Dumping The Treasury - Matthew 6:19-21 Series

Matthew 6:19-24 19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 24 "No one can serve two masters. 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.

Introduction: We need security

God did not design us to live with an unsecured treasure. I once heard of an orphanage in World War II where the children were all having health problems because they could not sleep. They tried everything to help the kids sleep and finally realized that these kids had spent so much of their lives hungry that even though there was plenty of food for them in the orphanage, they were still worried all the time. So they decided to put a piece of bread in each child’s hand each night when they went to bed, and the kids all began to sleep through the night. We are all like those kids. We are designed by God to need a sense that what we are going to need in the future is secure. There are all kinds of uncertainties we can live with – but one uncertainty God did not intend for us to live with is the uncertainty of our treasure being at risk.

Your treasure is that which you cannot afford to lose. And when your treasure is at risk your life fills up with worry, anxiety, and fear. Usually when a Christian struggles with fear and worry we assume it is because they do not have enough faith. But that is not always the case. It may well be that the problem is that their treasure is all earthly and therefore vulnerable. You cannot trust God to protect your earthly treasure because He never promised to protect that. So if your treasure is on earth then it makes sense to worry and fret and fear because it really is at risk of being lost. Life is tedious when your treasure is on earth. Your spouse could leave you and take all your treasure away. A judge, with one pound of his gavel, could take it away. A fire could take it. An accident could take it. If your treasure is someone’s approval, a mere misunderstanding could take away your treasure. Unforeseen circumstances could take away your earthly treasure. So in Matthew 6:20 Jesus commands us to place our treasure in a secure location.

Empty your Earthly Treasury

We are studying through the Sermon on the Mount and we came last week to verse 19 of chapter 6 where Jesus begins speaking about what righteousness looks like when dealing with money and possessions. So this is part 2 of last week’s sermon. And I have two goals for today’s sermon: 1) that each of us would empty out our earthly treasury, and 2) that we would fill up our heavenly treasury.

Matthew 6:19 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth

Jesus commands that we do not fill up our earthly treasury, so whatever we have put in there should not be in there and needs to be dumped out. There should be nothing whatsoever in there. So I am calling you this morning to get rid of every last dime out of your earthly treasury.

20 Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven

So point 1 – we need to empty our earthly treasury, and point 2 – we need to fill up our heavenly treasury.

Your treasury: What you treasure

Now, when I say we must empty our earthly treasury I do not mean by that that you have to get rid of all your possessions. We found last week that we are to earn a living, provide for our families, save for our children, prepare for the future, and even enjoy the financial blessings God has given us. So it is OK for us to own things. Just because you own something does not mean you treasure that thing. Some of the things you own might be in your treasury, and other things that you own are not in your treasury. Not only that, but there may be a whole bunch of things that are in your treasury that you do not own. There are poor people who have millions of dollars in their treasury. And there are millionaires who do not have one dime in their treasury. Your treasury consists`of all those things you treasure. All the things your heart loves – the things your soul looks 4o for joy and satisfaction, all the things you work hardest to get – or to keep (the things you fear losing the most). They are the things that must be secure in order for you to sleep at night. Your treasure is that which you cannot afford to lose.