Martyn Lloyd-Jones tells the story of a farmer who bounded joyfully into his kitchen one day. With a great big grin on his face, he announced to his wife that their finest cow had just given birth to twins: one brown and one white. He said, “I feel the impulse to dedicate one of these cows to the Lord. We’ll bring them up together, and when they are at a marketable age, we’ll sell them. We’ll keep the proceeds from one and give the proceeds from the other to the Lord.”
His wife, as wives are prone to do, went right to the heart of the matter and asked, “Which is the Lord’s cow? The white one or the brown one?”
He replied, “Well, there’s no need to worry about that, dear, or to decide now, since we’ll raise them together.”
Some months later, he entered the same kitchen, but this time he was a little slower and looked very sad. His wife asked why he was so sullen, to which he replied, “I have bad news. The Lord’s cow died.”
Why is it always the Lord’s cow that dies? We laugh at this story because we identify with this kind of approach. We could even say, “The Lord took His cow home.” The fact is, we all tend to lay up treasure on Earth. The pull of the sin within us drags us down to the Earth; it’s like a magnet, like gravity. We want to be rich toward ourselves and poor toward God. So, it’s usually God’s cow that dies.
In the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord gives us tremendous insight into how we should truly see wealth, money, and luxuries. He talks about luxuries and will later talk about daily necessities. We can broadly divide the entire sixth chapter into two sections: verses 1–18 and 19–34. If we remember two questions and their answers, it will help us keep the key message of the entire chapter in mind.
There are two key things in this chapter.
What is the most vital thing to remember when I perform religious duties? If there is one thing I must remember when I give, pray, and fast, what is it? The little phrase is, “The Father sees…” That is the key verse for the first 18 verses. If I remember that, I can perform my duties properly. Our time alone with God can sometimes become dull, dry, and cold, and we might not feel like praying. We sadly give up and do not pray regularly. How can we renew that? Revival won’t come by giving up. In the midst of that dryness and coldness, knowing that the Father sees me will lead to an earnest cry out to Him. God’s fresh presence, grace, and revival will come. Remember that the Father sees you when you give, pray, and fast. The Father who sees us in secret will definitely reward us. Remember that—it is the key to performing secret duties regularly.
The next verses, 19–34, are not about religious duties but about our worldly life—the world of things: food, houses, clothes, work, and earning money for our family and wealth. What must I remember in this world, which is full of physical needs? The key is, “The Father cares.” “The Father sees” is all we need to remember when doing religious duties. “The Father cares” is what we need to remember for all our needs in this world—paying bills, family needs, children’s needs, their future, school fees, and our own future. Always remember that the Father cares.
Verses 19–24 deal with the positive love of the world and its things. Verses 25–34 deal with the sinful anxiety of the world; the word “anxious” is used four times. We are tempted in both ways. In verses 19–24, our Lord talks about treasures. As we saw last week, it is not wrong to accumulate money and invest well, but it must be done with the right heart and motive: to live for God’s glory and purposes. This includes taking care of our family and church, helping others in their time of need, investing in the gospel, and investing in souls.
However, selfishly accumulating things with greed and covetousness, living an easy life, and piling up treasures for ourselves on Earth, like the rich fool who stored up enough for centuries, is wrong. God said to him, “Today you will die,” and asked, “Who will enjoy all you have stored?” A person who is not rich toward God will be like this, unable to enjoy anything he lays up. This is what our Lord says not to do: to be consumed with material wealth, to save and save, to love money, which is the root of all evil, and to live to labor for the food that perishes. So, we saw what we shouldn’t do: do not lay up treasure on Earth. But on the other hand, verse 20 says, “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.”
The word “treasure” doesn’t just mean money. A treasure is something that is important and valuable to me. It’s anything that is valuable to us. It’s what our mind decides is valuable, what we invest our time, energy, and life into. For some, it’s money, things, reputation, position, worldly pleasure, worldly fashion, or what society and others say about them. It’s anything that is valuable to us in this world. We must not be preoccupied with laying up treasures on Earth.
What we shouldn’t do is to lay up treasures on Earth. What we should do is to lay up treasures in Heaven. Why? The next verses tell us why. So, let us see why we shouldn’t lay up treasures on Earth and instead lay them up in Heaven. We’ll also see some verses that talk about how to lay up treasures in Heaven. Let’s understand these two things today: why and how.
Why shouldn’t I lay up treasures? Is it not wise to save a lot of money? Why shouldn’t I invest my time, energy, and life in earthly things? For covetous people like us, this command is very difficult to obey. We might say, “Oh no, can we really live like that in this world?” We think so many luxuries and needs are necessary. The entire world of advertising always makes us feel like we don’t have anything. So many new, luxurious things are coming out. We feel poor because we only have one house, not a villa; we only have a car, not a robotic or flying one. We buy a mobile last month, but next month it’s outdated and a new one with new features comes out. Just go into a mall—so many new things are displayed, most of which are not needed. We feel we have so many needs and feel so poor. We want to buy this and that, but we have no money. If God gave us enough money, we would have bought so many things and filled our houses. On the other hand, we worry about the future and save and save.
But our Lord, our King, commands us, “My kingdom people, don’t lay up treasures on Earth.” As His disciples, it is our duty to obey, but our Lord graciously gives us reasons. He seeks to demonstrate by sane and logical reason why He gives this command. It is not to spoil our happiness but to fill our lives with meaning, true joy, satisfaction, security, and peace. Knowing that this is a big challenge for us and very difficult to obey, He gives us such powerful reasons that if we properly think and understand them, without our understanding being darkened or our minds being blinded and maddened by worldly vanity, even our own conscience will support how reasonable His command is. Let’s see those reasons.
The Reason of Common Observation
By common observation, if you watch the life of a person who spends his energy, time, and life laying up treasures—saving and saving—you will know the folly of it. This applies to money, reputation, prestige, position, and pleasure. Simply observe things in the world. Everything in this world is subject to two things:
- Fading and decay: It will perish. “Here moth and rust corrupt.”
- Robbery: It can be robbed by someone else.
All that is on Earth is exposed to decay from without and within. Moth corruption comes from without, and rust comes from within. Here is something that comes from the nature of the treasure itself.
In biblical times, wealth was kept in three basic forms: garments, grain, and gold or precious metals. They were exposed to moths, rust, and thieves. These things don’t attack what you use but what you store. The point is this: if you hoard it, you lose it; it is unsafe and insecure. Oh, you might say, “Maybe that was true in the old days, but not now.” Even today, we have different kinds of moths, rust, and thieves.
Take silver and gold. Leave them alone in a cupboard, and they will tarnish and fade. Things you use will not wear out as quickly. If you don’t believe me, look at the wedding suit or sari you wore. It was so shiny at your wedding and so expensive. Go home and see it now. It’s so faded and maybe even torn. This is true of everything in this world. Everything fades, decays, and perishes. By its nature, everything fades; destruction is in its very nature.
And if it doesn’t fade, you may lose it to robbery. It may still be valuable, but it may go to someone else. Today, how many people are robbed through business schemes and in so many other ways? People get cheated. They save and save, join a financial chit, and then lose that money. Relatives may steal wealth. People buy a piece of land only to find out someone else owns it. What a loss!
Take a person’s reputation. People may hold you in great esteem and praise you, but what’s the use? It’s never permanent. Someone may start slandering you, and how soon your reputation vanishes. It disappears. The history of the world repeatedly shows that someone who stood at the top of the world suddenly comes down and becomes nothing. That’s why we call it a very unstable world.
“Oh, no, pastor,” you might say. “Maybe in the old days, but not now. We can sell gold for the same value or buy a new one. We can safely keep money in a bank or a fixed deposit. We can buy land in Bangalore; the value keeps going up. Moths and rust cannot do anything to that.”
We have not seen a deep recession, but many say it will come soon. How will it impact the money in the bank, the land value, and the gold value? Everything may become worthless and be badly affected. What about inflation, which is 8% to 10% every year? The value of a thousand rupees goes down considerably in just a few years. Riches are exposed to the rust of inflation, and their value goes down considerably, just like the moth of devaluation. Experts say that in another 75–100 years, Bangalore will become an unlivable place with no water or trees. Go out and see places; all the forests are drying up and perishing, and animals are coming out of them. Where will the land value be then? There is no place of security in this life.
Even if the value keeps going up, there is the moth and rust of sickness in our lives. We save a lot of money to eat daily at a five-star hotel, but then we get old, get high cholesterol, and cannot enjoy them. We are told to eat only chapati, with no oil, and at a low cost. We have stored up great wealth and earned great popularity and a good name, but then there is the greatest thief of all, death, that robs everything from us. All physical wealth is subject to moths, rust, and thievery and is exposed to corruption from without. The moth consumes. So many viruses and bacteria can cause a great tragedy and sickness in you or a family member, and that can sweep away your life’s savings in a month. It is absolute folly to lay up treasure that is exposed to corruption and thievery in so many ways. Rust comes from within and eats away. James uses the same word in James 4:14 when he says, “What is life? It is vapor.” It vanishes. It is transitory. You cannot hold on to it or catch it for long. You cannot enjoy anything in this world for a long time.
Even if you keep it all until you die, the thief of death will take it away. You’re going to leave it anyway. Where is your heart? There are many millionaires who will be paupers in eternity, and there are paupers in this life who will be millionaires forever. Where is your treasure? Is it always the Lord’s cow that dies, or do you invest in His kingdom?
By common observation, you see how foolish it is to spend all your energy, time, and life on treasures in this world. Take the treasures of popularity or youthful beauty. The rust of sickness and the moth of age bring lines and wrinkles to your face. Some people place so much emphasis on fashion and beauty and invest so much time and energy into them. But one sickness or accident can leave a big mark on your face, and your beauty is gone. If nothing happens, you will become old soon, and your “market” will disappear. Some great actresses who were once very in demand find that nobody turns to them now. How foolish it is to lay up such treasures and put all your energy there—to live for the praise of people and the world for something that will perish by its very nature. This is true of reputation and pleasure, too. Take anything in this world that you lay up as a thing of value; it is exposed to two things: decay, corruption, and robbery. It is absolute folly to lay up treasures.
So, by common observation, you see the folly because of decay and corruption. It will lose its worth from without and within. How foolish and depraved human hearts are. These facts are clear through common observation, yet we continue to live as if they are not true. We spend our entire lives laying up treasures on Earth. This deadly plague reigns throughout the world. Men have become mad with an insatiable desire for gain. Christ charges them with folly for collecting wealth with great care and then giving up their happiness to moths and rust or exposing it as prey to thieves. What is more unreasonable than to place your property where it may perish by itself or be carried off by others? As one saying goes, “Or even perish of themselves, though nobody touch them.” Covetous people, indeed, give no thought to this.
There is no explanation for this. Sin has had such a devastating effect on our hearts that it doesn’t allow good common sense to live meaningfully. We continue to live that way despite common observation.
Jesus says that if a man has proper thinking and common sense, he should be occupied with laying up treasures in Heaven. It’s just common sense. What kind of treasure is in Heaven? Verse 20 mentions an inheritance that “is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4). From the standpoint of good sense, why not lay up treasures there?
Yet, only a regenerated person gets this sense and understands this. Until a person is born again, his mind doesn’t work this way. One who is illuminated in his mind and heart by the Holy Spirit, who is regenerated by the mighty work of God, sees the proper perspective and says like Moses in Hebrews 11:25: “He made a choice.” Moses, as a regenerated man, said, “I see the absolute folly of laying up treasures on Earth.” He was next in line to be Pharaoh. He could have reasoned, “I can use my power and wealth for God and make all of Egypt worship God.” But he knew that the treasures of Egypt would perish. He wanted to find an incorruptible treasure. He decided, “I will not invest my time, energy, and life into that which perishes, which is exposed to moths, rust, and corruption.” He laid up treasures in Heaven.
Ask yourself, “Where are you laying up treasures?” Where is all your time, energy, and life invested? What is the most important treasure in your life? Is it your looks, dress, money, house, family, or children? What is your treasure?
What have you laid up that is moth- and rust-proof? What are you laying up that is not exposed to the decay and corruption of time, death, and changes in circumstances? What are you laying up that a tragedy cannot take from you? If God should take away the darling of your heart—your husband, wife, children, house, or car—if God should sweep everything away in a moment like He did with Job, what do you have that cannot be touched? If you do not have that treasure and are living only for laying up treasures here, a day will soon come when you will realize how much this world has deceived you and how foolish it was to lay up treasure here. Sadly, many realize this when it is too late. Our Lord wants us to realize this today so that we may live the rest of our lives meaningfully.
Do you have a treasure that a recession, a world war, bombs on your house, a loss of everything, an aged face, a demotion, a sickness, or an accident cannot touch? What are you laying up that death cannot separate you from? Some of you are living for the approval of friends and society. What will happen to that when you die? It will be removed. But if you are laying up treasures for the smile of God, even death cannot take that away.
We see men lay up treasures on their children, with worldly ambitions for them to become this or that. Later, they sacrifice their souls and do not give God first place. And when their children grow up, they become a curse, break their parents’ hearts, and go down a sinful path. Yet we continue to do the same thing.
If God took you away from this life now, how much accumulated wealth would meet you there in Heaven? From the past years, how much have you invested in Heaven? How much time, energy, and thought have you deposited into the bank of Heaven in the last year, month, or week? Think of your Heavenly savings account. How much have you invested? Is it zero, or even a negative balance? Do you not give any of your time or energy to God’s kingdom? We have distributed our time to things that moths, rust, and robbers can take away.
These are things for us all. In Christ’s name, amen.
Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Bangalore 