All our lives, most of us have been seeking excellence for our lives; we’ve been on a treasure hunt. We all have desired the very best for ourselves and for our families. And that desire isn’t in us by chance; God placed it there. And because of this desire God’s placed within each of us for something more, we seek both a person and a place. I’m convinced that Jesus is the Person … and Heaven is the place—the ultimate treasures. But, there’s a problem; we’re not physically living with that person … nor in that place. Yes, we may attend church regularly, pray, and read the Bible. But, life can still be filled with drudgery, can’t it? We dutifully put one foot in front of the other, longing for a joy we cannot find, a treasure that all too often seems to elude us…
Well, Jesus told a story like that. It’s all about a hidden treasure that, once discovered, brings life-changing joy! And that’s the (very short) parable I want to share with you today, but first let me share this story about a traveler…
A first-century Hebrew walks alone on a hot afternoon, walking stick in hand. His shoulders are stooped, sandals covered with dirt, and his tunic stained with sweat. But he doesn’t stop to rest. He has urgent business in the city…
He veers off the road into a field, seeking a shortcut. The owner won’t mind—travelers are permitted this courtesy. The field is somewhat uneven. To keep his balance, he uses his staff, putting it down into the dirt.
Thunk. The staff comes down on something hard.
He stops, wipes his brow, and pokes at the ground again.
Thunk. Something’s under there, and it’s not a rock.
The weary traveler tells himself that he can’t afford to linger. But, his curiosity won’t let him go on. So he jabs at the ground again. Something is now reflecting a sliver of sunlight. He drops to his knees and starts digging.
Five minutes later, he’s uncovered it—a case decorated with gold. By the looks of it, it’s been there for decades! With his heart now racing, he pries off the rusty lock and opens the lid.
Gold coins! Jewelry! Precious stones of every color! A treasure more valuable than anything he could ever imagine!
By now, his hands were shaking. The traveler inspects the coins … and finds out they were issued in Rome over seventy years ago. Some wealthy man must have buried the case and died suddenly, the secret of the treasure’s location dying with him. There’s no actual home nearby that he can see. So surely the landowner has no clue the treasure is here…
The traveler closes the lid, re-buries the chest, and marks the spot. He turns around, heads back to his home—rapidly. As a matter of fact, he’s skipping like a little boy, smiling with joy…
“What a find! Unbelievable! I’ve got to have that treasure!” he says to himself. “But I can’t just take it; that would be stealing. Whoever owns the field owns what’s in it. But how can I afford to buy it?” He thinks to himself. “I know. I’ll sell my farm … and crops … and all my tools … and my prize oxen. Yes, if I sell everything that should be enough.”
From the moment of discovery, the traveler’s life changes. The treasure captures his imagination, becoming the stuff of his dreams. It’s his reference point, his new center of gravity. The traveler takes every step from then on with this treasure in mind. And this story, folks, is captured by Jesus in one single verse. Listen (Matt. 13:44, NLT):
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field.”
There are a variety of interpretations that go along with this one single verse. But one thing that can be agreed on is this: This parable very definitely points to the joy of surrendering lesser treasures to find greater ones… And that’s the principle we’re going to talk about as we launch this new worship series today.
Folks, I’ve been your pastor here for just short of 10 years now. And I’ve come to know this congregation to be very good at many things. On the flipside of that coin, as a pastor, I also see areas where growth is needed. And, like any good coach, I want us to improve on those areas where growth is needed—to be the very best disciples of Jesus Christ we can be! So for the next few weeks, we’re going to be concentrating on the growth area of giving. Why is this important? I’m glad you asked… You see, we cannot be fully-developing disciples of Jesus Christ (what Jesus has called us to), unless we learn to be fully-developing stewards of all God’s entrusted to us! Stewardship is a vital part of discipleship; they have to go hand-in-hand. So, we have to understand, first…
WE CAN’T SEPARATE MONEY & POSSESSIONS & OUR LIFE WITH GOD! The Parable of the Hidden Treasure is one of many references Jesus made to money and possessions; in fact, 15% of everything Jesus is recorded as saying relates to this topic—more than his teaching on heaven and hell combined … so it must be pretty important, don’t you think?
Question: Why did Jesus put such an emphasis on money & possessions? Let’s explore that a little… First, I think it’s because there’s a fundamental connection between our spiritual lives … and how we think about and handle money. We may try to separate our faith & our finances, but God sees them as inseparable! And I wouldn’t be much of a pastor or friend if I didn’t teach you what I’ve learned (and I’m still learning) in this area… So, with that, turn with me to a very important story in Luke’s Gospel:
When the crowds came to John for baptism, he said, “You brood of snakes! Who warned you to flee God’s coming wrath? 8 Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. 9 Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.”
10 The crowds asked, “What should we do?” 11 John replied, “If you have two shirts, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry.” 12 Even corrupt tax collectors came to be baptized and asked, “Teacher, what should we do?” 13 He replied, “Collect no more taxes than the government requires.” 14 “What should we do?” asked some soldiers. John replied, “Don’t extort money or make false accusations. And be content with your pay.”
Did anyone notice anything in particular about each of John’s responses here? Each answer relates to money and possessions… They asked what they should do to demonstrate that they’d turned from their sins and turned to God. So why didn’t John talk about other things? Here it is: Our approach to money and possessions, as followers of Christ, isn’t just important; it’s central to our spiritual lives—our relationship with God! It’s such a high priority with God that John the Baptist couldn’t talk about spirituality without talking about how to handle money and possessions!
As I’ve studied scripture (and others, like Randy Alcorn, have helped me to understand), there are other passages that now jump out at me. Here are some examples:
Luke 19:8-9 – “Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!’” ‘Jesus response? “…‘Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham.’ Zacchaeus’ radical new approach to money proved that his heart had been transformed…
And in the Book of Acts (2:45; 4:32-35) – Here the Jerusalem converts eagerly sold their possessions to give to the needy. And in Acts 19:19, we see the Ephesian occultists proving the authenticity of their conversion by burning their magic books—worth what today would be millions of dollars!
Or how ‘bout the poor widow with two small coins (Mark 12:44)? Jesus praised her giving by saying, “For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.”
In contrast to these examples, Jesus first spoke of a rich man (Luke 12:20) who spent all his wealth on himself, planning to tear down his barns and build bigger ones, so he could store more stuff—to retire early and take it easy… Jesus response to him was to call the man a fool, saying, “…‘You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’” The greatest indictment against him—proof of his spiritual condition—is that he was rich toward himself, but not rich toward God…
Then, there’s the rich young ruler—the antithesis of the traveler in today’s story—not willing to give up everything for a greater treasure…
We can’t separate money & possessions … and our life with God, can we? They have to go hand-in-hand. And once we understand this…
WE HAVE TO LEARN TO HAVE A TREASURE MENTALITY … LIKE JESUS! Folks, Jesus doesn’t just tell us where not to put our treasures; he also gives us the best investment advice you’ll ever hear (Matt. 6:20): “Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.”
Now, if you stopped reading too soon, you’d think that Jesus was against storing up treasures for ourselves, but that’s not what he said, was it? He actually said, “Store YOUR treasures in heaven….” So, Jesus isn’t against it; he’s all for it! In fact, he commands it! He wants us to store up treasures… He’s just telling us to stop storing them in the wrong place and start storing them in the right place!
“Store your treasures in heaven….” Some versions say, “Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven….” Doesn’t it seem strange that Jesus commands us to do what’s in our own best interest? Wouldn’t that be selfish? NO! God expects and commands us to act out of enlightened self-interest. He wants us to live for his glory; but what’s for his glory … is also always for our own good. So, folks, we too need to have this kind of ‘treasure mentality,’ but a treasure mentality like Jesus’ … that is not misguided, but always guided toward what’s best for us … for eternity!
What is this ‘treasure in heaven’ some of you might be wondering? Scripture shows us these three things: Power (Luke 19:15-19), possessions (Matt. 19:21), and pleasures (Psalm 16:11)… And Jesus promises that those who sacrifice on earth will receive ‘a hundred times as much’ in heaven (Matt. 19:29); that’s 10,000 percent, if you were wondering—an impressive ROI (return on investment)…
Of course, Jesus himself is our first treasure—our ultimate treasure! All else pales in comparison to him and the JOY of knowing him (Phil. 3:7-9a, NLT)…
“I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him.”
So, a person—Jesus—is our first treasure, a place—Heaven—is our second treasure, and possessions—Eternal Rewards—are our third…
So, why should we store these treasures up in heaven? Because it’s right? Well, yes, but not just that… We should store up our treasures in heaven because … it’s smart! Because such treasures will last…
Folks, I want you to know today that Jesus argues from the bottom line. It’s not an emotional appeal. Jesus doesn’t ask people to give out of guilt (which happens way too often and, I believe, distorts the teachings of Jesus). Rather, Jesus appeal is a logical one: Invest in what has lasting value… That’s what the wise do!
You know what they say, don’t you? “You’ll never see a hearse pulling a U-Haul.” Why? ‘Because you really can’t take it with you—any physical thing from this world…
John D. Rockefeller was one of the wealthiest men who’s ever lived. After he died someone asked his accountant, “How much money did John D. leave?” The reply was classic: The accountant said, “He left … all of it.”
You can’t take it with you. If that point is now clear in your mind, you’re ready to hear the secret of the Treasure Principle (Alcorn), and I’d like to introduce this to you today. It goes like this…
You can’t take it with you, but you can send it on ahead!
That folks is the Treasure Principle—at the heart of Jesus’ treasure mentality. And we’re going to pick up from here next week, as we continue to learn what it means to live and love like Jesus—learning the secrets of joy-filled giving. (Nothing like disciples with smiles on their faces, is there? And joy-filled is the kind of giving God loves…)
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:”Table Normal”; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:””; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”,”serif”;}