SOTM: The Treasure Principle

Old Testament: Ecclesiastes 2:1-11

New Testament: Matthew 6:19-24

The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn

 

  1. Introduction
    1. 8 of 12 in our series on the Sermon on the Mount
    2. I have to admit that this has been another tough one.

                                                              i.      It raises some troubling personal convictions about what a “Christian Life” out to look like

                                                            ii.      Christian cultural implication

    1. I am stealing the title of this sermon form a book I will introduce to you later called The Treasure Principle. This section on our relationship with our treasure follows on the heels of Dan’s sermon on the Spiritual disciplines (naturally)  – Prayer – Fasting and Alms Giving. And I think merits attention for a very practical reason -this is the only one of those three that indisputably “costs” you something in “this life”, namely – money & possessions.
  1. Prayer
  2. Matthew 6:19-24
    1. Open your Bibles with me. Pew Bible page 685
    2. Vv. 19-24 are the first section of a two part teaching of our relationship with the world. Here, to not covet the world, or live like one of the world, and in the next, in vv. 24-34, to not let the cares of the world shape how we live our lives
    3. The portion we study today begins with another firm injunction from Jesus:  “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.

                                                              i.      Everything that follows through verse 24 is just filling out the idea.

    1. The injunction itself is formed in both the positive and negative.
    2. Common sense command

                                                              i.      Anything/Everything you have here will be lost

1.      Ancient world clothe is like invested $.

2.      Rust will “eat or devour” what moths do not

3.      Thieves will literally “break-through” mud walls and steal

4.      As Solomon stated so well, it is all chasing after the wind. And he could really say so. It’s all genuinely worthless.

5.      It is said that after the death of John D. Rockefeller, a concerned party asked attorney how much he left. The attorney answered very plainly – he left it all.

    1. Like I said, the injunction is then followed by three illustrations to point

                                                              i.      Jesus implicates the heart, mind and will. See how it treasure grips the whole person? The intensity, the pervasiveness.

                                                            ii.      Verse 21,  Heart

1.      Where you money is, the will be your interest. How often do you check the status of GM stock?  Invest everything you have in it. I bet you check it more often. If it bears fruit, (or cars, or washing machines), you will love GM. The next time someone tells you they have no interest in missions, ask them how much they contribute. Tell them to put some money there and see if there interest goes up!

                                                          iii.      Vv. 22-23, Mind

1.      How do you “see” things.

2.      Single, focused healthy eye vs. Cloudy, split, unhealthy. It quite simply effects how you “see” things – changes the paradigms you use to asses and evaluate. Your mental position.

3.      No different today, even we discussing the invisible, “we still say, we just don’t “see” this the same way.”

                                                           iv.      V. 24, the Will

1.      Quite simply, both the world and God make totalitarian claims on your life. You cannot be part way Christian any more than you can be kind of pregnant or kind of dead. They are exclusive claims. You WILL serve one master or another.

2.      Now listen-up the unhealthy use of money will not un-Christian you. I believe we have firmly established salvation by grace alone in this Chapel. If I may restate the verse. We are Christians, so do not serve mammon, that is not your life.

  1. So, this section is not so much about what kind of treasure or even how much of it you have as it is about what kind of “relationship” you have with it..
  2. Well – What attitude should we have with our Money & Possessions?
    1. During his ministry our Lord goes out of his way to teach that there is a substantial connection between how we use our finances and our spiritual condition.

                                                              i.      Somebody has actually calculated that 15% of what Jesus talked about related to money and possessions. That is more than heaven and hell combined!

1.      Pre-Jesus, when the crowds asked John the Baptist how they could bear the fruit of repentance. John tells them to:

a.      Share clothes and food with the poor

b.      Don’t steal (tax collectors) and be happy with your wages (soldiers)

2.      When Zacchaeus turned his spiritual corner he responds by saying, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.”  And Jesus responds that Salvation has come to this house today.

3.      The early Jerusalem converts eagerly sold their possession to give to the needy

4.      and the Ephesian occultists proved their conversion buy burning their most valued possessions –their magic books

5.      The widow is famous for two mites and the fool famous for building more barns. Do you remember the Lord’s words to Him? ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”

    1. In the beginning, I told I used a great little book to prepare for this sermon called the Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn. I tried to get some copies for you but that turned out to be a dead end. I highly recommend this petite but poignant little work. Let me see if I substantially borrow from and paraphrase some of Randy’s best points:

                                                              i.      We need a correct understanding of our money and possessions

1.      Not inherently bad, but no inherent value either

2.      Not ours! We are simply managers of another’s account.

a.      All of it, Which means interestingly - all of it

                                                            ii.      We live in a culture suffering from a highly contagious form of  “Acute Affluenza”

1.      Shop more 3x as many hours in a week than we play with our children

2.      By age 20 we have seen over 1 million commercials

3.      More Americans have declared Bankruptcy in recent years than have graduated from college

4.      Walter and storage facilities.

5.      Well, here is basic physics for you. The greater the mass, the greater the hold that mass exerts.

6.      Ironically, there is no joy in it. If you’re like me, you wish you could learn fewer lessons by making the mistake. And the amassing of wealth is unfortunately a lifetime project, so you could say is often a lesson leaned to late. And by the time you do, the exerting pull of the mass often proves to be too much. Take it from the experts:

a.      The care of $2 million is enough to kill anyone. There is no pleasure in it  WH Vanderbilt

b.      I am the most miserable man on earth. John Jacob Astor

c.      I have made many millions, but they have brought me no happiness. John D. Rockefeller

d.      Millionaires seldom smile. Andrew Carnegie

e.      I was happier as a mechanic. Henry Ford.

7.      Hey, Did I mention it was contagious? This is the great point of conviction for me. As Christians, we have to ask candidly ask ourselves what separates us from the culture around us?

a.      My father always talks about how Christianity creates the middle class. Proverbs 30:8-9 says, “Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that I need, or I shall be full, and deny you, and say, “Who is the Lord?” or I shall be poor, and steal, and profane the name of my God.” I entirely agree. The problem as I see it is that we have now idea what the middle class means! We are living the “new” middle class.

b.      Not only are we fantastically wealthy in comparison to the majority and the great span of history, but we have completely lost touch with basic needs!

                                                                                                                                      i.      Keeping up with the televised Jones’

1.      Who live in beautiful homes and dress in fashionable clothing on basic salaries.

c.      I am worried that we have created a lovely and all too comfortable trap – successful Christianity- nice house, nice cars, nice clothes, nice wife, and nice kids. We are the nicest people on earth. If I may quote Jamie O’Clock from a couple weeks back. “Something inside me curls into a knot, like a noose around my spiritual life.

8.      EVEN AMOUNG CHRISTIANS, HAVING A LOT IS TOTALLY NORMAL. BETWEEN OUR TWO CARS THERE IS AN EASY $50K. REDUCE YOUR CONSUMPTION AND NOT ONLY WILL YOU NOT HAVE STUFF, PEOPLE WILL THINK YOU ARE WEIRD!

                                                          iii.      The only antidote to Affluenza is giving

1.      Corrects the heart, mind and will

2.      Breaks the gravitational pull of stuff

3.      CS Lewis noticed that “ we are halfhearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition while infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in the slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea. We are far too easily pleased.

                                                           iv.      Giving is a fun! Those who have learned the principle of giving often use words like- Exciting Joyful

1.      Do we believe it? It seems like a paradox

a.      Obedience creates joy

b.      God loves a cheerful giver ( 2 Cor. 9:7)

2.      Merlin

  1. 7 Steps to living the Treasure Principle
    1. Decide that you believe that this is our calling and privilege as Christians
    2. Create a budget – look at what you spend
    3. Ask yourself what you really need

                                                              i.      I fear we have no idea what the middle class is anymore.

    1. Free yourself from slavery to the tenth, but do at least the tenth. If it was good for the poorest Israelite, it is certainly good for rich Americans!

                                                              i.      Tithing is not the ceiling, it is the floor!

1.      Training wheels if you like

    1. Start right away. This is a want issue, not a can’t issue. Start now, more money will change nothing. This is your imagined Godly future.
    2. Take it up a notch! Be an excellent giver – 2 Cor. 8:7

                                                              i.      Give more, more often, more strategically

                                                            ii.      Give beyond your ability; give even when the numbers don’t say so. We call this a Faith Promise

                                                          iii.      God Prospers to increase you level of giving, not your level of living. A windfall may be perceived as a gift. They could equally be viewed as a test. Will we not be called to account for how we use HIS resources?

    1. Live like it’s your 5 minutes past your last Day. What kind of life do you want to look back on?

                                                              i.      We will answer for our work on earth (Scripture). How badly do you want to hear well done good and faithful servant?!

                                                            ii.      I ask you, what is this life for?  I contend it is to learn the lesson of the Christ – selflessness.

a.      William Borden Story

                                                                                                                                      i.      Apart from faith in Christ, there is no explanation for such a life.”       A LIFE WORTHWHILE.

  1. Finally, as post-text, I would like to say - Let’s spur one another on in giving. By an unfortunate rendering of Matthew 6:1 we hide our giving under a bushel. How are new Christian supposed to understand if we are importing silly manners into giving. Avoid pride? Of Course, Teach how to Give? Absolutely. How fun was it to raise over $900 two weeks ago? It was blast!
  2. It’s nearly Christmas, do you Remember Scrooge?
    1. Owned by his possessions, made privy to his legacy, his transformation is maked by a new relationship to his treasure. He danced in the streets. His heart was full of joy
    2. You want to know the Lord’s pleasure, want to know real lasting joy, learn to live and apply Jesus’ treasure principle.