The God of Your Wallet
Caleb Hyers | Matthew 6:19–24 | The Resting Place Apostolic Family
JESUS IS NOT CALLING YOU TO BE POOR
We are talking about the God of your wallet this morning, right out of the Sermon on the Mount. We have been in the Sermon on the Mount this entire Sabbath year, all the way until this August. And Jesus did not just speak about money here. He spoke about money quite often, and there is a real good reason for it. We are going to get into those reasons today.
Let us read Matthew 6:19–24 out of the ESV. This is the words of Jesus, not my opinion.
“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. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” — Matthew 6:19–24
I want you to slow down with me on this phrase: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Notice the tense. Where your treasure is — present tense. There your heart will be — future tense. Your heart is going to follow your treasure. That matters, and we are going to come back to it.
Sometimes this passage is stripped out of its own self-evident context and we do not see it as one concept presented in three ways. That is what I want you to see today. This all connects. Jesus starts with what you do with your money, moves to how you see, and then gets to the root: who you actually serve. It is three layers of the same diagnosis.
And right at the beginning, let me say this plainly: Jesus is not calling you to be poor. He is calling you to be free. The prison is not money. The prison is mammon. And mammon is really whatever you trust in instead of God. The question Jesus is asking in this passage is not, “Are you wealthy or poor?” He is not even asking, “Do you tithe?” He is asking: when God tells you something and gives you a direction, who has the final say? If the answer is your bank account — you already have your answer. This passage is not a guilt trip about money. It is a spiritual MRI. We are taking an assessment. Jesus is tracing the problem from the outside in: from behavior to perception to allegiance. The problem he is exposing is a divided heart, not a bank account.
LAYER ONE: THE TWO TREASURES
The first layer is the two treasures — your behavior. Where your money goes. Earthly treasures versus heavenly treasures.
There is a principle here that is very plain once you slow down: your heart follows your treasure, not the other way around. Jesus did not say, “Get your heart right and you will be a better giver.” He did not say, “Get your heart right and the money will follow.” He said put your treasure in the right place and your heart will be moved toward it. This is a law. It is a principle. It is like investing — you care about the things you invest in.
When we started our Supernatural School of Ministry, before we ever planted a church, I was originally in charge of tuition for the students, and it became a real problem. I kept giving tuition away. I kept saying, “Oh, come on, it is fine. Let us just gift it.” But we had rent, and the school was literally about to shut down because of my so-called generosity. It was not generosity — it was bad stewardship. My friend Tracy, who was on our team, fired me. She was under my leadership, but she fired me. And the school actually survived and we were able to complete the program. Here is why I bring that up: the ones I gave free tuition to? They did not care. Their engagement went down to almost zero. Why? Because the law was in effect. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be. It is a law.
This means generosity is not just a virtue. It is surgery. When you hear God say give to that person, help that ministry, support the local church — and you feel a little bit of death, a little bit of pain — what is happening? He is cutting away allegiance to a false god named mammon. He is cutting away the love of temporal things. And when you sow into eternity, your heart migrates toward the things of eternity. You start caring more about what lasts forever and less about what is fading away right in front of us.
So what does having treasure on earth look like practically? It can look like hoarding money for security instead of trusting God. It can look like evaluating every decision by short-term financial gain. It can look like never being able to obey God because of the financial risk involved. And here is a convicting one: it can look like building a life that requires no faith to maintain. Nothing is wrong with having a portfolio. What is wrong is when the portfolio has you. It is not about the amount — it is about your heart.
What does having treasure in heaven look like? It looks like investing in what outlasts you. Creating a legacy for others. Giving to the poor. Supporting your local church financially. Funding things that carry eternal weight, not just temporal weight. It looks like evaluating financial decisions by their impact on kingdom advancement, not personal comfort.
“Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.” — Proverbs 19:17
You can lend to the Lord. God can be indebted to you. I know that makes some people uncomfortable, but that is what the text says. He who gives to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay.
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” — Matthew 6:33
The “all these things” in that context is what you eat, what you wear, where you live — your natural resources. Seek the kingdom first and everything else follows. Why? Because the King is going to repay.
Financial stewardship matters as a believer. Prioritizing treasure in heaven does not mean ignoring your finances. Some have taken it that extreme: I do not even look at my bank account, I just give and give — and that is why the checks are bouncing. That is not the implication. It means managing your finances with eternity in view. It means seeing eternity when you see your budget. The question is never what will this cost me. The question is what will this produce in the kingdom of God?
LAYER TWO: THE TWO EYES
The second layer is the two eyes. “The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.”
This is not an irrelevant tangent in the middle of a passage about money. This is a Hebrew colloquialism. In the Hebrew mindset of that day, a healthy eye meant generosity. To have a good eye was to be open-handed, quick to give, and compassionate toward the poor. A bad eye meant stingy or greedy — someone who withholds from those in need.
The Greek word for a healthy or clear eye is haplos. It means single, unfolded without folds — a single focus. But here is what is remarkable: Jesus spoke Hebrew, but the Greek word chosen by the Holy Spirit carries a word play that expresses both the Hebrew concept and a Greek theological concept simultaneously. In its adjective form, haplos is that single eye. In its noun form, haplotēs, it describes a quality of undivided purpose that results in open-handed generosity. Transparent sincerity and open-handed generosity, whether expressed toward God, fellow believers, or others. It is a disposition of the heart that refuses duplicity. It is being generous and single-focused at the same time.
This same word is used in 2 Corinthians 8:2, where Paul says the Macedonian churches, though impoverished, abounded in the wealth of their generosity — that word generosity is haplotēs. It appears again in Romans 12:8 in the context of giving, and in 2 Corinthians 9:11 and 9:13 where Paul speaks of being generous in every way.
So the eye sits in the middle of those three contrasts deliberately. It is the hinge of the passage. Why? Because a person with a bad eye cannot even perceive that their treasure is in the wrong place. A greedy eye does not just affect your giving — it distorts your entire vision of reality. Greed is one of the most pervasive things in our society, and it affects far more than the balance sheet. If the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness? It spreads. It is contagious.
A person with a good eye, though, is generous and focused on the things of God. A generous eye does more than release resources. It keeps you clear. It keeps you lit. Generosity is a spiritual discipline of perception. You practice seeing the world as someone who has enough to give — and you will become that person.
“The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work… He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.” — 2 Corinthians 9:6–11
You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way — which through you will produce thanksgiving to God. Because you gave, many people gave thanks to God. People came into the kingdom. Do you want to be part of that?
LAYER THREE: THE TWO MASTERS
The third layer is the two masters. “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
The word translated “money” here is actually mammon in the Greek. And mammon is not just a synonym for money. In the ancient world, it carried the weight of personification. Mammon is the treasure a person trusts in. The moment you trust in treasure, it has become a false god called mammon. It is material wealth treated as a personal power. Mammon is wealth that competes with God for devotion in your heart. It is money functioning as Lord.
Mammon is what money becomes when you stop managing it and you start serving it.
Here is a simple test I call the bank account permission test: when God tells you to do something, do you have to ask your bank account for permission? God says give — you check your balance first. God says obey — you say you cannot afford to. That is not a money problem. That is a lordship problem. Mammon is on the throne.
Jesus does not say it is hard to serve two masters. He does not say it is unwise or difficult. He says it is impossible. It cannot be done. You will love one and hate the other, be devoted to one and despise the other. Your eyes are made to focus. A single eye is actually your two eyes at their point of focus. You are made to focus, and it will resolve one way or the other. One will be Lord.
A PERSONAL TESTIMONY
I want to share what this looked like for me personally. In December of 2014, I heard the Lord. He said, “One year, no income.” I had some consternation about that. I did not have a big bank account or a trust fund or savings. But I said yes. Some of you were there. I did not take pay. I had no safety net. And that year, without walking around asking people for money, I traveled to five different countries, I got married, I was given two cars, I went on two free honeymoons, I paid off all my debt, and I paid every bill on time. That is God. It worked because I heard a word and he sustained and blessed me. I am not encouraging anyone to do that unless they hear the same word. But I am telling you what it looks like to have Jesus as Lord of your finances, not mammon.
Ever since I have had a job, I have lived off a simple framework, and I want to give it to you. Give the first 10%. Save or invest the second 10%. Live on the rest. Give, invest, live. Ten percent, ten percent, eighty percent. The first 10% that comes in goes out — and it is a joy. The next 10% goes to investment. If you have high-interest credit card debt, paying that down is investing in your future. Do not be buying Bitcoin with a stack of high-interest credit card debt. Take care of that first. Then live faithfully off the other 80% — all your bills, your food, your gas, everything. I have done this making under fifteen thousand a year and I have done it making over eighty thousand a year. It always works. I have always had everything I needed. I have never had creditors after me or collections. Give the first 10, invest the next 10, and live off the rest. When God told me to give, I never had to ask my bank account for permission, because it was already a foregone conclusion. It is all his anyway.
STEWARDSHIP IS ABOUT CAPACITY TO OBEY
This passage does not lead us to ignore money. It leads us out of trusting money and serving money. It is the foundation of stewardship. You steward well because money is not your master — it is something you manage. A son in the house manages the father’s resources wisely. An orphan hoards or wastes out of fear.
Stewardship is not about getting wealthy. It is about being positioned to obey. That is the goal. You cannot give what you do not have. Therefore, stewardship is not about comfort — it is about capacity. Your capacity to obey God. The goal of financial health is generational impact and kingdom generosity. The worst way to help the poor is to be poor. And we are all called to help the poor. So we need to position ourselves rightly.
I want to be direct with you about the moment we are in. In the next 12 to 18 months, you need to work hard to increase your productivity. Get efficient with your labor. Get better at your job. Learn new skills. Build margin into your finances. My father taught me to put 30% aside in your budget for all the stuff you are not thinking about — all the surprises. He was right.
Every single one of us needs to de-risk our financial position right now. If you have high-interest credit card debt, pay it off. Get three months of your monthly expenses into a savings account as an emergency fund. Fight for that. That should be your priority. Pay your minimums on everything and go get that emergency fund. You need to manage your income like someone who is accountable to God for it, because you are.
We are heading into one of the most aggressive labor disruption windows the earth has ever seen. White-collar labor, at some point in the near future — it could be twelve months, it could be five years — is going to be disrupted, if not displaced. The advancement of AI is happening in real time. There are billions of dollars going into data centers and infrastructure right now. It is going to create a tidal wave impact on the majority of jobs. I do not know the exact timing. I am not claiming to know. But I am saying it is coming. And the believers should be the most aware and the best prepared. We need an Issachar anointing — knowing the times and seasons and what to do with them. You cannot remain ignorant. You need to think about new streams of income. You need to think about how to leverage your skill set differently.
I am doing this myself. I started a new business in the last week and two days because I looked at my financial position honestly and said the income did not match the need. I have four clients already. The Lord is saying, “Yes, that is right. I am with you in it.” You have to do it so that you can be positioned to obey the Lord.
The days are coming where friends and family are going to need financial help. You need to be the one ready to give it. You need to be the one who can hire someone who loses their job. Do not let life happen to you. Let us advance the kingdom and attack it. Get ready to be a port in the storm. You do not plant a field when it starts raining. You do not build a boat in the flood. You build before.
I am not worried about that disruption for us, because I am standing here in front of you and I believe you are hearing me. What I am concerned about is that we will not take it seriously enough to be a port in the storm for those who need it. I want TRP to be the resting place for those who get disrupted and need help. I want us to have something to give in that day.
THE FREEDOM FRAME: SOW INTO ETERNITY, OPEN YOUR EYE, CHOOSE YOUR MASTER
Gratitude and simplicity cultivate freedom from covetousness. If you are grateful for what you have and you are keeping it simple and giving it to Jesus, you are not worried about what your neighbor has. You are not consumed with what others are doing. You are just supporting the kingdom with joy.
You do not just need to be more generous. You need a generous eye. You need to see this way. And you need to grow your capacity so your generosity can grow with it. Both are true at the same time.
If you have been serving mammon, the way out is not guilt. It is reorientation. It is changing the way you see. It is turning from that and turning to the Lord. Put your treasure somewhere eternal and watch your heart follow. Open your eye and let the light back in. Make Jesus Lord of your finances, not just your Sundays. He wants to be Lord of all of you.
Jesus is not calling you to be poor. He is calling you to be free. The prison is not money. The prison is mammon. And mammon is whatever you trust instead of God. So where your treasure is, your heart will be also. The question is not how much you have. The question is where is it going? Because that is what — or who — has your heart. Sow into eternity. Open your eye. Choose your master. Jesus is worthy.
Watch the full sermon by clicking here!
Transcript of a message delivered at The Resting Place Apostolic Family — Tampa Bay, FL — trpfamily.org