Introduction
Let me begin with a discipleship question: will we trust and obey Jesus in the real decisions of everyday life? Christ forms us through truth received, repentance practiced, and obedience lived out.
Main Points
Grace and Justification
we're in matthew chapter six so if you have your bible we've been spending the entire summer looking at what's called the sermon on the mount and so we are now almost directly in the middle of this sermon and it's good for us to take a minute based off what we're going to talk about this morning to just think about what jesus is saying and try to understand how we're doing in regards to his teaching let me share a quote with you from c.s lewis and this was actually shared with me by kirk and i find it helpful because if you're ever sitting under the teaching of the sermon on the mount you'll probably hear this is the greatest sermon ever preached which is true but with anything that's great uh it's sometimes less than thrilling when you're going through it and so cs lewis uh was once accused of not liking the sermon on the mount it's like well you don't like the sermonal mountain it's the greatest sermon ever preached well if you really listen to it you don't like it either because of what it actually does to your life look what he says as to caring for the sermon on the mount if by caring you mean liking or enjoying i suppose that no one actually cares for it because who can like be knocked flat in the face by a sledgehammer that's what this is supposed to do with an honest reading of it to take the teachings of jesus the words of jesus and say if you really want to follow me if you really want to be a part of my kingdom which is the whole movement of what we call christianity to take king jesus and allow his kingdom to expand on earth here's what this does to your life and you read it and you think this is great until you think i'm nowhere near this and this morning we're gonna i hope ask ourselves three questions so if you're a notetaker i actually have three questions for you this morning as we go through the middle part of this sermon i think three questions naturally come as you study what is really in the middle of this sermon three proverbs that jesus is going to give if you read what we're going to read this morning with a lens like you read the proverbs it's like here are some teachings that will help you understand by riddle almost and what he's trying to get his disciples to understand and us this morning and you as you consider this for your life how do you have an absolute devotion and love for god that is genuine and real and has nothing to do with all of the things that we do in the name of religion it says my disciples are going to be blessed and they're going to be cared for and will have nothing to do with all of the ways that we try to impress people or try to look the part even though inside we're not the part and so this morning jesus i hope will give us these three questions that will give all of us what you're really after whether you know it or not an actual relationship with god a heart that is stirred to know him is stirred to find him is stirred to live for him and if you don't have that don't just don't bother with church it's pointless what we're doing this morning if it doesn't point us to and cultivate in us and drive us towards a relationship with god that comes from the desires of our heart we're wasting our time and so here are here's the passage of scripture and i'll pause to ask a question for each verse and then we'll come back in and talk about each question so starting in 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 wear 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 there's that riddle we'll talk about it and we'll hopefully allow it to change some of the ways that we think about what jesus is saying question number one what are you seeking what is the treasured possession of your life what are you after in life what are you seeking is question number one the lamp of the body verse 22 is the eye if therefore your eye is good your whole body will be full of light but if your eye is bad your whole body will be full of darkness if therefore the light that is in you is darkness how great is that darkness so question number two how do you see the world around you how do you view relationships and circumstances and the unfolding of history before us what is your perspective in your view of the world and your life and christ and god and people so what do you seek how do you see and verse 24. now question number three no one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other you cannot serve god and mammon that word for earthly possessions wealth treasure on earth possessions and materialism and stuff that you can collect jesus says you can't serve both so question number three is who do you serve so the three questions that will i hope in answering these and allowing these questions to be questions that filter the way we live our lives will cultivate in us a genuine heart before god starting with question number one what do you see jesus says don't lay up yourselves treasures on earth and he gives us a reason for that because people take treasures and moths eat them and rest will destroy them he says find a treasure that is eternal that will not perish with the perishing world that you live in context we talk through matthew chapter six leading up to this remember our sermon on hypocrisy the whole sermon on hypocrisy could be broken down into what you're really after because for each religious act that jesus will warn against hypocrisy for he says and there's a reward it says in your charitable giving in your praying and in your fasting there is a way to do all of those things in the religious theater to be seen by men or to impress people or to show how spirit you are on the outside because that's what people can see or you can do everything in secret your right hand won't know what your left hand is giving you're going to go into your prayer closet and when you fast you're actually going to get a haircut and clean your face and in doing everything in secret you now have a reward from god who will reward you openly and the whole dichotomy of the two positions was where's your treasure what are you really after in religion is it people and the glory you receive for yourself or is it god and actually knowing him and so now we come to this text that is oftentimes preached with i think some appropriate measure on giving it's like treasures in heaven or treasures on earth so church you read that and it's like okay invest into the kingdom with your time your resources and your money and that's part of the message but what jesus is saying in context is choose your treasure and choose it wisely what are you after in you're seeking today why do you lift your voice why do you stand why are you listening why are you taking notes why did you invite a friend why are you going to leave here and do what you do choose your treasure wisely because in all that we do we are either treasuring god and we are here to be rewarded by the fruit of his spirit the knowledge of his word the understanding and the confidence and boldness and hope that we have by realizing that god is the beginning and the end and he has a plan to work all things together for good that's a reward for your life and the reason jesus wants to identify the reward is for two reasons twofold one if you choose your prize your treasure and the thing that you're after in life that is simply material whether it's wealth or health or finances and possessions jesus says you chose a bad treasure because it's not actually a treasure it's going away i have a perfect real-time example of that you may hear my voices somewhat coarse because yesterday from 12 30 to midnight i was at a high school reunion that was my 20-year reunion i said it was my 40 year and someone was like you're not that old i was like no i'm turning 40. i have a 20-year reunion coming up it was yesterday and you know what the weird thing was it was like a lesson in fading treasure because the glory days are over aren't they rolled up i was like you used to have huge muscles you used to have hair every girl liked you and now i don't know so much and i'm thinking of my own life like it's fading fast the treasure of my youth and vitality and all the stuff that i lived for in high school it was all distant memories and we were like i think i vaguely remember you kind of but your name will be forgotten and that's just the reality of the treasures that we live for so often they come and they go so quickly and we live in this hamster wheel of treasure-seeking i have another example of that a couple winters ago i went into what was then our thrift store because my ears were cold and so i was like gotta find a hat for my ears and i picked up this little beanie paid the wage went home like hey babe what do you think about my new beating she's like i just donated that you're an idiot i literally just took that out of your house and gave it away and you thought you found a treasure you've heard it said treasure plus time equals trash choose your treasure wisely because you don't want to live your whole life day by day by day seeking things that are slipping through your grasp so many funerals that i do and you see what people are living for and you get reminded that unless they were living for christ they've got nothing to show for it the other reason twofold reason to choose your treasure wisely and this is where the riddle comes in and i this really i got to this verse and you can ask i was asking the office i was asking i was like what does this what is this getting at verse 21 for where your treasure is there your heart will be also okay treasure heart aren't they similar like i love something i treasure something here's why this is part of this beautiful moment in the sermon on the mount where so many things get put upside down the sermon on the mount challenged you with a sledgehammer because it takes the normal way of thinking about things and it flips it on its head blessed are this poor in spirit really it's blessed to be impoverished in my soul yep because when you're poor god will make you rich in his kingdom blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven it's an upside down sermon and he has moments where it's just more upside down blessed are those who hunger and thirst because you're going to get satisfied if you mourn you'll get comforted and in an upside down nature jesus says know your treasure because your heart's following it your prize goes before your passion is what jesus is saying and that flies in the face of the default position of culture and thinking because what do we say my heart is my guide my passion will point me towards my reward and follow the math does that work that way well not so much first of all jesus or the word says in jeremiah that the heart is deceitfully wicked you give your heart the reins of your life and it'll take you towards all sorts of stuff that are not good for your life here's a quote by how many of you know who anthony bourdain is the hands go up and i love anthony bourdain he was a self-described lover of life and for those born outside of the kingdom that's a great model what he did he's like i'm going to travel the world and i'm going to go to exotic places and experience culture and eat food and gain millions of fans as i do it's like that's a probably the best life you can have as a heathen outside of god's kingdom and what does he say about his own life this is what he says there's a guy inside of my head and all he wants to do is lay in bed all day long do drugs watch movies and old cartoons that's where his heart takes him so he says my whole life is a series of strategies to avoid and outwit that guy the whole thing it's like how can i make sure the guy in my head who controls my heart is not doing what he wants to do who's that guy for you who's that girl for you ladies there's someone inside your head that says all i want to do is work every hour every day and make money and gain wealth and i'll get to my family later and i'll get to god's kingdom later your heart will lead you to your treasure but the treasure is first you have treasured your possessions and now you'll work to do anything that you can or there's the guy or girl that says all i want to do is get to friday i hate my job i hate my life i don't like my friends but if i can get to friday i can watch netflix and i can be alone and i can eat some food and it'll be so nice and you know what happens the heart will get you there you will value free time and a load time over people because your treasure is alone time and your heart will follow jesus is saying choose your prize so that you have the passion to go with it and we get it all backwards don't we it's like man i wish i had more passion for life well what are you living for if you're living for nothing you have no reason to get out of bed so here's the opposite example that i was so grateful for in the timing of where we're at and culture we're doing the 2020 olympics in 2021 so it makes about as much sense as everything else and i just blown away what these people can do as feats of strength when you put your mind to something it's like look at those athletes they're born with passion and it's gotten to the olympics like no it hasn't the olympics gave them passion look what one olympian said she said i dream of bending down on top of the podium and receiving olympic gold medal around my neck i close my eyes and i can see the crowd cheering and i listen for the national anthem and then i go to practice did you catch it right there i can see it's a gold medal there's an audience full of people they're cheering me on for the sake of our country and when i close my eyes i see that and now i go to practice she doesn't go to practice and just wind up at the olympics she has the olympics on her heart and now we understand what jesus is saying what do you value and what do you treasure if you treasure religion then you're going to be passionate about religion if you treasure self-righteousness you're going to be passionate about yourself but if you can close your eyes and get the heavenly vision for what god has set aside to honor you with your life with the gift of the spirit in your life and in the same way you could see that distant day when you stand on the podium before god and you bend before him to lay it all at his feet and he crowns you with glory and now you go to practice now you go pray and now you have a vision that is big enough for the passion that you long for there's the classic example of this is the apostle that we all look at the apostle paul we look at him and it's like what got into him so much passion for the kingdom he had passion that would journey him through shipwreck get back up and keep preaching he had enough passion and drive for the kingdom that he would church plant everywhere he went he would get beat and keep preaching raise up leaders and plant got to move on to the next one i'm laying the foundation for christ everywhere i go and you may look at him and think man i just don't have that kind of passion well his passion came from a heavenly prize he had such a big vision for the reward that there was nothing that he wouldn't do for it he said it in his own words look what he says philippians chapter 3. but what things were gained to me i've counted lost for christ the treasures that the world and religion and esteem tried to put on me i said i don't want them give them back they can rest somewhere else not on my watch i count at all loss yet indeed i count all things a loss for the excellence of the knowledge of christ how we doing in the first question of what are you seeking paul says i counted it all a loss he'll go on to say by any means necessary i want to experience the resurrected life he was seeking christ he didn't think anything was worth treasuring over just knowing christ and partaking in the sufferings of christ and living his whole life to experience the day that if you follow christ you believe in of resurrection when all of these momentary afflictions that are the weighted on our shoulders that affliction to our soul and they make you question all the treasures that you're collecting on earth paul says they're this big compared to the weight of glory and with that vision of my reward i will do anything to know jesus so what are we seeking what is our reward jesus said for the joy set before me he endured the cross with his eye on the reward of the inheritance of the kingdom to give you the right to be called sons and daughters because you receive christ for that joy he said i endure the shame despise the shame and persecution i'm eyes on the prize will endure and that is how treasure establishes heart mothers you know this with your eye on the prize of holding your newborn you endure labor and believers you know this i'm revived by this message to think about the moment where we go and baptize let me just see that more clearly lord when we accept into the kingdom more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than 99 who are no need and we come and we put people in the baptismal waters and they raise again with the symbolic newness of life it's like i'll i will persevere to that beach i'll make it through the mundane and the missionaries among us and that we send and pray for it's like for that lost culture in that lost country and that lost person i will endure everything i'll sell what i have i'll move my family i'll go to hard mission grounds to endure because your god will always require a sacrifice and that's true of the sacrifice that missionaries and pastors and believers make for the name of the gospel and it's true also of all of the ways that none of us live this perfectly and we will sacrifice to get our alone time and we'll sacrifice to get a little bit more of the earthly treasure on our portfolio so what are you seeking and as you answer that question jesus now comes with the second riddle look what he says verse 22 the lamp of the body is the eye if therefore your eye is good your whole body will be full of light again what is he getting at and it gets even more confusing when he says but if your eye is bad your whole body will be full of dark if there for the light that is in you is darkness how great the darkness will be how can light be darkness let's hold that and just think about what jesus is saying that we can understand at least with anatomy and physiology your eye is the instrument that god gave you by which you take in all of the view that light will shine the view of this sanctuary and the view of the people sitting next to you your eye is probably working by letting the light invade so that you can make impressions of what's happening around you okay now let's take it to christ says i'm the light of the world the prophecies of christ said that there were people in great darkness and they saw a great light colossians says that when you give your life to christ you're transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the sun who is light so there's something happening in the view of christ that we can relate to what happens physically turn off the lights i can't see but turn on the lights i see everything and now we have christ the visible image of the invisible god i love what c.s lewis says about christ he says i believe in christ as i believe that the son has risen not because i see it not only because i see it but because by it i see everything else there's an interesting creation theology that c.s lewis is helping us see the sun i don't just believe in the sun i believe in everything because of the sun it shines light on all of the ways that we interpret the world around us and he says that's how i believe in christ when i see christ i see everything else living parable i love when the lord is making me wrestle with a verse and then gives me a story that happens in my life that helps me see this so this week god using fools for christ i completely lived up to that by backing into someone and damaging their car so i was like i got out of my car and i was like great this is going to be a lesson that i'll use for a sermon i had an awesome attitude did not happen i was like i'm an idiot how am i going to pay for this what am i going to say to this guy and so we get on the phone and we you know exchange information and talk the next day and he says hey uh just want to let you know that i ain't worried about the dent and no issue just not gonna i'm not gonna worry about it you can just go ahead and scratch that one up to a whoopsie daisies and move on and i'm like this is a nice car this is not like a beater car and he's like yeah it's okay and i kept trying to talk him out of it you know when you feel bad for the mercy that you receive kind of a theological point i'm like come on let me do something like i gotta help or do and he's like just you're forgiven and probing him and pressing him i'm like why do you want to not fix your car and he said well a couple of years ago i hit a guy and he got out of the car and he saw a big dent he looked at me and he goes not worried about it you can go ahead and then the guy who's now forgiving me was like i was so moved by that i decided to try it and so here we are and you know the world calls that pain it forward but what we can see now is he got the light of forgiveness and by that moment of forgiveness he can now see forgiveness he now sees it other places he got the moment where god's amazing gift of compassion was shined on his life and then he said i want to shine it that's what jesus says in the lord's prayer forgive us as we forgive experience we want to experience the light of forgiveness and by which we become lights of forgiveness when you see christ you see everything else and now we study him and we understand the way of christ and we try to know more about him so that we can see forgiveness and mercy and compassion and humility and kindness and love and self-sacrificial giving all over the place because we saw it in christ that is what jesus is getting at when he says what do you see what do you see when someone hits your car what do you see when someone runs into you and inconveniences you and where god would see a moment of compassion and mercy your flesh sees a moment of wrath and the question is what do you see do you see with the light of christ or are we walking in a religious theater that is actually very dark and with that question we now read again verse 23 because there's a riddle here and i want to give two answers if your eye is bad you're not seeing forgiveness you're not seeing compassion and mercy you're not seeing the gospel on display the hope of the gospel working in any broken relationship working in any lost soul you don't see that all you see is bad news headlines your eye is bad you don't see the power of redemption that could reach your enemy all you see is an enemy your eye is bad if your eye is bad the whole body will be full of darkness if therefore the light that is in you is darkness how great is that darkness two answers one jesus says i'm the light of the world and then in the sermon on the mount he says you're the light of the world a city on a hill let your light shine before men so he's saying you have light but if the light is actually swallowed up by the darkness of your religious theater if the light is actually something you are using for an earthly treasure if you're using the light of god's amazing gift of giving compassionately as a way to give so that people see you if you're using the light of god's presence as a way for people to know how well you pray it's getting da
Conclusion
We return to the opening teaching: discipleship is not just information, it is transformation through faith and obedience to Jesus. If we receive His Word and walk it out, He will shape us into people who endure and bear fruit.
Lord Jesus, help me hear Your Word, obey it with faith, and grow as Your disciple. Amen.
Conclusion
We return to the opening teaching: discipleship is not just information, it is transformation through faith and obedience to Jesus. If we receive His Word and walk it out, He will shape us into people who endure and bear fruit.
Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus, help me hear Your Word, obey it with faith, and grow as Your disciple. Amen.