Treasures in Heaven part 2

Well, take your Bible and turn back to Matthew 6. We were there earlier in our scripture reading, verses 19 to 24. Now last week I got us to turn to Genesis 12, chapter 13. We read about Abraham and Lot. We will not turn back to Genesis this morning, but I will go back and revisit our two friends, Abraham and Lot. They're going to be these great examples as well as some others about this teaching here that is here in front of us. But we're going to be right here in verses 19 to 24, so you can just keep your Bible turned there and that should make it easier for you to follow along.

Now last week we started examining these verses and really if you look at the verses from verse 19 all the way to verse 24, it seems that everything taught here is about wealth. It seems that everything that's taught here is about money. It's about treasures. That's the word that is used. And in many ways that is the big lesson. That is the big lesson, but there is a bigger lesson here. There is a bigger message that relates to the teaching about money and wealth and it all ties together and I will get to the bigger lesson really when we conclude the message. Now with the vast crowd that was before him, we know the scene.

There's all kinds of Jews there, the disciples. I've always envisioned them on the front row. There are some Gentiles there, but this was a great crowd and here Jesus gives two commands, one negative and one positive. Verse 19 he says, "Do not hoard up, do not store away valuables, monies on earth. Do not store away treasures on earth where the moth can eat them up, where rust can destroy, where pests can devour, and where thieves can break in and steal it all." In verse 20 there's the positive command.

Jesus says, "Make sure that you hoard away treasures in heaven where they can never rust, where it can never rot, it can never be devoured." He says, "Store up treasures in heaven where they can never be stolen by a thief." Of course we know the backdrop of the two commands. It was very common. It was a very well-known practice of the Jewish leaders. They knew the philosophy of the Jewish leaders when it came to wealth, it was all simple. Their philosophy was this, "Get all you can, can what you get, and sit on the lid." Some of you have heard that phrase.

People go on to say, "Poison the rest." I don't know if they wanted to poison the rest, but this is the backdrop of these two commands and it was a very common known practice of the Jewish leaders. Their philosophy with wealth was this, "Get all you can, can what you get, and sit on the lid." Now a good example of the Jewish leaders and their approach to money can be seen when Jesus cleared the temple. Maybe write these verses down. I would love for you to go back and study them this week. John chapter 2 starting in verse 13. Now in this situation there in John, the Jews were celebrating the Passover. Now Passover was a yearly feast.

It was a great celebration and they were commemorating the time when Israel was delivered from Egyptian slavery. Many of you know what took place then. In those great events, God's people were delivered through the Red Sea into the wilderness and then ultimately they did make it to where? They made it to the promised land. Being a devout Jew, Jesus was obedient to what the Old Testament called Jews to do. He went up to Jerusalem on this very important day on the Jewish calendar. Well when he gets to Passover, what does he find there in the temple? The temple was full. The temple was full of merchants selling animals.

The temple was full of money changers exchanging all kinds of currency. Basically the situation like this, as Jews from all over Israel and really all over the Roman world as they traveled to Jerusalem for Passover, they needed animals for their sacrifices. See, bringing animals along the journey, especially hundreds of miles, would have been very impractical. And they also needed money. See they had a temple tax to pay. Because only certain currencies were accepted, money had to be exchanged so that they could have the right currency. Well that all seems legitimate on the surface and it could have been.

But there were great problems with it all. In certain temple courts that were meant for worship, animals were being sold. So faithful Jews, they couldn't even worship properly because of all of the sale of the animals there in the temple courts. And when the animals were sold and the money was exchanged, there were these great fees attached to all of those transactions. Simply the Jewish leaders were making great profits off of everything that is going on there at the Passover. Well what did Jesus do? Jesus made a whip. This was premeditated. This was planned. This was not spontaneous. He made a whip and he drove out the merchants.

He drove out the money changers. He drove them out of the temple. See, instead of the temple being a house of prayer, the religious leaders had made the temple into a den of thieves. Isn't it what he called them? Instead of the spiritual highlight of the year being the Passover, the religious leaders had turned the Passover into an opportunity for what? Big profits. Instead of a great time of worship for the Jewish people, in many ways this had become a great burden. Now just imagine for a moment if you're a common Jew and you travel hundreds of miles to get the Passover and you can't even get into the temple for all of the animals.

And you know the prices just get higher and higher for exchanging money and buying the sacrifices that they needed in worship. And think about it. The religious leaders took the most important building on the face of the earth, the temple. It was where God resided in arguably the most important event on the Jewish calendar and they used it all to make money. The Jewish leaders were making lots of money off of the backs of God's people. They were making lots of money off of God himself and they did it all right there in God's house.

The very ones who should have ensured that this type of extortion wouldn't happen, they were the ones that were guilty. So in this circumstance we have really a thumbnail sketch in John 2 of how the religious leaders dealt with wealth. That's why Jesus said what he said in Luke 16, 14. Jesus simply calls them lovers of money and events like the Passover that I just referenced, it shows us their great evil in approach with money. You know last week I told you about the $500,000 cemetery. Have I ever told you about the two old ladies? Have I ever told you about the two old ladies in the small country church?

See I know of a situation from years gone back where these two old ladies were, you know they were just in charge of things in the small country church and they had before them they were in charge of the monies. Well as God began to work in the life of the church and things began to change and things began to be reformed, it just came out that the two old ladies were moving money around and using money for however they wanted to use it. And as the truth came out, it turned out that the two old ladies were even using the money for personal gain. See they were doing the very same thing.

They were using God's people who were giving their money, the tithe God's money. They were using God's money and they were doing it all in God's house, the church. Now remember the principle that we learned here in verse 21. I also want us to see how it applies to the religious leaders. Jesus said that if you find a man's treasure that's where his heart is. Well for the religious leaders their treasure was in their religious positions in power. That's what we've seen all along. Their treasure was impressing men and that what we saw earlier in chapter 16 or chapter 6, they wanted to impress men with their praying.

They wanted to impress men with their giving. They wanted to impress men with their fasting. But here we see their treasure was in profiting. They wanted to profit from all of this stuff as well. You have to pass over their hearts were not in worship. Their hearts were in it for the money. They were going to make a profit. Well how do we know that? Look at how Jesus treated them at the Passover. He drove them out. He confronted them. He rebuked them. Now last week we saw that Abraham and Lot really exemplified both sides of this thing. Sadly Lot took his wealth and he invested it in the world. First it was near Sodom.

See and then ultimately it was in Sodom. See he moved near Sodom to benefit his flocks and his herds for more wealth. Then he ultimately moved into Sodom and he went there for position. He went there for prestige in the city. Lot moved near Sodom and inside him because his heart was in the world all along. It was there all along. And because his heart was in the world that's where he put his treasure. There's a great lesson here folks with Lot. If your heart is in the world and you invest all your strength and all your time and all of your energy and everything that you are in the world ultimately your family will suffer.

It might take generations to see it. Your family will suffer. But you know there's another danger. You might not go all the way inside him but there's just as much danger as moving near Sodom. And see he moved near Sodom. And see we got to be careful not to move near the world and then ultimately in the world. Why? Because we will lose our family. We'll lose our heritage. We'll lose it all like Lot. But not so with Abraham. Abraham invested in Canaan. That was the land of promise and that was where God was working. He stayed in Canaan the place where God told him to live.

Now we do know that Abraham was tempted by the world and he did make a few mistakes but his heart was always in Canaan. His heart was bound up in the work of God. And because his heart was with God we see proof he worshipped it each step of the way even when it required repentance. Because his heart was with God in God's work that's where he put his treasure. See there's a great lesson just with Abraham here folks. If your heart is bound up with God and in his work then you will invest your time, your strength, your energy, your wealth in God's work, the church and ultimately your family will be blessed.

Now we will continue in our breakdown of the verses. Last week we examined really the first part of the outline which was our treasure. And this morning we will examine our vision and then our master. So this is a part two. This is treasures in heaven part two and we're going to look at our vision and our master. And it all comes out of these verses. Of course I'll reference a few other scriptures. Write them down. Put them in your notes. Just go back and study and pray over them. Especially if the spirit takes something that I've shared a verse or two and impresses it upon your heart. So let's just pick up with our verses. Verses 22 to 23.

Let's look at our vision. Our vision. Let's go back to the verses. Jesus says the eye is the lamp of the body so if your eyes healthy or clear your whole body will be full of light. If your eyes bad or evil your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is within you is darkness how great is this darkness. I think everyone here sees that the illustration changes. In verses 19 to 21 we have illustrations that are centered around wealth around treasures hoarding up treasures. Well here we have illustrations and teaching that are centered around a lamp. In these verses we have one lamp, we have one body, we have two eyes.

We have the good eye, the clear eye, the healthy eye and then we have the bad eye. And then ultimately we have two outcomes. A life filled with light or a life filled with darkness. Now before we get into the thrust of the lesson here we may need to make sure we understand what this lamp was. We live in a different day I know. In their day any artificial lighting required a candle, it required a lamp. Although no description of a lamp is given in the scriptures, archaeology tells us what their lamps were like. And they used many different types of lamps and most of them were simple bold like objects.

They would be the size of a bowl maybe a little larger. Typically they had one side that was slightly pointed and a little higher for a wick. And on the other side it would be a little more open so that they could pour oil in the lamp and that was the fuel. Now typically a lamp would have a handle and that would be for carrying it around. But when it was used in a room they would place it up on a stand so that it would give light to the entire room. So Jesus is using a lamp. This is his illustration. And everyone there listening would have known just what Jesus was talking about.

Intuitively they would have all known that a lamp gave off light so that they could see. And for us we need to remember that the lamp provides light. The lamp it illuminates a person's way. Well a question. What's the principle? We know there's a principle earlier in verse 21. What is the principle here in these verses? The eye of the man represents the heart of the man. You need to get that. The eye of the man represents the heart of the man. And the lamp of the body is the eye through which light comes into the life, into the body. The eye or the heart is the only conduit or channel of light for the life.

So the eye or the heart is the only means of vision for the man, not physical vision. Jesus is using this illustration to describe the moral condition of the inner person and how the inner man is affected and how he is formed. See his eye or his heart is the lamp through which his body and his life are illuminated either for good or for bad. One of the things that I do when I'm studying is I try to meditate over what we're looking at. I try to take the time to meditate over the verses, not just for the breakdown and not just learning what scholars might say about the verses.

And to be honest with you, last week I really wrestled with verse 22 to 23. And I had a breakthrough to be honest with you in a very unlikely circumstance. Last week I took a day and I went by myself to our family property and I did a few things just to clear my mind to get out of my office and I went deer hunting a time or two. And one morning I left the camp, I turned on my flashlight and I was by myself. I went by the cemetery where we dump all the deer carcasses. And you know if I hadn't had my light I could have walked through the cemetery. I went on down the trail, down to the creek, on the map it's called Beasley Creek.

And you know if I hadn't had my light I couldn't have crossed that creek properly. And I went on up the hill and if I hadn't had my light I couldn't have navigated some of the storm damage because the path had changed. And as I went on up the hill I had to walk by the bluffs. See there's some really tall bluffs there along the edge of the creek and if I hadn't had my light I could have fallen 20, 30, or 40 feet to my left. And I had to navigate a little more, I had to navigate through some storm damage and oh every now and then we have these patches of thorns. They're an invasive species.

If I hadn't had my light I could have gotten all tangled up in those thorn bushes. And I made my way to my deer stand and I climbed up and there I was. Well I enjoyed a little deer hunting but I also was meditating over some verses and reading some things. I have a lot of information on my phone. And I was looking at these verses, thinking about these verses. And you know what hit me? Previously I was walking with a light, shining outward so I could find my path. And see what Jesus is saying here is this, the eye is the lamp of the heart and it shines the other way into the life, into the heart, into the inner man. See the principle?

Jesus says the eye speaks of the heart of the man and the eye is what illuminates the inner man, it shines on the inside. And the eye or the heart is the channel through which the inner man, even the body is illuminated. But notice the two outcomes from two different kinds of eyes. Go back to the verse. 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. First I want us to see the good eye in verse 22. Here Jesus says if the eye is healthy or clear then the body will be full of light.

Now the different translations deal with the words a little different. The English standard that I'm reading from uses the word healthy. I study using the New American standard often and it uses the word clear. Some of you have the old King James, it uses the word single. Now there's a purpose in the different words and I think you'll see what I mean. But the word that is used here in the original, it has a corresponding word that is used all throughout the New Testament and it always speaks to generosity. In James 1.5 we see that God gives generously. In Romans 12.8 Paul urges his friends to give generously.

In 2 Corinthians 9.11 Paul reminds the Corinthians that the Macedonian church gave generously. Now what's the point? What's the meaning of all of this? The word here in verses 22 and 23 and the context here, it helps us see what Jesus is trying to say. The word and the context determine the point of what Jesus is making to those listening and to us. And the point is this. The good eye represents the heart that has a single-minded devotion to that which Jesus is teaching here. Giving generously of their treasures. And the one that has a healthy eye, the one that has a clear eye, they have a single-mindedness in purpose for what?

Their wealth, their treasures, their monies. But then second, the bad eye. We see this in verse 23. Here the King James says evil while the New American Standard, the English Standard version says bad. Now think about it. If someone has a physical eye that is damaged, if it is impaired by disease, then no lie can enter into the eye or the eye is hindered from getting the light that it needs. Now the point here is that a bad eye, an evil eye, represents a heart that is hindered with what? It is hindered with greed. It is hindered with materialism. It is hindered with storing up treasures for self. They are blind or partially blind to what?

Physical matters and concerns because the greed of hoarding up possessions for self. So this illustration is meant to show how a man's life and body is affected, how their soul is affected, what that looks like. Physically speaking, if a man is blind or has partial sight, if he has no light or poor light, then he will probably get lost, he will probably get injured, or he could die from an accident. So if a man's eye, if his heart is good, if it is clear, he is focused on being generous with his possessions and his wealth and his monies, then his life will be filled with God and godliness.

Oh, but if a man's eye, if his heart is bad, because his eye is fixed on greed and materialism and hoarding up all those possessions for self, that person's heart will be filled with darkness, not light. Now before I move on, I want us to take a look at the last sentence, verse 23. Go back to it. "But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness." Here's the sentence. "If then the light that is within you is darkness, how great is the darkness?" Now for some of you, this statement can be confusing, but what's Jesus saying here? This is simple, but it's profound.

Jesus is saying that if you know what God commands concerning earthly treasure, if you know what God expects with money and treasure and possessions, he says, "Do not hoard it up for self." If a person knows that command, yet they do it anyway, then the teaching they rejected becomes an intense darkness within them. That person possesses an extreme spiritual darkness. All you got to do is look at the religious leaders right there in front of Jesus. Look at the religious leaders. They were full of this intense spiritual darkness, this intense blindness, yet they proudly paraded themselves around like they possessed the true light of God.

What does Jesus say about them? Just this verse, "If then the light that is within you is darkness, how great is that darkness?" They were in darkness, folks. So in summary, what do we see? This is very profound teaching. Jesus says, "The eye is the window to the heart, the window to the inner man." He says that if the eye is clear and possesses a healthy, generous approach to their money and possessions, that person will be full of light. Oh, but the opposite is true as well.

He says that if a person has an evil eye, if they possess a greedy eye, they have a selfish approach to their money and possessions, that person will be full of darkness. And if that light that is within them is darkness, they possess a deep, deep darkness. Oh, it is a very deep spiritual blindness. Now, an application, a question. Do any of you know what a dipstick is? Don't call any names. Don't look around. Keep your eyes straight ahead. But do you know what a dipstick is? You know what a dipstick is? If we're checking the oil in our lawnmower or our car or our truck, you know, we got to check the oil, isn't that right?

If you don't check the oil, you'll find out later why you should. But you know, we put the dipstick in and we pull it out and it shows us what's on the inside. See, this kind of teaching here, it shows us what is truly in our heart. And really, we don't have to look what's on the inside. We look at what we do. Isn't that what Jesus is saying? What did he say in verse 21? For where your treasure is, there's where your heart is. The heart's on the inside. Just look at where your treasure is. That'll show you what's on the inside. Your treasure is the dipstick, folks. But remember my flashlight illustration?

I mean, remember, I just had to navigate my way. I wasn't worried about coyotes or even the black bears we get pictures of. I wasn't worried about any of that. I just had one purpose, one goal. I just wanted to navigate to my deer stand and get up there safely and enjoy some time. See, we must see that we must have a single eye. We must have a single eye for using our wealth for what? For God and for God's kingdom and God's work. That's laying up treasures on earth. I mean, in heaven, not on earth. So we must have a single eye here, folks. But then third, I want us to see our master. This is out of verse 24.

And this will be a little bit shorter. Our master. Go back to the verse. No one can serve two masters, for he will either 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. Again, Jesus changes the illustration. He changes his teaching tool. Here we have an illustration that is centered around a slave and a master relationship. Notice what we have. We've got one slave, but we have two masters. Now the subject of slavery can be a touchy thing in our politically correct world. And it can be really touchy with those who are railing for social justice in our day.

But we cannot escape the fact that slavery was a big part of the world in Jesus' day. And Jesus uses this slave-master relationship as a teaching tool. Now notice, he doesn't condone slavery. He doesn't condemn slavery. He just knows that it exists, and he uses slavery as a teaching tool. Now for us to see and understand what Jesus is teaching here, we need to understand two things about slavery. Really there's more, but these two things will help us see the thrust of what Jesus is teaching. First is this. Under their law, a slave was not a person. A slave was not a person. Simply they were property.

Now this is very hard for us as Americans to grasp. But a slave in that day had no rights, no rights of their own. The master could do with the slave just exactly what they wanted to do. A master could legally sell his slave. A master could legally throw their slave out. A master could legally beat their slave, even kill their slave. The slave was simply a tool, although it was a living, breathing tool. They were seen as property. They belonged to the master to do what the master desired to do. But then second, in their world, a slave had no time which they could call their own. A slave had no time that they could call their own.

In Jesus' day, a slave would have no time for self. Every minute of their life belonged to who? The master. Again, as Americans, we just simply can't fathom such things. A man in our day, if he works long hours at his job, but when he is off the clock, his time is what? His own. Even if a man or a woman works two jobs, when they're off work, what is it? Their time is their own, but not the slave. Every minute, every day, every month, every year belonged to who? The master. The master. So what's the point here? The slave in Jesus' day had one master. The slave had no choice in the matter. It was just this.

One master, and the slave answered to that one master. Now notice the spiritual principle here. Jesus is saying that his followers can only have one master. His followers can't claim to be followers and share their allegiance with anything or anyone, including self, to try and serve two masters at the same time, means to try to walk in two completely different directions at the same time. Ultimately, a man will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one, and he will reject the other. Look at verse 24 again.

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 both God and money. Now remember, we have two masters here. One is Jesus, but what's the other? Money. What does he say? You cannot serve both God and money. And see, this big lesson here centers around money, yes. It centers around possessions and wealth, yes. And Jesus says that you cannot serve what? God and money. John MacArthur explains these two masters well. So I'm borrowing his language, his wording, his explanation, and I'm quoting.

Those two masters are diametrically opposed and cannot coexist. The one commands us to walk by faith, and the other demands us to walk by sight. One calls us to be humble, and the other to be proud. The one is to set our minds on things above, and the other is to set our mind on things below. One calls us to love light, and the other calls us to love darkness. The one tells us to look towards the things unseen and eternal, and the other to look at things seen and temporal. So in summary, what Jesus has to say right here is very simple, but it is very, very powerful. You can't serve God and money. It's impossible.

You end up loving one and serving the other. You end up despising one and rejecting the other. Period. And Jesus doesn't seem to give any wiggle room here. It's black and white, you can only have one master. Now in application, at this point, we must ask ourselves what our relationship with God is like. Do we see God as Savior, yet we hold on to our rights? Do we relate a time when we put our faith and trust in Christ, but yet we actually see ourselves as Lord of our lives? You know, there is a demonic doctrine when it comes to salvation that has swept through many Baptist churches, and that is the doctrine of Savior now and Lord later.

Other people that are saying, "Well, you know, I trusted in Christ and he became my Savior, and no, he didn't become Lord of my life two years, years later." But yet there is another damnable religion, and that is Savior now and Lord never. See, you can't divorce the two. You can't have Christ as Savior and not have him as Lord. You can't. You can't have him as Savior now and Lord later, and you can't have him as Savior now and Lord never. You just can't do that. That is the opposite of what Jesus says and teaches here and all throughout the Scriptures.

William Barclay says it best, and this is real short, "God must be undisputed, the undisputed master of our lives." The undisputed master of our lives. Being the kind of Christian that Jesus is talking about here means that we do not get time off. We're a slave. Being the kind of Christian that Jesus is talking about here, it means we don't get a vacation. He's our master. You see? He is our master, and we are his slaves 24/7, 365 days out of the year. From the time we are converted all the way to when Christ takes us from this earth, he is the master. We are the slave. Now right here I want to correct a mistake that some make here.

This does not mean that we run from the world and we go out and live in a monastery. You know there are people that live like that. They just think they have to run from the world so that Christ can be their master. I know a lady that lives in Brookhaven right now, and she shared with me that her brother literally lives off in the wilderness by himself. He's lived for years. That's not what Jesus is talking about here. And folks, when we truly embrace this view of Christianity, we view life something like this. Our attitude and approach to life will be as Paul when he is writing to the Corinthians.

He said in 1 Corinthians 10, 31, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, you do it all for the glory of God." And see, if you can't eat it, if you can't drink it, and whatever it is that you want to do, if you can't do it for the glory of God, don't do it. He's the master. We're the slave. Oh, but turn it around. If you can eat it for the glory of God, if you can drink it for the glory of God, and if you can do it for the glory of God, do it. Why? He is the master. We are the slave. Our approach to life should be like David. David was writing Psalm 16, verse 8. He said, "I have set the Lord always before me.

I have set the Lord always before me. I have set the Lord always before me." And whatever is before us to be and to do, if we can set the Lord before us in that, do it. Occasionally, people in the life of the church will call me, and sometimes it'll be for practical advice. And you know, a lot of times that practical situation is a lot more spiritual. A month or two ago, a man in the life of the church called me, and he had an opportunity for a job promotion. And you know, we talked about the physical things, how it would relate to his pay, how it would relate to his schedule, how it would relate to his family, things such as that.

He explained that he had kind of peeked out where he was, and he had some ambition. He felt like he could do better. And you know, when I quizzed him, he always came down to two or three things. Number one, it would be good for his family, and number two, it would be good for him to serve in the life of the local church. So what was he doing? He was putting that job opportunity before the Lord. See? And every time I quizzed him, it came back to what was best for his family and what was best for his service in the life of the local church. And he was trying to put that thing before the Lord. And you know what?

If God would have given him that opportunity, I'd have said, "Go for it for the glory of God." Because why? Because he was a master, word of the slave. Our philosophy to life should be like Caleb. Caleb is one of my favorite Old Testament characters. When Caleb was old, 85 years old, he had run his race faithfully, and he said in Joshua 14, 8, "Yet I wholly followed the Lord my God." What does he say? "I wholly followed the Lord my God." Not Savior now, Lord later, not Savior now, Lord never, no. He said, "I followed the Lord 24/7, 365 days out of the year." Not perfectly, no. He said, "I followed the Lord wholeheartedly." Why?

Because he was the master, and he saw himself as the slave. You know he said this at the end of the life. What will we say at the end of our life if we keep living the way we are living? Now, last week I posed four questions at the conclusion of the message. And I want to go back to those questions that I posed last week. The first question is this, is it a sin to own possessions and to have money? I mean, that's a legitimate question. Is it a sin to save and invest? That's a legitimate question, and we should ask these questions. Is it a sin to even be wealthy? See, the answer to that is no.

It is a sin to hoard up for yourselves monies and possessions for selfish reasons. It is. Listen folks, in both Old Testament and New Testament, they both recognized the right for a Christian to own material possessions. If we couldn't own it, it wouldn't be a sin to steal. See, the commandments about stealing or coveting are there for this. Somebody else has it, and it's not yours. Money, animals, houses, lands, clothes, anything that we can accumulate. Listen, unless we accumulate it in an immoral manner, in an ethical way, unless we use dishonest measures to get it, you see, it's all good if we don't hoard it up for selfish reasons.

Remember Abraham? He was wealthy. He had great wealth and great power. I mean, think about it. He had his own personal army, did he not? I mean, he had his own military power, and he waged war to rescue lot. God made him very wealthy. But where did he put his treasure? He put it where his heart was, and that was in Canaan. Job had great wealth. In Job 42, we see that God made Job very wealthy after he had lost so much. But where was Job's treasure? His treasure was where his heart was, and his heart was with who? God. Paul tells us to parent, as responsible parents for our children, we are to provide for them financially.

That means we are to work and we are to accumulate. Second Corinthians 12-14, he says in 2 Thessalonians 3-10 that if a man won't work, he can't eat. See you to work and earn money so that you can eat and provide needs. He says in 1 Timothy 5-8 that a man should provide for his own family. How? What's his motive? Why does he do it? See, he accumulates treasures to do good for those in the world, but he never accumulates treasures for what? For self. For selfish reasons. But remember the fourth question. Is it a sin to invest your monies in possessions, wealth, and time, and effort, and energy into the church? No. It is a sin not to.

Listen folks, you can go all around the globe. If you want to know where God's working, find a local church. The local church where God is working, that is what's treasured, that is what's prized, that is what Christ died on the cross for, that is what he is coming back for. And if you pour your life, if you pour your strength and your energy, yes your monies, yes your possession, into the work of the local church and God's people, you will be doing exactly what Christ is commanding us to do here. Now as I close, notice what we have here in the verses. When you boil all this down, it comes down to three questions that we must answer rightly.

We have two treasures. Where is our treasure? Where is it? You want to find out where your treasure is, just go find out where your heart is. And then we have two visions. What's our vision like folks? Do we have a single eye? Is it laser focused? I mean is our eye clear and healthy? Is our eye lasered in on the work of the church and the work of God here on earth and God's people? And that's where our heart is, so therefore that's where our treasure is. How's our vision? And we have two masters. Who is our master? It's only one. You can't have but one. You see Jesus is giving a great lesson here on money.

He is rebuking the religious leaders for being hoarders. You know what a hoarder is? They were greedy. They were thieves. But yet at the very same time, he is calling his people to invest their money into the work of the church, the work of God on earth. And look, when you follow the rest of the New Testament, it's the whole story. It's nothing but a story about the work of the church. But see the bigger lesson is this. The greater lesson is this. It's about being a slave. It's about being a slave. You see folks, if we are slaves to Christ, he'll get our treasures. He'll get it all. He'll get it all.

Listen, if we are the slaves and he is the master, he will have our hearts. He will get everything we are, everything we would ever desire to be. And look, it won't be forced. It'll be natural. We'll do it all out of a love. It'll be supernatural. And then when you get to the end of your life, you'll be like Caleb, he'll say, "I've served the Lord faithfully." Oh, not perfectly, but wholly, totally. So what have we studied the last two weeks? Treasures in heaven.

And I hope and pray that you have accepted what's been put before us because I have a feeling that all of us, all of us need to do some adjusting, maybe even some great repentance in this area. Let's pray. Let's commit this to the Lord and then we will dismiss.