Matthew 6:19-21 "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.
Introduction
Stuff
We begin a new section this morning in our study of the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount is all about what righteousness looks like in the kingdom of the Messiah. He begins with righteousness with regard to people - how a righteous person interacts with those around him. So that section we titled, “Righteousness and Relationships.” That is chapter 5. Then He moves in chapter 6 to Righteousness and Religion - how a righteous person interacts with God. That is the section on prayer, giving, and fasting. Now, in the second half of chapter 6, we hit a new section. This one we can call Righteousness and Possessions – how a righteous person deals with stuff. So that is the outline so far. If you want all R’s -
Introduction (Beatitudes) - 5:1-12
Righteousness and Relationships - 5:13-48
Righteousness and Religion - 6:1-18
Righteousness and Resources - 6:19-34
That outline is for those who are into alliteration. But if you are into accuracy I think a better title for this section is “Righteousness and Stuff.”
Jesus is concerned to teach us what righteousness looks like when it comes to dealing with all the stuff in our lives, because let’s face it – stuff is a big part of life. We spend most of our money on stuff. We buy pile after pile of stuff - stuff to sit on, stuff to watch while we are sitting, stuff to eat with, stuff to clean the stuff we eat with. We buy stuff to put all our stuff in, stuff to organize our stuff, stuff to store our stuff; the garage is full of stuff we need to fix our broken stuff - or to make new stuff. And so we have to buy stuff to hang up all our stuff we use for fixing our broken stuff - and other stuff to clean up the mess we make when we work on our stuff. Stuff is a huge part of life, so a sermon on what righteousness looks like has to have a major section on stuff.
Selfishness vs Self-interest
And as usual, Jesus is going to make a lot of people really uncomfortable in this section, because Jesus is going to command us to seek treasure for ourselves. If you are one of those people who think seeking reward is a selfish, sub-Christian motive, you are really not going to like this section. If you think seeking a benefit for yourself from God is selfish, then you are going to think today’s text is the most selfish paragraph ever written. It says nothing about giving, nothing about serving, nothing about God receiving anything, nothing about sacrifice, nothing about self-denial – it is just 100% self-interest. It is God commanding us to act in our own self-interest.
This is man’s doing
Another group of people who will be shocked by this passage are those who believe everyone gets the same reward in heaven. Some people teach that no one will have more than anyone else in heaven. Jesus shoots that idea down in this text.
Yet another group of people who run into trouble in this text are those who teach that our reward in heaven has nothing to do with our deeds in this life. They say, “It’s by grace and therefore it can’t be related in any way to our actions or performance.” Jesus is going to show us that yes, it is by grace alone, however it is a terrible misunderstanding of grace to assume that grace somehow excludes human effort. Grace does not exclude human effort; it causes human effort. So where there is no human effort there is no grace. So our eternal reward is very much connected to what we do in this life.
Treasuring up Treasure
This paragraph that we are studying today has a very simple structure – two commands and two reasons for those commands. The two commands:
19 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth
20 Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.
And the two reasons to obey those commands: 1) Heavenly treasure is a lot better than earthly treasure, and 2) your heart will go wherever your treasure is. That is the message of this passage. So let’s begin by making sure we understand what treasure is, and what it means to store it up.
Treasure
The basic idea behind the word treasure has to do with accumulating and storing up. Treasure is that which is placed in a treasury or a vault. The Greek word can refer to the treasure, or the place it is stored, or the act of storing it. The noun and the verb are both used in this verse – literally it is, Do not treasure up for yourselves treasure on earth … but treasure up for yourselves treasure in heaven. So treasure is something that you pile up and lock away because you regard it as highly valuable.
Saving is good
So does that mean it is always wrong to save up wealth? If I get my paycheck at noon and give it all away at 1:00, was I in sin that whole hour because I was storing it? And if not, then where are you going to draw the line? Can I set aside money to pay my upcoming bills? Can I save up for my next car? What about retirement? Other places in the Bible teach that saving is a good thing.
Proverbs 6:6 Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! ... 8 it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.
God wants us to learn a lesson from the ant about saving for the future. Should you set aside money to pay upcoming bills, or save money for your next car? Yes, that is wise. It is certainly wiser than waiting until you need a car and then having to buy it on credit. What about retirement? Should I be setting aside money to live on from the time I can no longer earn a living until the day I die (or Tracy’s dies – whoever lives longer)? Or should I do what Jesus told the rich young ruler to do – sell all my possessions and give it all away to the poor?
Have you ever noticed that the rich young ruler is the only one Jesus ever said that to? He did not say it to Mary and Martha. He did not tell them to get rid of their stuff - He went over their house and enjoyed their stuff.
“But didn’t people in the early church sell their belongings and share with one another? And doesn’t that support a communistic approach?” Yes, they did sell some of their possessions in order to give to those in need, but no, that does not support communism, because selling and sharing require private ownership. If anyone ever tries to tell you that the Bible supports communism rather than private ownership just ask them what the 8th and 10th commandments are all about. When God said thou shalt not steal, He was making it clear that there are things that belong to your neighbor that you are not allowed to take. And not only are you not allowed to take what belongs to him, you are not even allowed to want to take it (thou shalt not covet). If you do not own anything you cannot sell or share or give.
If we want to learn from what the people were doing in the book of Acts we need to listen to what God said about what they were doing. One of the guys who sold his stuff to give to others was Ananias - and his wife Sapphira. They said, “We’re going to sell our land and give ALL the proceeds to the Lord.” And they sold the land and took a look at the money and said, “Wow, that’s a lot of money. Let’s just give most of it to the Lord.” And God struck them dead for lying. But before God killed them He said this (through Peter):
Acts 5:4 Didn't [the land] belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal?
If Jesus’ command for the rich young ruler to sell everything and give it away requires that all Christians should do that, then why did Peter tell Ananias that he did not have to sell his property, and after he sold it he would not have had to give the money away? If it had not been for their lie it would have been fine for them to keep that money.
The problem with giving everything away is you cannot do that without violating 1 Timothy 5:8.
1 Timothy 5:8 If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
2 Corinthians 12:14 children should not have to save (lit. treasure) up for their parents, but parents for their children.
So the Bible teaches us that it is a good thing to earn a living, it is wise to save for future needs, and it is required that we provide for our families.
A principle for the heart, not a legalistic rule
So what are we to make of Jesus’ words? One of the most important keys to interpreting the Sermon on the Mount is to realize that Jesus is teaching us principles, not policies. One of the most common misuses of Scripture is when people take a general principle targeted at the heart and reduce it to a mere regulation governing only external behavior. That is a form of legalism. It is what the Pharisees did. They turned everything into rules and regulations and policies governing external behavior, but ignored the heart. And so they were considered the most righteous people around because they followed all the external behavior rules to a T, but their hearts would make a black mark on a piece of coal. We do not want to do that here, so let’s think carefully about the heart attitude Jesus is calling for here.
Not that: What it looks like to disobey this command
One very helpful key to understanding the Bible or any other book or speech is to watch for the “not that but this” statements. When an author says, “What I mean is not that, but rather this,” and tells you exactly what he is affirming and what he is denying, that gives you a clear understanding. Politicians and theologians are both notorious for giving vague statements of what they are for without specifying what they do not mean. If a politician says, “I’m for prosperity” everyone cheers, but no one really knows for sure what he means. But if he says, “I’m for prosperity, not capitalism” then you have a much clearer idea of what he is saying. In this passage Jesus is very clear. He says, “Not that, but this” giving us both the positive and the negative sides so we can understand exactly what He is getting at.
So let’s begin with the negative side (the “Not that” part). What does it look like to disobey this principle? What does it look like to store up for yourself treasure on earth rather than in heaven? We get a clue in verse 21.
Matthew 6:21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The meaning of “heart”
The heart refers to the seat of your thoughts, will, and emotions. What are you interested in? That is where your heart is. What do you love? What do you care about? That is where your heart is. Where is your hope? What do you think about in those times when you want to be cheered up? What safety net gives you a sense of security for your future? That is where your heart is. What is it that governs your decision making? That is where your heart is.
And the reason it is there is because that is where your treasure is accumulating. Your treasure is that which is valuable in your life. And for that reason treasure always has a gravitational pull on the heart. Your inner man - your interest, your affections, your desires, the decisions you make – everything inclines in the direction of your treasure. You take your entire nest egg and put it in a particular stock, suddenly you become very interested in how that stock is doing. You pour all your time into following a sport – that sport will have a grip on your heart. You spend yourself on some ministry here at church, and you become very sensitive to how that ministry is going. You give up your family vacation to meet some need that a particular missionary has, you find yourself praying twice as hard for the success of that missionary. You spend $30,000 on a vehicle, that vehicle becomes a huge part of your cares and thoughts and emotions and decision making. Your heart inevitably moves in the direction of your treasure.
So if you want to know for sure where your heart is, just look at your checkbook. You compare how much of your resources go toward eternal things and how much goes toward earthly things and it is obvious where your heart is. Compare the budget for the gym membership with the budget for Bible study resources, and you see your priorities. Compare the vacation budget with the missions budget; compare the recreation expenditures with what you put in the offering.
A heart for earthly things
So what does it look like when someone disobeys Jesus’ command here? What does it look like when you store up treasures on earth? It is when you invest your time and energy and resources and thoughts and work in such a way that it results in your heart being wrapped up in things that will not exist a million years from now.
The treasure of human honor
And that includes more than just physical stuff. The Scribes and Pharisees had their treasure on earth, but for them their big earthly treasure was not so much stuff as it was honor in the eyes of men. They prayed and gave to the poor and fasted and did all their religious duties in ways calculated to impress people. Human applause is a huge treasure in the hearts of many Christians – especially pastors. When you are a pastor, it seems like your livelihood depends on your popularity. If people do not come back, you are out of a job. So it is very common for pastors to have their treasure and their hearts all wrapped up in the approval of people. That is where their treasure is; that is where their heart is. So all their decision-making is driven by that.
It just blows me away when I hear about some pastor who demands to be credited if someone uses his material. Not very many things get me angry; one thing that really makes my blood boil is pastors who want to enforce copyright laws for their sermons. You cannot use their material unless you mention their name and give them the credit and honor and glory that they are due. And if they do not get that credit and recognition, they would just as soon the saints go without whatever spiritual benefit might come from their material! It is like they have completely forgotten about heaven and they care only about their own glory.
Whether it is a pastor seeking honor for himself or just a regular, ordinary approval junky who is preoccupied with what everyone around them thinks of him, human applause is a treasure for a lot of people. The glory of being recognized and appreciated and honored by people is treasure on earth just as much as cash or cars or cabins. And for some people it is really subtle because the approval they are chasing after is their own approval. They fast and pray and give in private, and no one knows about it because they are not doing it to impress other people – but it is not directed toward God either. They are doing it to impress themselves. They do it to feel better about themselves and how disciplined and holy and selfless they are. Earthly treasure takes a lot of forms.
Lack of generosity
But whatever form it takes, the result is always selfishness. If you really want a clear picture of what it looks like to disobey this principle just look at James 5.
James 5:1 Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. 2 Your wealth has rotted and your clothes have become moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have corroded and their rust will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasure in the last days. 4 Behold! The wages you withheld from the laborers who mowed your fields cries out, and the cries of the harvesters have entered into the Lord of Hosts. 5 You have lived on earth luxuriously and indulgently. You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter.
Two dead giveaways for people who have their treasure on earth is 1) lack of generosity, and 2) luxurious, self-indulgent lifestyles. Instead of being generous they horde all they can. And they use it for their own comfort and ease. Remember the rich fool who wanted to build bigger barns?
Luke 12:19 And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry."'
Oh, how tempting it is to make all of life nothing but a pursuit of greater luxury. We already live in luxury that most people who have ever lived could not even imagine in their wildest dreams, and yet we are constantly trying to increase our standard of living. As our income increases, we keep buying nicer stuff. Each new car is a little better than the last one. As soon as we can afford it we upgrade our dishwasher, get a nicer refrigerator, a bigger grill, a better cell phone, a bigger TV, nicer vacations – more and more luxury. We get a bonus or a raise – are our first thoughts, “Oh, now I’ll be able to do this for the kingdom”? Or “Now I’ll be able to give more”? Or is it, “Oh, now I can increase my comfort and ease”? Is our goal to have the biggest, fattest retirement plan we can possibly have, or to retire early – so we can become lazy, idle sluggards who do nothing but constantly go on vacations even though we are still able-bodied and can work? Or do we ever look at our retirement and say, “That’ll do. I won’t be rich, but it will be enough to get by. The rest I’m going to pour into the kingdom right now to pad my treasury in heaven”?
The inadequacy of earthly reward
And so to help us develop an attitude like that Jesus exposes the inadequacy of earthly treasure.
Matthew 6:19 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
The problem with using earth as your bank vault rather than heaven is earth has a major security problem. Heaven, on the other hand, has excellent security. And Jesus pointed that out again and again.
John 6:27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life
In Luke 12 Jesus encountered a couple brothers who were arguing about money.
Luke 12:15 "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." 16 And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17 He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' 18 "Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry."' 20 "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' 21 "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."
Luke 12:32 Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.
Over and over Jesus forbids using earth as your vault because of the fact that it is inadequate.
Moth and rust
For one thing it is vulnerable to moth and rust. That second word should not be translated “rust.” There is another Greek word for rust; this word never means “rust.” It means “eating.” Earthly treasures get eaten up.
Ecclesiastes 5:11 As goods increase, so do those who consume them.
The more you get the more everyone around you wants from you. Insurance expenses increase, and all the things that threaten your wealth increase. Rich people have ten times as many things draining their wealth than poor people. Bills increase, the government takes a bigger and bigger cut, thieves try to steal your stuff, crooks try to swindle you, the entire population will vote to have more and more of your money taken away and redistributed.
The word translated destroy literally means “cause to disappear.” All the various threats in this world cause all our stuff to vanish. It is just a steady stream - from Wal Mart into your house, and from your house into the big, blue garbage cans, and off to the landfill. Six years ago we paid thousands of dollars for our Saturn Vue and it was a really nice car, and now we are watching it become a piece of junk before our very eyes.
So the problem with earthly treasure is security – moths, consumption and thieves. “No problem – I’ve got moth balls and burglar alarms.” We work hard to protect our stuff. We buy locks for everything - we lock up our cars our houses, our businesses, our garages, storage sheds, bicycles. We have safes, and safe deposit boxes, hiding places, alarm systems. We have super-strong passwords with both letters and numbers and case-sensitive for everything (just in case a CIA spy trained in cryptography wants to break into our iTunes account). We are on guard to make sure nothing happens to any of our stuff - all the way from our life savings down to that piece of pie we are saving in the refrigerator that we have to guard against all the predatory, ravenous family members who might eat it when our back is turned. We have to protect our treasures against theft, rust, decay, damage, wearing out, getting lost, getting ruined, falling apart, malfunctioning, fading, chipping, yellowing, tearing, crashing. And just in case any of that does happen to our treasure, we buy car insurance, house insurance, renter’s insurance, insurance for the boat, the RV, the cabin; life insurance and health insurance, disability insurance, liability insurance, mortgage insurance - full coverage for every conceivable threat. Having treasure on earth is practically a full-time job just to keep from losing it all.
But even after you do all that, how secure is it? Even if you can manage to protect it all until the day you die, then what? Someone once heard about a very rich man who had died, so he asked, “How much did he leave?” And the answer came back – “All of it.” You never see a hearse pulling a U-Haul.
“But I’m stockpiling it for my kids and grandkids. My investments are so diverse they will remain strong all the way until the Second Coming.” Fine – then what? A treasure that only lasts from now until the Second Coming is temporary and fleeting. Don’t forget - your soul is immortal, and at the resurrection your body will be raised and made immortal. You are going to live forever. And once you get to the eternal state you will look back on this life and realize that it was a blink of an eye. Once you are in eternity you will look back and eighty years in this life will be like a vapor. This whole life will be like one, single moment. In fact, all of human history will be like a single moment from the perspective of eternity.
When Jesus returns He is going to destroy all stuff.
2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. 11 ... everything will be destroyed ...
Including your 401K. Some of us might lose our fortune tomorrow, for others it might be in the next few years, for others not for another fifty years - and for some maybe their earthly fortune will continue for decades - but all of us are going to lose one hundred percent of our earthly treasure. This world is the Titanic. I do not care how secure your safe is in your room on the Titanic - if you don’t find a way to throw your wallet into a life boat, your wealth will be gone as soon as the ship goes down, which will be very soon.
Buddha and Jesus
This is one thing that Buddha was right about. Buddha based his religious system on the observations that all the stuff around us is temporary. We desire things, we do not get them - or we do get them and they don’t satisfy. That observation was the beginning point for Buddha’s whole system. Buddha and Jesus agree that the things we desire in this world ultimately disappoint. But Jesus and Buddha offered opposite solutions to that problem.
When Buddha realized that treasure in this world always disappoints, it really bothered him because Buddha hated suffering. The whole point of his entire religion is to escape suffering. And the way to do that, according to Buddha, is to eliminate all desire. That is the final, ultimate goal of Buddhism - to rid yourself of all passion, all craving, all desire. That is Nirvana. Once you pull that off then you will never suffer again – problem solved.
Jesus’ solution takes us in exactly the opposite direction. Buddha’s solution was to eliminate desire so you will not be disappointed; Jesus’ solution was to desire things that do not disappoint. If you had some kind of disorder that made you crave grass every time you got hungry, the experience of eating grass would be very disappointing (since the human stomach is not capable of digesting grass). Buddha says the solution is to eliminate hunger. Jesus says, “No, the solution is to satisfy your hunger with some meat and potatoes rather than grass.” Buddha says, “Eliminate desire,” Jesus says, “Improve desire.” Buddha says the solution is emptiness, Jesus says the solution is fullness.
Why? Why is it so important to God that you not lose your treasure? Because joy is a good thing. When the Lord Jesus Christ returns He is going to create a new heavens and a new earth that is going to be perfect. There will be no curse, no evil – nothing bad. Everything will be good. There will be beauty and goodness and perfection everywhere. And in order for that to happen, one of the things that must exist is universal joy. Just as beauty is a good thing, and holiness is a good thing, and kindness is a good thing – so is joy. Joy is a virtue. It is a fruit of the Spirit. It is part of what makes perfection so perfect.
Nirvana does not exist. God did not design us with the ability to eliminate desire. If you have no desire you have no soul, because desire is the function of the soul. But if Nirvana were possible it would not be a good thing. It would be a terrible thing because where there is no desire there is no joy.
And so God does not just suggest a joyful path for us. He does not just give us tips on how to have lasting treasure. He commands us to find lasting treasure and requires us to do that which will increase our eternal joy because that is what is good.
But this: What it looks like to obey this command
Use it, do not treasure it
And that brings us to the positive side. We have seen now what it looks like to disobey this principle; now let’s see what it looks like to obey it. How can you earn a paycheck, save up for a car or retirement or whatever future needs you have, without violating this principle? What does the Lord want us to do with our money? Answer: Use it, do not treasure it. Money and cars and houses and clothes and vacations and whatever resources that exist in this world are all tools to be used, not treasures to be loved.
The reason Jesus mentions moths is because very often people would keep their fortune in very expensive clothes, and moths were a real threat to wealth. But have you ever noticed that moths never eat the clothes you are wearing? Nobody ever gets dressed and then shows up at work naked because the moths ate off all their clothes on the way to work. Your earthly stuff is given by God for you to use, not to store. That stuff is going to disappear, but until it does – put it to use to gain things that will never disappear. If you are a Christian, God has called you to carry out a task, and money is one of the tools you will need to get that task done.
Someone might ask, “Why does Jesus care so much about this if earthly wealth is worthless? If money is meaningless and worthless, what does it matter if I pile it up and then lose it?” The answer is very simple – it is not worthless. It is necessary for carrying out His work. Every time you use some earthly thing to accomplish some kingdom purpose, you are stockpiling treasure in heaven. We found when we studied verse 1 that everything God won’t reward is sin. Any activity that God will not reward must be avoided because it is sin, which means everything that is not sin will be rewarded by God. So anytime you do something God desires because God desires it, you will be rewarded. If it is time for you to go to bed, and you know that God would not want you to stay up any later, then if you go to bed God will reward you for that. We should never do anything in our lives unless we think that is what God wants us to do at that moment. If your method for deciding what you should do on a moment-by-moment basis is based on discerning God’s will then everything you ever do will be rewarded except for those times when you do go against what God wants.
Conclusion
What should we do with our money? I think a great model in this area was John Wesley. His philosophy was, “Gain all you can; Save all you can; Give all you can.” I was surprised to discover this week that Wesley was an extremely wealthy man. But he did not treasure his wealth; he used it. His heart was not attached to it. One day he was away from home and his house burned to the ground. Everything was lost. And when they gave him the news his response was, "The Lord's house burned. One less responsibility for me." His heart was not attached to wealth, but he did acquire a great fortune to use for the kingdom. He was extremely generous. At one period in his life he gave away forty thousand pounds sterling, which was a fortune. And when he died his estate was worth twenty-eight pounds. He gained a lot and used it all for the kingdom. So the day he died only twenty-eight pounds of it was left here, and all the rest was waiting for him in heaven.
So how do you develop a heart like that? If the promise of reward has no real pull on your heart, how do you change that so it does? And why isn’t it selfishness to seek reward for yourself? And what on earth is Jesus talking about when He brings up good and bad eyes in the next verse? That is where we will plan on picking it up next time?
Benediction: Luke 12:33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.
