Wealth and Eternity Part 2: 2 Treasures, 2 Perspectives, 2 Masters

Money Possessions and Eternity Part 2

2 Treasuries, 2 Perspectives,

2 Masters

Bible Readings: Romans 8:12‐25 (Page 800)Matthew 6:19‐34 (Page 685)

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Tuesday, 24 February 2015

Money and possessions are very important to God.

In the Bible He has given us advice, warnings, commands and examples about how to use them.

The way we use them can have eternal consequences.

There is a strong relationship between the way we use money and possessions and our relationship with God.

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“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19–21, NIV84)

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Jesus spoke of two treasuries: our treasury in heaven and our treasury on earth.

Jesus gives us two very specific commands:

Do not store up treasures on earth which will be destroyed or stolen.

Store up treasures in heaven which can never be destroyed or stolen.

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“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:22–23, NIV84)

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Jesus says there are two ways of looking at the world.

Good eyes see this life as God sees it.

Bad eyes see things the way the world sees this life.

Good eyes fill our lives with light.

Bad eyes fill our life with darkness

6


“No one can serve two masters. 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 both God and Money.” (Matthew 6:24, NIV84)

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Two masters GodMoney ( Mammon, Greek “mamona”) = materialism

Our “master” is the one we serve, the one we obey and the one who's will we do.

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We must consciously choose:

to store up treasure in heaven.

God’s view of life.

to serve God.

The default choice (making no decision):

storing up treasure for ourselves.

filling our lives with darkness

serving money as lord.

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Jesus says that our treasure is where our heart is. Ask........

What do you value most?

What would you most hate to lose?

When you are free to think, what do your thoughts most often turn to?

What gives you the greatest joy and pleasure?

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What does Jesus mean by “storing up” heavenly treasures? What is the practical action involved?

Jesus said that:

we can either spend time, energy and money to store up earthly treasures which we can lose at any time,

or we can spend time, energy and money to store up heavenly treasure.

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What is heavenly treasure?

Paul says that the greatest treasure here and in heaven is Christ Himself:

“I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ” (Philippians 3:7–8, NLT)

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The forgiveness of sins and salvation is a free gift which Christ has paid for by His death and offers freely to all who ask.

It’s what we do after we accept Jesus' free gift of salvation that becomes the next most important decision.

13


The next greatest heavenly treasure after Christ Himself is His approval and His reward.

Jesus says of the faithful servant in the parable of the talents,

“His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’” (Matthew 25:21, NKJV)

The faithful servant already belonged to his Lord.

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How do we store up treasures in heaven? What exactly should we do?

Paul instructs Timothy to tell church members in his churches:

“Command them who are rich in this world . . . . to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.” (1 Timothy 6:17–19, NIV84)

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Jesus knows that we will find it easier to be generous when we see it as an investment not as a loss.

To do good knowing it is what God commands and receiving a reward is not selfish. Jesus wants to reward us for serving Him.

Jesus promises, good deeds and generosity store up heavenly rewards.

16


“The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.” (Matthew 10:41–42, ESV)

The rewards Jesus gives far outweigh anything, any act of generosity we can do.

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The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:22–23, NIV84)

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To “bad eyes” giving generously and doing good is viewed as a loss to yourself.

The “bad eyes” see the world and this life as all there is.

The “good eyes” see that there is infinitely more beyond this world and this life.

The “good eyes” see life the way God sees it ‐ as a “passing shadow.”

When our “eyes are good” we will see generosity and good deeds as wise investments which will reap dividends for all eternity.

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Jesus warns:

No one can serve two masters. 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 both God and Money.” (Matthew 6:24, NIV84)

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Whom do we obey?


Jesus is not saying serving Him means having nothing to do with money.

We use money and possessions for good deeds and giving generously.

The danger of money is it can become the lord of our life. It becomes the decision maker.

If we don't choose to serve God with our money, it becomes the master of our lives by default.

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Whom do we obey?


Serving money has its reward in this life.

Serving God has its reward both in this life and for all eternity.

Which master would you rather serve?

Jesus clearly says we must choose to serve Him otherwise we will serve money.

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Whom do we obey?


Wealth and Eternity Part 2: 2 Treasures, 2 Perspectives, 2 Masters

Spiritual

Transcript of Wealth and Eternity Part 2: 2 Treasures, 2 Perspectives, 2 Masters