Matthew 6:21 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Matthew 6:21

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Where is our greatest good to be found? On earth or in heaven? The answer we give will answer another question: where are our hearts? Our hearts, Christ says, will be in the same place, for our hearts are drawn towards what they count to be their greatest good. If we see that Christ as our greatest good, then knowing that he is now at the right hand of the Father, we will set our affections on things above, and not on things on the earth. This is one reason why Christ has ascended into heaven, and why, for the majority of earth’s history, we relate to the Lord as one who is not with us here on earth. Wisdom makes us go straight to the storehouse of all our good and long to be with him. If our hearts are with him in heaven, then our thought are often there, and our imagination often carries us there. Of course to have one’s treasure in heaven is to have one’s treasure largely in the future. It is a deposit stored up for us which, like a child who has not yet reached the age of inheritance, we long for at some future point. We are happy to wait, because that treasure is assured.The worldling has his treasure on earth and therefore his thoughts are on earth and his affections are on earth. He busies himself with reviewing his treasure, by assessing that is in his barn, his house, his bank account, or in his reputation in the eyes of men. Sadly, he is doomed to disappointment, loss, misery, when his treasure turns to dust before his eyes. Was this simply a matter of being unfortunate? No, God warned him and he knew in his heart that he was disobeying the Lord in making an idol of the world and its pleasures. What has come on him is what he always knew must come on him. The happiness of earthly things could not last and he knew it. But the wise man is willing to wait for his reward. He does not insist on having it now; he is confident that the Lord keeps ‘the best wine till last’. He is ready to do without now, because he knows that no one can have the best of both worlds. It is a price worth paying that we forsake the world in order to gain eternal life. Not only will our hearts be in heaven, but our hearts will be changed by that heavenly treasure. The one who fills his mind with material things will become like those things. He will be materially minded and his mind will shrivel and shrink as he allows such small things to become his greatest good, his greatest treasure. The mind will have nothing to enlarge and stretch it by virtue of greatness, but will be superficial, trifling, petty. This is even without the corrupting effect of the sinful things of earth which makes us mean, selfish, jealous, spiteful. The mind of the believer on the other hand will be preoccupied with what is greater than this earth: the deep purposes of God and his plans, his love for sinners, truths which are beyond natural thinking for their graciousness, generosity, grandeur.

Application

The heart means the whole personality – heart, mind and will. The whole of you will be where your treasure is. I want esteem or pleasure; my mind will work out how to get it, my heart will desire it; I won’t be interested in God, or in heaven, or concerned about judgement. All for self! If our hearts are filled with this earth, then how can we love heaven, and if we do not love heaven, then how can we expect to go there? This is not something which a person can deceive himself about. An insincere believer cannot fool his heart into thinking that he loves the things of God, when all the time he is besotted with uncleanness, or covetousness, or self-importance. This is a true test of character. There is a part of us that inevitably pursues our treasure as a compass is drawn to the north. The hymn writers understood these things so well: ‘Fading as the worldling’s pleasure, All his boast pomp and show! Solid joys and lasting treasure, None but Zion’s children know.’

If you come into the house of God, and your heart is not really in the worship – you are a Christian, it means something to you, but not a lot. And if you have a tremendous battle with yourself every day to come before the Lord in personal and private devotions, and it seems like a chore and your heart is not in it, it is because you are not treasuring eternal treasure. You are not valuing Christ and what he has done for you. Because if you did, and if you reflected on these things, and loved them, you would treasure them, and your heart would rejoice, and worship would mean so much more to you. Yes, there are times when we are all down in the dumps and various things happen and we cannot feel as we like to feel, but speaking generally, this is the reason. If things come to the point in our lives that we could not do without them, and there is much love for them and revelling in them, then we have most certainly crossed the line. But if we treasure spiritual things, earthly things will not anything like so much command our attention and grip our souls and steal us from Christ the Lord.

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Matthew 6:21 Commentary and Bible Study