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Treasure in the Kingdom

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. (Matthew 6:19-21)

JESUS is not just talking about what you do with your disposable income, the money left over after you have paid all your bills. He is not making an appeal at offering time, (that is the only way many preachers know how to use this verse). No, He is doing something far more reaching, something radical, in fact. He is getting down to the root of how we live our lives, our priorities and the things we value. He is really speaking about the treasure of our heart, and there are three decisions we must make:

 

• We must choose where we will lay up our treasure — on earth or in heaven.
• We must choose whether our eye will be evil or good, whether we will be greedy or generous.
• We must choose which master we will serve — God or mammon.

Jesus said, “Stop laying up for yourselves treasures on earth.” That is the force of His statement: Stop! There is to be no more of it at all. Why? Because it does not last. It is easily corrupted and quickly fades away, and in the end, we will find that we have been robbed.

The Greek word for “treasure” is thesauros. The Septuagint, which is a very early Greek translation of the Old Testament, uses thesauros to translate the Hebrew word for “storehouse.” Jesus is literally saying, “Stop storing up for yourselves storehouses on earth.”

As important as it is to notice what Jesus is saying, it is just as important to note what He is not saying. He is not telling us to stop laying up treasure for ourselves, for He goes on to say, “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” He wants us to have storehouses, and God promises to “command the blessing” on the storehouses of those who honor Him and keep His commandments (Deuteronomy 28:8). Rather, it is the purpose of our storehouses that must change. We need to start operating in the purpose of the kingdom of God, the will of God being done on earth as it is in heaven. It requires everything we are and have, but it brings great reward, as Jesus shows us in this brief parable:

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. (Matthew 13:44)

The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure, a storehouse full of wonderful things. But notice where it is hidden: “in a field,” that is, on earth. This treasury is from heaven, but it exists on earth.
      “Laying up treasure” is a matter of the heart, for “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” The priorities of your life and the things you value will be reflected in everything you do and all you have. Will they reveal the corruptions of earth, or the glories of the kingdom of heaven on earth? Store up for yourself treasure in the kingdom of heaven, and it will be a blessing on earth.

The Good Eye

The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be 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! (Matthew 6:22-23)

Jesus is not giving us an anatomy lesson here; He is still talking about laying up treasure. Just as we must choose where we will store up our treasure (on earth or in heaven), we must also choose whether our eye will be evil or good. Speaking of the eye in this way, Jesus is using an ancient Hebrew idiom that describes whether a man is generous or greedy. We see an example of the “evil eye” in the book of Proverbs:

A man with an evil eye hastens after riches,
And does not consider that poverty will come upon him.

(Proverbs 28:22)

The man with an evil eye loves money. It has become his master and he trusts in it to see him through. What he does not realize is that he is actually on the road to poverty and ruin. We discover the source of the evil eye in the book of Deuteronomy:

Beware lest there be a wicked thought in your heart saying, “The seventh year, the year of release is at hand,” and your eye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing, and he cry out to the Lord again you, and it become sin among you. (Deuteronomy 15:9)

The evil eye of stinginess starts as a wicked thought in the heart. The Hebrew word for “wicked” is belial and refers to that which is destructive, worthless, profitless. It does not add to the goodness of life but takes away from it. The man with the evil eye is deceived to think he will profit by his greed. He will not even break even, but will lose all he has. That is why Jesus said, “if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness … how great is that darkness.” He describes that darkness in another place:

For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these things come from within and defile a man. (Mark7:21-23)

But enough of the evil eye. Let’s talk about the good eye — that’s where the blessing is. Jesus said, “If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be light.” The Greek word used here for “good” literally means “without folds” or unentwined. It is simple, single, clear. The good eye is not complicated by greed, as is the evil eye. A man with a good eye is generous. He sows generously and reaps abundantly (2 Corinthians 9:6). Psalm 112 describes the blessing of such a man:

Blessed is the man who fears the Lord,
Who delights greatly in His commandments.
His descendants will be mighty on earth;
The generation of the upright will be blessed.
Wealth and riches will be in his house,
And his righteousness endures forever.
Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness;
He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.
A good man deals graciously and lends;
He will guide his affairs with discretion.
…
He has dispersed abroad,
He has given to the poor;
His righteousness endures forever;
His horn will be exalted with honor.
(Psalm 112:1-5, 9)

This is a man who honors the Lord and follows His Word. It sheds light in his heart and he becomes light to all those around because he is full of grace and compassion. His generosity does not lead to poverty but to prosperity. Wealth and riches will be in his house. The greedy eye leads to lack, poverty, even destruction. The generous eye leads to prosperity and honor.

Only One Master

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. (Matthew 6:24)

“Mammon” is an ancient word that refers, not just to money, but also to the god of money. The Greeks had Plutus as their god of money. The Jews never formalized such a deity, but there were some who idolized money just the same.

We cannot serve both God and money. For one thing, God will not share His glory with any other — the First Commandment declares, “I am the Lord your God … you shall have no other gods before Me.” For another thing, our hearts are not made to be divided. If we try to serve both God and mammon, we will end up loving one and hating the other. It is the source of great confusion in both the inward and outward realms of our lives.

It is not money itself but our attitude toward it that is the problem. Some people think the Bible teaches that money is the root of all evil, but what it actually says is that the love of many is the root of all evil (or all kinds of evil; 1 Timothy 6:10, NKJV). Many people love, serve and put their trust in money for their welfare; they have made it their god.

Money can be a wonderful servant, but it is a tyrannical master. A rich young man came to Jesus asking, “What good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” He did not realize that good works do not gain us eternal life — they flow out of eternal life. After establishing that the young man knew and kept (or thought he did) the Commandments, Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” The Bible says, “But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”(You can read this account in Matthew 19:16-22.)

As it turns out, this young man failed in the very First Commandment. He did not trust in God alone and love Him with all his heart; he had already made a prior commitment to the god of money. His heart was chained to his possessions. He affected a fine religious tone, but he loved and trusted in his wealth and was therefore unwilling to put all his faith in God. He could have treasured up his treasure in heaven, trusting God with everything in his life and serving Him alone — and he would have been full of joy. Instead, he remained the slave of his money, laying up his treasure on earth, and went away full of sorrow.

Who or what will you love, serve and trust? It will determine where you lay up your treasure, and whether that treasure will endure.

Seek the Kingdom, Find Everything

Therefore do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (Matthew 6:31-33)

The whole world scrambles for food, clothing and shelter. The Gentiles, because they do not have a covenant with God, must do for themselves, which often leads to worry, fear, and even anger.

Worry comes from laying up treasure on earth. When we invest ourselves in thinking the way the world thinks, acting the way the world acts, believing the way the world believes, we end up worrying the way the world worries. We look to the world to meet our needs because that is where we have treasured up our lives. In our heart, we realize how fickle the world is, and fear that it will let us down — and it always does. When we learn to treasure up our treasure in heaven, all the needs we have on earth will be met, and we will have more than enough, so that we can bless others.

To those who have covenant with God, Jesus gives this priority: Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. He is not telling us just to put it on our “to do” list. He is not even telling us to put it at the top of the list, as if we are to seek the kingdom of God first and then seek after the other things. No, He is saying that there is only one priority — the kingdom of God and His righteousness. When we seek that, everything else will be added to us.

God always deals with His people on the basis of covenant, and the essence of covenant is exchange: We give Him all we are and have, and He gives us all He is and has. In other words, when we belong to God, He will always take care of us. In the Old Testament, God made covenant with Abraham, and confirmed it with Isaac and Jacob. It was a covenant to bless, not only Abraham and his descendants, but also all the nations of the earth. In the New Testament, we see that this covenant is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who is called the “Seed” of Abraham (Galatians 3:16).

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:13-14)

The Lord Jesus is Himself the mediator of a new and better covenant, instituted in His own blood (Hebrews 8:6; Luke 22:20), and nothing is left out of it. He has provided everything we will ever need.

What does it mean to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness? The kingdom of God is His rule and reign, His will being done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10). God’s righteousness, as the Amplified Bible notes, is “His way of doing and being right.” Seeking is about giving ourselves totally over to God, looking for His rule and reign and in everything, and obeying it. It is doing things God’s way, which is the right way and will always bring the right results.

When we make the kingdom of God our one and only priority, we will not have to seek after anything else; it will all be included. It will all be taken care of, because it has already been provided for in His will. You might call it a “package deal.” In his old commentary on Matthew 6:33, Adam Clarke illustrates it this way:

This was a very common saying among the Jews: “Seek that, to which other things are necessarily connected.” “A king said to his particular friend, ‘Ask what thou wilt, and I will give it unto thee.’ He thought within himself, ‘If I ask to be made a general I shall readily obtain it. I will ask something to which all these things shall be added:’ he therefore said, ‘Give me thy daughter to wife.’ This he did knowing that all the dignities of the kingdom should be added unto this gift.”

Our job — first, last and always — is to seek the rule and reign of God, and His way of doing things. When we do, all else shall be added to us.

© 2008 by Jeff Doles.
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