July 16, 2017
Sermon on the Mount
Treasures In Heaven / Do Not Worry
Matthew 6:19-34
This week we’re continuing our series on “The Sermon on the Mount.”
A really incredible thing about the Sermon on the Mount is that Jesus didn't save his heavy hitting and culture shifting commands for a private setting, and he didn’t just save it for people whose hearts he had already won over…
Actually, The Sermon on the Mount wasn't even planned, when Jesus was surrounded by people who needed to hear the truth of who He was, He gathered them together on a hill and he shared the truth with them:
- loud and proud
- out in the open
- with nothing to hide
And that’s what we’re doing in this series… We’re meeting outside, in the open, unashamed of the truth of who God is - wanting desperately to soak up everything we can about who that man is: A God who isn't ashamed of the truth, who has nothing to hide, and who just wants to draw his people back to him.
Treasures in Heaven
Matthew 6:19-24
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin 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 healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, 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 you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Jesus doesn’t just tell them to live differently, He gives them a glimpse of what they are getting, by talking about the Treasures why will receive in heaven. Actually, he’s been doing it all along:
Giving to the Needy: Matthew 6:4
- Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Prayer: Matthew 6:6 - Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Fasting: Matthew 6:18 - and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you
So there IS a reward in heaven.
Luke 6:23
Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.
Hebrews 11:26
He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.
1 Corinthians 3:8
The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor.
Our main motivation for following Him needs to be obedience, but it’s also okay to be motivated by his rewards that He loves to give.
Do Not Worry
Matthew 6:25-34
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
This section is a response to the section before it. The section before says, don't invest in temporary things, invest in the Kingdom of God and you’ll be rewarded and this section starts with, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life."
So this section on worrying, and on God taking care of your needs, is ultimately based on your response to everything in this sermon before it.
This is NOT the unbiblical "Health and Wealth Gospel" that says that if you do things for God that you will be rolling in money and you will get everything you want, but it is a promise from God that says when you seek first his kingdom and his righteousness then He will take care of the needs in your life.
Communication Card
- I will focus on storing up treasures in heaven.
- I will work on looking even more different than the world.
- I will trust God to be my provision.
