Latest / Reformed Thinking / Lay Up for Yourselves Treasures in Heaven and Increase Your Joy in Jesus | John Piper

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Lay Up for Yourselves Treasures in Heaven and Increase Your Joy in Jesus | John Piper · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome to Reformed thinking, where we seek to rightly
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  consider truths from God's Word. And you found the deep dive.
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  This is where we take a stack of sources, maybe articles,
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  research notes you've sent over, and we really try to pull out
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  the most important Nuggets for you.
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  Think of it as a clear path to getting well informed, hopefully
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  with some surprising facts and enough discussion to keep things
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  interesting. Each deep dive is tailored for
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  one listener, and today, well, that listener is you.
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  Yeah, our aim is really to be guides, helping you grasp what's
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  most significant in the material.
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  We wanted to distill that knowledge, you know quickly but
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  also thoroughly give you different perspectives, maybe
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  those aha moments, but without just overwhelming you with
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  information. So today we're taking a a good
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  hard look at wealth, selfishness, and what all that
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  means for our eternal joy. We've got some excerpts here
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  from John Piper's All That Jesus Commanded, specifically his
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  section on Lay It for Yourselves, Treasures in Heaven,
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  and Increase Your Joy in Jesus. Right.
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  And this really centers on a core command from Jesus himself.
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  It explores the direct implications for, well, for our
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  lives right now and also for the age to come.
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  It's a chance to think about our stuff, our possessions, and
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  really our hearts in light of God's counsel.
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  It's definitely challenging stuff.
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  OK, so let's unpack this. Piper lays out two claims here
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  that can definitely make you think, and he really tries to
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  ground them firmly in what Jesus thought.
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  These aren't just like abstract ideas.
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  They cut right to how we live day-to-day and, well, where we
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  end up. So the first claim Piper brings
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  out is pretty blunt. A selfish spirit will keep us
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  out of heaven. And he's clear.
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  This isn't just about, you know, what you do on the outside.
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  It's about the heart's condition, its basic
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  orientation. It's a stark statement really
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  demands you pay attention. And what's interesting is how
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  Jesus illustrates this over and over.
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  It's not just like one verse here or there.
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  It's a theme woven through his teaching about our hearts and
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  ultimately our eternal destination.
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  He keeps coming back to it, using different stories,
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  different parables to show just how serious this is.
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  Our attitude towards others, towards our resources.
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  It has eternal weight. Let's maybe look at some
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  specific examples Jesus uses. They really paint a picture of
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  this. We can start with the rich
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  ruler, the one who comes to Jesus asking, what must I do to
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  inherit eternal life? You know, he seems sincere,
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  maybe even quite religious. But this encounter with Jesus,
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  it reveals something really fundamental about his heart.
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  Jesus tells him, sell all that you have and distribute to the
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  poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me.
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  Seems simple enough, but it hits hard in the story.
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  Cuts right to the quick. It really does.
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  And the text says the ruler was extremely rich and he just
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  couldn't do it. He went away sad.
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  His wealth wasn't just something he had it.
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  Well, it had him. It was his master.
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  And then Jesus makes that really striking comment.
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  You know how difficult it is for those have wealth to enter the
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  Kingdom of God? For it is easier for a camel to
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  go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter
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  the Kingdom of God. End Quote and the disciples,
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  they heard that and immediately got it.
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  They connected inheriting eternal life and entering the
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  Kingdom with being saved. Their reaction then who can be
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  saved shows they understood the huge implications, the eternal
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  stakes. Piper helps to see it's not just
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  about having money, it's about money having you.
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  That camel and needle imagery. Something is totally impossible
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  for a rich person, but it's saying it's humanly impossible
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  for anyone, rich or poor, to untangle their heart from, you
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  know, the idolatry of self-reliance and trusting in
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  worldly things. So the clear take away from what
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  Jesus says is that this man's love for his money, that's what
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  kept him out of heaven. It wasn't just a suggestion
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  Jesus made. It was shown to be a fundamental
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  barrier. It exposed what he really
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  worshipped deep down. Exactly.
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  His love for his stuff pointed to a deeper problem, a self
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  centeredness that trapped him. He trusted his riches for
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  security, for identity, more than he trusted God.
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  And Jesus's follow up, what is impossible with man is possible
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  with God. Well, that points out that only
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  God can change a heart like that, a heart posture that keeps
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  someone out of heaven. It takes a divine work.
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  The wealth itself wasn't the sin.
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  It was his attachment, his refusal to let go that showed a
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  heart that didn't truly trust Jesus above everything else.
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  His stuff held his affection more than the king himself.
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  And Piper argues this story is like a diagnostic tool for any
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  heart that puts anything, comfort, reputation, security,
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  whatever, ahead of Jesus in his commands.
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  It really asks, where's your ultimate trust and affection?
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  OK, so if the rich ruler shows us the danger of like, actively
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  refusing God because of wealth, Jesus also warns about maybe a
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  more passive sin, indifference. We see this so clearly in that
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  really haunting parable of the rich man and Lazarus.
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  You've got the rich man living in total luxury, purple fine
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  linen, feasting every day. And then right at his gate,
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  there's Lazarus, poor, covered in sores, just hoping for
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  scraps. The contrast is well, it's
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  stark, almost painful. Yeah, the picture is one of
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  complete obliviousness, or maybe worse, disdain.
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  The rich man saw Lazarus, or at least had to step over him
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  daily, but offered zero help, no comfort, no compassion.
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  His wealth kind of insulated him, you know, not just
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  physically but morally, from the suffering right there on his
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  doorstep. And then after they die, the
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  whole scene flips. Lazarus is carried by angels to
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  Abraham's side. Comfort.
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  Honor. But the rich man, he's in Hades
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  in torment, begging for just a drop of water.
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  It highlights this absolute reversal, how things were on
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  earth. And Bible points out the rich.
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  Manson wasn't that he necessarily got his money
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  dishonestly or did some terrible crime.
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  It was that his prosperity led to a hard heart, a profound
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  indifference to human suffering. So it really shows how his
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  selfish indifference led him straight to that terrible end.
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  It wasn't something he actively did wrong, but what he failed to
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  do because he was just absorbing himself.
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  He just lived like Lazarus wasn't even there, totally
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  consumed by his own pleasure. Exactly, and the story is a
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  really sobering warning about the danger of riches when they
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  lead you to just ignore the needs of others.
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  It reveals a heart that's just not in tune with God's ways.
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  His wealth allowed his self indulgence in his blindness to
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  suffering. And that unredeemed heart, well,
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  it wasn't fit for God's presence.
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  Piper frames this indifference as a severe form of selfishness.
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  It's a reminder that real faith isn't just, you know, believing
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  the right things in your head. It produces actual fruit, love,
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  compassion for other people. If we're really God's children,
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  we'll start to reflect his heart for the vulnerable.
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  And Jesus gives another warning, doesn't he, in Matthew 25,
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  talking about the final judgement, the sheep and the
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  goats. He indicates there that even
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  people who claim to follow him, if they're indifferent to the
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  needs of the poor, the outcasts, the suffering, they face eternal
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  punishment. That's a sobering thought as
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  quickly for those of us who call ourselves Christians.
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  It shows our actions, the ones that come from our hearts
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  condition, they will be looked at, right?
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  And when those self-centered ones in the parable ask when did
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  we see you hungry or thirsty and didn't help you, the king gives
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  that jarring answer. Truly I say to you, as you did
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  not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.
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  Which leads straight to that stark conclusion.
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  And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the
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  righteous into eternal life. Hyper really underscores here.
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  This isn't about earning your salvation by doing good deeds.
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  It's about the nature of genuine faith.
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  True saving faith in Jesus always works itself out.
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  And love for others. If a heart stays hard,
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  calloused, indifferent to suffering, it reveals A
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  fundamental disconnect from the very Spirit of Christ who gave
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  himself for others. It's like a heart check, you
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  know? Does it show you're truly in
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  Christ or not? It makes it really plain then a
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  selfish spirit is a barrier to heaven.
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  The actions or the lack of action flowing from that heart
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  condition, they speak volumes. Not as a way to earn our way in,
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  but as evidence of where our heart truly is and whether it's
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  been genuinely changed by Christ.
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  Then there's the parable Jesus tells about the rich fool.
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  His fields produce this massive harvest way more than he could
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  use. And his decision wasn't, you
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  know, how can I share this or how can I use this for eternal
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  good? Nope, it was tear down the old
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  barns, build bigger ones to store it all up, then kick back
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  and say to himself, soul, you have ample goods laid up for
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  many years, relax, eat, drink, be merry.
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  He was living completely for himself, for right now, for
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  pleasure and security, with zero thought for God or anyone else.
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  And God's response to that self-centered plan is immediate
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  and pretty jarring. Fool, this night your soul is
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  required of you and the things you have prepared.
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  Whose will they be? It just highlights how pointless
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  it is to hoard earthly stuff when your eternal destiny isn't
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  secure. All his planning, all that stuff
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  he piled up? Meaningless in a second.
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  Piper really emphasizes the sheer folly of a life spent just
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  on self enrichment and earthly comfort, ignoring how short life
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  is and how certain eternity is. The rich fools problem wasn't
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  having wealth, it was his total self absorption, his trust in
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  his step for security, and his complete neglect of God.
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  His heart was so wrapped up in himself he couldn't see past his
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  immediate desires to the most critical reality, his own soul,
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  and where it was spent eternity. Yeah, his selfish approach LED
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  Strict to losing his soul. His focus on earthly security
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  just blinded him to eternal reality.
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  He wasn't ready when his time was suddenly up.
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  It's a powerful immediate warning.
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  And then following the curable of the dishonest manager, Jesus
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  draws some conclusions about how we handle wealth.
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  He connects our faithfulness now with our future reward.
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  He says one who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in
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  much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also
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  dishonest in much. And he asks, if then you have
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  not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will
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  entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been
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  faithful in that which is another's, who will give you
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  that which is your own? So Jesus is making this direct
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  link between how we handle earthly stuff and our heavenly
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  inheritance. It's a striking connection
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  between the temporary and the eternal.
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  So when he talks about true riches and that which is your
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  own, he means the treasures of heaven, the joys of the age to
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  come, that unbroken fellowship with him.
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  It's about a lasting inheritance, right way beyond
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  anything material we can gather here.
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  Exactly. And Piper clarifies what Jesus
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  means by unrighteous wealth. It's not that money is evil in
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  itself, but it belongs to this world, this fallen world, you
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  know, and marked by sin. Decay could be stolen, it rusts,
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  it fades with time. So how we handle this
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  unrighteous wealth becomes a test of where our heart is
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  really oriented. Jesus makes it clear, if we're
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  stingy with these material things, if we don't use them to
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  point people to faith, care for the needy, spread the good news,
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  well, then we won't enter heaven with those lasting riches.
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  That fellowship with Jesus. It shows how faithfulness right
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  now connects directly to our eternal enjoyment.
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  It demonstrates our spiritual condition, our readiness for
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  what God has for us. Our stewardship of the small
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  temporary things indicates our capacity for the true, lasting
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  things of God. OK, so we've looked at these
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  pretty stark warnings about the selfishness and you know where
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  it leads. But now it's absolutely crucial
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  to be really precise about the basis of our acceptance with
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  God. The source material.
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  Piper is very clear. Being sacrificially generous is
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  not the foundation for God accepting us.
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  These generous actions aren't conditions we have to meet first
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  to earn His favor. Yeah, that distinction is so
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  important, isn't it? Especially in, well, in Reformed
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  thinking. It's not like God's up there
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  watching, checking off a list. OK, were they generous enough
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  today before he'll embrace us? That would totally misunderstand
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  grace, misunderstand the Gospel itself.
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  Precisely. God welcomes us into His favor
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  through faith in Jesus Christ and faith alone.
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  You have a John 3.1 scene, right?
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  For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that
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  whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal
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  life. Before we can even start showing
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  real generosity, before we can even begin to conquer our own
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  selfishness, God receives us. He adopts us into his family as
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  his children. He declares us righteous, not
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  because we are righteous, but based on Christ's perfect
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  righteousness credited to us. He forgives our sins, all of
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  them. He grants us eternal life.
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  None of these incredible acts of divine favor are earned by us
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  first overcoming our selfish spirit.
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  In fact, Piper would argue, it's recognizing our inability to
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  overcome our selfishness, our deep sinfulness, that drives us
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  to Jesus in the 1st place. We see we desperately need His
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  saving work. So it's actually other way
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  around then. It starts with God, with His
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  grace, His unmerited favor, not with us trying to clean up our
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  act or earn His approval somehow.
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  Yes, exactly. That's the divine sequence
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  foundational to our understanding.
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  First we recognize our own self centeredness, our sin.
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  We admit we can't fix it on our own.
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  We kind of despair of changing our own hearts by just trying
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  harder. Then we turn to Jesus as our
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  only hope. We place our faith in Him alone
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  for salvation, and in that act of turning that act of faith,
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  boom, we are declared righteous. Our sins are forgiven.
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  We're adopted into God's family. We're held securely by him
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  forever. It's on that foundation, this
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  gracious acceptance through faith in Christ, that a new life
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  begins. Our hearts are changed,
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  regenerated in power by the Holy Spirit.
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  And then as a fruit, as evidence of that inner transformation, we
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  start making progress in overcoming selfishness and
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  living with open hands, reflecting God's generosity.
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  This is key. Good works, including
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  generosity, are the result and the proof of salvation, not the
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  cause of it. That clarity really sets the
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  stage for what comes next. It completely reshapes how we
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  see our relationship with God and why we do things.
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  It's just from being like a heavy duty to a joyful response.
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  It means we don't give to become accepted.
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  We give because we are accepted. OK, so now let's move to the
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  second big claim. Piper pulls out that there are
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  degrees of reward, or maybe degrees of joy in heaven, and
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  this depends at least partly on how sacrificially generous we
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  were here on earth. Now this might sound a bit
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  counter intuitive, maybe, especially after stressing that
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  salvation is all by faith, a free gift.
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  How do we put these two ideas together?
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  Yeah, and this part can sometimes catch people off guard
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  a bit, but it's actually well supported by what Jesus taught.
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  Piper explains it carefully. While salvation is entirely a
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  gift received by faith and everyone in heaven will
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  experience perfect joy, no question, there are indications
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  of different capacities for that joy, or maybe different
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  responsibilities in the age to come.
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  The idea is, the more sacrificially generous you are
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  on earth, the greater your enjoyment of heaven will be.
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  Now again, this isn't about earning salvation.
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  We just established that. It's about the gracious and well
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  fitting way God chooses to reward faithfulness and is
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  already redeemed children. It speaks to a kind of diversity
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  of experience within the ultimate joy of heaven.
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  It's a concept that motivates us, but without undermining
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  grace. So what's a good example Jesus
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  gave for this? Something that illustrates these
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  varying degrees of future joy or reward.
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  Well, think about the parable of the 10 menas that's in Luft 19.
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  Jesus compares his departure to a nobleman giving 10 servants
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  one MENA. Each amino was quite a bit of
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  money, maybe 3 months wages, significant capital and he tells
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  them engage in business until I come this business they're
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  supposed to do. It includes acts of loving
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  generosity, faithful stewardship, using what he gave
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  them for his purposes, furthering His Kingdom, showing
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  real loyalty. Right.
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  And then when the king comes back, he asks for accounting,
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  wants to know what they did with the resources he entrusted to
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  them. Exactly.
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  And one serpent comes up and says look, I made 10 more minus
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  with the one you gave me. And he's rewarded with authority
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  over 10 cities. Another comes and says he made
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  five more minus. And he's given authority over 5
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  cities. The rewards are directly
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  proportional to how faithful and productive they were with what
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  they were given. This clear difference in rewards
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  strongly suggests that in the coming Kingdom there will be
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  variations in what's granted based on faithful action.
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  Here it points to a diversity of rewards.
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  In heaven, not everyone gets the exact same thing, but there's
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  variation in our capacity to experience God's goodness and
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  serve Him. It encourages us to be diligent
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  now, knowing our efforts are seen and celebrated.
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  Jesus also talks about this in Luke 6, doesn't he?
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  Verses 37 and 38 Judge not condemn, not forgive, give and
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  it will be given to you. Then he says good measure,
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  pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into
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  your lap, for with the measure you use, it will be measured
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  back to you. That verse has a huge promise,
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  but also that striking principle at the end.
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  What's that tell us about our generosity and how God responds?
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  Yeah, that passage speaks directly to our final accounting
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  with God. If we give, God promises this
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  incredible super reward, right? A return that's way bigger than
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  what we gave, pressed down, shaken together, running over.
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  But the really fascinating insight, as commentators like
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  RCH Solinsky pointed out and Pepper draws on this, is about
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  the measure. By our giving here on earth, we
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  are in a sense building the very measure, the very capacity that
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  God will use to give back to us in heaven.
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  Our own measure gets applied back to us.
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  It's almost like through our actions we're saying this is the
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  size of the container I want God to fill with his goodness and
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  eternity. So it's like we set the size of
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  the container and God promises to fill it completely.
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  Our generosity determines the capacity for what we receive,
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  not the fact that we receive. Precisely.
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  And he will feel it overflowingly pressed down,
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  shaken together, running over. That's such a vivid picture of
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  God's abundant grace, His overflowing nature.
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  He'll fill whatever capacity we've built right to the brim.
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  And spilling over now our generosity, it's always
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  imperfect, right? Doesn't earn anything.
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  In a strict legal sense, but it seems fitting, there's this real
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  correspondence between our earthly giving and God's
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  heavenly giving. Those who give little, whose
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  measure is small, well, they'll receive less in terms of
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  capacity. Those who give much throughout
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  their lives whose measure is large, they'll receive much
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  more. It's both grace and this fitting
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  divine correspondence. It's a principle that really
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  encourages generous living. But it's really important to
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  clarify here. Everyone in heaven will
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  experience a fullness of delight.
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  There's no frustration, no lack, no unmet desire, no feeling
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  incomplete for anyone who's there.
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  Nobody will feel deprived or be looking over thinking, Oh, I
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  wish I had that. Everyone's perfectly satisfied.
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  However, the fullness, the capacity of each person's joy
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  won't be exactly the same. That analogy of different size
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  cups can be helpful. Right, back to the container
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  analogy. So everyone's cup will be full
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  to overflowing, but some people will just have larger cups.
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  Everyone's totally satisfied, but some have a greater capacity
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  for that satisfaction, A wider experience of God's goodness.
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  That's a really helpful way to think about it.
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  Yeah. The measure we use to bless
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  others on earth that God then uses to bless us in heaven, it's
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  different for different people based on our faithfulness.
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  Therefore, the more sacrificially generous we are on
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  earth, the greater our capacity for enjoyment of heaven will be.
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  It speaks to an enhanced capacity for joy, a deeper
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  experience of God's goodness, a broader enjoyment of that
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  eternal reality. This isn't about like
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  competition or comparing ourselves.
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  It's about maximizing our own joy in God by living faithfully
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  now. It encourages us to live with
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  open hands, knowing the eternal dividends are just boundless.
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  OK so this leads right into Jesus command then lay up for
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  yourselves treasures in heaven. That's Matthew 6.20.
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  How should we understand that, given everything we've just
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  talked about? It's clearly not about piling up
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  material stuff in some heavenly vault.
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  So what does it look like to actually do this?
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  Well, the command basically means striving to make the
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  measure of your generosity as large as possible.
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  It's an active thing, a pursuit, a deliberate choice to invest in
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  what lasts forever rather than what fades away.
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  And Jesus spells it out even more clearly in Luke 12.33.
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  He says sell your possessions and give to the needy, provide
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  yourselves with money bags that do not grow old, with a treasure
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  in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches
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  and no moth destroys. That's the practical
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  application. It shows us exactly how we
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  engage in this heavenly investment strategy, if you
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  like. So providing these ageless money
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  bags and storing up treasure in the heavens, it directly means
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  giving to the needy. It's a straight line between our
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  earthly actions with money and our heavenly reward, between our
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  stewardship here and our joy there.
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  Yes, those phrases are metaphors for our heavenly reward.
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  The fullness of that measure of joy will be given.
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  And Piper points out, the specific measure of that reward
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  is directly determined by this command to give to the needy.
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  We lay up treasure in heaven not by hoarding stuff here, clinging
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  to things that perish, but by using our possessions
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  sacrificially, generously, which really means lovingly.
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  It's an act of worship, an act of trust, an act of obedience.
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  It's channeling these temporary earthly resources into eternal
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  dividends. It means looking for
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  opportunities to give, to serve, to meet needs, to support the
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  spread of the gospel, seeing our money and stuff not as ours, but
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  as a temporary trust from God to be used for his everlasting
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  purposes. It really shifts your whole
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  perspective from ownership to stewardship.
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  And you know, this whole conversation about generosity,
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  it inevitably has to bring us back to its source.
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  Where does the ability to be sacrificially generous even come
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  from? It's not something we just kind
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  of conjure up from inside ourselves.
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  It's not our natural inclination is it?
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  Given our fallen nature, we tend towards selfishness, not self
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  giving. Right.
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  It's not just an act of willpower then, or just trying
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  harder to be a good person. If that was all it took, well,
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  most of us would probably fail pretty quickly.
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  No, absolutely not. It is grounded entirely in God's
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  goodness to us, both before we give and as we are being
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  generous. We were able to express love and
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  give because He is already given so freely to us, supremely,
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  obviously in the gift of His Son Jesus Christ, but also
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  continuously in providing for our lives, meeting our needs day
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  by day. And He also promises He will
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  meet our needs as we live a life of generosity like in Matthew
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  6.33. But seek first the Kingdom of
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  God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added
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  to you. Or Luke 12.32.
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  Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure
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  to give you the Kingdom. Our generosity flows from His
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  prior generosity to us and our ongoing trust in His continued
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  provision. It's His character being
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  reflected in US, enabled by His grace.
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  It's the outflow of a heart that is truly tasted.
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  And trust God's boundless giving.
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  We give because He first gave to us, and because we trust Him to
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  keep providing as we obey Him. So we've kind of walked through
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  these two big ideas from Piper, grounded in Jesus's teaching,
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  how a selfish spirit can actually be a barrier to heaven,
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  and then how our generosity here on earth can genuinely shape our
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  capacity for joy in the age to come.
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  It's quite a balance, isn't it, between salvation being entirely
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  a free gift received by faith, and yet our actions having this
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  real eternal resonance not as a way of earning it, but as a
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  faithful response to grace. Indeed, it's like the divine
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  design is 1 where our hearts, once they're transformed by
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  faith in Jesus, they naturally desire to give.
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  That becomes the new impulse, and then this giving in turn is
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  honored and rewarded by God in a way that actually enhances our
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  eternal satisfaction. It's this beautiful cycle.
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  Grace received, grace extended, and then grace multiplied back
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  to us in the form of deeper, fuller joy in His presence
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  forever. It really connects our everyday
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  choices with money and stuff to our ultimate unending delight in
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  God Himself. So for you, our listener,
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  thinking about all this, what does it mean to truly spend your
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  life, your resources, your time in a way that yields the most
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  joyful return, not just for right now, but for everlasting
• 22:49
  reality? If your eternal capacity for joy
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  is in some way being shaped right now by your generosity,
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  well, what measure are you actively constructing?
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  What will you make of the short time you have here to build up
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  those treasures that no thief can steal and no moth can
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  destroy? Just something to consider as
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  you move forward from here.