Matthew 6.19-24

A couple of weeks ago, I found an interesting headline while surfing the web: Woman with Hand Stuck in ATM Freed by Firemen.  Seriously, I couldn’t make that up if I tried.  None of the articles I had searched on the story turned up any sort of reason why this particular woman from Moon Run, Pennsylvania had managed to lodge her hand inside an ATM, but I like to think that the machine had dispensed some money for this woman, and then faced with the anxiety of our current economic crisis, decided to take it back, pulling her hand in along with the cash.  After a vain attempt at a tug-of-war, a few handy firemen came along with a decent-sized crowbar and were able to pry the woman’s hand free.  Can’t make this up.

In all honesty, however, it wasn’t the novelty of the headline that caught my eye.  It was the truthfulness of it.  I saw that headline and bet that a lot of people had felt that way at one point or another, trapped by the invisible hands of the money machine.  And especially in this economy, where times are tough and jobs are scarce, we wish now more than ever that we had more than we needed.  If we didn’t have to wrench money from the ATM, if our checking accounts suddenly overflowed with cash, then maybe we could live out the rest of our days in relative bliss. 

If I just had enough…

How many of your thoughts and prayers have started with that phrase?  If I just had enough money, then I wouldn’t have to work so many hours and could devote more time to my family.  If I just had enough money, then I wouldn’t have to worry about paying the bills each month.  If I just had enough money, then I could be happy…

But we all know from countless examples, both in the press and from personal experience, that we never really and truly have enough.   There’s always something better that comes along – a sleeker computer, a smarter phone, a faster car, a bigger home – that inevitably becomes the next thing to own.  After all, we have houses in need of furnishings, closets in need of outfits, stereos in need of music and refrigerators in need of food.  There’s always something else, some unattained treasure eluding our grasp, which could change everything for the better if we could just obtain it.

And yet, what are we supposed to treasure in this life?

Jesus speaks to this question in Matthew 6:19-24.  He teaches the crowd:

¹⁹ Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 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. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 

²² “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. ²³ But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 

²⁴ “No one can serve two masters. 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 both God and Money.

In 1^st century Judea and Galilee, wealth was fleeting.  They didn’t have checking accounts and retirement funds much less banks.  The majority of Jewish families, especially in Galilee, were peasants who lived day to day on limited means.  By and large, most families were forced to keep what little money they had saved in some hidden part of the house, so it was certainly possible for a robber to steal everything a family owned in a matter of seconds.  Clothing, too, was in short supply for most families, so a motley crew of moths could easily dissolve an entire wardrobe within days.  Jesus’ warning was a real fear for them.

So Jesus’ words on that mountaintop made an unbelievable amount of sense for his audience: Don’t place trust in something that can easily disappear.  Place trust in the riches of heaven that will never disappear.  To this audience, Jesus explains that the kingdom of heaven is quickly approaching and so it makes absolutely no sense for them to hold onto the riches of a crumbling world.  The Messiah has come to rescue them, and when He does, there will be treasures untold waiting for His people.

And these words make sense for us today as well.  Banks and credit card companies do everything within their power to ensure that thieves and robbers leave money untouched, but as the last three years have taught us, even banks have trouble keeping their own money. What was true for Jesus’ audience is true for us as well.  Storing up treasures on earth whether they’re made of gold or paper or megabytes is to invest in a retirement fund that will eventually cease to exist.

But exactly how do we invest in heaven?  Jesus answers this question with a metaphor: the eye is the window to the rest of the body.  If your eyes are good and you can see clearly, then your body is healthy, but if your eyes are bad and shrouded with glaucoma, then your whole body will become diseased. 

In the Jewish world, the eye represented a person’s will.  It stood for a person’s focus.  

Every now and then, I go bowling with a few friends of mine, one of whom has a particularly annoying habit.  Every time he bowls, he immediately looks away from the pins and walks away as the ball rolls down the lane as if he were walking away from an explosion in a Michael Bay movie.  He thinks it looks cool, but as his ball careens away from the pins and drops harmlessly into the gutter, the effect loses its spark.  I try to explain to him that if he actually wanted to knock the pins over, then he would need to look down the lane at the pins.  He would have to fix his eyes on the target.  Otherwise, he might as well kick the ball into the gutter and return the shoes when he’s done.

The eye symbolizes the goal of a person’s life.  If that goal is making money or obtaining earthly treasures, then Jesus teaches that their eye is bad.  It is blinded by greed and by the attractions of this world and cannot see the silver linings of heaven shining through.  But if a person can learn to focus wholly on God’s purposes, then his eye is good, or as the original Greek translates, his eye is single-minded.  A good eye is centered alone upon serving God and living in His Kingdom.

Jesus puts it another way in v. 24 by likening his audience to slaves serving a master.  The rigors of the job of a servant in that era were quite demanding, so much so that working for more than one master was simply out of the question.  A servant only had time to serve one master.  This is precisely Jesus’ point: either serve God or serve your own desires.  You don’t have time for both.  

According to Jesus, living a life focused on gaining more money or possessions obscures the life that God intends for us to live.  It diverts our attention from what should be the number one priority in our lives: serving God and sharing the good news of Jesus’ victory over sin and death.  All that is involved in living the Christian life (loving others, helping the poor, healing the sick, preaching the Gospel, etc.) is what it means to store up treasure in heaven.  

Timothy Keller, senior minister of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, NY once wrote: 

As a pastor I’ve had people come to me to confess that they struggle with almost every kind of sin.  Almost.  I cannot recall anyone ever coming to me and saying, ‘I spend too much money on myself.  I think my greedy lust for money is harming my family, my soul, and people around me.’  Greed hides itself from the victim.  The money god’s modus operandi includes blindness to your own heart (Counterfeit Gods, 52).  

No one likes to admit when they have too much, but Jesus’ words here force us to consider what is really important.  We live in the richest country in the entire history of the world, and even if we’re currently in a state of economic depression, it might be safe to say that the majority of us have more than enough to survive.  God is calling us today once again to place His Kingdom at the forefront of our lives.  After all, this God that we worship is the Owner and Creator of the universe.  Everything we own belongs to Him; we’re just borrowing it.

The following questions definitely aren’t easy to ask, but they’re necessary for us.  Take them to heart.  Think seriously about the direction of your life today.

Are you living with too much?  

For what or whom are you spending the most money?  What percentage of your annual income is going to the church?  To missionary groups who are spreading the Gospel?  To the poor who are suffering both here and abroad?

What is the “next thing” that you just have to buy?  Could you live without it?

If God called you today to make a significant donation, do you know where you would give it?

How are you storing up treasures in heaven today?

Kyle Welch