Where is Your Treasure?

The direction of this sermon is not so much selling everything you own to follow Christ.  Instead, it more about your self-examination of where your priorities lie.  The places that have the highest priority in your life, whether intentional or not, is where your heart lies and I am suggesting that is what each of need to take a closer look at.

Luke 12:32-40 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” 

Even though it was quite a large group to which Jesus was talking to in our scripture this morning, Jesus still called them a “little flock.”  This got my imagination running and I tried to picture Jesus speaking to this large group and they all were listening intently.  That is until he told them to sell their possessions.  In my mind the crowd starts to disperse once Jesus says this and they walk away muttering to themselves and their friends that this Jesus guy is crazy.  I see one person saying to another, “I have worked my entire life to get where I am today, I am not giving it all away.”  And the other replies, “Yea, no kidding.  Who does this guy think he is?”  If you think about it, it is truly amazing that Jesus had 12 disciples that stuck by his side through all that he was preaching.  This also got my thinking about my relationship with God and if I would have been able to handle being a disciple of Jesus... Jesus told the crowd to sell their possessions because it was those possessions that was their sole concern.  Verse 34 says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  I have tried to rationalize this the best I can, I have tried to justify my possessions but the reality of verse 34 remains.  You can take a deep breath, I am not going to encourage you to sell everything you have to follow Christ.  However, I do want you to be aware of the downward spiral that could ensue if we get too wrapped up in this world.  It seems we are competing with others with who has a nicer car, tv, house, cell phone, etc.  The rationale of verse 34 is absolutely true.  If we are only concerned with how nice our things are, then our heart will follow.  But this does not only apply to our possessions.  It also applies to other aspects of our lives.  If it is our job that takes most of our time, then that is where we will find our heart.  

So how do we get our heart to focus on God in all that we do?  The other reality is that we cannot sit and wait for God to show up in our lives.  Our scripture this morning is more about preparedness than it is sitting and waiting.   Many times I have heard people say, and I have even said it myself, that God seems to be absent in their lives.  But we have to look inward to find God.  We have to prepare our hearts and minds so God can be revealed to us.  God’s love and mercy is freely given, which means that it is always there but why is it so difficult for us to find at times?  The answer to that comes from how we prepare ourselves to receive those blessings.  If we were to continue reading through chapter 12 of Luke, we would find Peter asking Jesus if this parable was just for the disciples or for the entire crowd.  Peter thought it was only the disciples to whom Jesus was talking to about being prepared.  But the fact is that God reveals Himself to each of us at different times but if our hearts and minds are not prepared to see God, then the simple truth is that we will not see Him.   

Our scripture this morning moves from fear to treasure and then to being prepared and at first, I thought this was a little out of order.  I thought it should be that fear causes us to be prepared and then we would reap the benefits of our preparation by the many treasures of God’s love and everlasting kingdom.  It is our idea of treasure that Jesus wants us to take a closer look at.  If our treasures are based on items of this world, then that is where our heart will be but if we look at the treasures of love, grace and eternal life then that is where our heart lies.  We do not have to fear the wrath of God because there is no such thing.  God is not a punishing God.  He is redemptive.  It is common practice that we think God punishes us for our sins but I stand here today to tell you that this is 100% incorrect.  God forgives us of our sins but He does not change the consequence of those sins.  We cannot run about this world with no consequences.  So it is not the fear of punishment that brings us closer to God, it is the fear of the consequences of our sin that brings us closer to Him.  So, do not fear in the sense that you are afraid of His punishment but fear what your life might be like without God in it.  Many pastors and Christians use fear as the basis of their argument to get people to follow Christ but this is a huge misconception about God.  Do not be afraid of God’s punishments, rather, be afraid of what your life may look like if God is not the biggest part of it.  When we realize that we cannot live without God, then we realize that his love, mercy and grace is our treasure.  Our treasure is not found in worldly things, it is found in the loving arms of God.  The treasure of this church is not found in the bank account, it is found in the people inside its walls.  God regards each soul, each life that walks this earth as an absolute treasure and we must do the same.  If our concerns are based on each other, then that is where we will find our hearts.  It is common for us to view verse 34 in the wrong order as it was intended.  It is common practice for us to say that our heart leads us to the treasure but I think Jesus was very careful in how he worded this phrase.  It is not our heart that influences our treasure, it is the treasure that leads our hearts.  If our treasure is found in our possessions, our heart cannot influence those possessions.  No matter how pious our lives are, our cars, tvs and houses cannot love us back.  We feel alive when buying something new but we often suffer from buyers remorse and live with the regret until we fill that void by purchasing something else and it is a vicious cycle.  Instead of a vicious cycle, I want our lives to be based on a virtuous cycle.  A virtuous cycle is one based on sustainability and the hope found in every individual.  If our treasure is found in God, then the cycle will continue.  It is when we stray away from the glory of God that the cycle is broken.  God promises us love, He promises us eternal life, and He promises grace but “everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded” are the words that Jesus spoke in Luke 12:48.  The simple truth of the matter is that God freely gives many blessings but if we are not prepared or our treasures are somewhere else, then we fail to see those blessings for what they truly are.  God expects a lot out of us, it is not enough to simply enter a relationship with God.  That relationship is fluid, always moving and always evolving.  Accepting God’s mercy is the first step and if you are ready to take that step, to prepare your heart for the many blessings of God’s love, then I encourage you to do so today.  Whether you come forward or stay seated, take a moment to dedicate your life back to God.  Take inventory of where your treasure is.  It is the treasure that influences your heart, not the other way around.  If your treasure defines you as being of this world, then you may need to reorganize your life so that your treasure is found in God.  Amen.