The Law of Rewards Part 5

Money leads; hearts follow

Our faith determines our eternal destination, our actions determine our eternal rewards.

I. Where is my heart?

“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Matt 6:21

1. Where am I most heavily invested?

A. In the things of the earth?

• What we do with our possessions is a sure indication of what’s in our hearts. Jesus is saying, “Show me your checkbook, your credit card statements, and your receipts for cash expenditures, and I’ll show you where your heart is.”

What we do with our money doesn’t lie. It’s a bold statement to God of what we truly value.

If most of our money is in mutual funds, retirement, your house, hobby, and not in the work of the Kingdom, that’s where your heart will be.

• What we do with our money doesn’t simply indicate where our heart is. According to Jesus, it determines where our heart goes.

God knows we need to spend money to live.

House, car, clothes, expenses and savings but the question becomes what is the difference between our “wants” and our needs?”

“So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them...

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:31-33

• Giving is the alternative to spending or hoarding that breaks the back of materialism.

• Giving is a joyful surrender to a greater person and a greater agenda.

B. In the Kingdom of God?

Do you have a heart for:

The lost?

Missions?

The poor?

The Word of God?

Do you want a heart for the kingdom of God?

Then put your money there, and your heart will follow.

“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matt 6:21

II. Am I looking through the eternity’s lens

• The single greatest contributor to our inability to see money and possessions is their true light is our persistent failure to see our present lives through the lens of eternity.

Bereft of eternal perspective, unbelievers and some Christians, are bound to take wrong turns and come to the wrong conclusions thinking, “If this life is all there is, why deny myself any pleasure or possession?”

“Show me, O LORD, my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath...

Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it. But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.” Psalm 39:4-7

The time of our death is unknown. The way of our death is unpredictable. But the fact of our death is inescapable, The statistics are undeniable:

100% of those born die.

“No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no one has power over the day of his death.” Eccl 8:8

“Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.” Hebrews 9:27

1. Heaven is a real.

“I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve." Jeremiah 17:10

“But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.” 1 Peter 4:5

“For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” Eccl 12:12

“It ought to be the business of every day to prepare for our last day.”

Matthew Henry

2. Hell is a real.

Hell is a place of punishment designed for Satan and the fallen angels. Mt 25:41-46

• Hell will also be inhabited by those who do not accept God’s gift of eternal life in Christ. Rev 20:12-15

• Hell won’t be the same for everyone. The severity of punishment will vary with the degree of truth known and the nature and numbers of sins committed. Mt 11:20-24, Luke 20:45-47, Rom 2:3-5

• This is no consolation since the “best” of hell will still be hell.

“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matt 6:21

Law # 4: When we see our lives through the lens of eternity, our attitude toward wealth will change drastically.