Every one of us,
regardless of occupation, income, or lifestyle, is an investor. We all base our
lives on one single principle. We put what we have – money, time, and energy –
into what we believe will be the most profitable and most worthy of the
required risk. Banks fail, stocks drop, and bubbles burst, but he who invests
in heaven reaps eternal dividends.
Reading: Matt
6:19-24
“I knew he should
have stored all that stuff in the basement!”
What if you could
buy stock in a major global enterprise for $1.00 per share, and you
were guaranteed that in ten years it would be worth $1M per share? What
would you do? You know what you would do! You would grab every dollar you could
get and invest it.
Most of us would not
put that same $1.00 into the lottery!
Jesus used what we know about investing treasure to make one simple, powerful point. The resources that
we put in God’s hands for heaven’s sake will provide the absolute highest
guaranteed rate of return. It is secure, and it lasts forever.
Two Vaults:
6:19-21
Mt 6:19
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust
destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
19 Μὴ θησαυρίζετε ὑμῖν θησαυροὺς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ὅπου σὴς καὶ βρῶσις ἀφανίζει καὶ
ὅπου κλέπται διορύσσουσιν καὶ κλέπτουσιν·
20 “But store
up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys,
and where thieves do not break in or steal;
20 θησαυρίζετε δὲ ὑμῖν θησαυροὺς ἐν οὐρανῷ, ὅπου οὔτε σὴς οὔτε βρῶσις ἀφανίζει
καὶ ὅπου κλέπται οὐ διορύσσουσιν οὐδὲ κλέπτουσιν·
21 for where
your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
21 ὅπου γάρ ἐστιν ὁ θησαυρός σου, ἐκεῖ ἔσται καὶ ἡ καρδία σου.
“Thesaurus”
Storing up is a good
thing. For yourselves is also a good thing.
Jesus notes the
practical. We deposit, we collect, we put away – for ourselves – what we think
will eventually pay off.
The world’s greatest
heists.
What we do to
protect our wealth.
Identity theft.
Scams. Cons.
Illusion of
“financial security.”
You can’t take it
with you.
Job: Naked I came …
Luke 12:13-21 The
rich, foolish farmer.
Luke 12:32-33 Money
bags that last forever. How?
Sell possessions.
Give to charity. Deposit above.
1 Tim 6:6-10, 17-21
Content in status. Certain in hope. Rich in works. Generous in sharing.
What we give, we
keep. What we keep, we lose.
Pr 23:4 Do not weary
yourself to gain wealth, Cease from your consideration of it. 5 When you
set your eyes on it, it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings Like
an eagle that flies toward the heavens.
Wealthy rancher has
property in all directions – north, south, east, and west. His Christian friend
asked him, “But what do you have in THAT direction (pointing up)?”
Many of us played
Monopoly as children. It’s fine as a game, but is that what life is really
about? Buying all the hotels, charging rent, collecting $200, staying out of jail,
and bankrupting all the other players? And, in that game, so much depends on
the luck of the draw – the next card in the stack.
I want something more
secure than that! And I want something that helps all the other players
succeed!
You invest in heaven
when you –
Put your resources
into helping others get there.
Divest yourself of
worldly desires and “stuff.”
Compound your
interest in spiritual things.
Build your trust
fund. In God. Others in you.
Seek the highest
rate of return. 80/20 rule.
Diversify your
resources in ministries, missions.
You invest in heaven
when you –
Partner with others:
mutual funds, joint accounts.
Enlarge your
portfolio. Re-invest your dividends.
Spend time
consulting with your Broker.
Take a purely
faith-based decision or action.
Teach and show your
family how to invest.
Do anything whose
effects last for eternity.
Your treasure and your heart – inseparable.
Where you invest one, you invest the other.
Our hymns
say it all:
Count Your Blessings
3 When you look at
others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings, money cannot buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high. [Refrain]
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings, money cannot buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high. [Refrain]
There Stands a Rock
“Some build their
hopes on the ever-drifting sand,
Some on their fame or their treasure or their land;
Mine’s on the rock that forever shall stand, Jesus, the ‘Rock of Ages.’”
Some on their fame or their treasure or their land;
Mine’s on the rock that forever shall stand, Jesus, the ‘Rock of Ages.’”
This World is Not My Home
“My treasures are
laid up somewhere beyond the blue.”
Heaven Holds All to Me
“Earth holds no
treasures but perish with using,
However precious they be.”
However precious they be.”
Two Lenses: 6:22-23
22 “The eye
is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be
full of light.
22 Ὁ λύχνος τοῦ σώματός ἐστιν ὁ ὀφθαλμός. ἐὰν οὖν ᾖ ὁ ὀφθαλμός σου ἁπλοῦς, ὅλον
τὸ σῶμά σου φωτεινὸν ἔσται·
23 “But if
your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light
that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
23 ἐὰν δὲ ὁ ὀφθαλμός σου πονηρὸς ᾖ, ὅλον τὸ σῶμά σου σκοτεινὸν ἔσται. εἰ οὖν τὸ
φῶς τὸ ἐν σοὶ σκότος ἐστίν, τὸ σκότος πόσον.
You choose what you
see and how you see it.
Your eye fills you
with either light or darkness.
“If your right eye
causes you to sin …” 5:28-29
“Let us run, fixing
our eyes on Jesus …” He 12:1-3
Seeing the unseen. 2
Co 4:18; He 11:7-8, 13, 27
Ps 101:3 “I will set
no vile thing before my eyes.”
Two Thrones: 6:24
24 “No one
can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or
he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and
wealth.
24 Οὐδεὶς δύναται δυσὶ κυρίοις δουλεύειν· ἢ γὰρ τὸν ἕνα μισήσει καὶ τὸν ἕτερον
ἀγαπήσει, ἢ ἑνὸς ἀνθέξεται καὶ τοῦ ἑτέρου καταφρονήσει. οὐ δύνασθε θεῷ
δουλεύειν καὶ μαμωνᾷ.
Who / what you serve
= who / what you love.
Whoever / whatever
rules you is your master.
“Hate” and “despise”
money – strong words!
Μαμωνᾶς
“Mammon”
– Aramaic: “that in which one trusts.” (Dishonest) gain, ransom, bribe.
Jesus: faithfully
use “unrighteous mammon” to secure a home beyond this life. Luke 16:1-15
Possible hymns:
Heaven Will Surely
Be Worth It All
Follow Me
I Gave My Life for
Thee
Restore My Soul
Light the Fire
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