Matthew 6, we'll be reading verses 19 to 33. We'll only be looking at the first five verses in this section, but really the second half really builds on this first portion. How are we not able to be anxious and not to worry? Well, it really goes back to the section here, and Lord willing, we'll be looking at that next section later on. And I just remind you of what we've been seeing in the Sermon on the Mount as we've been going through it. And Jesus is talking to his disciples. And he begins with a description of those who are his followers. Those who have come to faith and what they're like. And they're poor in spirit. And all the description and beatitudes are describing that one who is his disciple. who mourn over their sin and the rest. And then he's talking about what it means to truly visit a cycle and seeing that it involves hypocrisy in terms of prayer and giving and fasting. And now we come to this portion beginning with verse 19. Do not lay up for yourselves Treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But laugh 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. 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 you will hate the one and love the other, or will be devoted to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the willows of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of them. But if God so closes the grass of the field, which today is live and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much foreclose you? Are you of little faith? Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek all after all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. There is The sermon outline is included in the bulletin. The movie character Gordon Greco in the 1987 movie, Wall Street, delivered one of the most memorable lines in cinema history. He was addressing a group of stockholders. And as he spoke to them, he summarized and he said, the point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for the lack of a better word, is good. Often summarized, greed is good. It doesn't take much looking at this portion of the scripture to see that Jesus would thoroughly disagree with Gordon Gekko. In these verses, Jesus isn't saying greed is good. Jesus is saying greed is sin. Jesus is teaching about wealth. And it's interesting as you look through the Gospels, of all the social issues that he addresses, he addresses the idea of wretches and wealth more than any other single topic in terms of the social issue. He speaks of it more than he does about marriage and family, children, more than he does about politics, more than work, more than sex, more than power, and this teaching on wealth is part of his message to his disciples. As he's talking to them about what it means to disciple, what loyalty to God entails, his message is agreed is wrong. It's sin. It really is idolatry, following after another God, seeking to serve another God. And you can't do that. You need to decide who is going to be your master. Now, realize few people set out to live for money, to live for wealth. They want money to serve them. But in these warnings, Jesus is saying to us, it's easy to get off track. It's easy. to be led astray, and we need to be checking and seeing what we're choosing. As these options are there in the world before us, which one are we choosing? Think of the parable of the sowers. The seed that falls among the thorns is that seed that falls among the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches. There's a deceitfulness. to wealth. There's an allure that we maybe don't even see. It's insidious. So Jesus is warning us of that danger. Not to be overcome with greed and miserliness and all the rest. And there's a particular challenge in our day. because there's so much around us, and daily, or at least weekly, we have choices of what are we going to do with what we have. And you may establish a pattern and decide that for several years have given and tithed to the church or whatever, and yet every time you get that paycheck, you need to say, am I still going to do that? Now, it can be a habit that makes it much easier. But each time you receive that paycheck, there's that question, what am I going to spend it on? Will it glorify God or not? Well, Jesus lays before us three sets of options, two different ways of going. And of course, he's pushing us and even directing us toward the right way and pointing out how bad is the alternative. And so the first point, the first set of options concerns your treasure. And the question, where is your treasure? Is it here on earth or is it in heaven? And by the word treasure, Jesus means what you would prize most dearly. What you set your heart, your affections, you gaze at, you look at, you think about. What is it you're thinking about? What do you spend your time, your resources on? What would you feel most upset if it was taken away from you? Well, one choice is to lay up treasures on earth. And Jesus is really warning against, commanding against it. Do not. Do not take this path. Do not lay up for yourself treasures on earth. And he goes on to point out the futility of it. Now, it's so simple we almost overlook it. If you consider the things that you lay up here on earth, moths and rust will destroy, thieves will break in and steal. It's not secure. Now, realize that Jesus addresses it this way. He's not forbidding private property and ownership of things, or planning ahead and thinking about a rainy day. You can see in Scripture that that's commanded in Proverbs, that the hand is commended for storing up. And we see throughout Scripture possessions are okay. He's not forbidding the enjoyment of the good things that God gives, and indeed, the Scriptures commend that to us. But what Jesus is forbidding is that selfish accumulation of goods, that greed, The gecko called good. That mentality that says I need to get more and more and more and more. That shows a preoccupation with material things and an insatiable desire to have more and more. That hard heartedness that turns a deaf ear to those who are in need. I can't spare that money. That extravagance. and the curious lifestyle, and especially that foolish fantasy that so abounds that a person's life consists in the abundance of their possessions, as if that were the most important thing. Now, in Jesus' day, the hoarding would have been in terms of valuable clothes and precious metals. Well, notice he talks about those things indirectly. Those clothes become mothy. Those precious metals can rust or be stolen. They're not at all secure. Today, we might think in terms of lavish homes, of luxury sporty cars or boats, you know, of a house. that's so immaculate and beautifully decorated that it could be in one of those women's magazines as a picture home of retirement accounts and golden parachutes and all the rest. Such treasures are earthbound. They're subject to loss and to failure and destruction. And Jesus draws our attention It's devastatingly simple. And yet how many people do you know, how many people around you, how many students are studying so that they can do that very thing? Can spend their lives accumulating what is often called toys? Because they really don't have any significance. One of the things I can guarantee you, is that 100% of what you accumulate in your life is going to be left behind at death. We're not able to take one single thing with us out of this life. So why spend your life accumulating it? The alternative is found in verse 20, the command. The obvious choice is to lay up treasure in heaven. If you're not to lay up treasure on earth, What can you do? Lay up treasure in heaven where it's secure. There's no need to fear moth or roster thief. Jesus was really saying, go with the sure thing with the bank that's up in heaven. How can you and I store up treasure in heaven? Well, it comes back to how we spend our limited resources here on earth. How do we spend our time, our energies, our money, our abilities that God has given? Do we spend them things that are eternal, that will have eternal fruit? Or not? Do they show a wholehearted commitment to God and seeking to glorify Him, to be servants of His? of some very simple ways of doing that is, you know, giving to the local congregation, using your time and resources and energies for outreach, for evangelism, for world missions, for the support of Christian education, to set a priority in the development of Christian care. We'll spend tens of thousands of dollars to get an education in college. But we pause when it would be a couple hundred dollars to go to a conference, a Christian conference. It'll help us tremendously in our Christian life. Why should that be? You know, as we give to Christian causes, as we make a priority growth in our knowledge of God. Make Christ central in our life. We're laying out treasure in heaven. Jesus summarizes the issue in verse 21, for where your treasure is, your heart will be also. He's really calling us to examine where's our treasure and what does it say about our hearts? Because those two are tied together. Where your heart is and where your treasure are going to be one. And so to examine in my life what do I find is really important. What do I dream about? Maybe what do I daydream about? You know what occupies my mind? What occupies my heart? Treasure on earth will never satisfy, naturally. I think of a man in his forties, well-dressed, very successful, and he admitted to the visiting pastor, I make twice as much as I ever dreamed I'd be able to make. But somehow it still isn't enough. If you're desiring wealth, There's always more. It will never satisfy you. And that's why the health and wealth gospel that's preached by many today is so deadly. Instead of delivering us from this fascination with wealth and prosperity and getting things and the goods of this world, it immerses the person even further. It may sound very spiritual, very pious to say, that if you have faith and true faith and what will accompany them is going to be health and wealth and joy and happiness and they're going to be yours in abundance. But what has Jesus already said in the Sermon on the Mount, the signs of the true disciple? He's talked about not being rich but being poor in spirit. of mourning over sin, of being persecuted for the sake of righteousness, and of being deliberate here, really from the love of money, from greed. Well, the second point is how is your eyesight? And really I mean by that, what's your focus? How sharply do you see the truth and pursue after it? Because that's really the image that's here of light versus darkness. And it begins, as verse 22, with a personal aside. Your eye is healthy. There's something good when you can see spiritually the truth and understand the options that are before you. It's important, as Jesus says, because the eye is the lamp of the body. Now, that's not physically the case. But as you consider, virtually everything we do is based on sight. And the blind can learn to cope with some of those things. But how much simpler, how much easier, how much better it is, whether it be a simple thing like cooking a meal, or driving down the road, or doing embroidery, or just running across the street, when you have the ability to see. And Jesus is saying the same is true in the spiritual realm. what your ambition is, what you have your eye fixed upon spiritually, where your heart is fixed, is going to affect your whole life. And you have the right focus. If your focus is upon God, upon Christ, upon His kingdom, then everything else will have that light shine upon it. What should I do with my life? How do I please God in my circumstances? How do I honor Him as a student? We'll be brought to the light. We'll keep us focused on the things that are eternal and not things that are only temporary. Give us meaning and purpose of life. And ultimately, we need to understand that that begins with seeing Jesus Christ, of trusting in Him. That unless you have that foundation of being a Christian, of trusting in Jesus Christ, that you can't see and see these things clearly. But also I think it's an encouragement to avoid cloudy or blurry vision. I expect most of you have been to the doctrines of that I chart up and you know at the top of it's an E. You can see it very clearly. And then you get down lower and it becomes harder to see and to make out, is that a C or is that an O? And you get to a level where you can't tell. But Jesus is encouraging us to look deeply and to be able to see more and more. And one of the things that can cloud our vision so we don't see is a design of wealth. And he's warning us of that danger that can easily get blurred vision because of a preoccupation with the things of this world. Well, the other option, verse 23, is when the eye is bad. Think of an eye that's diseased. I've met some who've had a degeneration of the eye. They see less and less. and trying to have to cope with it. And when your vision becomes clouded by the false god of materialism, it causes you to lose your sense of values, lose a sense of purpose, lose your priorities. And that's what Jesus is saying. That selfish ambition that looks to this world will plunge you into moral darkness characterized by pride. in greed and self-indulgence, while crushing ideas of charity and concern for your fellow man. We are to realize that greed flows from a greedy heart. It flows from a sinful heart, a heart that is set on this world. And we need to learn how to fight against that, and it's around us all the time. Next time you see an ad for a bright, shiny new car, it says, picture yourself in the front seat of this car. You need to do just the opposite. Learn how to picture yourself not in the front seat of that car. And that's the time women look at a magazine and see this house beautifully decorated. You know, decorator items all over. Instead of thinking, well, how can I begin to buy some of those things and get them in my house and decorate my house that way? No, you need to think, how can I be content with what I have, with what God has given me? For the third, and this is really the foundational question, the third choice, the most important one of all of the options, who is your master? Is it going to be money or mammon? As it's sometimes translated from the Aramaic meaning wealth. It really is what you trust in. Or is it God? Which one is it going to be? And the first thing we need to notice as you look at verse 24, it's impossible to serve two masters. It has to be either money or God, wealth or God. Now, a great many people doubt the truth of the statement. They don't like the antithesis between God and money. Can God and prosperity coexist go hand in hand? Why have to choose between the two? And the often reason, well, I have two employers and it works out. But the image here that Jesus uses is that of slavery. And one of the things that characterizes slavery is that you're owned by only one master. The essence of slavery is exactly that, single ownership and he has your full-time service. And so also Jesus is saying about our commitment to God. He's the one who owns you, who has full-time service. You are commanded to love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. You can't divide your loyalties. And to be sure, some people try and think they can, that they can serve two or three masters. I think the most typical is those who think they can serve God on Sunday, and then on Monday to Friday they serve money, and then Saturday it's for themselves. And there are a lot of people that do that. Others think they can serve God with their lips, but wealth with their hearts. But Jesus is saying, those who divide their hearts in this way, who are disloyal to God in this way, have already failed. They've already chosen who their God is, and it's not the God of the universe. the God who created them, who demands wholehearted and complete commitment. Thus be the implicit choice. Which will be your master? Will it be money or will it be God? Now, if we pause and think about it, it's not a hard choice. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out. One choice, that of choosing God is intrinsically worthy. He's a creator. He's glorious. What you entrust to Him is eternally secure. You will not suffer loss. The other, wealth, and what's sometimes called the almighty dollar. And notice that divine attribute given to the idea of wealth. Never satisfied. Well, disappointment is a poor choice indeed. And it's a question that's addressed to people of all economic strata. For those rich, the question is who do you serve? Do you serve your wealth or do you serve God? To those who are poor, who have nothing. Who is your master? Are you always thinking about money and becoming rich, having more? Are you content? For the vast majority of us who are in between, it's still the same question. Is it wealth or is it God? Now, very few ever set out to live for money. to have it be their masters. But it often shows up in terms of, well, I want to provide for my family. Which becomes, well, I want to provide well for my family. Well, I want to provide very well for my family. And the scriptures command us to provide for our family. But when it becomes all-consuming, and all encompass, when it becomes greed, it becomes wrong. Well, how, in very practical ways, will choosing God to be your master show itself? Let me give you three tests. First is generosity. Those who love God, I submit, you will love to give. And they won't want to call attention to themselves as they give. And historically, you see that true. It goes back to the Corinthian church. Paul commends them for giving out of their great poverty. They still wanted to give. And they heard of a homeless shelter. And when Hades struck, they decided that they should take a collection of these ones who had virtually nothing. And they did. And they got like $5.35. That's what they had to give. One man had a crumpled up dollar bill and others gave a few cents a change. But they gave. They wanted to give. They saw a need. And they gave. And if you look historically, who are the givers? It's those who are committed Christians. Who are stepped in in Katrina and Haiti and given the most? It's believers. And why? Well, one reason is they know they can trust their Heavenly Father. They don't have to hold on to every dime that they earn, lest it come up short. They know God will provide for them. I think a good question is always, what does your checkbook say about you? And if your checkbook shows more money going for recreation and vacations than going toward God, and shouting something at you. Second test will show in terms of contentment. We will be content with whether God gives us much or plenty. And the Apostle Paul writes that, that he learned to be content. Now you talk about learning, it's not something automatic. He talked about abounding and being in need, but learning to be content in whatever circumstance. And again, that goes contrary to what's around us. So much is designed to create discontent. Ants, are we to discontent with our car? You know, a computer that's three years old, it doesn't do all the stuff that the newer computers do. Well, if you're like me, you don't even use 99% of what it does now. I don't need ten more features. We need to be content. We need to fight against a culture that is discontent, that says that you're entitled to more and better and improved. And third is to consciously change your thinking. How do you think about financial questions? A typical answer is can I afford it? But I suggest to you a better set of questions is does this glorify God? Does this expenditure glorify God? Does it make me a better servant of Jesus Christ? And that will show up in very practical ways. You know, your child comes to you and asks for something. It's very easy as a parent, and I expect I've done this once or twice, to say, we can't afford it. End of discussion. You don't have to deal with a child and their begging and that sort of thing. Well, we can't afford it. It's effective. But what are you teaching your child? Well, there's a subtle message. The adults in this family don't make the decisions. Money does. Money rules our house. Rather than the parents. And it may be true you don't have the money. That's probably much more true that it doesn't glorify God. If it glorified God, then I think you'll find some way, how can we afford it? For application, I'd have us think about these choices. Because they're really not choices. They're options. And there's one clear choice in every case. But Jesus is really calling us that to carefully examine your life, and this will be as congregation later on having communion and coming to the Lord's table. What's our commitment? It begins with where's our treasure? Is it treasure here on earth or is it treasure in heaven? What's the focus of your eye and of your heart? What are you fixed on? Accumulating things risen upon God. And who are you serving? Because there can't be divided loyalties. God wants you to serve him on Sunday. He wants you to serve him on Monday through Friday. And he wants you to serve him on Saturday as well. Commitment needs to be 100 percent. in Jesus Christ. Anything else really is disloyalty to the God who created you, to the God who redeemed you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we are challenged as we read these words of Jesus to think about our lives. And there is a deceitfulness about riches. that none of us set out to serve wealth, to make it our idol, and yet how easy it is to slip into that. Not even to be thinking about it. And so I pray that you would protect us from that. That we would be spending our time and our energies, our money, for those things that are eternal. For those things that will last beyond. this life, and that we would fix our eyes upon Christ, the author of our salvation. And that He would help us to keep from dividing our loyalties. That we would indeed love You, with our entire heart and mind and soul and strength. Show us how to do that. And forgive us for those times when we don't. We pray in Christ's name, Amen. Turn please to Psalm 112, Selection A.