Last week I had the privilege of speaking to our EAL ministry. And as we concluded our time, or their time for this summer, it was a time where I got to speak with them, get to know them better, eat with them. But as I spoke to them, we discussed particularly how they came to Canada, how they came to Canada for a better life. That was the case for my family. But this is likely the case for maybe yourselves in this congregation, maybe some of your ancestors that they came to Canada for a better life. In Canada we are afforded a better life. Whether that better life is one that we've known financially, educationally, societally, maybe some of your ancestors came for land, whatever it may be, there's clearly a defining moment that you came and you experienced a better life. When I consider this, I think often of my grandmother, whenever she speaks of Canada she would say, Canada is the promised land, the land flowing with milk and honey. And though you might not agree with that assessment to some extent, we don't live in need in this country, we really do live a better life. But so often we don't think that way. Myself included, we are looking for something for better, we're looking for more. And if I asked you, what would make your life better, what would you say? Would you say, more money, more time, a bigger house, more friends, less stress? Many of our desires have an inverse fear associated to them. If we want more money, we often fear not having enough. If we want more time, we fear not having time. If we want more friends, we fear loneliness. The list goes on. These are not bad desires or fears, but they do tell us what worries us. These desires tell us what worries us. It tells us what we think is the better life. In this passage, Jesus calms our concerns by calling us to seek his better kingdom. And we are to do this by seeking better treasure, with better eyes, a better master, and better care. And in this sermon, we'll see that this better life is one that is promised to us and that we get to experience even in part today, if we have believed in Jesus Christ. And so let us look at our first point, better treasure. Look at me at verse 19. In each of these points, we'll see a couplet of two different kinds of treasure. In our next point, we'll see two different kinds of eyes. In the next point, we'll see two different kinds of masters. And lastly, we'll see two different kinds of preoccupations. In this first couplet, we see that there is treasure that tarnishes, that can be stolen and can be destroyed. This is the treasure of earth. And then there is treasures that are to be laid up in heaven. According to Jesus, there is temporal treasure and there is eternal treasure. Think of the treasures of earth, and you can name them as things that are precious to us. Maybe jewelry, cars, money. But as you think about them, all of these truly do pass away. The question is, when? Jesus tells his disciples to not lay up these treasures. This is not Jesus saying that his disciples should live in poverty, though some have taken this teaching to believe that. He is calling his disciples against hoarding up their possessions. And in turn, he is calling them to live lives of generosity instead of hoarding. Though this is not explicitly clear in this first point, the idiom that is used in our second point about the eyes seeks to make this clear. That good eyes are ones of generosity and bad eyes are ones of greed. We'll see this more clearly in our next point. But we live in a day and age where hoarding or laying up treasure is very common. Even here in Halifax, I saw this more clearly in Mississauga and Ottawa, every open street corner of an industrial area is being populated with a storage facility. One of these multi-level storage facilities where you see that people are storing up their temporal gifts and treasures, that they're putting what they think is highly valuable to themselves, the ones that they can't store in their homes anymore into these storage facilities. And as I researched this, I realized that this industry is one that is increasingly growing and highly profitable. Because many of these storage units, if you even watch popular television channels like TLC and others, these storage units go unaccounted for, the possessions end up getting sold. People don't even know the things that they don't have. They just don't even account for it anymore because they have so much of it. But what happens to those treasures when they're dead and gone? They rot. The moths eat them. They're given away. In best-case scenarios, these earthly treasures are given to children and their children's children. But that's the best-case scenario. More often than not, they just are given to death and decay. Much of our theology of economics, even for the Christian, is dictated more by fear than it is faith. When we consider this passage, one of the things that came to mind was how I grew up. My mom, she worked a minimum wage job as a mail sorter. But with the little she had, she made sure that we her children that we ate, that my sister would go through school. She gave to her our church, and she even gave to other family members. With the treasures she had, she didn't hoard it for herself. Though she still saved a small portion for a rainy day, she gave it away because of how she thought about treasure. She did not seek for it to just be accumulating for herself, and said she sought to bless others by it. I couldn't tell you exactly how she did it, but I do know that it was out of faith knowing that her Heavenly Father has given to her so that she can give. Knowing that this treasure on earth was temporal, and that she was to make it count where it needed. Being able to live like this comes out of knowing that there is better treasure. Seeing that earthly treasure is more of a tool than it is treasure at all. And as you think about your own life, what would it look like for you to be generous with your earthly treasure now while you're living? In the book Dying with Zero, Bill Perkins tries to make this point. Though I would be weary of Bill, particularly for the temptation of self-indulgence that could come out of it, but a charitable reading of Perkins would lead us to generosity and enjoying the fruit of our labor here and now, not just hoarding it. Seeking to live out of a sense of abundance instead of scarcity. Now that we've considered what earthly treasure is, let's look at eternal treasure, the better treasure. The treasure that cannot be stolen, the treasure that cannot be wasted. Like I've said in the past, we don't exactly know what this treasure is. The Scriptures do not tell us, but we know that it is given by God and it is accrued and waiting for us in heaven. These heavenly treasures are accrued out of a love for God and a love for a neighbor. If you remember from last week, we considered how the many different rewards that are promised for these pious actions, ones that God, our Father, sees in secret and that He will reward. And that this was done out of a heart to serve God with our time and our challenge and our earthly treasures. And as a byproduct of that, we are laying up treasure in heaven. This kind of laying up, like I said, is done by serving God where He has placed you, whether at church or at work or in your varied communities. Being the light of Christ, where He has placed you, acquiring for yourself treasure that cannot be stolen. There is eternal treasure that is being stored in heaven for us. And I think we can imagine it similar to the many storehouses on the street corners that God is laying up greater and greater treasure that will remain for us forever. What Jesus wants us to see is that the kind of treasure that we seek matters. Jesus tells us where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. And so if our heart is fixed on the temporal things of earth, that is where our heart will be found. Or is our heart fixed in heaven, seeking to love and be generous with all that God has given us? Depending on the treasure that you're seeking, it is forming your heart. It is directing it. It is dictating the destination of your life. If you are so committed to the things of earth, thinking that the better life can be found here and now with more possession and more money, you are fixing your heart to the things of earth. And God is calling us to seek a better treasure, seeing our earthly resources as tools, not an end in and of itself. Looking to His treasure that is laid up for us by God and will be given to us that we may enjoy Him in greater fullness. The Christian missionary, Jim Elliott said this, he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. Jim was speaking about his life as that dictated his missionary work, but this principle still applies for our time, our talents and our earthly treasures. There is a gain for eternal treasure that we cannot lose. But this is the reality, this reality to experience that treasure that we cannot lose requires us to set our hearts in heaven. I remember years ago, as I'm saying all this, you might wonder, how does this work? Isn't the treasure of heaven God Himself? I remember years ago, I heard John Piper commenting on this. Speaking of the reward of heaven, he says it is like this. The greatest gift of heaven is God Himself. For all who believe in Jesus Christ, you will receive God. But passages like this and others, they tell us about greater reward. And Piper, as he thinks about this, says it's like a cup. We all are given a cup in heaven, but it's almost like depending on your reward, depending on how it goes, some have bigger cups and some have smaller cups. We will all drink of the same cup, we'll still drink of the same substance, but there is variety of reward. The same gift, same reward, but different portion. I do not tell you this as an absolute and confidence that this is how it works, but I like that image as it sought to make sense of how treasure is laid up in heaven. But church, would we see that God's gifts are better? There is a day where all of earth will strangely grow dim. And the question is, will we spend our life after what will be lackluster and dust at the end of the day? Or what will be gleaming heavenly treasure? This gleaming heavenly treasure that we have yet to know in its fullness, God is storing up for us. So would we look to that, look to the better treasure? Let us look now at our second point, better eyes. Look at me at verse 22. Jesus tells his disciples either they can have good lightened eyes or darkened eyes, eyes that are healthy or unhealthy. According to commentators, this phrase speaks of generosity and greed, as I mentioned in the previous point. Similar to the imagery of the heart that is fixed on heaven, so too is the eyes to be fixed on heaven. So if we have healthy eyes, ones that are generous, we'll know our bodies in wholeness, we'll know a healthy life of contentment. Whereas darkened eyes are ones that are fixed on self, one that is unhealthy, hoarding and keeping its possessions. Since we've explained this idea already in our last point, I'll try not to be redundant here. But Jesus tells his disciples to live lives that are healthy, ones that are whole, ones that see heaven rightly. Ones that are not bent in on themselves. Even in fairy tales, we see this idea to be true. I imagine for you to think for a second on Ebenezer Scrooge. You can think of your favorite adaptation, whether Scrooge McDuck or something else. But in it, you can see that this man, as he was self-focused, as he bent in on himself, it led him to greed. It led him to be evil and harmful in his way of living. C.S. Lewis, as he speaks of sin, talks about sin as bending oneself in on it, someone bending themselves in on themselves. And I think that image clearly is seen in greed. If our eye is unhealthy, like Scrooge's, where we are so self-focused, where maybe we are harsh or harmful to those around us, would we repent? Would we see that we are to be a people of goodness and generosity seeking for life to flourish for those around us? Where our lives would be ones of light, giving health not just to our bodies but also others. Fixing our eyes not on ourselves, bending and looking down, but looking up to God and his kingdom. Where there is health and wholeness. Where we would go from being people that grip our hands and clinch them to be people that give. If we do not seek this better kingdom, we will think that we have to clinch our fists, that we have to squint our eyes and close them and look to ourselves and not to the needy. Thinking that this life is all that we have. But God's Word tells us of eternity, tells us of a better kingdom, a better life that is not on earth. By seeking God with better sight and better eyes, we can fix our eyes on God's promises instead of our possessions. And so we seek God's kingdom by seeking better treasure, better eyes and when we look at our third point, the better master. Look at me at verse 24. Jesus says that you cannot have two masters, either you will love the one or despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Jesus moves from speaking about value and focus to now speaking about allegiance, service and affection. He's already said that we should not overvalue money, that we should not overly focus on money. Now he is saying that we should not serve money. Again, this doesn't mean that money is evil. Paul says in 1 Timothy 6.10 that the love of money is the problem, that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And so Jesus says that we should not love money, but we should love God. That which you value and you focus on will be the one that you serve and you love. Or the inverse can be true. What you love and serve will dictate our focus and our values. One commentator commenting on this on these verses said, money and God are not like jobs. You cannot just have two jobs and serve both employers. In those scenarios, it's possible to balance the two. Jesus is using servant language. He is using the language of a slave to speak of the severity of allegiance. As a servant, you cannot have two masters. You can only have one. And the same is true for God and money. You cannot have God as your master and somehow have money there as well and live in happily harmony. Just not possible. Many of us serve money and love money and we don't even know it. It becomes our functional God, the idol that we bow down to. And I say this even for myself. Think about in these terms, Martin Luther defines an idol this way. He says, an idol is anything that our hearts cling to, trust in and rely on for ultimate security, hope or blessing. When an idol is defined this way, we'd be hard pressed to say that we do not put our trust in money or rely on money for security or think that money is going to give us great hope or that from money that all blessings flow. Though we don't say that with our lips. Do we say that with our actions and our hearts? I know I fall prey to this, that I can so easily shift my hope from God to money. It's a difficult thing to reckon with even this week. When I first entered ministry, I lived below the poverty line making ends barely meet, eating canned chicken in my living room. But though I was in that position, I truly did trust in God. I trusted in his kingdom. I didn't trust in money to give me my hope and salvation. But now as I'm in a far better financial situation, thankful to our church, I find myself falling into trusting in money, looking to it for security, thinking that maybe I don't have enough and so I get fearful. Moving the goal post just down the road, maybe this amount or maybe this position or this thing. Thinking that if I had this or that amount of money in my bank account, then I'd be okay. There are weeks, months, days where I've fallen into trusting in money without even knowing it. As if by serving money I could know a better life. That if maybe you, if we had more money, then you would know a better life. What we see with, what we see time and time again throughout the scriptures is that it's God who brings us to a better life. Not money, not anything else, not any other idol. It's God and God alone. As I say this, some of you might be wondering how do you know if you've made money your master? I ask you to consider this as a test. I have five questions for you. Do you constantly move the goal posts? If you believe that you're making, if you're just, if you believe that making just a little more money will finally make you happy, the question is when will it be enough? So that's question one. Question two, would you lie, cheat or compromise your morals or step on others to achieve financial success or raise? Question three, does a drop in the stock market or unexpected expense ruin your week and drain your peace? Question four, can you easily part with money to help others and be generous with the funds that you've been given? Question five, do you hoard resources or time out of fear? Questioning if there's going to be financial stability? Depending on how you answer those questions, you can see if you've made money your master. And if you were found in that position today, I encourage you to repent, to turn from your idols and turn to God. Jesus tells us that we cannot serve both money and God. We cannot have them both as our master. Jesus gives us these words not to scold us, but to show us even, to show us that even as his disciples, we can fall prey to false worship. Money is but a means. It cannot save us. It will help us, but it will not bless us. It cannot give true security and hope. In this last section I wrote about, I asked one more question. If tomorrow, the Canadian dollar was to be debased, if your Branc account read as zero, what would you do? You'd likely turn to God. And so church, do not wait. There will be a day where all of these riches will mean nothing in terms of eternity. So look to the one who does give true security, both for this life and the one to come. Look to our Father in heaven and to his son Jesus Christ, both by whom give us better care than we could give ourselves. And this leads us to our last point, better care. Based on all these three points, Jesus says, therefore, therefore do not be anxious, but instead seek first the kingdom of God. Though this is not explicit in our passage, implicitly I think that these three points and this fourth point are the means by which we are to seek the kingdom of God. That's why I outlined the passage the way that I have. And this fourth way, better care, is both a way to seek the kingdom of God, but I also believe it is a way to experience the kingdom of God. We are to lay up our treasure. We are to lay up eternal treasure with healthy eyes, with God as our master, and we are to lastly know the Father's care. And these are the reasons that we are to not be anxious, Jesus says. It must be noted, throughout this message and throughout this point, I've opted for the word concern instead of anxiety. And the reason that I've done this is because I think concern is still faithful to the text. The NIV still translates this word as worry instead of anxiety. But the reason I chose concern instead of anxiety is so that we don't delve into the cultural uses of anxiety. I don't think that Jesus is speaking to the clinically anxious here. I think he is generally speaking to those who are generally anxious, to the common concerns of the day. I think there are forms of anxiety disorders that should be treated medically by a psychiatrist or physician. There are medical factors that may cause these disorders like hormone imbalances or other reasons. And so they cannot simply just be believed away or prayed away or focused away. And so we can treat medical intervention as a means of common grace to those who are in need. We as Christians do not need to be afraid of this, but instead we can take hold of it as God's gift, as we do with many other forms of medicine. But in our text there are common concerns that we all face, those who are professionally diagnosed and those who are not. Jesus comes to calm our concerns. He calms our concerns by calling us to seek first the kingdom of God by knowing better care. This is our last point. The better care of our Father who is in heaven. In verses 25 to 34, Jesus provides two examples of the Father's care. One regarding food and one about clothing. In the first, about food, he reminds his disciples how God cares for the birds of the air. He tells them that birds don't farm. They don't store up. They are fed by God. So how much more will God care for you if he feeds the birds of the air is the question that he asks. And this proposition that Jesus gives is a beautiful balm to our concerns. But what we see here is that Jesus is not undercutting effort. For the example of the birds, these birds, even though they are fed by God, they still had to go seek after, see, and then they were fed. And so God's means of feeding them is his gracious provision in the midst of their active working. And the same is true for us. God is not magically filling our bellies. He is using our jobs, our communities, and other supports to care for us. That we would be people who are fed. And then in the second example that Jesus gives, he highlights the Father's care about clothing. He says that God has dressed the fields with flowers. How much more will he clothe you? And this dressing of the field is even nicer than the garments of Israel's wealthiest king, Solomon. He dressed up the grass that is so futile that its only true use is fuel. How much more will God clothe his image bearers? And moreover, those who are believers in Jesus Christ, how much more will he clothe his children? Given the Father's care, Christians who are concerned for their needs are to be reminded that God cares for you. This does not omit us working or using effort or even asking, but it does present a promise to us for our most common concerns. But the question arises, are there not Christians in this world who go hungry and cold in this world? The answer to that is yes. Is that because they somehow incorrectly were seeking the kingdom of God? I think the answer to that is no. I think that God has been true to his promises in providing for the people of God. But we, the people of God, have been unfaithful in distributing food and clothing. As those who have been fed and clothed, if we have access, we are to give to those in need, doing especially for the household of faith, as Paul speaks about. This is historically why organizations like World Vision or Samaritan's Purse have existed, so that we could be actively caring for those who are in need. But the truth is, Church, we don't need these organizations. The reality is that there are people in our communities who are in need. And as we become aware of their needs, we are to seek to care for them, as God has given to us. We are the means by which people are clothed and fed. Can God do this supernaturally, as I said? Yes. But God, more often than not, seeks to work through natural and normative means. He moves and works through his people. So if you are concerned today for those who are Christians but are struggling to eat and struggling to be clothed, this is an opportunity for you to exemplify your faith and care for those in need. Lastly, look at what we mean at verse 34. These promises that Jesus gives here does not mean that we won't experience trouble. Jesus says that tomorrow will worry for itself because it has enough trouble to itself. We will experience trouble in this life. But in the midst of that trouble, we are to know the Father's care. This care that is greater than the care that we can have for our neighbor or even for ourselves or our families, the God of the universe cares for us more deeply, more compassionately and more thoroughly. And so in the midst of trouble of each day, God cares for us. With this Fatherly care in mind, we can more freely seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness by looking to better treasure, with better eyes, to a better master who gives better care. But let us close with this. Let us look to the one who sought the kingdom of God, who knew much more trouble than any of us. He was hungry, he was naked, he never gave into money being his master, he had healthy eyes and was always generous, he laid up for us a greater treasure in heaven, eternal life. Jesus Christ sought the kingdom of God in the ways that he outlines here. It is both a picture of his life and ministry and it is also an invitation. It is an invitation to us who are failing to seek eternal treasure, to those who are greedy, those who give in to serving money, those who often forego or forget the Father's care for the concerned and the anxious. Jesus Christ came for you so that you can live with him and like him, so that you can seek his kingdom on earth and to know its fullness and life to come. So would you look to him, the one who invites you to live this life free from concern today and forever. Let us pray.