How To Invest In Eternity | Matthew 6:19-24
-
Now I know why my children were so eager to buy me lunch. Chick fil A today makes sense anyway. Here's some Father's Day truths for you today. I think you'll be able to relate with a father expects his son to be as good as he meant to be. Fathers must work for two reasons, Christmas and vacation period, the best time for a father to put their children to bed is while they still have strength, deal with that every night. Parents who have fine, well behaved children usually have children who have fine, well behaved parents, truth to them, and before dealing too harshly with our teenagers, let's remember who reared them. Amen. Paul Harvey says that a father never feels entirely worthy of the worship in a child's eyes. He's never quite the hero his daughter thinks, never quite the man his son believes them to be, and this worries him sometimes, so he works too hard to try and smooth the rough places in the road for those of his own who follow him. He says that fathers are what give daughters away to other men who aren't nearly good enough so they can have grandchildren who are smarter than anybody's. And then fathers make bets with insurance companies about who lived the longest, though that they know the odds. They keep right on betting, and one day they lose. You know, as a father, one of the areas I've been slowly training my at least my older children, is in the area of earning money, saving and spending money, I have one child who saves probably too much and needlessly endures broken and torn things like, why don't you buy something new? You have the money, right? Have another child that's the complete opposite. As soon as money comes in, money goes out immediately, really extremes, but that's part of a father's job is to teach some children how to balance their earnings savings spending their wealth. In our society today, we are bombarded with advertisements constantly, and not just advertisements. Messages from all kind of people telling us what we need, materialistically, what we must have. These messages tell us that our worth, that our happiness, are tied to what we own. But Jesus reminds us that our our true treasure is found in him, and that our priorities should reflect our desire to serve Him above all else, the passage we're looking at today Jesus focuses on the issue of material possessions, how they can obstruct, how they can hinder a person's relationship with God. Jesus is going to challenge us today to consider the state of our hearts and to look at where our true priorities lie, and this is in stark contrast to the beliefs of the Pharisees of the day, the religious teachers of the day, who were known even though they shouldn't have been for their love of money and their outward displays of wealth. So this past we're looking at today, Jesus teaches us how to invest, and he teaches us how to invest in the things of eternity. Matthew chapter six, starting in 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, where thieves do not break in and steal For where your treasure is there. Your heart will be awesome. 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? No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one, love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money, Heavenly Father, we thank You for this passage that you've given us today. We pray that you would reveal to us how we are to invest our lives. We can always start doing it the way you want us to. We can always do it your way. Lord, we always want to do your will, as we learned last week, Lord's prayer, that we want to do your will. So, Lord, I pray that we would, and that you would, as the Lord's Prayer says, Lord, that You would lead us far from the temptations that tempt us to spend our wealth and money in bad ways, our time in bad ways, and so Father, you would show us today how we can do that, how we can do what you called us to do. Lord, I pray that as I give this sermon, these words today reflect your heart, that they come from you, that you fill me with your Spirit, and that those here today and those watching at home will receive this message. We ask these things in Jesus, name Amen. I want to give you today three steps for investing in eternity, three steps for investing in eternity that we see here, that He gives us Jesus gives us number one, accumulate heavenly wealth. Accumulate heavenly wealth. Verse 19 says, Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. During the time of Jesus, the Jewish culture, much like ours, placed a great emphasis on wealth, a great emphasis on possessions, and the people believed wrongly that the material blessings that they had was always a sign of God's favor, and that the accumulation of wealth was essential for their happiness was essential for their security. So Jesus challenges this mindset, and he teaches that true security, true happiness, are found in him and the treasures of heaven. He says, Do not lay up. This phrase, lay up carries the idea of accumulating, of amassing treasures that had this idea of storing things. And he doesn't give a suggestion, he gives a command. He says, Do not amass earthly treasures. Do not store up earthly treasures, because earthly treasures have one of two end destinations, the junkyard or someone else's property, they're going to rust, or someone will steal them the junkyard or someone else's property. So he gives an alternative command, 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 For where your treasure is there, your heart will be also, he says, stack up at Mass. Lay up treasures in heaven, where they won't be destroyed. Invest in accumulating heavenly wealth. Consider the story of George Mueller. We have a picture of him. He's a Christian evangelist. Was the founder of orphanages in England during the 19th century. He was known for his strong faith in God and his commitment for caring for orphaned children, destitute children, and despite facing financial difficulties and relying solely on donations to support these orphanages, Miller refused to solicit funds from outside sources. Instead, he chose to pray and trust in God to provide for the needs of the children under his care and throughout his life, Mueller saw countless miracles and answered prayers as God always faithfully provided. God for the orphanages. He never turned away a child in need. He always trusted that God would provide in his perfect timing, Mueller had an unwavering faith, and he had a reliance on the provision of God, and it earned him a reputation as a man of great faith, a man of great prayer, and so he he exemplified this concept of accumulating heavenly treasures as he put his faith in God, as he trusted in God, and as he obeyed God's leading. It's a reminder to us true wealth, true treasure are found in that close relationship with Jesus. Today, I want to give us some practical ways to store up heavenly treasures. What are heavenly treasures? How can we store them up? How can we go about doing that? That might be what you're asking today. Number one, serve others, not just yourself, but others at this church, when you serve in the nursery, you're storing up treasures in heaven when you serve food or dinner on a Wednesday night, or VBS, or you deliver to our bereavement meals on Wednesday nights, you're storing up treasures in heaven. When you call other members or sick members, and you check up on them who are recovering or sick, you're storing up treasures in heaven and serving has a two fold benefit. You're helping others, and you're helping yourself not store up earthly treasures with every piece of slice you hand out, with every runny nose you wipe, with every text or phone call you make, you're accumulating heavenly wealth, and it's not sinful to think about because Jesus commands us to do so, commands us to accumulate heavenly wealth. Secondly, you're we can give, generously, give money to your church so she can reach people with the gospel. Give money to other organizations that are reaching people with the gospel with every check you write, with every text, amount you put in your phone, with every time you give online, with every dollar you give in the plate or the box, you're building heavenly treasure as you give to the church three share the gospel every time you share how you became a Christian, why you are A Christian, or how Jesus saved you, you are accumulating heavenly wealth. This is one of the surest ways to invest in eternity. There will be people that you see in the eternal kingdom of God who would not be there if perhaps you had never shared Jesus with them, invest in heavenly treasures. And number four, attend worship. You can all check this off for today, because you're all here. You're all doing this today. When you worship Jesus in corporate worship, you are building heavenly treasures. And Jesus wants us to accumulate heavenly wealth. He wants us to invest in eternity. Secondly, how can we do it? We absorb heavenly light. Absorb heavenly light. Look at verse 22 you. Two, 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? Jesus speaking about the eye being the lamp of the body. What does that mean? Well, in the biblical times, the eye was thought to be the source of light for the body. And I had an eye opponent today. I mean, this week, Thursday, and so I was thinking about this verse as they were telling me that my vision had gotten worse and and for the first time ever in my 45 years of life, they gave me the bifocal test, and where they put this thing right here, and I now am the proud owner of reading. Last is for the first time ever. So I've joined the club, although I don't need them right here, which is good enough. If it was like this, I would, but right here, we're okay. So I was worried about that day, but I'm okay anyway. But he's telling us that our perspective and the way that we see things determines the condition of our heart, what we bring into our lives, what philosophies and ideologies we consider in our minds, what worldviews we adopt, those things that we bring in affect our hearts, if our eyes are focused on God and His kingdom, then our whole being is full of light. But if our eyes are fixed on just the earthly things, the earthly treasures, then he says, our hearts will be filled with darkness. When you when you see things you want. It's because your eye is simply yearning for what it's been trained to want. Your heart has its mind. Has it set its mind on getting that thing? This word for healthy means clear, single minded. And so he says, if your eye has a single focus, then your entire body, soul desires, affections, will be full of light. They will be pure, but bad means diseased or damaged in such a way that no light can enter see. A blind person is blind because no light can effectively enter his or her eyes. So the eye that is bad is synonymous here to heart that is selfish. The person thinks he's full of light, but he's actually full of great darkness. Did you know that the average person per week consumes the following 35 hours of television. That's almost a full time job. 24 hours of being on the computer, 15 hours of cell phone, 17 hours of social media. This is average. Now some of you are a lot higher, 75 hours, 75 hours of those things a week, and by the time you do all the math, you subtract sleep, you end up with five waking hours a day or you do not use those devices on average. Now there are some people who are pretty much always on them. They go to the bathroom with them, they eat with them. They sleep with them. Alright, about five hours a day we are not watching or consuming something. Now you can watch programming that is beneficial to your life. There are good things and there. And there's beneficial aspects of social media platforms. There's Christian things, there's good things out there. There's a lot of what people call Doom scrolling going on, where you're scrolling and scrolling, and you get. The more you look at it, the more Doom comes into your life, the more anxiety comes into your life, the more depression comes into your life. A lot of wasted time, a lot of meaninglessness being brought into that eye, being brought into your life. So when we spend 13 hours a day on TV, computer, cell phone, social media. What are we bringing into our hearts? What are we seeing? How do we handle that? Well, we got to learn to set some boundaries with our children. We try our best to do this, but adults need it too. You didn't grow up learning how to set boundaries on these areas. But now you need to maybe give yourself some times where you just are not going to have those things on. Maybe it's dinner, maybe it's after a certain time of night, time, certain time of tea, when you go to bed, give yourself some boundaries. Also, if you have a phone, you can go in and you can limit yourself. You can do that. You can limit your time, how much time you do that, and then find alternate activities, find things that you can do, that you can replace it with, exercising, hobby, going out doors focus on activities that that nourish your mind and body. Many of you may know this, but you you are supposed to have 20 minutes of direct sunlight a day. God's designed that if you're not getting 20 minutes of direct sunlight a day, your mind. Is not going to be where it needs to be. It's not going to be right. Go out and do a 20 minute walk. You kill two birds with one stone. Amen. Focus on activities that nourish your mind and body, that bring the good things into your life. And I mentioned Bible reading or prayer, right? I just assume you're doing that the Bible, reading, prayer, those things that will help get your heart right so we absorb heavenly light. And number three, we attend to a heavenly master. We attend to a heavenly master. Verse 24 No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he'll be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money, or as the King James used to say, mammon, so he makes this bold statement, cannot serve both two masters. You have one master. No such thing as two masters. You can't be devoted to two. You will ultimately live one. If you're, if you're devoted to God, you you're you're money's strangled on, you will be lessened. But if you're devoted to God, to money, if money's your god, you're going to hate God, because he's going to get involved with your life. He's going to start telling you where you should and how you should use your money. You're going to hate God. The word for Master is kurios, which is also the word for Lord. It's the word we use, and we say that Jesus is our Savior and Lord, we're literally saying that Jesus is our Savior and he is our master. He is our slave owner. In a way, he owns us. He redeemed us, which means he bought us with a price. He rescued us from a life and we were slaves to our own sinful choices and decisions. He has rescued us by the blood of Christ, by his work on the cross. That's what it means to be born again. We have been redeemed. We are now his. He is our master. And he says, I have bought you. You are mine. If you're not going to serve me, you serve another one. You're going to hate me. A master is that way. And so Jesus presents the largest competitor to you, serving Jesus wholeheartedly, the god of Mammon money. You may have heard of this man before his name got a picture of him is Bernie Madoff, yep, former stockbroker, investment advisor. He orchestrated one of the largest Ponzi schemes in history. How did he do it? Well, he began his career on Wall Street the 1960s he gained a reputation as a successful and trustworthy financial advisor behind the scenes, he was running this, this fraudulent investment scheme that involved using new investor funds to pay returns to existing investors, it eventually will fall apart. Didn't use the money for legitimate investments. Took people's money in paid people he owed. Now, over the years, it grew and it attracted billions of dollars from people who were lured by the promise of these high returns, he had a charm, he had a reputation, he had connections, and he made millions. Now there were warning signs about this, but during the 2008 financial crisis, the government started looking into more things, and they found his operations and his Ponzi scheme was exposed, and 1000s of investors lost billions of dollars in fraud, and he was arrested, convicted for multiple counts of Money laundering, perjury and fraud. This is the worst case scenario. Maybe when money becomes your master, that you'd be willing to do anything for it, you take others just so you can have it will never end. Well, if Jesus is Lord of your life, you must serve Him, or he's not really your master, or you will hate your master. You might say, well, you know, good for me, I don't have a lot of money, so he's not my master. I. Well, you know, you don't have to have a lot of money to serve money. Do you save as as much as you can and put in the bank so that you'll have security? And did you never, ever spend it on others to bless other people? You're serving the God of false security. Maybe you have the opposite problem. Maybe you spend money on every nice thing that stirs your heart. You're serving the God of materialism. See, it's not about whether or not you have a lot or not. It's about how you view it. It's about the pursuit of it. It's about how you save it, how you use it. How does it affect your decisions on a daily basis? We're called to attend to a heavenly master. So in closing, here are some steps to make sure money is not your God. Steps to make sure money's not your God. Number one, realize every spending decision is a spiritual decision. All week long, my children and wife are saying, What do you where do you want to go eat for Father's Day? And I'm thinking, the places I want to go, I don't want to spend that money. We could afford it, maybe, probably, yeah, but I don't want to, I'm not going to enjoy it when they bring me the bill, because I got to pay for it, right? So I'm like, we'll just go to Zach speed. I don't care, right? You know? But am I loving money by not just giving myself one day to where I can have a nice dinner? Right? Yeah, it just, just enjoy it, right? I'm not out there spending money all the time. I'm a saver. Now, some of you need to take the opposite approach, right? I mean, you go down $100 or so, I don't know, right? But for me, it's like, I don't know if I want to spend that, right? Because every spending decision is a spiritual decision, whether you spend too much, whether you don't spend enough to bless your your family and those around you. So you need to know and ask the Lord for wisdom in that secondly, one of the surest ways to make sure money is not your God is to write that check when you get paid and tied to the church, amen. I mean, first time you do it. Now, luckily, I started young, so I was able to do it when I was given like mere dollars, right? When you give that 10% that first fruits your income, to God, it lessens the hold that money has on you because you're you're willingly giving it away. Yeah, you can't spend as much, but you know what? In our day and time, that's less debt you'll probably get into Amen. You give because you love God. You're genuinely appreciative of him saving you the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. And so when you willingly tithe and give financially to him, you're showing to God and to yourself that you're not loving him. I mean, you're not loving money more than him. Number three, confess the sin of using money unwisely. Think about where you have spent money sinfully, unwisely, maybe hoarded money unwisely, or God said, I've given you this to for you to bless others. Maybe you've been a little bit of a miser. Ask God's forgiveness, Lord, forgive me for not using the resources you've given me in a wise way. And number four, finally, trust God when money is tight. And all God's people said, Trust God when money is tied. I mentioned the last last week in the Lord's Prayer. We're commanded, right? We're commanded to say, Give us this day our daily bread. And even if we have a steady paycheck coming in, we still ask for that. So you don't know what tomorrow holds, or give us what I need today. Give us our day, daily bread. Trust God, when money is tight, he'll give you the wisdom as what to do, what to sell, what to buy, and how to live. You Jesus tells us how to invest in eternity. So pray for me for my Father's Day luncheon. Let's pray Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for what you've given us. I. Thank you so much for how you've blessed us as we close our time today, Lord. We, thank you for what Jesus has done on the cross. We, thank you for his work, how he died to save those who had placed their faith in Him, Lord. We We pray that I thank you for fathers that are in here today, that it's their day and the world tells them to do whatever they want to do. And they could have gone anywhere, kind of got them to the beach, it could have gone to the lake. They could have just laid it home, but they made a commitment to be here today. So Lord, for those fathers that are here today, I pray that you bless them in a special way today, as they model to their family commitment to put you first in their lives. So we thank you for that Lord as we leave today. Pray that you would bless us. You would give us wisdom on how we would serve you with our wallets. We ask these things in Jesus name amen, amen.
