Handling Money As Citizens Of Heaven
Handling Money as Citizens of Heaven
Excerpted from “A Heavenly Pattern for Our Earthly Life” Sermon #1778, April 30, 1884
When you get to Heaven, what kind of treasures will be waiting for you? Whether we realize it or not, what we do now with the money and possessions God has entrusted to us will have significant implications for all eternity.
No one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 1 Corinthians 3:11-13
Suppose that a man here has come fresh from Heaven. Some would be curious to see what his bodily form would be like. They would expect to be dazzled by the radiance of his countenance.
However, we will let that pass. We want to see how he would live. Coming newly from Heaven, how would he act? If he came here to do the same as all men do on Earth, only after a heavenly sort, what a father he would be, what a husband, what a brother, what a friend! I would sit down and let him preach this morning, most assuredly. And when he was done preaching, I would go home with him and have a chat.
I should be very careful to observe what he would do with his wealth. His first thought would be, if he had a shilling, to lay it out for God’s glory. “But,” says one, “I have necessities to buy with my shilling.” So be it, but when you go, pray this: “Oh, Lord, help me to lay it out to your glory.” There should be as much piety in buying your necessaries as in going to a place of worship.
I do not think this man coming fresh from Heaven would say, “I must have this luxury; I must have this nice outfit; I must have this grand house.” But he would say, “How much can I save for the God of Heaven? How much can I invest in the country I came from?”
I am sure he would be pinching pennies to save money to serve God with. And as he went about the streets and mingled with ungodly men and women, he would be sure to find ways of getting at their consciences and hearts; he would always be trying to bring others to the bliss he enjoyed.
Think that over, and live so—so as he did who really did come down from Heaven. For after all, the best rule of life is, What would Jesus do if he were here today and the world were lying in the grip of the wicked one? If Jesus were in your business, if he had your money, how would he spend it? For that is how you ought to spend it.
Now think, my brother, you will be in Heaven very soon. Since last year a great number have gone home; before next year many more will have ascended to glory. Sitting up in those celestial seats, how shall we wish that we had lived below?
It will not give any man in Heaven even a moment’s joy to think that he gratified himself while here. It will give him no reflections suitable to the place to remember how much he amassed, how much he left behind to be quarreled over after he was gone. He will say to himself, “I wish I had saved more of my capital by sending it on before me, for what I saved on Earth was lost, but what I spent for God was really laid up where thieves do not break through and steal.”
Oh, brothers, let us live as we shall wish we had lived when life is over; let us fashion a life which will bear the light eternal. Is it life to live otherwise?
Jesus spoke about where we should place our hearts and our treasures. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21, NIV).
When we surrender our earthly treasures to care for the needy, love our neighbor, and further the purposes of God, what we do with money on Earth results in eternal rewards in Heaven. Giving transforms earthly treasures into heavenly ones.
We topple the money idol by giving away money and material things. Jesus always had two kingdoms in mind. He spoke of two treasuries, two perspectives, and two masters of those two kingdoms (Matthew 6:22-24). Each couplet presents two options and demands one choice. Unless the right choice is deliberately made and tenaciously clung to, we’ll make the wrong choice by default.
There is truth in the old maxim “You can’t take it with you.” But when Jesus tells us to store up treasures in Heaven, he adds a new corollary. Essentially he is saying, “You can’t take it with you, but you can send it on ahead.”a
Material things on this fallen Earth just won’t stand the test of time. Even if they escape moths and vermin and thieves, they cannot escape the coming fire of God that will consume the material world (2 Peter 3:7). Christ’s primary argument against amassing material wealth isn’t that it’s morally wrong. It’s that in light of the short time we spend here and the eternity we will spend in Heaven, storing up our treasures here instead of there is simply a poor investment.
Every day is one day closer to the day we will die. Therefore, those who store up treasures on Earth spend every day moving away from their treasures; they have reason to despair. Those who store up treasures in Heaven spend every day moving toward their treasures; they have every reason to rejoice.
a I develop this idea in my book The Treasure Principle (Colorado Springs, CO: Multnomah, 2001).
From the book
