Matthew 6:19-24

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 117
• Hymn — From All That Dwell Below the Skies (#7)
• Missionary Presentation — Elizabeth Murray (MTW Japan)
• Prayer
• Scripture Reading — Matthew 6:19-24
• Sermon
• Hymn — My Jesus, I Love Thee (#648)
• Benediction

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Sermon Title: Where Is Your Heart? Treasure, Vision, and Master

Scripture: Matthew 6:19-24

I. Where Are Your Investments? (Matthew 6:19-21)

A. Jesus uses the language of investment — what are you investing your life, resources, and time in?

B. Earthly treasures are fleeting — moth, rust, and thieves illustrate their impermanence

1. Death is the great equalizer; we depart as naked as we arrived (Ecclesiastes)
2. Jesus is not condemning savings, hard work, or wealth itself — the question is where your resources are directed

C. Two planes of investment

1. Vertical: Is your mind captivated by God's Word? Do you invest in worship, prayer, and growth from milk to solid food? (cf. Hebrews)
2. Horizontal: Is your money directed toward the kingdom — missions, the poor, the widow, the orphan — or only toward self?

D. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:21)

1. How you spend money and time steers the heart either toward dust or toward glory
2. A convicting question: What does your bank account say about your Christian life?

II. What Is Your Eye Set On? (Matthew 6:22-23)

A. The eye and the heart are interchangeable concepts in Hebrew thought — where the heart is, the eye will focus

B. The word for healthy (Greek: haplous) conveys simplicity and generosity — illustrated by the widow's two coins

1. Generous, unpretentious giving without expectation of return

C. The word for bad (Greek: poneros) conveys evil expressed through jealousy and envy

1. The eye of the imagination — what do you covet? What do you fantasize about when there is nothing else to think about?
2. This connects to the tenth commandment: You shall not covet — which encapsulates all the previous nine (Exodus 20:17)

D. Hendrickson: Inordinate yearning for earthly treasure obscures the spiritual eye and darkens the whole inner life

1. Satan's temptation of Adam and Eve worked by instilling a covetous heart — jealousy of what God possessed (Genesis 3)
2. Jealousy produces a compassionless heart and turns those who possess what we desire into idols
3. This explains the idolization of celebrity culture — people worship those who possess what they covet

E. Remedy: Turn to the light of Christ, which drowns out the darkness of envy and covetousness

III. Who Is Your Master? (Matthew 6:24)

A. The word mammon (trusted thing) frames the contrast as two kinds of faith — two different objects of trust

1. What you give your heart and mind's eye to is ultimately what you trust
2. The five solas of the Reformation express the posture of leaning on Christ alone

B. The word master conveys something that lords over you — an idol that may lie dormant but, when it calls, commands everything

1. Positive example: the disciples dropped their nets immediately when Christ called (Matthew 4:18-22)
2. Negative example (Doriani): Treating faith as a hobby or God as one employer among many — reserving Sunday for God and the rest of the week for mammon

C. A master demands service at any time — what you drop everything for is your true master

1. What do you organize your day and week around?
2. Could you drop your net today if Christ called you to?
3. Are the lawful pleasures of this life held with a loose grip — enjoyed moderately for God's glory — or clutched as a god?

D. Application and Gospel call

1. Calvin: Our hearts are perpetual idol factories; we will battle idols until we die
2. Do not lie to yourself about your sin — honesty with oneself is essential
3. Luther's first thesis: repentance is not a once-for-all event but a lifelong continuous process
4. When guilt is found: repent, turn to Christ, receive his forgiveness, and endeavor after new obedience to your Lord and Master