TWO KINGDOMS – TWO TREASURES – YOUR CHOICE
Sunday, May 04, 2008
MY TREASURE
Foundation Scriptures: Matthew 6:19-24
Do not gather and heap up and store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust and worm consume and destroy, and where thieves break through and steal. 20 But gather and heap up and store for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust nor worm consume and destroy, and where thieves do not break through and steal; 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 22 The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is sound, your entire body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is unsound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the very light in you [your conscience] is darkened, how dense is that darkness! 24 No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stand by and be devoted to the one and despise and be against the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (deceitful riches, money, possessions, or whatever is trusted in). Matthew 6:19-24 AMP
1. Jesus speaks about the believer’s proper conduct in relationship to money and possessions.
Martin Luther said: I have held many things in my hand and I have lost them all. But whatever I placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.
A. W. Tozer posed four questions we should all ask ourselves:
What do we value most?
What would we most hate to lose?
What do our thoughts turn to most frequently when we are free to think of what we will?
What affords us the greatest pleasure?
Earthly or Heavenly treasure:
When spent on earthly treasure, money is only of temporary value.
When spent on heavenly treasure, money takes on eternal value.
2. Jesus wants us to choose our treasury – where we make our deposits.
If it is an earthly treasury, it will be lost when we die.
If it is a heavenly treasury, it will be ours for eternity.
3. Jesus is saying that amassing wealth isn’t morally wrong – it’s just a poor investment.
Moths, rust and thieves imperil your earthly treasure and in the end, everything will be consumed by fire anyway. (2 Peter 3:7)
John Wesley said: I value all things only by the price they shall gain in eternity.
David Livingstone said: I place no value on anything I possess, except in relation to the Kingdom of God.
4. Discovering true wealth.
Matthew 13:44 AMP - The kingdom of heaven is like something precious buried in a field, which a man found and hid again; then in his joy he goes and sells all he has and buys that field.
What we keep, we lose. What we give up and share and do, in Christ’s Name, will ultimately come back to us in heaven.
If we store up heavenly treasures, they will never stop paying dividends!
Ecclesiastes 5:15 AMP - As [the man] came forth from his mother’s womb, so he will go again, naked as he came; and he will take away nothing for all his labor which he can carry in his hand.
Psalms 49:16-20 NAS - Do not be afraid when a man becomes rich, When the glory of his house is increased; 17 For when he dies he will carry nothing away; His glory will not descend after him. 18 Though while he lives he congratulates himself--And though men praise you when you do well for yourself--19 He shall go to the generation of his fathers; They shall never see the light. 20 Man in his pomp, yet without understanding, Is like the beasts that perish.
5. What is your treasure?
House; car; boat; library; gun collection; art; coins; gold; jewels?
Savings; retirement program; insurance policies; annuities; real estate; commodities; shares?
1 Timothy 6:18-19 AMP - [Charge them] to do good, to be rich in good works, to be liberal and generous of heart, ready to share [with others], 19 In this way laying up for themselves [the riches that endure forever as] a good foundation for the future, so that they may grasp that which is life indeed.
Philippians 4:17 AMP - Not that I seek or am eager for [your] gift, but I do seek and am eager for the fruit which increases to your credit [the harvest of blessing that is accumulating to your account].
6. Where is your heart?
Show me your check book, your credit card statements, your cash receipts and I will show you where your heart is!
You cannot serve two masters. You cannot serve both God AND mammon. It is impossible. Loving and being devoted to one means that you automatically hate and despise the other.
NB. Will you choose a life wasted in pursuit of wealth on earth, or a life invested in the pursuit of wealth in heaven?
Recent:
Righteous Now
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV
Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17 AMP
“Therefore if any man be in Christ…” What does it mean to be “in Christ”? Galatians 3:27 says, “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” You are baptized into Christ when you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Romans 10:9-10 says, “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” And Romans 10:13 says, “For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” The moment
Defeating Strife
These six things the Lord hates, indeed, seven are an abomination to Him: 17 A proud look [the spirit that makes one overestimate himself and underestimate others], a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that manufactures wicked thoughts and plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, 19 A false witness who breathes out lies [even under oath], and he who sows discord among his brethren. Proverbs 6:16-19 AMP
Faith Facts
Faith is persistent
Luke 11:9-10 AMP
So I say to you, Ask and keep on asking and it shall be given you; seek and keep on seeking and you shall find; knock and keep on knocking and the door shall be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks and keeps on asking receives; and he who seeks and keeps on seeking finds; and to him who knocks and keeps on knocking, the door shall be opened.
John 16:24 AMP
Up to this time you have not asked a [single] thing in My Name [as presenting all that I AM]; but now ask and keep on asking and you will receive, so that your joy (gladness, delight) may be full and complete.
Faith is single-minded
James 1:5-8 AMP
If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him. 6 Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the