Jesus Came to Make Us Rich, Part Two

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 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.

Matthew 6:19-24

Did you know that all people are rich? Either one’s riches are upon the earth or they are in heaven. In this passage Jesus warns us not to lay up for ourselves treasures upon the earth, and as we said in a previous study, he has reasons for so commanding his people. Earthly treasures will only make us lonely, bored, and dissatisfied, and when we die, we will lose them all.

I was reading a newsletter for people who are retiring, and in it there was an article which spoke about giving away one’s monies. Yes, we have to give our treasure away. It is not ours forever. In fact, any treasure we may possess on the earth can be destroyed by moth and rust or stolen by thieves. No matter how much treasure we can accumulate in our lives, none of it will profit us in the end.

In view of this, how foolish are those who call themselves Christians and have lately discovered the false notion of the unlimited wealth and health gospel! But Jesus came to make us rich toward God. He came to give us true, lasting treasure in heaven. The apostle Paul says, “For your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9). We are rich in grace and blessed in Christ, the Bible says, with every spiritual blessing in heaven.

The Worldly Man

In this passage, therefore, Jesus warns us against the corrosive effects of worldliness. Let us, then, first examine what worldliness is and what are the characteristics of a worldly man.

Worldliness means to place one’s trust and hope in one’s possessions and life in this temporal world. A worldly man, therefore, is like Lot’s wife, who wanted to go back to burning Sodom. He is like Gehazi, who ran after Naaman for the sake of garments and silver and was, in turn, cursed with leprosy. The worldly man is like Demas, who abandoned the riches of the gospel for the sake of money. He is like Judas, who sold Jesus to enrich himself, but lost all and hanged himself. He is like the Gadarenes, who pleaded with Jesus to leave them alone so they could raise their pigs without the distraction of the gospel that would save their souls.

The worldly man is blinded to eternal reality. His eyes are full of cataracts and his mind is blinded by Satan. He is incapable of thinking or reasoning correctly. He lives by his lusts, loving darkness rather than light and temporal life rather than eternal life. He neglects God and worships man.

The worldly man thinks he is the master of his possessions, but he is deceived. His possessions master him. He is but a slave–a slave to lusts and a slave to possessions.

What about worldly people who think they are Christians? Let me assure you, the most wretched, pitiable, and miserable person is that worldly man who thinks he is godly because he goes to church. Why? Words cannot describe the utter hopelessness and terror such a person will experience on that day when the Master tells him, “Depart from me, you workers of iniquity! I never knew you!”

The Godly Man

Human beings were created to be godly, meaning to be like God and enjoy fellowship with him. It is sin that causes people to worship and serve the things of this world–meaning creation–rather than the Creator, our blessed God. Therefore, a worldly man is like a child who will greedily eat gravel rather than delicious, nourishing food. But God wants us to be godly, so let us, therefore, examine what it means to be a godly man.

How can a worldly man become truly godly? It is impossible unless God in Christ opens his eyes to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God,” meaning to enter life, to obtain salvation. But he also said, “All things are possible with God.”

This miracle of regeneration will loosen our heart’s grip on the treasures we have on earth. It alone can loosen our grip on gravel and enable us to repent and believe in God. Jesus told us in John 3 that we must be born again, born of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, if we want to be godly people and be delivered from our slavery to the perishing things of this world, we must cry out to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ to grant us the miracle of regeneration.

The Example of Moses

The Bible speaks of many people who were godly and practiced storing up riches in heaven. Moses experienced this miracle of regeneration and, as a result, he trusted in God and his promises rather than in all the riches of Egypt. In Hebrews 11:24-26 we read, “By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.”

God regenerated Moses and gave him insight into ultimate reality. Therefore Moses eagerly and easily refused the honor, power, position, and wealth of Egypt. He chose persecution instead of the pleasures of sin and regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as riches of greater value than all the treasures of Egypt. Why did Moses do this? Because he saw by faith the invisible God. He experienced the miracle of regeneration and Scripture tells us he looked forward to his heavenly reward.

This is true of all truly born again people. They all pass through this world looking forward to that city with foundations whose builder and maker is God. Such people refuse to put their trust into this temporal and perishing world.

The Example of Job

We also read about a very rich man, Job. In fact, the Bible calls him the greatest man among all the people of the East. But Job was not a worldly man. Like Moses, Job experienced regeneration and became godly. He was delivered from the lust of things and from slavery to his possessions.

In God’s providence Job experienced disaster after disaster. He lost all his possessions, all his children died, and the Bible says Satan himself afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. In the midst of his misery Job’s own wife counseled him to abandon his faith in God, telling him, “Curse God and die.” But Job refused to do that. Instead, he boldly confessed, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust him.”

The example of Job teaches us that a godly man is one who trusts and hopes in God alone and treats the treasures of this world with blessed detachment. He knows there is no greater treasure and honor than to be godly, to be owned by God, to be a servant of God, and to have God as his heavenly Father who blesses him richly with all things.

The Example of Daniel

Daniel was another godly man who had experienced this miracle of regeneration. Wealthy and powerful, he enjoyed a very high position in the kingdom of Babylon. Yet Daniel was not worldly. The treasures of this world had no gripping power on Daniel. He was a lover of God and servant of God at the time of greatest apostasy of his own people.

In Daniel 5 we read of a mysterious writer and a mysterious writing. In the middle of a great banquet, the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the wall the words Mene, mene, tekel, uparsin. King Belshazzar trembled as he saw his own doom written on the wall. No one could interpret the writing until, finally, the aged, godly Daniel was brought into the hall.

In Daniel 5:16 we read what Belshazzar said to Daniel when he came: “‘Now I have heard that you are able to give interpretations and to solve difficult problems. If you can read this writing and tell me what it means, you will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around your neck, and you will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.'” But listen to the response of Daniel, the godly man, to this wonderful offer of worldly honor and riches and power. “Then Daniel answered the king, ‘You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else'” (v. 17). Why did Daniel say that? Because he trusted in God.

A man of God cannot be bought with money, power, or position. Why? God in his great mercy and by the miracle of regeneration has opened the eyes of such a person to eternal verities and realities. Such a person will refuse earthly wealth because he or she understands that the only enduring and abiding treasure is not the treasure of the world, but treasure in heaven.

The Example of Peter

Peter was also a godly man. One day he asked Jesus, “We have left everything to follow you. What then will there be for us?” Oh, Jesus told him, those who had left houses, brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, children, or fields for his sake would receive a hundred times as much and eternal life, as we read in Matthew 19:28-30. But after Jesus rose from the dead, what did he tell Peter? In John 21 we learn that Peter would suffer martyrdom in the name of Jesus Christ.

Was Peter focusing on treasure in this world? Just read 1 Peter 1, which the apostle wrote shortly before he was killed: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade, kept in heaven for you who, through faith, are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials” (1 Peter 1:3-6).

In this you greatly rejoice! How could Peter rejoice as he faced a sure death? Peter was not looking to earthly treasures during his suffering. No, he encouraged his readers that in the midst of earthly trials and loss they could rejoice in their heavenly inheritance, the never-perishing, undefiled, unfading, eternal inheritance kept by God in heaven. We are kept by God, and one day we will be brought by him to enjoy the dazzling riches of treasures in heaven. It is in this great treasure that we rejoice!

The Example of Paul

The apostle Paul was wealthy, well-born, highly educated, and honorable. But he made a surprising statement comparing treasure in heaven to his treasures on earth. In Philippians 3:7-9 we read, “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him. . .”

An unbeliever is blind and cannot see the surpassing greatness of the treasures in heaven. Every unbeliever can only see the perishing, fading riches of this world in which he, as a slave, hopes and trusts. But in the fullness of time God, in his rich mercy, opened the eyes of this Pharisee, Paul, to see the surpassing greatness of the treasures of heaven. And what was Paul’s response when he was given insight into the treasure of the kingdom of heaven? “I consider everything else loss, shame, rubbish, dung, for the knowledge of Christ.”

In 2 Corinthians 6:9 this godly man Paul spoke about himself. He said he was “known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten and not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing yet possessing everything.” He had nothing but possessed everything in Christ. (PGM) And in 1 Corinthians 3:21 he wrote, “So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future–all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.” In Jesus Christ all things are ours.

What, then, did Paul, this well-born, highly educated, honorable man, say about treasure at the end of his life? From a prison in Rome Paul wrote to Timothy, “Timothy, my son, I want you to come. Most people are leaving me and Demas has forsaken me. Having loved this present world, he abandoned the gospel and went for the treasures of this world. So, Timothy, my son, come quickly. Come before winter and bring with you my blanket which I left with you and the scrolls, especially the parchments.”

Most of Paul’s companions were not with him. Demas, one of his fellow workers, had deserted him. Paul was being held in a Roman prison, but he was contented and happy. And if you could have asked him, “What do you have, St. Paul?” he would have replied, “Nothing! But my heart loves God as he has revealed himself in the scrolls.” Even in the midst of these circumstances, Paul was a rich man because he was blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus our Lord. So he wrote to his assistant, “Timothy, please come quickly and bring the scrolls, especially the parchments,” meaning the Holy Scriptures. Why? The things of God were Paul’s greatest treasure.

Loss or Gain?

Jesus asked the question, “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?” When such a man dies, he loses all. Such a man is separated from eternal life, separated from God, without hope and eternally condemned. While he lives, he loves darkness rather than light. After he dies, he will be cast into the great outer darkness. What torment! What shame! There will be everlasting suffering and eternal loss.

But Jesus came to rescue us from that darkness. He came to make us rich–rich in the knowledge of God, rich in grace, rich in salvation, rich in spiritual blessings in heavenly places, rich in peace, rich in the joy of the Holy Spirit, and rich in fellowship with God and his people, both now and forevermore.

We all deserve to die because of sin but Christ came to do away with sin. How did he do that? By his sacrificial death on the cross. We deserve to bear God’s wrath against us and our sins, but God sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice, as a propitiation for our sins. He suffered God’s wrath and hell in our place, and now God the Father is gracious to us and pleased to make us rich in Jesus Christ our Lord. And, yes, we were in bondage to sin and Satan. But Christ came to give his life as a ransom for us. He redeemed us out of slavery to sin and Satan so Paul tells us, “Sin no longer has dominion over us.”

True Riches

Jesus Christ himself delivered us from worldliness. He made us godly, and as Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 6:6, “Godliness with contentment is great gain.”

What is godliness? It is piety. It means that we have communion with God. It is spiritual riches. It means being loved by God and loving God, and those who trust in God are completely satisfied with that. And we do not need to worry about our physical needs. In 1 Timothy 6 Paul also wrote, “If we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.” Our bodies need food, and since the Fall they need covering, and God has promised to provide these things for us. But our true satisfaction comes only from God. So Paul could say, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).

Jesus told us, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.” I assure you, if God has blessed you with the miracle of regeneration and opened your eyes to the eternal reality and excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, then you are children of the heavenly Father. And as children you can take great comfort in knowing that God knows you and is for you. What did Jesus say over and over again in the Sermon on the Mount? “Be not anxious, be not anxious.” We can be assured that God himself will give us food and clothing. Why? Because he has given us Jesus Christ, who is life, hope, and peace for us.

In Philippians 1:21 Paul said, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” To every worldly person death is great loss. He is afraid and terrified by it. But to a godly person death is positively gain. Death places us in paradise, in the presence of God, in the presence of the dazzling treasures in heaven. What gain! What joy! What peace! What future! What glorious hope! What an inheritance–undefiled, unfading, imperishable, and kept safe by God for us who are kept safe by him also!

How to Lay Up Treasures

How, then, do we obey this command of Jesus Christ, “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven”? First, we must realize that this is something we are to do while we are alive. A number of you recently went to help a person in our church. When one of the brothers came back he said, “Oh, we had a good time, working hard and helping that person.” Those people were laying up treasures in heaven. Let me tell you, this is something that we do in time, while we are living. We can convert the temporal to that which is eternal.

In Luke 6:38 Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over will be poured into your lap.” Let me tell you, we may experience some fulfillment of this here but especially it will be fulfilled hereafter. That is treasure in heaven.

When you expend your time, talent and treasure in God’s service, you are converting them into that which is abiding and eternally meaningful for you. In Luke 16:9 Jesus said, “I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” If you spend your time on earth laying up treasure in heaven, when you die and arrive in heaven, you will have a lot of friends welcoming you, saying, “Come on! You have done this and that in the name of Jesus Christ. You spent your time and talents, your energies, your wealth investing in his kingdom.”

In Matthew 25 we read what Jesus Christ said would happen when he comes back again. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, `I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me'” (Matthew 25:34-40). This is an example of converting temporal things to eternal treasures.

Temporal Wealth to Eternal Riches

The early church obeyed these teachings of Jesus. In Acts 4:34 we read, “There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them.” You see, because they had been regenerated, the disciples’ grip upon things was loosened. “[They] brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need. Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.” What freedom! What liberation! When Christ comes in, money goes out–for good use.

In 1 Timothy 6:17-19 we read, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” We are not ascetics. God richly gives us material things for our enjoyment, and it is perfectly all right to enjoy them. However, God does not entrust us with riches to be used solely for our own enjoyment. So Paul writes, “Command them to do good,” meaning, to do good with the money, the riches, “to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” And what is the purpose? “In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”

So God entrusts us with time, talents, and treasures, and it is all right to enjoy them, but we must also distribute them generously. We must engage in investing what God gives us so that it will become treasure in heaven. That is what it means to lay up treasure for yourselves in heaven.

The Greatest Treasure

What is the greatest treasure God has given to us on earth? The gospel. Not only do we share our time and money, but we must also share the greatest wealth that God has entrusted to us–the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ– which alone is able to turn people from unrighteousness to righteousness. In Daniel 12:3 we read, “Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.” What is going to happen to a person who shares the gospel? He or she will shine like the stars in the heavenlies in that day.

The Sacrifice of Wealth

In Mark 14 we read about a woman, possibly Mary, who spent all her money to buy some expensive perfume. She went to a home where Jesus was eating, broke the bottle and poured the perfume upon our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What was Jesus’ response? He said, “She has done a beautiful thing to me.” In other words, he was saying, “This woman has ministered to me.” And then he said, “I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.” There and then Jesus Christ himself immortalized what this woman did through the sacrifice of her wealth.

Judas Iscariot sold Christ to enrich himself and in the process he was damned. But here is a woman who loved Jesus Christ. Eagerly, delightfully, and generously she spent her money in the service of Christ. And in Luke 8:3 we also read of some women–prominent women, I believe– who followed Jesus and served him, the text tells us, from their substance.

Brothers and sisters, let me assure you, one day you will die. Hebrews 9:27 tells us it is appointed for all men once to die. But what you do here will be remembered. In Revelation 14:13 we read, “Then I heard a voice from heaven say, ‘Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.'”

Not only will we be blessed when we die in the Lord, but, additionally, our deeds will follow us. Therefore, may God help us to be rich in good deeds! Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 25? Inasmuch as you have done these things to one of the least of my brothers, you have done it to me.

Rewards in Heaven

God promises to reward his people in heaven. Jesus Christ promised his disciples that they would be rewarded. Now, he does not have to reward us at all; yet, all his reward is in grace and the Bible tells us he does reward.

In Matthew 16:26-27 we read, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.” And in Revelation 22:12 Jesus said: “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.”

Where Is Your Treasure?

Finally, Jesus told his disciples, “For where your treasure is, there your heart shall be also.” Our hearts will follow our treasures. That is a sure principle. Either we will be always thinking about heaven or about earth.

Ask yourself: What are you loving? What are you thinking? What are you doing? What are you delighting in? What are you talking about incessantly? For what end are your energies expended and monies spent? Are you looking upwards–thinking about God, speaking about God, and loving him? Are you serving him, spending your time, talents and treasures for spiritual benefits? Or are you laying up treasures in this world, with no thought for eternity?

Where is your treasure? Will it abide? When God shakes all things, will your treasure remain? In Psalm 73 we read the words of Asaph, who had to grapple with the problem of why the wicked could have so much money, wealth, and prosperity. He finally received understanding in the temple as he came to see that this world will perish but there is something that will remain.

What was Asaph’s great discovery? Psalm 73:25-26 says, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” He realized his true and abiding treasure was in God alone, and earth had nothing to compare. Have you made that discovery?

Is God Your Treasure?

May God help us to think about him! May God help us to talk about him, love him, and do what he wants, thus laying up treasure in heaven for our eternal joy. Let me tell you, when we live like this, we will look forward to dying. Then we can say with St. Paul, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

In 1 Corinthians 2:9 we read, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”–but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.” When we see God, what a day that will be! What glory, what joy, what elation, what satisfaction we will experience when we see him as he is! Now we see as in a glass darkly, but then we shall see him face to face.

I pray that some of you will be born again–born of the Spirit. May God loosen you from the grip of the things of this world that you may trust in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation. Amen.