Grace For The Journey

  Today is the second of a three-part blog on Treasure Hunters.  Jesus cautioned His disciples in Matthew 6:19-21, “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.”

In this brief but penetrating passage, Jesus sets forth four powerful truths that relate to treasure hunting.  Yesterday I talked about the first truth – that everyone is a treasure hunter. Jesus assumes treasure hunting as a mark of all humanity; we are all seeking value.

Today we will confine our focus to the second truth . . .

TRUTH #2: We Pursue Two Different Types Of Treasure

These two different types of treasures are:

• Earthly and heavenly
• Carnal and spiritual
• Important and unimportant
• Little and big
• Temporal and eternal.

We always have two choices in treasure hunting.

We can hunt for the stuff we want

Or

The stuff God wants for us.

It’s important to note that we could, in fact, be pursuing the treasure God wants us to pursue, but for the wrong reasons, like personal power or self-centered glorification.  A church pastor, for example, who enjoys the prestige of authority rather than the fulfillment of serving is pursuing godly treasure, but with the entirely wrong motive!   Another wrong (but not uncommon) motive for pursuing godly treasure is found in the Christian who is seeking the applause and praise of man for his charitable deeds.  The ultimate goal here is status, not service – shrinking your life down to the size of your life and nothing more.

As treasure hunters we not only need to be pursuing the right stuff,

We must be pursuing it for the right reasons.

At this level of living, we are being shaped by the Savior in all we desire, decide, and do.  We have been created to seek treasure that truly matters, treasure which is rooted in a right relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.  We simply cannot deny the powerful pull of both classes of treasures, earthly and heavenly.  The one that rules your heart will ultimately shape your life.

Jesus concludes the whole matter by saying that where our treasure is, there our heart will be also (verse 21).  Whatever we see as the passion and priority for our lives (earthly riches or spiritual riches) will cause our heart to be are drawn toward that “treasure.”  It will cause us to make pursuing that treasure more than God, His Word, or His will.  It will cause us to fret about that treasure and measure other things (and other people) by those treasures.  Our whole lives will drift relentlessly toward the spot             where our treasures are stored because our hearts will take us there.  An honest examination of our deepest desires will quickly reveal what our treasures are.

The result will be that our lives will end up far from the real treasure.  The Bible says in Colossians 3:1-2, “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above; where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.  Set your mind on things above, not on thing on the earth.”

If you continued reading this sixth chapter of Matthew you would hear Jesus this in verses 22-23.  In these verses Jesus teaches about the need to have correct vision rather than corrupted vision.

The correct vision is seen in verse 22.  The word “lamp” or “light” when used in the Bible generally speaks of that which is good, that which is godly and righteous.  In the sense in which it is used here, it speaks of our conduct in regards to “treasure.”  The word “good” is used to mean “singleness of purpose, focused, clear.”  The correct vision, according to the teaching of our Lord, is that which is clearly focused on eternal things.  If our vision is focused on one single purpose, that being the pursuit of heavenly things, our whole body will be full of light. That is, our conduct will be good, godly, and righteous.

The corrupted vision is seen in verse 23.  The word “evil” or “bad” eye is one that is not “clearly focused on one single purpose.”  Jesus is speaking here of what we might call “double vision.” A person who possesses double vision is not very stable. Spiritual double vision would be having one eye fixed on heaven and another fixed on earth

That person who thinks they can pursue the things of this world and those of heaven with an equal amount of passion is only fooling themselves.  The conclusion of the whole matter is in verse 24 “No man can serve two masters.”

We will look at this in tomorrow’s blog.

This is God Word … This is Grace for your Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”