“An Exhortation From Jesus Regarding Our Possessions”
(Sunday Morning December 8th, 2013)
Passage: Matthew 6:19-24
O.S. As Most of Us Know, We Live in a Society That is Driven by Consumerism
-> Our Whole Economy is Dependent on More and More Americans Buying More
and More Things
-> And This, of Course, is More Than Obvious at This Time of the Year
Ex = Retailers, for Example, are All Very Concerned About What Will Happen at Their
Stores on “Black Friday” (Elaborate = Early Bird Gets the Worm – Christmas Shopper)
Ex = Another Thing We Get a Lot of This Time of Year is Junk Mail; Wave After Wave
of Sales Circulars are Being Delivered to Our Front Door Every Day
______
Ill: A Few Years Ago, U.S. News and World Report Came Out With an Article Entitled
“The Junk Mail Deluge,” and This is Part of What the Author Said; He Said, ,
"The people who fill your mailbox with 34 pounds of junk [mail] each year, know what
you paid for your moosehide slippers, and whether you paid by credit card or check.
They know how much you owe on your house, whether your hobbies are fly-fishing
or fiddling, whether you use golf balls, …they may even know what chronic illness
you have. They know all of this, simply, because it is their business to know.
Whatever it is: an amusing nuisance, a trash-can stuffer, or a welcome bedtime read,
direct mail is a booming industry because it targets us with scientific precision. (5)
______
-> I Want You to Stop and Think About That for Just a Minute
-> There are People in Our Society Who are Paid to Track Your Spending Habits
and Mine, and Their Primary Goal is to Get Us to Buy More Things
-> They Know, Listen to This, They Know Something That Jesus Taught Us in This
Passage Which is That Where Our Heart is There Will Our Treasure be Also
-> And So, at This Time of the Year, I Believe That It is Very Important for All of Us
to Re-examine Our Heart and to Heed This Exhortation That Jesus Has Given
to Us Here Regarding Our Possessions
St = Now, by Way of Introduction, I Want to Point Out That This Really is a Matter
of the Heart
-> Jesus is Not Saying That It is Altogether Wrong for Us to Have Some Possessions
or to Accumulate Some Wealth
-> In Exodus 20:15, God Gave Us the Eighth Commandment Which Says, "You shall
not steal”
-> And if God Says That It is Wrong to Steal Someone Else’s Personal Possessions,
This Logically Infers That It is Alright for Us to Have Personal Possessions
-> Moreover, There are Many Godly People in the Bible Who Were Quite Wealthy
Including: Abraham, and Job, and King David, and King Solomon, and Queen Esther,
and Mary and Martha Etcetera (Women Ministered to Jesus Out of Their Substance)
-> So, We Know That Jesus is Not Saying That It is Altogether Wrong for Us to Have
Some Possessions or to Accumulate Some Wealth; He is Simply Encouraging Us
to Remain Balanced
-> He is Giving Us an Exhortation Here That is Very Similar to the One That
the Apostle Paul Gave to Us in 1 Timothy 6:17 When He Said This; Listen, He Said,
“Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their
hope on the uncertainty of riches, (Elaborate) but on God, who richly supplies us
with all things to enjoy” (Did You See That? “…all things to enjoy” = Balance)
Pt = There is Certainly Nothing Wrong With Gaining Wealth, Saving for the Future,
Owning Some Possessions and Enjoying Our Possessions
-> What Jesus is Warning Us About Here is the Danger of Allowing Our Desire
for Wealth and Possessions to Overshadow and Eclipse Our Love and Desire
for a Deeper Relationship With Him
-> This, of Course, is Idolatry (Col 3:5)
-> And as We All Know, Idolatry Incites God’s Wrath (Exod 20:4-5)
-> So, if You Don’t Mind My Using What Has Now Become a Common Christian
Colloquialism, Jesus is Essentially Saying That “The Main Thing is to Keep the Main
Thing the Main Thing”
-> And When It Comes to Our Possessions, the Main Thing is God Himself
I. Be Careful About Where You Store Your Possessions
1) The Accumulation of Our Possessions
-> Jesus’ Message Here Really Centers Around a Negative Prohibition and a Positive
Command
-> And We Find the Negative Prohibition in Verse 19 Which Says “…do not store up
for yourselves treasures on earth…”
a. To Begin With, This Means That Earthly Treasures ARE NOT to be Hoarded
-> In Fact, the Word for “Store Up” in the Original Greek Was Much More
Expressive and Emphatic Than It Appears Here in the English
-> It is the Greek Word “Thesaurizetai” Which is the Word From Which We Get
Our Word “Thesaurus” and a Thesaurus is “a Treasury of Words”
-> So, Jesus is Literally Saying That We Should Not be “Treasuring Our Treasures”
-> Sometimes, This Phrase Was Even Used to Describe Someone Laying Out Coins
and Stacking Them Horizontally
-> Therefore, It Seems Obvious to Me That Jesus is Referring to Hoarding;
He is Referring to Being Preoccupied With Accumulating Earthly Possessions
-> And by the Way, This Applies Just as Much to a Poor Person as It Does to a Wealthy
Person, Because Sometimes It’s the Poor Person Who Desires This the Most
-> Solomon Said a Similar Thing in Proverbs 23:4 When He Said,
“Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, cease from your consideration {of it.}”
-> We Should Not, in Other Words, Become Obsessed With a Desire to Accumulate
Earthly Possessions
______
T.S. a. To Begin With, Earthly Treasures are Not to be Hoarded
b. In Addition to This, Jesus Said That Earthly Treasures are Insecure
______
b. In Addition to This, Jesus Said That Earthly Treasures are Insecure
-> In Jesus’ Day, Wealth Revolved Around Three Things: Garments, Grain
and Gold (Precious Metals)
i. In Jesus’ Day, Wealth Revolved Around Garments
-> Joseph’s Brothers Were Jealous, for Example, Because Jacob Had Given
Joseph a Coat of Many Color (Genesis 37:3)
-> And We are Told in Joshua 7:21 That One of the Things That Achan Coveted
and Took and Hid in the Earth Was “…a beautiful babylonian garment…”
-> But There is a Problem With Garments, Jesus Said, and That is That Moths
Eat Them
-> They Don’t Eat the Garments That We Have On; I Have Never Heard
of a Moth Eating a Garment While Someone is Wearing It
-> But if Garments are Stored (That’s the Problem) and Not Used for a Long Period
of Time, It is Very Possible That Moths Will Get to Them and Destroy Them
ii. In Jesus’ Day, Wealth Revolved Around Grain
-> The Rich Fool, as I am Sure Most of You Know, Felt That He Had Reached
the Point Where He Could Retire, Because He Had Received a Bumper Crop
-> And in Luke 12:18-19, He Said,
“…’This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones,
and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul,
‘Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease,
eat, drink and be merry”
-> But Then, the Bible Says That God Interrupted Him and Said,
“…’You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will
own what you have prepared?'”
-> By the Way, the Word That is Translated “Rust” Here Literally Means “To Eat”
-> And Likewise, This Will Only Happen to Grain That is Stored and Hoarded;
This Only Happens to Grain That is Not Being Used
iii. In Jesus’ Day, Wealth Revolved Around Gold (Or Precious Metals Such as Silver)
-> The Bible Says, for Example, That Achan Also Coveted and Took 200 Shekels
of Silver and a Bar of Gold Fifty Shekels in Weight (Joshua 7:21)
-> And in Addition to Two Changes of Garments, Elisha’s Greedy Servant Gehazi
Asked Naaman to Give Him a Talent of Silver (2 Kings 5:22)
-> And as We Should All Know, Judas Betrayed Our Lord for Thirty Pieces
of Silver (Matt 26:15)
-> Of Course, Wealth Stored as Gold and Silver Really Isn’t Secure Either,
Because Jesus Points Out That Thieves Will Break in and Steal These Things
-> A Thief is Not as Likely to Attack Us if We Only Have a Few Coins in Our
Pocket; That Wouldn’t be Worth It to Him
-> But if We Have a Lot of Wealth, Stored Away Somewhere, or Some Expensive
Possession, He Might Very Well Try to Steal It From Us
-> And Some Thieves are Very Good at What They Do (My Software Mistake)
______
Ill: Several Years Ago, the Executive Speechwriter’s Newsletter Carried an Article
About the New Volkswagen Beetle (Vol. 16 No. 1)
-> The Writer Said That, When the New Volkswagen Was Introduced, the Company
Claimed That It Was Completely Burglar Proof
-> And to Demonstrate Their Point, They Hired a Reformed Professional Car Thief,
and They Called a Major News Conference
-> The Reformed Car Thief Was Challenged and Offered a Large Sum of Money if He
Could Find a Way to Break Into This Car
-> And This is What Happened, True Story, While the Camera Was Rolling, the Thief
Circled the Car for About Ten Minutes Without Touching It
-> Then, He Gave the Front Bumper One Swift Kick; and as Soon as He Did That,
the Airbags Exploded, the Locks Came Up, and the Doors Flew Open (Pause)
______
Pt = The Truth is That Hoarded Wealth in Any Form is Insecure
2) The Preservation of Our Possessions
a. On the Flip Side, Heavenly Treasures ARE to be Sought
Q.n= How do We “Store Up” Heavenly Treasures?
Ans= There are Innumerable Ways, But for the Sake of Time I Will Just Give You Two
i. By Our Service
Matt 10:41-42 (Jesus Said) “41 He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall
receive a prophet's reward; and he who receives a righteous man in the
name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. 42 And
whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even
a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his
reward."
ii. By Our Sacrifice
Luke 12:33 (Jesus Said) "Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves
money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where
no thief comes near nor moth destroys”
b. And of Course, Our Heavenly Treasures are Secure (Ex = Jesus Negates)
-> In Fact, in Luke 18:29-30, Jesus Said This to His Disciples; He Said,
“29…’Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers
or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, 30 who will not
receive many times as much at this time and in the age to come, eternal life’”
Q.n = Do You Understand What Jesus Was Actually Saying in Those Two Verses?
Ans = Listen, He Was Saying That God Might Even Give It Right Back to Us
on This Earth, and We Will Receive an Eternal Reward as Well
-> So, It Really Doesn’t Make Sense to Invest in Earthly Treasures
-> That Would be Like Me Turning All of My American Currency Into Canadian
Currency Even Though I Know That I am Only Going There for a Short Visit
-> By the Way, This Truth Remains in Effect Even When Our National Economy
is in a Down Turn, Because God is Still on His Throne (Can I Get a Witness?)
3) The Revelation of Our Possessions
vs 21 (Read)
a. Our Possessions Expose Our Affections
-> This is Very True; in Fact, if You Could Allow Me to Take Just a Short Look
at Your Checkbook or Bank Records, That Would Reveal Volumes About You
-> And the Same is True About Me, You Would Discover That I Have Spent Money
on My Wife (Ex = Dinner, Flowers) My Children (Piano Lessons, Gifts, Clothes,
Camps, Etcetera), My Church (I am Glad to Say That) Myself (Fishing, Football)
Pt = I Don’t Have Any Problem Investing in Those Things That I Love (Elaborate)
-> This is Why is Why Financial Stewardship is Actually a Very Spiritual Issue
-> In Fact, This is Why the Prophet Malachi Brought Up the Issue of Tithing
in Malachi 3:7-10 (Elaborate = Proved That They Were in Need of Revival)
-> And Listen to This, the Bible Says That if We Cannot Handle Worldly Wealth
Properly, God Will Not Entrust Us With Spiritual Wealth
Q.n = Did You Know That?
-> Listen to What Jesus Said in Luke 16:11; He Said,
"Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth,
who will entrust the true riches to you?”
b. Our Possessions Encourage Our Affections
-> I Want You to Notice That Jesus DID NOT Say “For where your HEART is there
will your TREASURE be” ; He Said, “For where your TREASURE is there will your
HEART be”
Q.n = Isn’t That Fascinating?
-> This Means That What We GIVE TO, Not Only EXPOSES Our Affections, It Also
ENCOURAGES Our Affections
-> This Means That Those Who Invest Their Time, and Energy and Finances Into
This Church, for Example, Will Have a Deeper Love for This Church
II. Be Careful About How You See Your Possessions