Money Talks // Where is your Treasure // Pastor Josh Evans

Amen. If you've been blessed today by the music, say Amen. And I tell you, it has been so, so good, and I appreciate all the musicians, and Brother Bob just putting that together each week. It takes a lot more than you think, and I know they practice, and many times you drive by and you see Bob's truck out here during the week late at night, he's getting everything ready for Sunday, and we should appreciate him and all the effort and work that he puts into that each and every week. Well, if you have your Bible, go to Matthew Chapter Number 6.

Matthew Chapter Number 6. I know I said this earlier, it is so good to see so many of you on a rainy weekend, and I know we had some family in town, and we were out at Tanglewood, and yesterday we had tea times at Tanglewood, and you think some rain could keep guys who enjoy golf away from the golf course, and we played in the rain. I haven't done that since I was a teenager, and I probably will never do that again, but we had some good times yesterday, and my family are big campers, and so they had campers, and so somebody asked today if we're starting an RV park across the street, and that's just them, and so they're leaving after church, so there's no RV park if you're wondering, okay?

But no, I'm excited to have family in town here today. Well, listen, Matthew Chapter 6, we are beginning a brand-new series today entitled Money Talks. In fact, I want you to say that with me together.

Let's say it. Money Talks. And listen, I know as soon as I announce that series, those who are watching online like the online audience probably tuned out because nobody likes to talk about money, and I get it. It's awkward kind of to talk about money in church, right? Many of you have probably seen pastors who kind of took the church into debt and all this kind of stuff, and so you're like, man, all that pastor wants today is just my money, right?

Any of you ever felt that way about me? Oh, a couple of you. Good. That was a joke.

That was a joke. But listen, here's what's funny. It's like I know money can be awkward as we talk about it in church, but here's the interesting thing as we look at money and our money. As we look at it, I want you to think about what would your money say if it could talk? If your money could talk, what would it say about you? What would it say about what you truly care about?

And what would it possibly say is ruling on the throne of your heart? You see, I know it's awkward sometimes for us to talk about money. It's kind of taboo in a church setting because of some of the reasons, you know, that a lot of times we look at pastors, and they want our money, and that's all the church wants, and don't they know that we have a lot of bills and different things like that? We know all of that, but here's why we need to talk about money in church. Because in scripture, there is a correlation, and I want you to get this, and this is going to drive us over the next few weeks. There is a correlation between a person's relationship with God and their finances.

There is a correlation, and there's some common themes that connect the two together. And I know that talking about money can be awkward, because many of us, we're private about our money. I'll tell you, for me, I'm kind of an open book about a lot of things. So you come and you want to just talk about life and know any of our secrets or whatever, you can come and talk to me. But me and Abby have said sometimes I get talking about everything, and we come back and we're like, man, I really wish we hadn't talked about that, because that money or our finances are kind of a private thing that we need to tuck away, and we don't want anybody to ever talk or challenge us on how we view income and how we view the money in our lives. I want you to know, if you are visiting here today, that this is the first time.

I've been the pastor here for over a year. We haven't talked about money. So if this is your first time here and you're thinking, oh, boy, that's what they're going to always talk about every week. This is literally the first sermon on money that we've had in over a year. But if you come the next three weeks, you might think, man, this is all they talk about.

But listen, I think that this series is going to be a help to each one of us. In fact, Jesus, he talked a lot about money. In fact, if you look at all of his teachings in the gospel, about 15 percent of all of his teaching talked about money or about possessions. Jesus talked about money more than he did heaven or hell combined. You see, those things we talk about a lot, and sometimes we forget that money are possessions that is so closely connected to our relationship with the Lord, we forget that this is something Jesus wants us to to manage. And he talks about it here in Matthew, chapter number six, Matthew, chapter number six, beginning in verse 19.

He says this lay not. This is Jesus speaking. He's speaking in his famous Sermon on the Mount.

And this is the most famous sermon ever preached. And Jesus really is talking about a lot of different things. If you look back in the first 18 verses of Matthew, chapter six, you're going to find that Jesus is talking about private spiritual disciplines. He's going to talk about the importance of as Christ followers going into the into the prayer closet and praying and having that relationship with God.

He talks about fasting. He talks about all of these different private spiritual disciplines. And as he's coming about that and he's continuing this series or this sermon that he's preaching, he comes to the idea of of treasure here in verse 19. It says this lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal.

In other words, what Jesus is telling his the multitude that's listening to him is he's saying this. Listen, don't invest your life in things that will decay. Don't don't spend your life. You know, we're all given 70, 80 years, some less, some more. But depending on how long you've been given here on this life, Jesus is saying don't invest your entire life in things that are going to decay and things that are going to corrupt. But rather, verse 20, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. So he talks that now instead of investing in things that are just going to decay and what he's literally saying is that all the things that you can achieve here in this life, all the toys and and the possessions and all the money, all those things that we can achieve in life are going to eventually decay. They're going to eventually be gone. So when you die and pass on, listen, you're not taking all of that stuff that you spent so long working towards.

None of that is going with you. And Jesus is saying if you think about that, then why spend the 70 years that you've been given on this life in a bunch of things that are going to decay? Instead, invest it in treasures in heaven, things that will last for eternity. And then he goes on and he makes this statement that if you were in the audience, you would probably be thinking like, OK, OK, hold up, explain this. He says, here's why. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. He says that, listen, wherever you're investing your treasure, whether that be in earthly possessions and in toys and and all the things that we can achieve here on this earth, if it's there or if it's in heaven, he says that your heart is exactly where one of those things are. So he goes on to say, invest your life in things that are going to last for eternity so that that's where your heart will be.

And then he goes on to explain himself. The light of the body is the I, verse 22. The light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be be single, thy whole body shall be full of full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee is darkness, how great is thy is that darkness? In other words, here's what he's saying, is that your eye is is the light. And and because of that, everything else makes sense. So when your eyes see something, it lights up the entire body so that everything makes sense because the light that the eye is seeing.

And what he's saying here is he's saying, listen, money can blind us from time to time. Think about it this way is like if you think about sins that the scripture talks about, like we we know that we're sinning in most ways. Right.

So, for example, you take adultery, you know, when you're committing adultery. That that's not something like you. Oh, I didn't realize you weren't my spouse. Right.

Everybody knows. Right. It's not something that can sneak up on you.

Think about stealing when you try to go steal something. Right. You know, I was literally I was walking by our welcome center and just glancing in to the candy bin and one of the candy bags is open.

So so one of you. OK. It's probably someone in the school. Who knows.

But it's literally I made a joke about it. And I said, man, those kids and somebody that was in the welcome center said, pastor, it's probably your kids. Could be.

I was like, that's fair. That's probably true. But but think about it. If you're if you're stealing something, it's not a surprise. You don't accidentally fall into stealing like, oh, man, I didn't know better or or murder. Right.

They know what they're doing. You're not that's not something that that can sneak up on you. But think about it. What Jesus is saying about money and the love of money and materialism. He's saying that money and the love of money can actually sneak up on a person. You know, I've never heard somebody say I'm a greedy person. Here's why. Greedy people don't think that they're greedy.

You want to know why? Because money can sneak up on them and it can blind them to everything else in life where they can be greedy and they can have a love of money. And they can be investing their life in possessions here on this earth and be completely deceived that they are not investing their life in heaven. Jesus says money can can blind you.

And then he goes on and he makes this statement in verse 24. No man can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and and mammon or you cannot serve God and money. You can't serve God and materialism. It's impossible for you to invest your life in things that are going to last for eternity and invest your life in things that are going to decay and corrupt when it's all said and done. He says you cannot serve both.

There is no way to to do it. And remember, this isn't pastor talking this. That's that's Jesus. That's him telling us that we cannot serve both. Therefore, I say unto you, take no thought for your life. What you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor yet for your body what you shall put on is not the life more than meat and and the body than raiment. Behold the fowls of the air for they so not neither do they reap nor gather into barns. Yet your heavenly father feedeth them.

Are you not that much better than they? Verse 27, which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit unto a stature? In other words, Jesus is saying, hey, listen, because you can't serve both and because you can't take all these possessions and all the material things that we can work our lives for with us when we die. We're not taking them anywhere.

They're just going to decay and be junk one day. He says, because of all of that, then we should not worry about tomorrow, which is so interesting because let's just be real. And the people that were listening to this to Jesus's sermon, they were no different than you and no different than me. Like we we all I would be sitting there like, how can you not worry about tomorrow? Because we all worry about tomorrow.

Right. We all think about tomorrow. We all think about bills coming up. We all think about decisions that we have to make tomorrow. And Jesus comes in and he says, hey, listen, take no because you can't take anything with you and you're supposed to be investing your life into the kingdom. Take absolutely no thought for tomorrow, because if I take care of the birds, then I'll take care of you. That's what he's saying. Verse 28.

And why take you thought for Raymond? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not. Neither do they.

They they spin. He talks about our clothes and and how all the material things like how we we worry about about those things. Many of you worry kind of what you're going to wear. I mean, we're no different. I mean, I feel like when we try to get our kids dressed, it's like a fight. Any of you feel me on that? OK. And you're kind of like, you know, I have nothing in my closet. You ever hear that in y'all's households?

And I go into their closet and I just want to take everything and throw it in the floor and say that I'm getting rid of all these things. OK, man, that'll preach, won't it? Listen, he says, he says, don't worry about all of those things.

And here's why. Consider the the wildfires, the lilies of the field. They they don't do anything, but yet God makes them makes them beautiful and he takes care of them. Verse twenty nine. And yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall I not much more clothe you? O ye of little faith. We'll come back to that phrase in just a moment. Therefore, take no thought, saying, what shall we eat?

What shall we drink? Or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek? In other words, and Jesus was speaking to Jews that when he mentions Gentiles, he means pagan people is what he's talking about.

The pagans, those who don't know God, they're the ones who are thinking about all of these things and worrying about the next day and worrying about material possessions and trying to achieve these material things. He says, Don't do as the Gentiles seek for your heavenly father. He knoweth that you have need of all of these things.

So he says, but seek you first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. There's a lot to unpack in this passage.

I mean, there is a lot. I mean, this could be a sermon series just in this passage alone. But when we think about investing our life and planting treasure, not that's going to corrupt, but treasure that will last for eternity. I think if Jesus was to was to be talking to us here today is here's probably what he would want you to know about your your money. Having money. And I want you to listen is I want you to get this.

Having money is not the problem. Listen, I don't want you to think, man, I have money. Is that mean I'm supposed to just give it all away? Am I like what does that mean? Like, Jesus, am I supposed to just give everything away and not have money to provide for my family?

Like what? What are you trying to say? I want you to understand something about money. This is what Jesus is saying. Having money is not the problem. The problem comes when money has you. I think if Jesus was was to summarize, here's what he'd say. He'd say, hey, listen, church, Union Grove, having money is not not the problem. If God has blessed you and prospered you, I don't want you to think like I don't want you to feel guilty about that here today.

Having money is not a problem. The problem comes when money has all of you, when money consumes your life, when getting an extra dollar or an extra buck is what consumes you. It's what you wake up in the morning and what drives you and what you invest in is only in things that are going to last or that are not going to last for for eternity.

So you say, what is Jesus trying to say here in this passage? I want to give just three things about how you can invest your life in things that are going to last for forever. First, life. I want I want you to know this, that life should be lived with eternity in mind. Life should be lived with eternity in mind.

C.S. Lewis said, wealth has a way of knitting man's heart to the world. You know, investors, if you were to meet with an investor and and you were to think about, you know, your money and and things like that, here's what they're going to probably say, especially now, as much as ever. They're going to say, hey, listen, when you're investing your money, don't think about today. Think about what, 30 years from now.

Right. That's what they're going to tell you. They're going to say, hey, think down the future.

If Jesus, if you went to him to talk about your money, here's what he would say. Don't think 30 years down the road. Think 30,000 years down the road. That that's the point of of this entire passage. He's not saying think 30 years.

He's saying think 30,000 years down the road. That's the kind of life that Jesus is calling us to. And by the way, in the gospels, Jesus, he talks all about this. In fact, he says that that the gospel, when we trust in Jesus as our savior and we give our life to him, he says that what's going to follow is a completely new way of living. He says that that life in Jesus salvation is going to produce a completely new way of interacting with the world.

So if you read Matthew Chapter six and your immediate response is, whoa, whoa, whoa, that is so different than what I think it should be. Yeah, that's exactly how it is, because Jesus came so that we could live for something greater than what is going to decay and corrupt. You see, we're going to need to live with with eternity in mind.

And here's why. Because he mentions this earthly treasure does not does not last. Earthly treasure does not does not last. So so you got to answer this question, who or what do you value the most? What what do you value the most? Because Jesus says you can't value both. One of them has to rule and reign in your heart. One of them, Jesus says, that has to rule or reign in your heart. It's either going to be things that are going to last for forever or it's going to be things that are going to last or that are going to decay when you die. He says you can't invest your heart. Your life can't be invested into both.

You have to choose who is going to lead and be on the throne of your heart. And by the way, let me just remind you that right after you die, you're going to realize what should have been on the throne of your heart. Because all those things that we worked so hard for, they're going to be gone. And only what we've done for Jesus Christ is going to to last. So earthly treasure, it's going to decay. Heavenly treasure last last forever. And by the way, it's his money anyway. Once we realize that that we're giving God's money back to him to do what he wants to do and to be involved in his work.

It makes it so much easier. And what you're going to find is joy and peace that you've never, ever experienced. That's the point of what Jesus is trying to say, saying that earthly treasure is going to last. You know, it's going to be decayed. Heavenly treasure is going to last forever. And in fact, if you invest your life in things that are going to last forever, you're going to find a joy and a peace that you've never, ever experienced here in this life.

We can't live for both. You know, I saw a bumper sticker. I mean, it's a pretty popular bumper sticker.

It says this. He who dies with the most toys wins. Have you ever seen that? Or you've seen it somewhere.

You might have it on your refrigerator. I don't know. But you know that saying, he who dies with the most toys wins. I want you to understand that that is that is not not true. If you live your life for that at the end of life, you in fact lose. You don't win.

We lose because Jesus says we cannot live our life for both. It's like it's like a GPS. You know, many of you. I mean, we all use GPS is in our in our in our cars. And and if you think about a GPS, I don't know if you're like me, but you you kind of trust the GPS or sometimes you might you might have somebody in the car that thinks they know better than the GPS. Do you know what I'm saying? And so like in my car, I have a GPS and then I have an Abby and and and so I'm I'm there and and I know I'm going to this side of the stage for a reason at this time.

And but listen, I have I have both. And so when I see the GPS and and it tells me to go this way, which we've never gone before, I don't know if you're like me, but I love a good adventure. So if it takes me on to just back roads that I've never been before, I'm like, that's the route I'm going.

OK, I just love going to new places. And and my wife is always quick to quick to say, no, no, no, no, I you know, we know this way. I'm familiar with this way.

And and here's what I've learned in my car. I cannot this my application here for you. I cannot serve GPS and Abby at the same time. It's impossible. You see, it's impossible to do to do both of those things. I'm going to either have to listen to one and reject the other. We can't go both ways.

And what Jesus is saying is, is he's saying, listen, earthly treasure and heavenly treasure. We can't do both. We can't live for both. You can't invest your life for both. You can't store treasure in both places.

It does not work. Either you're going to give your life for just things that are going to decay or you're going to choose to give your life for things that are going to last forever. And Jesus would tell you, if you stand here, you say, hey, listen, don't waste your life. Invest your life in in eternity. Things that are going to last.

And then secondly, who would say this? God will provide for all of your needs. Let me say this. God will provide for all of your needs. You can trust him. You can trust him. He has never failed to provide for us. Amen.

He has never failed to provide for us. In fact, he uses these illustrations. Jesus says, hey, consider the consider the birds.

They're out there and and they're doing their thing. And guess what? God provides for them. Then he says, hey, if that doesn't really get you to understand that he'll provide for you. He says, hey, consider the wildflowers, how how I send the rain they need and and I provide for them. And think about how much greater you, his creation are. And Jesus says, listen, just like I provide for them, I'm going to provide for your every every need. And what he says here in verse 30, he he summarizes all that. And he says this, oh, he looks at his audience and he says, oh, ye of little faith. You see, when we worry about money and we wake up and the only thing we pay attention to is the stock market and the only thing that we pay attention to is our 401K.

And the only thing that we pay attention to are the things that are going to one day decay. Jesus is saying this. He's saying this. That's a trust issue. When he comes and tells his audience, oh, you have little faith. If you're worrying and that's how you live your life, he comes in and says, oh, you love little faith. In other words, he's saying, listen, you don't trust God with everything. And he's calling us to a greater trust. He's calling us to a greater trust. Jesus is reminding us of his father's record of provision. I mean, look at the Old Testament. You remember the children of Israel, like how Jesus provided for them.

They they're wandering around in the wilderness. They were they were hungry. And and God, you know, he sent down manna from heaven.

You remember that? And Jesus, he's just reminding how. Listen, we could go on and on and on about the stories of God's provision. In fact, you know, if I could have, you know, there's a lot of older people in here who have told me stuff like this that that I've looked at that and we've had conversations.

They've told me things like this. Pastor, if the church would just understand that that God has always provided for me if I've put him first in my life. Listen, there's some testimonies in here that if we passed a microphone around, some people who have been saved for a long time could take the mic and say, hey, listen, we didn't have much. But but we we decided to invest it and to give it to things that are going to last for eternity.

And here's what happened. We experienced a joy and a blessing on our end that that we would have never experienced otherwise. And not only that, in the midst of all that, God met every single need that we ever have. You see, that's the story of God's provision. Let me remind you, God doesn't need your money today. If you think the Bible, when it talks about money, is all about Jesus saying, we need your money. The church can't survive without your money.

Guess what? This is his church. And he's going to provide for the needs of our church, whether we are a giving people or not, because God is in control of all that.

And he owns a cattle on a thousand hills. He doesn't need your money. But when he talks about money, here's what he's trying to get you to understand.

It's not that he needs it. He has something for you when you choose to invest your life in the kingdom. He has something incredible for you, not just in the future, but he has a joy and a peace and a satisfaction and a security here on earth that you would never experience if you invested your life in things that would decay. By the way, our Father knows our every need. If you're in here today and you say, man, pastor, I can't invest my life in that. Do you know what kind of bills I have? Do you know what kind of needs I have?

I can't do that. Let me remind you, the Father knows your every need and he's promised to provide for our every need. Thirdly, when you seek him first, and this is, if you forget anything I've said, remember this. When you seek him first, verse 33, you find everything that your soul is looking for. You find everything that your soul is looking for.

You could say it this way. If you seek him today, you'll be provided for tomorrow. You say, pastor, I'm just looking for peace in my life and I don't think I can find peace without possessions. I can't find peace without popularity. I can't find peace without money. I can't find peace without a bunch of toys here in this earth. Let me say this, that Jesus can provide you with peace that passeth all understanding. He can provide you with a peace that money can never buy, that materialism and possessions can never do. You say, pastor, I'm not looking for peace as much as I am joy here today. I just need some joy. And if my investments work out really well, then I'm going to be joyful.

But if they don't, I won't. You know what God says about that? Psalm 16, 11, in your presence, talking about God's presence, there is fullness of joy.

A joy that you could never, ever, ever experience apart from him. Listen, money might provide you some short-term happiness, but it doesn't provide you the happiness that a relationship with Jesus will provide you. It doesn't. Don't believe me? I'm a big sports guy. Just follow all the guys that play sports for a living. I follow them like crazy.

And just follow those guys, whether they be in the NBA or the NFL or anything like that, and just follow them. It's like a guy makes $85 million and guess what? He's upset because he thinks he deserves more money and he's going somewhere else.

You say, why is that? That's just God using that situation to remind us that, listen, money is not where happiness is. Money is not where happiness and joy and peace is. No, that's found in a completely different life, a life lived for him. You might be looking for satisfaction. Psalms 107, 9 says that he satisfies the longing soul.

You see, all the things that we're looking for can be found in him. Stop investing your life in the things that are going to decay and start investing your life into him because everything you are searching for is found in him. Randy Alcorn said in his book, The Treasure Principle, he writes this, once we, this is him and his wife writing this, once we understood that we were giving away God's money to do God's work, we discovered a peace and joy we never had back when we thought it was our money. Jim Elliott famously said, he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose. You see, what Jesus would tell you today is that money is not the problem. It's the love of money that is the problem.

You see, money is not the issue. But if that is what drives you, what wakes you up in the morning, what drives your decisions, what you think about, if that's what's on your heart and that's who's ruling and reigning in your heart, Jesus would say that is where the problem lies. Listen, I want our church to be a church that invests not just money, that's a part of us being generous, but I want us to be a generous church with money, but more importantly than that, I want us to be a generous church, not just with our treasure, but with our time and with our talent. Some of this, it might not be money for you. It might be you're not willing to give up any of your personal time for things that are going to last for eternity. It might not be money. You might just be like, man, no, Saturday's reserved for this and Wednesday's is reserved for that.

And Sunday, I mean, three times a month, I've got to be doing this. And I'm not going to ever help somebody who needs help because I'm too busy on my time. It might not be money that you're struggling with when it comes to investing your life into something. It might be your time or your talent. It might be so if you're just not willing to give any of your own time or any of your talent to help the body of Christ. And listen, I want our church to be a generous church.

You want to know why? Because we serve a generous God. You want to know why you should be generous with your time, talent and treasure? It's because, aren't you thankful that God did not withhold his generosity to you and to me? That you and I, we were born into this world sinners with no hope in our life. We were born into this world in bondage to sin.

And you know what God did in the midst of that? He loved us enough that he sent his son Jesus to die on a cross that was for you and that was for me. And he died on that cross, taking every bit of the brokenness that you caused, every bit of the sin that you are, every bit of the mistakes that we've ever made, all the flaws that we have. And he took all of those upon himself so that we could be freed from the bondage of sin that consumed us. And he gives us a brand new life full of joy, peace, satisfaction, security. All these things that our soul wants and all these things we were looking for in relationships and sex and money and possessions and toys and popularity and promotions and all these things.

And Jesus comes and he breaks us free from all of that so that we can find everything we're looking for in a relationship with him. He was generous to us and as a result of that we have to be generous to him. So my question is, where are you laying up your treasures today? Are your treasures here on earth? Are your treasures here or are they in heaven?

You say, what's a heavenly treasure? Listen, give your life for the gospel. Think about it this way. I read in a book a couple of weeks ago this question and it just kind of resonated with me. It said, ask yourself this question, if every lost person that I prayed for to be saved in the last week died, would they be in heaven today? Think about that.

Like some of us don't even think about lost people and some of us don't think about eternity and stuff. You want to invest your life in eternal things? Give it to the gospel. Be an evangelism and go out and share the gospel. Tell your neighbors about the gospel. Proclaim it on Facebook. Proclaim it on social media. Proclaim the goodness of God to a lost and dying world.

That's stuff that will last for eternity. Give it to missions. People that give their life to go somewhere away from family. We have missionaries that come in all the time and it always amazes me just practically. They left their entire family to move across the world to tell people about Jesus. Hey, listen, if you're going to invest your life in anything, I would choose to invest it there more than just a brand new toy in your life. That's the point of what Jesus is saying. Invest it into heavenly treasure, things that will last forever. I hope that because of your investment and because of your life here on this earth, there's more people one day in heaven as a result of that because here's the thing. Many of us, I'm afraid, many Christians are going to show up to heaven completely empty handed. And I don't know about you, I don't want to be that person. I want to show up with absolutely nothing because I've invested my life in the kingdom of God. And in the midst of that, I might have nothing but an eternity and in Jesus, you have everything that you ever, ever will need. Where are you investing your life? Let's bow our heads for prayer.