4th November 2024

4th November 2024


Pray (ACts)


Read (Matthew 6:19-24 focus v19-21)


Message (Alan Burke) 


Some of you may remember at time when things were much more frugal, that people just didn’t have the same money, that when you moved out of the family home to student digs or begin married life you were reliant on what you could beg borrow and steal. Family members would offer you the old table that was lying in the shed, you’d have miss matched chairs that you gathered up although I believe now that is trendy, in the main though what you had wasn’t new and you’d make do with it until you saved up a bit of money and were able to finally get your own stuff and then you no doubt passed on what you had to someone else. Things don’t seem to work that way anymore, with easy credit people can get their new house completely kitted out and pay it off in instalments, in fact our economy couldn’t cope with the shock if we went back to the old way, it is reliant on us spending money and buying things that we don’t actually need. Most of us aren’t content with what we have and it is very easy to live in the here and now, storing up treasures here on earth. 


Let’s think about what Jesus says here as he tells us “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal”. Treasure here primarily in the context speaks of money, things, what we have, material wealth as such. Jesus gives us three reasons for why we should store up for ourselves treasures on earth. First the moth. Moths, can destroy clothes overnight, it doesn’t matter if was something that we spent a few quid on or a few hundred, moths can destroy clothing. The word that is translated here as moth can also be used for a bookworm. Books were expensive and bookworms could turn an expensive book into something worthless, they can destroy manuscripts, deeds of property that bring ownership and the question, even something small as a moth or a book worm can cause major damage it can cause us to lose earthly treasures that we value and we are helpless to prevent. 


Jesus is also uses rust to make the same point, but there's more being conveyed to us than what happens to iron that slowly is ate away by the rust. The word that is used here speaks more of corrosion. James 5 speaks of gold and silver being corroded, things of value (James 5:3). The word also conveys the destructive effects of rats and mildew and the like, for they like rust devour, destroy. Thieves  can also break in and steal. The word that is used here breaking in is not too much smashing the window that we would do today, or breaking and entering through the door, rather speaking of a thief digging through the mud brick walls of the homes that there would've been in Jesus day. 


Jesus isn’t telling us that it is foolish to put something away for a rainy day, there is a degree of sense in having put something aside for whenever the washing machine breaks or the car needs serviced. The point Jesus is making is don’t store up for ourselves treasure here because it won’t last, we are in danger of loosing it. Even if what we have isn't destroyed by moths or isn't destroyed by the rust, or hasn't been stolen from us, even if the ravages of time haven’t taken its value, then the treasure we have will either be taken by the residential or care home fees or we will end up leaving it behind and someone else will enjoy it, none of us can take any of it with us.


In contrast the storing up for ourselves treasures here on earth Jesus tells us to store for ourselves treasures in heaven. Having treasure in the wrong place means it's too often were filled with anxiety, we worry, the stuff that we have spent a lifetime working for and trying to accumulate belongs to the world that is passing away. The things we have do not offer us security when we are old and frail, they will give us nothing whenever we meet the Lord Jesus Christ. The more that we have accumulated in this life the more effort it is to maintain it and to look after it. If we do love the Lord then it will be seen in how we are delivered from loving wealth delivered from loving what this world loves. 


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q 26. How doth Christ execute the office of a king?
A. Christ executeth the office of a king, in subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies.
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