prestige and the city gate was a place much like we would call city hall today Are we investing our money and wealth and things that can burn up that were right?

Or that someone else will end up with like lot everything lot owned burned up and You know even his wife and children suffered the ramifications and you know ultimately his choices Ruined his heritage study lots descendants and see who they turned out to be But what about Abraham Abraham took his wealth the text I read earlier said he was wealthy He took his wealth and he invested in Canaan Actually living in tents, but oh it was the promised land He invested in God's plan out of obedience and he invested in God's plan on earth at each step of the way Abraham Worship he obeyed God's will even though there were times He did struggle and he participated in God's will and plan on earth.

That's where his monies were invested That's where his heart was Are we investing our money and wealth in the eternal are we investing our money and our wealth and God's work Here on earth just like Abraham did in his day Now for Abraham things were a little different it was Abraham was investing in heaven, but for him investing in heaven just like we see in these verses Men investing in the covenant see God promised Abraham God made a covenant with Abraham and God promised Abraham that he would make him into a great nation and that all of his descendants when inherit the the land of Canaan we know the story and Abraham invested his entire life in that work the covenant the promise And so Abraham was obedient to God's promise He invested his wealth in God's work and you know, he was tested along the way One time there was a famine and he went down to Egypt when he shouldn't have he failed that test But there was another time when God called him to sacrifice his one and only son Remember, he was the son of promise Isaac and what did Abraham do?

He obeyed and ultimately God stopped him and all those tests reveal what was truly in his heart The fact that he was investing himself his wealth everything about him in what into God's work on earth But for us we must see then investing in heaven like we see here in the verses is investing in the work of the church a Bible Church a local church a New Testament local church And look that my friends is Kingdom work today That is investing in heaven the local New Testament church is Heaven's work on earth and investing in the local church is Investing in heaven and when you pour your life and your resources Into the life of the local church you are making deposits in heaven deposits in heaven deposits in heaven So I must ask you is your treasure your relationship to Christ Is your treasure Christ and self and then is your treasure his work on earth?

You want to know where God's working you want to know where Christ is working you find a local New Testament church Really ignore the pair church ministries Many of them will divert you from a Bible believing church But find where Christ is working you find him in the local church and see you should be Investing into the work of the local church that should be your treasure. That should be where your heart is I Thought about three things here Three questions. How was your participation? How was your monies and how is your service? How is it Are you participating in the work of the local church?

I know we're all different here I know we have some who are visiting yes some of you are praying where God would want you to be and that's great If the Lord's leading you to unite here, praise the Lord But see wherever God leads you you know pour your life into participating the work of the local church And then ultimately your monies follow your possessions follow what you have everything about you will follow and then it's your service Heaven forbid you would give somebody so somebody else can serve No, you think about those three things.

It just wraps up what we see being taught here with Jesus your participation Your money's your service You would give all three of these to a civic club you were involved in Think about a civic club you would participate you'd give your money and you would serve You would give all three to a deer camp You would participate you would give your money and you would serve If you were involved in politics, you would do all three you would participate you would give and you would serve You would give all three to a particular institution.

Maybe some of you are fond of a particular college Well, if that's the case you would participate and you would give your money and you would serve But this is the time when we're loving football if the code will allow it and you know think about sports If you're involved in a sports team, you're gonna participate You're gonna give your money and you're gonna serve. So, where are you with all of this?

You see folks Jesus is revealing that the Jewish leaders were in it for the money and Everything that they did you could hear the cash register Ching in the background They were in it for the money and we will see more clearly as we finish up the verses next week Just how they were in it for the money But Jesus was calling his people remember the crowd He was calling his people to live with a kingdom perspective a kingdom perspective He was calling his disciples to pour their lives in the kingdom work And that meant to invest themselves in the work of the New Testament Church.

Listen folks just look ahead The entirety of the New Testament is wrapped up in one institution and that is the church The entirety of God's people are wrapped up in one institution and one work It was the church and he was calling these people to that work Now as I close I want to pose four quick questions Now as soon as I say that some of you're saying boy, he just lied. He didn't ask quick questions. I Heard that But no these are quick Is it a sin to own possessions and have money? See inevitably when you study these kind of things there are people that go too far to the one side Is it a sin to have money in possessions?

No, it's a sin to hoard it up It's a sin to hoard it up all for self We're gonna talk about this a little bit more next week You got to come back next week to get to the rest of the story here But is it a sin to own possessions and I have money? No, Jesus said it's a sin to hoard it up for self to put it in a can put the lid on it and sit on it Is it a sin to save and vest and invest No in our study through the book of Proverbs we learned about investing.

It's not a sin to save up and invest Oh, but it is a sin to store it up and they'll hoard it up You know to put it all in a can and put the lid on it and sit on it It's a sin to store it all up and hoard it up never use it And is it a sin to be wealthy? No It's a sin to be wealthy and hoard it up and to store it up and to put it all in a can and put the Lin on it and sit on it only for self you see But the last question Is it a sin to invest your monies your possessions your wealth your time your effort and your energy into the local church?

No It's what God is calling his people to do It is a sin not to If you are a born-again Christian, it is a sin not to if you're a born-again Christian It is a sin not to put your monies in the church Not to pour your possessions and your wealth and your time and your effort and an energy Listen, what do we just seen about offering our life? Now what's the title of the message Treasures in heaven it's living with a kingdom perspective I'll end with the story I heard this week in study This might illustrate better than I ever could what we see here.

I Heard the story of a church that met during government persecution Their churches that meet that way. I have to hide they risk arrest risk death But I heard the story of the church. He was meeting during Persecution and the government authorities just kicked the door in and rushed in and the government authority said we're here to seize All your possessions all your goods all your gold all of your silver and they said to the leadership Where is it we want it? The pastor stood up and said there she is there he is There's that family over there. Oh, there's the widows and the orphans. There's the poor.

They're the ones who are needy They're the ones who are struggling The pastor said listen our wealth our material possessions are all invested in people You see folks That's what New Testament Christians do So what do we see? treasures in heaven We're really just getting started You got to be here next week to get all that the Lord wants to show you and there are a few more details We've really got to get to wrap all this up and to be who God wants us to be Let's pray And we'll commit what we've studied to the Lord We'll sing and we'll worship and it will finish out living this day for the Lord for the church for his purposes