INVESTING IN HEAVEN
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Matthew
[ESV] 6:19-20 "Do not lay up for yourselves
treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and
steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in
heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in
and steal.
Jesus’
exhortation recorded by Matthew is easy to understand, or is it? Reading 6:20
in the numerous translations and versions I have at hand they seem the same –
in English yes, but what of investigating the Greek?
When we think of
investing eternally in heaven as opposed to temporal earthly treasures we
typically may consider it involving the collection plates at church or the
coffers of parachurch ministries. But is that precisely what Jesus is
directing?
What is this heaven
He refers to?
Indeed it is what
we first think of, but the Greek meaning goes beyond the place of eternal
salvation.
οὐρανός; ouranos; oo-ran-os'
indeed does mean the abode of God. It also by implication means happiness, power,
eternity; specifically the Gospel.
Which brings us
to the question of what is the gospel? To answer I investigated several sources
and chose gotquestions.org as the easiest summary for this man to grasp: “The
word gospel literally means “good news” and occurs 93 times in the
Bible, exclusively in the New Testament. In Greek, it is the word euaggelion,
from which we get our English words evangelist, evangel, and evangelical.
The gospel is, broadly speaking, the whole of Scripture; more narrowly, the
gospel is the good news concerning Christ and the way of salvation.“
Which raises yet
another question: If the church or ministry that we donate funds, labor, time
to is not clearly presenting the whole of Scripture concerning Christ and the
way of salvation . . . are we laying up treasure in οὐρανός?
EBB4
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