Sermon by Dr. Jeffrey Jeremiah
January 23, 2005

"Wise With Your Treasures"
Matthew 6:19-24

We’re in this series, "Make Your Life Count in 2005." We’ve seen that the best way to do that is to live your life with wisdom, the wisdom that comes from God Himself, wisdom that He has given you as you’ve received Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Savior and Lord. Today we’re going to look at how we wisely manage our treasures, the money, material possessions, the financial resources that God gives to us. Question: did you know that Jesus talked about money and material possessions more than any other topic in His teaching ministry? Sixteen of His 38 parables spoke to money and possessions. Jesus wasn’t a fundraiser. He dealt with money matters because He knows money matters to us. This is borne out by the fact that a recent survey indicated that two-thirds of Americans worry about finances every single day. There are four points I’d like to make today; the first is a brief biblical overview of material things.

Nowhere does the Bible teach that money is evil. It is not money or possessions that are at fault; it is the way we can attach ourselves to them that is the problem. As I Timothy 6:10 says, it is "the love of money" that is "the root of many evils." In addition, Jesus did not advocate poverty as a means to spirituality. In all of His many instructions, only once did He tell a person to "sell your possessions and give to the poor" (Matthew 19:21). In that particular case, the young man’s wealth was his idol, his god, and therefore the barrier between him and the lordship of Jesus Christ. Both the Old and New Testaments recognize the right to personal property. The foundational truth that underlies the commandments "you shall not steal" and "you shall not covet" is the right of personal property. The testimony of God’s Word is that it is wise and good to honestly earn and provide for our families, to make reasonable plans and save for the future, to make wise investments, and to have money to carry on a business, give to the poor, and support the Lord’s work.

That brings us to our second point, Jesus’ words in Matthew 6. In verses 19 to 24 He gives us three choices or warnings about the way we use material things. With your possessions you can store up "treasures in heaven" or "treasures on earth." Your management determines whether you have a "good eye," in which your body is full of light, or a "bad eye," in which your body is full of darkness. And finally, Jesus’ words in verse 24: "No one can serve two masters. 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 both God and Money." Notice what Jesus does here. He puts money, trusting in, putting your faith and security in money on a par with trusting in, putting your faith and security in God Himself! Jesus says that earthly treasures are so attractive, so powerful that they can grip and master your heart, your mind, your whole life. Money can become your god, demanding your entire devotion, demanding that you live for them exclusively and absolutely. This is exactly what God does. He declares, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength." "You cannot serve both God and Money." Nothing could be said more clearly, or be more obvious than Jesus’ words here. It’s an "either/or." There is no room for compromise or "splitting the difference." You either serve God, or you serve your money. Don’t forget that Jesus is speaking to His followers, those who believe in Him. Follower of Jesus Christ, whom do you serve? The One who loves you and saves you, the One who calls you His own prized possession, who has given you life and with it all things richly to enjoy in this life and in the life to come? Or do you serve another god? The way you and I look at, think about, and use our material possessions ultimately determines our relationship with God.

Our next point addresses what the wisdom of serving God with your treasures looks like in action. First, you are wise to enjoy what you have. Hebrews 13:5 says, "Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have." I think you’ll agree with me when I say we live in a culture of discontent. The messages we’re bombarded with every day say, "Don’t be content, don’t be satisfied. You’re not going to find enjoyment until you get something more, you buy something else, you acquire something you don’t currently have." Let me quantify the impact of discontent. Last year, the average American spent approximately 115% of what they earned. I like this quote: "The trouble is that too many people are spending money they haven’t earned yet for things they don’t need to impress people they don’t even like." Isn’t that true? Enjoy, be thankful for, be content with what you have. The end of Hebrews 13:5 tells you why and how you can be content: "For God has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’" A second way to wisely serve God with your treasures is to return the tithe to Him. God is very specific about this in the Bible. In Malachi 3:10 He says, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house." The word tithe does not mean "give," it literally means ten percent. Notice what Leviticus 27:30 says: "The tithe…is the Lord’s." He claims that 10 percent belongs to Him, it’s His possession. That’s why He says in Malachi 3:9 that you are robbing Him if you don’t tithe. Why 10 percent? God could have said 20 percent or 50 percent. I do know this: 10 percent is enough to get my attention and to challenge me spiritually. I do know that returning 10 percent is enough to cause me to say, "God, I’m putting you first in my finances and I’m putting you first in my life." That’s what tithing is all about. The Living Bible puts Deuteronomy 14:23 this way: "The purpose of tithing is to teach you always to put God first in your lives."

Here’s an illustration about the importance of putting God first. Mrs. Baughman was my sixth grade Sunday School teacher. One morning, she brought a pan of brownies to our class. As the goodies sat over by her chair, she gave each child a slip of paper marked with a household expense: house payment, utility bill, phone bill, entertainment, and so on. My slip said car payment. Before long, Mrs. Baughman picked up the tray of brownies and began naming the expenses written on the papers. As we gave her our slips, she gave each of us a brownie. "Car payment," she announced. I jumped up to get my brownie. Finally, the last brownie was gone. But one boy named Donald still held his slip of paper. "God" called Mrs. Baughman. Donald came forward hoping the teacher had one more brownie hidden somewhere. With a knife Mrs. Baughman scraped the crumbs from the bottom of the pan into Donald’s napkin. He got a pretty raw deal, just crumbs. "The brownies represent your money," Mrs. Baughman explained. "If you don’t give God what is His first, He probably won’t get anything except the crumbs."

Putting God first in your life. That’s really the issue here. God wants you to put Him first, and He knows the major competitor for first place is money. God doesn’t want your money. He wants you – your life, your commitment, your trust. Tithing isn’t God’s way of raising money, it’s His way of raising you to be the person He’s called you to be in Jesus Christ: faithful, productive, successful, and wise. God knew that we would struggle with this, and so He gives us an extraordinary invitation at the end of Malachi 3:10: "Test Me in this, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.’" Throughout the Bible, testing God is a sin. Here is the only place in God’s Word where we are told, even encouraged to test God. He says, "If you doubt Me, if you doubt My generosity, my ability to provide for you, put Me to the test. If you’re afraid that my command to tithe will make your life miserable, test me and see what kind of God I really am." Tithing is not an issue of money, it’s an issue of trust. Do you trust God?