Mat 6:19-24; A Tour of the Treasure Vaults of Heaven.

Class Outline:

Sunday September 15, 2024

 

Main idea: The disciple of Christ has the option to see the treasures of heaven, which will cause heaven to fill his heart and light to fill his body.  

 

Intro: Man is occupied with attaining - satisfaction and delight of mind and body. He pursues what he sees in the eye of his heart.

 

Why is it that so many fall for the wrong solution to their heart’s desire, their inner ache for fulfillment? There are many reasons, but Christ gives us a simple way of discerning if we are on to the right solution. He has not made it difficult to find nor confusing.

 

God sends His calling to every man, ACT 26:14-18. Seeing this inheritance is what Jesus has in mind in His next teaching in the SOM.

 

The Christian life is a journey that is so long, that it is sometimes very hard or impossible to see what is coming up, and certainly, the end of the journey is too far away to see.

 

NUM 15:39-40, this was the reason for the tassels. Blue represented heaven as opposed to earth.

 

To accomplish a great distance on your journey, you have to mature and persevere.

 

Christ’s description of us, His disciples, is not something that is easily attained. Now He presents us with a great contrast and a choice.

 

MAT 6:19-24.

 

Christ shows contrast between earth and heaven. imperishable treasures of light vs. decaying things. What kind of treasures are these?

 

Simple basis: moth, consumption, thieves. 

 

Moth - tiny and feared. Small creature expresses the symbolism of destruction, like the worm that destroys Jonah’s tree, the invisible cancer, fungi, bacteria, and most of all sin. 

 

Perishable treasures (1PE 1:4 ; 1CO 9:25). 

 

JOB 27:13-23 (vs. 18 “spider web” is in some ancient mss. as “moths”; The image of the house built by a moth could be that he constructs it out of the material which he consumes.)

 

Rust: Greek brosis: the act of partaking of food, eating. The process of causing deterioration by consuming = used in MAT 6:19 as a general term for consuming, which could be done by a variety of insects. Same word used by Jesus in John 4:34” My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and complete His work.” What nourishes Him belongs to another sphere, also what delights Him.  

 

Thieves: none in heaven. The treasures of heaven cannot be taken by thieves on the earth, unless that is, you give them away: love, joy, peace …

 

The balanced structure of the passage implies garments as victims of ‘moth and eating’, and other possessions as plunder of thieves on earth while none of these things exist in heaven.

 

We have to see and continue to clearly look upon the treasure in heaven. [MAT 6:19]

 

What is treasure in heaven? (pause) Christ and all He values. 

 

“If your eye is clear” - haplous pertains to being motivated by singleness of purpose so as to be open and aboveboard; it means single, without guile, sincere, straightforward. [not split between two masters]

 

COL 2:2-3. “All the treasures” Wisdom and knowledge of all heavenly things. 

 

2CO 3:17-18 We behold the Lord in the word and in living the word (which is the liberty of the HS).

 

2CO 4:6-12 He is in us to reveal Himself to us.

 

PSA 17:13-15. 

 

Seeing earth from heaven: Imagine what elect angels in heaven see. 

 

Even angels, when they look down at that mansion on the beach, that luxury car, that yacht, that money they wonder why we long for them. 

 

1PE 1:12 (prophecies of Christ fulfilled in the gospel). 

 

The mansion, etc. are made of stone, metal, plastic, paper - all of which decay. Angels frequent structures in heaven that are made of something else.

 

The angels wonder why we want money when we can have God in a way that they long for. 

 

The eye that Jesus speaks of is the eye of the heart. It is the part of you that is enlightened by the riches of Christ; EPH 1:18.

 

These are the riches that came to us when Jesus walked out of His tomb. 

 

Look upon all earthly things with eyes from heaven; a heart full of heaven. The Lord promises that you whole body will be full of light.