Treasures
Treasures by Rev. L. John Gable
September 25, 2022
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where rust and moth consume and where thieves break in and steal.”
While many of Jesus’ teachings can seem to be a bit esoteric and difficult to understand, I don’t think this teaching about treasures is that way at all. In fact, when we read this passage this past Wednesday morning at the pastors’ Bible study, someone said, “What do we have to talk about for an hour?” One does not need to be a follower of Jesus, or a practitioner of any particular faith tradition at all, to appreciate this very practical bit of wisdom. Simply put: You can’t take it with you. You’ve never seen a hearse pulling a U-Haul. I know you’ve seen the bumper sticker “The one who dies with the most toys wins”, but have you seen the rejoinder, “Even the one who dies with the most toys still dies”? When the eldest Vanderbilt died his relatives waited anxiously to hear what their inheritances were to be. When the lawyer entered the room to read the will, one of them asked, “How much did he leave?” The lawyer responded, “He left it all. He didn’t take a cent with him.”
Somewhere in my files is an illustration that I couldn’t find, but will attribute to C.S. Lewis. Imagine a box that is 7’ long, 2’ wide, and 2’ deep. Put every one of your prized earthly possessions and treasures in it, all of those things that give your life meaning and purpose and value. And then be sure to leave room for your own body for that box will be your casket.
What part of that stark reality is so difficult for us to understand? And why then is it so difficult for us to apply?
Jesus is giving us such practical wisdom here. However, when He talks about treasures He is not just talking about our possessions or money (although He is not talking about less than these). Are you aware that Jesus talked more about money than any other single topic? More than He did about love or grace or forgiveness or even God? Why? Because He knows what a stranglehold these can have over us. So, of course, He is talking about our finances and our accumulation of stuff here, but He is also talking about anything that has a controlling interest over us, our desires and our passions. It is rightly said that “Everyone is a slave to that which dominates them.” So, Jesus here is challenging us to consider for ourselves, “What is it in my life that challenges the place of priority that belongs to God alone? What is it that I am chasing after that ultimately catches me?”
We have a human tendency to look to things to provide for us that which only God can give. We look to our stuff and our wherewithal for a sense of self-worth and esteem; to give us a sense of security and well-being; to give us confident hope for the future. But more than being just things, the “treasures” we cling to may be a position we hold, our status in the community, the work we do, the people we say we can call friend, and the like. Each of those are easy temptations we fall in to and Jesus is trying to save us from the inevitable disappointment that every one of those will one day, or in some way, go the way of “rust or moth or theft.”
The Roman Emperor Charlemagne knew that. Legend has it that he asked to be entombed sitting upright in his throne. He asked that his crown be placed on his head and his scepter in his hand. He requested that the royal cape be draped around his shoulders and an open book placed in his lap. That was in 814 AD. Nearly two-hundred years later, Emperor Othello determined to see if the burial request had been carried out, so he sent a team to open the tomb and make a report. They returned to say that they found the body just as Charlemagne had requested. Only now, two centuries later, the scene was gruesome. The crown was tilted, the mantle moth-eaten, the body disfigured. But open on the skeletal thighs was the book the Emperor had requested – the Bible – with one boney finger pointing to Matthew 16:26, where Jesus says,“What good will it be for you if you gain the whole world, yet forfeit your soul.”
So, Jesus here gives us a way to redirect our desire for stuff, which we know in our heads if not in our hearts, will never sustain or satisfy us, when He says, “but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where rust and moth do not consume and where thieves do not break in and steal.” Admittedly, I think that part of His teaching does sound a bit esoteric and difficult to understand, until we put it in the context of His other teachings.
Recall, Jesus has previously taught us about “not practicing our piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in Heaven.” Teaching about our practices of giving and praying and fasting He directs our focus and attention on to pleasing the Father, not our neighbors or even our own desires for recognition or self-congratulation. He instructs us to make our Heavenly Father an audience of one. So, in the same way here, He is saying, “Don’t look to money or possessions or position or status to give you that which only God can give.” He isn’t saying we should jettison all those things and “give them all away”, but He is saying we should keep those things in their proper perspective. We don’t need to seek our sense of self-worth and esteem from our stuff because we are children of the Heavenly Father. We don’t need to try to store up treasures in order to give us as sense of security because we can trust in the goodness and provision of God. We don’t need to bankroll our hope for the future because we are held in hands of God and our inheritance is secured in the heavens for eternity in Christ. So, when Jesus says, “Where your treasure is there your heart will be also”, what He means is, we are going to devote ourselves to something so make that something of eternal value, and we are going to dedicate ourselves to someone, so make that Someone God, your audience of One. For it was C.S. Lewis who rightly said, “All that is not eternal is eternally useless”.
Given then that we want to redirect our desires to the things of heaven, not of earth, there is still a certain practicality to living, isn’t there? We still need stuff, money, possessions, relationships. So how do we know, “How much is enough?” Writing on this topic Donald Baillie, in his wonderful book Through Peasant Eyes, says, “It is true that a certain minimum of goods is necessary for life; but it is not true that a greater abundance of goods means a greater abundance of life.” Warren Buffet put that more bluntly when he said, “If you were a jerk before, you’ll be a bigger jerk with a billion dollars.”
So this is where Jesus’ teaching on the eye comes in. He says, “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is healthy your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is unhealthy your whole body will be full of darkness. If the light in you is darkness how great is the darkness.” While there are many ways this teaching may be interpreted what I believe He is saying is, “Whether we are storing up treasures on earth or treasures in heaven all depends on how we look at those treasures, what we do with them, and what we hope to gain by having them.” Am I looking at my stuff to bring me a sense of self-worth or security or hope, or am I looking at it as a resource that has been given to me by God which can to be used to meet my own needs and can be useful in the work of His Kingdom? Stuff is still stuff either way, but how we look at it and what we hope to gain by having it differs greatly.
If we look at our treasures with a “clear eye” we can make an honest appraisal of how much we have and how much we need. If we look at them with an “unhealthy eye” we will invariably always want for more. Rockefeller himself was once asked, “How much is enough” and he answered, “Just a little bit more.” If we look at our resources with a “clear” eye we can see that our needs are met, our pantries are stocked, and our storehouses are amply full, so we are able to look beyond our own needs to help meet the needs of others who cannot say the same. On the other hand, if our eyes are “unhealthy” we can look at those same resources and say, “I know my needs are met and more, and I know there are others in need, but I don’t know what the future holds, so I can’t afford to give.” If our eyes are “clear” we are able to say, “I needn’t worry. I have a Heavenly Father who knows my every need.” If our eye is “unhealthy” we will find ourselves lying awake at night worry about all of the “what ifs?” One way we can test ourselves on this is to ask, “How much time and attention do I give to worrying about my stuff?” To this point, Richard Foster writes, “Freedom from anxiety is characterized by three inner attitudes. If what we have we receive as a gift, and if what we have is cared for by God, and if what we have is available to others, then we will possess freedom from anxiety. This is the inward reality of simplicity.”
This did not set out to be a stewardship sermon, but it fits. Very soon you will receive stewardship materials as we prepare the 2023 operating budget. We will ask and pray that you carefully and prayerfully consider not just what you give to the church, but to spend some time reflecting on your relationship with stuff, money, possessions, and any of those things you turn to for a sense of worth or security or hope, anything which threatens the place in your heart reserved for God alone, for “where your treasure is there your heart will be also.” The practice of Christian stewardship reminds us to give thanks for all that God has freely given to us, to grow in our trust of God’s gracious provision, and to align our values with God’s Kingdom values as we recognize and help to meet the needs of others.
Jesus closes this section of teaching by laying a challenge before us, by asking us to make a decision. “No one can serve two masters for one will either love the one and hate the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. No one can serve both God and mammon/wealth/earthly possessions.” He poses this, not as a “both/and”, but as an “either/or”, decision.
Harsh as that may sound, the British explorer Ernest Shackleton and the crew of the Endeavor faced a similar “either/or” decision when their ship became trapped in a solid pack of ice and had to be abandoned during their exploration of Antarctica in 1914. As their ship was being crushed by the gathering ice they had no shelter and no way whatsoever of signaling for help. Incredibly all 28 of them would survive, but rescue was still 22 months away.
Shackleton gathered his men and “speaking with the utmost conviction, he pointed out that no article was of any value when weighed against their ultimate survival, and he exhorted them to be ruthless in ridding themselves of every unnecessary ounce, regardless of its value. After he had spoken, he reached under his parka and took out a gold cigarette case and several gold sovereigns and threw them in to the snow at his feet.” He was also carrying a Bible that had been given to him by none other than the Queen of England. It also had to go, but first he tore out one chapter and put it in his pocket. It was the 23rd Psalm, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” Shackleton then led his crew in to the frozen wilderness with the assurance that even if he had nothing, God’s gracious provision would be sufficient for their every need. He chose life over even his most prized possessions. As missionary Jim Elliot would later say, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep in order to gain what he cannot lose.”
So let hear this word of our Lord and take it to heart. “No one can serve two masters, for they will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. No one can serve both God and mammon”….so choose life…Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where rust and moth consume and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where rust and moth do not consume and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Rev. L. John Gable
Tabernacle Presbyterian Church
Indianapolis, IN