Investing in Heaven
Sermon Notes
The Treasure Principle:*
“You can’t take it with you – but you can send it on ahead.”
Principle # 1: God owns everything; I’m His money manager.
Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all, and in Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone.
Now therefore, our God, we thank You, and praise Your glorious name.
But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this? For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given You
(1 Chronicles 29.12-14).
Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.
Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,
storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed (1 Tim 6.17-19).
I have held many things in my hands and I have lost them all. But whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess (Martin Luther).
Principle # 2: My heart always goes where I put my money.
“for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6.21).
Principle # 3: Heaven - not this earth - is my home.
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 3.20).
All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own (Hebrews 11.13-14).
We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go out making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea. We are far too easily pleased (C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, pp.3-4).
Principle #4: I should live not for the dot but for the line.
Now --------------> Heaven
Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel's sake,
but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life” (Mark 10.29-30).
Principle # 5: Giving is the only antidote to materialism.
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal (Matt 6.19-20).
Arise, O LORD, confront him, bring him low;
Deliver my soul from the wicked with Your sword,
From men with Your hand, O LORD,
From men of the world, whose portion is in this life,
And whose belly You fill with Your treasure;
They are satisfied with children,
And leave their abundance to their babes (Psalm 17.13-14).
Principle # 6: God prospers me not to raise my standard of living but to raise my standard of giving.
On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come (1 Corinthians 16.2).
Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed (2 Corinthians 9.6-8).
The Happiest Man in the World
The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field
(Matthew 13.44).
1. What he discovered gave him the greatest joy imaginable.
2. He sold all that he had to pursue and capture that joy.
3. We are not to feel sorry for this man, are we?
Jim Eliot: “He is no fool who gives up that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”
John Wesley: “I judge all things only by what price they shall gain in eternity.”
C.T. Studd: “Only one life will soon be past – only what’s done for Christ will last.”
Tithing isn’t the ceiling of giving – it’s the floor. It’s not the finish line of giving – it’s just the starting blocks. Tithing can be the training wheels to launch us into the mind-set, skills, and habits of grace giving
The tithe is God’s historical method to get us on the path of giving. In that sense, it can serve as a gateway to the joy of grace giving. It’s unhealthy to view tithing as a place to stop, but it can still be a good place to start.
“The only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. Our charities should pinch and hamper us. If we live at the same level of affluence as other people who have our level of income, we are probably giving away too little.” C.S. Lewis
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich (2 Corinthians 8.9).
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins
(1 John 4.10).
1. How do you/will you decide how much you will give – both regularly and also at this year’s end?
2. How does the Spirit lead you (and your family) in these questions?
3. Are we chasing the “American Dream” or the kingdom of God?
* Randy Alcorn, The Treasure Principle