Sermon
Banking With The Bank Of Heaven
September 11-12, 1999
Pastor Donald Sheley

I'd like for you to take your Bibles and join with me. Almost for a year now we've been studying the Sermon on the Mount. And we've arrived in Matthew's gospel 6:19. We spent time with Jesus in His words as He talked to us at the beginning of chapter 6 about the matter of giving. He said when you give you do it with a sense of sacredness. It's not to be, you're not to blast a trumpet and tell how much you give. Don't even let your right hand know what your left hand is doing. So He said giving is very sacred. Keep it that way. But then He got into the subject of prayer and He said don't be like the hypocrites who make a show of it. He said when you go pray you find a closet, close the door, and it's between you and God. And then we spent about three months going through the Lord's Prayer almost word for word, and it has much deeper meaning to us now. 

We've learned it really is the disciple's prayer. It's the prayer we pray. Last Lord's Day we took up the subject of fasting because that's what Jesus talked about, and now we've come to a new subject. It's verse 19, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth. That's an interesting word, lay up. It's the picture of a miser talking his coins and stacking them in piles in front of him in the sprit of hording. It says don't lay up for yourselves treasures here 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, now great is that darkness! 

Jesus said as you view things what you think, sometimes what we think we think is right, we think it's truth, we think it's honest and then we wake up to the fact that the light that we thought was light was really darkness there was no truth to it. And how dark is that falsehood. And what Jesus was saying is it's going to be a sad day because there are going to be those who thought that what they believed was true to wake up and find that it was a lie. Every time I read that verse I think of the millions of people around the world who are religious and they go through all kinds of expressions they call religion, and yet, they do not have a living relationship with Jesus Christ and when it's all over they'll end up in hell, and all the time thinking that what they thought was light was darkness. 

And Jesus said when we think of light make sure it truly is light because there's nothing more tragic than believing a lie and then staking your soul on it. Then He goes on, "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, you cannot serve God and mammon (money). It's impossible. If there's any sin that seems to dominate our society it is the pursuit of material things. It's making things so important that they take the place of God and righteousness. 

In recent years the Muslims have used the phrase, the great Satan to express their feeling about the West, and specifically about we who live in the United States. Philip Yancy, one of the great writers of today, points out that when Muslims think of us they're thinking of our materialism. The disciples of Islam tend to view us as being obsessively concerned with this life and not with eternity to come. 

John White is a great writer. His book is entitled 'Money Is Not God'. That's what he says. Once God ceases to be God in our lives, eternity fades in importance even in Christian thinking we become materialists both philosophically and behaviorally. And at that point the sway to a deity lord mammon takes over our thinking and controls our wills and the philosophical deception is satanic. Our actions come to reflect lord mammon whom we now worship. To changing the object of worship from God to things John White said is satanic.

As you know a couple weeks ago I spent time in Dallas. Now Dallas' spiritual atmosphere is much different than here. That's the Bible belt and this is Sodom and Gomorrah. And I was amazed that you could turn on your television any time of the day or the night and there were at least half a dozen television stations broadcasting Christian messages or services from churches, and I thought now this is interesting. So after a couple days I got sick, sick of religious television. I got nauseated. You know why? Because most of those TV preachers had one message, the prosperity gospel. I mean if you're really spiritual you're going to be rich. You're going to have everything. God's obligated to give it to you. And their churches are jammed. What they preach is a lie. There's no truth to it. And when preachers direct the attention of people to things away from God he's a false prophet. 

Mark it well. You see men, human beings, are naturally thing oriented. We're strongly inclined to be wrapped up in seeking, acquiring, enjoying, and protecting material possessions. Mankind has not changed. It's always been that way. Jesus in Luke 16:14 was describing the Pharisees. They were the religious leaders of the day. And he says to them; And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him. And He said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. That's what Jesus had to say about religious leaders in His day, covetous. They wanted material things. Annas and Caiaphas who were the high priests during Jesus' ministry became extremely wealthy from the many concessions that they ran at the church that they licensed in the temple. It was these concessions that Jesus twice cleansed in the temple. You see, those religious leaders set up these booths.

Say I'm traveling all the way from Athens and I brought my little lamb, but by the time I arrive at the temple they're not going to let me put my lamb up on the altar. I've got to take and exchange that lamb for one that the priest has blessed, and in the exchange I've got to pay a fair price. And they won't even let me put in my denarias because I'm from Athens and that's what I brought to the temple. I can't even put in my coins because they have to be changed into temple coins before I can make a contribution to the offering. And in the exchange rate the priests pocketed a great fee. It was corrupt to the core, and that's why Jesus said, you've made My house a house of merchandise and you've made it a den of thieves! Something that was intended to be sacred, precious, and lovely had become ugly because the object of worship is not God now but things. 

Jesus was deeply concerned that we have a godly and a righteous view of material things so He talked much about it in His public ministry. What I'd like to do today is I'm not interested in telling you what Sheley thinks about material things, I want you to hear what Jesus thinks about it. So I want you to take a journey with me. We're going to go through the gospels quickly. We're going to pick out areas where Jesus picked up on the subject of material things, and we're going to find out what He says. 

Go with me first of all to Matthew 16. I'd like for all of you to have a Bible and follow along with me because we're going to read a lot of scriptures today. We're just going to find out what Jesus thinks of material blessings. We're in Matthew 16:24  in your Bible. Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. 

Jesus says that every one of us has something so precious that is far surpasses the wealth of all the world. We've got a soul, and then He asked that searching question, would you sell your soul? Judas did for seventeen bucks, thirty pieces of silver, and it's an amazing thing what people will sell their soul for, something that lasts only for a moment of time. So Jesus said if you want to consider wealth folks, you've got something, your soul, that exceeds the wealth of the world. 

Let's go to another one. Matthew 19:16 says, Now behold, one came and said to Him, "Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" So He said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but one, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments." He said to Him, "Which ones?" Jesus said, "'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not steal', 'You shall not bear false witness,' 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" The young man said to Him, "All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?" Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Then Jesus said to His disciples, "Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. "And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." When his disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, "Who then can be saved?" But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." So Jesus said wealth is a tremendous barrier into getting into the kingdom. Why? Because it's easier to trust in what you hold than what you don't see. 

I had a wealthy friend. He was the president of a bank. He lived in a multi-million dollar mansion in the Piedmont in the Oakland hills. I visited with him often, ate at his table, and we talked long hours. One night he said to me, Pastor, you know what the difference between you and me is? I have money, you don't. That isn't very profound. But he said I'll tell you what, with poverty your alternatives are always limited, but with wealth you have far more alternatives and with those alternatives you've got a lot more decisions to work out. He said I just have to make more decisions than you do, and the problem is if you make those decisions wrong. That's the only difference Pastor. And oft times this young man with his wealth made his decisions. He decided I'm not going to give it up. If that's what it cost to follow Jesus then count me out. That's his decision. Jesus said it's hard. It's hard when a rich man holds something that to him he can trust in than to put your trust in something you cannot see. 

Let's go to another one. Mark 12:41. Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans (about half a cent). So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them. "Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; "for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood." So now Jesus is looking over this whole issue of giving and He's making an observation at the treasury, and then He says to His disciples, who gave the most? He said I'll show you the difference. These people all gave out of their abundance. Now when you give from your abundance you don't really give you just add to the collection. Because from your abundance, when you give from your abundance when you go home tomorrow you're not going to change your lifestyle. What you gave is not in any way affect the house your live in, the car you drive. And Jesus said that this little lady really did give because it cost her something. She's not going to have bread tomorrow and she's not going to have tea on Tuesday because she gave her livelihood. Now what's Jesus saying? You really don't give until it costs you something. Well now that one gets real deep on me. We give out of our abundance, but it doesn't affect our livelihood hardly a bit. Only when we give in sacrifice have we truly given. So most of us have never given. Boy that's interesting. 

Go with me to Luke 6:38. We're just going through the Scriptures seeing what Jesus thought about things. Look at verse 38 in your Bible. "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use it will be measured back to you." Jesus said with the same measure you give that's the same measure that's going to be poured back. Paul said you plant sparingly and you're going to get a little, tiny, puny crop. And you spill out those seeds by the bushels and you'll get a big harvest. Jesus is saying the same thing. Give and it shall be given to you. People say, but I have to get before I give. That's not what Jesus said. He said you give first.

I had somebody say to me a few years ago, Pastor, when I win the lotto I'll start giving. I said, no you won't because the same covetous nature that controls your nickel will control your millions. You see giving is something that flows from the heart, and I give and God says as I give with the measure that I give He'll pour back into my live. That's what Malachi says in 3:8,9 and 10. He said you tithe and He'll open up the window of heaven and pour out on you a blessing you cannot contain. You'll start telling God, God, stop that thing. Turn off the faucet. So Jesus said you give and it shall be given, but most of us wait to get before we give. It's interesting to see giving, monetary things, through the eyes of Jesus, isn't it? 

Go with me to another one. Luke chapter 8. Now this is the story that Jesus tells. It's the parable about the sower who went forth to sow, and now verse 11 He gives the explanation to the parable. He says, "Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. "Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. "But the ones on the rock are those who when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. "Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. Jesus said if our attitude isn't right towards material things, I mean, we'll lose spiritual truth as well. It says that the word is choked. It doesn't bring forth anything in our lives when we let material things affect our attitude. 

Let's go to another one. Go with me to Luke 12:13 through 34. Verse 13 says, Then one from the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." Boy don't I hear that one. Just the other day somebody came and said, Pastor, you know, my bother got more than I got and I'm going to take him to court. These inheritances divide more families. It's sad. Jesus had to deal with it. He said to him, "Man. I didn't know Jesus was a southerner. "Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?" And He said to them, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses." Things don't make life. That's why I get angry at these preachers who tell you to search for things, seek for things, that God's obligated to give you things. Jesus said, look at, life is not made up with possessions. 

Some years ago a man came to our church and over a few weeks he came forward and gave his life to Christ. And then one day he said, Pastor, I'd like to take you to lunch. I said, okay. He drives up in front with his big El Dorado convertible and he said; I'd like to take you for a ride first. I said, okay. He took me to Hillsborough, down here where all these millionaires live in these mansions on those crooked streets,  and he drove to one of those corners. He parked his car and said, Pastor, do you see that mansion over there. I said yeah. He said that's mine. He said do you see those two children playing there in the yard. I said yes. He said they're mine. Their nurse was there with them. He said, Pastor, they were mine. I lost them in a divorce and I'm refrained by law of being with my children, and he started to cry. And through those tears he looked at me and said, Pastor, my wallet is full but my heart is empty. You ask him if things make up life, and he'll agree with Jesus. Life doesn't consist with what you have. 

Well look. Jesus went on to say, "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. "And he thought within himself, saying, "What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?" "So he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. 'And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry." "But God said to him, 'Fool!' This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?" Once your breath is gone all your wealth somebody else will fight over, and then He added. "So is he who lays up treasure for himself. He who deposits in the bank of life here on earth is not rich toward God. Ahh, he's banked at the wrong bank. Put his deposit in the wrong deposit. That's what Jesus said. Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. But here's one that fascinates me. 

Come with me to Luke 16. This whole chapter is on giving and it is an amazing chapter. I can imagine Jesus telling this parable. Look at what He says. He also said to His disciples: "There was a certain rich man who had a steward. That's a guy who takes care of his bankbook. And an accusation was brought to him that this man was cheating. He was stealing from the treasury. He was wasting his goods. "So he called him and said to him, I'm going to get an auditor, a CPA firm, and we're going to check you out, and frankly you're fired. That's my translation. "Then the steward said within himself, 'What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg. I know what I'll do. That when I am put out of this place I'll have a place to go. "So he called every one of his master's debtors to him, and said to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' "And he said, 'A hundred measures of oil.' So he said to him 'Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.' "Then he said to another, 'And how much do you owe?' So he said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.' And he said to him, "Take your bill, and write eighty.' Scoundrel. He's stealing from his boss. 

Look at what Jesus says, "So the master commended the unjust steward. Can't you see an employer saying thanks for stealing $5,000.00 from me? But that's not the point. Here's the point. It's the next sentence. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. What's Jesus saying? If we gave as much attention to the eternal as the worldling does to protecting himself in his world, we'd be far more effective in our spiritual goals. He's saying, here's a man that's going to spend his time, he's going to cheat, he's going to steal for himself. Yet we as Christians who know truth and have eternity in view, if we would give as much energy towards spiritual things as the wicked man does towards his sin, we'd be far more effective Christians. That's interesting. "And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fall, they may receive you into an everlasting home."

What Jesus says, the wise man is to take what he's got and wisely spend it so he has the greatest benefit. Well how's he do that? Well, "He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much: and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Jesus said there's a character that doesn't change with substance. If a man cheats and he's got a nickel he's going to cheat if he's got five million. That's his character. And then Jesus went on to say, "Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?" Now that is an insight because what Jesus is saying, look at, if you can't be trusted to handle material possessions, how do you think God's going to trust you with spiritual things? And the thing that bothers me about that is that He's connected my spirituality with the way I handle money. Isn't that what He's done? And you see what He is saying is if I am not going to handle material possessions in a proper and godly way, God's not going to give to me spiritual blessings. In other words He's saying, you and I should consider this whole matter of what we give as sacred.

When we get our check and we sit down at the table with our measure, we say God, I want to thank you for this check and I thank you for giving me the health and the mental ability of being able to make this money. I want You to know God we're partners in this and I want to honor You in the way I spend it. That's turning what I have, the material possessions, into something that very sacred.

I told you that my father was a very poor man. He only went to the forth grade. He piled, stacked lumber in a lumberyard for fifty cents an hour. He was out of a job during the depression during the 30s. For four years he begged for food to feed his little family. I was one for whom he begged. And one day he went to church and God changed his life and changed his character, and he got a job, and I remember his first payroll check he worked 60 hours, 6 days, 10 hours a day, fifty cents an hour. And as a little boy four years of age I can still see him bringing home that check. He went down to the Red and White grocery store cashed it, $30.00 was a lot of money. We didn't have shoes on our feet and there was no food in the cupboard. My daddy took out the $3.00 that belonged to God put it in an envelope and he said, Hazel, that was my mother's name, Hazel I'm going over to the Pastor. I want to give this to the church. 

My father died owning nothing. He never owned a home, only had a suit which we buried him in a coffin, but he died a billionaire. He raised five boys who he taught to love Jesus. And out of that family this morning seven of his flock are preaching the word of God. My dad knew where to put the treasures. He didn't have much here on earth, but he deposited his life in our lives as kids. Jesus said you're a fool if you just live for time. 

Let's go to the last one, here are our instructions. We've read a lot of Scriptures today, haven't we? Here's 1 Timothy chapter 6:6  in your Bible. This will give us our closing instructions for the day. Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing in this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. We'll not go out with a U-Haul trailer attached to our funeral car. I had a man who works at the cemetery in the last service and I said, Rick, you've never seen a funeral procession with a U-Haul trailer on it have you? That's what old Paul said. I came in naked. I'm going to go out naked. Then so he said if you've got food and clothing be content. But those who desire, those who desire to be rich fall unto temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

So go down with me to verse 17. So here's Paul, this is going to sum it all up. He said, Command those who are rich in this present age, now all of us are rich here today, in comparison to the wealth of the world, you and I are wealthy. So this verse is for all of us, okay? So we who are rich in this age are not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Paul thank you for putting that in there. Paul says God blesses some of us with a lot. Some of us have wonderful jobs and beautiful homes and nice cars. God loves blessing us. He does it so we can enjoy it, but also it's how we handle what we got. 

Here's what Paul says to do. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works. There're the deposits of heaven. Ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. Now we do that. You know when we get to heaven there are going to be some of those Ukrainian people walk up to us and we've been building that Bible school and supporting those Ukrainian students, and over 500 have come to know Jesus. One of those students now has a church of over 6,000 members. And some of those folks are going to walk up to us on that eternal day and they're going to say, you don't know me and I don't know you, I'm from the Ukraine, but you supported a missionary and that missionary touched my life and I became a Christian. I'm in heaven today. 

Someone else is going to walk up and say; when I was in the depths of despair and despondency you came to me with a word of encouragement. You showed some love to me. You cared and now I'm here. Thank God for your love. That's a treasure. That's a treasure. So when I wake up each morning now as I get close to the end of my journey, I'm saying God, how can I make a deposit in heaven today? Who can I show love to? Who can I do a kindness for? What can I do that's going to count for eternity? 

The other day a boy, no he's not a boy he's a man now, no he's not a man he's an old man, 57 years of age. Years ago Larry was in Soledad Prison spending time for being a dope dealer on the streets of San Francisco. And Larry gave his life to Jesus in Soledad and when he got out I brought him here, and we trained him into being a preacher. You say, turning our young people over to criminals. Sure, he was the best pastor you could have had. He knew what to tell kids to stay away from. He was successful in his ministry then I lost track of Larry. He moved to Southern California. He walks into my office the other day and says, Pastor. Larry, where have you been all these years? He said, Pastor, I've been working on the streets and the people in the gutter down in Los Angles. I say that's wonderful. He said, but I stopped by to tell you, he said, you know I'm an Assyrian man and I have a burden and God's called me to go to Bulgaria, and I want to be a missionary. I say well how can I help? He said you can help me. 

Larry, because the people of our church have been gracious and they're giving there's an extra $1,000.00 in the missionary fund, here's your check. Now one of these days when you and I get to heaven, because it was your money that was sent, some man from Bulgaria is going to walk up and say thank you that you sent Larry to tell me the gospel. Jesus said if you live for time, you're a fool. Old G. Campbell Morgan the great English preacher said we live like children of time instead of acting as men and women of eternity. We're just like little children playing with little toys, but we're really not children of time we're men and women of eternity. And Jesus said make sure you make some deposits there. Amen.

Let's stand. Lord Jesus, what a joy it is to be in Your house and we know just what You think about material things. Now help us to be doers of the word and not just hearers only. Thank you Jesus, and everybody said, amen. God bless you.