Jesus and Treasure...

During our Sunday evenings together at the church where I serve, we have been looking at several demands that Jesus calls His followers to as they live a life that follows Him. This past Sunday, we looked at three specific passages that reveal a timeless truth about that Jesus demands. The first passage is found in Matthew 6:19-24:

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; ²¹ for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ²²  "The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. ²³ "But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! ²⁴  "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

In another account of Jesus life, we see Jesus say the following in Luke 16:10-12:

"He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. ¹¹ "Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? ¹² "And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own?

Then, a few chapters later, Jesus makes a startling comment after having a conversation with a rich young man in Luke 18:24-25:

And Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵ "For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

In these verses, we see Jesus repeatedly command His followers to store up for yourselves treasure in Heaven. Now a natural question that arises here is “why would Jesus demand that His follower’s store up treasure in Heaven?

Jesus gives us three reasons in these verses as to why we are to store up treasure in Heaven. First, in Matthew 6:22-23, we discover that Jesus demands that we store up treasure in Heaven because we follow what we are focused on.

Then in Matthew 6:24, we see that Jesus demands that we store up treasure in Heaven because we cannot serve two masters. We will either serve money by attempting to use Jesus or we will serve Jesus with our money

Third, in Luke 18: 24-25, we discover that Jesus demands that we store up treasure in Heaven because we are tempted to worship money as our God instead of worshipping God with our money.

Now another question that arises here is “How are we supposed to do that? How should we store up treasure in Heaven?”

In Jesus life, He provides three specific instructions on how we are we to store up treasure in Heaven? In Mark 10:21, Jesus reveals for us the reality that we store up treasure in Heaven when we give generously. A second way that we store up treasure in Heaven is when we give sacrificially, which Jesus unpacks for us in Luke 12:32-34. Then, in Luke 16:10-12, Jesus reveals for us that the issue with money is faithfulness and that we store up treasure in Heaven when we are good stewards, or managers of what He gives us.

So are you following Jesus demands to store up treasure in Heaven by giving generously and sacrificially as we are faithful with all that God has given us?