What the Heart Follows
What the
Heart Follows
Jesus doesn't just warn us about what we treasure — He explains how treasuring works. The heart doesn't choose and then invest; it invests and then belongs. Which vault are you building?
🌍 The Earthly Vault
- ⚠️ Moth will devour it
- ⚠️ Rust and corrosion consume it
- ⚠️ Thieves can dig through any wall
- ⚠️ Always costs more than its contents
- ⚠️ Passing away — temporary reality
⭐ The Heavenly Vault
- ✅ No moth can reach it
- ✅ No corrosion — imperishable
- ✅ No thief can break in
- ✅ Costs you nothing you can't spare
- ✅ Permanent — a different kind of reality
After Israel's great victory at Jericho, Achan saw a Babylonian garment, silver, and gold — things God had forbidden. He coveted. He took. He buried the treasure deep in the dirt floor of his tent. He thought he had the treasure. But the thing he buried owned him. The earthly vault cost Achan everything: his life, his family, every possession — all burned in a pit.
"The earthly vault always costs more than its contents." — Tony PadgettReorients the soul. Investing time in God's presence trains the heart to treasure that presence.
Changes people not just because it's obedient, but because it moves the investor's heart toward the Kingdom.
The one who gives time to God's people finds their heart growing toward them. Service transforms the servant.
Every Lord's Day assembly is a deposit. Spiritual formation is not a matter of feeling — it is a matter of investment.
Generosity moves the investor's heart toward the kingdom. Do it first.
The heart grows toward those you serve. Don't wait for an invitation.
Prayer reorients the soul. Training the heart to treasure God's presence.
Every deposit in another's spiritual life enriches your heavenly vault.
What the Heart Follows
Sermon Title: What the Heart Follows Preacher: Tony Padgett, Brookfield Church of Christ Date Preached: April 19, 2026 YouTube Video: Watch the Full Sermon (Length: 48 minutes, 52 seconds) Key Scriptures: Matthew 6:19–21; Joshua 7:1–26; Deuteronomy 6:5; Proverbs 4:23; Luke 15:11–24
You've heard it your whole life: "Follow your heart." It's on greeting cards, in graduation speeches, in the moral of a hundred movies. But in Matthew 6:19–21, Jesus delivers one of the most quietly revolutionary sentences in all of Scripture — and it turns that popular advice completely upside down. The heart doesn't lead. It follows. And that one reversal changes everything.
I. The Warning We Expected: Two Vaults, Three Enemies, One Choice
Tony opens with a word study that reframes the entire sermon. The Greek verb translated "lay up treasures" is thēsaurizō — to build a vault, a storehouse, a repository for what you hold most valuable. Jesus uses both the noun (treasures) and the verb (lay up). He is not merely making a comment about money. He is issuing an architectural command: stop building your vault down here. Build it up there.
Then He names the three enemies that make every earthly vault a losing investment:
- Moth (σής, sēs) — devours fine clothing and fabric; even the most carefully stored treasure is being eaten from the inside
- Corrosion (βρώσις, brōsis, literally "eating") — the earth doesn't merely hold your treasure; it consumes it
- Thieves (διορύσσω, dioryssō, "to dig through") — ancient homes were mud brick; thieves simply burrowed through the walls
No earthly vault is impenetrable. Tony is careful to note that Jesus is not condemning financial planning or leaving a legacy. God wants us to make money. The issue is whether the money makes us.
The Old Testament Shadow: Achan's Buried Treasure
To show where earthly-vault thinking ultimately leads, Tony turns to Joshua 7. After the miraculous fall of Jericho, God commanded Israel to destroy everything — except Rahab's household. But Achan saw a beautiful Babylonian garment, silver, and gold. He coveted. He took. And he buried it deep in the dirt floor of his tent.
Tony's summary is devastating: the thing he buried owned him. The earthly vault cost Achan everything — his life, his family's lives, every possession he owned — all thrown into a pit and burned. The earthly vault always costs more than its contents.
The heavenly vault, by contrast, has no moth, no corrosion, no burrowing thief. It operates on a permanently different kind of reality — imperishable, kept by God Himself.
II. The Diagnosis We Didn't Expect: The Heart Follows
Here is where Tony lands the sermon's most penetrating insight. Matthew 6:21 reads: "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
Notice what Jesus does not say. He doesn't say, "Where your heart is, there your treasure will be." If He had, the lesson would be simple: clean up your desires first, and your investments will naturally follow. But Jesus reverses the order entirely.
The heart doesn't choose and then invest. It invests — and then belongs.
This is why "follow your heart" is spiritually dangerous counsel. Proverbs 4:23 says: "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." God doesn't say follow it. He says guard it — proactively controlling what enters through your senses, setting spiritual boundaries, refusing to let corrupting influences build your vault for you.
Spiritual formation, Tony reminds us, is not primarily a matter of feeling. It is a matter of investment. He offers a powerful illustration: think of someone who has given years to a local congregation — teaching classes, serving at the Lord's Table, visiting the sick. Ask them what they love. Without hesitation: these people, this place, this Lord. They didn't start with that love. They invested their way into it.
This is also why generosity changes people — not merely because it is obedient, but because it moves the investor's heart toward the Kingdom. Every act of service, every Lord's Day assembly, every hour spent in prayer is a deposit into the heavenly vault.
III. The Decision Before You: A Diagnostic and a Strategy
Tony closes by turning Matthew 6:21 into a diagnostic instrument. You want to know where your heart truly is? Don't ask what you say you love. Ask:
- Where does your discretionary money go without being asked?
- Where does your discretionary time go when no one is watching?
- What occupies your mind when you have nothing specific to think about?
Your answers reveal your vault. Then Tony offers a four-step formation strategy:
- Give before you spend
- Serve before you're asked
- Invest in prayer daily
- Invest in one person's soul
📌 A Word from Barry
Having preached at Brookfield for 23 years, I've watched Tony's thesis prove itself in the lives of faithful members. The people I admire most here didn't arrive at deep faith — they built it, one investment at a time, through decades of showing up, giving, serving, and praying. Tony's message is a gift to every congregation wrestling with spiritual drift. The vault shapes the heart. And the heart follows where the treasure has already gone.
✅ This Week's Challenge
This week, I challenge you to run Tony's three-question diagnostic on your own life. Set aside 15 minutes — no phone, no interruptions — and honestly answer: Where did my discretionary money go this month? Where did my unscheduled time go this week? What does my mind drift to when it wanders? Write your honest answers down. Then choose one vault-building action from the formation strategy and commit to it before next Sunday: give before you spend, serve before you're asked, invest in prayer, or pour time into one person's soul. Let your treasure lead your heart — toward heaven. (Matthew 6:21)
📚 Small Group Discussion Questions
Tony said Jesus flips the popular advice to "follow your heart" completely upside down. In your experience, where does blindly following your heart tend to lead — and where does the Bible's instruction to guard your heart (Proverbs 4:23) lead instead?
The story of Achan (Joshua 7) reveals that what he buried in the dirt ultimately owned him. What is the modern equivalent of "burying forbidden treasure in your tent" — and how does Matthew 6:19–21 speak to that pattern in us?
Tony said spiritual formation is primarily a matter of investment, not feeling. Think of an area of your spiritual life where you've been waiting for the right feeling before taking action. What would it look like to invest first and trust that the heart follows?
Tony's illustration about long-serving congregation members is powerful: they didn't start with that love for God and church — they invested their way into it. What investment in your own life — giving, serving, praying, showing up — has most shaped your love for God?
Tony offered three diagnostic questions about money, time, and mind. Which of the three is hardest for you to answer honestly? What does your honest answer reveal about which vault you are building?
Closing
"Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." You cannot think your way into loving God more. You cannot feel your way into kingdom priorities. But you can invest your way there — one act of generosity, one hour of prayer, one moment of faithful service at a time. Which vault are you building?
Watch Tony Padgett's full sermon at Brookfield Church of Christ and explore more resources at barrysbureau.org.
What the Heart Follows — Quiz
Padgett's Perspectives | Brookfield Church of Christ
Test your knowledge of Tony Padgett's sermon on treasure, the heart, and the vault you are building every day. Seven questions on Matthew 6:19–21, the story of Achan, and the formation strategy that moves your heart toward heaven.
Which Vault? — Category Sorting Game
Padgett's Perspectives | Brookfield Church of Christ
Tony Padgett showed us two vaults in Matthew 6:19–21: one earthly, one heavenly. Can you tell them apart? Sort 10 statements into the correct vault — and discover just how well your heart is following your treasure.
How to Play:
A statement will appear on the card. Decide whether it describes the Earthly Vault or the Heavenly Vault from Tony's sermon on Matthew 6. Click the correct vault button. You get immediate feedback and a full explanation. Sort all 10 to see your final score!