Matthew 6:19-20         Everlasting Returns: The Future Principle

 

<<prayer>>

 

I heard about a miserly old man who died, leaving three sons and a large estate. Just before the funeral, the man’s lawyer came to the sons and shared the contents of the old man’s will. He had three big bags of money. He explained that the old man really wanted to take his money with him, so he had requested that each son take his inheritance and place it in the casket with him.

 

Well, the boys were pretty bummed, but they loved their dad and wanted to honor his final request. So, just before they put the casket in the ground, each son was given one final, private moment with their dad’s body to give the money back. There were a lot of tears—because they missed their dad, and it was A LOT of money.

 

Then, when they were back at the church for lunch, the two older brothers noticed that the younger one still had his bag of money. “Hey,” they said, “you were supposed to give that back to dad.” 

 

“I did,” said the youngest, “I wrote him a check!”

 

****

 

Today is the second message in a series we’re calling Everlasting Returns. We’re looking at Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:19-34 to get His perspective on money. And the whole point of this series, I told you last week, is this: When we invest in the things of God, we are promised Everlasting Returns. Jesus wants us to understand that the best place for our money is with Him. That a life of true joy and security and purpose can be ours if we use our money in a way that honors Him.

 

And last week, we saw that it begins with the condition of our hearts. That our attitude toward money and toward God is the most important thing to Jesus. We looked at the Heart Principle, Matthew 6:21, which says: Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Now, I want us to back up a few verses and look at what I’m calling the Future Principle. The verses we are going to focus on today are Matthew 6:19-20:

 

 ¹⁹"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

 

As I mentioned last week, Jesus is making an argument from self-interest here. He’s not telling us it is wrong to have treasure, He just wants us to make sure we have our treasure in the right place.

 

Randy Alcorn uses the following example: imagine your home is in France, but you’re visiting the U.S. for three months doing business and staying in a hotel. Now imagine that, for some reason or another, you are told that when you fly back home to France you’ll not be allowed to bring anything back with you. But you can earn money and mail deposits to your bank in France.

 

Now, in that scenario, would you spend your three months in the U.S. accumulating stuff for your hotel room? Would you buy expensive furniture and paintings knowing it was just temporary and you’d have to leave it all behind? Of course not. You’d spend only what you needed for the short term and send the rest on ahead, so it’d be waiting for you when you got home. (The Treasure Principle, p. 47)

 

In the same way, Jesus is telling us to put our treasure where our home is. He’s urging us to make the smart investment: to spend carefully in the short-term so that we’ll have an everlasting return for the long-term.

 

Alcorn also uses the image of a dot and a line. Each and every human being is an ever-living, never-dying soul. And our lives all have two distinct phases: life on earth, and life in eternity. A dot. And a line.

 

Our present life on earth is the dot. It begins. It ends. Some people get about 100 years. Some much less. But no matter if we get 9 months or 90 years, our life on earth is relatively brief. A dot.

 

But from that dot extends a line that goes on forever. The line is eternity, which Christians will spend in heaven.

 

The question is: how do spend our time in the dot? Do we make it all about the time we have here, or do we prepare for our time on the line? The shortsighted person lives for the dot. The person with perspective lives for the line.

 

Jesus says we should live now with the future in mind. Here’s how I’m phrasing the Future Principle: What we do with money today has an impact on our eternal future.  We can spend all of our money on earthly treasure—we can live for the three months, for the dot—or we can start preparing now for our real home.

 

There are two verses here, and two main points I’d like to make.

 

First: You can’t take it with you. The things we have here on earth are all temporary.

 

Here’s what Jesus says in verse 19:

 

 ¹⁹"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

 

We have a tendency to treasure the things of the earth.  We live in a culture obsessed with stuff. 

 

A few years back PBS did a television show called Affluenza that looked at what it called “the modern-day plague of materialism.” Some statistics given in that show:

 

 

Shopping has actually become our most popular weekday out-of-home entertainment. In the United States there are sixteen-and-a-half square feet of mall space for every man, woman, and child. More people visit Minnesota’s Mall of America each year than Disneyland, the Grand Canyon, and the Grand Ole Opry combined.

 

Even last month, when my family was on vacation in San Antonio, we spent one day just walking around a mall. Somehow, we’ve convinced ourselves that’s recreation.

 

But you don’t have to fight the crowds at the mall—or even pick up a catalog. Arm yourself with a credit card, a telephone and one of the TV shopping networks and you can shop around the clock. Or log on to the internet and hit Amazon or eBay or whatever and buy, buy, buy. (Alcorn, Money, Possessions and Eternity, p. 29-30)

 

I heard a speaker the other day say that just like a fish doesn’t realize it is in water, most Americans don’t understand that we live in Disneyland. 

 

As the news reports from Haiti this week are reminding us, what we have here in America is a fantasy to so much of the rest of the world. It’s like we live in Disneyland. We have so much: clothes, cars, consistent power, clean water, warm homes in the winter and cool homes in the summer; we have an effective police force, rescue workers, public schools and incredibly efficient and effective medical care; not to mention our computers and cell phones and gadgets and TVs and shoes for every occasion.

 

But here’s the problem with so much of that stuff: it doesn’t last. Either our stuff leaves us while we live, or we leave it when we die.

 

Look at the way Jesus puts it: Moths destroy fabric, rust destroys “precious” metals, and thieves can steal almost anything.  He could have added more: fires burn up, floods wash away, governments seize, enemies attack, investments go sour, gadgets become obsolete, cars break down, we get bored, and more. No earthly treasure is safe.

 

Proverbs 23:5 says: “Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.” 

 

That’s quite a picture. Next time you go to the store to buy that “gotta have it” item—that ipod or laptop or cool shirt or flat screen TV or great house--picture it with wings flying off to the sky, because sooner or later, it’s gonna disappear. 

 

Or, better yet, take a field trip to the local dump and take a good look around. Notice all the rusted out cars and broken TV screens and empty microwave cases and stripped down mattress springs. Because, no matter how shiny and good our stuff looks coming out of the box, sooner or later that’s where all our stuff is headed. Christmas and birthday presents. Cars, boats, and hot tubs. Clothes, stereos, and barbecues. Treasures that kids fought about, friendships were lost over, honesty was sacrificed for and marriages break up over—it all ends up in a hole in the ground.

 

All our stuff is going to leave us while we live here on earth or, worse, we’re going to leave it when we die.

 

Ecclesiastes 5:15 says:  

 

Naked a man comes from his mother's womb,
       and as he comes, so he departs.
       He takes nothing from his labor
       that he can carry in his hand.

 

1 Timothy 6:7 is even more straightforward:

 

⁷For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 

 

As the youngest son figured out in the story at the beginning of the sermon: corpses don’t cash checks. Sooner or later, we’re all going to die. And the stuff we have here on earth, the stuff we have in the bank, it doesn’t go with us. The old saying is: “Hearses don’t pull U-Hauls.”

 

There’s an old bumper sticker that says “He who dies with the most toys wins.” I remember I used to have a poster of Garfield the cat that said the same thing. A lot of people are living as if it were true. But the more accurate saying would be: “He who dies with the most toys still dies.” Because that’s the truth. 

 

John D. Rockefeller was one of the wealthiest men who ever lived. After he died someone asked his accountant, “How much money did John D. leave behind?” The accountant’s answer was spot on: “He left…All of it.” (The Treasure Principle, p. 18)

 

You can’t take it with you. Everything we have here on earth is temporary.

 

And so, in verse 19 Jesus wants to know why we would spend our labor and our effort and our time and our money on treasures that simply won’t last. Why live for the dot? Why invest in a market that is absolutely, 100% guaranteed to fail?

 

Now, we need to understand that Jesus isn’t simply against earthly goods and money. There’s nothing inherently wrong with having money or a house or a car. Jesus isn’t calling us here to give up all earthly goods and stop making money and move to the desert to live like hermits. Rather, He’s calling us to think strategically about how we use the money and possessions we have for the best possible return on our investment.

 

Because here’s the good news in what Jesus has to say: While you can’t take it with you, you can send it on ahead. The things we give to God are forever.

Here’s what Jesus says, verse 20:

But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

 

People are always looking for safe places to put their money. Commercials on the radio urge us to invest in gold. Banks offer attractive interest rates to get us to use their savings accounts. Bernie Madoff used to offer an attractive investment scheme.

 

But Jesus says the only ultimately safe place for our money is to put it with the kingdom of God. There it’s protected by the real FDIC, insured for infinitely more than $100,000 by the Father’s Deposit Insurance Corporation.

 

God keeps an account open for each of us in heaven.  When we give to the things of God here on earth that account is credited in heaven. Not only God. Not only others. But also we are the beneficiaries of our giving.

 

Now, some might wonder if Jesus is really talking about money here. Some have suggested that when Jesus uses the word “treasures” He’s using a metaphor. They suggest that what Jesus is really after is our allegiance and admiration, our time and our talents. And while I believe Jesus wants those things from us as well, I believe when He uses the word treasure here He means it literally.

 

And I say this because in Luke 12 Jesus says something very similar, but makes the connection to our giving even more explicit:

 

³³Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. ³⁴For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

 

Clearly, Jesus wants us to see that possessions on earth are not for accumulating but for distributing in ways that will bring honor to God. In particular, through giving to the poor. And when we do, Jesus promises here in Luke just as He did in Matthew, that our joy in heaven will be increased.

 

A.W. Tozer writes:

 

As base a thing as money often is, it yet can be transmuted into everlasting treasure. It can be converted into food for the hungry and clothing for the poor; it can keep a missionary actively winning lost men to the light of the gospel and thus transmute itself into heavenly values. Any temporal possession can be turned into everlasting wealth. Whatever is given to Christ is immediately touched with immortality. (quoted in The Treasure Principle, p. 57)

 

If affluenza is the disease and materialism is the poison, then the cure lies in giving. As we share with those in need in the name of Jesus, we are freed from the shackles of always wanting more. Plus we are making an investment in heaven. Whatever is given to Christ is immediately touched with immortality.

 

There is an eternal use for our money and our possessions. While earthly goods will wear out or disappear—either they’ll leave us or we’ll leave them—the money we give to build Christ’s Church and help the poor will last forever.

 

Giving is living for the line.

 

That’s why the future principle says that what we do with our money now has an impact on our eternity. We can begin now to send our money on ahead.

 

Let me arm you with some quotes. Jim Elliot, one of the five young missionaries who was killed bringing the gospel to the Auca Indians in the 1950s is famous for saying:

 

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

 

Notice that Jim Elliot wasn’t against personal gain. Personal gain was precisely what he was thinking about. He just wanted the kind of gain he couldn’t lose. He wanted His treasures in heaven.

 

Or consider what Martin Luther, the founder of the Reformation, said:

 

I have held many things in my hands and I have lost them all. But whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.

 

Treasures on earth are lost, stolen or consumed. They don’t last. But treasures in heaven are eternally secure.

 

Or consider the example of John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church. When Wesley was a young man he had an annual income of 30 pounds, and living expenses of 28 pounds. So he had 2 pounds to give away. The next year, his income went up to 60 pounds, but he maintained his expenses at 28 pounds, so now he had 32 pounds to give away. In fact, for the rest of his life, he continued to maintain his expenses at 28 pounds. Even as he wrote books and became a well-known speaker—with his annual income reaching as high as 1400 pounds, he continued to give away all but the 28 or so pounds he needed to live on. 

 

When this famous, well-paid preacher died he had only 28 pounds to his name. A result of bad planning? No, the result of good. His stated goal had always been to leave as little as possible when he died. He hadn’t squandered his wealth, but had generously given it to the cause of Christ.

 

And so, you’ll believe Wesley when he says:

 

I value all things only by the price they shall gain in eternity.

 

John Wesley lived for the line, not for the dot.

 

Look at what Jesus says again:

 

 ¹⁹"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

 

You can’t take it with you, but you can send it on ahead. The Future Principle says that what we do with our money today has an impact on our eternal future. We can invest in that which is temporary and transitory, or we can put into something that is guaranteed to last.

 

I said last week that it isn’t my intention in this series to guilt any of you into giving more money. And I really don’t want to do that.

 

I mentioned Haiti a little bit, and I realize it’s hard to think about Haiti without feeling guilty. It’s hard to realize we live in Disneyland when so many others live in what can only be described as Hell on earth. And, as I hope most of you knew from your e-mail coming here this morning, we are going to take a special offering to help our friends in Haiti bring relief to some of those affected by the earthquake. But I’m not trying to guilt any of you into giving. Instead, I’d like you to consider giving as the best investment of your money. I’d like you to think of giving today as the best way to leverage your money for eternity.

 

Let me put it this way. How much cash do you have in your wallet right now? Maybe you have 20 bucks. Maybe you have 40 or 60. Now, think for a little bit about how you might be using this money this week: maybe you are thinking about going out for lunch, maybe you’re thinking about going to a movie, maybe there are some lattes in your future.

 

You don’t need me to tell you that those things are temporary. Lunch at a restaurant will only last so long. A movie is only 2 hours (unless you see Avatar; but even then, it’s only 3).   You can get the same jolt of caffeine if you brew Folger’s at home.

 

Or, you could take that same cash and give it to Haiti. It could go to feed somebody who has nothing. It could go to help pay somebody’s medical expenses. It could help some grieving family cover funeral expenses. That cash in your wallet right now could ease suffering and pain.

 

Now I’m not saying this to make you feel guilty, but I want you to honestly ask yourself: what’s the better investment? Which use of your money do you believe will do more good for eternity?

 

<<prayer>>

 

Matthew 6:19-20 (ESV)