Treasure Hunters
July 14-15, 2001
Luke 12:13-21 (New International Version)
13Someone in the crowd said to him, ¡§Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.¡¨
14Jesus replied, ¡§Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?¡¨ 15Then he said to them, ¡§Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man¡¦s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.¡¨
16And he told them this parable: ¡§The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17He thought to himself, ¡¥What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.¡¦
18¡§Then he said, ¡¥This is what I¡¦ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I¡¦ll say to myself, ¡§You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.¡¨¡¦
20¡§But God said to him, ¡¥You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?¡¦
21¡§This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.¡¨
INTRODUCTION: What would you do for $10,000,000?
What would you be willing to do for ten million dollars? In their book, The Day America Told the Truth, James Patterson and Peter Kim reveal some shocking statistics about how far people in this country are willing to go for ten million.
„h 25% Would abandon their entire family.
„h 23% Would abandon their church.
„h 23% Would become prostitutes for a week or more.
„h 16% Would give up their American citizenship.
„h 16% Would leave their spouses.
„h 10% Would withhold testimony and let a murderer go free.
„h 7% Would kill a stranger.
„h 3% Would put their children up for adoption.
The question, is would it still be worth ten million dollars a year later? Let’s face it we live in a wealthy country with people who want to be wealthier -- isn’t that the attraction of lotto fever, or casino gambling, or the Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes?
It is easy to condemn this wealthy farmer in the parable, but most would see him as a successful American. He would agree with the Michael Douglass character in Wall Street, "Greed is good!" Or the athlete in Jerry McGuire, "Show me the money! Show me some love" which in case you didn’t see the movie, love equals money.
Jesus warns us in this parable of the danger of pursuing the wrong treasure all our life, even finding it, and then discovering we have missed discovering life’s eternal treasure. Such eternal treasure is found in our relationship with Him. Today let’s look at 3 Clues to Discovering Life’s Eternal Treasure.
One of the most enduring dreams is the idea of becoming a treasure hunter. Start with nothing, or just a map, and then suddenly to be made rich beyond my wildest imagination. The key to the treasure hunter’s success is some kind of secret knowledge or unearthed map. He discovers a hidden map, or she translates a cryptic message, and immediately the location of an unknown treasure is revealed.
But true "treasure hunters" aren’t found diving into the wrecks of sunken ships or hiking hidden trails through rugged mountains. True treasure hunters are not Indiana Jones, but Mother Teresa. True treasure hunters serve a cup of cold water to the thirsty. Eternal treasure hunters found serving dinners at a homeless shelter. They give of their time to teach kids in Sunday School, or brave the daring adventure of being a youth counselor. Eternal treasure hunters help those in need with the love of Christ.
We can all be successful treasure hunters because each of us has access to the key that reveals all the true treasures of life -- Jesus Christ. In him we are all made wondrously rich before God.
CLUE 1. DIRECTION: Be possessed by GOD, not by POSSESSIONS. Jesus gives the key point of his parable and this warning in Luke 12:15, He told the people, ¡§Be careful to guard yourselves from every kind of greed. Life is not about having a lot of material possessions.¡¨ -- (GOD’S WORD)
Motivational speaker Danny Cox tells an interesting story in his book, Seize the Day. Danny and his wife took a hot air balloon trip early one morning in Africa. As the balloon rose gracefully, they saw a herd of wildebeest running frantically across the vast expanse below. The herd stopped suddenly and began looking around as if they were confused. Danny asked their pilot why the herd had stopped so suddenly and what they were looking for.
He told them that the wildebeest, which migrate by the millions across grassy African plains, are not good learners. An entire herd will take flight at the slightest indication of danger. They will run wildly for a short time and then stop, forgetting why they began running in the first place.
Meanwhile, lions, who are good learners, simply follow the stampeding wildebeest herd at a leisurely pace and wait for them to stop. When the wildebeest forget why they are running, it’s dinner time for the lions. Their guide said that wildebeest are so memory-challenged that they will even walk up to a sleeping lion and sniff at it. The lion wakes up and has breakfast in bed.
Imagine running and running and then forgetting why you are running in the first place. Come to think of it, I know people like that. They are so frantically running here and there that they forget what it is they are running after. As the country group Alabama sings, ¡§I¡¦m in a hurry, and I don¡¦t know why.¡¨
That is the real story behind this wealthy landowner that Jesus told about. This man had enjoyed a successful year. His fields had produced a bumper crop. There was such an enormous yield that he had no place to store it all. So what did he do? He decided to tear down his barns and build bigger ones to hold all his produce. Then he would have it made. He could take life easy. He could eat, drink and be merry. And just when he thought he had arrived, just when he thought he had made it to the top, just when he thought that nothing could touch him, God came to him and said, "You fool! This very night your soul is required of you. Then whose will these things be?"
The psalmist reminds us in Psalm 49:7-9, "7We can never redeem ourselves; we cannot pay God the price for our lives, 8because the payment for a human life is too great. What we could pay would never be enough 9to keep us from the grave, to let us live forever." -- (Today’s English Version)
What we cannot do, God has done for us in Jesus Christ. Instead of being possessed by our possessions, we are invited to live our lives guided and directed by Christ.
CLUE 2. DETERMINATION: FIGHT off the weeds of greed by THANKING God for life’s resources. Greed is a hard weed to fight off. You know greed is present when what you have is not enough, you want more, and once you have more, you want even more.
I’m not sure how your garden grows, but in our gardens the easiest plants to grow are the weeds. They require no care or management except in their removal. And once you pull them, spray the area with round up, before you know it, they are back again.
Fighting greed even for myself is a constant battle that is regularly fought. I know the major purchases I want to make. I would have no problem spending the Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes money. I even know what I want after that money is gone.
Fighting greed is a constant battle that is only overcome as we give thanks for what God has already given me, and give away the abundance of what I have for his service and for building others. The Roman philosopher Seneca noted, "it is not the man who has too little who is poor, but the one who craves more." We must constantly fight off the weeds of greed.
Listen again to Jesus’ warning, this time in the Message paraphrase of Luke 12:15, Speaking to the people, he went on, "Take care! Protect yourself against the least bit of greed. Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot." -- (The Message)
The Greek word for greed in that verse means a "a thirst for having more." Such thirst is like the guy who is thirsty and takes a drink of salt water, and is left thirsting for more. This causes him to drink even more until he is terribly sick. And if he continues to drink more salt water, he will die. That’s the danger of greed. You want more and more of something that really isn’t good for you. What is needed is a change of focus. Paul tells us in Colossians 3:1-2, "1Since you were brought back to life with Christ, focus on the things that are above¡Xwhere Christ holds the highest position. 2Keep your mind on things above, not on worldly things." -- (GOD’S WORD)
The best way I know to fight off the weeds of greed and to keep my focus on things above is to spend time giving thanks to God. Thanksgiving changes our perspective. Instead of focusing on what we want, we give thanks for what God has already given. Fight off the weeds of greed by thanking God’ for life’s resources.
CLUE 3. DEDICATION: Make a life by what you GIVE, not by what you GET. Henry Ford once asked an associate about his life goals. The man replied that his goal was to make a million dollars. A few days later Ford gave the man a pair of glasses made out of two silver dollars. He told the man to put them on and asked what he could see. "Nothing," the man said. "The dollars are in the way." Ford told him that he wanted to teach him a lesson: If his only goal was dollars, he would miss a host of greater opportunities. He should invest himself in serving others, not simply in making money. Look at how Paul describes the joy of giving and living in 2 Corinthians 9:7-8, "7Each one should give as much as he has decided on his own initiative, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8God is perfectly able to enrich you with every grace, so that you always have enough for every conceivable need, and your resources overflow in all kinds of good work." -- (New Jerusalem Bible)
In today¡¦s parable, this man¡¦s sin was not that he was successful. His sin was that he was selfish. He produced a good crop and thought only of himself. He neglected spiritual priorities. As a result, his soul was required of him that very night, and he never received any of what he had prepared for himself. Then Jesus said, (v. 21) This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.
It¡¦s no coincidence that the word "miser" and the word "miserable" come from the same root. God didn¡¦t bless you financially so you could keep it to yourself. When you try to hang on to everything, you lose the joy of abundance. You also miss out on the joy of being a blessing to other people.
The only way to release the grip of materialism is to learn to give. Most people intend to be generous, but too often we put it off until we can afford it. For most of us, that day may never come because our expenses tend to rise with our income, it is easy for our entire paycheck to be consumed by "necessities." If we do not make a concentrated effort to start giving, then we¡¦ll procrastinate forever.
One study found that Americans spend as much on chewing gum as they do on world missions. Nothing against gum, but something is wrong with that picture. Perhaps Jesus saw such a problem coming in our day. I know He was aware of it in His day. That’s why He says later in Luke 12:33-34, 33"Be generous. Give to the poor. Get yourselves a bank that can’t go bankrupt, a bank in heaven far from bankrobbers, safe from embezzlers, a bank you can bank on. 34It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being. -- (The Message)
CONCLUSION: What you can take with you!
When Aristotle Onassis died, he was an extremely wealthy man. After his funeral some of his rich oil friends were eager to learn the true extent of his fabled wealth, and so they asked the question, "How much did he leave." To which someone else answered, "Everything. He left it all."
People for years have tried to figure out how they can take it with them. Some of have been buried in their caddilacs, others with keys to some special vault. But let me assure you can’t take possessions with you into eternity, but you can take the person of Jesus Christ. The one who asks Jesus the question is going down the same dangerous road as the rich man in the parable. What he needs to take with him and what we need to take are the same, we need to take the love of God in Jesus Christ. What then to do with possessions? First, see them as a tool to be used to grow in our walk with God. Take time this week to look at your calendar and your checkbook to see where God really does fit in the day to day priorities of my life.
Second, fight off the weeds of greed by thanking God. Commit each day this week to spend time giving specific thanks at least 10 times or 10 areas of your life.
Third, give more than you get. Give from what God has given you. Adopt a compassion international child, give to a worthy cause, help someone in need, donate to community scholarship, give your time or a hand to someone in need to reflect your love for God and how He has blesseed. You can’t take it with you, but you can send it on ahead. Amen.
