 The spell of materialism is very hard to break and ladies that quote is alarming yet it's true evidenced by the fact that Americans alone spend more than one and a half trillion dollars every year on stuff that's not necessary. Stuff like pleasure boats, jewelry, alcohol, candy, entertainment, tobacco. Some facts you might find shocking are these. We spend 60 billion dollars a year on pets and I don't spend a penny because I have no pets. 10 billion a year on makeup. I do spend some money on that. Two billion a year on Halloween costumes. 7.4 billion dollars a year on decorations and candy. 478 billion on home furnishings. 469 billion on holiday shopping. 500 million a year on gum. Now this one we can't do without 13 billion dollars a year on chocolate. That's worth it, right? 65 billion on soft drinks. And listen to this one. One in five Americans spend more money paying for their cell phone bills than they do on their food. 60 billion dollars a year on weight loss programs. Worldly ambition has a strong fascination for us. The spell of materialism is very hard to break. However, for the kingdom citizen, worldly ambition should not have any fascination for us. The spell of materialism should be an oxymoron to us. In fact, Jesus puts it like this. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth for moth and rust and corrupt and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust does corrupt. Neither where thieves break in and steal for where your treasure is. There will your heart be also the lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be healthy. However, if your eye is evil, then your whole body is dark. How great is that darkness? No one can serve two masters. Either hate the one, love the other. He'll despise the one and be loyal to the other. You cannot serve God in money. You can't do it. So, as we consider this question, do you know where your treasure is? I'm going to answer that question in the form of the acrostic treasure. So, you have a little outline there for you. And these facts are going to hopefully aid you in discovering where your treasure is. Now, remember Jesus is teaching the Sermon on the Mount and he's teaching us that our righteousness must exceed that of the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees. And remember what the scribes and the Pharisees believed. They were hoping for an earthly kingdom and along with that was their belief that wealth was a sign of God's favor on them. And ladies, there's nothing new under the sun today because false teachers teach that today. They believe that Christ died to make us healthy and wealthy and prosperous. And so, there is nothing new under the sun. But once again, Jesus is going to teach something that is going to rock their world. And I hope it will rock your world and challenge your thinking because a genuine child of God has a different attitude about his or her possessions. So, let's consider the first verse and the first four facts that will help you determine where your treasure is. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth. Now, ladies, this is a command. So, Jesus begins this section of his teaching with a command and it's an absolute denial in the Greek. In other words, God forbid, God forbid that you and I should lay up treasures on earth. And the laying up has the idea of storing up. So, it has the idea of accumulating stuff, accumulating a treasure of some sort. And since we're going to talk about treasures, we need to define what a treasure is. In the biblical world, when Jesus is saying this, it would mainly consist of clothes, monies, land and other commodities, some type of wealth, some type of deposit. And notice what Jesus says here. It's very interesting. Do not lay up for yourself treasure on earth. He's not condemning laying up for others. You know, a good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children. Proverbs says that. He's not condemning saving for the future. He's not condemning laying up or storing up for others or giving to ministries or anything like that. But he is condemning an obsession that the biblical world had and that you and I have in storing up for ourselves. Now, let me be also clear. Jesus is not condemning wealth. Jesus is not condemning wealth. There are many wealthy people in the biblical world, but he is condemning the motive behind the wealth. Some live for money. And you know people like that. Others are just blessed with it. And as I said, Jesus is not condemning saving for the future. You know, I've mentioned this to you before. Those of you that heard me teach, my husband is a pastor. He's exempt from Social Security. And so when he dies or can no longer preach, you know, that source of income comes from me. So I begin to start saving some of my monies that I earn in lieu of that time. That's prudent because I don't want to be dependent on my children. If I don't have to, I don't want to be dependent on the church unless I have to. And so there's nothing wrong. Jesus is not condemning that. In fact, Proverbs 13 22 says, a good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous. Now, Jesus is not condemning owning a house. He's not condemning having material possessions. He's not condemning, you know, clothes or jewelry or anything like that. But he is condemning laying up treasure for yourself. There's nothing wrong with owning things as long as they don't own you. Okay, nothing wrong with owning things as long as they don't own you. So the first fact about treasures is this. This is the A on your acrostic. Avoid accumulating it. Avoid accumulating it. Jesus says, don't lay up. Don't lay up treasure. Don't accumulate it. Ladies, why do we want to accumulate so much stuff or invest in material things when John tells us all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life? It is not of the father. It's not of the father. It's of the world and the world is passing away and the lust thereof. In fact, he goes on to say at the end of first John, the whole world lies in the sway of the evil one, the wicked one. So why do we want to accumulate all this stuff that's going to be burned up? So perhaps the question comes to mind. Why shouldn't I lay up treasure on earth? Well, Jesus gives us several reasons why we shouldn't. He says because moth and rust destroy it. Ladies, this is a second fact about treasures. Unwelcome pest destroy it. It's the you on your acrostic. Unwelcome pest destroy it. Now, when Jesus is talking about pest here, he's talking about a specific one. It's a moth, but I will tell you this from a time when I did have pets. We did all that stuff when our kids were growing up, you know, dogs and cats and all that. And our first dog was named Moody after, you know, the school we went to. God bless the school that D L Moody founded. Well, we had a dog named Moody right after right after we got married. And guess what our little dog did? He went in our first apartment and ripped our, you know, the shredded the curtains and pieces while my husband and I were at work and we got evicted from our first little apartment that we lived in right after we got married. I wasn't very happy about that. Also squirrels, squirrels and mice. There are a lot of pests that can come in and destroy your home. They can ruin your guttering. We had one dog that used to eat up our other dog's dog house and he used to eat, try to eat the weed eater as my son was weed eating. He'd be trying to eat the end of it. And, you know, they can destroy a lot of stuff. But since Jesus is using a moth, what is that? Well, it's an insect that likes to deposit its little eggs in your garments. In fact, I know it probably is not true here in Orlando, but in Oklahoma we actually have winter. And so if you've ever been in a cold climate and you in winter starts coming and you go to your closet to pull out a wool sweater or suit and you see little holes at it and you wonder what's been gnawing away at that garment. I can tell you what's been gnawing away at your garment is called a moth and he has eaten a little holes in your garment. That's why some people back in Oklahoma, probably not in Orlando, they buy moth balls to hopefully ward those little things away. But, you know, the biblical world was no different than ours. They took great pride in their clothes and their finest clothes were made of wool. But even moths back then ate the woolen garments. Listen to Job 1328. Man decays like a rotten thing, like a garment that is moth eaten. Or Isaiah 51.8 when talking about the righteous, he says this, for the moth will eat them, the unrighteous, like a garment and the worm will eat them like wool. So nothing new under the sun. Well, the third fact about those things we treasure so much, notice what Jesus says, rust corrupts it. This is the third thing on your acrostic about treasures. Rust corrupts it. Rust corrupts it. Now, the word rust here is not literal rust like we would think of, but it refers to anything that can destroy or corrupt things like metal. You know, moths destroy our garments, rust destroys our monies or material possessions that corruption can lay hold of. It might be something like mold, mildew, or even time that destroys our precious possessions. My daughter is visiting me even though I'm not in Oklahoma right now, but she's there with her four of her kids. And she was telling me when she arrived a few days ago that some friends of theirs just bought a house and they hadn't been in it but a week and they didn't realize it was full of mold. And so they were texting my daughter and saying, we know you're not at your house, so can we move into your house while you're not there because they have a baby and the baby's getting sick. So those things can mold, mildew, rust can destroy those things that we hold so dear. Well, the fourth fact about treasures is the T on your acrostic. Jesus says thieves breakthrough and steal it. So thieves steal it. Thieves steal it. Now, you might say, did they have thieves back in the biblical world that actually, yeah, they did. In fact, remember, I mean, it was a pretty stiff punishment if you were caught stealing. But in biblical times, when someone would steal from another person's home, they would actually dig a hole underground and come up under the wall. And sometimes they would dig through the wall because homes were not made of the hard materials that we have, but of mud and sticks and things like that. Also, the homes in the biblical world, they didn't have security alarms, you know, they didn't have things like that. They didn't have security cameras and those types of things. But ladies, more than likely we all have been recipients of thievery. I remember when my husband took his first pastorate and we were at home and we'd gone out in the middle of the afternoon, just we were gone like an hour. I think we went to lunch and came back. And I went into the den and I noticed there was blood all over the window. The window had been broken and soon discovered that my wedding rings had been stolen and several, we'd only been married maybe about six, seven years at that time. And we had been robbed. We had been robbed. Somebody came and stole things out of our home. And so ladies, when we consider thieves stealing our stuff, why do we store up so much of it for them to carry off? In fact, my husband and I have laughed. We downsized two years ago and we got rid of a lot of stuff. I'd already gotten rid of stuff. And we often laugh, you know, we didn't even put us, now don't tell everybody, oh, this is on YouTube. So I better not say this. But anyway, if you want, you can ask me privately later. But we've kind of laughed about the fact that somebody wants to come in. I mean, let them have it that we don't have much there for them to take away. Ladies, all these things we hold so precious can be taken away by a pesky bug, corroding elements and a thief. Do you know nothing we have in this life is secure, except our soul and its destination? That's it. That is it. In fact, Jesus's half brother James has something to say that should cause us all to pause. Jesus's half brother James says this, come now you rich men weeping how for your miseries that are going to come upon you. Your riches are corrupted. Your garments are moth eaten. Your gold and silver are corrupted. And your corrosion will be a witness against you in the day of when against you and will eat your flesh like fire you have heaped up treasure for the last days. That's a frightening passage. Well, instead of laying up treasures here on earth, I'm to lay them up somewhere else. So let's look at verse 20, where I am to lay them up. Notice what he says, but in contrast, instead of laying up treasures on earth, lay them up in heaven. Now you might say, well, Susan, how do I do that? If I can't store up stuff here on earth, then how do I store up stuff on heaven? I in heaven. I don't understand. Well, we lay treasures up in heaven by investing our time, our energies, our monies in things that last for eternity. Ladies, we should be working for the kingdom to come that is forever and ever and ever and ever. And not the kingdom that is here. And now and gone tomorrow. And it's maybe gone or gone or is that a word? That's not a word. It may be gone sooner than we think. And ladies knows what Jesus says. He says it's very clear moth and rust don't destroy their thieves don't break in and steal. There's no thieves in heaven. There's no moths in heaven, thankfully, and no rust. In fact, Jesus says in another place in Luke 12, don't fear little flock, for it's your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have, give alms, provide yourself money bags which don't grow old, a treasure in the heaven that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is there will your heart be also. Ladies, when we think about our treasure in heaven, you know, heavenly treasure is the best. Peter says in 1 Peter, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is according to his abundant mercy has begotten us into a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, can't fade away. Nothing's going to get that treasure that we have in heaven and it's reserved for you, Peter says. Well, when we consider the fifth fact about our treasure, then it's the E on your acrostic eternity is going to reveal it. Eternity will reveal it. You know, we can mask that now and pretend that our hearts not here, but in heaven, eternity will reveal it, right? Paul is clear about this second Corinthians 5 10. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that which he had done, whether it's good or whether it is bad. And ladies at that time all will be revealed. All will be revealed and our motives and eternity is going to indeed reveal where our treasure is. Some are going to barely make it into heaven saved by fire as Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 3. Some will have eternal reward as they go into glory. Maybe you're thinking, Susan boy, I sure wish I could find out before eternity where my treasure is. Well, you know you can. 21 for where your treasure is, there's your heart. For where your treasure is, there's your heart. Where your deposit is, that's where your heart is. Ladies, have you been wondering where your heart is really devoted? What it's devoted to? You can find it. You can find out where your treasure is when you honestly evaluate where you spend or deposit most of your time, your money and your energy. Just do a weekly journal of that. Where's my money going? What am I doing with my time? I often do that with women say I don't have time to read the Bible. I say, well, why don't you make a journal this week of your daily activities? And then I'll help you maybe see where you're wasting time. You could have time to read your Bible. Evaluate where do you spend your time, your money, your energy. So here then is another fact about where your treasure is. Your resources reveal it. This is the R on your acrostic. Your resources reveal it. Where do you spend your time? Where do you spend your energy? Where do you spend your money? Now, when Jesus speaks of the heart, when he says where your treasures, there's your heart. He's referring to your thoughts, your feelings, your inner person, the whole of your being. Ladies, this is who we are. We know the scripture says that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. But you know what I think? I think out of the abundance of the heart, our actions speak too. And you know what? Our actions speak louder than our words. We can do all the mouth stuff, mouth mercy mouth, blah, blah, blah, blah. I did that for years. But actions speak, I think louder than our words. People can say all the religious stuff. But ladies, actions do indeed speak. You can't be double minded. You cannot have a divided heart. Either your heart is set upon your earthly home or your heart is set on your heavenly home. One man said this, nowhere did Jesus magnify poverty or criticize the legitimate getting of wealth. God made everything food clothing metals. God has declared all things he's made is good. God knows we need certain things in order to live. In fact, he's given us everything to enjoy. It's not wrong to possess things. But it's wrong for things to possess us. The sin of idolatry is as dangerous as the sin of hypocrisy, end of quote. Ladies, whatever you love more than God is your God. Whatever you love more than God is your God. That's where your treasure is. Whatever you spend your time and money on is your God. For example, it might be your home. There's nothing wrong with having one. I think I'm in my 12th one since my husband and I have been married. Nothing wrong with having a home. But if all your monies and time is spent remodeling and getting all the latest stuff for your home, then you have succumbed to your home being your treasure. I know women they remodel the whole home and then they start all over again. I think I've told you this story several years ago when I had asked the women a home women a homework question. Is there a material possession or a person that you don't think you could live without and I had to really examine my heart and I thought well at that time and that was two houses ago. It's my home. I love my home. It's where my kids grew up and and I thought you know I really don't want to leave that place and you know what two weeks later my husband says we're moving so so much for that. So I've tried not to get attached to any of my home since then and maybe for you it's not your home but it could be a child or a grandchild. I remember when our firstborn grandson who's now 11 was born and and I thought I would just die if I didn't see him every day and after a year or two I thought this child has become an idol. He has become an idol. Now ladies I have seven grandchildren and they are treasures and I love them and I just kept my three boys for 10 days and now I've got my other four here for almost a month. I love my grandchildren. I love my children. I treasure them. They are gifts from God but if I as a parent or grandparent start enabling them or coddling them or showing more love to them and loyalty to them than I do Christ. If my child is a become the center of everything in my home then that's where my treasure is. For you it might be spending money on all the latest stuff you think you need new car, new phone, new whatever it is and yet you have a family member or a church member that has a a financial need. Your heart has revealed where your treasure is no matter what you say. In fact it's been disheartening to me and I'm sure Martha could say the same thing over the years as I've been traveling and speaking and meeting a lot of women they know a lot about the latest stuff you know latest stuff on Instagram, Twitter and this and recipes and jewelry and home decor but little if anything about the Bible. It's distressing. Martha and I could probably clear out our counseling offices if they just read their Bible and apply it. Ladies we can search scripture and we will not find that holy women of old focused on such earthly pursuits. They didn't. Those things can become idolatrous and go against the grain of genuine Christianity and again I remind you of what our brother Paul said as I quoted last night godliness with contentment is great gain we brought nothing into this world it is certain we will carry nothing out so having food and clothing what be content it's an issue of contentment be content so our treasure reveals where our heart is which indicates we have a heart problem but we also have an eye problem look at verse 22 the lamp of the body is the eye if your eye is good your whole body is full of light now why is Jesus using the imagery of our eye well he uses the eye as an imagery of our heart because we know in the physical realm that if light does not come into our eye we cannot see and we will go blind I have a friend back home she's 40 and Emily I think she's actually been here one time didn't Emily come with me or not here maybe to another conference and yeah Maggie did but not Emily and she's going blind and she's had over a hundred injections in her eyes and she's going blind and she tells me that when she looks at me it's like looking at me through wax paper she just sees this big blur why is that her eyesight is not good because the light is not coming in it's distorted and eventually the doctors tell her she will become completely blind but I'm thankful for Emily this is not my notes because she's working on her ACBC certification she'll be with me this fall and she wants to do something profitable she's preparing for blindness and she wants to use what God's given her uh to counsel women in her home even in her blindness so why does he use that imagery well Jesus is the light that enters into our heart and helps us see spiritually if therefore our eye is good and single focused on him then our whole body is good our life is good the whole direction of our life is single focused we're not divided between earthly treasures and heavenly treasures we're focused on one thing in fact it's interesting Jesus uses the eye quite a bit in Matthew uh he's already mentioned he'll mention in Matthew 7 when he's talking about the eye he says judge not that you be not judged for with what judgment you judge you will be judged and why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye and you don't consider the two by four in your eye cast that beam out of your eye and then you'll see clearly to help the your brother get that little splinter out of his eye and then he calls them hypocrites ladies we need to fix our eyes on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith and not on the treasures the world has to offer for example your eye sees some clothing or house or new car jewelry nothing wrong with that if you really need it but sometimes what happens especially with women we begin to think well my friend just got one i think i need one of those and so we start coveting and lusting and we may not even be able to afford it but we get it and then many times it just creates an appetite for more and more well now i gotta have this and now this and now this and Debbie and I were talking last night and we're talking about some type of jewelry thing and i said well it's the fashion now but just wait till tomorrow and it'll be another fashion and so we think we have to have that and then next week it's this thing that comes out we're never content we're not satisfied because we see you see we have a bigger problem our whole life is full of darkness look at verse 23 if your eye is bad your whole body is full of darkness if therefore the light that is in you is darkness how great is that darkness but in contrast to light if your eye is bad your whole body is full of darkness ladies the religious leaders of the day had an eye disease in the spiritual sense remember jesus already told them if your eye offends you pluck it out he's already said this in the sermon on the mount pluck your eye out if it offends you he already said if you look on a woman to lust after her what you've committed adultery already with her in your heart they had an eye disease that same eye that lusted after that woman had another less which was materialism jesus says if your eye is bad your heart your whole body is bad it's full of darkness ladies if there's no light coming into your eyes you cannot see your eye is bad and there's only darkness in your life and therefore your whole body your whole life is dark and then jesus goes on to say how great is that darkness how large is that darkness ladies jesus explained why by pointing out that a concentration on material success would lead to a darkened eye and the divided heart the eye is the organ of perception through which our whole personality is guided if we focus our vision on what the world calls success our perception will be distorted and the light of god's revelation of reality will be blocked out in fact your whole personality will be darkened so ladies you want to know where your treasure is the e on your acrostic eyes reveal it your eyes reveal it proverbs 28 22 interesting proverb a man with an evil eye hastens after riches and does not consider that poverty will come upon him well jesus ends this portion on a somber note just in case they haven't heard what he's said in the previous statements he makes it perfectly clear in verse 24 no one can serve two masters he'll hate the one and be loyal to the other he'll despise the one and love the other you can't serve god and money ladies no man no pastor no pastor's wife no sunday school teacher no professing believer can serve two masters cannot do it it's impossible it's impossible you can't serve or be a slave to god and to something else at the same time in fact the word master here means authority authority it indicates this person has your total loyalty you might say well why can't i serve two masters will notice what jesus says you'll hate one love the other you'll be loyal to one and you'll despise the other you'll hate the one which means to detest it you'll love the other which means you'll agape it you'll be loyal to one which is to be devoted to it and you'll despise the other which means to think against it you'll hate it so the final indication of where your treasure is this the s on your acrostic your sacrifices reveal it you'll love it and you'll be loyal to it and your sacrifices will reveal it jesus says you absolutely cannot serve god and mammon or your translation might say money mammon is the actual translation it's a word that refers to an idol which was known as the god of riches in the biblical world again it was things like monies lands houses you know we would say boats technical devices sports collection shopping kids grandkids and even yourself you know we love ourselves way too much don't we so what are the eight facts about our treasure number one thieves steal it thieves break through and steal have you ever been robbed what was your attitude about the things that were taken from you did it reveal your true heart or your resources reveal it where your treasure is there's your heart have you kept a tally of where your money goes every month what about a journal of your time and even your physical energy ladies these things are a revealer of where our treasure is e your eyes reveal it what occupies your thoughts your lusts what things do your eyes look at more than anything else facebook internet television the word of god creation i can't answer that question for you where your eyes go is a revealer of your heart a avoid accumulating it what things do you have in excess that are in your home right now why are you accumulating it s sacrifices reveal it jesus says you'll love it and you'll be loyal to it what is the one thing or individual you think you can't live without what do you spend the bulk of your day doing with whom do you spend the bulk of your time with these things are a revealer of our heart's treasure you unwelcome pest destroy it when was the last time you had some item destroyed by an unwelcome to pest and what was your attitude now i want to be practical and say that i would rid myself of those pests if i could i keep telling my husband that i want to take his pellet gun and shoot those two squirrels in my backyard that keep daring me but in fact i even asked i was getting my concealed carry license don't worry i'm not carrying a gun i'm not going to shoot you if you don't repent but i did ask my instructor i said am i allowed in oklahoma to kill those things in my backyard and she said yeah you are i was like good but i haven't done it yet but we had some in our former home that i mean destroyed tried to destroy our roof and i would encourage you rid yourself if you can of mice and i've been battling ants this spring in my home because you know the things that god does give us the material things our home our furniture their gifts from him and their blessings and so we need to be good stewards and take care of them are rust corrupts it when is the last time you had something you own corrode by corruption of some sort what was your attitude when you realized this thing was destroyed he eternity reveals it ladies it's appointed for us once to die but after this the judgment each one of us are going to give an account for what we've done what will your account look like as you stand before god and give account of your time your energies and your monies what will eternity reveal about your treasure now ladies the sermon on the mount is not the only book of the bible that speaks to this issue joshua remember what joshua said if it seems evil for you to serve the lord choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve right but for me in my house we're going to serve the lord elijah remember what laia just said to the nation of israel how long are you going to falter between two opinions if the lord is god follow him but if bail follow him and it says the people didn't answer him a word they were quiet jesus said to satan and matthew four away with you satan it is written you shall worship the lord your god and him only shall you serve paul said to the church at realm do you not know that to whom you present yourself slaves to obey are you are that one slave whom you obey whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness and jesus's brother warns you adulterers and adulteresses do you not know the friendship of the world is enmity with god therefore who so ever will be a friend of the world is what an enemy of god and john don't love the world need things very well if any man love the world the love the father is not in him although within the world the lust flesh lust the eyes pride of life is not of the father it is of the world so where is your treasure why not take some time this week and go on a treasure hunt to see if your treasure is here on earth or if it's in heaven let's pray father in heaven thank you lord for calling us out of darkness into your marvelous light transferring us into the kingdom of the sun that you love and we love him too but father so much of our time and money and energy that we spend our time money energy on it doesn't look like we love him looks like we love the world and so father i pray that you will help us i don't know the hearts of these ladies i don't know what they spend their time on i don't know where their treasure is but lord you do and so i pray that this would not just be another cutesy little lesson that they listen to and then go out that door and forget lord but they would truly examine their their lives in light of how they spend their time in monies and energies lord we believe the time is short and uh it is and we consider our life as a vapor and we do want it to count for you and so help us to be purposeful in our days purposeful with our money and purposeful with our energies and i pray this for christ's sake amen