Matthew 6:19-24

Matthew 6;19-24
Let's don't lose track of where we are. Sometimes we look at the Bible like a series of unrelated or loosely connected quotations. That's not the case! We are in the middle of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount which He taught the disciples. It applies to all believers who have come after them. It begins in Matthew 5 with the Beatitudes and goes on to teach principles which go beyond "the rules." Chapter 6 began by teaching us about prayer. Next we look at the area of money and possessions.

Think how many of today's troubles and heartaches are because of greed! We may not think of ourselves as greedy, but this passage really warns against all kinds of materialism. It's easy to fall into the trap of putting more value on money and material things than we do on spiritual matters. Obviously we need money and "things" to live. God provides these for us as we will see in the next section. We are not to hoard money or precious metals or possessions or whatever. This is not to say that we shouldn't provide for the future, but we MUST remember that these things do not bring real security. They could be gone in a moment, but we still have the promises of God to sustain us!

The first step in storing up treasures in heaven is to remember that everything belongs to God! Everything on this earth is here because of His grace and mercy. It's ALL His! Therefore, we store up treasures in heaven by giving generously of all our resources including our money, time, talents, hospitality, etc., to the Lord's work. These things are not subject to moths, rust, thieves, or hackers! Remember that where our treasure is, there will our hearts be also. We've probably all fallen into the false notion that some possession or other will bring us satisfaction. We have a family story about my Grandpa Dobson wanting a brown Dodge. This was back in the days (before my time) when all cars were black. Well, Dodge came out with colors, and Grandpa wanted a brown Dodge. He is said to have declared, "If I could just have that brown Dodge, I would never want anything else!" Well, he got his brown Dodge, but like all of us, he wasn't able to keep his promise!

Possessions do not make us happy. Frankly, the more we have, the more we want! We can't serve two masters--God and money.  It must be God OR money! Let's commit to serving God!