Matthew 6:19-24 “The Truth About Stuff”

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Thanks for singing that. Such a great tune. Written by Rich Mullins. I don't know if you're familiar with him. Great songwriter. He's passed away now, but great songwriter.

What I love about that song is that, especially that line that says, the stuff of earth competes for the allegiance. That's what we are going to talk about today. Before we jump back into John next week, we're going to talk about the truth about stuff.

The truth about the stuff that competes for our allegiance. Stuff. What I mean by stuff. I mean money. I mean wealth. I mean possessions.

I mean nachos. I wanted some nachos at a game the other week, and one of the beloved Southwood members, Madeline Schatz, was there. And I made an agreement that if she gave me a nacho, I'd tell her thank you in a sermon.

Thank you, Madeline. I'm mad at my word. It was a wonderful nacho. And we want stuff all the time, though, right?

And money and wealth and possessions. Nachos. It's a sensitive topic, though. Stuff is everywhere in our culture. It surrounds us.

And how do we get stuff? We buy stuff. We buy stuff with money, right? We buy it with money. And whether we're afraid many times of not having enough money or chasing after more money, it influences us very deeply.

We think about it. We talk about it. We sing about it. I remember when I was in high school, there was a song. The chorus was, it was, I want money, lots and lots of money.

Y'all remember this? I want to be rich for the love, peace, and happiness. Isn't that sweet? All that love, peace, and happiness. But it was on the radio. That was a big hit.

Here's some songs you may realize. Here's another one that you might notice. Help me out, Jared. Oh, there it is. Y'all know this one? Got another one you may recognize?

But your love don't pay my bills. This is the older one. There's another one. This is a little more modern.

That actually said cash rolls everything around me. That part didn't come through. And this is probably the most monetary song of all time. Had to.

Sorry. Did you catch that, Lance Cooper? The Rick Roll is alive in 2025. But the point of it is money is all around us in what we watch, what we think.

We're surrounded by it. It's in the songs that we sing. I'm sure you could pick your own. I remember when I was a little kid, there was this quarter machine they installed in a gas station. One of those where you put a quarter in and if it hits the right spot, it knocks the other quarters off the edge, you know.

And one of my friends one day went in there and I didn't know it. I was in there going to get a snack and he just shoved a stick up his leg and he just went in there and got all the quarters out and walked out of there with his pockets full of quarters.

And I was scared. And I was scared, but I didn't even realize then how much money quietly controlled me. Another time I wanted Super Mario Brothers 2.

That was the new game for Nintendo. And I didn't get it for Christmas. And I got so mad and I ran upstairs and was such a jerk to my parents. Instead, I got the Adventures of Link or Legend of Zelda 2.

And I still remember that. But I didn't realize how much the possessions quietly controlled me even when I was younger. And then I got to high school and people started getting cars.

And I remember my friend, he drove a car way before the time and he could control the stereo volume on his steering wheel. And I remember that was like one of the first times I thought, well, maybe I'm lesser than this guy because I have a lesser car.

And I was jealous. I didn't realize how comparison was controlling me. And then I got my first job as a loan processor at a bank in Birmingham.

And I was right out of college. My wife was still in college, about to graduate. And I was so unhappy. But I remember all of our friends, we were comparing our salaries to each other.

And that was the first time that entered into my world. And I didn't realize how I could balance happiness, time, and now this new thing called salary. And I actually had to go back home and just re-surrender my job to Jesus.

And that's actually when I got the call into ministry. And I'd like to say that at that moment, I figured it all out and that money and possessions stopped mattering.

But the truth is that the current got stronger. You may have heard the term body dysmorphia, where you could look in the mirror and think that you look different than you look.

Like you could be really fit, but in your mind you could think, I'm ugly. Right? As a society, we have money dysmorphia.

But we don't realize how much we do have in comparison to the rest of the world. We have possession dysmorphia. And I suffer from it too. But the reality is, compared to the rest of the world, we're the richest human beings that have ever lived on the planet.

Trying to keep your head, though, above water and balancing all of that stuff with faith in Christ, while trying to live in this world that can be so controlled by the desire for things and attached to money and possessions, can be very confusing and very challenging.

And I imagine that you've felt some of that too before. And it really doesn't matter what age you are. That current pulls on you. And that current is very strong.

The good news is that Jesus not only understands our struggles here on earth, the stuff of earth that competes for the allegiance, but he tells us the truth about it. And he offers us an even better way.

Okay. So let's talk about this this morning from the Sermon on the Mount. Okay. What I love about the Sermon on the Mount is it's Jesus plainly telling us, here's how you live this stuff out that I'm talking about.

Like right before this, he's talked about giving to the needy. He's told us how to pray through the Lord's Prayer. He's talked about fasting. And now he's going in to talk about stuff. Okay.

And actually from this, if you keep going, he goes into anxiety, which is linked to stuff and our desires. You can read that later though. But listen to what he has to say about stuff.

Let's read this passage together. 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. The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.

But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness? No one can serve two masters for 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 God and money. So the first thing I think we learned here is that on earth, the desire for money has an invisible power over us, an invisible power.

And again, when I'm talking about money today, it can also mean possessions, can mean the desire for wealth. In Jesus's time, it was not just coins and like currency.

It was livestock and food and clothing and land and also coins and jewels, which is why when he goes into the anxiety passage, he talks about the clothes.

Don't be worried about the clothes you're going to have. Clothes were a huge part of wealth back then. So it means money, but it also, and means the things that you think that you need. And money has this invisible current.

The desire for stuff is this current we live in, like a river that sweeps us along in this culture. And it influences us in ways that we don't always notice. Sometimes that can be fear of not having enough or comparing to someone else, or I think I need what you have so that then I'm better.

I want to look like somebody else. I want to live like somebody else. And the good news is that if you struggle with any of that, you can just go to social media and it's all going to go away. Let's pray.

Amen. No, it's worse. It's made it way, way worse. Like it used to be that all I had to do was walk into Lowe's or Home Depot, and then I knew what I didn't have that I needed.

Because I just thought, oh, I need that. When I was younger, it was Toys R Us. Nickelodeon had this commercial about the great toy sweepstakes. And one kid got to win it every year, and they got to go through Toys R Us for like 15 minutes or something and get as many toys as they could.

And I was like, that's it. That is the meaning of life right there. And then when you get older, it really doesn't change much. The toys just get bigger and they get more expensive.

But why do we feel like we got to have this stuff? Why do I feel like that? Because our desires for money and stuff pull at us like this invisible current tangled up with our sin in us.

It becomes a directive that takes us in all certain different directions, maybe sometimes places that we don't even want to go. But if you think about money itself, it is neutral.

Okay? In and of itself, it's just metal or numbers or pieces of paper or material. It's a neutral thing. But when it allows us to access the things that we desire, we give it a power.

We say, you now have a power over me. You can speak to me. You can guide me. You can tell me what to think about. You can affect my emotions. And that desire leads us to places that are good and sometimes bad.

And that's what Jesus is talking about here with the I metaphor. So this passage is interesting because it starts, the middle of it is like a sandwich. That's the meat. And then the front of it and the back of it are the bread.

So you got to look at the middle first for it to make sense. And he says, right here, he's using a metaphor of the I. And what he's talking about here is your ultimate focus. Okay?

It was a common belief in his time. It was spoken of this way that your eyes would give off light or darkness. And what was given off was basically what, who you were and what you spent your time focused on.

It came from your heart and it overflowed through your eyes. And what you focused on determined what you shine. You shine light or you shine darkness. And he says, the eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.

But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness? So light leads us.

Darkness is another way of saying, if we're focused on the wrong things, we're blind. We're walking in darkness and we're leading others in darkness too.

Do you ever feel the current? Is it pulling you to places that you don't want to go? Does the desire for stuff or money or wealth or possessions have a control over you?

Does it take your focus? Does it take your energy? Does it occupy your thoughts? How do you break free? Okay.

The good news is that though on earth the desire for money has an invisible power over us, through Christ, it's hidden grip is broken. Because it's exposed by his light and it's broken by his power.

Okay. We were not meant ever to trust our burdens to money and possessions. Those are meant to be brought to Jesus. Okay.

Now, sometimes he may address our needs with money, but that's not really what he's talking about here. He's talking about the focus of our lives and our hearts. The Hebrews would call your heart the central organ of your soul.

What's the central organ of your soul? What makes it beat? With money, you see, and possessions and stuff, Jesus sets us free to see it for what it is.

It's neutral. It doesn't have a power over you. It is not the source of your identity or your fears. And it's not only not those things.

It's not going to give you what you really want. And it actually offers us no true lasting significance at all. And in fact, the more we look at it for the three big things in life, your identity, your belonging, your purpose, the more it actually eats away at those things.

Like rust through metal, like moths through clothing. But Jesus understands that and he offers us a better way after he tells us the truth.

And here's what he says about it. Don't lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. 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. So he's moving into this discussion now about the temporary versus the eternal regarding our stuff and the things that we treasure.

And on earth, our treasures are temporary. Okay? I will never forget we were moving one time and I saw all of our stuff. Now that's not an actual picture.

It's close. I couldn't find the real picture. All of our stuff was just in the storage unit. And that's when it occurred to me, this is just stuff and it's all going to go away one day. That's everything that I own right there in front of my face, you know.

And it hit me. Wow. It's just stuff. And I was okay without it for months and months while I lived with someone else while we were moving. I didn't need any of that stuff. But how many of my emotions and things were drawn up into that stuff and getting that stuff that was just sitting in this unit?

Recently, right, in these tragic fires in California, it's a reminder of this. The stuff that we put so much into, it's going to go away. The things that we gather are all going to go away, y'all.

What do you treasure? Where are you storing up your treasure? Okay? Where we spend and where we save and where we stress, it reveals our focus.

I guess this is a good thing about money. Because how you use your money and your stuff, it's like holding up a mirror to your heart. It'll show you your deepest values.

Whether it's comfort or success or something else, it shines a light on the things that we treasure the most. Are you caught up in the temporary? You've been treasuring the things that burn up?

How do you break free? On earth, our treasures are temporary, but through Christ, they're eternal. What do I mean by that? Through Christ, the treasures that we desire, they change.

Okay? And they change our focus changes from temporary things to eternal things. Now, how do they change? Because if you're sitting here dealing with this like me, it's like, okay, I'm just going to start go giving my treasures to other things and caring about other things.

It doesn't work that way. That's like saying I'm going to do good and then God's going to love me. It's not bad to want to do good, but it has to start with our focus, with our heart, and then overflow from there.

Right? We can't just say, I'm going to turn the lights on and then all of a sudden the darkness in us is gone. Something has to change from within is what Christ is talking about here. And it's only by the power of the Holy Spirit that anything can change in any of us.

Jesus is the only one who can do stuff about this. And so the Holy Spirit will change your focus and he will fill your eyes with light.

He'll free you from that hidden grip of money that you may not know is there and that current of the temporary. And when he does that, we don't lose heart.

As this verse says, for our light and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

While we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient or temporary, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Now, what are some of those things that are eternal? Love, joy, keep going, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control.

If you sing that one upstairs. But what else? Souls. Okay, let's take it a little bit deeper. Souls are eternal and every human being possesses a soul.

Now, you can think about changing focus. Let's think about it practically. Your career may be fulfilling, but when you hold a child or your child for the first time, that work takes a backseat very quickly.

You may be at a big sports game and it's the most important thing in the world that your team wins until you get that call that a loved one is in the hospital.

And then that game is put in perspective. That's what Jesus is talking about here. The focus, right, has to change. The perspective changes when we come near the Holy Spirit because he changes us.

And so he gives us the ability to see the larger things and the temporary things are put in proper perspective. So over time, through much conversation and calling out to God, by the power of his spirit, he actually grows in us the ability to love more what he loves, to see things more like he does, to move our focus from temporary things to more eternal ones.

And then through his love and grace, we grow in our love for our king, our heavenly master. Jesus understands where we are. He tells us the truth about it and he offers us a better way.

And listen to what he says about masters. No one can serve two masters. For 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 God and money. Now, some of your translations may say mammon instead of money. When I was really early in the faith, funny story about mammon, I was convinced that the Bible had a misprint in it because my Bible said God and money and my friend said God and mammon.

So I called the Bible people and I was like, y'all got to fix this. There is a misprint in this Bible. And that was when I learned about translations and different things.

But I was so convinced for a day that there was a serious issue with the Bible because of mammon. But what mammon means, again, is that money and that wealth and those possessions.

And on earth, money can be a tool or money can be a master. Right? Now, think of it. A tool is like a hammer.

I use it to accomplish something, to build something that's going to last. But a scalpel in the hands of a surgeon gives life, right? But in the wrong hands, it takes it.

Have stuff, has stuff, have money, wealth, and possessions ever taken life from you? About two years ago, someone, a dear friend of mine, taught me about the stock market.

I always wanted to learn about the stock market. The stock market has done nothing but take everything away from me. No money. I didn't realize when I went on that journey just how, what a bad relationship I have with money.

Like, it brought all this stuff out of me of like, wow, why am I afraid of that number? And I'm talking like tiny numbers. And I think it probably dabbled with having some mastery over me, if I'm honest, with how much my thoughts and my time was given to it.

But guess what? Jesus Christ is my master, my true master. And you know what he did? He freed me from that current of comparison of everybody else doing better than me, failure, hyper-focus on numbers.

And he freed me to see these things for what they were, neutral and a tool. And through it, he gave me this incredible group of Christian friends and brothers.

He taught me about discipleship in ways that I would never know. But I first had to get in touch with just what a bad relationship I had with money.

And it was hiding. I did, it was hide and seek was over when I looked at the stock market. Because I was like, what in the world? Why would I care so much about $25? And it owned me.

Because money is a terrible master. But it's a powerful, powerful tool. And the only way that it will ever be a life-giving tool is if your master is greater than it.

And there's only one master greater than mammon. And it's Jesus. And it doesn't have to just be money, okay? You can apply this to anything on earth.

Anything that masters us, by default, becomes our God. Okay? It becomes an idol. It takes us into slavery.

It hijacks what was meant for God. And it uses it to empty it out of us towards the wrong things. Temporary things that don't give anything in return at all.

This is why Hebrews says this. Keep your life free from love of money. Okay? Love. I'm not saying money's bad. Again, it's neutral. Love of money.

And be content with what you have. For he has said, I will never leave nor forsake you. So there's some secret in this middle zone of contentment.

All right? Yesterday I was at a basketball game. I saw the largest man I've ever seen in my life. I mean, he was towering and just huge, like ripped.

And I looked at my wife. I said, AC, no matter how much I exercise in my life, I will never, ever come close to being as strong as that guy right there. And she said, yes, he stuck out.

I mean, he was assaultingly strong. And it's the same with money, though. Right? Just be happy where you are, Derek.

I wasn't actually comparing. I was just astonished by his size. But you're always going to be in a place where somebody has more money than you and somebody has less money than you. And then you're going to move further on.

Guess what? Somebody's going to have more money than you. Somebody's going to have less money than you. Can you be content with where you are? See, that's a litmus test that God gives us to know what has our focus. Are you content?

Right? Another way Tim Keller would say, how do you treat people who have money and who have more than you and have less than you? If you notice you treat them different or they have a little more power over you, you're probably running in the wrong circles.

And you need to run back to God some. You know, and do you look down on people who have less than you and think that you could, you know, control them a little more? But the secret of contentment is something special there.

It's a litmus test that God gives us. So here's a question to ask yourself. Are you content? Or is money and possessions and stuff mastering you? Are they using you?

Are they using you? Because I know the stock market was definitely using me. Are they your focus? Are they pulling you in a direction of darkness? Consider these words in Mark 4.19.

Remember Jesus talked about the parable of the sower and the seed. He says, I think that Satan attacks the American church and Christians by choking us right there.

With the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches and the desire for other things. And Jesus is telling us the truth about it. Right? Because on earth money can be a tool or a master, but through Christ it's only a tool.

Money, just like everything else, is transformed into a tool for treasures that will last. Why? Because when we rest in Jesus, our future is secure.

We can be content with where we are because our future is actually eternal. So that means the temporary things, when put in the proper focus, lose their grip and their meaning and their value when they're seen in comparison to the things that are eternal.

Now, if you don't hear anything today, here's what I want you to hear. Understanding what God treasures is the first step to treasuring what God treasures.

Okay? You know where you've been with money. I'm not here to dig deep and shame or anything like that. I'm not even trying to get your money. You know, if y'all are waiting for that big giving thing.

That's not happening today. Okay? Whether right or wrong, my goal today as a pastor, what I want to do is to encourage you.

I want you to feel some hope here. And I want you to take all of the stuff you've dealt with with stuff to the right place. Okay? To the only one who can do anything with it.

That's Jesus. And I want you to ask him to help you treasure what he treasures. To show you where maybe you need realignment. And ask him to be your only master.

And to use you and all of your things as a tool for his kingdom. Think about this. Why did Jesus come to earth? He had everything.

He had security and status and unimaginable treasures. He had to have treasured something more than all of that to leave that behind. Something so precious that he would move from perfection to be born into poverty.

To be homeless. To suffer. To die between thieves. Stripped of everything. Buried in a borrowed tomb. Why would he do that? It's for our souls.

The eternal things. For us. For the forgiveness of sin. For the resurrection of our eternal souls. For those who have been forgiven.

To reverse decay. And bring eternal life. Where no money is needed. Because everything was paid for by his blood. The souls of humanity are worth the blood of God.

And that's the treasure that Jesus is talking about that we store up. Okay? Do you treasure souls? Do you treasure human beings? Who are the carriers and containers of those souls?

That's worth using all of your stuff for. Okay? All of it. So, look at this verse here.

Your chosen race. A royal priesthood. A holy nation. A people for his own possession. You know what possession also means? Treasures.

In Christ, we've said recently, you're holy. Think about yourself as holy. You're God's treasured possession. Elsewhere in scripture, it says that you are his poema. Right?

His beautiful art. Purchased by his blood. More valuable than planets and stars and galaxies. Is you, soul container made in the image of God?

And understanding that God treasures you is the first step to treasuring what God treasures human beings and their souls. And you may say, I understand all that. I'm still stuck, Derek. You're not telling me anything new.

And that's the thing. You may know this, but every sermon, every week, there's no new information. Every single week. We're just talking about it again. So, how do I change, Derek?

Good question. You remember Zacchaeus? The wee little man? He frauded and he cheated people out of their money and their possessions. He gave all the attention to himself, scripture says.

And his own needs. And they mastered him. But then he was transformed. And he gave half of his goods to the poor. And he gave back four times back to everyone that he had stolen from.

So, what happened to him? What did he do to overcome that? If you go look at the passage, he just spent time with Jesus. Okay?

He spent time with Jesus. I recently had to fix a car that, like, it's going to be sold in my family. I was trying to help sell it.

And I thought when it got really cold, I'd bring it to my house and just start it to keep the engine going. Because my dad was going to get it. And then I ended up backing into a trash can and busting the taillight. And I was like, okay.

Do I call my dad and tell him? Or do I just fix this on my own? And I decided to call him and tell him. And he laughed. And he helped me fix the car.

If you go to God with your stuff, whatever it is, your tendency is going to be to fix it on your own and actually not go talk. But a conversation with your father can change everything. And that's what happened with Zacchaeus.

Derek, what should I do with my money and my wealth and my possessions? I don't know. I'd love to tell you I did. I don't know. I'm figuring it out on my own. But I know who does know. Jesus. And he's probably got a different path for every single one of you in here.

And he's blessed us as a church. Thank you, by the way, for all of your giving to this church. Thank you. If anything, it's amazing in this day and age what this church is able to do for the kingdom. I hope we saw a lot of that last week at our conference.

But I want you to know that it starts by being with Jesus. It's really that simple. The same God who gave Zacchaeus a new outlook, the same God who left heaven to purchase you, is just one help me away from sorting out your soul.

If you look in your bulletin, the meditation quote there is by Tim Keller, which I think is really powerful. The Bible says that every treasure but Jesus will insist that you die to purchase it.

But Jesus himself is the one treasure who died to purchase you. Anything else you make your supreme value will say, die for me. But if you make Jesus Christ your supreme value, he's the one who said, I've died for you.

I'm not here today to tell you what to do with your stuff. I'm here to encourage you to first ask yourself this. What's your stuff doing with you and to you and to your desires?

And then I want you to take that discussion to the true master, Jesus. And if you don't know Jesus or have a relationship with him, this is a great day to start.

Because you can start just by going and saying that, hey, I don't have a relationship with you. But I want to live a better way than this world has to offer me. And here's how you do that. When you bring whatever you're dealing with in you, your darkness, your fears, your influences in the wrong areas that have taken you different places.

When you bring them to Jesus, and I encourage you to do it in silence and solitude. Find a place and a space. Put your phone away. And it doesn't have to be a certain length of time. You go to God and you say, hey, will you please send your heavenly power that I read about in the scriptures into me?

Will you shine your light on me and then shine through me so my eyes become a lamp for light? Will you make your focus, God, be my focus and the things that you treasure?

Will you give me the ability to see the things that you treasure that I may actually truly treasure them too? Will you be my only master? When you do that and when you ask him, he listens and he responds and he moves and he saves you from the current of the temporary and he transforms you to a new way of life.

But here's the thing. It's not a one-time deal. It's a continuous conversation. So if you're here and you've done that before, you may have felt it. You vacillate. And that's why we go back and we have a relationship with Jesus.

He says it's always of grace where he's always approachable and you can take any darkness there and he will shine his light upon it, remind you of his forgiveness. And if you've never accepted that forgiveness, he offers it freely to you.

It's the best way. He's the master, but he's the master of righteousness. And he will work righteousness through you by his spirit. He not only understands our struggles here on earth, he tells us the truth about him and offers us a better way.

So to close it up, understanding what God treasures is the first step to treasuring what God treasures.

And on earth, you're going to have this desire for money. Hopefully it's not as invisible and you can look at it and the monster can get out of the closet. It's not as ugly when you take it to Jesus because its hidden grip is broken through Christ.

And on earth, the treasures that we're all seeking, they're going to go away. But through Jesus, the most important things will last forever. You will take into eternity with you.

Okay. You're going to see the souls. You're going to experience the love, the joy, the peace, the patience, the kindness of the spirit. And on earth, money can be a tool or a master. But through Christ, it's only a tool.

You are what God treasures. If you take nothing away today, remember that. You are loved right where you are. Go to him and embrace that love and ask him to embrace you.

And know that we're here to help you, to hold your hand. We're trying to do it with you. And we love you very much. God bless you in the name of Jesus. I'm going to pray for us. Father, thank you for talking about stuff.

It's an uncomfortable conversation, but thank you that you are the most important thing. And that you love us. And I ask that you would use this congregation as you always do. But continue to use them and even beyond to impact the city.

And may they be people that are looked at in this world as, how does that not have mastery over you? Because you, Father, are the greater master. And you are lived out.

And people see you through us. And they see your light shining as we embrace and we love with a love that will not let us go. And that drives us to love others. To express it to others.

So thank you, Jesus, that we can call upon your power. I pray you to rest upon our people. Bless us this year. And thank you, Jesus, for the opportunity to hear what you said today. And Lord, help me live it.

Help all of us live it. Thank you in Christ's holy name. Amen. Amen. For more information, visit us online at southwood.org. Thank you.