The Sermon on the Mount: Treasures and Masters
16 August 2025 · 1 min read · Understanding the Bible
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt — Jesus' investment advice begins with an honest audit of earthly assets: everything down here is depreciating.
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
The heart follows the treasure
The alternative is not poverty but relocation: lay up treasures in heaven, where nothing corrupts and no thief breaks through. Generosity, kindness, gospel work — these are transfers to the incorruptible account.
Then the sentence that explains everything: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Note the direction — the heart follows the treasure, not the reverse. Put your money and effort where you want your heart to end up, and it will move there.
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
No man can serve two masters
Jesus closes the section without diplomacy: ye cannot serve God and mammon. Money is a superb servant and a merciless master; the test of which role it plays is what happens when God's call and money's interests point in different directions.
The remedy for mammon's grip has always been the same: give. Every act of generosity is a small declaration of independence — and a deposit where moths have no jurisdiction.
