Sermon on the Mount
Temporary or Lasting? Choice is Yours
Matthew 6: 19-21
Introduction
I was watching two programs last Sunday on the National Geographic chanel; one was titled “The Black Pharaohs of Egypt” the other was about Tutankhamen, King Tut -
The first dealt with Cush and the wealth in gold and silver they had, and the intricate designs on their items of gold and silver. How the Cushites had adopted the gods of Egypt and built pyramids and lavish tombs. They along with the Egyptians buried their dead aith their treasures so that in the afterlife they had their treasures to sustain them.
Another very interesting point was that the archeologist would find that many of these tombs, no matter how intricate they were built, robbers were still able to enter and steal many of the gold treasures.
So Jesus tells the people listening to His sermon “Don't lay up treasures for yourselves on earth where moth & rust destroy, & where thieves break in & steal.” (Matthew 6: 19).
A Negative Wisdom
To the hearers then, He was speaking in terms that were very relevant to them – The futility of amassing wealth & keeping it safe referred to three things:-
Clothing – In the Middle East it was considered part of a person's wealth. Reason why Achan when came across a garment from Shinar (Babylonia) really beautiful, he was tempted by it and the Scripture tells us that he sinned against the Lord in direct disobedience to Him. (Joshua 7: 21-16).
Jesus reminds the hearers, and us, that all garments will succumb to the moth, no matter how precious they are, even if they are by Christian Dior, Oscar de la Renta, Ralph Lauren. I’ve got a comfortable pull over shirt designed by “Born in Panama” that is well over 25 years old, and it has just about as many moth holes, but it sure is comfortable. Someone thinks I should just throw it away; but I want to hang on to it. Now, hold that thought for later.
Rust is a rough translation of a word meaning “eating”; here referring to the action of worms on food that is in storage; food being spoiled. No matter how vast their grain supplies, they will be subject to succumb to rats, mice, worms & vermin.
Then, gold & silver were never safe. There were no banks or saving & loans, 401K’s, Roth IRA’s, etc. They would bury their treasured items in the walls or in the ground floor. Thieves would come in and dig holes in the walls and would find the gold and precious items. Look at the theft of the treasures of the Pharaoh’s –
Jesus’ advice can still be valid for us today; actually it is valid for us today. Your treasures can be stolen, easily hacked online, called identity theft.
On the surface we see the meaning of Jesus’ words – But were there, are there more to His words? Was He condemning wealth? – There isn’t anywhere in Scripture a prohibition of private property, or saving for a rainy day..
In fact, just the opposite; Proverbs 6:6-8, the parable of the ant. “Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, 8 she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.”
Paul in 1 Timothy 5:8 tells us that we are to provide for our own, “. . . But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” I like the Spanish translation, infidel, incredulous.
Also we are to enjoy the good things of life; food, comfort, and not become ascetics, abstaining from all those things.
Jesus is prohibiting the selfish accumulation of goods. Luke 12:15 in the parable of the rich fool He puts in the following warning—“Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.”
The warning is to the rich, but His teaching isn’t just for the wealthy only – He doesn’t say not to lay up money on earth, but “treasures”.
The word ‘treasures’ is inclusive; it’s not just moneey but those things that many focus their entire satisfaction on, those things that belong just to the world.
One maybe hasn’t set their minds on the greedy accumulation of great wealth, something else could be a sinful treasure; a home, some property, a Ferrari, or a collection of cars; even your family. It may not be a fixation on wealth, but those other treasures are just as deadly.
If anything in this world is everything to you, it is an earthly treasure.
Why does Jesus prohibit the storing of such treasures? They are going to be destroyed; you aren’t going to be able to take them with you. What’s the old saying? You never see a U-Haul trailer behind a hearse. – Everything material is temporal, not eternal. The Pharaoh’s certainly found that out once they died. Not one person in this world will take anything with them – Even Job knew this – “Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped. 21 He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” 1:20-21 –
There’s also a Spanish Proverb that says “El Sudario no tiene bolsillos”; “There are no pockets in a shroud.”
There is a Positive Side (v20)
“Lay up treasure for yourselves in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys & thieves de not break in to steal” – Lay-up treasure – just to be clear, Jesus isn’t saying we work for salvation, No! But that believers are rewarded in eternity according to how they lived their lives here on earth.
Look at 1 Corinthians 3:11-14 -- no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.
Scripture is silent somewhat on what this “reward” is. That seems to be a good thing; may stop attempts to try and out do another believer so as to get the top prize, reward.
We could ask how important will our current pursuits be in say 100 zillion years down the road in eternity.
Our treasures I heaven will be substantially beyond our wildest dreams and they will be eternal, nothing will destroy them. 1 Corinthians 2:9 -- as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him.
A saying for Life (v21)
“. . . for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
To get all the sweetness out of this verse – heart here means the whole inner person, our total being – Where our treasure is that is where our total being will be.
We are entwined with our treasure – so far that what happens to our treasure happens to us.
At the start of the great depression, when the stock market crashed; when businesses and banks failed at the beginning of this century, the great recession – In the 70’s when the Pennsylvania and New York Central R.R. merged becoming the PennCentral R.R., to have it go bankrupt along with five other Rail Road’s, men whose lives were intertwined with their treasures, when it was lost, some took their own lives. What happened to their treasure happened to them. Where their treasure was, there was their heart, their whole being.
It is okay for us & it is natural for our vocation, education, our home, etc, to occupy a good part of our lives; But Jesus warns us against total complete earth-bound absorption with them.
We need to ask ourselves – What occupies our thoughts when we have nothing else to do? – Our investments, our position? If so, those are the things we treasure.
What do we most dread loosing, apart from our loved ones? What are the things we measure others by? (We measure others by the things we treasure) – Their clothing? Their wealth? Their position?
What is it that we know we can’t be happy without?
Where your treasure is, there your being is. So, where is your heart? Is it on your earthly treasure?
If it is, your treasure will suffer attack by moth, rust & thieves, and it will be destroyed.
The danger is that your heart will become like your treasure – Scottish minister, George McDonald writes – “One day you’ll be compelled to see, no, to feel your heart as God sees it; and to know that the cankered thing, [ulcerated, morally corrupt, (my emphasis)] within you, a prey to the vilest diseases, is indeed the center of your being, your very heart!”
Or is it set on heavenly treasure? If it is, your treasure then is incorruptible, and so is your heart.
What are you going to do about it? Jesus has made it clear, we aren’t permanent residents of this world – We are just sojourners. When we admit this, everything falls into place. We are just stewards of al that we have, just caretakers. Our money, our homes, our education, our position, our personalities are to be used for the service of God.
The worldly man thinks that he owns them all; but the Christian says “I am not the owner of these things. They are on lease to me – they’re not mine – I can’t take them with me.
I can only use them for the glory of God.
This isn’t a call for negation & asceticism – we are to enjoy life fully & authentically.
But we are not to hold tightly to what we have in this world – Whatever possessions & privileges the believer has, they are not his focus.
As Martin Lloyd jones says, I quote in part – “They do not absorb my life . . . I hold them loosely I am not governed by them; rather do I govern them; and as I do this, I am steadily securing & safely laying up for myself “treasures in heaven.”
Conclusion
The things of this world, the treasures of this world are here today and as we have seen enough times after a hurricane, a tornado, an earthquake, a sunami, a traffic accident, they are gone.
The one who focuses their life on the things of the world, makes those temporal things their god. There are treasures unimaginable that God has prepared for those who love Him. He has provided a way to come to Him and enjoy eternally those things that eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, and that way to those treasures He has prepared is through Jesus His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will never perish, but have eternal life.
It doesn’t matter who, how big of a sinner you think you have been; Listen God has said that “all have sinned and come short of his glory” there is no one worthy enough to be with Him, that is why He became a man, was born as a man so that He as a perfect man would pay the penalty that all owe, and by just believing in Him, Jesus Christ, your salvation is secured and yu are a new person, a new being in Christ and can enjoy eternity with God the Father………
