Sermon
True Treasure
April 17-18, 1999
Pastor Leighton Sheley

Thank you Lord for Your word and for the truth that is revealed therein. Lord as we now turn our attention to it, we ask Your spirit to work within us revealing profound spiritual truths. Open our eyes to see, our ears to hear, our hearts to comprehend and apply. Lord it's our desire that none of us should leave this place the same as when we entered. May it not just be an exercise of time, but that this be a moment with eternity. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

I'll invite you to take your Bibles and open to Matthew chapter 6. As a church we're studying the Sermon on the Mount. We are at verse 19 through 24, which has to do with where our treasure is, placing our treasure in heaven. The music that we selected this morning was also complementary to the message. Our choir sang about heaven and we as a congregation worshiped the Lord with these words, I want you more than gold or silver only You can satisfy. You alone are the real joy giver and the apple of my eye. And these words, You are my strength when I am weak. You are the treasure that I seek. You are my all in all. Seeking You as a precious jewel. Lord to give up I'd be a fool. You are my all in all. 

We are reading now from Matthew 6:19 and following. "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. "The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. "But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Now since the fall, mankind has become exceedingly thing oriented. We are strongly inclined to be wrapped up in seeking, and acquiring, and enjoying, and protecting whatever material possessions we can gain. In this passage Jesus addressees and corrects our view of first the nonessential and then the essential material things. Now it's important for us to understand that God desires that His people live prosperous lives. Now this is not to be confused with what is called the prosperity doctrine that is preached by some on television. 

In Deuteronomy 28 God declares through His servant, "Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. "And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God. You see God desires us to be prosperous, but those blessings are contingent upon us being obedient to God and keeping Him in His proper place. You see God wants God to be first. 

The Scriptures tell us, seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all of these things shall be added unto you. The material possessions or other earthly benefits that are accumulated by greed or dishonesty or deceit or any other immoral way, are not to be confused with those things that come from the Lord and are blessings from the Lord. Now both testaments recognize the right to material possessions including money, houses, land, clothing, tools, and every other thing that is honestly acquired. And the foundational biblical principle that underlies the commandments, thou shall not steal and thou shall not covet, is the biblical principle of personal property. 

A passage from our Declaration of Independence is based on this biblical truth. In fact, one scholar has studied the Declaration of Independence and the constitution and the fathers who wrote it and found that 94% of our nations documents are based on the scripture and either quote directly or take principles there from. The phrase, or passage, that I'm referring to is, we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

Now I've been told by a scholar that that phrase, pursuit of happiness, was substituted in the final edition of the declaration for the word property so as to not be misconstrued as an endorsement for human slavery. Stealing and coveting are wrong because what is stolen or coveted rightfully belongs to someone else, and many of the conflicts between individuals and nations are the result of greed. It's being discontent with what we have and wanting the resources of another. The Old Testament has many warnings against accumulating wealth for its own sake or pursuing it through wrong avenues. 

Proverbs 23:4 says, Do not weary yourself to gain wealth; cease from your consideration of it. And Paul proposed a proper attitude towards wealth as referenced in 1 Timothy 6:6-8 when he says, godliness is actually a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. For we brought nothing into this world, and we cannot take anything out of it either. And if we have food and covering, with these we will be content. 

Now in this passage in Matthew chapter 6, Jesus looks at materialism and particularly in reference to luxuries from three perspectives. First, a single treasure; secondly, a single vision; and thirdly, a single master. A single treasure; "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. Now the Greek word that is translated 'lay up' and 'treasures' is actually from the same basic Greek word, and it's the Greek word from which we get thesaurus, which means a treasury of words. A literal translation of this phrase would mean, do not treasure up treasures for yourselves. Now the Greek also carries with it the concept of stacking or laying out horizontally as one might stack coins, and the idea is that of hoarding. Hoarding wealth that is not being used. 

As I was inputting these notes into my computer I realized that I had an illustration sitting right in front of me because I have more than one computer. In fact, I started doing a count of the computers that I have in my office and at home, and I think I have thirteen computers and seven printers. One of the printers doesn't work so it's really six printers. None of them are state-of-the-art. All of them belong in a museum, but since my house and my office in not a museum I can't quite excuse myself for that. That is an example of hoarding. Okay. Now it's clear from this passage and many more from the scriptures that Jesus never advocates poverty as a means to spirituality. And this is important for us to understand. 

Neither poverty nor prosperity is a true indicator of spirituality. Some of the greatest men and women of God were men and women of great wealth; people like Abraham, and Moses, and Joseph, Job and Esther. And in all of His many instructions to individuals there is only once where Jesus actually told a person to sell all of his possessions and give it to the poor. The story is found in Matthew chapter 19. It's the story of the rich young ruler who came to Jesus saying, what must I do to be righteous? And Jesus said, well, and Jesus' intent was to show him how unrighteous he was, He said keep the ten commandments. And because of his spiritual blindness the man said, well, I've kept all of those since I was a child. Then Jesus said, in effect, let's start with number one. Thou shall have no other gods before Me. Now take all of your possessions, because with Jesus' insight He knew, and sell them and give the proceeds to the poor. The story tells us that the man went away sorrowfully because he had many possessions and he didn't want to sell them. They were more important to him than a right relationship with God. Now the problem wasn't the wealth itself, but rather the man's unwillingness to part with it. 

You know that the Lord never required of any of His disciples that they sell of their possessions to follow Him; although some of them did it willingly. He did require obedience no matter what the cost. Now God expects, in fact, He commands His people to be generous, and He also expects and even commands them not only to be thankful for the blessings that He provides, but also to enjoy them. 1 Timothy 6:17 says, the Lord richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. He supplies us with things for the purpose of to enjoy. Now if you were to read that portion in it's context it would read this way, Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, Who gives us richly all things to enjoy. That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, not in this world but in the world to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. 

Now this passage is specifically directed to those who are rich in this present world, but it does not command nor does it even suggest that they divest themselves of their wealth. It does warn them against being conceited or trusting in it. The Bible gives much counsel for hard work and following good business practices, and many of the proverbs give us exhortation and insight. The ant is shown as a model of a good worker who prepares her food in summer and her provision in the harvest; Proverbs 6:6-8. And we're told that in all labor there is profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty; Proverbs 14:23. And by wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established, and by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches; Proverbs 24:3-4. And he who tills his land will have plenty of food, but he who follows empty pursuits will have poverty and plenty; Proverbs 28:19. Paul tells us that parents are responsible for saving up for their children; 2 Corinthians 12:14. And that if anyone does not work neither let him eat; 2 Thessalonians 3:10. And that if anyone does not proved for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever; 1 Timothy 5:8. So it is right for us to provide for our families, to make reasonable plans for the future, to make wise investments, and have money to carry on business, give to the poor, and support the Lord's work. 

To honestly earn, save, and give is wise and good. To hoard and to spend on ourselves is not only unwise, but it is sinful. There's a key word in Jesus' warning here, and you might want to circle it in your Bibles so that you don't miss it in the future when you read through. And the word is 'yourselves'. You see, Jesus didn't say don't accumulate wealth. He said don't accumulate wealth for yourselves. When we accumulate possessions simply for ourselves, for our own sake, for our own benefit, whether it's to hoard or to spend it lavishly, those possessions become idols. Now in ancient times wealth was frequently measured in part by clothing. In our day we have whole rooms that we use for storing and protecting our clothing. We call them closets. In Jesus' day there was no such room as a closet because virtually everybody only had one set of clothes, and depending on how wealthy you were, the finer the clothes you wore, and that's why people could instantaneously on the streets be identified as being right or poor because of the quality of the clothes that they wore. Some rich people even had woven into their clothing gold threads, and the reason for this was two fold.

Number one, they wanted people to know how rich they were; and secondly, there were no banks. In fact, banks were not created until the Middle Ages. And they thought that the safest place for their wealth to be was in their clothes about them where they themselves could protect it. The finest clothes were made of wool and moths love to eat wool. Now there was another way in which wealth was stored and that was in grain. As in the parable of the rich farmer who says, I will tear down my barns and build larger ones and there I will store all of my grain and my goods. God had given him a particularly bountiful year, but rather than giving of the excess to his neighbors and those in need, he said I'm going to hoard some more, I'm going to build even bigger barns. Now the word for rust, brosis, literally means an eating and it's translated that way everywhere else in the New Testament except here. It is the picture of stored grain that is being eaten by rats, mice, worms, and insects. 

And you know, whatever wealth you might acquire in this world is constantly being eaten away. My wife and I have been making payments on a car, and we were getting down to the last six or seven or eight payments, and I was thinking wow we're running out of payments before we're running out of car. Because it's only got 30,000 miles, in fact, less than 30,000 miles on it. And then this week I find out that we're going to have to put a new engine in this car. It's constantly being eaten away. I was talking with a friend a while back and they were so excited. They said, I've only two more payments on my house and it's all mine. Then I said, are you planning on paying property taxes? You know, you miss a couple of those and you'll find out who your house really belongs to. Whatever we might accumulate in this life is constantly being eaten away. Almost any kind of wealth is subject to thieves. Sometimes even ones employed by a government. 

Now there was another way that people would store their valuables, and that is that they would dig holes in the ground in a field and they would hide their valuables. Sometimes they would hide their valuables underneath their houses. They would dig up the floors of their houses and hide it there, or hide it in the walls of their houses. And the word 'break in' is literally 'dig through' which could be a reference to digging into a field trying to find the treasure or digging through the wall of the house trying to gain entrance. And you know nothing that we acquire in this world is ever completely safe from destruction or theft, and even if we could keep our possessions perfectly secure, eventually we are going to be separated from them at death.

Our senior pastor has often observed that you don't see a hearse pulling a trailer. We came into this world naked and we're going out the same way. There're going to be many millionaires of this world who are going to be paupers in heaven, and there're many paupers of this world who are going to be millionaires in heaven. I read this illustration, or came across this illustration, it's not entirely theologically sound, but it does communicate a picture so I thought I would give it to you today. A man showed up at the gates of heaven. He was carrying a briefcase. After a considerable amount of effort and time his name was finally found in the Book of Life. It was in small print. The briefcase was inspected and found to be filled with gold bars. The man was directed to his new abode in the low rent district of heaven. As he was walking away, one of the inspector angels asked his fellow angel, why is that man carrying a briefcase full of pavement? The illustration is not entirely theologically sound, but it does communicate a picture, and the picture is this, the things that are held in such high value in the world are going to be things that are trodden under the feet when we get to heaven. 

People who give up heavenly rewards to pursue earthly gain truly have no concept of the wonders and the glories that are before us in heaven. But the wise use of our earthy resources our time, our energy, our money, our possessions; when we use those to serve others and to further the Lord's work then those build up treasures in heaven that are completely free of destruction and loss and theft. Jesus said neither moth nor rust destroys and thieves do not break in and steal. The only absolute place where we can put our wealth, our treasure, securely is in heaven. 

Now there's another insight that Jesus gives us in this passage, and that is that a persons most cherished possessions and his deepest motives and desires are inseparable. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. They're either both going to be in heaven or they're both going to be on earth. It's impossible to have your heart in heaven and your treasures on earth or vise versa. As always the heart must be right first. In fact, if the heart is right than everything else in life falls into place. A person who is right with the Lord is generous and happy and giving towards the work of the Lord. By the same token a person who is covetous and selfish and self-indulgent and stingy has a good reason to question his or her relationship with the Lord. And Jesus is not saying that if we put our treasure in right place then our heart will be in the right place, but the location of our treasure indicates where our heart already is. Spiritual problems are always heart problems. 

You know, God's principle has always been the same. Proverbs 3:9-10, Honor the Lord from your wealth, and from the first of your produce; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine. Jesus said, Luke 6:38, "Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over they will pour into your lap. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return. Paul clarified and declared in 2 Corinthians 9:6, that he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, but he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. And this is God's formula. It always has been for earning wealth in a place where it cannot be lost due to rust or theft; eternal rewards. 

Now Jesus gave a parable and it was an unusual parable because the main character was a dishonest, shrewd steward, and yet in this parable Jesus commends this dishonest steward. It seems like there is something missing, and Jesus as He closes His parable, He says this, which clarifies what it is that He is trying to communicate in this parable; Jesus says, I say to you make friends of yourselves by means of the mammon of unrighteousness that when it fails, He didn't say if, when it fails they may receive you into eternal dwellings. You see, our material possessions are unrighteousness in the sense of not having any inherent spiritual value, but when you invest them in the welfare of human souls, the people who are saved or otherwise blessed because of them, may someday greet us in heaven with thanksgiving. That's what Jesus is saying in this parable. Not only a single treasure but also a single vision; the lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness. 

Now these verses expand on the previous three, and the eye becomes an illustration of the heart. You see, the eye or the lamp or the lens is the body of the eye and it's through that that all of the light comes to us. It's the only channel of light that we possess. It's our only means of vision. Now the heart is the eye of the soul and it is through our hearts that God's truth, His peace, His love, and every other spiritual blessing is realized; and when our hearts, our spiritual eyes, are clear, then our whole body will be full of light. Now the word clear, haplous, can also mean single; and it's translated that in the King James version. An eye that is clear means single minded or single purpose. It represents a heart that has a single minded devotion. 

Now in the world we can do a case study on people who have amassed fortunes and we'll find people from all kinds of educational backgrounds, people from all kinds of social backgrounds, and there are a lot of things that are different about them, but there are some characteristics that you will find that are uniform in all of them. One of these characteristics is that that prosperous man or woman is devoted on a clearly focused purpose and plan. You know, that also applies to the spiritual. 

Bishop John Charles Ryle said, singleness of purpose is one great secret of spiritual prosperity. Now, if our eye is bad, damaged, or diseased, no light can enter and the whole body will be full of darkness. If our hearts are distracted because of material concerns then they become blind or insensitive to spiritual matters. Now the word bad is poneros which usually means evil, and is translated as such in the King James version. In the Septuagint which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament it is often used in translating the Hebrew expression, evil eye. A Jewish colloquialism that refers to a person who is stingy and selfish. A man with an evil eye is one who hastens after wealth, and the eye that is bad is the heart that is selfish. The person who is materialistic and greedy. 

The principle that Jesus communicates here is very simple and straightforward and it is that the way that we perceive, that way that we look at, the way that we use our money and other resources is a sure barometer, or measurement, of our spiritual condition. And not only a single treasure and a single vision, but also a single master. Matthew 6:24; No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Now this relates to an allegiance to masters. The word there is kurios which means lord, it really means slave owner. Now we have a different paradigm in western civilization. We have an employer employee relationship, although some people might refer to their employer as a slave owner, but it is a different concept altogether. You see, as an employer employee relationship we provide a certain given number of hours and certain projects need to be accomplished certain tasks and so forth in exchange for certain compensation. When we fulfill that obligation we are free to go. Many people, especially in this area, and especially in this day and age actually have two employers, or sometimes three. Now that's different than a kurios, a lord, a slave owner. You see by definition a slave is one who is owned entirely. Everything that they have or they think they might have, every skill that they might have, all of their strength, all of their mental abilities, everything that they have, everything that they are is owned completely by one other; the slaver owner, the lord, the kurios. No man, no slave, can have two owners. It's against the definition. 

Now in the New Testament Christian are sometimes referred to as bond slaves or bond servants. A bond slave or a bond servant is different than a slave. You see, in order to be brought into slavery it's always against the persons desires and it could be as the result of a military exchange in which the losers are enslaved by the winners. It could be because someone has done something against society and society has indicated for a certain period of time, or for life, that person is going to be enslaved. Or a person might have been overcome with debt and as a result of that debt for a certain period of time, or for life, they are put into slavery. But a bond servant is one who chooses his master. Perhaps he has been a slave for a period of time, but he's had an opportunity to work with that master and he's built a relationship of trust in that master, that that master really desires the best for that servant, will provide for that servant, will care for that servant, and so forth. The servant chooses to place himself entirely in the care of that master; a bond servant. Now we cannot claim Christ is our Lord, our kurios, if we have an allegiance that is to anything or anyone else, including ourselves. When we know what God's will is and we resist it, we do have reason to question the veracity and the validity of Jesus Christ actually being our Lord. We can't have two masters. We can only serve one. And you know, the masters that Jesus identifies here are God and mammon. And these two masters are diametrically opposed and mutually exclusive. They cannot peacefully coexist. 

Let me see if I can illustrate. The One commands us to walk by faith, the other commands us to walk by sight. The One calls us to be humble, and the other calls us to be proud. The One calls us to set our mind on things above, the other calls us to set our mind on things below. One calls us to love light, the other calls us to love darkness. The One tells us that we should look towards those things which are unseen and eternal, the other is constantly pointing us in the direction of those things which are seen and which are temporary. John Calvin said where riches hold the dominion of the heart, God has lost His authority. You know our treasure is either in one place, it's either in heaven or on earth; and we can only have one master, it's either God or mammon. Now, while we're here in this passage let's look at one last portion. Jesus says, "but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.

You know, there's an ancient fable of some merchants. Three merchants that were crossing the Arabian Desert in a caravan. Now they traveled in darkness because of the intense heat of the mid-day sun, and as they were traveling on one dark moonless night they were passing over a dry creek bed when a voice cried out to them from the darkness ordering them to stop. In fear they did as they were told, and they were told that they would stoop and pickup pebbles and put them in their pockets, and they did this. Then after they had obeyed this order they were told to leave and could camp nowhere near the place. The voice also told them that the next morning they would be both happy and sad. Shaken and confused they traveled through the night, but when morning came the travelers looked into their pockets and rather than finding the pebbles as expected they found instead precious jewels. And the statement that had been made to them the night before that they would be both happy and sad was true, for they were quite happy that they'd picked up the jewels, but they were sad that while they had enjoyed the opportunity they had not picked up many, many more. And such will be the condition of many on judgment day. For though this life is short, it is not insignificant. For it is in this life that God gives us the opportunity to prepare our heavenly treasure. I'm going to invite you right now to close your eyes and bow your heads. We've asked the Lord to come, His Holy Spirit to minister to us and reveal to us truth, to change us. And in just a moment of silence let's each of us, individually, contemplate and pray, meditate on the Lord, listen to what He's saying to us.

Lord, it's so rare when we stop and pause because this whole world's system is designed to keep us busy, distracted from things unseen. From the moment we rise in the morning to the sound of the alarm, till we lay down at night with our head swimming with the conversations and activities of the day. This world provides so many distractions. Lord we thank you that we can gather together in Your name, fellow saints, and be reminded to think about those things which are unseen. Those things which are eternal. Lord we prayed that none of us should leave this place the same, that Your spirit might minister to us and work within us, open to us, reveal to us areas where You want us to change, and then Lord, change us we pray. We don't want to resist because we know that Your desires for us are good. You want to change us into the image of Jesus Christ. Lord, so many times we fail. So many times we sin. Lord, when we sin and we confess our sin, You are faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Your mercies are new every morning. Lord thank you, for You who are so holy and mighty are so merciful to us who are so unholy. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. Let's stand.

Lord as we go forth from this place this day we do so to serve You. Lord help us to be sensitive to the presence and to the leading of Your Holy Spirit, to the opportunities that You give us to impact lives, to communicate the gospel, the good news of Your kingdom. The opportunities that You lead us to store up treasures in heaven. Help us be sensitive. Thank you Lord for working through us and in us. In Jesus' name we pray. And together we say, amen. God bless you.