Inexhaustible Treasure? Although Christ's words in Matthew chapter 6 verses 19 through 24 can be applied to investing the treasures of our time and talents, I believe the primary meaning involves releasing earthly money and possessions to obtain eternal treasures in heaven.
Inexhaustible Treasure
The first indicator that Jesus is talking about our money in His words in Matthew 6 is the context of His remarks. He began this segment of the Sermon on the Mount by addressing the spiritual disciplines of giving, praying, and fasting. Because He had been talking about giving - making reference to putting money in the temple offering - His audience would naturally understand that the recommendation to "store up for yourselves treasure in heaven" is an elaboration on giving.
Second, the word treasure has a self-evident literal meaning. His listeners knew that "treasures on earth" were money, gems, gold, land, houses, livestock, and other valued possessions. When Jesus told them not to store up their treasures on earth but in heaven, they would naturally conclude he was saying to draw the line at some point of material accumulation and give financially to purposes close to God's heart.
Third, the clincher is the parallel expression in Luke 12:33, where Jesus unmistakably connects giving with providing "treasure in heaven":
- Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.
The use of thief and moth and treasure, and the injunction to provide money belts "for yourselves," shows that this passage in Luke is another way of saying the same thing as Matthew 6, though it was spoken differently on another occasion. This passage unmistakably links selling one's possessions with giving them away, and thereby producing treasures in heaven. The point is not asceticism, divesting ourselves of money because it's bad. Rather the purpose of the ministry, helping the poor and needy by giving them money because it's useful.
The picture of the "money belt" or "purse" that doesn't wear out further develops the concept of heavenly treasures. Our giving is the conduit or means that safely delivers the treasures to heaven. We provide tangible assets for ourselves in heaven by giving away, for the glory of God and the good of others, tangible assets on earth.
Jesus adds an insight in Luke 12 not present in Matthew 6. Not only is heavenly treasure not subject to thieves and moths, not only will the heavenly money belt not wear out, but there is "a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted." This means not only that these heavenly treasures are safe and indestructible, as Matthew 6 suggests, but that they are also inexhaustible. That is, they can be used in heaven without ever being used up.
In other words, someone who gives a child a drink of water out of kindness on earth will receive in heaven a reward that can be enjoyed without being consumed. On earth, someone might see his good deed and bake him a cake, which he would gratefully eat. But then it would be gone. In heaven we can enjoy and use our rewards, our heavenly treasures - whatever they may be - without ever exhausting them.
The law of rewards, which God has built into the universe, requires that every act of kindness and obedience be rewarded. But not only will there be rewards in heaven for the cup of water given on earth, those rewards will never disappear. The act of kindness will be remembered forever and its reward will always last. Hence, eternal rewards are not only rewards we'll receive in eternity, but rewards that are themselves eternal, imperishable, and inexhaustible.
- ...and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you... (1 Peter 1:4)
Moses prayed in the oldest psalm, "Establish the work of our hands" (Psalm 90:17). The literal translation is "Make permanent the work of our hands." This is our heart's desire - that we would do things here and now that would survive this world, bearing fruit forever in the world to come. This is exactly what Christ promises for us. Do you believe him?
6:34:04 PM 
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