Testing for Greed – pt 1 (Matthew 6:19-24)
Testing For Greed – part 1
Matthew 6:19-24
As you know we are studying through the Sermon on the Mount.
It is a sermon by our Lord meant to strip away
Any and all self-sufficiency that we may have before God.
• Jesus has confronted our attitude
• Jesus has confronted our mission
• Jesus has confronted our heart
• And most recently Jesus has confronted our religion
We spent 4 weeks looking at hypocritical religion.
You’ll remember that one problem was consistent in all the areas
It is that while true religion seeks to please God and gain His reward,
Hypocritical religion sought to please self by obtaining reward now.
That is why the hypocrites sounded a trumpet when they gave,
“so that they may be honored by men.”
That is why the hypocrites stood on the street corners when they prayed,
“so that they may be seen by men.”
That is why the hypocrites neglected their appearance when they fasted,
“so that they will be noticed by men”
They wanted men to see and honor them.
The danger however was this, “they have their reward in full.”
They were indeed rewarded, but it was a temporal reward,
And it was fleeting reward.
And so we saw that one of the main problems of these guys
Is that they willingly traded the eternal for the temporal.
And that is a tragedy.
And now in the sermon Jesus moves on,
But in many regards is still on the same topic.
For Jesus is still talking about focusing on the eternal over the temporal,
And He is still focusing on gaining spiritual reward over physical reward.
Only here Jesus doesn’t refer to some sort of religious exercise,
But rather the concept of greed.
Greed is yet another one of those sins that indicates a carnal heart.
Colossians 3:5 “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.”
Paul actually calls greed a form of idolatry.
It is to love the things of this world more than you love God.
And the presence of it is a very serious problem.
In fact, if you have ever read the Bible, you know that by in large,
The wealthy are not looked upon very favorably in Scripture,
And those who love the world most certainly are not.
James 4:1-4 “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
1 John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”
Loving and seeking the world is a serious problem of humanity,
And so Jesus would not be accurately addressing the human heart
If He preached an entire sermon on sin and left the topic of greed out.
That is the topic He addresses for the remainder of the chapter,
And He addresses greed from two opposite extremes.
THE RICH
When many people hear about greed, they think immediately of the rich.
(Some miser who hoards all he has and closes his heart to the poor)
Yes, that man is greedy,
But he is not the only person with a greed problem.
HE WAS JUST SUCCESSFUL IN HIS GREED
THE POOR
Verses 25-34 of this chapter also deals with greedy people.
They seek money just as strongly.
They are consumed with it just as much.
Only they have not been successful in their greed.
Their greed is not revealed by their presence of wealth,
Their greed is revealed by their presence of worry.
One is wealthy, one is worried but both are consumed with riches.
That is greed, and it is idolatry before God.
And so Jesus exposes it.
This morning we look at the first example,
Which is the warning to the wealthy, and we see a simple test.
I don’t think I have to spend much time convincing you that greed is a sin
And that it is punished by God as idolatry.
What we are going to do this morning is take the test
To see if we have greed.
That is what Jesus does here, He gives three scenarios,
To help us see if we have greed in our hearts.
And it all stems around what you and I do with money.
In verses 19, 20, & 21 it is referred to as our treasure.
In verse 24 it is referred to as wealth.
And Jesus gives three indicators to help you see
Whether or not greed is present in your life.
In regard to wealth
#1 DO YOU STORE IT?
Matthew 6:19-21
And here we get a very blatant command.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth.”
And of course the implication is that storing your treasure
Is an indicator of wealth, but that is a little misleading.
Does it mean I can’t ever store any money of any type?
Listen to what Paul told the Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 16:1-3 “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come. When I arrive, whomever you may approve, I will send them with letters to carry your gift to Jerusalem;”
That word “save” is the exact same Greek word Jesus uses for “store up”
It is the word THESAURIZO
And it literally means “to store” or “to save”
And so based upon Paul’s command, all saving can’t be seen as bad.
Especially if your saving is for the purpose of giving.
Or does it just speak of what I save?
(I can save money as long as it isn’t my treasure.)
Can someone tell me the difference
Between good money and bad money?
What Jesus is saying here is pretty clear when you look at the words.
“store up” translates a verb THESAURIZO
“treasure” translates a noun THESAUROS
So it is the same word, only once used as a verb and once as a noun.
Jesus is saying,
“Don’t treasure your treasure”
“Don’t save your savings”
As you will see in a moment, the implication is use it for eternal treasure.
Having it is not the problem.
Saving it is not the problem.
But allowing that balance, or that saving
To become more important than the needs around you is.
Listen to another passage of James on wealth:
James 5:1-6 “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure! Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and put to death the righteous man; he does not resist you.”
He wants to know how you could possibly set on your wealth
While watching the poor man suffer.
How can you let people starve for lack of food,
Simply because you want to protect your bank balance?
At that point it has become obvious which is more important to you.
You treasure your treasure more than you treasure the the poor man.
That is why John said:
1 John 3:16-17 “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?”
And so you understand Jesus’ point.
It is not that having money in a savings account is wrong,
But when it gets to the point of seeing that balance as more important
Than the needs of others, then we have a problem.
Being rich is not a sin, being greedy is.
1 Timothy 6:17-19 “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. 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.”
And so Jesus is commanding people not to treasure their treasure.
Then He starts telling us why.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.”
WHY SHOULD YOU NOT STORE UP TREASURE HERE?
Because it isn’t secure.
You wouldn’t cash your paycheck
And leave it all in a bank envelope on the dash of your pickup.
You give it to your wife, who can keep it safe.
Jesus was saying, do not store up treasure here, it is not safe here.
AND I HOPE YOU PICK UP ON THE FIRST CONCERN OF JESUS
His first concern in this was that you get to keep your treasure.
He wasn’t just trying to make everyone poor.
He isn’t just trying to get all your money.
He actually wants what is best for you.
And greed is not good for you.
Greed will prompt you to store things
In a way and in a place where you can’t keep them.
In Jesus day, there were three main ways that you could measure wealth.
Garments, Grain, & Gold.
(not so different from today)
But what is the problem with garments?
“moth”
But what is the problem with grain?
People eat it, as do varmints.
(cats were always using my dad’s oat bin as a litter box)
“rust” translates BROSIS
It literally means “eating”, most times it is translated “food”
And what is the problem with gold?
“thieves break in and steal”
And Jesus’ point is that there is no way in this life
That you can possibly secure your wealth.
If you put it in garments, the moth will eat it.
If you put it in grain, something else will.
If you put it in gold, someone will steal it.
It is not secure.
We’ve all heard the expression, “You can’t take it with you.”
Even if you protect it your entire life
With moth balls, saran wrap, and safety deposit boxes,
You will still lose it.
1 Timothy 6:7 “For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either.”
Perhaps you remember this parable from Jesus:
Luke 12:13-21 “Someone in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But He said to him, “Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?” Then He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. “And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”‘ “But God said to him, ‘ You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
This man had it all, and in an instant he didn’t have anything.
And so the first problem Jesus lists in regard to greed
Is that it stores up for you a treasure that you can’t keep.
Next Problem
And even worse than that, is if somehow you do manage to keep it,
But do so by hoarding it from those whom you could have helped.
As James said:
James 5:1-3 “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!”
We talk a lot about benevolence in this church,
One of my favorite passages on benevolence in found in Deuteronomy 15.
Deuteronomy 15:7-9 “If there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother; but you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks. “Beware that there is no base thought in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of remission, is near,’ and your eye is hostile toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing; then he may cry to the LORD against you, and it will be a sin in you.”
And the command of Moses is that you don’t want to be caught
Having withheld something that another person needed.
It would have been far better for you to have given and gotten cheated,
Than for you to have withheld and not helped a true need.
If your greed actually causes you to overlook some genuine needs,
Then there is a real danger, God sees it as sin.
That is even worse than having it stolen.
The obvious point is that there is nothing good that comes from greed.
Treasuring your treasure here will only cause you to neglect real needs,
And will cause you to save a treasure that is not secure.
That is why Jesus says in verse 20
“But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;”
So just as clearly as Jesus told us not treasure earthly treasures,
Here He tells us just the opposite in regard to spiritual treasures.
TREASURE YOUR TREASURE IN HEAVEN
You should earn them.
You should store them up.
You should treasure them.
You should protect them.
Make it your ever living ambition to get as rich in heaven as you can. Make a point to deposit frequently and keep the balance growing.
Luke 12:33 “Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys.”
You see, we lose all the treasure here,
But we get to keep all the treasure there.
Because in heaven, “neither moth nor rust destroys, and…thieves do not break in or steal;”
Everything in heaven is secure, it cannot be stolen.
Listen to what Peter said about the inheritance there.
1 Peter 1:3-4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,”
The treasure there, will not rot, cannot become tainted or broken,
And will never be lost.
We are presently in the middle of the Christmas season.
And most of us already have gifts purchased for other people,
And we are excited about giving them out.
But do you realize that everything you have purchased that is presently wrapped with paper will one day rot in a land fill?
But that isn’t true with the treasures we have in heaven.
They last forever.
And Jesus says, store them up there.
Don’t be greedy for stuff here, be committed to using this treasure
In order to add to your heavenly treasure.
And then comes the real point.
Here is the danger of greed.
(21) “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Your treasure does not follow your heart.
Your heart follows your treasure.
Picture the stock market.
If you took your entire life’s savings and invested in Wal-Mart,
You’d push carts to the door every time you shopped there.
Your heart would be in tune with the success of Wal-Mart.
And so it is with eternal treasure.
DO YOU HAVE A HEART FOR MISSIONS?
How much do you invest there?
Do you suppose you would be more concerned with South America if
you gave your life savings to support hurricane victims?
Do you suppose you would be more concerned about Africa if your child
was serving there?
HOW ABOUT BENEVOLENCE?
How much do you invest there?
And you get the point.
Your heart follows your treasure.
And this is what makes greed so dangerous.
• Not only will it cause you to store up a treasure you can’t keep.
• Not only might it cause you to overlook some genuine needs.
• But it will also eventually pull your heart away from God.
And that is far more than dangerous, that is destructive.
Remember this fellow?
Matthew 19:21-24 “Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property. And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. “Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
Now there is obviously a lot to learn from the rich young ruler,
But we would be blind if we missed this obvious point.
His heart had been so attached to his treasure,
That he couldn’t give it up; not for treasure in heaven,
Not even for eternal life.
His heart had followed his treasure,
And as a result his heart was turned away from God.
That is what greed can do to us.
And we must make sure that if it is present
That it is repented of, and that is rejected.
That is what Zaccheus did.
Luke 19:8-9 “Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham.”
Zaccheus overcame greed, for the sake of gaining something better.
Jim Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
That is why Scripture remembers Zaccheus well,
But the rich young ruler poorly.
And which road to follow is obvious.
And if you want to know if you have greed in your life,
Then ask yourself this one question in regard to wealth.
DO I STORE IT?
Do you treasure your treasure?
How do I know?
Are you apprehensive to part with it, even when you see a real need elsewhere?
That is treasuring your treasure above the need, and that is greed.
And if greed is present,
It is an indicator of a heart that is not right before God.
And this morning it gives us yet another opportunity
To beg Jesus for forgiveness and a heart like His.
And this morning that is what I invite you to do.
And listen, I don’t care where you presently stand with Christ
(or where you think you stand)
It doesn’t matter if you are saved, lost, faithful, or backslidden.
If you recognize greed in your life, the response is the same, run to Jesus.
If you are lost, He will save you.
If you are saved, He will sanctify you.
If you are faithful, He will make you more so.
If you are backslidden, He will forgive you.
I’m not concerned with anything you have or have not done in the past,
But I am saying, that today if you recognize a need for Christ,
Then cry out to Him and He will give you what you need.
He atoned for sin.
He is the Savior.
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
