A Barn Full of Wrong Treasures
Matt. 6:19-21
A. Most of you
know what a Barometer is?
tells… 1. Low
pressure-clouds/rain are coming in
2. High pressure-blue skies are starting to show
B. Giving is a
barometer for your spiritual growth
1. Giving is biblical (faithful)-see it in your life
2.
Giving is unbiblical (unfaithful)-see it in your life
C. I preach on
stewardship every year for several reasons:
1. Giving
is Biblical—it’s what God said to do.
2. Worship
is “our response to God for who He is & what He has done, expressed
in the things we say and the way we live.”
3. because I Care, one of the biggest stressors in our lives is our finances
we
argue the most about, it’s the highest listed reason for divorce,
4. Church
will not beg for money.
My
commitment is to teach it & preach it when we are not struggling.
5. Some Evangelism
& Ministry cost money ($300,000=most
of the budget)
Bibles
to give away etc.—Developing an Eternal Treasure
When
I was doing college courses, most of the time I took night classes. I knew I
needed to get schooling, while taking care of family, getting on with life.
College yrs are part of life, to many respond, "No, they’re just preparing for what follows."
Some people
forget, school isn’t the goal of life, & become perpetual students, never
finishing, never moving on, never using what they learn. We forget life on earth
is not our goal. This life, & world, is just school to prepare us for what
follows.
In
this passage Jesus says, "Don’t
get wrapped up in your life here. This is not the end of it all. Store your
treasures where they will do you some good."
Jesus
told His listeners the condition of their hearts was gauged by where they placed
their highest value.
The
value we put in God sets the path of spiritual growth as Christians.
Today,
this message is to challenge you to decide to store up your treasures in heaven
by surrendering to God all of who you are and what you have!
What is the most valuable thing in your life?
Look at how vastly different the treasures are Jesus mentioned in Matt. 6
I. The treasure we store on earth.
Mat 6:19
A. Jesus warned of the disposable nature of earthly treasures
1.
Jesus said that earthly treasure was fleeting
a. Moth:
insects as the destroyers of the most basic materials of life
b. Rust: not just metal, but crops, vines, & fruits.
c.
Thief: robbed, taken by someone else for themselves
2. Jesus assured if you gather for self,
you lose it...and your heart.
Luk 12:15,
Jesus warns against being greedy. A
certain rich man
a. He
believed money could make you happy.
b. He
believed money could bring peace.
c. Rich Man, it was all about “ME”
6
times he says “I” and 5 times “MY”
He
believed he was a self made man!
In 1863,
President Lincoln in his proclamation designating April 30 as a day of national
humiliation, fasting, & prayer wrote these words:“Intoxicated
with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity
of redeeming & preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.
We have grown in numbers, wealth, & power as no other nation has grown, but
we have forgotten God."
B. Everything you gather here, is "shakable" & susceptible to
decay.
1. Stock markets crash, bodies fail, banks
collapse, homes flood/burn, clothes are outgrown, dollar drops. Possessions
stolen or lose value.
2.
The only thing unshakable is our salvation through Jesus Christ.
a. Heb 12:27
Now this, "YET ONCE MORE," indicates the removal of those
things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.
b.
Stock market crashes, home burns, I lose everything I call mine…. BUT I’M
STILL SAVED!
c. I lose my life by disease or accident-I’M STILL SAVED!
d. Rom 8:37-39 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors
through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life,
nor angels
nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height
nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
3. Salvation is not shakable 1928,
a group of the world’s most
•
Charles Schwab lived on borrowed money the last 5 years of his life & died
broke
• Arthur Cutten died abroad,
bankrupt
• Richard Whitney served time in
Sing Sing Prison
• Albert Fall was pardoned from
prison so he could die at home
• Livermore, Fraser, & Druegar
all committed suicide
Luk 9:25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole
world, and is himself destroyed or lost?
If
we focus on earthly treasures it will rob us of kingdom priorities.
II. The treasure we store up in heaven. Matt 6:20
A. What you
store in heaven is safe from moth, rust, & theft. HOW do you store treasure in heaven?
1.
Take care of what you have & use it for the glory of God
2. Change your standards for success (earthly vs heavenly)
1 Cor 3:12-15 Now if
anyone builds on this foundation with gold,
silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one's work will become clear; for the Day will
declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each
one's work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he
himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
Rev 14:13 says after a believer dies, “...their works follow them."
a. What
the believer did for the kingdom, went to the kingdom.
b. Paying it forward—idea
made popular by the movie in yr. 2000.
c. The joy of your heart is found where your treasure is.
B. Storing
treasures in heaven =
“seek first the kingdom of God
& His righteousness."
1.
If money, stuff, our kingdom is where our value lies…
we’ll
never be truly happy (not as Christians)
a. Things of this world can never really
satisfy you for long.
b. Donald Trump (1989): “Whoever
said money can’t buy happiness is apparently
shopping at the wrong stores."
Billionaire
H. Ross Perot: "Guys, just remember, if you get real lucky, if you make
a
lot of money, if you go out & buy a lot of stuff--it’s gonna break. You
got your big, fancy mansion. It has air conditioning. a pool. Just think of all
the pumps that are going to go out. Or go to a yacht basin any place in the
world. Nobody is smiling, and I’ll tell you why. Something broke that morning.
The generator’s out;
the
microwave oven doesn’t work. ... Things just don’t mean happiness."
2.
The only way to find real happiness is in Christ. (Creator
& Savior)
a. If Happiness could be bought, JESUS paid
the price.
(He
paid for it by the blood of the cross)
b. We can know real happiness ONLY when it comes from God….
(not
in money, relationships, stuff, any pleasures in this world, etc.)
C. and You can have as much of God as you want..
Jesus puts the key to the treasure-chamber in our hand, and says take all
that we want.
1. If you were escorted into the bank
vault and told to help himself, and come out with one cent, whose fault is it
your poor?"
Where your pleasure is, there is your treasure.
Where your treasure is, there is your heart.
Where your heart is, there is your happiness.
D. The condition of the heart is measured by what you value.
The value we put on God sets the course of spiritual
growth as believers
We’ve looked at different treasures that Jesus mentioned in the
Sermon
on the Mount. 1)
Earth 2) Heaven
Will you store up
treasures in heaven? Surrender everything to HIM.
a. You’ll leave earth mourning!!!
b. Come to the cross (Altar), you won’t be shaken there!
Look up see the blood of Jesus, trust Him, nothing will shake you again
Money can buy you a bed but not sleep;
books but not brains; food
but not appetite; jewelry
but not beauty; a
house but not a home; medicine
but not health; luxuries but not culture; amusements
but not happiness; religion but not salvation; a passport to anywhere but
heaven.
What is the most
valuable thing in your life?
There’s
a story of a farmer who was taking a sack full of corn to sell in town.
On
the way there, he sees the king ride by in his fancy golden chariot. The farmer
flagged him down and said, "Dear King! You give me so much through your
benevolence and generosity! I wish there was something I could give you."
The King said, "Well, you can give me all your corn?"
"Oh, I can’t do that. I need to sell it in the market. But I can give you
5 kernels."
"Alright," said the King, "I’ll take 5 kernels from you as a
gift."
The farmer gave the king the 5 kernels & then finished his trip to town.
When
he got to the market and opened his sack, he found 5 of his kernels had turned
to gold. And he wept, realizing that if he had given more, more would have been
given to him in return.
How much of YOU, of what you have, what you have kept, and what you’ve
counted on will you surrender to GOD today?
Invitation #275 “I surrender all"