Much like they always do, our worship committee
finds the perfect song to encapsulate the sermon
series. I am so excited to see what they cook
up for next sermon series, Earth, Wind, and Fire,
where we're looking at the first eight. Good
luck. But no, we start that after Labor Day.
It'll be the first eight chapters of the book
of Acts, looking at the start of the church.
But for this sermon series, where we're looking
at our time, our talents, and our treasures,
and how we store up, we're going to be in that
for the month of August. So I'm going to start
super light, right? Super nice and comfortable.
You all know I'm setting this up to be the exact
opposite. But I'm going to start with the sermon
series wrecker right now. for all of us, not
just a week, but for a month. What would someone
learn about your heart? Let's let that hang there
for a minute. What would someone learn about
your heart? You're not allowed to look to the
right or to the left after I ask this question,
okay? But what would someone learn about your
heart if they looked at your bank statement or
your Amazon order history? Just put that out
there. My office is booked for the next two weeks,
so if you have issues now in your marriage, deal
with it. Go see a counselor. But I think as we're
going to see what Jesus is going to bring us
in this section of Matthew, he basically is saying,
where your treasure is, your heart will be also.
He's not mixing his words. This is not an allegory.
This is a teaching in the Sermon on the Mount
where Jesus is inviting us to examine not just
our behavior about money and spending and where
our treasures are or our talents or our tithes
of what we talk about in church, but the orientation
of the heart. A sermon, though it can be preached
on behavior, I can preach on behavior every Sunday,
and in some ways I do, but to get to the heart
of any issue we have in life. Again, there's
a heart of it. It comes out of the heart. Things
we say, right? Proverbs tells us, out of the
overflow of the mouth, the heart speaks. And
so there's this understanding that the heart
being the center of a person. Jesus is going
to go over the next four or five weeks. It's
about what we worship, what we trust, what we
pursue. If people just see that about our lives,
it's going to tell people where our heart is.
This hits home for all of us, whether you consider
yourself wealthy or not. But anyone who struggles
with anxiety, depression, materialism, misaligned
priorities. Jesus is throwing it all there. And
the greatest sermon ever given by the greatest
preacher to ever preach Jesus Christ, the Son
of God. And he's going... We're going to walk
through this text slowly. We're going to dive
in a little bit to the languages because the
language helps us understand in more of a visual
way. Both Hebrew and Greek are just so beautifully
visual to help us understand some of these words.
And to be fair, a lot of our English words just
don't do it justice, what Jesus and others like
Paul are trying to say in the New Testament and
then those that wrote in the Old. But we're going
to talk today about the human heart, the kingdom
of God, and true stewardship. So we've got to
kind of find the dichotomy, right? The blank
versus blank. And that is the earthly versus
the heavenly treasures. And we're going to be
in chapter 6 of Matthew, the Gospel of Matthew,
verses 19 to 21 to start. Again, we use the ESV,
but whatever Bible you brought or you have on
your app, feel free to pull it up. Obviously,
if it's not the ESV, it may read a little different.
But Jesus says, Do not lay up for yourselves
treasures on 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 and steal. For where your treasure is,
there your heart will be also. So we start off
in the Greek. Jesus uses the verb, right? Thesario.
which we get the word thesaurus from, meaning
to amass, to store up, and to treasure. So he's
going right off the bat. This is not just about
gathering, but it's about gathering in devotion
and direction. It's storing up. It's you looking
at the season of life to come and go, I think
I need to prep and pack for this. Okay. How many
of you have regular or semi -regular like family
reunions or kind of that one vacation you go
to every year or every other year? I know you
all do it. I don't know why you're not raising
your hand. Okay. What are some places you go
every year? Like maybe you have a lake house.
Go ahead. You go to Tennessee every year. Okay.
So you've probably been going before you were
born, right? You wouldn't know you weren't there.
Lisa, how long have you been going to Tennessee?
About five years. Okay. So the first time you
went, how much did you end up packing? You don't
even want to answer. Yeah. Mike, I'll ask you.
How much did Lisa pack? All of it. All right.
All of it. That's a very good way to, but then
have you noticed that year after year, the packing
becomes kind of less and less? Let's try over
on this side of the church. Okay, that was a
backfire. I'm going to use us, right, because
that's easy, and I think I get it, right? Osterhaus
reunion. We've done it now six times, 18 years.
Every three years we go. The first time we went,
we followed the scut rule and packed everything,
right? This last time we went a couple weeks
ago, like... We forgot stuff. Like, we just took
it from other family members. Because we learned
over time, well, so -and -so is always going
to bring it, so I don't need to. That's fine.
It's very Dutch of us. And just understand that,
you know, we're just going to do that. What Jesus
is getting at right off the bat is when we look
at things that are going on in our life, much
like squirrels get nuts for the winter, we tend
to do that. We look at what we think our needs
are going to be, and we do what we think we're
going to need. then double it, then double it.
And so what he's saying and what the Greek is
bringing us into is there is a devotion, there
is a direction to the treasures that we are storing
up. And if I'm being honest, we store up way
more than what we need. And that's what Jesus
is trying to get at. In the ancient world, treasures
weren't locked in banks. They didn't have banks.
They didn't have giant vaults where you need
a retina scan or a thumbprint or a voice thing
that I just made up. They didn't have any of
that. Where were treasures hidden? For lunch
and a conversation with Pastor Jim, where did
people hide their treasures back in kind of biblical
times? Hmm? The ground is one of them. Okay.
That's buried. That's not kind of special to
the ancient world. So we're in the parking lot,
but no lunch yet. What? Caves? Sure. Okay. Now
we've walked in. Huh? Jars of clay? We're getting
closer. Okay. We're sitting down. You have the
menu, Larry. Bring it home. Under the mattress.
They didn't have mattresses. So now we're back
in the car. We drove separately. In the coffins
of dead relatives. You're back at home. I'm back
at home. We never talked. Okay, and so understand,
they would hide them in the walls of their house.
That treasures, they were hidden in the walls.
They were buried in the ground. They were tied
up in fabrics, but hidden in the walls. When
I got that this week, when the Holy Spirit brought
that to me, reading some of the commentaries,
that spoke. That really wrecked me. That the
thing I treasure the most, I hide for fear of
moth or rust or thieves. I hide the things that
are most treasure to me. And they hid them to
protect them. When Jesus says, do not lay up
treasures on earth, he's not just warning about
wealth or the wealth decay, if you will. He's
confronting a spiritual illusion that we claim
over our wealth or over our treasures or over
our stuff. The belief that earthly things can
have eternal security. Though we know it. We
know. We say, oh, you can't take it with you.
Yet we like to hoard it. We like to store up.
The Heidelberg Catechism, question answer 95,
defines an idol for us when it says, anything
in which one places their trust instead of or
alongside the only true God. Leave that up there.
The trust. So when Jesus says, do not store up
treasures, do not put your trust in the treasures
of this world. I mean, that starts to separate
some of these treasures, right? I mean, trust
the money. Sure, we can do that. A lot of us
do, right? We trust our day is going to go well
because we start our day looking at the bank
account. The ledger seems good, right? And we're
set. So you've just set your day to look at it
financially. or maybe social media, right? We
start out, we trust what social media says, says
the fool, right? But we trust what social media
says about the day, and that's how we're going
to look at it. What Jesus is demanding of us
is do not put your trust in these things. What
you treasure, what you store up, you trust, you
hold to. If wealth is your security, Jesus is
going to tell you it has become your idol. That's
why he says put your treasures in heaven. These
aren't some abstract spiritual coins that Jesus
is talking about. Jesus is calling us to invest
in the eternal, in people, in worship, in missions,
in acts of mercy. He's saying Munster Church,
every dollar, every minute, every act of generosity,
offer in the name of Christ and it is an investment
in the kingdom. Because if it's not, then our
confession tells us, if you trust it, or I love
how the writer puts it, or alongside of the only
true God. God needs to be the top. Everything
else should be underneath it. And that's why
he talks about the heart. Because what we trust
in, what we focus on, The thing we give focus
to throughout our lives tends to be the things
that we are either insecure about, fearful of,
or trust in the most, or D, all of the above.
For he says, where your treasure is, in verse
21, for where your treasure is, there your heart
will be also. Jesus doesn't say, where your heart
is, there your treasure will follow. He reverses
the logic. Why? Why does he reverse this? He's
just a linguistic master, especially in the Sermon
on the Mount. His teaching just breaks barriers.
He turns it on itself because he understands
that treasure pulls the heart along. Let me say
that again. That treasure pulls the heart along.
The heart follows investment. I had to stop there.
I was crying like that kid because I struggle
with that. The heart follows what it invests
in. Where am I investing my time, my talents,
and my treasures? Because that shows that where
my heart is invested, my heart should be invested
first and foremost in Christ. Second should be
this group right here. Right? Third should be
the rest of you. Yet there are times that goes
cattywampus because there's other things that
come in. You know, trying to be the best, I don't
know, the best Munster manager that the town
of Munster's ever seen. I'm not, so that's really
a fool's errand, but understand that where we
invest is where your heart goes. I don't do a
lot of investing, but I'm sure there's not a
lot of people that go, sure, I'll just go invest
over there, it seems good. No, when you invest
in stuff, you want to be... focused on it. You
want to have studied it. You want to understand
kind of what you think you can understand about
the stock or whatever options you have at work.
What we focus on, what we invest. Why? Because
treasure pulls the heart. We understand in our
theology that our heart is not just an emotion,
but as the core of our being, our will, our desire,
our mind, our affections, Proverbs tells us.
If your treasure is in retirement, your status,
your lifestyle, then your heart will always serve
those masters first. But if your treasures are
in God's kingdom, your heart will beat for Christ.
You might be known as a wise investor. You might
go, oh, so -and -so did real well with their
money. That's not on happenstance. That's not
because you put it in a mayonnaise jar and buried
it. It's because you took time and effort. You
probably trusted someone maybe with your money
to make more money and all of those things. Jesus
is saying, that should be your heart to me first.
One of the great Protestant reformers, John Calvin,
writes this. And again, John doesn't really mix
his words. A human heart is a perpetual factory
of idols. This was the truth then. How much more
of it is the truth now when we have the whole
world at our fingertips? We have to understand
this about ourselves, that your heart is a perpetual
factory of idols. What does that mean? The things
you lean into, the things you focused on, the
things you invest in, those can become idols
like that. John Calvin knew it back then. He
knew what you fund, you feed. What you treasure,
you trust. Let me say that again. What you fund,
You feed what you treasure, you trust. So he
goes from two of the kind of main parts of the
body, the heart and the eyes. He says the eyes.
He talks about the eye in many different ways
in the Sermon on the Mount. But in verse 22 and
23, Jesus writes this, the eye is a lamp of the
body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body
will be full of light. But if your eye is bad,
your whole body will be full of darkness. If
then the light in you is darkness, how great
is the darkness. To me, this section feels a
little strange. The eye is the lamp of the body.
If the eye is healthy, your whole body will be
full of light. The word healthy, hapilos. Here,
it's a loaded word. It doesn't mean clear. It
means single -minded, generous, and undivided.
The opposite of it is proneros, which is just
bad. It means evil, stingy, or greedy. So put
that up there on here. If the whole body were
clear, it means if your body is single -minded,
generous, undividing, or you're... Evil, stingy,
or greedy. In Jewish thought, to have a bad eye,
rayen rahaya, meant you were stingy. A good eye,
rayen tova, meant you were generous. Jesus is
saying, the way you see the world through the
eyes of generosity or greed affects the whole
spiritual life. Let me say that again. Through
eyes of generosity or greed, that affects your
whole spiritual life. The way you see the world,
do you see the world as generous or do you see
the world as greedy? As we start this conversation
for the next month, that's the start. How do
you see the world? Because if you see the world
that way, my guess is you see yourself that way.
If you look at people as burdens rather than
souls. if you see money as yours rather than
God's, your whole life will be dark. This is
why we serve them. If the way we see the world
is the way that we serve, we serve one way or
the other. We either serve others or we serve
ourselves. Verse 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. Remember,
what does he say? Is money the root of all evils?
No, what is? The investment, the focus, the attention
on money is the root of all evil. You cannot
serve God and money. So he's cutting it right
down the middle. Jesus ends with a choice. You
cannot serve God or mammon. You're going, that
doesn't say mammon. It says money. The word mammon
is not just money. It's wealth personified. It
became kind of an idol, a rival God. And Jesus
doesn't say you shouldn't serve both. He says
you can't. Done. You can't do it. Well, I think
I, no, you can't. Well, what if I pray? Nope,
you can't. He cuts it. The reformers were clear.
True faith produces a what? Life of obedience.
You're not saved by stewardship, but stewardship
reveals what you believe. How you steward your
gifts, your time, your talents, your wealth,
tells people what you believe. Sit with that
for about five seconds. True faith produces a
life of obedience. What Jesus is saying right
off the bat, you're not saved by stewardship,
but stewardship does reveal what you believe.
So when I thought about that, okay, how do I
land the plane today, knowing that we're going
to just pick it up next week and do this for
the next couple weeks? At the end of the day,
what I'm going to do is I'm going to call out
our comfort. Because really, If we're being honest,
we all want to live a comfortable life. And that
can mean a variety of things for you. Your comfort
could be, you could take it this way to lifestyle
and actual comfort, like you just want everything
to be a nice sweatshirt. Or you could be comforted
as, I don't want to worry about things, so I'm
going to do the things so I don't have to worry
about the things, or whatever, or somewhere in
between. Your comfort... shouldn't be about things.
The comfort should be about the gospel. The comfort
should be about what you believe because that
comfort helps in times of need. When I sat with
the Den Hartogs this week, man, we talked about
money and finances for two hours. Absolutely
not. They talked about the love they had from
a husband, from a father. When I ask them to
reflect, whenever I sit with people who lost
someone, I ask three questions. I said, what
was something that the person did that make you
laugh or think? How did they show you that they
loved you? And what about them pointed to Jesus?
It usually brings about a good conversation.
At no point was money brought up on Thursday.
Because in the end, when we're talking about
life and death, your comfort can't be in money.
Yeah, it might be legacy. You might have done
investing well and retirement well or life insurance
well, and the next generation might feel a little
lighter financially. And that's fantastic. Legacy
money, great. That's why we call it a legacy
account here. Because the money that is in our
legacy account, whether it goes to a building
or not, is not necessarily just for us in 2025.
It's for the 61 kids we have under the age of
six that this could be their church for the next
60 years. That's what legacy money is. You might
have that with your finances and your family.
Fantastic. Great. But you know what? When I sit
with families who lost a loved one, especially
one suddenly, it's never a fight for how much
did they leave me. It's more, wow, I'm really
going to miss. this about them. I'm really going
to miss that they taught me what hard work was
or I'm really going to miss, you know, one of
the things from Marty, I'm really going to miss
that they always invited everyone to the cottage
in Michigan because he wanted that vacation to
be everyone's vacation. Sure, we could talk about
the money of that and all that. But the friends,
when it comes to the end, if that's what you're
defined by, that's what people are going to talk
about. I don't know about you, but when people
are asked, when their pastor, whoever it is,
is going to ask them those three questions, what
was something they did to make you laugh? I'm
sure for some of us it's going to be easy. Some
of the things that made you think, those could
be some pretty profound things. It could just
be look both ways before you cross the street.
It could be as simple as that. It could be as
profound as my pa using every aspect of the game
of golf to teach me about dating. Just going
to leave that there. Most of it was appropriate.
But understand, when that third question comes,
what did that person show you about Jesus? Man,
I hope your families have a lot to say. I really
hope they go, wow, it was this or this, this.
They brought me to church even when I didn't
want to go. Or they made me go to Sunday school
or Lighthouse. Or they put me in cadets even
though I was nervous about it or whatever it
was. Or my dad, instead of working overtime,
my dad actually signed up to be a cadet leader
so we could do cadets together. I know we need
one more, and that's not why I said that. Because
the investment in your son in cadets or your
daughter in gems or being on the worship team
or whatever it is, that investment is far greater
to the kingdom of God than working those extra
shifts or making sure you got that bonus. And
I'm not saying working extra shifts and bonus
are bad or evil, but if that's what you're defined
by, if that's all you're going to give your family
to talk about when you're gone, let me just say
as a pastor, That's a really disappointing conversation
with your family. I don't mean to come heavy
-handed on that, but friends, when Jesus talks
about it for the next couple weeks, it's not
going to get easier. There's a reason why Jesus'
Sermon on the Mount almost initially talks about
idols and money, because he knows us. It's the
same reason why the very first commandment is
you shall have... No other gods. He didn't say
that because he goes, I don't worship. That's
going to be easy for the human race. No. As Moses
was going and getting the law, the Israelites,
who God delivered from Egypt in fantastically
awesome ways, already starting to worship something
else. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone
to leave the God I love. But here's my heart.
Lord, take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts
above. I'm going to end with this. Heidelberg
Catechism. I'll get it right one day. Question
and answer one. Munster Church. Friends of Munster
Church. Guests today. What is your only comfort
in life and in death? That I belong. body and
soul, in life and in death, not to money, not
to mammon, but to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.
So, Munster Church, as we start this discussion,
where's your treasure? Do your spending habits
reflect a heart tethered to Christ or a heart
of self -serving? Do you give joyfully, regularly,
and sacrificially, however you give, whatever
you give? Are you investing in the things that
moth and rust will destroy or the things that
last in eternity? Friends, hear me. This is my
heart. This series is not about guilting you
into giving. It's about freeing your heart. Because
when we store up treasures in heaven, we experience
the joy of heaven now. Why? Because Christ is
our greatest treasure. It's not just about what
we treasure, but who. Jesus doesn't tell us to
give. He gave everything. He didn't store up
riches. He emptied himself. He became poor so
we could become rich. He gave his life as a ransom.
Our treasure exchanged for his grace. The gospel
is not a call to give more money. It's a call
to see Christ as your treasure. So let's start
this journey now, there. Not with guilt, but
with gratitude. Because friends, we have a generous
king. So let us be kingdom investors today.