A Treasure, An Eye, and a Master
Title: A Treasure, an Eye, and a Master
Scripture: Matthew 6:19–24
Pre-Sermon Introduction
This morning, we return to our journey through the Gospel of Matthew. We began this series some time ago and have not been in Matthew since November of last year. Today, we pick up exactly where we left off.
When we last paused, Jesus had just concluded His teaching on fasting. He did not present fasting as a mere suggestion, but as a normal duty of the Christian life. By way of reminder, if you have not yet picked up a 2026 fasting guide, I encourage you to do so on your way out this morning.
As we transition back into Matthew’s Gospel, we must remember the broader context. We are in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is describing the values of Kingdom citizens. He has reframed the true purpose of the law, correcting distortions and exposing superficial righteousness. And beginning in chapter 6, He shows us what true piety—true devotion to God—actually looks like.
What Jesus has been making clear is that authentic devotion is radically God-centered. If one desires to live as a citizen of the Kingdom, God must be the sole audience of one’s life. Not an audience among many. The audience.
Do not give to be seen.
Do not pray to be seen.
Do not fast to be seen.
Why? Because you are serving one Person.
The Christian life is defined by serving God. If we were to define godliness, we could say it is wholehearted devotion to God in every sphere of life—loving Him above status, above prestige, above comfort, above self-glory. It is loving God above the self. That is godliness.
And now, in this passage, Jesus comes to the crux of the matter.
He is implicitly answering a question that every religious person should ask:
Who belongs to the Kingdom of Heaven?
Is it the one with the most toys?
Is it the one who has attended church month after month, year after year, decade after decade?
Is it the one who hedges his bets on Christ, but is willing to take a lot of risks in this life for self-promotion?
Who belongs to the Kingdom?
Jesus answers that question by exposing the heart. He speaks of a treasure, an eye, and a master. And in doing so, He shows us that Kingdom citizenship is ultimately revealed not by external performance, but by internal allegiance.
In this passage, Jesus teaches that unless we see him rightly, we will never serve him as master, we will never lay-up treasures in heaven.
The Christian life is lived gazing upon Jesus! Looking at his worth, power, authority, and might. Always bearing in mind his promises.
Let us read and see who it is that truly belongs to the Kingdom of heaven.
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
Introduction
When we read this passage, it is easy to assume that Jesus is addressing the rich. After all, we live in a society saturated with the rhetoric of “tax the rich.” We have heard the slogans: “Pay your fair share.” We have heard the refrain that the 1% should bear more responsibility than the 99%. One could imagine this sermon being preached in the middle of Occupy Wall Street.
You may remember those international protests in 2011. Occupy Wall Street began as an encampment in lower Manhattan and lasted 59 days. It was a movement aimed at exposing economic inequality, corporate greed, and the influence of money in politics. The phrase “We are the 99%” became its rallying cry, highlighting the widening wealth gap between the general population and the top 1%.
If there were ever a sermon for that setting, one might think this is it. This is the message the wealthy need to hear—those whose treasure rests in institutions like JPMorgan Chase or Goldman Sachs. Surely Jesus’ warning about treasure applies most directly to them.
But if we are going to understand Jesus rightly, we must see something crucial: He is not primarily speaking to the 1%. He is speaking to the 99%.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus addresses ordinary people—many of them poor, many on the margins of society. They did not possess vast portfolios or corporate power. And yet, they possessed something just as dangerous: hearts capable of loving the world and the things of the world.
Jesus is preaching to those who would be Kingdom citizens. And He tells them that the corporate greed they must confront is not first found in the boardrooms of Wall Street, but in the boardroom of their own hearts.
The true CEO that must be examined is the one who governs your affections.
The one who allocates your time and energy.
The one who decides what you treasure.
The one who casts the eye toward earthly security and secret comforts.
The one who hoards, accumulates, and seeks stability in the passing things of this life.
Jesus is not merely confronting economic systems. He is confronting internal allegiances.
He is not preaching to the 1%. He is preaching to the 99%. And He is saying:
Be careful with your treasure.
Be careful with your eye.
Be careful with your master.
We must note that this section is formatted in an ABA structure—known as a chiasm.
Verses 19–21 speak about treasure.
Verse 24 speaks about money and wealth.
And between those two ideas is a discussion about the eye.
That structure is crucial. The treasure and the master correspond to one another, and at the center stands the eye. That suggests that the issue of sight—what we see and how we see—is central to what Jesus is saying.
But first, let us consider the treasure.
Be Careful with Your Treasure, Because Your Heart Is Tied to It
Verse 19 begins with a strong prohibition: do not ever store up treasures for yourselves on earth. The force of the command is sharp—stop doing this. And Jesus gives the reason why: it is ultimately futile.
The treasures you store on earth are always liable to the elements. Property ages. The stock market fluctuates with uncertainty. A career can become obsolete—especially now in the age of artificial intelligence. Earthly treasures are always subject to circumstances. Jesus says they are vulnerable to moth, to corrosion, and to thieves. They decay. They disappear. They are stolen.
Do not store them on earth.
Then, in verse 20, Jesus tells His disciples where they should invest. Like a spiritual financial consultant, He instructs the citizens of the Kingdom to store up treasures in heaven. Here, we must observe something significant: Jesus grants His disciples the dignity of engaging in works that will be rewarded in heaven. They are called to participate in activities that carry eternal repercussions for their good.
And why invest in heaven? Because heavenly treasures are not liable to moth, corrosion, or thieves. They are secure. Not “if,” but “when.” Their durability is guaranteed.
It is important to note that earthly and heavenly treasures are not the same currency. Just as you cannot walk into a bank and deposit physical gold into a checking account, so also you cannot take earthly treasures and deposit them into heavenly realities. Heavenly treasure is laid up by faith; earthly treasure is accumulated by sight. They are incompatible currencies—like trying to play an 8mm tape on a 45 disc.
Then Jesus comes to the crux of the matter: where you lay up your treasure exposes your heart. It reveals where you stand in relation to the Kingdom of heaven. Where you invest your time, your energy, your gifts, your resources—that is where your heart resides.
Our treasures expose us. They are either heavenly or earthly, spiritual or carnal.
We must bear in mind that treasures is not confined to finances, it is an umbrella term for your life’s ambition…
So the question before us is simple:
- Where are we investing the most?
- Where are we throwing ourselves the hardest?
- What does our spiritual portfolio look like?
- Are you more in tune with your earthly portfolio than your heavenly one?
One example: When you are invited to pray together with the brothers and sisters of Immanuel, you are being invited to invest into heaven.
Be Careful with Your Treasure, Because Your Heart Is Tied to It
When you total up the stocks and dividends of your heavenly investments, what do they reveal? When you sit down with your “heavenly financial planner,” the Lord Jesus Christ, and assess your spiritual assets, are they substantial?
Later, Jesus will speak of a man who found a treasure hidden in a field. When he found it, he sold all that he had and bought that field. Why? Because he recognized the surpassing worth of the treasure.
The question before us is this: Are we throwing ourselves into good works that have eternal consequences, or are we living almost entirely on the earthly plane?
It is to our shame that we can accumulate countless hours of work, entertainment, and amusement, yet devote so few hours to the spiritual disciplines that point us to imperishable rewards. We can spend endless time on our phones, on hobbies, on perfectly lawful activities. But do those pursuits take priority over what Jesus has just spoken about—giving for Kingdom advance, praying, and fasting?
God is calling us to genuine devotion, to true godliness. But perhaps, over time, the desire for the things above has dimmed. Jesus says: do not make that fatal mistake.
Often, we resemble Ronald Wayne, an original co-founder of Apple Inc.. He was given 10% of the company to serve as the adult presence alongside Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Just days later, fearing the company would fail and that financial liability would fall on him, he sold his 10% stake back for $800. In today’s terms, that stake would be worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
He hedged his bets. He could not live by faith in Apple, with the discomfort and uncertainty.
Jesus is saying: Do not do that with eternity. Do not trade heavenly treasure for momentary security. Do not walk away from infinite reward because of present discomfort.
Invest—not in Apple—but in heaven.
Instead, imitate Abraham. We just heard the story of Abraham as he bought a plot of land. In any age, when it comes to real estate, three things matter: location, location, location.
But Abraham was different. He was burying his wife, yes—but he was also laying claim to God’s promise. He could have been passive. He could have said, “I will simply trust God to give the land someday.” But he believed the promise so deeply that he invested in it.
He bought a cave with a field in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere. Why? Because he believed.
The writer of Hebrews says Abraham was not looking for an earthly city, but with eyes of faith, Abraham was looking for a heavenly one. You can almost imagine the conversation with his wealth manager:
“Abraham, are you sure you want to spend that much? Think about the children. Think about retirement. Is this asset going to grow your portfolio? Quite honestly, Abraham, you are getting a raw deal here. Immediately, you will be upside down in the equity. Trust me, Abraham, I know about investing in this land.”
I can imagine Abraham rising from that conversation and saying, “I am investing in God’s promise.”
And that brings us to the question this morning:
Are you investing—laying up treasures—in God’s promises?
Or are you investing primarily for your own consumption?
Does what you are investing in have eternal ramifications?