Why Did Jesus Talk About Treasure?

As a culture, we tend not to look forward to April 15th because April 15th is tax day. April 15th is normally the deadline to pay your federal and state income taxes. This year, because April 15th falls on a Sunday, the deadline has been moved to April 17th. Yet, whether it is April 17th, as it is this year, or April 15th, as it is most years, the weeks and months leading up to April 15th are referred to as tax time. This is a time of year when we tend to try to get a grip and wrap our minds around our finances. And for many of us, this is a time of year where we attempt to make adjustments and commitments in an effort to be better off financially on April 15th of 2013 than we are on April 15th 2012.

So for the next six weeks as a church we are going to spend our time together talking about the subject of money and finances. Now a natural reaction for some to the idea of spending time in church talking about the subject of money and finances is to push back, to resist. For some, one of their major objections to the church, and to Christianity in general, is that you believe that the church just wants your money.

For others, they believe that you should not spend our time in a sermon series talking about money because they came to church to hear about what Jesus and the Bible has to say about important spiritual issues like forgiveness, like faith, like prayer. Or, there are those who think “why should we even bother talking about treasure, about money about finances. I mean, does it really matter how I handle my finances? Is how I handle my finances that big of a deal when it comes to my relationship with God?

I believe that how we handle our money and finances is a big deal. I believe that it is a big deal because of how Jesus talked about money. You see, Jesus talked about money and finances. As a matter of fact He talked about money a lot. In the accounts of Jesus life that are recorded for us in our Bibles, there are 500 verses where Jesus talks about prayer. In addition, there are 500 verses where Jesus talks about faith. And every Sunday morning, at some point, the word faith is mentioned on this campus. By comparison, Jesus devoted 2,350 verses to the subject of treasure, to money, and how we handle it. Jesus thought that the subject of money and what we did with it was so important that He talked about money almost 5 times more than He did prayer and faith.

But why did Jesus talk so much about money? This week, I would like for us to spend our time together looking at a part of perhaps the most famous sermon that Jesus ever preached. And it is in this part of this famous sermon that we see Jesus reveal for us the reason why how we handle our treasure is a big deal when it comes to our relationship with Jesus. We will also discover a timeless principle about how the way that we handle our treasure impacts how our day to day lives reveal and reflect Christ. So let’s look at this section of Jesus famous sermon together, beginning in Matthew 6:19:

"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 neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;

As Jesus delivers one of His most famous sermons, which we call the Sermon on the Mount, we find Jesus focusing for a second time in this sermon on the issue of money. Jesus tells the crowds that they are not to store up for themselves treasures on earth. Now it is important to understand that this was not a suggestion; Jesus here is giving a command that we are not to be storing up treasures on earth. This phrase conveys the sense of storing up so as to accumulate something. The point that Jesus is making here is that we are not to be focused on the accumulation of treasure. Jesus is commanding the crowds listening, and followers of Jesus throughout history, not to center our lives on money, possessions and the treasures of this world. Jesus uses a play on words that literally means do not treasure treasure.

But why not treasure treasure? Jesus gives us the answer in the second part of verse 19 when He talks about moths and rust destroying and thieves breaking in and stealing. Jesus point is that when we store up treasure here on earth, we are storing up what is temporary. This morning, we are only on earth for a finite period of time and, when our time on earth is over, all of our stuff stays here.
The timeless reality is that you never really own anything. You only manage God’s stuff for a period of time and then He gives it to someone else.

But not only are treasures on earth temporary, Jesus points out that treasures on earth are easily consumed by the things of the world. Just as a moth consumes cloth or rust consumes metal, or a thief consumes our money, possessions, and treasure by stealing, the things of this world are consumed by the world.

Instead of focusing on the accumulation of money, possessions, and treasure on earth, Jesus commands us to accumulate for ourselves treasure in Heaven. Instead of focusing on making deposits in our earthly bank accounts and retirement funds in a way that is focused on building a kingdom of money, possessions, and treasure here on earth for ourselves, Jesus commands us to make deposits in our heavenly bank accounts. Jesus points out that when we accumulate treasures in Heaven; when we make deposits into our heavenly bank accounts, those investments cannot be consumed by the things on earth. Jesus point here is that while treasure on earth is temporary, treasure in Heaven lasts for eternity.

But why is Jesus coming on so strong? Why does Jesus feel so strongly that He would command us to store up for ourselves treasure in Heaven? We find the answer to this question in verse 21. Let’s look at it together:

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

In this verse, we see Jesus reveal the reason behind His command to store up treasure in Heaven. Jesus here is revealing for us the timeless principle that our desires and devotion is revealed by what we invest in. This timeless principle is incredibly important because of how Jesus defines spiritual maturity. You see, Jesus defines spiritual maturity not by how big of a kingdom that we are building for ourselves here on earth in terms of money, possessions, and treasure. Instead, Jesus defines spiritual maturity in terms of the heart. A person who is involved in a growing and maturing relationship with Christ will be growing in one’s love for God and in one’s love for others.

Now a natural question that arises here is “well Dave, that sounds great, but how does one define and measure one’s love and devotion to God and others?” If you are here this morning and that question is running through your mind, I want to let you know that you are asking a great question. It is a great question to ask because we cannot simply peer into another human beings heart and measure love, can we? So how do we measure our love for God and others?

Jesus point in this verse is that we invest in the things that we are devoted to. Followers of Jesus who are involved in a growing and maturing relationship with Him respond to all that God has done for them by investing in God’s kingdom mission because they treasure God above everything else. You see, the reality is that we can tell what we love by looking at where our treasure goes.

So, I have a question for you: When you look at your checkbook, what does it say about who or what you love? Where does your money go? What are you investing in?

Tomorrow, we will see Jesus use a metaphor to hammer His point home...