April 26, 2009

“Using the Current Crisis to our Advantage”
Matthew 6:19 – 21

We moved to El Paso when our children were young. Neither Lucy nor I had been anywhere near El Paso before, so we thought we’d explore the area a bit in a kid-friendly way. We had heard about a hiking trail that led to a cave. One day, we drove up to the summit of the mountain on which El Paso is built. We parked the car at a turn-out off the road, and walked along, looking for the trail. We found it, but not before we came upon signs in one area that said, “Warning:  Keep Out.” Now, that’s not a nice way to welcome us newcomers. Then, I read the smaller line on the sign. “Unexploded ordinance.” Suddenly, I had no desire to go there. I explained to my kids what “unexploded ordinance” meant; Bombs! The army, at near-by Fort Bliss, had used that section of the mountain for artillery practice during WWII, and some of the shells were still live and dangerous.

Now, signs that say, “No trespassing” may be there because of the landowner. She doesn’t want people trampling on her land. Maybe they’d leave trash. Maybe they would go hunting. Maybe she wants to do the hunting herself. For the sake of the land owner, the “Keep out” signs are posted. That’s one kind of warning. There are also warning signs posted for the benefit of others. The warning alerts them to danger to themselves. Warning! Bombs! You may get hurt. Stay away for your own sake. In El Paso, we found an area dangerous to us, even after all that time had passed.

Jesus alerts us, in this morning’s Scripture, even after all this time. His teaching is a warning. His words are part of a wider group of teachings that we call the “Sermon on the Mount.” His sayings are addressed to a specific group of people. The audience is identified at the start of Matthew 5, verse 1: “Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him and he began to teach them….” Jesus’ words are not addressed to the curious. He is not speaking to the crowds. Instead, he turns his attention to the circle of his disciples, those who have chosen to throw in their lot with him and follow him. These are words taught to Christ-followers, whether in the 1st or the 21st century. Some of us may be unsure whether we want to commit our life to follow Jesus. These would be words for us to consider and think about. Some of us, though, commit ourselves to walking closely with Jesus. Then, these are words to take to heart and follow.

Jesus begins his warning by saying, literally, “do not treasure up for yourselves treasure on earth….” (verse 19) Money, possessions, savings, purchases; do not treasure them, Jesus says. Watch out for placing too high a value on them. Danger! Unexploded ordinance! Jesus tells us why we should handle things lightly.

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Earthly possessions do not last. They don’t last! For instance; Jesus says, they are liable to attack by moth and rust. Moths no longer do much damage in these days of household insecticides and sprays that kill bugs. In Jesus’ day, bugs were a big pest – no pun intended. Real money was sunk into fine clothing and clothes became a source of value, particularly the high-end, where gold thread was used and expensive stones were sown into the garments. Moths could make Swiss holey cheese out of clothes. And crops? Doesn’t take long for a swarm of bugs to devour the food on which a family depends.

The things of this world don’t last. Moths destroy them. So does rust. What is made rusts, or wears out, or becomes worn, or breaks-down, or dies. We’ve talked before about things that are made having this “die factor.” The things of this earth are temporary. They, like us, die and are discarded. That is why Jesus warns us about placing much value on things; money, possessions, savings, purchases.

Even more do we understand what Jesus says next, “where thieves break in and steal.” We could translate it literally, “where robbers dig through and rob.” The houses of that place and time were often made of mud and brick construction and tunneling through the house walls would not be difficult. What a person would try to save and place in his own house was easy prey for burglars.

Jesus’ words about being robbed strike home to us, who have seen the value of our homes shrink, our savings and portfolios cut by 30%, 40%, and 50%. We haven’t been robbed at gun-point, but we have been robbed by pay cuts, lay-offs, and the value of our retirement savings slashed. What we have worked hard for and saved has vanished. A financial aid officer at Oberlin College – a college founded by Presbyterians –reports that “parents are coming in and saying that they have saved for a long time, worked hard and planned to pay their portion of their child’s education, but they’ve been devastated by the decline in the markets and losses in their savings. Then, the parents say, ‘my son or daughter has been working hard (in school) for 18 years to attend college. How do we tell this kid who’s done good work that because the economy tanked at the end of 2008, he can’t pursue his educational dreams?’ Some people cry (in my office). Some people are very angry.” (Time, April 27, 2009) We see with our own eyes just how temporary things are; possessions, savings, and purchases. Jesus’ warning has been demonstrated for us today.

What we have and the things we possess are not safe. No matter where we try to protect what we have, it remains in danger of losing value. A couple of months ago, I called a financial advisor to ask where I should put the savings I had left so it wouldn’t lose any more value. Without missing a beat he said, “Any mattress will do.” There is no safe place for the things of this world. Moth, rust, robbery; we build our confidence and source of security in what we think we own and suddenly, like a strong wind that whips up out of nowhere, what we relied upon blows away. Jesus’ warning is as timely now as it was then. “Do not treasure up treasures on this earth.” They do not last and will not give us security or warmth. Warning! Unexploded bombs waiting to go off!

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Instead, Jesus says, “Treasure up for yourselves heavenly treasure, where moth and rust can not destroy and where robbers can’t rob.” Possessions invested in heaven pay heavenly dividends. Jesus contrasts the temporary aspect with the permanent. This brings up a question. What is “treasure in heaven?” Is there treasure that we can have in heaven? Should we stuff our funeral suit pockets with cash hoping that the money will make the trip?

One man thought so. He made his friend promise that he would be sure there was 1 million dollars in his casket when he died, so he would have spending money in heaven. The man died. As stipulated in his will, his banker withdrew 1 million dollars from the man’s account and stuffed his coffin with the money. Sure enough, just as he promised, the friend was the last person to close the casket before it was buried. He made sure there was one million dollars in the casket. Then, he took out the one million in cash and wrote a personal check for one million dollars and put it in the casket.

We can get a better sense of what “treasure in heaven” means by looking at another place in Matthew where Jesus speaks about heavenly treasure. In Matthew 19:21, Jesus says to someone who seems to be caught up with money and yet, is looking for God’s approval; “Sell what you possess and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Giving our money away for God’s causes brings heavenly treasure. This doesn’t mean that we can earn God’s favor. The comparison between our best good efforts and the pure, absolute goodness of God is so vast that we can’t begin to win God’s approval by anything we do. However, we can use our money for God’s purposes, and receive heavenly commendation. Our acts of giving demonstrate our relationship with Jesus. They are the fruit of our inner commitment to Christ.

Art DeMoss was a person who used his money for heavenly purposes. He was the founder and president of National Liberty Corporation, a life insurance company in Valley Forge, PA. You may remember his company’s T.V. ads hosted by Art Linkletter. He would host dinner parties in his home. They would make room for dozens of people at white table cloth tables for a sit-down, fancy, catered dinner. After dinner, some well-known person would share about Jesus in his or her life and invite the guests to commit their lives to Jesus Christ. The dinner was expensive. Imagine how much it put him out. But, he used his money for God’s causes. In fact, he realized the truth that it wasn’t his money anyway. Art DeMoss figured that when we focus less on what we don’t have and focus instead on what we can do for Christ with what we do have, our anxiety shrinks. In our day of financial worry, Jesus’ words remind us that possessions and money do not last and they are no treasure. Instead, we can use what God has given us for heavenly causes.

Jesus rounds out his teaching with an astounding statement. “Where, therefore, your treasure is, there lies your heart.” What we treasure reveals our heart, and our heart reveals what we treasure. We mean something different when we say “heart.”  Heart to us means our emotions. “Play with heart.” “I love you with all my heart,” we say. In Jesus’ day, heart was the center of the person. The heart included emotions, but also the will. From the heart springs action. So, what Jesus is saying is simple, yet so profound. Watch the heart and that will show us what we truly treasure.

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What do we think about when we aren’t busy working on something? What do we spend our time and our money on? Where do we invest our energy? Add up all these factors of the heart and we’ll get a true reading on where our treasure lies, what we truly value.

We’re famous for saying one thing and doing something else, aren’t we? Ask me if I’m a law abiding citizen, and I would say, “Of course. It’s important to obey the law.” But on a Sunday morning, as I was hurrying to church, one of our Elders caught me turning on a yellow light that turned red. Jesus says to us not to listen to what we say. “Oh, I don’t value things.” But, watch our hearts, what we think about, where we invest our time. He suggests we watch our hearts. When we do that, there is what we treasure.

May I ask you what you really treasure? When you answer that question for yourself, can I ask where your heart lies? In these times of economic hardship, it is easy to be anxious. Jesus’ words ask us to do something different; to use the current difficulty to our advan- tage In a recent Time (4/27/2009) article, subtitled, “The Great Recession is transforming how we spend, whom we trust, where we save and what we really value”, it says, “40% of people at all income levels say they feel anxious and 32% have trouble sleeping (due to the financial situation in our country) …. 27% have raided their retirement or college savings to pay the bills…. Film and camera sales have plunged 33% this year, because who would want this winter in their picture album?…. It goes on to say: Money does not buy happiness; Scripture asserts this, research confirms it…. No one wishes for hardship. But as we pick through the economic rubble, we may find that our riches have buried our treasures.

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Maybe we can use the current difficulty to pry us away from the high value we place on money and what money buys. We say, “Oh, I don’t treasure money, possessions, savings, purchases.” But, have we been placing too high a value on things? Is that where our treasure lies? Maybe its time to turn away from earthly treasure and a mind-set of consumerism. Maybe it’s time to set God-honoring priorities, and use the money God has given us to honor his causes and his purposes. Maybe it’s time to seek other treasure, heavenly treasure and adjust our hearts and actions so that where our treasure is, there lies our heart. Amen.

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