I love our house…and our property…and the neighborhood…especially the large mature trees.
I should say that most of the time I love those trees. But too many times every year they cause me a great deal of stress.
When a storm…ice, snow or wind would hit, too many times I would lay awake worrying that a branch would fall on an electric line and take out our power.
And when it did for long stretches, I would count the number of hours until food in the fridge and freezer would go bad. And I would wake up at 2:00 a.m. to take a flashlight into the basement to check to see if my two sump pump pits had overflowed. Very stressful!
Finally, having endured this for a number of years my neighbor and I invested in a generator to at least be able to plug our fridge and freezer and the sump pumps into.
Problem solved until one day the generator wouldn’t start. I discovered I had not drained the gas and the carburetor had gummed up…had to replace the carburetor… MORE STRESS !
With my anxiety in mind hear these words of Jesus…
“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and lack of electricity disables them and water ruins them and old fuel gums them up and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
Of course that is a paraphrase…
Final week of our series – Tidying up – We’ve been doing some spring cleaning of our souls…Soul maintenance
It’s true isn’t it, that over time our internal selves…minds, hearts, spirits, souls…get disordered don’t they.
• When our internal selves are not well maintained we become dysfunctional.
o Less able to love
o Less competent in our work
o Less grounded in our spirits
So, for the last 4 weeks we’ve been taking a stab at bringing order to our internal worlds by
• Sparking joy inside by pursuing God’s justice in the world
• Eliminating anger beginning with healthy introspection
• Taking care to mix in community - mentors and friends who will help us move toward health.
Our last focus will be on eliminating some of the stress that bedevils us. The idea today focuses on…
Replace your material related stress with kingdom focused generosity.
Caveat:
• This is not about the evils of money or material things. Not suggesting a prohibition on wealth. Not recommending a downsizing.
This is about the accumulation or amassing of or piling up of or hoarding of or coveting of material things in such a way that they control what you think, how you feel and what you do.
• It’s about shifting the focus of our desires and attention from the stuff of earth to the stuff of heaven.
It’s about a values clarification away from acquisition to contribution.
Replace your material related stress with kingdom focused generosity.
Let’s look more closely at Jesus instructions:
Matthew 6:19-21 page
“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
The World of the text – the bigger document from which these words of Jesus are taken is the sermon on the mount…
• Manifesto – it’s Jesus Kingdom platform
It is simply brilliant. In it, Jesus touches on many of the values of heaven relating to anger, sexuality, marriage, revenge, enemies, judgementalism, religion, prayer, and here money and possessions…
Look more closely at verses 19…
19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal.
• Emphasis is not necessarily on the treasures themselves – money and things but on the amassing of them.
o Literally – STOP treasuring up treasures – present tense – stop what you are doing.
o Compare this with verse 25 – STOP worrying and whether you have enough
I might paraphrase verse 19 this way -
STOP stockpiling your stockpile of stuff that you think you need to feel safe and satisfied.
My dad’s old workbench is a great illustration to me of this.
• I loved it – musty smelling tools and hardware
• It was all neatly organized – some of 1000s of items were ancient.
• That stockpile had one purpose: Just in case. Even though my dad didn’t touch 90% of the treasure of metal and plastic … the were there for “just in case”
How much of the stuff we accumulate is similarly for just in case?…so we never run out…or never lack…or don’t risk ever wanting?
Jesus gives us two reasons to STOP amassing things: One is negative the other positive
Here’s the negative reason…stuff has a shelf life. Stuff is temporal. It either deteriorates, gets lost, thrown away, or out of date, or stolen, or ultimately is left behind.
If Jesus had given the sermon on the mount today, he might throw in the phrase…
You can’t take it with you!
The way we scurry about accumulating things is testimony to our unspoken doctrine that we are exceptions to the law of death. Randy Alcorn, Money Possessions and Eternity
The impact of the threat of the deterioration of things or the constant need to manage our things or the thought of losing our things… can and does cause great stress.
The more you amass the more you worry.
IL – talked with a man who just over a month ago lost his entire house to a house fire.
• It was fascinating how the ultimate in material destruction had forced him and his family into instant values clarification – they were safe, the saved pictures, they had each other – though their treasures were all gone.
• He was shockingly subdued and peaceful – maybe because he had less stuff?
So…Why replace a fixation on the material with one on the eternal? Stress reduction!
The other reason Jesus gives for deemphasizing material things is more positive – there are better things to amass. He calls this better stuff - “treasures in heaven”
20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.
There are better treasures.
Treasures in heaven was a concept well known in Jewish literature and philosophy.
• the stuff with eternal significance
• compare it with verse 33 – Seek first God’s kingdom – heaven’s treasures are Kingdom values arising from the heart and will of God.
Let’s compare treasures –
American treasures vs. Heaven’s treasures
I’ve chosen the phrase American Treasures to correspond to the American Dream – the near mythic almost birthright of our national community.
Success, Security and Satisfaction
So then American treasures come from the values generated by the American Dream:
o the things that make me feel successful
o the things that make me feel secure
o the things that make me feel satisfied
o in one phrase American treasures are the things that convince me of my well-being.
The more American treasures we amass the more we solidify our well-being…Because you know…”just in case”
But the problem is – I‘ll say it again… The more you amass the more you worry.
So…Jesus suggests better treasures.
Heaven’s treasures:
• They aren’t things at all…they are the values of heaven where there is no need for things.
• Heaven’s treasures never get stolen or deteriorate in any way because they are at their most basic – stories.
Remember the guy whose house burned? He made a point to tell me that his wife was able to gather and save family pictures which are just stories in image form.
So here are a list of Heaven’s treasures
o Story of:
a child once food insecure now having enough to eat
a teenage girl rescued from being trafficked
a family receiving an interest free loan to begin rebuilding their lives.
a lonely senior adult being visited and loved on by someone
a baby saved from abortion
Suicidal depressed woman loved back to mental health
Somebodies Grandpa being gently cared for as he struggled with COVID
People of color beginning to feel hope as their community works hard on racial equity.
That rainforest is being replanted after having been destroyed.
An animal rescued from the abuse of testing.
A son returning home in repentance being welcomed with open arms.
A whole family, in joy, surrendering their lives to Jesus.
Those are just some of Heaven’s treasures.
I imagine Heaven’s treasures in picture form – constantly rotating series of images of the broken places of the world being healed by the work and generosity of God’s people…
American treasures vs. Heaven’s treasures
• One pile the product of acquisition the other pile the product of contribution
• One pile the result of self-interest the other the result of self-giving
• One pile leading to increased stress the other leading to increased joy.
Then Jesus drops the mic with this summary proclamation:
21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
Don’t read this as wherever your treasure is there will be your affections or preferences.
This was a much more comprehensive assertion…
• The heart was all the things: what you think, how you feel, what you choose to do.
• A person’s heart was the totality of a person – the very center of the human soul and spirit and thoughts – compilation of a person’s mind, emotions and will –
Jesus is saying that whichever pile of treasures you attend to…prioritize…those treasures will take up your mind, generate your emotions and force your hand.
Jesus is not suggesting we set fire to our American Treasures. He’s not saying we should put all our stuff in a dumpster and have it roll away.
He’s proclaiming that when we generously engage the healing of the broken places of the world with our time, talent and treasures we begin to experience a massive values clarification
Not just the tidying up of your soul but the transformation of your life…
So my friends…
Give your life to accumulating heaven’s treasures. Your stress will diminish, and your joy will skyrocket!