Mazie First Baptist
June 22, 2025
  • Today we are going to be talking about stuff, worldly stuff. Where are your treasures is the question of the day. Our Lord gives a couple of illustrations about our treasures. He first gives us what not to do followed by what we should do, and what it looks like when we do what Jesus teaches us. The text today speaks loudly to our materialistic world. Our consumer society is constantly telling us we need more and more possessions and pleasures of this world. Many find themselves straddling the fence trying to live both in the world and in God’s kingdom, and unfortunately some loose their balance and the result is devastating. Lets see what Jesus has to teach us about where our treasure should be.
    Matthew 6:19–21 ESV
    19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
    Matthew 6:22–23 ESV
    22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
    Matthew 6:24 ESV
    24 “No one can serve two masters, for 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 God and money.
    Matthew 6:19 ESV
    19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
    The DON’T—Jesus covers three things that the materialistic things of our world can fall under. Moth—in the middle east garments were considered a part of one’s wealth—Moths could destroy their wealth of clothing. Rust— not only refers to metal or money but also food, it is the decay of something. Then burglary—in Jesus time there were no banks, no safes, so people would actually bury their money in their homes, and thieves would dig through the clay walls and steal it. The accumulation of any worldly possession—food, clothes, money, stuff is a short lived pursuit, it is temporary. Now Jesus is not saying to not accumulate any wealth, because we are to provide for our families (1 Tim. 5:8). What Jesus is prohibiting is the selfish accumulation of goods, in Luke 12:15 Jesus says to “Guard against all covetousness for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions”. The idea is the people who get all their satisfaction from the things that belong to this world only. We should not focus our ambitions, interests and hopes on things of this life. If anything in this world is everything to you it is an earthly treasure. story page 211. Remember these words are not just a suggestion for us, they are a command.
    Matthew 6:20 ESV
    20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
    Believers are positively rewarded in eternity according to the way they live their lives on earth. Is your life the accumulation of earthly things or heavenly things—is your focus above. 1 Cor. 3:11-14
    1 Corinthians 3:11–14 ESV
    11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.
    What this reward is, is not exactly clear, but the reward should not be our focus. We must fix our eyes on Christ. Are you investing now for the eternal or the temporary. I want us to know that exchanging the the eternal for the temporary is no bargain.
    Matthew 6:21 ESV
    21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
    In order to fully understand this verse we must understand the word —heart— in Scripture the heart refers to the center of one’s being, involving one’s emotions, reason and will. The Hebrew word is “Lev” they had no concept of our minds, they believed all our intellectual activity took place in our hearts. Your heart is where you make sense of the world and it is also where you feel emotions. Your heart can feel pain, fear, it can be destressed, and it can experience joy. Our choices are motivated by the desire of our hearts. It is the center of us, all of our everything. Because of that where our treasure is our heart is. Where are the desires of your heart, are they here on earth or are they in heaven. Now it is natural for our thoughts to be occupied by our work, education, home, but Jesus warns against total earthbound absorption. We are to be good stewards of all that God has given us, using them in service to Him. We are not to hold tightly to the things of this world. Our possessions and privileges, whatever they might be are not our focus. We are to fix our eyes on Him.
    Matthew 6:22 ESV
    22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light,
    At a glance these next two verses seem confusing, and our of place, but Jesus is still keeping with His teaching on material wealth. He is saying that the light that comes into a man’s soul depends on the spiritual condition of the eye through which it has to pass because the eye is the window of the body. Proverbs 28:22 says “A man with an evil eye hastens after wealth”. The light is the proper perspective on the value of material things. Materialism shuts out the light of Christ. This is a sad reality in our world today, and unfortunately in many churches.
    Matthew 6:23 ESV
    23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
    A selfish fixation on worldly things clouds our ability to understand and profit from the Scriptures. So, a selfish, ungenerous spirit darkens our inner lives. With a healthy (generous) eye we are full of light, but with a bad eye (ungenerous) we are full of darkness. There are many self proclaimed Christians today who think they have it all together, but their eyes are clouded by materialism and their lives are inauthentic. The believer who has a generous spirit and is not tightly grasping the things of this world, maximizes the reception of light (divine truth) in their lives. God’s word is open before such a heart, because they are seeking the things of above, not the things of this world.
    Matthew 6:24 ESV
    24 “No one can serve two masters, for 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 God and money.
    Now as we look at verse 24 we need to know there is no inherent evil and no inherent good in money. The question of right or wrong has to do with what we do with the money. (dollar bill illustration). The two masters of which Jesus is speaking are God and worldly things, they both make total demands on us, and desire our entire devotion. The world says if you buy more stuff you will be happy—if you have more money you will be set—if you give all of your devotion to stuff you’ll be happy. But what does God want —complete devotion—so what is the difference—well for starters stuff can not truly make you happy, but to go all in with God and you will never experience a more satisfying joy. God wants us all in all the time, but we try to straddle the fence with one foot in the world and the other in the kingdom. It is an impossibility to fully serve two masters. One will always get more than the other. Jesus doesn’t want us to be so close to the kingdom, yet still so far. He wants to be the focus of our heart, our desire, to love Him with all of our everything.

    The Sermon on the Mount

    We need to ask ourselves where is our focus, where is our devotion is it on the world or is in on God. Is God the center for us our is it our stuff, our jobs, money.

      • Matthew 6:19–21ESV

      • Matthew 6:22–23ESV

      • Matthew 6:24ESV

      • Matthew 6:19ESV

      • Matthew 6:20ESV

      • 1 Corinthians 3:11–14ESV

      • Matthew 6:21ESV

      • Matthew 6:22ESV

      • Matthew 6:23ESV

      • Matthew 6:24ESV

Mazie First Baptist
maziefirstbaptist@gmail.com
918-373-9566
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