Treasures in HeavenThe Punch-Line:

Life can be like a fight, so today we are going to be organising a boxing match. We are locked into a fight with a skilled boxer who want to know the wind out of our sails. Or, more specifically, our faith. This prize fighter uses a number of different moves to get under our guard.

A few years ago director David Fincher filmed the movie Fight Club about a group of young men who organised underground bare knuckle fighting contests. The rules for members of the secretive fight club were simple:

1. You cannot talk about fight club;2. You cannot talk about fight club.

This morning we are going to be doing some straight talking about how money, material wealth, our position in society, and the desire for a comfortable life can have a detrimental affect our faith. Like the film Fight Club, it is easy to say that we should not talk about such things. So, this morning, I will hopefully not pull my punches and we can explore this area.

Which leads me onto the punchline of today’s sermon – who owns your heart? It is a very simple question: who owns your heart? What inspires your thoughts, dreams, what you do? As Christians, the answer should be simple – Jesus should own it. If the answer is yes, then we are in a good place. If you do not know Jesus, this is one of the most important questions that you can ever entertain.

If we only pay lip-service to Jesus, but our hearts are really elsewhere, maybe the question should be – “Who stole your heart?”

So, why is the heart so important? The old rocker Bruce Springsteen sang the song “Everybody’s Got a Hungry Heart”. Metaphorically speaking, our hearts are hungry to find love, significance and meaning in life.

Jesus reveals that the human heart is also corrupt. If you trace all human evil and vice back to its source, it comes from within us. The heart is the battle-ground for the human mind and soul. Let’s be frank: Jesus has some very provocative and challenging things to say about keeping your heart pure.

The particular fight that we will be up against are summarized by what I call the 2W’s Wealth and Worry. Why is this important? The theory suggests that if you

have wealth, you will eliminate worry from your life. This principle is in the heart of the media, popular thinking, and even the church.

Round One:

This brings us to our first prize fighter which wants to hit you in the heart: financial and material possessions.

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Jesus warns us about the attraction that material and financial wealth can present. These can preoccupy us, and divert us from focussing our attention on following Jesus and building his Kingdom. Even if you don’t have wealth, chasing the fantasy diverts you from Jesus. You don’t even have to be rich so fall foul of this trap. Possessions, which might have little financial value, can still become idols.

Some churches in Kent teach that financial blessing is the will of God for Christians. Faith, positive speech,

and donations to Christian ministries in turn will increase one's material wealth. If we have faith in God, he will deliver his promises of security and prosperity. Confessing these promises to be true is perceived as an act of faith, which God will honour. This is a misunderstanding of scripture. If it was true, Jesus would have died of old age in a bed with sheets made of the finest linen, in a mansion surrounded by his rich buddies. He didn’t – he died on a cross, between two criminals, located on a rubbish dump in Jerusalem so that we could be forgiven.

Jesus rightly says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” If we invest in a particular type of earthly treasure – be in getting rich, expanding our personal empire, or pursuing that career – it will occupy space in our hearts. It will squeeze out any time that we might otherwise devote to following Jesus.

But here is the point. Markets crash, prices fall, and even our most prized possessions will rot. They are temporary, and cannot provide guaranteed satisfaction.

Jesus offers us a helping hand. He invites us to invest in heavenly treasure, which is not governed by the laws of physics. Heavenly treasure is eternal – it doesn’t crash, its value doesn’t decline, and it doesn’t rot.

What are these heavenly treasures? Primarily it is about developing a personal relationship with Jesus, the creator of the Universe. It also includes developing godly character, committing your life to God’s plans, speaking out on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves, obedience to God’s word, developing and practising spiritual gifts. The list goes on. If our hearts are focussed on spiritual treasure, God’s priorities will become our priorities.

Round Two:

We re-enter the boxing ring for the second round: this time we have to fight the corrupted heart.

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, [ a ] your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, [ b ] your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

Please don’t get tripped up over the reverse irony here. We know that the eye is an aperture that lets light into the body, rather than the other way round. However, when we look people in the eye, we can get an idea of how they are feeling. If I get really stressed or tired – and you look me in the eye – you might get

an idea that something is wrong. We also broadcast our feelings, thoughts and agendas through our actions and body language. I am a youth worker. I started on this career not long after becoming a Christian. It is a vocation. I love meeting with young people and youth workers. I broadcast youth work! What’s in our hearts, we broadcast! Do we broadcast Jesus?

But Jesus also reveals that the heart is corrupt:

“For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person.” (Matt 15:19)

I want to tell you about Donny Pauling, an ex-porn producer from the USA. Paul had an extravagant lifestyle and good looking house. Around his home you would find pictures of him alongside well-known people. He would invite potential porn models to his house. They would be enamoured by his lifestyle. Paul encouraged them to think that this lifestyle could be for them – if they start working for him.

An 18 year old called Mindy did just that. She was instantly successful earning $10,000 a month. Paul says, “In time, the lifestyle I had saddled her with drained all the light and sparkle from her eyes. Where once a girl existed who would light up a room by just

being herself, now there was only a girl who would literally begin a sentence laughing and end that same sentence in tears.”

Later on, Mindy became a Christian. Encouraged by her Church, she left the porn industry and tried to encourage Paul to do the same. The light returned to her eyes.

Paul made it his mission to destroy Mindy’s new faith and get her back into porn modelling. Unfortunately, he succeeded. He told her of inconsistencies in the Bible. He offered her work when she had trouble paying the bills. She descended into a life of prostitution and drugs, bouncing from one man to another. A child was born – Mindy had no idea of who the father was.

Paul himself did become a Christian. He blames himself for ruining Mindy’s life. Paul says, “She fights hard with mental illness now. There is nothing at all attractive about what happened to her.” He left the porn industry and campaigns against it. He goes to churches and warns people of the dangers of the porn industry. He is forgiven, but his role in Mindy’s downfall still haunts him.

There is only one cure for a polluted heart – to give it to Jesus. Allow Jesus to come into your life, to change

your heart, and forgive you. For some of us, our lifestyles are destructive and toxic to those around us. For the sake of the health and safety of our loved ones, we need to come to the saving grace of Jesus.

Round Three

We enter the boxing ring a third time. We have to face down the temptations and pressures of money again. The challenge becomes more radical. Jesus pulls no punches and lays it on the line:

24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Money and material possessions are not necessarily evil. They are not inherently corrupt. It’s how we use them that counts. How we use them is informed by our heart. We all need to work, and living is expensive. For a young person, car ownership is a luxury. Insurance is over £2000. But if we do own a car, and idolise it, it can take centre stage in our affections. The love of money and material wealth appeals to our corrupt hearts. We want to have luxury and possessions. If you have one, you will despise the other. If we are a Christian, and have a love for wealth, we will have a diluted faith. We

cannot serve both God and money. Jesus says that we have already made our choice and rejected him.

So what do you do if you are a wealthy Christian? Being a wealthy Christian is not necessarily a contradiction. God challenges us about how we use our wealth and position to build God’s kingdom. But there are warnings in the Bible about not letting your wealth corrupting your faith. For all of us, rich or poor, the challenge is to give everything to God – lay it all on the alter. Offer it to God, and let Him direct the use of our time, our position in society, and our possessions.

Round Four:

As our mock-boxing match draws to a conclusion, the last fight we will have to contend with is Worry. In this round we may as well be fighting ourselves. There is a simple reason why we occupy our time with improving our circumstances. Its survival. We are fighting to provide a roof over our heads, stay warm, and have food in our bellies. This, in itself, is fine. However, as the human heart is corrupt, we are at risk of over-exaggerating our basic needs in life.

A recent article appeared examining the declared wealth of Republican politician Tommy Thompson:

Tommy Thompson, running for Senate in Wisconsin, had trouble remembering just how

many homes he owns. A journalist from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, asks Thompson exactly how many houses he owns.“‘Three,’ the veteran Republican responded last week at a campaign event.Thompson has three houses? Isn’t there another one?‘No,’ he answered without hesitation.His campaign later clarified that there is, in fact, a fourth house.

I am pretty certain that I only have one house.

Jesus, who owned no houses, says:25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27

Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life [ c ] ?

Jesus challenges us to place our physical necessities into his hands. Stick your head out of the window and look at the birds! OK, some birds stock-pile food for

winter, but they just live with the basics of life. You are more valuable than a bird. Medical research shows that worrying actually shortens lifespans.

28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?

We are being told to wake up and smell the roses! The wild flowers are more attractive than the royal wardrobe of King Solomon. But God cares for us much more that wild flowers. God doesn’t even want to get involved with debating who looks prettier, or has a better wardrobe. “People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Sam 16:7)

God looks at the heart.

God looks at the heart.

Do I need to say it again?

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

(Case study: Me and Saskia house hunting.)

The final bell rings.

We hear the final bell ring. We have made it through the fight. We have struggled against the temptations of wealth, our own inner demons, our desire to control our own lives and our deepest anxieties. It started with Jesus saying, “Store up for yourself treasure in Heaven … for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

The fight finishes with Jesus looking us in the eye and encouraging us:

“But seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

Who, or what, has ownership of your heart?

Maybe it’s a time for a change of heart.

If you want to become a Christian and to start again, it can happen now. But there is one thing that Jesus will not let you keep. Your heart. Because He wants to give you a new heart.

Please pray for the person on your left and right.