What Do You Treasure?

This week we get to learn about treasures and treasuring from Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, the greatest teaching of all time. Now there are some religious traditions that say our problem is we have desires and we get attached to stuff. And that leads to suffering, so we should learn to not desire anything — that the road to the good life is about the elimination of desires. Jesus doesn’t say that. Jesus doesn’t say you shouldn’t have treasures. People sometimes misunderstand Christianity as being anti-treasure. Jesus’ claim is everyone has treasures. Human beings are, by nature, treasuring creatures. God made us that way. A treasure is something you seek to keep because of the value you place on it. We see this in children when they treasure a stuffed animal or a ratty, old blanket. Their little soul gets wrapped up in it. And it doesn’t have to be valuable financially. It’s usually not. Even someone who’s experiencing homelessness, even someone who’s in prison or maybe at a concentration camp will still have a letter or an old photo that to them is a treasure. If someone you love dies, some worthless article of clothing or pair of old tennis shoes that belonged to them becomes a treasure to you. Treasuring is a deep and wonderful part of what it means to be human. And we each decide what it is that we’re going to treasure. Maybe you treasure your house. * or your car * or clothes * or reputation * or grades * or power * or achievement * or talent * or beauty Maybe it’s expensive. Maybe it wouldn’t be worth anything to anyone but you. But you have treasures… and Jesus says, “Be real careful… be real careful about what you treasure, because wherever your treasure is, that’s where your heart is going to be.” Your treasure is what shapes you. You see, Jesus doesn’t say, “Don’t treasure anything.” He says, “Don’t treasure the wrong thing. Don’t wrap your eternal heart around earthly treasures.” It’s not because they’re bad but because they won’t last. They’re temporary. If a moth doesn’t get them, rust will. If rust doesn’t get them, thieves will. If thieves don’t get them, your greedy, little kids will after you die. Whatever that stuff is, it’s going to wear out, give out, burn out, rust out, run out… but eventually, it’s going to be out. But not you. Remember Jesus says what is most real is what is unseen, beginning with God (your heavenly Father who is unseen) and God’s will (his kingdom). Physical stuff, see, is just physical stuff. It’s just atoms and molecules put together. Physical stuff is not treasure until it is treasured by a person, a treasurer. That’s you. You are a treasurer by God’s design. In Psalm 115, the psalmist is talking about those who treasure or worship idols. This is what he says: But their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell. They have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but cannot walk, nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them. Psalm 115:4-8 end> The writers of scripture say, “You become like the god you treasure.” You see, when we treasure, we’re determining our values. This is an important thing about treasuring. When we treasure, we’re making a statement about our priorities. We’re saying, “This is what gets first place in my life.” And we get shaped by that. Think about it — * If you treasure money, you’ll be shaped by greed. * If you treasure security, you’ll be shaped by fear. * If you treasure approval, you’ll be shaped by the opinions of others. * If you treasure comfort, you’ll be shaped by laziness. * If you treasure success, you’ll be shaped by achievement, and become a user of people. * If you treasure physical appearance, you’ll be shaped by vanity. * If you treasure power, you’ll be shaped by arrogance. * If you treasure God, you’ll be shaped by love. We need to be real careful, Jesus says, about what we treasure because it’ll shape your heart. So let me ask you — What do you treasure above everything else? A lot of people in our day are what are called market timers. They watch the stock market for signs of topping where they sell and then where the market is going to drop, and then they reinvest where it’s safe. IBM first got listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1916. Question: If you had acquired one share of its stock on that day in 1916, how much would you be worth today? The correct answer actually is this. If you bought one share of IBM stock in 1916, you would be dead today, so you would be worth nothing. We have a way of forgetting this, but Jesus never does. See, people always want to time the stock market — buy low; sell high. If you invest in growth, did you sell all of your stock in November, before the drawdown we’ve experienced for the last 6 months? If you did, you’re a happy camper. But here’s what you need to know when it comes to treasuring: Jesus is the ultimate market timer. There are two markets. One is temporary, and the other is eternal. Jesus is pretty bearish on the earthly market, but he’s extremely bullish on the heavenly one. Jesus is very pro-treasure, and then he gives the greatest investment tip of all time — “Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” Now the most important command in the Bible in the Judeo-Christian tradition is: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” That is, treasure God above all else. Treasure God above everything. Love him. Worship him. Think about him. Delight in him. Meditate on him. Adore him. Thank him. Serve him. Prize him. Be surrendered to his will. Be grateful for his gifts. Be directed toward his purpose. Be secure in his love. You cannot treasure God too much. You see, any strategy for investing that revolves around storing up earthly treasures is a bad investment strategy. I’ve heard this analogy, which was quite helpful to me. Imagine you check in to a room at Motel 6. You’re not content with your room, so you go to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and buy the world’s greatest towels for the bathroom. You go to an art gallery and buy really expensive paintings for the walls. You go to Sleep Train and get the world’s greatest mattress for the bed. You go to Best Buy and get a the biggest LED TV to go in the room. It’s actually very rare that people spend huge amounts of money to redecorate their hotel room. Why? Because you’re going to check out really soon. Why would you invest huge amounts of resources into something when you’re going to check out really soon? “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth.” I want to talk in the rest of this message about what it is you really treasure. How do you know what it is that you treasure? I think the answer can be given in a single word, and that word is sacrifice. Whatever we treasure we sacrifice for * If you treasure having a certain kind of body, you’ll sacrifice for it. * If you treasure a certain level of achievement above everything else, you’ll sacrifice for that. * If you treasure having a certain amount of money or security, you’ll sacrifice for that. Whatever we treasure we sacrifice for. * We think about it. * We work for it. * We pay for it. * We dream about it. That which we treasure is that which we’re devoted to, regardless of the cost or inconvenience or effort. And God says you can tell what someone’s devoted to by their actions, not their words. We proclaim what we treasure by our actions, not our words I read a story about a woman in Kentucky who had season tickets to University of Kentucky basketball. I don’t know if this is true, but this is the story. She was at Rupp Arena for the biggest game of the season. They call it the Dream Game. It’s the biggest basketball game of the year between the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville. This woman was sitting by herself with an empty seat next to her — no one was sitting in the seat next to her. Now, in Rupp Arena you can barely find a seat at a regular season game because basketball is such a big sport, but for this game, the Dream Game, an empty seat is unheard of. So the guy sitting next to the woman asked, “How is it that there’s an empty seat next to you?” She said, “Well, here’s the deal. For twenty-eight years my husband and I were season ticket holders. For twenty-eight years we never missed a game. That’s his seat, but my husband passed away.” The guy asked, “Well why didn’t you invite someone else to come with you like a friend or a relative or something?” She said, “They’re all at my husband’s funeral.” I don’t know if it happened or not, but if it did happen, we know what she treasured. Her life proclaimed it real loud. And so does yours… and so does mine. We proclaim what we treasure by our actions, not our words. And sacrifice is the language of treasuring. Whatever you give your heart to, you will sacrifice everything for. Which brings me to a real serious question — what is it you sacrifice for? Would you reflect on that for a moment? What do you sacrifice for… really? A college student claims to be a Christian. The truth about him is he is consumed by his desire to be accepted by his peers. He’s consumed by his desire to be liked by his teachers, and his family, and his friends, and he’s sacrificing his integrity. His primary concern is to gain the approval of people. He sacrifices his own integrity, his own opinion to be able to manage other people’s impressions of him. * He parties on the weekend to gain the approval of his friends even though he believes it’s wrong. * He goes to church on Sunday to gain the approval of his family, even though he feels guilty there. * He cheats on class work to gain the approval of his teachers and coaches. * He’s sacrificing the freedom of saying what he really thinks… and worships before the opinions of other people. He treasures the opinions of other people. The truth is, he has placed his friends and family and church and ultimately God on the altar and is sacrificing them to his true god — approval. Maybe that’s your altar. Maybe you treasure comfort. A lot of people in churches all across the country do. Comfort is not much of a god though, and if that’s what you’re devoted to — security or comfort — you may not think of yourself as really sacrificing, but you are. * You’re sacrificing your growth. * You’re sacrificing risk. * You’re sacrificing learning. * And faith. * And generosity. * And passion. You’ve placed on the altar the adventure of what could be your life, and you’ve offered it to the god of ease and security and comfort. You’re tempted, I’m temped, we all are, to treasure something beyond God. * Maybe it’s sex. * Maybe it’s a desperate need for another relationship. * Maybe it’s a substance. * Maybe it’s a position. * Maybe it’s your physical appearance. * Maybe it’s more than one of these… maybe you have a bunch of altars. But the writers of Scripture say treasure God and God alone. Treasure him above all else. A great passage I want to read is Romans 12:1. The idea of sacrifice is a very important thing. In the Old Testament people were to bring sacrifices to God. They were literally to bring an animal sacrifice for the atonement of sin. That was their act of worship. But when Jesus came, he satisfied the need for sacrifice. He satisfied the need for atonement. And now, in Romans 12, this idea of sacrifice gets applied not just to periodic acts but to our whole lives. Look what Paul says, Romans 12:1: Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Romans 12:1 A couple of points about this verse: First of all, Paul uses the word “offer” — I want you to offer your body. He’s using a technical term here that was used in the Old Testament. The word Paul uses was used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament to talk about when you place a sacrificial object on the altar, because once you put it on the altar, it’s doesn’t come off. It’s not yours anymore. It belongs to God. Paul says, “I want you to do that with your lives.” Present your bodies, yourselves as a sacrifice that’s living. This is an interesting phrase when you think about it — a living sacrifice. In the old system, of course, the sacrifice was dead. And here’s part of the deal… a dead sacrifice just lays on the altar. But imagine what a living sacrifice might do. * A living sacrifice knows what’s coming. * A living sacrifice would be tempted to say, “I’m getting down.” Part of what Paul is saying is the sacrifice of your life and my life must happen again and again every day. Every morning when you get up, you say, “Okay, God, I place my will, my struggle with sin, my possessions, my desires, my relationships… I put them all on the altar. They’re not mine anymore. My life is a living sacrifice offered up to you.” Paul says this is your spiritual act of worship. He uses a word that can be translated “worship.” It can also be translated “service.” It’s because there’s an intrinsic connection between worshiping and serving. This word can be translated either way. That which you truly worship in your heart is that which you serve with your whole life. So the question you need to wrestle with today is — do you sacrifice for God? Because I’ll guarantee you whatever you treasure above all else you sacrifice for. * Maybe you treasure getting into the right school… or the right job. You will sacrifice for that. * Maybe it’s being liked by a certain group of people. People will sacrifice for that. * Maybe it’s having more than you need in your financial portfolio. People will sacrifice for that. * Maybe it’s success or achievement. People will sacrifice for that. I want to talk in the minutes that remain about how to make every day a kind of living sacrifice to God. We’ll get to that in just a moment. Announcements Alright, I want to talk about two different areas where we can make everyday an act of worship, a living sacrifice to God. The first one is a Relational Sacrifice Paul is describing his relationship with the church in Philippians 2:17. This is what he says: But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. Philippians 2:17 In other words, he considers his relationship with the church at Philippi a living sacrifice to God. It’s not about promoting himself or his ego or getting served. Every relationship you’re in can be a sacrifice of worship to God… and the primary form this takes in relationships is serving people. If you want to bring a sacrifice of worship before god in your relational life, you’re going to have to serve people. Mother Teresa was probably the epitome of what a life of service looked like. * She treasured people. * She had despised and rejected people all around her. * She listened to them. * She touched them. * She served them. There are probably people in your life right now who could use a word of encouragement or a note or something you could do to serve them. Your relational life could be a living sacrifice to God. And here’s part of the paradox of Paul’s language when he talks about being a living sacrifice — when we lay our lives on the altar before God and we say, “God I just give you everything,” that’s when we find life. That’s when we become alive. It’s when we withhold our lives from sacrifice and we withhold our lives from the altar that we begin to die inside. It’s only in sacrifice that we become truly alive. Serving is a way that we can say, “I treasure people.” Jesus goes on in this passage to say, “The eye is the lamp of the body.” The idea is that to live well, to live in God’s kingdom, I need to see clearly. I need to see the worth of things clearly. You see, greed, consumerism, chronic discontent, and a lack of generosity make me look at the world wrongly. Instead of looking at what I have and being grateful, instead of looking at people in need and being generous, instead of looking at God and being confident and secure, I look at what others who have more than I do have, and I get envious. That’s the darkness. And here’s the deal. All day long we walk through this world filled with what God treasures most, and that’s people. Other gods in the ancient world used people. Only the God of the Bible treasures people. You are treasured by God. God is so determined to treasure you that he sent his Son Jesus to live, to teach, and then to die on a cross for you. And not just you. Every human being has an invisible price tag — eternal, image of God, worth the life of God’s Son. See, life in the kingdom of God means treasure people and use money. Life in the kingdom of earth means treasure money and use people. And the deepest desire of the human heart is to be treasured. Often, people think this is restricted to romantic love. Even in churches, sometimes people can feel like the message is, “Married people get to be treasured, but single people don’t.” I just want to say this real clearly — God treasures you. Married, single, divorced, separated, rich, poor, black, white, atheist, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, gay, straight, young, old, happy, sad. The God of the universe treasures you. Then through Jesus, he commands us to treasure what he treasures. Jesus gives a profound piece of spiritual direction here. He says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” In other words, be careful about what you invest your treasure in because whatever it is, your heart will get wrapped up in it as well. So you can actually invest your treasure in people, are your heart will be there as well. So your life can be an everyday act of worship through your sacrifice for relationships. Alright, the second way you can be a living sacrifice to God is through your Sacrificial Generosity Paul makes this amazing statement in Philippians 4:15. He’s writing to the church. Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only. Philippians 4:15 [He just commends them for their sacrificial generosity. Then look at verse 18:] I have received full payment and even more; I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. [Look at how he talks about their finances.] They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. Philippians 4:18 He says the way you handle your money is a living sacrifice. Every week, my wife and I give a sacrificial offering to God. When we worship, we acknowledge the fact that God is such a generous and gracious and giving God, so we give to him. * We give him our attention. * We give him our time. * We give him our worship and our praise. But we don’t want giving to God to be just about what we do for an hour each week in a service like this. It’s to be an expression of the fact that we’re going to give our whole lives to him. So the offering we give is a concrete way of saying, “This is not just words. This is not just sentiment.” All week long, we have jobs and we make money and that’s a real important part of our lives. We’re able to do that because God has given us our minds and our bodies and the ability to work and the financial resources as a result of that. So when we worship, we bring a concrete part of that — our tithes and our offerings. We say to God, “Here, we want you to have this.” And in doing that we’re saying, “We are giving you our whole lives… not just what we experience through this service once a week.” This has always been a real important part of worship. David says in Psalm 96:8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come into his courts. Psalm 96:8 Offering and giving and worship are always connected in Scripture. Paul, when he writes to the Church of Corinth says: You must each make up your own mind as to how much you should give. Don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. For God loves the person who gives cheerfully. 2 Corinthians 9:7 Give it some thought during the week. What is he calling you to give? Be real intentional about it. In this passage of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says: No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Matthew 6:24 So be a living sacrifice to God through your sacrificial generosity. One last comment. If you ever find yourself worried about money, if you ever worry about not having enough or not being able to pay your bills or not being able to educate the kids, if you ever worry about the cost of living or being able to afford retirement, if you ever worry about money or ever worry about anything else at all, Jesus has in the Sermon on the Mount the most staggering, profoundly life-changing advice on anxiety management in human history. And that’s what we’ll talk about next week, so don’t miss next week. Alright let me pray for you. Blue Oaks Church Pleasanton, CA