Store up (2343) (thesaurizo from thesaurós = treasure) originally meant to amass or reserve, keep in store, lay, store or treasure up goods for future use. Later thesaurizo was expanded to denote a chamber or chest in which treasure was kept. Throughout the ancient Middle East it was especially applied to a temple storehouse, where temple taxes were stored. People were required to give a portion of their produce to the temple, and this was stored in a treasury. Finally thesaurizo also meant private money boxes, the early versions of home safes. The root word thesauros means that which is deposited = a place where something is kept and gives our English word thesaurus, a treasury of words. In secular Greek thesauros means a treasure chamber, a storage room, storehouse, granary, strong-box or a treasure per se. Sometimes thesauros was used metaphorically of the treasure itself (Mt. 2:11; 19:21; Mk 10:21; Lk 6:45). Even at a very early period temples were built with treasure chambers, where gifts and taxes in kind and money could be stored. The practice appears to have spread from Egypt to Greece. Collecting boxes were also known (cf. 2Ki 12:10). The verb thesaurizo is used similarly in the sense of (1) storing up as treasure or offerings of money put aside (1Co 16:2 = teaches proportional giving, regular giving, and the church's role in receiving gifts.) or (2) putting it in safe keeping. Keep something in store (eg, present heavens and earth are being kept in store for future wrath in His day of judgment - 2Pe 3:7-note)! Paul has a similar figurative use referring to God's wrath which is being "treasured" up (Ro 2:5-note)! Thayer writes that thesaurizo means primarily to to gather and lay up, to heap up, store up: to accumulate riches (Jas 5:3, Lk 12:21, 2Co 12:14, 1Cor 16:2). John MacArthur adds that... The Greek also carries the connotation of stacking or laying out horizontally, as one stacks coins. In the context of this passage the idea is that of stockpiling or hoarding, and therefore pictures wealth that is not being used. The money or other wealth is simply stored for safekeeping; it is kept for the keeping’s sake to make a show of wealth or to create an environment of lazy overindulgence (cf. Luke 12:16-21). (MacArthur, J: Matthew 1-7 Macarthur New Testament Commentary Chicago: Moody Press) Thesaurizo - 8x in 8v - Mt 6:19, 20; Lk 12:21; Ro 2:5; 1Cor 16:2; 2Cor 12:14; Jas 5:3; 2Pe 3:7 Matthew 6:19 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 "But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; Luke 12:21 "So (Conclusion based on the parable in Lk 12:16, 17, 18, 19, 20) is the man who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." Who are you "rich toward"? The transient world or the eternal God? Romans 2:5-note5 But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up (present tense = continuous - pictures the cup of wrath continually being filled to one day poured out upon the one whose filled it with evil thoughts and deeds! What a dreadful picture!) wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 1Corinthians 16:2 On the first day of every week let each one of you put aside and save, as he may prosper (this teaches the principle of proportionate giving), that no collections be made when I come. 2Corinthians 12:14 Here for this third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be a burden to you; for I do not seek what is yours, but you; for children are not responsible to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. James 5:3 Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure! 2Peter 3:7-note But the present heavens and earth by His word are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. Thesaurizo - 9x in the Septuagint - 2Ki 20:17; Ps 39:6; Pr 1:18; 2:7; 13:22; 16:27; Amos 3:10; Mic 6:10; Zech 9:3 Psalm 39:6 "Surely every man walks about as a phantom; Surely they make an uproar for nothing; He amasses riches (Lxx = thesaurizo), and does not know who will gather them. Read Spurgeon's note: Surely every man walks in a vain show. Life is but a passing pageant. This alone is sure, that nothing is sure. All around us shadows mock us; we walk among them, and too many live for them as if the mocking images were substantial; acting their borrowed parts with zeal fit only to be spent on realities, and lost upon the phantoms of this passing scene. Worldly men walk like travelers in a mirage, deluded, duped, deceived, soon to be filled with disappointment and despair. Surely they are disquieted in vain. Men fret, and fume, and worry, and all for mere nothing. They are shadows pursuing shadows, while death pursues them. He who toils and contrives, and wearies himself for gold, for fame, for rank, even if he wins his desire, finds at the end of his labor lost; for like the treasure of the miser's dream, it all vanishes when the man awakes in the world of reality. Read well this text, and then listen to the clamor of the market, the hum of the exchange, the din of the city streets, and remember that all this noise (for so the word means), this breach of quiet, is made about unsubstantial, fleeting vanities. Broken rest, anxious fear, over worked brain, failing mind, lunacy, these are the steps in the process of disquieting with many, and all to be rich, or, in other words, to load one's self with the thick clay; clay, too, which a man must leave so soon. He heaps up riches, and knows not who shall gather them. He misses often the result of his ventures, for there are many slips between the cup and the lips. His wheat is sheaved, but an interloping robber bears it away -- as often happens with the poor Eastern husbandman; or, the wheat is even stored, but the invader feasts thereon. Many work for others all unknown to them. Especially does this verse refer to those all gathering muckrakes, who in due time are succeeded by all scattering forks, which scatter riches as profusely as their sires gathered them parsimoniously. We know not our heirs, for our children die, and strangers fill the old ancestral halls; estates change hands, and entail, though riveted with a thousand bonds, yields to the corroding power of time. Men rise up early and sit up late to build a house, and then the stranger tramps along its passages, laughs in its chambers, and forgetful of its first builder, calls it all his own. Here is one of the evils under the sun for which no remedy can be prescribed. He heaps up riches. This is the great foolishness and disease especially of old age, that the less way a man has to go, he makes the greater provision for it. When the hands are stiff, and fit for no other labor, they are fitted and composed for scraping together. Robert Leighton. He heaps up riches. The Hebrew word rendered, He heaps up, signifies to rake together; in which there is an allusion to the husbandman's collecting his corn together before he carries it to the barn. The metaphor is elegant, intimating the precariousness of human life, and the vanity of human acquisitions; which though heaped up together like corn, by one person, may soon become the possession of another. Samuel Burder. Proverbs 2:7 He stores up (Lxx = thesaurizo) sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, (see Pr 2:7NLT) Amos 3:10ESV "They do not know how to do right," declares the LORD, "those who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds." Here are all 16 uses of the root noun thesauros - Mt2:11, 6:19, 20, 21 12:35, 13:44, 52, 19:21 Mk10:21, Lk 6:45, 12:33, 34, 18:22 2Co 4:7, Col 2:3, Heb 11:26. Richards writes that this word group (thesaurizo/thesauros) speaks of that which is stored up and saved by human beings as especially precious. The NT makes it clear that God's value system is different from that of human beings; thus, often what human beings treasure has little value to him. (Richards, L O: Expository Dictionary of Bible Words: Regency) Detzler writes that... In the Septuagint Greek Old Testament the word was used to describe wealth which was amassed. Later it also took on a more figurative meaning. Alms given to the poor were seen to be a treasure given to God. This is reflected brightly in the New Testament teaching of Christ. There is also an emphasis in the New Testament on the transient nature of treasure. In the great Westminster Abbey of the faithful, the writer of Hebrews reminded his readers that Moses gave up the treasures of Egypt for the pleasures of eternity (Heb. 11:25, 26). James warned his readers that treasures will corrupt and rust, if they are not passed on in wages to the workers (James 5:3)... The content of one's mind and heart is also seen as a treasure (cp Mt 12:34). A good person brings forth good from this treasury (thesauros), but an evil person spews out sin (Mt 12:35). This is especially seen in the words one utters. Paul returned to this theme when he spoke of the Gospel. To him the Gospel was an inestimable treasure. God gave it to His people, in order that they might pass it on to the world. This treasure (thesauros) is like a precious stone kept in a crockery pot (2Cor 4:7). In other words, the value is in the treasure, not the pot. The value in us is the Gospel, not our physical bodies. Jesus Christ is seen as the repository of all treasure. In fact, Paul insisted that all the treasures (thesauros) of God are hidden in Christ Jesus (Col 2:3). When one seeks basic wisdom and knowledge, Christ must be the source, for He personifies all the wisdom and knowledge of God. In the Scriptures treasure has two basic meanings. First, it is material treasure which has a short life and must be left on earth. Second, it is spiritual treasure. If we serve the Lord our treasure will pay eternal dividends, but if we serve Satan our treasure of sin will pay out an eternal penalty. (New Testament Words in Today's Language) Mt 6:19 is a play on words and is more literally translated don't keep treasuring up treasures for yourselves Here in Mt 6:19, the present imperative with a negative (me) is a command to stop some action already in process! Don't have the habit of storing up temporal treasure on earth! Stop storing up temporal, perishable treasure, which you cannot take with you to heaven! Have you ever seen a U-haul trailer attached to the hearse? Did you know that funeral shrouds (burial garment) don't have any pockets? Why would they need them? Job understood these truths and upon loosing unspeakable wealth including his children, he declared... "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD." (Job 1:21) The saying is true...You can't take it with you! See related comments by Warren Wiersbe on Psalm 49:13 - Don't Trust in Wealth Jesus is not advocating financial poverty as a means of attaining spirituality. The problem He is addressing is when one accumulates wealth for "yourselves", for that is when money which is otherwise neutral becomes one's "god" or "idol". Charles Simeon adds the caveat that... This is not to be understood as though there were no situation or circumstances wherein it were allowable to lay up money: for it is certainly the duty of all persons to make provision for those whose subsistence depends upon them: those who should refuse to support their aged parents or relatives would be deemed worse than infidels: nor, by parity of reasoning, can they be considered as acting more suitably to their Christian profession who neglect to make a necessary provision for their children. (Horae Homileticae Volume 11, page 217) Jesus is not teaching that believers are to be careless in handling their money. Solid financial plans produce good stewards of the earthly resources that God has entrusted to us. Simeon commenting on treasure on earth wrote that... We are not to lay up “treasures.” What is necessary for the carrying on of our trade, or for the supporting of ourselves in old age, or for the enabling of our family to maintain that rank of life wherein they have been educated, may be considered as allowable: but what is laid up for the sake of enriching and aggrandizing our family, may be justly included in the prohibition before us. Of course, no precise sum can be fixed; because what would be wealth to one man, would be poverty to another: but whatever argues discontent, and a desire of elevating ourselves and our families above the rank which Providence has allotted us in life, should be regarded with a jealous eye and a trembling heart... Christianity does not require a man to cast away, or even to give away, his paternal inheritance, or all the fruits of his own labour: but it absolutely forbids him to find delight in treasuring up his wealth, or in looking to it as a source either of safety or happiness. (Horae Homileticae Volume 11, page 217) Spurgeon advises believers to... Hold not earth's treasures with too firm a grasp. Our be­reavements would not be half so sharp if we always viewed our friends as being lent to us. A man does not cry when he has to return a tool which he has borrowed Christ here first teaches us how to pray, and then teaches us how really to live. He turns our thoughts from the object in life which allures and injures so many, but which is, after all, an object unworthy of our search; and he bids us seek something higher and better: “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,” Moth... Rust... Thieves Moth...rust...thieves - Jesus' point in this passage is that there is no absolutely firm, unshakeable security to be found in material things, which is ironic as "securities" is a financial term defined as instruments giving to their legal holders rights to money or other property. Securities include stocks, bonds, notes, mortgages, bills of lading, and bills of exchange. Jesus is not condemning good stewardship and wise investment in "securities" but is addressing our heart attitude towards our "securities". Beloved, ask yourself... "Where is my treasure?" (If you need help answering this question, just take a look at last month's credit card charges or look at the checks you wrote over the past 6 months!) Your answer will tell you indisputably where your heart is. And where your heart is will impact your level of anxiety and/or worry. Beloved, I pray we as believers each invest wisely placing our funds (including our time and talent) into the "bank of heaven", which returns dividends now (e.g., affecting one's level of anxiety and/or worry over money and possessions, etc) and will continue to pay "interest" throughout eternity! Have you ever heard of such a fantastic, "sure", "can't miss" deal! But like most "bargain deals" there are no "rain checks" available! Once this life is over, the opportunity for this "sale" ceases. Invest now in the only true security! Invest for eternity in Jesus Christ! You will never regret your decision if you respond affirmatively! Invest, Then rest, Knowing your future is secure In Christ! MacDonald minces no words declaring that... This teaching forces us to decide if Jesus meant what He said. If He did, then we face the question, “What are we going to do with our earthly treasures?” If He didn’t, then we face the question, “What are we going to do with our Bible?” (Ibid) Warren Wiersbe offers some wise words on this section... Materialism will enslave the heart (Matt. 6:19-21), the mind (Matt. 6:22-23), and the will (Mt 6:24). We can become shackled by the material things of life, but we ought to be liberated and controlled by the Spirit of God. If the heart loves material things, and puts earthly gain above heavenly investments, then the result can only be a tragic loss. The treasures of earth may be used for God. But if we gather material things for ourselves, we will lose them; and we will lose our hearts with them. Instead of spiritual enrichment, we will experience impoverishment. (Wiersbe, W: Bible Exposition Commentary. 1989. Victor or Logos) As background to help understanding Jesus' words in this section it is notable that in Jesus' day men would invest in possessions like clothing, grain, gold, and precious stones, which then comprised a source of security with which they sought to lessen anxiety about the future. The irony of possessions is that instead of minimizing anxiety, the possessions become a source of anxiety (sometimes even great angst!), since they are always vulnerable to the vagaries of decay and loss! How true is the paradox of insecure security! Brown adds that... The Palestinian archaeologist sometimes finds hoards of coins in the remains of ancient houses. More frequently he finds only traces of such hoards. The ancient peasant or laborer had very little opportunity to use hard money; and when it came into his hands, his instinct was to bury it rather than spend it. He was especially moved to hide his little store of coins at times of political disturbance: and there was always the danger of thieves or robbers. (The Jerome Biblical Commentary)