I was recently challenged by a brother in Christ’s lifestyle and the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:19-24: “Don’t collect (store up) for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But collect (store up) for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

There is no storing up treasure in heaven without sacrificing something on earth. To store up treasure in heaven we must sacrifice something on earth. The simplest thing we must sacrifice on a mission trip is comfort – our bed, our food, our favorite way to make coffee in the morning. The greatest and most difficult thing we must sacrifice is our physical life – becoming a martyr. The one thing we cannot choose to sacrifice is our physical life. This is the Lord’s will and not our choice. What is it you can choose to sacrifice to store up treasure in heaven?

What is treasure in heaven? I think it is anything we do for Christ that is the result of sacrificing something on earth. It is obeying a command of Christ that costs us something. It could be sacrificing our pride to humbly and boldly share Christ with someone. Treasure in heaven is sacrificing something – money and time – to obey Christ’s Great Commission. Treasures in heaven are the people saved because we sacrificed to go and make disciples of all nations. Treasures in heaven are the good works we do out of love for one another (1 John 3:16-18; James 2:14-17).

6:22-23 is about covetousness. Our eyes and our hearts are linked. We see and our hearts want. Our hearts will be where our treasure is. If our eyes are healthy, not coveting, then our whole body will be full of light. If we are coveting, then we will be full of darkness. 6:24 is about which master we will serve. If we are living to store up treasures on earth, then money is our master. If we are living to store up treasures in heaven, then God is our master.

Storing treasure in heaven is followed by “Do Not Be Anxious.” These teachings of Jesus are connected. No need to be anxious about treasure in heaven because it cannot be stolen, destroyed by rust, dry rot, or termites, break down and require money to repair, or need to be covered by costly insurance. 

Most Christians know Romans 8:28. It is one of the greatest promises in the Bible. It provides us with comfort when life is confusing and anxious. It is the shelter we run into for safety when the storms of life surprise us.

In my Bible this promise is in the middle of a paragraph of chapter 8. Let’s consider its context. So what is written before and after this great promise?

Before R828: The Spirit helps us in our weakness and intercedes for us according to the will of God. Our weakness is our ignorance. We do not know how to pray according to God’s will. When we are praying according to our desires motivated by our anxieties, the Spirit corrects our prayers and intercedes for us according to God’s will. All things work together for good for those who are called according to God’s purpose because the Spirit intercedes for us according to God’s will. The Spirit’s intercession ensures that all things, good and bad, work together for our good and God’s glory.

After R828: The “all things” that the Spirit’s intercession works together for our good are foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification, and glorification. These are the BIG “all things” that work together for the ultimate good, which is to be conformed to the image of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. The Spirit knows and carries out God’s will in foreknowledge and predestination. The Spirit calls us to salvation and gives us justifying faith. The Spirit daily works to conform us into the image of Christ until the day we are glorified in heaven. The Spirit’s daily intercession to conform us into the image of Christ is sanctification. This is the missing link in the golden chain.

The “all things” includes daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly things that happen in our lives. It includes all pain and sorrow and tests and trials. It includes the past, present, and future. It includes the things we know and do not know, the expected and the unexpected. It includes gains and loses. It includes sickness and health. It includes all our prayers. The Spirit’s intercession ensures that all things work together for those who love God and are called to salvation in Christ. Don’t lose sight of the ultimate good – conformed to the image of Christ – in the all things of life.

In his book Future Grace, John Piper wrote about Romans 8:28: “If you live inside this massive promise your life is more solid and stable than Mt. Everest. Nothing can blow you over when you are inside the walls of Romans 8:28. Outside of Romans 8:28 all is confusion, anxiety, fear, and uncertainty. Outside this all encompassing future grace there are straw houses of drugs and alcohol, numbing TV, and dozens of futile diversions. There are slat walls and tin roofs of fragile investment strategies and fleeting insurance coverage and trivial retirement plans. There are cardboard fortifications of deadbolt locks and alarm systems and anti-ballistic missiles. Outside are a thousand substitutes for Romans 8:28. Once you walk through the door of love into the massive unshakable structure of Romans 8:28 everything changes. There comes into your life stability and depth and freedom. You simply can’t be blown over anymore. The confidence that a sovereign God governs for your good all the pain and all the pleasure that you will ever experience is an incomparable refuge and security and hope and power in your life.”

Can a Christian do what Jesus Christ did? Jesus healed a deaf and mute man with a command, “Be opened.” If I had the opportunity to heal a deaf and mute person then would I be able to do it with a command? Can I do it like Jesus did it? Jesus always healed by command.

My first thought: “No, because I’m not God. Jesus was able to do it because he is God.” What if Jesus did not do miracles by command because he was God? What if Jesus did miracles as the “Son of Man” who walked in perfect obedience to his Father? What if he did miracles from his human nature anointed by the Holy Spirit, and not his divine nature. Jesus was empowered by the Holy Spirit at his baptism (Mark 1:9-11). If Jesus did miracles from his human nature anointed by the Holy Spirit, then it is not unreasonable to expect a Christian who is empowered by the Holy Spirit and living in obedience to Christ to do what he did and heal by command.

My second thought: “If Jesus did miracles from his human nature anointed by the Holy Spirit, then he did them from his sinless human nature. I will never have a sinless human nature, therefore I will not be able to do what Jesus did.” The disciples did not have sinless human natures, but Jesus gave them power and authority to heal the sick and cast out demons even before Pentecost. They healed and removed demons by command after being empowered by the Holy Spirit. The ability to heal the sick and cast out demons by command does not depend on having a sinless human nature like Christ. It depends on the transfer of power and authority from Christ to obedient Christians for the purpose of acting as “fishers of men” (Mark 1:17), preaching repentance, advancing the kingdom of God (Mark 6:7-13), and obeying the Great Commission (Mark 16:9-20).

Jesus always healed by command. He never prayed for people to be healed or delivered from demons as I do, leaving it up to the merciful sovereignty of God. I’m running out of excuses to do what Jesus did as he did it. Now it’s a matter of belief or unbelief (hardness of heart). I am earning a Doctor of Ministry, but I do not want any inaccurate theology to blind me to a straightforward understanding and practice of Scripture, to bind my belief, and prevent me from doing what Jesus did as he did it. If Jesus commands me to do it, then I must believe and do it in obedience.

Jesus’ expectation: John 14:12-14: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”

More to come as I contemplate this, believe and practice Scripture, and learn from Christians who are doing what Jesus did as he did it in order to fulfill the Great Commission before Christ returns.

Two incidents in this story bother me.

First, Jesus walked on water. This is the hardest miracle for me to believe. I believe Jesus healed people (6:53-58). I believe he resuscitated people who were in the ‘sleep’ of death (5:35-43). I can even believe he multiplied bread and fish to feed 10,000 people (6:30-44). I believe he can calm storms (6:51). But walk on water!? Nobody does that. Nobody does that unless he controls the laws of nature. He can only control the laws of nature if he created the laws of nature and they obey his command. If Jesus swam out to them, then the story would not bother me. But why swim when he can walk on water?

Second, Mark wrote “He meant to pass by them.” Jesus saw them in the boat struggling against the headwinds. He walked out to them on the water and walked right past them. Why would he pass by them when he knows they are struggling against the wind? Maybe he wanted to beat them to the other side of the lake: “I’ll race you to the other side!” Jesus let the disciples see him walking past them. They thought he was a ghost because ghosts are lighter than water. They were terrified. I think Jesus wanted to see what the disciples would do. Maybe it was a test. How would they react? Would they keep struggling on their own against the wind or would they cry out to him for help? Mark wrote, “They thought it was a ghost, and cried out, for they saw him and were terrified.” They cried out in terror. They did not cry out to Jesus. But Jesus did not walk on by and saved them anyway.

Maybe Jesus will pass by us when we are in trouble, unless we cry out to him for help. Jesus waits to see whether we will react in fear or faith. When we react in faith then he comes to our aid and says, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”