Store Up Treasures in Heaven!
July 27, 2025
Scripture: Matthew 6:19-24
In the 1960’s, psychologist Walter Mischel conducted an experiment on a group of four-year olds. Each child was brought into a room one at a time and sat at a table. On the table in front of them was a marshmallow. The researcher told the children he was going to leave the room and that if the child did not eat the marshmallow while he was away, then they would be rewarded with a second marshmallow when he returned. However, if the child decided to eat the first one before the researcher came back, then they would not get a second marshmallow. The choice was simple: one treat now or two treats later. The researcher left the room for 15 minutes. Video footage of the children shows that some ate the marshmallow immediately. Some of the others seemed tortured as they did various things not to think about eating the marshmallow. Those that waited got their second marshmallow, those that didn’t wait didn’t. The researchers followed these same children for 40 years. The children who were willing to delay gratification and waited to receive the second marshmallow ended up having higher SAT scores, lower levels of substance abuse, lower likelihood of obesity, better responses to stress, better social skills as reported by their parents, and generally better scores in a range of other life measures. In other words, this series of experiments proved that the ability to delay gratification was critical for success in life.
This same principle applies to other areas of life. If you delay watching television and get your homework done, then you’ll learn more and get better grades. A psychological study has shown that the younger generation tend to have the uncontrolled impulse to be on one’s phone or play video games, resulting in a lack of social development and attaining true happiness. If you delay the gratification of buying desserts and chips at the store, then you’ll eat healthier. If you delay the gratification of wasting 20, 100 or more dollars a month on partying, meaningless stuff or taking a few minutes in being smarter shopper, you can invest to buy a house, save for retirement or your grandkids (Proverbs 13:22). You could even give more for the work of God’s kingdom! Kathy and I had to apply some delayed gratification after we took the heart the principle: Tithe 10%; save 10% and live on the rest. Delaying the gratification desires can benefit you long term.
If you want to live a happy, healthy, abundant life, apply Biblical principles. Jesus often taught about this principle of delayed gratification. For instance, in Luke 12, Jesus tells the parable of the rich fool. The rich fool says, ‘This is what I’ll do.” I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ 21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
In our text today, Jesus is telling us that the decisions that you make in this very brief season of time have dramatic effect on your forever. So, make the right choices. Learn God’s word and apply! PUT ON AN ETERNAL PERSPECITVE. Put on a delayed gratification perspective, and you will be rewarded!!
In verse 19, Jesus said, Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
We are not to store up earthly possessions because they will be consumed or stolen. The most serious thief we face is death itself. You can be sure that, in the end, death will take it all.
Several years ago, construction workers were laying a foundation for a building outside the city of Pompeii. They found the corpse of a woman who must have been fleeing from the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius but was caught in the rain of hot ashes. The woman's hands clutched jewels, which were preserved in excellent condition. She had the jewels, but death had stolen it all. Worldly treasure is not a wise investment because you can't take it with you.
We need to mentally put temporary or eternal stickers on things. For instance, a car gets a temporary sticker because it is going to break down, rust, stolen and will ultimately have to be disposed. A television is temporary. A computer is temporary. A house is temporary. In contrast, people are eternal.
Principle 1: If you strive to store treasures here on earth, you will be disappointed because those treasures will only pass away.
Jim Elliot, a missionary who was martyred for his faith, understood this reality when he wrote in his journal, "A person is no fool to give up what he cannot keep in order to gain what he cannot lose." It's not foolish to give up what you cannot keep to gain what you cannot lose.
Jesus instructs us verse 20, But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
Jesus is calling on us to live today with an eternal perspective! He instructs us to invest in the treasures of heaven. Now, the Bible presents heavenly rewards as a divine promise for those who faithfully serve the LORD!
Jesus refers to heavenly rewards several times in this Sermon on the Mount.
In Matthew 5:11, 12, Jesus said, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Also note James 1:12.)
Jesus said in Matthew 5:19, Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
In Matthew 5:46 in speaking about loving your enemies, Jesus said, If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? In other words, if you love your enemies, then you will be rewarded.
Then in Matthew 6:1-4a, don’t brag about giving to the needy, but do it in secret. Then Jesus says, verse 4b, Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Matthew 6:5-8, Jesus notes that we are not to pray like the hypocrites who draw attention to themselves but pray in secret. Jesus says in verse 6, Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Jesus also mentions this relating to fasting (v. 18).
Matthew 10:41, Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward.
Matthew 10:42, And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.
In Matthew 25:21, the parable of the talents illustrates that those who are faithful with what they have been given will be entrusted with more and share in their master's happiness.
1 Corinthians 9:24-25, Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.
II Timothy 4:8 states, Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
If we are going to store up treasures in heaven then we need to take to heart what Jesus said in Matthew 16:24-27, Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life[f] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done. (Also note I Corinthians 3:10-15).
Now, if we are going to store up treasures in heaven then we need to take up our cross daily and follow Jesus. We need to be prayerful, faithful, and obedient. We need to persevere even when the trials of life come our way. We need to have the attitude of serving the Lord. We are to be responsible and good stewards. We need to walk by faith and trust in the Lord with an eternal perspective!
Principle 2: Store up treasures in heaven!!!! Have an eternal perspective!
The story is told of an American tourist who visited the 19th century Polish rabbi, Hofetz Chaim. Astonished to see that the rabbi's home was only a simple room filled with books, plus a table and a bench, the tourist asked, "Rabbi, where is your furniture?" "Where is yours?" Replied the rabbi. "Mine?" Asked the puzzled American. "But I'm a visitor here. I'm only passing through." "So am I," said the rabbi.
This world is not our home. Hebrews 11:13-16 indicates that we are foreigners and strangers on earth looking forward to heaven. We need to take this to heart and apply what the Apostle Paul advises in Colossians 3:2. Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.
Then Jesus says verse 21, For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Now if we are going to store up treasures of heaven then we need to check our heart. Proverbs 4:23 states, Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. The heart is the control center of one’s life. A person’s life reflects his/her heart.
To treasure something is to say, "If I have this, everything is worth it." In other words, everybody's got something. It might be money. It might be a career. It might be your phone or computer games. It might be romance.
A young man had an accident while driving his car that was quite spectacular. When the police officer arrived, he found the young man standing near his car mumbling. As the officer approached, he overheard the young man saying, ’Oh, my BMW, oh my BMW, oh my BMW.’
Looking at the young man the police officer said, "Are you nuts, look at the condition of your arm, your left is all mangled.’ The young man looked down and said, ’Oh my Rolex, oh my Rolex, oh my Rolex’....
We need to guard our hearts so that our heart treasures the things of God and is not distracted by the things of this world. Now, it has been said that one can discover where his/her heart is by reviewing how one spends their time and money. You could tell a lot about a person if you knew how every penny they had come in and how they spent it.
Listen, at the center of everybody's soul, there is "the precious," something you've looked at and said consciously or unconsciously, This is precious to me. This is what I want. This is what I value! What your soul treasures will prompt you to do anything to get it.
Ask yourself, “Where is my heart? What is your precious? Jesus in a few verses will state, Seek ye first the Kingdom of God. Our precious is to be the Lord Jesus Christ!
I Peter 1:3-9, Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Then Jesus gives a further warning in verses 22, 23, The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
Listen, the things of this world, materialism, money has the power to blind us! I have observed and even seen it within myself that we have a natural tendency to treasure the things of this world. Now, treasuring the things of this world is different than other sins. If you're committing adultery, you know you're committing adultery. If you are telling a lie, you know you are telling a lie. If you express anger, you know you have anger. In contrast, treasuring the things of this world hides itself. Over the years, people have expressed/confessed various sins, but I don't remember anybody coming to me to confess the sin of greed. Sadly, many don’t even consider the possibility that they are materialistic.
Jesus is saying watch out. This is a sin of the eye. Treasuring the things of this world can keep you from asking tough questions about your lifestyle. Do I really need this? Do I need to spend as much money on this? There is also a natural tendency not to ask: Are there ways I could give more of my money to the church, to those in need?
It is important to take to heart what Paul writes in I Timothy 6:6-10. But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
The stance we take toward God and toward money is determined by our vision. The evil eye is miserly, selfish, greedy. Good eyes pursue godliness with contentment. The eye that is full of light is a life lived by faith in the eternal promises of God. We may not be able to see the physical manifestation of those things, but we believe by faith in the truth that one day we will be with Christ – the end of our faith, the salvation of our souls. When our focus is on earthly, temporal things, our sight is all blurred and messed up. We lack contentment.
Verse 24, No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
The word, money, could also be translated possessions. So, Jesus is indicating that you cannot serve God and the good life. It's either/or.
The idea is the money or possessions becomes our god. It becomes the center of things for you and bends your will towards it. This relates to verse 21, For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Jesus is saying you cannot serve both. Your treasure will either be God or the things of this world.
Now please realize this. Jesus is not saying we are not to earn a living. Scripture indicates that we are to work, be responsible for our daily needs, our bills. However, there is a significant difference between earning a living and serving gain. Earning a living is necessary, but when we begin to make our net worth the sole indicator of our self-worth, we will come up short.
Principle 3: If you are going to store up treasures in heaven, then your treasure needs to be Jesus! You cannot treasure the things of the world and Jesus!
One of the most influential chapters of the Bible for me has been Philippians 3. The Apostle Paul writes in verses 7-8, But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ!
Knowing Jesus! Living for Jesus will bring an abundant life in this world and great rewards in heaven!
Let me close with this story. The story is told of a child who was raising a frightful cry because he had shoved his hand into the opening of an extremely expensive Chinese vase and then couldn't pull it out again. Parents and neighbors tugged with might and main on the child's arm, with the poor creature howling out loud all the while. Finally, there was nothing left to do but to break the beautiful, expensive vase. And then as the mournful heap of shards lay there, it became clear why the child had been so hopelessly stuck. His little fist grasped a paltry penny which he had spied in the bottom of the vase and which he, in his childish ignorance, would not let go.
How about you? Will you let go of the things of this world and store up treasures in heaven? Will you delay gratification until you get to heaven?
