Where is Your Heart?

Turn with me in your Bible, if you will, to Matthew chapter 6 as we continue this study on the greatest sermon ever preached by the greatest preacher that ever lived.

Tonight we want to ask you where is your heart? When we ask that question we are concerned about where your investments are, where your preoccupation lies, where your concentration lies. On what particular object do you spend most of your time thinking about? What consumes your energy? As you go through a day and you were to record the thoughts that you have, which thoughts would reign supreme in your life? In Matthew chapter 6 verses 19 to 34 he emphasizes two things. Number one, you must have a right view of the luxuries in life.

That's verses 19 to 24. And second of all you must have the right view of the necessities in life. That's verses 25 through verse number 34. We'll talk about that next week. But this week we're going to center on the luxuries in life, the wealthy kind of things in life. And Christ says that your view of wealth, your view of luxury must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees or you'll have no part in my kingdom.

Matthew 5.20 is the verse. Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees you'll never enter the kingdom of heaven. So that means whatever your view is of wealth or whatever your view is of luxury it must be different than that of the Pharisees or you'll have no part in my kingdom. So I want to help you understand, Christ says, what my view is.

And we're going to understand that by looking at man's heart. And tonight we'll look at three things that will help you understand where your heart is.

Number one, we're going to look at what we call the treasure test. Number two, the eye exam. And number three, the master meter.

All realms in which we can objectively look at our lives and measure them against the standard of the scriptures and say, okay, this is what the scripture says, this is how I know where my heart is.

I can judge the condition of my heart by understanding what Christ says in Matthew 6 verses 19 to 24.

So we'll begin by looking at number one, the treasure test. It says in verse number 19, do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in or steal. For where your treasure is there will your heart be also. Christ says this, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth.

That's the negative. The positive is, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. It's a command. Don't do this, but do this. Christ says, look, here's the negative aspect.

I don't want you stockpiling treasures on earth. Here's the point. The word treasure is where we get our English word thesaurus. It refers to that of stockpiling, the accumulation of things. A thesaurus is a treasury of words. When Christ was speaking of treasure, He was speaking about the aspect of hoarding possessions, stockpiling them, keeping them for keeping's sake to show how wealthy you are or how well off you are. Store it up for for safe keeping. Now understand that Christ is not talking about putting money aside to save for your future.

He's not talking about putting money aside in a bank account or some kind of insurance policy or a savings account so that you might be able to plan for the needs of your family in the future, that you might be able to take care of your family in the future. He's not talking about that kind of stockpiling. That's wise investment. That's planning for the future. That's being a wise steward of what you have today and planning for tomorrow so that you can take care of things in your family in case you're nowhere around or emergency takes place.

Christ is talking about the stockpiling of things for the purpose of demonstrating how wealthy you are and how well off you are, so much so that you begin to put your confidence in those things as in or as opposed to putting your confidence in God. The Bible does not condemn money. The Bible does not condemn riches, and the Bible does not condemn possessions. What the Bible condemns is when those possessions, that money, becomes man's idol, man's act of worship, man's affection, man's devotion toward those things.

The rich young ruler over in Matthew chapter 19 verse number 29, his heart was torn when Christ said, go and sell all that you have and give to the poor. He didn't want to do that. Why? Because his heart was controlled by the accumulation of possessions, and he trusted in those things more than he wanted to trust in God, and that was demonstrated by the fact that he was not willing to forsake those things to give his life over to the Lord God. The Lord did not require his disciples to give up all their money or possessions to follow him.

He required obedience to his commands no matter what the cost. That's the point. Over in 1st Timothy 6 17, the Bible says that the Lord richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.

That's important to understand. The Lord richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. If God gives you something, He gives it to you to see how you're going to be a steward of what He's given to you. He gives you children that you might learn to be a proper steward of your children. He gives you money that you might learn to be a proper steward of your money. He gives you possessions that you might be able to be a proper steward of those things. The problem with those is that when they become the idol of our life, that which we bow down to, that's what in our hearts we worship more than God, that's when the problem happens.

Abraham was extremely rich for his day. Job was one of the most wealthiest men on the face of the earth. And after his great turmoil, what happened to him? The Lord gave him twice as much as what he had before. And he was a wealthy man before all the troubles. So God does not condemn riches. He does not condemn possessions. He's concerned about one's attitude. He's not concerned about what you have. He's concerned about what you think about what you have. That's important for us to understand. When you have money, when you have possessions, what do you do with it?

How much of it consumes your thinking and your process to accumulate more money? The key to the text is verse number 19, do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth. Don't do that. Don't lay up treasures for you. That's the emphasis. Worldly investments never pay eternal dividends. When I pile money up for myself in extravagant luxury and become materialistic, then I have violated the basic principle of God's kingdom, and I won't be able to live like a child of the king. It was St. Augustine who said this about greed.

Greed comes when we take a longing or ambition and try desperately to fulfill it without God. Think about it. That's greed, something that's natural, a natural desire, a natural ambition, and we try to fulfill it without God. That's a person who stockpiles treasures upon earth. He lives a life completely void of true intimacy with his maker. And Christ says, please don't do this.

Don't stockpile treasures on earth. But instead, here's the positive, lay up for yourselves, store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. That's what a child of the king does. That's one who who longs to live like one of my children. He's always looking above, setting his affection on things above that somehow he might store everything he's got up in heaven for the sake of eternal value. It was G. Campbell Morgan who says this, if you make your fortune on the earth, poor, sorry, silly soul, you have made a fortune and stored it in a place where you cannot hold it.

Make your fortune, but store it where it will greet you in the dawning of a new morning. Where are you storing up your treasures? What does it mean to do that? Turn with me over to 1 Timothy chapter 6 for a moment.

Verses 17 and 19, instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Now listen to this, instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed. Here's the point, if you're rich and God has blessed you with many things, if you're not rich in good deeds and if you're not generously sharing with other people, you don't know how to live.

Even though you might think that all that money is going to buy you happiness, you don't know what true life really is until you learn to store it up in heaven, to stockpile it up in heaven in the eternities. Then you understand true riches. Then you understand the certainty of value in your life. Over in Proverbs 19, 17, he that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord, and that which he hath given will he pay him again. When you have compassion and pity on those who are poor, God says you're storing up treasures in heaven and I'm going to repay that.

You're going to reap the dividends of that investment. You want to reap a great dividend? You store your treasures up in heaven. That's the injunction, both positive and negative. Don't do this, instead do it this way. What's the rationalization? Why? Simply this, back to Matthew chapter 6. Christ says, if you store up treasures on earth, that is where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.

He says, look, let me say it to you this way. The reason you've got to do this is because if you store everything down here it's corruptible, but if you store it upstairs in heaven it's incorruptible. Earthly treasures are corruptible. Heavenly treasures are eternal, incorruptible. They last forever and they reap eternal dividends. Now note this, during biblical times wealth was preserved in three basic ways. There was garments, there was grain, and there was gold. Alright? Understand that those three aspects are ways in which people would stockpile their possessions.

Garments were always an expression of wealth because they were a commodity of great value. And there would be certain clothing that would have gold weaved in and out of the garments. And so when people would give gifts of garments to people it was a gift of great value. For instance over in Judges 14, 12, Samson said to the Philistines, if you can answer the riddle I will give you 30 garments and 30 changes of garments. I'm going to pay you with something of great value that is garments. Joseph over in Genesis 45 verse number 22 gave Benjamin five changes of garments when he bestowed affection upon him.

The problem with that is, is that's where the moths eat them. See? You start storing up garments, guess what? Moths are going to eat them up. You guys know today we've got silverfish and all kinds of things that get into your garments. You know you put them away and you put them in a maybe even in a garment bag and you put it away for the winter and take it out next winter and it's got holes all in it. You guys have had stuff like that? Right, because moths get in there or silverfish get in there and eat it away.

It's corruptible. It doesn't last forever. Another aspect is grain. Luke 12, 18 we talked about the rich young fool whose wealth was grain. And it says you don't lay up treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy. Now the word rust is the word brosis which means eating, very significant. It's a word that means eating and nowhere in the Bible is it translated rust. The problem is what eats grain? Mice and rats. You store it up, mice and rats are going to get in there and they're going to eat it and they're going to consume that food.

It's corruptible. And then there's gold. They didn't have you know banks in those days where you can go and deposit all your gold in the bank you know and get a little piece of paper, keep your bank book and keep everything together. They had to go dig holes in the backyard. Remember the parable in Matthew chapter 13 about the man who found the treasure, right? Thieves would go and they would go out at night and watch people go bury their treasures and they would go out and dig it up, see? Or they would dig through their houses where thieves break through and steal.

Literal translation, where thieves dig through and steal. The point of the matter is this, is that nothing that's corruptible is safe. Why? It could be eaten. It could be stolen. It could rot away. And Christ says, don't waste your time doing that.

It could be here today and gone tomorrow. Instead, lay out for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in or steal. You've got nothing to worry about. In summation, Christ says, for where your treasure is there will your heart be also.

That's the summation. That's the treasure test. Very simple. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Where's your treasure? Only you can answer that. Where is your heart? Are you investing in God's kingdom? Or are you investing in your kingdom? Are you giving toward eternal dividends? Or are you giving toward earthly dividends? You have to answer that question. The second point is the eye exam.

That's in verses 22-23. We must hurry. It says in verse number 22, the lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness? And so what he says is, if your heart is toward God, your entire spiritual being will be enlightened. But if your heart is toward material things, if your heart is toward earthly investments, the treasures of the world, then the blinders are going to come down on your eyes and you will not see spiritually as you should.

How is the condition of your eye? What do you see? You either have a clear eye, or you have a bad eye. Now let's understand that, okay? The clear eye, the word used for clear, is the word, understand this is very important, is the word translated healthy or literally generous. Okay? It's used this way in the New Testament. James 1.5, God who giveth to all men, how? Liberally, same word. Okay? Liberally, generously. How does God give to all men? Very liberally, very generously. If you have an eye that's generous, if your heart is generous, as you give to men liberally, you've got clear spiritual perception.

But if you give with a bad eye, the word panairos translated grudgingly or stingy, the word panairos translated grudgingly, then the blinders come down on your ability to perceive things from God's perspective. So you need to give yourself an eye exam. Do you have a clear eye? Or do you have a bad eye? That's the condition. What's the conclusion? Well, if you have a clear eye, it's full of light. If you've got a bad eye, it's full of darkness. Christ says if your heart is in heaven, you will have a generous spirit.

You're full of light. But if you have a bad eye, you're full of darkness. If your treasure is on earth, you are going to see nothing because the blinders are down on the darkness of your greed and covetousness. You are selfishly indulgent and you are devoid of any kind of revelation given from your God. And the exclamation then comes and says, if therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness? More and more in your treasures upon earth, how great is that darkness, Christ says.

That's the exclamation. How dark can it get? How much darker can it get? Do you still find yourself wanting more, never satisfied? Christ says give yourself an eye exam.

It'll tell you a lot about the condition of your heart. It'll tell you where your heart is. Do you have a generous heart? Do you have a generous eye? Do you have a stingy eye? A bad eye? Take the treasure test. Do you store up treasures on earth? Or do you store them up in heaven? And lastly, this is my favorite, the master meter. The master meter. What really is the master of your life? Verse number 24, no one can serve two masters. That's the declaration. Christ says, let me declare to you, you cannot serve two masters.

It is impossible to live like a child of the king and be committed to earthly treasures. You can't do it. You can't do it. You can't serve two masters. God can only be served with exclusive devotion and single-mindedness. Same thing that the Lord God said back in Exodus chapter 20 with the Ten Commandments. I am the only God, and I'm the only one worthy of worship. That's why I'm a jealous God. So you worship me, and you serve me. If you try and split it, you're going to hate one, and you're going to love the other.

You're not going to love them both. You can't say you love God and love money, too. You can't do that. Why? Christ said you can't. That's why. You can't serve two masters. Why? For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Now mammon is something in which one puts his confidence. That's all mammon is. And because so many people put their confidence in money, it was translated as money or material possessions.

God says you can't serve money and serve me, too. You've got to either serve me or serve money, but you can't serve both, because one you're going to hate, one you're going to love, one you're going to despise, and one you're going to hold to. You can't have mixed loyalties. One commands you to walk by faith. The other commands you to walk by sight. A child of the king walks by faith, not by sight. One commands us to be humble. The other commands us to be proud. One person says I'm going to follow God.

I'm going to walk by faith, and I'm going to humbly serve him. The other one says I'm going to trust in my money, and I'm going to get more money, and I'm going to build bigger barns, and I'm going to stack those babies up, and I'm just going to keep pouring them in. One sets his affections on things above. The other sets his affections on things below, on the earth. One looks after the things that are unseen, the eternal. The other looks at that which is seen and temporal, cleaving to the dust. The two are diametrically opposed.

You can't serve both. That's the decoration. Here's its manifestation. You're going to hate and despise, or you're going to love, and you're going to hold to it. Over in Luke chapter 14, Christ said these words in verse number 25, to a multitude of people who were following him. And you've got to admire the Lord. I mean, every preacher wants a big church, right? Every preacher wants lots of people coming. And it seems like every time Jesus had a lot of people coming, he'd just get harder when he preached, and less and less people would come.

The more and more people would come, he'd get harder and harder on the demand of discipleship, and more and more people would go away. He didn't want any confusion. He didn't want any speculation. He didn't want anybody thinking that they could get into the kingdom just by walking alongside Jesus. They had to understand exactly what it meant to live like a child of the King. And Christ says, look, a great multitude were going along with him, verse number 25 of Luke 14.

He turned and said to them, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. And he goes on to give the parable about building a tower and going to war and counting the costs. You've got to count the costs, man. Christ says, look, the point is this.

I've got to have your first allegiance. I've got to have the totality of your being. If you're not willing to give that to me, you can't serve me, and you can't serve two masters. You can't love that and love me. The point is you have to love me so much. Your affection toward me is so loyal that when everybody else observes your loyalties, they'll say, he must hate his family. He loves God so much. That's the point. That's the point. Amazing statement. The love of money is the root of all evil. Money is not the root of all evil.

The love of money is the root of all evil. You hate one, despise the other, or you're going to love one and hold to the other. Remember Joshua chapter 7 with Achan? He saw the spoils of the enemy. He took it, put it in his tent. The text says, I saw. When I saw, I coveted. And after I coveted, I took. After I took, I hid it. And you can't serve two masters. So, he took Achan out of his family, and he stoned him and burned him because you divided your loyalties to God. Amazing. Christ says in Matthew chapter 6, and this is point number 3, the consummation, you cannot serve God and material possessions.

Can't happen. My friends, don't fall victim to Adler, for you'll cease to live like a child of the king.