Treasures In Heaven

When Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb in 1879, it was a game changer. Right? A breakthrough event, a market disrupter. Imagine with me for a moment if you were an executive at an oil- lamp company in 1879, and this new-fangled lightbulb comes on the scene and they’re like, “Who needs them? (You know?) We’ve gotten on just fine with oil as I can remember. It was good enough for grandma. It’s good enough for me. It’s just a fad. It’ll come and go. Just trust me. Wait and see!”

Or imagine if you were a manager at the Kodak Film Company when people started talking about these filmless “digital” cameras. Or let’s say you were an editor at one of the major newspapers and you started hearing rumors about something called “social media” that was going to forever change how content is distributed.

In these breakthrough moments, these game-changing events, these market disruptions, most people double-down on what’s familiar, don’t they? And they’re slow to adapt to the new realities at hand and they miss the moment. But if you’re a savvy investor and you see the breakthrough moment, you understand its opportunity, the potential, and you get in early, it can be a huge advantage because in a breakthrough moment you’ve got to get in on it early if you want to reap the rewards. Right?

Now friends, the coming of Jesus Christ is the greatest breakthrough moment the world has ever seen. It’s an utter game-changer. It is a cosmic-disruption event.

In Matthew 4:17 Jesus says, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Stop everything you’re doing. Stop! The way you’re living, the whole way you’re doing… Like, turn it around, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. It’s right here. It’s on offer. Just reach out. Take my hand. It can be yours. Come to me, believe in me, follow me and step into the abundant life of the kingdom of heaven, because in Jesus, friends, the kingdom of heaven is breaking through into reality. It’s established a beachhead of the new creation. And Jesus is inviting you and me, each one of us, to follow Him into this game-changing reality, into this cosmic disruption, into this breakthrough moment, and it’s the opportunity of a lifetime. You have a chance to get in on the ground floor of the greatest kingdom the world will ever see in this breakthrough moment, and each one of us have a choice. Will we keep on investing our time and our energy and our resources in the kingdom of Earth, or will we see this breakthrough for what it is? Will we understand the opportunity that is before us? Will we get in early and invest our time, talent and treasure, invest our lives in the Kingdom of Heaven because in a breakthrough moment like this you’ve got to get in on it early if you want to reap the rewards. So I don’t know about you, but I want in, and Jesus is going to show us the way to invest this morning.

So grab your Bibles. We’re going to be in Matthew, chapter 6, verses 19 down to 24. This is page 811 in your pew Bible there if you want to join us in that book. Matthew, chapter 6, verses 19 down to 24.

It feels like these three paragraphs have nothing to do with each other, but they’re all related. I’m going to show you that this morning.

Matthew 6, verse 19: “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.”

Matthew 6:22: “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!”

Matthew 6:24: “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

Thanks be to the Lord for the reading of His Word.

So these three paragraphs, each, if you notice, have a contrasting pair.

• We’ve got the two treasures.
• We’ve got the two eyes, and
• we have the two masters.

That’s our outline for this morning. Simple, descriptive!

• Two treasures
• Two eyes
• Two masters

Each one of these pairs shows us deep insight into what it means to invest ourselves and our lives in the kingdom of heaven.

As we get ready to jump in, would you bow your head. Let’s pray together.

Father, we ask that you would disrupt our world this morning, the way we live, the way we spend, the way we invest, the way we live our lives. Bring it all under the reality of the kingdom of heaven, and the power and lordship of Jesus Christ. We pray this in His name and for His sake, Amen. Amen.

So first, The Two Treasures. In some ways, Jesus is taking on the role here of an investment advisor. You’re sitting down. “I have these assets. What should I do with them, Jesus?” And He’s going to give you some advice. Well, first of all, verse 19: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth.”

So literally, “Do not stockpile treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. I don’t recommend that particular investment vehicle. It’s too shortsighted. It’s too fragile. It’s too prone to losses.”

Okay, well then, where would you allocate the resources, Jesus? Verse 20: “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” I want you to invest where it’s durable. Right? Where it will last.

Why Jesus? Why do you care so much about our resources and our investing of our lives and everything that we have? Verse 21: “For where your treasure is, they your heart will be also.”

Jesus is saying, “Look, if you’re thinking about stockpiling treasures on Earth...” What would that look like? Two houses, big fat bank accounts, diversified portfolios, asset management. “If you want to spend your life playing that game,” Jesus says, “I’d advise against it.” First of all because it’s bad for your investments because your investments are vulnerable. They can be devoured. They can be corroded. They can be pilfered. You know, you save up something, and all of a sudden inflation comes along and erodes your earning power, or the recession comes and devours a huge chunk of your nest egg, or hackers come in and loot your cryptocurrency holdings. I read the news! And it’s temporary. You can’t take any of this stuff with you. Remember you are a soul. You are made for eternity and none of this stuff ports from this world into the next. None of it matters an ounce in the light of eternity. In heaven they pave the roads with gold. The whole point...Look, your most protected asset strategy is pavement in the new creation. You just walk on it. Okay?

So it all shatters in dust, this stuff.

“But, my bigger concern,” Jesus would say (the second thing here) is it’s bad for your heart. Not just is it bad for your investments. It’s bad for your heart because where your treasure is there your heart will be also. And if you tether your heart to these vulnerable, temporary earth-bound treasures, you are setting yourself up for a soul-wrenching ride because our treasure is our trajectory. Our treasure is our trajectory.” Jesus says, “Look, if the treasure of your life is an earthly one, if that’s where you find significance (Like I matter ‘cause I’ve got all this stuff.’) well, if that’s where you find security (‘Cause I know I’m safe because I’ve got all this stuff.), or if that’s where you find satisfaction in life, (I’m fulfilled because I’ve got stuff.), if that’s where your heart is tethered, the trajectory of your soul is heart-wrenching, soul-wrenching because you’ll never have enough to prove to the world how much you are worth. Someone will always have more than you, and you’ll always be anxious about losing what you do have, and you’ll never feel safe. And all the things you buy will never really make you fulfilled and happy in the end. You’ll be on the next thing before you know it.

And wealth isn’t the only kind of earthly treasure we can live for. Our hearts might lay up treasure in all kinds of things. We might treasure popularity or power or celebrity or beauty or intellect or athleticism or fashion or politics. And all of it, friends, all of it, all of it is unstable. All of it is transient. All of it is fragile. All of it is fleeting and unreliable and temporary, and if you live, if you put the weight of your life on the foundation of all these kinds of earthly treasures, tapping our significance, security, and satisfaction in these things, it’ll swell your heart whenever you’re on the way up, and it will crush your heart on the way down because you can’t hold onto it forever.

Earthly treasures make our hearts anxious when we have them because we can lose them, and they make our hearts depressed and angry and jealous and bitter when we don’t them. And in the end, we can’t take any of it with us. And where will our hearts be then? Do you see?

Jesus says in Matthew 16:26, “For what will it profit a man (or a woman) if they gain the whole world and forfeit their souls?” But if you invest instead of in earthly things but in heavenly treasures...Heavenly treasures are different. They’re durable. They are incorruptible. They’re secure. They are lasting. They are resilient. They are strong. The are enduring. If your heart is tethered to heavenly treasures, you get an entirely different trajectory. Your life can be unwavering and resilient and steadfast and forever.

If the treasure of our life isn’t earthly but heavenly, if that’s where we find our significance, then we matter because God Himself knows our name, because we are children of God with an inheritance, that can never perish, spoil or fade, that is kept in heaven for us forever. If that’s where we find our security, that we’re safe, we’re forever held in the loving arms of our Father who will never leave us and never forsake us, who has sealed us by the Holy Spirit, and keeps us for his Son Jesus Christ for all time and eternity. If that’s where we find our satisfaction, then we’re fulfilled because we’ve tasted and seen that the Lord is good, that in His presence are fullness of joy and at His right hand are pleasures forevermore, and even now Jesus is preparing a place where we will forever be with the Lord in the presence of His ever-expansive joy, always inviting us further up and further in for all eternity.

Friends, a heart tethered to that kind of treasure can weather all kinds of storms in life, the ballast in the bottom of the boat. It keeps you steady in the chaos of the waters around you, resilient, steadfast, hopeful, enduring. Jesus says, “Look, choose your life’s treasure wisely because your treasure is your trajectory.” Your treasure is your trajectory! The two treasures!

Next, let’s look: The Two Eyes. The Two Eyes.

Verse 22: “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!”

Now this is an ancient idiomatic expression and it simply does not translate very well into our modern day setting, does it? At first glance it’s really a bit confusing, but let’s wee if I can shed some light on it. (chuckles) See what I did there. Okay! All right!

In first-century Judaism, the eye was considered to be something of a two-way window between the inner person and the outer-world. So the eyes did two things. The first thing is the eyes let the light of the world on the outside in. It let the light in. So you see with your eyes. You’re taking in reality. You’re drinking in the world as it really is so that you can navigate it. And if you have a healthy eye you can see, the light comes in, you can be sure-footed in life in acting wise ways because you see the light. And if your eye is bad, if it is clouded, if it’s blinded, then you spend your life unable to see, and you’re prone to maybe stumbling around. That’s one way.

The eye works the other way. The eyes also let the light of the inner person out. It’s interesting. The eyes...If you think about it, the eye reveals what’s going on inside someone. If you want to know if someone’s lying, where do you look? You look at their eyes, don’t you? And you go, “I don’t know about this guy.” If you want to know if someone is pleased, if they’re angry, if they’re worried, if they’re confused, if they’re disappointed, you look at their eyes.

Have you ever seen someone smile with their mouth, but not with their eyes? (laughter) Right? The eye doesn’t lie. The eye shows what’s going on in the inside. Sales people know to watch the eyes of their customers, what are they drawn, what are they attracted by, what are they gazing on, what are they longing for, what are they desirous of? And a sales person, a good sales person can tell what your heart wants by just watching your eyes. And the eye can stir up the inside of us, if you think about it, what they attend to, what they linger on, what they gaze after.

A healthy eye looks on the world with generous love and is therefore full of light. But a bad eye looks on the world with greed and lust and discontentment and is therefore full of darkness. The ancient Semitic peoples called this the “evil eye,” the evil eye. That’s the phrase exactly that Jesus is using here. It is the greedy eye, the lustful eye, the ravishing, wanting, desirous, selfish eye, the eye that’s always out for whatever it can get.

Jesus is saying there are two ways to live in the world, two ways to see in the world. You can walk through life with an eye to take whatever you can get for yourself. Money, sex, power, fame, stuff! If that’s what you’re fixated on, if that’s what your eye lingers on, if that’s what you’re staring at, your eye is actually bad. It’s greedy and selfish. It’s not to be trusted. You’re actually stumbling around in the darkness if your eye is like that, tripping all over the place, and you’re ruining your life. And all that darkness is messing you up, not just on the outside, but on the inside as well, because the darkness has gotten inside you. And it distorts your soul, and it deadens your spirit, and it darkens your sight. And you go through life living like an orphan, fending for yourself, living on your own, taking whatever you can get to survive.

Or you can walk through life like a child of God, with an eye for what you can give to the world. Instead of looking to your own interests only, you can also look to the interests of others. And you see the world is full of good gifts from your Father, who loves you, and loves to give good gifts to you, His gifts.

And with your eyes wide open to the realities of heaven and Earth, your eye is healthy. Your whole being is full of light. And you are healthy, and whole and illuminated on the inside. And you can live in a sure-footed way in reality because our beholding is our becoming. Our beholding is our becoming.

Friends, what we see, what we savor, what we admire and adore and yearn after, and long for, and gaze upon, and worship shapes the character of our inner-life far more than we realize.

Some of us will remember the 2005 commencement address that David Foster Wallace gave at Kenyon College. It kind of went viral before viral was an actual thing. This is what he said in that commencement address, an excerpt.

“In the day-to-day trenches of adult life there’s actually no such thing as atheism. There’s no such thing as not worshiping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god to worship is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough. You will never feel you have enough. It’s the truth. Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly. And when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you. Worship power, and you will end up feeling weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to numb you to your own fear. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart, and you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out.”

Friends, do you hear what he’s saying? He’s saying we can’t help but worship. We can’t help but live for something bigger than ourselves. We can’t help but keep our eyes from adoring something. But we do get to choose where we gaze. We do get to choose what we worship. And Jesus says, “Choose your life’s focus wisely because your beholding is your becoming.” Your beholding is your becoming.

The two treasures, the two eyes, and now finally, the two masters, the two masters.

Verse 24, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

Whatever we treasure in life, friends, draws our hearts in. That’s what Jesus is saying. Whatever we gaze upon in life shapes our souls profoundly. Whatever we worship in life will win our allegiance because our loyalty is our lifestyle. Our loyalty is our lifestyle. We serve what we seek. We live for what we long for, and make no mistake, we’re all giving our lives in service of something. If you want to live for your career, you will give much of your life to have it. If you want to live for wealth, you will give much of your life to have it. If you want to live for fame, you will give much of your life to have it. If you want to live for stuff, you will give much of your life to have it. It will master you, hour-by-hour, day-by-day, week-after week, year-after-year. You will trade your life, your precious one life, in exchange for a small pile of earthly treasures. It will cost you everything you have.

 But did you know that God is the only Master who, when you serve Him with your life, you get your life back. Did you know that? That God is the only Master that, when you serve Him with your life, you actually get your life back? When you serve Him, you become a person of love, (applause) which is where you want to be anyway. When you depend on Him, you become alive as a child of God in a way you can never imagine. When you give yourself away to Him, you find yourself becoming fulfilled in ways you can’t even dream of. When you lose your life in Christ, you find it. You get it back. Every other master takes your life from you, but this master lays down His own life so that you might get your life back forever. (applause) Utterly different! And notice how Jesus just takes away the middle ground. You can’t serve God and money. You can’t sit on the fence. You’re going to have to choose.

Most of us try to spend our lives not choosing. We try to think, “I just want a little wealth, a little success, a little getting ahead, a little earthly treasure, and I’ll serve Jesus too, and I’ll just sort of try to do dual reporting thing. And I’ll have two bosses, two masters. I’ll live with two treasures, and my eyes are split—one good and one bad. I’m going to try to...I’m just do a dual line, you know, here.” We have matrixes in all of our organizations, dotted lines everywhere. “That’s what I’m going to do spiritually. I’m going to report to multiple people.”

And Jesus says, “When push comes to shove, you’re going to have to choose. You can’t have...listen, you can only have one ultimate treasure. Only one! One thing to live your life for. You can have only one undivided focus for your days. You can have only one supreme loyalty before whom everything else comes underneath. And either you’re going to live for the stuff of Earth and try to find your commitment, security and satisfaction, right here, right now in all this stuff. Or you’re going to learn the brilliance of the kingdom of heaven that is right here, it’s in our midst, it’s on offer in Jesus Christ when you step out and live in it today. You can find security, significance, satisfaction in the life of the kingdom of heaven. You can’t have it both ways.” This is why Jesus says in Matthew 19:23, “It’s really hard for a rich person to enter into the kingdom of heaven” because of what it costs.

So I just want to leave you with a question: What are you living for?

Remember the Princess Bride, Miracle Max? He gets the mostly dead Wesley (chuckles) and he...it’s such a great scene. Anyway, and he’s putting in the little chocolate pill, or whatever, and he’s trying to find out if there’s anything worth living for. You ask him He actually puts the bellows in his mouth. He says, “Hey, you in there. What you got here that’s worth living for?” Right? Remember that? It’s a really important question. It’s a high pinnacle point of philosophy in that movie. Okay?

What do you have here that’s worth living for? That’s the question! What are you living for? What deserves your days, your hours, your resources, your talents? What are you going to give yourself to? What is the treasure of your life? What is the focus of your days? What is the devotion of your hours?

Friends, in Jesus Christ the kingdom of heaven is breaking through into reality to establish the beachhead of the new creation, and Jesus is inviting each one of us to follow Him into this game-changing reality, this cosmic disruption, this breakthrough moment as heaven comes down to Earth. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime, to get in on what God is doing in Jesus Christ, to invest in the greatest kingdom the world will ever see. It’s a breakthrough moment. You have a chance to invest your time, your talent, your treasure in things that will last for eternity. What will you do with your one beautiful life? What are you living for?

Charles Thomas Studd was born in 1860 and lived till 1931. He was born into a family with wealth and privilege. In 1883 he graduated from Trinity College at Cambridge University, and then shockingly to the whole world, in 1885, decided to give his life away to bring the good news of Jesus to the nations. He went to China and joined up with Hudson Taylor and spent his days in an unknown, unrecognized, unsexy life. He ended up founding The World Evangelization Crusade, WEC, and it’s still going today, and he wrote a poem to explain to the world why he would do such a crazy thing with his one beautiful life.

Two little lines I heard one day,
Traveling along life’s busy way,
Bringing conviction to my heart,
And from my mind would not depart:

Only one life, ‘twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, yes only one,
Soon will its fleeting hours be done;
Then, ‘in that day’ my Lord to meet,
And stand before His judgment seat;

Only one life, ‘twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, the still small voice,
Gently pleads for a better choice
Bidding me selfish aims to leave,
And to God’s holy will to cleave; 

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, a few brief years,

Each with its burdens, hopes, and fears;
Each with its clays I must fulfill,

Living for self or in His will;

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

When this bright world would tempt me sore,
When Satan would a victory score;

When self would seek to have its way,
Then help me Lord with joy to say;

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Give me Father, a purpose deep,

In joy or sorrow Thy word to keep;
Faithful and true what e’er the strife,
Pleasing Thee in my daily life;

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Oh let my love with fervor burn,
And from the world now let me turn;
Living for Thee, and Thee alone,
Bringing Thee pleasure on Thy throne;

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, yes only one,

Now let me say, “Thy will be done;”
And when at last I’ll hear the call,

I know I’ll say “twas worth it all.”

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

(applause)

Let’s pray.

Oh, Father, teach us to live for what matters. Teach us to seek first the kingdom, and all your righteousness and trust that all this stuff of life will be added unto us. Give us a singular eye, a generous heart, a durable and lasting investment for our days. We give you ourselves. We hold nothing back. We are yours and yours alone, for Christ who was rich for our sake became nothing, poor, so that we who were poor, might in Him become rich beyond our wildest dreams.

We are not our own. We are bought with a price.
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ shall last.

Amen, Amen.