Pick One: God or Money

Welcome again, and let's turn to the scriptures.

! Let's open up to Matthew 6, verses 19-24.

Matthew 6:19–24

Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's word.

! Heavenly Father, this passage which you have spoken to us,

have preserved in your word for us,

is a matter of eternal consequence.

And you say in your word that you are jealous

for your spirit that is within us,

and that you command and you demand

exclusive allegiance to you.

You call us to love you with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Lord, right at the onset, Lord, we confess the poverty of our affections,

the deficiency of our love.

We ask that you would expose that and convict that,

but that you would go beyond that also to comfort us

with the mercy and grace that is found in Jesus Christ,

and that by his grace you would transform us to treasure you above all things.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

If you're able, please stand so that we can honor God as we read from his word.

I'm going to read Matthew 6, verses 19-24.

Matthew 6:19–24

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,

and where thieves do not break in and steal.

For where your treasure is,

there your heart will be also.

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 and love the other,

or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and money.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

Please be seated.

Whether you are an atheist,

or an agnostic,

or an adherent of organized religion,

everyone worships something.

Sure, you might not make an altar

before which you bow down and make sacrifices,

but if you're still worshiping something,

because Jesus teaches us in this passage

that worship ultimately is about

what we treasure above all else.

When you treasure something,

you are preoccupied with that thing.

You prioritize it above other things in your life.

When you treasure relational and social status,

for example,

you do anything.

You'd pay any price.

You'd make any sacrifice to save face

and to avoid shame

and to be accepted and popular.

For some people,

that treasure is power or prestige.

They do anything,

pay any price,

and make sacrifices,

sacrifice even their own integrity

and the needs of their own family members

to climb that ladder of success

to be perceived as successful,

to gain power.

For some people,

that treasure is sex.

They pursue the pleasures of sex

even at great personal cost to themselves,

even if it destroys their marriage,

even if it's illicit

and includes committing crimes.

For some people,

that treasure,

as this passage focuses on money,

they're consumed with making

the greatest amount of money

in the shortest amount of time

and they're always scheming

to acquire more and more and more

and their entire life

revolves around the pursuit of money.

This passage is,

on the surface,

about money,

but it's also about more than money.

I think we know that

because in Matthew 12,

34 and 35,

Jesus uses the language of treasure again

and that time he says,

how can you speak good

when you are evil?

For out of the abundance of the heart,

the mouth speaks.

The good person,

out of his good treasure,

brings forth good.

And the evil person,

out of his evil treasure,

brings forth evil.

In that passage,

Jesus is clearly speaking

not about literal treasure,

but about figurative treasure.

He's speaking of the treasure of the heart.

So we need to ask ourselves,

when we peel away

all of the layers of pretending

and posturing

and when we peel away

our idealized versions of ourselves

that we present to others

and get down to our real selves

at the core,

what do we believe?

What do we value?

What do we love?

What do we find there

in the heart?

That is the treasure of the heart.

And that's what Jesus is referring to here

in Matthew 6, 21,

when he says,

where your treasure is,

there your heart will be also.

Where your treasure is

reveals where your heart is.

The main point of Jesus' teaching

in this passage is simple.

Make the God of heaven

your supreme treasure.

We're going to first talk about

how we should store up

our treasures in heaven.

And then secondly,

about how we should set our eyes on heaven.

And then third,

about how to serve our master in heaven.

Jesus commands us

not to lay up for ourselves

treasures on earth.

Why?

He gives the reason.

Moth and rust destroy

and thieves break in and steal.

Most modern people

keep their wealth in banks

and stock markets.

Nowadays,

there are still people,

maybe the wealthier among us,

who keep safes in their houses

because they have valuable stuff

to keep in there,

like gold and silver bars

and jewelry

and maybe watches

and heirlooms

and collectibles,

so on.

But all of these things

are susceptible

to decay and corruption.

The beautiful silk dress

that you have

or the stately wool coat

that you have

or maybe the luxurious fur scarf

that you have

can all be eaten by moths,

literally.

Rolex watches

and expensive jewelry

rust

and corrode.

The road salt

and the harsh climates

and the bad drivers

of Boston

do not make a distinction

between

cheap Toyotas

and expensive Rolls Royces.

Sorry if you drive a Toyota.

I drive a Toyota too.

That's okay.

Yeah.

Rolls Royces

get into fender benders.

Their suspension system

rust and fall off.

Their battery dies.

Their tires wear out.

It's the same thing

that happens to your car

happens to that.

Even real estate investments

are not safe.

Many of the mansions

of Hollywood stars

were destroyed overnight

by the Woolsey fire

of 2018.

All earthly treasures

are susceptible

to corrosion

and destruction.

And not only do moths

and rust destroy,

the thieves also

break in and steal.

In 2016,

Kim Kardashian

was robbed

of 10 million in jewelry

by armed thieves

during the Paris Fashion Week.

I don't know why

she had to bring

10 million dollars

worth of jewelry to that.

In 2019,

Tamara Ecclestone,

who is a daughter

of Formula One

mogul Bernie Eskelstone,

had an estimated

30 plus million dollars

in jewelry

stolen by burglars

from the Kensington Mansion.

All earthly,

I mean,

you would imagine

they would have

intense security

for those things.

And I'm sure they did.

And even then,

thieves break in

and steal.

All earthly treasures

that we possess

can also be dispossessed

of them.

And it can happen

just like that.

On October 29,

1929,

the history calls

Black Tuesday,

right?

It's not Black Friday.

It's not good.

U.S. stock market

crashed after years

of reckless speculation

and inflated stock prices.

That triggered

a collapse

in public confidence

in the market,

which sparked

a chain reaction

that led to

the Great Depression.

Investors started

panic selling

all their stock

because it kept

plummeting in value.

They didn't want

to lose any more money.

And when they did that,

some of the banks failed

because their investments

also took a nosedive.

And when the business

couldn't pay the loans

that they'd taken

out of the banks,

the more and more

banks fail.

And as the banks fail,

the people are afraid

that they're going

to lose the money

that they're keeping

in the bank

because this was

back in the day

when the federal government

did not insure

our bank deposits.

And so they pull

all their money

out of the bank

and then, of course,

then the banks

lose more money.

Even more banks fail.

More people lose

their money.

Over 9,000 U.S. banks

failed in three years.

An estimate

modern equivalent

of $30 billion

of people's

hard-earned savings

were wiped out.

Millions of people

lost their life savings.

Millions of people

lost their homes.

Approximately 15 million

people lost their jobs.

One in four workers

were unemployed

at the peak

of the Great Depression.

The insecurity

of wealth

is proven

in history

over and over

again.

And yet,

so many

are preoccupied

with hoarding up

this fleeting,

fading wealth.

And even if you

manage to

protect your wealth

for the duration

of your life

from moths

and rusts

and thieves,

you still cannot

protect your wealth

from one thing.

It is death.

In Luke 12,

13 to 21,

Jesus tells

the parable

of the rich fool.

After an unusually

abundant harvest,

this rich fool

runs out of room

in his barns.

What am I going to do?

I have so much

wheat to store

and I don't have

enough barns.

Oh, I know

what I'm going to do.

I'm going to tear

down all my barns

and then build

larger, bigger ones

so I can store

everything in my barns

and then I can say

to myself,

soul, you have ample

goods laid up

for many years.

Relax, eat, drink,

be merry.

But God says

to this rich man,

fool,

this night

your soul

is required of you

and the things

you have prepared,

whose will they be?

And after

telling this parable,

Jesus concludes,

so is the one

who lays up

treasure for himself

and is not rich

toward God.

None of us know

when we're going to die

but when that day comes

we can be certain

that we're not going

to take any

of our stuff

with us.

This is the folly

of the trending

fire movement.

I think Gary

told me about this.

F-I-R-E,

you guys know

about this?

If you're Gen Z

you probably know

about it.

It stands for

Financial Independence

Retire Early,

F-I-R-E.

And many among

the Gen Z

apparently,

this is what I hear,

are practicing

extreme frugality

and high savings

in order to achieve

financial independence

and retire early.

But as we have

seen already,

earthly wealth

is extremely

volatile

and insecure.

And many of those

Gen Zers

are going to die

before they can

retire and enjoy

their savings.

I often see

a funeral procession

because there are

several funeral homes

in East Cambridge.

I often see

a funeral procession

of cars going by,

going from the funeral home

to the grave site.

It's usually led

by a funeral coach,

also known as a hearse,

which is typically

a Lincoln or a Cadillac

that's been modified

to fit the long

casket in the back.

And I don't know

if you noticed,

but I have never seen

a hearse

with a U-Haul

cargo trailer

hitched behind it.

Why?

Because nobody

takes anything

to the grave.

Nobody takes

any of their stuff

to the life

thereafter.

And these pitfalls

apply not only

to material goods

and wealth,

but also to

all earthly treasures.

Social status

and fame

are also fleeting.

According to researchers

from Google,

eBay,

and UC Berkeley,

viral fame

that so many

young people

aspire to

usually lasts

seven days.

it's not

quite as short

as the proverbial

15 minutes of fame,

but that's pretty close,

isn't it?

That's because of

the oversaturation

of the internet.

Every minute,

48 hours of video

is uploaded to YouTube

and you think

that you can keep up

with that?

Our attention spans

are getting ever shorter

and the fickle audience,

they easily fatigue

and move on

from what they saw.

There are 27 million

paid content creators

in the U.S.,

200 million globally.

And according to Linktree,

72% of all content creators

full-time and part-time

make less than $500 a year.

Even if you become

the rare person

that finds enduring fame

throughout your life,

you will one day die

and then you will be forgotten.

Even if you are

immortalized,

quote-unquote,

with a statue

inducted into

the Hall of Fame,

have a building

named after you

in your honor

at a college campus,

someday,

someone will take

your name down,

raise that building

and build a new one

named after someone else.

Someone will take

that statue down

as the values

of the culture changes.

what is it that you

treasure in this life?

All pleasures fade.

All loved ones die.

All the treasures of earth

are by nature fleeting.

D. Martin Luther Jones

puts it helpfully.

He says,

your most beautiful flower

is beginning to die

immediately.

You pluck it.

You will soon

have to throw it away.

That is true

of everything

in this life and world.

It does not matter

what it is.

It is passing.

It is all fading away.

Everything that has life

is,

as the result of sin,

subject to this process.

Moth and rust

doth corrupt.

Things develop holes

and become useless,

and at the end,

they are gone

and become utterly corrupt.

The most perfect physique

will eventually give way

and break down and die.

The most beautiful countenance

will in a sense

become ugly

when the process of corruption

has got going.

The brightest gifts

tend to fade.

Your great genius

may be seen gibbering

in delirium

as a result of disease.

However wonderful

and beautiful

and glorious things may be,

they all perish.

It is foolish, therefore,

to store up our treasures

on earth,

to make treasures

of the perishable things

of earth.

Instead,

Jesus says in verse 20,

lay up for yourselves

treasures in heaven

where neither moth

nor rust destroys

and where thieves

do not break in

and steal.

Matthew uses the word heaven

more than any other author

in the Bible,

Old and New Testament.

And in Matthew 5, 34,

Jesus told us

exactly what he means

by heaven

when he commended us

not to take an oath

by heaven

for it is

the throne of God.

That's how Jesus himself

defined heaven

in the Gospel of Matthew.

Heaven is the throne of God.

It's a place

from which God rules.

And that's why

the word heaven

is most often

associated

in the Gospel of Matthew

with expressions like

kingdom of heaven

or our Father

who is in heaven.

So what then

are the treasures

in heaven?

What does it mean

to lay up,

store up treasures

in heaven?

It means,

as it says in verse 33,

to seek first

the kingdom of God

and his righteousness.

Rather than being

preoccupied with

earthly and worldly concerns,

to lay up treasures

in heaven

then means

to make the God

of heaven

our supreme treasure.

to live for

his heavenly purposes

and his heavenly priorities

rather than our own

earthly purposes

and priorities.

It's similar to what

Jesus said in John 6, 27.

Do not work

for the food

that perishes

but for the food

that endures

to eternal life

which the Son of Man

will give to you.

Life is about

so much more

than making money

and then spending money

and eating food

and ingesting food

that you digested

and working

and then vacationing.

We are people

with eternal destinies.

And God wants us

to prepare for that reality.

If we take

such care

of ourselves

here and now

when our life

is only

70 to 80

years long

how much more

than should we provide

for and take care

for our eternal life?

Are you preparing

for eternal life?

Do you care

about the salvation

of the eternal souls

of your children?

Do you care

about the salvation

of the eternal souls

of your neighbors

around you?

This contrast

between earthly treasures

and heavenly treasures

is undoubtedly

connected to

the principle

that has dominated

chapter 6

up to this point.

Jesus said

early in verse 4

that we should give

to the needy

in secret

so that our Father

who sees in secret

will reward us.

He said

in verse 6

that we should pray

in secret

so that our Father

who sees in secret

will reward us.

And again

in verse 18

Jesus said

we should fast

in secret

so that our Father

who sees in secret

will reward us.

Repeatedly

we have been taught

not to practice

our righteousness

before other people

in order to be seen

by them

for then

we will have

no reward

from our Father

in heaven

who is in heaven.

The same idea

I think is present

in this passage.

If all

that we care about

are treasures

on earth

things you can see

and touch

and hold

and show off

to others

if that's all

that you care about

the treasures

on earth

earthly recognition

!

and acclaimed

by men

then it betrays

where our heart

actually is.

That we are not

citizens of the

kingdom of heaven

but citizens

of the kingdom

of earth.

That our Master

is not the God

of heaven

but mammon

money.

That our Father

is not the Father

in heaven

but the ruler

of this world.

Paul writes

in 2 Corinthians 4.18

we look

not to the things

that are seen

but to the things

that are unseen

for the things

that are seen

are transient

but the things

that are unseen

are eternal.

Immediately after that

Paul goes on

to talk about

our eternal

heavenly dwellings.

So what do you

treasure?

Do you treasure

things that are seen

or things

that are unseen?

In verse 21

Jesus shifts

this is

from the

using the

second person

plural pronoun

to using

the singular

second person

pronoun.

You just have

to take my word

for it

because you can't

tell it in English

because you

and you are

the same

in singular

and plural.

plural.

But in Greek

that's distinct

and I think

Jesus makes

that shift

to single

each of us

out.

Talks about

treasures

in heaven

but then now

he turns to

asking

what do

you

treasure?

Now what do

you all

treasure?

What do you

as an individual

treasure in your

life?

Because the

point is

not that we

should accumulate

many rewards

in heaven

although other

passages of

scripture do

speak of that

and there's a

place for that.

In this passage

the point is

not that you

should accumulate

many treasures

in heaven

but that you

should have

one singular

treasure

namely God.

Jesus saying

that we

should work

for the

food that

endures to

eternal life.

The treasures

of heaven

in this

passage

are figurative

for the

eternal life

that Jesus

speaks of

elsewhere.

Later in

Matthew 19

29

Jesus says

everyone who

has left

houses or

brothers or

sisters or

father or

mother or

children or

lands for

my name's

sake will

receive a

hundredfold and

will inherit

eternal life.

Again in

Matthew 16

25 to 26

for whoever

would save

his life

will lose

it but

whoever loses

his life for

my sake will

find it.

For what will

it profit a

man if he

gains the

whole world

and forfeits

his soul?

Or what shall

a man give

in return for

his soul?

This is not a

choice between

greater

sanctification and

lesser

sanctification or

greater obedience

and lesser

obedience.

It is the

contrast that

Jesus is

presenting to us

here is the

stark ultimate

choice between

God and

money.

You cannot

serve both

God and

money.

It's a

question of

ultimate

spiritual

allegiance.

1 Timothy 6

17 to 19

it is asked

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.

They are to

do good to

be rich in

good works to

be generous and

ready to share

thus storing up

treasure for

themselves as a

good foundation

for the future

so that they may

take hold of

that which is

truly life.

So here is a

sure way to

lay up for

ourselves treasures

in heaven.

One way to do

that is by

giving away our

money.

riches are

uncertain

anyway.

It could

disappear in

a flash

anyway so

why hoard

up uncertain

riches when

you can

instead lean

on and

depend on

the certainty

of a God

who provides

for his

children.

Being rich

in this

life does

us no

eternal

good but

being rich in

good works

does do

us eternal

good.

Whenever we

are generous

toward others

our earthly

wealth decreases

that's true

but our heavenly

wealth increases.

In a sense

the only money

we get to

keep is the

money that we

give away.

And that's

an unfairly

advantageous

trade for

us because

we get to

exchange expiring

currency which

is worldly

money for

eternal

currency.

And we

should make

that trade as

often as

possible and

use earthly

wealth as

much as we

can for

heavenly

causes for

the cause of

Christ for

the sake of

his kingdom.

That Jesus

says is a

worthwhile

investment.

Storing up

treasure for

ourselves in

heaven it says

in 1 Timothy

6 17 lays a

good foundation

salvation for

the future so

that we may

take hold of

that which is

truly life.

It paves the

way for

eternal life.

not because we

are saved by our

charitable deeds or

by almsgiving.

No we are saved by

the grace of God

alone through faith

in Jesus Christ

alone but because

storing up treasures

in heaven is the

way we guard and

keep our hearts from

idolatry.

Proverbs 4 23 says

keep your heart with

all vigilance for

from it flows the

springs of life.

that's what we're

doing when we

store up treasures

in heaven.

Jesus will say

later on in

Matthew 19 24 that

it is easier for a

camel to go through

the eye of a

needle than for a

rich person to

enter the kingdom

of heaven.

Why?

He explains in

Matthew 13 22 that

when the word of

God the gospel of

Jesus Christ is

sown as a seed into

people's hearts

sometimes it's like

a seed that grows

among thorns and

is choked up by the

thorns so that it

doesn't grow.

And Jesus explains

that the deceitfulness

of riches choke the

word and it proves

unfruitful.

If you are

preoccupied with

storing up treasures

on earth you are

surrounding yourself

you're the gospel

seed that you have

heard with choking

suffocating thorns

thorns.

Is that what you

really want?

No we should hack

away at those

thorns.

Store up treasures

in heaven and give

the word of God in

our lives room to

breathe room to

grow and bear

fruit.

So continuing on in

that same passage that

I read earlier 1

Timothy 6 9 to 11

it warns us sharply

those who desire to be

rich fall to the

fall into temptation

into a snare into

many senseless and

harmful desires that

plunge people into

ruin and destruction

for the love of money

is a root of all

kinds of evils.

It is through this

craving that some have

wandered away from the

faith and pierced

themselves with many

pangs.

If any Christian

loves money and

desires to be rich

this warning should be

a splash of cold

water in our faces

to wake us up.

Those who desire to be

rich it says fall into

temptation into a

snare into many

senseless and harmful

desires that plunge

people into ruin and

destruction.

People do not fall into

a pit because they

want to.

Animals don't get caught

in a snare because they

want to.

They are caught unawares.

The seductive power of

money is subtle.

It is gradual.

It is camouflaged.

It can ensnare you and

ruin you.

So if you have ever had

the thought in your mind

you know I want to

become a millionaire.

I want to become a

billionaire so that I

can do all these good

things that I want to do

in my mind.

Be warned.

Your temptation isn't

merely in the future

when you are rich.

No your temptation is

now when you desire to

be rich.

Take heed lest you fall

for where your treasure

is there your heart

will be also.

In his sermon on this

passage D.

Martin Lloyd-Jones

relays an illustration

that he once heard

another preacher use

in his sermon and now

I'm relaying that to

you third hand.

Here's the it's the

story of a farmer who

one day went happily

and you know and with

great joy in his heart

to report to his wife

that his most healthy

best cow has just

given birth to twin

calves.

Amazing.

It could change your

fortunes if you're a

farmer to have a twin

calves.

One was a red calf and

the other one was a

white calf and he said

you know I feel so

blessed by God and I

have this sudden feeling

I feel like God is

calling me.

I know this is what God

wants me to do.

I'm going to give one of

these calves to the

Lord.

And then the wife asks the

sensible question which

one are you going to

give to the Lord?

And he said oh no no you

don't have to decide that

now because we're going to

treat them and love them

the same way and they're

going to grow up and as

soon as we're ready I'll

make the call and then

we'll sell one and give

all the proceeds to the

Lord.

And then sometime later he

came back to his wife from

his farm despondent and he

said to her I am sad to

report this bad news but the

Lord's calf is dead.

And the wife is smart.

Wait a minute but you never

picked which one was the

Lord's calf.

How do you know that the

Lord's calf is dead?

Oh yeah yeah but you know I

had always decided in my own

head that it was going to be

the white one and it was the

white one that died.

So the Lord's calf died.

Why does it seem that it's

always the Lord's calf that

dies?

Why does it seem that when

our times are hard and

budgets are squeezed that it's

always the tithes and

offerings that are first to be

on the chopping block?

Choose your heart to treasure

carefully.

Make the God of heaven your

supreme treasure.

For where your treasure is

there your heart will be also.

And then in verses 22 to 23

Jesus pivots to make another

related point.

He says 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?

Having spoken of the heart now

he speaks of the eye.

At first glance this seems kind

of random.

What's the connection here?

But in the Bible the eye and the

heart are often linked together.

The eye sees what the heart

seeks.

The eye looks at what the heart

loves.

the heart's affections and the eye's

attentions go hand in hand.

For example when Solomon builds

the temple and dedicates to the

Lord the Lord says of this temple

in 1 Kings 9 3 my eyes and my

heart will be there for all time.

Why will God's eyes be on that

temple?

Because his heart is there.

Psalm 19 7 to 8 makes the

connection between the soul the

heart and the eyes.

There's a law of the Lord is

perfect reviving the soul.

The presets of the Lord are

right rejoicing the heart.

The commandment of the Lord is

pure enlightening the eyes.

The word of the Lord enlightens

the eyes and rejoices our hearts

is referring to the same thing.

They go hand in hand.

Similarly Psalm 119 36 to 37

says incline my heart to your

testimonies and not to selfish

gain.

Turn my eyes not turn my eyes

from looking at worthless things

and give me life in your ways.

The direction of the eyes always

follows the orientation of the

heart.

The haughty eyes and the proud

heart go together.

Proverbs 21 4 says.

Psalm 131 1 says the same thing.

The preacher of Ecclesiastes 11 9

counsels a young man to rejoice in

the days of his youth and he tells

him walk in the ways of your heart

and the sight of your eyes but know

that for all these things God will

bring you into judgment.

In John 12 40 Jesus speaks of how God

has blinded people's eyes and hardened

their heart lest they see with their

eyes and understand with their heart and

turn and I would heal them.

All that to say Jesus is using the word

eye in a figurative sense here.

Blind eyes and hardened hearts go

together.

Which is why Paul prays for the

Ephesian church in Ephesians 118 that

God would enlighten the eyes of their

hearts.

hearts.

This is why Jesus is saying the eye is

the lamp of the body.

The eye is the organ the sensory organ

through which we receive life through

which we receive sight and in that

sense it is accurate that the eye is in

a sense the window to our souls.

For this reason 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.

The word healthy in this passage is

actually the word that normally means

single, sincere, without guile,

straightforward, not having a hidden

agenda.

The ESV rendered it healthy to fit with

the metaphor better but in doing so I

think they actually made the verse more

difficult to understand.

Do you remember the sixth beatitude of

Matthew 5.8?

Blessed are the pure in heart for they

shall see God.

The heart is the organ of spiritual

sight and only those who are pure in

heart see God.

And what do we say is the meaning of

being pure in heart?

James 4.8 commands cleanse your hands

you sinners and purify your hearts you

double-minded.

Being double-minded is the opposite of

being impure in heart.

That means to be pure in heart is to be

single-minded.

Instead of having two minds, two wills,

what God wants and then what I want,

what God wants and what these people

want, what God wants and what the

devil wants.

Instead of that, have single will.

As David prays in Psalm 86,

unite my heart to fear your name.

Give me an undivided heart that I may

fear your name.

The purity of heart is to will one

thing, as Soren Kierkegaard said.

I think that means, so then to have a

single eye is to have a pure heart.

To will one thing, namely to please God.

A person with a single eye does not try

to serve two masters.

For either he will hate the one and

love the other, or will he be devoted

to the one and despise the other.

So brothers and sisters, I want to ask

you, is your eye single this morning?

Let's ask ourselves, where do our eyes

tend to wander?

Whether that's literally or figuratively.

If our eyes constantly wander to beautiful

women and handsome men on the streets and

on the web, then it betrays the lusts of

our hearts.

If our eyes are always straying toward the

next big thing, the next promotion, the

next job, the next rung on the ladder of

success, it betrays the worldly selfish

ambitions in our hearts.

If our eyes are fixated on the next trip,

the next vacation, and if that's your

great hope in life, it betrays a heart that

is distracted by the pleasures and the rest

that this world offers, and not the

pleasures and the rest that God offers in

Christ.

Brothers and sisters, where is your

attention?

The attention of the eye reflects the

affections of the heart.

So let us set our eyes on heaven.

Have a single eye for God and his kingdom.

Set your minds.

Seek the things that are above where

Christ is, seated at the right hand of

God.

Set your minds on things that are above,

not on things that are on earth.

For you have died and your life is

hidden with Christ in God.

Colossians 3, 1, 2, 3.

Jesus continues in verse 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.

If the eye, which is the lamp of the

body, is itself evil, then that person is

full of darkness and evil.

Through and through.

The single eye is contrasted with the bad

eye or the evil eye.

And that expression evil eye comes up again

in Matthew 20, verse 15, where Jesus

Matthew 20:15

describes those who are stingy and begrudging

of God the Father's generosity and grace

as having an evil eye.

The ESV doesn't translate that literally

either.

So if you want to find the translation evil

eye, you'll need to look at the King James

version.

So then a bad eye or an evil eye is a

double eye of being of two mind.

It is stingy because on the one hand, it sees

the plight of the needy.

But on the other hand, it's calculating costs

and personal loss.

That might be why

varying forms of the word single used here in

the single eye is translated elsewhere in Romans

12, 8, 2 Corinthians 8, 2, 9, 11, James 1, 5 as

generosity.

Because a generous person is a person who has a

single eye, who is open-handed, guileless,

sincere, gracious, and generous because they're

not thinking of themselves but only thinking of

the other person.

That's how Jesus is commanding us to seek the

righteousness and the kingdom of God above all

else.

That brings us to my final point.

Serve your master in heaven.

Jesus says in verse 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.

Notice how Jesus personifies money in this verse.

He describes money as a master that someone can

serve and please and love.

Jesus is using this literary device to highlight the

conflict and the necessity of making a choice.

In one sense, people serve more than one masters all

the time, right?

Some of you work two jobs, two part-time jobs.

However, what Jesus has in view here is a relationship

not of that kind of division of work and allegiances

but of a relationship between a master and his slave.

No man should be a slave of another man.

No man is fit to be a master because they are sinful.

But our Lord and God is the one person to whom we owe that

kind of allegiance.

In his book, Slave of Christ, Murray Harris writes about

slavery, what that image entails when it's used in

scripture.

And he said a slave is someone whose person and service

belong wholly to another.

We are possessed by God in the sense we are Christ's

movable property.

Slavery to Christ entails humble submission to the person

of Christ, unquestioning obedience to the master's will,

and an exclusive preoccupation with pleasing Christ.

Because you cannot be a slave of one person and have the

interests of another master in mind.

This is why we cannot pledge our allegiance to money and at

the same time pledge allegiance to Christ.

Christ, we can only have one master.

I'm not saying that Christians are never distracted or derailed

sometimes in their service to the Lord.

Of course we are.

But still, for every true Christian, their true and highest

goal in life is to please their master.

If your overriding goal in this life, your greatest goal in this

life is to get rich, then you cannot be a Christian.

If your greatest desire in life is fame and fortune, then you

cannot desire God as your supreme treasure.

And that's what it means to be a Christian.

19th century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche was wrong about

many things.

But he was also insightful and prescient about a few things.

And in his book, The Dawn of Day, he predicted that the growing void

created in Western culture by the displacement of God would be

increasingly filled, he predicted, with money.

He wrote,

What induces one man to use false weights, another to set his house on fire

after having insured it for more than its value, while three-fourths of our

upper classes indulge in legalized fraud?

What gives rise to all this?

It is not real want, for their existence is by no means precarious, but they are

urged on day and night by a terrible impatience at seeing their wealth pile up

so slowly, and by an equally terrible longing and love for these heaps of gold.

What once was done for the love of God is now done for the love of money, for the love

of that which at present affords us the highest feeling of power and a good conscience.

That's the place that it's taken in our culture.

Jesus is not telling us that we're supposed to hate money, despise money in an emotional

sense and not wanting anything to do with it.

If that were the case, then we would all have to take a vow of poverty and become itinerant

beggars, right?

That's not what Jesus is saying.

He's using the love-hate duality, which is a common Jewish, Aramaic idiom, to indicate

a decisive choice of one over the other between two options.

Instead of expressing an order of preference and priority between two things in terms of

differences in degree, which is what we do, I like that more than the other thing.

I like that less than this other thing.

Ancient Jews would often express it in terms of categorical contrasts.

So when an ancient Jew says, I love God and I hate money, he means I choose God over money.

And that's what Jesus is telling us to do.

Jesus says in Matthew 12, 30, whoever is not with me is against me.

Whoever does not gather with me scatters.

There are only two spiritual realms.

You're either a member of the kingdom of heaven, you're a member of the kingdom of this world.

There's no neutral ground in this spiritual war.

To abstain from making a decision and to abstain from making a commitment is to make a choice

against God because you are not choosing to submit to him and to worship him and to follow

him as all of his creatures ought to.

Trying to straddle both earth and heaven, one foot on earth and one foot in heaven, is not

only inadvisable, it is impossible.

Because there is an impassable gap between heaven and earth.

And you will fall through the crack if that's what you're trying to do in life.

It's hard for us to live this way.

Because I think we don't really believe that the good news that God has given us in Jesus

Christ is as good as it really is.

This parable, a short parable is helpful in Matthew 13, 44.

Jesus says, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found

and covered up.

Then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

If you found that a plot of land had unimaginable riches buried underneath it,

trillions upon trillions of dollars worth of treasure buried in that plot of land,

no matter how expensive that real estate is, it doesn't compare to the value of that treasure.

And even if it's Cambridge real estate market, and that plot of land is like a million dollars,

you will beg for money and take money and earn money.

You'll save everything you can to buy that land.

You'll sell everything you have to buy that land because what you find in it

more than compensates for everything you have given up.

On our own, we can never hope to have any treasure in heaven.

We have sinned against God.

We've rebelled against him.

We have made the lesser creatures and the lesser things of earth our supreme treasure.

That is what God calls sin.

And it's because of sin that God sent his only son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins,

to redeem us from sin, to redeem us from death.

And then he was raised from the dead so that all of those heavenly riches is promised to those who would simply repent and believe in Jesus Christ.

Do you really believe that all of those heavenly riches are offered to you?

Christianity is not about skimping and making sacrifices and settling for lesser treasures because that's just the right thing to do.

No, Christianity is about finding the greatest treasure, the supreme treasure worth giving up everything in your life for

so that when you have given it all up and you have pursued it with all of your heart, you find that you have lost nothing.

And isn't that what God has given us in Jesus Christ?

In James 1, he says,

Every good and perfect gift is from above, from the Father of lights.

Everything good that you have ever experienced in life comes from God.

It has its origin in God.

And in heaven, in eternal life, in fellowship with him, you have that in infinity.

All of our treasures here, everything you value is fleeting and passing away.

But in heaven, it says in 1 Peter 1, we have an inheritance that is imperishable and undefiled and unfading.

We were singing about this.

Better is one day in your house.

I would rather be a doorkeeper at the house of my God than to dwell in the luxurious courts of the wicked.

Psalm 27 verse 4 says,

Psalms 27:4

The God who gave his only son for us.

Jesus who willingly took that cross and died for our sins to redeem us and save us.

Eternal life means union with him.

Eternal life means fellowship with the triune God.

Eternal life means we get to see God.

Know him like we have never known him before.

Are you willing to give up the trinkets of this world for that supreme treasure?

I hope all of your answers are resounding yes.

Let's pray.

Let's pray.

Father, I testify this morning before this congregation

that when I decided to leave the world to follow you,

ever since I've done that,

that every single day of my life, it has been worth it.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Life hasn't always been easy,

but I've never regretted that decision, Lord.

Lord, won't you give us eyes of faith,

a single eye,

to take hold of that supreme treasure

found in you alone, Father,

that we might conform all of our lives to that singular desire.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen.