Who Is Our Master? (Matthew 6:19-24)
March 29, 2020
Why do we stockpile things and hoard them up? Today, we are going to look at a text that hurts our feelings if we let it. Jesus has hurt our feelings throughout the Sermon on the Mount. He tells us what we do not want to hear. Have you ever had to tell people something that they do not want to hear? It is a scary thing, but Jesus does it without fear. Typically, when someone tells me something I don’t want to hear, I shut down and become desensitized. Brent, who trained me, had to break through that and wake me up so that I could grow. He did that by lovingly hurting my feelings. That’s what Jesus does for us. But Brent could not do have broken through unless I realized how proud and stubborn I was and opened myself up to the possibility of change. I am now trying to take that realization with me into every study. We have to realize that we are stubborn and proud, and we have to choose to let Jesus hurt our feelings to change.
Jesus has pointed out our need to have a different heart than the religious leaders of his day. Followers of Christ have a heart that loves God and loves their neighbor. They do not love themselves or this world. If our heart is right, we do not even think of getting angry with our brother. If our heart is right, we do not even think lustful thoughts about our neighbor who is not our spouse. Now he tells us that if our heart is right, we will not be storing up more than we need on this earth.
Treasures On Earth
Matthew 6:19 (ESV) --- 19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
Jesus speaks about money more than any other topic throughout the gospels. I heard someone say that he mentions money over 100 times in Matthew alone. I don’t know about that, but I know he mentions it a lot! Why is this such an important topic? Because money has a profound effect on our hearts. We don’t like to hear Jesus telling us to stop laying up treasures on earth. We want to love money like the world around us loves money. In Luke 16:14, the Jews ridiculed Jesus because they loved money so much. We do not want to ridicule the teachings of Jesus. We want to understand them and obey them.
First, pay close attention to what he says, “Do not lay up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal.” What is the root of the problem? The source of the problem is that we are trusting in things that are going to decay and disappear. We think that by having a massive stockpile of stuff and money that we can weather all of the storms of life. Our money has become our security.
What Should We Do?
Does this mean that we shouldn’t have a bank account, an emergency fund, or a retirement fund? Some people take it to that extreme. They think we should all be like the rich young ruler, who Jesus told to sell all of his possessions and give to the poor. Is that what we should do? Have you ever noticed that Jesus never told anyone else to sell all of their possessions and give them to the poor? He did not tell Zaccheaus that. He didn’t tell anyone else to do that. But he told the rich young ruler that. Why? His riches were between him and God. He needed to let go of his wealth and attach himself to God.
Is it wrong for us to have possessions? I think the best verse for answering this is found in 1 Timothy 6.
1 Timothy 6:17 (ESV) --- 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.
I think this is very much what Jesus is getting at. As we get rich, our desires start to change, and we want to stay rich. We feel differently about our possessions. It is not wrong to have possessions, but it is wrong to hoard our possessions for ourselves. Riches are full of uncertainty. They are here today and gone tomorrow. Paul tells Timothy they have been provided by God to be shared with others and to be enjoyed. There is nothing wrong with enjoying your riches so long as you aren’t the only one enjoying them. Remember, Jesus said, “When you give to the needy, do not be like the hypocrites.” He wants us to give to those in need.
Do We Have The Right Heart?
We can use wisdom and accumulate wealth if our purpose is to give wealth away. But if our hearts security and peace from worldly riches, we will be let down again and again. None of these things last. All of the things we accumulate are getting older and falling apart. That is just what they do. We have to train ourselves to look at them differently than the world around us. The things in my possession on earth are not my treasure, and they must never become that. My cars, house, clothes, furniture, bank account, retirement fund, and all of my technology gear are not my treasure. These are a gift from God to be used to his glory.
We can say that, but why don’t we always feel this way? Sometimes my heart looks at my possessions and wants to keep them for myself. These are all mine. I can do with them as I please, and I do not want to live off of less than what I have right now. In fact, I want to increase my standard of living, not decrease it. If I looked at my possessions with the right heart, I wouldn’t be so preoccupied with gaining more. I wouldn’t be spending my time thinking about how to get a bigger house or a more beautiful car. Maybe we live in a shack and need a little more room for children, but if we have two thousand square feet and the children are about to move out, do we need to jump up to three thousand square feet? Why can’t we stay content with less and give more away? This is what Jesus spends the rest of his time trying to help us do.
Treasures In Heaven
Matthew 6:20--21 (ESV) --- 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.
Consider This Investment
Jesus wants us to decide to put our trust in God. He wants us to make him our security and to seek his kingdom with our hearts. Hoarding our treasure on earth is futile because, one way or another, it will go away. What we keep, we lose. But putting wealth in heaven is an investment that will be ours for eternity.
Luke 6:38 (ESV) --- 38 “give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”
God is willing to repay us what we give to him. Do we understand that God is not like the banks or mutual funds? He is not like a broker who is expecting to take something from our investment. His whole aim is to give us beyond what we give to him. What he is offering here is a trade of things that are temporary for eternal things. Imagine if someone offered you a deal where you give your car, and you get a vehicle that fixed and improved itself. Every new safety feature, every new accessory, and even every new design change, was taken care of for you. This is a “smart car” that never needs another thing done to it. Eternity is like that, except it is better than that. It will never get old. It will never cease to satisfy our hearts.
We are not just investing money or stuff into earth or heaven. According to verse 21, we are investing our hearts. When we put the things of this earth on the chopping block, we start to realize that our hearts are being pulled to keep them. We went through a stage of minimalism in our house and tried to get rid of things we no longer use. It was hard at first, and we realized how much we have been clinging to stuff we do not use. We had clothes we hadn’t worn in ten years. Why did we still have them? We would say, “Well, you never know when you might need it.” That is a lie to justify keeping our treasures on earth. When do we get to the point where we are willing to call our possessions excessive? Aren’t we already there, but afraid to admit it?
What Should We Do?
Jesus is not trying to get our money. He is trying to get us to give our money away. He is trying to get us to stop focusing on money and to stop living our life pursuing money and things we do not use or need. We will continue to see this as we look at the rest of the text. Jesus tries to help us with this by giving us two pictures.
Matthew 6:22--24 (ESV) --- 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.
Evaluate Our Desires
The first picture is our eye being the lamp of the body. What does that mean? A lamp would have been an oil lamp like in the movie Aladdin. It gives light to the room. Jesus says that the eye provides light to the entire body. How? Based on verse 22, the heart pursuing treasures in heaven is equivalent to a healthy eye. When our heart seeks treasures on earth, we have a bad eye. Notice that the bad eye turns us into darkness.
If we are pursuing treasures on this earth and seeking to hoard up riches for our own security without a focus on giving to glorify God, we are full of darkness and not light. We have to ask ourselves, “What do we pursue?” This is the critical piece of the puzzle. If we are pursuing security through treasures on this earth, we have an unhealthy eye. Our lamp is not receiving the oil it needs to continue to burn. If we are pursuing God with the hope of receiving eternal blessings, our desires are healthy, and we have a light inside of us. This all goes back to what he said in the first 18 verses. God cares about our intentions. If we give while pursuing the exaltation of others, we missed it because that is also a treasure on earth. Giving to receive on earth is taking away from the reward we could win. So we have to evaluate our desires and rid ourselves of self-serving mindsets. I love to go back to the words of Isaiah 55 to see this.
Isaiah 55:1--9 (ESV) --- 1 “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. 3 Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.
God is calling us to come to him pursuing the gifts he has to offer. He wants us to trade the empty pursuits of this life for the pursuit of him. He wants us to give up our pursuit of the temporary and delight ourselves in the rich food he has to offer.
Choose The Right Master
The second picture is of a steward trying to serve two masters. When a steward is given a responsibility, he has to use it in the best interest of his master. In this text, Jesus depicts money as a master and God as a master. Money being a master does not really make a whole lot of sense to us. Money does not have desires or feelings. It cannot tell us what to do. So should we discount this example? No, Jesus wants us to see how our desires and passions to sin can rule over us. If we love money and believe that it can save us, it will rule over us. We will do what it wants us to do. We will hoard it greedily, we will covet it, we will spend our lives pursuing it, and we will give up on God’s commands to keep it for ourselves.
What are we going to do when the opportunity presents itself for us to give what we have away to someone in need? How easy is it for us to think, “Surely God would want me to have my surplus. Surely he would want me to be able to afford to eat, drink, and be merry. He wants me to enjoy my luxurious vacations, a bigger house, and a nicer car.” We must be careful. Money is a broken cistern and an empty well. It will not provide us with the happiness that it promises to give. Do we remember the rich man who feasted sumptuously at his house every day while a poor beggar laid outside? The story is in Luke 16, and there we see that the rich man died and went to the place of torment. He wished to tell his family to stop indulging in this life, but he couldn’t. He spent his life serving money, and now he regrets it. That story speaks to us today, telling us to be careful not to worship and serve our money. It is not worth devoting ourselves to and loving.
If we choose to love money, we will hate God. Jesus is trying to get that through to us. Loving money is like an addiction. It gradually takes over our lives and leads us away from loving God. That’s why the first command is to love God with ALL of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. If we leave room for money, it will take over! Eventually, we will justify our love for money so much that we will find a way to get rid of God altogether because we despise him for telling us to give up our money.
Conclusion
Jesus has been trying to get us to hurt our feelings in all of this section. Did it work? The Coronavirus event has hardly threatened our lives of luxury. But a day is coming when all of that luxury will be gone in an instant. We cannot trust in the uncertainty of riches! They will fail us. God has given these things to us to be used for his glory, not so that we can feel secure in this life. That was not Jesus’ priority. Can you imagine Jesus living with a focus on those money bags that they carried with them? Can you imagine him continually checking to see how much they have remaining? Jesus would not do that. He was not looking for ways to get a bigger house. Remember, he told someone who wanted to follow him that he had no place to lay his head. That was not his focus or his utmost desire. It cannot be ours either.
Now, I’m not saying that we have to sell our homes and wander around on the streets. But I am saying that we have to be willing to. We have to arm ourselves with a mentality that is trusting in God to provide us with what we need. Jesus wants our hearts to be untangled from the world. He wants us to use our excess to God’s glory instead of only using it for our self-indulgence. Greed and corruptions can come into our hearts and lead us away from who we were meant to be. We are stewards, not owners. We will either be full of light or full of darkness.