Treasures in Heaven

Treasures in Heaven (based on Sermon notes by Kua Soo Li)

As CDC continued its series on the sermon of the Mount, we now came to the passage on treasures in heaven in a sermon given by Mr.Daniel Ho. 

Matthew 6:19-24

 19"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

 22"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
 24"No one can serve two masters. 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 both God and Money.

Money, fame, possessions - this is what the whole world goes after. Voltaire once said “When it comes to money, everybody is of the same religion”. Our greed and desire for more drives the economy of the world. Yet, no matter how much we accumulate, we would never be satisfied. “Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. There is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of its filling a vacuum, it makes one.” - Ben Franklin

It was certainly the case in Jesus’ day, and still the same today, and will be in the future, until the old order of things passes away. The Pharisees had even interpreted their own law in certain ways that would get them out of monetary obligations. Tax collectors took advantage of their own people for dishonest gain and even among the Jews, they exacted usury on their own fellow brothers. In the book of James, we are duly warned “The love of money is the root of all evil.”

Yet, our Lord Jesus exhorts us to adopt a different viewpoint altogether regarding wealth and earthly possessions. The literal translation for vs.19 is “Do not treasure up treasures on earth…” It is an attitude of the heart towards money and worldly things. While it is not wrong to have many things, it is sinful to have our heart set always towards having more and more money and things for our own selfishness and pride. Pastor Rick Warren in the Purpose Driven Life tells us of a group of businessmen in his church highly skilled in making money, who put their talent to use in raising funds to extend the kingdom. He calls them “Kingdom builders”, and he himself, with the large proceeds stemming from the proceeds of his book, practices this, giving 90% of his wealth to God’s work.

Jesus said that our eyes are the lamp of our body. If our eyes are focused on wealth, our whole life will be spent thinking of ways to acquire wealth. If our eyes are focused on God, our life will instead be spent thinking about serving Him and obeying His will. Our Lord exhorts us not to be focused on the temporal things in this world that will pass away but on the holy things of heaven that will last forever. Paul shares with us in 2 Corinthians 4:18 how we should fix our eyes not on what is seen, which is temporary, but what is unseen, which is eternal. Finally, we need to ask ourselves what drives us, money or God?

We may be poor, but still money may still be our master. The problem is not just a matter of accumulating material things but the extent of our dependence and love for these things. Another aspect of “bad eyes” is that of covetousness, the desire to have the things belonging to others that we do not have. As the saying goes, “the grass is always greener on the other side”. Again, if we focus our eyes away from others and on God, we will learn that godliness with contentment is great gain. Each one should accept what God has given him in life, and in humility, seek to please God as best they can. Then, we would indeed be laying up treasures in heaven, where rust and moth cannot destroy, but true treasure that will last for eternity - the greatest treasure of course will be eternal life and joy in the presence of our wonderful living God and Savior.

God bless,

Jason