INTRODUCTION
• What do we value, and what do we treasure in life?
• What we insure says a lot about what is important to us.
• What are the most unusual things people have ever insured? https://www.usinsuranceagents.com/unusual-insurance-policies/
• Each item below contains unusual insurance policies made by various people. The specific insurance company used to ensure these items aren’t listed with the most unusual things people have ever insured.
• 1. Hollywood Hottie
• Twentieth Century Fox once insured Betty Grable’s legs for a staggering $1 million each. This was during the 1940s; a million dollars was equivalent to about a billion dollars in today’s money.
• 2. Lottery Winner Insurance For Employers
• In the United Kingdom, employers can purchase insurance against having two or more employees quit because they won the National Lottery.
• This policy would only pay out if the company lost at least two employees during the same drawing, which sets the odds of collecting on the policy astronomically high.
• 3. A TV Game Show
• The American game show, “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” is insured against the possibility of a contestant winning.
• From that perspective, it isn’t a question of who wants to be a millionaire as much as it is a question of who wants to pay that much money.
• 4. Super Cigar
• The most expensive insurance policy issued for a cigar was written by Lloyd’s of London. The cigar in question is over 12 feet long and was made from more than 15,000 tobacco leaves. In case you were wondering, the cigar holds the world record for the longest cigar.
• 5. Alien Abduction
• It is possible to purchase insurance against alien abductions.
• Around the nation, more than $10 million dollars in alien abduction insurance has been written, with higher payouts available for people who are abducted frequently. Keep in mind: Proving that you were abducted will be necessary before you collect.
• 6. Magic Finger
• Keith Richards, the guitarist for the hit rock band The Rolling Stones, has his middle guitar finger insured for more than $1.5 million dollars. Not the whole hand either — just a single finger.
• 7. The Voice that Sells
• Bruce Springsteen, well known for his unique vocal qualities, has his voice insured for an impressive amount. If something should happen to Bruce’s voice, he stands to gain an impressive $6 million.
• 8. To Catch a Monster
• The Loch Ness Monster has been an item of hot debate for decades, but there are those among us who are willing to bet that it will never be found.
• The Cutty Sark Company has a waiting prize of $1.5 million for anyone who captures the creature alive. To cover their losses, the company also has an insurance policy that will pay out if someone does come forward with Nessie on a leash.
• 9. Personal Vanity and Facial Hair
• Merv Hughes, an Australian cricket player, considers his mustache to be a trademark of who he is. For that reason, his famous handlebar mustache is insured in the amount of around $400,000.
• 10. Personal Vanity and Body Hair
• The American singer, Tom Jones, thinks of his chest hair as his most redeeming individual quality. Because it’s so important to his personal image, Tom has his chest hair insured for several million dollars.
• Today we will see what Jesus says concerning wealth, or more precisely, the accumulation of wealth.
• We need to understand that Jesus is not against wealth, but He will offer us counsel concerning what type of wealth we should seek.
Matthew 6:19 (NET 2nd ed.)
19 “Do not accumulate for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and devouring insect destroy and where thieves break in and steal.
SERMON
I. The warning.
• What does it seem like we spend most of our lives trying to obtain?
• We had a good laugh at some of the crazy things people have insured, but when it is all said and done, what does accumulating treasures on earth only get you?
• Still dead.
• Then the stuff we valued so much either gets picked up or fought over by family, ends up at auction, or at the Salvation Army collection center.
• The cold, hard truth is that you cannot take it with you.
• When Jesus offers verse 19 to us, the original text is written to say STOP STORING UP, meaning that He is asking them to stop an action they are currently engaged in.
• When we think about the subject of treasures or wealth, we think about money in some form or property.
• The people of this time's view of wealth was a bit different.
• The “treasures” of the people in the East were precious metals and clothing.
• Clothing was better adapted for accumulation then than now because nothing went out of fashion then.
• The precious metals might suffer from rust and their clothing from the moth; their best earthly treasures were perishable; their houses were of such material that thieves could easily “break through and steal.
• The people of the time placed great value on what would make a display, clothing, and related items such as jewelry.
• Gold and silver were important, but the people of the time wanted others to see they had wealth.
• Clothing was hard to come by at the time.
• Here is the difficult part, we need wealth to function in society and live.
• The dilemma is how much and how much time should we spend accumulating wealth and possessions.
• Jesus is not telling us not to have possessions or riches; rather, we are not called to hoard them.
• ACCUMULATE and treasures come from the same basic Greek term, which is also the source of our English thesaurus, a treasury of words.
• Therefore, a literal translation of this phrase would be, “do not treasure up treasures for yourselves.”
• When our life is about consumption and accumulation, we miss something important.
• Listen to these passages.
Luke 12:15 (NET 2nd ed.)
15 Then he said to them, “Watch out and guard yourself from all types of greed, because one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
Luke 12:21 (NET 2nd ed.)
21 So it is with the one who stores up riches for himself, but is not rich toward God.”
• People were and are still looking for security in wealth and possessions.
• Jesus debunks the thought that security can be found in treasures only.
• Jesus says that earthly treasures will not last!
• Jesus demonstrates that these earthly possessions offer no security since they are subject to elements bringing about their destruction and loss.
• Beautiful clothes become “moth-eaten,” and expensive stones either corrode or are stolen by thieves who can easily penetrate the typical mud or adobe-brick Palestinian house.
• The precious metals people had were not stored in banks (remember the parable of the talents) because they did not exist; more times than not, the precious metals people had were buried in the ground.
• Thus, “far from minimizing anxiety, the possession of material wealth becomes a source of anxiety, since it is constantly subject to decay and loss.
Luke 12:22–25 (NET 2nd ed.)
22 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear.
23 For there is more to life than food, and more to the body than clothing.
24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn, yet God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than the birds!
25 And which of you by worrying can add an hour to his life?
• Do we focus more on our earthly treasures or what we store in Heaven?
Matthew 6:20 (NET 2nd ed.)
20 But accumulate for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and devouring insect do not destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.
II. The alternative.
• Jesus offers an alternative to placing all of our eggs in the basket of the world; accumulate treasures in Heaven!
• What are you looking for in life?
• What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind?
• What do you want to be remembered for when you are gone?
• Have you heard the term, GENERATIONAL WEALTH?
• Generational wealth is you passing your assets and wealth to the next generation, and they pass it to the next generation, and so forth.
• Admittedly, it would be nice to have wealth passed down, but is there something better we can pass down?
• Is there a better generational form of wealth you can leave your family?
• Jesus encourages us in verse 20 to invest our lives in Heaven.
• The investment in Heaven will pay eternal dividends; not only that, but you can also take your investment with you!
• Jesus says that your treasures in Heaven will not be subject to theft, decay, or destruction.
• We invest in Heaven by giving our lives to Jesus and the cause of Christ.
• Therefore, everything that we do reflects the investment we make.
• Do you want to make an investment that will pay off forever?
• Our life is sort of like us sending up materials to Heaven for our home to be built.
• Some of us will have mansions; some will have shacks, some nothing, and some will have no inheritance in the kingdom of God.
• I found an illustration that gives us a glimpse of what storing your treasures in Heaven means.
• It was said that one of Sigmund Freud's favorite stories was about the sailor shipwrecked on one of the South Sea Islands.
• The natives seized him, hoisted him to their shoulders, carried him to the village, and set him on a rude throne.
• Little by little, he learned that it was their custom once each year to make some man a king, king for a year.
• He liked it until he wondered what had happened to all the former kings.
• Soon he discovered that the king was banished to an island every year when his kingship ended, where he starved to death.
• The sailor did not like that, but he was smart, and he was king, king for a year.
• During his reign, he put his carpenters to work making boats, his farmers to work transplanting fruit trees to the island, farmers growing crops, and masons building houses.
• When his kingship was over, he was banished, not to a barren island but to an island of abundance.
2 Corinthians 9:6 (NET 2nd ed.)
6 My point is this: The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously will also reap generously.
• Think about the future for you in Heaven and the generational impact you can have with your family and others you help lead to Jesus!
Matthew 6:21 (NET 2nd ed.)
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
III. The truth.
• We can talk about Jesus, talk about loving Jesus, but the truth is that where our treasure (investment) is, there is where our hearts truly reside.
• Where is your heart today?
• Jesus is not saying that if we put our treasure in the right place, our heart will be in the right place, but that the location of our treasure indicates where our heart already is.
• Spiritual problems are always heart problems.
• Sinful acts come from a sinful heart, just as righteous acts come from a righteous heart.
• Your treasure follows your heart; if your heart is in the right place, you will place your treasure there, also.
• To focus on treasures in Heaven is to pursue those goals and activities with eternal significance and a relationship with God as the ultimate concern.
• Since one’s treasure indicates a person’s loyalty and inner commitment, one’s ultimate pursuit and interests provide a window to the true self (heart).
CONCLUSION
• One would think that after all the effort, time, and money George Washington invested in Mount Vernon, people would have prioritized maintaining it after he died in 1799.
• After his death, however, the property was passed down to many relatives, and the estate began to crumble.
• Fifty-four years later, a woman became aware of its status and decided that the women of our country would work to save it.
• The disuse and ill repair had caused a considerable amount of decay.
• (Seth Porges, “The Surprising Story of How Mount Vernon Was Saved from Ruin,” Forbes, January 14, 2016, https://www.forbes.com/sites/sethporges/2016/01/14/the-surprising-story-of-how-mount-vernon-was-saved-from-ruin/).
• Restoring the home was meaningful work, but the truth is, even with all the good intentions and elbow grease invested in this project, it will eventually decay again.
• By contrast, the treasure in God’s kingdom will endure forever.
› Application Point: Instead of collecting treasures that require protection at a bank, we should redefine our ideas of what constitutes wealth in God’s kingdom.
