Choices
Matthew 6:19-24
Preacher: David Williams
Matthew 6:19-24. Choices. Sermon by Pastor David Williams.
Strathalbyn Church of Christ. 12 Feb 2023.
We are overwhelmed with choices. Will you have almond or soy or skim or lactose free? What sort of sweetener? Will there be a marshmallow with that? And we haven’t even started on what type of coffee! Many choices don’t matter – although coffee snobs may disagree! But some choices do matter – and not necessarily the big issues like career or marriage. Some choices that seem trivial may have lasting consequences. Jesus presents us with three choices in today’s passage.
· 2 treasures
· 2 visions
· 2 masters
2 treasures
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven…
People have misunderstood these verses. Jesus is not saying –
Do not have!
Some Christians say that we should not have private possessions. But Jesus does not say that. The noble woman of Proverbs 31 is praised for her wisdom in buying land and goods. Nowhere does scripture prohibit personal possessions.
Do not save!
Some teach that it is wrong to save. But the ant is praised for storing food (Prov 6:6-8). Savings, insurance, investment and superannuation are all wise uses of money. God expects us to use all his gifts - both earthly and spiritual. His common grace and his saving grace. When we are sick, we both pray and see the doctor. A wise Christian will trust in God and take out insurance cover. What about the one who says, God will provide, I don’t need to save? Scripture does not praise him for his faith. Instead, he is condemned for denying it!
8 Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever, 1 Tim 5:8.
Do not enjoy!
Many Christians feel guilty about enjoying the pleasures and comforts of life – food, sex, entertainment. But we are to enjoy, not despise, the good things our Creator gives us,
Some say it is wrong to eat certain foods. But God created those foods to be eaten with thanks … Since everything God created is good, we should not reject any of it but receive it with thanks …God richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 1 Tim 4:3-4; 6:17.
Jesus does not condemn having and enjoying possessions. He does not condemn savings. What then is he condemning? Jesus condemns
· Selfish accumulation
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth
· Greed that ignores the needs of others (cf., the parable of the rich man & Lazarus, Lk 16:19-31, cf., Lk 12:33).
· The fool who thinks life is about acquiring stuff.
Watch out! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own, Lk 12:15
· The idol of materialism
You cannot serve both God and Mammon, Mt 6:24.
Jesus then gets to the root of the problem we have with money:
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Again and again, Jesus speaks of the heart in his Sermon on the Mount. It is the source of evil, lust and anger. It turns us from God. Our heart always follows our treasure. Where is your heart today? What do you really want and hope for? Is it God and his honour that drives you? Or is it stuff – money, things? If it is stuff, then you are a fool. For greed is a monster. It never has enough. We can be dominated – enslaved – by our money and our stuff.
Money is a major topic in the Bible and it is a blind spot for Western Christians. But for now, let’s consider two types of investments:
i. The fool’s investment
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal…
Even the safest blue-chip investments can collapse. We cannot insure and protect ourselves against war, pandemics or recession. Even if we escape global calamities, nothing can protect us from Satan, sin and death – nothing except Jesus. Remember the rich fool?
19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’, Lk 12:13-21.
Do you see that the rich fool faced two uncertainties – the uncertainty of death and the uncertainty of what would happen to his wealth. As Ecclesiastes says,
Who knows whether my heir will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled … Ecc. 2:19_._
As Job said, you can’t take it with you.
Naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked shall I return, Job 1:21.
ii. The wise investment
20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
Is the Christian so spiritual as to be of no earthly use? Far from it. For the Christian should be the canniest of investors. The prudent Christian investor will invest in stock that is truly safe and will yield lasting rewards. These investments are safe from the collapse of governments and stock markets, they will not be eroded by climate change or earthquakes. They cannot be stolen by corporate fraud and bank failures. No insurance or rust protection needed for these investments!
Treasures in heaven.
What then are these investments? Our treasure in heaven is not a treasury of merit, as Catholics, Muslims or Buddhists might teach. Our good works are not added to our karma or our salvation. Rather, these heavenly treasures include the joy and peace that come with:
· Becoming more like Christ
· Helping the needy
· Serving his kingdom, and
· Seeing others come to Christ.
These are surely the only treasures worth our effort. For they will never decay or collapse, and their dividends will continue for eternity.
2 visions
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness
The eye is what we see – we see what we want to see. What do you look for? What do you desire? Some think of Christians as narrow minded. In a way, that is true. For our eyes are on Christ and his mission. Our desire is to love the Lord our God with all our heart and mind and our neighbour as ourselves. Our vision is nothing less than to see his kingdom of truth, peace and justice breaking into this world and extending for eternity. We look forward to a day when sin, Satan and death will be no more. That is our narrow vision.
What is the alternative that the world offers? A broad way where anything goes. Yes, the world’s way is open minded – it is open to anything that serves me and my desires and hangups. Typically, the world’s way is open to anything except often the truth. For the truth rebukes, the truth commands, the truth changes us.
The narrow vision that is fixed on Christ and his kingdom is filled with light. But all that the world promises is false. The world’s vision offers neither hope nor life but darkness and death.
Spare a thought for friends who do not walk in the light. They will try anything. It is not surprising that some turn to drink or drugs or some other form of madness. For they are blind to the truth – as Jesus said of those crucifying him, they know not what they do (Lk 23:34). For they are in utter darkness.
If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
2 masters
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.
Mammon is the word Jesus used for money or property – some versions use that.
Notice the master/slave language. Serve, hating, devoted, serve. If you are serving mammon, then you hate God. You will be devoted to money. You will love your stuff while hating the creator who made both you and your stuff. Can anything more ridiculous be imagined? I make my grandson a wooden toy. He loves it so much that he stops listening to me. To get him to listen, I take it away. He then hates me for taking it away. We are like spoilt children when we love our stuff instead of God.
Are you holding on to your idols? Give them up. What is stopping you from serving God and your neighbour? When new towns started up in the far west of the state, there is a story of how the first churches began. The only way of getting there was by camel train. The Catholics couldn’t go – they had too many vestments and candlesticks to carry. The Presbyterians couldn’t go – they had too many books. So, the Methodists went – for they had neither.
What is stopping you from serving God? Why not try this exercise? Do an audit, an account of your time. For a week, make a note of where you spend your time. Gardening, reading, sport, Lions, historical societies – these are all good in themselves. But how are you serving God and others in what you do? Stamp collecting may be fun – but is it likely to have any eternal significance? Do you need to give up some things to serve him better? Yes, you do need time out. Jigsaws may not save anyone, but they may save your sanity. But if half your day is spent on a jigsaw, are you getting the balance right?
Jesus did not say, some cannot serve two masters. It is challenging to serve God and Mammon. No, Jesus said
Noone can serve two masters. You cannot serve God and mammon.
You might have held down 2 or 3 jobs – you say, what is the problem? I can easily serve 2 masters. But not as a slave. The definition of a slave is one who is wholly owned by another. You don’t get part time slaves. If you have divided your allegiance between God and money, you have already given your heart fully to money. For God can only be served with our whole hearts – not half-heartedly. He is a jealous god and allows no rivals. The OT is full of condemnations of idolatry. Idolatry was the sin of Israel. Idolatry was the sin of Israel’s enemies. If you try and serve God and money, you are an idol worshipper.
If a friendly alien arrived on our planet and started interviewing us, I expect he would be amazed. What, you have given up serving your Creator, the one, amazing God for what? For bits of paper? For hunks of shiny metal. For bricks and mortar. You must be mad. We laugh at the OT people for worshipping idols of wood and stone that their hands had made, but we are no different. Nothing has changed except the shape of the idols. They now have four wheels, or ensuites and designer kitchens.
Three choices
Which then will you choose? Earthly treasure that will fail or eternal treasure; to set your vision on the ways of the world or on Christ’s way? And will you choose God or money? You must make your choice. A very simple choice. The only difficulty is our love of idols. Will you give them up? You must give them up – for our Lord who gave up his own life. For your neighbours. For yourself – you must give them up.
Lord Jesus, you gave up your throne in heaven to live as one of us. You gave up your life for us, your enemies. Help us to give up everything we have and own for you. In your name, Amen.
Source:
· Stott J. R. W. (2020). The message of the Sermon on the Mount: Christian Counter-Culture (Revised). IVP Academic
Series: Matthew