Where is your treasure?

Class Outline:

Wednesday February 8, 2023

 

(video clip: “Filled”)

 

 

MAT 6:19-21

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

 

MAT 6:21

ὅπου γάρ ἐστιν ὁ θησαυρός σου, ἐκεῖ ἔσται καὶ ἡ καρδία σου.

 

“treasure” - thesauros = what is deposited.

 

English borrowed this word as thesaurus and it is for us a treasure or deposit of words. The Lord will also use the word in this way, but the Lord is not looking at words in a book, but words in our hearts.

 

Jesus tells us that what we desire to deposit in our hearts (present tense) will make our hearts what they are (future tense).

 

Hopou means where. Where are treasures located? [We might think of sunken treasure or buried treasure or the lottery.] The Bible distinguishes two places: treasure in heaven or treasure on earth.

 

COL 2:2-3

attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ Himself,  3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

 

The treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Christ.

 

 Wisdom and knowledge are comprised of words that we believe to be true. Where is this treasure in your opinion?

MAT 12:34-37

“For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. 35 The good man out of his good treasure brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth what is evil. 36 And I say to you, that every careless word that men shall speak, they shall render account for it in the day of judgment. 37 For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned.”

 

Our words, even careless ones are deemed by the Lord as very important. It reminds of Jam 3 in which he describes the tongue as a small fire that sets a forest aflame. One careless match, one careless firework, and thousands of acres go up. Too many people are verbal arsonists, or relational arsonists who with a few words do great hurt to others. Social media enables this all too easily. Where you look for treasure in life will, over time, determine the content of words in your heart, that come forth from you naturally.

We don’t mean at any given moment like a good movie, but what fills me so that no matter what I am doing, I am filled with purpose and goodness, … and joy.

 

How about being filled with joy? Would anyone say no to that? Christ offers it and it helps us to comprehend what it means to be filled with good things.

 

“filled” [pleroo] with joy:

Answered prayer.

 

JOH 16:24

“Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.”

 

“filled” [pleroo] with joy:

Having eternal life, being in and knowing the Father and Son.

 

JOH 17:13

“But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.”

 

Quoted by Peter at Pentecost using pleroo.

PSA 16:11

In Your presence is fullness of joy;

 

“filled” [pleroo] with joy:

Having the same mind as other believers.

 

ROM 15:13

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

“filled” [pleroo] with joy:

Sharing the truth with others.

 

1JO 1:4

These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.

Being filled with joy, in these passages, comes from doing the right things. Praying, knowing the Father and the Son (eternal life), putting your mind in God’s presence by faith and learning, fellowshipping in the same mind with other believers, and sharing truth with others.

 

It is a result of putting our treasure in the right place - the will of God, the people of God, the Word of God, the Spirit of God.

 

Not only are we to be filled with joy; we are to be filled with God. Would this be like joy? Would we be filled with God because we have put our treasure (our desire) in the right place?

 

There is definitely a difference here. Joy is a state and an emotion, but God is a Person. To be filled with God would mean to be filled with more than joy, for though God is the source of joy, that is not all that He is. And yet, when we look at Paul’s description of this filling, we see that things like joy result (also: love, knowledge, thanksgiving, and service).

 

Notice how Paul states in Ephesians that we are to be filled with all three members of the Trinity.

 

EPH 3:14-19

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

 

Rooted and grounded in love and knowing the love of Christ leads to being filled up to all the fullness of God. This really a dramatic and eye-opening statement. It seems to me to be far less emphasized than EPH 5:18 because “be filled with the Spirit” is a command. But would we conclude that because Paul prays that we would be filled up to all the fullness of God that we should regulate it to a secondary position? It has a clear condition - knowing the love of Christ.

 

EPH 4:11-13

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

 

Next we have the “fullness of Christ.” This also has a condition - building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the (full) knowledge of the Son of God. In other words, we are to be in the process of maturing.

 

This is also not a command, but clearly God’s desire for us. It would be wrong of us to regulate it to a secondary status.

 

EPH 5:18

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit;

 

“be filled” is a command. I think for this reason it gets more attention than the other two passages in Ephesians and the other passages that deal with us being filled with other attributes of God, like joy. And, there is a reason that Paul uses the imperative here.

 

The filling of the Spirit is juxtaposed with getting drunk with wine. We might alter it to getting filled with wine, for there isn’t much difference and it helps us to see their opposing existence, but also how they enjoy similarities. The effect of drunkenness on a human has some similarities to the filling of the Spirit and some clear differences. Both are found in the Scripture and it is vital that we unravel them. It sounds like a parable, and like all parables there is one main idea that has to be unpacked.

 

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Where do you look for treasure? Is it in the world? Is it on your phone? Is it on your television, in your work, at your dinner table? Is it in your physical stimulation, your planned vacations, your house, your boat, your car, your garden? All of these can be lovely in their place, but if they are your treasure, then your heart will be where?