Where Are Your Treasures Laid Up?

[00:00:00] Speaker A: All right, let's go to Matthew, chapter six. [00:00:02] Speaker B: We'll pick up where we left off from this morning and actually turn the. [00:00:08] Speaker A: Page into a new subject, really, in. [00:00:10] Speaker B: The same passage, Matthew, chapter six. [00:00:18] Speaker A: And we will begin reading in verse. [00:00:21] Speaker B: Number 19, Matthew 6, verse number 19. [00:00:27] Speaker A: Now, up to this point, the Lord Jesus has covered the three major topics of giving of alms and prayer and fasting and how those things were abused in order to get attention and praise from men. He's turning basically in the second half of this chapter, beginning in verse number. [00:00:48] Speaker B: 19, to the subject of material wealth. That's what the Lord's going to be discussing here. And we want to look at verses. [00:01:00] Speaker A: 19 to 24 tonight. The Bible says this. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt. [00:01:12] Speaker B: And where thieves break through and steal. [00:01:17] Speaker A: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth. [00:01:23] Speaker B: Corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. [00:01:29] Speaker A: For where your treasure is, there will. [00:01:32] Speaker B: Your heart be also. [00:01:35] Speaker A: The light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If, therefore, the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness? No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one. [00:02:01] Speaker B: And love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Let's pray. [00:02:14] Speaker A: Our Lord, as we come to youo Word tonight. [00:02:15] Speaker B: We ask for your guidance and help in grace as we examine what yout have said in this part of the Sermon on the Mount. Lord, help us even as yous taught this second half of the chapter. On the subject of material wealth. We pray that yout give us clear understanding, clear eyes to see that we might understand these principles and these truths that you've spoken. Lord, help me to say what you'd have me to say. I have no power or ability to explain these things to your people, except that you give grace and help and that you be the teacher. And so, Lord, we pray that you would help us, each one of us here in this room, to have a right relationship with money, knowing that money itself is not evil, but. But it can breed all kinds of sinister evils in our lives. So, Lord, help us to have the right relationship with you first of all, and then also a right relationship with it. We ask these things in Jesus name. Amen. [00:03:22] Speaker A: So, as I said, the Lord is introducing the subject of money, and he's going to cover it in a couple of different ways. First, he's going to talk about, as we see in 1920, he's going to talk about laying up treasures. But then starting in verse number 25. [00:03:36] Speaker B: He'S going to discuss. [00:03:40] Speaker A: What is a. [00:03:42] Speaker B: Common effect of money, which is worry, concern, carefulness as it regards money. And I think many of us probably. [00:03:52] Speaker A: Have more problems, or maybe we should say have had more problems with the worry that comes from not having money than the danger or risk from having. [00:04:03] Speaker B: You might say, having too much money. [00:04:05] Speaker A: And that's one false assumption. [00:04:08] Speaker B: That's one thing that's not exactly accurate that we think. [00:04:11] Speaker A: Well, the constant concern is if I don't have enough money, then the concern is worry. But if I have, we think often if I have an abundance of money, then worry goes away. Or I have less of a concern regarding money because. And then covetousness as well, because after all, I have plenty of money. So that's not something I'm going to worry about. [00:04:37] Speaker B: And that's just not accurate. [00:04:39] Speaker A: People who are people who have an abundance of money often are tempted with. [00:04:44] Speaker B: Covetousness and idolatry as it regards money just as much as people who lack money but long after it. [00:04:54] Speaker A: And so in both cases, these things apply. It's just sometimes it applies in one way to one person and in another way to another person. So in verse 19, the Bible says, our Lord says, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal. So here's the principle I want you to see from this. Among other things, this is the one I want to take away from this passage tonight. Is this all treasures? [00:05:28] Speaker B: This is obviously referring to material wealth. [00:05:31] Speaker A: All treasures, no matter what they are, have a guarantee of loss. [00:05:39] Speaker B: All treasures have a guarantee of loss. [00:05:42] Speaker A: There's not one material thing that you have or I have that will not. [00:05:48] Speaker B: One day be lost to us. [00:05:51] Speaker A: It'll either be lost in this world as a result of thieves and as a result of rust and corruption and the termites, as the case might be, or whatever those things in this world that take it away from us. A downturn in the economy, you know, or anything in this world like that. Even if we manage to keep it, we have to remember that at some point we will lose it. We will lose it first. Timothy 6, 7 says this. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. So even if we manage to hold on to. [00:06:36] Speaker B: To our earthly treasures in the End. [00:06:38] Speaker A: We must acknowledge and remember that we. [00:06:41] Speaker B: Will absolutely lose it one day. No questions asked. [00:06:45] Speaker A: This is not a good investment. [00:06:48] Speaker B: Is that not accurate? This is not a very good investment. [00:06:52] Speaker A: Trying to keep money in this world is not a good investment because your. [00:06:55] Speaker B: Return is always negative 100%. How many of you would invest in an investment group where they guaranteed you a negative 100% return on your investment? But yet, that is exactly what the Lord is saying here. You know, that's important for us to remember. [00:07:16] Speaker A: Even As I read first Timothy 6. [00:07:17] Speaker B: 7, which says, we brought nothing into. [00:07:20] Speaker A: This world and it's certain we can carry nothing out. That's a general truth, right? That's a general truth that guides us and it keeps our. Our mind focused on the reality that not everything listen, as our Lord says here later, he says, is not the life more than meat and the body than raiment? In other words, there is more to. [00:07:41] Speaker B: This life than the amount of money that we accumulate. [00:07:46] Speaker A: So the first thing we have to remember is all treasures upon earth have a guarantee of loss, no matter what. [00:07:53] Speaker B: They will all be ultimately lost. [00:07:58] Speaker A: The second thing we see is in verse 20, the Lord says in the positive, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. Here's the second principle. Only that which is laid up in. [00:08:18] Speaker B: Heaven will ultimately endure. [00:08:24] Speaker A: Now, even as I say this, I. [00:08:26] Speaker B: Have to admit that I have in my mind a little bit of reserve, a little bit of hesitation, because obviously we're a church, we have an offering box, and people give offerings into the offering box. And of course, the offerings don't all go into my pocket. But. But it's kind of a natural, kind of uncomfortable subject for me to talk about to you. But what our Lord says is absolutely true, and it is true of me, just as it is true of you, that the only way that we can keep what we have attained. [00:09:13] Speaker A: And listen, this is talking about laying up treasures. This is talking about our earthly treasures. The only way that it can ultimately endure is if we find some way. [00:09:24] Speaker B: To lay it up in heaven. [00:09:26] Speaker A: And the third, the third principle I. [00:09:29] Speaker B: Want you to see is in verse. [00:09:31] Speaker A: 21, the Bible says this. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. [00:09:38] Speaker B: And here's the third principle. The heart follows the treasure. The heart follows the treasure. [00:09:48] Speaker A: Might say it in a different way like this. The placement of our treasure, be it on earth or be it in heaven, directly affects the disposition of our heart. Now, we often think of giving you. [00:10:05] Speaker B: Know, you think of giving to the Lord, using our money for God's glory. [00:10:08] Speaker A: And of course, we know that we. [00:10:09] Speaker B: Have earthly things that we have to use our money for as well. [00:10:12] Speaker A: But we think of using our money for God's glory, and we think of if our heart is, we have a love for God. In fact, Second Corinthians describes that where the church, the church in Corinth gave as a measure and as a token of their love to God and to God's people, they gave of their finances to God's, the poor of God's people. [00:10:35] Speaker B: That were in Jerusalem. [00:10:36] Speaker A: So the giving of money is absolutely a reflection of our heart. But the reverse is also true as well, which is wherever we put our money, our heart will follow. Wherever we put our money, our heart will follow and our heart will be attached to that place, whether it is on earth or whether it is in heaven. So the effect of hoarding treasure upon the earth is that it sets our heart upon things on the earth. And the effect of hoarding treasure or laying up treasure in heaven is that it sets our heart upon things in heaven. And here's the thing we need to remember. [00:11:16] Speaker B: You know, of course, the way this world views money, and of course that invades our mind, whether we like it or not. The way this world views money is do everything in your power to accumulate as much money as you possibly can, as much wealth as you possibly can. That is the world's mentality. [00:11:37] Speaker A: And a lot of that goes to the second half of this passage, which deals with worry of not having enough. What am I going to do? What happens when I don't have enough money? And it deals with faith, and it. [00:11:51] Speaker B: Deals with the security that money brings. [00:11:57] Speaker A: But here's the thing. [00:11:59] Speaker B: As we seek to accumulate money, what we thought was a great benefit to us, that is having a large balance in our bank account, ends up overthrowing us, because those things often attach our heart to things on earth instead of things in heaven. [00:12:23] Speaker A: So the effect upon our heart by. [00:12:26] Speaker B: Laying up things in heaven, laying up things on earth actually brings harm to us. [00:12:32] Speaker A: This is why it is so sinister. And what's more is what we decide to do with our money and where we decide to lay it up has. [00:12:47] Speaker B: Downstream effects upon our own viewpoint and our own values in the future. [00:12:54] Speaker A: So it affects our future. And this is why, you see in verse number 22, the Lord says, we'll talk about this in a minute. The light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single, the whole body shall be full of light. Then he talks about darkness and no man serving two masters. We're all talking. This is all in the same context. It deals with the lust of the eye. It deals with covetousness. It deals with serving money. Now, let me just say this verse is not. And you'll see it more clearly. In fact, go ahead and look at Luke chapter 12, Luke chapter 12. I want to show you this companion passage, Luke 12:16. The Lord is not giving, as we've seen so many times as we studied Matthew. Rather, the Lord is not giving a blanket statement saying it is wrong or it is a sin to save money. [00:13:46] Speaker B: That's not what is being described here. What's being described here is the hoarding of money. Right? [00:13:52] Speaker A: And there is a difference. I want to show you one of the differences here. Luke 12. [00:13:59] Speaker B: Verse number 16. [00:14:01] Speaker A: Actually, let's start in verse 13. Luke 12 13. And one of the company said unto him, master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me. And he said unto him, man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? [00:14:12] Speaker B: You see what he's. [00:14:13] Speaker A: This man comes to the Lord and say, say, master, make him give me the money. [00:14:19] Speaker B: Okay, you see that? You see a hint of covetousness, you. [00:14:24] Speaker A: Say, but it's my right. Yeah, but just because something is our right doesn't mean we should do anything and everything to seize that right. Okay, this is the issue here. Especially if this was the younger brother and the older brother had the responsibility to distribute the. The inheritance, what was this man willing to do? How angry and resentful and bitter was he going to be? What sin was he willing to. Was he willing to commit in order to get this inheritance? So we're dealing with the matter of covetousness, verse 14. He said unto him, man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? And he said unto him, take heed. Now, right on the heels of this question, with this, this brother asking Jesus to intervene in this matter of the inheritance, Jesus says, take heed and beware of covetousness. For a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. And yet that is exactly how most people view their life. [00:15:31] Speaker B: That's how mankind views their value and their security. They view it by how much money they have. [00:15:40] Speaker A: And he spake a parable unto them, verse 16, saying, the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. [00:15:50] Speaker B: You see that? [00:15:52] Speaker A: So this man has land, and he's growing things on his land. And as a Result, he had a good year. [00:16:00] Speaker B: Do you see that? [00:16:01] Speaker A: He had a good year. Whose fault is that rather? [00:16:07] Speaker B: Who is responsible for this man's good year? God is. [00:16:14] Speaker A: Did this man do anything wrong because he had a fruitful year? [00:16:19] Speaker B: No. [00:16:20] Speaker A: Is this man hoarding anything at this moment? [00:16:23] Speaker B: No. [00:16:23] Speaker A: It says the ground of a certain rich man. So he already has a lot of money and he's. God blesses this man in this parable. God blesses this man with abundance. That's not his fault. You understand that? It's not his fault. You know, sometimes even, you know, even as God's people, Christ's disciples like us, sometimes we land, we're able to land a good gig that gives us a good income. [00:16:52] Speaker B: Is that wrong? Do we say, oh, no, well, I want to make sure that I make less than, you know, $8 an hour or whatever. [00:17:02] Speaker A: We don't artificially keep ourselves in poverty. And sometimes God blesses us, as you see here. Sometimes God blesses us and he gives us an abundance just like he did here. You can't blame anybody for there's no wrong in the fact that this man. [00:17:17] Speaker B: Had a bunch, had an inflow of money in his life. He didn't do anything right. [00:17:22] Speaker A: So that dispels the idea that, well, having money itself is wrong. And you'll see in just a minute that is not the case. That's not what Jes Is. Saying it all so we can say with clarity. It is not wrong to possess much money. This man possessed it as a result of the blessing of God. But notice this verse 15 or verse 17. And he thought within himself saying, what shall I do? Because I have no room where to bestow my fruits. I have no room where to bestow my fruits. What did he do with his abundance? And he said, this will I do. I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. [00:18:24] Speaker B: So now what's his decision? [00:18:25] Speaker A: He takes the blessing of God. [00:18:27] Speaker B: He already has a bunch, but he. [00:18:29] Speaker A: Takes the blessing of God that God. [00:18:30] Speaker B: Has given him and hoards it. [00:18:36] Speaker A: And he's willing to go so far as to tear down his barns and build new barns, even though he was already wealthy in order to store the riches that he had. And as a result, this is where. [00:19:00] Speaker B: The man's fault is. [00:19:02] Speaker A: You'll see in just a minute when the Lord gives the application of this. But when he tore down his barns and built up new barns, you think, well, that's just great. What security. Now he is set. He doesn't have to worry about anything now. But listen, that money that he has. [00:19:20] Speaker B: Hoarded is now going to harm him. Here's why. Look at the next verse, verse number 19. [00:19:31] Speaker A: And I will say to my soul, this is the rich man saying to himself, soul that has much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink and be merry. So what did this abundance cause him to do? It was not even really, let me correct myself, it is not even the abundance, but it is what he chose to do with the abundance. He chose to hoard it, which led. [00:19:54] Speaker B: Him to trust it. [00:19:57] Speaker A: And once he realized he had money, that then led him to further sin and pleasure seeking. He says, take thine ease, eat, drink and be merry. [00:20:10] Speaker B: Listen, that is not disposition that the Lord wants a Christian to have to take one's ease. I know that's what. That's what we are programmed to want to be able to just relax, right? And I'm not talking about relaxing at the end of a hard day. I'm talking about spiritually. We're programmed that we don't need to worry about anything. But listen, does not the scripture say that this is a war that we're in? We're to take on the whole armor of God to stand. [00:20:46] Speaker A: We have work to do, we have a battle. [00:20:49] Speaker B: We're a soldier in God's army, and there's work to be done. [00:20:55] Speaker A: The Lord does not want us to take our ease and eat, drink and be merry and give ourselves to pleasure. He says rather occupy, which is the root word of occupation. He says, I've got a job for. [00:21:08] Speaker B: You to do until I come. [00:21:11] Speaker A: And so he wants us to live for him, actively work for him, do for him. But money, abundance and hoarding it in. [00:21:20] Speaker B: This man caused him to say, no, I'm good. [00:21:24] Speaker A: Verse 20. But God said unto him, thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then who shall those things be which thou hast provided? Notice. [00:21:33] Speaker B: He lost it. [00:21:36] Speaker A: Now look at what the Lord says. [00:21:37] Speaker B: In verse number 21. [00:21:42] Speaker A: So is he that layeth up treasure. [00:21:44] Speaker B: For himself and is not rich toward God. See that? Why does it say that he took. [00:21:55] Speaker A: The abundance that God had given him. [00:21:57] Speaker B: And what did he do? He hoarded it for himself rather than using it to lay up treasure that was eternal. I said something about, you know, the church a minute ago and the kind of awkwardness sometimes that pastors have with talking about money. But this has nothing whatsoever to do really with the church. It has nothing to do with me. I actually heard of a church. I thought it was kind of an, I say interesting scheme. And it was the percentage of the offerings of the church went to the pastor. So as the offerings increased, so the pastor's income increased. [00:22:46] Speaker A: And I thought that creates kind of. [00:22:48] Speaker B: A weird, not so good incentive structure. Does it not? Something doesn't seem quite right about that. [00:22:57] Speaker A: But this has nothing to do with me. It applies to me as well as it does to you. The reality is for every one of us, myself included, that all of our wealth is going to go away one. [00:23:07] Speaker B: Day and we had better use it. We had better use the blessings God has given to us for eternal good. We have but one opportunity. [00:23:20] Speaker A: Look at verse 33 in this same passage, verse 32 rather fear not little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. He says, the Lord says, sell that ye have and give alms now. Alms. Obviously we're talking about helping people out of our abundance. That's what we're talking about here. Provide yourselves bags which wax not old. A treasure in the heavens that faileth not which where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will. [00:23:51] Speaker B: Your heart be also. So this sounds familiar, doesn't it? [00:23:54] Speaker A: So how is this done? Well, this is taking the material things we have and using them to glorify God and thereby laying up with our physical treasure things that last eternally. [00:24:12] Speaker B: And this is what Jesus is talking about in Matthew, chapter six. Look at one Timothy, chapter six, if you would. First Timothy, chapter six. [00:24:37] Speaker A: First Timothy six, verse number. [00:24:47] Speaker B: Verse number 17. [00:24:51] Speaker A: Timothy. Paul's writing to Timothy, who's of course the spiritual leader of a church. Verse number 17 says this. So Paul speaking to Timothy, telling Timothy what he needs to be saying. Here's what he says. Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high minded nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God. So that tells us that it is absolutely possible to be in a place of wealth and not having done anything wrong. But there's a warning not to be high minded. That deals with pride. Not to trust in uncertain riches. Notice but in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy. So it doesn't matter. Listen, it doesn't matter if you have a bank account that has $500,000 or $5.5 million or $50 million, or you have one that has $50 in the bank account. In both cases, are we supposed to have a heart that daily trusts God and not those things? Here's what he says further to those who have the big bank account. Here's what he says. That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate. God does not give us abundance to hoard. God gives us abundance to distribute. To glorify him. God gives us abundance. We talked about this before. We talked about alms, remember? Helping those among us that are that fall on hard times using the abundance God gives us. That is the way that we take our physical treasure on the earth and lay it up eternally is by using it to glorify God. Notice what he says in the next verse. Laying up in store. Now he's talking about using money to glorify God. This is talking about our missions work, obviously. He talks about our church and the things need to be done here, all that kind of thing. But this is talking about helping those who are who fall on hard times. And the Lord. Listen, the Lord uses our lives and. [00:27:01] Speaker B: The ups and downs, right? [00:27:04] Speaker A: Some among us are having financial difficulty, right? And then sometimes it switches and they have abundance and another has financial difficulty. And the Lord moves that thing around to give us opportunity to help one another. And by helping one another. So we lay up treasure in heaven using our physical possessions. When you help missionaries, you are doing that. When you get the gospel to people, that's an eternal investment that Philippians4 says has a return. [00:27:34] Speaker B: Using the abundance God gives you for eternal things. [00:27:45] Speaker A: He says, verse 19. Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against them. [00:27:50] Speaker B: Time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life. Look at James 5, since we're close to it here, verse one to this strict warning to the rich man. Who's the rich man? You know, we think of rich man as like Elon Musk, but really, biblically speaking, a rich man is not someone who has unimaginable wealth. A rich man is someone who has abundance, right? Just like we've seen this rich man. He had barns and he got more and. And then made more barns. He's described as a rich man. I know we often don't think of. [00:28:48] Speaker A: Ourselves like that, but just hear what this says to the rich. Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. He says your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth eaten. That sounds like Matthew 6. Your gold and silver is cankered and the rust of them shall be a witness against you. Notice I'm just trying to show you. [00:29:13] Speaker B: And connect these verses. [00:29:15] Speaker A: The rich man's wealth is gone. [00:29:18] Speaker B: You see it? It's cankered, moth eaten, destroyed. Number two. [00:29:25] Speaker A: The rust of them shall be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. [00:29:35] Speaker B: What has happened? The riches that he has hoarded have destroyed him. [00:29:42] Speaker A: Notice how has it destroyed him. He says this. Behold the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields. Which of you is kept back by fraud? Crieth. And the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the Lord. Into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth and have been wanton. [00:30:09] Speaker B: Think about this. The abundance that the rich man hoarded afforded him the opportunity to live in ease and pleasure. It destroyed him, right? [00:30:24] Speaker A: Even though he has such abundance, he is still wanton. You see that? He's still not happy, even though he had so this idea that somehow if I just have a little bit more, once I get to that threshold, I'll be good. That's not true. It's just not true. This rich man had abundance, and yet he still wants more. In other words, his treasure bred more covetous and more sin in his life. This is the great danger. [00:30:55] Speaker B: And this is why the Lord says, listen, you have an abundance. Lay it up in heaven. Use those treasures to glorify God and to exalt him. And by doing so, you lay it up in heaven. Now look at Matthew chapter 6 again, and we'll look at verse number. Verse number 22, Isaiah. I need your help now. But David, can you kill those two sets of lights on the back wall? Just go to these lights right here. [00:31:43] Speaker A: Notice. [00:31:44] Speaker B: Don't do anything, though. [00:31:45] Speaker A: Notice. [00:31:45] Speaker B: Verse 22. [00:31:47] Speaker A: The light of the body is the eye. If therefore, thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If, therefore, the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness? So he talks about our Lord, talks about the eye. [00:32:13] Speaker B: Now the eye. This is a kind of a mysterious passage. If you've read this before, you'd be like, what is he talking about? The light of the body is the eye. [00:32:20] Speaker A: Here's what I think he's talking about. [00:32:23] Speaker B: He's talking about the lust of the. [00:32:25] Speaker A: Eye in the context of money. The context of laying up money, getting more money. I want it. I need it. I want more. He says, the light of the body is the eye. And if our eye, if our eye be single, then our whole body shall be full of light. But if our eye be evil, then the light which is Our eye, the. [00:32:55] Speaker B: Light in us will be darkness. That's what he says. [00:32:59] Speaker A: So the I remember in regards to covetousness and money is the I is the thing that is affected. Because the idea being, I see it, I want it. I see it, I want it, I see it. I've got to have it. That's where the eye comes in. But the Lord wants our eye not to be evil, but to be single. In other words, to have a singular focus. Not on money, but on the Lord. You'll see that in a minute. So here's what it's like. Hit it. [00:33:32] Speaker B: Hit all of them. Gonna get dark. All of them. [00:33:36] Speaker A: All of them. [00:33:42] Speaker B: So if I turn on the light, this is my eye. [00:33:46] Speaker A: If my eye is single, in other. [00:33:49] Speaker B: Words, I have one desire, and that. [00:33:51] Speaker A: Is toward the Lord, then my whole body is full of light. In other words, my view is clear. I can see everything clearly. But the Bible says, if my eye. [00:34:07] Speaker B: Be evil, in other words, I desire. [00:34:09] Speaker A: And I covet and I have. I'm affected with what the Bible describes. [00:34:15] Speaker B: As the lust of the eyes. Maybe I'll turn that up so I don't blind everybody. The Lord says, then your light becomes dark. You see that I hit the lights. Here's the thing. When your light. When your own light becomes dark, the way that you view things is dark. In other words, it affects your ability to see. You're walking in darkness and living in darkness. Here's the point of these two verses. [00:35:01] Speaker A: Is this. [00:35:04] Speaker B: Is that this longing to hoard money, to get more. The lust of the eye will darken our life. It'll darken our life. It will lead us into sin. It'll lead us into corruption. It'll lead us into pleasure. [00:35:21] Speaker A: It'll lead us into more and more evil and will taint our own ability to see. It will harmfully affect everything in our life. Covetousness, desire for wealth. The Bible says this. Proverbs 23, verse 4. Labor not to be rich. [00:35:46] Speaker B: What does that mean? [00:35:47] Speaker A: Labor not to be rich? Should you. You know, you think, well, I'm working. I assume, you know, we all have jobs, right? So we're working for money to support ourselves. That is right and good. But that's a difference. There's a difference between that and laboring to be rich. That is a huge abundance. So here's the qu. Here's the thing we need to ask ourselves, looking at all this that the Lord had said before. We look at the last verse. Is this. If God blesses me with an abundance, what am I supposed to do with it. You know, some of us live. Some of us live just paycheck to paycheck. You're just supporting yourself. You put some back because at some point you have to support yourself when you can't work anymore. [00:36:26] Speaker B: And that's perfectly sound and fine. [00:36:29] Speaker A: But at times God gives us abundance. [00:36:33] Speaker B: What is our tendency? Do we hoard it? Or do we have a desire to use it to honor him, lay up treasures in heaven? If we hoard it so that we can take ease, if we hoard it to fulfill our lusts and our pleasures, if we hoard it for those reasons, it will end up harming us. Not to mention, we'll go to meet the Lord with nothing in our account. Look at Luke, chapter 16, if you would. Almost finished Luke 16. I won't read this entire story, but there was a man who was a. [00:37:45] Speaker A: Steward, that is, he was responsible for his Lord's goods, and he was unfaithful. So the Lord said, you're done, you're fired. Then down in verse number nine, or rather verse number eight, and the Lord commended the unjust steward because he had done wisely. For the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. Verse number nine and I say unto you, make to yourselves friends of the mammon. That's money of unrighteousness, that when you fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. In this case, this unjust steward used money wisely. He used money to get himself out of trouble. And the Lord says in verse number nine, you we likewise should use our money wisely. [00:38:51] Speaker B: I'm not talking about how we spend it. [00:38:53] Speaker A: This is talking about using our money for eternal things. That's why he says, into everlasting habitations. This is faithful. Notice how the Lord follows up in verse 10. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much. He that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If, therefore, ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit your trust to true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? [00:39:31] Speaker B: And now we get to verse 13. [00:39:33] Speaker A: We don't even need to go back to Matthew chapter six, because it's right here in verse 13. [00:39:38] Speaker B: Right on the heels of that, the. [00:39:40] Speaker A: Lord says, no servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. [00:39:48] Speaker B: Ye cannot serve God and mammon. So this deals with our eye longing after more material wealth. This deals with what we're willing to do to get it, and especially what we're willing to sacrifice for it. Lord says, you can't serve two masters. [00:40:16] Speaker A: But you know, probably the worst part. [00:40:19] Speaker B: Of verse number 13 here is that in order to serve money, to give ourselves, we're not talking about possessing, we're talking about serving. In order to serve money, we must lay on the altar, the idolatrous altar of money, our very relationship to God. You see that? You can't have both. You can't have both. It is not possible to serve God and mammon. [00:40:55] Speaker A: Nobody likes to describe themselves giving themselves. [00:41:00] Speaker B: Over to the pursuit of money and sacrificing their relationship to God in order to do it. Everybody likes to think that we can do two things at once, but in this case, it's impossible. [00:41:11] Speaker A: If money is our servant, if our. [00:41:13] Speaker B: Eye is evil, we're talking about the same thing here. I'm sorry. If money is our master and our eye is evil, there's no way that we can be serving God. So we see that. We know that we all have to interact with money. We earn money, we have jobs. But the way that we handle it must be put under the lordship of Christ and must be conscious right of the what is eternal and what is temporal, what is lasting and what is fleeting. We have to be conscious of that fact as we deal with it. [00:42:03] Speaker A: We have to be consciously aware, even when we get an abundance, we have. [00:42:07] Speaker B: To be consciously aware that often the. [00:42:11] Speaker A: Lord gives us an abundance, that we. [00:42:13] Speaker B: Might help those who have less, that we might help those who are in need at the moment. And this is how we lay up treasures in heaven, using our material abundance to glorify God. Let's pray.