WHO DO I SERVE (March 19 2017) - Daniel Meyer

You have your Bibles, open them up.

Matthew 6, 19 to 24.

Matthew 6, 19 to 24.

If you don't have your Bible, get one, borrow one, lean next to the person, look on theirs, do whatever you have to download one, all right?

Do whatever you have to do.

Get the word of God in your hands, all right?

So important.

Matthew 6, 19 to 24.

Says this.

It says, 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.

Then, if 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.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, Lord, we come before you today.

Lord, to open up your word and allow your spirit to speak to our hearts.

And so, God, would you be here?

Lord, would you meet with us now?

God, would you allow our ears to be open and our hearts softened to the reality of what you are saying?

Oh God, would you be glorified?

Lord, would it be true that there would be less of us and more of you?

Lord, would you increase and would we decrease?

Oh God, would your glory shine through us in our lives, Lord, that we might be known and might be seen as children of the living God.

Lord, we need you.

So, God, please meet with us now.

We ask this in the precious name of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Please go ahead and grab your seats.

So let's just right away deal with the elephant that's in the room.

All right.

We're talking about money.

We're talking about money.

Of course, Mike is away and sent me here to talk about money, but that's okay as well.

All right?

It's the word of God and it's so important.

In fact, it's so important that did you know this?

Jesus talked about money in 15% of everything he taught.

15% of the gospels and of Jesus' teaching is Jesus talking about money.

And so we need to kind of perk up.

When Jesus talks about something that often, we better pay attention.

He talks more about money than heaven and hell combined.

That's a lot of talking.

And I'm sure some of you, as we were reading this, you went, Yes, yes, praise the Lord.

My treasure is in heaven, and it shows where my heart is.

And yes, praise the Lord.

He's been so good to me and He's allowed me to be faithful in this.

But I'm sure there's lots of us here today that struggle with this just a little bit more.

See, there's something so significant about money in the Bible, and it continually is giving us these warnings, but we often offer excuses about how we spend our money and we ignore these warnings.

Well, I hope, I pray, it's been my prayer in preparation of this that this would be a wake-up call.

It's been a wake-up call in my own heart, and I pray that it would be a wake-up call in your heart as well as we explore the truth that Jesus is laying out here for us this morning.

The point of the text is this, all right?

If I could sum up the whole thing that we just read in one sentence, it would be this.

There's no such thing as a Christian who doesn't give.

There's no such thing as a Christian who doesn't give.

Jesus doesn't really mince words here.

He doesn't stumble over the awkwardness that we might feel because of what he's saying.

It's really as clear as day.

And what we have to ask ourselves is who do I serve?

Who do I serve?

Because this will dictate how we spend our money.

Or to look at it in reverse, how I spend my money will show who I serve.

Jesus here is saying that the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

So who do I serve?

Who do I serve?

Well, we can know this by checking a few things.

So let's go through the text together, and this is our first point.

To know who I serve, I need to check my treasure.

To know who I serve, I need to check my treasure.

Look at the text, verse 19.

It says this 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.

So what is Jesus saying here?

What is Jesus saying here?

What is laying up treasures on earth?

What is that?

What does that even mean?

What is he talking about here?

Well, this is what I think it means.

I think it means this it's the pursuit of gaining as much stuff on earth for the purposes of pleasure, comfort, and luxury.

It's the pursuit of gaining or hoarding or accumulating as much stuff as possible here on earth for the purposes of comfort, pleasure, and luxury.

And he says to us, he says, Don't lay up treasures on earth.

Don't do that.

But why?

Why?

Why would Jesus tell us not to do this?

Is it because these things aren't nice?

No, some of them are very nice.

Is it because these things are evil?

Not necessarily.

No, not necessarily evil at all.

Is it because we won't enjoy them?

No.

We could enjoy them quite a bit.

But he says this for this one point and this one purpose.

Don't lay up treasures on earth because it won't last.

It won't last.

Don't make a poor investment.

God is saying, trust me, don't do it.

It's not worth it.

Don't lay up treasures on earth.

He doesn't want you to be foolish with your things, but instead, he's instead he says, lay up treasures in heaven.

But what does this mean?

What does this mean?

How do you lay up treasures in heaven?

Well, this is what I think it means.

It means mobilizing your dollars in such a way that it will make an eternal impact and destroy the temptation of worshiping money, making you rich toward God.

Did you got that?

Mobilizing your dollars in such a way that it will make an eternal impact and destroy the temptation of worshiping money, making you rich toward God.

But why does he tell us to do this?

Loved ones, this is the one reason.

Because it will last.

Because it's a lasting investment.

No rust, no moth will destroy this.

No one will ever be able to steal this investment.

It's rock solid with guaranteed returns.

Lasting returns.

And the truth is we need to take this with extreme seriousness.

Extreme seriousness.

Just imagine this, all right?

After church, okay, you go home, you're having some lunch with your family, and at your door someone knocks, and it's the top investment strategist in all of the GTA.

And they knock on your door and they're like, hey, can I come in for a minute?

I just want to tell you where you should invest in 2017.

I want to talk to you about where the market's going.

I want to talk to you about how you can get the best returns for this year.

I'm sure you would listen.

I'm sure you would allow that guy to come in, maybe give him a cup of coffee and be like, yeah, for sure, yeah, the 10, 20 minutes.

Just tell me what I should do with my portfolio.

In fact, some people pay for this kind of advice.

Maybe you've been there and you spent hours and days in hotel conference rooms trying to get the five best ways to invest your money in 2017.

I guarantee that's the name of a conference somewhere right now.

The five top ways, the ten best things to do.

Don't forget these things.

But stop.

But stop.

Jesus tells us here in one sentence what we should do, where the real return is.

See, this is almost insider trading, a little bit, isn't it?

Right?

Jesus who has been to earth, actually, he created it.

Jesus who's been to heaven, he created it.

And he's saying, listen, listen, I've been here, I know what's coming, don't waste your money.

This isn't worth it.

You know the outcome.

He's telling you it's not worth it.

Don't waste your cash.

Imagine this, and maybe you can track with me here for a second and go into the mindset of yourself at six years old.

Can you do that?

It wasn't that long ago, right, for most of us.

I can imagine myself at six year old.

I was obsessed with Mickey Mouse.

All right?

Wallpaper, I got the hat, you know, everything, all right?

And the greatest thing on earth to a six-year-old is going to Disneyland.

Alright, so I want you to imagine yourself at six years old and your parents come up to you and say, guess what?

We're going to Disneyland.

And I do apologize for all those of you who didn't get to go to Disneyland as a kid, so you're just gonna have to imagine extra hard with us, okay?

We're going to Disneyland.

And you're like, This is the best thing ever.

Yes, can't wait, can't wait, can't wait.

So excited.

And he said, and on top of that, we're gonna give you a little bit of spending money for the trip.

So take you to the bank and get you the currency you need, and you're so excited, and you got like 40 bucks, and to you, that's like everything you could ever imagine.

And uh so the day comes, and it's time to go to the airport.

You get in a cab, rush over to the airport, you know, so excited.

You're just imagine six years so cute, right?

Six years old, the little backpack on, a little suitcase, right?

And pulling it along, and and you walk into the airport, it's your first time in an airport, and it's just huge.

The ceilings are a million feet tall, and everything's shiny, and it's just wow.

And in the corner of your eye, you look over and you and you see what you think is heaven.

Really, it's just a convenience store with some candy.

But to a six-year-old, you're like, wow, I mean, they got the MMs, all right?

They got the Twizzlers, they got the Doritos, they got every single candy, fuzzy peaches.

I love those ones.

They got everything you could imagine.

And you're like, oh, I wish I had all that.

And then you remember, you're like, oh yeah, I got cash.

I got this 40 bucks.

There's nothing hindering me from going over there and filling every desire of my heart.

You start licking your lips and you make a break, right?

Over for the convenience store.

And your dad sees this and he kind of gets down to your level.

He's like, listen, listen, listen.

Daniel, or your name insert there.

Listen, I know that looks good.

I know that looks really good over there.

But but don't waste your money.

Don't waste your money on this candy, alright?

Trust me, I've been to Disneyland.

The candy in Disneyland is way better.

Can I get an amen?

Right?

I mean, they got Mickey Mouse ice creams dipped in chocolate.

You can't beat that.

And he's going, and on top of that, I mean, the man at the at the customs is gonna make you throw it in the garbage.

You can't take this candy with you.

And you look at that situation and you go, why doesn't he listen to his dad?

That's not what the money's for.

See, Jesus here is telling us, don't lay up treasures on earth where moth and rust will destroy it.

Wait, trust me, trust me, trust me, lay up treasures in heaven where no one can steal it.

Nothing will be destroyed.

It's so much better.

The reality is that it goes much deeper than that.

As we said, you already have the answer.

You already know what's going to happen.

I mean, if if you're a if you're a Bible-believing Christian, you believe that this is the true word of God, that these are Jesus' words.

If you believe that, then it's really a no-brainer.

Jesus is telling me, don't lay up treasures on earth.

I have the answer.

What's the best investment?

Lay it up in heaven.

Lay it up in heaven.

Either it will be broke, stolen, or left behind, because there's no future in earthly investments.

Even atheists believe that.

You can't take it with you when you die.

So here's the obvious question.

Where's your treasure?

Where's your treasure?

What are you investing in?

Where are you laying it up?

And what I don't mean is what you think is important to you.

Right?

It's not an ideal, right?

Not like, oh yeah, in a perfect world.

No, no, no.

I mean, like right now, dollars and cents, where are you laying up treasure?

If I were to ask everyone in this room to pull up their bank statements from January 1st, 2017 to now, would you look at that and go, yeah, praise the Lord?

I'm laying up treasures in heaven.

Or would you look at that and would it be kind of convicting?

Wow, I lay a lot of treasure here on earth.

Is the money you're spending increasing your treasure here or in heaven?

Does your spending affect temporal things or eternal things?

Let's flip over to Luke chapter 12, verse 13, just quickly.

Luke 12:13

We see this little story that Jesus shares.

So he's going around, he's teaching, and so Luke 12, 13.

And it says, Someone in the crowd said to him, Teacher, my brother, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.

But he said to them, uh said to him, Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?

And then he said to them, Take care and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.

And he told them a parable, saying, The land of a rich man produced plentifully.

And he thought to himself, What shall I do?

For I have nowhere to store my crops.

I got so much stuff I don't even know what to do with it.

And he said, I will do this.

I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and all my goods, and I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years.

Relax, eat, drink, be merry.

But God said to him, Fool, this night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?

So it is one who lays up for himself treasures, who lays up treasures for himself and is not rich toward God.

If you sit back, if we sit back and we and we store up our stuff and we say to ourselves, we say to our soul, oh, eat, drink, relax, be merry.

Live off what I've stored in my barns.

This is like heaven.

Listen, that will be your heaven.

As we see this person in this parable, you see that there was this direct link between what he did and what he thought.

Of course.

His treasure is where his heart was, which leads us to our next point.

Check your heart.

If I want to know who I serve, I need to check my heart.

Look at the text, look at the text.

Clear as day.

Verse 21.

Matthew 6, it says, For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be.

Loved ones, this is one of the most powerful texts in all of Scripture of really knowing who we are.

If you want to find out where you are who you are, where your heart is, check where your treasure is.

See, if we are spending treasure for heavenly things, our hearts are in the right place.

If we use all our treasure on earthly things, listen, listen, our hearts are filled with darkness.

Look at the text, verse 22.

It 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 filled with darkness.

If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness?

Jesus uses a metaphor here to further explain his point, right?

So the eye here represents the heart.

And in the same way that if your eye is healthy, it allows light into your body so you can see.

Your soul, your spiritual life will be filled with light.

But if your eye is bad or evil, it could be translated as well, you'll be filled with darkness.

You'll be blinded, you won't be able to see.

And if your heart, as the lens of the spiritual life in your life, is filled with darkness, if it's clouded, if it's evil, your spiritual spiritual life will be filled with darkness.

You see, this is the difference between life and death.

Light and darkness, good and evil in your life.

We can't take this for granted.

If you don't think the way you spend your money matters, think again, Jesus says.

Think again.

This matters greatly because it shows the condition of your heart.

Let's get more specific here.

I want to talk to the person here that thinks they're in a great spot spiritually.

I I want to talk to the person who really thinks, um, whether it's because you know, I read the Bible at home, I pray with my family, I I serve here at church, right?

I go to a small group.

I'm doing all of these things, and so my life is in a good spiritual spot.

But when it comes to giving, when it comes to putting your money towards uh kingdom efforts, you do nothing.

You do nothing.

And you have every excuse in the world.

And maybe you can relate to one of these, right?

Uh you just had to have that that bigger house, and so you're you, you know, I can't, I can't give my my mortgage is too big.

And and it and it eats up all my money.

Treasures on earth.

Treasures on earth.

Well, I just had to have that that next car trim package up, or that nicer model, and every now your bi-weekly payments are so out of control that you have no money left over to be generous with.

Treasures on earth.

Treasures on earth.

Or I have just so many online subscriptions and and and I spend quite a lot, or I'm in debt.

How could I ever give treasures on earth?

Treasures on earth.

Maybe you say, well, we just don't make enough to give.

But one day we'll give.

He who is faithful with a little will be faithful with a lot.

How about that lady in Luke?

Was it 21, right?

She only had two coins and she gave just those two pennies, and and Jesus said she gave more than everybody.

Where's your heart?

But you justify it and you say, Well, I do everything else.

I do everything else.

I give her my time.

I want to be as gentle as possible in saying that.

So I'll just read the text again.

Okay?

It says this.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

There's no substitute for this.

The phrase, put your money where your mouth is, kind of comes to mind.

If you truly believe in this, you will invest in it.

There's no getting around it.

Jesus said if this area of your life is not settled, then you're living in darkness.

And maybe you're the only one that knows.

Because everyone else around you thinks you're such a great person.

You're such a great Christian.

They're so close to God, yet you're living in darkness.

Who do you serve?

Who Do you serve?

Who is your God?

Don't be so surprised.

Don't be so surprised that your physical actions have so much to do with your spiritual life.

Don't be so surprised.

What you do with your money matters.

Just uh humor me for a second, and let's just look at Matthew 6, the whole thing, very quickly.

Matthew 6, the first, the first four verses say, beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.

For uh you will have reward, uh for you will not have reward uh from your father who is in heaven.

Your spiritual act, your your physical actions um revealing your heart.

Verse 5 to 15 it says, and when you pray, don't be like the hypocrites, but pray in secret, so that your father who is in secret will reward you.

Your physical actions uh revealing your heart.

If you're just praying, or if you're just doing righteous acts for others to see you, you'll get your reward from them, but not from God.

Or in verses 16 to 18, and when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they dig uh disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others.

No, no, no.

But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face that your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your father who is in secret, and your father who sees you in secret will reward you.

Do you see?

Your physical actions have everything to do with where your heart is.

And if you don't think that spending your money matters, if you don't think that giving matters, think again.

For where your treasure is, your heart is also 100% of the time.

So careful here.

We need to distinguish this.

Listen, your actions do not save you.

Only the work of Jesus Christ on the cross can do that.

But your actions sure are an indication of where your heart is.

Your actions sure are an indication of your salvation.

But let's look as well at the heart that is filled with light.

All right?

Now, this is encouraging.

The heart that is filled with light, going after our Savior, filled with the Holy Spirit, and giving to the poor, giving to the mission of the church, laying up treasures in heaven.

Praise the Lord for you.

Praise the Lord.

Yes, because you will experience joy in this life and in the life to come.

You understand this verse, right?

Psalm 16, 11, it says, You make known to me the path of life.

In your presence there is fullness of joy.

At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

You understand that this world has nothing for you.

You understand that joy can only be found in the presence of God.

And so you lay up treasures in heaven, because that's where you will receive joy.

Everything on this earth will either be stolen, destroyed, and it will definitely be left behind.

Because there's no fullness of joy without the presence of God.

He will be your treasure.

So how do we do this?

How do we do this?

You're like, yeah, I'm in, I'm in.

Okay, I want to lay up treasures in heaven.

How do we do this?

Well, I have three things here.

They're just practical things.

They're not perfect, they're not extensive or um complete.

I'm sure there's more, but here are three things that I came up with to help you lay up treasures in heaven.

First one is this cut out sin spending.

Cut out sin spending or unnecessary spending.

We have obligations, there's stuff we have to do, and the Lord's commanded us to do, but cut out sin spending.

Tell you a little story about myself, all right?

When I was 20 years old, I uh dropped out of school and I looking back, I was depressed, I was so far from the Lord, and and I dropped out and and I just wanted to work, and I was like, why am I here?

I'm just gonna work.

So I just started working, and um, I remember that fall, I think I was making like almost exactly$600 a week.

And um uh I picked up my Bible for like the first time in years, and I just dusted it off and uh started listening to sermons, started reading theology, got hooked, just couldn't get enough of it.

Finally really understood who Jesus was and that the Bible was more than just a couple stories, it's like a complicated, amazing book, and I just couldn't put it down.

But one foot of mine was kind of still left in the world, and the Lord was sanctifying me and working in my heart and changing me.

But every weekend I would drive back to my old school to hang out with my buddies.

And I would spend pretty much exactly$60 on gas just to get there and back.

And one day the Lord really just slapped me across the face with this, saying, You're tithing to sin.

You're spending, you're not giving to the church, you're not giving to the mission of God, and yet you're giving a tenth of your income to go and sin.

Cut out sin spending.

Where am I spending that is not honoring God?

How can I mobilize my dollars to lay up treasures in heaven?

Second thing is this stop putting value and emotion into your things.

Stop putting value and emotion into your things.

Before I was on staff at York Region, I had the privilege of serving at Harvest Oakville for a number of years.

And I worked in the uh church planting division.

And uh so we uh I got to help oversee and and and uh do the logistics for three church plants for harvest.

And the first one was Harvest Toronto West.

And uh great church, love them.

Uh their senior pastor is Pastor Jason Matto, great guy.

If you ever have a chance, you're down that area, stop in, say hi to them, and encourage them.

Uh such a great church.

Well, one time in the process of planting the church, um I had to run out and get these like eight-foot metal rods.

I won't tell you what they're for, but I had to get these like eight-foot metal rods, all right?

And um, I have this little car, so that wouldn't work, and he had an SUV, and so I was like, hey Jason, can I borrow your SUV to go get these metal rods?

And he's like, Yeah, of course, of course.

So I go and get them, and while I'm there, you know, you flip up the hatchback and you're like jamming stuff through the middle of the seat, and you're wondering, like, will I be able to drive with all this stuff there?

And anyway, so you're trying to move it over and make room.

And while I was doing this, and what I didn't realize until I got back into the driver's seat is that I had mangled his dashboard.

Like, just destroyed.

It was bad.

Like, there was like gouges in the pleather of the front, all right?

And it was just like destroyed his dashboard.

I was like, oh my goodness.

This wasn't like just a j, this was his family vehicle, okay?

This was like his wife would sit in that seat every week.

Like it's like I'm in trouble, right?

So I go back uh to the church, I unload the stuff and I and I go see Jason, Pastor Jason, and I say, uh Jason, I just gotta tell you, I um I like mangled your dashboard.

It's bad.

Like gouges, scratches, it's not fixable.

And without thinking about it twice or taking another breath, he said to me, Moth and Rust.

Moth and Rust and walked away.

I was expecting to be like, well, how much do you think the damage is?

Or like at least be angry for 10 minutes.

You did what?

Man, you gotta be careful.

No, no, moth and rust.

Didn't didn't phase him.

Nothing.

That's that's stuck with me every single day.

Because as we remove our emotions from our stuff, we see that it doesn't matter.

So I was texting him and I was asking, hey, would you mind if I include this in your message?

He's like, Yeah, yeah, go ahead, no problem, no problem.

Oh, yeah, I remember that.

I remember that.

And I was like, Yeah, I'm sure you remember that every time you drive your car.

And he said, Well, you know what?

We actually just got rid of it.

It truly was rusted out.

What would you say?

What would you say?

If someone dinged up your vehicle, if someone destroyed your property.

Jonathan, what would you say?

Because I might have dinged your car up in the parking lot.

I didn't, I didn't.

If there's a ding on it, it wasn't me.

All right.

But we need to stop putting our value and our emotion into our things.

Moth and rust.

We'll destroy them.

The third thing is this, and this really is the most important, is study the character of God.

Study the character of God.

Because as we study who God is, it will allow us to stop putting our emotion into our stuff.

It will change the way that we want to spend our money.

As you really, like, think about this.

As you really start studying and looking into the grace and the mercy and the justice and the kindness and the holiness and the sovereignty and the and the love and the wisdom and the power and the goodness of who our God is, you'll be changed.

You'll see he's a strong tower.

You'll see that he's a refuge for the weak, he's a shield, he's a temple, he's a light.

And as you see who your God is, the rest of this world fades away.

As you see who your God is, all of your emotion for your stuff is just meaningless to you now.

Because how can I serve my God?

How can I please him?

How can I do what he says?

Lay up treasures in heaven.

Because it will last.

Because it will last.

He's not doing this to rid you of joy, he's doing this so you can have the fullness of joy.

So we've checked our treasure, we've checked our heart, and now we need to check our allegiance.

We need to check how our allegiance, because the heart can only be filled with light if your allegiance is with God.

Let's look at the text.

Verse 24.

It says this 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.

There's a real line drawn in the sand here, eh?

You can't serve God and money.

We can't serve two masters.

The word masters here in the text is really important, all right?

So let's put on our Greek hats and be good students of God's word.

The word comes from Kyrios.

And literally what it means is masters is good, but it really is talking about slave owners.

That's the context here.

He's saying you can't serve two slave owners.

You can't serve two masters.

Why?

Because one master will be pulling you constantly away from the thing you truly love.

Or you can't walk in two directions at the same time.

See, you can have two employees or employers, right?

And maybe some of you do, and that's fine.

You you dedicate some time to one and some time to the other, but you can't have two slave masters.

You can't have two masters.

You're all your time, all your devotion is completely towards one thing.

You can't serve God and money.

So where is your allegiance?

Where is your allegiance?

Will you serve God and lay up treasures in heaven, or will you serve money and lay up treasures on earth?

You see, we are to have mastery over money and serve God, not serve money and try to use God.

Let's look at this logically and theologically.

We see this domino effect here.

One domino knocking over the next.

Check it out, check it out.

The logic of the text is this the way you lay up your treasure will show where your heart is, whether it's filled with light or darkness, and that will show who your master is.

Or you could say it in reverse.

Who your master is will show the condition of your heart, which will determine how you spend.

So, if you serve God, your heart will be filled with light, and you will lay up treasures in heaven.

If you serve money, your heart will be filled with darkness, and you will lay up treasures on earth.

See, this is an issue of sanctification and justification.

All right, big words.

What does sanctification mean?

It means being set apart or being made holy.

It's active work through our entire lives.

We're being sanctified, being made more like Jesus.

You can serve God as your master, and because of the Holy Spirit, have a heart filled with light and still make mistakes.

Do you get that?

You can be saved, be filled with the Holy Spirit, and still make a mistake.

And that's why we turn to God in repentance.

That's why we turn to God for forgiveness.

We're all in the same boat here.

And that's why we need to keep pushing forward every morning, asking the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts so that we can be filled with light, so that we can serve Him with all of our things.

Am I justified as a child of God?

Am I saved?

Am I a true Christian?

If you never lay up treasure in heaven, what the text here is saying is that your heart is filled with darkness and you don't serve God.

Giving money won't cause you to be saved, but it's an indicator that you have been saved.

We see this in the gospel too, don't we?

Like this is the heart of God, isn't it?

Just look at the most the most popular and commonly used verse in all of Scripture.

What is it?

What's the most famous verse in Scripture?

John 3.16.

It's on the tip of everyone's lips.

You know it, right?

And what does it say?

What does it say?

It says, For God so loved, right?

So there's his heart.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Do you see that?

For God so loved, so that's his heart, that he gave, which is his actions.

God is laying up treasures in heaven.

God gave what is most valuable to him so that he can have you in heaven.

You're his treasure.

And he wants you to be with him in heaven.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

Will you believe?

Will you believe in God?

Will you accept his gift of salvation?

That you can be filled, that you can serve him, that you can be sanctified, filled with light, and lay up treasures in heaven for his glory and for your good.

And so why don't we turn over to Matthew 19, verse 16?

Matthew 19:16

Matthew 19, uh, verse 16, and we'll uh end our time there.

Matthew 19, verse 16.

Matthew 19:16

And it says this.

And behold, a man came up to him, saying, Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?

And he said to him, Why do you ask me about what is good?

There is only one who is good.

If you would enter life, keep the commandments.

He said to him, Which ones?

And Jesus said, You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness.

Honor your father and mother, and and and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

The young man said to him, All these I have kept, but what do I still lack?

And Jesus said to him, If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me.

And when the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possession.

And Jesus said to his disciples, Truly I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven.

And again, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.

And now as we as we sit here today, knowing the blessing that we can have as we lay treasures in heaven, as we release our clutches on our belongings, will we serve God and follow Jesus?

Or will we be like this rich young man who had everything yet was sorrowful because he didn't have Christ?

There's no joy in treasuring up things on earth, but only joy in knowing the risen Savior.

Will we serve God and follow Jesus?

Jesus in this text here, he says, with great difficulty, a rich man can enter the kingdom of heaven.

He doesn't say it's impossible.

He doesn't say it's impossible, but he says with much difficulty.

Loved ones, the reality is that we live in one of the richest countries on the face of the earth.

And not just on the face of the earth, but on the history of humanity.

We love and we live in one of the most affluent times this world has ever seen.

The opportunity for wealth is there.

And wealth surrounds us constantly.

The temptation for riches has never been greater.

The temptation to lay up treasures on earth has never been so strong.

And so our resolve must be so much more to lay up treasures in heaven.

Will we forgo the joy that Christ has set before us, or will we and sorrowfully walk away from Him, holding on to our possessions until we breathe our last breath?

Or will we experience the joy that God has by laying up treasures in heaven, making it an eternal investment, making investments that can never be destroyed, stolen, or taken away.

Or serve money.

Loved ones, I would implore you, please don't waste your money here.

Store up treasures in heaven, make the best investment and serve God, be filled with light.