Monday, June 12, 2023

MATTHEW 6:19-24 - LAY UP YOUR TREASURES IN HEAVEN

 


From the teaching on prayer (6:5-18) Jesus moves on to the matter of dealing with our view on material things in 6:19-24

Let’s face it. There are few matters that worry us more than the matter of material security. An unknown poet once wrote, “possessions weigh me down in life, I never feel quite free. I often wonder whether I own my things or whether my things own me.”  I say this as Marcelle and I are on the verge of leaving the security that a salaried life affords. One of the greatest anxieties for people facing retirement is this question, “Will I have enough money to make it through my last years“?  But, material worries are not just the domain of pensioners; many if not most people struggle with materialism.

Now, remember again, that the Lord Jesus was talking to disciples - to Christians. We sometimes assume that Christians shouldn’t be anxious about possessions or money. That is  why the next  part of the sermon deals with anxiety over material things  (6:25-34), and this because Christians do struggle with anxiety. And so our Lord makes a point about this in His sermon on Christian discipleship.  It is clearly a relevant subject for our day. Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones preached a sermon on this text, entitled “God or Mammon?”, and he says  in his introduction, “ … there is nothing  so fatal and tragic as to think that words like these have nothing  to do with us  because we are Christians. Indeed, this is perhaps the most urgent word that is needed by Christian people at this very moment. The world is so subtle; worldliness is such a pervasive thing, that we are all guilty of it, and often without realizing it.”[1] 

What is it then that  we need  to hear concerning the matter of earthly treasures,  which tend to absorb so much of our energies?  What do we as Christian people here at Eastside need to hear about our money and possessions or perhaps lack thereof?  It is this: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in  and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”   [Matt 6: 19-24].

We need to hear 3 things!

(i) Earthly treasures are  temporal:  We need to hear that  these things decay (moth and rust destroys everything); these things disappear (thieves break in and steal). From an investment point of view, the hanging of our hearts on to earthly treasures is therefore not a sound investment.    

(ii) Treasures should be laid up in heaven. We need to hear this. We need to have our attention drawn to the fact that our ultimate destiny is not our pensionable age. Our ultimate destiny is heaven. This means that we  should invest  NOW  in our eternal future. We are assured that this is a good investment. Heaven is a place of safe returns where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in. 

(iii) Earthly treasures are heart consuming. We need to hear what Jesus says about the terrible danger of having your heart in the wrong place with respect to our ‘treasures’ (6:21). Many of us start with ideals of not being possessed by material things. But then slowly, as life’s happens and as  the attractions of the world begin to lure us  and as  peer pressure begins to mount, our resolutions dwindle away. We get enslaved. Our hearts get captured.   Perhaps we own a lot of property, or perhaps we have a lot of debt.  These things bring worry. Worry in turn enslaves our hearts, so that we cannot live as the Lord’s free people. Paul laments the fact that Demas,  in love with this present world has deserted him (2 Tim. 4:9). The Lord Jesus warns us, ”Watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life…” (Lk. 21:34). Anything that grips our heart, mind and will, absorbing us to the point that we lose perspective on our true, eternal, ultimate goal and treasure and any undue concern for material things to the point of an enslavement need to be watched. And in 6:24 Jesus  says that we cannot treasure both God and money on the same level. We need to hear this, and we need to take these things to heart.

6:22,23 How  we get trapped  by our treasures

Where does it all begin? Hear this: “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! [6:22,23]

For many people these 2 verses make very little sense at face value. But if you consider the context, it makes very much sense. Where do our wrong priorities begin?  When and  how is our heart taken captive by treasures? These two verses provide the answer. They begin with the eyes - the eye gate - the way we look at treasures! Oh be careful little eyes what you see! According to Jesus, there are only two ways in which you can look at treasures. A consideration of the original Greek text helps us here. You look through a good (Gr. haplous lit. ‘to look through a single eye’)   eye, or you look through a  bad eye (Gr. poneros literally, evil eyes). 

The first man looks at “earthly treasures” through a single (good) eye. He sees things for what they really are. He sees them from God’s point -  the biblical point of view.  For him, earthly treasures are gifts from God to be used for God’s glory and for our enjoyment.  The other man has an evil eye. His vision is affected, but not by  God’s view - a biblical world view.  His vision is  coloured  as 1 Jn. 2:16 says,  by  all that is in the world -  the desires of the flesh  and the desires of the eyes and pride of life“. He loves and desires these things for themselves , and not with a God centred world view.  There are so many illustrations of this in the Bible.

Judas’ evil eye is seen in that he does not ultimately look to the “Lord of glory“, whom he professed with the lips; but he looks to the thirty pieces of silver that he may gain for himself. We have already noted  what Paul said about a former co-worker, Demas in 2 Timothy 4:10 , “ who,  because he loved this world, has deserted me …”  Paul also exposes the  evil eye in 1 Timothy 6:10 when he says: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. “

One more illustration from the Old Testament will help us.  In Joshua 7 we find the first negative incident in terms of the conquest   of the Promised Land. There is always  someone  in Israel  (or  in the church)  who does not think that God’s commandments  are  to be taken   seriously.  Israel was expressly warned by God not to take anything  from Jericho (see Josh 6:18). Everything was to be devoted to the Lord, since Jericho represented the ‘first-fruits ‘of Israel’s conquest into the promised land. But what does a man called Achan do?  He takes some of the devoted things. As a result God was not pleased and so Israel suffered her first defeat.  What happened?  The anatomy of his sin is well described in Joshua 7: 20 – 21: “I saw … I coveted … I took!” Where did his sin begin?  With the evil eye - with what he saw!

So here’s the heart of the matter. Jesus says that wrong thinking about material things begins with our eyes. If our eyes are good they are full of light, meaning that they are committed to do God’s will. But if the eyes are bad (evil), then this will issue in darkness. In this case it means that our “treasures’ will become  our god, and therefore we descend into darkness.

6:24  God and money?

Now the specific question about treasures arises in 6:24. Can one perhaps not serve both, God and money/possessions? No! Says Jesus – you cannot serve two masters. There will ultimately only be only one master – money or God. The problem with earthly treasures is that they demand our entire devotion. They want us to live for them in an absolute way. But so does God!  “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, strength…” (Mk.12:30).

And your heart will make a choice.   

And anything that places earthly treasures before God is called idolatry in the Bible. And God must always have the priority. “I am the Lord your God … you shall have no other gods before me…”  (Ex. 20:1,2). The Creator is always greater than the things that He created for our use and pleasure.  We must remember that the way in which we look at these created things ultimately determine our relationship with God. And if these earthly treasures control us, then we  are essentially God- less, whatever  we may say to the contrary .

Here’s a sobering  thought: The man who puts  his treasures  before  God  but  thinks  that he is godly because he  believes in God, occasionally  talks about God, gives his offerings,  goes to church once on a Sunday  when he’s in town,  may actually be even in greater danger, because in his heart he is  simply religious and not really devoted to God.  Now look at what Jesus says in the second half of 6:23:If the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness“. Do you see what Jesus is saying here? Here’s a man who claims to be a Christian. He claims to be in the light. But his heart and deeds deny him. He loves his possessions, time, and even his family (see the warning in Matthew  10:37) more than God is in danger of losing God, and if you lose God, then you lose heaven and eternal life. Such darkness is very great, says Jesus, because this man is doing this in the  light!

Conclusion

Dr Lloyd Jones tells the  story of a farmer who joyfully  announced to his family that their favourite cow had given birth to twin calves- one red and one white. And he said to his family, “I really think that we must dedicate and give one of these calves to the Lord.  When it is grown up, we will sell her and give the proceeds to the Lord‘s work.” His wife asked him which one he was going to dedicate to the Lord.  He said that he wouldn’t bother about that right now. One day, after a few months, the farmer came home, looking very sad and dejected. He said to his wife that the Lord’s calf was dead.  She said, ”But  you had not yet decided which one was the Lord’s.” He said: “Oh I had always known in my heart that it was the white one that belonged to the Lord!  The Lord’s calf is dead!“

We may laugh at the story - but we may be laughing at ourselves. It is most often the Lord’s calf that dies. When money becomes tight, the first thing that goes is the Lord’s money.  When time is tight, the first thing that disappears is our private and public  worship– spending time in God’s presence, loving Him, serving Him, doing  good for His sake , and all because we love Him who loved  us first  so much.

When we begin to constantly make excuses as to why we cannot be found in His presence,  and  when we constantly substitute our  earthly treasure for Him,  who is  our greatest treasure, then it is time to ask  whether  we will not perhaps   be those  of whom He speaks  7:21-23- “I never knew you”  

So I must ask you: What does this ultimately tell about  you? Who do you  really serve?  God or earthly treasures?



[1] Martyn Lloyd Jones: Studies in the Sermon on the Mount (IVP), Vol 2, p.86 

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