Only One Treasure
The Sermon on the Mount • Sermon • Submitted
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· 4 viewsYou can only have one treasure. It will either be God and his kingdom, which will never be destroyed, or the "mamon" of this world that will not last. Which one will you serve?
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19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 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!
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.
Fall is here in full effect
(or winter? first day of winter is dec 21)
It’s really starting to rain
Yesterday I was driving home in the rain…
I couldn’t hardly read the exit signs
And to make matters worse the windows were fogging up
and even though I could see… my perspective out of the car was all messed up
If our perspective of what holds value is tainted at all, then we are effectively blind.
If our perspective of what holds value is tainted at all, then we are effectively blind.
This has been the refrain over and over in ch 6
From
1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
where it is saying if we value man’s reward over God’s reward, then we will receive man’s reward and not God’s
And then last week the Lord’s prayer shows us what we should even as for
ad notice how much of it isn’t expressed for all the things we want, but the only material thing that is requested is what we need just for today
Now while the V 24 says “You cannot serve God and money” this passage isn’t limited to just money.
The NASB is closer to the original language and it reads
“you cannot serve God and wealth”
The word money in the ESV or wealth in the NASB is best as material possessions
it includes money… but is not limited to money…
It includes everything and anything that we have
It could be your car (or a dream car)
It can be a house (or your dream house
It can be your grades, your friends, your job, your status, yes even your own family....
IF OUR PERSPECTIVE OF WHAT HAS VALUE IS TAINTED(BE IT ANY POSSESSION THAT WE HAVE) THEN WE ARE EFFECTIVELY BLIND.
Let’s look at how the Scripture puts it:
Instead of starting at the top of the passage let’s start at the center:
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 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!
Look at the word healthy… it’s a difficult word in greek to translate in from Greek to English while still giving us comprehension…
Again the NASB is helpful… translates as this word HEALTHY as CLEAR
Healthy does not mean clear… and yet what would it mean for an eye to see clearly? Well it means it’s not healthy…
But clear is closer to the original meaning of the word and it serves as an important way of understanding what Jesus is getting at:
The original word means: single, sincere, or morally whole
How can an eye be single?
Does it mean you can’t have two eyes?
no…
Single, sincere, or morally whole
Let me uses a different word, focused on only one thing
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 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!
Our eye, that is our perspective, and our focus must be undivided on the only thing that has true and lasting value
Material wealth has no value beyond this life.
Material wealth has no value beyond this life.
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
we know this to be true from experience
How many of you have a cell phone…
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
now how many of have had to get a new phone because your other one broke
This is true of everything
cars break down
Matt 1
houses go bad
Just found out today that the furnace in the house that we are in the process of buying just broke… we haven’t bought the house yet
You cannot depend on the things that are here today to be here tomorrow
16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
27 Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” 28 Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.
So then where should we place our trust and our confidence?
How many of you have a cell phone…
20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
now how many of yo
Heavenly treasures can never be destroyed.
Heavenly treasures can never be destroyed.
Heavenly treasures can never be destroyed.
Heavenly treasures can never be destroyed.
20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
How can you know where you are laying up treasure?
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The heart is the seat of the affections and emotions
so where are your affections? what do you do with the majority of your time
21 Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Matt 19:21
If Jesus called you to leave something in order to follow him… would you do it?
25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
Lk 14:
37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
27 Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” 28 Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.
Matt 19:
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.
25 Judas, who would betray him, answered, “Is it I, Rabbi?” He said to him, “You have said so.”
26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”
Do you want more instructions on what it means to lay up treasures in heaven?
17 As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19 thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.
(now keep in mind what was said back in matt 6:1-4)
1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Let’s get back to tonight’s text
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.
If God is not your only treasure, then he is not your god.
If God is not your only treasure, then he is not your god.
the little g is intentional
Deut
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
No
25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
4:25-
18 Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. 19 And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 21 Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 22 And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”
Matt 8:18-
Is it evil to enjoy things on earth?
NO!
The Scriptures speak to those who would twist God’s word to teach this sort of thing
1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,
The creation isn’t evil
The refrain over and over again throughout is that God saw his creation and saw that it was good.
Creation isn’t evil, but man’s heart is evil and he worships the creation instead of the creator
25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
Money is not evil…
18 For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.”
it’s the love of money that is the root of all evil
10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
So then what does this mean in light of the gospel of grace…
because this sounds like a lot of works…
Matt 13:
45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.