You Can't Love Money and Live for the Kingdom of God! (Pt. 2)

Jesus teaches that true wealth is found in serving God not in earthly treasures. Yet how do you know which one you value more? How do you know if you work more for money or for God’s kingdom? In Matthew 6:19-24 Jesus presents three ways to tell what you value most. Today we consider the first way.

1. Where Do You Invest? v. 19-21

In typical Hebrew parallelism Jesus sets out opposites to help His disciples contrast and learn spiritual truth. He mentions the storing of treasures in two distinct locations: Do not store up treasures on earth, but store them up in heaven. The verb translated “store up” is thesaurizō. It has to do with stock piling or hoarding or piling up something. We get our word thesaurus from it.

Why not store up treasures on earth? The answer Jesus provides is that to do so is shortsighted. Jesus mentions three culprits in this world which ruin earthly treasure.

1. First He reminds them that the moth destroys. In ancient times, wealth was often measured in clothing. Often golden threads might be woven into clothing among the richer class to add to the cloth’s value. Since fashions did not change much in the ancient world, clothes could be stored up as treasures. The best clothes were made of wool which moths love to devour. The moth’s larvae will eat clothing. Isaiah 51:8 indicates this, "For the moth will eat them like a garment, and the grub will eat them like wool.” So it took effort to protect clothes from insects.
   
   
2. The second culprit is rust. The Greek word is brōsis which literally means “eating.” It could refer to rust or even to the eating of grain stored in the barns by by rodents, rats and mice or even by locusts and worms. It can also be translated “decay” or “dry rot” such as in James 5:2. In any case, the loss of material things is the consequence.
   
   
3. Third, anything owned could be stolen. The phrase “break in” and steal literally means “dig through” and steal. Since many homes were made with mud walls, this may refer to digging into the home, such as in Job 24:16. Also valuables were buried under house floors which could be dug up. It could even refer to digging up dirt in a field where often treasures were hidden. The point is, whatever does not rust or rot or decay or get eaten up like precious medals which do not rust, can still be stolen. There are always thieves to complicate ownership.

These three culprits give us plenty of reason not to store up treasures on earth. Things just do not last long down here. People imagine themselves secure by owing them, but there is no real security in possessing them. What you own, you have to spend much time protecting. All such treasuring hoarding is futile. The Lord would spare us from vain pursuits. Proverbs 23:4 “Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, cease from your consideration of it.”

Just to clarify, Jesus is not teaching that you must be poor to be one of His followers. When he says, do not store up treasures on earth, that doesn’t mean you cannot own anything. Both testaments recognize the right to owning possessions. Stealing is wrong because man has the right of possession. First Timothy 6:17 says we are to enjoy what God has given us. The rich are not told to part with all their wealth but to be rich in good works.

The Bible gives much instruction about hard work bringing wealth and indicates that is a virtue. See Proverbs 6:6-8; 14:23; 24:3-4; 2 Thessalonians 3:10; 1 Timothy 5:8; Ephesians 4:28. It is right to work hard, do financial planning, and make investments.

What’s wrong, then?

Investing in the here and now is what is wrong! Making what we own here an end in itself to enjoy on earth instead of acting as a steward of the resources God has put into our hands for the advancement of His eternal kingdom. Jesus teaches us not to work for the prestige of our families, but to work to advance God’s purposes and kingdom. Don’t work for financial security on earth. Ultimately, there is none. Work for secure treasures in heaven. You can spend years accumulating wealth and lose your children, marriage, and relationships while blowing your opportunities to advance Christian ministry. Or you can determine to use all your resources to advance Christ’s kingdom. It is not wrong to possess things. It is wrong to let those things possess you.

How can you tell if you are just enjoying what God gave you or letting them possess you? If you do what Jesus instructs next in the parallel part of the verse, you will know your heart is going in the right direction.

… store up treasures in heaven.

There are no thieves in heaven. Decay doesn’t affect treasures there either. Peter calls our treasure an imperishable inheritance reserved in heaven for you in 1 Peter 1:4. The issue is what is truly of value to you?

Value is an interesting concept, isn’t it? Antiques were once the old things people threw out. They were of very little value then. Now, because people find beauty and meaning in the older things, they increase in value.

However, what really is of value is what lasts and what God brings into the new world. This world is passing away. It is not wrong to desire possessions. It’s just foolish to want what will not last. Many rich in this world will be poor and pitiful in the next. Some poor in this world will be rich and exalted in the next.

Poor miserable creatures we must appear to be from heaven! We go about on the earth, to and fro, making our treasures and burying them in vaults on the earth. And to what avail? We leave them for thieves and foolish men after we die. The saying, “He who dies with the most toys wins” is absurd. What do you win when you bring nothing with you?

You should choose, instead, to store up a treasure in heaven. What are treasures in heaven? Second Corinthians 9:6 “Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” That is in the context of giving money to the church’s ministry. 2 Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” You are a steward. Your master will hold you accountable for what you did with His money. For the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. First Timothy 6:18-19 “Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19 storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.”

Notice verse 21, “Where your treasure is there your heart will be also. ”This is the main point Jesus was teaching the disciples. The heart is the center of a person’s focus, attention, and desire. It refers then to their thinking and desire. If you are thinking about getting more money and getting a nicer place and acquiring nicer things, then, yes, your treasure is on earth, and, yes, that’s where your heart is set.

It is no wonder you are not excited about heavenly things! The cares of this world have squashed and squeezed out your love of spiritual things. Have you ever noticed that when you get together with unbelievers, predictably the topic turns to physical possessions. Gaining more and more wealth is an avarice well respected by the world. That’s not how it should be with believers. We should be focused on the glories of the kingdom to come. If you are consumed with the kingdom, your mind and your speech will be on heavenly treasure.

So where are your investments? What is the real purpose for what you do?