I read a recent magazine article about a pastor and his encounter with some unbelievers while having breakfast. Here is how he tells the story: “My wife and I were vacationing in Estes Park, Colorado, and had breakfast in a coffee shop. It was empty except for four men at another table. One was mocking Christianity; in particular, the resurrection of Christ. He went on and on about what a stupid teaching that was. I could feel the Lord asking me: ‘Are you going to let this go unchallenged?’ However I was thinking, But I don’t even know these guys. He’s bigger than me. He’s got cowboy boots on and looks tough. I was agitated and frightened about doing anything. But I knew I had to stand for Jesus. Finally, I told Susan to pray. I took my last drink of water and went over and challenged him. With probably a squeaky voice, I said, ‘I’ve been listening to you, and you don’t know what you’re talking about ’ I did my best to give him a flying rundown of the proofs for the resurrection. He was speechless, and I was half dead. I must have shaken for an hour after that. But I had to take a stand. We cannot remain anonymous in our faith forever. God has a way of flushing us out of our quiet little places, and when he does we must be ready to speak for him.”
Now I admire this pastor’s courage and his determination to be a witness, regardless of how difficult it was. A lot of Christians would have just sat there in fear or fumed, thinking about how terrible the things were that these men were saying. I realize that I have the opportunity of looking back with hindsight on the situation, but I wonder if there wasn’t another possible approach that may have been more positive, and perhaps had more impact, than rattling off a list of rational arguments for the resurrection. It seems to me that he missed the most important and impressive proof of the resurrection — his own life. I wonder if it would not have been more effective to walk over to the men at the table and say something like this: “You know, I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation, and found it very interesting. If you don’t mind, I would like to pay for all of your breakfasts. The reason I want to do this is that, because of the resurrection, Jesus Christ has changed my life and lives in me, and wants to communicate his tremendous love for you.”
Rational arguments do not change people, changed lives do. Changed lives change the lives of others, and thereby change the world. It is how we challenge the unbelief of a skeptical world. But not only would it possibly have been a stronger witness, it would have been an excellent use of money to buy their breakfasts. I think the point in what Jesus was saying in our Scripture reading this morning was that people are always the priority. Helping people, whether physically or spiritually, is to be given priority over serving ourselves — especially when it comes to money. But money is usually our last holdout in our walk with God. It is what we surrender last. As you grow in the Christian life you realize that it is not your money anyway. Everything you own already belongs to God. It is a gift, a loan from him.
In the Scripture today, Jesus gives us four distinct warnings about money. The accumulation of wealth is always seen as a problem and temptation in Scripture. It can be used in good ways, but much of the time it is a stumbling block for people. The first thing Jesus says is: Don’t store up treasure. Don’t build up huge reserves that you don’t need. Don’t accumulate more goods than you need. What does this say about storage units filled with our excess? The reasons Jesus gives are that riches are deceptive and fleeting. The things we accumulate are subject to rust, insects, natural disasters, loss, thievery, etc. You need to place your treasure where this cannot happen. Does this mean that we should give away all our money and just “trust God” to meet our daily needs? Of course not. It is important to be responsible and plan for the future. It is important to provide for your family, for the Bible says, “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Timothy 5:8). You cannot do that if you do not work hard and use some foresight in your financial planning. There are those who refuse to work hard and then expect others to take care of them. That is just as wrong, if not more so, than making the accumulation of things too important in your life.
I think the point is: Where do you find security? Do you find your identity and self-worth based on the things you own? Do you feel superior to others because you have better stuff than they do? Do you buy things you don’t need when there are more obvious and pressing needs around you? Do you prefer accumulating things, or helping others with your money?
As a pastor, we have moved several times. Sometimes we will have boxes that we never opened from the previous move. We have forgotten what is in them. We have accumulated so much that we don’t even know what we really have. Now I wish I had used that money in a different way. What if I had given the money spent on the things in those boxes to some ministry outreach or missions? Now I would have treasure instead of junk.
The second warning Jesus give us is: Guard your heart. In other words, be careful what you want. Would you like to know where your values are? Look at your credit card statement. Look at your check book record. They will tell you what you consider important. They will reveal your heart. I will be honest with you. I love stuff. I love computer and electronic toys. I have never seen a tool I didn’t like. If I go into a computer store or Lowes, I will likely come out with something, even if it is something I don’t really need. And I am constantly being challenged by the teachings of Jesus to realign my priorities materially and financially. Should I “invest” in cable or a satellite dish, or should I support a child on a monthly basis through World Vision? It would actually cost me less to support a child, but which do I want to do more? Where is my heart?
I am always disquieted by the stories in the New Testament where Jesus asks people to give up everything and follow him. On one occasion a young man came to Jesus and said, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus told him to obey the commandments, but he claimed he had kept all the commandments from the earliest time of his life. Then Jesus said to him: “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Then the Bible says, “When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. Jesus looked at him and said, ‘How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God ’” (Luke 18:22-24). That scripture frightens me, because I am a rich man — and you are rich people. Even if you are struggling financially, you are among the wealthiest persons in the world. So, the question is, “What would I do, what would you do, if Jesus asked us to give up everything and follow him?” What if following him meant moving to the mission field or giving up a job to serve him in a better way? What if it meant helping someone who was in need, even if it cost you something? What if it meant making a financial sacrifice so that you could do something important — something for the kingdom?
It has been inspiring to me to see where the hearts of some people in our church are. One family traded down from a very nice vehicle to a lesser one just so they could have the money needed to go on the mission trip to Honduras. Another family used the proceeds from the sale of their livestock to pay their entire way, when they could have used the money for things they wanted. That challenges me and makes me ask what kind of actual sacrifice have I made in order to further God’s work? What have I given up so that I could do what I felt God was asking me to do? In other words, where is my heart — really. My heart is where the things I treasure are.
The third point is that Jesus warns by saying: Focus your eye. Listen again as Jesus says, “The eye is the lamp of the body. 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 within you is darkness, how great is that darkness ” What does this say about window shopping? Where are you looking? Are you looking for things that will provide you with more luxury? Do you buy things to make yourself feel good? Are your eyes focused on selfish things, wrong things? What are you looking at to give you security, satisfaction and significance? If you look in the wrong areas, your life will be full of darkness. An evil eye will look for evil things. A good eye will look for good things.
This is very difficult in our culture, because if you look at any television at all, you will be tempted to want things you don’t really need. You will be told that you need these things to be healthier, younger, more attractive and appealing, have better respect or be cool. Your other stuff is old, and you need some new stuff, better stuff, better looking stuff, cooler stuff. What if Jesus thought like we do? We give God what is left over. We give if it doesn’t hurt. We give our little token instead of trusting God and giving what we should. But Jesus gave up everything so that he could give us what we needed. The Bible says, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).
You will remember the story of the Samaritan woman, how she placed her faith in Christ and went out to bring her neighbors to him. As Jesus saw the crowd coming, he said to his disciples: “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life” (John 4:34-36). Here is the point of what Jesus is saying: Treasure in heaven is always measured in human lives. You are either using your money to invest in eternity, or it is all being used in this world. You are using your money to bring people into God’s eternal kingdom, or you are keeping it for yourself. So the question is: If treasure in heaven is measured in terms of people that we have helped to spend eternity with God, what kind of capital have you built up? The parable of the talents tells us that there will be an accounting for how we have used money here on earth (Matthew 25:14-30). Jesus said, “So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?” (Luke 16:11).
Paul wrote to Timothy, a young pastor, saying: “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life” (1 Timothy 6:17-19).
When your eye if fixed on things of eternal value, you are preparing yourself to live with God. Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it” (Matthew 13:44-46).
The fourth point is the one that speaks to the core issue. Jesus warned: Have only one Master. He said: “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” You see, here is the problem. It is a matter of love and loyalty. Do you love God or money? Is God really your master, or are you mastered by your wants and desires? You can’t have it both ways, Jesus tells us. You can either love things or love God, but you can’t love them both. The danger with money is that it can so quickly become the center of our lives and begin to control us. And that happens whether we have too much money or not enough. You don’t have to have a lot of money to love money. On the other hand, you may be wealthy and be free of the love of money. You might think that you get free from a slavery to money is by not spending it, but actually the opposite is true. We get free from the bondage of money by giving it away. It frees us.
Jesus told the parable of the dishonest servant who was about to be fired by his master. When the servant realized he was about to be fired, he went around doing financial favors, using his master’s resources, for those who lived where he was about to go. He did this so he would find a welcome in the place where he was going. Jesus complimented him, not for his dishonesty, but for his foresight. At the end of the parable he said, “I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings” (Luke 16:9). The proper use of money is using your Master’s resources to gain friends where you are going, by making it possible, through your giving, for people to enter into heaven.
One could easily say that Moses had it made in Pharaoh’s court. Brought up by the princess of Egypt, he had all the indulgences of royalty at his disposal, but the Bible says, “He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward” (Hebrews 11:26). I want to be free from the grip of things and be looking forward to my reward. James wrote, “Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?” (James 2:5). If there is no heaven and no reward, then go for it. “Get all you can, can all you get and sit on the lid.” But if the last of the story has not been told, and there is more to come, you will want to make sure that you have treasure stored up where it will pay eternal dividends — in the lives of people who will greet you in heaven.
God may not be asking you to sell everything and follow him, but what if he would? Are you willing to make any kind of sacrifice — financially or otherwise? I think of Larry and Angie Overholt who both will soon hold Master’s degrees from Ohio State and could be pulling down big money here in the States, but they have chosen to live in one of the poorest countries of the world in order to bring the Gospel to people desperately in need of good news. They have left their extended family and their grown children, even though it is very difficult to live away from them. I think of Sharon and Tavis Walker. Tavis is a pilot and they could be living very comfortably, but they and their two small children are living among the Asian gangs of San Diego in order to reach them for Christ. They are hardly making it financially and are facing many severe challenges. I could go on and on with similar stories. But these are examples of people who have given up everything to follow Christ — and we should be doing even more to make it possible for them to serve.
Do you remember the day when Peter said to Jesus: “We have left everything to follow you ”? Jesus said to him, “I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age. . . and in the age to come, eternal life” (Mark 10:28-30). Those who are rich here may be poor in the next world. Those who hold on to their wealth will lose it. Those who were generous here and used their money for eternal purposes will receive a hundred times as much, and have treasure in heaven.
Jesus said, “Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted” (Luke 12:33).
Benediction:
“I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints” (Ephesians 1:18).
Rodney J. Buchanan
April 10, 2005
Mulberry St. UMC
Mount Vernon, OH
www.MulberryUMC.org
Rod.Buchanan@MulberryUMC.org
Treasure in Heaven
(Questions for April 10, 2005)
1. How are the words of Jesus regarding money different from the thinking of our culture?
2. How are the teachings of Jesus regarding money different from the thinking of many Christians? Why is this so?
3. Why is it so easy to get sucked into the materialism of the world?
4. What is the most difficult part of remaining free from the love of money for you?
5. Does it frighten you to think of giving up control of your money and giving God control? What about the possibility of having to make a sacrifice?
6. What is treasure in heaven? How is it different from treasure on earth?
7. How do you store up treasure in heaven?
8. If someone looked through your credit card or check book records what would they think your priorities were?
9. How is keeping your eye’s focus important? How do we do this?
10. How do we keep from money becoming our master?
