A Messiah Who Gives Caution
Text: Matt. 6:19-24
Introduction
1. Illustration: Several years ago at a Promise Keepers conference, Dennis Rainey placed animal traps on stage. They were big ones too. Bear traps and even an African safari large animal trap that took two men to open. There were a dozen or so traps, and he set or opened them all. Then Dennis Rainey had a father blindfold his teen-age son, the father then walked to the other side of the stage and called his son to come to him. The boy took one step and the Father called out, “Wait! I’ll keep you from stepping in the traps.” So this Dad went back across the stage, took his son’s hand and “leads” him through the difficult maze of traps.
2. This is what Jesus is trying to do for us in today’s text. He is cautioning us to stay clear of some of the traps of life.
a. He cautions us about value.
b. He cautions us about vision.
c. He cautions us about veneration.
3. Read Matt. 6:19-24
Proposition: We need to heed Jesus’ cautions and steer clear of the traps of life.
Transition: The first caution is a...
I. Caution About Value (19-21)
A. Store Treasures In Heaven
1. Jesus warns us about putting our hope in earthly treasures. He reminds us of the temporary and fleeting nature of earthly treasures when he says, “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal."
a. The phrase "don’t store up treasures" might better be rendered "stop storing up treasures." It is a call to change! (France, 258).
b. Remember that the society that Jesus lived in didn’t have banks and so people would store their treasures at home in a safe place.
c. However, no matter how safe the place may have seemed, the treasure would still be susceptible to robbers and decay due to weather.
2. Jesus did not here forbid owning material possessions. Rather, He was admonishing His followers not to make them an object of their affections (Horton, 115).
a. His definition of treasure was anything that could be considered extremely valuable in itself (Horton, 115).
b. This could mean could mean money, cars, boats, stereos, tv’s, or even relationships.
3. The danger in these things is we can allow these temporary objects that are subject to decay to take God’s place in our hearts.
a. "Rust" comes from a Greek word which means "to eat or consume."
b. The phrase "break in" is literally "to dig through," and considering that most of their houses were made of mud and straw this was a real concern.
c. They were storing treasures on earth because they were not trusting God.
d. Psalm 25:5
Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you.
4. On the contrary, Jesus tells us, Heavenly treasure is not subject to decay like earthly treasure. He says, "Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal."
a. Rather than storing up things on earth which can decay or be stolen, Jesus counseled His listeners to find a better kind of treasure and a safer place to store it (Horton, 115).
b. Heavenly treasure alone can provide security.
c. The verb translated "store your treasures" might suggest that these treasures can be earned.
d. However, God is not sitting up in heaven with a treasure calculator counting all the things you do to credit you with heavenly treasure.
e. On the contrary, we earn these treasures by living according to the priorities of the Kingdom (France, 259).
5. Jesus gets to the heart of the issue when he says, "Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be."
a. The heart is drawn to what a person values most. If a person’s life is focused on the values of the Kingdom, then they will lay up treasures in heaven (Turner, Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: Matthew, 105).
b. The issue is not that possessions themselves are bad but that a higher priority demands our resources.
c. If we value what our Lord values rather than what our society values, he demands that we meet the basic needs of people lacking adequate resources before we seek to accumulate possessions beyond our basic needs (Keener, IVP New Testament Commentary: Matthew, 148).
d. The desires of a person, the focus of their life, what they love, depends upon what he considers a treasure.
B. What Do You Value?
1. Illustration: Have you heard of the man who claims and boasts of being the #1 NBA fan, and makes pro basketball his top priority? Listen to what he wrote in a national sports magazine recently. “April & May are not only my favorite months because of the NBA play-offs but they are my credit card company’s favorite months too. I’ll bet the credit card people think we celebrate Christmas in May instead of December at our house. Airline tickets, motel rooms, play-off tickets, meals.. All of it adds up in a hurry. But quite frankly Christmas for me can’t hold a candle to the NBA play-offs.” Now, there is certainly nothing wrong with loving sports and using them as a diversion. (I hope.) But.. if the NBA play-offs or anything else provides us more excitement than the fact God’s Son came to earth to save us.. Then something is way out of whack with our priorities. Only Jesus Christ is worthy of our primary priority.
2. Hebrews 3:12 (NLT)
Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God.
3. Jesus cautions us about what we value because things can easily become idols.
a. Exodus 20:4-5 (NLT)
“You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me.
b. God makes it clear that he will not take second place to anyone or anything.
c. If we are not cautious and guard our hearts we can be led astray.
d. We can begin to love things so much that they take God’s place in our hearts.
4. Jesus cautions us about what we value because material things are temporary and fleeting.
a. We tend to value things that decay and fall apart.
b. We tend to value things that are here today and gone tomorrow.
c. But the treasure of God doesn’t rust.
d. The treasure of God doesn’t decay.
e. The treasure of God lasts forever.
5. Jesus cautions us about what we value so that our values are Kingdom values. We value:
a. Prayer
b. Biblical Preaching and Teaching
c. Love
d. Faith
e. Reaching the Lost
f. Compassion
g. Commitment
Transition: These are things that will never decay, grow old, or lead us astray. The second thing Jesus cautions us about is...
II. Caution About Vision (22-23)
A. Your Eye
1. Much of what we value is based on what we see.
2. Jesus says, “Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light."
a. In the Greek text, Jesus literally calls the eye a single eye, which is a word play: the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible also uses this word for "single" to translate the Hebrew term for "perfect" -- thus "single-minded" devotion to God, with ones heart set on God alone (Keener, 150).
b. This kind of eye can not only see, but see well. It does not suffer from double or distorted vision.
c. A healthy eye is the "light of the body" because the entire body depends on it to function properly. It enables the body to be oriented properly to its surroundings.
d. If it is spiritually healthy, the eye of the heart will fill the life with good and generous works.
e. It will help in making right decisions because the motives will be true and pure. It will focus the attention on aims that will be to the glory of God (Horton, 117).
3. However, on the other hand, Jesus says, "But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness."
a. In contrast to the person with healthy eyes, the person with bad eyes fumbles and stumbles in the darkness.
b. To make the application obvious Jesus used a word that mean not only "bad, sick, degenerate, or worthless," but also "wicked or evil-intentioned."
c. Such an eye will be full of worldliness and will call good evil and evil good.
d. Isaiah 5:20-21 (NLT)
What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter. What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think themselves so clever.
e. An evil and covetous eye will hoard earthly possessions only to see them decay. A good and generous eye will store up treasures in heaven that will never decay (Turner, 106).
4. They Jesus shows just of serious this is when he says, "And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!"
a. A bad eye is not able to focus upon the treasure, not able to focus upon the things of God.
b. A bad eye is blind and in darkness.
c. Such a person focuses his eyes (attention, mind, thoughts, energy, effort) on evil.
d. If the whole time this person thinks that he is in the right, that he has no need to repent and get right with God, then he is far worse off than the person who admits he has a problem.
e. How deep is that darkness!
B. Be Careful Little Eyes
1. Illustration: There’s an old Sunday School song that says,
"O be careful little eyes what you see
O be careful little eyes what you see
There’s a Father up above
And He’s looking down in love
So, be careful little eyes what you see."
2. Luke 11:34-36 (NLT)
“Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when it is bad, your body is filled with darkness. Make sure that the light you think you have is not actually darkness. If you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant, as though a floodlight were filling you with light.”
3. Jesus cautions us about vision because by controlling what we see, we control what tempts us.
a. When we look at what we shouldn’t have it causes us to desire it.
b. When desire it, we start to long for it.
c. When we start to long for it, we are led into sin.
4. Jesus cautions us about vision because by controlling what we see, we control what we think.
a. Romans 12:2 (NLT)
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
b. If we keep our eyes on God it will keep our heart for God.
c. If we keep our eyes on God’s word it will transform our minds.
Transition: Finally, Jesus gives us a caution about...
III. Caution About Veneration (24)
A. Two Master’s
1. The Scriptures of very clear on this point: God will not tolerate divided loyalty.
a. Over and over God has warned his people that serving him and another god is unacceptable.
b. Joshua 24:15 (NLT)
"But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”
c. You cannot say I will serve the Lord and just add the worship of another god to what I am already doing. This is a concept called syncretism, and it is totally unacceptable to the Lord.
2. Jesus gives us the reason why when he says, “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other."
a. The concept of a "slave" implies serving with an exclusive loyalty, being completely at someone’s disposal (Horton, 117).
b. The point is that the slave will be devoted to the one master more than the other.
c. Master’s rarely owned a slave jointly, but when they did, the slave naturally preferred one to the other.
d. The problem with divided loyalty is that we will naturally prefer one to the other.
3. Although you can apply to an idol, Jesus applies this concept to the greatest idol of all - money. He says, “You cannot serve both God and money."
a. The Apostle Paul echoes this statement when he said...
b. 1 Timothy 6:10 (NLT)
For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.
c. Notice that Paul says "the love of money," not money itself, but "the love of money" is the root of evil.
d. "Mammon" translated money in the NLT, was common Aramaic term for money or property, but its contrast with God as an object of service here suggests that it has been deified as well as personified (Keener, 151).
4. The reason that money is such a dangerous idol is that it leads us into other sin, and eventually causes us to turn our back on the Lord.
a. The love of money leads us to greed.
b. The love of money leads us to hatred.
c. The love of money leads us to covet and steal.
d. The love of money can even lead us to murder.
e. James 4:1-3 (NLT)
1 What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you?
2 You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.
3 And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
f. Jesus, Paul, and James all warn us against worship money and possessions because it wil tear our hearts away from the Lord who is the only one or only thing worthy of worship.
B. Slave of Christ
1. Illustration: A minister was speaking to the Sunday school about the things money can’t buy. “It can’t buy laughter and it can’t buy love” he told them. Driving his point home he said, “What would you do if I offered you $1,000 not to love your mother and father?” Stunned silence ensued. Finally a small voice rose above the silence, “How much would you give me not to love my big sister?”
2. Jesus tells us to trust in him and not in money.
a. 1 Timothy 6:17 (NLT)
Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.
b. Riches are unreliable, they are here one day and gone the next.
c. God is constant; he never changes!
d. People are learning the hard way these days not to trust in their finances.
e. We never in a million years thought that the auto industry would crumble to ground. Yet, all of the major US auto makers are either bankrupt or in serious trouble.
f. People today are losing their jobs, their homes, and their hope.
g. But to those who put their faith in the Lord he promises to meet all of our needs according to his riches in glory.
3. Jesus tells us to worship him and not money.
a. Matthew 4:10 (NLT)
“Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’”
b. They say that money doesn’t grow on trees, but God created the trees from nothing.
c. They say that money can’t buy happiness, but God is the source of all happiness.
d. Don’t worship the cattle on a thousand hill, but worship the one who created the cattle and the hills.
e. Remember that he has created for you a city whose streets are paved with gold and worship him alone, for if we do he will give us all we need.
Conclusion
1. People who worship the "almighty dollar" will face the judgment of the El Shadai, the Lord God Almighty.
2. Be careful what you value, because only God has true value.
3. Be careful what you see, because the lust of the eyes will lead us away from the Lord.
4. Be careful what you venerate, because only God is worthy to worship, praise, and adored.
5. Serve the Lord, for I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging for bread.
