Laying Up Treasure in Heaven

Okay, I'm not leaving. I think I'll just stay here. Sure appreciate that, all of you. Thanks for putting that together. Kind of chokes one up. Hard to give a sermon out today. You'd probably be okay if I didn't give one, wouldn't you? Just sit down and forget it. Well, you know me better than that.

Brethren, what has happened to the great fortunes, the great treasures, which have been built up by the wealthiest people on earth? When we think of wealth, those of us who are older, we think of the Vanderbilt, the Rothschilds, J. Paul Getty, Howard Hughes. Today we may think of Bill Gates, Sam Walton, but maybe more likely Jeff Bezos. You know who he is?

He's the Amazon guy. Warren Buffett, of course, is kind of a household name. Most people have heard of him. Mark Zuckerberg? I think he's seventh in the world. He only has about, I don't know, 80 billion or so. Warren Buffett has like $88.3 billion. That's a lot of money.

But what's going to happen to all that money, to all that wealth, to the big homes, to the mansions? Jesus Christ taught a fundamental principle regarding our treasures. Of course, that principle is found over in Matthew 6. So let's go there today. Let's consider this.

Matthew 6. I'm sure many of you are already ahead of me. You know the fundamental principle.

Perhaps you saw the title in the announcement bulletin. But in Matthew 6, it gives us a very, very important principle that our Savior, Jesus Christ, wants us to consider, wants us to reflect upon, and wants us to live by. Matthew 6, beginning in verse 19.

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, where three 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. So if your treasure is here on the earth, if it's in material things, if it's in wealth, money, fancy cars, that's where your heart's going to be. Instead, if you have your treasure in heaven, then your heart will be lifted up. Your heart will be in the right place. God looks on your heart. We know that. How spiritually motivated is your heart? What about you? How large is your treasure in heaven?

How much treasure have you already laid up or has been laid up for you in heaven? Are you building a fabulously rich treasure in heaven? Or is it perhaps at this stage rather small? Why should you be concerned about building up your treasures in heaven? How can you be certain that your treasure in heaven is growing? And just what does it mean to lay up treasure in heaven? That's what we'll be talking about today. Do you have treasure in heaven or treasure on the earth? What's more important to you? Just what are heavenly treasures?

First of all, I'd like to give you three things to consider in regard to heavenly treasures.

Heavenly treasures are actually physical acts of love, kindness, and compassion. In Matthew 19, verse 21, the Scripture reads, Jesus said to him, If you want to be perfect, go and sell what you have. He talked to a rich young ruler who had been keeping the commandments and keeping God's commandments, but he wanted to know what he needed to do to enter into life. Christ told him to keep the commandments. He said he'd already done that. Jesus said to him, If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have been given, or sell what you have, and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me, become my disciple, and follow me. So we are told that we should lay up treasures in heaven, but does God expect us to sell everything? In principle, he wants us to be willing to do that, certainly. He wants us to be willing to lay down everything, including our lives, to be his disciple, to be a follower of Jesus Christ. In Mark chapter 10, Mark 16. Mark 10 and verse 16. So he took up the little children in his arms, he laid his hands on them, and he blessed them. We know that Jesus Christ did this. We talk about it every year during the blessing of little children ceremony. Now, as he was going out on the road, one came running, now dow before him, and asked him, Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? So Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good? Now, I've always found that very fascinating. Christ said, Why do you call me good? He said, There's none good but one, and that is God. Of course, they didn't understand that Jesus was God.

They didn't really fully comprehend or understand it at this time. And he is pointing them, however, to God, to the Father. He was in the flesh. He said, There's nothing good about the flesh. He was in the flesh. So I think there's a lot of meaning in what he said there.

No one is good but one. That is God. He says, You know the commandments. Do not commit adultery.

Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Do not defraud. Honor your father and your mother. He answered and said to him, Teacher, all these things I have done, I've kept them for my youth. Jesus, looking at him, loved him. Notice Jesus loved him and said to him, One thing you lack, go your way, sell whatever you have, and give it to the poor. This was a very rich man. No doubt he had placed a lot of emphasis on riches. Riches had been important to him. He was used to riches. He liked riches. He liked having all these physical, material things. So Jesus kind of took him right down to where he lives.

He says, Give it to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. And come, take up your cross and follow me. And it says, But he was sad at this word. Why was he sad?

He says he was sorrowful. He went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. He didn't want to give up those possessions. He wasn't willing to give up those possessions. We have to be willing to give up whatever God requires of us, no matter what it is, even our own lives.

So we ought not be puffed up and vain about the good deeds that we all do. We all fall short of Jesus Christ. We all fall short of really being able to do this, to sell all that you have, give it to the poor completely and totally. That's been something I've thought about a lot. I don't know. That's hard. That's a hard thing to do that, to be willing to do that.

So heavenly treasures are physical acts of love, acts of kindness, acts of compassion.

God looks on the heart. He sees our heart. He knows what's in our hearts. And out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, and also the body acts. We follow through because of what's inside, what's in our hearts, what's in our minds.

So let's be sure that we are helping others, that we are going out of our way, that we're willing to sacrifice, that we're willing to be living sacrifices, because this is a high and a holy calling. And in the four and a half years that I've been here, I've certainly tried to bring that out, that our whole lives should be dedicated to God and to serving Him and becoming more and more like our Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.

And helping others and serving others is certainly building treasure in heaven. In Matthew 25, verse 31, and I'll just read probably a verse here, because I hope we're familiar with these verses. In Matthew 25, when the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the holy angels with Him – I'm in verse 31 of chapter 25 – then He will sit on the throne of His glory and all the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another as a shepherd divides His sheep from the goats, and He will set the sheep on the right hand and the goats on the left.

Then the King will say to those on His right hand, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the King and prepare for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you took me in. I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.

Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, Lord, when did we come to you when you were hungry and feed you and so forth? He said, If you did this to one of the least of my brethren, you did it unto me. So when we serve one another, when we help one another, we are storing up treasures in heaven. It's a good thing if we genuinely care for people and we genuinely act out of their good, of wanting to do good for them, certainly we are laying up treasures in heaven. That's one of the reasons why I wanted to start the MBK program, My Brother's Keeper, because I really want all of us to become closer as family.

I want us to have closer relationships. I do see the value in becoming closer and it's difficult to be close to 200 people when we only see them on the Sabbath and only for a few minutes on the Sabbath, typically. You can't get around to 200 people and get to know them all that well. So having a smaller group, a smaller area where we can hopefully focus on some friends, maybe people you don't even know very well and they only live a mile from you or two or three miles away, but you don't really know them all that well.

So the leaders of the MBK program, I would challenge you to figure out ways to get your group together, to get to know each other better, to do things, to have hot dog roasts, to do whatever, to get people together. It's basically up to you, your leadership and the assistance that will be helping them. Take it to heart.

You know, try to get to know everyone in your area. Maybe have some Bible studies and do some things as a group. Obviously, we're a larger group and we should look at the whole, but we should also consider where we live. You know, if we live close to people, shame on us if we don't know them.

Just because you've come here and you've made bonds with people that live 50, 60 miles away and you spend more time with them than some of the people that live a couple of miles from you or five miles from you, I think we should consider why that is. You know, we should love all people. Get to know everyone. So I would again encourage everyone to get to know everyone in your area. That doesn't mean you cut off the friendships that you already have with someone who lives 50 miles away.

I mean, that's great, too. Being willing to drive 50 miles and get together, that's an awesome thing as well. But let's be sure that we are doing these genuine acts of love and kindness and compassion toward one another. Let's look out for the needs of one another and do our best to fill those needs. In Luke 6, verse 45, it says, A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good.

Out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good. God looks again on the heart. He also looks at our fruits. And by their fruits, you will know them. You will know what kind of person. God knows what kind of a person you are by your fruits. What do you do? What do you produce? Are you producing the fruit of God's Spirit?

Love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and gentleness and beatness and faithfulness and self-control. You've heard me preach a lot about the fruit of God's Spirit because it's important. This is what we need to be producing in our lives. And if we're not, we're lacking. And we need to stir up the Spirit within us and produce those fruits of God's Spirit. Words of kindness, genuine words of kindness, sincere words of encouragement, words of sincere gratitude and appreciation.

Those are all treasures in heaven. You're storing those things up. So make sure that you're doing this in abundance. So that was the first point there.

What are heavenly treasures? They're physical acts of love, kindness, compassion, service. Also, heavenly treasures are acts of obedience that are motivated out of love. Keeping God's commandments, that's storing up treasure in heaven. Assembling together on the Sabbath day, that's storing up treasure in heaven. You come here, you sacrifice a bit of your time to be here every Sabbath. God takes note of that. God takes note of that. You are storing up treasure in heaven when you keep God's commandments. It's a commanded assembly to be here on the Sabbath. So this is a wonderful thing that we're doing today in every Sabbath when we get together and we worship God.

Let's go to 1 Corinthians 13. We'll read a bit of the love chapter together. 1 Corinthians 13.

1 Corinthians 13. Paul says, 2 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

3 Though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. There has to be genuine love behind whatever it is we're doing.

If there isn't genuine love there, then we're lacking.

4 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Sometimes we do things out of duty more than we do them out of love. We may need to start by doing things out of duty, but hopefully it will mature into doing things because we truly love the people we're serving.

And we truly love God, whom we serve.

Verse 4, Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy, love does not parade itself, it's not puffed up. And remember, God is love. As we read this, this is the example that God sets for us, and His Son sets this example for us. Love suffers long, God suffers long and is kind, God does not envy, God does not parade Himself, God is not puffed up.

Love does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things.

Now we need to have more faith in one another as well.

Now, let's not be so suspicious of one another. Let's learn to give people the benefit of the doubt until they show themselves unworthy. Let's be careful that we don't suspect someone of doing something out of a wrong motive when there may not be any such thought in their minds.

I've seen too much suspicion in the Church of God. We need to give people the benefit of the doubt. Again, we will know by their fruits, but let's not jump to conclusions. Let's make sure we have the facts before we make decisions. Love never fails, but whether there are prophecies, they will fail. Whether there are tongues, they will cease. Whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away, for we know in part and we prophesy in part. We don't know everything.

When it comes to prophecy, by any means, we're learning. God will reveal more as we draw closer to the end of the age. Verse 10, but when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. It says in verse 13, now abide faith, hope, love. These three, but the greatest of these is love. You know, God is love, and certainly we need to be genuine in our love for one another. When we are, we're laying up treasures in heaven. Thirdly, heavenly treasures are anything we do that pleases our heavenly Father. Whatever you do that pleases God, you're storing up a little bit of treasure in heaven every time. Every time you do something, any, you know, just an expression of concern for somebody praying, you know, God looks at our prayers as well. When we take our time to pray or to fast to study the Word of God, we're storing up treasure in heaven. If you're not reading your Bible, you're missing opportunities.

It's to store up treasures in heaven. You need to know God's Word. You need to read it. You need to study it. You need to live by it. You need to pray, because when you pray, you store up treasures in heaven. When you pray for one another, God sees your heart. He sees what's important to you. If you're too busy to pray for others, then frankly, you're too busy. You need to find some time to pray for others, to pray for one another, to take prayer requests seriously, and to certainly be there for one another. So, heavenly treasures are anything that we do that pleases our heavenly Father. Faith and trust in God are actually heavenly treasures. Faith and trust in God are heavenly treasures. If you show that you have faith in God and that you trust Him, and you put that faith in Him, you're storing up treasure in heaven.

Some years ago, there was a professional baseball player named John Olerud. Some of you may know him if you're a baseball fan. I used to know a lot more about baseball players than I do now. In fact, I don't know much at all about who's even playing these days. But John Olerud was a first baseman for the Boston Red Sox, and he was a good ball player.

But his daughter had a rare genetic disease. During one of her medical treatments, the Boston Red Sox first baseman held his infant daughter while doctors attempted to insert an IV into a small child, an infant. Olerud described the look in her eyes this way. What's going on?

I thought you were my dad protecting me, and you're holding me down and allowing them to poke me.

How can you say you love me and let somebody do this to me? Knowing that even if he could tell her why all this was happening, she wouldn't understand. John Olerud could only say, you've just got to trust me. You know, he tried to get that through to her.

Olerud saw an important faith lesson in that experience.

He said, sometimes with our suffering, you look to God and say, God, this does not make any sense.

You know, I've seen little babies in the NIC unit. That doesn't make sense to me.

But it does make sense to me when I understand the whole scheme of things. How we have rejected God. It isn't God that has rejected us.

But we as a people, made in the image of God, as a whole, the billions of people on the earth and the billions who have lived through the centuries, for the most part, we have rejected God.

We don't really want God to be our God. We don't really want to be His people. And so we're paying a huge price for that. And little babies and little infants are paying a huge price because of our unfaithfulness to our God, who made us and created us in His image.

God allows these things.

Olerud says, sometimes with our suffering, you look to God and you say, God, this does not make any sense. I'm getting hammered here and you can change it. I'm sure He's looking at us saying, I can't tell you why I'm doing this. It is in your best interest. You just have to trust me.

So the analogy is that just as an infant who would not understand what's going on with them when the Father is holding them down and pain is inflicted, God sometimes allows those things to happen to us because we need those things that happen to us. There are lessons that we need to learn that we can grow by and overcome and draw nearer to God as a result. Too often we try to use God to change our circumstances while He is using our circumstances to change us. God wants us to learn the lessons that He allows us to go through, the trials that He allows upon us. Sometimes they're self-inflicted trials, but not always. Oftentimes they're not self-inflicted. Time and chance happens to everyone. Things happen to us that are a result of time and chance, genetics, all kinds of reasons for those things to happen to us. But God wants us to use those circumstances to help change us for the better. Building character and producing the fruit of God's Spirit in our lives is laying up treasure in heaven. When you're building godly character and you are responding to a trial in a way that would please God, you are building up treasure in heaven.

So let's talk now about why we ought to be concerned about laying up treasures in heaven.

Why should we? I mean, it should be pretty obvious. Let me share three reasons why we ought to be very concerned about laying up treasure in heaven. Number one, treasure in heaven will last for eternity. Well, treasure here on earth only lasts an earthly lifetime. Treasures on earth are insecure. We can't count on the treasures here on the earth, but there is real security in heavenly treasures. There's real security in those things. Remember, moths and rust destroy earthly things, but they cannot touch heavenly treasures.

In Luke chapter 12, let's read what Christ warned us about. Luke chapter 12. We'll start reading in verse 13. Luke 12 verse 13. Here Jesus Christ says in verse 13 of chapter 12, Then one from the crowd said to him, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.

Again, people interested about physical things, about inheritances.

I mean, that's natural, though. I mean, we're all interested about what we might inherit.

That's a normal thing. It's not a bad thing, but we have to be careful how much emphasis we put on these physical things. Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.

So evidently the brother wasn't sharing. He wasn't perhaps doing what he should do.

Christ said to him, Man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?

Jesus basically said, Why are you going to me? Why don't you go work it out with your brother?

You know, rather than come to me, go work it out amongst your family, amongst your own people.

Don't ask me to make all the decisions for you. Christ wants us to learn to make good decisions, sound decisions. And he said to them, Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things that he possesses.

You're so concerned about this inheritance. Go work it out.

Then he spoke a parable to them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.

And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops? I've had such a tremendous harvest. I have no room now for my crops.

So he said, I'll do this. He said to himself, I will pull down my barns, and I will build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.

I'm not going to give the excess to the poor people. I'm just going to hoard it.

I'm going to build bigger buildings. Store it up. That was his mentality.

Verse 19, And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have many goods laid up for many, many years.

Take your ease. Eat, drink, and be merry. Take it easy. Go into retirement. Enjoy it all.

Eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him, Fool, this night your soul will be required of you.

Then those... Then... I'm sorry. Then whose will those things be which you have provided?

He was going to basically allow that man to die that night.

So is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. If we're so concerned about ourselves, then we may not be around to enjoy all that we've tried to amass during our lifetime. If we haven't been generous, if we haven't been giving, if we haven't taken care of the poor or the afflicted, and we've been self-centered and self-absorbed, then perhaps God will not allow us to even enjoy the fruits of all that labor. We have to have a godly balance in all that we do and seek a godly balance. God doesn't mind us having nice things, riches. No, he blessed Abraham with many riches. He blessed David with many riches.

Solomon, many of his servants, were quite wealthy. They had material things, but always God was more concerned about the spiritual and what their lives were like spiritually, not physically. So whatever God does give us, we should strive to use it to his glory.

You know, if God blesses us with nice homes, share those homes with others.

Be hospitable. Reach out to others and do what you can do to spread the wealth around.

In 1 Peter 1, again it talks about a heavenly inheritance that is not corruptible, unlike a physical one. 1 Peter 1. I mean, I can think of my father's inheritance as gone to the wind. You know, my father inherited some land from his father, and he basically squandered it for the most part. And it's gone. And it's no longer in the family. It's gone.

And a lot of people have squandered their physical inheritances. 1 Peter 1.

1 Peter 1, verse 3.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that's incorruptible. That's the inheritance that you and I need to dwell upon.

An incorruptible inheritance, an undefiled and that does not fade away, that is reserved in heaven for you, for you who are kept by the power of God through faith, for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials. Then he goes on to talk about trials and how trials can work a good work in us, and that we all will be tried by fire, and we have to remain faithful and endure to the end and show that we are truly faithful to God. And then we will receive that inheritance that's laid up for us in heaven. So our treasures in heaven will last for eternity, and that's where we really need to be placing our focus today, is laying up those treasures in heaven. Secondly, there is great earthly reward even now. I mean, it's true, there's great earthly reward even now for those who are laying up treasures in heaven. It's a beautiful thing how it all works, because God wants us to enjoy many good things in life. He wants us to enjoy these things, and we do enjoy these things in this country. We've been so blessed because of faithful Abraham, because he obeyed my voice, kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. We are being blessed because of Abraham. We have much to be grateful for, to be thankful for. There are tremendous blessings, and if we will take those blessings that we're given, share them with others, and are generous in what we do, then we will be laying up treasures in heaven, and God will grant us even more oftentimes. Again, it's not about the physical things, but it's just something that happens. It's just God's good. God's gracious. God blesses His people. He'll throw out, you know, Malachi chapter 3 talks about tithing and how God will pour out a blessing that you can't receive in one sense. It's such a great blessing, so we should always be grateful for these blessings that God gives us. But remember, again, there is great earthly reward as well, so we should enjoy it, but also share it with others. So, under this point, I'd like to share just a couple of things with you as far as earthly rewards. One earthly reward is peace of mind. It's not a physical thing.

It is in one sense, because when we have peace of mind, then that's a tremendous stress reliever.

I mean, it's nice to be able to handle stress, and God will allow that to happen if we're laying up treasures in heaven. He will give us peace of mind. Now, sometimes people, again, they're not thinking straight. They're not making good decisions in their lives. It reminds me of a church member who stopped the pastor and angrily complained that the church had just purchased five new brooms and expended sure that he thought was completely unnecessary. Five new brooms probably cost maybe seven or eight bucks apiece. The pastor was surprised at the man's reaction and mentioned it to the church treasurer, who said, it's understandable. How would you feel if you saw everything that you gave in the past year tied up in five brooms? In other words, this was not a very generous man. In a whole year, he'd given about 60 or 70 dollars. He probably had a good job. He probably made decent money, but he was very miserly when it comes to giving. He was not a generous person, so he was more concerned about those five brooms rather than having his heart and his mind on being a generous person. He was more concerned in finding fault with others than in just being a generous, loving, kind, compassionate, understanding person. Giving generously is therapeutic.

If we live in a miserly way, we will likely have a petty frame of mind and a petty attitude toward things. We will be more prone to grumbling and complaining. So peace of mind does come when we are laying up treasures in heaven and when we really have the right perspective on things.

Again, God wants us to be happy. I talked about that last Sabbath. I really believe God wants us to be happy people. He wants us to enjoy our lives because God is a happy person or a happy being.

He's a happy God being. No, He's not all depressed. He's not all despondent. He's not all discouraged.

He's a very happy God, and He wants us to be happy children. And a lot of it has to do with our frame of mind, our attitude, our approach, again, the choices that we make each day.

Getting back to Matthew 6. Matthew 6, verse 22.

Here it says, The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. The Scripture tells us we are to be single-minded in serving God and loving Him and obeying Him. You cannot serve God and mammon. You can't serve God and riches.

Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body what you will put on. It is not life more than food and the body more than clothing. Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? That's a good question.

Don't you think you are of more value than the animals out there that are still living?

They haven't all died out. There are still lots of animals, lots of cats, lots of dogs, lots of foxes, lots of deer. God feeds them. God takes care of them. They're part of His creation.

How much more is He going to take care of you, especially when you turn to Him and you are one of His children, and you love Him and look to Him for help? Which of you, by worrying, can add one cubit to His stature? Why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. And yet I say to you that even Solomon, in all of His glory, was not a raid like one of these. There's nothing more beautiful than God's artwork, the flowers that God has created. They're absolutely gorgeous, you know, the mountains, the prairies, the hills, everything. It all has its own beauty, the desert even.

The deserts are going to blossom like a rose in the future. God's blessing will be poured out in ways that we've never understood, we've never seen really rain and dew season the way God can give it.

We're still under a curse. This land is under a curse. Because we have turned against God, we've rejected Him as our God. And so we continually pay a price to some degree for that.

If our affections, our hopes, and our dreams are centered mainly around amassing earthly treasures, then we're going to experience quite a bit of disappointment in life.

If our treasure is in heaven, our hearts will not suffer such great disappointments when we have physical trials such as a shortage of money or poor health. We will feel secure knowing that no one can take eternal life from us. I mean, there's great comfort in knowing how it all ends up. No matter what happens to us like Job, you know, all that he had to go through, as long as he stayed faithful, he knew that he would be given a crown of life, that he would be given God's kingdom. So it sustained him. He did not curse God and die.

He stayed faithful, even though it was difficult to understand what was happening to him.

In 1 Timothy 6, it talks about how godliness with contentment is great gain.

So let's read that together. 1 Timothy 6.

1 Timothy 6.

Now, godliness with contentment is great gain.

Okay, if we are godly people and we've learned to be content, no matter what happens, that's what Paul said, that he was able to be content no matter what happened. No matter all the trials and the persecutions, the shipwrecks, all the perils that he went through, imprisoned, everything that happened to him, he learned to be content.

So godliness with contentment is great gain. If you can be content, no matter what's happening around you, that is a tremendous blessing, isn't it? To be able to keep your cool, that is priceless.

For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain that we can carry nothing out.

You know, a little infant doesn't bring anything in, right?

You know, the baby doesn't come out with a gold ring on his finger.

There's nothing there! Naked is a jaybird.

There's nothing there.

But those who desire... Let's see. Okay, verse 7. For we brought nothing into this world, it is certain we can carry nothing out. I've never seen a dead person grab a hold of anything.

And cling to it. I mean, and you know, it doesn't happen when they die. That's it.

And having food and clothing with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Again, we're talking about spiritual treasure, not earthly treasure. Spiritual treasure. The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness.

It's brought them away from God. It's taking them away because they've become greedy and covetous and pierced themselves through with many, many sorrows. But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith.

Lay hold on eternal life to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things and before Christ Jesus, who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ appearing.

We do need to stay faithful until Christ returns or until we're safely in the grave.

If we do so, we will be building up treasures in heaven all along the way.

Also, another great benefit to these earthly rewards that God will give us now if we put Him first in our life and if we are laying up treasures in heaven is that we will have faith and we'll have confidence, which is priceless. If you have faith and you trust God, then that's priceless. That's worth more than anything else you could ever have if you just trust God. If you know that He's not going to leave you, He's never going to forsake you, and that you really believe that and you trust in Him and you have faith, it doesn't matter what happens to you at that point.

Anything can happen and you're fine. You're fine. As long as you still have that faith, that God's there for you, that He's allowing things to happen for His purposes, for His reason, and that it's all going to turn out just dandy. But that takes faith to believe it's all going to turn out just fine. When we're in tremendous trials and problems when we're in the furnace and it's getting hotter and hotter, that's when our faith is tested.

We naturally feel better about ourselves if we're doing the right thing, and we are also more attuned into God and His way of thinking. So if we're naturally going to feel much better and more confident and more faithful, if we know that we've been keeping God's laws faithfully, but if we understand that we haven't been and we feel guilty and shamed because of the way we live our lives, then we're not going to have that kind of faith.

So it is important that we are faithful and obedient to God. Now, I can say that I personally am very grateful for the opportunity that I have to be a minister and a pastor.

By virtue of my responsibilities, I have an opportunity to be constantly reminded of the importance of building up spiritual treasure. I mean, that's what I've been thinking about for all my life since I was 18. No, this is my daily life, trying to obey and serve God and serve all of you as God's people. So it's easier for me, in a sense, because I have a greater focus.

I'm not as distracted, so there's greater... there's more expected of me, frankly.

God expects more of me. He's given me more, in that sense, and He expects more of me.

But He expects something from all of us. He expects all of us to be faithful in whatever it is He gives us to do. I know I have been strengthened by the opportunities God has given me to serve God and to serve His people. And I'm... I feel very thankful for that.

The Bible tells us to not cast away our confidence, which has great reward. We should not cast away our faith in Hebrews chapter 10. Let's just read that for a moment. Hebrews chapter 10, it talks about having faith and having confidence in God and trusting in God. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 32.

Hebrews 10, verse 32.

But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, after... when you were called, and God gave you His Spirit, and opened up your mind, and showed you His truth, and called you, you endured a great struggle with sufferings, partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations. Now Paul... evidently this is Paul who wrote this, and he's addressing this to scattered brethren around the world, I suppose. Many people that would read this later on, like you and I, he says, partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated, there was great persecution on the early church. So Paul is addressing that with those who have been persecuted, have had to run for their lives, because people were out to get them, they were out to kill them. We have had great peace in the lifetimes that we've been living. You and I, you know, we don't know what it means to have to run for our lives because of persecution. But these people did understand that. And partly while you became companions of those who were so treated, for you had compassion on me and my chains. It's another reason we believe that Paul likely wrote this, because this was a man who was chained, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. Again, you stored up treasure in heaven. Therefore, do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. Don't allow anything to discourage you. Don't allow Satan to cause you to doubt your great calling and what God is doing in your life. I can assure you that God has called you, that He is working with you, and that He will deliver you from every trial if you put your faith in Him.

If you trust in Him and look to Him, He will deliver. He is the God who delivers. He always delivers. But we have to have faith in that delivery and wait on Him and be patient.

So again, these rewards that God gives us help us build faith and confidence. We see what God is doing in our lives. If we're grateful and thankful for all these things, they should help us have more faith, more confidence, knowing that God will take care of us, even though He may allow some rough patches along the way. Another point to consider is that there is great satisfaction again in helping others and being loving and kind toward other people. God wants us again to understand that that is also a reward. That gives us peace of mind. It gives us great satisfaction. So I'm not just talking about physical blessings in the here and now, but I'm talking also about some real spiritual blessings of contentment, of faith, of being able to really trust God and to learn how to love people more.

Another benefit of heavenly treasures is that earthly treasures don't bring true happiness.

We've seen that in the lottery winners. We all hear about the lottery. They're more miserable after they've made millions in the lottery oftentimes than they were before they had all this money. Earthly treasures don't bring true happiness, but heavenly treasures will bring us true happiness, even amidst great trials and tribulations that will give us the help we need.

In James chapter 5, let's go there for a moment. James chapter 5 verse 1, Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches are corrupted, your garments are moth-eaten, your gold and your silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. Indeed, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth and the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury. You have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter. Okay, we're going to see a lot of this in the days ahead. People that have put so much faith in riches, and when it's all taken away from them, they are going to crumble. Great people of the earth, as some people look at them, they're going to crumble. They're going to fall apart when it's taken away from them.

So obviously, we have to put our faith in spiritual riches, not in the physical things.

Again, there's so much for us to focus on as God's people, as God's children.

God is consistent. He is very consistent in His nature. We can always count on God. He doesn't change. He's always there for us. You always know where you are with God, but you seldom know what He may allow next. We don't know what God will allow in terms of trials and tribulation that may come upon us. You cannot find security in what God is doing, but there is security in who God is.

As long as we understand that there is security in God Himself, and that He has promised to always be there for us, then we will continue to store up treasure in heaven. As long as we don't lose sight of that, we'll continue to store up treasure in heaven. So in James chapter 1 verse 12, it says, Blessed is a man who endures temptation. God is going to allow temptation. God is going to test us in certain ways and allow certain things to test us. For when He has been approved, He will receive the crown of life. A person who endures temptation doesn't give in or is repentant, if He does perhaps give in for a while, but He comes to his senses and he repents of all that.

It says, He will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

We show our love to God when we show our faithfulness to God. And even when we're weak, if we are repentant and we are willing to change and to admit our sin, then God is very merciful to forgive us. In conclusion, Mr. Whitlark, 2 Timothy chapter 4, let's go to one last scripture, 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 8, 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 8.

Finally, there is laid up for me. This is Paul talking. Paul said he fought the good fight, and he believed that God would deliver him from the body of death. He said, O wretched man that I am, who's going to deliver me from this body of death? He struggled in life.

He struggled, but he knew, he understood, he had faith that in the final analysis, God would give him victory over sin and over his own human flesh, that God would give him victory.

So he says, Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness. Is that not what we are laying up? Everything that I've been talking about today, these treasures in heaven, they are acts of kindness, goodness, faithfulness, righteousness. We are to become righteous, even as our Father in heaven is righteous, even as Christ is righteous. That is our destiny, to be born into God's family and to be just like God, no longer capable of sin, no more having those inclinations to sin, but being perfect, becoming perfect, just as our Father in heaven is perfect, as long as we stay faithful to the very end and we continue to fight the good fight as Paul did. So Paul says, Finally, there is laid up for me. He's talking about up in heaven, there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness. The Bible talks about God's people being clothed in righteousness, clothed with humility and clothed in righteousness. So that's the spiritual treasure that we're storing up, this crown of righteousness that God will give us, that Christ will give us. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day. Speaking of return, because Paul was among the first fruits, and Paul understood that. He made no bones about that. He believed that. I believe you should believe that. I believe that. I believe I am one of the first fruits, one of the called and chosen at this time. And when Christ returns, He will give me a crown of righteousness. I'm looking forward to a crown of righteousness, becoming as God is, no longer subject to this flesh, to the carnal flesh that is subject to sin.

So, brethren, realize that when Christ returns, He will give you also this crown of righteousness.

Because as it concludes here in verse 8, Paul says, and not to me only, not to me only, Paul says, but to all who have loved His appearing. If you've loved Christ's appearing, and you're looking forward to His return, then you will be given that crown of righteousness. You will stay faithful.

You will be repentant. And God will give you the victory. So, brethren, I hope that we all have a little better understanding of what it means to lay up treasure in heaven. Laying up spiritual treasure is to become like God, is to live as He lives now, to have a little bit of God working in us. Christ says He lives in us, and He does the work in us. It is learning to live by every word of God. It is to be loving, to be kind, to be compassionate, to reach out to the poor, to give a cup of water to anyone who needs one. It is pure religion to visit the fatherless, to visit the widows. In their trouble, it is to keep oneself unspotted from this world. So, brethren, becoming righteous, becoming a member of the God family for all eternity is what we have to look forward to as God's called out ones, as chosen people today.

Brethren, there is great reward in laying up spiritual treasure.

So, continue to lay up spiritual treasure in heaven and receive the crown of righteousness that God has in store for each and every one of us. Well, it's been good.

I closed the book on this chapter of my life for the most part. I'm still going to be hanging around for a couple of weeks. I've got to go to Cincinnati tomorrow. You're driving a truck tomorrow to Cincinnati, and then I'll be there for about a week, council meetings, and then off to California for the Southwest Regional Conference. Been back here for a couple of days.

And then we close on our house, and then we hop in our car and head to Ohio. So, we're getting close. God's been good. Things are continuing to come together. Again, I thank you for all of your prayers. I know you've been praying for us, and things have gone well, and we appreciate God's blessing all along the way. We're going to dearly miss all of you.

I can't put into words how much this congregation has meant to Barbara and to me these past four and a half years. If you would have told me it was going to come out this good, I don't know that I would have believed it. I guess in some ways I would have, because I trust God, and I would have believed that it was going to be a great four and a half years, but it's been even better than I would have ever imagined. So, thanks to all of you for making it such a wonderful time here.