“Money Matters”
Matthew 6:19-24
About 15 years ago when we lived in Kentucky Denise had just tucked our kids in for the night and Ross was playing with a penny. Actually what he was doing was trying to se just how far back on his tongue he could put it. Well you can probably guess what happened-he swallowed it but actually he wasn’t sure if it went all the way down and it felt like it was caught in his throat. So we called emergency services to ask a couple of questions-we thought we had a good handle on what to do but then an ambulance showed up anyway and insisted on taking him to the hospital for an xray. Sure enough the xray revealed the penny had been swallowed.
I heard of one mom who was hysterical because her son had swallowed a quarter. She turned to her husband and screamed for him to call the doctor. So he picked up the phone but instead of calling the doctor he called the pastor. The wife was upset and she said we don’t need the pastor, we need some medical help. The husband replied hey our pastor can get money out of anybody. When we begin to talk about money at church there are a variety of responses that we get. I know there have been many people through the years who will not attend church for that very reason. But I believe that all of us need to understand and hear what the bible has to say about this topic. Because according to Jesus, money is a spiritual issue. And because it is a spiritual issue there are several things we need to address.
1. The Bible has more to say about money than almost any subject. Jesus spoke of money and possessions frequently. 2. Giving will help us reach people. 3. There are incredible benefits for those who choose to give. The topic of money and giving is a very personal topic. It’s also one that is often debated and people have different thoughts about what the Bible says.
1. There is what we might call poverty theology. People who teach this say we should hate material things and that it’s actually wrong to have money or to have material possessions.
2. Then there is prosperity theology. This teaching say that if we give we will always be rewarded and the more we give the more we get. I see these teachers on TV a lot and they are not telling the truth. They say send me your money and God will reward you. A very large church in Tampa is being investigate now because the pastor lives in a mansion, has a Rolls Royce and several private jets. He is the one who is being rewarded.
3. Then there is the proper theology. I believe the proper way to view our possessions is that they have been entrusted to us by God and we are responsible for managing them. Everything we have really belongs to Him. Actually when we give to God we are merely returning to Him what He already owns. Now before we jump into our text for the morning I want to make a couple of observations. Every one of us whether we want to admit it or not struggle with materialism. Money magazine says that money is now the #1 obsession in America. Actually I think it always has been. 2nd most of us are not comfortable with the struggle. John Stott said years ago we cannot live a life of extravagance and have a healthy conscience at the same time. One or the other has to be sacrificed. We have to choose between God and money. But the good news is that Jesus realized that most people struggle with managing money and that’s why He devoted so much of His teaching to this area of life.
The largest/longest single teaching we have from Jesus would be the sermon on the Mount . We find it in Matthew 5, 6 and 7. We know there were many people listening to Jesus that day. Matthew tells us there were large crowds from all over the area who were present. Jesus was covering a variety of topics: how to treat people, how to forgive, how to handle money, how to pray and eventually He got to the subject of money. Now it shouldn’t surprise us because let’s face it money is a big part of life. We work for it, we fight over it, we think far too much about it, we wish we had more and we worry if we don’t have enough. In this passage Jesus challenges us with a simple question...where is your treasure? Now to answer that question I think there are 4 questions we must ask ourselves; four tests that we must pass.
1. How long will it last? This is the durability test. Verses 19-20. Jesus uses the word treasures here. He did not use the word money here because while everyone does not have a lot of money, we all have treasures. Our home, car, computer, a musical instrument. Jesus is not saying that it’s wrong to have these but he is saying our focus should be on laying up treasures in heaven not on earth. You see one of two things happen to the things we own. (1) They decay. In the day of Jesus the garments people wore represented an investment. Many times they were made from wool but no matter how nice they were moths would attack and eat right through them. Rust would corrode them. They can decay they can also disappear. Valuables were often buried out in the field or hidden in a brick wall. Thieves would literally break into the walls and dig up the yard to find them. So if tried to store it, moths would find it or rust would consume it. If you try to hide it, thieves would break in and steal it. Either way it was not secure.
The issue here is not whether we will try to store up wealth because we will. The question is where will we do our banking? If you make your deposits in heaven they will never disappear and they are insured by God Himself. So how do we do that? How do we make deposits here on earth that will yield dividends in heaven? You store up treasures in Heaven by investing in things that will last forever. There are really only two tings that fall into that category. 1. God’s word. 2. People. Everything else will decay or disappear. Cars, boats, homes, clothes, salaries, vacations, books, buildings all will pass away. They wear out, rust out or fall apart. Nothing that is material will last forever. That’s the way that God set it up. 1 John 2:17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
So here is the ultimate investment...invest in getting God’s word into the lives of people.
There is a 2nd test/question. Where am I investing my time/money? This is the test of the heart. Verse 21. To put it plainly Jesus is saying that your heart follows your money. That’s not the way most of us think it works. Too many of us spend all that we have on the things of this world and then we wonder why we have trouble focusing on the things of God. Our money keeps our heart tied to the earth and we will never be able to get our heart focused on heaven as long as our attention is on material things.
3rd test/question. The mind test. Here is the question for us...Where is our focus? Verses 22-23. Jesus is saying there are only 2 possible ways to look at things. If our minds focus only on things down here we will be filled with darkness. If money is our #1 obsession it can place blinders on our eyes and can destroy our spiritual lives. But if our thoughts are filled with how we deposit treasures in heaven then our lives will filled with light.
4th question/test. The test of how is Master in my life. Whom do we serve? Look at verse 24. Jesus is placing these two up against each other. GOD.....RICHES and he says choose but you can only choose one. And we should know that because if there is anything that will bring tension into our lives it is when we try to love both God and money at the same time. Sooner or later our real loyalty will show up and only one master will win out. Listen carefully here, Jesus doesn’t say you better not do this or it would be unwise to do it....he says you cannot do it.....you cannot serve both God and money. In the book of Luke, chapter 12 Jesus is asked a question about a money matter and he tells us a story and the story describes how easy it is for us to fail these 4 tests. When the asked him the question Jesus responded in this way-verse 15ff.
Greed is something all of us struggle with. That word means to thirst for more. And the reason we have to watch out is that we can begin to think that our life consists of what we own. If w have a lot, we’re doing well. If we don’t we’re not. Jesus then tells a parable to show us what can happen if we look at life in this way. Verses 16-19. Did you notice how many times he says me, myself or I. I counted 11 times in 3 short verses. His focus is completely on himself and what he owns. And because of that he decided to simply coast through life. No concerns. His life consisted of eating, drinking and partying. He was storing up treasures here with no thought of investing in heaven. Notice what happens next. Verses 20-21.
BRING IN CHEST of JOASH Let me ask you something. Where are you storing up your treasures? Here or there. You may recall that about a month ago I said to you that there is no better place to invest your life than right here in this church. I believe that with all of my heart. And I think that you do as well. You have really been responding to the things I have asked you to do. I asked you to help us become a friendlier church. 40 of you signed up to be worship friends, serving one Sunday a month. I asked you to help me with the fall festival. We had 50 workers that night..50. Several hundred people attended. I had 73 families to contact as a result and you took every one of those slips of paper and started making contacts. I asked for workers/people to teach these new children we will be reaching and 10 of you sais I’ll do that! I asked you to bring shoeboxes filled with gifts for children around the world. You’re doing it. I believe many of you are more deeply investing your life here.
In the OT there is a wonderful story about giving. It is the story of King Joash. When he became king he was only 7 years old. Not long after that he became aware of the fact that the temple in Jerusalem was in great need of repair. So he asked the people of Israel to bring an offering of their possessions in order to get enough money to repair God’s house. The Bible tells us that Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and at his command they made a chest and they set it outside of the gate of the house of the Lord. Then he asked them to give and it says the people rejoiced and brought their offerings and placed them in the chest. They actually filled it and to empty it and then they would do it again. They then rebuilt the temple to its original condition. There is actually one time in the scripture that the offering was being taken and it was stopped because they were receiving more than they needed.
I want to ask you to consider bringing an offering for the ministry here at Eagle’s Landing. This is our chest of Joash. In 4 weeks we will receive the offering. On that day I am going to ask everyone to participate in the offering and to come and place your gift here in this chest.
