Investing in Eternity

Today, in the remaining time, I'm going to be looking at Matthew 6, so if you could grab your Bibles here. Matthew 6, verse 19. Matthew 6, 19.

When you find your place, you can stretch your legs with me. Matthew 6, verse 21. I want to talk about this morning why we are calling this an eternal impact initiative.

Why would we name it that? Jesus says here in Matthew 6, 19, lay not up for yourself treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourself treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. Verse 21, if you'd read with me, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. And Father, we thank you for your Word today. In our time remaining, we pray that you would bless, help us to be able to understand the importance of investing our life into that which matters for eternity, to live a life that really accomplishes your goals and not to waste the life you've given to us. Blessed now, if anyone doesn't know Christ, may today be the day of their salvation. In Jesus' name we pray and God's people said, Amen.

You may be seated this morning. I'm going to be spending a couple weeks walking through a portion of the greatest sermon that was ever preached known as the Sermon on the Mount. It spans from chapter 5 through chapter 7. And I'm not going to be preaching through the entire chapters 5 through 7, just focusing in a few verses here in Matthew 6. But leading up to this passage in Matthew 6, Jesus is speaking of how to be a kingdom citizen, how to enter the kingdom. He gives eight different, or nine different Beatitudes. He preached on being salt and light in the world. He assaulted the hypocritical self-righteous teachers of His day and He taught that you need to be as real on the inside as you are on the outside. He warned the people that they needed a righteousness that exceeded the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. He taught about the importance of hard attitudes, of anger and lust, that you need to be clean on the inside.

He taught on humility and giving and praying and also fasting. Then here in chapter 6, the Lord teaches on investing. He focuses on what we do with what we have. And Jesus attaches our spiritual life to our physical possessions. Oftentimes, people can make an arbitrary division between their physical and their spiritual, but Jesus demolishes that here. In fact, our Lord teaches that what we do with our treasures, our possessions, will be the final verdict of where our hearts are. Where our treasure is determines, Jesus said, where our hearts are. I'm not sure really if there's more of an important message that we could think about as we enter into 2025, as we think about how we can invest our lives and live them for the fullest. I don't know about you, but I don't want to waste my life.

I want it to matter. And for the next two weeks, I want to look at eight specific truths that Jesus gives here. I'm going to look at five today, which I know you know think that I can't do it, but I will.

And then we're going to look at three next week. So I want you to ask yourself, how am I going to use my life? You know, the chapter of 2024 has been written. 2024, the chapter of your life has come to a conclusion. The question is, what have you been investing your life in? What would God say about how you've invested your time, energy, abilities, resources? Are you being wise with the life God's given you? Are you being foolish? Who's calling the shots?

I don't know about you, but I don't want to hold the pen. Jesus Christ is Lord, and salvation is saying, Jesus, you author my life. You call the shots. You dictate what my decisions are. You define how I should be a husband, a pastor, a father, a man in society. You lead my life, guide my thoughts, direct my path.

I believe that God is the greatest one who can author your life and use your life and my life so that we don't have to waste it. And I want to look at these five truths today that Jesus taught about investing. Very simple truths, but they have very profound implications. In verse 19, Jesus said, lay not up for yourself treasure on earth. Verse 20, lay up for yourself treasure in heaven.

So here he's talking about making an investment of your life in one of two places. And the first thing we see here from the Lord is that number one, we are all investing somewhere. The Bible teaches God has given all of us life.

Acts 17, verse 25 says, neither is God worshiped with hands, with men's hands as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all men life and breath and all things. Our lives are a gift from God. We have done nothing to earn life.

We have only been recipients of it. Psalms 90, verse 10, Moses said, men are given 70 to 80 years as a normal length of life. But listen, you've done nothing to earn that time. Sometimes people will say, you know, that's not fair that that person only got to live this many years. But listen, all of us are given time as a gift. You didn't determine where you were going to be born. You didn't determine your parents. You didn't determine what time in history you would be born.

You are not in control of how many days you live. You have been given time as a gift. Not only does God give us time, but he also gives us physical abilities. He gives us talent, skills, wisdom to apply ourselves to work, create, build, design. And he's also given us spiritual gifts. When we get saved, you are given a spiritual gift, the Bible says, to build up the body, to minister to God's people.

How have you used those gifts? Thirdly, God has given us finances and resources. You know, if you work 25 years making 40,000 a year, you would make a million dollars. If you work 40 years making $50,000 a year, you would make $2 million.

And most of us would fall in line with those kind of quantities very easily. And there's only four basic things you can do with your money. You can spend it, save it, give it or invest it.

First of all, we all have time. 168 hours in a week. The question is, how did you use your 168 this last week? How much of it did you use for your own self? And how much did you use to honor the Lord?

What have you done with the time God has given to you? Secondly, some people have perhaps more capacity to do more with their talent, skills and abilities. Some people are just gifted more than others in some capacity. But we all have gifts and abilities and things we can use for the glory of God.

The question is, how are you using those? And then thirdly, we all have finances, different amounts, and maybe some have more than others, but all of us have resources that we can invest. And so though all of us have different amounts of time we're going to live, different amount of abilities and different amount of resources, we all have time, talents and resources to invest somewhere. And the question is, where are you investing them? Secondly, you only have one of two options to invest in.

Jesus teaches here there's not three options. You have heaven, you can invest in, you have earth, and that's it. And so with your time, energy, talents, resources, you either invest them into that which is eternal, or you invest them into that which is temporal. Now we are born into this world focused on accumulating physical stuff.

It's about the earth, it's sandy mindsets, building on castles in the sand, but when we're born again, Jesus calls us to be focused on that which is eternal, and not what is temporal, focusing our time, talents and resources on God's purposes, and not the world's. Now thirdly, not only are you all investing, not only do we only have two options, but thirdly, our investments yield different returns. Jesus teaches here the length and security of our investments are determined by where we invest them. Those who deal with the world of investing understand that where you invest can return. And Jesus here is saying, maximize your return.

Invest in that which will produce the greatest. You need to know this, your God isn't a taker. He's a giver. He is a generous God who is benevolent. James 117 says all good things have come down from the Father of lights with whom is no variable than the steed or shadow of turning. You see today because God gave you sight. You breathe because he gave you breath.

You have parents, you have children, you have family of cars, you have health. You say, I work for those things who gave you life and breath, who gave you hands and time, whose air are you breathing, whose lungs are allowing, God is allowing your lungs to still work, and God gives us all these things, and we should glorify him for that. And so he's telling us to maximize this. And according to verse 19 and 20, investments into the world at best are temporal, and investments into the things of God are at worst eternal. When you think about that, that should affect what you do with this thing called existence, this thing called life.

How am I going to use this? 2 Corinthians 4.18 says, while we look not at things which are seen, but at things that are not seen, for the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal. So the third principle Jesus gives here is where we invest will give a different return.

And then the fourth principle is all earthly investments will be lost forever. So Jesus says here in verse 19, lay not up for yourself treasure on earth where moths and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal. The phrase there, it's a play on words. The phrase lay not up for yourself is thesorizo in the Greek. Thesorizo is where we get our English word thesaurus from, which means a treasury of words. And so you could literally say treasure not up for yourself, and then the next Greek word is therososos.

Thesaurus, which is just another noun form of that word, thesorizo. And so you could translate this as treasure not up for yourself treasures. In the Greek, that's probably a better translation of that, but you can translate it as lay not up for yourself treasures, but it's the same idea. So Jesus is saying don't treasure up for yourself treasures.

And notice the location. He says don't do that on earth. Literally, treasure not up for yourself treasures on earth. And why would he say that?

He says that because of how insecure the investments are. They can and will eventually decay. As he says, moth and rust will corrupt them, ruin them. Now if you live in Ohio, you know what it means to take your car through a winter. And you always get salt on it. And it's always nice if you buy a new car and they're like, hey, this car is from down south.

You know what that means? It's not been, you know, Ohio eyes. It's all the rust. And boy, one thing about rust is it's just a cancer, isn't it? You get that rust growing. You're like, ah, you know, I had battled with rust with the vehicle years ago. And I'm like, if there's one thing I don't want on my vehicles, rust, but there's no way to stop it. It's just constantly there.

I think the vehicle people put it out on the road somehow and they make your car rust so that you can get a new one. But anyway, no, I'm teasing. I'm not that conspiratorial. But also he says, you have the problem not only of the law of entropy that things were out, but he also says that thieves can break through and steal. Anybody ever had somebody steal from you before?

Well, isn't that a frustrating thing? Or maybe your identity was stolen and people can take your things. Jesus gives us a clear warning about where we invest our resources. And he teaches here where you invest will determine whether you keep them or not. This is a warning to us. 2 Peter 3.10. Peter writes that the this is the last book he writes. Just a few months before he dies in Peter says this, the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise.

The elements shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also in the works that are there and shall be burned up. So Christ could come back this year.

He could come back next year. We don't know the day or the hour the Bible says, but I believe his return is very near. And when he comes back, he's going to rapture the church up seven year tribulation. There's going to be 1000 year millennial reign, but he's going to dissolve the heavens in the earth and create a new heaven and a new earth. And knowing that there's going to be everything on earth that will be burned up, Peter asked the question, what kind of person ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hastening to the coming day of the Lord, where the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and elements shall melt with fervent heat. But we look for a new heaven, a new earth. Listen, knowing that the things won't last, it should make a person say, you know, I probably would want to invest the least amount into those things.

The least reasonable amount. I'm here to warn you that one day all material investments and possessions will be lost. Many have used all their money and resources to inquire things. Nothing wrong with having nice things. You have a nice vehicle, nice house, nothing wrong with that. The problem is a lot of times our possessions become our possessors. Because where your treasure is there where you are, and whatever owns your money owns your affections. And what you pour your heart into you pour your money into what you pour your money into your heart has already been involved in.

And then when your hearts there, it takes your time, your energy, your resources, your affections, your desires, and it consumes the person. And it's funny that the world sells us on stuff constantly telling us what we have is no longer good. We need the new 2025 model constantly pushing us. Now all of those investments at best are temporary, and we need to understand that. I think it's also important to understand if you are in America, we live in a gated community that's the wealthiest in the world. As an individual, if you make $60,000 a year, you're in the top 1% of earners in the world. 60,000. As a household, if you make 71,000, you're in the top 4% of earners in the world as a household.

That's like 35,000. That's the average income of Xenia. Xenia's income is the top 4% in the world.

Now Beaver Creek's top.1%. Now, the Philippines, you know what the annual income in the Philippines is? $2,400 a year. I was in Guatemala in 2014.

The average income a year is $4,516. Honduras, $4,848. I always thought, well, stuff is just so much cheaper over there, so it's not really the same equivalence.

Anybody else ever thought that or feel that? You know that's not true. When I was in Honduras, a gallon of milk was $3. Three bucks. Waters, $1, $2 for a water. To get a thing of cereal, $3, $4.

I thought it would be like 15 cents or something. That's why they eat a bunch of rice and a little bit of meat. They chop up and they grow their own stuff because it's just poverty. We have no comprehension in America. Some of you have been overseas, you understand, but I'm telling you, we throw away. I have thrown food away over in third world countries where people walk up and say, can I have the rest of that piece of food? It's like a quarter piece of a sandwich.

Yeah, go ahead. I don't say this to be mean and I probably shouldn't say it, but we're the only country that I know of where our people who are in poverty are overweight. I don't say that in a mean way.

Don't write me a letter. I get it. If you go to a third world country, there's no one in poverty that is not skinny. They're all skinny. Their dogs are skinny. Their cows are skinny. It's starvation and they can't get out of it. They're just stuck.

It doesn't matter what they do. We're so blessed. We throw more food away in a week than most of those people have in a month or two. So just understand when we talk about, well, you know, it's hard to give. We're going to stand before God one day as the gated community, the wealthy ones. I just want us to consider that. You won't hear that very often, but you heard it here, okay?

And I live in the gated community with you. Again, nothing wrong with having nice things. It's just wrong when we become covetous and stingy and focus just on those things. The key to be faithful with the Lord is this. Put God first in your giving, meet your needs, and then get your wants. The problem is we pay for our wants, we struggle to meet our needs, and then we have nothing to give to the things of God. You know Jesus Christ said, the Bible says of him in 2 Corinthians 8, 9, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor so that you through his poverty might be rich. You know Jesus became poor so that we might be rich. Soon the things of this life will pass, and friends, only what you've done for Christ is going to last. We all need to consider that. And so I believe all of us here one day want to hear the Lord say, well done, thou good and faithful servant. That is why those who lay up treasure on earth make foolish, unsecured investments. Don't do that.

Again, I want you to know this. It's not wrong to have retirement funds. That's not wrong to do. I'm not saying empty your retirement and give it to the church. No, it's good to have retirement.

You need to have those. The Bible actually in the book of Proverbs commends the ant for storing up food in the summer so they can have through the winter. Joseph saved seven years of plenty for the seven years of famine. That's wise, but it's not wise to store up only to live extravagantly, to live covetously, to put your faith in money over God, and to be a hoarder over a giver.

That's not good. So realize all our possessions also are not promised to be there at the end of our life. Neither is our life promised to be there when we've gathered up all our possessions. So I want to give to the Lord and be faithful with what God's committed to me because it'll keep me from losing everything. And then number five, which I know you didn't think I could ever get to five points after this whole day, is all heavenly investments will last forever. Jesus concludes this in verse 20 by saying, But lay up for yourself treasures in heaven. If my investments into the spiritual things at worst are eternal, and in the earth at best are temporal, shouldn't I focus on what is eternal? Now, I don't want you to think in some cynical way, well, should I just give all my funds to the church?

No, do not. God calls you to provide for your family. The Bible, in fact, says if you don't provide for your family, you're worse than an unbeliever. You need to make sure your family and home is provided for.

Take care of them. Yes, that's a mandate from God, and that is a spiritual kind of investment. I believe that when you're a believer in Jesus Christ and you've committed your life to God and you surrender to Him, your life becomes no longer secular and sacred. You begin to be a life that is constantly just investing in eternity because your life is authored by God and the physical things you do all have spiritual implications that go into eternal investments. When you go to work, that means that you're being a light. You're being salt and light in the world. You're fulfilling Matthew 5, 16 through 17. You're doing what God's called you to do. And so everything you do with your time, talents, and resources are to be designed to live for the glory of God, and they become internal investments.

Now, in what ways are time investments eternal? Well, people who make time for God to learn His Word, to share it with others. I would ask you the question, how much time have you devoted to knowing God's Word? You need to do that.

You need to be plugged into 2.42. Romans 3.23 is our memory verse. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's the memory verse for our church this year, for this week. We have another verse. We've put a book together out there, 52 most important verses for you to memorize in 2025.

You need to go through those. It'll help you share the gospel to know what the Bible says. Secondly, not only with your time, but also parents who instead of spending all their time teaching their kids how to play sports and games and earthly things, which all of those things can be good, the best thing you can do is focus them on the Word of God to live as a man or woman of God investing in eternity. People who make time for church, plugging into classes, 2.42 groups. People who take time to take a track and share the gospel with somebody.

You're using your time for the glory of God. Secondly, your talents, using your abilities for God, not just when you're at church, but also when you're at home and sharing the gospel, telling others of Christ, using your gifts to teach the Word of God, the gift of mercy, the gift of hospitality, the gift of faith. The Bible talks about different spiritual gifts that we have, but to use them.

I would ask you the question, what areas did you minister into other people's lives in 2024? Who did you help invest in to grow them spiritually? The Bible calls us, the Christian life is like an ecosystem.

We all build upon each other. The third area is our treasures, not just our time and abilities, but our treasures to use them for the glory of God, to invest in a spiritual work. You know, these lights, everything, ministry costs money. There's so much that goes into it, and to invest in a work that's allowing the gospel to go out. You know, there are thousands of people that will hear the message that I'm preaching today, thousands. There are a lot of people that will hear the truth of God's Word through the 60, literally thousands of people will hear the gospel through the 60 missionaries we have, that we're supporting all around the world.

The Word of God is going out on radio stations, through social media, different sites. It's amazing the footprint, and you're able to be a part of that. And if you say, you know what, I believe in the Word of God, I believe in the message of Christ, I believe in what Lighthouse is supporting, I believe in what they're doing there, then I would just for you to understand that when you invest in that financially, you're investing in all of those pieces. It affects all of that.

And when we all get behind that, the impact can be tremendous. And so I want to give because giving, there is receiving, and in keeping, there is a losing. When I was a young man, I felt like God put this on my heart so heavily, and I've shared this in the past. When I was like 17 years old, I felt like God just like came to me and offered me these two different paths for my life, and I felt like I had the complete option of them.

That He was saying, you can go play sports in college, and not that I was a great athlete, but I had some opportunities, and you can go down in your career that you're thinking about, and you can do this, and you can have a successful life, and make a lot of money, and have cars, boats, and a nice place, and all these things. And when you're 70 years old and you're looking back, is that the life you want? Or do you want to give all of your life to me and preach the Word of God and serve me, and I will be the one that dictates your life? And as a 17-year-old, I was gripped by that. I had no preacher telling me that.

I didn't have any situation. I was so gripped, I can't even tell you the strength that God grabbed a hold of my life. And I'm here today preaching because I have taken God's terms of investment, and I am so thankful that I did not become successful in the world's eyes so that I might be impoverished spiritually. Nothing wrong with being successful in the world, but it is wrong when you sacrifice what you know God's calling you to do. And for me, he had a different plan than the plan of going out and doing the things that I thought I wanted to do. And I believe today, there are many of us today, that there are greater things that God wants to do in your life if you just give him your heart, fully surrendered, unreservedly. I was at the point as a 17-year-old saying, God, if you send me to Zimbabwe, I'm going.

Wherever you have me to go, I'm willing, 100%. And friends, that's where I feel when you get there, and I believe many people here are like that, that's freedom. That's freedom to say, God, you take the pen now.

You author it, whatever you want. And so today, that's the call of God from this passage. Look at your life, look at your investments, and make them in a way that would not waste your life. We're all investing somewhere.

Our investments give different returns, different yields. Everything we invest in the temporal will all be lost, and everything we invest in the eternal will be kept forever. What are you going to do with this thing called life? Give it to God, friend, give it to God. When you give your life to God, he just gives it back better, unwasted. And you'll get to the end of your life, and you'll say, thank God I did that. Thank God I did that. Would you stand with me this morning?