Matthew 6:19-24, The Disciples’ Investments and Values

Tod Kennedy, November 16, 2005

1.     The Challenge: Matthew 6:19-21 teaches us that only heavenly investments are guaranteed investments.

a.      Verse 19 is a negative statement or a warning of what not to do.

b.     Do not make bad investments with your life. Bad investments are investments that ignore God’s eternal values. Bad investments are short term and guaranteed to fail. The Bible text says “do not treasure up treasures.” The verb is θησαυρίζω, (present active imperative for a command) and the noun is θησαυρός. It is a place for storing valuables. This is like our English word thesaurus, a word treasury.

c.      Moth, rust, and thieves are three common destroyers of ancient world material wealth. In the ancient world fabric and coins were standard sources of value. Moths destroy fabric, rust destroys metal, and thieves steal both fabric and coins.

d.     Verse 20 gives the positive investment strategy. Invest in guaranteed heavenly investments. Neither moths, rust, nor thieves can get to this investment. It is a sure investment.

e.      Verse 21 goes to the core of the issue. Man’s heart will always follow the treasure. In other words, what is of most value to the disciples and to us is where we put our energy, love, thinking, and time. If earthly treasures are of most value to us, then we will spend our energy, love thinking, and time on earthly treasures.

f.       Money and the making of money is not bad. The value or emphasis in one’s life is the determining factor.

g.     Money is not bad (Proverbs 6:6-8; 1 Timothy 6:17; 1 Timothy 4:3-4; 1 Timothy 5:8.

h.     The supreme love of money or materialism is bad (1 Timothy 6:10; James 5:2-3)

2.     Getting the right perspective: Matthew 6:22-23 explains how one’s heart and therefore one’s values become good and please God or bad and displease God. The person that values earthly treasures above heavenly treasures is spiritually unhealthy.

a.      The eye is the gate or doorway to the inner person. Perspective about life generally begins through the eye. The eye brings images—ideas—into the heart (the center of volition, thinking, conscience, self-consciousness, emotion).

b.     The clear eye is the healthy eye. It allows light and clear images to reach the person’s heart, and one can gain a better perspective of reality and therefore make better choices in life. The bad eye is the diseased eye. It prevents clear images from reaching the heart. Instead, bad images and ideas get into the heart. See Proverbs 28:22.

c.      In this context, the choices which man’s heart makes are between heavenly treasure and earthly treasure, and between God and money.

d.     If the eye, and therefore the person, focuses his main attention on money and earthly treasures as most important, his perspective of reality is skewed, he is living in darkness, and his life will displease God.

3.     The Principle: Matthew 6:24 says that we can have only one master. That master may be God or it may be earthly treasures—money.

a.      If we accept God and creator and king, we will gain the correct perspective of reality and make lasting spiritual investments—treasures in heaven.

b.     If our loyalties become divided, we will gain a skewed perspective of reality and then make short term and bad investments.

c.      God must be the believer’s foundational value. All else builds upon that.

4.     So What?

a.      What place does God have in my life? Creator, king, savior or simply someone I go to when I need something?

b.     Where does my perspective of reality originate? God’s word or the world’s worldview?

c.      Does my biblical perspective of reality actually drive my life?