Laying up Treasures

SERMON: 2007-09-22--sm0734--laying-up-treasures-part-1 SOURCE DURATION: 00:37:33.000 PROPOSED CUTS: 2 CONFIDENCE: 1.00 APPROVED: false REASON: The recording starts with the speaker introducing the topic (exposition) and continues through the main body of the sermon, including pastoral application and a concluding hymn/transition segment. Acoustic segmentation found sustained music at the start and end edge and moved the boundary to the adjacent transcript segment. ACOUSTIC EVIDENCE: available ACOUSTIC MUSIC INTERVALS: 00:00:51.680-00:00:54.940, 00:01:13.800-00:01:17.200, 00:01:43.680-00:01:54.620, 00:01:57.680-00:02:15.720, 00:02:23.900-00:02:43.200, 00:02:56.820-00:03:00.920, 00:03:09.140-00:03:12.680, 00:03:15.220-00:03:21.820, 00:34:41.680-00:37:31.700 ACOUSTIC SPEECH OVERLAP: yes ACOUSTIC BOUNDARIES APPLIED: start, end Inline CUT markers identify each proposed audio boundary after the relevant word. --- ORIGINAL TRANSCRIPT WITH PROPOSED CUTS MARKED --- [PROPOSED CUT 1 START at 00:00:00.000; remove through 00:00:54.940] [CUT] I want to start once again this morning by showing you a four-minute video clip that introduces the topic that I'm going to talk about and that also summarizes everything that we have covered in recent weeks. It's called Give, Fast, and Pray. Take a look at this. Sometimes we get stuck. We get stuck in our lives, in our relationships, and in our faith. Sometimes we simply stop living and just start observing. And I'm pretty sure that God knew that about us, that we would get stuck in life and inside ourselves, and that we might have a hard time sometimes seeing anything else. Giving, fasting, and praying are probably the most simple yet complex disciplines that God asks of us. [CUT] [PROPOSED CUT 1 END at 00:00:54.940; resume after this marked segment] God asks us to give, fast, and pray to help keep our eyes focused out and up. The problem, however, is that all of these things require sacrifice. And the truth is, there is absolutely nothing natural about sacrifice. As Christians, many of us find ourselves afraid to let go to really give, fast, or pray. We too quickly forget the character of the God that's given to us so generously, as if when we pour out our time, or energy, or money, or heart onto others, we will be left with nothing. Oftentimes, these three words have become churchisms that tend to guilt us into action more than anything else. We are truly afraid to let go. We are afraid to get out of the pews and into the streets. Why is that? What are we so afraid of? How is it that we immediately forget to hold loosely the gifts that have been poured down over us? Is it possible we've forgotten to consider that they are gifts at all, and that pouring them out onto the world around us might leave us with more than we thought? When we give freely, we move closer to God. When we fast diligently, we move closer to God. When we pray ardently, we move closer to God. Before Paul died, he called us to live lives of reckless abandon. We can be sure that this will be hard, or he wouldn't have had to give us the reminder. So there must be something more, something deeper, something that comes from within that calls us to a life of extravagant sacrifice. Something deeper is calling us to give fast in prayer. What will call you to a life of extravagant abandon? I show you that little video clip this morning because I think it so captures the heart of a life of faith. Because when through faith in Jesus Christ, God becomes our Father, he commits himself to meeting all of our needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. The result of that is that we can learn to live openly and generously. That stands in sharp contrast to the unbeliever. The unbeliever doesn't have that kind of relationship with God as his father. He may believe that God exists, but even if he believes that God exists, he doesn't really believe that God knows him or cares for him. And so unbelievers typically, and all of us by nature outside of the saving grace of Jesus, we're all gatherers and we're clutches. And if we're generous and if our life pours out into the lives of others outside of the saving grace of Jesus, it's usually because there is a hidden agenda, some secret way in which it is still storing us up for blessing or honor or prestige. And so the tendency by nature is to lay up treasures on earth as opposed to treasures in heaven. And that's what Jesus turns to now in this passage, in these verses that we have read together when he says to us, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." In the time that we have this morning as we look at those verses together, I want to point out a number of things beginning with this observation. The issue in these verses that we have read together is the question of where it is that we store our treasure. Notice again how Jesus puts it. "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven." Now, a treasure, as you know, is something that you value. It's something that you take very good care of, and it's something that you tend to look towards for future safety and security. And Jesus in this passage tells us that there are two kinds of treasures that we could store up. There are what he calls treasures on earth, and there are what he calls treasures in heaven. Let's take a few moments and look at each of these. Treasures on earth, that's easy enough to understand. It's the kind of things in the here and now that we value and that we look to for security and comfort. In Bible times, those would be your possessions, your silver and your gold, and maybe your precious jewels, and certainly in those days the clothing that represented your position of wealth and prestige. Today it would include all of that, but also perhaps our stocks and bonds and other investments that we have made, things that we adhere to or pile up in the here and now. And as we'll see in a few moments, what all of these things have in common is that they're temporal, that is to say they're here today and they're gone tomorrow. That's earthly treasures. Heavenly treasures are a little harder to get your head around because heavenly treasures are a function of our relationship with God. And the scripture teaches us that when through faith in Christ we've become the children of God, then God has for us all the blessings of that relationship. That not only means he gives us his Holy Spirit so that he becomes real and we can understand the things of God, it also means that he provides for us in the here and now everything that we need. Jesus goes on to talk about that later on in the Sermon on the Mount when he says, "Look at the lilies of the field and the grass and the birds of the air. Look at how God looks after each one of those." Those are all the spiritual blessings that we have in Christ. And most of all, of course, treasures in heaven also refers to that age that is to come when God creates a new heaven and a new earth and when all of his children in Christ receive the full inheritance to the glory of God. Two kinds of treasures. And Jesus says we're either storing up treasures on earth or we're storing up treasure in heaven. It's a choice that each one of us needs to make continually in the course of life. That's the first observation that I wanna make. And the second is this, that if we're in Christ, now listen carefully, if this morning you're in Christ, that is to say you've repented of your sin, you've come to faith in Jesus, then guess what? You're already committed to storing up your treasures in heaven. Let me explain it this way. An unbeliever, of course, as I said a few moments ago, has no appreciation of heavenly treasures. They don't make sense. He doesn't understand them. They sound like pie in the sky. As Karl Marx said many years ago, religion is the opium of the people. It's a tool by which you keep people in a daze so they don't react to the injustices of today's society. And unbelievers, because they cannot see the future or understand our relationship with God, all they understand is the here and now. And they are committed, therefore, to providing for themselves as comfortably and as securely as they can. The reason for that is you cannot understand treasure in heaven or have it make any sense at all unless you've come to faith in Jesus and unless you have received the Holy Spirit. Here's how Paul talks about it. 1 Corinthians 2, 14, "The man without the Spirit "does not accept the things "that come from the Spirit of God. "For they are foolishness to him, "and he cannot understand them "because they are spiritually discerned." All of that changes when somebody comes to Jesus. When you come to Jesus and he gives you the Holy Spirit, then all of a sudden the Holy Spirit begins to open your eyes. We'll look at that in a little more detail later on, but he opens your eyes and now the treasures in heaven that you have in Christ become real in your life and in your experience. And that happens therefore the moment you come to faith in Jesus, you have already said goodbye to treasures on earth and you've already said yes to treasure in heaven. Very important for us to understand that it's not something you're trying to push into. You're already there. The challenges we'll see in a few moments is to try to leave that out. Now diagrammatically we can show it this way. You've seen those circles many times. They're a powerful, a powerful symbol, I think, of the coming of God's kingdom. This of course, the kingdom of the world resting on the principle that God and the human race are alienated because of our sin. God is angry. He can't afford to draw close in his power because he would have to utterly destroy us. And so he hides on a safe distance. Instead we're subject to what the Bible calls the God of this world who is Satan. He fills us with his wisdom. His wisdom says there is no God or if there is a God he doesn't care about you. He teaches us that if you wanna get ahead in life, it depends on your ability and your prestige and your strength and your wisdom and your luck and all that kind of thing in the world, therefore, everybody is fundamentally self-centred. You can hardly see them here, but these are all arrows pointing inward. We grab hold of whatever we can. The little bar in between here represents conflict. And there you have the treasure chest, which indicates that in the kingdom of the world, collecting earthly treasure is the most natural thing in all of the world. The other circle represents the kingdom of God. God is central, created everything. All creatures look to him. He provides all of our needs. And because he provides all of our needs, he fills our bucket and we can live generously with our bucket. We can invest time, talent and treasure in both God and in other people. Why? Because there's always more to be had from God. The bucket always fills up if we walk in step with the spirit and receive the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, let me emphasize once again. When you've come to Christ, whether you realize it or not, the Bible says you have been crucified to the world and the world has been crucified to you. You've had your eyes open to the fact that this world is temporal. All riches are temporary. Nobody ever goes to his funeral with a U-Haul behind the hearse. You leave it all behind you. Instead, you have said, "I'm throwing in my lot with Jesus who leads me into God's kingdom and this is what I'm a citizen of." You're not pushing your way into that. You're already there. Does that make sense? Very important to understand. We are seated in Christ in heavenly places and you've already said to yourself and you said to God, "I don't wanna bank on earthly riches. I wanna bank my riches in God's kingdom. I want treasures in heaven." So here's the challenge. The challenge then is to leave that out in everyday living because you know just as well as I do that just because by faith in Jesus, you've become a citizen of the kingdom of God, that doesn't mean that this whole world all of a sudden is left behind. In fact, those two circles always overlap because the child of God is on the one hand a citizen of God's kingdom but on the other hand, he still very much lives in the here and now. And while on the one hand we are growing in the grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, there's enough unbelief and sin and selfishness left in us that our tendency is to find our security not so much in Jesus as it is in the here and now. And so many times Christians are just as worldly minded as the world is. And we're just as concerned about living comfortably in the here and now as we are about laying up treasure in heaven. But remember, we've already said no to the world, we've said yes to Jesus. So the challenge of Christian living now is to learn to forsake the world, to forsake the importance of worldly treasure, if you will. Not at all meaning that Christians cannot be rich or have money, that's a whole other subject. But where our hope and our confidence is not in the here and now, but rather our hope and our confidence are in the Lord Jesus. And the question then is how do we live that out? How can the things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace? How can we become more motivated by our relationship with God and what it is that is ours by faith in Christ in that level than we are about treasures on earth that are so much a part of everybody's life? Well, as always, the key is abiding in Christ. Because the Bible says concerning Jesus, in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And John in his gospel says, in the words of Jesus, if you abide in me and I abide in you, you'll bear much for it. Jesus despised earthly treasure, position, glory and prestige, it meant nothing to him. And all that mattered to him was his father's approval. And though that led him to the cross because he was faithful to God, God raised him up, sat him down at his right hand. He today has the name that is above every name. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He shares fully in all of God's inheritance. And when you and I are united to him by faith, that's also ours. And so as we rest in Jesus and allow his spirit to work in us through his word and in whatever other ways that he does that, there's a number of things that are going to happen that will help us let go of the power of earthly treasure. And that will help us to start living by heavenly treasure instead of clutching our buckets and holding on to what it is that we have. We can learn how to be generous and live freely because the first thing I believe that happens is that our vision begins to clear. Our vision begins to clear. Now, we don't have a lot of time to deal with it fully this morning, but the passage goes on to say, the eye is the lamp of the body. And if your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness? Without going into a lot of detail about it, our eyes are the organ in our body that picks up light. Light enables us to see our situation around us and enables us to walk safely and to avoid harm. And if your eye is good or single, which is what the word is, that is to say they're properly focused on the right object, you know how to live and you know how to walk. And one of the characteristics of unbelievers is that they live in darkness. They don't believe in God, they don't experience God, they don't see God. That's why we're so earthbound. But when Jesus comes into our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit, He gives us light. Paul writing to the Ephesians puts it this way. He says, "Wake, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." And when Christ shines His light of revelation into our lives, suddenly our eyes are opened and guess what it is that we see? Well, first of all, we see spiritual realities in Christ Jesus. God becomes real, the riches that we have in Christ become real, and then as the riches of God in Christ become real, guess what we discover? We begin to discover the relative value of earthly treasures versus heavenly treasures. What are the three words Jesus uses consistently in this passage in Matthew chapter six to describe the treasures on earth? They are treasures that are consumed by moth, by rust, and stolen by thieves. I was reminded of that again just this past week, the news story, O.J. Simpson, you've heard about it. Got arrested, charged with kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon, why? Well, about $100,000 of his memorabilia, he says, was stolen by these people. He felt that he couldn't go back to the police because ever since his murder trial more than 10 years ago, the police won't do anything for him, and so he and a bunch of his buddies went to get back what he thought they owed him. And they did an armed robbery thing and got caught, and now he's in big trouble. In the world, our worldly possessions are the most valuable thing that we can think of. I mean, think of Lot's wife turning around, her heart was so clearly still in Sodom and Gomorrah. Well, when the Holy Spirit begins to work in you and you begin to discover who God is in Christ and what in Christ God is promising you, both in the here and now and in the life to come, then all of a sudden everything else begins to fade away. And likewise, the heavenly treasure of which Jesus speaks is treasure that cannot be consumed by moth, it cannot rust, and it cannot be stolen. And so a smart person makes wise investments, says Jesus, and you make your investments in the age that is to come, that is to say you cultivate your relationship with God over every other value and every other priority in your life. Peter puts it this way, God brings us to an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. Makes absolutely no sense to the natural man, makes absolutely no sense to the carnal heart, but it was the apostle Paul himself who said after he met Jesus that once he glimpsed Jesus and knew what is the inheritance that is his through faith in Christ, all the other things that he had banked his whole life on, his status, his position, his reputation, he said, I counted all as garbage. The word is even stronger, he says, I counted all as manure, because all that matters is that I belong to Jesus. So how do you get to a place where treasures in heaven become more important than treasures on earth? You cultivate your relationship with Jesus, and as you cultivate your relationship with Jesus, he opens your eyes, and all of a sudden you discover what matters in life and what does not matter. And then, and I'm gonna reverse the order of these next two, our will will be changed, our will will be changed. If you're gonna store up treasure in heaven as opposed to storing up treasure on earth, that takes a deliberate choice, does it not? And Jesus in this passage talks about that when he says, do not store up treasure on earth, and he says instead, store up treasure in heaven. That means you and I, we can do something about it. We can order our priorities, and later on he says, you cannot both serve God and money, or I like that old fashioned word, mammon. You can't both want what God has for you as your number one priority, and cultivate worldly riches for all the wrong reasons at the same time. You're either gonna hate the one and love the other, or you'll despise the one, and you'll be devoted to the other. So we need to make a choice. But you see, that's where our problem lies, doesn't it? Because even while we want all the benefits of the age to come, and we pride ourselves in the benefits of having a relationship with Jesus Christ, you know, just as well as I do, how important worldly goods, worldly reputation, worldly success is to every last one of us. And we can kick ourselves, and we can say, I ought to be more spiritual, and God ought to be more important to me. But fact of the matter is, the things of earth just have an incredible pull, and much of our time, talent, and treasure goes into making our lives as comfortable in the here and now as we can be. Is that not true? Sure it is. How does that change? Well, it changes by abiding in Christ. He lives in me, and when he lives in me, and I cultivate, and I develop my relationship with him, and God opens my eyes, so that I begin to see what things in life really matter, then as my eyes are opened, he changes my wheel. Because if I know that the Titanic is going to sink, I'm not gonna spend my time polishing the brass. I'm gonna get in the lifeboat, and get as far away as possible. And once I understand that worldly riches will not preserve my life in the future, that my security comes out of relationship with God, then yes, I will continue to work, and I will continue to earn money, and I will continue to steward my resources wisely, but that's not where my life is anymore. My life is now with God, and so the priority of my life, the priority of my life is to cultivate, and to develop my relationship with the Lord. If half of us put as much energy into cultivating our relationship with the living God, as we do intending our everyday concerns, what a difference that would make in terms of Christian community and Christian vitality. Because we would know the joy and the reality of God's power and presence in unprecedented ways. And I'm not saying that to chastise us, this is simple reality. It's as true of me as it is of you. But if we abide in Christ, spend our time with him, and let him have his way in us, then by the power of the Holy Spirit, he is perfectly capable, let me tell you, he's perfectly capable of revising our outlook on life, and helping us to understand that whatever we attain in the here and now, you can be as rich as Howard Hughes, or as famous as King Tartar, God knows who, but you can lose it just as fast. There's only one thing that is sure, and that is our relationship with God, and his promise to be there always to the end of the age. And see, that then leads to a transformed heart. Because notice how Jesus ends this first section, he ends it with the words, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. And the heart in biblical thought is not that organ in our chest that pumps the blood around, a heart is the core of who we are. It's our affection, it's our loyalty, it's where our emotions are engaged. Again, why is it so hard, even for God's people, to get excited about the things of God? Why do we scream harder at a hockey game because the goal has been scored, than we do when sinners repent and all the angels in heaven rejoice? You know why? Because our treasure is on earth instead of in heaven. We're more in love with the here and now, and where your treasure is, that's where your heart is. So how do you get your heart, how do you get your emotions, how do you get your will, how do you get your affection stayed on the things of God? Well, you lay up treasure in heaven because where your treasure is, that's where your heart is. And so the more we cultivate our life with Jesus, the more we learn to walk with him, and the more our eyesight gets cleared so that we understand the relative values of these two kingdoms, the more we will discover quite automatically that our hearts are where they need to be. Paul put it this way, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me, put into practice, and the God of peace will be with you. So let me leave you this morning with five sobering questions, the answer to which we'll show you, whether your treasure currently is on earth or whether it's in heaven. Because it's so easy to deceive ourselves, and it's so easy to say, well, all is well with me and all is well with my soul, I'm living for God, and I'm living for the values of God, when in fact, I may have a lot of growing to do, to grow up into Christ and to live out what in him I already am. And so, first question is this, where is my love placed? Second question, where is my mind fixed? Third question, where is my care bestowed? Fourth question, where is my labor directed? And fifth question, where is my delight found? And folks, for any of us, if the overwhelming answer is in the world and not in the kingdom, then what we need to do is own that. Not just feel sorry for ourselves and say, poor little old me, I can't do anything about this. No, we need to repent, and we need to say, Lord, my heart is not where it ought to be. My mind is not where it ought to be. My treasure is not where it ought to be. I don't know how to change it. In Christ, I'm already there. Work your grace in me until I live out in actual practice what in Christ I already am. Because as Jesus says, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. [CUT] [PROPOSED CUT 2 START at 00:34:41.680; remove through 00:37:33.000] (upbeat music) (upbeat music) ♪ Take my life and let it be ♪ ♪ Consecrate the Lord to thee ♪ ♪ Take my moments and my days ♪ ♪ Let them flow with endless praise ♪ ♪ Let them flow with endless praise ♪ ♪ Take my horse and let me sing ♪ ♪ Always only for my King ♪ ♪ Take my lips and let them be ♪ ♪ Filled with messages from me ♪ ♪ Filled with messages from me ♪ ♪ Take my silver and my gold ♪ ♪ All the minehood I recall ♪ ♪ Take my intellect and use ♪ ♪ Every power thou shalt choose ♪ ♪ Every power thou shalt choose ♪ ♪ Take my lamp and make it bright ♪ ♪ It shall be no longer light ♪ ♪ Take my heart it is my own ♪ ♪ It shall be the royal crown ♪ ♪ It shall be the royal crown ♪ ♪ I know my Lord I know ♪ ♪ At my feet is treasure stored ♪ ♪ Take myself and I will be ♪ ♪ Ever only of the King ♪ ♪ Ever only of the King ♪ [CUT] you [PROPOSED CUT 2 END at 00:37:33.000; resume after this marked segment]