THE IMPERISHABLE RICHES OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD PART THREE

 

Matt 6:19-24

What are the imperishable riches of the

kingdom of God?

 

It’s marked by a redeemed life whose eye is fixed on heaven as they know that’s where their treasure is. I can tell you what it’s not!! It’s not fixed on an unlimited amount of money, diamonds or gold. It’s not fixed on houses and mansions and comparing them with your brothers or sisters in heaven. It’s not fixed on perfect health or seeing loved ones when you get there. But!  Contentment in the present and the future that is fixed on Christ alone, as you wait for His return or your call home. It’s the Christian life that is spiritually, single-minded devotion to Christ. Though this is our end game every day, there is something that is strong-willed and wants to go to war with you.

 

It’s the battle of flesh

versus the Spirit.

 

The Apostle Paul penned these words of warning “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” Gal 5:16-17

 

One puritan writer explained this verse this way “In this one verse the apostle Paul describes the thing that continually plagues every Christian. We, as the people of God, desire more than anything to love God perfectly but can’t. We long to cease from sin and ungodliness, but can’t. We strive to worship our God with our entire being, but can’t. We try to do good and honor God in all things, but can’t. It’s because we two natures called flesh and spirit, sin and righteousness, Adan and Christ. We do indeed believe our God, but not as we would. We do love our Savior, but not as we would. We do live for His honour and glory, but not as we would.”

What is this puritan saying? Because it seems hopeless…..

 

We live in a world that pulls at the heart strings of every Christian. The key word here is “Christian” because for anyone outside of Christ, meaning the lost, only serve one master. The lost/unregenerate do not know of this struggle. But for the Christian, it is ever so present, and the flesh always wants to interfere in everything. The flesh tries to keep us from doing the things that “we would.”

 

When we do good,

then evil is present with us!

 

The puritan writer went on to say “Our most fervent faith is mixed with unbelief. Our most selfless sacrifices are mixed with selfishness. Our most ardent prayers and supplications are marred by our infirmities. Our most spiritual moments, are contaminated by our sickening carnality. Every mountain top experience of spiritual pleasure is tingled with shameful wanderings within. Our clearest views of Christ are darkened by error, misconceptions, and preconceived notions. Even when our hearts seem to be fixed on God’s glory, they are torn between this world and the next.”

 

The simple truth this…..we are at war with the flesh every day and the question before us is this. Who will/are you serving?

 

“Serve” (v24a) in the Greek does not signify “to do an occasional act of obedience.” But to be… a slave (doulos), the property of a master, constantly and entirely subject to the master’s will. The same language in used in Paul’s letter “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved/serve to sin.” Romans 6:6. Paul in the next chapter would use the same language again “But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.” Romans 7:6. To be slaves of two masters is impossible because a master absolutely is opposed to the other. That’s why Jesus said “No one can serve two masters, for he will hate the one and love the other.” (v24)

 

What is Jesus saying here?

A divided allegiance and loyalty is not possible in the kingdom of God, especially when it comes to your master. Who will you serve?  D.A Carson said “Only one can come out on top.” Charles Spurgeon said “God and the world will never agree, and however much we may attempt it, we shall never be able to serve both. You can live for this world, or you can live for the next; but to live equally for both is impossible.”

 

We cannot submit to two kings.

We cannot obey two commanders.

We cannot serve two masters. 

The same is true in this context! We cannot worship two Gods.

  

The Bible says “For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” Deut 4:24

 

The Bible says “You shall have no other gods before me. "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.” Exodus 20:3-6

The Bible says “remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me,” Isaiah 46:9

 

See Jesus is, to be our Master because He is everything to my needy soul….. He is our King…..the Imperial one who graciously rules my heart and my life with His sovereign scepter of righteousness. He is our Prophet…..the one who effectually teaches God Word to my soul. He is our High Priest…. our Mediator, the one who intercedes with the Father on our behalf. He is our Shepherd…the one who laid down His life for the sheep; He died so that you might live….Jesus said “I AM the good Shepherd.” The issue that Jesus is addressing is not what you have, the issue is who or what controls you. The serving of two masters is absolutely impossible and opposed to the single-eye focus that sees clearly the Kingdom and not this world.

 

For whom or what are you living for?

 

Also understand! A master can be more than just money or possessions. What masters or rules your heart?

 

Are you career focused?

Are you relationship focused?

Are you materialistic focused?

Are you self-focused?

Are you hobby focused?

are you bitter focused?

Are you fear focused?

 

What consumes your day will determine

who your master is!

If you live for God, you cannot live for other things on the same level or more. You will end up loving the one and hating the other. The more you love other things the less you will love God. Our passion will decrease for God and there will be no room for Him, as it was in the Inn the night He came into this world. You will be no different than what John wrote “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.” John 1:10-11. 

You will be no different than Demas “For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.” 2 Tim 4:10. Demas “love this present world” means that he loved the world more than…. the Lord, the Lord’s people, and the Lord’s work. It was this love that exposed his true heart; and it revealed that he loved the one and hated the other. Paul uses strong language here “Deserted” which means to utterly abandon, to leave someone helpless in a dire situation. Demas might have seen the cost was too costly to be a disciple of Christ; and was possibly was one of the seeds that fell on the thorn infested ground in Matt 13.

 

John warned the Christian about this “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.” 1 John 2:15-19

We saw this throughout Jesus’ ministry as people followed Him and sought after Him to give them what they wanted, peace, riches, freedom and prosperity. When they realized Jesus didn’t provide that they went away to serve another master. “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the Twelve, "Do you want to go away as well?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God." John 6:66-69

 

Why did the people leave? Because they only sought Jesus to fulfill their needs and desires, their master. And when those needs and the cost were too great they turned away because they will love the one and hate the other.

 

A couple of thing we need to understand…. First Satan is the great deceiver as he was in the garden when Adam fell. Second Satan is also the great isolator; the temptation to replace God for a different master and to keep you alone and wanting other things. Having you chasing after material things, money, popularity, to be acknowledged by your peers, fame and etc.

 

Replacing God with

something else

 

What Jesus says here is that, “You cannot have one foot in the world and one foot in Christianity.” Because the end result has damming consequences if you follow the wrong master. Divided loyalty is not an option. You cannot be devoted to two masters at the same time. As Paul ministered to Timothy, to warn the church. “As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.” 1 Tim 6:17-19

 

This should be our battle cry “set your hope….. ‘Not on riches, but on God’” As a child of God we desire true life that is in Christ and not in these worlds’ goods. We are to be seeking the true riches in Christ and rejoice in His eternal reward that He provides through the gospel.

 

“This warning is for the Christian, not the unbelieving world.

We are never to be slaves to riches.”

 

Remember what Job said when God took everything away from him? “Though he slay me, I will hope in Him..” Job 13:15. You are slave to that which you serve and if your life is consumed with acquiring things, then you are a slave to the wrong master. This Is The Battle We All Face! The lifelong fight we face only makes this treasure even more valuable as we wait His glorious appearing. Though I don’t do what I ought, I press on nonetheless because He is my Master. Though I struggle and stumble at times He is my Master. Though I have seasons, moments that flesh seems to win, it doesn’t change the fact that He is my Master. Though I hate my sin with a holy passion and the things my flesh desires after. But God….has ordained it for us in His infinite wisdom and grace. So I rest in the complete work of Christ in my life; as He presents me to the Father perfect, because He is my Master.

 

As the Apostle Paul reminded the Christian of this truth. “So that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” Eph 5:27

 

Being justified by His righteousness, washed in His blood, and sanctified by His Spirit. This is our Master; this is where our eye is to be signal-minded, fixed upon. This is where our treasure is and where we are to be storing up our treasures in the Kingdom of God as we serve of Master on earth. One master says “be proud, set your affections on things of this earth, look to things that temporal, be full of anxiety and worry, enlarge your desires as hell, look to self and seek happiness on this earth.” But the other master says “Be humble and set your affectations on things above, look to the unseen things and eternal, seek Heaven and care about nothing but seek God, seek happiness and true joy from the Creator and sustainer of your life.”

 

Which master are you 

a slave too?

 

What are the imperishable riches of God and the Kingdom? Peter wrote “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” 1 Peter 1:3-9

What is your heart set towards?