The Idol of Money (Matthew 6:19-24)
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Throughout the ages of Church History, there has been seen a need to sum up the core teachings of the Christian faith. And one of the ways that this summing up of the teachings of the Bible has been through the creation and use of Catechisms. Three of the more popular catechisms that aide us in our study of the Bible to help us sum up the teachings of the whole Bible are that of the Larger and Shorter Westminster Catechisms along with the Heidelberg Catechism.
And it is to this catechism that I want us to start off this morning dwelling on. In Question 95 of the Heidelberg Catechism it asks:
HC #95 Q: “What is idolatry?”
HC#95 A: Idolatry is having or inventing something in which one trusts in place of or alongside of the only true God, who has revealed himself in his Word.”
This is an important question for us to consider, especially this morning, what is an idol? Is it merely a carved statute that one bows down to?
In his book Gospel Treason, Brad Bigney writes, “An idol is anything or anyone that captures our hearts, minds, and affections more than God.” (1)
Therefore lots of things can be idols. For many things are laboring to capture our hearts. And the Lord Jesus here in his Sermon on the Mount begins to warn us of one such idol to be on guard against. And that is what we seek to consider this morning from Matthew 6:19-24.
So, if you have a Bible, I encourage you to take it out and open up to Matthew 6:19-24. If you do not have a Bible of your own, you would be helped this morning by taking that Red Bible in the seat in front of you and turning it to page #964 where our passage begins.
Our passage continues our study through the gospel according to Matthew that we have been in since December. Matthew started in the first four chapters building up who Jesus is and the beginning of his public ministry, all in a historical narrative capturing real, historical events. But starting in Matthew 5:1, and all the way through Matthew 7:29, we find Jesus ascending the mountain to teach his disciples what it means and looks like for them to follow him as the new people of God. Matthew records this teaching and all its imperatives, its commands. Commands that the disciples and now we are to obey. Particularly commands that are teaching us what it means to walk in a greater righteousness and to rightly seek to live for the glory of God. How, that is what we begin to find out here in Mark 6:19-24.
The main idea of Matthew 6:19-24 is this, “If we are to serve God, our heart and eye must be wholly given to him alone.” We are going to unfold this in 3 points: (1) The treasure of your heart (v.19-21), (2) the health of your eye (v.22-23), and (3) the master whom you serve (v.24).
Point #1: The Treasure of Your Heart (Matthew 6:19-21)
Point #1: The Treasure of Your Heart (Matthew 6:19-21)
As our passage opens, we see two different locations for storing up our treasure. Two different locations with one to be seen as negative and the other positive.
What are these two different locations? The negative is found there in Matthew 6:19…
The positive in Matthew 6:20…
Why this comparison? Because the reality is we all treasure up something, the question is what is it we are treasuring? There are those things that we labor to get and store up. Things that we think by having will make our lives better.
Therefore with this reality about ourselves, Jesus points us here in verses 19 and 20 to examine what kinds of things are we actually treasuring. But more shockingly, Jesus adds this there in verse 21…
The location of our treasure is the what ultimately has our heart and our hearts allegiance. Therefore we must take this warning and examine our hearts and what is in there.
We can treasure up our treasures here on earth or we can treasure up our treasures in heaven.
Treasuring up Treasures on earth
Treasuring up Treasures on earth
First, let us here consider these treasures on earth. We read first there in verse 19 that they are treasures that moth and rust destroy. In hearing of rust, we are drawn immediately to think about the rusting of various metals. And while rust is certainly applicable here, I want to draw our attention to a more likely picture Jesus is trying to paint for us. He is not trying to warn us to not treasure up the most elaborate treasures of earth that we likely thing of. The fancy car, the nice house, the great 401k, and that great investment plan. While these certainly can be things we treasure up, Jesus here is pointing us to a even closer to home warning regardless of wealth.
Here Jesus is telling us that what moths destroy, and what is translated as rust, though common, might miss the point of an ancient middle eastern culture where metals were even scarce and not likely the prominent use of the Greek word, βρῶσις. This word though is more likely meant to be translated and interpreted as the eating away of. Again, yes this can include metals. But more importantly it also then brings in the inclusion of the warning of how even that of rodents and other critters would get into these homes made of clay and eat precious clothing and material up.
And the reason we draw this out is not to critique our wonderful translation, but to paint a clearer picture of what is the heart of this matter, that the treasuring up of earthly treasures can be something as simple as clothing.
Consider the sin of Achan.
Joshua 7:21–26 “21 when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath.” 22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold, it was hidden in his tent with the silver underneath. 23 And they took them out of the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the people of Israel. And they laid them down before the Lord. 24 And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver and the cloak and the bar of gold, and his sons and daughters and his oxen and donkeys and sheep and his tent and all that he had. And they brought them up to the Valley of Achor. 25 And Joshua said, “Why did you bring trouble on us? The Lord brings trouble on you today.” And all Israel stoned him with stones. They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones. 26 And they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day.…”
A beautiful cloak was a temptation and stumbling block for Achan, because it was a valuable treasure. The treasures of earth are not just the treasures of luxury, the treasures being warned against are even the treasures of clothing and food and drink and shelter. For while these are needs that we all depend on and is not being forbidden, even these needs are not to be our treasures because of the reality of how quickly they fade away.
Then there is the warning to not treasure up treasures on earth, because thieves will break in and steal. Treasures such as that of bronze, silver, and gold. But even that of bread. This is spoke of in Proverbs 6:30–31 “30 People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry, 31 but if he is caught, he will pay sevenfold; he will give all the goods of his house.”
Again the warning against treasures that are treasured up on earth are not that of the most lucrative, expensive things. The warning of treasures on earth is that of basic needs, of food and clothing. It is these things that Jesus teaches his disciples and us through them to not treasure up here on earth.
That these are not to become what we seek after and value most. For we are tempted to be driven by our daily needs and our daily comfort. And this can become an idol that takes our hearts love and devotion. For we are tempted to think that in them we will be satisfied and happy.
But, it is these kinds of earthly treasures that will fade away and will fail. And so, if we are to be wise and faithful disciples of Jesus, we must take this warning and treasure not our treasures here on earth, but in heaven.
Treasuring up Treasures in Heaven
Treasuring up Treasures in Heaven
These treasures in heaven aren’t specifically laid out here in these verses. But, dropping down to Matthew 6:33 and a preview of next week’s text, we read…
It is the kingdom of God and his righteousness that we are to seek, not these daily needs. What of the kingdom of God and his righteousness? Well, is that not what Jesus has been teaching us to pursue in the good life of his disciple? The greater righteousness that we are to have than that of the Scribes and the Pharisees. The greater righteousness to not only outwardly avoid sin, but a righteousness of the heart that despises sin? A heart then that is set on the things of God’s kingdom which Jesus will continue point us to throughout this gospel account. Teaching us the things of God’s kingdom such as that of eternal life (Matthew 19:27-29), of entering the master’s joy (Matthew 25:21, 23), and the kingdom itself (Matthew 25:34).
Therefore what is being compared here between verses 19 and 20 is comparing that of priorities. Will we prioritize the things of earth or the things of heaven? While we certainly need our daily provisions, we are to treasure the things of God’s kingdom, of his causes.
One commentator helps us here in making this point:
Matthew, Volumes 1 & 2 Treasures in Heaven
We lay up treasures in heaven by investing in God’s causes and God’s people. The effects of such investments last forever. We store treasures in heaven by worshiping God, growing in knowledge and grace, and growing in love for God and neighbor. Financially, we store treasures in heaven by using money for kingdom causes, by giving money to the church, to missions, to Christian schools, to the poor. When we store treasures in heaven by investing our money in God’s people, our investment will bear dividends for eternity.
We can either seek to love God and the things of his kingdom and put our treasures there or we can love the comfort of this world and put our treasures in it. We cannot do both, one will have our heart. And the LORD has made it clear which his people shall choose with the Great Shema of Deuteronomy 6:4–5 “4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”
Therefore, Christian, let us labor to keep our heart with all vigilance, knowing that from it flow the springs of life (Proverbs 4:23). Let us treasure up our treasures not in this world which is fading away, but in the world to come, God’s most holy kingdom.
Point #2: The Health of Your Eye (Matthew 6:22-23)
Point #2: The Health of Your Eye (Matthew 6:22-23)
As with our hearts needing to be kept and guarded, so we must examine our eyes. Matthew 6:22-23…
Is our eye healthy and whole and full of light or is our eye bad and full of darkness? That is the question. The reason for the singular use of eye here is it is not talking about our physical eyes, but the eye of our soul, of our understanding. The eye in which we see the world and the God who made it.
Is our eye healthy and full of light in rightly seeing who God is as our good and caring Father? Is our eye healthy and full of light in recognizing our own sin and need of dependence on the Father? Is our eye healthy and full of light in being devoted to God?
Or is our eye bad and full of darkness in failing to see our need of ongoing dependence on the Father? Is our eye bad and full of darkness by casually walking in sin? Is our eye bad and full of darkness in being full of evil?
These are the comparisons. But this is driven further as we consider that there is an underlying word play in these two verses. We read the comparison of the eye as healthy and bad. This translation works to communicate clearly, but even a good translation doesn’t carry every nuance of the original to paint the clearest illustration. For in the original Greek here we have the Greek word ἁπλοῦς that we translate as healthy and the Greek word πονηρός which we translate as bad.
But ἁπλοῦς means more single, sincere, straightforward in its focus. Where as πονηρός means evil, degenerate, vicious. We could even say in degenerate, double vision.
Therefore we must see that the comparison here is betwen the eye set on a singular focus of God or that of a focus on evil and degenerate things. For the health of our eyes tells the condition of our whole self.
Brothers, sisters, what is the condition of our eye? Is our eye evil and full of darkness? How great the darkness within if we remain our eyes set on self and the things of this world in all its evil. We must seek to turn our eye away from the things of this world which may appear to be pleasant and good, but lack glory.
In his most helpful commentary on the gospels, John Calvin hints at this as well in writing,
Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke Matthew 6:22–24; Luke 11:34, 36, 16:13
The substance of the present statement is, that men go wrong through carelessness, because they do not keep their eye fixed, as they ought to do, on the proper object.
Then let us turn our eye from a lesser glory to a far greater glory, to the glory of our Father above. Let us set our eye singularly on him and him alone!
To do this, we will be tempted to try and change the health of our eye on our own. But this misses the gospel. It is not we of our own strength and our own efforts that bring about change with our hearts and our eyes orientation. It is the power of the gospel at work in us.
If we are to change the health of our eyes, we must then turn to the LORD and pray, pleading for his aide to help us be changed. To help our eyes become healthy and singular focused.
We would be helped in this by looking to the Psalmist in Psalm 119. Teenagers, these should not be unfamiliar to you from the Psalm 119 study. For as the Psalmist there in Psalm 119:1-8 desired to be blameless, desired to keep the testimonies of the LORD, to seek the LORD with his whole heart, to praise the LORD and not forsake him. To have his eyes fixed on all the commandments of the LORD, what did he follow it with? What did he conclude when he said, “how can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to the word of the LORD. Therefore let us pray these truths from the words of the Psalmist:
Psalm 119:10 “10 With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!”
Psalm 119:15 “15 I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.”
Psalm 119:18 “18 Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.”
Psalm 119:37 “37 Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.”
And many more.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let these be the cries of our heart in our prayers on a daily basis, asking God to help our eyes become healthy and singular focused as we seek to both love God and serve him.
Point #3: The Master Whom You Serve (Matthew 6:24)
Point #3: The Master Whom You Serve (Matthew 6:24)
Matthew 6:24…
Here Jesus gets to the heart of the matter. He teaches us what is at stake. If our treasures are treasured up here on earth, our eyes are darkened and greedy and set on living for this city, then we serve the idol of money. And that this love of money will lead us to despise God and his kingdom. We cannot live with money being what we serve. While money and food and clothing are necessary things in this world, we are not to be driven by them, to be mastered by them.
Money tries to tempt us by luring us to thinking that it is for good and necessary things. And yet, when ruled by money, we work for money to the neglect of our family and service to God. We work for money and driven by the gaining of another dollar to have more comfort in this world instead of serving others who are in need.
We cannot serve the master of money and serve God. Therefore we must ensure that our eye and our heart is fully devoted to God if we are to serve him.
And serve him we should. For the call to serve God comes from the reality that we are no longer ours as Christians, but belong body and soul, in life and death, to our LORD and Redeemer.
For it is by the blood of Jesus that our sins were paid for and we were delivered from the tyranny of Satan and sin. For Jesus went willingly to the cross to be pierced for our transgressions against God. Transgressions that we committed against him in the rebelling against his right and good rule. In our usurping ourselves over our creator. And yet this Jesus still went. He went and loved us while we were still sinners. He died on that cross, was buried. But then rose on the third day after. And he has won our salvation and life for us if we but believe in him and his sacrificial death on the cross to pay the penalty in which we deserved.
Christian, see that we are nothing apart from God’s gracious redemption, therefore our Christian lives are to be a life of service to him alone out of pure, joyous, gratitude for what Christ has done for us! We should easily say, God is our master to whom we belong!
Let us then, Christian, beware the lure and temptation to be given to the idol of money and comfort here in this life.
And you, friend, who have not yet considered yourself a Christian, you who have not yet turned from your sin and believed in Jesus. You who are currently serving money, friend, want you see today the foolishness of serving such a master as money and hating and despising the God who loved you to the point of his own Son being given for you? That master of money is cruel and will leave you empty in the end. Consider practically even, friend, that just this past week it was stated by Shaq that he had a 1,000 square foot home that was empty. He had the wealth, but lost everything else. That money that you serve friend, that money that you are devoted to, it will not treat you kindly, it will not bring you joy. Repent and turn from serving such a false idol and come and behold the joy of the LORD in what he has done in Christ.
Let’s pray…
Footnotes
(1) Bigney, Brad. Gospel Treason. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2012. 24
(2) Doriani, Daniel M. Matthew & 2. Edited by Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Daniel M. Doriani. Vol. 1. Reformed Expository Commentary. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2008.
