We know that Christ commands us to give. We also know God offers us great rewards for giving. So, why is it so hard to give?
I just read an article the other day on the topic of church growth. The author stated (and I’ve heard this before) that if you want your church to grow, you need to ask the right questions. You don’t ask, ‘What would make my church grow?’ Instead you ask, ‘What is keeping my church from growing?’ In other words, what are the roadblocks to growth? Whatever is healthy grows; so if the church is healthy … it will grow! But, what is it that keeps it from being healthy, that stands in the way of growth?
Our culture—often including our churches—makes it hard to swim upstream, when it comes to living out the Treasure Principle. Why? Because in our culture, it’s considered ‘normal’ to keep much more than we give… But, listen to Jesus’ words to us in our scripture for today (Luke 12:13-21, NLT)…
Then someone called from the crowd, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.” 14 Jesus replied, “Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?” 15 Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” 16 Then he told them a story: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. 17 He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ 18 Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. 19 And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’ 21 “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”
Folks, with Jesus words in mind, I’m convinced the greatest deterrent to giving is this:
THE ILLUSION THAT EARTH IS OUR HOME. And, that being the first ‘roadblock’ to giving I want to talk about, it also leads us to the next key to the Treasure Principle:
TREASURE PRINCIPLE KEY #3
Heaven, not earth, is my home.
The Bible says we’re pilgrims, strangers, aliens on earth (Hebrews 11:13); we’re ambassadors representing our true country (2 Cor. 5:20); “Our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20), Paul says. And the writer of Hebrews (11:16) also tells us, we’re citizens of “a better country—a heavenly one.” Where we choose to store up our treasures depends greatly on where we think our home is! Did you know that? Let me give you an example of what I’m talking about…
Suppose your home was here in the U.S., but you went to France to stay for 3 years; there you lived in a really nice hotel—a temporary home. You’re told that you cannot bring anything back to the U.S. on your flight. But you are allowed to earn money and mail deposits back to your home in the U.S. while you’re temporarily stationed in France…
Question: Would you fill your hotel room in France with expensive acquisitions that you knew you couldn’t bring home with you? Of course not! You’d send your money that you’d earned back home in the U.S.—your true home. You’d spend only what you needed on your temporary residence, sending your ‘treasures’ on ahead so they’d be waiting for you when you got to your real home…
It’s the same with living in this world, folks—a secret that only followers of Christ might know. Our real home, our heavenly home, is where we need to be saving up our treasures… Why? Well, scripture (Rev. 19:7) tells us in this way: “Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give honor to him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself.” The Lamb, of course, is Jesus … and the bride is … the Church (all of us)… And on that day—the day when Jesus comes again … the Groom from Nazareth and His beloved bride will take center stage! (I just had a wedding yesterday … and I’ll guarantee you the bride & groom didn’t sit in the back seat!) The truth is, every day of our lives we’re traveling toward that wedding day…
It reminds me of the anticipation of our daughter’s wedding a few years ago. We were counting down the days. It’s similar to the wedding scripture talks about, too; every day we get closer; it’s closer today than it was yesterday. And when that day comes that we meet the Bridegroom, just like a wedding day … it will be a great gift to all involved! We’ll get to go to that place that’s been prepared just for us, and everything we’ve sent on ahead will be waiting for us. Right now, it’s our gift to Him; but, in his generosity, He will give those treasures back to us!
Paradoxically, folks, our home is a place we’ve never been. But it’s the place we were made for—the place made just for us. Folks, if we would let this reality sink in, it would forever change the way we think and live… We’ve got to know where our true home is, otherwise it’ll be a roadblock to living the Treasure Principle. Next, we need to look closely at this…
THE CHOICE BETWEEN THE DOT & THE LINE… What’s that all about? Let me set it up first…
So, let’s take a ride together, shall we? After a few miles we turn off the road, pass through a gate, and fall in line behind some pick-up trucks and trailers. The vehicles ahead are filled with all kinds of stuff—computers, stereos, furniture, appliances, fishing gear, and other assorted stuff…
Higher and higher we climb, until we reach a parking lot. There, the drivers unload their stuff. One of the first things you witness is a man hoisting what looks like a brand new computer. He stumbles to the corner of the lot, and then hurls his computer over the edge…
Now, you’re curious. What in the world is going on? You scramble out of your vehicle and peer out over the edge. At the bottom of the cliff is a giant pit filled with … stuff! And finally, you understand! This is a landfill, a junkyard—the final resting place for all of the stuff of our lives…
Folks, sooner or later, everything we own ends up here: Christmas and birthday presents, cars, boats, and Jacuzzis … clothes, stereos, and barbecue grills. Everything—you know, the treasures your children argued about, those that friendships were lost over, honesty was sacrificed for, and even marriages broke up over. They all end up here…
You remember that bumper sticker, don’t you, that reads: “He who dies with the most toys wins”? Millions of people act as if this were true! But, the more accurate saying would be: “He who dies with the most toys … still dies—and never takes his toys with him.” Folks, when we die after devoting our lives to material things, we don’t win; we lose… The bumper sticker couldn’t be more wrong…
So now, here’s the DOT and the LINE I mentioned earlier (as Randy Alcorn describes it) … and we need to decide which one we’re going to live for. Our present life on earth is the dot; it begins … and it ends; it’s brief. But from the dot extends a line that goes on forever; that line is eternity, which Christians will spend in heaven. Right now, we’re living in the dot, but what are we living for? The short-sighted person lives for the dot; the person with perspective lives for the line. And this leads us to the next key to understanding the Treasure Principle…
TREASURE PRINCPLE KEY #4
I should live not for the dot but for the line.
The one who lives for the dot lives for treasures on earth that ultimately end up in junkyards; the one who lives for the line lives for treasures in heaven that will never end; giving, folks, is living for the line…
SO, we need to consider ‘the dot and the line’, don’t we? What did Jesus say? “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” Finally, we desperately need to figure this out:
THE PROBLEM WITH OUR ‘POSSESSION OBSESSION.’ A PBS television program addresses what it calls the ‘modern-day plague of materialism’…
The PBS show was called ‘Affluenza’ and it made these claims:
The average American shops six hours a week while spending forty minutes playing with their children…
By age twenty, most of us have seen one million commercials…
Recently, more Americans declared bankruptcy than graduated from college…
In 90% of divorce cases, arguments about money play a prominent role…
What struck me about this program is that it doesn’t argue against materialism on a moral basis; rather it argues against it from a pragmatic one: ‘Material wealth doesn’t make us happy’ was the message… Just listen to some of the wealthiest voices of their day:
W.H. Vanderbilt comments, “The care of $200 million is enough to kill anyone. There is no pleasure in it.”
John Jacob Astor once said, “I am the most miserable man on earth.”
John D. Rockefeller commented, “I have made many millions, but they have brought me no happiness.”
Andrew Carnegie once observed, “Millionaires seldom smile.”
And good ol’ Henry Ford is noted as saying, “I was happier when doing a mechanic’s job.”
You’ve heard the stories of lottery winners who are more miserable a few years after winning than they were before; the wealth they dreamed would bring them happiness didn’t … not even close!
Jane and I watch HGTV sometimes, many times the shows about first-time homeowners. And many seem to want everything their parents took a lifetime to save for and purchase … right now! They don’t want to wait. Why? It may be pride … but, more than likely, they think that having all they want in a house is going to bring them happiness. I wish they’d interview some of these couples a few years down the road to see how they’re doing. My guess is … those who bought the lie … having a dream home right now would bring them happiness … were sorely disappointed! The problem is: affluenza—that need to have stuff to make us happy…
So, if affluenza is the disease, folks, what’s the cure? The Apostle Paul actually offers an answer from his day (1 Timothy 6:17-19, NLT):
Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. 18 Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. 19 By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.
Folks, notice how Paul brings us right back to … the Treasure Principle. Paul says being ‘generous’ and ‘ready to share’ and being ‘rich in good works’ allows us to ‘experience true life.’ ‘As opposed to what? ‘The second-class, so-called ‘life’ of materialism. And that brings us to the 5th key to the Treasure Principle:
TREASURE PRINCIPLE KEY #5
Giving is the only antidote to materialism
(our ‘possession obsession).
Folks, in Revelation, Chapter 3, after exposing the Laodiceans’ spiritual poverty hidden beneath their wealth, Jesus offers real treasures (v.18a): “So I advise you to buy gold from me—gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich….” What had happened? This particular church Jesus was talking to … had settled; they’d settled for less than God’s very best. Are you interested in true riches today … or have you settled for a life of unsatisfying material acquisitions?
Please know this, as we close today: There’s something so much better than anything the world can offer—eternal treasures and exhilarating joy that will last forever. Do you like treasures and joy as much as I do? If so, stay tuned as we get into some practical questions about giving next time, as we figure out where to begin…
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