Where Your Treasure is, There will your heart be also.
MATTHEW 6:28-30
We are a nation of worry. We worry about how fat we are, or how skinny we are. How dark we are, how light we are. People with jobs worry about their work. People without jobs worry about not working. A song writer wrote a song a few years ago “don’t worry, be happy”. Then I heard somebody say just the other day that if you worry, why pray. If you pray, why worry.
In order to not worry, people turn to drugs and alcohol. Some folk turn to prescription drugs, seminars, and self-help books. But we need to realize that God is still in charge of every situation. He even knows the number of hairs you have on your head. He understands us and knows our needs better than we do. Don’t worry about the battle because the battle is not your’s it’s the Lord’s. So we need to learn today to lay up our treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrup. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Treasure, what a word. (parts of speech). As a noun, it speaks of riches, usually stored up or hoarded. It may speak of any precious items that are valuable to you. As a verb, it speaks of collecting and/or storing up things of value. It means holding on to those things that you love the most. In other words, we treasure our treasures.
In the passage before us, Jesus speaks of our tendency to center our lives around things of this world and forgetting the real meaning of life. Most of us are not worried about what we’re going to eat or wear today, but we are worried about tomorrow and the next day. Some of us have already stored up things for what’s going to happen on January 1, 2000. I’m not telling you not to be prepared but when we worry about the future it is sin because it denies the love, the wisdom and power of God. First of all it denies the love of God by implying that He doesn’t care for us. Then it denies his wisdom by implying that he doesn’t know what He is doing. And then it denies His power by implying that He isn’t able to provide for our needs.
When we worry it causes us to devote all of our energy to making sure we will have enough to live on. Then before we know it, our lives have passed us by. We are 40, 50, 60 and 70 years old and we have missed the central purpose for which we were made. God didn’t create us to eat, drink and work. He created us in his own image and likeness so that we can love, worship, and serve him and to be his ambassadors here on earth. Our bodies were created to be our servants and not our masters.
One of the most beautiful flowers in the world is the lily. Lillies smell good and look good. So let us consider if you will…the lilies…. Jesus here in this passage of Matthew 6 verse 28…says to us….”Consider the lilies”. See how the lillies grow. Consider the lilies. And there are some questions that are raised about the lilies. When I read this text and I saw the word consider, I went to Mr. Webster about this word consider and I found that it means to think about it carefully and serious and today I want us to think about the lilies carefully and seriously.
In order for us to analyze this particular verse we need to ask some questions. Now the 1st question that came across my mind was to wonder what is it about the lily that Jesus wants us to consider. So I began to consider the lilies.
You see in the beginning of the text Jesus starts off by telling not to worry about your own life. He tells us not to be concerned about what you will eat or drink. Jesus says, don’t even worry about what you wear. I found out that too many of us today get caught up in the keep up. We’ve got to keep up with the Joneses. We’ve got to keep up with what kind of hat Sister Suzy has, what kind of car Brother Andrew has got…. Aaron has some new Nike’s so I got to get me some Jordan’s. Kesha’s got a new short dress and mine has got to be shorter. Your friend got a long weave and yours got to be longer. But Jesus says…. “Do not worry about what you will wear. For the bible says that man looks at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart. “It’s what’s on the inside that’s important. We should have something on the inside that’s working on the outside that if Bro. Roberson don’t have what you got he’s gonna want what you got. If he sees that you have joy when you are going through a trial he’s going to want that to.
We find that there are reminders each and everyday of what God can do. The birds of the air….they don’t worry. IJSB the same God who created them, the same God who scooped out the mountains and who said let there be light and there was light. The same God that said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee, the same God who feeds the birds that fly will take care of you. I wonder can I get a witness that he will take care of you. Jesus says here in the text to us that we are more valuable to God than the birds of the air. For the bible says that God so loved the world that he gave…. And if the birds don’t worry why should we worry? Too many times we try to take matters and situations into our own hands. But I’ve come tonight to let you know that the word of God in Proverbs 3: 5-6 says: “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD.” God has it all under control. And so I hear Jesus saying to us: Consider…the lilies.
Jesus says, that when you look at how the lilies of the field grow the lily does not take a lot of planting, you put them down and they just show up. He says that even Solomon with all of his splendor and riches could not dress like the lily.
Let’s look at the lilies. Lilies don’t grow on the mountains. But the lily grows down in the valley. In the valley where God says they shall be exalted. In valley where he takes us through the shadow of death and we will fear no evil for thou art with me. In the valley where we have to come down from the rough side of the mountain. The lily grows in the valley. Maybe there is a reason that God allows them to grow in the valley. Because in between every mountain, in between every difficulty, in between every situation, every obstacle there is a valley. And it is good to know that when you are in the valley there is a way out of the valley.
We never see the lily being planted but we know that they just show up time and time again. Consider the lily. They just keep coming back. That reminds of me of when I was a kid. My grandfather bought me a clown that you could blow up and it was heavy at the bottom. And once you blow this clown up it would stand up straight. And no matter how you knocked that clown down it would stand back up with the same smile on its face. And I asked my grandfather why that clown would pop back up everytime I knock it down. My grandfather looked at me and said that it is the stuff inside. That’s just like some Christians, you can see them down one day and the pop right back up the next. They may be down on a Sunday and you see them on Wednesday night they have a smile on their face. It’s not because of what they know but it is because of who they know. It’s not because of who they are but whose they are. It’s not because what they look like on the outside but it is the stuff inside.
The lily shows us how we can stand in the midst of any situation. When I think about how they come back each and every time. I think about how life tries to knock us down sometimes. I consider how Satan attacks the children of God. He gets in the Mother’s board. He attacks the ministers. He won’t let the deacons get ordained. He causes conflict on the usher board. The choir won’t show up sometimes. BIJSB But when life knocks you down… when Satan attacks…God gives us the ability to come right back… God gives us the strength to bear another burden. That’s why the Word of God lets us know that we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; sometimes we are cast down, but not forsaken… but through it all the Lord will make a way somehow. But I still want you to consider the lily.
It has been said. It has been said that when Jesus died on the cross the drops of his sweat that came streaming down His face when they hit caused lilies to grow. Though he was on Calvary hill the drops of sweat flowed down to the valley.
Jesus knew what would take place in his life. And that’s why he said “Consider the lily. He said the lilies, they do not labor. Labor is pain… Nobody but Jesus went through the labor of dying on the cross for you and for me. Nobody but Jesus….went up sorrow’s road for you and for me. Nobody but Jesus was pierced in his side. Nobody but Jesus was given vinegar when he asked for water. When you consider the lily you have to consider the cross.
When you consider the lilies, you have to consider, that sometimes you are going to have to bear some burdens…when you consider the lilies sometimes you’ve got to go down in the valley every situation is not always on the mountaintop… but when …when… you get down in the valley I’m a witness…..there is someone who will meet you there to help bring you out. His name is Jesus…. And they call him the is the Lily of the Valley. The blood that Jesus shed for me…. When you consider the lily…you’ve got to consider Jesus. When you think of the lilies it’s good to know that God through Jesus Christ will bring you through. And when God brings you through you’ll just keep coming back and coming and coming back. And one of these days the Lily of the Valley is coming back….just like the lilies of the field…… he’s going to crack the sky and come for you and come for me. But while you are waiting, while you are watching…..consider the Lily.
I’m glad he is not only the Lily of the Valley, but he is the Bright and Morning Star, the Rose of Sharon……Soon….and very soon… we’re going to meet the king.
