God Is Better Than His Gifts – 6/16/24

Thank you, Jeremy. As you turn to Matthew 6, I want to talk for a second about memory, memorization. At the beginning of this section of Matthew known as the Sermon on the Mount, I challenged you to memorize either portions of the Sermon on the Mount or some of you, many of you are working on the whole thing.

A few weeks after I issued that challenge, I was chatting with my daughter, and she mentioned she had finished. I asked her where she was on the memorization, and she said she had finished memorizing it. I’m thinking, wait a second, I’m still working on some verses here. What did you do?

She told me her strategy, and I think it’s worth hearing because I think some of you it could really help. It’s helping me. Especially if you hear yourself say things like, “my memory days are gone” or “I’m just not good at that.” Try this. And many of you have your strategies, so ignore me. But this might help many of you.

The reason this is important right now is we are about to enter the slowest part of our series in Matthew ever. The next five weeks, we’re just going to cover ten verses after today. Ten verses in five weeks. So it’s a great time — if you haven’t been able to memorize anything up to this point — to commit to work on the end of chapter 6. Verses 25-34 is the section we’ll be looking at during Wisdomfest. And here’s a strategy that might help. This is the way my daughter did it.

All of you who have a smartphone have on it a voice memo app. Go to that voice memo app and press record and simply read the passage to the voice memo. Just read it out loud. She did three times. I recommend four or five times. Just read it over and over again and record it.

I would encourage you, during some of those readings, to go slowly. Because then — what she does is she plays it while she’s looking at the words to burn them into her memory. Then your brain starts filling in because you kind of know what’s coming. But this is the part I love about it.

I live a pretty busy life, so it allows me to take that recording and, if I’m driving somewhere, to play that. So I’m hearing myself read that over and over again. Some of us, the older we get, the more times we need to hear something for it really to stick. But even better than it just sticking, what I find as I’m listening to it over and over again, I’m marinating, meditating on it. Sometimes I find myself praying to God about it without even knowing. Like, I’m supposed to be memorizing. So even if you’re not just determined to memorize, it will help burn the truth of God’s Word into your heart. One of our biggest struggles is our pace keeps us from hearing something more than once. And generally speaking, if you don’t hear something more than once, it’s gone. So would you be willing to try that? Some of you?

Again, some of you have your own method, but perhaps a little tech assistance can benefit you. Let me know if it works for you, because I think this can be a great help. Today we’re going to look at Matthew 6:19-24. Let’s begin with prayer.

Father, this passage is so important for us to hear. So Spirit, help us now to listen well and to know how to respond. We pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

On February 18, 1812, Ann Judson and her husband Adoniram boarded a ship in Salem, Massachusetts to sail as missionaries to Asia. Ann had every reason, every human reason to be having a panic attack at that moment, to be gripped and paralyzed by anxiety. Let me just mention seven reasons why she might be experiencing anxiety at this moment.

Number one, British warships had already blockaded New York Harbor, and a full-blown war is about to break out. 1812 might sound familiar.

Number two, French privateers were capturing vessels and taking prisoners. Adoniram had already been thrown into a French prison when he had gone to England earlier to raise mission support.

Number three, one of the worst storms to hit New England had just dropped several feet of snow, and the ship they’re about to get on is small and covered with ice.

Number four, Ann was from a wealthy family. She was accustomed to a fairly comfortable life. She loved her family. They had a fun family, and she was the life of the party. Just to give you an example, her dad added a wing onto their home just to host community dances. So she’s not running away from her family because she hates her family. She experienced great anxiety about leaving her family.

Number five, her only brother had drowned in a shipwreck several months earlier.

Number six, she most likely would never see her parents or friends again. The average life span for a missionary at that time to Asia or Africa was about five years.

Number seven, she had been married to Adoniram for less than two weeks.

This guy, Adoniram, has written (many of you have heard of this) one of the most famous would-be father-in-law letters ever written. So he wrote months earlier to Ann’s father. I’ll just give you a snippet of the letter.

“I have now to ask, whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to see her no more in this world; whether you can consent to her departure, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of missionary life…to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death.”

Single men, look and learn. This is how you win a woman.

“Can you consent to all of this, for the sake of him who left his heavenly home and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing immortal souls; for the sake of Zion, and the glory of God.”

Ann’s father left the choice to Ann, and she decided to marry Adoniram and embrace this call. Listen to what she wrote in her journal, “I rejoice, that I am in [God’s] hands, that he is everywhere present, and can protect me in one place as well as in another. He has my heart in his hands, and when I am called to face danger, to pass through scenes of terror and distress, he can inspire me with fortitude, and enable me to trust in him. Jesus is faithful; his promises are precious.”

Not long after arriving in Burma, now Myanmar, Ann’s journals record her greatest desires.

“If it may please the dear Redeemer to make me instrumental of leading some of the females of Burma to a saving acquaintance with him, my great object would be accomplished, my highest desires gratified; I shall rejoice to have relinquished my comforts, my country, and my home.”

In other words, living for God is better than living for stuff. Ann was simply echoing the words of Jesus in Matthew 6. Matthew 6 is all about what we live for. Another way to say it is, what we trust in, where we place our confidence.

We’ve learned the last three weeks, in verses 1-18, don’t live for status. Don’t live to be seen, to be liked, to be popular among people. You will be insecure. Today we begin the second half of the chapter, which is don’t live for stuff/possessions.

In Matthew 6:19-24, Jesus refers to three pairs: two treasures, two eyes, two masters. These contrasting couplets explain why Ann got on the boat, why living for God is better than living for stuff. Jesus gives us three reasons: security, vision, peace. Let’s look at those three.

Number one, security, true security. Verses 19 to 21. Jesus basically says two things: seeking treasures on earth is insecure, seeking treasures in heaven is secure. Verse 19,

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Jesus is making four points here in this section. One, we all want more. We are all treasure hunters. We are all laying up some kind of treasure somewhere. That word “lay up” has the idea of amassing, storing, accumulating, gathering. The idea could be summarized with the word “more.” We all think we need more of something.

Now, of course, we need some earthly treasure. Jesus acknowledges this later in verse 32. He says, “your Father knows you need of these.” You need clothes and something to eat. You need some of this. But, what Jesus is getting at is that insatiable sense of “more.” For some of us, it might not be money. It could be love, respect. It could be savings. It could be possessions, but we want more.

Jesus is assuming that, number two, our hearts will follow our “more.” Jesus is emphasizing: follow your heart, find your treasure. Whatever that insatiable sense of “more” is, if you track with that, you will find your heart. You will find your treasure.

Number three, earthly stuff will never be enough. Earthly stuff, while some is needed, cannot be our “more,” our treasure. Why? Jesus gives two reasons:

Number one, it will not last. It’s what he means by verse 20, “where moth and rust destroy.” Stuff is devourable. Moth, rust, mice, worms, IRS eats stuff up. Cars break down. This is the law of entropy. Houses deteriorate. Assets remain when we depart. It will not last.

Number two, it can be stolen. It’s what he means by “where thieves break in and steal.” It’s yours and then it’s not. The market crashes. Bitcoin can be devalued. Housing markets bust. Businesses fail. Toys break. Earthly treasure is insecure and therefore it’s never enough because we constantly have to accumulate in order to ensure that, if we lose this, we have this. And if we lose this, we have this. We have backups to our backups. We become like the gerbil on the wheel, always thinking we need a little more. Ask super rich people who are the most miserable people they know. As one told me recently, they live in my subdivision, always wanting more.

Haggai 1:6, “You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.”

Earthly stuff will never be enough.

Finally, Jesus is saying heavenly treasure, heavenly “more” is secure. Verse 20,

“…but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

When you invest in heaven, you cannot lose. Now, ignorance will come back and say, “Whoa! You’re trying to make us so heavenly-minded, we’re of no earthly good.” Jesus would say, no. It’s actually the opposite. Let me show you one example. Luke 14:12-14,

“[Jesus] said also to the man who had invited him, ‘When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid.”

What Jesus says is the way the world goes around is, “you scratch my back, I scratch yours.” We join the same club. We make each other feel good. A lot of it’s not bad. But what Jesus is saying is, if that’s your life, you’re missing something. He goes on, verse 13,

“But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

When you care for the uncared for, you are investing in heaven, and there is no immediate sacrifice that won’t be ultimately worth it. Do you see? The words that Jesus just spoke have unleashed on our world the greatest social transformation in history. Because followers of Jesus began thinking the way the world never thinks. That is not just “what is in it for me now” but how can I care for the ones who are uncared for with the resources God has entrusted me with? That brings about a lot of earthly transformation. So we’re not talking about just floating around in the skies. We’re talking about a vision of stuff that transforms neighborhoods, communities, countries.

When Ann Judson got on the boat — giving up her family, her home, her friends to travel to a country that would eventually imprison her husband, eventually take her life so that she could translate the Bible into a language it had never been translated in, advocate for women’s education, serve the poor — she was investing in something that could never be taken away. She was the Warren Buffett. When the market is volatile, you have all these investors who are haggling over buy/sell, and Warren Buffett’s over here making bank. That’s what Ann is doing. She’s saying, I’m going for the ultimate investment in caring for the uncared-for and sharing the gospel with those who’ve never heard rather than clinging to my stuff. So why is living for God better than living for stuff? True security.

Number two, clear vision (verses 22 to 23). Jesus makes two points: seeing life with an eye for stuff is darkness, seeing life with an eye for God is light. Verse 22,

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness?”

Jesus is not making a plug for annual eye exams. That is important. He is illustrating a healthy vision of stuff. How do we know that because he doesn’t mention stuff in those two verses? We know that because the verses above it are talking about possessions, the verses below it are talking about possessions.

Secondly, we know it because, in Hebrew culture, to have a “bad eye” is to be greedy. To have a good eye is to be generous. Let me show you an example. Proverbs 23:6-7,

“Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy.”

If we just read the English, we won’t see it, but the word “stingy” there is literally “bad eye.” You can see why the English translators are saying if we just say, “bad eye,” people aren’t going to have a clue what we’re talking about. So they rightly translated it “stingy.” But it’s literally “bad eye.” Look at the context. Proverbs 23:6-7,

“Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy; do not desire his delicacies, for he is like one who is inwardly calculating, ‘Eat and drink!’ he says to you, but his heart is not with you.”

A greedy person might offer you something with the air of generosity, but be careful because he is inwardly calculating, and his heart is not with you. He’s up to no good. His vision is darkness. What does that mean? He sees you as someone usable, expendable, marketable for an agenda that he is not stating. So you think one thing, but he — The word we often use regarding this is “manipulative” or “duplicitous.” This vision of life Jesus is calling “darkness.” Back in Matthew 6:23,

“How great is the darkness…”

An illustration of that is living with a highly manipulative person who might be saying something nice to you or doing something nice for you, and then suddenly you realize, what just happened? “Was it my fault? Did I say something wrong? Did I do something wrong?” The heart and the home is characterized by darkness.

In contrast to that, a healthy eye is a good eye. Or literally, a single eye. Not a Mike Wazowski, Monsters Inc. single eye but a non-duplicitous eye, two different, a different agenda kind of eye, undivided. Look at, for example, Proverbs 22:9,

“Whoever has a bountiful eye [It’s literally “good eye.”] will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.”

In contrast to having some kind of duplicitous agenda, there’s just a simple generosity that is so refreshing.

Also, a good eye is capable of seeing through advertisements that promise something they can’t deliver. In our culture, we are swarmed with advertisements that aren’t simply selling a product, they’re selling a life. Like, if you want happiness, you’ve got to own this. You’ve got to wear this, you’ve got to use this. A good eye, as Jesus describes, can see through that and see that there is an agenda to deliver something that it cannot deliver. Summarizing this, John Piper writes,

“You have a good eye if you look at Master-Money and Master-God and see Master-God as infinitely more valuable… The seeing of the good eye is not neutral. When it sees God, it sees God-as-beautiful. It sees God-as-desirable.”

That’s what got Ann on the boat: Jesus is faithful, his promises are precious. That’s clear vision: able to distinguish between what is futile and what is valuable.

Third. Living for God is better than living for stuff because of security, he provides the vision, and he gives (third) peace. Serving stuff leads to anxiety. Serving God leads to peace. I’m combining two ideas here because obviously the main point Jesus is making in verse 24 is the impossibility of having two masters. Look at verse 24,

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

The word “money” there, often translated “mammon” is a transliteration of an Aramaic word that simply means riches, possessions, property, stuff. We think we are the masters of our money, but if our primary allegiance is not to God, our money can become the master of us.

In 200 A.D., Thascius Cyprian was born in Carthage (today Tunisia) in North Africa. Cyprian was upper class and wealthy. He became a successful lawyer and professor of rhetoric. But he increasingly grew repulsed by the greed, the immorality, the dishonesty of paganism. He became a Christian when he was 46 years old and gave much of his wealth away to the poor. Later he became the Bishop of Carthage, and at 58 he was martyred for his faith in Jesus. Having been extremely rich, his warnings to the wealthy are sobering. He writes this,

“Their property held them in chains… chains which shackled their courage and choked their faith and hampered their judgment and throttled their soul… If they stored up their treasure in heaven, they would not now have an enemy and a thief within their own household… They think of themselves as owners, whereas it is they rather who are owned: enslaved as they are to their own property, they are not the masters of their money but its slaves.”

This is what Jesus is concerned about in verse 24. He is all about setting captives free. Money is a great servant. It is a terrible master. So what does this have to do with peace? Combining two ideas, the main point is you can’t have two masters. But look where this goes. Look at verse 25,

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?”

This is the “more” that we are promised. So Jesus is not warning us of the slave master of stuff because he looks down on Americans and says, “Hey, you guys are having way too much fun. I want you to be miserable.” No. He sees a society, young and old, wracked with anxiety, devoid of true peace, and he says, “I have more for you. Come to me for more.”

Our entire series on anxiety will be focusing on over the next five weeks,  and is linked to and launched by these three paragraphs. Serving God is better than serving stuff because God provides security, vision, and peace. And because this peace comes from our Father, not our circumstances — not our bank account, not our health, not our friends — we can experience this peace whether we are soaring in prosperity or suffering in adversity. It is enduring.

You get a glimpse of this in Ann and Adoniram’s journey across the ocean toward Burma. Sometimes we think that missionaries are different kinds of people. Like they don’t have the struggles we have. It’s not true. They’re no different from us. You get a glimpse of that in Ann’s journal. She writes,

“My native land, my home, my friends, and all my forsaken enjoyments, rushed into my mind; my tears flowed profusely, and I could not be comforted.”

Ann is aware of and lamenting the loss. One evening, Ann and Adoniram and the other members of the mission team had a very candid conversation. Listen to what she wrote about that.

“We conversed much on death, and the probability of our finding an earthly grave. The subject was solemn and affecting, yet secretly pleasing and consulting.”

Why was it secretly pleasing and consoling? Was Ann some kind of sadist? No. Ann really believed that his lovingkindness is better than life.

There is consolation. Ann and Adoniram had sweet times getting to know one another. Remember, this was their honeymoon cruise, going to Burma. Ann actually organized ocean aerobics for the whole team. True story. On deck, jump rope for entertainment and for exercise. Shockingly, Susan, my assistant, was able to find actual footage of those exercises on the ship. I don’t know where she found it. Ann wrote of that time,

“I do not recollect any period of my life, in which I have, for so long a time, had such constant peace of mind.”

Constant peace of mind. Our Father provides security, vision, and peace.

How do we know whether we are putting our confidence in living for stuff or God? I want to propose three questions that might help us. These three questions will link the three paragraphs we just looked at with the three practices we’ve looked at over the last three weeks — giving, praying, fasting.

Question number one, what do I think I need more of? Or what is my “more?” This flows from the “laying up” language Jesus uses. What am I laying up? Paul uses similar language that might help us. 1 Timothy 6:8-9,

“But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.”

In other words, don’t make stuff your “more.” Why? Verse nine,

“But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.”

So what should my “more” be? Verse 11,

“But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.”

How about make that your “more?” Yes, you need to work a job. Yes, you need to earn some money. Yes, you need to eat some food. But you get to the end of the week and say, “Lord, if I’ve experienced more of your righteousness through Jesus Christ, if I am becoming more godly, my faith increasing, my love expanding, steadfastness, endurance, gentleness, these are big wins!” Big wins. Do we think like that? Or are we looking for a different more to measure success? Paul goes on in verse 17,

“As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches—”

In other words, that’s not going to provide security. Just what Jesus says, it won’t last. It can be taken.

“…but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.”

Can we take that in? I think living in America is probably the hardest place in the world — perhaps even the hardest place in history — to live these words of Jesus because of the prosperity. How should an American church think about a passage like this? Do we just ignore it? No, that’s not good. Do we just feel guilty for living in America? That doesn’t help anyone. Yet that’s what Paul means: he gives to enjoy. Enjoy. Don’t walk away just feeling guilty because you have stuff. But don’t stop there. Go for more. Look what he goes on to say.

“They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future”

Just what Jesus said, that’s security.

“So that they may take hold of that which is truly life.”

Not fake life. Not a life you will leave with regret. Everything in our culture is screaming the opposite. Trying to sell what is not truly life. Countless voices are screaming to Ann, “Don’t get on the boat! You’re crazy!” One of the benefits of reading old books about Christians who sacrifice greatly is you get to look back on that and think, what if she didn’t get on the boat? What if she decided, “I’m going to dance my way to happiness!” She’d still be dead now. Chances are she wouldn’t be 150-something years old. She’d be dead by now. That helps me because I think what seems so crazy in this moment suddenly takes on a big picture, and you realize there might be more. There might be more. What is my “more?”

Second question, do I have a good vision? I want to specifically help us see this connection. Can I see the connection between the greatness of God and the goodness of God? The last question sent us off in a generous direction. What might help us answer this question is the second practice Jesus taught us a couple of weeks ago. That is how to pray.

“Our Father in heaven—” What’s next? “…hallowed be your name.” Your what come? Kingdom. Your what be done? “…your will be done on earth as it is heaven.” Praying, as we heard a couple of weeks ago, begins with God.

Why? Why not start with ourselves? Because if we start with ourselves, we may misunderstand the goodness of God and think that it’s all being expressed for my own in-built, turn-on-myself purpose. But the way Jesus teaches us to pray is your name be hallowed, your kingdom come, your will be done. Now, Lord, we do need daily bread. And that’s more than food. I need stuff. I can’t live without it. I need to eat and wear and drive. I’m going to need some stuff. But the stuff that’s provided is provided that his name would be hallowed, his kingdom would come, his will would be done.

He washes us clean.

“Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

Why? “For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory.” It’s all that your name would be hallowed. That’s where we find great joy, great peace, and specifically a clear vision so that we can see that the gifts he gives — his goodness and his greatness — are linked. Clear vision can see that. That his stuff is for his status.

Third question. Do I have peace in the midst of loss or difficulty? We’re not going to explore this one anymore because this question is going to launch us into the next five weeks. How does anxiety indicate that my confidence might be in the wrong thing and invite me to place my confidence in my Father? Our series, Rising Above Anxiety, we’re going to learn over the next few weeks how to do that, how our Father enables us to live beyond the bondage of anxiety.

One of the practices that can help us, that we learned about last week, is fasting. Why? Because fasting is withholding something to behold Someone. We’re temporarily eating less so that we can have more. That’s miraculous when an American intentionally withholds because we want to know there is something more. I would strongly encourage you, if you haven’t yet, to find a plan to fast from something, even if you’re beginning small.

With these questions in front of you, let’s take a moment to pause. Then I’m going to pray. Think about what has the Spirit said to you this morning? And what he is calling you to do?

Father, thank you that you are still calling men and women, like Ann and Adoniram to get on the boat. The elders met with a couple this week with three little ones heading to a country that is extremely hostile and yet, with such joy, they follow you. Father, that’s going to look different for all of us. You’re going to call some of us to sell everything and go, and you’re going to call some of us to use what you’ve given us and stay. But in both cases, Lord, we ask that we would not be in bondage to the gifts you’ve given us for your glory. And for the good of our neighbors, that you would break the shackles.

Lord, we pray for young people, that they would not enter this cycle of crushing debt that is suffocating so many in our nation. It’s a pattern of bondage. You have something way more for us.

Lord, I pray for some with extremely sensitive consciences who are going to walk away today just feeling guilty for having stuff. Lord, show us you’ve given us stuff for a reason. Give us creativity to know how we can leverage what you’ve provided for the advancement of your kingdom, the good of our neighbors.

Thank you, Lord, for the gifted business men and women we have in our church. You’ve given them the gifts, the brains, the diligence, the integrity to work hard, to make a lot of money. Lord, show them, show us creative ways to utilize what you’ve given to us for the benefit of many in advancement of your gospel.

Thank you, Lord, that you’ve made this church a generous church. We want to grow in that, Lord. We know we’re just taking baby steps. We want to keep growing not because we have something to prove or earn, but because you are better than stuff. May our lives preach that, we pray in Jesus’ name, amen.