Moth, Rust, and Thieves

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy and thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matt 6:19-21).

Jesus gives his disciples in these verses two opposite commands—one negative, one positive—followed by an explanatory truth. 

The negative command: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth…”

The opposite and positive command: “…but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven…”

The explanatory truth: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

In previous encounters with this teaching of Jesus, I quickly glossed over it and concluded that he was teaching something like “have an eternal perspective.” Or to put it in a more folksy way: “You can’t take it with you.” Or “you never see a hearse hauling a U-Haul.” Certainly, this is a biblical truth. Earthly treasures will one day be destroyed in the future judgment. For example, James writes this in his letter: “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you” (Jas 5:1).

However, as I meditated on these verses over the past few days, I realized that Jesus’ concern is not future. Jesus bases his teaching on the present foolishness of laying up earthly treasures. He does not say that one day in the future—at death or at the judgment—the earthly riches will be destroyed. Instead, he insists that earthly riches are now at threat of destruction. Winged fabric-eating insects, iron oxide, and criminals pose present threat to earthly stuff, and it is this vulnerability to destruction that makes the pursuit of such riches utter and complete foolishness.

At this point, we—the disciples of Jesus—are able to see Jesus’ commands as something more than oppressive legalism or even more than a call to radical commitment and surrender. No, Jesus’ commands direct us to act in our own self-interest. This is not merely about right and wrong. Jesus makes it about what is smart and what is stupid—what is wise and what is foolish. Jesus says to us, “Don’t be stupid! Don’t give your money, time, and energy—don’t give your life—for stuff that is already being destroyed by something as delicate as a moth, as inevitable as rust, or as dangerous as a thief! But instead, be smart! Give your life for something that cannot be destroyed or taken!”

Now, why is Jesus so concerned about this? It isn’t merely about the state of our checking account. It isn’t even about social justice—finding some sort of equity between the rich and the poor. Jesus’ concern is our heart, the organ used metaphorically to symbolize the inward source of our desires, affections, thoughts, and purposes. The location of our treasure, by default, becomes the location of our heart.

What does it mean for our heart to be located in heaven? To answer this question, we must identify what Jesus means by “treasures in heaven.” Folk Christianity perverts these heavenly treasures into earthly treasures that have been transferred into the spiritual realm. So, by doing good works and living faithfully, folk Christianity teaches, Christians can earn more extravagant heavenly mansions, glitzier heavenly robes, and gaudier heavenly crowns—or so goes the Southern gospel songs. 

However, to truly identify heavenly treasures, we need only to look at the immediate context of the Sermon on the Mount. Chapters 5-7 are filled with references to “heaven,” and the majority of those references occur in two repeated phrases: “the kingdom of heaven” and “your Father who is in heaven.” And where are these two phrases most closely linked? They are most closely linked in the Model Prayer: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” In light of this prayer, to pursue heavenly treasure means to pursue the heavenly Father and his heavenly kingdom. The greatest treasure of heaven is the Father of heaven. We “lay up treasure in heaven” by pursuing him, the holiness of his name, and the establishment of his heavenly rule on earth.

So, Jesus’ great concern is that our hearts be directed Godward. He said himself that this was the greatest commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God” (Matt 22:30). The Westminster Divines likewise summarized Jesus’ greatest goal for us as “to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” So, we should not be surprised that we should treasure our Father who is in heaven.

However, what may surprise us is that Jesus insists that living this way is no sacrifice. Pursuing God above all things is in fact the smartest and safest way to live. Pursuing anything and everything else is the most stupid way to live because it already leads to destruction. How idiotic to invest in a life that can be destroyed by the most feeble bug, by the oxidizing effects of moisture, or by the most uneducated malefactor, when imperishable, undefiled, and unfading joy and satisfaction is available to us if we would only direct our heart toward God! O, how I pray that I would lay up treasure in heaven! Even so, we should not forget that the accomplishment of such a Godward goal does not happen as some major life-altering event or some supernatural Spirit-empowered experience. The goal of having a God-directed heart can only be accomplished through day-by-day, moment-by-moment obedience to Jesus’ commands: Don’t pursue stuff. Pursue God.