What is in Your Hand?

Posted: November 26, 2023 | Author: | Filed under: abilities, anger, God, Jesus, Provision, Sermons, Stewardship, Talents, Tools, Weapons | Leave a comment

What is in your hand? Maybe you recall those words when you were younger because you were trying to hide something and some adult knew it? “What’s in your hannnd?” But what if God was asking you that same question not to expose you, but to experience Him? That question today from God may change your life because you finally find your purpose. “What is in your hand?” God did ask that question once to somebody and it wasn’t because God didn’t know the answer. God always knows the answer! As someone has said, “When God asks a question, it is not for His benefit, but for the benefit of one being asked.” I believe God is asking us the same question – what is in your hand? Last week, I gave you some homework that you were to bring to church. You were to bring something that symbolizes your work – a ball, a book, a phone, a laptop or a tool. What did you bring? If you didn’t bring anything, I want you to think about it. I brought my Bible because it is my guide, my tool, my weapon, and my hope. 

My opening stories come from the Bible today, so please turn in your Bibles to Exodus 4:1-5 and 17:1-16! If you don’t have a Bible, we would love to give one to you. We are concluding our series on stewardship where we have attempted to love God with all our hearts, with all our minds, with all our souls and with all our strength. As Pastor Kyle told us last week, “Stewardship is recognizing that we own nothing while loving the God who has given us everything by dealing appropriately with His stuff.” In simplest form, we are God’s resource managers. Every one of us has been given our bodies, our breath, our abilities, our minds and our money to manage on God’s behalf. Some day we will stand before God and give account for what we did with His stuff and the opportunities we were given. If you were to self-assess, how are you doing with what God has given you? The motivation for what you do with it has to be love – not self-love, but love of God and others. 

To put it another way, we are called to love God with our treasure, thoughts, time and talents. Your stewardship will be tested, especially this next month. This week is Giving Tuesday. You are going to get a lot of requests for donations and gifts. Week one of the series we were encouraged with a prohibition, a promise and a principle. The prohibition was to stop investing in the temporary. The promise was to start investing in eternity. The principle was that our hearts always go where we stare. Don’t just invest in kind things, but in kingdom things! Jesus told us in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” All your needs will be taken care of along with more responsibility being given to you as you seek God. Sometimes that takes a while to learn these truths. One of those people who it took a while to learn to seek God first was the writer of the first 5 books of the Bible if you could imagine. (The Bible doesn’t hide its heroes’ flaws which may help us skeptics to have more confidence in the Bible.) The hero’s name was Moses and he was 80 years old when started to seek God first. What a reminder that it’s not too late to follow God – as long as you have breath! 

Maybe you have heard of Moses – the Moses of The Ten Commandments fame! Even though he was set apart at birth, the first 80 years of his life, he spent trying to fix things on his own or he was on the run from his true calling. We can get in the ditch either way. You can try to be the Messiah or you can run away from Him. An example is from Jordan Peterson’s insight on the American/English poet T.S. Elliot’s play The Cocktail Party. “One character in the play is super unhappy and goes to her psychiatrist. She hopes all her suffering is her own. The psychiatrist is taken aback by her perspective and asks why. Her conclusion was: if it’s her fault, she might be able to do something about it. If it’s God’s fault, however – if reality itself is flawed, hell-bent on ensuring her misery – then she is doomed.”[1] Is that how of some you feel today? You may be a religious person like the majority of the planet – working hard to fix your problems and the problems of the world through self-effort. Moses seemed to think this way the first 40 years of his life in Egypt. Fast forward 40 years, when we pick up the story just after Moses had an encounter with God at the burning bush in the desert. God was calling Moses to go back to Egypt – the place where 40 years earlier he was on Egypt’s Most Wanted list for killing an Egyptian task master. The octogenarian murderer Moses is now going back to Egypt not to take matters into his own hands this time, but to lead with what was in his hand. Let’s read what happens next in Exodus 4:1-5 where Moses finally had accepted His calling. Maybe today you will have an encounter with God? Maybe you will finally accept Your calling and purpose in life? Read Exodus 4:1-5!

Here is a little bit more background: Moses had been protesting His calling. He gave all sorts of excuses to God: 1) he wasn’t worthy (Exodus 3:11-12); 2) he doesn’t know God or His name (Exodus 3:13-22); 3) he didn’t have any power (Exodus 4:1-9).  Isn’t that some of the excuses we use? We aren’t good enough, know enough or strong enough for the task. Moses had to learn that goodness, knowledge and strength all come from God. God gives all that you need to accomplish His will. And so when God asked Moses what was in his hand and Moses says his shepherd’s staff, it was an opportunity for Moses to experience God and to learn that God is the source of all goodness, knowledge and strength. It was an opportunity to move from being religious to being in a grace-filled relationship with God. Whatever God has put in our hands, He often uses to point back to His control of our lives. That is the first lesson we learn about the talents and tools God has given us – He is in charge. The first lesson in the stewardship of our strengths is: 1) God owns our talents and tools (Exodus 4:2-5). God can do with whatever He likes with what He gave you. He will use those tools to teach you and others. Moses learned this as a shepherd. Most Biblical leaders were shepherds first – Abel, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, Amos and even Jesus had compassion on people as sheep without a shepherd. The staff that helped the shepherd walk, guided the sheep and protected the sheep was what God wanted Moses to use as deliverer in Egypt. Often God takes what we presently have and redeems it for His purposes. What did Moses do with the Staff? He put it on the ground and it turned into a snake. Now we need to understand as one scholar says, “Across the ancient Near East, the snake was a symbol of both death and healing.”[2] God would bring death to His enemies and healing to His people. What is in your hand that God may use to punish the wicked or provide for the righteous? God owns our talents and tools. They are His!

Which is why He never wastes anything. Writer Philip Yancey calls God the great recycler. God doesn’t waste any of our past. Moses grew up in Pharaoh’s house after being adopted as a baby by Pharaoh’s daughter. He was well-educated by the Egyptians. God used this education later as he addressed Pharoah. It reminds me of a story. “On November 20, 1759, the Arundel approached an unknown ship in the waters of the West Indies. The tense, tanned sailors stood by their guns as Captain Charles Middleton sent a boarding party to investigate. The Swift proved to be a slaver bound for Guinea. It carried the plague. Middleton summed his surgeon, James Ramsay, a young man he had to Christ. The doctor clambered aboard the Swift and reeled in horror. The holds were jammed with naked slaves, chained row upon row, writhing and groaning and sweating and dying of the plague. The stench was unbearable, the filth unbearable. Ramsay left the Swift vowing to do his utmost for slaves. Shortly afterward he retired from naval service and became pastor on the West Indies Island of St. Kitt. He purchased then slaves from tyrants and Ramsay became their servant, teaching them Scripture and treating them medically. His hatred of slavery grew as he visited nearby plantations, treating wounds inflicted by whips and branding irons. Owners threatened him when advocated humane treatment of slaves; and when Ramsay called for the abolition of slavery, he was attacked in the local papers, censured by the citizens, and driven from the island. Ramsay took a pastorate in the English countryside of Kent. Though only 48, he looked old and drawn. Day and night, the cries of slaves haunted him, and the memories of November 20, 1759 never left him. He put his feelings into print and braced himself for another storm. It came, but this time he had an allay – his old captain, Charles Middleton, now a member of Parliament. Middleton joined Ramsay’s crusade, but looked around for a younger, more eloquent member of Parliament to be leader. He chose? … William Wilberforce! Wilberforce’s lifelong crusade to abolish slavery in Britain is well-known. But few remember that it can be traced back to a quiet Christian doctor who made a vow on November’s day in 1759.”[3]

Moses was not to the vow stage yet. And God wasn’t finished with Moses’ staff either. Actually, Moses staff is renamed. By Exodus 4:20, Moses’ staff becomes “the staff of God.” Of course, Moses’ staff was God’s staff all along because God owns everything. This evident in how the staff is used to show power over nature and Egyptian gods, which were really demons. This is the second lesson in the stewardship of our strengths: 2) God empowers our talents and tools (Exodus 7:20). It is not like God gives us a tool or toy, but it doesn’t come with batteries. What God asks us to do, He also enables us to do. The staff of God was used strike the Nile to turn it to blood in Exodus 7:20, “Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile turned into blood.” And the staff was used later on after Pharaoh finally let God’s people go, it was the staff of God that divided the Red Sea in Exodus 14:16, “Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground.”  God provided the power for His people’s talents and tools. The Israelites by this point in history had become a population of multiple millions and God, through Moses, rescued them from slavery in Egypt. He sent 10 plagues to force Pharaoh’s hand to finally let the God’s people go. The Israelites miraculously crossed over to the Sinai Peninsula through the Red Sea on dry land as God created a wall of water on each side of this temporary seabed highway all the while using Moses’ staff to do it. Then He collapsed the water on the Egyptian army when they chased after the Israelites. 

Now the Israelites find them free from slavery, but slowly travelling en mass under the hot desert sun. They are in Sin. “Sin is related to Sinai and should not be confused with the English word ‘sin.’”[4] And then what do you think happens next? Let’s read Exodus 17. Read 17:1-4! 

Grumbling and complaining leads to a life of wilderness. And God takes grumbling very seriously. One can be obedient and following God, but then complaining takes over. And that is when the staff of God kicks in. The staff of God becomes the rod of God as the KJV calls it, but not in the way you think. At first, God doesn’t punish His people, but He provides for His people. This was a total act of grace and God used Moses’ staff to do it. “Once more, then, Yahweh provides for the need of His people, this time for the physical need of water.”[5] He can provide when there is too much water like a sea before you and He can provide when you don’t see water anywhere. This is the third lesson in the stewardship of our strengths: 3) God provides throughour talents and tools (Exodus 17:5-6). Check out Exodus 17:5-6, “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.’ And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.” God could have sent rain from heaven like He did with the manna and quail for food. That would have provided for the people’s thirst as they captured the water. But God wanted Moses to use his staff. Often God wants us to use our talent and tools to provide for our needs, our family’s needs and the church family’s needs. Are you working hard enough? Are you using the talents and tools God has given you?

So far we have learned that the lessons that God owns, empowers and provides through talents and tools. Now, there is a fourth lesson in the stewardship of our strengths: 4) God desires our talents and tools to be shared (Exodus 17:8-16).  This is evident in the story of the Israelites defeating the Amalekites. “’Amalek’ means ‘trouble maker.’”[6] The Amalekites were distant relatives of the Israelites as they descended from Esau, Jacob’s brother. They were a constant nemesis to Israel. Verse 14 is a promise that God would “utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” But as we study Old Testament history we learn that the Amalekites and they continued to be a thorn in the side of the Israelites. King Saul stumbled over them in 1 Samuel 15:3. He didn’t obey God and enabled Israel’s enemies to be a thorn in their sides until God destroyed the last of them in Haman during the time of Queen Esther as we learned this summer (Esther 3:1). By the way, sometimes God takes us to places such as deserts or places of captivity to fulfill His promises and defeat our enemies. And God often does this so that our talents and tools are shared. God choses some to fight with their hands and others to fight on their knees. Both are valued and needed! The success of the sword was dependent on the height of the staff! Are you sharing your talents and tools with others? You actually need others to maximize your talents and tools effectiveness. Your strength will fail you. Your jobs and calling require others to hold you up. We often forget this.

Here is fifth lesson in the stewardship of our strengths, which is a warning: 5) Talents and tools can become weapons (Numbers 20:2-13). These weapons may keep us from seeing God’s promises. Remember Massah in Exodus 17:1-8. That was a test. Moses passed the first test. But he failed a second test. “The events of the quarrel in Exodus 17:1-8 are similar to those that would take place at the same location later on in Numbers 20:2-13 and through which Moses was not allowed to enter Canaan.”[7] “If we accept that the place named Massah alone belongs to the first incident of grumbling in Exodus 17:1-7 and Meribah alone to the second incident in Numbers 20:2-13, then we will understand the two names of the same location.”[8] As we read in verse 7, Massah means “test” and Meribah means “arguing.” That makes sense because often when you fail the first test, as any school kid knows, it can lead to arguing later on with parents or teachers or classmates you feel in competition with. Watch out as you age. Your talents and tools can become weapons that hurt you if you don’t deal with your anger! One example would be a person raised in church who is very gifted vocally, but leaves the church and sings songs that do not honour God. Some of the most famous recording artists have roots in the church. One scholar puts it this way in describing Numbers 20, “The chief difference between the two accounts is that in this passage the people were judged for an act of rebellion, whereas in Numbers 20 Moses and Aaron were judged.”[9]

In fact, this was so serious that later on we discover that this simple little act of disobedience effectively was Moses striking the Messiah. The Apostle Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 10:1-4, “For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.” When Moses struck the rock rather than just speak to it, He was essentially striking Christ. What a reminder that our talents and tools can become a weapon that hurt ourselves and others including God. Every sin we humans have ever committed were strikes against Christ. We beat and nailed Jesus to death with our sin. Think about that! When we use our strength to just promote ourselves that is abuse of the Son of God. When we take our talents and tools for purposes and use them only for the flesh, the world and the devil, those are strikes against Jesus. Here is the amazing thing. Our strikes became His stripes by which we are healed (Isaiah 53:5;1 Peter 2:24). 

We have all done this. What has God’s response been? He sent His Son Jesus like He did with the water at Mt. Horeb when we were grumbling and complaining like the thirsty Israelites or like in Elliot’s play The Cocktail Party or like at home, church, work or play we don’t get our way. Jesus Christ used his talents to serve and care for people in miraculous ways as He was filled with the Holy Spirit. He used the tool of the Cross to save us. Jesus Christ died for us so that not only our talents and tools can be properly used to find our purpose, but that we can be saved and lived for God’s glory. Christ used all that He had to save us. He is our loving motivation. What is in your hand that can be used for God’s glory?

As we conclude, I have a number of action points. Maybe only one of them will apply to you? Here are the ACTION POINTS:

  • What is God saying to us as a church through these passages today? One challenge: we need to raise up more Aaron and Hurs who will hold up our leaders in prayer. 
  • Love God with all your heart by trusting God to provide for you after giving a tithe (10% of your income) to the Lord’s work. Try it for a month and see what happens. 
  • Love God with all your mind by taking a class or a year after high school at Heritage. You can take Philippians with Dr. Wayne Baxter on Tuesday evenings at 6:30-9:15 PM or Psalms with Dr. David Barker on Thursday evenings at 6:30-9:15 PM. Register today at www.discoverHeritage.ca/apply
  • Love the Lord your God with all your soul by practicing Sabbath and find rest in Christ.
  • Repent of times you have used your talents and tools as weapons. Give the talents and tools back to God and see if He will redeem them for good.
  • Share your talents and tools with others.
  • Recognize God owns your talents and tools. Let’s start by consecrating them to the Lord. As we sing, if you have a symbol of your talents and tools, I would ask that you come up and put it at the front of the stage as an act of surrender to God. Maybe you feel like you aren’t very talented or resourced. Remember, God gave you what you have and He doesn’t make mistakes. He can multiply and empower your talents and tools. Tools often join with other tools to make something work. Maybe you will find somebody today whose talents and tools complement yours? Consecrate your talents and tools before the Lord.

[1] Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life (Toronto: Random House Canada, 2018), 154.

[2] John N. Oswalt, NLT Study Bible (Carol Steam: Tyndale House Publishers, 2017), 131.

[3] Robert J. Morgan, “November 20,” On This Day (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1997). 

[4] Oswalt, 152.

[5] John I. Durham, Exodus – Volume 3 (Waco: Word Books, 1987), 232.

[6] Durham, 235.

[7] Kenneth Laing Harris, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton: Crossway, 2008), 172.

[8] R. Alan Cole, Exodus – An Introduction & Commentary (London: Tyndale Press, 1973), 134.

[9] John H. Sailhamer, The Pentateuch as Narrative (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992), 277.

Stewardship – Love God with All Your Heart

Posted: November 5, 2023 | Author: | Filed under: Heaven, Jesus, Money, possessions, Sermons, Stewardship, Treasure | Leave a comment

Today, I have some good news. You have all been promoted to manager. Some of you may be thinking that you have intentionally tried to stay out of management as you don’t want the hassle or the headache. The problem is that every one of us is a manager no matter our age, gender, or experience. You have been promoted to manager.

You might have a few questions like: how can we all be managers? Don’t we need workers too? You get to be both a worker and manager at the same time. Sounds like a family business and in fact, it is. Others of you might be asking: what am I managing? Here is the answer: All the resources that God has given you. You’re not the boss, but you are a manager. You have been entrusted with some of God’s stuff – your family, friends, co-workers, classmates, money, time, abilities, spiritual gifts, even your thoughts.  The big question is whether you have the heart to be a good manager or not. 

You see, today we are beginning a month-long series on Stewardship as we try to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. Another way of saying this is that we are to love and serve God with treasures, thoughts, time and talents. Today, we are focusing on loving God with all our hearts. If you have your Bibles, please turn to Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 6:19-21. If you don’t have a Bible, we would love to give one to you. Read Matthew 6:19-21!

Maybe one of the best summaries of Jesus’ teaching on Matthew 6:19-21 is from Bible teacher Randy Alcorn who teaches the treasure principle: “You can’t take it with you, but you can send it on ahead.”[1]This is heavenly investment advice that results in earthly spiritual heart health. Heavenly investments will even help your anxiety because you are not so worried about losing “your stuff” here on earth. You are focused or looking at the right things or should I say the right person – Jesus. Recall our theme for the year – eyes locked on Jesus. And let’s remember that heaven is all about Jesus.[2] This is the only way that storing up treasure in heaven makes sense when the streets are paved with gold (Revelation 21:21). Don’t think of the new heavens and new earth as just paradise. The paradise is a recreated place, but more, importantly it is a person – King Jesus! Jesus’ promise in John 14:3 doesn’t focus so much on mansions but on Him, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” We get to be with Jesus! So Jesus is essentially saying in Matthew 6:21 “Invest in me!” Not just in heaven, but in Jesus!

Now let me address us skeptics in the audience. You may be thinking, “I thought this message was about loving God with all your heart, but all I am hearing is loving God with my wallet.” Can I ask you to pause there? I have tried to put myself in your shoes as I have preached this message and asked myself what would keep me from getting up and leaving. I concluded that I wouldn’t want to hear this message because I would be thinking, “You are asking for MY money. My money that I use to buy the food and clothes I want, the house I want, the vacations I want to go on, and the things I want for myself.” Isn’t that it? I wouldn’t want to listen to this message that I am preaching to myself because God would be asking for MY money. But what is the problem with that thinking? Psalm 24:1 NIV gives us a clue as to the problem and reorients us to reality, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it.” There is no MY money. It is God’s money – all of it. Every cent you make is borrowed from God. Here is another Bible verse from the lips of King David in 1 Chronicles 29:12, “Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all. In Your hand are power and might, and in Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.” There is no “My money”. Everything belongs to God. Randy Alcorn unpacks this in what he calls some treasure principle keys. One key principle is “God owns everything. I’m His money manager.”[3] I actually think that is understated. We aren’t just God’s money managers. We are His resource managers – all of the resources we have belong to God. Treasure in the Bible does not equal money or riches, but includes treasure includes money, which is why Jesus says in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. I like Pastor Jason’s definition of treasure – “treasure is what we are devoted to.” We need to be reminded that God owns everything – the cars out in the parking lot – belong to God. The lunch you will soon earth belongs to God, which is why we pray and thank Him for it. Our homes don’t just belong to the bank, but to God. Our phones belong to God. These phones and our computers belong to God! Our clothes belong to God. Even our bodies do not fully belong to us – which is one of the reasons why we are against abortion and euthanasia here at Temple – nobody takes their own life because they don’t own their life. God created us and gives us breath and can take that away in a moment. This became so real to me. Three weeks ago, I led a graveside servicee for a woman outside our church. Two weeks later I got a call from the family to come back and lead another graveside service for the woman’s son. The service is tomorrow. Our bodies belong to God, especially if we are believers because Jesus bought our bodies with His own body and blood on the Cross (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). It is Jesus’ Temple. His Spirit, the Holy Spirit in Immanent Oneness, lives inside of you! This should change how we use our bodies in exercise, food, work, play and sexual activity. We are to honour God with our bodies and do what His Word says. We are to take care of what He gave us. The Bible often acts as the instruction manual for life as well as pointing us to Jesus and His gospel.

Let’s unpack Jesus’ words further and categorize them into a prohibition, a promise and a principle. In other words, to be a good steward and love God with all our hearts we need to stop some things we may be doing, we need to start living for a preferred future and we need to take our spiritual pulse. This is pretty typical advice when you go to the cardiologist. They usually tell you to stop eating fatty foods or stop smoking or stop drinking and then they tell you to exercise all so you can have a healthier heart. Today, this is like going to the spiritual cardiologist. God is the best cardiologist as He always knows what the problem with our hearts is and how to fix it.

Let’s start with the prohibition. Look again at verse 19, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.” To love God with all our hearts, the prohibition is: stop investing in the temporary! (v. 19) Stop investing in the temporary. Investing in the temporary means focusing on what won’t last. Bible scholar D.A. Carson gives us insight to the original text, “The present tense prohibition could be rendered ‘Stop storing up treasures’ rather than ‘Do not store up treasures.’ The time for a decisive break has come for our actions.”[4] Stop investing in the temporary. 

Let me be clear on what Jesus is saying and not saying. First, what is Jesus saying? “Jesus is concerned about selfishness in misplaced values.”[5] “These earthly treasures are so powerful that they grip the entire personality. They grip a person’s heart, their mind and their will; they tend to affect his spirit, his soul and his whole being.”[6] And, “Worldly things really do make a totalitarian demand”[7] on us. “Materialism will enslave the heart (Matthew 6:19-21), the mind (Matthew 6:22-23) and the will (Matthew 6:29).”[8] “How much bitterness is there, how much violence, how much anger and scorn and passion in our lives? Apply that test, and again we shall find that the feeling is aroused almost invariably by the concern about laying up treasures upon earth.”[9]

 I’ll give you an example. Poor college students sometimes enslave themselves to college debt so they can do what? Get a job and make money! It’s ironic! Some in the next generation are questioning this thinking and they may be right, especially when the jobs are under-paying, hard to find or unstable. Now, I am a big fan of education, but as we learned last year in our Freed Up financial series – there is efficient and inefficient debt. Efficient debt helps us swim forward to where we need to go; inefficient debt causes us to drown. “People haste to be rich and fall consequently into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction. In this wicked haste they forget God and neglect their soul.”[10] Some debt may be efficient, but other debt is inefficient. I’m afraid that much of the debt is becoming less efficient due to higher interest rates. Jesus is saying stop investing in the temporary. “It was not difficult for thieves to burrow their way through the mud-break clay of the typical Palestinian house (c.f. Job 24:16). Treasures in the ancient world were often buried under house floors, as archaeologists have repeatedly discovered.”[11] This is why “burglary was not uncommon in the ancient world.”[12] But all the hiding won’t stop the stealing, the rusting and the fading. Jesus is saying stop investing in the temporary.

But what is Jesus not saying in verse 19? Jesus is not saying we cannot have or own possessions. Jesus is not saying that we shouldn’t make money to help care for our needs, our family, and the church family and the poor. Our clothes, food and shelter may not last, but they are necessary and could have eternal implications. In fact, Proverbs 13:22 teaches, “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous.” This has caused Lori and I to start thinking about estate planning so not all of it goes to taxes. We want our kids to do something for God’s glory and not do nothing. Jesus is saying you can have possessions, just don’t let them possess you. And herein is the difference: some of you may purchase a trailer to go camping with family and friends, which is a discipleship vehicle. Others may purchase a trailer to compete with friends or to get drunk on the weekend. It’s not the stuff as much as why and how the stuff is being used. Stop investing in the temporary.

Jesus is also not saying that we cannot enjoy anything on this earth as this would contradict the command later on by His apostle to the Gentiles, the Apostle Paul where he warns in 1 Timothy 6:17, “As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.” We put our hope in God, not in our homes and bank accounts. This verse provides much balance between having an eternal perspective and earthly enjoyment that causes us to hope in and worship God.

Jesus is also not saying that saving is bad. Some of us may think, “No problem, I don’t store up treasure on earth. I spend it immediately.” That would be missing the point. We know from other passages that God encourages savings. Proverbs 6:6-11 wakes us up, “6 Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. 7 Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, 8 she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. 9 How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? 10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, 11 and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.” Saving and hard work are commended in Scripture.

However, “To hoard wealth is particularly short-sighted.”[13] “Many a young person starts out with a bright vision, but in a very subtle way – not that he or she falls into gross sin – they become influenced, perhaps when they are at college with an outlook that is essentially worldly and focused on getting all one can here on earth.”[14] Can I address some of the new Canadians in the room? Don’t fall into this trap and overcompensate in making a better life for yourselves and losing yourselves in the process. You came to help your families and others. We welcome you here, but don’t be put to sleep by Satan’s lullaby of affluence like many of us here in North America have been. Some of us are actually not following Jesus even though we come to church because we are making a financial decision before a faith decision. I dare say, “You might be a Christian by name only or by ethnicity.”[15] This is why I am asking God to improve our vision today – to look up and far out. In order to do so, stop investing in the temporary. That is prohibition from the lips of Jesus.

The promise of being a good manager or steward and showing our love for God with all our hearts also comes from His lips: Start investing in eternity! (v. 20) The promise is to start investing in eternity. Look at what Jesus said in verse 20, “but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” I’m blown away that Jesus says “for yourselves.” That we get to go to heaven is all God’s grace through Christ, but then we get treasure too. God is amazing! Remember, the treasure is Jesus Himself. You see, “The way to store wealth in heaven that will escape the ravages of earth is to give it away on earth.”[16] “Heaven is a reality of life and light and purity and nothing belonging to death, nothing tainted or polluted can gain admission there.”[17] “Nothing was safe in the ancient world.”[18] But, “The safest investment is heaven.”[19] “This spiritual treasure, Jesus now asserts, though invisible and intangible, is far more real and lasting than the material good which men and women in their undue anxiety about the future are at so much pains to amass.”[20] This certainly includes every time you give to the poor or to the church or to a missionary you are paying it forward. But it goes beyond just giving money. “Doing righteous deeds, suffering for Christ’s sake, forgiving one another – all these have the promise of ‘reward.’ (5:12; 5:30, 46; 6:6, 15; 2 Corinthians 4:17)”[21]

And then there is character. One writer declares, “Character is the only thing which we did not bring into the world, but it is one of few things we can take into the next.”[22] We can pay it forward – our character, good deeds and godly relationships are all what we can take with us to the new heavens and new earth! “Character or heart is a treasure which no thief can steal and no moth can consume.”[23] Not even your lover can steal your heart. You have a choice in the matter. Start investing in eternity and you will have heavenly rewards. That is Jesus’ promise. Is Jesus promising health and wealth on earth? No! His health and wealth promise is on the heavenly plan! We can’t buy our way into heaven, because Jesus already paid the price. But we can give some more away so that price is known to others and they someday will welcome us into their heavenly homes (Luke 16:9).

So stop investing in the temporary and start (or continue) investing in eternity. This prohibition and promise lead to the principle. This principle applies to us seekers, skeptics, spiritual, religious (maybe from other faiths). It also applies to new Christians and mature Christians. It is a principle so it applies to us all. The principle is our hearts always go where we stare (v. 21-23). Jesus stated this clearly in verse 21-23, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.” “A person’s heart inevitably follows their treasure; he or she is in love with what they believe to be their highest good.”[24]

But let me define heart. “Throughout the Scriptures, the heart refers to the center of one’s being, involving one’s emotions, reason and will.”[25] We hope to unpack that further next summer when we do a series on the heart because we see out in the world how people will say that if they don’t feel like doing something, they won’t. That needs to be addressed because there are times we don’t feel like obeying God. We as to live counter-culture and more importantly, live like Christ who said, “Not My will, but Yours be done.” But for now, I want you to understand that your actions can change your attitudes. You understand this at a basic level. When I was younger, I did not care for brussels sprouts. As I got older, I ate them to the point that I actually liked them. My actions changed my attitude along with a little bit of bacon and maple syrup. God is today trying to give you a taste of heaven through our worship and fellowship. It is not perfect and is a shadow of things to come.

As Pastor Paul de Jong teaches on RightNow Media, “Money doesn’t change you, it unmasks you.”[26]Money shouldn’t make you, instead you make the money to invest in eternity.

“You either direct money or money directs you.”[27] Pastor Paul de Jong goes on to say, “Once we learn to manage God’s money, money will no longer manage us – God will.”[28] This is because the # 1 competitor to God in our lives is money. Look at Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

I heard one young woman say it well, “For everything you have, you lose something else. Everything you lose, you gain something else.” We have to change our mindsets so that we start to feel like when we are losing on earth that we are gaining in heaven.

This message is not a call to having nothing, but instead to gain everything. You see, one person I read wrongly taught, “The gospel of thrift when preached is not a great gospel, but a necessary one.”[29] I disagree. I think it is a great gospel because Jesus lived it out. How did Jesus spend His riches? The Apostle Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 8:9, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, though He was rich, yet for our sake He became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” Jesus spent His riches on us and now He has treasure in heaven. That treasure will be you and His glory!

As we conclude, I have a number of action points. Maybe only one of them will apply to you? Here are the ACTION POINTS:

  • Can you declare with certainty that your treasure Jesus? There is no heaven without Jesus!
  • You treasure what you stare at. Are you staring at things that show you treasure Jesus?
  • Invest in relationships (start with God and those He leads you to)
  • Forgive somebody who owes you and wait for the debt repayment in heaven[30]
  • From Freed Up Financial Living, circle which you need to work on being a: 

1) Diligent Earner 

2) Prudent Spender

3) Generous Giver 

4) Wise Saver 

5) Cautious Debtor

  • Prayerfully seek God for your[31]: Seeding      Saving             Spending

                                                                 10+%               10%                 <80%

Before TaxesThe seeding includes the tithe. I realize that some have said that the tithe is no longer valid today because we are no longer under the Law and that the tithe was only for the Jews. Let’s remember that the tithe was modelled by Abraham (Genesis 14:20), mandated by Moses (Leviticus 27:30), reminded by Malachi (Malachi 3:10) and magnified by Jesus to include justice, mercy and faith (Matthew 23:23). Sow your financial seeds abundantly that God has given you. Save money for those emergencies that will come. Then spend money in ways that honour God. All of this is a way of treasuring Jesus!

[1] Randy Alcorn, The Treasure Principle (Colorado Springs: Multnomah Books, 2001), 18.

[2] Skye Jethani reminded me that Jesus is the focus of heaven through the Holy Post Podcast (https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-holy-post/id591157388?i=1000630947994) October 11, 2023.

[3] Alcorn, 25.

[4] D.A. Carson, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary – Volume 8 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984), 177.

[5] Carson, 177.

[6] Lloyd-Jones, 366.

[7] Lloyd-Jones, 365.

[8] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary – Volume 1 (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1989), 27.

[9] Lloyd-Jones, 360.

[10] Goodrich, 30.

[11] Donald A Hagner, Matthew 1-13 (Word Biblical Commentary) (Nashville: Nelson Reference & Electronic, 1995), 157.

[12] Hagner, 157.

[13] Carson, 177.

[14] Martin Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1959-60), 363.

[15] This is phrase I have learned from my friend Pastor Jon Thompson.

[16] David E. Garland, Reading Matthew – A Literary and Theological Commentary on the First Gospel (New York: Crossroad, 1995), 82.

[17] Lloyd-Jones, 365.

[18] John R.W. Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount (Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press, 1978), 155.

[19] Stott, 156.

[20] R.V.G. Tasker, Matthew – An Introduction and Commentary (London: The Tyndale Press, 1969), 75.

[21] Carson, 177.

[22] Goodrich, 33.

[23] Goodrich, 33.

[24] Tasker, 75.

[25] Michal J. Wilkins, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton: Crossway, 2008), 1832.

[26] Paul de Jong, God, Money & Me Video, “Money Myths,” RightNow Media.

[27] De Jong.

[28] de Jong.

[29] Albert Goodrich, “Treasures in Heaven,” The Sermon on the Mount – A Practical Exposition of St. Matthew 6:16-7:27(Manchester: James Robinson, 1903), 30.

[30] Goodrich, 38.

[31] Adapted from Paul de Jong.