Sermon Synopsis for April 20, 2008

“Hunting for Treasure” Matthew 6:19-24

Today we continue looking at Stewardship …

Last week we learned from Jeremiah (18:1-6) that God is the potter, we are the clay.
- Everything belongs to God, even the clay.
- We can’t make ourselves.
- We need to let God form us and make us into what God wants us to be.

1. Before we think about our relationship with things, we need to think about our relationship with God.
2. If we don’t have a good relationship with God, it will be difficult to have a good relationship with things.

Today we hear from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, a sermon full of spiritual truths with practical applications.

Jesus admonishes the people – “store up treasure in heaven.”

IT’S NATURAL TO WANT THINGS

I showed the children a statue of the Ekkeko god that is popular in the Andean region of South America. Ekkeko is the god of wealth and prosperity. He has a lot of stuff hung around his neck; each item represents some form of material wealth.
• The little sacks of pasta and dry goods represent food.• The copy of money represents monetary wealth.
• A little house represents a wish for a real house.• The miniature car represents a wish for a real automobile.Every year, (usually before noon on January 24th) people all over Bolivia, and in other countries in South America, tie what they wish for onto the Ekkeko figures. Once given to Ekkeko, the wishes or miniature items are never removed – to do so is considered bad luck. A well-used statue will be loaded down with desires or miniatures that represent many hopes. According to the ancient legend, when you place a miniature object on Ekkeko, you will receive what you wish for the following year.

Does it work? Sometimes.

What would you put on the Ekkeko? Jesus knows what we want (desire).

But Jesus told us (in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6:25-34), don’t worry about food, clothing, or other things – at least as the first thing you do. “Seek God first and everything else will fall into place.” (Mt. 6:33, RSV, Really Steve’s Version)

IT’S BEEN SAID, “YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU”

For centuries (even millennia) people have been trying to get their wealth into heaven. The tombs of the Pharaohs are a good example.

Trying to disprove the saying "You can't take it with you," a stingy old lawyer, diagnosed with a terminal illness, finally figured out how to take at least some of his fortune with him when he died. He instructed his wife to go to the bank and withdraw enough money to fill two pillowcases. He then told her to take the bags of money to the attic and leave them directly above his bed. When he passed away, he planned to reach out and grab the bags on his way to heaven. Several weeks after the funeral, his wife, up in the attic cleaning came upon the two forgotten pillow cases stuffed with cash.

"Oh, that old fool!" she exclaimed. "I knew I should have put the money in the basement."

JESUS TELLS US, “WE CAN TAKE IT WITH US”

Yes, Jesus tells us we can take it with us. But … it may not be the things we think, or the things we want.

Hunting for Treasure is a passion. Many people have invested all of their lives looking for treasure.

Hunting for Treasure: Where are you going to look?
Russell Conwell gave the speech, Acres of Diamonds, which let’s us know we may find it right in our own backyard. (http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/rconwellacresofdiamonds.htm)

Ali Hafed was a well-to-do Persian farmer. An old Buddhist priest told him about diamonds. He got diamond fever – wanted to be extremely wealthy. He was discontented with life, not because he was poor, but because he was not satisfied.
The following are excerpts from the text:

"Will you tell me where I find diamonds?”
"Diamonds! What do you want with diamonds?”
“Why, I wish to be immensely rich.”
“Well, then, go along and find them. That is all you have to do; go and find them, and then you have them.”
“But I don’t know where to go.”
“Well, if you will find a river that runs through white sands, between high mountains, in those white sands you will always find diamonds.”
“I don’t believe there is any such river.”
“Oh yes, there are plenty of them. All you have to do is to go and find them, and then you have them.”
Said Ali Hafed, “I will go.”

Ali Hafed sold his farm, and traveled around the world looking for diamonds, and spent all he had looking for diamonds. He died a poor man, in a far country, with no friends or family around him.
The man who purchased his farm dug up a shiny stone and put it on his mantle. The priest came by for a visit. When he saw the shiny stone he asked, “Has Ali Hafed returned?” Here is a diamond. The man told him he dug it out of his garden.

Desire and craving and yearning took control of his life, and eventually took his life.

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR MAY NOT BE TRUE TREASURE

To talk about stewardship, we don’t first talk about “things” and “possessions” and money and wealth. All of these things are secondary.

First we look at our own relationship with God.
Last Sunday we emphasized our need to start with a good relationship with God. Matthew 6:33 (not far after today’s scripture passage) “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added unto you.”

If your relationship with God is not solid and firm, you need to work on that first.

Next we need to look at our lives. What is important to us? What do we dedicate our lives to? What are our priorities?

When Jesus exhorts us not to lay up for ourselves treasures upon earth, He uses an interesting play upon words in the Greek. Lay up translates the Greek word thesaurizo. Treasures translates the Greek word thesauros. These two words come from a common term from which we get our English word thesaurus. A thesaurus is a treasury of words. So we might translate this phrase as, "do not treasure up treasures for yourselves on earth."

The idea here is that we give our time and energy for the purpose of amassing things. Our lives are spent to purchase material stuff. And, of course, the reason why we spend our lives in this endeavor is because our desire is for these things. Material things hold our allegiance. Somehow we believe that if we have enough stuff we will be happy.

But does money and social position really satisfy the human heart?
Several years ago Christina Onassis died at the young age of thirty-seven. People magazine carried the comment of her step-sister Henrietta Gelber. She said of Christina, "She was one of those people who would never be happy. She would become impatient. It had all come too easily - all the money, houses all over the world, few real responsibilities. She lacked a sense of achievement. What she was striving for was virtually impossible in her situation. She had houses all over the world, but she never really had a home."

So you think if you were a billionaire that you would be happy? Well, maybe you would. If you were, however, it would probably not be because you had a pile of money.

Woody Allen agrees, albeit with a twist: “Money can't buy happiness,” he said, “it just lets you look for it in better places.”

IT’S A MATTER OF PRIORITIES

Apparently, Jesus wasn’t a wealthy man. (In terms of material possessions)

But does Jesus prohibit the accumulation of wealth and possessions? No. It’s deeper than that. Jesus tells us that there is something wrong with the priorities of his day.

In Matthew 19:16 a rich young man came to Jesus and asked, “What must I do to get eternal life?”
Jesus told him to obey the law (Love God, Love Others)
The rich young man replied that he had done all that.
Jesus told him to sell all he had and give it to the poor, and then he will have treasure in heaven.
The story ends by telling us that the young man went away sad, because he had great wealth.

This story prompts Jesus’ saying, “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

CONSIDER YOUR OWN HEART

1. Draw a heart. It’s your own.

2. What are the things you treasure?
Write them in your heart.

3. Ask Jesus to come into your heart.
Does Jesus like what he sees? Does something have to go for Jesus to stay? Is something missing?

4. What will it take to get your heart (and everything in it) into heaven?
Ask God to help you do whatever is necessary to get your heart into heaven.

YOU CAN TAKE IT WITH YOU

To get our treasures to heaven we need to get them into the same heart where Jesus lives. Some items may be eliminated; some may need to be added.

Then we must give our heart (and all its possessions) to Jesus.

God is hunting for treasure – true treasure – God wants to find it in our lives. That’s the only way we can get our treasures to heaven.